Batwing observed the scene perched on an abandoned roof, He saw as the Center team followed the markings of Harley’s footsteps.  He saw as Dolly used the headpiece to see them.  He need no such equipment, even from this distance he could clearly see them

“So when do we Kill???”
“No no no no.” Batwing said to himself  “we need to be careful”

Batwing watched as another figure, unknown to him approached Dolly.  At this distance it would be a strain, and he hadn’t even attempted this in a long time, but he needed to know everything, perhaps this stranger could shed some light on the situation.

He heard as Alger questioned the newcomer

"Lexy. If you were giving somebody directions to get from the Center to
the Hyatt downtown on foot, would you send them through here?"

Lexy, he would have to remember that name.  If this person knew the area he might prove useful.

"Hell no, sir! Beg pardon, ma'am,"

ahhh, things where starting to fall into place  He saw as Dolly was having a conversation on a mobile phone, he listened hard, but couldn’t quite make out the words, then she finished the call and spoke to Alger

"We called it, Chief. The BP manager's body — the real night manager, not the clone that waited on
Harley last night…”

Clones!  Oh course.  He knew that XmegRyan would be involved.  Of course she would be, she knew everything.  Indirectly he and she were products of the same project.  All those years ago,  He remembered, He was taken and trained, the perfect soldier, the perfect weapon.  Then came the enhancements.  The wings, the mutations, the senses.  Even now he was unsure of exactly what he was capable of.  But the side effects of the training and the experiments were brutal.  He developed a focus, a rage, far surpassing everyone’s expectations.  He remembered the young Lab technician who had taken pity on him.  Had broken him out of the facility, attempted to return his humanity.  She had succeeded, briefly, until the Rage returned.  That faithful night, the night he meet Harley.  But he, No, she had stopped it before it could consume him.  The wings had returned that night, and today, he was complete, again.  The perfect weapon to fight the once young lab technician’s other side project.  The Clones.  But why would XmegRyan  do this.  He was convinced that part of the plan was to bring him back from his hibernation, but there was something else.  Perhaps somebody else.

The team began to dissipate.  Batwing stood, took one last glance at the warehouse where the team had previously been.  Looked into the sky and frowned.

“I will get you back Harley.  They will pay for anything and everything they have done.”

And with that he flapped his wings and rose into the sky, shadowing the movements of the TAT’s.  Most of the team headed of, perhaps to eat.  But they were not his concern, there were only two people who might be able to help him.  He picked a large tree nearby Mark Alger and Gab Dolly’s location.

They were silent for a long time, then Mark began to speak

"What are we gonna do, Dolly? We can’t find her. We’re not gonna find her. I
just want to … to cry. That poor girl! She never did anything to deserve …"

Batwing observed silently  “You are wrong Alger, she did to something to deserve this.  She helped me.”

“heheheh, got to give ol XmegRyan a pat on the back for this one.  Brilliant plan.” Came the voice from the back of his mind
“She will pay for this.  With her own blood”
“oh of course, of course, but, geez, it’s a good plan”
“I will avenge Harley, and all the others that XmegRyan has hurt”
“That’s the spirit!”

He continued to listen as Dolly laid out her plan to Alger, using herself as bait to lure out Harley’s kidnapper.

Ahhh, it makes perfect sense.  XmegRyan wants Dolly out of commission somehow,  If Harley’s Kipnappers got hold of Dolly, Mark too would possibly become possessed like himself, but Why? And it’s not as if Mark has the same Rage as I do.  As far as I can tell he is just a soldier, a damn good one, but mortal in all respects.  Maybe XmegRyan knew something else that he didn’t.  As Dolly and Alger left he again followed
 

Half an hour later Batwing observed Dolly as she walked the streets, in an attempt to lure out the Kidnapper.  He counted the snipers on the roof, 1,2,3,4,5,6 no there’s number seven.  Well covered.  There was a tail about 300 meters behind Dolly’s position, but not in visual contact with here.  Although he couldn’t see, he suspected that there was another, 400, no perhaps 500 meters ahead.

