70 The gall
(3rd Person POV)
Batman has arrived at Dr. Kirk Langstrom's home. He moves through the apartment with ease and notices the shuriken stuck inside the table. He gives a mental command and the diagnostic runs its course as Batman moves through the rooms. He has scanned the building already and knows where he needs to go.
[Scan complete.
Fingerprints: none,
Origin: 72% were created in the USA, 23% were created in Russia ... 5% in various other countries.
The most likely provider: Hans Richter, Arms dealer and secret weapons manufacturer for the League of Assassins.
Owner: ... League of Assassins ... considering recent occurrences ... Deathstroke]
Batman reaches the room where Dr. Langstrom usually works and notices the state of the room. Everything is in disarray and papers lying everywhere. He left in a hurry. And not only him, his wife and daughter did too.
Like a machine, Batman makes his way to a hidden compartment in the room and opens the metal lid on the ground. He jumps down and arrives in a large room, filled with cages. The cages hold experiments that look like mutant Bat-creatures. All of them are in various stages of completion. Batman scans the room, the moment his feet touch the ground and notices the heat signature on the ceiling.
[Scanning complete.
Designated: Man-Bat, a serum created by Dr. Kirk Langstrom which turns humans into Man-Bats
State: Unstable, unfinished, crude.]
*ROAAARRRR*
The Man-Bat which has escaped its cage wakes up and attacks Batman. It roars and punches Batman, who easily dodges out of the way. The Man-Bat, which looks more like a Gorilla with tiny wings, attacks Batman and throws his arms at the Dark Knight.
*WOOSH*
*WOOSH*
Batman dodges out of the way and then moves past the creature's defence. With the deadly precision, Batman is known for, he uses the Vibration Palm Strike, which he learned years ago and hits the Man-Bat in the stomach.
The vibrations travel through the giant monster and when they reach the back of his body, they combust.
*BOOOM*
An explosion of blood and gore is seen, as the Man-Bat's back explodes and kills the monster immediately. The red light diminishes in its eyes and it falls to the ground.
*THUMP*
.
Batman walks towards the dead beast and takes a syringe out of his Utility Belt. He takes some of the Man-Bat's blood and tissue while he's at it. If the subpar doctor thinks he can experiment on Gothamites, under his watch, then he has another thing coming.
[Sir, a drone has been spotted on various scans. It is flying directly towards your position.]
"Deathstroke?"
[Most likely, sir. Would you like me to hack into it?]
"Yes. But don't interfere. Track the location from where he or she is controlling it. It is time that I put my foot down. Otherwise, people seem to forget I exist."
[As you wish sir.]
Batman moved out of the room, where the experiments were located and rushed to the roof of the building. He had a drone to take care of. He was an unfriendly SOB, but he was Gotham's SOB, so he would take care of those poor sods in the room.
The drone came closer. It was not an armed drone. This one was a kamikaze drone, sent to fly directly into Dr. Langstrom's building and destroy his work. Too bad, Batman was here. He takes out a special Batarang and throws it at a 42° angle to the approaching drone and just as it seems like the drone would hit the building, the Batarang hits it.
*POP*
*BBLLLUBLUBLUBLUB*
Lots of foam and bubbles explode out of the Batarang and coat the drone in a second. The drone crashes into the roof of the building.
*BOOIING*
But the bubbles stop it from doing any damage. It bounces back into the air and down again, like a trampoline.
*BOOM*
As a failsafe, the drone explodes. A safety measure for Deathstroke is to ensure that nothing can be followed back to him. Fool, he doesn't understand that Batman already has all the information he needs.
The explosion of the drone is absorbed by the bubbles, which fill with smoke and debris. Batman watches as the bubbles begin to float into the air and then ...
*POP*
... pop out of existence, together with anything that was inside of them.
Batman moves back into the room where the experiments are kept and gets to work. He takes out a small cube from his utility belt and throws it on the ground. The cube begins to change and grow into something different.
