"Hm, a scar?"

"Pretty deep. Sword cut?"

"I would guess so. Where do you think he got it?"

"Who knows. Guy's a freak in a bat costume. God knows where he gets half of his scars."

Bruce raised his head, looking out through the bars of his cell. He could tell he was on a freighter of some sort. The guards stood out in front of the cell, guarding it. He narrowed his eyes at the back of them.

"They took off the make-up covering my scar… Meaning they've confiscated my suit and used my own body oils to take it off the make-up."

He studied his cell, seeing it was small. He sat on a bed, wearing only his black pants.

"I need to bide my time, wait… the opportunity will show itself and until then..."

Bruce crossed his legs and closed his eyes, entering into a deep state of meditation. After half an hour, Bruce heard the sound of approaching footsteps.

"Well, well, well… how nice to see you here, Mr. Wayne. Or should I say… Batman?"

Bruce slowly opened his intense blue eyes, ocean blue meeting a dull blue. The man stood before him, outside of the cell, was Nick Fury himself, smoking his cigar. He wore his blue S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform under a brown trenchcoat.

"Who are you?"

"Fury. Nick Fury." Came the gruff reply.

Bruce scanned the man up and down, and, like a computer, began drawing observed facts from his analysis.

"War veteran, long time smoker, director of S.H.I.E.L.D., average fighter, master tactician, far-sighted..."

"Why am I here?" Bruce demanded.

"You're here because I need you here. More specifically, I needed those files. It wasn't a hard plan to execute, Mr. Wayne. Now that I have you here, I could actually use a few of your skills and I would feel that it would work best if you agreed to it."

"Or what?" Bruce narrowed his eyes.

Fury blew out the smoke from his cigar, never leaving eye contact with Bruce. "Mr. Wayne, I don't have to remind you that the Witches and their association are a threat to national security. If you do refuse… I'll send you back home, safe and sound. However, I will blow your identity wide open and you and everyone you love will become a target from those who have a grudge against you."

Bruce stood up and walked toward the bars, resting his head on the door. His glare intensified, staring deep into Fury's soul. "I want assurity that if I cooperate with you, my family will remain unharmed and well-attended."

Fury sucked in another smoke. "I'll give you my word after you show me what you can do."

"Laos?" Bruce asked suddenly, his glare remaining.

This made Fury stop short and stare at Bruce for a few moments, befuddled. "What did you just say?"

"The scar that took out your eye and made it 95% blind… was it taken in Laos?"

Fury's visible eye widened and he furrowed his brow in confusion. "How the hell do you know about my eye?"

"The eye-patch still makes subtle movements underneath the patch, meaning that it still retains some feeling and hardly any sight, indicating a subconscious movement from your part. You've gotten used to it to the point that even you can't notice when it moves anymore. This means that you've gotten the injury at a very early age, probably a few years into your war service. The time period of your war service is difficult to pinpoint because you're actually older than you look, far older. I suspect you've used some kind of formula to slow your aging. Considering the organization you belong to and the things I've seen, it's not a far-fetched conclusion. Guessing by your body language and general, rough language pattern, I would say that you lost it in Laos because everything about you resembles other war veterans from that time period. I can read you like a book, analyze you like a computer." Bruce tapped his head twice, his eyes holding a teasing glint in them as he watched Nick subtly shift his weight, dropping his cigar and crushing it beneath his feet.

"Let him out." Fury commanded.

The guards opened the cell door, keeping their guns trained on him, and let him out. Bruce calmly walked out, coming face-to-face with Fury.

"So… was I right, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

Fury ignored the snide observation and simply said, "Alright, Wayne. You've proved your point. I'll keep your butler and ward safe and well. Don't worry, they're not on this freighter either." Fury turned around and faced Natasha. "Escort him to the quarters."

"Yes, sir." Throughout the man's analysis, Natasha couldn't help a small, indiscernible smile from gracing her face. Fury grumbled to himself something about "smart-ass rich boys" before walking away, lighting another cigar.

Black Widow led a still handcuffed Bruce down the corridor of the freighter, the two guards following behind them. The red-haired woman stopped at a door, standing in front of it.

