The Inquisitor

Chapter 29

Gorilla Warfare part 1

A/N: just to prevent any misunderstandings the events in "Targets" and "Terrors" have already occurred, off-screen actually. Though Miss Martian and Superboy aren't an item I just didn't have an opportunity to put in somewhere that the events had occurred without it coming completely out of nowhere. Luthor and Dante may eventually meet but I want it to be under different circumstances.

When it comes to pairings in regards to Dante I've decided to let the audience input their own opinions on the matter with a poll on my profile.

Also because I am a shameless self-promoter whose Deathstar sized ego is desperate for recognition; I've also been writing a new story that's a crossover between RWBY and Mortal Kombat. If any of my readers enjoy either franchise, please have a look and let me know what you think, I would truly appreciate it because it hasn't gotten much in the way of attention.

One last thing, whoever keeps spamming the reviews with loredumps, please stop, the review section is for actual reviews, not loredumps.

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-Arkham Asylum, Quincy Sharp's office-

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A few minutes after his last session with Miss Isley, Birch had been called into Warden Sharp's office. For what reason, Birch had no real idea but something told him that it wasn't something that he was going to enjoy. Ever since his appointment at the asylum, Birch had been given a rather poor first impression of the warden when he had been ordered to take on Isley as his patient. There had been no warning for his change of assigned patient, and even less time to properly review her files and come up with a proper therapy plan.

To put it bluntly, it had been an absolute god given miracle that Birch had managed to pull off.

After a few days Birch had thought that maybe, just maybe Sharp had simply given a poor first impression and that perhaps he would surprise him. It only took less than a week for Birch to be completely and utterly proven that the first impression was spot on. Throughout the course of Birch's time at Arkham, Sharp had proven time and again that he was far more interested in profiting politically from curing the patients than he was in actually treating them, or failing that at least keeping them from escaping over and over.

Sharp had made multiple, extremely thinly veiled comments that gave the implication that he wanted some of the more…difficult patients cured so that he could use them as a means to start a political campaign. Birch didn't know what it said about him that he no longer felt nauseated by someone attempting to use the medical treatment of people to further their own political agenda. It was likely though that he was simply becoming more hardened by the rather poor management of this facility.

The doctor soon found himself in front of the door to Quincy Sharp's office. Doctor Birch knocked three times on the door before he heard the Warden say "Come in."

Feeling as though he was going to regret this, Birch reluctantly entered the office of Quincy Sharp. Just like the last time he had entered several weeks ago, the Warden sat behind his desk, his pudgy hands steepled in front of him. The only noticeable difference was that the man had a rather uncharacteristic smile on his face that was disconcerting, to say the least.

"Ah, Doctor Birch, it is good to see you. Please have a seat." Sharp gestured to the chair that was just across from his desk, indicating that he wanted Birch to take a seat. The psychiatrist did as he was told and took his seat. Sharpe looked at him from behind his steepled fingers for a moment or two before he spoke.

"I understand that Miss Isley has started showing quite a bit of progress as of late." It seemed as though the warden simply wanted to state the obvious.

"Yes sir, she has," Birch stated cautiously all the while wondering where Warden Sharp was going with this. "Improvement enough that she might be released during her next review?" Sharpe asked.

At that point Birch had to hold back form demanding to know whether or not Sharp was insane. Isley was not ready to be released. She may not have been a danger to others at this point but she was still in an emotionally and psychologically fragile position, if she was pushed too far at this point in time then it could severely damage her psyche. While it was clear that she was in no present danger of a backslide into her old ways it could cause her to become fully suicidal be it either through normal means or through putting herself in a position where a police officer may need to use lethal force on her.

"Sir, I have to completely disagree with you on that one, right now her position is precarious, if we push too hard too quickly we could risk irreparable damage to her psyche. I strongly recommend that we continue therapy as it is. In addition I also think that given recent revelations, we should keep her on suicide watch for the time being as she is showing signs of severe guilt and depression. I would strongly recommend that after three to six months, if her condition improves further, then we transfer her to the medium security wing for a few more months until her next review."

Sharp clearly didn't like any of what Doctor Birch had just said and made it very clear in his next statement "You are suggesting that we simply ignore the fact that one of our more troublesome patients has finally, after several years of being in and out of our facility mind you, shown actual recovery."

At that Birch began to massage his temples, desperate to ward off a headache and did his best to not remind Sharp that Isley hadn't been "in and out" of their facility per-se, it was more that she –along with most of the other super-criminals incarcerated there- simply continued to escape over and over again.

Instead Birch simply stated "Sir what I am suggesting is that we tread carefully around her. In short, she's no longer a danger to others but she can definitely still be a threat to herself if we're not careful. I need more time and I promise that she will be fully rehabilitated."