“It’s a good setup isn’t it?”  Damn the voice!
“It won’t work”
“no, but not a bad effort”
“The clones will get her in a moment”
“hmmm, yes indeed.  You could stop it you know”
“Yes, I could save Dolly.  But that will leave me with no leads to Harley”
“Why do you care, she abandoned you, she laughed at you”
“Harley cares.”
“No she doesn’t.  Besides, Dolly is by far a nicer babe that Harley was”
“Harley cares.”
“Harley was a ditz”

Batwing was silent, even to himself.

Dolly was no longer in his sight, He knew this would happen.  The Clones are smart, at least XmegRyan is.  She no doubt knew the same things he did.  He idly wondered if Rohan had destroyed all of his genetic specimens from the Lab.  XmegRyan was a forth generation clone it was possible….

“Yeah, You and XmegRyan, I could see that.”
“She is evil”
“And you’re not?”

Batwing took this opportunity to fly off, there was nothing more to be gained here

The Center team where in conference, It was a good thing that he had thought to attach the small transmitter to Mary’s shoes whist they were enjoying lunch.  He couldn’t think why he did it.  Perhaps there was more to the experiments he was subjected to then he thought.

He listened as Bobbo explained the Tracking dye, he snickered as Mary broke it down into a nutshell.  Then Mark got up to speak

“it was determined that both Harley and Dolly are being kept in the same room. Here”

“Damn it” thought Batwing “wish I could see what they were doing”
Alger continued with the talk

“It is a large room and is, surprisingly, accessible from the roof. It is almost as
if the situation were constructed to favour a rescue attempt.”

The voice again made itself known “of course, It’s a trap!”

Mark continued

“A trap. With the two women being the bait and possibly the target as well. What the purpose of the trap were to be, other than a rather complicated way of killing a few people, is not immediately apparent.”

“Nothing wrong with killing a few people”
Batwing thought for a minute, “No, they will receive what they deserve.”

And with that Batwing switched of the intercom and flew away to the building that was described in the meeting, It was up to him to destroy some clones.  If they got hurt fine.  They would pay with their lives for what they have done to Harley, be that what it may.

“Hold on Harley, I’m Coming”

Batwing looked the building over with his eyes, 2 guards on the roof, armed, 2 lookouts 3 floors below, both armed.  This was going to be tricky, but fun.  He fumbled around the various pockets and compartments on his body until he produced 2 bat shaped items, razor sharp throwing weapons they were.  He launched his body of the building and glided down past the lookouts and as they rose their weapons to fire they discovered a sharp pain as the metal bats became embedded in their throats.  Then he swooped up and landed silently behind one of the guards on the roof.  He grabbed him around the neck and snapped it, the second guard turned to face Batwing only to find a knee in his groin followed by a fist to the face, an elbow to the ribs and a 100m fall from the roof.  He walked over to the skylight and peered in.  He saw Dolly, naked and tied.  As he prepped himself to jump into the room he heard the silent thud of what could only be the Center’s stealth Helicopters.  He turned and watched as 2 TAT squads repelled from the helicopter onto the roof, followed by Alger.  Once Mark landed he approached Batwing.

“Trav” he began, but stopped as Trav turned to face him and glared at him with his deep red eyes

“You’re Later Alger” was all Batwing said as he motioned for Mark to look down through the Skylight

Mark moved to the skylight and Trav watched as his jaw dropped and his expression changed.  Trav knew the rage that Alger was feeling.

Alger turned back to Trav and began to speak

“Now…”

“I’ll get Harley” Batwing simply said

“Hmmmm”

Alger gathered the trolls around him and issued some orders, set up his line and shouted, "Let’s do i-i-i-i-i-i-i-it!" as he, and the trolls smashed through the skylight.

