14 CHAPTER 13: Part 2 - "Aut Caesar Aut Nihil"

James was sitting with his eyes closed, his legs hung over one of several cots aligned in a row, in a long but narrow room.

The distinct smells of disinfectant, bleach, and artificial fragrance penetrated his senses. The loud rustling of moving patients and talking with a baby crying pounded his already growing migraine.

He had tried opening his eyes earlier only for the lights to bring a massive pain to his already delicate visual senses in the moment. Taking what seemed to be an hour to build up to it, he had managed to sit up from his bed. The cheap cotton sheets brought unwanted itching all over his body.

It took another hour for him to swing his legs over off the bed and stay seated in the manner he was in. The final challenge was to actually open his eyes despite the soreness and growing nausea that was building within him.

Finally building it up, he slowly opened his eyes.

The bright flash of white like before penetrated his skull, but this time it was manageable. Slowly the light dimmed to reveal what looked like a medical facility of some sort.

The walls were a dull grey with standard overhead warehouse lights illuminating his room and the hallways outside. The beds in his room were filled with what appeared to be other patients, the beds to his left and right though were empty.

Looking around, James could not help but notice how much the building looked like one of the tenant buildings in his neighborhood. It was definitely very clean but it still bore the signs of age and wear of what you could expect in Gotham.

James closed his eyes again, while gathering the physical strength to sit up he had also been piecing together his jumbled memories of the last few hours.

'We left the rendezvous point and made our way to the factory... everything was going fine... the lead car was about to take out the main gate when...'

"Hey, you... you're finally awake." A woman's voice broke his thoughts.

Opening his eyes he was greeted by an older woman, thin but not frail, maybe in her late 50s or 60s wearing a lab coat and a clipboard. Her hair was greyed but to her credit looked healthy, styled in a simple bun. Her eyes showed signs of age and tiredness, but still had a bit of a spark. She honestly reminded James of what a stereotypical grandma who gave you cookies on the patio of her farmhouse would look like.

Glancing up at him and giving an appraising look she said, "Two gunshot wounds below the right shoulder, a severe gash to the left side of your head that, multiple lacerations from either a sharp tool or ground scraps, and potentially... excuse me not that, it is a concussion...

Raising her eyebrows in a quizzical way she asked, "Busy night?"

Hearing all of that, James was in near shock, 'What the hell happened?!?'

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*Sionis Cosmetic Factories, 12 Hours Earlier.

Cough... cough... cough

James found himself hanging upside down from the strap of his seatbelt. The blood had begun rushing to his head causing him to wince and groan with discomfort.

'What the hell?'

The convoy of SUVs and vans had reached the gates of Sionis Cosmetic factory with the lead charging to break the front gates. Everyone had locked and loaded, ready to charge in and complete their tasks.

An RPG interrupted that charge.

The lead car a mere few yards away from crashing the gate was hit. What many do not know, thanks to movies and tv, was that an RPG round did not cause a big fireball explosion. Typically the round penetrated the target and exploded in a large white puff of smoke with a loud bang and that would be that.

But it seems in this case fiction was more realistic as the lead car exploded into a fireball with the momentum of its charge continuing to barrel the husk of the vehicle through the gate into a fiery inferno.

Almost immediately, the buildings that flanked both sides of the road the convoy was traveling on began lighting up from barrel flashes. Dozens of firearms began unloading on their cars, riddling them with holes and causing several to swerve to a stop and others to crash into the buildings.

The SUV he had been traveling in with Penguin had found itself flipped over after its driver's skull was inconvenienced by a 5.56 round. The loss of control led to crashing into the side of the Avenue buildings hitting some of the elevated stairs causing the car to flip onto its roof.

James had blacked out sometime during the crash.

The sound of flames, shouts, and gunfire ranged outside of the car. Looking around, James saw both the driver and guard in the front were dead. Where Penguin had been sitting was empty with his door pried open.

'Thanks for the assist asshole...' James thought annoyed.

But his attention soon was diverted when he found himself blinking from the flow of blood from his head, reaching up he felt his left side and flinched. A sharp gash from the left side of his head swerved down to his chin with the gash lessening as it passed his eye.

Groaning a little he un-clicked his seatbelt, gravity immediately took control and dropped him on his shoulder blades. Small pieces of broken glass bit into his shoulders and back cutting himself even more.

