Jason Blúd
- 54, 000 Years Ago -
A pair of brown eyes look upon the young sky above, full of stars and planets from unknown sectors of the known universe. The eyes blink, soon reflecting a bright emerald light that journeyed down from the heavens and towards the dirt of the world. Shrouded by green unrelenting flames, the object crashes down upon the land and creates a large crater. A powerful surge of energy traverses the land from the impact point, expanding outward and shaking the whole area in a violent blaze.
The owner of the eyes walks towards the crater, locking onto the alien rock now residing on the earth. The Neanderthal slides down the rocky path and near the meteor. His body comes warmer with every step that he takes, soon sweating and even burning from the inhuman heat that was radiating him, embracing him in the flashing emerald glow, almost as it was hypnotising him. The alluring flames wash the man's mind over with whispers, almost sounding alien in nature.
His skin was now burning, almost peeling away like there was an invisible force behind him that is ripping his flesh away. He touches his hand against the meteor which brings about a hiss from the foreign rock like it was alive in its own twisted way. The veins in the Neanderthal's hand glow bright green, a tint that travels up his arms like a snake that slivers its way over its prey, constricting its movement and gaining as much hold as it possibly can.
The man's eyes shot open, now flashing bright green with no pupils as he unleashes a deafening primal scream at the top of his lungs.
- Gotham City -
Present Day
A white light blurs through the dull city, skipping across the rooftop to rooftop in a warp, travelling up the skyscrapers. Gotham is overtaken by a vicious storm, rain hammers down along with lightning that strikes all through the city. Prometheus squats over one of the gargoyles of the clocktower that oversees the entire city. His bright blue eyes watch over the city as his gloved hands pull out the Mother Box from beneath his garbs. The invention of the new gods forms a hologram of a large meteor travelling through space. The man in white watches in silence, observing the footage as he has done before.
- Later -
"Left!"
"Right!
Left!"
Batman accelerates throughout the roads of Gotham with his Batcycle. The Dark Knight looks up to the rooftops of Chinatown as a cloaked woman leaps across from building to building. Batman goes full throttle, dashing forward across the roads. His glowing white eyes watch the above woman's every move. Batman hears Lee's voice come through his earpiece, "So this... Whisper A'Daire. How dangerous is she?" she asks in a musing tone.
"I had a couple run-ins with her before. She used to be apart of the League of Shadows before she was banished for breaking the league's conduct," Batman swerves on the Batcycle, skidding across the road "She was secretly using her position to extort the locals for protection money. Talia wasn't too pleased when she found out," the dark knight then grabs at the grapple launcher attached to the back of his utility belt, an upgrade curtesy of Lucius Fox. He aims it high above to the buildings.
"The League of Shadows just let her live? Doesn't sound like them... well from what you've told me anyway"
Batman puts the Batcycle onto autopilot, "Honour means more to the League than living. The feeling of disgrace will sting more than any blade to them," Batman shoots the grapple launcher and is swiftly thrown up into the air. He lifts up his arms and expands his cape, his shadow casts over Whisper. The dark knight tackles the woman down on the roof and kneels over her back. He yanks her hood down and sees the redhead's eyes looking back to him.
"Get your stinkin' hands off me if you don't wanna go losing them!" Whisper hisses as her skin starts to take on a more scaly texture. She slivers out of Batman's grip and kicks him down. Her skin changes to a pale olive shade and two sharp fangs form between her crimson lips ", Who the hell do you think you are," hissed the transformed woman as she slides her way to the vigilante, snapping her jaws.
"You think you can just come to my city and kill whoever you would like? Not a chance" Batman dodges a swipe of the woman's claws and a snap of her jaw. The vigilante grabs two Batarangs from his utility belt and throws them at Whisper, cutting into her hands and drawing her to retreat, slivering backwards while she still snaps her jaws. Batman then delivers a blow to the mutant woman's face which knocks her onto her back.
"Tough, sweetheart. You don't get a say in it. I got five million smackaroos riding on this" Whisper grins.
"Freelance, eh? Ra's would be proud" Batman reaches behind to the back of his belt and grabs a pair of reinforced handcuffs "That would be if he ever cared about anyone else but himself"
"You are not worthy to speak his name" A'Daire propels herself up and squirts acid from her fangs at the vigilante. Batman instinctively brings his cape around to absorb the hit. The highly acidic substance burns through his cape, creating holes from where it was sprayed. He throws his cape back and looks to the slivering woman now only mere inches away from him. Her eyes narrow and her lips firm into a smirk "C'mon, sugar. How 'bout a kiss for lil' ol me. I don't bite...," Whisper bares her fangs in her grin.
Batman headbutts A'Daire; taking her off balance. He then grabs the handcuffs and restraints both of the woman's arms behind her back "Sorry to disappoint but redheads aren't my type," the dark knight glances down to the struggling mutant woman who begins to sliver away. Batman grabs another Batarang and rams it through her tail which seals her in place. Whisper hisses in pain, she turns her head to view Batman who stood above her.
"Ah, c'mon love. Doncha wanna have me take just a small bite out of you? I bet your blood is delicious... I can make it... pleasurable for you too... no man can resist me..." Whisper lascivious purrs, still trying to manoeuvre her hands out of the bind of the handcuffs.
"Make an anonymous call to GCPD. I'm about wrapped up here" Batman presses his earpiece, not taking his eyes off of the secured criminal "Be glad that it's me that found you and not Talia al Ghul. Something's telling me that she wouldn't have been as merciful as me"
"Untie me... as I show you just how grateful I am..." A'Daire hisses salaciously.
"You've killed over 36 people on record, you are never going to see the outside of a cell for the rest of your life. You're Welcome"
- Sirens Club -
"You still having trouble finding a new place?" Barbara Kean speaks to Selina Kyle as they sit opposite each other across the counter. The older woman refills the dark-haired woman's glass and slides back to her. Selina nods as she picks up the glass, "That must have been terrifying for you. Some stranger just coming in and attacking you like that... can't believe the police haven't caught him yet"
"The cops in this city are as useless as a glass hammer," Selina toasts her glass, lifting it up "I don't feel safe going back there... so I'm trying to find a new place to live. in the meantime, I need somewhere to crash..." Selina looks to Barbara with puppies-eyes, "I don't really have all too many friends and the ones that I do are busy..."
"Alright, Selina. I get the hint" Barbara chuckles "Of course you can stay with me, anything to help"
"What about my... roommate?"
"The cat can come too... just keep it from getting its hair on my clothes," Barbara agrees "Though... you are a big girl now, have you tried asking Bruce for help? He could possibly hook you up with a whole new apartment if you ask him... sure he might not be in the city right now... but one phone call and you are-"
"I don't want his help, Barb," Selina takes a shot from the glass, "The fact that's super pissed at me doesn't help the matter either"
Barbara double-takes at the woman's words, "Wait, he's the one mad at you? Well... isn't that a twist," hums the redhead as she reaches for her own drink "That man absolutely adores you, how the hell did you manage to get him to be mad at you?"
"I sort of went after the guy who attacked me... after Bruce told me not too and I dragged his friends into it and they got hurt," confessed Selina with an honest sigh. She sets her glass down and reaches her hand over her left shoulder which was still hurting ", I know what you are going to say. Trust me, I been beating myself up since then."
