Disclaimer: No, nobody bought Batman Beyond or any of its characters for me, and since I'm pretty much pennyless… No, I don't own them… Waaaahahaaa...
Author's Note: Wow! More than two months since my last update. You people must really want to hurt me if you like this fic. But I'll be safe right here behind Terry.
Terry (With bat in hand): Says who!
Me: AAAAAAH! This is too violent for you to watch... so on with the story... just one last AWWW thing, please review. OUCH!
Batman's P.O.V.
When I came around, I felt my hands securely tied together, behind my back, by coarse ropes, but the pain it caused was nothing compared to the pounding feeling at the back of my head… I blinked a couple of times to clear my blurred vision. The girl from earlier on was hanging next to me, still unconscious. 'What was her name? D-Darla? No… That can't be right… Da – Yes! Daphne'. Anyway, we were both hung upside down by our legs. Our feet were tied to a low bar extending from wall to wall a couple of feet below the ceiling. Beneath us was a pool, filled with some kind of clear liquid. The most peculiar aspect of the room, that I noticed right away, was that there were no ways out – No exits. No doors. No escape whatsoever, except for a small brown window in the ceiling…
The blood pumping into my head had started making me dizzy… I called out Daphne's name, but she barely stirred. So, I tried to pull myself upwards, towards the bar, with whatever upper–body strength I still possessed, but I kept failing miserably, mainly because of the fact that my hands were bound in such an uncomfortable way behind my back… More and more blood was rushing to my temples, making my eyes slightly unfocused. Then, suddenly, I heard a snigger to my left. I turned my head, only to meet an image of a chuckling baldy on a flat wall-screen.
"I see you're up, Ratman!", Sanlan said, chuckling at his own dry humor.
"What do you want? Baldy!" I retorted.
"Heh heh heh" He shook his head. "You know, rodent? I would love to stay and play, but you no how it is – duty first…! Aaah, look who decided to join us – sleeping beauty!"
I shifted my gaze to the girl next to me. She opened her eyes, but seemed a little dazed.
"I hope you two enjoy the game!"
"What… game?" Daphne asked weakly, "What are you playing at, Sanlan?"
For that, she was awarded with an annoying chuckle.
"What do you want!" I repeated for Daphne.
"Well, here's how it goes: Daphne, you're alive – for now anyway – because I want to see you terrified… scared out of your wits… genuinely afraid… As for you batman… well, you're a mystery. The Assassin over here", he gestured to someone I couldn't see on the screen, "thinks pulling your mask is just too easy. So, he wants to "keep" you here for a while, until we're finished with our… project. Then he can solve your case in peace, but until then, you will go through the fear course with Agent Maller."
"I am no agent! Not anymore."
That earned her another chuckle, "Daphne. Daphne. Daphne. When will you ever learn? Once an agent, always an agent… Too bad I can't say the same about your brother, though. I don't think he's going to play "agent" any longer"
"What have you done to Jake! Answer me!" Daphne yelled, her honey-brown eyes flashing with rage.
"Heh heh heh… Jake go Ka-boom!" He said, gesturing with his hand like a wild explosion.
"No… LIAR! NO! Jake didn't die!"
"Would you like me to gather his itsy bitsy pieces and show them to you?" Sanlan asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No. No. No" Daphne chanted softly, "No. He can't- He couldn't have – you're lying!"
"Whatever you say, agent… but I don't have time for this. Besides you have more pressing matters to attend to as well. Like that, for example" Sanlan pointed down, towards the pool of liquid.
The liquid level was rising, nearly overflowing the pool, which was fed by two taps I hadn't noticed before.
"Have fun, kids" were Sanlan's last words before his face disappeared and the screen turned black again. So did the "room" we were in. Darkness wrapped us for a couple of moments until a tube light, on the wall in front of me, nearly blinded me with its unnatural white light.
Daphne's P.O.V.
'This is all my fault…but Jake couldn't have died. Right?' I thought, 'Sanlan's probably just messing with my head to get me nervous…' Still, that didn't reassure me.
"Your brother's alive." Batman said.
As painful as it was, I turned to face him.
"How do you know?"
"Br- Control just told me"
For a minute I thought he'd lost it, but then he added, "Through the radio link"
"Oh… Where is he? Where's Jake?"
He fell silent for a while then answered, "With … control"
I eyed him suspiciously. Ever since I found out about Sanlan, I stopped trusting people completely – except for Jake and Sara of course.
