Deathstroke made his escape in the confusion, leaving everyone else to their own devices. Batman sent everyone else to Italy to grab The Question and then head back to the Batcave. He and Tim remained behind on the boat, to gather as much intel as they possibly could. It took a good six hours to sift through it all before they headed back to the Batcave; Batman summoned the Batwing to take them back. When he and Red Robin arrived, everyone else, The Question included, was waiting for them.
"We've gathered and sorted through all of the intel on the boat. None of it was relevant to the Broker's location. Question, you said you have something?" Batman asked. The Question, who was sitting at the Batcomputer, turned in the chair, fingers steepled.
"Indeed I do. Or rather, I have a theory, and a hunch, but I suspect I am correct."
"Well? Let's hear it then," Barbara asked, wheeling toward him from across the cave. The Question rose from the chair and began to pace back and forth across the cave.
"In 1944, Hitler began sending Nazi soldiers to Antarctica to scout out the potential for establishing a forward base," The Question began, pausing for a moment to glance across the cave at everyone. "It was a high strategic location; form Antarctica, he would have access to the entire world."
"Another Conspiracy Theory. Of course," Damian said with a derisive snort, crossing his arms over his chest and rolling his eyes. The Question ignored him, however, and continued.
"The Nazi began building an underground base of operations in Antarctica, but alas, they never finished it. The war was lost in 1945 with the supposed death of Hitler. Without their leader, the Nazi Party began to collapse. The party members were hunted throughout the world as war criminals, and the Antarctic Base never came to fruition. However-"
"You believe that The Broker has taken up residence in this lost Nazi base?" Dick filled in.
"Precisely. After the fall of Nazi Germany, other nations attempted to follow their lead. The United States, Russia, China, they all made a race to Antarctica to try and claim it for themselves. None of them have succeeded. But I believe The Broker has." A silence settled over the cave as they considered the implications; if this were true, they finally knew where to find The Broker.
"I say we go on the offensive. We fly out to Antarctica and hit the Broker where he lives," Jason said firmly. Roy stepped up beside him and patted his shoulder.
"Jaybird's right; if there's a chance he's there, we can storm his base and end his operation once and for all."
"Pfft, you're just agreeing with him because you're-" Damian began, interrupted by Jason.
"Sleeping with me? Well yeah, and lemme tell ya it's-"
"Okay, that's enough from both of you. Damian, stop antagonizing, and Jason," Dick interrupted the two of them, turning to Jason and arching an eyebrow "TMI." Dick turned back to The Question. "So I can't help but to agree with Jason and Roy. We can't wait around formulating a plan. Besides, even if we came up with one, whose to say The Broker won't already know it when we get there?"
"Agreed. Gear up and head for Antarctica. I'll meet you there," Batman said smoothly, heading for the zeta tube at the back of the cave.
"Where are you going?" Jason asked, arching an eyebrow. But he got no answer, as the man disappeared through the Zeta Tube gate.
Antarctica came into sight as Nightwing flew the Batplane toward the frozen continent. They couldn't see anything in the endless expanse of snow and ice. Regardless, Nightwing brought the plane down, and it was carrying Red Hood, Arsenal, Red Robin, Robin, and The Question.
"What're we looking for?" Nightwing asked as he flew the plane over head of the frozen continent. The Question didn't answer as he surveyed the terrain carefully. Finally, after a few minute's silence, he turned to Nightwing.
"It is my belief that there is a Kryptonian Scout Ship buried here, deep beneath the ice. Aliens have frequently visited us in the distant past; The Ancient Egyptians, the Rappa Nui People of Easter Island, Pumapunku near Tiwanaku in Western Bolivia."
"So, the Ancient Astronaut theory?" Roy asked.
"Indeed. And I think we' will be able to find it with this," The Question replied, producing a sigil with the "S" seal of House El on it. "This, I stole from the Vatican Archives as well."
"Alright, well, let's have a look then," Nightwing replied.