Sharp didn't look even slightly convinced judging by the look on his face. However the warden of Arkham Asylum soon let out a bated breath and gave an unexpected answer "Very well."

That wasn't what Birch had been expecting. At. All. In fact the psychiatrist had been all but certain that Sharp was more than prepared to argue the point over and over with him and then some and that he would have to fight him every step of the way. However it appeared that wouldn't be necessary as Sharp seemingly just acquiesced to his plan. Of course he knew that this would likely come with some kind of strings attached to it.

Sure enough, Birch was proven correct when the warden opened his mouth less than a second later "However, I will need something from you." Well that figured.

"There is a fundraiser for the Asylum in a little over a week, I want you to attend as one of the guests. It's a high society event, and Senator Evan Gregory, one of our biggest donors will be in attendance so I suggest you dress well."

So that's what it was, he wanted to use Birch's success in treating Miss Isley to make the attempt to gain more funding, or just show him off as a great doctor to show that Arkham Asylum was doing something right for once. Not only that but Birch would have to be at one of those damned parties where the upper classes would just walk around and flaunt their wealth and egos. Under most circumstances he would protest at being used as a damned advertisement for someone's political games but given the situation he was forced to relent.

He would have to find a decent suit to wear and maybe find out the strength of the alcohol they were serving. There was no way he was going to be able to get through a night listening to some ham-fisted bluebloods dribble on and on without some liquid courage. If not he would probably end up becoming an inmate at Arkham before it was all over.

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-Mt. Justice, Main Atrium-

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The Inquisitor knew that he was in for another pointless and quite possibly overdramatic debate from the Justice League the very millisecond that he saw Batman approaching him with Captain Marvel in tow. Batman had the same stoic look about him while Captain Marvel's face seemed to be off. It was as though he was trying to look friendly but at the same time he clearly wasn't happy to see the Inquisitor.

For the Inquisitor the feeling was more than mutual. He had more than ample reason to despise the gibbering man-child. Not only did the damned fool receive his powers from what was obviously a heretical source but he clearly had the maturity and mental capacity of an infant! Every single time that the Inquisitor spoke to the Emperor damned fool, it was like he was arguing with a mentally stunted child who had been sheltered their entire life and had never been exposed to the reality of the world. For someone with supposed wisdom, Captain Marvel certainly lacked anything remotely resembling such a trait.

Strangely enough though, Captain Marvel was not someone that the Inquisitor had expected to arrive at the Cave at any point in time. Unfortunately though, Dante had more than just one idea as to why the fool was even doing there and none of them were good. If any of them were true (though knowing his lack of good fortune, all of them were) then it would only prove to be an extremely irritating detriment towards training the sidekicks and any future missions they went on.

The Inquisitor marched up to Batman and gave a semi-polite nod before skipping any unnecessary pleasantries and getting straight to the heart of the matter "Batman, this isn't a scheduled inspection, and you don't normally bring another Justice League member when giving the Team a mission. I request to know exactly what is going on."

Batman cocked an eyebrow from behind his mask while Captain Marvel had a strange expression on his face. It looked as though it was a combination of frustration with a hint of anxiety. "Due to some, unique circumstances, Red Tornado is unable to continue to act as the Cave's Caretaker. So for the time being, Captain Marvel has volunteered to step in."

For several seconds the Inquisitor looked from Captain Marvel and then to Batman, searching for some sign that the former had put the latter up to this pathetic attempt at a prank. When he didn't detect anything in either of their facial features Dante simply looked Batman dead in the eye and decided to simply confront the matter in a way that was without any hint of the subtlety expected of an Inquisitor "First: what exactly do you mean by, 'unique circumstances'? Second: Is this some sort of pathetic attempt at a joke? Because if it is, there is nothing remotely humorous about it."

Captain Marvel, true to his immature nature looked angered by the implication of the Inquisitor's words. In fact he looked as though he was about to burst a blood vessel or two if the veins pulsating up against his skin were any indication. Perhaps it would prove amusing if that were to happen. Batman however simply shook his head in response "Unique, circumstances as in; it is currently something the League can't tell you about. Second, Captain Marvel volunteered and at the current time we can't spare anyone else. While I don't expect you to like it, I expect you to remain professional."

Ugh. Well at least he wasn't going on missions with-

"I'll also be joining you on missions," the man-child declared.

Why?! By the God Emperor's Golden Throne Why?!

Immediately Dante noticed that the caped crusader was massaging his temples because of the headache that was heading his way. Apparently he had known that this would be a problem and more than likely planned on delivering the news himself in a more, controlled fashion. Behind his helm the Inquisitor glared daggers at Batman to the point that if looks could kill, Batman would have been dead several times over.

"Batman, you have forced me to put up with many indignities since my arrival, but this is over the line. I will not have this man-child anywhere near the missions we undertake, nor will I have him anywhere near a position of authority on the Team. He does not understand the meaning of stealth, subtlety or subterfuge and seems only capable of punching problems until they surrender."

