Link Established

By Minastara

~8~

Disclaimer: See the first chapter for the disclaimer.

Special Thanks to everyone (you know who you are) for reviewing! Also thanks to everyone who read, but didn't review!

Key:

"Hi" - Speech

"*Hi*" - Speech through Link

'Hi' - Thoughts

Now, on with the story!

~8~

Chapter 5: Unseen Chains Are Hard to Break

"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." –Winston Churchill

~8~

It had been a quiet night. Strange since Friday nights seem to signal a need to party and engage in all types of mischief in humans. He had shared his observation with Wally, who only laughed and said that it was only humans letting off some 'steam' after the work week. From the context, he gathered it was some type of stress release rather than in the literal sense since it was anatomically impossible for the average human.

Still, the night had started out quiet. That changed when Wally called in about Anyssa. The conversation that Wally had with Anyssa's neighbor was concerning and they all suspected that the bond may be influencing her behavior. Their first order of business was to find her.

With Clark handling an issue in South America, the three of them came up with a plan. Wally would begin the initial search, going through the clubs in Metropolis and if they needed, expand to those in Gotham. While Wally searched, Bruce would surveil Anyssa's apartment building, in the off chance she came home before Wally found her. He would stay with Bruce, but his task was to observe the bond for any activity from Anyssa. After Wally left, Bruce revealed more of his plan to him.

The detective did not have much hope in Wally being able to handle Anyssa if he found her, especially if they were right and the Link was influencing her. Bruce tasked him with not just monitoring the bond, but specifically the pathway between Wally and Anyssa. If he noticed any activity, he was to inform Bruce and the detective would track them down and investigate. While Bruce investigated, they were to maintain mental contact. If that contact was broken for any reason before Bruce rejoined him, he was to wait five minutes, come to them and shut down any acts of persuasion from Anyssa.

Plan formed, he turned his focus inward, narrowing his attention to the Link between Wally and Anyssa. Observing the Link externally was always a strange experience for him. The Link routes between them and Anyssa were heavily shielded, as was Anyssa herself. He knew that Anyssa viewed the bonds to her as a hub and in a way she was right. Internally, the bond worked in that fashion, but externally... The best analogy of the bond's external view that he could come up with to explain it was that of subway tracks hidden deep beneath the surface. There was no way to tell what the 'trains' on these tracks carried or, if one was unfamiliar with the system, their destinations. He suspected that it would take a very powerful and determined mind, perhaps even more powerful than his own, to even attempt to break through the shielding and find out. Fortunately, that was not his task tonight. Since he was very familiar with the 'routes', he could sense the train's direction, though not its cargo.

Since the speedster began thirty minutes ago, Wally has been sporadically sending something along the Link to Anyssa with no response. Then, something changed. Anyssa started to respond back along Wally's route. It was short bursts at first between the two, then silence for about five minutes. He had not been sure if that meant that Wally or Anyssa had cut contact until the route lit up again. This time, the bursts were continuous and coming from both of them.

"Flash has found her," he reported to his companion. A minute later, he sensed Wally's close proximity before seeing them enter the apartment building.

"No, Anyssa has him. Flash would have brought her to us, not to her apartment," Bruce stated. Bruce reached down to his belt and pulled a grapple launcher. There was a slight pop as he shot the line toward Anyssa's building. "*Remember; five minutes.*"

He nodded and responded with "*Five minutes.*" He watched Bruce swing across and enter through the roof access panel. All through the motions, Bruce maintained a separate mental track without faltering. This time Bruce had chosen to recite from one of Shakespeare's works, though he wasn't sure if it was from King Lear or The Tempest. The mental discipline of the human never failed to surprise him. Minutes later, he sensed Wally's departure.

