Mates: Book Three

Chapter Six

By: Sibaas

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Bruce? Bruce where are you?! I can't--Bruce?!

Batman struggled against the three policemen that had him pinned; grateful beyond belief that he'd thought to wear the more protective suit. Without the reinforced armor, Gordon would have long since broken all of his ribs with those harsh kicks and punches. As of now...they were merely cracked.

"Kind of--OFF ME!--busy at the moment Gotham!" he grounded out, managing to get one of the officers off him with a harsh punch to the stomach. Was now struggling to get to his feet, despite Gordon's attempts to keep him down. "What is it?!" And since when was she--ughnn that hurt--talking to him again?

I can't see, Bruce. I can't see and I can't feel. I-I don't know where anything is! Batman froze, dropping his guard long enough for Gordon to slam him into the ground again. The harsh contact to the concrete had his back throbbing wildly and his head swimming, but that didn't matter. What mattered was how...frazzled Gotham sounded.

"What do y--AGGHH!! DAMNIT!" He kicked the gun out of Officer #1's hands and with a swift punch, knocked him out. Reached in his belt for something to staunch the wound that was now in his arm, all the while trying to dodge more bullets. A few grazed him, coming dangerously close to nicking a few arteries, but he was, for the most part, whole. Ducked behind an overthrown car to rest for a few seconds, breathing harshly. Damn wound....wouldn't stop bleeding...

"Gotham, what do you mean?"

Silence.

"Gotham?!" Why the hell wasn't she answering?!

I-I ccccaaant...I think I might be....

Her voice faded out again and he tried to hold on, gritting his teeth to keep from shouting out again. They hadn't found him yet. Needed to rethink his options, access the damage...needed to focus.

I-I'm s-s-sooorry, Bruceeee sorry...

Could hear the sound of a gun cocking in the back of his mind, but he stayed frozen, only dimly registering the fact that he was staring up at Gordon, whose hands were shaking. Couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. Frozen, with the sound of her voice, so fragile, so scared, echoing in his mind.

I'm scared, Bruce...d-dun wanna..

"Don't be," he wanted to say, "I'll fix it. I promise. Just hang on." Yet he couldn't. His voice was caught in his throat, and for the first time in a while, he actually felt something.

Scared...don' wanna...don' lemme die...don wanna die! BRUCE! BRUCE A'SER ME! SCARED! DUN GO! BRUCE?! ARE YOU?!!

His mouth opened, but no sound came out.

Don' leave me! Her voice was shrill and dripping with fear, making his heart clench. Bruce! Y'WERE POSE TO 'TECT ME! 'RUUUUCEEEE?!?! ARE YOU??! RUCE?!

He disappeared in a flash of light, seconds before the bullet made contact with his head.

()

Hades reappeared in Olympus in a flash of light, holding tightly onto Batman. He'd managed to teleport the human in just the nick of time, said human having been mere seconds away from death. Noticed he was shaking and frowned. Batman was certainly no stranger to near death experiences. So why...?

Slowly pulled himself away from Batman, feeling his concern rise when he just stood there, face blank and body trembling.

Hades turned his head as he heard J'onn approaching. Sensing that he was no longer needed (and the other Leaguers were starting to fight again) he decided to give the two some privacy.

"Bruce?" J'onn felt his brow furrow when his inquiry was ignored. Wasn't the first time Bruce had ignored him...but he'd never been shaking. Not like this.

How was he supposed to help though if he didn't even know what the problem was? Attempted to pry mentally and only managed to get a few glimpses before mental shields rose up and kicked him out. Knew he wouldn't be able to try again. These days picking up anything from his mate was a near miracle.

Still, he'd seen enough in those short seconds.

Gotham...

Sighed, knowing that it had to be bad in order for his mate to be shaking so hard. "Bruce..." Tried to swallow his anger when he was ignored once more, aware that this was a sensitive matter and required patience. Couldn't say anything though without snapping, and no matter what he said, he'd just be met with stony silence.