The man-child seemed even more frustrated "Hey I can be subtle!" He insisted crossing his arms petulantly. The Inquisitor spared an appraising glance at the gaudy outfit Captain Marvel was wearing and knew that there was no way in hell it would ever blend in anywhere. The idea of that imbecile being even remotely subtle was as likely as Eye of Terror collapsing in on itself.

The Inquisitor looked directly Batman, and he could tell that the Inquisitor was demanding to know what form of madness had afflicted the Caped Crusader.

Batman knew that this was coming and he really, really, really didn't want to have to deal with this at the moment. He had a lot of problems already and he didn't want to get dragged into something so pointless and petty. Just a few days ago, Catwoman regained consciousness after being attacked. By that point however, Batman had already worked out what she was doing even before she attempted to tell him everything. She was working with Shifter, but also working against him at the same time. Selina would use him for all he was worth in order to gain access to funds to help the girl she considered a younger sister and then tell everything she knew of him to the Justice League.

It made a lot of sense as Selina was the type who would play both sides. Still though this was something that really hurt the Caped Crusader. Knowingly or not Selina had aided the person who had abducted and tortured his protégé and his friends. Sure she had every intention of giving him up to the League and she could have been doing it to help someone else but she still aided a monster in torturing the boy he thought of as a son, even if inadvertently.

But right now wasn't the time for such thoughts instead Batman focused on the present and decided to stop this before things got out of hand. "Inquisitor, Captain Marvel will not be in a leadership capacity should he accompany you on missions. In fact he will be under your command whenever there is one, provided you don't give an order that goes against the League's policies."

'Well that's one disaster partially averted at least,' thought Dante as he turned to the man-child and highly doubted that the idiot would ever follow an order that he didn't like. Still, he may as well use this for all it was worth during missions, and if the man-child was to somehow meet an unfortunate end during said mission, well that would simply be a horribly coincidental tragedy now wouldn't it?

Unfortunately if such a completely coincidental and truly tragic event were to occur it would have to be done in a very specific circumstances, and certainly not just after the man-child had been assigned to the team. Despite his method of dealing with his enemies and appearance, Batman wasn't a complete idiot. Dante would probably have to wait while at least.

Of course Captain Marvel being who he was, he would most likely end up dead sooner or later due to his own stupidity. The only reason that he was still around was likely because of either his heretical powers or because the League kept him alive during battle.

Breaking himself out of those thoughts the Inquisitor turned his attention back to the Caped Crusader "I take it that there is also something else that you wished to speak to us about." Batman wouldn't have shown up himself over something so trivial so there must be more important matters to attend to.

"That's correct. Have the team meet in the main atrium."

With that having been said Batman and the man-child left, leaving the Inquisitor to gather his subordinates. Immediately Dante activated the communicator that members of the team were now to carry with them at all-times and spoke "Attention, all training exercises have been postponed for the day, everyone is to report to the main atrium immediately."

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It took almost fifteen for the other members of the Team to get from the training grounds to the main area. Given the fact that they were all drenched in sweat and trying to catch their breaths when they arrived it was likely that they were still in the midst of drills when they were called. They would likely have to clean up somewhat before they went on their next mission. At the front of the group was the Inquisitor who was waiting for batman to begin the briefing.

The Caped Crusader wasted no time and immediately brought up an image of four dead individuals in a South African jungle. Two of the men were riddled with dozens of bullets, and judging by the size and severity of the wounds it was likely that they were 7.62mm rounds. Given the number of wounds and their severity it was also just as likely that these men were shot at very close and not only that but it would have to be a weapon with a very large ammo capacity and rate of fire.

The damage done to the other two bodies were clearly done from close quarters fighting. There were crushed limbs some of which had been completely ripped off the body if the damage was correct. This told the Inquisitor that whatever was responsible for this was extraordinarily strong. Most likely it was a mutant of some kind albeit one with enough strength to both handle a heavy weapon and enough intelligence to use it as something other than a cudgel.

"Over the last few days there have been several attacks on tourists, poachers and those on safari. The few survivors tell stories of an oversized gorilla that was wielding a machinegun." Well, that certainly hadn't been what Dante had expected. If it wasn't Batman speaking with an entirely straight face, Dante would have thought that the man was making a very poor attempt at humor.

Apparently though Kid Flash thought otherwise and asked "This is a joke right? Batman's sending us on a wild monkey chase?" utterly incredulous at the claim.

At that Robin looked over at his friend and said "This is Batman. What do you think?"

Dante decided to nip this at the bud and simply glanced in their direction and simply said "Focus."

To their credit the sidekicks immediately stopped making japes and paid more attention to the briefing. Aqualad looked at the Caped Crusader and asked "Is it possible that these individuals have simply made a misidentification. Civilians during times of panic can make mistakes."