"Prove it. Make him say something only he knows"
"Fine", he listened intently to "control" then smirked. "You still suck your finger when you're sleeping… Jake says he's sorry, but he couldn't think of anything else."
It was only then that I felt relieved. Embarrassed, yes. Very embarrassed, but relieved that Jake was OK.
"Wait… I thought Jake was in Tokyo…"
"Well, he isn't anymore. Now let's just get out of here."
Batman's P.O.V.
"Great idea, Batboy. Did it ever occur to you that we're tied-up, not to mention up-side down?" Daphne asked sarcastically.
Ignore her, I tried to release my metal fingertips – my claws – to cut the ropes, but the suit wasn't responding. Then I tried the batarangs. They didn't come out either.
'Weird' I thought, then explained the problem to Bruce.
"Sanlan and The Assassin must have tampered with the synaptic controls" Bruce responded.
"The cinnamon-what?"
"The receptors – the parts that connect your brain to the suit and control most of its functions"
"Great. Just great… So, half the suit is completely useless?"
"More than half"
Bruce's P.O.V.
I was in my old suit infront of the bat-computer. In it, I felt so… empowered… Nightwing had brought a blindfolded Jake to the cave. He knew nothing of our identities and I planned on keeping it that way. While Dick patched Jake up, I studied the charts for Terry's suit on the screen. A red light appeared near the ears, at the synaptic controls, confirming my suspicion. Then another red light appeared … and another… and another…
"Batman…" I said through the intercom, keeping our… guest in mind. It felt foreign to my lips, calling him that. That was me… "They also sabotaged the video link and neural muscular amplificator"
"Huh?"
"The part that multiplies your strength"
"Well couldn't you just say that?... Is there any good news?"
"The only parts that can function are the mics in your fingertips, the magnetic soles on your boots – but you'll have to activate them manually – and the belt"
Batman's P.O.V.
I craned my neck to look upwards. "Oh no…"
"What is it, Batman?" Bruce asked.
"The belt's gone"
Silence.
"Did you hear me? I said the -"
"I heard what you said… Listen, I can connect to the suit's charts, but I can't get a location – the coordinates are all wrong. Can you describe where you are?"
"Like that would help! I'm locked-up in the room with a rising liquid five feet away from my head, which by the way, is where my feet are supposed to be, and-"
"I get the picture, Mc-Batman!" Bruce said frustrated, "I'm working on it"
"That sounds like a burger, you know?"
Of course, Bruce ignored that.
"I'm working on it"
Daphne's P.O.V.
"Are you done talking to yourself?" I asked batman. I was starting to feel extremely irritated with all the blood flowing to my head.
"My suit's not working"
"We can worry about that later. Let's just get out of here first" While Batman was talking to control – and that looked as if he were a mad-man talking to himself – I tried pulling myself up, but all I could accomplish was reviving the wounds from my fight earlier with Sanlan...
"Fine. If you're such a big ginuess, Daphne, why don't you tell me how?"
"I thought you were Batman"
"I thought you were some kind of agent"
"I still am" 'I can't believe I just said that…'
Batman's P.O.V.
"All you can do right is suck your thumb!"
I had hit a nerve. I knew that was uncalled for, but, for some reason, she was beginning to annoy me even more than my little brother, Matt.
Daphne flushed, "... Well, at least that's better than you. You...you can't do anything right"
"What! Do I look like a complete idiot to you!"
"Of course not" she said sweetly, then added, "Barely even half!"
"Why you little - When I get my hands on-"
"With your hands tied behind your back?"
My focus was dragged back to our little… problem. The liquid, acid I guessed, had risen to less than four feet away from my head... Daphne's cloak looked very strange - maybe even funny if I wasn't in that situation... Up till the sleeves it was fine, but after that, it had fallen towards her head, extending down, even beyond her long hair. The cloak's hem was mere inches away from the acid...
Daphne's P.O.V.
'What was I doing, wasting time like that? This is definitely not the best time to start a fight'
"Daphne, I have an idea"
"Took you long enough!". 'What's wrong with me? He's just trying to help. Why am I being so ungrateful?'
"Just listen, will you!" Batman said, clearly annoyed, "I'm going to swing you to that bar, and you'd better grab on to it and pull me up"
"And how, exactly, do you plan on-" I was harshly cut off as Batman's body painfully crashed with my side.
"Aww! What was that for!"
