Chapter 5: The Cavern

Tim was tired. The black outfit and the dim lighting hid the blood that was soaking his shirt from the shallow but long cuts across his stomach – souvenirs from fighting Talia al Ghul. More worrying was the stab wound across his left forearm that had gone deep enough to expose muscle. That was the real reason that Tim had delayed for so long before finding his brothers: he'd needed to find a safe place to stab himself with a syringe full of painkillers and bind the arm as best he could. He could feel the hot blood starting to trickle down his arm and was honestly worried that he would be fighting one-handed if they came upon another group of assassins.

At least it's your non-dominant arm, Tim tried to reassure himself. And if you don't keep it together…

Tim glanced back down the air vent to take a look at the other two. Damien was wearing an expression that scared him. Jason had no expression at all. That also scared Tim.

Somewhere in the compound, there was another dull explosion and some shouting.

"That's two," Tim whispered.

"Where is the third group set?" Damien asked.

"I think it's a medical bay…?" Tim said, "It's far from both the door and the pit room."

"Good."

They continued their journey in silence. Tim had left himself blinking markers as he explored the stupid place, and was able to find his way back pretty easily. Just as the third booby trap was set to go off, the walls began to narrow and slope steeply upwards.

"We have to get out and use the door," Tim whispered. "Look, Jason, maybe-"

But Tim was cut off as the next inch forward was accompanied by a spasm of pain down his left arm as it simply gave out. Tim pitched forward, letting out an involuntary hiss and barely saving himself from banging his head on the bottom of the air vent with his other hand.

"You're injured," said Damien. He sounded somewhat surprised.

"I'm…fine…" Tim insisted, breathing heavily. The pain killers had worn off much faster than he had been expecting.

"Bullshit," said Jason flatly. "You were about to suggest I stay behind and guard the exit which is also bullshit. I'm coming. You fight with a staff. How useful do you think you're going to be with an injured shoulder?"

Tim gave Jason a glare. Jason shrugged. "You've been favoring your right side," he said. "I'm not blind."

Damien looked a bit ashamed. Tim figured Damien hadn't noticed.

"Fine," said Tim. "The vent cover is just ahead." He pulled the rest of the smoke bombs from his belt and passed them to Damien. "Be fast," Tim suggested. Damien nodded, looking determined.

The dropped from the ceiling silently and got on either side of the door. Jason unclicked he safety on the one gun Tim had recovered for him, Tim adjusted his one-handed grip on his staff. At a nod, Damien kicked open the door and they rushed through.

About a quarter of the league and Ra's al Ghul were in that room. None of them looked surprised.

Tim felt like an idiot. We did exactly what they thought we would do.

Damien had already charged, letting out a battle cry. Tim had no choice but to follow.

Tim wielded his staff like a sword, looking for a way that he could electrocute several people at once. Ducking underneath blades that came rushing at his face and using most of his energy to keep someone from sneaking up on him.

Jason was quickly reduced to fighting hand-to-hand. His face was pale but his focus didn't waver as he punched his way out of a knot of ninjas.

Damien's sole focus was getting to the Lazarus Pit. And he wove around the room, inflicting damage when he could but always, always moving forward.

Ra's watched Damien's progress with a smile.

"DAMI!" Tim yelled, trying desperately to get himself out of a corner he was slowly being driven into. "Dami, stop! It's a trick!"

But either Tim's voice was now too weak to be heard over the sound of the battle, or Damien was too focused to notice.

Tim looked up and, just as two ninjas converged on his position, put all of his strength into jumping. He hit one with his staff and used the other's face as a springboard. Tim managed to wrap the fingers of his right hand on one of the many pipes crisscrossing the ceiling and pulled himself up. He was panting from the pain from his earlier injury, but forced it out of his mind.

Tim grabbed the last concussive bomb from his belt and looked up. The pipes and beams all rose up to a single point high in the rock ceiling. We're in the mountain, Tim realized. Huh. How poetic.

Hoping his calculations were correct, Tim activated the bomb and threw it at the convergence point with all his might.

The resulting explosion shook the entire cavern and toppled Tim from his precarious perch.