Nearly an hour and 2 Acts later, the mental string stopped and he left his position on the opposite building. At four minutes and fifty seconds, he phased through the wall into Anyssa's bedroom. The scene that greeted him was certainly a surprise. Bruce was seated in a chair, unrestrained and not resisting as Anyssa began removing the top of his costume. He came up behind her and initiated a direct connection to her mind. He had thought to quickly expel the interloper, but whoever they were had a strong hold on Anyssa's mind. With his element of surprise gone, the intruder started their retaliation, and if he had been a little less experienced, the psychic scars would have been of a more permanent nature.

Since he could not pull the intruder out, he decided to completely lock down Anyssa's mind, chaining both entities to the subconscious. How long either mind would remain enchained was something he could not surmise and says as much to Bruce. "She is strong. Unfortunately, I was only able to lock her down, not pull her out as we planned,"

The Dark Knight carried her over to the bed and laid her down. "Based on what she told me, you wouldn't have been able to. Apparently, she is an alternate persona, a dangerous one, to both Anyssa and us," he explained. "J'onn, pack her a bag. I'll meet you on the roof," he continued, already heading for the bedroom door. He heard Bruce as he ordered Clark to retrieve Wally and convene at the Cave, or Batcave as Wally jokingly called it. It was a joke that Bruce did not appreciate, though he and Clark found to amusing and apropos.

With Bruce gone, he went about his task. He found a small duffle bag in the lower right corner of her closet. He pulled two sets of jean shorts and a pair of black sandals from her closet before heading to the dresser. The dresser drawers yielded some short-sleeved and sleeveless tops and underwear. He packed two sets of sleeveless tops and underwear, though the concept of underwear did not make much sense to him. This was especially true given it was the hot season, when less clothing would be more beneficial. He had raised this point to his teammates. Diana had agreed with him. Wally was too busy laughing at Clark and John as they stumbled through an explanation that made little sense to him or Diana. Bruce ignored them all as usual. Finally, Shayara told him that the garments offered a little mystery and that 'taking them off can be a lot of fun too.' No one objected to that statement.

With the clothes gathered, he headed to the bathroom for her toothpaste and toothbrush. Duffle packed, he slung the strap onto his right shoulder, picked Anyssa up bridal-style with her head resting against his left shoulder, and headed for the apartment door. Right before he opened the door, he sensed another mind outside hallway. A deeper probe revealed that Mrs. Kimble was coming to investigate the noises she'd heard, her concern and curiosity rubbing against his mind. Not wanting the older woman to come to the door or call the police, he slipped into her mind. With a quick scan, he gently reinforced the idea that she was just hearing things and that she must have been more tired than she realized. Sensing the mind distance itself and the click of a door closing, he monitored her surface thoughts for a few moments to make sure that his suggestion had taken root. Once sure of it, he slipped back out of the older woman's mind.

Not wanting to trigger the other woman's suspicions again, he decided to take a more inconspicuous route to the roof. Tightening his hold on Anyssa, he phase-shifted them both and ascended through the living room ceiling to the roof. On the roof, Bruce had his two-seater mini-jet out of stealth-mode, engine running. The canopy open, he sat her in the rear seat of the plane, the small duffle placed in her lap. The question he had poised to Bruce was given an equally solemn answer.

The jet ascended into the night sky with him not far behind it. He followed the plane to the cliffs that border the back end of the Wayne estate, the seas below crashing against the rocky shore. The jet and he hovered as the rock face shifted to reveal the steel doors embedded in the cliff. Those doors opened and he followed the jet into the dark tunnel ahead. There was not much light within the tunnel and he only had the jet in front of him to navigate through the darkness. Thankfully, the tunnel widened into a large cavern.

The jet was slowly descending to the landing pad below when he exited the tunnel. There standing beside the landing pad was Alfred Pennyworth, his back straight and awaiting his charge. He landed a few feet from the butler and solidified his form.

"Good evening, Mister J'onzz," Alfred said, not surprised by his sudden appearance beside him.

"Good evening to you as well, Alfred," he replied. He heard a rustle of fabric and there was Bruce next to him with Anyssa in his arms.

"Shall I prepare one of the guest rooms for Miss Anyssa, sir?" Alfred asked as if Bruce bringing home unconscious women was the norm.