"True but these accounts are all consistent with one another. There is something out there targeting people in South Africa and the Justice League can't investigate due to newly arisen problems in our respective cities. Therefore it is up to you to make an investigation into the matter and if necessary stop it."

"Have the local law enforcement elements attempted to launch their own investigation?" asked Dante while a more scathing 'or did they decide to not do their jobs and wait for the League?' went unsaid.

"As a matter of fact the local authorities attempted to hunt this creature down multiple times. They either came up empty or they fell victim to it. Now they've pulled back and have cordoned off the area until they can figure out a way to deal with this."

That was very important as it suggested that this mutant had not only basic instinct but quite possibly human level intellect. This creature was not only able to ambush small relatively isolated groups of civilians (an exceedingly easy task that anyone with an iota of intelligence could pull off) but also trained law enforcement, which was an altogether different beast.

Unlike civilians and 'heroes' these were individuals that were actually trained to kill if necessary. Granted Dante had seen what how most of the police forces of the Terra trained and while it wasn't much in the way of training, especially when compared to the Adeptus Arbites but it was still far better than simple civilians. All in all he'd place them at a decently trained militia at worst.

The Inquisitor would need to be cautious for this one. Every single step they take into the jungle could lead into a potential ambush. He would need to ensure that the sidekicks tread lightly on this mission. While the Inquisitor would begrudgingly admit that they were starting to improve, they still showed signs of the same recklessness that they had when the Team was first formed. If this mission was to be a success, then the Inquisitor would truly have to stress the need for subtlety during their investigation.

Eventually Batman came to the primary objectives of the mission "You are to investigate the attacks and should it become necessary, apprehend those responsible." A relatively simple mission in theory, but in Dante's experience, there was no such thing as a simple mission.

Then came the most annoying part of the briefing, one that Dante had been dreading since it began. "In addition, Captain Marvel has volunteered to join the mission."

The reactions were similar to the Inquisitor's but it was clear that it wasn't for the same reasons. Some of the sidekicks began to whisper to one another about how the League "still didn't trust them on their own." The Inquisitor knew that was a distinct possibility but it was just as likely that they didn't want him to be teaching them more efficient methods of doing their jobs. Especially if said methods trampled over their delicate morals.

With that having been done Batman dismissed the Team and had them start preparing for mission.

The Inquisitor already knew exactly what would be required of them, they would primarily require reconnaissance and possibly infiltration equipment. And given the equipment that they had already started to gather, they knew it too. As they did, the group began to talk idly amongst themselves.

"Do they really think we need a babysitter on this? I mean sure we've had some…problems recently but we're good now," said Kid Flash.

It seemed as though the sentiment was shared, especially by a certain green clad archer "I know right? You'd think that after we managed to survive in a warzone they would have more confidence in our ability to make it through one mission on our own."

Other similar grumblings were heard throughout the rest of the Team, most of them were complaints directed at the man-child and how he was clearly sent to babysit them. In the Imperial Guard such dissension within the ranks would have been severely punished by the regimental commissar but in this case, Dante figured that it might actually be in his best interest if there was more of a rift between the Team and their mentors. After all a weakened Justice League was only beneficial to humanity in the long run when they finally turned on it.

Dante noticed that they were also grabbing equipment that was meant for actual reconnaissance, more specifically the uniforms that were designed to shift their coloring to blend into any background. They really were not all that too dissimilar to the Cameleoline weave in his Camo Cloak. Of course it didn't shift to different environments nearly as quickly as the camo cloak did, nor did it hide heat signatures (I don't know if that's canon in WH40k but please just go with it).

The Inquisitor also had a small tinge of satisfaction when he noticed that the members of the Team that relied almost exclusively on their powers were grabbing things that they normally wouldn't even consider touching. Night vision goggles, stun batons, grapple guns, flashbang grenades. It seemed as though their time in the Qurac/Bialyan border region had convinced them that they couldn't solely rely on their powers and expect everything to go their way.

To tell the truth it was more than surprising that they were actually starting to learn from their mistakes given what they had done previously but at least now they were showing that they actually were capable of it, albeit under extreme circumstances. Still best not to question it for the time being. While they were showing some preparedness it was still clear that he would need to work on their discipline more. Perhaps some of the methods that he had gleaned from listening to the Imperial Stormtroopers talk about their drill abbots might help.

In any event, the Team soon finished gathering what equipment they felt they might need for the mission and began to make their way to the Martian Bioship. Ordinarily they would have simply taken a Zeta Tube but apparently this location in particular didn't really have outlets available for them to use.

The Inquisitor barely managed to repress a feeling of revulsion of once again being in the bioship. While he had been in the damned thing several times it was still far from ideal. He would take any Imperial transport any day over that abomination of nature. In fact if circumstances were different he would have preferred to simply walk to their destination if it meant avoiding using that aberration of a transport.

