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Mission Debrief/ Personal Observations: October 29, M2 009, Gotham City, What Shall Become Known as Holy Terra.

2 months since initial arrival.

This is the first in what will more than likely be a long series of journal entries recording the experiences this operative receives. First and foremost, I am Nix, a Culexus Assassin, member of the Officio Assassinorum, and servant of the Imperium of Man. This record shall serve as a means of keeping debriefs of assassinations and for the documenting of key intel to be used by Assassinorum Officials upon my, Emperor blessed, return and a more official means of transcribing can be achieved. It shall also occasionally act as a replacement for the journal I kept back on The Fortress of the Soulless. Apologize in advance on the manner of which these records are written as no data pads are available that have security measures required to prevent the leakages of classified information.

To say the predicament I find myself in is extraordinary does no justice to the actual weight of the situation. I find myself on a strange, yet familiar planet that will one day become the shining beacon capital of the Imperium of Man, Holy Terra. As it stands at its present state though, Mankind has barely explored the stars, it's most recent venture to Mars resulted in a Xenos invasion that was thwarted by a group of Heretics known as the Justice League.

My placement on archaic Terra was not the result of the nature of the Warp, at least not directly. While in the process of executing an Eldar Farseer, a mission that was successful, on an Imperial battlefront, a Xenotic tool, one that I am now glad was destroyed prematurely as I dare not consider the ramifications of Xenos filth with the ability the object gave, was annihilated by an Imperial shell. The resounding explosion consumed me in the blast with blinding light. When my vision returned I was in a strange and primitive human city. A urban city known as Gotham.

Upon immediate investigation I found myself….concerned when I found out the nature of my placement. But as an Assassinorum operative I posses a wide range of abilities and talents that have since aided me greatly. The foremost of these is the ability to operate independently for extended periods of time. I have since taken refuge in an abandoned housing unit in the more crime ridden section of the city. The previous occupants were common criminals who have since been disposed of. The Pariah Gene in my body heavily discourages any and all that would wander into the building.

The whole of Gotham evokes an image of the underhives, just to a much smaller degree. The crime rate in the city, though stated to be abnormally high by the standards of this time, would be considered non-existent by any urban Imperial world. Though there is a more concentrated abundance of eccentric attitudes carried both by the criminals of the city, and the few vigilantes that patrol Gotham. There is a man who is stated to strike fear into the hearts of criminals in Gotham, a man who is peculiarly reminiscent of The Night Haunter, though he has never taken a life. This the man is referred to as Batman.

This Batman does nightly combat against the criminal underworld in Gotham, though crime never actually goes down. The local law enforcement are either corrupt or often more incompetent than would ever be allowed by an Arbites. This Batman does not work alone, he has two assistants, referred to as "sidekicks" called Robin and Batgirl. He is also a member of the Justice League, a Heretical group of humans, xenos and abhumans that, as of the moment, state that their intentions are to defend Holy Terra. The likelihood of their inevitable betrayal of said intention is quite high, and thus this operative has begun to set up possible means of assassination of each member, though much more intel will be required before any action should be taken.

As of this moment though I have reserved myself to only leaving my dwellings to obtain information on the various mutants and abhumans that reside in Gotham. The Batman may not kill his targets, but their continued escape from captivity and subsequent murder sprees are unacceptable for this assassin to tolerate existing. The target for tonight is one deranged maniac known by the general public as The Joker. He recently came into possession of a chemical weapon and plans to distribute it through the city's sewer system. This information came from a close henchman of his, whom I stalked and confronted for intel. I have always been used to the effects that my presence causes on people, the screaming and constant heavy breathing as they try and escape from me, yet the screams that man emitted were some of the loudest and most blood curdling ever emitted from a non-psyker. It would appear that the lack of hardships that have been faced by Humanity in the 41st millenium make the effects of the Pariah Gene more pronounced in this day and age. Seeing a human so weak willed is pathetic, even my once fellows of the Schola Progenium would have lasted longer than he.

A detailed report of the assassination shall be documented upon my return, as well as further intel on the various "Rogues" Batman has failed to address properly.

Closing the journal he had taken from a department store down the road, Nix stood and readied himself for tonight's assassination. The 24 year old dark haired assassin doned his Synskin suit and Animus Speculum and set out onto the unsuspecting Gotham night.

