Batman: Dark Side 2 – Dark Prince
Chapter 7: Dark Duel
Lord Darth Vader, a master of the Sith, the dark apprentice of Emperor Palpatine, successor to the title of Darth Maul, looked upon the man clad in the unusual uniform. His breathing, regulated by the controls on his chest, prevented him from taking in a deep breath so that he could relish the anger that radiated from the man who confronted him.
There was no radiance of the Force from this man, but there was a deep-rooted rage that felt so familiar that in another time and place, these two men could be brothers. For a nanosecond, he wondered what hidden pain this man carried and how it would compare to his own. "You are either a very brave man or a very foolish one," he said to the man.
Batman stopped several feet from the assembled group. He saw his son, Nightwing, recently rescued by the Huntress and Arsenal and he was happy that they had carried out their part of the mission. Unfortunately, all of their battles, both on top of this structure and within it, had attracted the attention of these armored men.
From the records that he had briefly scanned when they had first come here, Batman knew that the soldiers in white armor were imperial stormtroopers, elite military forces. The man in black was obviously their leader, referred to as Lord Vader. "I've never been accused of being the smartest man in the world, nor the most courageous."
One of the stormtroopers shifted slightly, bringing his weapon a micron in the Batman's direction. The Caped Crusader moved like water as a batarang sailed from his hand towards the soldier. Faster than the eye could follow it flew, but Darth Vader observed it as if in slow motion as it disrupted the flow of the Force. Microbes, bacterium and insects too small for the human eye to see were forced to move as the batarang went towards the trooper.
Lord Vader considered allowing the attack to continue, for it would serve as good discipline for the soldier who dared to move in ranks without being given leave. Allowing his men to be struck, however, would be a tactical error and would give the mysterious stranger the upper hand. With barely a thought, Vader used the Force to send the flying weapon sailing off into the Imperial Center sky. Somewhere up there, it embedded itself into the hull of a passing vehicle.
If the Batman was surprised, he wasn't about to show it. Vader could sense the calm that was draped over the other man and he reached out with the Force. There was absolutely no fear of him within this man. He bore a symbol on his chest that appeared to be some sort of flying creature. A mynock perhaps? "Violence will only aggravate the situation."
"Tell your men to put their weapons down before I hurt them," Batman replied. He pulled his cape around him like a cloak and Vader was reminded of something from his childhood. Such memories had been taking his attention away from his duties many times of late, especially since his encounter with Luke Skywalker over the Death Star.
"You are not in any position to be giving orders," Lord Vader said coolly. He turned his head slightly to the officer in charge. "Take them into custody. I will interrogate them later."
As the stormtroopers moved to carry out the instructions, Nightwing stepped forward. "We don't want to hurt you…we just want to go home."
Curious behavior being demonstrated by this one, Vader thought as his men lowered their blasters. There was something so very odd here, but he could not put his finger on it. This entire affair had started with a strange vessel in an Imperial proving ground, and now he was standing here in the hanger bay of the private estate of Prince Xizor, a Falleen courtier of the Emperor. He had expected to either come across rebel agents, such as Luke Skywalker, or possibly someone who could lead him to him. Instead, he had four oddly garbed and belligerent beings, one of which was speaking gibberish.
The mental patterns he was picking up were even more confusing. Though there was no Jedi level Force ability, they were like plants in the Force; they each radiated pain in waves that were like klaxons to Vader. The tallest, obviously their leader, gave off an air of control and confusion, as if he were trying to figure out who Vader was.
Then it hit him, like suddenly coming out of hyperspace, what the strange human reminded him of. With the cowl and it's pointed ears and the cape draped around him, he looked like Darth Maul! As a young boy, he had briefly encountered the dark Jedi as he attempted to complete his mission for Darth Sideous. Maul had stood there, in a hanger bay in the capitol city of Theed, just as this man was doing now.
