The Heart Returns

  Two guards were standing at the front gate, their focus hard as steel, their bodies relaxed yet alert, and their weapons freshly sharpened to cut their foes down. They were fanatically loyal to Ra's Al Ghul and his plans, they would allow nothing through.

 "Do you hear something?" One of the guards asked, the other guard closed his eyes and focused on his hearing......until he heard the strange noise as well.

 Clank, clank, clank......soon the guards could spot what they thought was a human walking through the blizzard......until the stranger raised his arms.

 "Intru-" BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG! 

 The guards were unable to warn or even defend themselves as G.I.Robot cut them down with his rifles. Luckily, his rifles also destroyed the door, giving him free access to the stronghold.

 G.I. continued his assault against the League of Shadows, causing many of the assassins to take cover. Flagg kept close and stayed close to the ground, sniping any assassin who tries to take G.I. out.

 Phosphorus and Nina stuck to the wall and slowly shifted to the closest door where the Northeast Tower. As soon as they were near the door, Phosphorus melted the locked door and entered. The corridor they went through was narrow and dark......well, thank goodness Phosphorus can work as a walking torch.

 "Maybe if we get through this, you can change careers as a cave tour guide." Nina jokingly states.

 "Then I guess you'd make a good marine biologist, you already know how fish feel when they're suffocating." His heart actually fluttered when Nina laughed at his joke......until he noticed a shadow that wasn't moving like the others, "......Nina, watch out!"

 As Phosphorus pushed Nina out of the way, Phosphorus was enveloped by a strange darkness, almost similar to a black blanket covering him.

 Nina then watched as a man dressed like a Victorian gentleman step out of the shadows.

 "Good evening, young lady," The stranger greets, "I am known as The Shade, former criminal and now disciple of the Demon's Head. My master has assigned me to delay the two of you. The flaming one is taking care of......you shouldn't be too much trouble."

 Before Shade could deliver the killing blow to Nina, he noticed the shadows that enveloped Phosphorus was starting to strain......

 Nina hit the ground as Phosphorus exploded his way out of the shadows. He then cracked his neck before turning to Shade, who stood back up and dusted himself off.

 "Nina.......go get Bride, I'll catch up....." Nina noticed how his tone seemed.....dark and cold, "don't worry....this'll be quick....."

 Nina wanted to help Phosphorus......but she was worried about Bride. She had to find her.......

 Nina ran down the corridor, Phosphorus turned back to Shade, who now looked absolutely terrified.......

-Back with Nina-

 Nina kept creeping down......sticking to the wall as without Phosphorus, everything was darkness. She hoped this corridor lead directly to where Bride and Grundy were.

  Nina soon found a door, which lead to what looked like some type of kitchen. Everything was empty and silent.....except for the dripping sink.

 "Blip, blip, blip......." Wait, who said that! Wasn't she alone?

 She frantically looked around, until she saw who made the sound, a man dressed as a mobster, wearing a black face mask with what looked like two circles, a circle inside a larger circle......why did that seem familiar to her.

 "Dun, dun, dun!" The man......ehh, said, then he slowly walked towards her, "Click, Click, click....."

 Why was he saying sound effects, why doesn't he just talk.......Nina backed away from him.

 ".....pow....." Nina barely blocked this strange man's right hook.....which hit her like a sledgehammer!

 Nina nearly fell to the ground, her ear ringing.

 "Blam....." The strange man kicked Nina's ribcage, causing her to cough violently, even feeling some blood from her mouth.

  Nina soon noticed a small pile of flour that fell from a bag......she grabbed a fistful of flour as the man grabbed her from the back of her head.

 "Swish...." Nina muttered as she threw the flour into the man's masked face, causing him to cough uncontrollably,  given Nina the opportunity to grab a frying pan and hit the man in the back of the head, causing the man to collapse onto the ground.......she hoped she didn't kill him, she still wasn't into he idea of killing people, never understanding why Bride seemed to like killing.

