Will cuffed the unconscious Bane to a sturdy waterpipie and looked at the scene playing out around him. Ivy's mind-controlled civilian army had moved steadily down the street, chasing the ever-elusive Batman. Will quickly climbed an apartment building and surveyed the rest of the city. The fires had spread, the sirens were growing louder and the many Arkham inmates had fled to their usual hideouts. Depending on how Nightwing and the cops were doing, they had collectively only taken out three or four of the more dangerous meta-humans.
"This place is doomed," he thought to himself. "How does Batman fight day after day for this nightmare city? Or more specifically, why? Fighting for a cause is one thing but fighting for a lost cause is quite another." Will shook the thought out of his mind and brought his attention to the matter at hand. Batman was in the distance ducking and weaving through a crowd of green-eyed civilians while Ivy herself was being carried by a huge group of vines almost like a chariot. He bridged the gap between the apartment complex and the adjacent building with a effortless leap and speedily made his way towards Ivy, cloaked by the darkness. Upon reaching the building closest to Ivy, he heaved himself over the handrail and fell silently through the air, his heel connecting firmly with Ivy's cheek, causing her to fly, unconscious, off of her vine chariot. The vines began to wither and die, but the civilians infected with Ivy's spores were still chasing after Batman.
"Use the damn antitoxin," Will spoke firmly into the communicator in his mask. Batman then took out what looked like a water gun with a jet black paint job and sprayed a cloud of purple gas into the group of infected civilians. They quickly began to fall to the ground clutching their heads from the instant onset of a major headache. Batman cuffed Ivy and walked over towards Will with her in fireman's carry, but instead of stopping to talk just kept walking past him.
"Everyone else will have found some place to hide by now. Take the car and head back to the cave while I take Ivy and Bane to Gordon. When you get there tell Alfred I'll be late." Batman said all this without looking at him, or checking if he was listening. As Batman faded into the darkness, Will turned and walked in the other direction. As he walked, the civilians looked up at him, and he could see the awe in their eyes. The gratitude. The thanks. The respect.
"Do I deserve this praise?" He asked himself. He didn't think so. That's not how the world works, one good deed does not cancel out one horrible deed, of which he had plenty. But still he wondered, "Batman and Wonder Woman seem sure that at some point I can redeem myself. But who decides that? Who decides when I have made up for what I've done?" That was a question for another time though. Will picked up his pace and faded into the Gotham night, leaving people wondering if he was ever truly there at all.
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Will hammered his foot onto the Batmobile's accelerator and raced down the road and straight off the cliff. The Batmobile flew through the waterfall in front of the cave, engine roaring and exhaust blazing, and bridged the gap between the rocky cliffs. The free-fall lasted all of about three seconds, before the wheels once again had solid ground beneath them. Will then switched gear and pressed down hard on the brake pedal, causing the wheels to screech in uproar. Will's seat belt squeezed tight against his chest as the car quickly slowed down to a perfect stop on the rotating circle in the middle of the Batcave, which spun the car 180 degrees to face the exit to the cave. Looking out the dark window, Will could make out four people watching him from just beyond the circle he was parked in. Alfred, Wonder Woman, one that could only be Nightwing (who was in a black and blue uniform) and a young woman with red hair that sat in a wheelchair that he guessed was Oracle. Will unbuckled his seat belt and stepped out of the car, heading towards the group of spectators. As he neared them, it was Nightwing that broke the silence.
"Batman, between the police, you, shadow and myself, we only managed to capture four Arkham inmates. Ivy, Bane, Freeze and Dent." As he walked, Will grasped his head and pressed the two hidden buttons in his armored cowl with his thumbs, which caused sections of the black material to press outwards with a hiss, and allowed him to remove it from his face.
"Batman?" Oracle asked him from he wheelchair.
"No, not Batman." He replied. This earned him a wide eyed look from both Nightwing and Oracle.
"You really weren't kidding Alfred," Nightwing said. "He's almost a carbon copy of the old man."
"Almost," Oracle said. "There are differences... Bruce is actually slightly smaller."
"Yeah there is that," Nightwing continued, "But I mean, look at him! He's-" Alfred cleared his throat putting a stop to the bickering between Nightwing and Oracle.
"I expect Master Bruce shall be late?" Will nodded. "Not surprising. Even so, I do not believe that you have been properly introduced," Alfred began. "Master Will, please meet Master Dick and-"
"I know." Will cut in. "Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon." He walked forward and held out his hand to Dick who smiled, took off his mask and shook his hand firmly, and then to Barbara who did the same. "My name is Will. I wasn't given a surname, though it's rather obvious what it would be if I had one." Even though no humor was intended, it still earned a chuckle from both teenagers. Wonder Woman then stood forward and turned towards him.
"Now that all that is over and done with, how about you and Dick change and we all head upstairs to talk and enjoy some warm drinks?"
"Sounds good to me," Dick said, speeding towards the stairwell and yelling, "First one there gets marshmellows!" Wonder Woman took off in pursuit with a wicked grin from cheeck to cheeck and Alfred shook his head and smiled before walking slowly and steadily after them. Will strode confidently after them with Barbara wheeling herself along next to him.