When two troopers moved to take the man in custody, the man went into immediate action. One of the guards brought a weapon up, setting it for stun, and was rewarded with a kick to the midsection. All around Vader, stormtroopers dropped without so much as getting one shot off as the four would-be prisoners demonstrated martial skills far beyond what the imperial troops were trained in.
Prince Xizor strode with purpose down the passageway towards the hanger bay. Behind him were several armed guards of his personal bodyguard. These men were mercenary troops hired specifically for security purposes and none had any ties to Black Sun, the criminal organization that he secretly headed. There could be no obvious links between him and Black Sun, which was outlawed by order of the Emperor.
His careful plans were slowly falling apart. This had started so nicely, he thought, trying to find some calm in the storm that raged in his mind. The Emperor, seeing Xizor as something more than just a simple courtier, had begun to confide in him. One of those confidences had been that Darth Vader was not the loyal dog that everyone assumed him to be. It seemed that the Emperor felt that there might come a day when the Dark Lord would outlive his usefulness to Palpatine's New Order.
Xizor's soul burned with a deep hatred for Darth Vader, for the half-machine monstrosity had ordered the execution of hundreds of thousands of Falleen many years before, including many members of Xizor's family. He personally wanted to bring Darth Vader to Falleen justice; justice that was cold like their reptilian nature. Emperor Palpatine had unknowingly provided an avenue for that justice.
Many decades before, when he was known simply as Darth Sideous, the Emperor had trained an apprentice known as Darth Maul. Maul had been a storm of Dark Side fury, having managed to destroy not only most of the leadership of Black Sun at the time (which subsequently lead to Xizor's rise), but he had also killed several Jedi Knights. Maul, however, had for a short time somehow been transported interdimensionally to a world devoid of both Jedi and Sith.
"My Prince," the guard captain said suddenly, gesturing with his rifle.
Xizor looked to see Guri stepping out of a hidden passageway, her face a canvas of the emotion programs running in her android brain. She had been the one who had gathered all of the information on Maul's trip outside this universe. Her information resources were almost as vast as his own.
It was Guri that had secured the vessel, secretly locked away deep in the bowels of Imperial Center, that carried the bounty hunter Boba Fett to that world Darth Maul had visited so long ago.
The world of the Batman.
Such an unusual name for an unusual man. An ordinary man, for all intents and purposes that actually had fought Darth Maul and survived. The Emperor believed that this man would have had an apprentice and that apprentice could be used as a weapon against Darth Vader if the need arose.
"Something troubling you, my dear?" Xizor asked her as she approached. He halted and waited until she was before him. "You look about as happy as I am."
Her cheeks were flushed, indicating that she had taken blows to the face and her camouflage programming was attempting to make her blend in. Her android status was not common knowledge, even to his bodyguards. "I ran into some trouble."
"Really? Seems to be everyone's excuse today," he said and indicated that they should step over to speak more privately. When he was sure they were out of earshot of the guards, he spoke in hushed tones. "Our prisoner has escaped and his master is destroying my security teams."
"How do you know it's the Batman?"
"Who else could it be?" the Prince answered coldly. "My best security response teams taken out in seconds? Seconds, Guri! You seemed to have had an embarrassing defeat handed to you as well."
She bit her lip, just as a real human would. "I underestimated my opponent. I have upgraded my software to ensure it doesn't happen again."
Xizor waved it off. "We were both caught off guard; you by the humans and me by Vader." He eyed his bodyguards and watched as the captain reviewed something on a portable datapad. The guard looked up and though the blast shield of his uniform hid his face, Xizor could tell he had something to say.
The guard hurriedly approached. "My Prince, our drones indicate that all of the participants are on the hanger deck."
Xizor took the offered pad and examined it. Guri looked as well. "This is not good," he said.
"Orders, my Prince? We can try to take them all…"
Xizor's strike was quick and silent, a move with no Basic translation and coming from an ancient form of Falleen martial arts. The captain sailed across the passage and slammed into the opposite wall. "I have no illusions about our chances of successfully carrying out such a foolhardy plan! Those hairless rodents in colorful costumes may think that they have the ability to kill a Sith, but the Falleen are a patient species." His skin color began to change from cool green to a shade of pink. His ire was way up. He stormed off between the assembled bodyguards. "Guri, kill him and then join me in my throne room."
