Chillin like a Villain (Zantra)

[Catherine Kent]

Catherine smirked as she lounged on the couch of the Titans tower in full costume, she didn’t trust some of the fellow Injustice Leaguers with her identity plus she didn’t want them bugging her outside of business. Though she didn’t come to the Titans Tower base often just for the fact that it used to be Titans Tower, her parents were both ex-Titans they used to call this place home and Catherine was a part of the team that forced the Titans out. It was unsettling to her just a little bit; shaking her head Catherine picked up the remote and turned on the TV. The first thing that turned on was the news and all that was on was what her mother and father would call Bad news, all about the recent bank robberies, school shootings etc though Catherine simply saw this as the truth not anything bad about it.


Though when Metropolis news came up with a superhero who wore an all too familiar S on his chest Catherine raised her arm to turn off the TV when she found it stuck. There was nothing wrong with the remote but she found that she couldn’t find herself to click the off button. Catherine frowned with sigh memories of her parents coming back to her, and then those memories took a darker tone to their immediate betrayal when they discovered Catherine was going around as a villain to when they got a divorce, only then was it all too easy to hit the power button.


Growling slightly Catherine got up to see a reflection of a person behind her in the television.
“I’m sorry were you watching that?” Catherine asked in an uncaring manner.

[zantra]

The so-called "villainous" denizens of Earth were, by and large, a petty bunch. Their motivations were simplistic and obvious; power and wealth were two of the most popular. Zantra could realistically expect nothing more from mortals though. How could such finite beings possibly measure up to the grand ambitions of Gods, after all? As such, rather than be disappointed in the personal shortcomings of those she currently chose to call allies, Lady Darkseid looked at it as a blessing. Such mercenary mentalities would be child's play to bend to her will; she need only convince them that the payout for following her plans was high enough.

There were however some members of the Injustice Society, the team she'd chosen as the foundation for her army, who would not be so easily manipulated. Some fancied themselves leaders and masterminds and their pride would get in the way. Others were in denial, too weak to fully commit to a side. Some of them were not worth the trouble they presented and would be eliminated in due time. Others however had much to contribute and so were worthy of the extra time and effort Zantra would spend in ensuring their future loyalty.

Black Bat was one such individual. In truth, she was merely a rebellious child. Zantra had monitored her surface thoughts frequently enough and with enough attention to know that the life of a villain was one which the girl had merely slipped into whilst trying to find her own feet. She still attempted to hide her identity from the wrest of the team and assuaged her own ego by telling herself that, so long as she did not cross that final line and kept the blood of murder from actually being on her hands, she was not the one guilty of anything. Had the circumstances been different, had the Bat been of no import to Zantra, the New God would have given the girl no more thought than a passing frivolity of amusement.

But she was a skilled warrior, gifted even, and her Kryptonian heritage gave her a decided edge. When it came to sheer weaponized potential, there were few amongst the League's current incarnation that matched the Black Bat. As such, Zantra knew her alliance must be made concrete before the opportunity arose for the girl to feel accepted once more by the other side and prove an obstacle rather than a tool in Apokolips' plans for Earth. That goal was what brought Zantra to the Tower whilst her teammate was enjoying the "down time" that seemed so valuable to so many of these rather lackadaisical Earthlings.

"I know something about the betrayal of a parent." The monotonous statement wasn't really an answer to the other woman's question. Hands clasped behind her at the small of her back, Zantra's feet remained unmoving a couple inches above the ground as she floated around from behind the couch to stop with a mere couple feet between her and her companion. It was a calculated risk, revealing that she'd been telepathically eavesdropping on the Black Bat's thoughts. Still, with the story of Zantra's father banishing her from Apokolips widely known, her words would at least ring true. Common ground would allow her to develop an empathetic bond with the girl, the kind of relationship in which her advice would be more persuasive, Lady Darkseid intended.

[Catherine Kent]

Catherine turned and watched her leader suspiciously, she didn’t spend much time with Lady Darkseild but she knew of her. She knew of Darkseild through her father’s stories of Superman and then some more when she went on her own with other villains. She knew that Darkseild was turned away by her father as well which was what Zantra was referring to. They did have that in common with each other though still Catherine felt uneasy with her.