"Not yet, Alfred. There's a duffle for her in the jet. For now, she is going to the Red cage," Bruce explained.

Whatever this Red cage was, the mention of it was enough to rise the eyebrows of the normally stoic British man. "Understood, sir. Misters Kent and West await you in the main cavern. Shall I escort them to the cage, sir?"

"Yes, Alfred."

"Very well, sir," was the only reply given as the butler turned around and walked into the dark recess of the cave.

He followed Bruce into an equally dark recess slightly to the left of where Alfred had gone. As they progressed down the carved pathways, he heard the occasional shriek and the flap of wings, a reminder that they were not the only ones traversing those tunnels. It wasn't long before Bruce turned off the path into another tunnel that he was certain he would not have seen if not led to it. It wasn't long after turning off that they came to a holding cell.

The cell's bar matched the dark rock around and within the cell, but he doubted they were made of the same substance. The opposite wall had a small cot, neatly made up with a small, while pillow and sheet. The right wall had wall-mounted manacles at both shoulder and ankle height. The left wall had an interesting contraption pushed against it. The device was X-shaped with a headrest on the top apex. An adjoining monitor was attached to the wall to the right and about a foot above the device. The top of the X was angled toward the wall with the bottom half angled toward the opposing wall. Each arm of the X had a manacle and the cross section had a belly band, all of them open and ready for prey.

Bruce tapped a pattern to the left of the bars and the bars slid open from the right. Bruce carried Anyssa over to the X apparatus. He set her arms and legs within the manacles and J'onn watched as Bruce pressed a sequence on the side of the machine. The manacles and belly band snapped shut and a dim, red light radiated from between the cuffs and Anyssa's skin. He looked at Bruce, his brow raised in question.

"A theory," was the detective's response.

"Your guests, sir," a voice called from behind them before he could ask for further clarification.

He turned to see Clark and Wally behind the butler. They both were in uniform, though Wally had his mask pull back to reveal his face. Alfred stood to the side of the opening and gestured for the two to proceed inward.

"You do know that this is seriously creepy, right? I mean, a jail in the depths of a cave? This is the stuff of nightmares and I'm pretty sure this is going to be featured in mine," Wally stated, voice rushed. It was easy to tell when he finally noticed the tableau in front of him. "What the heck is going on here?! Why do you have Anyssa in that thing? What the heck is that thing, anyway?" the speedster exclaimed.

Clark crossed his arms over his chest, a frown on his face. Bruce ignored them both as he adjusted the monitor to read what J'onn presumed were her vital signs. "They are for her safety as well as ours. After what she did to you and Kent, and what she tried to do to me, this seemed the best solution," Bruce explained.

" 'What she did to me and Wally'? What are you talking about?" Clark questioned, his arms dropping to his sides.

Wally's cheeks flamed a red that almost matched his hair at Bruce's remark. Apparently, the speedster had not filled the Kryptonian in on his near seduction with Anyssa, no... Dominique.

"She managed to seduce Wally and she tried to force the issue with me-" Bruce stated only to be interrupted twin exclaims of "What!"

The detective continued on, "But that's not important right now." Bruce turned from the monitor and focused on Clark. "Who is Dominique and how is she related to Darkseid?" he demanded.

Clark's eyes widened in surprise, whether it was the question or Bruce's sudden focus, J'onn couldn't know. "Dominique?" Clark repeated. "She's Darkseid's top interrogator and Granny's top Fury, but how do you-" Clark stopped himself, looking between Bruce and the bound Anyssa. "She's the one controlling Anyssa," Clark concluded.

It was then that he felt something at the edge of his awareness. He held his hand up to try to forestall further conversation. He focused his attention to what had pinged his consciousness and found himself led back to her, but the thoughts did not belong to the body's primary host.

Dominique was awake.

"You may as well open your eyes, Dominique. I know you are awake," he proclaimed.