Arsenal, Nightwing and the Huntress stood at the ready, sprawled bodies of stormtroopers around them. Batman was also taking a position, but his was more relaxed as he examined the armored man they confronted. Unlike Darth Maul, who seemed to be unable to remain still, Lord Vader did not move even a centimeter. His breathing remained the same and he said nothing, yet Batman knew that he was responsible for his batarang sailing away into the sky.
"Are you the one who kidnapped me?" Nightwing asked.
"Dude, he can't understand you, so shut up!" Arsenal said, eyeing the man in black. He couldn't explain it, but he was scared to the point he was almost wetting himself. "Where the hell are Ted and Mike?"
Nightwing slowly turned his head. "Don't tell me we're waiting for Booster Gold and Blue Beetle?"
Huntress managed a wry grin. "It was Bruce's plan, Dick."
Nightwing suddenly realized that Arsenal had been calling him by his real name and that the Huntress appeared to be in on the big secret as well. "We're going to die, you know that? Those two idiots…"
"Were handpicked by me," Batman said as he stepped towards Darth Vader. "I'm taking my companions and I'm leaving. You are outnumbered. We have no desire for any more combat…"
"What you desire is of no consequence. You will submit or you will die," Vader said, growing tired of the posturing.
"You might want to ask Darth Maul what I think about submission," Batman said, throwing his cape back. Once again, he summoned his inner spirit, his Chi, and calm washed over him. For a brief second, Vader saw the Batman glow in the Force.
"Darth Maul is dead. The man who killed him is dead…at my hand," Vader said, his voice resonating in the hanger bay. "Your connection is unimportant."
"Dick, get out of here," Batman said launching at Vader. Nightwing, however, hesitated, unable to take his eyes away from Batman.
Vader regarded this warrior who barely registered in the Force and wondered what could possibly push this man to suicide? At the same time, what was his connection to Darth Maul?
And how was Prince Xizor of the Falleen involved?
Batman landed a punch against Vader's armored chest and the dark Lord moved with a speed surprising for his side. Grabbing Batman's wrist, he called the Force into his arm and his strength gradually increased. His grip was normally enough to crush the neck of any unfortunate enough to find themselves within it. Batman's wrist, though surrounded by a thick gauntlet and tough muscle, snapped just as easily.
Vader was surprised that his adversary did not cry out in pain, but instead grunted and gritted his teeth. Vader used the Force to probe the Batman's mind, wishing to have the answers to his questions. Images, sounds and sensations flooded the Dark Lord's mind, but still he felt resistance. This was no ordinary man; this was someone who despised any invasion of his privacy.
Despite the resistance, Darth Vader began to see where he had made his mistake. In his zeal to discover the whereabouts of Luke Skywalker, he had allowed himself to chase after phantom trails. Though the ship he had originally tracked was indeed an anomaly, it was not something that truly warranted his attention. He had managed to uncover nothing more than a simple kidnapping.
This being, who called himself Batman, was filled with a pain that Vader knew all too well. Briefly, the Dark Lord allowed himself the luxury of feeling pity not for his adversary, but for himself. For a simple second, he remembered a face…a touch…
Batman kicked out and managed to buckle the Dark Lord's artificial leg. Vader fell and then used the Force to push himself back up before the Batman could follow-up on the attack. Vader's hand went to his lightsaber when another memory flickered by, this one being the Batman's.
This man had actually fought Darth Maul! As incredible as it seemed, he had actually fought against a Sith Lord and survived! That explained his willingness to confront Vader on physical terms. He wasn't suicidal; he was overconfident. Vader pulled his lightsaber free and ignited it with a snap-hiss.
The Huntress saw and opening and fired directly for the control panel on Vader's chest, hoping to damage his breathing controls with her crossbow bolt. The projectile was cut in half without a second thought. A second shot by Arsenal did get through, as he was able to guess how Vader would react.
