Chapter 9: Batman vs Nightwing
It had been a month since Ra's came to Gotham City and dropped the shocking revelation that Daniel Powers was a descendant of Ra's. Since then, Bruce had been searching for clues about the whereabouts of Ra's in Gotham and why truly he was here.
Meanwhile, in Bludhaven, Tim Drake AKA Nightwing was conducting his own investigation on Ra's Al Ghul. It had been quite some time since Tim's kidnapping done by Slade Wilson and Serial Killer and since then, he had healed, at least physically he did but there were still a lot of painful memories from those two weeks of torture and he knew that it would take a lot of time before those memories would stop affecting him but it would be a long time and time wasn't a luxury they had.
He was typing vigorously on the keyboard and regularly checking the feeds from the security cameras all around Gotham but there wasn't anything major that came back up.
He decided to take a break. He might have healed but he still needed rest.
It had been a month since he had talked to Bruce. He was told to leave Gotham by Bruce, ending their short lived partnership. For a lot of time, Tim thought that Bruce would come around but then he realized that all of this was false hope. Bruce was arrogant and self-righteous and didn't care about anything except the mission and himself.
Stop, Tim thought. He couldn't do this to himself. He wasn't Robin anymore. He wasn't Batman's sidekick. He was his own man.
He was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a beep on his computer. It was alert on Ra's location.
"Looks like it's time to suit up," Tim said as he grinned.
Batcave,
Bruce was working on power gauntlets for his suit until he received a beep on the Batcomputer. It was Ra's Al Ghul! He was on Nolan and Burt Road.
Ra's Al Ghul had to be stopped and Bruce would finally stop him.
Meanwhile at Nolan and Burt Road,
Ra's Al Ghul was standing in the middle of the road. He was wearing his favorite green cloak and underneath the cloak, he was wearing a black shirt.
He was watching the road with interest until his communication device beeped. He touched that device and activated it.
"Father, are you absolutely sure that you want to proceed with this plan. Right now, you are standing in the middle of the road, unguarded and unprotected in the middle of night and you have called two of your most fiercest enemies to attack you," Talia's concerned voice came through the comms device.
"Talia, my child," Ra's said coolly. "I appreciate your concerns for me but I always come prepared. Especially when it comes to the Dark Knight,".
"Indeed," Talia replied.
The conversation was interrupted when Ra's saw Tim in his Nightwing costume in the sky and as he landed.
"Talia, it looks like a bird has gone astray. I must help him find his way back," Ra's said with a smile on his face as he shut off the device and readied himself for the inevitable.
"Well if it isn't the Dark Knight's trained prodigy," Ra's said, smiling.
Well, two can play that game, Tim thought.
"Well if isn't the man who failed to destroy Batman and Gotham multiple times," Tim said, a smug expression present on his face.
"I see that you have taken the mantle of Nightwing," Ra's said. He was hoping to anger Tim. It would make his work easier.
"Well, Batman will always need a Robin or a Nightwing in this case," Tim joked and smiled.
"Well you were always great with picking up fallen mantles but you always did let the original bearers of the mantle fall down, sometimes even literally" Ra's said. This would definitely make him angry and it did.
Tim's smug grin changed into an angry frown and took out the escrima sticks from behind him and charged forward and attacked Ra's like an enraged animal with Ra's calmly dodging those attacks.
Tim tried to punch Ra's but the punch was caught in mid-air by Ra's and twisted his arm. Tim yelped in pain and agony. He tried to attack Ra's with a stick but it was sent flying by a kick from Ra's. He grabbed him in a bear hug from behind. All of Tim's efforts to escape the hold were in vain.
"For an old man, you're pretty strong," Tim said, grunting as his teeth clenched.
Tim elbowed Ra's in the gut and managed to get away and managed to land a kick which Ra's blocked but was pushed a few feet far.
"I must admit that you are well trained but I am afraid I have pressing business elsewhere," Ra's said as he dusted his suit off.
"Like hell! You aren't going to get away from me this time," Tim charged at the immortal but out of nowhere Ra's detonated a smoke bomb which went BOOM! The whole road was engulfed with smoke.
Tim was flailing his hands, trying to stay balanced and keep his enemy from getting away but as the smoke cleared, his enemy was gone and in front of him stood Batman. He was fully armored and the opaque eye lenses were glowing white with some hint of blue.