Growling with the pain he rolled over and took a better look of his surroundings.

Outside it seemed like a small war had broken out. Men were running around, cars swerving to avoid the wreckage of burning vehicles, and bullet casings littered the ground along with an ever-increasing amount of bodies dropping.

With a snarl, he blasted his door off the hinges and straight into a building causing an indent into the brick.

Crawling out, the chaos of the street became more visible with Penguin's men firing on the ambushers, and ambushers firing back. Screams of the injured and dying rang out from both sides.

Muttering to himself, "Get busy living or get busy dying..." James readjusted his mask and pulled back his hoodie over his head.

A clatter of gunfire from a window 2 stories above him started raining down on some of Penguin's men across the street. Two of them manage to find adequate cover, the third got peppered with several rounds, jerking back and forth from the impact before dropping to the ground cold.

Pressing himself to the wall of said building, James motioned to the door he had just blown off his car. The dented door slowly lifted itself off the ground to float a few feet in front of James, and with an upward motion, he sent it flying into the window of the shooter.

The resulting scream assured him he had been on target. But his work was not done yet.

From the street across from him, another shooter began opening fire in his direction, striking the ground as the bullets slowly closed in on where he was standing.

James immediately began running to escape the gunfire that followed him as he ran across the street to the men he had just saved. Taking cover with them, he gave them a sharp nod, before jumping out of cover and firing a concussive blast back at the shooter.

SWISH.... BOOM!

The window where the gunfire was coming from exploded with white smoke and dust from the impact. A hole with a circumference of 10 feet had destroyed the former window. For a brief moment, everything seemed to stop on the street. Whether it was because some of the ambushers saw James as the cause and thus thought, 'shit a meta,' or assumed the Penguin mob had some heavy ordnance weapons, the result was the same. A few of the ambushers began to retreat from the windows and street.

"DON'T LET UP ON THE BASTARDS!!! I WANT EVERY ONE OF THEM DEAD!" Penguin's voice bellowed a little further up the road. He had taken a position with a larger squad of his men in cover and had tried to reorganize the fight.

The mobsters gladly followed his orders and began pushing into the buildings and the street positions of their ambushers. Shooting everyone that they could see.

James assisted by throwing out more concussive blasts, forcing the ambushers to abandon their positions and destroying their cover as he made his way to Penguin.

At some point, one of Penguin's mobsters stopped him to apply quickly a large white bandaid to the worse area of his head wound.

"Sorry if that hurts Hound, but it will help stem the bleeding," the unknown mobster had said before rushing off to another injured man, using his limited medical equipment and experience to help the guy.

By the time James finally made it to Penguin's rally point the fighting had slowed to a stop. With an occasional crack of a gun going off, the fight seemed to be over.

James felt the pounding of his head become more pronounced. Or maybe now that the action was winding down and the adrenaline cooled he was just becoming more aware of it. Looking around at the destruction he asked, "How many did we lose?"

Penguin besides his suit looking ruffled and save for a bruise on his chin looked no worse for wear. A visible sign of relief appeared on his face when he saw James. He had left him in the car to get help, but soon the ambushers had forced him to run away from the car and take up a position with a few other men down the street.

He had been planning on pushing back to go get James when he appeared. Looking like... well looking like he had been in a car crash.

'I need to get the kid some help,' he thought.

"I had Joe here," Penguin motioned to the man behind him, "Joe did a rough head count, at least 17 dead, with maybe 9 injured. We got about 20 or so guys still up and ready to fight..." Joe then leaned over to whisper something into his ear.

"Alright, scratch that. We got 18 dead and only 19 or so guys left standing." Penguin groaned.

Penguin dusted his suit and straightened it, "Still plenty to deal with Blackwater and the psycho," he said determined as he began to order the men to move up to the factory.

Several of the men seeing their dead comrades and the destruction of the area seemed hesitant.

One of the braver ones, tentatively said, "Boss, I think it's time to cut our losses."

Penguin swerve around and pointed his personal pistol, a shiny steel 45 caliber Springfield at the dissenter.

"What did you just say!" He growled fixing the man with a slight manic gaze, "WHAT THE F&*K DID YOU JUST SAY!"

The man, now looking panicked, held up his hands and began shaking his head, "I'm sorry Boss, I didn't mean anything by that!"