The arrow lodged itself in Vader's arm, but it seemed not affect him at all. Unknown to the young here, the Dark Lord was struck in a mechanical limb. Vader, annoyed, called the Force to him and reached out to gab Arsenal with invisible tendrils. Caught in the unseen hand, Arsenal screamed as he was squeezed and picked up into the air.
Deflecting another shot by the Huntress and kicking the Batman to the side, Vader used the Force to throw Arsenal out the hanger bay doors. Arsenal bounced onto the hanger floor outside and slid to a stop right at the edge. Nightwing cried out and ran to his friend, Vader letting him go as he sensed that the man did not mean to attack him as he went by.
"I told you I don't want to fight," Batman said, spitting blood out onto the floor. Vader stood straight, waving the lightsaber in small arcs.
"The Force is not with you, Batman, and without it, you cannot defeat me. I have personally killed thousands of Jedi Knights, and while I commend your bravery, it will not sway me in my efforts. You were given the opportunity to surrender yourself to my custody, you chose not to."
Batman stood up, nursing his broken wrist. The pain was now evident on his face and he was keeping his distance away from Vader's weapon. Though not exactly like Darth Maul's, he suspected that it could do just as much damage. Against Superman, the blade made a good club; against a human, it was a hot knife going through butter. "I know I can't defeat you, but I'm still going to try. Maybe I'll get lucky."
Vader gestured and Batman flew across the hanger and found himself pinned against the side of a shuttle, his body being slowly squeezed. "There is no such thing as luck, only the Force. It is a pity you must die without realizing the true meaning of that."
"Dick! Get out of here!" Batman cried, blood mixed with saliva spewing out. Nightwing saw his mentor in trouble and after making sure that Arsenal was all right, decided to go after Vader himself.
The Huntress tried to break Vader's concentration with a high kick, but he caught her leg as she performed the clumsy move and snapped it like a twig. She went down hard, a piece of bone jutting out of her costume and she cursed mightily. The swearing alternated between English and Basic and the Dark Lord actually paused as he listened.
Nightwing leapt and landed his full mass into Vader's back, but the Dark Lord, powerful in the Force, had already sensed him and was prepared. Nightwing slid down, feeling as if he had hit a brick wall and rolled onto his back. Vader turned and brought his lightsaber up for the killing blow.
"No!" Batman roared, pushing against the Force-press that kept him prisoner. His will met Vader's, as the Sith had to stop his strike and concentrate his efforts in keeping the Batman in place. "Impressive," he said quietly.
Batman gritted his teeth so hard that one of his molars chipped and he coughed loudly. "Let him go! Kill me of you want but let him go!"
"I will kill all of you and the Dark Side will be served," Vader answered. "What do you care anyway, Batman? He is only an apprentice." There was a smug tone to his voice as he said it.
"He's my son, dammit! Wouldn't you die for your child?"
A wave of raw emotion hit the Dark Lord like a hammer and he physically staggered as the weight of Batman's statement fell upon his shoulders. He seemed the hear voices in his head, first Qui-Gon Jinn, then Obi-Wan Kenobi. What would you do for your son, Anakin? They asked it over and over again. Was this Luke Skywalker really his son? Was this a small part of her…of Amidala…still alive? Something physical he could touch?
In that moment, something happened deep within Darth Vader's soul. A light was turned on in the darkness and Anakin Skywalker shouted. He felt a wrongness about him, an inky darkness seemed to be everywhere and he called the Force to him to push it away. He hammered it with his hate and desire for revenge.
They treated me like a pariah! They feared me and because of that they treated me different! They tried to control me!
Darth Vader fell to one knee and the Batman fell as well, heaving as oxygen filled his deflated lungs.
What would you do for your son?
What would you do for your legacy?
Didn't you love his mother?
Darth Vader roared in anger, sending out a Force shockwave that blew several of the smaller craft off of their moorings and sent them skidding across the hanger deck. Arsenal just missed being clipped by an X-Wing fighter as he tried to get to the Huntress who had finally passed out from the pain of her injuries.