So he instead chose to brush his lips against Bruce's, waiting until the cool lips returned the gesture. "They found out what's wrong, Bruce. We can fix this. Whatever's wrong, we can fix it."

The trembling stopped and he sighed in relief when Batman pulled away, every bit as steady and as confident as normal. Seeing him so unwound like that...

Was highly unnerving.

Watched Batman walk over towards where the other Leaguers were standing and wasn't surprised to see Superman glaring at him.

()

Superman should have felt some sort of alarm as he asked Batman to break the tie. After all, Batman's decision would most likely affect the others. J'onn would most likely follow his 'mate', and if Batman, J'onn and he were in, Flash most definably would go. Diana would go if Flash went, as would GL. Therefor, Batman's decision was crucial. Everyone knew it.

"What?" Except perhaps the Bat in question.

"So far we're half and half," he explained, still feeling oddly calm. "Wonder Woman, Hawk Girl and I want to go. Lantern, Flash and J'onn say it's a bad idea. What do you think?"

Flash was the first to speak up, no doubt trying to get his two cents in as quickly as possible. "They say our 'condition' will worsen once we're in there. We can barely stand each other now! What's to stop us from pounding the snot out of each other once we're in there?!"

Lantern spoke next. "They don't even know where they're sending us off to; no idea of what dangers await there or what we might face. They're going off of some type of scroll!"

"Not to mention every person they've pulled out of there went completely insane afterwards. We are not the first they have approached with this idea. We have no idea what our chances of succeeding would be. There are too many variables and not enough information," J'onn added quietly.

Superman said nothing. Just stood there, a knowing look in his eyes. The others had presented a very good case. The chances of succeeding were nil. Insanity if they should come out. Not enough information. They were probably expecting Bats to come up with some miracle solution that only he would think of.

Yet Superman saw it. Saw what they didn't.

People to save, promises to keep, eh Bruce?

Could tell even without his x-ray vision that cobalt eyes were currently burning into his behind the mask and felt a sort-of-smile grace his lips, widening further when it was almost mirrored on Batman's. J'onn may be Bruce's mate but there were still some things that he'd yet to understand.

"I'm going."

And just like that it was settled.

()

"A god has fallen

And must be found,

Four parts are lost,

Scattered round.

Lost beyond time,

'Yond reach and space

Each must be found,

Put in their place."

They finished the chant, watching with worried eyes as the leaguers disappeared to who knew where, their insides clenching uneasily. Couldn't sense them at all. It was like they were dead. Only not, for if they were they'd be able to feel it.

"Okay we're here, a little late but..."

They all turned around at hearing the other gods appear behind them. Watched as their eyes took in the sacrifice that sat in the middle of the pentagram, that was faintly glowing, signaling that it had just been used. "You....what did you do?!?"

Zeus didn't answer, turning to stare back at the spot where Earth's heroes had stood just moments before. What had they done?

"Do you have any idea where you just sent them?! WE HAD A DEAL ZEUS! YOU SWORE ON YOUR--"

"What good is honor if we are all dead?" H'ronmeer retorted coolly. "We can't play on your pride anymore. Logic says it's an Earth god that died, so it's Earth's heroes that have to go there. We've wasted enough time playing it your way."

"Don't you know what you've done?!" One of the foreign gods cried, his many limbs twitching angrily. (So many gods had entered their domain that they no longer bothered to keep track of their names. All they could remember about this one was that despite it's grotesque appearance, it really was quite a peaceful god...)

"I can't even begin to comprehend," Zeus responded quietly. "And that's what scares me the most."

He doubted even the Fates themselves knew what was going to happen.

()

Oh my GAWD I cannot believe how much time has passed. I really cannot express how shocked and sorry I am. Several things happened and then POOF I blinked and I was like WTF? My girlfriend dumped me, I got sucked into graphics on the game I'm making with my brother, my computer started fritzing out on me, I started working with photoshop and then got the brilliant idea to redo my webpage and...

. Too many creative things. By the time I got done all my juices were dry. But I'm back! And apologizing! ^^;