Chapter 38: The Shining Knight Redux

The door opened and Bruce walked in. He looked around the room and made a note to have Gideon brighten things up, have them change things around a little. He knew Clark had already spoken to the man before him, but he wanted to get more answers and as such figured only he could get them. He stood before the man and waited for him to finish reading, after what seemed an age the man put his book down.

His hair was long and ragged, his jaw was covered in a beard, and his eyes looked as if they were losing their colour. "Bruce." The man said.

"Sir Justin." Bruce said in response. He took a seat and looked at the man. "I am sorry it has been so long since someone has been to see you, how are you doing?"

The Shining Knight snorted. "Oh as well as anyone can do during a three-month isolation period. But fear not, I've spent longer in chains than this."

Bruce nodded. "I know. You were once locked up in a cell in the Isle of Fairies for a whole year before escaping. This must be nothing compared to that."

The knight grinned. "You can't imagine. Those fairies are fucking evil. I don't understand why you tell your children that they're good people."

"Blame Peter Pan." Was all Bruce said in response to that.

The knight laughed. "I met the boy that Pan was based off of. He was a little shit."

Bruce grinned. "You've certainly experienced a lot, haven't you?"

The knight grinned and then turned serious. "You didn't come here to talk about Peter Pan, Bruce, so what do you want?"

Bruce sighed. "I did some reading into you, more than I did the last time we'd properly met." He remembered discovering the man in a cave in Northern Europe, freeing him from the freeze and then reading all he could about him to try and get him acquainted with the world. "You lied to me before. About your name."

The Knight sighed. "I didn't lie, I merely told you what the histories remember."

Bruce shook his head. "You see that's the thing, no legend about King Arthur and the Knights talks about you, at least none of them did that I could remember as a child. Then I found you and suddenly my head was filled with memories of reading your legend. Why?"

The Knight sighed. "Because a friend of mine did as I asked of her. She went back in time and told Geoffrey of Monmouth about me in a way that made him get confused and thus it went like that. When you met me, she had only just gone back in time."

Bruce raised an eyebrow, he didn't understand time travel, but that was for another time, instead he pressed. "So, what is your actual name? If it is not Justin, what is your real name and how did you end up in Arkham?"

The Knight looked pained as he replied. "My name is Galahad; I am the son of Lancelot and Elaine. I fought by King Arthur's side against Morgana and against Mordred, I was with him when he died, and I was with Merlin as he began to make the prophecy that would foretell our King's return. I drank from the Holy Grail and was granted immortality, I thus went to fight the beasts that Morgana had unleashed upon the world being frozen in time after defeating the greatest one of them all the Morningstar. Upon being discovered I served King Richard and thought for a time that he was my King come again, but he died and so I continued to serve. I was known by various names across history, Sir William Marshal, William de Valence, William Montagu, William Hastings," Bruce raised an eyebrow. "I know a lot of Williams, I liked the name. I served many Kings and fought in many wars, but always I searched for the King, and when it became apparent that he would not return I grew tired. I had loved and lost, and I wished to journey to my end. Then the war came."

Bruce leaned forward intrigued. "I had fought in the First World War, I had killed a great many men and seen the butchery being brought forward, and I discovered a man, a mere corporal who I did not know, but who knew me. He knew who I was and he became obsessed. When he came to power in Germany, I travelled there under a disguise, I became his chief army commander, I fought those who I had trained and then when the time came, I killed him. But I did not feel pride. I had killed a great evil by doing great evil. I retired to the cave where you found me, and decided that my time had come. I drew my sword and prepared to die, but before I could I was taken into another place."

"What place?" Bruce demanded.

"I do not know, but I do not think I was within time. I could see everything that happened, I saw a President get elected, I saw a President get assassinated. I saw a Queen be born and I saw the corruption of my home. I saw your parents get killed and I saw who did it, and then I was back in the cave and you found me." The knight said.

"But then who was the person who went back in time for you?" Bruce asked.

"A woman I knew once. Her name was Barbara, she had gone through many names before, but this was the name she had chosen now. I asked her to do it and so she did." The knight replied.

"Why?" Bruce demanded.

"Because, I did not want people to remember who I had become. I wanted them to remember who I had been." The knight said.

"But everyone remembers Galahad fondly, he's seen as the greatest knight of all time." Bruce said.

The knight before him smiled sadly. "I know, and that's because she took my finer qualities and ensured that they remained attributed to Galahad. Sir Justin was the one who did all the darker things, the things I did."

Bruce frowned, he wasn't sure he quite understood what the man meant, but he decided he would pursue that later, instead he asked. "And how did you get to Arkham?"

Here the knight looked even sadder, his eyes were downcast and his shoulders stiffened. "I was exploring the world, seeing what had changed and what hadn't when suddenly I saw him. I saw the King and I went to him and he took me to another realm. A realm where he had never died and everything was perfect and we were all fighting together again. He took me back to this realm and told me that I needed to go to Arkham, for that was where I would find him when the time was right."

"Your King told you he would reappear in an asylum?" Bruce asked sounding dubious.

"I know it makes no sense, but you have to understand, this was King Arthur telling me something. I would willingly die for my King. If he told me to go to Arkham I would, and so I did. And then I was there when she came. The evil one who had destroyed the King once before. She took the Joker out of his prison cell and killed Superman's wife and child." The knight shuddered. "I failed in my duty, and for that I am truly sorry."

Bruce nodded, he got up then. "Thank you, I will be back shortly." The door opened and he walked out. He found Clark and Diana waiting for him.

"Well?" Diana demanded.

"I think I know what happened." Bruce said.

"What?" Clark asked.

"Darkseid." Bruce responded, before he could elaborate, a voice came over the comms.

"Guys, you've got to come check this out, something's happening in New York."