"It is nearby. The Sigil is giving off a subtle vibration," The Question said. He looked out the window and pointed toward a hill. "There." Nightwing flew the plane down, touching down on the ice. Everyone jumped off the plane and The Question jogged ahead, toward the hill. Suddenly, the ice there cracked as a pair of metal doors slid aside and mercenaries poured out of it, some of them riding in power suits.
"Shit," Nightwing cursed, drawing his escrima sticks. Red Hood drew his guns, Red Robin, his bo staff, Arsenal is bow and arrows, and Robin is katana. But before they could engage, a black suit of armor slammed down into the ground before them and easily took out the mercenaries, the sound of screaming filling the air. The armor turned, black and red, with a red bat symbol on the chest, and a red bat-shaped visor on the helm.
"It's called the Hellbat. I rebuilt it on the moon's Batcave," Batman explained.
"You have a fucking base on the moon?" Red Hood asked incredulously.
"Nevermind that! Look at this fucking thing! It's sick!" Arsenal near-squealed excitedly as he started checking the suit out.
"There's no time for this. Let's get in there and put an end to the Broker's schemes, once and for all," Batman replied. He turned toward the metal door and grabbed it with both the Hellbat's hands, ripping the whole top off, ice cracking and metal shrieking, tossing is aside.
"Well…so much for knocking," Red Hood said, smirking behind his mask as he followed after him, with the rest coming up behind him. The descended into the cave which led to, as The Question had accurately called, a crashed Kryptonian Scout Ship. The Question stepped ahead of them all and pressed the sigil into the door; the doors slid open and granted them access.
"All personnel, respond to the threat immediately. The Batman and his allies do not get through," came the distorted voice of the Broker. They could hear the sounds of footsteps racing toward them, and no sooner did they get inside, they were greeted with a hail of gunfire.
"All soldiers, hold the line! The Batman and his allies do not get past us!" one of the mercs shouted. The Hellbat charged forward, unimpeded by the gunfire, with everyone else behind it. The mercs screamed and scrambled as Batman easily took them down.
"Don't forget about its weakness! Be careful!" Nightwing warned.
"Yeah, don't need you croaking on us, old man," Red Hood put in. Red Robin charged in past the Hellbat armor, bo staff swinging. He quickly took down several mercenaries as they raised their guns to fire on him, then ducked out of the way from a hail of gunfire, hiding behind a wall. Red Hood and Arsenal pushed forward next, Hood firing a hail of electric bullets, and Arsenal covering him with a series of well-placed polyurethane and taser arrows.
Nightwing was next, using the Hellbat armor as a spring board and leaping high into the air; as he corkscrewed through the air, upside down, he threw several wing-dings at the mercenaries, then Robin closed the distance and took them out, once their weapons were disabled.
The team pushed their way forward, on into the next room, but the distracted from the mercenaries had given them rest a chance to set up defenses. Hard light barrier walls were erected with generator pylons nearby, that both powered the barriers and gave the mercs their own, light shielding. Red Hood discovered this when his bullets seemed to be stopped, just millimeters from their targets by an unseen force.
"Hold on, I'm getting the floor plans for the ship. I've managed to hack into the ship's security, but the Broker's network has substantial security. It's proving to be exceedingly difficult to break in," came Oracle's voice over the comm link.
"Immediate threats first," Batman said. He charged the line, but a mercenary rounded the corner with a flame thrower and showered the armor in a blast of fire. The heat inside went up quickly, forcing Batman to retreat.
"Dammit, they've got a strong line of defense. I can't get past that flamethrower," Batman cursed. He turned to find both Robin and The Question missing. That was when they heard the shouts. The two of them snuck through and were taking them out from behind. As The Question dived out of the way of the flame thrower, Robin rolled to the other side and charged the man, cutting the fuel line to the tank on his back. The man panicked and threw the pack aside; it exploded and sent the mercenaries scattering all over the hall.
"Let's go!" Robin shouted. Batman, Nightwing, Red Robin, Red Hood, and Arsenal charged past the unconscious mercenaries and made their way forward.
