There is something serene about being alone in a place you had only known to be loud and busy. Not a single person spoke as I walked through the halls of Winslow. There were no sounds of classes taking place. There weren't the usual cliques I saw every day. No teachers, No janitors and no students.
My steps echoed through the halls as I walked. They were the only sounds I heard. That and my frantically beating heart.
I felt weightless and ethereal. My mind was quieter than it had been in a long time.
Arrows marked my path and I think I knew where it was taking me and just to calm myself I walked faster.
It led me to the door I was expecting. I opened it, slowly, not knowing what I would find there. Inch by Inch I got it open I looked inside and found a stranger.
He was a man in his early thirties or late twenties. He had dark hair, a symmetric face and a strong jawline. His body was muscular like someone used to working out. He was wearing an expensive black business suit. But what stood out most was the intellect shining through his eyes.
I entered the principal's office and he was sitting on the chair facing the principal. As the door opened he turned back to look at me and stood up.
"Am I right in assuming that you are Miss Hebert?" Asked the man as he leaned back on the old chair. The creek of the chair unpleasant in the silence.
"Yes, how do you know that?" I asked him, calmly.
"The appointment calendar has it marked." Said the man.
I turned to look at the calendar where I knew it should be. The calendar was empty. There were no years, months or dates. Instead, all of the columns had a single line written on them 'Meeting with Miss Taylor Hebert and Mr Bruce Wayne'.
"Bruce Wayne?" I asked. I knew his name but never had seen his face.
"Well, now we both now know each other's names. It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Hebert. Would you happen to know why we are in what looks like the principal's office of a public high school?" Asked the man, politely.
"The last thing I remembered was—" Huh what was the last thing I remembered? I was getting flashes, Green lights, and a Dark Cave.
"The explosions." Said Mr Wayne.
Memories came rushing in. I snapped my fingers and exclaimed before I could think. "Batman?"
"Yes, you have it right. You deserve it after you saved Gotham. A task I failed." he said as he—smiled. A smile like that didn't look right on the face that I knew would put on a mask to be Batman. His voice had no reason to sound so buttery and carefree.
"Did you create this place?" I asked him.
He didn't look offended at the question. If anything he looked happy.
"No, I did not. I don't have anything to create hallucinations so real. Not that I think they are."
"Then what do you think they are?" I asked him.
"We are dead, of course," he replied. As if he replied that there was no other reason why we should be here.
"Can't you feel it?" He asked.
I looked at him, really looked at him. Beyond the good looks and charm. Beyond the intellect in his eyes. I tried to see why he had said that. I wanted to know why when he said we were dead, he looked so happy. No not happy—relieved.
"Were you the suicidal one all along?" I asked him.
He was quick to answer.
"No. I never wanted to die. I knew I would. I knew I should. But I never went looking for death. I never wanted to be gone. I had people to take care of. A mission to work towards. A city to save. Family to protect. I had my Boys." he took a breath and continued. "But I always knew how batman would die. I knew it would be a tragedy. That I will die in my cape."
"Then why are you relieved? That it is all over?"
He nods.
"Yes. I do not want to be but I am relieved that I can put down the Mask," he said.
"And you couldn't when you lived?"
"No." He replied and didn't elaborate.
I sighed. I hated every single one of his answers.
"Here's some bad news Batman. You are not dead. Neither am I." I said. I didn't have to bring out my bracelets to tell. "We were in some sort of an immortality soup. If anything we should be the opposite of dead—which is uh alive."
When he didn't look convinced so I said. "Death. I know her very well, we are good friends and she isn't here for us."
Right at that moment, a third voice intruded upon the room.
"Taylor, sorry I am late. But I am here now." Said Death as she entered the room.
—
How could I tell the girl standing in front of me was Death? I didn't know.
She looked alive. Her unnatural chalk-white skin contrasted with her dark hair, large leather belt and black clothes. She had black gloves on and she carried two boxes of what looked like chocolates.
Death sat on the principal's chair, adjusted the chair to be more comfortable and looked up.
"Please sit down. We have a lot of time." She said with a smile.
I had to sit. So did Bruce.
"Here's a box of chocolates for you Taylor and here's one for you Bruce." She said as she passed us the heart-shaped containers.
"Um—Thanks," I said.
