Damp drops of water could be heard in the background. The scurrying of rats and bugs could be heard as well. He could feel that he was on a hard, cold floor and that his jaw in particular was in pain. He slowly opened his eyes to see a woman kneeling over him. As his vision became clear, he was now able to properly see her. To say she was gorgeous would be a severe understatement. She was average height with light olive skin. She had long, shoulder-length brown hair that covered half of her face. The other half was tucked behind her ear, revealing bright green eyes. She had rosy lips and wore a black suit with a gun holster on the side of her leg.

"Are you awake now?" Her accent was Arabian but with a strange blend of English.

Glancing at his reflection in her eyes, his hand flew to his face and he sighed in realization. His mask was off and his face was hers to gaze at. "My mask..."

"Yes, the guards removed it along with your belt. It was quite comical seeing them do so, honestly. It took three guards to take the cowl off. The first one was shocked, the second one was knocked out by some sort of gas but the final one was able to do it. He was, however, shocked as well when he tried to take the belt off. That was accomplished by a fourth guard."

"Excellent..." Bruce sat on his elbows, looking around. He and the mysterious woman were in a small cell, with their only light source being a torch on the wall outside the bars. "Who are you?"

She glanced at him and he could immediately tell that she distrusted him. "...For now, call me Miranda."

"From your hesitation, I'm guessing that's not your real name."

"No. But, if you prove yourself, then I may yet reveal my true name to you... Mr. Wayne."

Bruce grunted. "Prove myself how?"

She motioned her head at the bars. "We need to get out of here. I still have business with that man."

"You mean their leader?"

"Yes. Damien Darhk."

"I've heard of him. CIA and FBI reports have him listed as a top priority target but he's maintained elusiveness around them, establishing various contacts throughout the world."

"Indeed, on the surface, that is all he does. He is much worse than what your governments know."

"And how do you know him?"

"He is one of my enemies. I must eliminate him before he can resurrect the corpse in that coffin."

Bruce narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"In that body is a man known as Cyrus Gold, a small-time crook from the 19th century."

"And what's so special about a 200 year old corpse?"

"Cyrus Gold died in a swamp. This swamp contains powerful mystical properties which could prove dangerous if Darhk extracts it from his body."

Bruce scoffed. "Magic..."

Miranda tilted her head. "You have a distaste for the mystical arts?"

"I just don't do magic."

"I see." Miranda turned to the bars. "Get over it. I don't have time to deal with petty distastes. The city you protect could be in danger if he unleashes that magic. This is the reality we have to deal with."

Bruce stood up and put his mask back over his face. "I know." He walked over to the bars and grabbed a hold. "I'll get it done." With impressive strength, he completely opened them wide enough to walk through.

Miranda raised a brow, a small smile on her face. "So, you are a man, after all."

Batman smirked. "No... I'm better."

Miranda and Batman took to the halls, keeping out of sight of the guards. Miranda and Batman moved down another corridor, coming behind an assassin. Batman grabbed him and put him in a chokehold.

"Where did you stow away the belt you took off me?"

"Ugh... I will tell you nothing!"

"We'll see about that." Miranda grabbed a knife from the assassin's back and put the point of it near his eye. "Talk." The assassin could almost swear that this woman looked like a demon from the underworld from the way she glared at him. Her hair covered half her face, giving her an even more demonic stare.

"The storage room down the hall and second door on the left..."

Batman choked the man until he fell into unconscious while Miranda tucked the knife in her belt. "Come." She turned and began making her way down the hall.

Batman glanced at the man who she had just intimidated. "She's not bad." He followed her down the hall, the two keeping an eye out for guards. Miranda attempted to make a move down the hall but Batman grabbed her arm and stopped her, shaking his head. A guard came out from around the corner not a second later and began walking down the halls.

Miranda and Batman eventually came upon the room the assassin described, which held guns and Batman's utility belt. After re-equipping themselves, the two made their way back to the arena.

"We have to hurry. If Darhk is able to resurrect that body... we will have an ancient, unkillable monster on our hands."

Batman remained silent, simply following. After evading and taking out guards, Miranda and Batman came upon the arena, this time from a higher vantage point. Miranda widened her eyes while Batman narrowed his.

"No... It has already been completed. We are too late..."

Standing in the middle of the arena was a huge, hulking man. He was over nine feet tall, and was a pale, ghostly grey. He had veins popping out of his skin and arms, with white hair as well. His eyes were a sunken green and his veins glowed the same color. He wore a torn black jacket and torn black pants and had chains on his wrists. Darhk walked up to him, clapping his hands at the monster. The monster, breathing heavily, turned to him slowly.

"Mr. Gold... Welcome back to the land of the living."

The monster roared loudly, nearly deafening the ears of the people in the room while Darhk remained unfazed.

"Quite ferocious... how do you feel?"

"Solomon Grundy... born on a Monday... Christened on Tuesday... Married on WENDESDAY!" Grundy raised his hand to punch to Darhk.

"My lord, please move out of the way!"