 If it wasn't for the fact she loved that woman, Nina would've been terrified......okay, she admits it, Bride can be quite terrifying all the time, but that doesn't change how Nina feels.

 The fish girl put her hand to the strange man's neck to check for a pulse......

 Nina sighed in relief that the man wasn't dead, just out cold. So......no reason to stay any longer if he wakes up. 

 Nina ran to the nearest door.....why are there direction signs or at least someone to give her directions. 

 -Back outside-

 G.I. was having the time of his life, killing these people who were similar to Nazi's! Flagg shot another assassin who tried to get into a sniping position.

 "G.I! We need to move forward!" Flagg instructed, which G.I. slowly walked forward, still firing and killing, still enjoying himself......until he saw a single woman standing in front of his and Flagg's way.

 "G.I.Robot is curious as to why someone similar to a Nazi would stand all alone inf a courtyard," G.I. asked as he scanned the area, "without any backup....."

 Flagg looks over G.I.'s shoulder and his eyes widened. 

 "G.I! Keep firing, that's Lady Shiva!" Flagg yelled......but as G.I. took aim, Lady Shiva was already inches from the war machine, and kicked his head off!

 Not giving himself time to worry where G.I.'s head fell, Flagg pushed his robotic friend's headless body to collapse on Lady Shiva, who dodged to the side. Flagg planned on that as he tackled Lady Shiva to the ground.......which Shive proceeded to roll and throw Flagg off her.

 Flagg landed with a hard thud, rolling the rest of the way to avoid further injury......damn, this woman was damn good!

 Lady Shiva confidently strutted over towards Flagg, not fearing the fact Flagg still had a gun in his hand. He tried to aim- only for Shiva to kick it out of his hand!

 "You'd think soldiers chosen by Waler would be harder to beat?" Shiva said in a mocking tone.....

 Flagg merely smiled.

 "You guys seriously didn't look into G.I.Robot's upgrades, did you?" Shiva's eyes widen, she had to-

 BANG!

  Only for a bullet to rip through her chest, causing her to fall over. Flagg sighed in relief as he looked back to G.I.'s body......seeing his rifle arm aimed right in the direction that shot Lady Shiva.

 "Well, at least that's one of them...." Flagg said as he stood and cradled his, possibly, broken shoulder, "Hey tinman! Where'd your head land?"

 The headless automaton pointed in a direction, where Flagg saw a smashed vase, with G.I.'s head in the mess.

 "General, are you unharmed?" G.I. asked

 "As alright as I can get....' Flagg groaned as he tried to readjust his shoulder.

 Unknown to the the general......a massive, tail-like appendage slithered acrossed the ally they were in.

-Back in the corridor-

 Shade wasn't having the best time......no matter what he threw at Phosphorus, the flaming skeleton kept burning away the darkness.

 "Ya'know, from what I heard about you," Phosphorus started mocking, "an enemy of the Justice Society, a constant threat to the Flash, I figured you as some kind of boogeyman......think about how disappointed I am. Guess you use bitch tactics to take down Bride and Grundy, not really doing anything while this......darkness did all the work. Tell me......" 

 As Phosphorus neared Shade, he grabbed Shade's cane, breaking it over his knee. 

 "You already regret your choices?" Before Shade could answer, Phosphorus slams the back of his head into the wall, and his hand starts heating up and melting the famous criminal's entire head into liquid, "Now I gotta find Nina....."

 Phosphorus walked through the corridor, he's glad he has a constant bright light to keep himself from wandering around. He decided to check the nearest door, and found himself in a kitchen......and from what looked like evidence of a fight, and that someone was on the ground......two people?

 Phosphorus soon found a discarded frying pan. It's possible Nina actually fought someone......with her being on the end of a beat down due to stains on the ground that looked like fresh blood......but it was cold.......she must've had a window of opportunity and knocked the guy out, not killed or he'd find a dead body somewhere.

 He wouldn't say this out loud.......but he's glad Nina wasn't a killer like them. He shrugged and went through another random door.

