Author's Note:
Hi, everyone! I'm sorry for the delay of this chapter, but here it is! Please read and review.
Bruce opened the building's doors and stepped in suspiciously. As Coba had observed a few minutes earlier, it was just too quiet in there for nothing to be wrong. "Hello?" he called, his voice giving away his concern.
Some miserable groaning answered to Bruce's call. Bruce stopped in surprise as a deformed hand suddenly reached out at him. "She only gave me half the treatment!" the owner of the hand said weakly.
"I can see that, Mr. Herbst," Wayne whispered seriously. "I'd get ready to fight Inque, if I were you."
"Why?" Aaron whispered back. "I don't stand a chance against her. I won't do it!"
"A reliable source tells me that you'll have to," Bruce sagely replied.
A noise from the hallway caught the first Batman's attention. "Remember what I said," he whispered urgently to Aaron. He walked towards the sound, not waiting for the diluted man to reply. Cautiously, he looked around the corner and a seemingly heart-lifting sight greeted his eyes: there stood Terry, his shadow casting down the hall. "You got away?" Bruce asked, removing the scarf he wore around his mouth as he took a couple steps towards the young Batman.
An uncanny smile formed on Terry's lips. Before anything else happened, Bruce knew he was in deep trouble. A black tongue came out of Terry's mouth and quickly wrapped itself around the man. Inque!
Inque changed back to her normal form, the tongue turning out to be her left arm. "He didn't get away," she stated evilly. She caused her left arm to become twisty like a screw, and thus started to crush Bruce to death. "And neither will you."
Bruce briefly struggled in his captor's grip. I don't think I can survive this. This is the end... He quickly stopped his thoughts in their tracks. No, I will not give up now, not on the kids! Pieces of metal stabbed through his large trench coat, covering him as they did. A Batmask finally covered his face. He spread his arms apart mightily, breaking free from Inque's deadly grip. Yes!
Terry, from where he was bound, had seen Bruce's struggling and transformation. He struggled hard in his bonds. "Oh no," he murmured.
~!~
Coba crawled steadily along the metal beams holding up the glass windows, careful not to cast a shadow into the arena. She placed two small rectangular devices in the very center of the beam. She quickly crawled across a couple of the windows with her right index finger's claw silently cutting through them a certain way before she crept back to the part of the roof where Dana was waiting for her.
Dana helped the small teen get back onto the cement part of the roof. "Did you put the explosives where they need to be?" she asked.
Batgirl nodded.
"And you sliced through the glass in case the explosives don't work correctly?"
"Yeah, all we have to do now is wait."
Dana briefly looked down into the building, her gaze immediately shifting to Coba nervously. "It may be sooner than you think!" she warned, pointing her right index finger in the direction she had viewed a moment before. "Look!"
Coba followed Dana's pointing finger to see an armor-clad Bruce Wayne tossing Inque across the arena and into the farthest wall. She looked back at Dana urgently. "That's your q, Batwoman," she said seriously. "Get Terry free, fast!"
"Alright," Dana said as she stood up and left. "Be careful up here."
"I will," Coba reassured her friend. Although I feel that I'll end up breaking that promise, too.
~!~
Terry helplessly watched as Bruce and Inque fought, having just realized that he could not escape from the chains binding him to the pole. I just hope he survives this, and that Dana and Coba are safe.
Bruce charged into the arena as Inque picked herself up from where she had landed a second before. The villain charged at the man readily, shooting part of herself out at him. The first Batman held up his wrists and deflected the first few attacks. Inque finally grabbed one of his wrists and flung him against the cement guard of the nearest riser in the arena. Bruce let out a pained grunt as his back collided with the hard cement and fell to the ground.
"NO!" Terry screamed, unaware that Dana and Coba were screaming the same thing at the exact same time as he was, but from different areas.
~!~
The sight of her legal guardian being struck down sent a sense of urgency running through Coba's entire body. I hope this is worth it, she thought as she pulled out a batarang. This is for you, my friend.Without further ado, she flung the weapon at the explosives.
~!~
Inque was about to kill Bruce when the sight of Batwoman running towards Batman caught her attention. Dana, unaware that Inque had spotted her, quickly removed the chain from around her boyfriend's wrists. "Come on!" she yelled urgently.
Terry had just stood up to his feet when Inque wrapped part of herself tightly around both teenagers, holding them to the pole. "You're not going anywhere, Bats!" Inque hissed. "You're both going to stay here and watch this."
A loud explosion sounded from the top of the roof. A couple of small glass shards fell from the roof, allowing only a few drops of rain at a time to go through them. Inque looked up and finally noticed Coba sitting at the edge of the concrete part of the roof. She laughed wickedly.
