Issue 10
The Ascent
On a ledge halfway up the mountain, Bane rises slowly to his feet. His vision has begun to blur, and he's breathing far more heavily than he should be, even after the brutal trek up the mountainside. He opens one of the pouches on his belt, pulling out a syringe of Venom and popping the cap off. Taking a deep breath, he jabs the needle into his forearm, pressing the contents into his bloodstream with a low grunt.
The Venom takes hold, spreading power throughout his body. Hundreds of thousands of little cellular powerplants all firing at once. He breathes out slowly, feeling the strength surge through him. His muscles seem to stretch, almost trying to break through the skin. After a moment, the wave passes, leaving him feeling simply invincible, ready for battle once more.
Batman stands up, helping the Green Arrow to his feet. Bane shakes his head at the sight of the injured archer. Only a blackened, cauterized stump remains where his arm had been, effectively placing his days as an archer solidly in the past. In Bane's opinion, the future of the Starling City vigilante is irrelevant, as he doubts a single arm is enough to survive this world the trio find themselves in. after all, as was just painfully proven, this planet belongs to the Predators. Earth's finest are nothing more than children here.
Strangely enough, he finds himself admiring the Yautja. They were there all the time, and no one in the group ever saw them, ever really felt their presence. True, there had been points when he and the others suspected they weren't entirely alone, but they had never suspected what was really all around them. The Yautja had stalked them carefully, noting their strengths and weaknesses, finding out who the leader was. David Cain had seemed to be the alpha amongst the humans, so the leader of the Yautja was entitled to him as the first kill. After that, it was simply open season for a pack, or perhaps a clan, of the most deadly hunters the ferocity of space had to offer.
Bane looks down at the needle, still in his hand. It was the Yautja who had left them the weapons and food, had even supplied Venom for his own special needs. They had done everything they could to prepare the group before the coming storm. And, he reasons, they could have easily killed them all while they were unconscious on their way here from Earth.
Everything, from the way David Cain was killed to what Kanjar Ro had to say about the Yautja, had depicted a deadly species that hunted other races as a way of testing their worth. And that is something Bane can appreciate.
The hellhounds are howling as they clamber up the steep incline toward their victims. "Come on," Bane challenges the vigilantes, "get moving unless you want to be dog-meat!"
His energy restored by the Venom, and a small taste of a gambler's thrill in the back of his throat, Bane looks up at the ascent above them. The going is too steep to climb safely without the use of all four limbs – a luxury the Green Arrow no longer has. With an impatient grunt, Bane hoists the Green Arrow onto his back and presses on up the mountain.
Batman pauses a moment, watching the giant climb with the archer clinging to his back. He knows how much Bane values strength and survival. Surprised that Bane would burden himself with Green Arrow at all, he wonders how long it will be before the giant decides that Oliver is slowing them down and leaves him behind.
The crunching sound of loose rock. Batman looks back; the hellhounds are almost to the ledge. Through the trees, he thinks he sees the outline of a Predator at the foot of the mountain. He turns and follows after Bane. After all, best to handle things one problem at a time. If the hellhounds tore them to pieces, the Predators weren't really a problem, after all.
Bane pulls himself from handhold to handhold. A root, a buried rock, a sapling clinging to the mountainside – whatever he can find to support some of his weight as his boots combat the steep terrain taking him either to safety or his death. Its safe to assume there are more Predators on the ship; at least one to watch over things.
He grunts, repositioning the archer on his back. Still in shock and with only one arm, Green Arrow is struggling to hang on to consciousness, let alone his grip on Bane's shoulder harness. His days as a great warrior are over, and Bane wonders why he even bothers to drag him along. With every minute, the gap between the Predators and their prey shrinks a little. Even with the aid of his Venom, carrying a 200-pound man up a steep incline is not an easy feat. To do so, only to face the perfect hunter afterwards in a fight to the death seems foolish.
Beneath them, the Predator leader stoops forward to step out of the cave and into the sunlight. The dark visor turns upward, gazing up the mountain. The newblood Predator in the xeno-armor darts up the slope after the escaping figures, but stops and looks back to his leader as if waiting for permission. The lead Predator doesn't give it right away; still angry with the young warrior for gunning down the child. It would have been better to fight hand to hand, as fair play dictated. But the newblood is young and impatient, so his mistake is overlooked this time.
The long blades on the leader's gauntlet retract somewhat, allowing the scaly fingers to reach up and cup the Predator's chin as the eyes followed the path the three humans were taking up the mountain. A thought occurred to the killer suddenly, making the head tip back as the inhuman clicking sound rose into the air again.
A sudden burst of movement. The lead Predator bounds forward, leaping over rocks and logs as it begins the climb. Surprised at first, the remaining two Yautja quickly follow behind their leader. After days spent stalking with the aid of their cloaking devices, the hunt is rapidly approaching the grand finale.
Looking over his shoulder, Batman notices the Predators starting the climb. A more immediate concern, however, are the hellhounds rapidly gaining on their quarry. Bane recognizes the threat as well, and scrambles in an effort to find some sort of solid footing before the beasts close the distance completely.
The ascent levels off somewhat. The three fugitives find themselves on a flat, grassy area with another steep incline above them. Batman helps Bane lower Green Arrow to the ground, placing the Soultaker blade within reach of the archer's remaining hand. He then takes his place beside Bane, just as a trio of tusked snouts come into view.