"Grundy, eh?" Grundy tried to punch Darhk but Darhk's hand turned black with a white outline and all of sudden, Grundy calm down and began to seem subdued. The color of his veins changed to blue and Grundy simply stood there docile.

"Good... Grundy. I have a task for you, an important task."

Grundy scratched his head in confusion. "Task?"

"Yes. I want you to rampage on Gotham and distract the police."

"Okay... Grundy do as magic-man says."

Darhk smirked devilishly. "Good boy, Grundy."

A gunshot was then seen trying to penetrate Gruny's forehead and everyone's attention was turned to the balcony above them, where Miranda was seen with a rifle in her hands.

"Kill her!" Darhk ordered. The assassins sprang up and ran for the woman, who picked them off with expert marksmanship.

"Don't kill them!" Batman ordered her. From above, the Dark Knight came down and kicked Bronze Tiger to the ground, the fighter recovering with a roll.

"Magicians, maintain Grundy. Assassins, fall back. I'll take care of the woman."

Miranda ran back into the corridor while Darkh teleported to the balcony and gave chase. On the ground, Batman and Tiger stared each other down with Tiger taking up his stance once more. Tiger ran forward and tried to punch Batman but he sidestepped out of the way before kicking Tiger in the face.

"My arrogance got the best of me last time... I didn't acknowledge my opponent's abilities. Too bad for him, I don't make the same mistake twice."

Batman dropped to the floor and performed a Capoeira kick, to the chin. Tiger recovered from the blow quickly and tried to axe kick Batman but he took it in the shoulder to grab his leg. From this position, Batman used his elbow to snap Tiger's leg from the knee. Though screaming in pain, he kicked Batman away with his other leg and tried to stand on his feet. He limped, struggled but refused to give up.

"Huah!" Tiger jumped forward and tried to tackle Batman but he simply uppercutted him in the gut and drove him to the floor with his fist.

"I don't have time for this." Batman raised his fist and soundly knocked Tiger out before glancing at the magicians who were keeping Grundy under control. "I need to find Miranda." He grappled back up to the balcony and ran after the two.

Miranda twisted and turned down the halls as wherever she turned, Damian teleported before her.

"I can't keep this up all day, you know! So let's just end this for now..."

As Miranda ran down another hall, Damian awaited her but when she turned back to go the other way, an invisible force field blocked her.

"Blast!" She turned and aimed her rifle at the man as he got closer and closer, holding out his hand.

"Don't worry, my dear... I'll be sure to tell your father that I really, really enjoyed this." His began to glow but before he could fire, a batarang hit his arm, forcing his magical blast to hit a wall. The after effect of the blast blinded Miranda while Damian turned around to face Batman.

"So, I suppose you might be more dangerous than I thought." He fired fireballs at the Dark Knight, who rolled out of the way, retaliating with batarangs.

Damian dodged the first three before stopping the final one with his hand. "Uh uh uh. Haven't you had enough fun with these toys?" The device began to beep and in a few seconds, it exploded in his face. When the smoke cleared, Damian was gone and so was Batman's belt. Batman ran over to Miranda, who was rubbing her eyes.

"Are you alright?"

"I can't see a thing."

"He's gone. And he somehow took my belt with him."

"Wonderful. So, right now, I'm just as helpless as you."

"I don't do helpless."

Batman grabbed her hand and stood her up. "Follow me. I'll keep you safe."

She gave a small smile upon hearing this. "What a chivalrous man, helping the damsel in distress."

"No woman who could frighten an assassin could ever be a 'damsel'. Let's go." Batman and Miranda ran down the hall, coming upon a flight of stairs that winded to the top of the lighthouse. The two continued on their way, sprinting up the top until they were interrupted by the echo of Damien's voice.

"You still chase me through this tower, unarmed and defenseless, yet you think you can win? How foolish."

Batman ignored his taunts and pushed forward, determined to make it to the top. Miranda couldn't deny his tenacity. Even though it seemed that the odds are against him, he pushes forward with the belief he can still win.

"A true man." She smiled to herself.

"Stay sharp." Batman warned as they got to the top. Standing before them was Darhk, with Batman's belt on his shoulder.

"What do you intend to do, now that you're here? How do you intend to stop me now? I am curious, I must admit."

"Like this." Batman held out his hand and it began to glow. "Scatena, leggendario sigillo!"

Marks began appearing over Darhk's skin, an ancient unreadable language that began to glow as well. It burned his skin while Damian writhed and screamed.

"No! What is happening? Agh!"

"A friend's spell. She placed it on me for future use against someone like you. I'll have to thank her the next time I see her. You won't be able to use a spell for a few minutes. More than enough time."

"Indeed." Miranda ran forward and pushed Damian out of the window, allowing him to fall to his death. "More than enough time."

"What did you do?!"

"I eliminated the threat."

He grabbed her collar, lifting her up in the air. "Why?"

"Because if I didn't, he would have killed us. Isn't it obvious?" She handed him his belt. Though still angry, Batman took it with narrowed eyes and let her down.

"Besides," She said as she holstered her pistol. "I believe we have more pressing mat-"

"WRUAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"What was that?!"

"The monster."