Chapter 18

Night came to Gotham and Batman and Koutetsu were patrolling the greater Gotham area while Runner and Ember kept as close to Gotham General hospital as possible without making it obvious they were watching the hospital. Diana had left the hospital to make sure that the safe house was prepped for the arrival of her, Bruce, and Sally and Basem's sons. Max and Helena were at the hospital, staying in Bruce's room. Sally was making her rounds at the hospital while continually checking on Bruce. The group's business-as-usual attitude and mindset was hard to maintain with everything going on. They knew, sooner or later, something would give and Bane would make his biggest move.

What and where that would be left the Dark Knights all overwhelmingly worried. No matter how well they hid it.

Bane, Athanasia, and Ikram stood on the platform, overlooking the final construction of the Harut'yun, known to Bane and Athanasia as the Castellum, when Athanasia's phone buzzed.

Athanasia removed the phone from her pocket. Her eyes widened. "Beloved!"

Bane looked at her then at the phone. It was a news story. One of great interest to Bane.

Bane smiled.

"What do you wish done?" Athanasia asked.

"Send Switchblade, Tremor, and She-Bat to distract the Young Bat and his team," Bane answered. "Have two more teams mobilize. One to distract the police at Gotham General. And another to infiltrate the hospital and bring Wayne to me."

"Of course, Beloved." Athanasia went to give the orders.

Ikram grinned, devilishly.

Bane looked back at the Castellum. "A reason for your jovial mood, Ikram?"

"Of course!" Ikram answered. "At last, we will have Wayne! And he will pay for all he's done to my family!"

"I feel as though your family has done far more to him."

Ikram, furiously, shot a glare at Bane. "You dare…!"

"Calm yourself," Bane smiled. "I was merely joking."

Ikram settled down but huffed. "You lack a talent for humor."

Bane chuckled. "Perhaps. I never was able to be as amusing as the clown. Then again, in my defense… I never found the Joker to be funny."

A few minutes later, Tiana was monitoring the team's actions while also glancing at hers and Max's schematics. She reported a sighting of Switchblade, She-Bat, and Tremor, which sent Batman and Koutetsu headed their way.

A video call came through on Tiana's personal line from Lincoln. Tiana answered and Lincoln's face appeared on her screen, "Hey, little brother."

"Why aren't you home?" Lincoln asked, suspiciously.

"I'm at work."

"Doing what?"

"Work."

"Of what kind, exactly."

Tiana just smiled. "If I told you, I'd have to kill you."

Lincoln groaned. He decided to broach a subject he hesitated on more than once. But with everything going on in Gotham, and now that he witnessed Tia's unorthodox behavior firsthand, he decided to go for it. "Listen, Tia: I don't know… exactly what you're doing…"

"It sounds like you do, but continue."

"But… I'm just worried about you. You've always taken care of everyone around you. You're loyal to a fault, especially to taking care of Dad's company. But you sometimes take it to the extreme. Isolating yourself. That kind of thing played a part in the divorce."

Tiana sighed. "Yeah. I know."

"And I meant you and Mac. Craig was just an ass."

Tiana giggled, softly.

Lincoln let out a long exhale. "You should call the kids. They ask me about you."

Tiana bit her lip. "I figured."

"Have you talked to Mac?"

"Only when he wants me to move out of Gotham." Tiana scoffed. "Still cares about me despite our… lousy ending."

"Not hard to see why. Yeah, he messed up, too, but he still cares about you. At least, he's not Craig."

"You ain't lying there."

"What about Hammond or Veronica?"

Tiana smiled, bitterly. "You know better than that. They talk to you because they don't wanna talk to me. No matter how I explain it… they blame me for everything." She shrugged. "Maybe they're right."

Lincoln exhaled. "I'm sorry. But I'm not, really, because I needed to say that. Bring it all up. Because my point is… you don't need to do… what you're doing alone. You never did. I've always wanted to be there for you. I just wanted you to say the word. I love you, big sis. I've always got your back. No matter what. If I can help… please… just tell me. I'm your brother. It's what I'm here for."