"These will be your quarters." She opened the door, allowing him inside. Bruce was pushed inside by the guard, stumbling forward into his room. The room itself was rather simple with a bed, a toilet and a rug.

"You are relieved." She told the guards. They saluted her before walking off, leaving her to lean against the doorway, watching Bruce glance around the simple room.

"How did you do it?"

Bruce looked behind him, his eyes narrowed. He didn't answer her for several moments and she briefly thought he wouldn't tell her until he finally said, "His body language gave him away. I could tell, from the situation, that he was the S.H.I.E.L.D. commander. There were was no other person, with such experience and age-old scars, to talk to the prisoner personally. All you have to do is observe a person carefully, watch them like you would a sample under a microscope and record their behavior in your mind. It can always be used against them. Always."

"Intriguing… So tell me, what do you get from me?"

Bruce was slightly surprised from this question. Truth be told, he hadn't even tried to analyze her for some odd reason. He had never questioned it, never observed her. He didn't understand why.

Bruce faced her, staring at her up and down, his eyes resting on her leafy green pupils.

"You're a determined woman… stone-cold, single minded, and strong. You understand how to kill a man with a single blow and you tend to repress your emotions in the face of horror and adversity. You're a skilled spy, judging by how the commander behaves around you yet you strike fear into lesser men. You're obsessive and driven… ready to anything, anything, to complete the mission. No matter who you betray, no matter how much it hurts… no matter if it turns your soul black…" Bruce had walked up to her, right in her face. "You ask me what I see? I see someone who resembles me. A tortured soul standing alone in the darkness."

Natasha and Bruce remained eye contact before she cracked a small, bittersweet smile. "So, basically, you're saying that I'm untrustworthy? A monster?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying." Bruce replied coldly. "Now, are you going to uncuff me or I am to remain like this until we reach our destination?"

Natasha exhaled softly before pulling out her keys and undoing the man's handcuffs. "Remain in here until a guard comes to escort you. You will be given further details by Commander Fury personally." She stated in a monotone voice. She closed the door, locking him in before turning and walking away. She stopped for a brief second, giving one last faint glance at the door before continuing down the hall.

On the other side of the door, Bruce stood there until the sound of her footsteps disappeared. Once they were gone, he sighed gently, shutting his eyes. For a brief moment, slipping through all of his mental fortitude and restraint, he saw that red-haired girl again and when he did, an unwanted spark triggered in his chest. Now that Widow had left, he doused it immediately, forcing himself to shed the memory from his mind.

Bruce stepped away from the door and sat down, resting his elbows on his knees. He interlocked his fingers and brought his hands up to his mouth where he rested his chin in his interlocked fingers. He stared at the wall, thoughts rapidly rushing through his head.

"Be patient… Be patient. Play along and be patient. Do what they request of you and do not resist… Bide your time and be patient..."


Later in the day, a loud knock was heard on Bruce's door. He stood up and opened it, a woman with short brown hair and a S.H.I.E.L.D. outfit stood in front of it.

"Follow me." Was all she said. She turned and led Bruce down the hall, moving through the ship until they came upon a room. It was a large room, technologically more advanced than the rest of ship. It had large holographic computers and the walls themselves allowed one to see an image of what the front of the ship was seeing. In the center of the room was a large capsule and in front of it, stood Nick Fury.

"I'm surprised that you let me come in here without handcuffs or restraints." Bruce stated, walking up to the man.

"Well, so long as we hold your friends in capture, you'll never really do anything will you." Bruce didn't reply, simply staring at him coldly. "Don't worry, Mr. Wayne. Complete the job, use your skills as they are needed and you will go home safe. You won't probably remember any of this."

"I doubt that."

"I don't."

Fury's statement made Bruce narrow his eyes in deep suspicion. Nick turned around and began walking around the capsule. "We are approaching our destination in approximately one hour. Our target is someone you and Agent Widow should know well… Bruno Drexler." A holographic image of the woman appeared to the right of the room and Bruce had to resist the urge to contort his face in disgust.

"She's staying at a safehouse in London. We need to extract her and bring her to one of our bases for questioning. Mr. Wayne, your ability to blend in with the night will be very useful here as well as your… persuasive techniques. In addition, we've developed a suit specifically for this mission. Here, take a look."

