Issue 8
Predators
"Kanjar Ro, where are you?"
Batman tosses the glowstick down the tunnel ahead. It lands about 15 feet from where they are now. In the little circle of green light, the group can see the tunnel open up into a cavern of some kind. A big one from the look of it. They move forward slowly, weapons ready.
As they step into the light, Green Arrow picks up the glowstick and holds it over his head. They are standing in the mouth of a truly massive cave; the wall on either side of the tunnel entrance continues indefinitely into the darkness. Green Arrow steps forward, trying to see further into the emptiness. He looks up; the ceiling rises up at least 40 feet above them. He looks around again. Kanjar Ro is nowhere to be seen.
He spots something from the corner of his eye. "Back in the tunnel!"
Too late. A bolt from some energy weapon strikes Katana in the chest.
From unseen hiding places and rocky ledges above them, a barrage of laser weapons open fire on them. The cavern is now a disorienting, psychedelic swirl of red flashing light. Bolts of visible energy striking the rocks around the group, some dangerously close. From the volume of fire and the multiple shrieks of glee, Green Arrow guesses there are at least ten attackers.
He dodges behind a bit of rock near the center of the cavern, and fires a quick burst from his rifle at one of the flashes of light. He looks toward the tunnel. There's no way he can get to it through the storm of laser beams around him. Most of the enemy fire is directed toward the mouth of the tunnel itself.
Crouching in the tunnel, Batman presses a bandage against Katana's wound as Deathstroke and Bane return fire with their assault rifles. Robin stands watch further back in the tunnel, hoping nothing comes at them from behind.
From the light of the gunfire only yards away, Batman watches in horror as the dark stain spreads across Tatsu's white t-shirt. Groaning, she lifts her head off the rough stone floor and looks at the wound.
"Well, that doesn't look good," she sighs weakly.
Batman grunts, using his teeth to tear the glove from one hand while keeping the other pressed against her chest. "It's high," he mumbles. "Missed your organs. I think."
He curses silently as the blood keeps flowing, running over his hands and down to the stone beneath. He's been in this place before, with another Yamashiro.
Ripping her shirt open, he wads up a piece of it and forces it into the gaping wound. That's when a flash of light from Deathstroke's rifle reveals something he hadn't noticed before: blood soaking the ground from underneath Katana's back. The blast went straight through.
He looks at her face, pale beneath the mask. She's watching him intently, and forces a smile when he turns to her.
"You couldn't help it," she whispers. "Not now, not before."
He looks away, unable to think of the right thing to say. She knows. She knows what he did, she recognizes him as the Black Ninja.
"I've made peace with my husband's death," she continues. "Lady Shiva told me what it was like to serve Ra's al Ghul." She reaches up to grab Batman's arm. "It was not your fault."
Bane holds his rifle at the hip, hurling bullets into the darkness. It's enough cover for Deathstroke to charge. He lets out a savage roar as he leaps into the cave. Hellfire seems to dance from the muzzle of his gun, and as he runs he tosses hand grenades left and right, into the hiding places of the space pirates. Explosions and a couple screams. He laughs as he drops down beside Green Arrow.
"Well, kid, isn't this fun?"
Green Arrow doesn't answer. His rifle empty, he fires at the remaining pirates with a Glock pistol. A bug-eyed, orange-skinned body tumbles from a ledge.
"Nice, Oliver, nice. Keep it up; I'm gonna' get his rifle."
He darts off before Green Arrow can protest, zig-zagging toward the downed alien. Green Arrow pokes his gun out to cover him, only to hear a hollow click. From the tunnel comes the reassuring rat-tat-tat of Bane's rifle.
Batman hears the explosions and gunfire from the cavern beyond. A haze spreads into the tunnel from the debris. He's rolled Katana onto her side, pressing another wad of her shirt into the exit wound on her back. The bleeding has slowed for now, but Katana's breath is shallow. Too shallow; her face too pale.
The gunfire in the cave slows. The pirates are probably regrouping after the unexpectedly stiff resistance. With the newfound quiet, Batman can suddenly hear the howling of the hellhounds, getting closer.