"Of course Bruce is pissed at you, so am I to a certain extent," Barbara chastises the other woman," That creep could have killed you. He could have... done all sorts of ungodly things to you... I thought you were smarter than that, I thought that I taught you better"
"Like you wouldn't have done the same thing as I did," Selina argues, finding flaws in the woman's tangent.
"Maybe before I would have...," Barbara agrees before reaffirming her look ", but not now. I have a daughter, Selina. And I just don't mean little Barbara but... in some ways, I view you as my daughter too. Sure I didn't birth you... or wasn't there for your early childhood but I looked after you and taught the best way that I could...," confessed Barbara with tears forming in her eyes ", I wasn't the best role model that was for sure... but my care was genuine... Tabitha cared for you too..."
Selina rubs her eyes, wiping away the faint layer of tears forming ", You miss her, don't you?"
"Every day... every damn day," Barbara answers, "She was ripped away from me... please don't go trying to get yourself killed, Selina."
Selina weakly nods ", I'm sorry. You're right, I shouldn't have done it..." Barbara walks around the counter and to Selina's side and brings her to a soft embrace ", I was just so angry... I just didn't want to feel helpless. I had enough of that with my childhood..."
"I love you, Selina. As far as I am concerned, you are family," Barbara reassures the dark-haired woman ", Bruce loves you too, he'll understand why you did it. But please... never do anything like that ever again...," the redhead smiles.
"Barbara is lucky to have you as her mother," Selina complements with a weak smile.
"No, I'm lucky to have her as my daughter," Barbara replies with a clean smile ", Family is important, Selina. Not just because you share the same blood... because we look out for each other. And that feeling is one thing that no book can tell you. You have to learn that all on your own by the people around you."
"Book?" Selina says under her breath. Her eyes softening as she gets an idea ", Thanks for the pep talk, Barb. It really means a lot."
"No worries... I'll just have to do it again when you next come by," the older woman waves off Selina's words "... Swing by anytime, not just when you're feeling down..."
Selina gets up from her seat ", Will do."
Elsewhere...
- Bat-Bunker -
Batman drives through the underground tunnel, decelerating as he reaches his destination. He stops on the Batcycle, parking it beside the Batmobile on the platform. The Dark Knight lifts off of the vehicle and traverses up the metallic stairs until he reaches the main hub. He catches sight of Lee Thompkins stationed at one of the terminals. The vigilante pulls down his cowl as he comes closer to the woman. Bruce rubs his shoulders that were still hurting from last week
"Did you find out who that snake lady's target is?" Lee slurps from her mug as she turns in her chair to address Bruce.
"Not yet," Bruce candid as he pulls off the Batsuit's gauntlets ", Whisper was trained by the League... even Ra's himself. There is nothing that I could do to her that would make you spill it. She would rather swallow a bucket of cyanide"
"There's a thought," Lee hums, stopping as she was on the receiving end of one of Bruce's infamous glares. Lee shrugs, "Kidding. I'm kidding"
"Lucius not back yet?" Bruce asks as he stands next to Lee ", Guess we'll need to carry on without him for a while."
"Doing what?"
"Learning who Whisper's target was," Bruce gets onto the computer.
"And just how are you going to do that? We have nothing to go on" Lee pouts as she slides her chair away from the man, "It's like finding a needle in a haystack. Or since its Gotham: finding a piece of hay in a needle stack"
"Think of it as a process of elimination," Bruce searches through the files on the screen "At the moment there are roughly 8 million people in the whole of Gotham, and about only 1. 278 people on the Island. Let's say that there is an equal split between men and woman... that would lead to now dealing with over 600,000"
"Why does that matter?"
"She referred to her target as male. I know Whisper. She's not someone to lie about her prey," Bruce answers as he continues narrowing the search, "She also mentioned that she was being paid five million for the job. This could mean that her target is a part of wealthy or someone with influence in Gotham, a politician maybe? Someone who will be a challenge for her to keep under wraps."
"What's the point of this anyway? She's locked up... shouldn't you be concerned with other things? Like those exercises I've told you to work on?" Lee asserts her point by lifting her eyebrow.
"Whoever sent Whisper... is bound to send another, and another until the job's done. I have to find out who the target was so that I can take steps for their safety," Bruce crosses his arms and looks to Lee "Even with all the limitations on the potential target, that still leaves roughly 6,000 people and that's lowballing it"
"Mhm," Lee glances over the cornucopia of possible candidates ", What about her past victims? Maybe there's a correlation between them. That could help narrow the scope even more"
"Could be of some use" admits Bruce as he continues searching, "Not much is known about Whisper's victims, only that she uses her fangs to inject a deadly neurotoxin into their systems through their neck. Like an artist signing their work"
"Hold on a moment, why would an assassin want to give away their existence? Doesn't that go against the whole... secret society thing?"
"To the untrained eye the fang marks look like any regular snake, but the people who would be on Whisper's list would know what they really are...," Bruce goes back to looking through the files "Its a sign, a warning to the others on her list. Like someone aware of both her and the league of shadows"
"That narrows it down considerably," Lee mused.
"So the possible targets have to be either: me, Lucius or Alfred. But Alfred isn't on the island, Lucius only knows a few things about the Shadows... and that only leaves me. But Whisper was clear that she wasn't here for me," Bruce stammers perplexed.
"Then... that means its someone that not even you know about?"
"Looks that way"
- Gotham City Library -
Selina walks through the hall feeling uneasy, not due to feeling in danger but the mere thought of where she was. In all her years she had never entered a library, not if she could avoid it. But her she was. In the middle of Gotham City's largest library, looking for clues. Breadcrumbs even. Anything that would help her learn about the man in white. She needed to know, she needed to learn how to stop him. She needed to stop him. Selina walks past the countless large bookshelves surrounding her, like a rat in a maze.
She wasn't alone, people sat at the tables and near the shelves all around the hall. She wasn't sure of what she was looking for, barely knowing where to start. Selina passes another bookshelf and comes across a man stood at the top of the ladder who was stacking the books to the top. The man had auburn hair combed back with a white streak in the middle. The man wears a pair of glasses over his green eyes. He's dressed in a black turtleneck shirt and black jeans.
"Hey!" Selina calls to the man, "I'm looking for a book about Prometheus, care to help me out?"
"Prometheus, Greek mythology. Look on that aisle" the auburn-haired man tells Selina in an old-fashioned English accent as he keeps on stacking the shelves, not looking down to her.
"About that... this is kind of embarrassing, I don't know where that is... this is my first time here"
"Well you know what they say: there's no time than the present," the man coldly replies, "I suggest you learn. You have a perfectly functioning pair of legs, stretch them"
"Oh, you're going to be like that?" Selina nods with a half-baked smirk, "It's your job to help people find what they're looking for."
"You're not going to leave, are you?" the mask asks.
"Get your butt down here, get my book and then I will" Selina sasses the man. She sees the man grab onto the handles of the ladder and slide down it to the floor. The auburn-haired man impatiently looks to her, hands on his hips, "You know... you are a complete dick. I wonder what your boss would think about the way you treat the people here"
"Doubt he would care," the man comments as he leads the way for Selina, "Because this is my library." After a few minutes of awkward silence, they come to their destination at the end of the hall. Selina and the man standing in front of a large bookcase, "There. Lived up my end. Now get your book and sod off"
"Wait" Selina stops him as she inches closer to the shelves trying to read the spines of the books, "Which one is the best to start from?"