"I appreciate the chocolates, however, may I ask what is the occasion?" Bruce asked, far more eloquently.
"It's the Valentines in Taylor's world." She said.
Huh, it was? I hadn't noticed.
"I don't have any gifts to give," I told Death. And to my surprise, she looked sad.
"None, Taylor?" She asked me.
"Would you take my soul?" I asked not seeing any issue with that question.
"No, Not now. Maybe I never will." She said.
"How about my soul, Lady Death?" Asked Bruce and she grinned.
"I don't want either of your souls. What will I do with your souls on valentines day? Neither of you thought about bringing me a gift." She puffs her cheeks as she slightly admonished us.
"—though that's not your fault because neither of you knew you would be meeting me." She says as she lets out her puffed cheeks.
Yes, that was right. I didn't know I would be meeting her today so that was fine, right?
"However, that doesn't mean you can get out of your obligations. Bruce, Taylor, I don't know when I will see you next. But when I do you will have to give me something."
"Absolutely, Lady Death." Said Bruce.
"Um—sure?" I said.
"And don't bring me, souls. What will I do with them?" That was a good question. What would Death do with souls?
"So now the reason I was here." She brings out papers from a file that was sitting nearby.
"I have these notes from people who wanted to tell you things. I decided that I will bring them all, just this time." She says as she looks at the three of four papers she got out from the file. "First of all, Taylor. This is from 'Nekron, Lord of the Unliving'." She starts. a
"I order you to submit to—" She trails off as she reads the note herself. "No, no. You have no reason to stop Dying and not Dying. Who is this Nekron guy? He's a poser, I tell you." She puts down the paper and looks me in the eyes. "You have no reason to fear dying and not dying. It's completely fine. Got it?"
How do you respond to that? I couldn't think too much. So I nodded.
"Let's see. There is a note from my brother Destiny" She smiles as she tells us that and opens the note "You are not to alter or break—ah, another useless note. I should have read these beforehand." She puts that down and speaks to me. "Go ahead and alter destiny. He usually just complains. It will be fiiiine."
I nodded again.
"You also have notes from let's see here. Darkside, The Monitors, The speed force, Lifeforce, The entire spectrum of emotions and some others asking for you to either pierce the source wall or never do it again. It's not all the same, some of them are threats others are requests. I don't want to read every single one of them. Unless you want me to?"
She peers over to me as if begging me not to ask her to read anything. So I quickly shake my head.
Bruce leans forward and asks. "Lady Death did all of them ask you to specifically bring the note to Miss Hebert."
She turns to Bruce and she looked baffled. "No, silly. How would they all ask me to?" She lets out a small chuckle. I chuckle too, I had thought Bruce Wayne was supposed to be smart. "Half of them have not even thought of this. Most of them haven't even heard of Taylor. These are just notes she might receive sometimes. I decided I would bring them to Taylor, she might need to hear it."
"I see." Said Bruce. "My apologies Lady Death." He leans back in his chair, again with that unpleasant creek.
"Mr Bruce. You also have a note from Destiny and another from that pretender. It's all 'You will be punished for cheating death' this and 'you will know pain for breaking destiny' that. You don't have to listen to any of those either. Please do anything you like. Not that you need my permission." She melts into her chair as she finished reading those messages.
Even through a clearing fog in my mind, I was confused. Looked like so was Bruce. He was the one to ask the question.
"Are we—Am I dead?"
"Of course not. If you were then I would be taking you to where you should go, not talking to you in this school, in Winslow." She said.
"Why are we in Winslow?" I asked. My mental fog slowly clearing.
"Do you not want to be in?" She asked me. I shook my head.
"I chose the best place either of you associated with me. This was the most comfortable one."
I remembered when I was with my dad and talking to principal Blackwell who wouldn't trust me, and Dad, who couldn't ask for more than the hospital fees. I remembered thinking—
"Why are you here, Death?" I asked as I bought out my bracelets. I didn't know how I would defeat death but if I had to—
"Don't go Taylor." She told me with pleading eyes.
"Why should I not?" I asked her. She had bought me here. There was some fog in my mind. I wasn't thinking clearly. What was all of this? Why was I not asking any—
"Because you will be awake soon. I said you are not dead." She said.
"I don't understand, Lady Death. If we are not dead, then why are we here?" Asked Bruce.
