Disclaimer: Based on characters and references created by DC Universe and the CW, which I do not own. Enjoy!
"Hangman's Point is on the south-eastern part of Arkham Island," Bruce points with his finger, now covered in the tri-weave armor of his suit. He then traces a curved path on the blueprint towards the Asylum. "From there, we'll be going through parts of what should be my bat cave along with ruins of the older structure until we find the pathway that leads into the Asylum. Since Deegan may know of the path, he might have some men stationed around certain parts of the cave."
"What about other defenses?" Sara asks. "For all we know, he could've conjured turrets that shred us in seconds."
"The caves are old, and the ruins are somewhat unstable. Deegan won't risk collapsing it."
"That's all well and good mate," Constantine says. "But all of us trying to maneuver through a cave of Deegan's goons is only going to draw attention and make things more of a hassle."
"That's why it's a three-person mission for this first part," Bruce explains as he switches blueprints from the outside to the interior of Arkham. "William, Talia and I will infiltrate the caves undetected, then we'll shut down the generator, allowing all of you to breach inside and join us in taking back Arkham."
"Actually," William intervenes. "There's one slight caveat. Something I found when Gideon first showed us the blueprints."
He takes out the blueprint of the West Wing and points to a typed in note made that says, "Backup generator installed and functioning. Will come online if main generator is shut down. Can only be turned off from inside of office."
"This will give power to the defenses for Deegan's office." He traces a circle around the office and the hall of cells containing his dad, Barry, J'onn, and Clarke. "If what I'm reading is right, the only way through is the front door, which is protected by a backup force field, not to mention that he has turrets in his office. The turrets I can handle with Barry once I get him out. But if I can't at least make it into the hallway, I'll have a harder time getting in before Deegan shows up. I need to be on standby to get into that room the MOMENT the generator shuts down. Even you and Talia can't push through the generator alone."
"I can come," Ray volunteers almost immediately. "I can shrink down to microscopic size, so I'm virtually undetectable."
After a moment of looking at the blueprints again, Bruce agrees, "That can work."
"I'm coming too," Sara insists.
Bruce insists himself, "Four is more than—"
"I've been trained by the League of Assassins. I know how to remain hidden and you'll need at least one more person if things go wrong."
"I agree," Talia says, which takes even Bruce off guard. "You were the best our order had in my childhood."
Sara's eyes widen, her lips parting slightly before asking, "You remember that?"
Talia nods, a smirk on her lips.
"It's settled," William says. "Ray and Sara will accompany us while everyone else is on standby."
"We'll stay a fair distance away and keep ourselves cloaked," Ava adds. "We do this right, we'll change everything back before Deegan returns."
"Take us with you too!"
Hearing the voice of his sister, William turns around. He sees Mia and Nora, both still wearing their black ARGUS like outfits, but looking better than they did after the battle. With a relieved smile, William walks over to Mia and wraps one arm around her in a hug, which she gives back after a moment's hesitation.
"I'm sorry," Alfred, who speed walks into the library with Younger William, profusely says. "I couldn't keep them at bay any longer."
"It's all right Alfred," Bruce assures. "Let them have their moment."
William takes a step back, eyeing her and Nora, who smiles warmly at them. They seem fine on the surface, but who knows what mental state they are in after having their memories revived in their sleep.
"Are you okay?" William asks worriedly.
"I'm fine," Mia answers quickly. "And I'm coming with you."
"So am I," Nora insists. "Both our dads are in there and you know that the chances of winning are higher with a speedster on your team."
Hearing the determination and focus in their voices, William can find no lasting psychological trauma nor any lies. So far, they seem normal.
"Their good to go," Younger him assures. "I checked."
Still, even with the assurance, caution must be exercised.
"Alright," William agrees after a moment. "But you're both part of the reinforcements. The smaller our infiltration team, the better."
"Then we're in agreement," Bruce says, slipping on his cowl and pressing a button on the back to adjust it's fit on his head. He continues, his voice now made deep and intimidating by the built-in modulator, "Let's get the Book of Destiny. Save our world…and protect all others."
Finally, William slips off his boots and tries on the black sports shoes that Gideon made. Like the green long sleeve shirt, dark brown jacket, and blue jeans, they fit perfectly. He places the boots with the other parts of his prototype suit on the ship's steel floor.
William is about to pick up the Arrowhead containing his suit, but his eyes catch the small red Bible that Bruce lent to him. The one that belonged to his mother, Martha Wayne. His hand moves to the book and picks it up.
As he holds it out in front of him, he looks up and prays in a loud whisper, "God…I know it's been a while since I prayed to you. So much has happened within this one day and now…
William pauses for a moment, letting out a tired sigh and rubbing his forehead.
"…now there are those who expect me to fulfill a purpose that they say you have laid out for me."
He looks back up, this time mustering as much conviction as he can.
"Whatever the truth, know that I'm grateful for what you have done for me this far, and… whatever test you DO have set for me, know that I won't let you down."
Just as he is about to finish, William hears footsteps echoing into the room. He finishes with his eyes on his book and with a low whisper. "Amen."
"Since when did you become religious?" The voice of Sara asks.
