Silence lingered in the rotunda after Pain's words.
For several seconds, none of the inmates spoke.
Then the shouting began again.
"You think you can judge us?!" one prisoner yelled from behind reinforced bars.
Pain ignored them and looked down at the registry again.
"Victor Zsasz. Cell 14."
A ripple of uneasy murmurs spread through the nearby blocks as Pain aimed his arm at the cell.
Inside Cell 14, Victor Zsasz slowly stepped closer to the bars while grinning.
"Oh, this is interesting," Victor said, dragging a finger along the scars carved across his own skin. "Are you here to add another mark to my—"
The cannon fired.
The explosion engulfed the cell. Metal bars bent outward as concrete shattered from the impact.
Pain aimed at another cell while reading the registry.
"Mick Rory. Cell 31."
The cannon fired once again.
Another explosion ripped through the corridor.
This continued for ten minutes.
Name after name.
Cell after cell.
Until he arrived at the next entry.
"Edward Nygma… also known as Riddler. Cell 42."
Pain scanned the surrounding cells until he found it and raised his arm toward the door.
Nygma had been glued to the bars of his cell, watching the executions for the past ten minutes. Now he spoke quickly, panic creeping into his voice.
"Wait! Before you kill me, riddle me this-"
"I don't care," Pain said as the cannon began charging.
"That's enough."
A gruff voice echoed through the rotunda as a small projectile whistled through the air.
Pain caught it with ease and looked at it.it was a Batarang that began to beep.
Thedetonated violently in his hand, engulfing him in smoke and fire as Batman descended and landed on the ground in front of him.
The smoke quickly dissipated, revealing a completely unharmed Pain.
"It was only a matter of time until you showed up," Pain said.
"Was this necessary?" Batman asked, anger lacing his voice. "Haven't you gotten what you wanted when you had the Joker executed? They were going to be sent to a maximum-security prison. Wasn't that enough for you?"
"Yes, it was," Pain replied calmly. "But no prison is escape-proof. This is the most effective way of ensuring obedience. It just so happens to involve stepping on a few roaches."
"Those are the lives of people you're talking about," Batman said.
"I thought we were done with this conversation in Nanda Parbat," Pain said. "So you must be buying time, which I don't care about. I'll humor you and tell you the difference between a human being and a roach."
Pain tilted his head slightly.
"What kind of person puts their hands on a woman and a child?" he continued. "What kind of person holds a child at gunpoint? What kind of person treats human lives as a game for their own entertainment and amusement?"
He paused.
"Do you want to know what does that?"
"A roach,and what do you do with a roach?" Pain continued. "You exterminate it."
He took a slow step forward.
"Because for just one moment,just one instant,put yourself in the shoes of their victims. Those who are still alive… because unfortunately most do not live to tell the tale."
The rotunda had gone silent again.
Even the inmates were listening now.
"And those who do survive are forced to wear the scars of injustice day in and day out," Pain went on. "Forced to watch the same thing happen to others… and to slowly realize that nothing is changing."
He gestured slightly toward the cells surrounding them.
"How many children have to be taken away?" he asked.
"How many parents have to lose their children?"
"How many children have to lose their parents?"
Pain's voice remained calm, but the weight behind his words grew heavier with each sentence.
"At what point do you finally say that the death of children and women should no longer have to be someone's life lesson so that they can 'better themselves' after being prosecuted by a justice system that has repeatedly failed many times to keep them in check?"
Batman remained silent.
Pain looked around the prison cells one last time.
"The only way to get rid of filth," he said quietly,
"is to set it on fire,the fact that most of them are still alive,is mercy."
Before Batman could reply, a Boom Tube suddenly tore open in the air with a deep electronic hum.
Two figures stepped out first.
Cyborg emerged alongside Hawkman, his wings spreading wide as he stepped onto the cracked floor of the rotunda.
Then,the ceiling exploded inward.
Concrete and steel rained down as Superman burst through the roof and landed directly in front of Pain, the impact cracking the floor beneath him.
Superman slowly rose from the crouch.
"Give it up, Pain," he said firmly. "You've killed enough people. We're taking you in today."
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small device, pressing a button on its side.
"That is your opinion," Pain replied calmly.
Superman frowned and charged forward.
Pain reacted instantly.
He tossed a small device directly toward Superman mid-flight.
It detonated against his face, releasing a thick cloud of kryptonite gas.
Superman choked as his body immediately weakened.
His momentum carried him forward as he slammed into the ground, bouncing once before skidding across the floor toward Pain.
He gasped and writhed on the ground, green veins pulsing across his face as the kryptonite poisoned him.
The other Justice League members froze in shock.
Hawkman recovered first.
With a shout, he shot forward through the air, swinging his mace toward Pain's head.
Pain caught the weapon with one hand.
The force traveled through his body and cracked the concrete beneath his feet.
Pain pulled Hawkman closer and delivered a brutal uppercut.
Hawkman shot upward like a rocket.
A section of Pain's armor opened along his back.
Two missiles launched into the air after him.
They struck a moment later.
BOOM.
The explosion sent Hawkman crashing across the chamber before slamming violently into the far wall where he dropped, unconscious.
Before Pain could move again,a powerful blue energy beam slammed into him.
Pain was forced backward, his feet digging trenches through the concrete as he slid across the floor.
He pushed forward against the beam,but suddenly a dozen small black spheres rolled across the ground toward his feet.
They beeped twice then exploded.
The blasts engulfed him as Cyborg cut off his attack.
When the smoke cleared, Pain stood in the middle of a shallow trench.
His armor now carried several scuff marks, but he remained standing.
Pain barely had time to react before a blur appeared in front of him.
A massive punch slammed into his guard and launched him backward.
Pain flipped mid-air to disperse the momentum, but he still slammed onto his back.
He looked forward.
Superman stood where Pain had been moments before, breathing heavily as the green veins slowly faded from his face.
Batman and Cyborg quickly moved to flank him.
Inside his mask, Pain frowned.
He reached over his shoulder and unsheathed his blade.The sword glowed faintly green.
Kryptonite.
Superman's expression hardened.
Pain lowered into a stance, ready to attack when the walls began to shake.
Cracks spread across the structure.Dust falling from the ceiling.
Many of Arkham's load-bearing walls had already been heavily damaged by the earlier explosions during Pain's executions.
Now the entire section of the asylum began to tremble.
The roof above them started to collapse.
Chunks of concrete fell to the floor as the prisoners inside the cells began screaming and panicking.
Pain slowly sheathed his sword.
"I was actually looking forward to testing my blade against you," he said calmly.
A large section of ceiling crashed down behind him.
"But I think it will have to wait."
The structure shook even more violently.
"Because you are about to face more pressing concerns than fighting me."
Pain tossed several smoke pellets onto the ground.
They burst open instantly, filling the chamber with thick gray smoke and when it dispersed he was gone,leaving them behind to deal with the aftermath of moving the prisoners to the other section of the penitentiary.
End of Chapter.
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