"Okay, listen; I'm still having serious trouble breaking into the system, but there's a massive surge of electricity coming from a room two floors below you. If I had to guess, I'd say that's the core of his operation. You'll likely find The Broker there," Oracle explained.
"Got it! Let's go!" Nightwing called, allowing Batman to lead the way. As they made their way down to the next level, a rocket came flaying toward them. Batman jumped in front of it and took the impact, crashing into a wall nearby.
"Ungh. Go," Batman ordered, slowly getting to his feet. A grenade came flying their way and Red Hood shouted, ushering everyone back. The Hellbat armor took the brunt of it again; it was an arc grenade. With the armor shorted out, Batman was forced to leave it.
"Open fire!" a mercenary shouted. They opened fire on Batman who was tackled out of the way by Red Hood.
"You're welcome," Hood replied, ducking out of cover to fire back. "You gonna be alright old man?"
"I'll be fine. The armor just took the wind out of me. Give me a minute," Batman replied, taking a few, deep breaths. The gunfire forced everyone to hunker down; suppressing fire. They weren't going to let up.
"What now?" Arsenal asked, looking around at everyone.
"Got it!" Oracle called, followed up by the door in front of the mercenaries closing. "I'm in, but not for long. I've close the door and opened another one, off to the left. Hurry." The seven of them dashed down the hall and took a left, through the doorway which led to the next level.
"Crap, I'm locked out again. I need time to get back in. I can only get in in small bursts. The system auto-corrects and kicks me out after thirty seconds or so," Oracle explained.
"It's fine. Where to?" Batman asked.
"Should be down the hall; take two lefts and a right," Oracle answered. The seven of them made their way off, down the halls, following Oracle's directions. There, they came to the door they were looking for, but also a blockade.
"We've got a problem," Nightwing called, shouting for everyone to duck as a rocket came flying their way. Everyone dived out of the way, the door to the room blocked off by a dozen mercenaries. Two had rocket launchers, one had a flame thrower, and the rest were armed with assault rifles. It was a hallway with littler coverage, meaning a direct attempt would be literal suicide.
"Great. Now what?" Red Hood asked, growling to himself as a bullet nicked his shoulder. Thank god for body armor. A grenade came flying in their direction and skidded to a stop beside them. Without thinking, Arsenal quickly jumped out of cover and kicked it back. He got a bullet wound to his shoulder for the effort but the grenade went off and electrocuted the mercs, knocking them out cold.
"Roy, are you alright?" Jason asked, pulling off his helmet kneeling beside him.
"Ow. I think so, but-" he hissed when he tried to move his shoulder "that really hurt."
"You fucking dumbass! That was completely fucking stupid! And I'm supposed to the be the reckless one!" Jason scolded angrily. Roy chuckled in amusement and sat up, clutching his wounded shoulder.
"I've done dumber things," he said. Jason rolled his eyes and Tim knelt beside them.
"I'll take him out of here. You guys go ahead," Tim said.
"You sure?" Dick asked. Tim grunted with effort as he helped Roy up to his feet.
"I'm sure."
"Hey. You come back alive, Jaybird, you hear me?" Roy called to him, flashing a weak glare. Jason snorted and moved toward him.
"Don't I always, dumbass?" he replied. The two smiled at each other and Jason leaned in for a quick kiss before pulling his helmet back on.
"Ugh, I'm gonna be sick," Tim teased.
"Shut up and get that dumbass outta here, would ya?" Jason replied, cocking his gun. "We got a scum bag to put down." The remaining five of them approached the door; it slid open. They exchanged looks, then entered the room cautiously.
The walls were lined with servers and screens that cascaded information, secrets, news stories, and so much more. There was a wide open space in the middle of the room, with a desk at the back.
"Congratulations. You're the first person in history to ever reach The Broker's inner sanctum," came a voice. As the chair slowly spun around to reveal the Broker's identity as-
"Dad," Jason breathed, taking off his helmet.
"Hello son," Willis said, with a smug grin on his face.