The Scars Left Behind
This is the Sequel to the Harlequin and the Bat and The Harley and The Ivy.
Important notes: I do not own Batman or any portion of the franchise. I give all credit to DC Comics and respective owners. Except the characters I wrote in my profile.
Warning: Violent scenes to come. These stunts are done by highly trained professionals and should not be imitated by anyone. Except those proficient in martial arts training and weapons, even then it shouldn't be imitated and some psychological scenes to come.
Chapter 16
*March Nineteenth, time: fifteen minutes past twelve (12:15 or 00:15 if you want to get technical)
(Harley's POV)
Bat-Shard travelled through the night on the trail for The Rogue and the kidnapped and/or liberated Cassidy, looking behind her for some trace that she may be followed by whoever shot at the Rogue. 'It's a good thing that Bruce installed that "detective vision" do-hickey into Bills armour otherwise this would've been chasing a wisp of smoke through a foggy night.' As Bat-Shard activated it she saw the vapour trail that was left by The Rogue. "Wow…you could probably see a fart in a Jacuzzi with this!" (Author note: I'm not sure if detective vision can spot a fart in a Jacuzzi, but it's a funny line) "Oracle, are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Bat-Shard asked her friend
"Yeah I am…that Rogue isn't natural…by the way Venus heard the reference about the Jacuzzi." Oracle explained over the headset.
"Oops." Bat-Shard spoke in embarrassment. "Okay the…the trail ends here…this is weird."
"How's it weird?" Oracle asked
"Well, it just…the trail's disappeared…is that normal?" Bat-Shard answered
(Barbara's POV)
"He must've flown, that's one explanation…have you set it to the alternate long range search?" Oracle asked she didn't get an answer straight away "Err…Shard everything okay?"
"Hello…Oracle is it?" a voice called out through the speaker
"Deadshot…" Oracle feared
"Where's the Rogue…" he asked calmly
"I don't know…" Oracle answered while Venus was worried for her technical aunt
"Oh come on…his look is like The Bat's, his style is like The Bat's, I mean come on…he's even stealth master like that guy. I'll tell you what…you tell me where The Rogue is and I'll let little miss Bat here live. ARGH! The hell was that? *Static*" Deadshot bargained but was then cut off
"Shard? Shard?! Come in!" Oracle panicked
(Harley's POV)
Harley saw Deadshot seethe in pain as he pulled out a Shard-Star out of his hand; in an instant she leg swept Deadshot to the floor, Bat-Shard unsheathed her tonfa and knocked Deadshot's rifle away. "Little bitch! How'd you get that into my hand?"
"Wasn't me!" Bat-Shard proclaimed as she attempted to strike Deadshot down but his forearms blocked it.
The two brawled as Deadshot fired rounds into her armour but they bounced off, Bill's Armour was really paying off. "The Hell? How'd you get armour like that?" Deadshot roared as he began going onto the offensive. Bat-Shard didn't answer because he'd only try and make the connection to Bill; she pursued the attack and landed the fatal knockout to his head via the tonfa. "Urgh…" he groaned in an unconscious pain.
Bat-Shard panted; then turned around seeing the Rogue standing to attention without Cassidy. "Is the civilian safe?" she asked. The Rogue nodded slowly, Bat-Shard understood and pointed to the floor as she was hidden safely "Good, I'll get her back home; you help Batman." Shard ordered and the Rogue reciprocated with another nod.
As The Rogue flew towards Batman's location Bat-Shard landed in front of Cassidy who cried in fear "Batman?" Cassidy asked in relief and fear.
"Not exactly; I'm Bat-Shard his more recent partner." Bat-Shard explained
(Bruce's POV)
*around the same time*
Batman landed in the abandoned factory and flew through the windows, even with the crash Hyde and Firefly fighting and crashing everything in their sight. "Hyde! Hyde, stop!" Batman called out
"The Bat; here?!" Firefly groaned then was punched to the ground
"Batman…what are you doing here?! This isn't the time or place B-Man!" Hyde was afraid for his friend
"What do you mean?" Batman asked "Get down!" Batman dragged Hyde down to dodge the fire plume aimed at them.
