CHAPTER 49: Part 3 "Wrath Of An Titan"

*James (KRIOS), GCPD Major Crimes HQ

"F&*king bullshit!" James yelled in pain as he took a armored fist directly to his head.

Taking a step back he tried to clear his head, both to recover from the hit and to focus enough to use his powers. Unfortunately Batman pressed his attack and James was forced to block what he could.

Left, right, dodge, duck it became a dance between the two opponents. But a critical eye would see that James was hopelessly outmatched. The entire time they fought in melee James could barely keep up. And despite blocking many hits, a few still snuck in like the previously mentioned head blow. It didn't help that Batman was armored like a medieval knight and each punch was like getting hit by brass knuckles!

'I am going to f&*king kill Slade!" He thought as barely dodged a kick. The armored boot grazed his cloak showing how close he as to getting sent flying.

The reason for his anger against Slade was simple. Fighting melee against Batman right now he was struggling to utilize his powers effectively against the armored psycho. When he trained, Slade insisted on only using his fists, his powers were never incorporated into melee fighting. Which as he felt his bones groan from blocking a upper cut, was a major mistake.

The constant defense he needed to stop Batman from knocking him out made focusing incredibly difficult. Every time he tried to reach out telekinetically he became distracted by a punch.

Batman threw a rear hook which James manage to block though the pain he felt in his forearms was growing.

But wait... why was he falling down?

Pain erupted from his left side near his barely healed gunshot wound from a well placed kick. It seemed the rear hook was merely a distraction which Batman followed with a swinging kick. Whether he decided to hit near his recent wound on purpose or luck it did not matter. James found himself collapsing onto the asphalt, and despite intense pain he manage to keep his head slightly up from hitting the hard floor.

"Owwww," he grunted as he tried to get up.

Batman had other plans as he kneed James over to facing facedown. Just as quickly he felt both arms roughly grabbed and twisted behind his back. James felt his fists and half of his forearms covered by a tight metallic object that kept him bound. A beep sounded from the device and a subtle vibration could be felt.

'Must be some sort of cuff... electric though is kind of weird? Maybe it has an electric lock? Weird' James thought.

Batman kept James facedown in the asphalt, one knee pressed firmly against his lower back, one fist holding his cuffed hands.

"Its over Krios," Batman said.

James turned his head to the side so he could see the Dark Knight from the corner of his eye.

Batman with his free hand tapped the side of his ear.

"This is Batman to Tower, I need a transport for 02 and prisoner. Please confirm."

James despite his current predicament felt a sense of relief. He now had a moment to focus and end this fight.

He is happy and proud to say that he was soon to joined the group of people who has managed to catch Batman completely off guard.

While Batman was communicating with some Tower, he failed to notice cracks unnaturally begin to expand above them. Rather then crush the concrete James felt rather clever and merely applied pressure from the top and pulled. The already compromised structure bucked under the pressure and began to weaken. The roof groaned and portions of plaster and concrete began to fall.

Batman raised his cloak to block some of the smaller falling debris. And it was at this point he looked down in surprise before widening his eyes at James. 

James smirked, "Should of knocked me out."

With an extra yank the floor or roof above them began falling down all around them. Batman took a blow from a particularly large slab of concrete and would of collapsed on James if he hadn't rolled away from his grip. To his credit, Batman did try to push himself up only for more debris to fall forcing the Dark Knight down.

James continued to roll away while using a telekinetic shield to block the random bits roof and concrete from falling on him. Slabs of debris would fall within a foot of him only to break upon an invisible field.

'Food for thought, get better at shielding just right off my skin,' he thought while rolling. Certainly being able to do so while melee fighting would make his life a lot easier and less painful.

Rolling over a few more feet, James used his cuffed arms to push himself up and began running to the entrance of the car lot where there a manhole laid. His original escape plan down the sewers would still work.

The only downside of his ripping the parking lot ceiling down onto his opponent was that he didn't take into account the already unstable building burning above him. Soon it was not just the ceiling of the parking lot but multiple floors of the entire HQ began to crash down.

As more and more structure fell around and on him, James was finding it more difficult to maintain his shield. To make matters worse he had to push a lot of falling rubble away from his path as he now started to sprint to the manhole.

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*Front Entrance of GCPD Major Crimes HQ

Sirens, shouting, water hoses blazing, and panic running was the norm on the lawn of the north side of Major Crimes HQ.

'Its like Eastside burning all over again,' Commissioner Gordon thought as he watched firefighters, police and EMT's running around.

The massive structure that was Major Crimes had multiple floors collapsing, and a blazing inferno engulfing more and more of the building as time went on. Casualties were still unknown though a fair number of people had been reported escaping the building.

"OVER HERE!"

A surprising figure, the Martian Manhunter floated down carrying someone in his arms.

EMT's responded by rushing over with a gurney towards the alien. Gordon followed, curious about who the hero had pulled from the burning building. Reaching the hero Gordon felt his heart sink as he recognized the bloody figure of Rene Montoya.

"Excuse us sir," the EMT's said as they placed Montoya onto the gurney and made their way to an Ambulance.

Gordon and Martian Manhunter watched them go.

"Will she make it?" Gordon asked quietly.

The Martian shook his head, "I do not know. I fear for her chances considering what was done."