He just swung his body slightly to the left and back smashing into me again. My left side was burning with pain as I vaguely flew to the right.
Batman kept doing this until I gained enough altitude to be leveled with the rod above us. My ankles twisted painfully against their ropes as my right shoulder slammed against the bar.
"One more" Batman said as he pushed himself against my sore side once again. This time, I managed to grab onto the bar, but, with my sweaty palms behind my back, it was difficult to hold on.
'Come on… come on…' I hoisted myself to lay on the bar with all the strength I could muster. The cool bar felt soothing against my back...
I forced myself to sit up. Then I move my hands under me. They were squished under my thighs. I had no idea how much more pain my body could endure, but I knew it wasn't much...
I took a deep breath and bent myself, so that my nose nearly touched my knees. Then I continued dragging my hands under me, towards my feet… My lower-back was stressed to its limit when my restricted hands finally found their way to under my tied feet. As I slowly undid my shoes from the bar, I wondered why Sanlan used rope instead of cuffs; It was as if he didn't care if we escaped this… I pushed that thought away as soon as my feet were freed, and pulled my hands over them to my mouth.
As I gnawed at the rope, I felt a familiar bitter taste in my mouth … blood. I didn't know if it was from my sore hands or aching gums, and I didn't stop chewing to find out either. I didn't care… I just had to get us out of there, to foil Sanlan and The Assassin's plan. I didn't know exactly what it was they planned on doing, but I had a pretty good idea…
The coarse threads of the rope were now sticking out in every possible direction, making it ever harder, and a lot more painful, to bite at...I stole a glance at Batman; it was but a matter of minutes till the liquid would reach him… I chewed faster, and felt the barbed ends of rope scratch at the insides of my mouth, but there was no time to rest…
Finally, when I was released, I throw the ropes to the side, along with a mouthful of blood… I rushed to batman to untie his feet. That didn't take too long, but even as I held on tightly to his boots, I could feel the exhaustion creeping into my bones – I was in no condition to pull him up.
"You can do it, Daphne" He said encouragingly.
"I… can't"
"Yes, you can, Daphne… Don't give up now"
"I'm… so sorry"
"Your brother says you don't want another victim added on Sanlan's list, do you?"
"No, I -"
Batman's P.O.V.
"Then pull me up. You can do it… ", The acid neared the tips of my hair," Come on Daphne! You can do it!"
She started pulling me up slowly.
"That's it Daphne! Just a little bit more…"
I felt the icy cold rod rub against my legs, through the suit. Wrapping the back of my knees around the bar, I pulled my self up.
"Thanks" I told Daphne
"Sure…" she said weakly, "Only next time, I swing you"
"Heh… Like you can!"
"I can too"
"No you can't"
"Yes, I can"
"No, you-"
"Batman, save the chit-chat for later" Bruce interrupted.
"But I was just about to win!"
"Batman-"
"We should think of a way to get out of here" I told Daphne, not wanting to hear another lecture from Bruce.
"Fine!" She crossed her arms in front of her chest like a five-year-old, "but I can too swing you"
"I don't think so!"
"You don't thinkat all!"
"Really! Well you-"
"Batman, save this for later" Bruce's deep voice rang in my ears.
"Let's get out of here, Daphne" I said, gesturing to the small brown window in the ceiling. After balancing myself properly, I aimed a fist at it.
"STOP!"
"What is it now, Daphne?"
"It's a trick! Look the window's cracked from the outside, and-"
"So?"
"And that brown stuff is dirt, so-"
"Soooo?"
"Arrrgh! Stop interrupting, will you! The dirt's pressuring the window from the outside. In other words, we're underground, and if you break that window… we'll both be buried alive"
I inspected the window carefully, and, as much as I hate to admit it, found that she was right.
"Any suggestions, Batbrain?" she asked. Her voice held all her worries. I hadn't noticed that before, but behind that emotionless mask and those determined eyes… behind those cynical comments, stood just another victim of crime… Even as she hid behind that brave exterior, I knew for a fact… She was scared.
"Don't worry… You got us into this, but I'll get us out"
"Batman… I need to talk to my brother; Sanlan and The Assassin are planning for something that could threaten all of Gotham's citizens. In case we don't… you know, I want Jake to warn others and try to stop them…"
"I'll get us out of here… Don't worry"
"Batman, please… We don't have much time"
I looked down. The acid level was now only two feet below the bar we were on, and still rising…