"I don't bloody know, you're the one who's looking for the book, just chose one and stop inconveniencing me from my work. Some of us don't have time to muck around at our leisure," the man rolls his eyes, "... Fine. Try starting at the Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes. It's just around five hundred pages... which should keep you quiet, I doubt you're not much of a fast reader" he reaches into the shelf and pulls out the book. He presents it to Selina "All the greek mythology for those of us who aren't as intellectually charged"
Selina takes the book, "D-Did you just call me stupid... in a somehow polite way?"
"I'm certainly not calling you a genius" the man turns from Selina ", How can you get to your age and not once before step into this library? Every bloody kinder gardener comes here for a field trip, we have the dastardly college kids most days too. I've worked here for a very... long time and I would remember meeting you."
"Cut me some slack, jeez. I never had the opportunities most other kids had"
"Knowledge isn't some birthright, it's something that one must find on their own. That's the beauty of it. It doesn't matter who you are, where you come from, where you're scared that you'll end up. Knowledge is leaned at the moment, by one's own initiative" the man replies.
"Where are you doing with this?"
"Knowledge isn't a weapon, it's a gift, a blessing to one's own self and the others around you," the auburn-haired man turns "Funniest thing, last week I was watching a news broadcast about this uh-Killer croc's murders... only to see that the headline was changed to saying *Prometheus*. I doubt that its a coincidence that you are here looking for information on that name," he takes off his glasses, "I'm going to say this once and only once... you're way out of your depth girl... both you and that vigilante boyfriend of yours," his tone took on a dark complexation, one of mystery, yet also wisdom.
Selina looks at the man in shock, stepping back ", Who the hell are you?"
"That my dear... is a very, very long story," the man with auburn hair answers.
- Across Gotham -
Checkpoint Outpost
Whisper A'Daire is escorted through the facility, her hands still shackled and a muzzle over her mouth. Being pushed and prodded by two armed Checkmate soldiers. Her eyes look ahead, across to an advanced computer in the corner. One of the Checkmate soldiers shoves her forward ", Move your ass, freak. We're on a schedule here!" the soldier shoves her again. Unbeknownst to the men behind her, Whisper's hands begin to releases a slippery fluid all, letting her hands sliver out from the binds.
Her eyes narrow, she kicks back and knocks one of the guards onto the ground. She then twists her torso to face the other soldier, slashing her claws across his face. She then slides behind him and breaks his neck with her hands and lets him fall onto the floor. She then looks over to the previous Checkmate guard standing back up and fires at her. She slivers across, dodging every single bullet that he fires and grabs his shoulder, throwing him over her and onto the ground and rips off the muzzle. A'Daire then throws her body down and straddle him. She latches her fangs into his neck and drains his blood while he struggles from beneath her. She remains doing that for half a minute before finishing.
She rips her fangs away and walks over to the computer with blood dripping from her lips. She drags the man on the ground. She uses the guard's hand to bypass the handprint scanner. The redhead then goes through accessing all the information that she can, stumbling across on something of interest: the database of everyone in Gotham. Her lips curve into a grin, pleased with what she had found. Soon she was staring at the image of an auburn-haired man with green eyes. The man had a streak of white in the middle of his hair.
"Found you..." Whisper hisses as her reptilian eyes reflect the image of the man "You couldn't hide forever... it was only a matter of time..."
- Wayne Tower -
CEO Office
"Impressive, Harleen" Lucius complements ", I honestly believed that this might have been too much for you but here we are. You've done everything that Bruce listed." Lucius stands before the desk which had Harley sat behind it. The blonde sucks on a lollipop whilst giving a thumbs up. She looks down to the pile of papers resting on the desk.
"What can I say? I'm smart enough to be a psychologist, paperwork is nothin'" the blonde chirps with her voice being muffled by her full mouth ", It helps that I had practice forging his signature before," the woman in the red dress adds with an innocent look.
"Okay, I'm going to need you to rewind that and explain," Lucius gives a questionable look to the blonde.
"Back when I was I was just a girl in high school... I had the biggest crush on Bruce. I might have forged fake love letters from him to me...," the blonde twirls her fingers in her ponytail ", The things I wanted him to do to me..." she whispers lecherously.
"Right..." Lucius mumbles "Forget I said anything," he grabs the pile of paperwork "I'm going to file this... and hopefully forget what I just heard." Lucius walks out of the room and leaves the blonde to her own devices.
Ten Minutes Later...
Lucius travels down through the building within the elevator, on his way to the lower levels. Ones that did not show up on any map. A floor that mere existence was kept secret between a select few individuals. Arriving at his destination Lucius steps out and joins Bruce and Lee Thompkins in the bunker. A high-tech base, full of displays of tools used for Batman. He walks over to the two, stepping beside the sitting Lee, "Apologies for getting held up. What did I miss?"
Lee bobbles her head, holding a half-smirk ", How 'bout a blood-sucking snake lady vampire? One that Bruce happened to know beforehand"
"Did you say... vampire?," Lucius dusts his shoulders ", Why does all the cool stuff go down when I'm not here."
"She's not a *vampire*," Bruce conveys, standing in his Batsuit with the cowl down ", Her name is Whisper A'Daire and she used to be a high-ranking member of the League of Shadows, Ra's right hand. Talia got rid of Whisper as soon as she could."
"That doesn't explain why she's a vampiric snake lady," Lee coins her eyebrows.
"I think it does" Bruce clenches the space between his eyes ", Ra's was a mad man. When he discovered that the Lazarus pit's effect was dwindling after every use, he advised experimentations with it. One of them involved splicing the Lazarus with animal DNA. In this case, it was a king cobra."
"And instead of testing it on himself... he used Whisper as a guinea pig," Lucius sighs, lifting his head up ", That's how she got her powers, but why is she in Gotham?"
"I caught her when I was on patrol. These days she's freelance and is in this city to kill someone. Someone who knows something that their not supposed to," Bruce explains. He then brings up all previous research that he had done on the computer for Lucius to see, "I've ruled out all of us... so it's a john doe."
"Wait. Whisper was captured, right?" Lucius asks, locking onto the screen ", For someone trained by the league, you would have thought she would be better and staying undercover."
Bruce's eyes stammer, he turns to the other man ", She wanted to be captured..."
Lee leans over the table and looks to another monitor next to the other ", Would it be a bad time to tell you that a Checkmate captive escaped? Killed the guards too..."
"Location, Lucius. Now" Bruce bolts off and grabs the gauntlets on the desk next to them and puts them back on. He then pulls over his cowl and covers his face. The lens over his eyes glow bright white "We could have just given her what she wanted"
"Checkmate has records of every person currently in Gotham... we just gave her the tool to find her target," Leslie looks over to Batman and Lucius ", We need to find her."
Lucius nods, leaning over and searching through the alert ", We will. No one else is going to die. Got the location, sending it to your AR vision, Bruce." he sees Batman hurry down the metal stairs and towards the Batcycle.
"Be careful!" Lee stresses as she sees the dark knight race into the tunnels and out of their vision.
