Author's Note: In this abridged version which I've now posted on FanFic dot net, we'll be leaving Batman's storyline directly after this chapter so that we can focus exclusively on Damian and his adventures within Sword Art Online.

Needless to say, poor Bruce runs into various troubles and obstacles after he leaves Japan that prevent him from saving the SAO players outright, but that's a whole other story. For those of you who are interested and don't mind following various plot lines across the DC world, including some that are rather dark and nebulous, feel free to check out the much longer and unabridged story over at Archive of Our Own (AO3).

Otherwise, after this short chapter, we'll get back to Damian Wayne and his battle to conquer Sword Art Online.

This is his story after all.

Chapter Eleven:
Leaving Japan

1

Hours later, a solemn Batman found himself deep below the earth, staring at a massive array of electronics humming away, performing billions of calculations per second, seemingly oblivious to his dark presence against the wall as he stood watching with his hand on its master breaker switch…

The power to Cardinal's massive server bank.

It was hot down here…

Far too hot for the programmers brought in by the government who were attempting to gain access to the Sword Art Online server on the four floors above him, but it wasn't too hot for him…

It would never be too hot for him...

Getting into Argus had been child's play. Getting down to the fifth sub-floor basement while remaining undetected had been a little more challenging, but he always did enjoy a challenge. So Batman stood there with his hand on the power, continuously staring ahead at his faceless enemy...

An enemy named Cardinal who harboured the soul of its mad creator, Akihiko Kayaba.

"I know you're in there, Kayaba… You can't hide from me… You can never hide from me… Let them go… Let them go or so help me, I will find a way to turn your virtual Paradise into a living Hell!"

The LED lights continued to blink unabated.

"I'll find you, Kayaba… I'll find you and then put you into a tiny little microchip that I'll bury at the bottom of the sea… I'll seal this floor with liquid helium before I'll let you take another life… You think you can escape from me?... No one escapes from me!... You know who I am… You know what I can do… The only question now is how far you'll make me go to bring you down."

Bruce waited for a minute before he took his hand off the power switch.

"That was your mistake, Kayaba… You built your own prison so I knew where to find you… Keep your hostages alive… All of them… Because right now, they're the only thing preventing me from taking you apart... You know how to get a hold of me when you want to talk... You have 24 hours."

He left without another word.

He was done here.

Bruce had already made the decision to return to Gotham before breaking into Argus. Besides threatening the Cardinal servers, there was nothing left for him in Japan and already the continued presence of Bruce Wayne in this country was starting to draw attention.

His next task would be to locate Arthur Light and find out more about Project Alicization. And if that didn't work, he'd grabbed a little souvenir from Kayaba's secret lab in the countryside that would keep him occupied for awhile…

Sitting back at his hotel room was the NerveGear helmet.

He'd already tasked Barbara with tracking down the elusive Arthur Light so that the Dark Knight would be ready for action once they landed in America. Dick was busy with an illegal drug shipment which would be arriving in Gotham Harbour later tonight and Alfred had done everything in his power to keep Damian's comatose body alive and well.

It was time to go home.

2

Three hours later as he boarded his personal Gulfstream G650, Bruce realized he was fading fast and wouldn't be able to hold off sleep for much longer. He'd already sent his entire conversation with Rinko Koujiro to Oracle for further analysis so he could sleep on the flight.

As dawn broke across the land of the rising sun, the plush seat of the business jet afforded Bruce the ability to finally reflect on these last three days while his stewardess graciously served him a herbal tea to help him relax before the take off.

Had he truly just witnessed the next step in human evolution? Was the complete physical separation of the human consciousness transplanted into a machine their ultimate future? Arthur Light had once sought a way to overcome the failings of his daughter's cursed genetics, and by all current accounts, he'd succeeded beyond his wildest dreams.

And now, ten thousand consciousness had fallen down the white rabbit's swirling black hole, past its one-dimensional point of singularity and into Kayaba's Wonderland. With these thoughts swirling through his weary brain, Bruce finally drifted off to asleep and returned towards home.

Next Chapter: I'm excited for the next chapter as it begins our first major Sword Art Online arc entitled "The Halls of the Departed". Posting tomorrow, Thursday November 19th.