Damien leapt for the platform directly above the Lazarus Pit when two things happened at once: Tim threw an explosive at the ceiling and the platform swung an inch too far to the left, and something wrapped around his ankle. The platform collided with Damien's stomach and he scrambled to hold on with his hands full of the special bombs. But the whip around his ankle tightened as Ra's wielded it expertly and tugged Damien down.

Down into the Lazarus Pit.

Damien splashed into the acrid liquid, and came up spluttering. He dropped the bombs without setting them off, hoping it would be enough and that the pit would dissolve the casing on its own. But before he had a chance to look around and see where his traitorous grandfather had gone, before he had even managed to get that stuff out of his eyes, before he had even drawn a proper breath –

Ra's was there. But he wasn't the same. His eyes were dark pits in a lined face, his lips were pulled back in a terrible, half-mad grimace and his skin was white and paper thin.

One of Ra's gnarled hands shot forward and grasped Damien's chest right above his heart.

The breath Damien was trying to take froze in his lungs. Ice filled his veins. He was acutely aware of the pounding of his own heart. Then he was aware of nothing at all.

Apparently, Jason thought as he watched the ninjas he'd been fighting run away as soon as the roof shook, No one is too thrilled to die for al Ghul today.

Jason turned, scanning the cavern for his younger brothers.

What he saw was so awful that for a moment he thought he was having another panic attack and hallucinating.

The Lazarus Pit was bubbling and steaming, the liquid had pulled away from the sides and gathered in the center, where Ra's was doing something to Damien. Damien's skin was deathly pale and Ra's had a crazy smile on his face that Jason knew all too well…

Jason did the only thing he could do. He jumped in.

He knew instantly that it was a bad idea. The liquid clung to his legs and tried to hamper his process. It began to burn through his clothing and the smoke stung his eyes. Jason ignored it, slogging through it to get to Damien.

With a war-cry, he hit Ra's across the head from behind and then flung him aside. He was surprisingly light for a man who had just hours before been able to fight with a katana almost as well as his grandson. Jason didn't spare it a second thought.

He lunged forward to catch Damien before his head sank under the liquid.

Damien didn't respond, just lay limp in Jason's arms as the older man turned to get them out of there.

The distance seemed to have doubled, tripled even. Each step forward took all of Jason's strength as the Lazarus Pit steamed and protested and clung to his legs. He was shaking from the effort even before he had gone halfway.

"Jay!" Tim ran to the end of the Pit and made as if to jump in to help.

"NO!" Jason yelled. "No! You're injured there's no telling what it will do to you!"

Tim looked confused and worried but stayed put, looking around nervously as the ceiling began to crack and the entire cavern groaned. "Come on!" Tim yelled.

Jason didn't waste energy responding, just concentrated on putting one foot ahead of the other.

Almost there, almost there…the liquid had burned through his shoes and pants, was starting to burn his skin.

Tim reached out his hand, managing to grasp Jason's arm.

Jason's legs were pulled out from under him. A vicious undertow had suddenly developed, sweeping his shaking legs away.

Jason let out a desperate shout and managed to throw Damien at Tim. The last thing he saw before he went under was Tim falling onto his back, hugging Damien to his chest.

Then his world was bubbling liquid that was trying to drag him back, back into the darkness. Jason held his breath and struggled to find his footing. It wasn't even deep! But his energy was draining away and he wondered why he was even fighting…wouldn't it be so nice to just let the darkness take him…?

But then someone was grabbing him by the back of his shirt and pulling him to the surface. Jason drew in a gasping breath and reached for the edge of the Pit with a shaking hand. Tim grabbed onto his hand and pulled with all his might, his eyes screwed up against the pain in his shoulder.

With Tim's help, Jason made it out, shaking and weak and disorientated. Tim let go of Jason, grabbed his staff from the ground, and threw it like a javelin. It sparked to life when it hit the Pit, electricity stretching across the surface like a spider-web.

The cavern moaned and Jason thought he heard the Pit scream.

"RUN!" Tim yelled, scrambling to his feet and, somehow, managing to lift Damien onto his back in a fireman's hold. "Jay, get up and run!"

Jason gritted his teeth and did as Tim asked, racing after him as the Lazarus Pit exploded behind them.