Chapter Two

These are the stories from the Dark Multiverse that should never be…

Witness the rise of the Dark Knights…

Location: Earth -2

Batman began his assault on the main compound of the League of Assassins by simply kicking in the door. The wood simply crumpled under the heel of his boot while the unconscious bodies of black garbed assassins were strewn across the courtyard behind him. He strode into the dark chamber of the citadel, the air heavy with smoke, as he could feel the eyes of countless deadly assassins as they hid in the shadows, waiting for their chance to attack. He strode in with purpose and caught the wrist of an assassin as he leapt down from the rafters trying to catch Batman by surprise. He used the momentum of the assassin's leap to throw him to the ground, a savage twist of his arm resulted with a ear splitting crack and cry of pain from the unfortunate assassin. Two more assassins leapt down throwing shuriken as Batman, who simply sidestepped the projectiles and responded in kind by throwing a volley of batarangs at the assailants. Two batarangs sank into the flesh of one assassin's shoulders while the other assassin felt a new kind of pain, the batarang sinking into the socket of one of his eye, and screamed with uncontrollable pain. The other assassin pulled the batarangs from his shoulders and drew a blade, ready to make another attempt at Batman, only to be quickly dispatched with a flurry of brutal blows delivered by Batman's fists. More assassins leapt from the shadows, rushing at Batman. The belief that they could beat Batman with sheer strength of numbers was quickly proven wrong as Batman used the assassins against each other. An assassin who tried to stab at Batman with his sword found his arm locked in the Bat's and guided into one of his fellow assassins. Another assassin in the confusion was used as a human club as Batman threw him over his shoulder into two other assassins. After a few minutes of fighting no other assassins approached at Batman, who stood in a pile of assassins rendered unconscious or otherwise unable to fight due to bodily injury. "Ra's! Where are you Ra's?" Batman yelled into the darkness.

For a moment there was silence and then a slow clapping started. Torches were suddenly lit around the chamber, bringing the room to light. There at the head of the room comfortably sitting in a wooden chair was Ra's al Ghul. He appeared as he normally did, garbed in a green robe with leather armor underneath, his salt and pepper hair neatly trimmed. An amused smile was spread across his face as he continued clapping. Next to him stood his daughter, Talia. Batman looked at her, beautiful Talia, deadly Talia. Ra's stopped his clapping and spoke his voice reverberating off the walls,"To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit, Detective?" Batman strode forward getting closer to the Ra's and his throne, the assassins around the room drawing swords and other weapons ready to strike at Batman. Batman stopped in front of Ra's and Talia and said, "I challenge you Ra's, I challenge you for title of Head of the Demon." A collective gasp could be felt go through the room, Talia stepped forward, the surprise apparent on her face as she said,"My love, surely you can't be serious. Challenging my father to a duel would mean..." Ra's cut her off saying, "Challenging me to a duel, a duel for the title of Head of the Demon, would mean you would have to break your one rule. The duel wouldn't be over until one of us lies dead at the other's feet." Batman simply nodded to Ra's, his eyes grim knowing that he would have to cross the one line he swore never to cross if he were to win. Ra's nodded in reply, standing up and dropping his cloak to the ground. He stepped forward and drew his curved sword from its sheath on his hip, stopping a few paces away from Batman. He turned his head to his daughter and said, "Talia, lend the detective your sword would you?" Talia walked over to Batman and placed her sword in his hand, and drew him close to her for a kiss. "Be careful my beloved." She whispered to him before walking away to stand at the side of the room. Batman looked down at the sword he now held, it was a deadly work of art, its edge seemed eager to cut into the flesh of another. He reached up and undid his cape and then detached his utility belt, letting two of his most trusted pieces of equipment fall to the ground. This match would be decided by skill alone, it couldn't be done any other way. The two combatants stood across from each other, silently gauging the other. Suddenly Ra's leapt forward with a cry, bringing his sword down in a vicious overhead chop. Batman blocked the blow and responded by bringing the hilt of his sword up in a strike at Ra's face. Ra's took a step back to avoid the hit and swept at Batman's legs, sweeping his legs out from under him. Batman turned what was suppose to be a fall into a backwards roll, standing up with the sword close to his side ready to block any incoming strikes but found Ra's had vanished. Suddenly Batman was given a strike to the back of his head, Ra's using one of the beams overhead to gain the advantage of height over the Dark Knight. Batman blindly slashed with his sword, only managing to catch one of the columns supporting the roof. Ra's continued his assault while Batman was still stunned from the blow to his head, managing to stab his blade into the flesh of Batman's shoulder. Batman let out a cry of pain and launched a counter attack at Ra's, charging forward and grabbing the other man in a tackle. He carried him across the room against the room and threw him against another one of the support columns. He delivered a knee to Ra's face and followed with a swing of his blade at Ra's head, only to be blocked at the last moment. Ra's grit his teeth and planted his feet against the base of the column, using it to push back against Batman. He pushed forward moving the fight back into the center of the room and slashed again at Batman. Batman parried Ra's blade and landed a vicious blow to Ra's face leaving him dazed. Blood started to trickle down Ra's face, his nose broken from the punch, but that did not deter him. Ra's rushed forward, intending to plunge his sword into Batman's heart. Batman blocked to attack, using his own sword to slide inside Ra's guard and brought his sword up into Ra's heart. Ra's let out a slight gasp, his sword slipping from his hands. He leaned into Batman's arms for support as his strength quickly leaving his body, the blood pooling at their feet. "Detective." he gasped into Batman's ear, "I am proud of you…" With those final words life left Ra's al Ghul. Everyone gathered in the room was silent, completely dumbfounded by what had just happened. It was Talia that broke the silence saying, "The duel has been decided. Behold the new Head of the Demon." The assassins around the room sheathed their weapons and silently bowed with reverence to their new leader. Talia took Bruce by the hand and lead him through the compound, down a flight of stairs and deep into the mountain side until they reached a cave illuminated by a pool of green liquid, the Lazarus Pit. Ra's had lived for hundreds of years by soaking in the rejuvenating waters of the pit, gaining power and knowledge as the years passed him by. Now that power belonged to Bruce. He stepped into the pool and sank into its waters, allowing it to cover his entire body. At first there was nothing and then it felt as if his entire body was on fire. He could feel the wounds he had received in the duel healing, as well as old scars slowly vanishing as if they had never even been there. Old aches and pains faded away but the burning in his lungs only grew as he remained submerged in the pit. Suddenly Bruce surfaced, flinging water across the cave as he gasped for air, greedily sucking it into his lungs. He stood still for a moment looking down at his reflection in the water, his eyes were glowing a neon green that matched the waters of the Lazarus Pits, as well as the veins that ran through his arms. He clenched his fists and looked up at Talia who was still standing at the edge of the pit. Bruce felt stronger, faster, and a far deadlier threat he had ever been before. The Batman would never be the same.