A moment later, instead of a small cube, a fully operational small lab is in front of him. He takes the syringe with the monster's blood and gets to work.
.
- 10 minutes later -
[There's a message for you, sir. From young Miss Cassandra.]
"Put her through."
[Connecting now.]
"How was it?"
{Embarassing.}
"Did he get anything out of him?"
{No. It was sad to watch.}
"How's Ubu? Can we still use him?"
{Doubtful. I waited like you said, before he killed him. You were right on that front. He seems to see killing as something he needs to do.}
"Don't look down on him ... too much. He might be a Morty, but he's my Morty. They need to be trained after all."
{You still haven't told me what it is. What do you mean by, Morty? Is he like a sidekick?}
"Is that sadness I hear in your voice, Kasumi?"
{No.}
"What did I tell you?"
{When-}
"You know when."
{*Sigh* I know.}
"Good. Then you understand that I couldn't use you for the things I use the Morty. I respect you too much for that. Bring the failure to the Batgarage. I'll meet you there, once I'm finished."
{Ok.}
.
.
(Cassandra POV)
I brought the boy back to the Batgarage and waited for Batman to return. I would feel bad for the kid if I didn't know any better. Imagine being destined to become ... whatever it is a Morty is. But it does make me smile when I imagine Batman's respect for me if he didn't ... wait a minute. Does that mean, he never used me to test out his serums and other things? Or ... do I just not know about it?
"ALFRED, I would like to know something.", I ask the trusted AI.
[Almost anything for you, Cassandra. What may I help you with?]
"Were there any serums that Bruce used on me? Like the fear gas and other types."
[That would be a definite no. Master Bruce has never used you as a guinea pig. He did give you serums though. As you know, he increased your cognitive abilities considerably, which allowed you to learn speech and how to socialise perfectly. Other than that, he has given you a few things to increase your resistance to certain drugs and poisons.]
"I see. Is that all you can tell me, or is it all that you want to tell me?"
[There is nothing else to tell.]
"I see."
"Ugh.."
[It seems like he is waking up.]
"Yeah."
Damien shakes his head and looks around. When his eyes land on me, he gets angry.
"You! Why did you stop me? That was my mission and not yours!", he shouts and attacks me again. I dodge out of the way and block all of his strikes. He is quite skilled for his age. Nothing to be proud about tough. Bruce told me that I was twice as deadly when I was younger than the boy.
*SLAP*
I slap him across the face, to make him stop.
"You-"
"Shut up. Unless you have something useful to say, shut your mouth. I was tasked by Batman to keep an eye on you. He knew you would result to killing Ubu. But your performance was even more embarrassing than that."
"What? I beat him! He was on his knees in front of me!", he says.
"Your task was to get information out of him and not kill him. You disrespected the women in the apartment and then went on a rampage, destroying the room and chasing Ubu across the streets. And when he refused to talk, you were about to kill him."
"And?"
"That was a revolting display. Not only did everyone see you, but you got nothing from all of that."
"He doesn't deserve to live."
"And why is that?"
"He works for Deathstroke and Deathstroke killed my Grandfather, the great-"
"Listen to yourself. You were about to kill a man because he works for Deathstroke. Killing should be the last thing you resort to. If you have to kill someone, you failed. At least in this case.", I tell him. I know there are exceptions to this rule and Batman was very clear and detailed when he told me about it. I came to understand that killing is necessary sometimes, but most of the time, it means you have failed to achieve the desired result.
Even someone as crazy and dark as the Joker hasn't been killed by Batman ... yet. Not because he doesn't want to or can't, but because he has so many things planned for him. I know of a few things, but I can't imagine them working, besides giving him more trauma. Of course, I don't see the whole picture, so I can't judge.
"So you want to tell me that Batman doesn't kill? That he wasn't ever vengeful? That he doesn't lose control sometimes? Give me a break.", Damian says to me.
"..."