"Bruce normally wouldn't be so easily fooled. There must be something that's bothering him," Lucius comments as he looks to the screen in front of him that shows him the vision through batman's eye lens ", This whole Prometheus ordeal is messing with his head."
"Hopefully not enough to get himself killed," Lee contributes.
- Gotham City Library -
Jason Blüd, a man of mystery and darkness. He stands two feet away from Selina, though his shadow somehow still cloaked here. Though the shadow of the man was different from him, almost looking like it had horns. The auburn-haired man pulls out a folded piece of cloth and wipes down his glasses. Selina backs away, stepping away from the man. She throws a death glare at him, full of venom "Are you... him? Are you him?"
Jason puts his glasses back on, "If I was who you think I am... why would have I not laid a hand on you yet?," he returns the cloth to the pocket of his jeans ", No my dear, I am not him. But I know enough about him to know that you are snooping in places where you shouldn't be snooping."
"So what? You wanna protect me? Be friends? Sorry, but I'm not buying your crap"
"Protect you? Oh you misfortunate minx, there is no protecting you against Prometheus," Jason Blüd paces with his hands now in his pockets ", After that stunt you pulled... he's coming back to kill you. He only let you keep breathing due to him seeing some potential use in you. Once you fulfilled that purpose... well... it won't matter if you still have all of your nine lives. He will have your head."
"Are you trying to scare me? cuz it's not working, I'm not afraid," Selina readies her claws from behind her back.
"Of course you aren't" Jason observes the woman's features ", Fear is necessary. Self-preservation is the sole reason that humans have made it this far, to deny fear... is to fight against one's own nature. Like you are living one continuous lie," he stops on the spot ", And you know a thing or two about living in a world of secret of lies, whether it's them being kept from you or when you are the one keeping them." The mysterious man sits down a stool next to the bookcase ", As I said before, you are out of your depth, he has lived for over twenty thousand years... he mastered every single martial art, knows every form of torture... no, he invented them"
"You sound like you know him... like you know his name? What is it?" Selina asks, her voice shaken.
"Of course I do, I know every single name he has ever had: Cain, Vlad the Impaler, Ivan the Terrible, Nero of Rome, to name a few. Think of the worst tyrants of history and there's a high chance that it was him. He created rivers of blood far more large than any god could...," Jason answered.
"How can I even trust anything that you say? This whole thing is... crazy" Selina cusses.
"I'm not seeking your trust, nor do I find any value in it. The only reason that I am telling you this is for you to relay this information back to your nocturnal companion...," the man stands up, "Or don't tell him. Far as I am concerned; my conscious is clear on this matter"
"If this was so important then why don't you tell him yourself? Why do you think that I'm just some oracle to him."
"Because Prometheus does," Jason steps closer ", He hurt you to get to Bruce... as a warning to him to stay out of his business. The moment you stop talking to Bruce is the moment Prometheus will come for you when he'll kill you. He thinks that you and Wayne are destined to be together, he thinks your love will bind you... make him perceptible... weaken him"
"He called me Bruce's inamorata, what is that supposed to mean?"
"It means that Prometheus will keep coming for you. Antagonizing you and you will keep coming after him, in a loop. Each time ending in you getting hurt and Bruce being overcome with more guilt. And it will work, you will fall for it every time because you too are battling your own demons and trust me... I know what that is like," Jason explains ", Your heart is currently full of anger, hate and sorrow, and he will use it against you." The man turns and looks up to the clock that oversees the lower floor and the balcony ", It's late. I suggest you go home and clear your head. I'm about to close up here. Don't come back here."
"So that's just it?," Selina hisses ", You know what we're dealing with - who we are dealing with, and you are just going to tell me to leave? He's a monster, a demon. We need to stop him... we have to stop him before he can hurt anyone else... he's going to keep coming until he wins."
"If the fool would persist in their folly... they would become wise...," Blüd holds his right hand against his chest "Good night. Now if you ever so kindly get the hell out of my library."
- Across Gotham -
Checkpoint Outpost
"I'm in" Batman approaches the computer, passing by two body bags. The area outside was swarming with hostile forces comprising of both Checkmate and GCPD forces along with Amanda Waller. The Dark Knight reaches into his utility belt and brings a high-tech USB which he plugs into the port.
"Decryption is in process. Estimation of thirty seconds needed," Lucius' voice informs the vigilante over the communicator ", The lockdown would have defaulted all Checkmate tech to go into a secured state. Any attempt to access it before the protocol is lifted would result in the kill switch being activated."
"And losing all the data stored on it," Lee's voice adds from Lucius' side.
"I know what a kill switch is. All of my gadgets and even the Batcave are full of them"
"Oh-uh...sorry."
"Twenty seconds"
Batman eyes focus on the screen in front of him, seeing the files deciphered one by one ", So Bruce... I've been meaning to ask you: what happened earlier? Shouldn't you have picked up the fact that Whisper went down too easily? In hindsight it was obvious that it was a trick," Lee asks the Dark Knight.
"That doesn't matter now, what does is capturing her before she can complete the assassination"
"All that I'm saying is that you haven't been putting your best foot forward lately. Every since Selina went after Prometheus... it's like you are way too distracted"
"I'm not doing this," The Dark Knight looks to the progress of the decryption.
"You are going to have to, Bruce. I get that you care for Selina. I understand that you love her... but somewhere in Gotham... there is a man's life at risk and you being distracted and unfocused is only going to put him in more danger."
"What happened to you not *believing* in this crusade of mine?"
"You already are swarmed with guilt, Bruce. The last thing you need is a heavier conscience. You will never forgive yourself if Whisper wins"
"Done. Its fully decrypted," Lucius intrudes on the duet's conversation ", Now you can see what A'Daire was looking for"
"On it," Batman searches through the records and lands on the image of an auburn-haired man "Got it. She's after someone named: Jason Blüd."
"We're seeing it, Bruce. Let's see... Jason Blüd works at the library just outside Chinatown," Lucius looks over the details on his end.
"That's too public. Whisper wouldn't want any witnesses. She would want somewhere more enclosed... like his home. You got an address?"
Streets of Gotham
Selina Kyle moves on the rooftops above, following after the auburn-haired man who walks on the sidewalk. Jason Blüd carries a messenger bag over his turtle neck. Selina continues to manoeuvre from above, staying silent and keeping out of his sight. She watches the man like he was her prey and she was the predator, like a true cat and mouse game. She sees the auburn-haired man enter one of the houses below and proceeds to follow after him, climbing onto the roof the house.
From inside, Jason walks into his study which held a medieval aesthetic. A hard wood floor with marron rugs that has a pattern of demonic imagery, Victorian bookcase surround the room almost like a layer of paint and the windows were covered by stained glass and curtains. The room was mostly dim, beside the select few lanterns placed around the room. An old-looking desk resides at the end of the room, one that was drowned in multiple books which were lit by a lantern on the side along with a full wine rack and an empty glass. A fireplace rests at the side of the study with the crackling and lively flames warming the room.
