Chapter 18

Hey everyone, haven't been able to type for a while. Life has been one crazy roller coaster, I had a job, then I lost said job, I now technically have a job but technically don't. It's crazy haha! Anyway ONWARD TO THE BATTL FIELD!

"Yaknow, thinking back, we probably shoulda seen this coming." Mariko said rather nonchalantly as she, and the others were placed in inhibitor collars and forced off the ship and onto land. Nightwing walked next to her, while Tony and Misato were pushed behind them. Kaldur lead the group towards a building. A building that looked familiar. A building Mariko had—once upon a time ago—blown up.

"Well isn't this a sight for sore eyes." Mariko growled through gritted teeth, "I see the scar faced Neanderthal still has no style."

"Quiet you." Tigress growled behind Mariko as she pushed her ahead. Mariko glared. Undercover or not, she was really pushing her luck. As they were ushered into the building they found a few familiar faces, most of them from Cadmus. Mariko glared, at least Match and Tai-li were miles away from them and wouldn't be put in pods. God only knows what that would do to both of their already fragile minds. At least they were safe back at the school.

~0~

"Mariko…is going to kill us for this." M'gaan said, seeing Match and Tai-li standing before her. the others stared. Tai-li gave the telepathic woman a monotone look while rolling her eyes. She wasn't worried about Mariko, or any of the adults around her. once they rescued her and Nightwing and the others, Mariko wouldn't be able to complain. She'd be too grateful that she wasn't dead to bother with why they were there in the first place. Mariko might have been insane but she was like any other mother figure, anger gives way to worry at a point. Though, she was sure that there would be some kind of punishment from either Mariko or Riza.

"There's nothing we can do about it now. It's too late to turn back, we have to keep moving forward and reach Nightwing and the others." Robin said, "God only knows what kind of trouble that woman has gotten them into."

"You really don't think too highly of Mariko, do you Robin?" M'gaan asked. Robin looked over his shoulder and scowled.

"No, I don't. And why should I? From the minute Nightwing accepted this mission, she'd caused us nothing but trouble." Robin hissed, "She's hired the criminally insane as teaching staff, she tripped the alarm that got her and Nightwing caught, for god's sake she tried to pull a suicide bombing!"

"How do you know that?" Conner asked. Robin scowled but said nothing.

"Did you hack the justice League's private criminal database?" M'gaan asked, "Those are private records for a reason!"

"I figured one of us on the Team should. None of us know what she's capable of, not until we saw firsthand. She tried to blow up the submarine we were in while we were aboard!" Robin shouted, "And you guys weren't going to tell us anything."

The rest of the team was silent as the two elder heroes fought with Robin. They somewhat sided with him on the subject. No one had told them anything, they didn't know much about Mariko's history, except that she had been on the team for a split second, and that she was a villain turned….well they didn't even know much about her hero status. Sure she was on a mission to save the girls she had taken from her, but she went through unorthodox ways to get information. For example her going to the Joker, Hiring livewire as a teacher, and the fact that she didn't once contact the Justice League for help.

"Mariko's methods are questionable, there's no doubt about that." Conner said.

"But that still doesn't give you any right to go through private files of the justice League's criminal database." M'gaan said, "The next time you want information, you ask the senior members. Do not go off on your own. We keep what do from you guys for a reason. Besides, you don't know Miko like we do."

"Sure, I bet you know every small detail about her." Robin said, M'gaan went wide eyed, before anything further was said, Robin was pushed back by an unseen force. M'gaan looked to Tai-li who was in a fighting stance and glaring at the young Robin.

"I think that's enough talk, out of all of us." M'gaan said, "We have our mission. Find Nightwing and the others, and rescue the kidnapped girls."

~0~

Nightwing scanned his surroundings as he and the others were led into the building. He had to familiarize himself in case things went any farther south than they already had. With Mariko now in the loop to Artemis and Kaldur things should go a bit smoother, but after knowing Mariko for so long, he knew what should be, isn't what will be. She was a loose cannon, ready to explode without warning or second thought. She was a person of impulse—which was probably one of the reasons she was so brilliant, but also so incredibly stupid—she would not hesitate to take Kaldur out(having already explained she wasn't a big fan of his to begin with) and would definitely take extreme measures to ensure the safety of her girls. That was the main thing he had to be ready for.

"So where is the old caveman anyway?" Mariko hissed, she was clearly angry about facing Savage, the man that had ruined, and used her life from the start, "I'd personally like to spit in that sorry fu—AH!"

Before she could finish her curse, Mariko was struck from behind by tigress who also managed to place an inhibitor collar on her. Even with no powers to inhibit she could still give one hell of a nasty shock to the green haired woman.

"Keep talking like that, and you'll be flashing worse than a strobe light." Tigress hissed. Mariko leered.

"My somebody's touchy." She hissed back, only to feel the shock of electricity through her body. Behind the duo, Misato clung to Tony's leg. She was frightened beyond belief. This mission wasn't fun anymore. She looked up to Tony in fear. What was going to happen to them?

"Tonii-chan…what's going to happen to us?" She asked, voicing her fear driven thoughts. Tony looked down to the poor girl. If only he had gotten her out of all this when they were on the ship, if he had only gotten her to safety. She wouldn't be in this mess with them. it was all his fault.

"That all depends on what the light wants to be done with you." Kaldur said, shaking the cyber boy from his thoughts, "Though I have no doubts that the majority of you will not survive."

"I bet you feel real tough don't cha fish boy!?" Mariko hissed, "Preying on defenseless little girls! You and your light are sick. By the time I'm done with you, you're gonna wish you never messed with me!"