Batwing stood back and watched them do it.  There was only one other entrance to the room below, and he was sure that was the path to Harley.  He leaped high into the air and flew down into the room below, threw of a few more of his metal bats into clones in the area and made a perfect landing on top of a clone who’s face was unfortunate to be in the path of Batwing’s boots.  Batwing strode towards the other entrance as a few clones moved to intercept him, the First was lucky enough to only have his jaw and cheek broken.  The second had Batwing’s claws carve a path through his eyes and deep into his brain before he gave away his cling on life.  The third met Batwing’s boot in a flying kick that rammed her hard into a nearby piller that was responsible for cracking her skull in two like a watermelon.

Batwing continued his path as another clone charged him with a samurai sword, Batwing sidestepped the charge, grabbed the clone but the back of his jacket, swung him around and punched him hard in the throat, collapsing his windpipe.  As the clone lay gasping on the ground Batwing picked up the swords and in a swift fluid movement ended the charge of another clone approaching from behind.

A few rooms and 10 now lifeless clones later Batwing entered a darked room. He could easily make out the figure of Harley, tied and bound in the far left corner, naked and bruised, barely alive.  He also heard the movements of three other clones, one in front and above of him, one to the right and one to the left.  He hurled the sword and managed to impale the chest of the front clone into a rafter.  With a roar he spread his wings, fast, as the approaching clones met his wingtips at high velocity.  Fast enough to cleanly slice their heads off.

Batwing approached Harley and ripped through the ropes and cloths that bound her.  She looked up at him with absolute terror in her eyes, but this was unlike the terror from their first meeting.  No this was altogether different.  Trav knelt down and looked Harley in the eyes and scooped her up in his arms.  She embraced her naked form against him and began to sob.

“shhh, shhhh” Trav hushed her “It’s O.K.  I’m here now, It’s O.K.”

He wrapped his wings around himself and Harley, completely covering her

“Hush now Harley” Batwing growled “Batwing’s going to make it ALL better”

Mary walked up to the nurse and tapped her on the shoulder

“How is she”

“Pretty bad, many broken bones, some deep cuts, we stitched them up, major physical damage. As for the damage on her mind I can’t say exactly, but she’ll be out of action for quite a while.”

Mary nodded.  “And Him?”

The nurse clutched her clipboard to her chest, and sighed “I don’t really know, he hasn’t moved since he carried her in yesterday.  He just stands there, staring at her.  So empty, so vacant.  I really would like to look him over”

“Join the queue” muttered Mary under her breath

“Pardon” asked the Nurse

“No, nothing.  Can I see him?”

“Sure, go ahead”

Mary slipped around the curtain that surrounded Harley’s bed.  She lay there, unconscious, as she had been soon after the medical teams had looked at her.   Trav stood still, unmoving, staring at her as her body gently moved with her breathing.

“Trav?” Mary asked.  There was no reply

Mary continued “I know you must be feeling pretty bad at the moment, maybe even a little angry”

Mary peered up at him his expression was unchanged

“I just want you to know if we can do anything..”

Batwing swung around quickly and looked Mary directly in the eyes.   Mary hadn’t seen him since the transformation, the deep fiery red of his eyes caused her to gasp.

“I think you people have done more than enough!”

“My God” said Mary as she took a step back.  She looked Batwing up and down and realised the major changes that must have occurred, she didn’t know who this figure before her was, but it wasn’t the same Batwing who had brought Harley into their lives.

“What’s the Matter Mary” sneered Batwing “Don’t like what you see?”

“What happened to you?”

Batwing looked up at the roof, and then back down at Mary

“ohhhh, Nothing much, my dear, I was just flying around one day when I just thought that red eyes and claws were so much more me”

“But why?”

“why why why why why” Batwing started chanting and held his hands to his head “why why why why Why!”
“Are you O.K.” Mary inquired

“No you fucking idiot I am no O.K.”

Mary to a step forwards “Here” she said as she moved to touch him, “why don’t you let me help you...”