Standing nearby the vessel however was something even more irritating. More specifically a certain idiot in an even more ridiculous outfit with a stupid grin on his face. While it was clear that said idiot was eager to at the very least be among the sidekicks but the feeling was obviously not mutual if their expressions were anything to go by.

'Emperor grant me the mental fortitude to survive this madness,' thought Dante as he made his way over to the machine and into the bioship with the other sidekicks following close behind him.

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The instant that they were in the air, the Inquisitor didn't waste any time and got straight to the point "Robin, bring up a map of the area, and highlight all the locations that these attacks have occurred in, be as thorough as possible, and just to be safe, bring up the date and times as well."

"Sure, one sec." The boy wonder began to fiddle with his wrist computer for several seconds before he brought up a holographic map that was more than large enough that everyone on board could easily see what they were supposed to be looking at.

There was a map of the entire jungle that they were about to enter, and on it there were several yellow dots, each one had a corresponding date and time for each of the attacks. It seemed as though many were concentrated primarily in the southwestern areas in tight clusters and relatively spread out. There were however a number of other yellow dots in other areas but they weren't nearly as widespread as the ones in the southwest.

Of course the most recent attack was inside of the main clusters that formed the large blotch of yellow on the map. They would have quite a bit of searching to do and given the terrain, every square inch they walk could turn into an ambush. What the Inquisitor wouldn't give to have a few squads of Catachan Jungle Fighters or just Sly Marbo (A/N: let's be honest folks, Sly Marbo could fill in for an entire regiment's worth of Catachans) to assist him in this endeavor. This was both a mission and an environment that the Catachan Jungle Fighters would positively thrive in.

While the sidekicks had shown some marginal improvement over the course of his tenure as leader, they were still nowhere near prepared for what the universe could throw at them. Xenos like the Dark Eldar, Tyranids, Necrons, or even the Orks would easily be able to defeat them with very little effort. And that wasn't even going into how poorly they would fare against the Forces of Chaos.

Still though at least they were improving far more under him these last few days than they ever had the past few months under Black Canary's tutelage and there was something to be said about that. True his training methods were quite…brutal and once certain bleeding hearts found out about the more, harsher regimens there would be yet another irritating debate between him and the League. As his mentor had always told him, "Training must be like hell so that war won't be."

The Inquisitor pushed such thoughts out of his mind and pointed to the area where the latest attack had occurred "This is where we shall begin our investigation. Robin, Miss Martian and I will begin here; Artemis, Troia and Superboy will begin their search to the east; Aqualad and Kid Flash you will run reconnaissance of the western sector. Now in regards to-"

Dante was unable to finish as the man-child of the group spoke up with his arm raised as though he was a child trying to ask a teacher a question in the classroom "Uh, what about me?"

The Inquisitor marched right up to Captain Marvel and said "If you would let me finish, I would have told you that you would be accompanying Aqualad and Kid Flash. During their search however, you will operate under the direct authority of Aqualad, he speaks with my voice, a command from him is a command from me. Any and all disobedience or insubordination will be noted in my report to Batman. Have I made myself perfectly clear?"

The man-child seemed to grit his teeth at the fact that he was being given orders by someone he clearly detested. Still though at least he didn't cause too much of a scene.

"Yes," he finally answered though it was clear that he wished to say more quite possibly scathing things to the Inquisitor.

The briefing continued onwards and Dante spoke on how they would coordinate their investigation. If the initial findings turned up nothing they would begin searching the areas by grids until they either found the perpetrator or he found them. The most important detail however was that if the one responsible was located the team that found them would not engage and would instead contact assistance and monitor the entity in the meanwhile.

There were other details of course but eventually the briefing ended and everyone found themselves with little to do as the ship continued to make its way towards its destination. The group engaged one another in idle conversations to pass the time while the Inquisitor simply remained silent, checking over his weapons and equipment for what was quite possibly the hundredth time.

Eventually though Captain Marvel decided to ask a question regarding some of the things that the sidekicks had grabbed during before they had set out. "So I noticed that you guys grabbed a bunch of stuff that Batman and Robin would normally use. Why would you need that if you already have powers, I mean why use a grapple gun when you can just jump several stories in the air or run faster than any vehicle?"

Kid Flash was the first one to respond "Yeah well doing all that is great but if all of the sudden don't have your powers, what are you going to do?" he asked.

Captain Marvel seemed to have no real response to that. All the while Dante kept silently checking over his equipment. He didn't enjoy the fact that the man-child was sputtering at trying to make a response, he wasn't so petty as to take pleasure in it. Of course not he was an Inquisitor and was above such things, the fact that he was smirking beneath his helm was pure coincidence. He was simply taking pride in how well he had been maintaining his weapons, yes that was it.

