Chapter 4: Bane's end
Gotham 2001
"come on. Hurry up!" dick grayson screamed and pounded his fist on the computer. The disk had so much information on it, even the bat supercomputer was taking forever to load it all. Laced with passwords and viruses. Someone didn't want it to be decoded. Finally the file he wanted flash across the screen.
File: bane
He couldn't believe his eyes. They had totally reworked his boistructure. Made him basically into a titanium machine. Aside from the blood flowing through his new veins pumped by his mechanical heart, he was a machine. The bloodflow was nessesary to pump the venom. He was indestructable to man without guns or explosives.
"Anti-venom. Computer. Manufactor anti-venom."
Processing
"computer. How long til its done.
24 minutes 34 seconds.
Gotham Present day
"so what happened? Obviously bruce didn't die. How did you guys beat bane. you said that batman couldn't hold his own. And you and robin were torn to shreds. Did nightwing get the serum in-time?"
"well. I dropped tim off at our trusted doctors. Then raced back to the fight. Nightwing got there before I did and drew the attention away from batman to himself. Then with the completed anti-venom dick had put into a bullet, he shot it at bane with a gun. It pierced bane's outer metal shell and lodged perfectly into his mechanical heart. Reacting with the venom, the anti-venom created a gas with disolved all mecanical parts of bane's body. It was disgusting to watch. Nightwing had saved the day. Saved mine and bruce's life. Probably a lot more too.
"but he broke the #1 rule. Never do we stoop to killing unless necessary. And never under any circumstances do we use guns. Batman got up from the ground walked over to dick and snatched the gun out of his hand. Bruce never spoke a word to him again."
"what. Why. He saved the day, not to mention bruce's life. And bane was evil. Pure evil. He would have killed thousands more."
"I know. And that's the way dick felt. But from bruce's perspective, here was this man who bruce felt responsible for raising and saw so much of himself in, and he just took a life with a gun. The same way bruce's parents died. There was no exception. Bruce banished him from the cave. Changed the password to get in. instructed all of us not to mention it again.
"dick was heart broken. He tried to apologize. He called. He came over. He wrote. Finally one night he went out as nightwing and confronted batman face to face. Bruce ignored him. Pissed off dick said that he would do it again. That it had to be done that way. His way. Bruce turned and lept toward him. Caught off guard, nightwing was hit three or four times before he realized what was happening. Then he fought back. Nightwing swung a kick that knocked bruce flat down on his back. Before bruce could get up nightwing jumped on top of him and spoke his last words to bruce.
"he said 'I hope this is what you wanted. I hope your moral standards are more important to you than family. More important than me. with that dick launched himself of the rooftop never to be seen in gotham again, save alfreds funeral."
"this happened many years ago. At first the old man was fine with it. But we could all tell it ate at him. as the years went by he grew increasingly aggitated. And now I am worried that he won't get to repair the wound he got to repair with tim and myself. And is shutting us all out. He is getting older and I think he realizes that he may not get the chance to mend the wound. Or even if he wants to.
"so that's why he's been acting strange lately," terry asked. "because this happened around this time?"
"yes, in part because this happened around now and because it happened the same date as bruces parents died."
Terry again fell silent. It was a lot to take in such a short time. Questions swirled in and out of his head. Whys and hows. Gordon was no help either. It seemed that all this talk of the past was wearing her down.
" why are you telling me this? Why did bruce send you the article?"
"there was a letter with it. He said that it was a joke. Thought I should know about it. Have you ever known bruce to joke?"
her expression changed. She looked worried. If terry didn't know better, he would have sworn she was about to cry.
"I need you to go to new york. Find this new nightwing. Find out who he is. His relationship to dick. And I need you to find dick. Tell him I need to talk to him. Tell him barbara needs a favor. He will understand. Hopefully. Go now."
Terry didn't say a word. He got up and left. He walked home, wrote a note to his mom saying he was going with mr. Wayne to new york on bussiness. Grabbed his suit and left. Flying over gotham that night, he looked down toward gotham first national bank. Two figures were standing on the roof top. Terry had no time to stop and see what they were doing. He hoped that it was just security guards checking it. And he hoped on the bigger scale that Gotham could handle itself without him?
The batmobile flew over their heads. They looked after it as it flew into the distance and out of sight.
" it's working. She did what you thought she'd do. The article. The letter. Perfect. It's all going forward as planned!" the man spoke with excitement. He looked up at the aging man. He nodded then spoke.
"yes. Phase two is complete. They will meet. Realize each other's problems are linked. They'll be forced to work together. They'll walk right into us. Right into our trap."
"shall I kidnap her now boss. Put her with mr. Wayne and the others?"
"yes. Get the gang and get her. I'll get the others on board. They will all jump at the chance to kill batman. They will even work together."
The man walked forward toward the edge of the roof. He looked back toward the other man. "Go." The other man turned and left. Turning back to the night sky, the man spoke to himself. "I've been waiting over 40 years for this batman. Now you and your legacy and all who are part of it will die with you. You will all die by the hands of Bane!"