Green Arrow crouches behind the rock, slipping a new magazine into his pistol. Deathstroke has found a covered position against the far wall, holding one of the space pirates' laser rifles in his hands. Suddenly, Green Arrow notices the dim light that has filled the cave. Looking up above Deathstroke's position, he sees that the roof has actually caved in, revealing the sunlight and greenery above. Probably due to one of Deathstroke's hand grenades.
The voice of Kanjar Ro calls out. "Leave your food in the cave, and you can go without further harm! And your weapons!"
Deathstroke laughs. "Yeah right, your little runt. We'll die out there with no weapons or food!"
"You can find a way to survive," Kanjar Ro answers. "Or not. But this is how we survive."
"If you want to take our stuff," Deathstroke sneers, "you had better be man enough to come out here and get it!"
There's a moment of silence. Then, their bug eyes shining out of the darkness, reflecting the sunlight, fifteen of the alien pirates appear, surrounding Deathstroke and Green Arrow with their rifles levelled. They're all wearing armor, several of them showing dings where bullets struck. Green Arrow shakes his head. Of course they have the advantage; they wouldn't have lured the group into this ambush if they hadn't.
In the tunnel, Katana seems oblivious to the pirate's threats. She's looking at Robin, a faint smile on her face. With his black hair, and the mask covering his face, its easy to imagine that he is her son Akio. She wonders, not for the first time, what he could have become had he lived.
Her eyes drift back to Batman. "Take my mask off," she murmurs.
Her voice is so soft he's not sure he heard her right. He reaches toward her face, hesitates. She nods faintly. Gently, he pulls the mask off, revealing the face he remembers from the night he became a monster. But today she's smiling. He pushes back his own cowl.
She nods again. "Take Soultaker. If you get off this planet, return her to the shrine of the Yamashiros. That will be your pilgrimage, Bruce Wayne." She sighs, and her eyes close. "Then you can forgive yourself."
She goes limp in his arms. He closes his eyes and lays her back gently. The first tear he's shed since his parents' funeral falls on her cheek. Batman can't cry. But apparently Bruce Wayne can.
A hand grabs him roughly by the shoulder. The barrel of an alien blaster is jammed in his face. "Let's go, pointy-ears."
He looks up to see the face of Kanjar Ro leering over him. Behind their treacherous former guide he sees Bane, a circle of the diminutive aliens around the giant with their rifles raised. Batman takes a deep breath, fully prepared to tear Kanjar Ro's smile off his face. Instead he freezes, staring over Bane's shoulder.
Through the gaping hole made by Deathstroke's grenade, a toothy, tusk-ringed face watches the scene. Next to it is another, saliva dripping from its massive jaws. Rising from their collars are what seem to be leashes, suspended in the air as if held by an unseen hand. A flicker of light quivers across the surface of… something, and then disappears.
"Come on, hand over that sword and your backpack."
Two glowing yellow spots appear above the hellhounds. Batman hears that same clicking sound he heard on the balcony at Arkham.
Kanjar Ro hears it too, and his expression changes completely. His weapon shaking in his hand, his head turns slowly around – and then disintegrates in a bolt of blue energy.
Shrieks of pure terror rise from the throats of the remaining pirates. The quiet scene is instantly chaos. The monster dogs leap down into the cavern. Blue beams of deadly light strike down pirates left and right as they try to scurry off into side tunnels. Unseen hunters leap about the cavern, slaughtering with their energy weapons as well as with slashes and stabs from invisible blades.
Bane stumbles back into the tunnel, awestruck by the ghostly destruction. Inside the cavern, in the midst of the carnage, Deathstroke and Green Arrow spray bullets where the apparitions should be. But the unseen hunters stay on the move, dodging bullets and blasters alike. The hellhounds stay back in the shadows, watching their masters kill without interfering.
Deathstroke drops an empty magazine and slaps a new one into place. Suddenly the rifle is knocked aside as an impact strikes his chest. He looks down.
The metal shaft of a spear protrudes from his chest. He doesn't need to look behind him to know the head of the spear is sticking out from between his shoulder blades. Whatever material the spear is made of, it cut right through his armor.
He drops to his knees. The warm, coppery taste of blood rises in his throat. his hand falls to the sword at his side. He looks up to see two glowing eyes directly in front of him.