“NO!” Batwing lashed out at Mary, grabbing the neck of her shirt her with his fist and threw her into the nearest wall.  “I don’t need your help, I don’t need any of you!” and with that he stormed out of the room

Mary looked and wiped a small drop of blood from her lip  “Bastard”

Batwing was walking through the dark streets, only blocks away from where He and Mark had destroyed the clones/aliens.  Destroyed, but it wasn’t enough, there was only one being that could quench his thirst for blood, dull the pain, put out the fire in his belly.  XmegRyan.  But he had burnt his bridges at the Center, he would have to go solo on this one.  Then he heard the voice.

“What’s a nice guy like you, doing in a place like this”

Batwing swung around to the direction of the voice, Wings spread, poised for attack

“Who said That” Batwing snarled as watched the figure move from the shadows, she was, well, he couldn’t quite explain it.  Slender and sexy, but not like Harley or Gab Dolly was but more, Hardened, rough.  Her hair was a dirty blonde colour, it appeared all messed up, but in a strangely ordered way.  She wore a jet-black crop top, which allowed her to show off her trim belly, she also wore a pair of Black leggings that ended in her knee high black boots.  She ran a hand through her hair and looked at Batwing

“Like what you see?”  She spun in a circle, as if to show herself off, then moved towards him.

As she approached him he noticed something about her posture and stride, it was, different, like she didn’t care how she moved, but her body had an inner rhythm that guided her along her path.  As she came closer she captivated Batwing, his gaze not leaving her for a second.  She touched his chest with an outstretched finger and began to move behind him, dragging her finger across his upper body

“So, you’re Batwing.  I have heard so much about you”

“Really?’

She moved to behind him and whispered into his ear

“Oh yes, I know about you.  And your ‘attributes’.”

“Well…”

She rushed to move in front of him and put her finger to his lips

“no no no, don’t you speak.  I have decided that we should work together to get her”

Batwing lifted his eyebrow “Who are you talking about”

The female figure stood back a step and replied “XmegRyan, of course.  You know that she can’t be killed like a normal clone?”

“I know about her.”

The female lifted her head into the air and laughed to the heavens

“HA HA HA HA Ha Ha Ha, Of course you do.  What do you say?”

“I don’t even know your name”

“But you will”

Mary was awoke with a jerk.  She looked around to see the contents of her office as she again heard the knock at her door that had awoke her in the first place

“Geez, I’m coming”

She hauled herself out of her chair and shuffled over to the door and opened it.  As she did she squinted as the figure before her.

“What is it, you do realise it’s” Mary looked at her watch “4:37 am”

“Yes, But you asked to be informed when she woke up”

she, woke up? Then it hit her, this was the nurse who was assigned to look over Harley

“um Yes, indeed”  Mary said.  As they walked towards the Med Lab Mary asked the nurse

“I never caught your name before?”

“Jasmine” the nurse replied

“Nice name”

Mary strode into the room and saw Harley as she tilted her head.

“Hiya Mary” strained Harley, her face seemed to grimace at the pain

Mary walked to the side of the bed and sat down

“hi Harley, How are you feeling?” asked Mary

“oh fine I guess, I still hurt”

“Were does it hurt?” Mary questioned

Harley thought for a moment and moved around under her covers slightly

“My right foot seems O.K.” and Harley managed a small smile

Mary grinned back at Harley

“Mary” Harley began “Where’s Trav?”

Mary sighed and took Harley’s hand in her own

“He, Umm, well he is, kinda, gone” Mary said and bowed her head “Sorry”

Harley turned away and was silent for a while

“Harley?”

“He turned didn’t he?” muttered Harley. “He has changed again hasn’t he?”

Mary looked around the room, unsure what to say as Harley turned her head back towards Mary

“He did that too didn’t he?” Harley said

Mary stared into the distance, the pain of her lip was still there, and the cut had required stitches

“Uh hu” was all she could manage to say

Harley moved her head again so she was facing the ceiling.