"Is that all you've got, Batrunt?" Inque taunted.
Coba wisely chose not to respond. She knew that if she said anything, her enemy would suspect another attempt to wash her out.
"I hope you're watching this!" Inque continued. "First, I'll kill the old man! Then these two lovebirds here, then I'll kill you! I'll even hunt you down to do it if I must!" She held a deadly arm directly over Bruce's head and prepared to strike, only to see the deformed Aaron crawl in her path. "Out of my way!" the villain ordered.
Aaron did not seem to hear her. "You didn't keep your promise," he said as steadily as he could, his worsening condition making it almost impossible to do so. "I won't keep mine any longer, either."
"Loser," Inque muttered, raising her arm to toss Aaron aside.
Herbst managed to grab hold of his former partner. "I won't let you hurt any of the Bats again," he proclaimed.
Inque struggled to get Aaron to release her, but the man was too determined to let go. She thrashed around the arena desperately, yet Aaron still held on. I have to hold her off, he thought urgently. She'll kill the Bats if I don't. I don't know how long I'll last, but I must try to go until these three are out of here. He noticed his opponent let go of Batman and Batwoman. At least those two are free, now.
Dana's eyes widened at the sight of the two brawlers crashing towards the boxing ring she and Terry were next to. "Look out!" she cried.
Terry grabbed his girlfriend's hand tightly and ran with her towards Wayne as Inque and Aaron knocked down the boxing ring. Aaron released Inque upon impact, having been knocked senseless that instant. Terry and Dana helped Bruce stand up. The old man looked at McGinnis seriously. "Now do you believe me on why I retired?" he asked gruffly.
The young Batman grinned. "Not entirely," he replied. He saw Inque coming towards them in rage. "Do you think you can keep fighting, old timer?"
Wayne frowned. "Not for very long," he confessed. "What about you two?"
Dana shook her head doubtfully. "I think this'll be a fight to the death," she said solemnly.
"I'm afraid that I agree with you both," Terry said glumly, also frowning.
Inque formed a barrier around the three Bats. "Just to make sure you don't try to run away," she said evilly. She started to close the space between herself and the heroes, intent on suffocating them. "This is it for all of you, so you'd better say your farewells to the Batgirl on the roof."
Coba knew what she had to do now. I hoped it wouldn't come to this, but here it goes. She threw herself off of the cement roof's ledge onto the glass she had severed with her claws earlier that night, sending the glass crashing down just to the left of Inque. "Heads up!" Coba screamed.
The oozy villain had no time to react as the rainwater poured down on her. "No!" she screamed in despair as she felt herself melt away, thus freeing Terry, Dana and Bruce. She turned to run to the upper wing of the arena where she had kept the rest of the chemicals she stole earlier, only to realize at the last minute that it was no use to try since she was already so wet. "No!" she repeated, watching her hands dissolve even faster than before. "No- -AAAAHHHH!" The three Bats watched in awe as the rest of Inque washed away through the drain pipes at the floor of the arena until nothing was left of her.
The original Batman was the first to come to his senses. "Where's Batgirl?!" he exclaimed.
"Up here!" the young girl's voice answered urgently.
Terry looked up in despair to see Coba clinging desperately to the edge of the cement part of the roof. As she fell the glass, Coba had grabbed the cement with her gloves' claws. "Hold on!" Terry yelled.
Batgirl felt her claws starting to lose their grip on the roof. "Terry!" she screamed fearfully. "I'm slipping!"
The sound of Coba's panic-stricken voice was more than Batman could stand. He stretched out his suit's gliders and used the rocket-launchers in the suit's feet to fly himself up to the roof. He landed on the part of the building's cover that his half-sister held on to. Dana and Bruce could do nothing but watch helplessly as Coba slipped further down. Terry reached his right hand down to Brooklyn. "Grab hold!" he instructed.
Coba managed to fling herself so her right hand could reach her half-brother's, but her left hand lost its grip on the cement. Terry's hand never reached hers at that moment. Batgirl let out a terrified scream as she started to fall to her certain death.
"COBA!" Dana screamed in terror, unable to tear her gaze away from the horrifying scene.
Author's Note:
Oh no, the crazy author just ended the chapter on yet another suspenseful note! THE WORLD'S COMING TO AN END! Just kidding, no it's not. The story is almost over, though: just a couple more chapters, anyway.
Yet another reminder: the character poll from the last book is still up, and only 3 people have voted! Please go and vote for your fave chars before it's too late!