A great wind seemed to roar through the open space and Batman grabbed hold of the landing strut of the shuttle. Nightwing, exhausted and beaten allowed the wind to push him to the same strut, which he grabbed. "Are you okay?" he asked the Batman.
The Caped Crusader nodded slowly and tried to speak over the gathering Force storm. "I think we made him mad."
Arsenal ran and caught the sliding body of the Huntress just as she was about to hit the wall and absorbed the impact with his own body. As the winds picked up, it took all he had to stop them from being carried away with the tempest.
The suddenly it stopped and Darth Vader alone was standing. His men were scattered even farther in the hanger bay, some in little piles of three or four. His lightsaber suddenly winked out and for a moment all that could be heard was the sound of his own breathing. He then turned to the Batman. "Consider yourself fortunate, Batman; I am in a merciful mood today."
Without another word, he turned and moved up the ramp to the shuttle. As the engines started to come to life, both Nightwing and Batman could feel the vibrations through the strut and a wordless agreement was made to get the hell out of there.
They had just crawled out of the way when the shuttle lifted, turned and exited the hanger bay. Arsenal spoke first. "We have to get her some medical attention quick!"
Nightwing helped the Batman up. "What just happened? Did we win?"
Batman shook his head. "No. I think he had something better to do."
Prince Xizor gazed at the viewscreen with a disgusted look. His entire hanger bay was destroyed, all of the craft having been tossed around like toys by the Dark Lord's fit of rage. All of the craft had been first editions or prototypes, worth millions of credits and not to mention of sentimental value to the Falleen prince.
"Again, he takes away from me and then leaves without another thought." He spoke out loud, but to no one in particular. Guri stood at the door, unable to bring herself to her normal advisory position just behind Xizor. His mood and manner indicated that he simply wanted to rage. She double-checked the temperature setting to ensure that there was enough heat to allow her reptilian master to vent with as much energy as he wished.
"Not to mention all of the guards I have to execute and replace now! And equipment!" He threw his glass across the room and then kicked the protocol droid that tried to offer him another full glass. "Get the hell out of here!" he cried in his native tongue.
"Guri!" he cried and then turned to her. "Tell me that our little package made it to the Emperor! Tell me that something good came out of all of this." He stumbled towards her as he stepped on broken glass. He had already thrown his shoes at some guards.
She did a check of the communications logs. "That package was delivered."
He smiled wide. "Excellent. Have the courier promoted! I have at least one good employee."
"Unfortunately, given the sensitive nature of the delivery, the Emperor had the courier executed to ensure there would be no leaks." She avoided his gaze.
Xizor looked at her then started laughing. "Of course," he said as he clapped his hands. He then reached up and pulled the band out his ponytail to allow his hair to hang loose. "Guri, dear, kill every mammal in this building and then hire me an entire new force, would you dear?"
"Even the women?"
Xizor considered that. It was obvious that the Emperor wanted absolute assurances of the secrecy of this event. He had so many fine specimens in his personal harem. Reluctantly, he sighed. "Yes, we can always get some more. Call Jabba, I'm sure he has a few choice specimens to sell."
Guri made a note to do so and turned to leave her master to his anger.
"Lord Vader, I have Prince Xizor for you," the communications officer said. The man was on the viewscreen, transmitting from an army communications station somewhere on the city-planet.
Darth Vader said nothing but waited patiently as the transmission was put through. He reached up slowly and removed the arrow that was still lodged in his arm. Were he capable of vanity, he would not transmit visually as the dents on his helmet indicated that even his formidable defenses could be breached. The image on the screen shifted to that of the Falleen prince.
Vader of course recognized him from the Emperor's court, but was not acquainted enough with him to make a judgment about his mood. He knew that the Falleen would sometimes change color as their emotions changed, despite having a near-Jedi like ability to control them. He noted that Xizor seemed flush, but because he was an alien, it was simply too difficult to read him. "Prince Xizor, you are undoubtedly aware that imperial military forces were engaged in combat with terrorists within your castle."