"Hey uhhh, Will, Wonder Woman told me a little bit about you but I was just wondering..." Her voice trailed off, waiting for a response.
"Go ahead. If Batman trusts you, then so do I. Ask anything you want, though I can't promise that I'll answer every question. Both for your sake, and for mine." Barbara let that die down before finally asking her question.
"How old are you really? Wonder Woman said that your growth was accelerated, but by how much?" Will huffed in amusement. "THAT'S what she wants to know?" Then it clicked. "She's being polite, not digging too deep." The courtesy made him genuinely smile, though not enough to be noticed by anyone. "Finally, someone who treats someone nicely even if they are a complete stranger. She doesn't want to force me to give anything away, but the politeness deserves a little more depth than is required..."
"I was... engineered, I suppose, by a shadow organization within the United States Government called Cadmus. Have you heard of them before?"
"Yeah, sure. Batman gave me the short version a while back after the watchtower was stormed by the... what was it, the Ultimen I think?"
"Good. Well they went around and gathered some DNA from both Wonder Woman and Batman, threw them together, modified it a little bit, and put what was formed into a growth acceleration pod. I..." Will stopped moving just before the stairs and looked around. "There isn't and elevator around is there?" Barbara laughed.
"There used to be, but some stray explosive batarangs from Dick fixed that. I got Wonder Woman to carry me down here." Will smiled a little awkwardly, but covered it extremely well.
"You wouldn't mind if...?" It took a moment for her to get his meaning. She laughed cheerfully, her cheeks going a rosy shade of red.
"No, not at all. Be my guest." Will handed her his armored cowl and scooped her up with ease in one arm, while folding and picking up her wheelchair with the other. She hugged his chest to keep balance and he made his way up the long starwell with no change in stride.
"Continuing from before," he started, "I was in the pod for four months when they let me out. At that point I was biologically 15 years old, though about 2 months away from 16. They kept me at the Cadmus compound performing... experiments... and had intended to do that for something like 2 years, but I broke out after four months."
"Were you aware of things going on around you while in the pod?" Barbara asked.
"No. I have a perfect memory, and the first thing I remember is that pod being drained of green fluid and me coughing out the same. But even then I already knew how to read, write, talk and understand fifteen different languages. I already knew how to fight better than Batman does, and I already had expert knowledge in almost all areas of life."
"Do you know why that is?"
"No, no idea at all."
"So you've only really been alive for, what? Four months?" Will reached the top of the stone steps and walked through the already open secret entrance behind the grandfather clock. He put down and unfolded Barbara's wheelchair and gently sat her down into it. She handed him his cowl and they took off towards the grand hallway with the biggest ornate steps to the second floor of the manor.
"Closer to six months actually. After I escaped from Cadmus I was on my own for two months. Had to steal everything I needed because no one would hire someone with no confirmation of identity, no connections, and a face that freaks people out because I look similar but not identical to Bruce Wayne." Barbara sad nothing but her expression spoke volumes. "Head to the living room," he told her as he started to ascend the marble steps. "I'll be down in a minute once I'm out of this uniform." Barbara smiled and wheeled off to the living room. Will continued climbing the steps to the second floor, glad that Oracle hadn't asked about information with more... condemning... implications.
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As Barbara wheeled through the doorway towards the living room she was surprised to find Wonder Woman leaning against the wall waiting for her.
"Wonder Woman, hey. Were you... waiting for me?"
"Yes I was," she replied. "And please, call me Diana."
"Sure thing Diana. What can I help you with?"
"Just wondering what you thought about him now that you've been properly introduced."
"He's..." She had to pause to find the perfect word to describe him. "He's intense." Diana nodded.
"An accurate description."
"But it's like everything he says has no... "Uuumph" coming from it, you know? It's a little like Batman, but even Batman can add a little emotion to what he's saying."
"I see it too."
"He's so much like Bruce," Barbara continued, "Though..."
"Though what?" Diana asked.
"Though it kind of troubles me that even though he had never met either of you, he shares so many traits with Bruce, and almost none with you." Diana sighed wistfully.
"It troubles me also. I would not expect to see many physical similarities beyond hair and eye color which we both have in common, but in a more emotional way he is so much more like Bruce than I."
"I don't know much about him, Barbara started, "But I assume that what happened to him in Cadmus was not pleasant."
"An understatement."
"Then maybe it's the trauma? Maybe they both just reacted to the trauma in the same way, causing them to be so similar?"
"Maybe," Diana said. "Though either way, I hope to relieve him of that lingering distress."
"I hope you do Diana. You have your work cut out for you though, if he's truly like Batman he's not going to give in easily."
"No, but I welcome the challenge." Both women laughed softly. "One more thing Barbara."
"Anything," Barbara replied.
"I couldn't help but notice that Will carried you up the stairs." Barbara blushed and attempted to end the conversation by wheeling off towards the living room. "I know that you know there is a working elevator into the cave," Diana raised her voice, not moving from her position."So why'd you get him to carry you?" Without looking back Barbara yelled her response.
"You know why Diana! Just look at him!" Even from down the hall Barbara could hear Diana's laughter, chasing her through the Mansion.