Welcome to Gaia! ::

((This is really interesting... If a guy can hold his own in a gunfight with a dude trained by Deathstroke, he's got to be a really good shot... Arell's starting to get a bit of respect from ol' Apex.))

Apex stopped a moment as a bullet whizzed by several feet in front of him. How? Did this guy have precognitive vision or something?

His enhanced mind continued to work, moving at a rate nine times faster than the ordinary human brain could process thought. He weighed his options. He was wasting ammo, and all because he didn't get his way... Deathstroke would have called him a fool. Besides, the guy was pretty impressive. Did he have military training too?

Apex pushed those thoughts aside, and moved out from his hiding spot, his gun aimed at Arell's face warily.

"I can dodge bullets faster than you can think, Johnny Reb. But... I admit you're a good shot. My master would be impressed."

"Sure," Apex said, taking the cigarette and lighting it before sticking it in his mouth. "But we're not exactly on the same side. I'm on a mission to either subdue or kill Joker, and I'll get rid of anyone that gets in my way. And you four got in my way of having a bit of fun on the job. I was wanting to take on Bane and Grundy alone. I wanted the challenge, as Killer Croc was too easy. All I had to do was outsmart him."

He holstered his gun and took a drag of his smoke, and d**k spoke up.


"So, who is your master?" he asked. Apex looked at Nightwing dispassionately once more as he put the cigarette back in his teeth.


"A name you know very well, d**k Grayson," Apex said, his voice muffled slightly as his teeth were clenched, keeping the cigarette in his mouth. "Slade Wilson, otherwise known as Deathstroke."

Apex raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me? Comic book character, eh? I'm guessing you're from a universe where the guys from my universe are fictional. Slade, Grayson, Drake, etcetera... Why am I not surprised?"

He put out his smoke, and said: "So, what's your name, Cajun? I don't believe I caught it with all the fighting going on for the past hour."

"Calvin Bridges. Call me Apex," the other man said shortly. "My master doesn't normally call me by my real name any more."


"And why are you working with Deathstroke?" d**k asked heatedly. Apex glanced at him and patted the gun on his hip in warning, but did not answer.


Meanwhile, Lucas looked over at Roxanne, doing his best to ignore all the gunfire that had been going on, and waved a bit sheepishly. Now what were they all going to do?

Bane completely shut out the gunfight occuring, but Grundy didn't. he'd almost gotten into a frenzy himself, but Bane had put a hand on his shoulder, and shook his head slowly. Solomon Grundy seemed to understand, because he didn't go running off to kill the people shooting nearby. Grundy muttered, "Got worse of Friday..." Bane returned to looking back at Sapphire. "You can either answer, or let me just assume you want it slow, and painful. Either way, I WILL break you."

Apex glanced up at Bane, Grundy, and Sapphire. "You heroes want to save that girl? Go ahead. But I get Bane. Grundy's too stupid to be much of a challenge for me," he said, beginning to walk back to where he had been earlier.


d**k eyed Apex with much suspicion, but ultimately shrugged, looking to the others.

"C'mon," he said. "Let's try and get those two to be split up. It might take all four of us to get Grundy down and out, though..."

Sapphire hesitated, still contemplating her options. Finally, she nodded her head. "Alright." she replied carefully, then moved as if she was going to get down from the stand. If Gossamer made her black out and killed that other guy...then she probably wouldn't be willing to just let these guys kill her either.

But again, she stopped and turned her attention towards another interruption. She paused, and backed away from the edge of the stand.
Alright....so were they going to stay and help her this time? Or should she just climb down and get this over with?

....she'd be going straight for the main building anyway.

Bane took her movement as a sign of willingnessto die quick. He began approaching her, still ardently ignoring Arell. "It will be fast. You'll never feel it."

Solomon Grundy, though, was getting drawn into the taunting. "Solomon Grundy, born on a Monday."