Then there's a flicker like an electric current. Long, claw-like fingers appear, hands wrapped around the shaft of the spear. Then the arms appear, bare and muscular, with greenish-yellow skin. A final surge of electricity, and the full figure squatting in front of him becomes visible.
His killer is broad-shouldered, powerful. He wears a chainmail shirt and iron pauldrons on his shoulders. Mounted on the pauldrons are a pair of sci-fi cannons of some sort. An iron mask, smeared with dry mud, covers the creature's face, and small green vines are braided in amongst his tentacle-like dreadlocks.
So this is the famous Predator then. Deathstroke chuckles, the spear in his chest making it hard to breathe. "You," he hisses through clenched teeth, "are one of the ugliest –"
His sword slices upward, severing the creature's arm. There's a bellow of pain, and Deathstroke is jerked upright as the Predator tries to pull his spear back. He raises the sword again, this time thrusting the sharp point of the blade through the creature's neck, just above the chainmail. Impaled on each other's weapons, Predator and prey stare at each other for a moment. Then, they both chuckle weakly, and fall in tandem to the floor.
Sprinting for the exit, Green Arrow thinks Deathstroke is still right behind him. Over the cries of the dying pirates, he doesn't hear Slade Wilson's final chuckle. He only sees the shock on the faces of Batman, Robin, and Bane. Then he jumps over the headless body of Kanjar Ro, and rolls into the tunnel.
He stops short when he sees Katana, eyes closed, mask on the ground next to her. He helped her bury Akio many years ago; now Soultaker is without a master. He looks back and finally sees Deathstroke, once his best friend, then his bitter rival. Now just a dead man, lightyears from home.
The noise dies down. Three of the killers become visible, standing over the bodies of the fallen, scanning the scene through the dark visors on their bio-masks. In the dim light of the cave, the Predators loom over the scene like ancient gods of war. None of the fighters crouching in the tunnel have ever seen anything like them. Their light armor and lighter clothing leave most of the scaly skin uncovered, revealing powerful, warlike physiques. The Predators are muscular, but still wiry and agile, relying on their stealth and fighting prowess to protect them on the hunt rather than heavy armor.
The fallen Predator next to Deathstroke, with the looks of a jungle stalker, is a darker green than the remaining trio. Their skin is more of a muted yellow, and they each stand over seven feet tall. The first and smallest of the three wears armor made from the exoskeleton of some type of large, black insect, and stands over his victims holding a long, whip-like chain in his hands, with a curved dagger at the end of it. While his fallen comrade wears a blaster on both shoulders, this eager new-blood wears one only on his left shoulder. The second Predator, regarding the slaughter almost dismissively, has a similar blaster on his right shoulder. A long, curved blade extends from a wrist-guard on his opposite arm. More notably, he wears a red ring on his finger, its cracked face engraved with a red lantern.
But the most notable figure of the group stands between the first two, and towering over either of them. This Predator is massive, taller and with broader shoulders than even Bane. Its armor is a shiny black, adorned with intricate gold accents. A plate covers the chest area, spikes and shoulder cannons rise from the black pauldrons, and a skirt of black chainmail hangs from its belt. A wrist-blade, larger than the one belonging to the younger Predator in the xeno-armor, is attached to the massive Predator's gauntlet, orange blood dripping from the blade. On the opposite hand is a black buckler.
Staring at these three monsters – the Yautja, as Kanjar Ro called them – the group in the tunnel slowly back up; away from the light, away from the death. Green Arrow hates to leave Katana and Deathstroke behind, but he reasons they can come back for the bodies when the Predators are gone. Best to stay alive for now. Behind him, he hears someone's foot crunch on gravel.
The Predator in the black and gold armor turns and looks directly at the tunnel. The entire group freezes. Green Arrow stares wide-eyed at the visor, wondering if it actually sees them.
The Predator in the xeno-armor leaps forward toward the sound. A triangle appears on the wall, three little dots of red light, carving through the darkness until they stop centered on Robin's chest. The awful clicking sound from the throat of the young Yautja.
And then, the leader – the massive Predator in the black armor – laughs. Laughs in the voice of David Cain.