Chapter 21: A Horrible Revelation!
Batman led Snake and the other heroes towards the leader of the Brotherhood of Steel, Sarah Lyons. She was a tall, blonde woman with a no-nonsense attitude. Ever since she was a young girl, her father raised her well to become a great and noble fighter for the Brotherhood of Steel. "Well, these must be those trouble makers that the NCR kept talking about. It's nice to finally meet you all. I can't tell you how much of a help it's been now that you've crippled the NCR's Main Headquarters." Lyons began. "It's always a pleasure to fight for justice, miss." Snake introduced.
Snake shook her hand, though he couldn't seem to take his eyes off of hers. Her eyes were beautifully blue, like a certain space huntress. "Is there something wrong?" Lyons asked suspiciously. "Oh! Uh, no... nothing's wrong at all. It's just that-" Snake began. "What? You weren't expecting a woman to lead an army of some of the strongest and most well-disciplined soldiers in American history?" Lyons scolded. "No, not at all! You just remind me of someone I once knew, that's it." Snake admitted with slight embarrassment.
Lyons laughed at him as she shook her head. "You're a funny guy, I like you. But unfortunately, this is no laughing matter. We're all that's left of the Brotherhood." Lyons said sadly. "Wesker, I'm assuming?" Snake suggested as he crossed his arms. "Yeah...he's the bastard that betrayed us and nearly destroyed the Brotherhood of Steel. My father...he...he didn't trust Wesker so much; he always said that he had the look of an opportunist in his eyes, and the tongue of a serpent. So it really shouldn't be any surprise that he murdered him after he unleashed one of those horrible abominations to destroy our base. I was so lucky to have survived that day!" Lyons recounted.
Snake sighed as he nodded his head. "Well, now that we're here...we'll be sure to make sure that Wesker pays for all the evil he's done." Snake stated. Lyons smiled as he said that. "I appreciate that, I really do. It's nice to actually see that some people still have a code of honor." Lyons said. "Look, not to interrupt or anything, but I thought we were in a hurry!" Spawn snapped. "Kid, take it easy!" Snake hissed. "No, he's right. We've wasted more than enough time! Wesker is back at his newly established base along with the Enclave, and we need to take action right now while we still have that chance!" Lyons said. "Wasn't there something that you wanted to tell us, Bruce?" Snake reminded.
Batman nodded his head before he faced everyone. "I've been tracking Wesker down for quite some time now. Before I was captured, I kept a close eye on him with spy drones that I had set out around this Wasteland. But it wasn't until when Wesker and his forces finally captured me, did I discover something truly horrific." Batman began. "Well, don't keep us fucking waiting! Tell us what happened already!" Wolverine snapped. "Logan!" Morrigan scolded. Batman took a deep breath before he finally revealed to them the horrible truth.
*Flashback Sequence begins!*
In a blazing hot desert in the middle of nowhere, Batman led a small group of scouts towards a large heap of ruins. They were expecting to meet with someone regarding a very important and top secret mission. "Ok, we're here. You remember the plan, right? If anything happens to me, you know what you need to do." Batman instructed. "We got it boss, we won't let you down." one of the scouts replied with a salute. Batman gave a thumbs up before he approached the enormous metal gate, guarded by armed mercenaries. "HALT! Who are you and what the hell do you think you're doing here? This place is off limits!" one of the mercenaries barked. "It's all right; I'm being expected by your boss. Let me in!" Batman replied as he held his hand up.
The mercenary guards looked at each other before they nodded. "Wait right there, old man!" one of the guards said at last. In a few minutes, they climbed down a ladder and approached Batman. "All right, hand them over. Come on; arms up!" one of the guards demanded. Batman obeyed, as did his comrades. As they were searched and stripped of their weapons, they were unaware that they were being watched from up above. A drone of unknown origin was watching their every move. After they finished searching Batman and his scouts, the guards motioned some men to open the gate. "Ok, go on. But if you do anything stupid, you're fucking dead. Now move!" one of the mercenaries barked.
Batman nodded before he motioned his scouts to follow him. As they ventured inside of the ruins, they noticed that there were a lot of armed mercenaries. They all looked like they were on edge, as if waiting for something to go wrong. Batman didn't like this, but he knew that what he was about to do would obviously make people nervous. Finally, Batman arrived at a tent, where two large guard dogs sat at the entrance. The dogs growled at Snake, but Batman motioned for his boys to hold back and the dogs calmed down.
As Batman went inside of the tent, he saw an older man wearing orange and black battle armor standing by a large metal crate. "Slade Wilson! It's good to see you're still in one piece." Batman announced. "Barely! Now, about your end of the deal...you have what I need?" Slade growled. Batman reached for something in his pocket and held it out. It was a USB drive, containing top-secret information about Albert Wesker. "It's right here. Everything you want to know about Albert Wesker is in this hard drive. It has plans he intends to use against us, as well as other stuff we didn't even know about. We can use these against him and put an end to this war once and for all." Batman explained.