The Inquisitor continued to be silent through most of the flight even as the man-child attempted to ingratiate himself into the ranks of the team. Whether this was some bizarre attempt at attempting to get the Inquisitor to lower his guard (a possibility but considering the complete lack of subtlety it was unlikely) or an attempt to simply make friends with people who were physically of younger age but were much older mentally. Considering who this individual was, Dante believed it to be the latter.

Either way, it was clear that his attempts were only proving to be as annoying to the Team as his sanctimony was to the Inquisitor. Not that the idiot even bothered to notice it. He just kept digging the hole he was in even deeper. Perhaps this was something that may warrant keeping an eye on for the time being. If nothing else it would prove to be relatively amusing.

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-South African Jungle-

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After a little over an hour of flight time the Martian bioship had finally reached its destination. It took only a few minutes to deposit each team to their insertion points. They were spread out it was true but they were close enough that if the assailant managed to ambush them, they could be at one another's location within minutes. If that wasn't an option, than the instant that they failed a check-in the Martian Bioship would immediately move towards them on autopilot to investigate and possibly engage the enemy.

The last group to leave the bioship was the Inquisitor's. The instant that he stepped out of the accursed xeno machine, he immediately drew his AK-12 and scanned the perimeter for signs of any sort of threat both with his eyes as well as his auspex scanning gear before signaling for Robin and Miss Martian to follow in behind him.

The trio took a good long look at the area they were expected to investigate. There were several trees that had been destroyed as a result of the gunfire and there were still small traces of blood spatter on the ground despite the fact that there were still a large number of smaller scavengers on the ground. More specifically ants and flies, scouring whatever scraps remained.

Still though it was possible that there was something that the local authorities might have missed. Even something as simple a stray bullet casing might prove invaluable to the search efforts.

For a while though there was a bit of an odd silence as the group continued their investigation, and something had been gnawing at the back of Robin's mind even as the search continued. Out of all the members of the League the one that the Inquisitor had shown the most obvious contempt for was Captain Marvel and it was clear that the feeling was all but mutual. Still though, Robin was a bit curious as to why that was.

With a small amount of trepidation Robin walked over to the Inquisitor who was looking over a small disturbed area of the jungle and asked "So Inquisitor, can I ask you something?"

The Inquisitor didn't even turn his head as he continued to scan the brush for anything that might be prudent to the investigation. "You already are."

Robin resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the comment but pressed on anyways "Well I was curious, what's with you and Captain Marvel? You seem to dislike him more than most of the other League members."

For a second the Inquisitor didn't respond and both Robin and Miss Martian wondered if they shouldn't have said anything.

"Very well," said the Inquisitor, supposing he could indulge their curiosity for the time being. "Aside from his use of blasphemous magic, Captain Marvel is someone who refuses to see the world around him for what it is. He never sees anything other than a world where everyone deep down is a good person, where no matter what atrocity they commit they can still have a second chance and redeem themselves. I ask you, do you, in all honesty believe that someone like Shifter could ever be a good person and atone for his atrocities or even want to?"

Neither Miss Martian nor Robin had any real response to this. It was true that Shifter never would have changed, he was a monster that seemed to only find pleasure in making people suffer. But did that mean that everyone else deserved that same kind of treatment?

"It is clear to me that Captain Marvel has been coddled like a child his entire life, prevented from experiencing the true hardships of the world around him. Because of this he has not grown up mentally and his attempts to give hardened criminals the benefit of the doubt will inevitably allow them to either manipulate him or cause him to hesitate long enough for them to commit more heinous acts."

Both Robin and Miss Martian looked at one another for a second "But don't people deserve a second chance?" the xeno asked.

"'A second chance?'" he quoted almost mockingly "In my experience, giving someone a second chance at redemption after they have committed atrocities like the Joker has is simply begging for a knife to be delivered into your back. The fact of the matter is that we only ever truly have one chance at anything. Every sin we commit never goes away and it can only ever truly be forgiven in death by the God Emperor and even then he never forgets."

"Isn't that a bit of a harsh outlook on life? Never trusting anyone to change themselves for the better." said Miss Martian, however by the tone of her voice it was all but clear that she was trying to convince herself. She had seen many of the horrors of the 41st millennium that mankind struggled to survive against every night in her dreams. They were only bits and pieces but it was more than enough and if she were to be honest, she honestly couldn't blame the Imperium for their hatred of aliens.

"It's not an outlook, it is simply how life is."

Miss Martian looked utterly heartbroken by his words "It shouldn't have to be…" she mumbled.

She was broken out of her thoughts when she noticed that the Inquisitor had found something on one of the trees, more specifically it looked like there was a small amount of blood spattered onto the bark but it was too far away from the site of the attack. There simply wasn't any way that this could be blood from one of the victims. Either it was blood from some animal…or it belonged to the attacker.

