"Remove
your mask and face me as a man, not as some kind of puppet," the
human-like creature growled in a very inhuman voice.
Dick stood his
ground.
"Oh please . . . Tell me that's not the line you
used to get Batman to remove his cowl," Dick laughed. He shrugged his
shoulders. The smile never left his face as he felt the air get thick as
Golnac's impatience flooded the room. He could feel the creature's mind push at
his as if he were trying to read him through the mask. Dick could feel himself
waver from his original goal as panic edged through him. "No!" he thought to
himself. There was no time for turning back now. He had to keep the man with
him. No matter the cost, he had to give Tim time to get Bruce away from here.
"Oh, I get it.
You want to see my eyes. I met an old friend of yours, Golnac. That is your
name, isn't it?" He chuckled, teasing the creature by playing around with his
mask, but not allowing himself to look directly at the fire that he felt
building in the Dark One's soul. "S`lea told me that you needed to defeat a man
through his eyes."
"S`lea is a
fool. Her soul is pure magic," Golnac snarled. "She could rule the universe,
yet is content being the footstool of a human ruler. I nearly had her once
before, when I took the things from her that she loved the most. She would have
given me anything to free them. Instead, I had to settle for this." He made a
quick reference to the underground tunnel as if it were the world or at least
the whole of Gotham. "Your world is dark and full of riches. I knew this was my
destiny when I found these." Not knowing of Dick's blindness, he held out
three crystals and waved them before him as if they were the keys to the
universe. "I can live here with no difficulty. Soon Gotham, then the world."
"Don't bet on
it, 'Golie,'" Nightwing teased. He was not sure what his opponent was waving
before him, but the charm on his neck began to burn and felt as if it were
attempting to push him away. "We've got enough sewage in our underground. You're
more crap than this city needs."
"Enough! Remove
your mask and give into me willingly, or I will remove it by force and see you
die a slow and painful death, as I have done to your master, Batman!"
Dick could feel
the heat of anger filling him, but he refused to let it control him. Bruce was
all right he had to be. He just needed time, and that was what he was doing,
stalling for time. He was still unsure of his next move when he began to
giggle. "Ok, if you want my mask so badly you can have my mask. Not that it
matters. You kinda took care of that the last time we met." He continued to
smile as he removed the small cover completely away from his eyes. As he lifted
his head to face the darkness, he tossed the mask in the direction of the
voice. "Here, Is there anything else I can do for you?" The flying mask knocked
the crystals from Golnac's hand. They scattered in three different directions.
Two of them even rolled into a crack in the concrete.
Golnac raged
with anger when he realized that not only had he lost his crystals, but the
boy's eyes were of no use to him as a dark soldier. He swung out his fist,
attacking the boy over and over with pure hate, but Dick just blocked the
swings. Golnac was not as powerful a fighter as he was a sorcerer, or whatever
he called himself. It was obvious why he used the creatures that protected him.
It only took one hit from the blinded hero for Golnac to figure out he was no
match for Nightwing, even a blind Nightwing. So he took the next step and
released the soldiers he did on the young hero. He may not be able to recruit
him but he can be just as useful to him dead.
Soon, there
were hands and feet swinging from everywhere. The goon squad had arrived.
Dick's hands were full. He could feel the evil that was Golnac move back,
quickly being replaced with flashes of emptiness, a kind of unholy darkness. He
prayed he had given Robin enough time because it looked like it was all he
would be able to give.
"Hang in there,
bro. I'll come back for you," Robin mumbled as he dragged the larger man behind
a wall. He could hear the sound of fighting echoing all throughout the chambers
of the underground duct systems that used to house much of the old city's
drainage. Now, though, it was relatively dry and housed much of the old city,
rubble from the fallen buildings and walls of ground that appeared when the
earth had quaked. The walls of this place didn't look very sturdy, but then
again, none of this area looked very steady. It may have been the reason for
the "No Trespassing" signs that were posted everywhere. He would have
to get them out of there soon, he surmised, as the walls' creaking made a
strangely familiar death song.
"Batman,
listen, I have to go back and help Nightwing," Tim announced, pulling the cowl
over Bruce's pale face. "You have to keep your lens down no matter what. When
you feel a bit steadier, go up top, the Redbird's there. I'll get Nightwing and
Dragonwing. We'll be right behind you."
"NO!" Bruce
tried to snatch his arm, but whether it was the quick movements or pure fear,
something sent him into a coughing fit. The next thing Tim knew, Bruce began
regurgitating gobs of whatever had nearly infected his body. It was as black as
his cape and as thick as jelly. Tim could only hope that was a good sign, but
for now it meant Dick and S`lea were on their own.
Dick never liked being at a disadvantage. Normally,
ten-to-one odds would not be a disadvantage. The only way to stop these guys
was to break the neck of the creatures, and if you can't see the neck, you pray
for a lucky break; blind didn't mean useless, just inventive. He had to let
them in his field of fight to get a chance at their necks. He couldn't move any
great distance since he was in unknown territory. He could listen and hear
their feet scraping the floors and deep inside, he felt as if he could judge
the size of the area they were fighting in by the echoes. Unfortunately, these
dead guys didn't make any other sounds to let him know how many were coming or
how many there were. There were also many echoes from adjacent caverns. The
biggest plus, if he could call it a plus, was that they stank. So if he wanted
to know where they were, he just had to follow his nose. He easily flipped over
one man, but before he could make his next move, another was at his back. His
fist struck the opponent square in front of him, forcing the creature to back
up. Nightwing then stepped backwards into the swing of a club wielded by
another dead man. The club missed him and hit his previous attacker. Then with
moves as quick as a blink, Dick reached back, gripping the man's head and
yanked. With a sickening snap, the beast's neck broke, and the creature turned
to goo in his hands. The hardest mental exercise was remembering these guys
were already dead. As S`lea put it: "You are not killing them; you are
setting their souls free."