“Harley” Mary started “You know him better then any of us, what is his past”

Harley was silent

“Harley?”

“I really don’t know it all, at least I’m not supposed to.”

“But what do you know?”

Harley sighed as she began to explain

“It happened a long time ago, His parents died in a rock climbing accident, and he was recruited by some organisation.  They spent years training him to be this, “Super Warrior” But he was still completely human then.  Then when he turned 16, they began the experiments.  They infused this substance into his skeletal structure to make his bones stronger, almost unbreakable.  His muscles where filled with a chemical, some kind of steroid.  They supposedly spent a great deal of time implanting many devices into his brain, but none of it seemed to work.  He was still normal, still human. Then they added his wings.  After that operation Trav saw himself in a mirror and must have realised that all this time, all these years, he wasn’t being raised by people who loved or cared for him but wanted to use him purely as a weapon.  He cracked.  He developed a fierce rage, killed two of the scientists that day.  The people who ran the project though it was brilliant, they had the perfect warrior, but he needed to be controlled.  I’m not to sure how they did it but they managed to implant another personality into him.  They called it the Rage.  That way he still had his normal Personality, the one they had spent years developing and training, but also a darker side that could be used as a fighter, a true warrior with no compassion or remorse.

Then one day one of the Lab technicians saw him as they brought the rage out, this friendly, intelligent human was reduced to a simple killing machine.  She couldn’t stand it.  She broke him out of the Lab and tried to restore his humanity.  But try as she might she could only managed to mask it.  She was totally successful until the day he meet me.”

“Yes, he told me about that day”

 “I won’t lie to you Mary, I though he was going to kill me too.  Then he broke down and cried.  I witnessed this man grow wings out of his back and kill a man without a single hesitation.  And then he cried.  I took him back to his place and cared for him while he recovered from the experience.  He, in turn, taught me all those things they had taught him, detective skills, fighting methods and many other things.  I guess it gave him a purpose, I honestly thought I loved him, but when I expressed my feelings for him, he turned away and hid in that shell of his.  That’s just before we started fighting crime on the streets.  He was very methodical, careful.  It wasn’t the same man who had killed before my eyes, he was much more humane.  Then shortly after he joined you at the center he heard of Rohan’s kidnapping and rushed off.  I was so mad, until I discovered why.  He had taught me well, and hacking into his computer was a simple affair.  That’s where I found all this out, he had been researching it himself.  Two names appeared a lot in his records one of them was Rohan.  Rohan was the Lab Assistant who had rescued him all those years ago.

“Oh my!” gasped Mary “Who was the second name?”

 “There was a lot of material that talked about “The Clones.”  Apparently one of Rohan’s projects that went wrong.  But there was a name that surfaced a lot when the Clones where mentioned.  XmegRyan.

“I know” said Mary “He has made it his mission to destroy her”

“no, no no no.  Began Harley “You don’t know at all Mary.

“Care to fill me in?”

Harley hesitated for a while.  “Well, when I discovered what Trav had found I decided to extend his research,  It seems that when the clones reached their third generation there genetic material began to become too similar, they needed a leader, someone smart, tough and sexy.  They stole 2 genetic samples for their leader.  One was that of Meg Ryan, they decided her figure was perfect,  and being a clone she would be evil without any prompting on their part too.  But they needed a sample that could be used to make her the smartest and toughest she could be. The second was from a unknown research facility in Central Australia.  The sample that was stolen was that of the completed “Super Warrior” before the rage was used.”

“My GOD!” exclaimed Mary “That means…”

“That XmegRyan and Batwing are Brother and Sister” Harley finished.  She closed her eyes. “Talk about sibling rivalry hey?” and with that Harley slipped into the darkness of sleep.

Batwing looked around the room that the female had just lead him into.  Fairly featureless except for a 44 gallon drum that contained a fire.