Slade nodded his head as he took the hard drive from Snake. "Perfect!" Slade said. "Ahem! I hope you haven't forgotten your end of the bargain!" Batman reminded. "Of course...but be warned, this shit is extremely dangerous!" Slade warned as he began typing a passcode on the metal crate. Finally, the crate opened up with a loud hiss and steam puffed out. Batman's eyes widened as he saw what was in the crate; large glass containers filled with toxic green fluids. "Necroplasm; the blood of the dead. There's enough of this shit to make yourself a personal army of Hellspawns. As if having one wasn't enough to begin with!" Slade said bitterly.
Batman reached out to touch one of the containers, when suddenly the sound of a gun cocking was heard. Batman and Slade grew very cautious as they turned to see who it was. Batman was shocked to find that the armed gunman was none other than one of his own scouts. "I'm sorry, boss...but I didn't have any other choice. He would have murdered my family if I didn't obey his orders!" the young scout said regretfully. This made Batman furious. "You god damn traitor!" Batman snarled. "What the fuck? How did you even get in here with that?!" Slade demanded.
Suddenly a loud noise was heard outside. It was the loud sound of gunfire and the whining whirr of drones. It turns out, Albert Wesker's forces had followed Batman's group into this rebel camp via a spy drone and now attack drones were shooting up the base. "God damn it! You brought them here, didn't you?!" Slade shouted. "Listen to me, guys. All we want is what's in that case. Give it to me and I'll give you enough time to escape." the young scout began. "Actually, I have a better idea!" Slade sneered before he pulled out a pistol and shot the scout in the face. "Go! Get the stuff outta here now! I'll see if I can hold off Wesker's drones!" Batman ordered. "Wait...you'll need this!" Slade said as he tossed Batman an assault rifle.
As Batman took the assault rifle and left the tent, he was horrified to see that several of Slade's men were already dead. Batman ran over towards a group of mercenaries hiding behind cover, while the drones continued to rain down machinegun fire. "Damn it! They're everywhere!" one of the mercenaries shouted. "Just keep shooting them!" another cried. "Aim for the center; that's their weak point!" Batman shouted as he opened fire at one of the drones.
As Batman helped the surviving mercs fight off the drones, Slade attempted to escape with the Necroplasm and hard drive containing Wesker's top-secret data. But before he could take another stop, an explosion from a drone's missle shook him off his feet. "GAH! Damn it; my leg!" Slade shouted as he was forced on his back. Batman saw this and ran towards his old ally to help him. "Come on, I got you!" Batman cried. "Argh...we can't stay here much longer, Bruce. His forces are going to overwhelm us!" Slade groaned. "I know that! You still have that hard drive? If we can't get the Necroplasm out of here, at least make sure you still have Wesker's data. We can't afford to lose that; I've already lost enough men to get that damn thing!" Batman growled.
Suddenly, the drones left the area. "Huh? They're leaving!" a mercenary shouted. "But why?" another asked. Just as they spoke, a hole in the steel wall of the ruins was blown. Several heavily armed men in black steel armor and plasma weapons came rushing into the base. "SHIT! Wesker's sent Enclave Shocktroopers; we've gotta move!" Batman shouted. "Hold them back!" Slade screamed as he fired a pistol at one of the Shocktroopers.
Tried as they might, Slade's mercs were no match against the Enclave Shocktroopers and they were blown to bits or melted by the heavy assault plasma weapons. In one final effort to fight back, Batman and Slade fought wildly against the incoming horde of Enclave. But despite their best efforts, they were eventually subdued by the Enclave. "No! You won't take me alive, you mother-" Slade shouted before he was knocked out cold. "SLADE!" Batman screamed before an Enclave Shocktrooper punched him in the back of the head and knocked him out.
Much later, Batman woke up in a dark dungeon deep underground. Batman tried to move, but he found himself hanging on the wall in chains. "Damn it!" Batman cursed. He looked around and was horrified to see that he wasn't the only one; Slade Wilson and his men who survived the drone attack were imprisoned as well. "What happened to you?" Batman cried. "Same as you; we were betrayed and overwhelmed by Wesker's forces." Slade groaned.
Suddenly, the sounds of a large steel door opening were heard. Several heavily armed Enclave troopers came into the room and aimed their weapons at Batman and his group. "Get them off their chains; quickly! Wesker wants to deal with them personally." one of the Enclave troopers announced. As they were roughly freed from their shackles, Batman dreaded to think of what Wesker would do with them. "Do your worst, you bastards!" Batman snarled before he spat at one of the troopers. "Silence! You should be grateful you ain't even dead yet, asshole!" a trooper shouted as he punched Batman in the face.
