"Although no sculptured marble should rise in their memory, nor engraved stone bear record of their deeds, yet will their remembrance be as lasting as the world they honored." - Daniel Webster
The Death of Batman
Batman stepped over the unconscious body that was one of Darkseid's many minions, his long black cape sweeping over it noiselessly. He turned around to view the top level of Command-D [1] making sure there were no more lackeys he needed to take care of. Satisfied with the utter silence and the many comatose bodies that littered the floor, he braced his hands on the eighth bar of the steel ladder and began climbing. Once he reached the top of the ladder he opened the hatch, automatically finding himself bathed in an eerie red light. Making sure the whites of his cowl were above the hatch in the ground, he activated the Detective Mode [2]. Turning his head around to get a complete 360 view of the area, Batman mentally noted that there were twelve more minions along his path and all were armed.
Grasping at his belt, he took hold of the Batcable and fired it up to the rafters and allowed his body to quickly glide through the air. Gaining his balance swiftly, he promptly moved from one beam to another, setting a timed device on each one. Once he made it to the last beam on the row he looked at the timer in his hand.
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Batman went into a crouching position, his feet planted sturdily on the beam and a laser in his hands.
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He jumped from his position and landed precisely in front of the locked door.
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The devices Batman had placed on the rafters went off with a quiet noise and knock-out gas left them with a slow hiss. Quickly getting to work, Batman knew he wouldn't have to worry about the twelve minions as the gas would take an immediate effect on their systems. The laser turned on, a glowing red taking its place at the end. Batman moved the laser around in a precise circle, revolving it around the lock. The lock fell out of its previous place, clattering to the floor. Batman gently pushed on the door and it swung open easily with a quiet squeak.
Stepping silently over the threshold, Batman made sure to get a quick yet thorough view of the hallway. No one was there. Feeling at his belt to make sure the most important weapon he had ever considered using was still in place, Batman took off on a jog down the long, narrow hallway.
Using his skills to his advantage, Batman slid around through the shadows smooth as water and quiet as the moon. His steps were meticulous as he circled the throne in the center of the room. The room was large. So large that from his point of view, Batman could not see the ceiling. Rays of multiple colors of light made shapes that crossed over the room like a kaleidoscope. The figure in the throne sat perfectly still, not a muscle making the slightest twitch. Batman knew the time to act was near. He made a tiny noise from where he was shrouded; it wasn't loud enough to alert any normal being but the man in the throne was not a normal being.
[3] "I wondered when you would show yourself," a deep, almost robotic, voice said from the front of the throne. "Stop skulking in the shadows. Accept that the equation is proven. Come out." Batman cautiously sidestepped a path, making sure he would end up directly in front of the figure. "Embrace Anti-Life and be whole."
"Darkseid. You look like I feel," Batman stated, looking up at the form of Darkseid. He was tall, at least seven feet, and broad as a tank. His skin looked like rock, rough and dark gray. His eyes radiated a glowering red and his helmet was lit up in an electric blue. "You shouldn't have shot Orion [4]." Darkseid's voice was steady and unaffected, sounding truly heartless as he justified the murder of his own son.
"It was Orion's destiny to fall in the 'Final Battle.' Splintered like light through a prism in an infinite number of deaths." Batman couldn't stop the smug look that etched itself on his face.
"And on the way he wounded you beyond repair, didn't he? A rotten carcass of a god, crawling into the sewer to die." Batman stopped speaking and allowed the perfect silence to take over the room. Darkseid's eyes bore into Batman's as though they could see through the cowl and predict what he was going to say next. When at last he spoke, his voice was deathly quiet and gruff, the words making their way out of his mouth through gritted teeth. "I made a very solemn vow about firearms." In the blink of an eye, Batman had pulled a gun from his belt, pointing it at Darkseid. The gun wasn't your everyday gun. Its design was intricate, the barrel smooth and sleek. It was made of a glittering chrome with a circular yellow design on it. "But for you I'm making a once-in-a-lifetime exception. A gun and a bullet, Darkseid. It was your idea." Darkseid's eyes began to blaze like fire.
