Chapter 171: A Diabolical Mind Part 3

As Harley moved forward in a burst of carnage, she left a gruesome trail for Batman and the others to follow.

Upon seeing the first truly dead body, Green Arrow furrowed his brows and looked toward Batman, asking, "are we really going to allow this?"

Before joining the league, Green Arrow fought crime in a similar fashion to Batman, by beating criminals silly and at worst leaving them unconscious.

It was almost like an unspoken rule to not kill, they were helpers, not judge, jury and executioner. So despite knowing that these people getting killed were abducting and kidnapping children, Green Arrow and company felt uncomfortable and unwilling to allow it.

Batman also frowned and looked toward Arias for a moment before shaking his head. "Let's focus on rescuing the children here, we don't have time for infighting."

He could only delay the inevitable reaction to Arias's actions. Even Batman hadn't expected Arias to let Harley loose in such a manner, he at least expected clean kills and whilst fighting.

But what Harley's trail showed was that even when her opponents weren't able to fight back any longer, she went for a fatal blow and carried on.

Green Arrow was about to argue again but he spotted another group of enemies emerge from another pathway. He could only click his tongue in irritation and let the matter remain static for now, "Dammit, fine! Get down!"

In the next moment he reached for his quiver and bow, which extended just as he was placing the arrow into position. It didn't even take him a second to shoot towards the incoming group, and upon reaching a few feet away from them, the arrow's cylinder shaped tip beeped once and and burst open, releasing a powerful burst of electricity that immediately hit the incoming group.

Two at the far back though remained unscathed and he was about to shoot again when Batman acted and threw his batarangs towards them. Two disarmed the individuals while another two struck the them on their heads, instantly knocking them unconscious.

In that moment of distraction though, one appeared from a corner and aimed his gun up close at Green Arrow, before he could even react, Black Canary kicked upward and launched the gun out of his hands before opening her mouth and releasing her fierce scream which sent the man flying back into the corner before rendering him unconscious.

Green Arrow looked at her and sighed in relief before smiling and saying, "thanks, I could have handled him though."

Ignoring the obvious flirtatious tone he had, Black Canary was about to return her focus to the situation when another enemy came from upfront and held out a rocket launcher.

Before the group could fully react, the enemy fired and sent the projectile towards them. Batman looked close to being the quickest to react but soon the missile stopped mid air, this lead to him looking toward Arias whose expression was hidden under the cloth covering much of his face.

With a flick of his wrist, the missile was turned and shot back toward the enemy, blasting him into chunks of flesh.

The sight was rather gruesome as one could see said flesh splattered on the walls, but if he hadn't done that, the possibility existed that it would have been them in instead.

"Thanks…" Black Canary spoke in an unsure tone but gave her thanks anyway, her attitude didn't seem shaken by the near death encounter, just like the others. So without lingering she ran on ahead.

Batman warned though, "it looks like they're sending reinforcements down, we better hurry."

Having heard these shared messages, Superman also communicated, "Yea, it looks like most are coming your way, should we also come down?"

With new situations popping up, Batman had to adapt quick and make decisions equally fast. He thought for a moment and replied, "Yes, You and Lantern come down, the others should stay up in case of reinforcements."

"Rodger that." Superman affirmed and Green Lantern who heard the message in his mind also had no qualms as the duo burst into the inner infrastructure.

While on the topic, Flash finally gave an update. "Uh, hey guys, come to where I am, I found the kids… among other things," he revealed, in a tone lacking his usual witty humor.

Without wasting time, Batman brought out a small device from his utility belt which soon expanded into a holographic screen, showing the a rough map of the area and some dots with insignia's. "Follow me."

The action occurred quick and Green Arrow who was behind couldn't see but Arias did find it interesting, although he didn't comment on that and instead replied, "you go on ahead, I'll go provide backup to your team member and Harley, we can keep the enemies busy while you and the surface team rescue the children."

Batman didn't like the idea of Arias leaving his sight but between him and children in danger, his priority was the latter so he gave a nod and began running, gesturing a reluctant Green Arrow to follow.

Arias noticed Green Arrow's look at wondered to himself, 'does he suspect something?' Even Arias didn't attribute the suspicious glance he got to Green Arrow just not wanting to leave him alone with Black Canary.

Regardless, Arias didn't see him as a threat in anyway and just rushed in the direction Canary and Harley took.

It took a few minutes but soon he find them both fighting back to back, giving their attackers a hellish time.

A grinning Harley found this experience to be fun and didn't even try to hide her joy, "They're dropping like flies! Not bad blondie."

Canary was more focused and stoic than Harley but one could catch the occasional smirk every time she kicked one of her attackers away.

"Thanks, I think." Canary replied, still in disagreement with Harley's brutal fighting style. Though from a skill perspective, she couldn't argue with what Harley was displaying.

Soon though, her expression turned sour as a telepathic message came to her only from Batman and the others.

"Canary, looks like the last of the attackers are your way. We're leaving a team to secure the children and using the other to come to you, make sure you don't lose Markovic and Harley, it's time."

Canary didn't respond to the message and just cast a quick and subtle glance toward Arias. Unlike Harley who was a known criminal and psychopath, Arias seemed like a good person in her eyes.

This brought a slight bit of hesitation, but even if he was a good person, she couldn't agree with his methods, if true. So she kept silent and remained cautious.

Noticing the shift in expression, Arias could see something wasn't right. 'Looks like they couldn't pass up the bait.'

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