Penguin lowered his weapon and gave a glance around at the crew. His eyes landed on James where they flickered with concern. Motioning to Joe, he whispered something in his ear which Joe nodded to.

Penguin began speaking loudly to the crew, "A handful of you will stay out in front of the factory to secure the grounds. No one in... no one out." Penguin emphasized the point with a stern glare, "Joe will take charge of that group, the rest of you are with me. We have a Blackwater and Black Mask to kill."

The majority of the crew began moving to surround Penguin and head off towards the factory. Joe meanwhile grabbed a handful of the crew and began ordering them to take positions around the front entrance.

He spotted James who had sat down on the curb, James was holding his pounding head and growing nausea as he walked over, "Hey Hound, are you alright?"

James had his eyes closed, seeing double vision was proving to be another symptom of his current state. Standing was also difficult with his balance being almost nonexistent.

Gathering his energy he growled out, "Just fine, I need to break down those doors now I suppose."

James shakily stood up but almost immediately grabbed Joe to help balance himself, muttering a quiet "thank you," he tried to make his way to the front doors of the factory, only for Joe to hold him in place.

"Woah, how about you sit down," Joe help James sit back down on the curve.

"Don't worry about the doors, Penguins orders," Joe gave him an awkward pat on the shoulder, "You are sticking with the team out here."

James stiffened at that, he knew what Penguin was doing. With his teeth grinding, "Where is the boss."

Joe chuckled nervously, "Let's not get too excited now Hound..." But was interrupted as the air itself began to tremble, the pebbles on the asphalt began to rise and the Hound stood up stiffly and stumbled slowly to where the Boss was with the rest.

Penguin seeing James stumbling towards him barked out the orders to the crew to charge into the factory, "Kill whoever you like, but make sure you bring the Chief and Black Mask to me alive!"

James at this point was standing right next to him. The very air hummed with his power, 'It has been a while since he has lost this much control around me,' Penguin thought with concern.

"I am coming with you," James snarled through his mask. His eyes which earlier seemed unfocused were anything but now.

Penguin reached out and grabbed his arm lightly. Leaning forward he whispered, "I will let you question my orders right now because you are injured," he nodded at James' head, "and probably not thinking straight."

A retort came quickly but Penguin shut it down before it could leave James' lips.

"I will not repeat myself. Tonight we have been betrayed, only a trustworthy crew was asked to take part in this raid. It means something is up. I did not want you coming in before and I certainly will not now!" Penguin said sharply.

James stood still without any reaction to Penguin. Truth be told he knew he was not in good shape, he certainly did not feel like he was going to be conscious in the next hour.

With a stiff nod, James said, "I give you 15 minutes then I am coming in."

Penguin gave a laughing bark at that, "Sometimes I forget how young you are... and what a stubborn moron you can be."

James merely shrugged at that and went back to sit on the curve he was at originally and put his head on his hands in a poor attempt to alleviate his growing pain.

Penguin meanwhile turned back to the crew and said, "Let's finish this."

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*Sionis Cosmetic Factories, Interior, A Few Minutes After The Ambush.

"F&*(k this shit!" The Blackwater Chief roared at his trembling surviving gang members.

The situation had become quite nerve-racking for the man. With the ambush succeeding in part in disrupting Penguin's raid on the factory, he had become encouraged that he might survive the night. The fact that it had not stopped Penguin however put him back into his drinking and panic frenzy.

Black Mask did not even acknowledge the man and instead was focused on another, taller, larger, and distinctly humanoid but definitely non-human figure in the shadows of the building. They were standing a bit away from the Blackwater Chief and his men. Close enough to see but far enough that their words would be unheard.

"I think," Black Mask said testily, "I will require your services tonight."

A deep growl, similar to a bear or tiger emitted from the figure in the shadows.

Black Mask sighed, "Yes, of course, I will pay you double for this last-second job. I know that is the arrangement for your... services."

The imposing figure seemed to think about it for a moment and then nodded in agreement.

Black Mask was about to walk back to the Blackwater Chief when he stopped and in parting with the figure said, "My safety is the first priority, you get me out if it gets too crazy. F$&k Tony and his leftovers."

The figure in the shadows gave a deep guttural chuckle at that.

'It seems it was worth leaving the sewers tonight...'