Fury pressed a button and the capsule opened, revealing a customized Batsuit. This suit was no different from his own in color as it was nearly completely black, except for the dark grey on the sides of the suit, shoulders, side of the legs, Bat symbol and the lenses. The suit didn't cover the arms completely and would expose his biceps past the shoulder and his forearms would be covered by the dark black gauntlets. These gauntlets had no fins, unlike on his original nor did it have a cape. Even the belt was a dark black.

"Advanced Kevlar, lightweight, bulletproof, the works. It's got everything in your original suit and then some. We've gathered an assortment of gadgets that you can choose from and anything else you need." Fury motioned to a table that had a bunch of technological toys on the surface.

Bruce walked up to the suit, looking it over. "It'll do."

"Good. We have our coordinates. You'll be going in with Natasha, your at-hand operative and specialist will be Maria Hill. You all have 45 minutes to prepare. I expect good things from you, Mr. Wayne."

Bruce didn't pay attention to him, instead taking off the belt from the suit and walking over to the table that held the gadgets. He set to work taking the things that he needed, carefully calculating how much he would need and of what.


Nighttime fell over London, the drafty wind blowing by as Batman and Black Widow stood on the rooftop, overlooking where Bruno was located. Completing his suit preparation, Batman had stepped out of the freighter with an extra, smaller belt wrapped around his leg and a steel, black crossbow strapped on his back. He had left his scar visible and put fake tattoos on the visible skin of his arm to dissuade any idea that this was the exact same Batman rumored to exist in Gotham.

'Target was just seen entering into that old building. The top priority is keeping low profile – meaning no bodies where they can be seen or letting anyone know of your presence. The whole reason we came on the freighter was to blend in. We don't need the governments making a big damn deal.'

Batman turned on his binocular vision while Black Widow pulled out binoculars. They both switched on the night vision function and scouted out the area.

"Three guards, two entryways/Three guards, two entryways." The two said in unison. They glanced at each other for a moment before looking back out at the building.

"We should enter from around the back, using the second story window. Have Maria cut the power and take out any escape vehicles."

"No, that's too noisy. Bruno realizes our presence and risks escaping in some unforeseen manner or worse, calling back-up. The element of surprise is on our side against the Witches so long as they understand that we aren't chasing them. We sneak in through the exposed vents, disabling the security via Hill. We take her right from under their nose, later replacing the woman with a look-a-like. I'm sure you can conjure something."

"Listen," Widow began with a commanding tone, turning to face him fully. "For this operation, I am the commanding officer. You are here to provide your practical services, not your tactical ones."

"Your plan of cutting the power could instantly alert them and get us killed."

'Enough, rich boy.' Fury chimed. 'Need I remind you that you have lives depending on you. I would hate to do it, but, unfortunately, there are other lives at stake, too.'

Batman exhaled hotly but remained silent, keeping his eye out in the distance. With no further protests, Widow turned back to the building, pressing her finger to her comm-link.

"Did you get that Hill?"

'Cut the power and slash some tires. Got it.'

Widow nodded in satisfaction, closing her eyes and sighing. "Listen..." She began softly. "I know you don't trust me..."

"I don't."

"But we have no choice. Please believe me when I say that."

Batman didn't respond to her, simply reaching in his belt and pulling out his grapnel launcher. "Let's just do this."

Widow and Batman swung down to the alleyway, running around the building until they came around the back. There was a camera on the side but Batman and Black Widow snuck through unseen, climbing up to the floor above and entering through a window. A guard began patrolling down the hall but Batman put him in a chokehold, knocking him out. Black Widow waited a second until the light cut off. Once this was done, the two stealth operatives made their way down the hall, knocking out any guards they saw.

They eventually came upon a door that was technologically locked and was made of steel. It had a keypad on the side and Black Widow knelt down in front of it.

"This door has a separate power source keeping it on. Cover me while I hack into it."

Behind the door, Bruno had noticed, on her security monitors, that the cameras had gone out. She instantly sprang up from her desk, glaring at the screen. She reached for her phone and dialed a number.

'Yes?' Came the rough, male voice on the other side.