-Back with Nina-

 Nina shuffled as quietly as she could. She soon found a very large, metal door, locked tightly. Surely, this door lead to Bride!

 Nina tried to pull as hard as she could......but she was a mutated human, not an Atlantean. She did, however, see the bolts that held the door together. Luckily, Humanite helped her with her studies of everything, including chemistry.

 Nina took out a vial she was thankful didn't break when she was.......getting beaten up by that strange man. The vial held a corrosive liquid that should help her melt the bolts and force the door to fall.

 She poured the liquid onto one of the bolts.......only for them to be partially melted.

 "Shit....." What could she do now.....

 "Jingle, jingle....." Holy fuck! Nina turned quickly and saw the strange man, with keys in his hand.

 "I......uh.....um......" What could she do, this man was obviously stronger and more vicious. Nina simply closed her eyes, awaiting the invetiable end......

 "Click...." Nina suddenly heard, she opened her eyes to see.....the man opening the door for her?

-Phosphorus-

  The door melted like ice cream on a hot summer day. Phosphorus was actually impressed how thick the metal of the door was, these League of Shadows guys spare no expense.

 Sadly, he only found one teammate.....and he was locked up tight. Heavy ass chains that look like they would give Superman trouble to break, fitting considered who the chains held.

 "Grundy....." Phosphorus was glad to see the big lug, but he was hoping to find Bride, hopefully Nina found her, "You alright, big guy?"

 Grundy groaned, must be drugged, as he lifted his head.....

 "Skeleton man......" Grundy's name for Phosphorus.

 "What say we get ya out of here, huh?" Phosphorus asked as he started to melt the chains.

 "Weird head lady....." Grundy's name for Bride, he was obviously worried.

 "I'm sure she's fine, probably getting saved by the fish girl....." At least he hoped.

 "Fish girl nice....." Grundy mumbled.....Phosphorus then had an idea.

 "Yeah, but I'm almost worried for her.....all these assassins and the leader's favorite dish is fish....." Phosphorus stepped back as Grundy's growls actually shook the ground, "Go apeshit, bog guy."

 Grundy broke his chains with a powerful flex.....then rammed through the walls. 

 -Flagg and G.I.Robot-

 Flagg was so thankful ARGUS made G.I. so easily repairable. He was just finishing putting his robotic teammate's head back on.

 "Ya good, Tin man?" G.I. moved his head to test how well held his head was.

 "G.I.Robot is back to operating function, sir!" G.I. responds with a salute......when something almost crashed landed right next to them, causing Flagg to gi flying while G.I. remained in his spot, "G.I.Robot's sensors have identified the strange object that landed is indeed friend Grundy!"

 Flagg dusted himself off as he picked himself off.

 "Least this gives us better odds....."

-Nina-

 Nina hated being negative.....but even though the man was helping her, he was still with the League of Shadows and an assassin, why was he helping her?

 "Click, click, click....." the man kept saying as he walked. Is he unable to say actual words and say sound effects.....

 The man suddenly stops, Nina almost hitting his back.

 "Um.....is everything alright?" Nina asked, hoping the man wasn't about to betray and kill her.

 Only for her fears to be dashed when the man pointed forward.

 "Ding, ding, ding...." The man said as if he'd won a gameshow. Nina looked past him and saw.......

 "Bride!" Nina yells as she runs over to her girlfriend, who was held in extremely heavy chains, "Are you alright?"

 Bride groaned as she opened her eyes.

 "You know it's fucking rude to wake someone during a nap," Bride joked.....until she saw the strange man, "Nina baby, why is there one of the League's top disciples here with you?"

 "Oh, him......I'm not too sure, he doesn't really....talk normally...." Nina could seriously not think of why he was helping her.

 "Well........get me down, and if he tries anything, I'll rip his balls off." Bride said, only to see Nina look back to the strange man and Bride sighs, "He has the keys, doesn't he?"