Though her eyes did not open as he gave the command, a smile slowly start to spread across her lips. "Still poking around in me, huh, J'onn? Did the last time give you a taste for more?" she inquired, those brown eyes opening to focus on him. It stirred a strange, sickening feeling in his stomach to see another staring out at him from the once cheerfully, curious brown eyes of his gl'ad'ea.

"What about our interaction would make you believe I would want to repeat it?" he countered.

All she did was smile in response. She shifted her attention from him to take in the room's other occupants. "Well, well. This is certainly a surprise." She looked up to her bound wrists and added, "In more ways than one." She gave her wrists a few tugs before focusing on Bruce. "What makes you think this attempt at restraints will be more successful than the last?" she asked. Bruce waved his hand in front of himself in a be-my-guest gesture and she started to pull her fisted, right wrist downward. Her smug smile soon fell as she tried the same maneuver a few more times. She finally gave up with a sigh. "Good job, Bruce. You have managed a captive audience for now. Let us see how long you can hold it. What do you want?"

"We want to know what you're doing here, Dominique. Did scaring Granny's new orphans in the pits get boring?" Clark jumped in.

She turned her gaze from Bruce to Clark. He watched as her eyes raked over Clark from top to bottom. "Sometimes, but you know orphans were not the only ones scared of me. Lashina was scared of me. So scared I was going to take her precious new toy away. Well, if I had known then what you were like in bed, Kal, she would have had good reason to be scared. In fact, I would have broken her legs and made her watch as I took her toy over and over again," she stated, as if the cruelty in that statement was as normal as breathing and, he realized, for her it may be. "Tell me, Kal, who was better? Who, in the remembering, sets that Kryptonian blood aflame?"

Clark remained silent, though he had moved his arms to cross over chest once again. Dominique continued to watch Clark. After a few moments, she nodded as if Clark had replied to her lurid inquiry. Though J'onn was paying sharp attention to the bond and did not sense any telepathic communications, he could not be sure of what Anyssa's empathic abilities were telling Dominique about Clark.

"Why are you controlling Anyssa?" Wally broke in, asking the question they all wanted the answer to.

She looked at them all in turn. "What do I get for answering your questions? I doubt very much that you will release me," she stated, looking to Bruce.

"Don't answer them, you tell us we have nothing to gain by keeping you awake," Bruce replied.

She glanced at him and returned to Bruce. "You think J'onn has what it takes to lock me down and return your precious Anyssa to you? I doubt that," she argued, her expression smug.

"J'onn is not the one you should worry about. He may or may not be able to stop you, but your little trick from earlier will not work a second time and I am very patient," Bruce countered.

She remained silent, no longer smug and confident, but not necessarily frightened of the Batman. After a few more minutes of consideration, she must have decided that acquiescence would benefit her more because she answered Wally's question. "I did not choose this body, but I will have to thank Granny. Her choice was rather fortuitous."

"How so?" he asked.

"I was tasked with getting close to you and Anyssa, with her delicious body, did all of the work for me!" She gave a small laugh.

"So, you didn't create the bond between us?" Clark voiced his question.

"Do you not remember, Kal? My specialty lie in using the body to break the mind for our Lord's -"

"Darkseid was never any 'Lord' of mine! He was a monster and he deserved what happened to him!" Clark exclaimed in fury. Though he may not had realized it in his anger, Clark had moved so close to Dominique that their breaths undoubtedly shared the same space. Wally quickly came up on Clark's left side, grabbed his upper arm and tugged at him to put more space between Dominique and Clark. Whether Wally did that for Clark's sake or Dominique's, he could not say, but he was glad for the speedster's quick thinking.

Once Wally had maneuvered Clark back toward the cell opening and seemed sure that the Kryptonian wasn't going to try to push forward again, Wally repeated the question, "You're saying that Anyssa created the bond between us?"

"Yes..." she answered, though clearly something was distracting her. He had barely caught a whisper of "No. It cannot be." from the woman before she again fixated on Clark. "What did you mean by that? What has become of Lord Darkseid?" she demanded. Clark refused to answer.

"As far as we know, Darkseid died when Brainiac's asteroid imploded," Bruce explained.