"Alert the sisters. Someone has come for us. I think one of the government agents is trying to take me. Tell them all to stay on high alert, understood?"

Outside of the door, Black Widow activated the switch that opened the door and ran inside. The minute she did, Bruno was prepared for her as she held a machine gun that she fired off as soon as she saw the red-haired agent.

Without a second thought, Batman jumped in front of her, knocking her out of the way of the gunfire and taking a bullet in the arm. On the floor, Widow quickly shot at Bruno's hand, disarming her. She then ran up to her and knocked the woman clean to the floor with a reverse spinning kick. Widow landed on the desk, looking down at the blonde woman with a bitter glare in her eyes.

"Nice to see you, too."


Bruno woke with chains on her wrists, neck and ankles. She felt blood dripping from her forehead and when she glanced at the ceiling, she was forced to quickly look away due to the intensity of the overhead lamp. When she looked down at herself, she quickly realized she had no clothing on. Confused, she began looking around. The rest of the room was dark but she could just barely make out a dark figure standing against the wall. It was the Batman.

"You… who are you?"

"I'm hurt. You don't remember me?" Even though his words were supposed to be in a teasing manner, his voice came out more as a feral growl.

Despite this, Bruno retained her bravado. "Heh… why would I remember some loon in a mask?"

"I'm sure deja vu will hit in a moment. Bruno, I have several questions I need to ask you but according to your record, you have a strong resistant against most forms of torture. Most but not all and luckily, not the one that would strike a person as… karma."

"What are you talking about, you damn dog?"

Batman walked over to her, standing over her in the light. Strangely enough, he looked more fearsome in the light to her than he did in the dark. "Outside of this room, we have innumerous amounts of convicts – men who have been in jail for decades and have never even seen a woman. I'll let five in here to do what they will with you until I have them stop and switched out for another five after that. And another. And another… Unless you tell me, right now, what you know about the other Witches."

"Hah!" She scoffed. "Your plan is already doomed for failure. I can see myself enjoying every session, you fool!"

"Oh, I doubt that."

Batman snapped his fingers and the lights shone on. Around the room, one could see various "tools" set up on the wall. Bruno glanced back and forth at this and upon realizing a certain similarity, she whipped her head back at Batman and her eyes widened in recognition and shock.

"Y-you…!"

"Now, I know this is just petty revenge..."

Batman started as he leaned back against the wall, a button next to him. Incessant banging accompanied with barbaric shouts could be heard at the door. They were most clearly men. Batman smirked darkly.

"But it's still going to put a smile on myface."

Batman pressed the button and the door opened, allowing five of the most overshaped, burly, angry looking men that you would ever see into the room. They were held back by chains held by the guards.

Bruno's bravado had all but disappeared and instead, paleness remained on her face. Her eyes darted between Batman, the barbaric looking men and the toys on the wall. It didn't take long for tears to build up in her eyes and for her to scoot as far back in the circular shaped room as possible.

"P-please! No! Not this, anything but this! I'll tell you anything! I'll tell you EVERYTHING! JUST PLEASE!"

Batman motioned to the guards and they pulled the men out, with a struggle, before Batman shut the door, allowing Bruno relief though she still shook with fright.

"Now..." Batman walked until he was in front of her, his shadow overtaking her body. "Tell me everything you know."


Batman walked out of the room, stopping front of Black Widow, who was waiting for him outside. She glanced at his bandaged arm and smiled softly.

"We've got the information needed. I'm sure Fury was watching on the cameras."

She looked up at him, the smile still on her face. "You took the bullet… for me."

Batman said nothing, simply staring at her blankly. She reached out to touch his arm and for a moment, Batman didn't react as his mind was numb but as her fingers inched closer, his senses returned to him and he stepped back out of her reach.

He walked around her, stepping up to Maria Hill, who proceeded to escort him back to his room. Black Widow solemnly glanced back at him before turning around and walking away. Before she turned the hall, Batman stole a quick, unnoticeable look behind his shoulder before exhaling quietly and closing his eyes painfully.

"I know what she has done… I know what she is… But when I shun her after she smiles and attempts to touch me… Why, Mother, does it hurt me so?"