Nightwing kept silent as he listened to Mariko hiss and shout at them all. She was angry—that much was obvious—but what seemed like rage and anger, was really the cries of a wounded animal. Sure she was furious about the situation, about her girls being taken from her, about getting caught, all of that. However, somewhere deep within the cold, angry rants of a madwoman, was the deeply hurt and frighten child that Mariko once was.

It was faint and well hidden under anger, but Nightwing was sure that she was just as equally uneasy about seeing the person she once saw as her savior. Despite being betrayed by Savage, he had been the one to save her, to take her out of the rot and filth of her former life. He promised her a world of light and bettering, even if that was all a lie; at one point in Mariko's life, she had believed it with every fiber of her being. Perhaps that scared her most about this mission. Mariko's rants were cut short by the sound of electricity zapping through her body. She let out a loud yelp, as the voltage seemed to have increased.

"You talk too much Miko." Tigress hissed. Mariko leered, as she and the others were pushed further into the building.

"Yaknow, tiger woman, I think I like you." Mariko said through a tight smile as she gritted her teeth. When they entered the building Mariko went silent. It was so much different from the last time she had seen it. Of course, that was ten years ago. However regardless of how different Savage's home was, it still brought back memories. Happy memories of when she worked for the creep, all the happy memories that turned out to be nothing but lies. The memory of them made her chest tighten. She glared, not allowing herself to let the hurt show. She was, after all, among wolves.

As they were pushed down the halls of the building, leading to what the group assumed would end up being vandal savage's office, Mariko's eyes scanned the entire area. She made a note of every detail, every door, and every camera that could see them. She was sure she would need this information later on. Briefly she wondered if the former boy wonder was doing the same.

Soon they stopped at a door. Mariko pursed her lips as a tremendous feeling of dread settled at the bottom of her stomach. Tigress opened the door and revealed exactly what they expected; the room was large, an oak desk sat at the end the large leather chair was turned with its back to them. Mariko scowled as they were led further inside the room. once they were just on the other side of the desk the chair behind it turned to reveal the scar faced man himself. Suddenly something in Mariko snapped, she lunged across the desk at Savage. However before she could reach him, Kaldur hit the button for her collar, she fell short ontop of his desk. Savage gave a less than surprised look as she glared up at him.

"You can imagine my lack of surprise to see you, child." He said simply. Mariko raised her head and smirked evilly.

"Electricity travels." She hissed reaching her hand towards him, ignoring his comment, "Wonder if it effects you, Mr. immortal."

Before she could touch him however Savage stood, pulling his fist back and landing a punch to her face. It sent her flying backwards. Misato screamed as Mariko landed at their feet.

"Sensei!" she screamed, she was held back by Tony. Mariko groaned and sat up, wiping her mouth free of blood, she looked to Savage as he moved from behind his desk with his hands behind his back.

"I see, so the rumors are true. I should have known you survived the blast." He said as he gave an emotionless look to Mariko who sat up and smirked.

"What can I say, I'm tenacious." She spat. She eyed savage as he walked up to them, he spotted Misato and moved towards her. Tony stepped between the two defensivly, not entirely sure what he could do if he had to come to blow with the large man. Savage scowled.

"Oh right, you're the little pet project Mariko worked on when she still worked for me." He said, suddenly remembering the young man. Tony scowled, "Come to think of it, you were made using my technology."

"What are you gettin at scar-face?" Mariko growled standing up. Savage said ignored her.

"Kaldur, Tirgress, won't you two escort this young man to the workshop." He said, Mariko glared.

"Like hell they are!" she hissed, "Tony belongs to me. You won't touch him you scarred sonuva—AH!"

Once again Mariko was zapped by her collar, as Tigress and Kaldur tried to grab hold of Tony, who struggled against them. He was determined not to be separated from either Mariko or Misato, however he failed, one good jab to the back of his head and his organic half became unconscious. Misato clung to him, but was soon ripped away.

"Tonii-chan! No!" she cried as Mariko held fast to her. she whispered something in her ear, but it didn't seem to calm her down, as soon, she too was ripped away from Mariko. Mariko turned and glared.

"Where are you taking them? Answer me you..you.."

"Be silent." Savage commanded and almost like a trained dog, Mariko listened. Nightwing was almost shocked to see it happen.

"You won't get away with this, you know. someone is going to notice the girls missing from Mariko's school." He said, Savage cut his eyes at the former boy wonder.

"I don't have to. At this stage, we have more than enough information, and test subjects." He said, then looked to Mariko who stood glaring at him silently, "In fact, I have no more use for you, or your school."

"Then give me back my girls.." Mariko growled through tightly gritted teeth, "and I'll pretend this never happened."

"You misunderstand." Savage said with a slight smirk. "I have no use for them, therefore they will be disposed of. And so will you."

"You tried that already fucker!" Mariko screamed flipping the larger man off. Savage thought for a moment.

"You may have a point," He said, "Then how would you like to take their place?"

Before Mariko, or Nightwing had a chance to process what he had said, ten guards entered the room and dragged the duo away. Though they fought hard against them, they eventually became over powered. Mariko screamed profanities toward Savage until eventually she was gagged. Where they were being taken was unknown, however once again they were all three separated.

Not my best ending to a chapter, but it'll do. I'll try to do better next chapter however I'm not sure when that will be. I'm gonna try to work on this more, however, you can't force this stuff. If you do it never comes out right yaknow? Anyway see ya later armadillos—unless I see you first!