Gotham 2001
"come on. Hurry up!" dick grayson screamed and pounded his fist on the computer. The disk had so much information on it, even the bat supercomputer was taking forever to load it all. Laced with passwords and viruses. Someone didn't want it to be decoded. Finally the file he wanted flash across the screen.
File: bane
He couldn't believe his eyes. They had totally reworked his boistructure. Made him basically into a titanium machine. Aside from the blood flowing through his new veins pumped by his mechanical heart, he was a machine. The bloodflow was nessesary to pump the venom. He was indestructable to man without guns or explosives.
"Anti-venom. Computer. Manufactor anti-venom."
Processing
"computer. How long til its done.
24 minutes 34 seconds.
Gotham Present day
"so what happened? Obviously bruce didn't die. How did you guys beat bane. you said that batman couldn't hold his own. And you and robin were torn to shreds. Did nightwing get the serum in-time?"
"well. I dropped tim off at our trusted doctors. Then raced back to the fight. Nightwing got there before I did and drew the attention away from batman to himself. Then with the completed anti-venom dick had put into a bullet, he shot it at bane with a gun. It pierced bane's outer metal shell and lodged perfectly into his mechanical heart. Reacting with the venom, the anti-venom created a gas with disolved all mecanical parts of bane's body. It was disgusting to watch. Nightwing had saved the day. Saved mine and bruce's life. Probably a lot more too.
"but he broke the #1 rule. Never do we stoop to killing unless necessary. And never under any circumstances do we use guns. Batman got up from the ground walked over to dick and snatched the gun out of his hand. Bruce never spoke a word to him again."
"what. Why. He saved the day, not to mention bruce's life. And bane was evil. Pure evil. He would have killed thousands more."
"I know. And that's the way dick felt. But from bruce's perspective, here was this man who bruce felt responsible for raising and saw so much of himself in, and he just took a life with a gun. The same way bruce's parents died. There was no exception. Bruce banished him from the cave. Changed the password to get in. instructed all of us not to mention it again.
"dick was heart broken. He tried to apologize. He called. He came over. He wrote. Finally one night he went out as nightwing and confronted batman face to face. Bruce ignored him. Pissed off dick said that he would do it again. That it had to be done that way. His way. Bruce turned and lept toward him. Caught off guard, nightwing was hit three or four times before he realized what was happening. Then he fought back. Nightwing swung a kick that knocked bruce flat down on his back. Before bruce could get up nightwing jumped on top of him and spoke his last words to bruce.
"he said 'I hope this is what you wanted. I hope your moral standards are more important to you than family. More important than me. with that dick launched himself of the rooftop never to be seen in gotham again, save alfreds funeral."
"this happened many years ago. At first the old man was fine with it. But we could all tell it ate at him. as the years went by he grew increasingly aggitated. And now I am worried that he won't get to repair the wound he got to repair with tim and myself. And is shutting us all out. He is getting older and I think he realizes that he may not get the chance to mend the wound. Or even if he wants to.
"so that's why he's been acting strange lately," terry asked. "because this happened around this time?"
"yes, in part because this happened around now and because it happened the same date as bruces parents died."
Terry again fell silent. It was a lot to take in such a short time. Questions swirled in and out of his head. Whys and hows. Gordon was no help either. It seemed that all this talk of the past was wearing her down.
" why are you telling me this? Why did bruce send you the article?"
"there was a letter with it. He said that it was a joke. Thought I should know about it. Have you ever known bruce to joke?"
her expression changed. She looked worried. If terry didn't know better, he would have sworn she was about to cry.
"I need you to go to new york. Find this new nightwing. Find out who he is. His relationship to dick. And I need you to find dick. Tell him I need to talk to him. Tell him barbara needs a favor. He will understand. Hopefully. Go now."
Terry didn't say a word. He got up and left. He walked home, wrote a note to his mom saying he was going with mr. Wayne to new york on bussiness. Grabbed his suit and left. Flying over gotham that night, he looked down toward gotham first national bank. Two figures were standing on the roof top. Terry had no time to stop and see what they were doing. He hoped that it was just security guards checking it. And he hoped on the bigger scale that Gotham could handle itself without him?
The batmobile flew over their heads. They looked after it as it flew into the distance and out of sight.
" it's working. She did what you thought she'd do. The article. The letter. Perfect. It's all going forward as planned!" the man spoke with excitement. He looked up at the aging man. He nodded then spoke.
"yes. Phase two is complete. They will meet. Realize each other's problems are linked. They'll be forced to work together. They'll walk right into us. Right into our trap."
"shall I kidnap her now boss. Put her with mr. Wayne and the others?"
"yes. Get the gang and get her. I'll get the others on board. They will all jump at the chance to kill batman. They will even work together."
The man walked forward toward the edge of the roof. He looked back toward the other man. "Go." The other man turned and left. Turning back to the night sky, the man spoke to himself. "I've been waiting over 40 years for this batman. Now you and your legacy and all who are part of it will die with you. You will all die by the hands of Bane!"