Jason Todd drove in through the entrance to the batcave in his car, a sporty red hover car. As he cut the engine, he opened the door, stepping out. He was wearing white body armour, black gauntlets and boots with a black cape attached to a black stylised skull on the chest. On his head, he wore a red helmet, a red domino mask on underneath the helmet.
He looked around. Aside from updating the tech in the cave, very little had changed. He looked to the sleek, black outline of the batmobile just ahead of him. He preferred the old ones.
As he looked around, he saw his protégé's hover bike come racing in, rapidly decelerating before he jumped off of the bike with a back flip, the bike crashing into the batmobile before exploding, taking the car with it. Jason looked to his counterpart, scowling as he removed his helmet, the younger man keeping his on. Jason's scowl eased up slightly, the shadows around his face lightened only by the red of his domino mask and the white streak at the front of his red hair.
"There was no need for that." Jason said "Actually, it seems a shame for you to have wrecked such a nice car."
"Please, don't stop on my account." Came a voice from behind Jason.
Jason and his protégé turned around to face the man stood there. He may have been grey, with a much older face, but there was no mistaking his identity. No mistaking it was Bruce Wayne. No mistaking it was Batman.
"It's not him." Jason's protégé said "It's the boy, wearing a holo projector."
"Killjoy." The man in front of them said, the image of Bruce Wayne flickering and fading, replaced by the black suited figure of the new Batman "Still, I knew that you'd bring Todd along as well, Damian. Or rather, that he'd invite himself. He never liked to play fair. So I've brought my own team."
As Batman finished speaking, two figures stepped out of the darkness. Both looked much older than Batman, one of them slightly hunched over and three or four inches shorter than either of the other men. The taller of the two men wore a grey bodysuit with black briefs on the outside, with a yellow utility belt with a bat shaped buckle, as well as black boots and black scalloped gloves, a black bat emblem on his chest while a long, black cape was draped over his shoulders, attached to the cowl with long bat ears on it, white lenses over his eyes.
The shorter, hunched over man was in a similar costume, the main difference being the blue lining of the cape, with the belt buckle being more basic. He also had shorter ears on the cowl. Finishing his costume was a smaller bat emblem on his chest, with a yellow circle around it.
"Three of you. Triple the fun." Jason said coolly, a wry grin on his face, turning to his protégé "You take McGinnis and the old man. Grayson's mine. We have unfinished business."
"So you remember?" Dick said, smirking "How long did those broken bones take to heal?"
"With the Lazarus pits? No time at all." Jason's protégé said, removing his own helmet, revealing the face of a man who looked to be in his mid thirties with a striking resemblance to Bruce, his hair black with a single white streak, a scar on his left cheek, stopping just below his left eye, the eyes being the same icy blue as Bruce's, a sadistic grin on his face as he looked at Bruce "Hello, dad. Did you miss me?"
"Damian." Bruce said, narrowing his eyes at his son before turning to Jason "I failed you once, Jason. I won't do so again. This ends tonight!"
As Bruce finished speaking, Terry reached down to his belt, twisting the buckle, causing him to apparently fade away. As he did, Jason reached up and pressed the side of his domino mask, a pair of red lenses flipping down.
Even with the infrared vision capabilities of his mask, Jason couldn't see the new Dark Knight. He could, however, feel it when the young man's fist connected with the left side of his jaw.
"Not bad." Jason said, whipping a trickle of blood away from the side of his grinning mouth as Terry re-appeared in front of him in a fighting stance "Though, do you really want to leave them to fight Damian?"
"What?" Terry said, spinning to see Damian almost effortlessly weaving between Bruce and Dick, his strength and speed easily outclassing the older men "Damn it…"
"Yes, damn it." Jason said, pulling a collapsible metal staff from his belt, around three quarters of a meter long, and hitting Terry round the back of the head with it, turning the young man over and beginning to beat him "If it's any consolation, kid, you were never going to win this. I've got over 50 years of experience on you."
"Then you'll see this coming from a mile away!" Terry said, raising his left arm, his hand in a fist, with a red shuriken flying out of the suit just above his wrist, hitting Jason in the face, drawing blood "Ooh, that'll leave a mark."
"You son of a-" Jason began, being cut off by a quick 1-2-3 combination to his face from Terry, taking the older man to the floor.
Meanwhile, Damian was easily outclassing Bruce and Dick. Even with all the experience advantages they had on him, the Lazarus Pits had given him the advantage of youth; it was a pair of men who were both late in their lives fighting a man in his prime; they had no chance, despite the addition of the home field advantage.
Damian stood over the bodies of the two older men, moving to his father and picking him up by the throat, grabbing the cowl on the costume his father wore and ripping it from the cape it was attached to. Damian grinned at his father, a warped, unhinged grin.
"You see, father? You see what you should've done to all your enemies?" He said, pointing to Dick "What he couldn't?"
"Wr….Wr….Wrong, Damian." Bruce choked out "That's what y…You never could understand."