The Assassin would go unnoticed by all, not simply for his own trained stealth capabilities, or the dark suit he wore that clouded the minds of all around him. The main component in the avoidance he was given was the fact that he was a Pariah, a soulless being who had an aura of wrongness so abundant that almost everyone would refuse to even believe he exists. Their subconscious ignoring his presence entirely. Now if that person had any connection to The Warp, more in particular could draw from it to use "magic" they would suffer a far worse fate, with his presence eating away at their very soul.

Indeed the Culexus Assassins were viewed as one of the most sinister and feared orders of the Assassinorum, not because of their ability or talent as killers, though that was something to wary of. No they were feared because of their very disturbing nature.

In comparison to the hive cities that existed in the 41st millennium, traversing Gotham was similar to a strole through a small village. Bounding from rooftop to rooftop with inhuman speed granted by the extensive training and conditioning given by the Assassinorum, Nix converged upon a rundown water treatment plant that The Joker and his gang had taken over.

The Etherium in the suit gave the assassin a ghost-like appearance, phasing in and out of view, and it could even make him disappear from sight altogether. Observing the building from across the street Nix counted 10 guards on the outside and the scanners in his helmet detected another 20 inside.

None of them would ever see him coming.

It was all too easy for an operative of the Assassinorum to sneak into the plant undetected. Nix's presence alone would cause the guards to leave their posts and move somewhere else as they could not stand to be anywhere near the Null. Maneuvering through the rundown halls Nix would make it to the main antichamber undetected with no issues.

Upon spotting his target, a bleached skin clown of a man wearing a purple suit, Nix began to stalk his way towards the Joker. He noticed the clown was talking with a blonde woman dressed similarly to a harlequin. That would have made her Harley Quinn, the Joker's right hand girl.

"I'm tellin ya Mr. J, there is something weird goin on here! Don't ya just feel like...oh I don't know, like ya bein watched? The boys can feel it too, hell half of them went outside to just get away from it. I don't know how much longer I can stay in here puddin." Harley spoke in her strange accent. While well versed in the languages and dialects of the Imperium, the accent Harley used was not present in the 41st millenium.

"I know what you mean Harl…..this place is starting to weird me out too. But, Gotham ain't going to poison itself! Plus with Batsy occupied with his league of tight wearing do gooders, whose going to stop me? You don't look a gift horse like this in the mouth." The Joker responded as he moved a barrel of the chemical he acquired towards the water main.

Using his Speculum, Nix released more of his unnatural energy into the room, ultimately forcing Harley to leave as she was now becoming paranoid that something was going to emerge from the darkness and harvest her soul. She was not the one who needed to worry about that outcome. Nix's target, and now the only one left in the room aside from him, hastily moved more of the barrels over as he constantly looked around the room in extreme paranoia.

The Joker moved to grab the last barrel so he could finally dump the weapon into the water and be away from this terrible place. As he grabbed it though, he felt considerably more resistance than normal and tried to pull more violently. Still refusing to budge, the Joker made one last giant yank in an effort to get the barrel to move. It stood firm in place as he landed on his rear from letting his grip slip.

The feeling of dread and terror was now consuming the clown as he decided the last of the chemical wa not worth it and began to get up. However, he soon realised what was causing the problem. Something that the clown could only call a monster masquerading as a man with a elongated skull like visage staring at him.

Revealing himself to the Joker Nix took pride in the look of pure terror in the his victims eye as he wrapped his hands around the Joker's neck and began to squeeze.

The last sound the Joker would make in life was certainly the loudest, but whether it was the Clown Prince of Crime's last laugh or his last scream was indiscernible.

xxxXXXXXxxx

High above the Earth, the Justice League's watchtower orbited the planet and was used by the league of heroes to monitor crime on the planet.

Currently all members of the league were present, Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, Flash, and Martian Manhunter sat around a circular conference table as they discussed the activities of their Rogues.

"Livewire escaped from custody again, but luckily Kara was able to detain her before too much damage was done." The Man of Steel, Superman spoke. It had actually been a slow week for Metropolis despite him not being there as his cousin Supergirl and freind Steel watched the city.