"Where is Ra's?" Bruce practically growled
"I lost him, I am sorry," Tim murmured while keeping his head and eyes down. He was already in a lot of hot water with Bruce because of him being kidnapped and now letting that immortal maniac get away, this wasn't good. Tim knew that the helmet of his suit didn't show it but Bruce was in an animalistic rage. The anger basically radiated off of him. This was going to be bad.
As Tim braced himself for impact, he was only shrugged aside, albeit roughly by Batman as he walked a few meters as if he was trying to find some clues as to where Ra's went.
Bruce seemed frustrated as he touched the ear of his cowl and said, "Computer! Re-task the Wayne satellites to look for Ra's Al Ghul." Bruce turned around to see Tim and suddenly he was flooded with anger as he rushed and punched Tim as hard as he could. Tim went flying few meters into distance.
Tim started to bleed as he spat out some blood from his mouth but his anger was off the charts.
"What the hell did you do that for?!" Tim yelled.
"Consider this a penance for letting Ra's get away", Batman said as turned the other way and prepared to fly away but Tim wasn't about to let him do that so he took out a Batarang and shot it at Bruce, as if he anticipated this, he seamlessly moved out of the way and threw his own Batarang at Tim who dodged it only to receive a punch on his gut by Batman.
"What is your deal? Since the minute you got here, you have barely said a word and I am getting this feeling that you are angry with me but this isn't about Ra's and I know it," Tim finally said it. He let it out.
"You want to know where this anger came from? Its because you disobeyed my orders. When I told you to stay from Gotham, you didn't and now you got in my way by trying to take Ra's Al Ghul alone despite knowing the fact that he is most dangerous man on the planet. This immature attitude of yours is what got you into trouble twenty five years ago and Dick got killed trying to rescue you," Bruce said, all while keeping his tone in check, making sure that the anger he felt was not shown.
"Ok that does it!" Tim launched himself at Batman as he unloaded a barrage of kick and punches at his mentor who blocked every one of his attack and then kicked Tim who was sent flying away into a shop nearby.
Tim got up, grunting in pain but in truth, he was angry. He took out a smoke bomb and detonated it, engulfing the area around him and Bruce in smoke as he punched Bruce on the face.
Bruce shot a batarang at Tim and this time, Tim was unable to deflect as the batarang pierced his left hand and he screamed in agony.
"UGH!" Tim cried, while clutching his hand but Bruce charged at him with another kick to his face and Tim barely managed to put his hands and block it as he fell down.
Bruce once more charged with ferocity but this time, Tim, gathering all the energy he had in his both hands punched Bruce.
Bruce stumbled back but recovered quickly from the painful blow and ran towards his ward who tried to grab him but Bruce jumped at the last second landing behind Tim and with a kick to his knee, managed to get him off balance as Tim fell down on one knee and Bruce gripped his neck.
"Why are you doing this," Tim choked the words out.
"You have gotten in my way for the last time," Bruce said as he tightened his grip on Tim's neck, ready to snap it.
Tim was shocked to say the least. Bruce wasn't a killer and he certainly wouldn't kill his only remaining family. Tim had to do something. He had a family of his own but Bruce left no openings and Tim barely had any strength left in him. Bruce was gripping his neck so hard that Tim was finding it hard to breathe and he was losing his vision. Either Bruce would snap his neck and kill him or Tim would pass out and be killed in his unconscious state. In an attempt to escape, he noticed something on Bruce's leg joint. It was a chip, a mind programming chip.
He had to think fast. Suddenly an idea came to his mind. He took out a little something from his utility belt. It was a small bug device and now he had to find an opening and as if on cue, he found a small opening in his leg joint. He released the bug which went into the leg joint opening seamlessly as Bruce didn't notice. Now all that was left was to stall Bruce until the bug found an opening.
"Bruce, stop this. You don't have to do this," Tim said.
"I don't answer to the likes of you," Bruce said in a voice that said that Tim's time was coming to an end. This was it, this was the end but as if the fates were on his side, Bruce's grip on his neck loosened as he stumbled, growling in pain, trying to regain balance as he fell down on one knee.
"AAH!" Bruce screamed in agony, eyes shut and suddenly as he collapsed, unconscious.