Still far below both the humans and the hellhounds, the lead Predator stops climbing for a moment and pulls the bio-mask off, revealing a face that is distinctly inhuman, yet also somehow different from the features of the other Yautja. Like any other of the species, the face is blocky with a heavy, pronounced bone structure. Yet the features seem more angular than most warriors, with a softer expression capable of both cruelty and compassion. Combined with the powerful but regal bearing, the Yautja leader seems somehow almost matriarchal. Her yellow eyes look back to the two warriors following behind her, then she turns to glare up the mountainside. But her anger seems to be directed at the hounds rather than at the humans. Sharp-tusked mandibles spread in a low snarl, as the leader reaches for something on her belt.
The shrill call of a whistle is heard. Up on the ledge, the hellhounds stop in their tracks, as if obeying a command from their Yautja masters. But with the scent of blood still in their nostrils and the thrill of a chase under their feet, the hellhounds soon disregard the instruction, baring their fangs and throwing themselves at their quarry. Batman sidesteps, allowing the first set of tusks to pass harmlessly by before wrapping both arms around the creature's neck with the sharp tusks pointed safely away from him.
The hellhound thrashes on powerful limbs, his claws not quite able to reach the Dark Knight. He tightens his grip, constricting the beast's airflow much as he did with Bane when they first found themselves in the jungle together. But this time, instead of choking until his assailant passes out, he shifts his weight suddenly, twisting the creature's massive head away from its body. He's rewarded by the sound of crunching bone, and the hellhound goes silent and still.
Green Arrow rolls out of the way as a hellhound charges him. Twisting back around suddenly, he braces himself with his leg and drives Katana's blade through the hellhound's neck. The razor-sharp blade buries itself in the beast's torso, not stopping until the katana's hilt collides with the hound's shoulder. With a dull thud, the creature drops to the ground, nearly wrenching Soultaker from Green Arrow's grasp.
The last of the three hellhounds has hurled himself at Bane. By now, however, the Venom-fueled giant is tired of being the prey. Meeting the creature's roar with one of his own, he faces the attack head-on, seizing the hound by its horns and throwing it against the ground. A yelp merges with a snarl as the beast attacks again. Again Bane catches hold of the tusks ringing the brutal skull. He screams directly in the creature's face, as it struggles in his grip and snaps its jaws. Then, his enormous muscles quivering with the effort, he pulls the tusks in opposite directions. As Batman stands up after breaking the neck of his own hellhound, he can only stare with wide eyes as Bane rips the beast in half from snout to tail.
The Yautja warriors stop short as the blood-spattered giant stands above them. With a final, triumphant roar, he lifts his arms up, holding one side of the hellhound in each hand for the Predators to see. One warrior remains impassive at the gory sight, while the newblood recoils with a savage shriek. The leader, however, merely laughs at the sight. Her yellow eyes dance with anticipation. She will kill the giant herself. She throws aside her armor in order to move faster, and starts climbing again.
Bane drops the hellhound and turns back to Batman and the Green Arrow. "We're not going to outrun them," he says, his breathing heavy as he wipes the blood from his face. He points to Green Arrow. "He's slowing us down too much."
Green Arrow stands up, Batman moving to support him for the next portion of the climb. Bane shakes his head, noticing the ex-archer's pale skin, shaking knees, and the sweat glistening on his face and arms.
"He'll never make it, Batman."
Batman refuses to answer. His jaw set, he takes a step upward again, practically dragging Green Arrow along with him.
"Fine," Bane mutters, pushing past them. "I'll deal with whoever is on the ship. But then I'm getting off this planet, whether you two make it or not."
And with that, Bane climbs upward, quickly leaving the others behind.
Batman struggles with the weight of Green Arrow leaning on his shoulder. The footing is treacherous, and Green Arrow seems unable to fully focus on the terrain. Keeping his attention on the climb ahead of them, Batman can't even look back to see how close the Predators are getting. His weary nerves start to play tricks with him; he imagines the dark masks and sharp blades just over his shoulder.
But, gritting his teeth, he keeps climbing. Green Arrow helps as well as he can, digging deep into his willpower reserves. His mind, nearly delirious, wanders back to that horrible island. Robbed of his father and unable to communicate with the outside world, Oliver Queen had learned to survive alone for two years before a ship appeared. The Amazo had brought even more horrors to the island called Purgatory, but it had also reunited him with Sara Lance, introduced him to Nyssa al Ghul, and led him to the League of Assassins.
Now, once again in a jungle with little chance of survival and a horrible death literally over their shoulders, Oliver can only mutter one word to keep himself from blacking out: "Shengcun."
Batman nods, recognizing the Mandarin word for "survive". He looks up at the unforgiving slope above them. Bane has disappeared in the trees, on his way to the Predators' spacecraft they can only hope is there and able to take them away from this planet. Below them are the Predators themselves, hurrying to close in on them. No doubt they've recognized the humans' plan.
Against these odds, Batman can only shrug and keep climbing. "We'll survive, Al-Sahim. We'll survive somehow."
He can still see Robin, Katana, and Slade laying dead inside the cave. There's a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that he doesn't even believe his own assurances.