Still Black Bat deciding to go out on a limb and actually talk a little with her new boss or any of the members for that matter at least she would get on Zantra's good side so she won’t have to worry about being killed later.
“What’s your story?” Catherine asked boldly not wanting to show fear, which she wasn’t just uneasy. Black Bat wasn’t entirely sure if she could take her on with her powers, it had been done before with their fathers or with her father’s genetic template at least but still the point remained the same. Catherine had somewhat of a fighting chance against Darkseild if she needed to take that chance with her.

Catherine brought her eyes up to Lady Darkseild’s, she knew that Zantra had already chosen a side, and that side was evil. Catherine chose this side as well she just never killed yet, maybe that was some sort of villain rite of passage or something, if it was Catherine wasn’t entirely sure if she was ready to take it. Killing was something her mother was strictly against her father as well, Catherine always found it ironic her mother Cassandra was an assassin against killing. Though if one lesson that Cassandra taught her daughter stuck it was that one, Catherine never killed a human being before she had no intention of doing it. While she desperately held onto this belief could she really be considered a villain? She knew of a lot of villains who killed or weren’t afraid to the person talking to her was one of those villains.

[zantra]

"My story..?" Zantra gazed past the Black Bat in an unfocused fashion, her expression neutral. Yet inwardly, she considered the question a first, small victory. Already the girl was at least willing to respond to her attempt at a rapport to an at least civil degree. Now she merely had to draw her in the rest of the way, play on the inherent desire for connection mortals seemed so plagued by. For this particular pawn, making a personal ally of her would be easier than a more formal alliance; emotion would motivate her easier than anything else and Zantra didn't even really need to be psychic to perceive that.

"My story as that I was raised from my first breath to grasp at ever more power and that, the first time I truly took my own innitiative in doing so, those who shaped my childhood towards that goal cast me aside and out of my very home for doing so." Voice trembling almost inaudibly by the end of her short but impassioned explanation, Zantra allowed her brows to contract ever-so-slightly and tightened her jaw with the same cold fury she showed before executing a lethal blow upon a foe. It was a lie, of course, but not really a fabrication. Such was the fallacy that actually had taken place in her elder brother Graven's mind, well before she'd been born, and Zantra channeled her generally-detached comprehension of his actions in selling her story.

"But you wouldn't know anything about that, would you..?" Zantra offered the querry leadingly, an invitation for Black Bat to share perhaps more of her own story than Lady Darkseid had been able to telepathically glean. Though she had re-adopted her usual poker face, the Apokoliptian New Goddess cocked her head slightly to the left as she waited for the mortal girl to take the bait.

[Catherine Kent]

Catherine wasn’t sure what else to feel besides…pity and maybe some sympathy in there as well. She couldn’t help but find Zantra’s story and maybe something that Catherine could relate to, well her parents didn’t raise her to be a super villain but still she knew what it felt like to be cast aside because she didn’t exactly fit the perfect family picture. Actually if anything Catherine pretty much destroyed that perfect family dream for Cassandra and Conner, she did it for her own selfish greedy reasons and she felt guilty about it. She still felt guilty now though she wouldn’t let it on she didn’t want people to know that her family was a weakness for her but Zantra she could relate too.

“My parents….they were both sidekicks to two of earth’s greatest heroes, when we found out I had these powers they expected me not to use them. It was stupid of them, after I had something that made me feel better about myself made me feel better than everyone else they expected me to keep it a secret and use it to help everyone about myself. I felt so betrayed then when I actually started to use the powers for something other than what they planned the first thing they did was turn away from me. They were my parents they were suppose to love me no matter what I did!” Catherine ended up shouting the last part not realizing what she had said once it was said. She kept those feelings locked up for so long that maybe she just needed to tell someone about it. Though truth be told Catherine never imagined that the person she revealed this to would be Zantra. Maybe her parents if they ever reconciled or one of her cousins never had she imagined it would be to a fellow villain.