Jason Blüd walks over to the desk and takes off his glasses and drops them on one of the closed books. He grabs his small glass and one of the wine bottles from the rack. He pours the clear liquid into the glass and takes a sip. His eyebrows furrow as he notices something was in the room with him. He places the wine bottle back onto the desk but keeps the mostly full glass in hand ", I know that you are there... I can feel your presence"
"So much for having fun with this…" a voice hisses from above. Whisper A'Daire slivers down from the shadows and onto the floor. The assassin looks to the man ", It's been fun while it lasted... but I've finally found you... once I kill you he will be free to rule this world"
"I'll take it that you were the one who killed the others: Immortal Man, Mitchell, Candra, Ahri'ahn."
"What can I say? He sure knows how to treat a girl!" A'Daire grins, she grabs her blades from her beck ", It's only you left now... you are all by your lonesome"
"That's the irony of eternal youth... it often comes with a life one sees as not worth living," Jason sees Whisper charge towards him, he instinctively lifts his hand "prohibere!" his hand is shrouded a dark purple mist which also traps the redhead woman in a cage of fog, tugging her away from him. He places the glass down and turns back to A'Daire ", You may claim my life today but it won't easy," he waves his hand around and keeps emanating the mist.
"He said that you are weak, your magic is pathetic compared to your other self's. The demon's power is what kept you alive throughout the ages... and if you keep fighting against it, your magic will eventually run out...," Whisper hums, fighting against the magical binds as she slowly makes her way towards him ", Of course... you won't be alive when that happens." With one final tug, she breaks free of the incorporeal chains ", Usually I would have killed my targets by now... but you? He said that I can play a bit"
"Playtime is for children, I suggest you spend your time with books instead," Jason Blüd lifts his hand with a violet glow. Whisper looks around as she sees the books around the room fly off the shelves and heads towards her, knocking into her: legs, hands, arms, feet, chest and face like a swarm of animals on the hunt. They knock her over and pile on top of her "I do not fear my death, I have been ready for a long time."
"Give me a minute!" Whisper yells as she shoves the books off of her and jumps to her feet with a face of anger, baring her curved fangs ", I'll be sure to change your perspective..." Jason Blüd makes a break for the door to the study however, the assassin was far faster than him, beating him to the door and blocking it. Before the auburn-haired man could react to the situation, he was shoved onto the ground by A'Daire's fist ", Prometheus may have wanted me to kill you... but I'm going to be the one to enjoy this..."
Whisper A'Daire slowly approaches the downed man who crawls away from her, not losing eye contact.
"Change! Change! O form of man... free the prince forever damned... free the might from fleshy mire, boil the blood in the heart of fire...," Jason chants unnerved. His blue eyes slowly transform to a red tint. He reaches the back of his desk and sees Whisper less than a metre away ", Gone! Gone! O form of man and rise the demon-," he was stopped by the redhead shoving her hands over his mouth and mumbling his words.
"Sorry, darling but I can't have you going all demonic on me...," A'Daire grins, "You're weak old man, and its time for someone new... Though I'm disappointed, I would've loved a little fight"
"Then you are going to love me" a dark voice growls from behind the two. Whisper turns and is greeted by the sight of the Dark Knight who punches her in the face and knocks her off balance. Whisper backflips away and throws her own strike at the vigilante. Batman blocks with his gauntlet and grabs the woman by the throat and chokeslams her onto the crowded desk. A'Daire laughs playfully as she tightens her thighs around the man's waist and tilts him off his footing and slams his sides onto the desk.
"Run!" Batman orders the auburn-haired man who follows through, running out of the room.
"Oh... I love you alright... love to kill you!," Whisper jumps onto the unstable vigilante's back and wraps her legs around his waist and right arm around his neck, using her left hand to pull at the pointy ears of his cowl. She yanks Batman by the ears and brings her mouth to his armoured neck "What's the matter, Alwatwat? Have you never handled a woman like me before? It's not so easy when I don't let you win, is it?"
"I'm not interested in this game of yours," Batman throws his arms behind his back and grabs at Whisper's head. He throws her onto the wooden floor scattered with the books. A'Daire backflips off the ground. She sends a kick of her leg at Batman. The Dark Knight catches her foot and throws her back. She cartwheels away from the vigilante and smirks. Whisper sees the Dark Knight hurl another right hook at her. She evades his punch and returns with her own.
Batman uses his open palm to stop her first. Tightening down on it like a mouse trap. Whisper repeats her previous action in hitting with her other hand. Batman enclosed his other hand around hers. He falls backwards onto the ground and knees A'Daire in the stomach. He then rolls her over him, landing her past him, her head just barely touching his cowl. At the exact same time, the pair get back up onto their knees with Whisper winning in speed.
Taking use her current height advantage, she kicks forward with her left leg, turning on her heels and encloses her thighs around the back of the dark knight's neck and weighs him down onto the muddled floor. She sits down on the man's upper back and slams his head into the pile of hard-covered books ", You just had to go getting involved in business that you had no part in...," she grabs the vigilante's pointed ears and lifts his head up ", I wasn't here for you... but I'll be more than happy to end your life here and now. It's bound to save me some trouble in the future, Alwatwat..."
"I'll always be there to stop you," Batman growls, "Lucius, now!". Whisper A'Daire was propelled back by a strong surge of electricity that overtook the Batsuit. Whisper weakly rolls over onto her front as she attempts to stand with Batman doing the same. There were small fumes of smoke coming off of them.
"Are you still with us, Bruce?" Lucius asks concerned over the communicator.
"You weren't kidding... when you said that you ramped up the defibrillator..." Batman sluggishly crawls on his knees. He brings his hand up to his throat and gently caresses it.
"I'm just happy that I had the foresight to add that rubber layer within the Batsuit, because if I didn't... you would be dead"
"Remind me... to... give you... a raise," Batman stands up, weak at the knees and unable to set himself consistent footing. His cape swerves with every sudden movement, every tired and fatigued motion that he took towards the also recovering Whisper. His glowing white eyes hone in on A'Daire ", It's over. Give up... you will not take another life...," the out of breath man exhales. A'Daire cracks her neck, feeling her body stilted.
"I always get the job done. I never... fail," Whisper drops back down to her knees and holds her chest tightly. She winces in pain and feels her heart racing ", That's a nifty suit that you got there... for a moment... I thought you would have used enough voltage to stop my heart all together... but then I remembered...," she weakly laughs, holding a tooth-showing grin with her eyes closed ",... You don't kill. You're weak... that's why Prometheus will win... he's not held back by some foolish code"
"Mercy isn't a sign of weakness, it's a show of strength" Batman wobbles his way to the woman "I'm taking you in"
"Not happening," Whisper sluggishly stands up and reaches behind her "I can see why Talia fell for you... you are just as a nuisance as she is..," she throws a circular black bomb on the ground. It erupts in a large blast of smoke that shrouds her within. Batman reaches out to grab her but she was gone before he could get her. Batman now stands alone in the messy Study.
"Are you alright, Bruce? What just happened?"
"It's Whisper. She got away..." Batman reveals "We need to find her..."
"Come back to the bunker for now. We can think up a plan when you return"
"On my way. She won't go after Jason in the meantime... not when the authorities are going to be watching over him" he clenches his sides when he walks out of the room which left it empty or so he believed. A minute or two after he left, a silouette jumps down from above. Selina looks all over her surroundings. Her eyes lock onto a locked book displayed within a glass case on a stand of its own. She couldn't explain the feeling or how she started to feel it in the first place. All she was privy to was that the book was attracting her like a magnet.