"Little man," Darkseid growled, his tone threatening. "Can you outrace the Omega Sanction? The death that is life!" His hands were tense on the arms of his throne and they were beginning to crack from his strength. Batman's finger tightened on the trigger.
"Try me."
Then he fired.
The bullet soared through the air and Batman could almost feel the atmosphere of the room heat up. By the time Darkseid realized what the bullet was, it was too late. The Radion bullet [5] pierced into Darkseid's skin, right below his left clavicle. Not to be outdone, Darkseid let out a mighty roar as the bullet went into him and released his Omega Sanction. Beams of fluorescent red scattered in different directions around the room as Darkseid fell out of his throne with the force of the hit. As the Omega Sanction came at his body Batman couldn't help but let one last smile grace his features.
"Gotcha."
In the city of Blüdhaven, right outside Command-D, Supergirl and Wonder Woman were in a mighty battle against the remaining Female Furies [6]. The two were worn and beaten but fighting with everything they had left within them. Suddenly, a figure appeared in front of the red sky. Supergirl smiled warmly at the sight of her cousin but that smile quickly turned into a frown at the look on his face.
He flew down to where she and Wonder Woman were, rapidly bashing aside the last of the Female Furies. Taken aback by the sudden anger, Supergirl and Wonder Woman flew behind the looming figure of Superman. His usual baby blue eyes began radiating a furious red. Supergirl and Wonder Woman threw their hands up in front of their faces, attempting to make a shield from the bright light and heat. Giant rays of heat vision left Superman's eyes, unleashing massive destruction over the vicinity of Command-D. Supergirl looked over at Wonder Woman with wide eyes, watching as her cousin flew into the building that he had nearly destroyed.
Less than a minute later Superman returned at the fallen front doors. Wonder Woman barely kept away the scream that wanted to escape her throat. Supergirl, however, could not contain the scream that then echoed throughout the now silent city of Blüdhaven.
In Superman's arms was the smoking corpse of Batman, nothing left but the skeleton that housed his flesh and the cowl that hid his face.
AN: Hello again…I know it is rather pointless for me to apologize for not updating any of my stories in months. I am going to apologize anyway, however. So, I am terribly, terribly sorry I haven't been here to update anything! I do have some excuses, though feeble they may be. My computer did crash about three months ago and I lost any work that I did have. Some of it was backed up on a flash drive but other stories, such as stories currently in the making, were destroyed. I have not given up on them though.
I already have the first four chapters of this story completed. I'm not entirely sure how long it will be but I can assure you it will be more than forty chapters. I have one other story that is completely planned out. It is called Green Card. It's AU but I rather like the idea. It will be about forty-three chapters when officially complete.
Anyway, this story is about the death of Batman and the responsibility is leaves on Nightwing. In my story, Nightwing is still leader of the Titans. Here are the footnotes I left in the story:
[1]- Command-D is a center underneath Blüdhaven that Darkseid took over during his raid of Earth. Batman was teleported and held captive here before he was killed.
[2]- For anyone out there that's played Batman: Arkham Asylum, you'll know what I'm talking about. For those of you who don't know, Detective Mode is a vision device that Batman uses that allows him to see people, such as villains, in areas based on their body heat.
[3]- All the dialogue in this chapter is directly out of the comic book, Final Crisis, issue number six. So it doesn't belong to me. It belongs to Grant Morrison or DC Comics.
[4]- Orion was Darkseid's son who was found dead by a detective on Earth that was investigating the murder of child prodigies. It is later discovered that Darkseid planned his son's death.
[5]- Radion is the only element that can kill a new god. It was found as the cause of death of Orion so Batman made sure to have one to kill Darkseid with.
[6]- The Female Furies were originally a group of murderesses from Apokolips. In this issue though, the Female Furies were heroes/villains that were taken over by a virus of some sort. The Female Furies in Final Crisis were Wonder Woman, Batwoman, Catwoman, and Giganta.
Other than the dialogue I'm not sure how accurate this is to the actual comic. I have never read all of Final Crisis so most of this was from my imagination.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything in this story. The characters belong to DC Comics and the dialogue belongs to Grant Morrison.
Thank you for reading! Please review! Constructive criticism is appreciated and if anything needs corrected, don't hesitate to tell me!