"You and The Bat?! No!" Firefly shouted enveloping the duo in flames
Batman and Hyde hid from the fire but were suddenly running out of cover "Well if he wasn't mad before, he is now!" Hyde joked
"Not the Time Hyde!" Batman shouted "ARGH!" Batman's leg was trapped by a fallen support beam "Hyde…try and lift it!" Batman seethed in pain
"Got it!" Hyde struggled to lift it but Firefly was right behind the pair and aimed with his flamethrower.
"Anyone for roasted Bat?" Firefly sneered but the was aerial kicked by The Rogue "Argh! You? Where's Cassidy?" Firefly demanded The Rogue remained silent as ever "Fine…If you won't talk I'll make you squawk!" he shouted throwing a flare at the Rogue hoping to catch his cloth suit in flames. The Rogue dodged the flare and leapt to Batman trying to help free him. "Not. This. Time!" Firefly shouted and caused a flaming explosion enveloping the three in flames "Burn Bat, burn…" he laughed maliciously as the flames covered the trio.
(Bill's POV)
*just before Firefly says "Burn Bat, burn"*
"Lift it off!" Hyde struggled to lift with the Rogue, even with his enhanced strength.
"Hyde it's not moving. You: grab Firefly, Rogue use this on the beam…" Batman ordered the Rouge immediately followed but Hyde turned and unlatched his helmet "Hyde…what are you doing?"
Bill didn't turn around but stated "Showing Garfield who's behind this mask." They heard Firefly laughing maliciously and Bill leapt through the flames roaring.
"What the?!" Firefly screamed as Bill grabbed his flamethrowers and broke them "J-J-Joker…?" he stammered before being punched by Bill each time
(Bruce's POV)
The Rogue freed Batman and got him outside and Bat-Shard landed beside them. "What's going on?" she asked
"Hyde's gone crazy he's started fighting Firefly…this isn't a good thing; he's going to kill him." Batman explained
The Rogue handed Batman to Bat-Shard and pointed to the other direction then went inside the burning building "Where's he going? Is he crazy? Batman!" Bat-Shard asked her fiancé but he soon fainted from the pain, she used the grapple gun and shot up to the roof they observed that Deathstroke and Killer Frost saying something and indicating the burning building. "Batman, Batman…Bruce wake up." She tried to wake her lover as he struggled to wake.
"Shard, what's going on?" Batman wondered as he gazed at his fiancée
"The Rogue helped save you; it looks like Deathstroke and Killer Frost are helping Hyde." Shard explained
"Bill did say he had unusual friends. We've got to go back…" Batman strained
"Batman, don't strain yourself. Nightwing, Robin and Night Bloom are coming to collect you. You need medical attention." Oracle explained through their headsets.
(Deathstroke's POV)
"Holy crap! When Hyde said he was just going out I never imagined him doing this!" Killer Frost exclaimed
"Hyde's got one unusual sense in "going out". Freeze the fire!" Deathstroke commanded
"Got you!" Frost obeyed as she cooled the flames down.
"Let's just hope Hyde hasn't done anything stupid!" Deathstroke hoped because he didn't want to get the squad in trouble with Waller…boy was he wrong.
(Bill's POV)
Hyde and Firefly continued their fist fight that had them still in a fiery circle; what they didn't realise was, there were onlookers: Deathstroke, Killer Frost and The Rogue. Deathstroke and Frost called out to stop Hyde but he was in a berserker fighting state of mind. The Rogue looked on and his eyes widened; he remained still…but not his natural formal still, more like: a ghost from his past petrifying him still. He gazed upon the two brawlers: Firefly in his modified suit with constant scorch marks and Hyde with his head exposed; the sight of his head, the toxic green hair being scorched with the fire and the exposed mouth…the same as the Joker's, that's what Firefly said in terror. "Hyde what are you doing? You've got to get out of…*gasp*" Frost called out to warn him about the fire and the collapsing structure, but then saw Hyde's unmasked face and the horror of what it was.
"Get out now!" Hyde roared as he threw a final punch into Firefly's face sprawling him through the fire in front of Deathstroke "Run!" he yelled as he saw the Rogue and saw his eyes throwing daggers from his gaze 'He knows…' as he picked up his helmet and pulled it back onto his head; before leaving The Rogue stopped Hyde from leaving. "Listen Rogue, you want revenge. I get that, but it won't matter if we're both dead!" making the argument the duo left last as saw the warehouse crumble into ash and rubble.