"Because I wanted to talk and give those chocolates. And I also had to share those notes. Don't mind them, they rarely matter."
Rarely?
"Is that all? If we are not dead then, I am afraid—" Bruce started standing up. He didn't sound happy anymore. His cheery voice giving way to the grim one I was more used to.
Just his change in posture made me feel as if Bruce had died again and Batman was reborn.
"Why are you in such a hurry? We have so much more time. I had a list of Taylor's before-death wish list to talk about. I wanted to talk about your destiny to you Bruce. And wanted you to pass a message from me on to some other people. Wouldn't you stay?" She asked us.
I wanted to. I wanted to talk to her about all of that. I had questions to ask and so many things to beg for. And she just wanted to talk. Nothing more. Not keep us here forever, no, just talk. But I was afraid that if I started talking—
"We would never want to go back." Said Bruce.
Because we could tell that she loved us. Her love for everything was crushing. She was there for everyone and her love was blinding. It hurt to leave, but if we basked in her empathy or talked to her more I knew deep inside that we will beg to stay.
"Next time Death," I said. And next time I would talk about everything she said and so much more. And I would learn how to leave.
We walked out of the dream clutching our chocolate boxes. I walked away from death and woke up to an angel.
—
Behind the angel stood a metal giant. Monstrous and Grey, it looked at me with unsympathetic eyes.
"I am so confused," I said in my perfectly functioning voice.
My vision cleared and the fog that had settled when… when—something left me.
"Taylor. Drink this." I was given water. And it was the last thing I wanted, but I still took a sip.
"Normal boring water." I looked at the angel's face again.
"Barbara?" I asked. I had never seen her unmasked before, but I could tell from that shade of hair.
"I didn't know how your power would work with the Dionesium. Or what would be left of you, if it had activated." She said as she hugged me.
Then I looked around to see the results of the explosion. We were still in the same park where Burce first found/made the hole.
There was a large crater in the park, No doubt the result of my explosions. But what's more interesting was the giant rocks scattered around, some shattered and other in one piece. It looked like a scene from some of the largest cape battles.
"Did my tags do all of that?"
"Your 'tags' and Joker's own bombs that he had planted all over the cave." Said Barbara.
I looked down at myself to see my even better-looking skin. I had no more scars, no more blemishes. I had a better question.
"Wow. Am I like extra-immortal now?" I asked.
"I believe the Diogenysm will leave our bodies in a few days." Said, Batman's voice from behind me. Looked like he was woken up by Julia who stood next to him. He had managed to stand up, shake off the effects of the immortal juice and started thinking properly. Or as properly as Batman could think.
He was happy when he died, even though he himself admitted he didn't want to die. He was a strange guy.
"Barbara, I see you have told her about your identity. Good job using the Justicebuster to dig us out from the Diogenysm pond—"
"No longer a Diogenysm pond. It's no longer anything more than muddy water." She frowns and continues. "My calculations say there should still be some of it left, but the readings indicate there is none." Said Barbara.
"I believe, it was removed by a cosmic entity." Said, Batman.
"League matters?" Barbara asks him.
"A matter of speaking." He says. "Agent Fox. I want to talk to you about—many topics. Please tell me when you will be available through Barbara—" And before I could object he speaks over me.
"At any time and location of your choosing. Thanks for saving Gotham." He finishes and walks away with the box of chocolate death gifted us in his hands, I looked down to see mine was on the ground so I hurriedly picked it up. "I have a family to talk to. Please come back to the cave today, Batgirl. He says as he leaves."
"Well, that's something. So what happened to the city?" I asked.
Barbara who was looking at Bruce leaving looks down at me. "The city—I don't want to say it's fine. But we will be better. The reports have started coming in and the death count is already in the hundreds. But good news, all the infected have turned back."
When I look down at my bracelets, I see them turning green.
"And here I thought, I would have to find a new owner for the cafe who would take care of it," I said.
"Oh, that? The penguin sold the cafe three hours ago. I think Julia bought it in the name of Wayne foundation."
"How long were we gone?" I asked her.
"Since you teleported out? five hours." She said. "It was hard finding you under all that destruction."
I didn't know what I felt about Waynes buying the cafe. But if my power agrees that it is in good hands then, what would I know?