Batman and his friends were dragged away into another dark room before they thrown down into the floor. The only thing inside of this large empty room was a table full of a razor sharp instruments of torture and a strapping chair. "What's going on here?!" Batman demanded. "I don't know!" Slade groaned. Finally, along with several other Enclave troopers, Albert Wesker came into the room armed with a shotgun. "Well, well, well...look at what we have here. A couple of thorns I can finally release from my side!" Wesker sneered as he paced around the room like a vulture. "Wesker!" Batman snarled.
Wesker snickered evilly as he approached one of Slade's soldiers. "Such a shame that it has to end this way! You all could have been on my side!" Wesker sneered. "Leave my comrades alone, asshole!" Slade shouted. An Enclave trooper kicked him in the stomach and made him cry out in pain. "Shut up! Don't you dare disrespect our lord and emperor!" the trooper snarled. "Fuck you and your emperor!" one of Slade's men shouted as he tried to stop him from further hurting Slade.
Wesker stopped him by shooting him in the head with his shotgun. Wesker then killed all the other soldiers, leaving only Slade and Batman alive. As he watched his comrades die, Slade became even more furious. "DAMN YOU, WESKER!" Slade roared. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" Batman shouted furiously. Wesker kicked him in the face and made him groan in pain.
Wesker then motioned his men to force both Batman and Slade up and restrain them before he paced around the room. "I'm going to give you a choice, Mr. Wayne. One of you is going to die quickly, and the other will die slowly and painfully. I'll give you a choice. You...or your friend here! You have 10 seconds to decide!" Wesker said evilly before he cocked his shotgun. Batman groaned in pain as he refused to even look at Wesker, while Slade just growled angrily as he tried to break free of the Enclave Trooper's grip.
Wesker grew impatient before he approached Batman, face to face. "Time's up. Who's it going to be?" Wesker demanded. "Fuck you!" Batman spat as he head-butted Wesker. "GAH! Damn you! I'll drain you clean of all your blood for that!" Wesker snarled. "NO! You want to kill someone, kill me! Go on; strap me to that fucking chair and do your worst! I can take it!" Slade shouted. "Slade, no!" Batman objected. "Ha! You'd be willing to die for this miserable pile of filth?!" Wesker taunted. "With my life!" Slade snapped.
Wesker smiled evilly as he approached Slade. "So be it, hero. Strap him to the chair!" Wesker announced. The Enclave troopers dragged Slade towards the chair and forced him on before strapping his arms and legs tightly. "All right, then. You got me. Do your worst!" Slade growled. Wesker glanced over at his thugs and motioned them to force Batman to watch. "I want you to watch this!" Wesker growled as he got in Batman's face. "HEY! You gonna waste your time talking to him, or are you not man enough to kill me?!" Slade cried angrily.
Wesker turned sharply around to face him, his shotgun still in his hands. "What are you waiting for? Kill me! Do it! DO IT!" Slade screamed. Wesker grimaced before he shot at Slade's left leg, earning a scream of pain from him. Wesker then shot at Slade's right leg, earning another scream. "GAH! Is that all you've got?!" Slade growled through gritted teeth. Wesker tossed his empty gun aside and approached his table, looking for the perfect sharp tool to finish his prey.
Wesker finally grabbed a broken katana sword, the blade still dangerously sharp, and slowly approached Slade. Without even flinching, Wesker grabbed hold of Slade's face and plunged the blade into his throat. Batman cringed at the awful sight and did his best to ignore the sounds of Slade gurgling and choking on his own blood. Finally, Wesker sliced the blade across Slade's neck and tore it out.
Blood sprayed everywhere before Slade finally died. Wesker then kicked the chair over, forcing the lifeless body of Batman's ally to fall down. His cold, blank stare was all that Batman could see; if you didn't count the blood, that is. Wesker tossed his blade aside and approached Batman in a slow and ominous manner. Batman panted furiously as he braced himself for what other sick, evil deed Wesker would pull of next.
Wesker suddenly removed his sunglasses, revealing his evil red eyes. He then grabbed Batman's mask and ripped it off his face before crushing the mask and tossing it aside. "You ruined my perfect little world, Bruce. Now...I shall enjoy destroying yours piece by piece. Just like I will to Superman!" Wesker snarled. Batman's eyes widened as he said that. "What?! It can't be...he's dead!" Batman exclaimed. Wesker smiled evilly. "Not yet, anyway. It's too bad you won't get to see me use him to his full potential before I throw him away like I will with you and the rest of the other fools!" Wesker sneered. Wesker then surged his fist with raw dark energy before he finally rammed it into Batman's chest.