 "I'm not sure I can actually take the keys....." Nina confessed, she was lucky to have caught the man off guard, but in a straight up fight, Nina would die......again.

 The two females pondered if they can trust the man, until......

 "Dun, dun, dun!" The man......ehh, said.

 "The fuck-" Before Bride could finish, a massive hand grabbed the man by the head, causing the man's fedora to fall.

 The man's captor stepped out the shadows......and Bride became more afraid for Nina than ever. The man was human, at least close to human, his muscles and height rivaled Erik's, he had on black cargo pants, black tank top, and a mask with red lenses and what reminded Bride of a featureless skull. The oddest thing about the man was the tube that attached to the back of his skull and attached to a device on his wrist.

 "A usual disappointment, Onomatopoeia....." the man said in a deep, South American accent, "Master, in rare moments, made the mistake of letting a mistake like you in the League of Shadows." 

 The massive man threw the strange man, now known as Onomatopoeia, across the room, making him land with a harsh thud. The man then reached behind him and pulled out a radio.

 "Master....." The massive man spoke, "the Commandos are in position...."

 "A superb job, Bane....." The voice responded from the radio, which hearing the master call the man by name, her blood froze, "Finish the females and join Shiva out in the court yard."

 "Understood, Master." Bane said as he put the radio away and cracked his neck, "Apologies, miss, but I want to fight the Bride at her peak, and the only way for that......"

 Bride immediately understood what Bane was talking about.

 "Nina, forget about me! Get the Hell out of here!" Bride tried to warn......only to see Bame grab Nina by the arm and leg and lift the fish girl over his head.

 "Is to break her!" Bane says, ready to snap Nina's spine the same way he broke the Bat so long ago.

 "Nooooooo!"

-Flagg, G.I.Robot, and Grundy-

 Flagg's team was finishing up their tasks, all the lesser known disciples being either dropped or surrendered and Flagg was already handcuffed the surrendered disciples.

 "Alright! We still need to regroup with Nina and Phosphorus, hopefully, they'll have rescued Bride and we can finish this and call for pickup." Flagg stated, knowing G.I. understood......Grundy, though, "We find our friends, kill or capture remaining enemies, and call for someone to pick us up."

 Grundy took......what Flagg considers a long time till the big zombie responded. 

 "Okay....."

 "You may want to save your celebration for later!" A voice said, which Flagg turned and couldn't believe what he was seeing!

 It was Lady Shiva, her chest bleeding but she stood tall and strong.

 "Grundy, G.I., take her out!" Flagg orders!

 Unfortunately,  when Grundy charged, Shiva moved like blur, striking several nerve points before Grundy fell to the ground with a thundering thud.

 "Grundy don't feel so good....." Grundy whined as he couldn't move a muscle.

 G.I. suddenly fired his arm rifles, only for Shiva to dodge all the bullets then proceed to tear G.I.'s arms off then knock his head off again.

 "Oh, shit......" Flagg said as he had to come up with a plan to take out this woman who just defeated two powerhouses like Grundy and G.I.

-Phosphorus-

 Phosphorus stretched, ready to rejoin with Nina, hoping she found her patch-work girlfriend......only for something to wrap around his neck and throwing him across the room.

 "Fuck....." Phosphorus groaned as he picked himself up and saw who or what just threw him.

 He saw two people, one he was sure he just killed, Shade, and the other.......no idea.

 The other person had ghostly pale skin, sickly green eyes and a snake-like face. He dressed in green and orange. Yet the way his face looked and how he dressed wasn't what got Phosphorus's attention, it was the massive orange tail that reminded him of a massive snake.

 Back when he was a crime lord, he knew who this.....thing was, and Phosphorus was actually nervous. This guy was know as Copperhead, a reptile metahuman with an addiction to cybernetic surgery.

 -In an isolated room-

 Ra's watched everything happen in a hidden room, cameras everywhere.

 "I wonder, Waller, if your latest team has any chance against my disciples......"