Tiana thought it over. She exhaled. "I know, Linc. And thank you. If it comes to that, I'll tell you. I promise."

"Okay." Lincoln looked off and fell silent for a moment. When he spoke next, he had some concern in his voice, "Umm… the news just said Bruce Wayne is at Gotham General."

Tiana blinked as her blood ran cold. "What?"

"Yeah."

"The news just reported that?"

"Uh-huh."

"They're not supposed to know that!" Tiana said in a panic. "No one's supposed to know that! No one's supposed to know he's there!"

"It's why I thought you'd wanna know," Lincoln added.

"L-Linc, I gotta go!"

"Yeah, I figured." Lincoln ended the call.

Tiana called the team, "Everyone, we have a problem!"

"Oh, damn, Oracle!" Batman said, sarcastically. "Why'd you ruin a perfect night of nothing bad happening?!"

"The news reported Bruce is at Gotham General!"

"Oh, someone just kill me already!"

"Stop tempting fate!" Koutetsu ordered.

"Now, we know why these guys showed up all of a sudden!" Batman noted, referring to Switchblade and the others. "Who's still near the hospital?!"

"Already headed that way," Ember replied.

"I'm right behind her," Runner added.

"Me and Koutetsu will keep dealing with Slick Knife, She-Beast, and Quake-train," Batman informed.

"Nice!" Ember laughed at Batman's nicknames.

"I thought so. We'll be there as soon as we handle this!"

"I'm gonna call Jaguar to meet you guys," Runner informed.

"Isn't she still looking for Ghost-Wing?" Koutetsu asked.

"He'll have to wait. This takes priority."

"Agreed!"

"I'm calling Max!" Tiana informed.

Gotham General Hospital.

With Max taking a call in the hallway, Helena stood at the window in Bruce's room, staring at the sky. She heard some noise and saw some of the police officers leaving the parking lot and head down the street.

Helena narrowed her eyes as her senses went into overdrive.

Max hurried back into Bruce's room, getting Helena's attention. "They know he's here," she declared.

"What?" Helena asked, nervously. "How?"

Sally rushed in behind Max, "Because we have a nurse who can't keep her ass off social media! She's so fired the second I can make that happen."

"We have to go!"

"Yyyeeeaaaaah… about that…" Sally pointed at the window. "There are some Scourge already heading this way."

"How do you know that?!" Max asked.

"Ha, ha!" Sally laughed, sarcastically. "There's shootout about eight blocks from here. It's pulled the police attention away. Convenient, right?!"

"Dammit!" Helena grunted.

"I'm really getting why Bruce hates Bane so much," Max growled.

"That was hard to figure out?"

"Not really. But I'm really getting it!"

"I'm gonna get downstairs and help get those patients to safety," Sally informed. "Maybe I can stall any Scourge dudes who get here."

Max and Helena looked at Sally, perplexed. "You're gonna go do what?!" Max asked.

"You heard me."

"Sal, that's insane! You can't…"

"Max," Sally interrupted, firmly. "Wayne Enterprises is your place. The streets? The city as a whole? That belongs to our team. This? This is my hospital. No one threatens my patients. Not Bruce, not anyone under my care. Not while I'm here."

Max and Helena jerked their heads back.

"Damn!" Max whispered.

"Sally!" Helena exclaimed, amazed. "You're a badass!"

Sally smiled at them. "Learned from the best. Lock this door until you know it's me or someone we trust."

"You got it, Doc!"

Sally rushed back downstairs, hearing gunfire outside as she went. She arrived at the emergency room and helped get patients out of the back door, putting them in ambulances to get them to other hospitals. After getting most of the patients moved out, she arrived back at the front of the ER to see the staff and patrons being held hostage at gunpoint by a squad of Scourge soldiers armed with assault rifles.

"All of you will be taken, at the will of Bane," a soldier declared.

Sally steeled herself and walked forward, cutting through the crowd. She stood at the front of the hostages and, fearlessly, declared, "You're not taking anyone anywhere!"

"You have no power to stop us."

"Maybe, you're right. But I'm not gonna let you take anyone from my hospital. You wanna take someone, you take me and let the rest go."