She profusely thought against the urge but in the end, it won out over her. As akin to the nature of the theme of the other persona, she could not ignore her own curiosity. She steps before the stand and looks through the glass case. She reaches into the pockets of her jacket and takes out a spare set of claws she uses for her Catwoman costume. She slides on the claws like they were simple rings and proceeds to cut a hole through the glass, one large enough to fit the book's width and height.
Once she's finished, she moves to pull the book out of the case which gave her a completely clear view of it. The book appears to be coated with silver. Selina's eyes fixate on the demonic-like face that was on the front of the cover. The book was sealed shut by a latch that attached on each side. Her hands gently press against the cover, feeling all the unique markings on it ", What is this...?" She takes the book and holds it under her left arm.
Beneath Wayne Tower
- Bat-Bunker -
"She almost had you good, Bruce," Lee bandages up Bruce's right biceps. The billionaire sits on the table in the medical bay with the top half of the Batsuit removed, "From the looks of it, a couple more seconds and she would have snapped your neck like a twig."
"I had it under control," Bruce sighs.
"Sure you did" Lee pats the man on the back," If it wasn't for that *shocking* save from Mr Fox over there... you would be dead"
Lucius joins the other two at the medbay with a first aid kit in hand. He hands over to the doctor, "Lee's right, Bruce. If I hadn't added that protocol you would have died. It's not like you to give your opponent such opportunities to counter. Whisper beat you, Bruce. She won. Are you registering that?"
"Give me a break, Lucius" Bruce runs his hand through his messy hair "Whisper isn't like the other people that I have faced in this city. She's an assassin who trained under Ra's Al Ghul for decades. It also doesn't help that formula she was injected with makes her superhuman: She's super strong, her reflexes are faster than mine, her agility is beyond human...," Bruce stands up and holds his bandaged bicep, "At this point she makes Killer Croc look like a worn-out wildlife mascot," Bruce stops and falls back onto the table, hissing in pain, "Right... forgot I need the Batsuit to stand..."
"That's not it, Bruce. I know you better than that," Lee comments, "So what if she's *beyond human*? That wouldn't stop you from going after her again and again until you stop her. Whatever is going on with you... it's not about Whisper, is it? You've been shaken ever since the Prometheus guy appeared on the scene"
"If you knew what he was capable of... you would understand why..." Bruce looks down to the floor, "And Whisper is working for him. Which means this Jason Blüd guy is a person of interest to Prometheus which also means he's a person of interest to us. We have to find out why he wants him dead"
"I'll see what I can find. I'll get back to you if I find anything worthwhile," Lucius walks off out of the medbay.
Lee Thompkins takes a moment to understand the strange emotions ruling over Bruce's features: Sadness, anguish, fear, regret. They were all there, battling with each other to become the dominant emotion that he showed. She looks down as she hears her phone ring from inside her coat. She takes out and flips it open, "I got to go, Bruce. Something's just come up at Gotham General... moment of truth...," she stands up and smiles, "I get to find out if I still got a job there after that whole nightmare show"
"Take care, Lee" Bruce flatly tells the woman.
"Let me know if anything comes up, okay?" Lee collects her belongings and makes her way towards the elevator in the bunker. She stops, taking a moment to turn back to the man, "You can do this, Bruce. You just need to believe that you can"
"Last time I checked... hope is Superman's forte"," Bruce leans over the table.
"Have you tried reaching out to him? Aren't you two friends?" Lee questions.
"No," Bruce answers bluntly.
Meanwhile...
- Jason Blüd's Study -
Jim Gordon paces around the study and takes in every detail that he could: the floor drowned by the layers of books on it, the dents in the desk, the subtle dents in the cases of the books like they were stepped on by something heavy, like an armoured boot, "So let's get this straight... neighbours call in about a disturbance here. Turns out that some third-party broke into your house and totalled this whole place... and you returned home to find this mess and the perpetrator already gone?"
The Commissioner asks Jason Blüd who stood at the doorway with his hands in the pockets of his jeans, "Precisely, Commissioner. And this used to be such a nice neighbourhood. I was just as shocked as you were to find my humble home is such disarray"
"If you say so," Gordon looked down to his notepad with the notes he wrote, "We are going to have our guys here for a little longer. We'll need you to stick around too. You'll need to identify any missing belongings"
"That won't be necessary. You will be pleased to know that nothing was taken... I've already done a headcount. Everything's here," Jason Blüd informs the Commissioner. James turns his torso towards the edge of the room, "Nothing was stolen? Then how do you explain this?"
Jason Blüd follows Gordon's gaze to the breached glass case on the stand. He walks over to the case, carefully stepping over all the books on the ground on his way. He takes off his glasses and holds them at his sides, "That my dear friend is something I must see to myself. An old family heirloom if you will."
"Not if those marks are what I think they are..." Gordon gets close and examines the hole cut in the glass, "This matches the modus operandi of one of our persons of interest. But she always stuck to jewellery. Property damage on this scale is far from her norm. What kind of heirloom was placed here?"
"A book that was passed down my family through generations. Nothing that should catch this-uh *Jewels* thief's attention like you claim" Jason answers, his eyes glooming over the empty case, "This could prove troublesome if this matter is left unattended," he thinks to himself.
- Elsewhere... -
Across Gotham City
Barbara Kean sits on the couch in the living room while she looks over the shoulder of her daughter. Barbara Gordon lays on the floor, kicking her legs while she scribbles on sheets of paper. With crayons, she draws a picture of Batman, though the image was slightly more than a stick figure. Kean smiles at her daughter's joyful demeanour. Seeing her daughter smile helps soothe her own inner dread of the current state of the city. Young Barbara was so innocent, so pure. Like the best parts of both her and Jim and none of their bad. She was perfect. Absolutely amazing to her.
Barbara Kean turns when she hears the front door open. Selina walks in with a smile present, "Thanks again for letting me crash here, Barb." Selina lugs around a small rucksack over her shoulders, "It really means a lot."
"Don't mention it. You're welcome to stay for as long as you want," Barbara gets up and helps Selina with her bags, "We have a spare room... of course... there are going to be a few ground rules"
"like what?" Selina muses.
"Well, for starters:... no boys are allowed over, absolutely no swearing in front of the little one, and don't even think about snatching my wine without asking," Barbara lists to Selina. The dark-haired woman nods to the woman's mandates. Turning and spotting the girl in front of the television doodling. She realizes that Barbara Gordon was drawing Batman. Selina internally sighs at the sight, knowing that the man that she drawing was nowhere near the hero the girl thought he was.
The older woman sees Selina looking over the drawing, "Little Barbara is mad on that Batman guy. Whenever she sees Jim... she always bugs him about wanting to talk to him. It's like she sees Batman as more of a hero than her old man..."