She was silent, her eyes widened in shock. Those eyes then closed, her head bowed, and her shoulders began trembling. For a moment, he thought that she was crying, mourning the death her god. That is until he heard the giggling, which turned into full blown laughter. "You fools really believe that nonsense?" she asked them after she managed to calm her peals of laughter. Their silence just reignited her glee. "Lord Darkseid is not dead; and, even if he is, it would not be by your or Brainiac's hand," she refuted.

Bruce stepped forward, though he was more cautious of possible contact, much more so than Clark had been. "You may consider Darkseid a god, and there is always the possibility that he may have survived." Clark made some sounds of protest, but Bruce cut him off as he continued, "But the fact remains that we have not seen or heard from Darkseid since that day. If that was the sole purpose of your mission, then you can leave Anyssa and we will not move against Apokolips. I am sure that you would not want the All-Father aware of this breach of the treaty, especially with Darkseid 'missing'."

"She won't just leave, Bruce. She's an Entozoan," Clark revealed, though his revelation had little meaning to him.

"What, like an entozoon?" Wally asked,

Clark tilted his head to the side as he considered the comparison. He then nodded and said, "Similar concept. Only instead of feeding off the host's physical resources, they assimilate the host persona and take the body for themselves."

Wally's mouth fell open in horrified silence. Bruce's lips pressed thin and his eyes narrowed. Clark's expression was one of disgust and righteous anger. He doubted his expression was any better than Wally's or Bruce's. The species type was not a foreign one to him. There were many worlds in the universe and he had heard of other beings with similar parasitic tendencies. Though he had never heard of these Entozoans, Clark's description did not portray them as a peaceful species.

He shifted his attention back to Dominique. Her jubilance was gone, replaced by an intense stare aimed at Clark. She was definitely not happy and he made sure to double-check the bond to ensure himself that she was not making any attempts to entrap Clark. It seemed that he was not the only one to notice the change in Dominique.

"Kent, do you know how long the assimilation process takes?" Bruce asked. Clark looked at Bruce for a moment, then his eyes widened in some type of realization. "A week. I-I mean, Lash told me that she normally disappears for that long before showing off a new body."

Suddenly, he understood the mystery piece to the puzzle that was Dominique Bruce and Clark had found and it gave him new hope. He was not the only one to share in that hope as Wally too caught on.

"But, she's been in Anyssa for over a month..." the speedster uttered.

Finally, Bruce asked the last question they all had, though it came out as more of a statement. "She's fighting you, isn't she?"

The blank expression she had previously was replaced by a small smile that sent a chill through him as only the brightest flame could. She looked back to Clark and did not break eye contact as she replied. "It seems that Lashina's tongue needs a new owner. I will be sure to claim it when we return to Apokolips."

"Lock her down," Bruce directed at him. She cried out, "No!" just as he forced his way into her mind, trying to stun her as he had done before. Unfortunately, she was ready for him. She snapped the first tie he placed on her and returned the gesture with barbed whips that hooked painful strips across his psyche. He ignored the strips in favor of adding more chains to her, to force her further into the deepest, darkest part of Anyssa's mind. She continued to snap them, but she was not fast enough. While it took some time, more than he thought he would need, he finally managed to enchain her to the deepest part of Anyssa's subconscious.

When he finally came back to himself, Wally was standing beside her, but watching him, waiting for a sign that he had triumphed he supposed. He nodded at Wally, and the red-head began unlocking the restraints. Bruce and Clark were over by the door, speaking low enough that J'onn couldn't hear. The fact that the pair had not awaited the result of his confrontation with Dominique spoke volumes about their confidence in his abilities; a confidence he was not sure he deserved.

Dominique is a strong opponent in her own right. If she grew to match his speed, or worse full control of Anyssa's abilities, she would be a force to reckon with. They needed to find a way to get Dominique out of Anyssa. Immediately.

