Chapter 22: Batman vs. Desaad (Part 2)

Batman leapt onto an experimental pod as Desaad prepared to launch another attack. It happened that during their battle, Desaad had used his Father Box to transport Batman directly above the floor of the lab, intending to send him falling to his death. But again, the cruel Minister of Science underestimated Batman's resourcefulness. As he fell, the Dark Knight used a Bat-grapple to swing to safety, and then he landed on one of the experiment pods. He regained his footing when without warning, one of the pods on the other side of the room came flying at him.

Batman dove onto another pod as the one coming at him hit where he had been standing, sending shards of metal and carbonated glass flying across the chamber. Batman then scaled a few rows of the pods as two more smashed into the row below him. It took Batman only a twenty-fifth of a second to realize that Desaad was tearing the experimental processing pods from the walls with his Father Box.

Still standing on the elevated platform, Desaad let out a guttural cackle as he continued to hurl experimental pods at the Dark Knight, who kept jumping, twirling, and leaping to avoid the flying metal containers that housed writhing, howling beings at various stages of the Parademon transformation process. As he dodged another pod, Batman formulated a plan to end this battle quickly before more time to save Earth was lost.

As Desaad flung another pod at him, Batman pulled a thin strap like a seat belt from one of the compartments on his utility belt and tossed it. It wrapped around the pod, and then Batman typed in some instructions to the device through his glove-mounted mini-computer. Suddenly, the strap propelled the pod away from Batman via rocket jets. It sailed for Desaad, who lowered the elevated platform by a good fifty feet.

Batman smirked and thought to himself, Just what I wanted him to do.

He used his Bat-grapple to swing across the chamber and land on the elevated platform, where he used his grappling hook to disarm Desaad of his Father Box and then drew his Bat-saber again. Desaad only took up the vibro-pike again and shot a concentrated blast of energy at him. But again, Batman was ready for the attack. He brought up his Bat-saber to deflect the red blast of lightning-like power and held his ground against the new assault. Desaad continued firing on Batman as he sneered coldly. The vibro-pike's energy was hurting Batman badly by now and for a moment it seemed Desaad would overcome him. But Batman slowly began to angle his Bat-saber toward Desaad's gruesome face, turning the energy away from himself. Finally, the vibro-pike began to overheat from the strain until it was blown apart. The energy rebounded from Batman's saber and sent the Minister of Science reeling over the edge.

Desaad clung to the edge of the platform and tried to climb back up to finish Batman off. Then the Dark Knight walked to the edge and glowered at Desaad, towering over the Apokoliptan villain like a vampire waiting to deal his bite. Without a word, Batman activated the Boom Tube under Desaad, then kicked out at the villain's head and sent him falling. Desaad fell with a scream of wrath through the portal and was sent back to Apokolips. Batman dropped the Father Box to the floor and lowered the platform, then slowly walked from the ship laboratory. Unknown to the others, he had a Mother Box on his belt and a strategy to send Darkseid's army back.