"Doctor Asselah!" an admin shouted, nervously.

"Easy, Joe," Sally reassured. "It's okay." She looked back at the Scourge soldiers. "Take me and let the rest go. Deal?"

"You have no say here," the Scourge soldier reiterated.

"These are my patients! This is my hospital! So, you bet your ass I have a say here! And I say this: you want any of them, you go through me."

The soldier smiled. "Very well, doctor. We're on your schedule." He lifted his rifle, higher.

Sally took a deep breath.

"HEY, MORONS!" Ember's voice came from behind the soldiers.

They turned just as Ember dove into the thick of the soldiers, attacking them every way possible, "COME AN' GET SOM'-A THIS, YA DUMBASS PANTY WASTES!"

Ember fired a burst of flame that knocked the soldiers down, then she quickly melted the useful parts of the guns. As the Scourge soldiers started to regain their footing, Ember took great delight in knocking them back down.

'Oh, I love her so much!' Sally thought to herself. She gave the nurses and staff orders to get the other patients out and raced back up upstairs. She went back to Bruce's room, and, when she was close to the door, it flew open. Sally blinked as she saw Helena and Max, who had their war faces on. "God, you two are scary!"

"Look who's talking, General Doctor!" Helena joked.

"How'd you know it was me?" Sally entered the room and closed the door behind her.

"I hacked the security feed," Max answered. "We heard you and saw Ember's here."

"How'd you hack that so fa—you know what? Nevermind! Forgot who I was talking to."

From the security cameras, Max saw the four Scourge soldiers entering from a service access door and shook her head. "We can't wait for Ember to get up here."

Sally walked up next to Max, looking at her phone, "We need to move Bruce."

"How?" Helena asked. "We can't take him downstairs and they'll see us flying away in something. An ariel dogfight in an ambulance is a bad idea. Trust me. Best we can do is hold out until help gets up here."

"True. Sooooo…" Sally stared at Bruce. "Remember that hospital scene from The Godfather?"

"I like where you're going with this," Max smiled.

Max, Sally, and Helena moved Bruce to a room on the opposite side of the hallway and down a few doors from his actual room. Once they had Bruce situated, the trio opened the door a crack and peeked into the hallway. After a few minutes, they heard footsteps quietly but steadily approach.

"Oh, God," Sally whispered, prayerfully.

Max steadied her breathing. Helena gritted her teeth.

"Max… Helena… if we don't make it through this…"

"Shut up, Sal!" Max whispered.

"But…"

"I said 'shut up'."

Four Scourge soldiers appeared in the hallway. Max's body tensed as she closed the door a little further but kept it open enough so she could keep an eye on the soldiers. Helena had a scalpel in her hand and turned it to where the blade was facing down, ready to attack at a moment's notice. The soldiers headed for Bruce's original room and went inside. After a few seconds, the soldiers emerged then started to head down toward Bruce's current room.

Max got a pair of scissors ready.

Helena tightened her grip on the scalpel.

Sally just closed her eyes, saying a silent prayer.

Suddenly, a hallway window crashed open and Nightrunner tackled one of the soldiers and used his darts to disable the other soldiers' guns.

Max and Sally breathed a huge sigh of relief upon seeing him. Helena almost laughed.

"Oh, thank God!" Max whispered.

"Holy shit, he's good!" Helena breathed out.

"The second this mess is over, I am gonna rock the hell outta that man's world!" Sally declared.

Max silently giggled.

After dispatching and restraining the soldiers, Runner looked around.

"Runner," Max whispered, getting his attention.

Runner looked up as Max waved him over. He made sure the hallway was clear then went into the room, closing the door behind him.

"Everyone okay?" Runner asked.

"Yeah," Max smiled. "Thanks."

"Now, either take that mask off or lift it up," Sally ordered.

Runner smiled and took his mask off. Sally rushed at him and kissed him with all she had. Max smiled and shook her head while Helena laughed.

Sally and Runner broke the kiss. "My hero," Sally said, lovingly.

"Always," Runner replied.

