An Imperfect Future
Act I
Santa Prisca:
"You broke my father's back!"
"No child… I broke his will!"
"I've come for your head… Bane!"
"First I will break you then I will stew you and then feed you to my hounds!"
"You're just like all the others…a feeble ego, and far too stupid to understand you have already lost", Damian stated as his eyes narrowed with seething fury.
"Tú poco puta!"
"I will teach you fear… I will teach you pain… and after and I mean only after you beg me to stop… I will kill you.
Bane couldn't remember the last time he had a challenger worthy of his skill and he fucking loved it and the proof was never more evident than the sadistic grin he had on his face.
Santa Prisca Airspace:
Kaldur looked over the group within his charge and felt his heart grow heavy once more. Each of them looked to him for leadership and guidance and yet he felt as he had failed even before he had a chance to begin. Everyone here had somehow suffered a loss. That is what bound them and that is what haunted them. For Harley Quinn it was the loss of her dear and beloved Mr. J. that finally shocked her back to sanity and the simple price for her newfound clarity was the beaten and fractured body of the Joker pinned to the Bat-signal right before Damian broke his neck leaving his body brandished for all of Gotham to see. The sin that Damian commented against Conner however left the whole world crying out in pain but, as the closest person to Clark Kent that he could have called son it left him devastated when Superman had fallen due to a Kryptonite bullet that was fired from a railgun killing him instantaneously. The shot forever recorded in history as the longest confirmed kill due to a headshot. As for Beast Boy his heart was torn asunder by treachery his sister M'gann choosing to side against them following Damian down his damnable path.
"We're close aren't we Kaldur'ahm.", Beast Boy said with his head hung low.
Harley Quinn sat quietly while tears trickled down her face.
"Yes, we are Beast Boy.", replied Kaldur.
All Conner could do was look away. Made in a lab… in a fucking test tube a mixture of Clark Kent's and Lex Luthor's DNA but, after years Clark finally started to provide guidance and tutelage to him… until Damian put him down with the longest sniper shot in the history of mankind. That bastard didn't even have the balls to look him in the eye before he killed him.
"That fucking coward!", Conner thought.
Kaldur'ahm slowly walked over to the last member of his team. Making sure he was out of ear shot of the others he just addressed, he kneeled and looked his final teammate in the eyes. The visible age of the man did little to soften Kaldur'ahm's demeanor because the man he was about to address was his father.… Black Manta!
"I want you to know that even if Waller put that bomb in your head to keep you in line I won't hesitate to kill you myself if I have to!"
"What would your wife say about that?", he answered with an evil smirk.
"Considering what you did… I don't think that she would concern herself with it or lose any sleep over it either."
"So even with all the death and destruction that Quinn and the clown drowned Gotham in… she still gets a pass but I don't?", Manta sneered.
"I don't give a damn… she isn't the one who killed my children!"
"I am the official envoy for the king of Atlantis… his right hand… his will is my will…"
"Shut the hell up!"
"You were the oldest of the adopted sons of Orin… therefore your bloodline is recognized before your brothers henceforth… your children had to die for him to still rightfully claim the throne!"
"I said shut the hell up!" Kaldur'ahm shouted as he punched the interior of the aircraft.
The group finally took notice of the private conversion that the two Atlantean's were having. Kaldur stood up and walked deeper into the aircraft.
"Barbara switch to our private com line.", Kaldur asked after pushing the button on the Bluetooth device in his ear.
"Done Kal… is everything alright?
"We're only a few minutes from the jump into Santa Prisca and I just wanted to hear your voice beloved."
"You spoil me Kaldur."
"It's because I love you Barbara."
"Or the fact you just want to get into my pants."
"Don't joke… I have to hold this thing together for as long as possible.", Kaldur couldn't help to smile as he let some of the tension out of his shoulders.
"A little levity never hurt anyone."
"Barbara, do you remember when we were drilling wells in Bialya?"
"If you are referring to what I think you're referring to… then yes I remember."
"I was thinking about how all the little boys made you gifts cause they all had crushes on you.", Kaldur said laughing.
"And that made all the girls hate me remember!", Barbara barked.
"Yet you never let it get the better of you… and you walked by my side every day we went into the slums to drill those wells."
"As for the previous question… I seem to remember one night when we were filthy from all the work we had done and all we had left until we resupplied was a gallon of water and a half of pound of beans."
"And?"
"Well the way I remember it… you cooked the beans we ate then you took the remaining water and a washcloth washed my feet… then you washed my legs…"
"Your stomach… then your arms."
"And if I recall correctly you payed extra attention to all the naughty bits of my body… slowly rubbing me using that excuse that you just wanted to make sure I was really clean. Really smooth move by the way."
"I couldn't help how dirty we were and we didn't have any way to shower."
"Was that what you were really thinking before you soaped and rinsed my breast off for the third time or when you nearly teased me to orgasm? I have to admit when you finally dropped that washcloth and made love to me I was a very happy woman."