They all panted in exhaustion and Killer Frost spoke "*gasp, gasp* Well what do you do for an encore Hyde? Arm wrestle with Bane or Killer Croc?" she completely ignored The Rogue
"…Strap a nuke on Clayface and see if he mutates?" Hyde joked
"Waller's going to kill us…" Deathstroke groaned still carrying Firefly "Why am I still carrying this moron?" he wondered as he dropped him.
Hyde looked over to where The Rogue once was but saw that he was missing "Let's get out of here…I don't think Batman will think twice about invading here." As he three left leaving Firefly tied up without his armour.
(Cassidy's POV)
Cassidy was at the nearest safe-house that Bat-Shard stationed her for; she was shaking in fear of Firefly and the marks he left on Gotham and on her. She saw the curtains ruffle and beheld her saviour The Rogue "AH!" she screamed at first but then calmed down "Oh…it's you. "The Rogue" was it?" she asked to which The Rogue nodded "Bat-Shard mentioned you when she sent me here." She stood up and went over to the stoic Rogue and hugged him this made him stiffen up a little bit but not as much as seeing Hyde's unmasked face. She was slightly pushed off by the Rogue but she thanked him more by looking into his eyes. Blue, beautiful blue eyes filled with: pain, fear and fire. "You and Bat-Shard saved me…thank you…" she placed her hands on the Rogue's face but was stopped in place by his hands. "I'm sorry…I-I didn't mean…" she apologised but she saw The Rogue remove his face mask revealing his full face with still having his eye mask on. "You're…so young…you must be about twenty years old…if that…" she exclaimed and he tried to pull his mask up but he was turned around as Cassidy placed a careful yet thankful kiss on his lips, he didn't resist and let her continue. She relinquished her kiss and spoke "I-I'm sorry…I didn't mean…Rogue?" she asked him as he remained stationary in the room and felt the guilt grow in her from the kiss 'Why Cassidy? You're supposed to be different now…' she looked to the floor and sat on the bed; she felt her chin being lifted and her vision turned to the Rogue, he looked at her and placed his lips to hers with an innocent passion. The two didn't realise they had spent three minutes in that innocent embrace; The Rogue departed covering his face back up, he left with a simple nod leaving Cassidy feeling loved. "Such...beautiful blue eyes..." she spoke softly to herself.
(Bruce's POV)
Bruce was wheeled off to hospital. Harley, Dick, Sonia and Tim followed him to make sure he was okay. Luckily his leg sustained only minor amounts of damage, mostly because of the absorption Bruce's meta-human suit that Bill created, but still they all wanted to make sure that they were okay. They were there until morning of the twenty first. "Well Mister Wayne, I don't know how you managed to sustain only little amounts of damage to your leg but you're lucky that it wasn't more serious. We may have had to operate on it or remove it because of the nature of the damage you described." The doctor explained
"Well it's a good thing that I was prepared for it; wasn't I?" Bruce gave a cocky reply to the doctor
The doctor shook his head tutting "Next time don't do something this idiotic." The doctor gave some dispatch papers to Harley and the nurse "Mr Wayne can be dispatched today, but no more mountain climbing." He pointed in their general direction.
"Of course doctor..." Harley nodded "Mountain climbing? Really Bruce" Harley smiled as the doctor left.
"Well what other wild activities can we do together?" Bruce grinned giving a cocky eyebrow raise examining Harley
"Nuh-uh...not yet..." Harley playfully teased her beau and kissed his cheek.
A knock came from behind them "The Doctor says that: Master Bruce can leave; I suggest that we do so, Miss Ivy has some news pertaining the two of you."
As the Bat-Family left for their home, they saw Ivy sitting down holding a folder looking solemn, as she got up she asked: "Bruce, you okay?"
"He's fine...what's that you're holding?" Harley answered and asked what her friend had in her hands.
"Something we had to investigate." Bruce answered with Ivy nodding.
The three sat down and Ivy handed the file over to them. Bruce and Harley took a deep breath and opened the folder, examining the contents "Is this legit?" Bruce asked
To be continued
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