Suddenly my bracelets shrunk almost constricting the blood flow in my arm. The message was clear.
"I figured that since your mission was to save the cafe, it meant you had to find a good owner." Said Barbara. "I will get the Wayne foundation to give it back to you. I will make sure that Bruce won't object or hold it over your head as leverage."
"That makes, sense. But no. Just keep it for now. Keep it running if you can. I don't know how long I can last here." I told her as I bought up my arm.
The bracelets shrunk again. It was starting to hurt a bit now. Seeing that she asked me.
"What is that?" She asks me.
"Signal that I am done with my mission," I told her. "To save the Cafe."
"—I see, You have to go. Would you ever come back?" She asked me.
"I—I think so. I don't know when or how, but yeah, I think I will be back."
It was nice to see someone smile when you told them that you would like to meet them again. I stood up and looked around once more.
"Before you go, I wanted to give you something. Here—"
She gave me a phone. A regular-ish-looking phone. No bat designs on this one. It just looked more advanced than anything I had seen advertised on Bet.
"I don't know if I can take this. The last time I tried to take a book with me. It didn't come. I think there are restrictions." I tried giving it back.
"Just hold onto it then, see if you can." She said as she pushed it to me.
"I also don't think the phone would work in a different dimension." I tried making excuses.
Another pulse from my bracelet and it shrunk again. It hurt. Just like how the cursed tag hurt. The pain was more than physical.
In that pain I thought of the cafe, the relic Penguin was clinging onto because of his obsession. I looked at the phone and made the decision to take it.
"I think I really have to go. It was nice knowing you." I told her as I looked at her. Unknowingly hoping for a hug. She picks up on it and hugged me, It felt nice.
"And you make some friends. You can make friends outside of schools and hero stuff, you know."
She said it like a joke or something everyone should be aware of, but I wanted to hear it.
"Wait, I can make friends out side of school? How?"
"See the trick is—"
I was back in my room, clutching a box of chocolates and a phone.
[Mission: Save. Completed.]
[Examining And Purging Dimensional Contaminants]
[Purging Physical Contaminants: Dionesium, Nanobots, Mundane Inorganic Contaminants, Mundane Organic Contaminants, Cosmic Radiation]
[Purging Metaphysical Contaminants: Crisis Energy, Anti-Crisis Energy, Dionesium, Speed Force, Nascent Soul.]
[Purging Abstract Contaminants: Gaze of the Endless, Divine Scrutiny, Chains of Fate, The Morningstar]
[Mission Rewards: Item Rewards]
[200X Mahogany Chairs]
[100X Batarangs]
[50X Modular Drones]
[30X Restaurants]
[10X Costumes(Gotham, Female)]
[5X Batmobiles]
[2X Holographic Supercomputers]
[1X Batcave]
[Mission Rewards: Skill Rewards]
[Skill: In a Flash obtained!]
[Skill Upgrade: Minor mental resistance - Greater mental resistance!]
[Skill: Identity Like Glasses obtained!]
[Skill: A Detective's Lens obtained!]
[Skill: The Clown's Circus obtained!]
[Skill: On-Site Hacking learned!]
[Skill: No Better Barista In Town(Gotham) learned!]
[Skill: Urban Warfare(Gotham) learned!]
[Template Gained: Urban Assassin]
AN: How was the Dungeon? Taken as a whole, did it work? What can I get better at? What did you like and want me to do more of? I swear these rewards and purges took me longer than the rest of the chapter to write.
About what will happen next. Let me describe what I was originally planning.
Taylor would have received the justice buster instead of Batcave as the big reward. It would drop on top of her house since it was established the last time that the rewards just popped up out of nowhere. Then it would be an ever-escalating sequence of fights with mainly PRT as a neighbour calls in that a parahuman destroyed Danny's house. There would be some fun action, Taylor desperately teleporting between the fight and a shocked Danny. It would end with Taylor's 'normal life status quo' irrevocably altered and me free to bring her closer to the Worm characters I want her to be close with.
Obviously, this is not going to be the case anymore. I have a more personal story planned for the next arc. A break from the non-stop action/disaster we have been in since the beginning of the story, while still keeping it interesting.
I will need some time (maybe a week) to plan and pre-write some of it so you might not see a chapter tomorrow or the day after tomorrow... Thanks for reading.