THE SCARS OF BATMAN
"He's crashing! We need to get him to the infirmary, now!" J'onn shouted with both his mind and his voice. The javelin picked up speed as John Stewart, the Green Lantern, sped up. The Watchtower was in sight, they could still make it. "Come on, come on." He urged under his breath. Within seconds they were in the Watchtower's hangar bay. J'onn rushed down the loading ramp pushing a gurney carrying a dark-clad figure in front of him. With his mind he shouted, "All Watchtower medical staff report to the infirmary immediately."
(1 hour later)
Nearly the entire League sat waiting outside of the operating theatre waiting for J'onn to come out and tell them the news, be it good or ill. At that moment both Superman and Supergirl stiffened and then Supergirl began to sob. "What happened?" Wonder Woman practically screamed. Superman stared grimly at the floor before replying, "He just flat lined. They're trying to bring him back but its not working." As soon as he finished speaking he stiffened again before he began laughing, almost uncontrollably. "What?" Hawkgirl asked. Superman was about to answer when J'onn walked through the door and said, "He's stabilized. We lost him for a few moments but managed to bring him back." Wonder Woman immediately asked, "Is he awake? Can we see him?" J'onn smiled and answered, "Yes, he is awake and was for the entire thing. As for seeing him, yes but only three or four of you, he needs to rest."
"Wait, what do you mean he was awake for the entire thing. Shouldn't you have anaesthetized him for the operation?" J'onn waited a few moments before saying, "Yes, he should have been but he refused any and all pain medication and for a seemingly dying man was quite adamant about it. To his credit he barely winced throughout the entire procedure, even when we had to remove the shrapnel in his upper chest. He also refused to remove his mask throughout the entire thing, one of the medical staff went to remove it about a minute after he flat lined and Batman hand was suddenly crushing his wrist. I should point out that he was still technically dead at that point, it was purely a reflex action. Anyway who is wishing to go in." Upon J'onn saying this a sea of hands was suddenly visible. J'onn smiled and said, "He is still awake." Nearly all of the hands dropped, suddenly not wanting to be in a hospital room with a wounded, but still conscious, Dark Knight. Only the hands of the Original members still remained raised in the air. J'onn smiled and said, "Come on in."
Upon entering they stopped dead at the door. Batman lay in one of the infirmary beds, wearing the bottom half of his armored uniform and his protective cowl, the white lenses still intact despite the beating that he had took. Across his body tubes were injected into his arms and chest, breathing apparatus was connected to his nose and the left half of his torso was covered in bandages. He smirked at them when he saw their reaction to his condition. "Would you believe me if I said I've had worse?" He managed to say despite his mangled body. Superman smirked before replying, "No, I wouldn't believe you." Batman smiled at him before saying, "Well, you'd be wrong." Flash just gaped at him before saying, "How you possibly have been worse than this and still be alive?" Batman shifted position and barely managed to stop himself wincing in pain, he then said, "I once had my spine nearly snapped in two by Bane." They all winced at the thought of this, even Superman who was invulnerable. "How are you still managing to walk after that?" Green Lantern asked, both confused and amazed at the amount of sheer will power Batman must possess, even talking to them now must be agony for him but you couldn't even see him wincing. Wonder Woman suddenly spoke, "What happened, anyway? One minute we saw you diffusing the bomb and the next we saw you swinging away." Batman paused a moment before answering, "I couldn't diffuse the bomb, but I knew I had to get it away, I managed to swing into the air and throw it but I was still within the blast radius, it must have been filled with shrapnel to increase the damage it could cause. Then I remember falling and clipping a rooftop on the way down," He paused and gestured at his right arm and they all noticed it was in a cast, "and then I fell further and landed in an alley. I must have blacked out for a few moments because then I remember being in the javelin and then there was the surgery." As he spoke of what happened they all winced at the amount of pain he must have gone through and was probably still going through since he refused pain medication. Superman questioned this point and Batman replied, "My body must remain in peak physical condition and by taking pain medication I am introducing toxins into my body and lowering the physical condition of my body." They all paused to take this in before Flash replied cheekily, "You do realize that you're pretty much in a full body cast right now, don't you? I don't think you're physical condition could really get any lower." Batman smirked slightly at the comment and was about to reply when J'onn said, "You should rest, Batman. You need time to recover." Batman nodded slightly before leaning his head back. They stayed for a few minutes until his breathing deepened then they really looked at his condition. They couldn't see the left half of his torso because it was covered in bandages, but the right was also covered in small cuts and scratches. His right arm was in a cast and was probably broken and his left leg looked heavily burned. They didn't just examine his current injuries though, they also examined his past injuries, and his body was littered with numerous scars. White scars, red scars, straight scars and jagged scars. They gaped at the sheer amount of them, there were so many. Flash whistled softly under his breath, "How is he still alive?" He wondered aloud. No one had an answer for him.
(The next day.)
"Batman, I must insist that you remain in bed" J'onn said as Batman pushed himself up off of the bed and began to pull on the scorched remains of the upper half of his costume. "I have to get back to Gotham." He said, as he attached his torn cape to his shoulders. He stood and J'onn was amazed that he didn't fall over. Any normal person wouldn't have even been able to get out of bed. But this wasn't a normal person. This was the Batman.