He went over to help Wally, who was surprisingly silent, in his task. That was a phenomenon to J'onn. For as long as he has known Wally West, the speedster has always provided some type of commentary to the events around them. The human's ongoing silence meant he was reflecting on his own thoughts about their predicament. He has just gotten Anyssa's legs released from the shackles when Wally spoke. "They're arguing over what to do with her. Clark wants to actually give her to the Guardians. He thinks they can break the bond."

Wally unhooked the second cuff on her wrists and started entering the code for the one around her waist. "Bruce thinks we can handle this on our own, that the Guardians could make it worst. Oh, and he thinks that Sups is letting his history with Darkseid cloud his judgement. Totally weird to see Batman taking the optimistic side, let me tell you," Wally babbled as the speedster caught him up on what he had missed.

In truth, both arguments had merit. The Guardians of Oa were powerful and, with time could possibly unlink them; however, there was no guarantee that the attempt would not kill them all, given the strength of the link between them. He had tried to explain that strength to the others, but none of them could understand without his experience. Each of the pathways between them and Anyssa were so strongly shielded he suspected an attack strong enough to breach the link would echo across the bond with possibly deadly results, for them and their assailant. A true dilemma.

Wally had opened the waist cuff around Anyssa when her body started to list to the right. Wally picked her up, right arm under her knees and the left supporting her back, and carried her to the cot sitting against the rear of the cell. He watched as Wally laid her down gently on the cot, ensuring that her head rested on the small pillow. The red-headed man knelt down beside the cot, gentle as he grabbed up her left wrist and held it within his grasp. A gesture of comfort, though to whom, he could not say.

He turned from one pair and focused on the other.

"-don't understand! That woman is Darkseid's chief interrogator. She understands the mind in ways I doubt even J'onn does and you want to risk us and the world on a gamble. What happened to the greater good?" Clark asked, his arms once again crossed over his chest.

"What happened to fighting for those that cannot?" Bruce countered. "If this were anyone beside Darkseid, you would be fighting to do the same, Kent. You're just afraid-"

"This is her life too!" a voice interrupted from behind him. The speedster had moved to stand beside J'onn. The man to his right wasn't the usually carefree hero he knew. This man was furious and the ire was directed at the men before them. "I can't believe we are even doing this. Arguing like we have the right to decide if Anyssa lives or dies. If she is still in there, it is her decision and only hers," Wally proclaimed. "The only thing we can do is give her the best chance. J'onn." He turned to face the speedster. "With Dominique locked down, will Anyssa wake up?"

He thought about that for a moment. "If Anyssa is truly resisting Dominique's assimilation subconsciously as Bruce surmises, then she may awaken within the next eight to twelve hours." Wally smiled and started to say something when he continued, "However, if the assimilation process has progressed too far, then Anyssa's body will start to shut down without a mind, without Dominique, to drive it."

"Then, we wait. If Anyssa doesn't wake up after twelve hours, we'll ask GL to contact the Guardians. Agreed?" Wally asked, though his tone suggested it was more of a command than a request.

Bruce looked at Wally with a strange expression, like the speedster had done something completely unexpected. A second more, Bruce nodded and said, "Agreed."

He readily said, "Agreed."

The three males turned their gaze to the last member of their quartet. Clark. While they were focused on Clark, the Kryptonian's focus was entirely on Anyssa. There was a lot of anger there, but his eyes held something else. It was not until he turned his back on all of them, said, "Do whatever you want. I'm heading back to Metropolis," and walked out of the cell that he realized what he had seen the man's eyes. Sadness.

"She can stay here. This cell is outfitted with the same emitters as the Crux, so she will be contained," Bruce stated.

"I will stay and monitor her progress," J'onn volunteered.

"Are you sure, J'onn? I don't mind watching her with you. I'll even take the first shift." When he continued to stare, Wally started to fidget and quickly added, "It's just that whatever Dominique was doing to you took a lot out of you. I really don't mind." Wally nodded his head toward his upper arm. Looking down, he saw that his bicep was still covered in crisscrossing scratches from Dominique's barbed whips. Though the scratches were not bleeding, they were open and very red.