Gordon sighed, tonight of all nights had to be one of the worst he had seen in years. Multiple officers most likely dead, one of his senior detectives on the way out, Major Crimes literally burning down. For years he had defended the need for such a large, expansive and expensive resource. His enemies in City Hall and the State had been kept at bay with constant political favors and support from his few allies. Seeing it burning down he could only feel exhaustion at what it would take to recover much less save Major Crimes from being shut down.

Looking back at the burning building Gordon asked, "Is everyone out?"

The Martian stared intently at the building, his eyes flashing red with his stoic face taking a more relax expression.

"Everyone in the main floors are clear. No one alive that is, resides in the building."

That said building suddenly gave a loud groan as it began to crumble into itself. The very ground gave way as concrete and rebar began falling down into the deeper levels of the parking lot and foundations.

A small hint of concern graced the Martian's face as his eyes darted down where the debris fell before rushing off towards the burning structure.

The sudden movement from the alien frightened Gordon. He watched as the alien rushed towards the toppling building before fazing through the ground. For a normal man like Gordon it was somewhat unsettling to see such a unique ability in a town more known for wind up exploding penguins.

In the next few moments a significant portion of Major Crimes collapsed. This threw up large amounts of dust and smoke and smothered some of the fire. Emergency crews began pulling back to avoid the smoke and dust that covered the area.

From the smoke Gordon saw the Martian fly out of it carrying a figure which became clear as he flew towards him.

Landing in front of him the Martian laid a battered Batman down before him. The Dark Knight was heaving and coughing from probably smoke inhalation. The usual black armored was dented and covered with smudges of debris. Batman's left eye was closed with hints of blood splattered around it.

The sight nearly made Gordon gasp. He had seen his vigilante partner hurt much worse in the past. But such was in the past, these days with his 'Bat Family' and Justice League out in force, it was rare to see the Dark Knight beaten so thoroughly. 

Still heaving Batman said, "COUGH... Krios brought the building COUGH... down... COUGH in the sewers... J'onn COUGH... stop him!"

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*Agent 'Green', Washington D.C., A.R.G.U.S Facility 005

"I guess we are on our way to Gotham," Agent White remarked dryly.

Both Agents were in the communications room watching from Satellite imagery an attack taking place at Gotham. The image was fairly grainy and the thermals did not help much. Hacking into the police scanners and communiques did help though as some of the chattered did mention the words 'Meta, Hound and Krios.'

Since the incident in Kahndaq the two had been reassigned to focus on hunting down the meta who had interrupted their operations there. Waller's orders had been simple and in line with agency policy. Hunt down the meta, and either detain or eliminate.

The order had proven to be more difficult then expected with the figure named Krios disappearing entirely off the face of the earth.

During the time of they searched they were able to identify him or at least with an acceptable level of certainty. The advantage of being a government agency was access to all police records and every cities camera network in the United States. Based on the figures physical movements and powers their analyst found striking similarities between the meta assassin in Kahndaq and the infamous criminal Krios of Gotham.

They even had success in finding out how he entered Kahndaq with bribes to local border guards confirming a man fitting his description entering and a few days later leaving.

But the trail then went cold. The two agents had spent months searching using the best technology available. They had spent nearly their entire allocated budget bribing sources, diverting analysts, and even satellites to widen the failing search.

Such an occurrence was not rare with A.R.G.U.S. After all, the world was big and the universe even bigger. Every day new metas, aliens, demons and even gods showed up. With beings that could literally throw mountains, protecting U.S. interests became a greater challenge, one that A.R.G.U.S sought to overcome. Whether through advance domestic or alien technology, ancient magical relics, or the occasional forceful recruitment of powerful individuals.

In terms of government agencies, standard policy set by the current and past presidents gave them ultimate authority in said related matters allowing them to bypass the many layers of bloated bureaucracy. Ironically the biggest rivals they had came not from foreign agencies or criminals but rather organizations they were technically allied with, like the Justice League. 

It was no secret the animosity Amanda Waller, their director, had for the League. She saw their authority nothing more then an external threat to the U.S. government. Which was why on many occasions their two organizations came nearly to blows in acquiring aforementioned technologies, artifacts and assets. The League thanks to being part of the U.N. charter had greater influence internationally. But their department had greater authority domestically in the U.S. and its allies making a even playing field for both sides. Thus a unofficial policy began between both groups that it was first come first serve. Following which both sides lawyers and reps would argue to the governments who would get what. Rarely would the party who got the asset first have to relinquish it, thus creating the rush to acquire everything they can before the other could.

It was not perfect and perhaps one day the lines of authority would be established. But today was not that day.

Watching the destruction of the GCPD Major Crimes HQ, Agent Green could see her partner's anticipation. A meta who could cause this much damage while League members were in the area was impressive. Whether they could turn Krios into a active asset or merely a research subject would be answered only after they got him.

"We should inform Waller this asset has been sighted and we are en route to capture," she said while typing in request for a ops team and transport.

Agent White hummed, "Perhaps, but lets not bother her until we can confirm capture. Otherwise we are just going to have a pissed boss after us."

Green gave him a look which he shrugged at, "Better she is annoyed when there is no progress rather then pissed we messed up a capture."

Sighing Green gave a nod of agreement. Waller was not exactly the best boss to deal with.

Confirmations soon came in for them that they had a ops team on standby in Gotham waiting for them. Their private jet would get them to Gotham in less then an hour from D.C.

While the two agents made plans and preparations they were unaware that the same lead they had discovered was carefully being reported to others who had a vested interest in acquiring Krios for their own ends.

The race unbeknownst to them, and the Justice League had just begun on who would capture Krios first...