"Captain Cold tried robbing an armored truck for some rare emeralds on route to the museum. But I stopped before he even knew what was happening, cause I'm awesome." The Fastest Man Alive said with a cocky grin. The Flash's antics resulted in playful eyerolls as the league waited for Batman to give his report, but he was interrupted by a call.

"Batgirl, report." He answered. The Justice League watched as the normally stoic Batman's eyes widened in shock and surprise as he stood quickly and marched towards the door.

"What happened?" Wonder Woman asked as she, and the others, rose to their feet.

"The Joker." The Dark Knight responded as he neared the doorway.

"Did he escape from Arkham again?" Superman asked, knowing his friends history with the clown.

"He did."

"Well, that's nothing new, but it's still bad. But why the reaction." Flash asked with a raised eyebrow. What Batman responded with was something the Justice League never thought they would hear.

"The Joker is dead." With that Batman left the room and made a hasty trip to Gotham. If someone killed the Joker, he needed to know who, how, and why.

When the Dark Knight arrived to the morgue where Joker's body was stashed, he encountered his longtime friend and partner, police Commissioner Jim Gordon. Gordon was smoking outside the building, clearly stressed.

"So he's dead? No tricks, no replicas, no nothing?" Batman inquired as he emerged from the shadows behind Gordon. His friend sighed and tossed the cigarette to the ground, snuffing it with his foot.

"Yep. DNA samples from Arkham confirm it's him, and if that wasn't enough everyone his was with, Harley included turned themselves in." Gordon informed.

"Why would they do that?" Batman asked. He had never once heard of everyone surrendering themselves to the police willingly, then again, the Joker was still alive in all those situations.

"Fear. Believe it or not they are the ones who called us. Practically begging for us to show up and arrest them before "It" got them."

"It?"

"I don't know, all we've been able to get out of them is that as soon as they started to move the chemicals they stole towards the water, the entire building began emitting a aura of dread and terror. The ones who were outside say that they left their posts at several points because of the "wrongness" of it. Harley apparently got the worst of it, well second worse, as she's now in ICU mumbling back and forth to herself." Gordon explained the bizarre situation to Batman.

"You said Harley was the second worse, who was the first?" The Dark Knight asked as Gordon motioned for him to follow him into the building. Gordon led Batman to where the Joker's body was, and showed the Caped Crusader the worst victim.

Batman wouldn't have thought the Joker could have gotten any paler, but here he stood corrected. The bleached skin of the Joker was now ghostly white, with his already skinny body even more gaunt, with the skin hanging barely off the bones. The clowns eyes were locked in a constant state of shock and horror, like he didn't know what was happening. It seemed like all life was sucked from his body. But what was the apparent killer was a completely crushed throat, spine and vertebrae included.

"Do you have any leads?" The Dark Knight asked while staring at his longtime nemesis. Commissioner Gordon shook his head as he sighed.

"That's the worst part, we have nothing. The most infamous criminal in all of Gotham dead, and we have no idea who did it. None of the others saw anything, there are no signs of forced entry, no security recordings show anything aside from occasional static, and no signs of conflict aside from the broken neck before you. Whoever did this, is very, very good." Batman thought to himself silently for what seemed to the Commissioner for minutes before he spoke.

"Send me any of the recordings you recovered from the scene. I'll see if I can trace whatever cause the occasional static."

"You think whoever did this caused that?" Gordon asked.

"It's the only lead we have at the moment, so yes." With that the Dark Knight disappeared from the room and made his way back to the Bat Cave. He had a mystery to solve.

xxxXXXXxxx

As Nix finished writing his debrief, all of which was written in High Gothic, he took notice of an increased presence in police patrols. Apparently they took some strange offense to his killing of their mass murder.

It mattered little to the assassin as he marked Joker off a list of targets he had constructed. The targets consisted of the worst killers, mutants, and abhumans in Gotham that Batman simply arrested as opposed to what he should be doing.

Looking at the list he made a mental note to find more intel about the targets before pressing forward. The Joker's death would put the police and Batman on alert and cause on erratic behaviors in the criminals would cause unnecessary complications. As such he would need to stop by the man in Gotham who had all the information regarding the criminal underworld and extract what he needed from him.

Thus Nix's next mission became clear, Kidnap and assassinate Oswald Cobblepot, aka The Penguin.