"That little hut in the slums of Bialya were some of the best memories I have with you Barbara."
"Don't talk like that Kal!"
"…"
"You don't get to leave me! You don't get to die without me so like it or not you are coming back.", She sniffled over the comm.
"Barbara… my love…"
"You are coming home Kal! Do you understand me. You don't get to love me and then leave me like that! You are the most important thing in my life… my whole universe Kal! And we haven't been back to that little hut in Bialya yet… so we should go back so we can see just how much all the little children have grown! So, you can hold me at night while we camp in the grass fields again!", Barbara furiously whimpered.
"I'll come home Barbara… I'll be home. I love you with all my heart."
"And I love you with all of mine Kaldur'ahm."
With that Kaldur and Barbara switched back to their team's public mission line on their com link.
New Belle Reve:
"I haven't heard someone call you Barbara in a long time."
"You shouldn't have been eavesdropping on me?"
"How is that my fault… you wrote the program and feed it my consciousness."
"It was the only way we could think of to keep you alive Victor."
"I don't blame you for the decisions that my father made. After all this seems like the natural evolution for a cyborg. I just miss having a body…"
"I never would've helped Silas if I had known Victor… I swear to you!"
"If you hadn't written those programs and developed the software that my farther needed I would be dead right now. So, actually you did me a favor when you think about it."
"I know what you are trying to do Victor."
"Is it working?"
"No."
"Is it because of me?"
"Of course, not Victor."
"Is it because of the mission?"
"Yes."
"Are you worried because Kaldur is working with his father?"
"No."
"Is it because you're afraid that Kaldur will die?"
"Yes."
"Kaldur is strong so you shouldn't worry so much."
"I know Victor."
"Waller is coming…"
"Thanks for the warning."
"No thanks necessary… Oracle. I'm going to commit one-hundred percent of my processing power back to project Watchmen."
"Hey Victor…"
"Yes?"
"Just because we had to upload your consciousness to a quantum super computer doesn't mean you don't have a soul. You're still human in my book."
"Thanks."
As the console in front of her returned to normal the back door to the room opened and in walked a gray-haired Amanda Waller. Oracle manipulated the controls on her wheelchair and turned around to face her.
"Waller."
"Oracle."
"What brings you down here?"
"By my clock the team should be preparing for the jump right now."
"They are."
"So, I wanted to come down here a keep an eye on the mission first hand."
"We agreed that you would be kept in the loop remember?"
"And I remember someone coming to me and asking for resources."
"Waller, I have too much on my plate right now to have a pissing match with you! So, if you want to observe first hand then by all means pull up a chair."
"…"
"What?!"
"I thought you would have put up a fight."
"Well excuse me if my focus is keeping my team alive!"
"Your team or your husband?"
Santa Prisca Airspace:
Kaldur was at the rear of the plane when the cargo door opened and the howling wind roared across him and his team. Surprisingly the only two people that had on parachutes were Kaldur and Black Manta. Beast Boy shapeshifted into a bird and Conner was just going to jump.
As for Quinn, she jumped upon Conner's back yelling, "Charge!"
Conner and Quinn hit the ground first followed by Beast Boy then Kaldur and Black Manta.
"What in the hell do you eat?" Conner asked Quinn.
"Oh, all that extra weight is because I brought this duffle bag!", Quinn proudly showed off a purple colored duffle bag which contained just about every weapon type imaginable.
After rezipping her duffle back and throwing it back over her shoulder she grabbed Conner by his shirt and kissed him
"Thanks for the ride blue boy!"
Then she started to run off toward Bane's home base.
"Did she just slip me some tongue?!", he wondered before he took off behind her.
With Beast Boy flying overhead Kaldur and Black Manta took off running with Conner. Each of them trying to still themselves for want was about to happen. This was their last chance… the last line of defense. The last of the world's hope rested on their shoulders. They had to stop Batman here and now.
Some were in the South Pacific:
"Are you sure Bruce?"
"This is the only way…"
"What happens if it changes you… what happens then?"
"That's why you are here princess… if I do come out a different person I am counting on you to talk some sense into me. By the way…"
"No good-byes Bruce."
"Of course, not princess."
With all the strength he could muster Bruce Wayne pushed his wheelchair towards the only thing that held any hope of healing his broken body which was one of Ra's al Ghul's Lazarus Pits.
Talia al Ghul walked silently beside the Amazon princess watching the man she loved slowly inch his way into the same substance that consumed her father. And the reason he was doing it was to stop her son… their son.
"Thank you for letting us do this, I know how much this must effect you."
"You know nothing! You are only here as a courtesy!"
"Talia… I don't want a fight."
"Just remember this you may have his heart but, I am the one who reared his son!"
And with one last breath Bruce submerged himself in the Lazarus Pit.
Intermission…