I tilt my head to the side when I hear that bullshit coming out of his mouth. I walk towards the little shit with slow steps, just the way he taught me. I do this unconsciously.
"Vengeful? He is vengeful every day. But do you know what would happen ... if he ever lost control? The world would be doomed. You think Deathstroke is dangerous? The Justice League, Superman or Darkseid ...? You have no idea. There is nothing more dangerous than Batman and it is time you understand that."
.
.
(3rd Person POV)
Batman had returned to the Batgarage and with him, Dr. Langrstrom. Cassandra and Damien came to him.
"Who's this?", Damien asks.
"Dr. Langstrom. ALFRED put him into the interrogation room #2. I think that should be more than enough.", Batman says.
[As you wish, sir.]
Two mechanical hands came from the floor and took the doctor away. The ground opened up and the mechanical hands brought him away.
"Your Batgarage is alive? Not something I would have done?", Damien says.
"No one asked for your input. Now, how was it?", Cassandra asks.
"The usual. Not very exciting. The counter Man-Bat serum works. I tested it just now.", Batman says as the nanites from his suit retreat back and reveal Bruce Wayne.
"Are you going in alone?", Cassandra asks.
"No, you can come as well. His wife and daughter are captured, he will sing like a bird."
.
Inside the interrogation room, Batman who has taken a shower, is standing in front of Dr. Langstrom. He doesn't bother wearing his costume.
"Huh? Wh-where am I?", the doctor asks and looks around.
"B-Bruce Wayne? What are- ... Kasumi? You're here. But then-"
"Just start talking.", Kasumi interrupts him.
"... ah ... sure. Ra's wanted me to splice animal DNA into human, using advanced mutagens. He would provide 'volunteers' for me to work on."
"Yes, we'll talk about that later.", Bruce says with a dangerous glint in his eyes.
"I knew it would mean prison if anyone discovered I was up to my old experiments. But how do you say no to Ra's al Ghul?", Dr. Langstrom asks.
"He wanted you to make a powerful soldier.", Kasumi says.
"Yes. The 'ultimate' warrior. He called it, Operation: Air Strike. No army could withstand an army of flying superpowered ninjas, using sonar in the dead of night."
"Then he was a bigger fool than I thought. The Justice League could deal with such a problem any time of the day.", Kasumi says.
"But he knew that Gotham was the Batman's territory. He knew that the army and the Justice League, wouldn't do anything if he were to take over Gotham. I don't know what his exact plans were, but that is what he told me.", Langstrom says.
"And Deathstroke took over."
"The formula was my ace in the hole. I kept working on it, making improvements. I don't know what he might do if I finished it completely.", Langstrom says.
"Where is your family?"
"I don't know."
"Then you're useless."
Batman takes out a device and flashes it at the Dr, deleting the memories of what just happened. He takes out his portal gun, shoots a portal underneath the Dr. and sends him back to his apartment.
"Let's go. We have work to do."
.
In Ra's old headquarters in Asia, the door, to Talia's prison, opens and Deathstroke walks in. She has been tortured for a while now and was in a terrible state. The mercenary has his own agenda and torturing the woman is just part of that business. Things weren't going so well after he was beaten by the Dark Knight. It took him a while to come up with the best course of action to take over the League and deal with Batman.
"I know where you took the boy. He fights like an assassin ... like you. Your romance with the Dark Knight wasn't merely rumour, it would seem. Who is he? Who is Batman?", Deathstroke asks.
"Do what you must, I won't talk. Even if I wanted to ... I couldn't tell you."
"I believe you."
"You won't need to look for them, they will find you first."
"Haha, you surprise me. You had a romantic affair with the Dark Knight and still don't know him at all. The Batman cares mostly for Gotham. If he wanted to find me, he would have done so a long time ago. You see, he is someone who has his own plans. I saw his ruthlessness. Someone like that doesn't take in a boy without reason. I wonder what will happen to your boy when you see him the next time ..."