She turned to face Batwing and spread her arms

“Welcome to my world”

She sat down in the floor and gestured for Batwing to do the same.  As he did he looked into her eyes, there was a devious mind working there.

“So tell me why we should work together?”

“I know about you Batwing,  I know all about you and XmegRyan”

Batwing cocked an eyebrow “Really?”

“Oh yes Batwing my love, I know about you and sister”

Batwing sat quite far a while before saying “Well, you can pick your friends…”

“And if you don’t mind me saying you have done rather poorly at that!”

“yes, well, that is true.  But I’ve put that behind me, I’ve only got one purpose now, to destroy XmegRyan.”

The female threw her hands in the air “Always XmegRyan.  It seems as if there is no more time for us.”

Batwing look bewildered for a second  “There is no us”

The female slid over to face Batwing

“But there could be” she said as she drew closer to Batwing’s lips

“really?”

“yes really” she said as she kissed him

XmegRyan walked into her office, Rohan was a reluctant guest, but it was nice to have someone that even approached her intellect around.  She walked to her desk and sat down as Miss Pinky leapt into her lap.

“ohhh my little Baby” said XmegRyan as she stroked Miss Pinky  Then she hit one of the buttons on her control panel.  The image on the screen was shadowed but was clearly male

“Report”

“It seems that your deductions where correct Ma’am”

“They always are” said XmegRyan without hesitation

“After I replaced the BP manager with our agent miss Harley Quinn was directed into the area of the rebel clones”

“And?”

“And they did mistake her for Gab Dolly just as you though they would.  I also made delivery of the video to Batwing’s suite at the Hyatt, How did you know that would happen?”

“The center staff are so predictable”  XmegRyan answered

“Well, Batwing did go missing only to re-appear at the clones/aliens hide out.”

“And?”

“Well, from what I saw, he was pissed, he killed 20 clones by himself”

“Excellent” purred XmegRyan

“Then he assaulted Mary Cornwell and left the center.”

“No doubt he will make his way here, thank you”

“It’s a pleasure Ma’am”

“Of course it is, Bye” XmegRyan closed the connection and proceeded to stroke Miss Pinky

“It would appear my plans are working” purred XmegRyan, as there was a knock at her door. She pressed a button on her control panel and the large metal door slid aside.

“You summoned me Ma’am”

“Yes, you may be seated”

XmegROC sat herself down, she was XmegRyan’s second in command, she didn’t have the same intellect as XmegRyan did, but she certainly was a fighter, more than a physical match for XmegRyan.  But her beauty was stolen from her encounter with Batwing when the clones had kidnapped Rohan, the right side of her face was hideously deformed after Batwing had shoved a few nutbread pellets into her face.  She now sported a black eye patch and an extreme hatred for winged vigilantes.

“I trust that the arrangements have been made” XmegRyan asked of her number one.

“Indeed the have Ma’am, we are on schedule”

“Excellent” XmegRyan said.  “I have just been in contact with our little friend at the center, it seems that my plan worked and Batwing will soon come to us”

The expression on XmegROC’s face changed to one of total anger. “He will die if he does so!”

XmegRyan stood and cradled Miss Pinky in her arms and tickled her chin.  “Now, my dear, His time will come, he still has a use, you are dismissed”

As XmegROC walked out of the room XmegRyan walked over to the large computer display over on the far wall and punched some buttons.  Many schematic diagrams and blue prints appeared before her.

“Yes Batwing, I have plans for you”

Batwing broke of the kissed with this female

“What are you doing, I don’t even know your name” he exclaimed

“oh, sorry, how remiss of me.”

“Yes, well, what is your name?”

“Well, most people call me Callisto Dolly, but you my love can call me Cally”

Batwing thought for a moment “O.K. then.  Now, where were we?”

Cally pushed herself forward and knocked Batwing to the floor.  As she looked into his eyes her hair hung down and gently tickled the sides of his face.

“About here” she said as she kissed him again.