William almost instinctively says his usual answer. The Cambridge boarding school Felicity sent him to. Though, with the revelation of Joseph Blackfire, who gave him his first Bible, turning out to be the psychopathic Deacon, he is not so sure about that answer anymore.
"It's a long story," William simply says. "But you haven't come here to talk religion, have you?"
There is a moment of silence between them as she walks to him. William slips the Bible into his jacket pocket as she stands next to him.
"Will it be enough?" Sara finally asks, this time with a more serious tone. "The new suit?"
William looks over to the arrowhead next to him. "It was made to adapt to nearly every menace, magic, alien, and meta included. Still, I hope it will be."
He looks up to Sara, not seeing her mood lighten up after his answer. Her lips tight together, yet the bottom lip is slightly inside her mouth, a sigh of hiding her teeth biting it.
He then stands up, assuring her, "If you're worried about things going wrong, you should know that I can take care of myself."
"I know that," Sara says rather hastily. "It's just that…it's hard to explain without—"
"I'm the son of your friend and ex-boyfriend?"
Whatever words she was about to say next quickly retreat into her mouth upon William's question.
"I know a lot of things about him, Ms. Lance. That includes his previous and significant relationships."
Sara closes her mouth and eyes, taking a deep breath. William may have opened a deep wound by accident, but she isn't showing it. All he meant to do was get any awkward conversations out of the way, rush towards the point. Sometimes, that does not end well.
However, Sara regains her composure. "I'm…still trying to wrap my head around all of this Chosen Champion, Paragon, and Book of Destiny nonsense."
"So am I," William admits to her.
"But what I do know is that you're a target. If anything were to happen to you, it would be on me. Because I wasn't there to protect you. And yes, as your father's friend, the LAST thing I want to do is let his son be hurt or WORSE."
William nods but feels that he should reassure her.
"Well, I have done some things to him that I'm not proud of. Kept secrets from him, tried to do things without always giving him the full details. But he's seen my past. He knows now the kind of person I am. If my life was on the line, he would know that it was because of a choice I made. NONE of it is on you and he will know that as well."
After another moment of silence, Sara smirks. "I said before that you're as stubborn as your father. But now I know you have his courage…and more."
William smirks himself. "Like I said, inherited his best qualities."
"Captain," Gideon's voice booms within the room. "We have entered Earth 1 and are now heading towards Arkham Island."
"Let's go," William says, picking up the arrowhead, bow and quiver.
Sara nods and leads the way to the bridge.
"We've been keeping an eye on the Asylum complex since arriving," Sharpe says as she brings up a holographic image of the Island on the table. "Hangman's Point is definitely where it should be, but it seems that they installed a jammer to hinder any satellite imaging and communications."
"He probably expected someone to find it," Batman deduces.
Sharpe then brings up the specs of the device. "The good news is that it works both ways, meaning that if any guards wanted to get an alarm out, they would have to pull a manual alarm."
"So stealth is still the better option," Sara says with a sly grin. "I'm liking our odds already."
"Any signs that Deegan returned?" William asks.
"No," Sharpe confirms. "The facility's not in lockdown. So far as we know, he's still in the Temporal Zone."
William nods. "Then we go forward with the plan." He then turns his attention to Nora. "You memorized where the anti-magical items are, right?"
Nora nods and points to her head. "All in here."
"Good. As soon as Ava's portal gun is available to use, swoop in and destroy them so Constantine can have an advantage." His next words are directed to everyone else. "And take back Arkham AS FAST as you can. ALL of you. If Deegan comes in unexpectedly, we'll need to make sure he has no immediate reinforcements."
"Nearing Arkham Island," Gideon notifies. "Cloak is now engaged."
"That's our cue," William says. "Away team, let's move!"
"What about your suit?" Ray asks.
The comment stops William as he raises his foot. Everyone's attention is now on him with curious looks. He clenches the arrowhead still in his hand.
"Well, come on," Nate Heywood insists. "We want to see it."
His eyes look over to Bruce and Talia, both of them keeping their neutral looks but give very subtle nods. Even they knew that this was going to happen eventually, though William wanted it to be revealed to the away team first, reveal things slowly.
Subtly sighing, he warns them, "When it comes to the mask…know that it was how I asked Bruce to design it."
William then places the arrowhead on his chest firmly on his chest. Hearing the click to confirm it is in place, he gently presses it down. It begins to disperse the suit all over him, covering every inch of his body. Their first reactions are neutral or nods, given that most of the suit is the same as the prototype, minus the gauntlet blades and glider flaps.
When the mask forms over his face, everyone shows mixed reactions. Those, such as Mia, Kara, and Nora, just look confused while the others, who knew what the mask looked like, expressed various looks of horror.
"William," Sara begins with a wary tone. "That's…"
William, under his mask, closes his eyes and nods very slightly.
"I know."
Author's Notes: Hello Readers! Thank you for viewing this chapter of "Elseworlds: The Chosen." I just wanted to take the time to answer a couple of questions, one of them regarding if the story is close to ending. I am glad to say that it is! I would say we have a few chapters left at least. Another is what Batman's suit looks like. My inspiration was the Bat-suit from Batman: Arkham Knight. It, to me, is an awesome suit both in the design and how it augmented Batman's abilities. In short, just imagine Scott Adkins in the Batman: Arkham Knight Bat-suit.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Have a good day!