"Robin, can your wrist computer analyze genetic material from blood compounds?" The Inquisitor asked.

Immediately the Boy Wonder brushed past his boss and held his hand over the blood spatter for a moment or two before his wrist computer beeped several times in response. A series of patterns and shapes appeared on the holographic display "Well it looks like one of the victims of the last ambush managed to land a solid hit, this is gorilla DNA but…it's different."

Miss Martian looked at the display and asked "What do you mean?"

Robin didn't even look up as he began to punch in more commands into his wrist computer before he responded "Well, it looks like this particular gorilla has been taking Venom, a lot of Venom."

The Inquisitor and Miss Martian shared a glance "The same drug that Bane uses?" Miss Martian asked. Robin nodded "Yeah except this variation of it has been modified pretty substantially."

"How substantially?" asked the Inquisitor. Robin gave the Inquisitor a side-glance even as he continued to punch in commands on his wrist computer. "Substantially enough that I couldn't figure out what I was looking at, at first. The base compound is relatively similar to Venom but whoever did this has added some new chemicals one of which looks similar to the Blockbuster formula but there are others that I've never seen before."

"Interesting…" the Inquisitor muttered, putting a hand to his helmed chin in thought.

The Xeno turned to ask the obvious question "What do you mean?"

"It is only a theory but one possibility is that this compound is being used here is still experimental. Someone or something likely plans to use this formula to either create an army for themselves or to sell it to the highest bidder. I can think of more than a few criminal organizations who would pay a quite a lot of money for soldiers that could stand up to the likes of superman."

Miss Martian looked somewhat disturbed but still seemed somewhat puzzled "But then why use an ape, wouldn't it be more useful to test on a human?" she asked.

This time it was Robin who answered "Maybe not, before a drug enters human trials it has to be tested and refined on animals that are closest to humans, in this case apes. I mean if I were an evil mad scientist who wanted to market something that could make you stand up to Superman I would want to make sure that the drug not only works but also doesn't kill or render my customers braindead after they take it."

That certainly made sense to the xeno but Dante believed that there might be something else at play here. If it was something as simple as animal trials then it was more than likely that they could just do it in secluded lab. So either this thing whatever it was, was an escaped test subject or…the drug had already been completed and this was just a field test for the amount of damage an enhanced animal was capable of inflicting on civilians or relatively armed hostiles.

Perhaps it might even be more than just a field test as well. Whoever was creating this would have had to have known that if they continued to use the same general area as a testing ground, eventually the League would get involved at some point. The only reason they would do that would be to lure whoever was there into a-

The Inquisitor was unable to finish that thought as the trio heard Aqualad's voice coming through the comm. channels "Inquisitor, we have a situation!"

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-A few minutes earlier-

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After the Bioship finished depositing Kid Flash, Aqualad and Captain Marvel they immediately began searching the area for anything that might give them so much as a hint as to who or what was responsible for the attacks. As they did however, both Kid Flash and Aqualad took notice of the foliage or any movements therein as well as any kind of noises –or lack thereof- that might tell whether they were truly alone.

It was one of the first things that the Inquisitor had taught them when he took charge. Everything in the environment, even the most seemingly insignificant of details said something, whether someone realized it or not and failing to pay close attention would result in death. One of the most prominent was the noise that places made, especially forests and jungles. If there was a lack of noise from animals, whether it be insects or larger animals then it was clear that something was wrong.

The fact that insects were chirping showed that, for the moment at least, they were relatively alone for the time being.

Of course they would still need to be careful of their surroundings and not do anything stupid. It was then that Captain Marvel, who looked almost…childishly giddy at the whole situation.

Aqualad cocked an eyebrow at the sight "You seem…awfully excited about this whole mission."

Captain Marvel looked at Aqualad before he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly "Do I?" He asked, "Well I am pretty excited to be working with the Team, even if I have to deal with 'grumpy.'"

Well that was certainly one way to describe the Inquisitor. Still this might be an opportunity to get some answers from the Leaguer "The two of you really don't seem to get along."

An understatement if there ever was one.

The leaguer managed a look of pouting and exasperation all at once "To say the least, he's always so mean to everyone and looks down on them. It's like we aren't even people in his eyes."

Aqualad hadn't expected Captain Marvel to really open up about his enmity towards the Inquisitor but for some reason he felt the need to defend his new team leader. He did have some pretty good reasons for disliking them for the first few missions the Team went on. Chief among them was that they didn't think anything through, especially when it came to long term consequences of rushing forwards without a plan, but he did say that they were starting to get better.

"He's got his reasons but I think most of the disdain is for what he believes is shortsightedness."