"Well looks like I got rid of the mind controlling chip," Tim murmured to himself as he prepared to pick Bruce up and take him to Wayne Manor. He winced in pain as he picked up the old vigilante and flew into the sky.
Few hours later,
Tim came back to the Wayne Manor, carrying Bruce on his shoulders. He then put Bruce Wayne on the medical table as he sat on the chair in front of the Batcomputer. There was a first aid kit besides the computer. He grabbed the first aid kit and started putting a bandage on the wide, bloody cut on his hand.
Once he was done, he looked over at Bruce, wondering how the chip got attached to him. Was he ambushed on his way here? Or was his suit being controlled by someone from a different location as Bruce was trapped and unable to do anything.
Anyways, Tim had to inform his wife. He went to grab the phone but heard some groaning from behind him. It was Bruce, he was conscious and was staring at Tim.
"What?" Tim asked, a bit amused how Bruce was looking at him.
"Leave now," Bruce said monotonously, no emotion present in his stern voice.
"Like it ever works out that way," Tim said sarcastically but he was right. This time, he wasn't going to leave like this, he had to know how he was with Bruce because whether they both liked it or not, they only had each other unless Bruce sired a child somewhere in the world and was oblivious to it.
As if Bruce read his mind, he said, "I don't want to see you in Gotham ever again. Ra's Al Ghul is my problem and you shouldn't have interfered with my work so I will warn you last time, Get out Now!" Bruce growled but Tim was done being scared.
"As I seem to recall, I confronted Ra's first and besides you need someone to help you. You have become old and no amount of Wayne Tech is going to change that," Tim said angrily. This may not have been the first Tim stood up to his mentor but this was different, Tim was an adult and had rights and was a citizen of Gotham, former but a citizen. He had rights to protect Gotham and Bruce was never going to take that away.
"We are done here," Bruce said as he turned to exit the Batcave and up to the Wayne Manor.
"You want to know why I do not want to quit on you, on this mission?" Tim said. "Its because Dick asked me to," He said as he let some tears fall. Damn it! He could fall weak in front of Bruce. He held back his tears and wiped his eyes clean.
"Before he died on the rooftop of Wayne Tech he told me something," Tim said as he let that particular memory take over him.
Flashback:
Battle of Gotham, 25 Years Ago,
Wayne Tech Rooftop,
On that rooftop, Tim dressed as Robin was cradling a injured and bloodied Dick. The older vigilante's life was slipping away as Tim was holding him in his arms.
Dick's costume had cuts from the chest to the boots but he was suffering much more. Tim hated seeing his adoptive brother like this.
"Dick! Stay with me, hold on please, everything is going to be okay," Tim literally cried, hoping that these weren't his last words to his brother because they both knew that nothing was going to be okay.
"Hey Timmy, I am okay but I want to say something to you. Its about Bruce," Dick uttered, weakly and coughed up blood which spilled on Tim's hand but he didn't give a damn about it.
"How about you focus on staying alive and say whatever you want later," Tim said.
Dick held his brother's arm and pressed it tightly and Tim winced a bit.
"Listen to me," Dick said, voice louder.
"Bruce isn't a very emotional man but that doesn't mean he is emotionless. It will be a long time before Gotham can recover but it will take even longer for Bruce to recover. He will shut others out and probably throw the cowl and I wont be there to help him now so you have to take my place. Be the son to Bruce. Be his support and don't abandon him under any circumstances. Please do this for me," Dick cried and his hand slipped away from Tim's arm.
Flashback end,
Tim narrated Dick's words, letting tears flow away freely. It was too painful.
"I didn't keep my word to him then but when you came back as Batman, it reminded me of what we all lost that day and this is why I did this. Coming to Gotham, becoming Nightwing, helping you out, to keep my promise but if you don't want me, I will leave and never come back," Tim said, tears dried, serious but voice cracking.
Bruce was left in awe because of this. Dick's words and Tim's willingness to keep the promise he made to Dick and if Tim could do it, honor Dick's memory and the promise then so could Bruce.
"You go to sleep tonight and tomorrow we search for Ra's," Bruce said going upstairs leaving behind a flabbergasted but a hopeful Tim. Things could still get better.
He still had hope for the future, still had hope for them. He smiled in Dick's memory.
Tonight they sleep and tomorrow the Dynamic Duo rises again!