Batman screamed loudly in pain and anger as he felt Wesker use his dark magic to completely paralyze Batman. Finally, Batman felt all the energy in him leave as he passed out. "Take him away! I will execute him later; I have very important matters to attend to with the Man of Steel!" Wesker instructed. After that, everything else for Batman was quite fuzzy.
*End of Flashback Sequence!*
Snake and his group were quite shocked and angered to hear Batman's story. "My God! That fucking animal!" Jill exclaimed with bitter tears. "He's gone way too far this time!" Chris proclaimed. Out of all the people who took it the hardest, it was Snake. But nonetheless, Snake also knew that there were quite some blanks that needed to be filled and questions that needed to be answered. "Bruce...I'm so sorry; I had no idea that you had to endure that. But how in the world did you even manage to escape?" Snake said. "I don't remember much, honestly. All I know is that it was nearly impossible for me to contact anyone due to all of my gear being removed. That is, until I remembered that I had my codec still in my ear. I was able to call for backup, and that's when Ghost Rider and Scarlet Witch arrived." Batman explained.
Snake seemed confused by what he had just told him; something just didn't seem right. "Well, how do you explain all of those guards knocked out around your jail cell? No offense, but I don't think that Ghost Rider or Scarlet Witch are the kinds of people who let their victims live." Snake pointed out. This offended Ghost Rider greatly and made him quite angry. "So says the psychopath who murdered his own father!" Ghost Rider snarled. "Ghost Rider!" Scarlet Witch hissed.
Snake glared at Ghost Rider, and the Spirit of Vengeance just glared right back. "You really want to go there?" Snake growled. "Just because you say and do the right things, doesn't mean you're free of sin, old man!" Ghost Rider growled back. "Never said I was. I know I'm no saint." Snake said. "I could Penance Stare you right now and you'd fall dead. The weight of your sins would crush you!" Ghost Rider threatened. "Stop it! Quit arguing, you two!" Morrigan snapped as she broke them apart. "Look, I don't know what exactly happened. All I know is that Ghost Rider and Scarlet Witch bought me enough time to escape while they helped the Legion assault the front gate of Wesker's base." Batman explained.
Snake still wasn't satisfied. "But we were there; we would have known about their presence. And you still haven't told us what exactly it was that Wesker said about Superman!" Snake interrogated. Finally, Spawn had enough. "Look! There's a time for asking questions, but there's also a time to shut the fuck up! Would you rather sit here asking stupid questions while Wesker tries to kill more innocent lives?!" Spawn snapped. "I just want to know what the hell is going on here, kid. That's all I want!" Snake snapped back. "He doesn't have the answers you want, old man! There's only one person who can give you all the answers you'll need and that's Wesker! He's out there doing more harm to the millions of innocent lives out there in the Wasteland. We've wasted enough time already, so unless you have any other stupid questions, we need to get going!" Spawn growled.
Snake sighed as he shook his head. "You're right, Spawn. I'm sorry...I can't help myself sometimes. But you are correct; we need to focus on finding Wesker. Only then can we figure out what the hell he's up to and put an end to his plans." Snake admitted. "If you all are done arguing amongst yourselves, I might have a plan on helping you rescue your friend." Lyons announced.
The other supers turned to face her. "Well, what did you have in mind? You think we're just going to walk up and knock on their front door and politely ask for Superman back?" Spawn snapped. "No, of course not! I had something a little more interesting in mind. Now that we've got Liberty Prime back, I think now's the time to show these Enclave bastards what he's really capable of." Lyons began. "I think I'm starting to like where this is going!" Wolverine smirked. "Well, since we've got a big stick...we might as well use it!" Lyons retorted.
Suddenly, Snake chuckled. "A stick, you say? No offense lady, but I think that there's quite a difference between a stick and a giant robot! And I think it's safe to say that a giant robot works way better than a stick." Snake joked. Lyons and a few others laughed at his joke. "Where can I find more guys like you?" Lyons laughed. "Focus! What about this plan of yours?" Spawn reminded. "Oh, right. While I lead Liberty Prime and my forces on a surprise assault on the Enclave, you and your super friends can take the time to rescue your friend." Lyons continued.
Snake rubbed his chin as she finished. "Sounds good...but what will we do if Wesker escapes before we even get a chance to break into the base?" Snake pointed out. "Then we'll have to split into different teams. And I already know which team I'm on; the one who hunts down and kills Wesker!" Spawn growled. "That's a good idea, kid. When do you think we should carry out this plan of yours?" Snake asked Lyons. "I'll give you and your friends 10 minutes to prepare yourselves, then we roll out. We'll attack them around night time, when they least expect us!" Lyons instructed. "Good. All right guys, let's get ready...because we've got a Man of Steel to rescue!" Snake announced.