"How often does that happen during patrol?" Bruce asked.

Everyone looked at Bruce.

Runner smiled. "Not… too often."

"Don't be a wet blanket, Dad," Helena joked.

"How are you, Bruce?" Sally walked over to check his vitals.

"Lousy," Bruce answered. He noticed the room was different. That and Runner being in full uniform only meant one thing. "So. Bane knows I'm here."

"Uh-huh."

"Terrific…" Bruce groaned.

"We're gonna move you, Bruce," Runner informed. "We got the safe house all set up."

"Where's Ember?" Helena asked.

"Probably having too much fun. I'm letting her do her thing."

"Just make sure…" Bruce said. "…she's safe."

Max, Helena, Sally, and Runner all stared at Bruce, solemnly.

"What?"

"Still looking out for everyone," Max, sadly, smiled. "No matter what."

"Still a team," Bruce replied. "Still… a family."

They heard footsteps and Runner swiftly put his mask back on. Runner opened the door a bit and saw Barbara and Ember in the hallway.

"Hey!" Runner called out to them, waving them in.

Barbara and Ember came into the room, to everyone else's relief.

"You guys are okay!" Ember smiled in reprieve, closing the door.

"So far," Max admitted.

"Commissioner?" Helena asked, looking at Barbara.

"Evening all," Barbara said, a bit of pain in her voice.

"What are you doing, Barbara?" Bruce asked.

"Watching your back," Barbara answered. "Bane doesn't get to kill you. Not when you finally learn to have a happy life and you could maybe die in peace. I'm not gonna let that asshole ruin all the good work everyone put into you!"

Bruce smiled and chuckled softly.

"You guys should've seen her!" Ember laughed. "Oh, my God! She laid one of these jackasses out with one left hook!"

Barbara smiled a bit. "Where's Diana?"

"She's at the safe house," Max answered. "Our timing on this has been questionable, at best."

"It's Bane. That's par for the course."

"How are things downstairs?" Sally asked.

Ember smiled. "So many broken noses, ribs, legs, and arms. It felt like when I was an underground boxer."

"You did that?"

"For about a year. Wore this lucha mask. It was actually kinda cool."

"How have you never told us that?!" Helena asked.

"I barely even think about it anymore," Ember answered. "I was broke and needed the cash."

"Until you robbed banks," Barbara raised an eyebrow.

"Harsh, Commish," Ember replied. "Those days are forever behind me!"

"Lucky for you."

Ember blinked. "You know? You're way scarier than any principal I ever had. And that's really saying something."

"We better move," Runner declared. "Bane's gonna realize his guys failed. And I'd rather he didn't send anything else toward the hospital."

"You're a good dude, Runner."

"Well, it's more than the innocent people. If one more person gets hurt here," Runner pointed at Sally, "she will try to fight Bane by herself."

"Damn skippy!" Sally nodded, proudly.

"Given how badass she can be," Helena spoke up, "I'd put a bet on Sally."

Runner smiled a bit. "So would I."

In alleyway a couple of miles from Gotham General, Ghost-Wing found a few Scourge soldiers making their way toward the hospital. He dropped down from a fire escape and attacked the soldiers, dismantling them with relative ease. After incapacitating them, Ghost-Wing grabbed one of the soldiers and threw him against the wall.

"You speak English?!" Ghost-Wing asked as he pressed his forearm against the soldier's chest.

The Scourge soldier remained silent.

"Fine. Let's see if you understand this!"

With blinding speed, Ghost-Wing drew a shuriken and jammed it in the soldier's bicep, causing him to scream.

"So… English?" Ghost-Wing asked, coldly.

The soldier took a few breaths. "Yes!" he grunted, painfully.

"Good! Get on your radio. Call your boss now. Tell him… I want to fight him. Tonight. Or… I start piling up bodies. Even if one of them has to be Batman…"

A/N: Dammit, Ghost-Wing...

I hope you guys enjoyed these last two chapters, especially. They were really fun to do. We're getting close to learning Bane's endgame. But, first, Ghost-Wing is going to try his hand against Bane.

Will he succeed? Does he even have a chance?