Selina drags her eyes from the sight and back to Kean, "Well you know what they say: don't meet your heroes. I got a feeling that he wouldn't live up to her expectations. He's not the hero she thinks he is, not even close"
"If there's one thing I've learned with Jim. You can only hold a person to an impossible standard for so long before they'll end up failing you. I used to think of Jim as this imperturbable guy who always did the right thing, who never got scared or made mistakes. But then, reality set it. He lies, he feels fear just like the rest of us and he made his fair share of mistakes," she looks over to her daughter, "Sometimes, you need to take the good with the bad because no one is perfect... but that doesn't mean that they don't try to be"
"There's being flawed... then there's whatever he is. Jim didn't go around in a Halloween costume beating up street punks. I'm just saying that Barbara is looking up to a guy who she can't even begin to understand. She'll be a lot better off if she just stopped idealizing that guy," Selina suggests.
"But he stopped the bad man," the young girl shyly intrudes, crawling up to the couch, "He stopped the bad man from hurting me and my dad," she intrudes in the two women's conversation, "And the bad woman too. He saved my dad and mommy"
"So?," Selina delicately asks the girl, "You don't owe him anything so don't feel like you have to"
"I wanna meet him... I wanna ask him," young Barbara looks over the couch to Selina and Barbara Kean.
"What do you want to ask him about?" Selina sombrely questions.
"I want to... ask him why he does it? Why he helps people... I wanna ask him that"
Selina inches closer to the young girl, "Have you tried asking your dad about it?"
"... He doesn't like to talk about him anymore...," young Barbara drops her head.
"I see...," Selina was at a lost for words for the girl's pleas to talk to Bruce's alter ego. Or was Bruce Batman's alter ego? Would Bruce even care enough to do what she was asking? She knew him, more than she wishes she did. He would get mad if she asked him, claim some bullshit excuse and then treat her like the guilty party again... as he always did. Selina was driven crazy by the thought of the girl having such faith in him, such innocent hope and need to speak to him. Maybe try to understand him.
It doesn't matter anyway. Selina believed Bruce to be too heartless for it.
Barbara Kean glances down and takes out her phone after she receives a text, "Selina, I hate to drop this on you now, but I need to get back to the sirens club. Can you babysit Barbara until I get back? Should only be an a couple of hours..., the contractor screwed the pooch on the new layout" Barbara Kean requests of the other woman. Selina agrees with a subtle nod.
"Didn't you say not to swear in front of the kid?"
"Do as I say, not as I do," Barbara smiles, "You alright to get yourself unpacked? Your room is the last on the right, the empty one. You can't miss it"
"I'll manage"
Beneath Wayne Tower
- Bat-Bunker -
"Jason Blüd: the owner of the biggest Library in Gotham, has an estimated IQ of nearing four hundred, is a self-described altruistic individual, is a well-known donator to cancer research for the children's hospice ... I hate to tell you, but he checks out. He doesn't seem like the guy who would have ties to the League of Shadows or Whisper," Lucius informs Bruce.
"Not everyone is who they appear to be, Lucius. Keep looking. There has to be something, something that he can't brush under the rug," Bruce keeps his eyes on the file that is displayed on the screen, "There is something that we're missing. There has to be," he looks closer at Jason Blüd's image, "How did he form his wealth? Any fowl play suspected?"
"Inheritance. It checks out. Everything is legit"
"Too legit if you ask me," Bruce tells the other man, "no prior convictions, no public scandals, he even paid every single one of his taxes on time. His life is reported to have been quiet, then Whisper just happens to have him on her list? I doubt she would be hired to kill him if he was as squeaky clean as his records show."
"I don't know what to tell you. I can't find anything that links him to being involved with the League of Shadows"
"You will find no such detail that does" a voice calls out to them. Bruce and Lucius both turn to see Jason Blüd stood at the top of the set of metal stairs that lead to the underground tunnels. The Auburn-haired man stands with his arms held behind his back, "I've never been involved with the League. I'm a man of education, not their brand of justice that they spout."
"How did you get in here?" Bruce growls at Jason.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Blüd saunters towards the pair of men, "How I got here isn't important. What is, is why I'm here. It appears that we share a common foe, I believe the best course of action is to work together on this matter," the redhead explains as he looks directly at Bruce.
"Just who the hell are you?," Bruce reaches behind his back and grabs a Batarang from his belt.
"That's a long, long story. Over sixteen hundred years worth if I was to be precise..."
"You're immortal like Ra's was... like Prometheus is?" Bruce tightens his grip around the Batarang behind his back.
"To the contrary, immortality is a broad spectrum. For some, it means never worrying about one's death, but for others... it just means eternal youth. No, I can still die... I just get to look young forever," Jason Blüd clicks his fingers, "But of course, if are not yet trusting of my intent than feel free to throw that Batarang at me if it would make you feel better."
"What if it does?," Bruce reveals his clenched first with the Batarang, "I'm not exactly a trusting person. I'm going to need more to go on, otherwise, I am going to have to take you out. Tell me: Why is Whisper after you?"
"We are in your kingdom... and you are the king, I believe an explanation is reasonable. My name is Jason Blüd and I have walked this earth since the sixth century. I believe that you are referring to Whisper A'Daire, right? She's not after me, her employer is. Prometheus has been trying to find me for years now, he ordered Whisper to kill me... just like she did the rest."
"Rest?" Lucius asks.
"I'm not the only immortal to walk this Earth, neither is Prometheus," Jason takes off his glasses, "Tsaritsa, Darhk, Casandra, Ra's al Ghul. There's more than that too. We were gods among men... but then us gods... got greedy. We formed god complexes," he shrugs, "Prometheus wanted to be the one only, the only god of humanity, so he began hunting us down. Though his immortality made him almost unable to be killed… not all of us shared that trait"
"And he had them all killed? Why would he need Whisper to do his dirty work for him?" Bruce comments.
"There are rules in place by things you cannot begin to understand, rules that stop us, immortals, from kill one another. He cannot kill me as much as I can kill him, we are never allowed to fight. That's why Prometheus is using Whisper to hunt me down..."
"Wait, you said that he was almost unable to die...? You know how to beat him, don't you?"
"Only one man knew precisely how to do it. Ra's al Ghul knew the secret and he took it to his grave, I'm afraid without him; Prometheus could be unstoppable... that is... unless you and I combine our forces and work together because its the only way that we are going to make it out of this alive," Jason answers.
- Elsewhere... -
Across Gotham City
Selina looks over the silver crested book she placed on her own lap. Her eyes fixated on the demonic imagery, the rough hexagonal pattern and what looks be like subtle claw marks. She sits in silence, not bringing herself to open it like there was some force telling her not to, fighting against her will. She wanted to reach out to it, touch it but she just couldn't. Not because she chose not to but because of the looming darkness she could sense coming from it, that was almost forcing her away from it.
"Just what are you?" she whispers.
"What are you looking at?" Barbara Gordon crawled onto the couch with Selina, "That thing looks mean."
"This thing?" Selina looks away from the book and to the girl sat beside her, "No, it's just some fancy book. That's it... I bought it as a present for a friend whose into this kind of stuff," she reassures the young girl who still carried a nervous expression. Selina sees the girl holding a sketchbook tightly to her chest, "That your artbook? Mind if I take a peak... I love your work."
"Okay... but don't tell mommy," the girl timidly hands the pad over to Selina.
"Why don't you want your mom to know?" Selina flips through the pages in the book. As expected it was full of drawings of Batman, though done in black crayon. Ones of Batman standing, ones of him looking out over the city, ones of him holding hands with a girl who Selina guessed was the person who drew it. Selina was lost. Barbara seemed to have an infatuation with him. She really did see him as a hero. Selina was greeted with similar drawings until...