Captain Marvel shook his head "Yeah, well his idea of 'long-term thinking' leaves a lot to be desired. Think about it, every single person he cripples is never going to be able to change themselves for the better. They'll just be stuck like that, forever stewing in their own misery and hate for the rest of their lives. That's just beyond cruel. Besides what if he cripples someone who's innocent. I mean he says he's only doing it to people he catches in the act but what if he decides to do it to someone he thinks is guilty. Like he hasn't seen them commit a crime but he thinks their responsible for one anyways..." Captain Marvel trailed off thinking of the implications and shuddered.

Aqualad wasn't sure how to respond to that one. It did make some sense that the Inquisitor might one day cross the line but…would he really notice or care. The guy came from a universe so far removed from Earth's that even the sense of morality was completely different in comparison. Things that would be considered crimes against humanity on Earth could very well be considered normal battlefield strategies in the Imperium and considering the Inquisitor's disposition, they probably were.

Still though based on what Aqualad had heard from the Inquisitor plus his own impression of him didn't seem to point to him going that far unless something truly horrible occurred. Aqualad was about to offer a rebuttal to that but he noticed something, something that sent alarm bells ringing in his mind. The entire area was completely silent, so much so that one could easily hear a pin drop.

Immediately Aqualad tensed while as discretely as possible put his hands on his holstered water-bearers, ready and waiting to draw the weapons the instant an enemy showed itself.

He wasn't the only one who noticed the unnatural silence as Kid Flash walked up to him and had a hand on the stun baton he had grabbed for the mission and whispered "Uh, Aqualad? Am I the only one who thinks that something is wrong here? As in, horror movie kind of wrong?"

Aqualad shook his head and gestured to a nearby section of the rainforest that had several trees some of which were overturned and made for decent cover. "We start making our way over there and then we call for backup. Try not to look too tense, if someone is watching us we don't want to alert them." He whispered.

Kid Flash gave a short nod and the two started backing away towards the nearest source of cover. Captain Marvel who seemingly wasn't paying much attention to his surroundings as the other two turned to look at the pair and how they were acting. His eyebrows went up and a questioning look appeared on his face "Hey what's going on? Why are you two acting like this?" He asked.

He never got an answer as it was at that moment that a group of animals that only tangentially resembled tigers and elephants. For the tigers, their fur had almost completely fallen out, their teeth were completely exposed because the flesh had been stretched back, and the teeth were oversized, especially the primary incisors.

The elephants weren't as dramatically changed as the tigers but there were more than a few notable differences. They seemed somewhat larger than their normal counterparts. To the point where there were some bony protrusions poking out of their skin. Their tusks were longer, thicker and sharper than that of a normal elephant.

But it was the eyes that were the most horrific thing for both sets of animals, they were completely bloodshot and the irises were a sickly green color that almost seemed to glow.

When the trio saw the necks of both animals they could see an electrical collar that were very similar to the ones that were used in on them in the Qurac/Bialyan Border Region and on the inmates in Belle Reeve. However these didn't seem to be the same as the ones that were in use there as it was unlikely that even mutated as they were, these animals didn't appear to possess any kind of special powers.

Of course there wasn't any time to find out what those collars were being used for as they needed to focus. The area they were in they would easily be surrounded by the attackers. They had to fall back to a better position before-

"Come on let's go get them!" Captain Marvel then flew forwards and slammed a fist into one of the oversized tigers, launching it into some nearby bushes. Unfortunately for him the beast got back up and gave a hellish roar before it began to charge them again.

"Inquisitor, we have a situation!" Aqualad all but yelled into his communicator. There was a brief pause before Aqualad heard the Inquisitor's voice "What's going on?"

The Atlantean wasted no time and instead simply got straight to the point "We're under attack by mutated animals that used to be elephants and tigers!"

"Hold your ground. We will be there momentarily."

Aqualad would have responded if the tigers hadn't turned their attention to him while the elephants continued to focus all of their efforts on Kid Flash and the Atlantean. They had formed a semi-circle around the pair and were growling at the pair menacingly, and seemed to be content with waiting for them to make the first move.

Aqualad's tattoos glowed briefly before water formed out of the bearers and into the shape of a pair of swords. He looked over to Kid Flash who had a grin on his face and was tossing a flashbang grenade up and down in his hand. Immediately Aqualad knew his friend's thought process and smiled as well. He gave Kid Flash a nod to which the speedster pulled the pin on the flashbang and tossed it right out in front of him.

The pair shielded their eyes and ears from the burst of sound and light preventing themselves from becoming temporarily blind and deaf from the grenade. The instant that the smoke cleared however there were a group of dazed and confused mutant tigers that were waiting for someone to kick their asses.

Kid Flash and Aqualad threw themselves at the enemy, hoping to break through them and reach Captain Marvel who, curiously enough seemed to chasing after an enemy that was slowly starting to pull back.

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To be continued.

I wanted to make the chapter longer but I figured that I'd kept you all waiting long enough.