Xizor tried to gain control of his emotions, but it was simply too difficult and he dug his long black nails into his wrists which were hidden beneath his cloak. "My security chief has just finished giving me a detailed report. I am certainly relieved that you and your forces were available to provide us with aid."
"You own forces seemed lacking."
Xizor dug deeper, feeling the blood beginning to flow. "Yes, well I intend to remedy that. Do you know why these terrorists chose to invade my home?" He put on his best smile.
"Perhaps an assassination attempt, though I find it unlikely given your political status within the court," Vader replied, his tone one of boredom at having to explain every detail. He failed to notice Xizor beginning to shake with rage. "In the process of attempting to capture the terrorists, some of your personal craft were damaged."
"Yes, so it seems," Xizor said, showing his teeth in a feral grimace.
"I have arranged the transfer of 100,000 credits to your personal account to cover your losses. I'm sure it will be more than adequate. Wouldn't you agree?"
"Of course, Lord Vader; your generosity knows no bounds," Xizor replied as he tore bits of flesh from his arms. He would regenerate the missing meat in a few weeks. The idea that a mere hundred thousand credits would cover his losses was absurd, but he understood that the Dark Lord was baiting him.
Darth Vader was the best pilot in the Empire, of that there was no doubt, and he would have immediately recognized that many of the craft that had been damaged or destroyed were one-of-a-kind. It would take more than simply political pull to gain ownership of some of them. "I will inform the Emperor of how well you have handled the situation. Tell me, Lord Vader, were you able to capture the terrorists?"
Vader thought he noted some sarcasm in the Prince's manner of addressing him. "That is a military matter, Prince Xizor, and none of your concern."
"Of course; far be it from me to even think that someone as strong in the Force as yourself would ever fail to complete his mission."
Darth Vader cut off the transmission, the final image being that of a grimly smiling Prince Xizor. "Pilot," he called to the front of the shuttle, "I will attend my master now."
"You know what, Mr. Fett, you're a helluva guy," Booster Gold said, slapping the bounty hunter on the back. Fett did not look back, but instead gritted his teeth from behind his mask.
He had installed a personal alarm system on this vessel right after using it, since he knew now that Prince Xizor would only trust him to pilot it. When it had been activated, it had not taken any time at all for him to use his own means of getting down to the secluded hanger bay to check on it.
Upon arriving, he found two of the Earthlings pulling at various wires and trying to reconfigure the hyperdrive. In most cases, he would eliminate the problem with his blaster, but he understood that by helping these nerf-herders, he could possibly set himself up for something better in the future.
He could sense the one called Ted poking lightly at his jet pack, but his internal monitors told him he was not doing anything to damage it. It was obvious that this man was a technician, not a warrior. Still, the galaxy's most dangerous man had to practically sit on his trigger finger. "If you touch me again, I'll cut your hand off."
Booster Gold held up his hands in mock defense. "Hey, sorry, man. I thought that since you've had a change of heart…"
"I don't change my heart, I change my mind. Now go sit down." He then turned his head slightly. "That goes for you as well, tubby."
Blue Beetle dropped his jaw. "Tubby? Hey, pal…"
Booster laid a reassuring hand on his friend's shoulder and guided him back to the passenger compartment. "Look, this is the best thing that could have happened to us! Let's try to not make the guy mad, okay?"
Blue Beetle secured himself in his seat just as the craft began to lift off and he turned his attention to the small window. The hanger bay began to drift away, to be replaced by an access shaft that hadn't seen the light of day since cavemen walked on Earth. "I would have gotten it…eventually."
"Ted, this ship is already wired to go! You were un-wiring it!" Booster looked up at the cabin ceiling. "Did you at least get a good look at the machinery?"
The other hero smiled, though Booster could not see him do it. "Oh, yeah, buddy. I could rebuild that hyperdrive with my eyes closed once we get back."