Strange, he had not realized that his confrontation with Dominique had left physical marks. He quickly shifted his form back to his standard humanoid form, the scratches gone. He looked back up at Wally. "Thank you, Wally. I believe I will accept your offer."

"Great! Bruce, you got any-" He stopped when he realized their host had vanished. Wally sighed and shook his head. "How the heck does he do that?!" Wally exclaimed.

He could not help the small smile at Wally's frustration. "I believe Mr. Pennyworth can help us with whatever we need."

"So not the point, J'onn" Wally muttered. "All right, let's go see a man about some chairs." Wally walked out of the cell, turning right. Seconds later, J'onn saw a blur heading left.

He headed to the entrance at a more moderate pace. Exiting the cell, he turned and slid the bars across the entrance until he heard the lock engage. He took a moment, looking at the cell's sole occupant. He sent one last thought to her, one thought that echoed the hopes of them all. "*Be fierce, gl'ad'ea. We are waiting.*"

~8~

For most people, the first thing they notice upon awakening are the sounds around them. The ticking of the bedside clock, the birdsong outside, or the rush hour traffic; none of those greeted her upon awakening. Instead the first thing she noticed was the stiffness of the bed beneath her, or at least she assumed it was a bed.

She slowly opened her eyes to darkness. She blinked her eyes a few times to make sure she wasn't seeing things. When the room remained the same, she started to take stock of her body. Though nothing seemed out of the ordinary, she slowly moved into an upright position.

She found she was indeed on a small bed and most importantly, alone. She move her body until she was sitting on the edge of the bed with her sandal-clad feet touching the stone floor. As her eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness, she started to realize something very important.

She had no idea where she was and, if the bars across from her were anything to go by, she was a prisoner. She slid off her sandals and softly walked along the cell wall to the bars. All of this was in hopes that if someone was guarding the door, they wouldn't notice that she was awake. Edging close enough to the bars, she was able to see an empty chair against the same wall as the cell. Moving to the opposite wall, she saw another empty chair. Thankful that her guards seemed to be away at the moment, she hoped her luck would hold as she lean back against the wall and patted herself down for her cell phone. No such luck, but not totally surprising. 'They'd have to be pretty dumb to let me have a phone,' she thought as she went back to the cot (she refused to think of it as a bed) and slipped her sandals back on.

She sat on the cot, placed her elbows against her knees with her head in her hands. 'So, no cell phone, but at least I have other ways of calling for help.'

"*Um, guys. I need a little help here,*" she broadcasted across the bonds, praying that someone would hear her.

"*Anyssa? Is that you?*" Wally replied.

'Oh, thank God!' she exclaimed to herself. "*Wally! Of course it's me! Now, look, I think I have been kidnapped! I'm in this really dark place, either in a cave or underground-*"

"*Um, Anyssa-*"

"*There are freaking bars on the door! And I think the guards are on break-*"

"*Yeah, Anyssa-*"

"*Do you think J'onn can track me? I have no idea where I am or who took-*"

"Anyssa!" This time the voice came from without instead of within, she was sure of it. Her head snapped up to find Wally and J'onn on the other side of the bars. Wally was wearing knee-length, khaki shorts, brown flip-flops and a light blue tank. J'onn had shape-shifted into his human guise. His form was that of a tall, black male with short dark hear. He was wearing a pair of light jeans, tennis shoes and a green short-sleeves top.

Both men were sporting white cups of what she assumed to be coffee. She looked between the two of them in stunned silence for all of two minutes, closed her eyes, took a deep breath, opened her eyes, and said the most logical thing anyone in her position could say.

"WHY THE HELL DID YOU GUYS PUT ME IN HERE?!"

End Chapter 5

AN: Well, I really outdid myself this time... I cannot believe I have had you guys hanging for over a year! I cannot apologize enough!

Well, what did you guys think of Dominique? I haven't heard anything about whether you love her, hate her, or love to hate her. Like I said, it's going to be an interesting ride. :-)