When the four of them finally found him, none of them could believe their eyes. Mister Miracle and Orion raced over to the panels, seeing if they could figure a way to get him out. But Superman and Nightwing stopped, both of them doubting whether this was even the man they were looking for.
"We have some time" Orion confided to Mister Miracle. "I don't think they check up on him that often and he has still got water. It might be a day or two before they even notice he is gone."
The man in the cage was not recognizable to either of the heroes. He was weak, thin, hiding in the shadows, not using the darkness as a weapon, but as the only protective shield offered to him. Superman deduced, no, hoped he was the only one that could hear the mad mumbling of his teammate.
Nightwing approached the glass with caution, careful not to touch it or to be in the way of Orion and Mister Miracles attempts to free the dark character kept captive.
"Are you even sure it's him?" he asked doubtingly.
Superman didn't focus on Mister Miracle's empathic answer. Instead he strained to hear Batman's almost inaudible comments to himself:
"I know that voice… I remember him… But it isn't him. Not him. Just a trick. They want me to hope. Or they want me to hear them torture him again. That is why they took my sight this time. They want me to hear them torment him. But it isn't him. He is at home."
The way his friend even pronounced the word 'home' made him tear up. He could hear how the broken man tested it, savored it, even dared to enjoy the memory of it.
"He is at home" the babbling continued, "at home with Alfred, and Tim and Barbara and they are all watched over by Superman and Wonder Woman and the league keeps them and Gotham and the world save. They are all safe. He isn't here. It is a delusion. Just another delusion they use to torment me with. He isn't here. I am the only one here…."
He paused again, this time to switch to a much clearer whisper, one that resembled the voice Superman remembered as Batman's:
"Just me."
Mister Miracle punched in a final digit and the glass popped open. It landed as a solid plate at their feet, proving to Superman and Nightwing that it might resemble but was nothing like glass. The mere sound of it landing on the ground made Dick flinch.
Batman clenched his fists and tightened his muscles, but he didn't move. He had long since learned it made no difference whether he fought, obeyed or tried to hide.
"It's just pain." He mumbled again. "Just pain. I know pain. I work through pain. They only have me. Everyone else is safe. It's just pain. Just my pain. They don't hurt anyone else. Nobody I love."
Nightwing sought permission with the two known visitors of Apokolips' impenetrable prison before he dared enter. Mister Miracle nodded with great sympathy, understanding the boys need to greet their target first. He had never fully understood the relationship between the two, but he knew it resembled that of father and son.
As soon as he had a foot in the cell, Batman pulled back like a wounded animal. The light from the torches flickered and Nightwing got a chance to see his mentor's white eyes. It was as if he had no pupils or irises. Just white liquid, pouring from his eyes like an infection.
"It's okay" he whispered numerable times. When he tried to lay a hand on Bruce's shoulder, the shadow of a person shunned away in a scream.
"What happened to him?" Nightwing asked without taking his tearful eyes away from his adoptive father. Or what was left of him. "It's only been nine days and he looks like an animal."
"Time moves differently within these walls" Mister Miracle said with great pain. He stopped Orion with a gesture when the fellow hero tried to explain that it had seemed close to a year to Batman. 'The boy doesn't need to know that' he thought to himself.
Superman moved closer, taking a stand beside Nightwing. He wondered whether it had been wrong to bring him on this mission, but he had insisted. He and the rest of the 'bat-family', as Flash had called them.
"His mind is scrambled" Orion explained behind them. "The easiest would be to knock him out, get away from here before anybody notices us, and then let that green telepath of yours unscramble him later."
Mister Miracle interrupted: "He needs to leave this place knowingly." He remembered his own escape from Granny's orphanage: You needed to see your escape with your own eyes to believe it. Otherwise it might just be another illusion to instill you with hope.
"I know the voices." Bruce began again, still only audible to Superman. "Why them? Why know? How do they intend to use this? What would these characters do to Batman? Is it because they resemble a rescue team?"
The detective at work even when he bared little resemblance to a man, Clark thought to himself. This might have been the only way for him to feel he had some control over his torture: At least he could figure out what was coming next.
Superman chose to speak.
"We are going to get you out of here, Bruce" he said as calmly as he could. It seemed to enrage Batman the more.
"What did he say" he whispered to himself first, then louder adding: "Say that again!" ending with a screaming order: "REPEAT!"
"We are going to get you out of here, Bruce" Nightwing tried this time, fighting the knot in his throat with all his might.
"Bruce" the captive whispered. "You called me Bruce…"
He sat still for a couple of seconds then reached out in the darkness that had swallowed his world. Nightwing and Superman grabbed a hand each, Superman leading it to his chest, Nightwing placing his mentor's hand on his chin.
"You called me Bruce" he repeated as he felt his son's and friend's presence. "You called me Bruce" he sobbed, tears finding their way to his suffering eyes.
Superman stepped closer, ready to carry his friend out of there, but Nightwing stopped him.
"I can take him. You walk through the escape route with Miracle and Orion."
He needed a moment with Bruce – understandable, Clark thought, turning around to talk with his two experts.
"He has only few cuts on his wrists" Orion noticed. "He has fought a brave battle."
"What does that mean?" Superman asked, and it was of course Scott that answered:
"In captivity, Darkseid's soldiers will offer you what they call 'a way out' – a dagger to cut your wrists. They know that when you have once willingly accepted the blade, you will thirst for it even more than your freedom, the dream of death seeming more realistic than that of returning home."
"They allow you to kill yourself and then bring you back to life just to do it over again?" Superman asked with disgust.
"But he was a clever bastard" Orion said in awe. "Look at that scar on his neck. It must have taken them weeks to patch that up…"
Superman wanted to shut him up, but Nightwing interrupted them. He had one of Bruce's weak arms around his shoulders, carrying him as much as he could towards the others. But Batman still managed to put one foot in front of the other, even demanded the right to do so.
"I know these halls" he stated in what almost seemed like the bat's voice. "I escaped six or seven times, even made it to the outside once. I know our route."
Orion wanted to protest. Having a blind man leading you through the halls of a labyrinth wasn't his idea of a plan.
"Superman will need to carry me. I can barely stand" he said in the familiar cold manner. "But with Mister Miracle leading the directed path and Orion as our backer, we should be able to get out as a group."
"It could get messy" Orion warned. "Miracle and that boy of yours were able to guide us through the stealthy way. But we might have to shoot our way out." He grinned a little: "I promise to take as many with me as I can."
"No, you won't" Batman continued. "Revenge is pointless - especially in this place."
He paused a moment to get a better grip around Nightwing's shoulder. Then he finished the conversation.
"I just want to go home."
Superman smile in relief as Miracle took the load off of Nightwing's shoulder in order to discuss their exit with the strategist who had barely seemed human a minute ago.
"How do you think he managed?" Superman whispered to Orion.
"Because he is Batman" Nightwing proudly stated before joining the debate on whether they should cross over or dig under the spike pit.