Disclaimer. No money made, and I do not have rights to any of these characters. Have fun!

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Chapter Seven – Deal

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Alfred walked into the kitchen, to find Bruce staring into one of the refrigerators. "Is there something in particular that you are after, Master Bruce?" Bruce looked up for a moment, then closed the door to the fridge.

"I'm not going out tonight, and was curious what was for dinner tonight. I figured it would be interesting to eat at a regular time for a change."

"Ah, tonight was to be pheasant and stuffing, but if there is something more desired, I am willing to make an exchange to something more desirable." Alfred raised an eyebrow. "Is there a particular reason you are wearing gloves?"

"Cold hands lately. I think I'm finally chilled enough from the weather during my patrols, that I'm just cold, even in the heat of the house. That's all."

"That is never a good sign, Master Bruce. Perhaps a turn in the sauna will bring up your core temperature, and help out with the chills. You have plenty of time before dinner, if you care to heat up." Turning to one of the ovens, Alfred turned a knob to set the temperature for baking. "I am a bit behind schedule for a regular dinner time, as I was not expecting you to be here all evening. But no worry, I can get started now, and dinner will be served in record time."

Bruce nodded. "A turn in some heat will probably do me some good. Take what time you need for dinner, Alfred, I'm heading for the sauna."

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Bruce was sweating from the heat, except where the rash was on his skin. A touch proved to him that those patches were staying cold to the touch. The gloves had been left in the dressing room, and even in the steam of the room he could see that the sharp and gray toned nails were still there as well. Leaning back against the wall while sitting, he started to clear his mind. Too much was going on, too much that seemed out of his control. Leaning forward for a moment, he cranked the dial that controlled the temperature in the wood lined room, then settled back on the wood bench he was sitting on. Closing his eyes, he took a few deep breaths to get the heat and steam into his lungs before letting his breath out in one long sigh.

Bruce then heard a voice, one becoming rather familiar in the last few days. "Oh, this is nice and hot. I can feel it through you, just a touch of it. So nice, to feel." Bruce popped open his eyes and took a quick look around. The being's voice could be heard, but nothing was in the room with him according to his eyes.

"Don't bother looking for me, I'm not technically here, physically in the flesh and blood. But I am here enough that you can hear me. And for the record, your little recorders will not be able to pick out my voice. It's all in your head, Dark Knight."

Bruce returned to leaning back on the wall, then spoke. "I destroyed the book, but not before scanning for one thing that didn't cross my mind when it came into my possession. Who would check a book for it, unless it came from some place like Three Mile Island? It had traces of radiation in the ink, very odd for a historic book from what was most likely from a fourteenth century library. It is only in the ink, though the parchment has a bit of residual activity on it as well. That's what caused the skin reaction. There's not enough on me to need to go through radiation treatment, but my skin did react to it from prolonged exposure. The spot on the wrist, from holding the book, the strip on my leg for where I would set it before falling asleep. Given a few weeks, the traces should wear off me as well, and my skin should return to normal."

"You think you destroyed my book. I'm sure it burned rather well, in your eyes. All those pretty colors, dancing in your physical vision. But it just moved from one place to another, in fact. Some other poor sap will stumble across it one day, and they will have their chance to confront their own inner voice, and have their chance to cut their own deal."

"So the book is not gone forever. It just moved, to use your term."

"Oh, you can't ever completely destroy fear, no matter how much you would like to think otherwise. Someone will find it. Someone will read it. Someone might even be brave or stupid enough to enact the ritual it contains. But that person will not be talking to me. They have to face their own fear, their own turn in the eyes of that within them."

Bruce leaned back again, resting his head on the wood panel. "So it's all in my mind after all. Why should I cut a deal with something that's part of me anyway?"

"Simple. I can offer you power beyond your flesh. I might be part of you, but I am not completely a creation of your psyche. I am more than that. And tonight is your last chance to gain access to that power. I know you desire it on some level, or you'd never be able to summon me out to begin with."

"I think I know what you want. You've mentioned flesh and blood more than a few times." Bruce closed his eyes, wiping some of the sweat from his face. "You don't have a physical body, no real ability to touch the world I live in. You want that, as my sacrifice. Do you take me as stupid, to give up my own body?"

"It's not giving up anything. It's sharing. I want to feel, to touch, to eat and drink. Just give me a little room to touch your world, our world, this physical world, and I can give power that you can't even imagine." The being's voice filled with longing, the desire in it making Bruce look around one more time for a source of the voice. There was still nothing in sight. "Is that so much to ask for, a chance to actually have skin and bones? A chance to contact a world that I can only see through your eyes? I have feelings, though they are borrowed from you. I am not some demon from out in the multiverse. I am part of you, Dark Knight. I am the part of you that desires the city to be safe under my watchful eye, a city where those that would do wrong on their fellow citizen would know that I will stop them, by any means available."

"And if I agree?"

"Then, I share my power with you, as you share your contact with the world. Two beings, one body. I am always going to be part of you, there is no escape from that. This is just a chance to use that power of fear, of strength, to your city's betterment. I can touch the world, you can change it."

Bruce sighed. "What do I have to do, if I agree to this deal? Any certain actions, or rituals, to complete? I'm not going to kill or main any living being, human or otherwise."

"Oh no, there is no blood of another being that I require. The only one that might feel a bit of pain is you, as we merge, but that will be fleeting. There is a ritual, but nothing beyond you skill of understanding or ability to complete. You have everything needed in you possession right now, there's no reason we can't complete this in a few hours of time. The question remains, though, the question that brought me to you in the first place. This is your last night to make this decision, then I will fade to nothing more than a dream remembered at odd moments for the rest of your life. You might even convince yourself that it was all in your head, and that I never existed. Do you agree to our bargain?"

Bruce took a deep breath, and seemed to consider the question for a moment. Then he spoke clearly to the empty sauna. "Yes, I agree to this bargain."

"Then, go down to your Bat Cave, and dress yourself in your armored uniform. Head then to the deepest part of your cave. It is fitting that the Dark Knight be reborn in the darkness that spawned the two of us, wearing the skin that keeps you safe from the world."

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Author's note. I am scrambling to write this as fast as my spell check and local live person beta reader can go. She's starting to shoot me dagger looks, and my poor heater out here where I am typing is out of fuel. I'm working as fast as possible, so please have patience. The muse is still with me, but my frozen fingers are starting to complain about the punishment. It's not supposed to be this cold outside in Central TX for crying out loud. Where is that global warming when you need it?

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