Years passed. Bruce grew the League of Assassins into a silent, deadly force the world wasn't even aware of. Assassins were stationed in every government around the world, in both positions of power and obscurity. Bruce also expanded the League on other ways as well, merging Talia's many companies that she had previously ran for Ra's with Wayne Enterprises. The world didn't even realize that two people were now in control of almost half of the world's financial interests. Talia and Bruce even had a son they named Damian, who would undoubtedly grow into an excellent heir. As the new Head of the Demon Bruce thought it appropriate to change his Batsuit to reflect his new position. He had changed his cape from a simple black design to an intricate green cloak and hood that had a built in mask. To most it would look like a relic from the Ottoman Empire, but in actuality it was a perfect blend of past and present, a cape that was capable of delivering all the combat abilities and gliding properties his previous cape had delivered but with the added visual qualities of the League of Assassins. In addition to his utility belt he had added a sash of throwing knives strapped across his chest over what appeared to be hardened leather that was actually a bullet and blade resistant carbon fiber polymer weave. The legend of the Batman had changed into a much deadlier threat. The first time Talia had seen the new suit she had made the comment "You are no longer just Batman love. Now you are Batman the Demon, a shadow that your enemies shall whisper about in fear." Bruce couldn't help but smile at this. Month later Bruce was seated next to Talia in the hall where he had beaten Ra's when the doors of the compound blew open and smoke poured in. Assassins drew their weapons ready to strike at the unknown enemy. "Ra's! Where are you Ra's? Hahahahahaha!" Bruce was silent, the voice coming from the smoke was his but… different. Through the smoke strode in a man covered in leather, his eyes covered by a spiked metal bar that circled his head, pointed ears reached over the top of his head. His skin was deathly pale and his smile was wide and disturbing. In his hands were chains and at the end were three children with the same pale skin he had, each wearing a cape and domino mask. The three children pulled at the chains attempting to bite at anyone they could reach. The pale man pulled viciously on the chains saying, "Heel kiddies! We're here to play nice not to eat anyone just yet Hahaha." He stopped in front of Bruce and Talia and bowed "Greetings Bruce al Ghul, Mrs. al Ghul hahaha. Nice planet you've got here, too bad it's going to end soon." Bruce and Talia shared a look of confusion. "Oh you didn't get the memo?" the pale man said with a laugh. "That's ok I never got a memo about my world either,but that's why I wanted to tell you Bruce. After all you and I are the same so I knew you'd want to know about your impending doom. But there is a chance to escape, to make a better world. All you have to do is follow me." He said as a smile spread across his face, revealing to everyone his yellow teeth. He turned and started walking out of the doors, almost dragging the chained children with him. Before he left he looked over his shoulder and called, "Oh and bring your pajama wearing friends, we're going to need an army where we're going. HAAAHAHAHAHAHAAA."

AN: And there's the second of the Nightmare Batmen, hope you enjoyed it! Let me know what you think! And like I said before, there's more to come! Hahahahaha