The next page she turned to shocked her, made her shiver and shake. Green, purple and red crayon cover the page in the form a nightmarish rendition of the man he used to be Jeremiah Valeska. It was frightening, bright red crayon was used for the stretched lips of the man. Selina turns to the next page and sees a similar drawing though more crude and haunting. She turns again, and again, finding greater and greater fear-inducing imagery.
"... What is this, Barbara?"
"That's the bad man..."
"Why are you drawling him? Why?" Selina places her hands on the girl's shoulders.
"Because I see him in my dreams... he's always there... he hurts my dad..., he always laughing" the girl shyly admits, not looking the woman in the eye.
"Those aren't dreams. They're nightmares. You need to tell your mother... she needs to know about this"
"... She'll get mad..."
Selina gently brushes the girl's hairs back, "What? She won't be mad at you. Why- Why would you think that?"
"Not at me... at my dad, like before. I don't want them to fight again... please don't tell mommy, please, please"
"Hey... look at me... it's going be alright, I promise," Selina lifts the girl's chin up, "Is that why you want to talk to Batman?"
Barbara nods with her eyes watering, "He makes the bad man go away."
Selina is speechless, not having any ideas on what to say. She can't respond, she just doesn't know how to. Barbara was fragile, just a kid. Yet she has already been terrorized by the man who also haunts her. She remembers the fear she felt and then has to imagine what the girl must be going through at her young age.
Gotham Docks
"In position"
"In position"
"in position"
Jason Blüd stands at the end of the wooden pier along the docks of Gotham City. Lucius waits up by one of the cargo shipments with a tranq gun in hand. He looks through the scope and onto the pier that had Jason on it. Batman lurks in the shadows, among the various crates.
"She's going to be aware that this is indeed a trap," Jason's voice comes through Batman's communicator.
"That's the point"
"I see...," Blüd pinches the spot between his eyes, "I'm the sacrificial lamb to your endeavour, how quaint you must be feeling right now..."
"Keep Radio Silence and don't move."
"We got movement. On your six" Lucius radios to the two men.
"... Clever girl," Jason Blüd looks to the female assassin that casually walking towards him. Whisper A'Daire ambles to the man. Her green eyes shine from within the darkness that oversees the docks. She reaches behind her back to the blade attached to her harness. Her pale skin was accentuated by the cloak of the night that made her almost look undead with shadows across her eyes. She twists the hilt of her blade and holds it down to her sides.
"A trap is only as such when you no idea of it, I expected more from a man of your calibre. Same goes for you, Alwatwat. hiding in the shadows," A'Daire looks over to the crates of the darks which had two glowing white eyes, "You will all die, even the man on whose pointing the toy at me."
"How did Ra's al Ghul's little pet get so much bite?" Blüd ferociously asks with a glare, "He didn't care about you my dear, you were just a means to an end for him. You meant nothing to him. Ra's only cared about himself..."
"Silence yourself or I shall cut out your tongue!," Whisper growls. She lifts her blade, "I did everything for him. I slayed armies in his name, I marked the ground with the blood of his enemies. I served the Shadows with my life... my love for him was genuine"
"That's a detail that Talia never told me," Batman reaches for his grapple launcher.
Jason Blüd removes his glasses and tries to hold back a smirk, "And what did he do to return your love? He caged you up, cut you open and put you through an agony only a few men and woman know. And why? Because Ra's was only interest in serving his own selfish needs. You were no more than the dirt on which he walked on," he softly chews on the end pieces of the frame of his glasses, "And after all that? You still fooled yourself into thinking that you loved him"
"I did... I DID! I would have honoured his will... but his bitch of a daughter banished me! She made the League think that I broke their laws! I was disgraced, broke, alone. I HAD NOTHING LEFT...," Whisper saunters forward, "But to turn to a man who could make the pain go away, someone who could let me burn the world... as it burned me," she steps closer and closer to Blüd, "Only Prometheus can save me now!"
"Talia lied... Whisper never extorted those people... Talia set her up..." Batman's eyes widen. Batman breaks out of the cover and comes out into the open. He stands behind the woman, a few metres away from her.
"Bruce? What are you doing? We have a plan," Lucius radios down to the Dark Knight.
"Plan's changed. I can't go through with it now... she needs help..."
"Don't need your help, Alwatwat! Especially from a man who slept with the woman who destroyed me!," Whisper A'Daire shouts, "I will kill both of you tonight, I swear"
"What are you doing? She's here to kill me!" Jason throws his arms up, "So what if she had a tough life? You did... and you turned out fine... mostly."
"If you want to kill him... then you have to go through me! If you truly cared about Ra's... then prove it...," Batman trudges towards Whisper. The woman turns to face the vigilante, lifting her blade, "Accept my declaration: I challenge you to trial by combat!"
"A fight to the death?" Whisper ponders, "You? Aw, sweetie... who are you fooling? I am well aware of your reluctance to take a life? Why the hell would I even begin to think of accepting? You'll only be wasting my time"
"You don't know, do you?," Batman proclaims as he steps closer to her, "You may blame Talia for banishing you from the League... but I gave her the means to do so, the means to put her in charge," the Dark Knight and A'Daire were no more than a meter away from each other, "I'm the one who killed Ra's al Ghul... I am the person who he chose over you, I am the man who took him away from you!" Batman witness the change in the woman's face. A once semi-playful expression now turned into a face of pure rage "And I am offering you the means to finally get your vengeance!"
"Oh dear..." Blüd mummers, "This isn't a part of the plan"
"... What are you doing, Bruce...? Do you want her to kill you?" Lucius yells through Batman's earpiece.
"Alright... I accept... I accept your plea for death," Whisper returns her blade to the holster, "But not here... I won't allow you to have a grave, that's far too good for you... you will die, and no one shall ever discover your body... Nanda Parbat, 48 hours. If you don't show... then I shall murder every single person you hold dear, I will make the streets run with the blood of your loved ones," she reaches into her garb, "I grant you this curtesy, thus I demand my own from you... bring the woman you love with you to Nanda Parbat... so she may watch me slit your throat... fail, and you wish to beg me for a swift death!"
"And my quarry too, I do not wish to travel to this city once again... in the meantime... I'll take a little insurance... how about the man up there?," A'Daire turns her head to look up at Lucius "Enjoy your last day on this earth. " Whisper throws down another smoke bomb that conceals her, covering her exit from the scene. Batman's eyes widen, looking up to try and spot Lucius but he couldn't. He grabs at his earpiece and frantically yells his name.
"Lucius! Lucius! LUCIUS! Oh no, no, no, no! She took him!" Batman's hands clench into fists. He pulls down his cowl and looks out into the distance, "... What have I done...?"
"You had a chance to beat her before... but now? You just gave her the perfect motivation to fight... vengeance, a feeling that you are all too familiar with. One that you know the power of... you have just sent me and everyone else you love to the gallows...," Jason Blüd puts his glasses back on. The two stood on the docks, alone as the early hours of the morning slowly approach the city.
To Be Continued...
A/N:
I know Jason's name is spelled as "Blood", however for this story it's going to be written as "Blüd".