"And now, I won't have to." Damian said, pulling his free hand back, his fist clenched, and bringing it towards Bruce's face…. And into a black gloved hand, which began squeezing, hard.
"Now, now, Robin, didn't your father ever teach you not to hit, uh, him?" Terry said, grinning as he punched Damian's other wrist, releasing his hold on Bruce before Terry tossed him across the cave, Damian hitting the batcomputer's screen, cracking it "Well, now look what you did. What am I supposed to watch the game on now?"
"You're worse than Grayson…" Damian said, pulling himself up, keying a few commands on his belt and removing something, inserting it into the computer, turning to walk away, tossing back "See ya, kid."
"So that's it?" Terry said "You think I'm just going to let you walk out of here?"
Damian paused for a moment. Then, he turned back to Terry, the grin that was there mere moments before having totally faded. He reached into his belt, pulling a capsule from it and throwing it between where Terry stood and where Bruce and Dick were, a wall of flames rapidly growing where it shattered, separating them.
Terry began to slowly move around as Damian did the same. In all their previous fights, Damian had held the upper hand, with ease. Terry was going to have to be careful here; not only were they on a much less stable playing field, but there were a number of areas where the cave floor narrowed, with chasms filled with jagged rocks below. One wrong move here and it would all be over.
Damian made the first move, charging Terry, a small, six inch blade pulled from his belt in his hand, slashing at Terry's gut. Terry dodged the first slash, the second tearing across the red bat symbol on his chest, leaving Terry with a long, thin slash across his chest. Terry clutched the wound with his left hand, thin red streams of his blood trickling through his fingers and down his hand.
Damian didn't let up, taking another slash at Terry, this one being dodged once again, before Terry came back with a right hook, knocking Damian off balance, his knife flying from his hand, hitting the floor and clattering away, falling into the chasm. Damian took a moment, pulling a laser blaster. As he did, Terry extended his right arm, firing a red shuriken from the wrist launcher, disarming Damian. Terry didn't plan on letting Damien have any kind of weapon, not with him already being injured.
Damian charged the young Dark Knight, tackling him to the ground before kneeling on top of Terry, his left knee in Terry's gut. He grabbed Terry's cowl, pulling it off before beginning to choke Terry, his thumbs pressing into the young Dark Knight's larynx.
"Don't worry, kid." Damian said, grinning sadistically "Hell is dark."
Terry began to choke something out. Damian laughed.
"Does the wannabe Batman have something to say?" He said, moving his thumbs from their position "Go on, tell us all your last words."
"Behind… you…" Terry managed to get out, Damian refusing to fall for the apparent trick… only to have a black gloved hand hit him in the back of the neck, knocking him aside from his position on top of Terry.
"Sorry I took so long." Dick said, helping Terry up "Getting around above you guys without him realising was more awkward than I thought. I had to wait until he was caught up in pummelling you before-"
Dick didn't get to finish, being interrupted by Damian charging him, knocking him off the ledge and into the chasm below. Terry looked on as Damian flipped back up onto his level… with no sign of Dick.
"You killed him…" Terry said "Why?"
"He spoiled my fun." Damian said, with a smirk "That was twice he'd done it. First with Bane, and then with you. Don't worry, you're next, and then the old man."
"Leave him alone!" Terry growled, before leaping forward, the rockets in his boots kicking in, propelling him rapidly towards Damian before he took him up towards the roof of the cave, holding Damian by the throat above the chasm, narrowing his eyes "You still got that rocket pack of yours?"
He didn't wait for a response before he let go, watching as Damian fell… and hit the cave floor by the wall of fire he'd set up. Terry slowly descended beside his injured opponent, the blood loss from his own injury beginning to cause him to become disoriented. As he touched down, Damian slowly picked himself back up.
"This isn't over, McGinnis…" He said, slowly staggering towards Terry, lifting both his arms slowly, putting his hands around Terry's throat "Now… you… die…"
Terry slowly closed his eyes, accepting his fate as Damian began to attempt to tighten his grip. As he did, He felt a weight on him from Damian's direction, taking him to the floor. He opened his eyes to see Damian's battered body on top of him, unconscious. A black gloved hand extended in front of his face, which Terry took, being pulled to his feet, looking at the figure who was now supporting him as he struggled to stand.
Stood in front of him, holding Terry up, was the unmasked visage of Dick Grayson. He had several cuts and bruises, however, apparently, he was healthy, having survived his fall and got back up. He looked down at Damian's unconscious form and sighed to himself.
"This wasn't how he was supposed to turn out, it isn't what he was supposed to do." He said, sombrely, before turning his head to look at Terry "Come on, kid. Let's get that chest of yours looked at."
….
Okay, so that's the final battle. There's one more chapter, the epilogue, to come. That will explain what Damian put into the computer, and he has one last thing to tell Terry before he goes away; exactly what his biggest mistake here was. R&R, please, no flames. B.
