Author's Note: Not much to say here, again the language the League of Shadows is Indonesian though I'll probably throw in a few other languages all of which will be identified at the end of the chapter. I own nothing. Please review.

4. The Tomb

Northern Romania, November 16th 7:00 am

Diane was a clever one, that much Talia would give the girl. Bruce had taught her well. When the helicopter had landed and one of Talia's men had unstrapped her from her seat she had been completely limp, she seemed to have nodded off about halfway there. The assassin, fearing Talia's wrath, had checked her pulse and found it there but she wasn't breathing. He was well aware of the side effects of the Lazarus pit and knew that the child was useless to them comatose, or worse. He had untied her hands and she had sprung into action. Grabbing hold of the idiot whom Talia made a mental note to kill later she had effortlessly flipped over him at the same time reaching into his pocket and pulling out his com unit's receiver and its battery pack effectively yanking the earpiece out of his ear as well. Before he could react she had kicked him in the head, pulled off her blindfold and raced away ducking into a small tunnel nearby and vanishing from sight. Not bothering with the time it would take to kill the idiot Talia dove after Diane.

Diane crouched in a small offshoot of the main tunnel, it looked like this might have been a mine shaft at some point but it was mostly crumbling now. The tunnel she was currently hiding in was more of an airway for the main tunnel than anything else. They would find her, she wasn't stupid, and she knew that. But she could do something in the meantime. She had none of her equipment, none of her weapons, not even the familiar weight of her com unit in her ear, so she was stranded with no way of contacting anyone. No way for Bruce to track her, so she would have to signal him. She waited until Talia and her two goons ran under her, until the sound of their footsteps had disappeared, before diving down to the floor of the tunnel. She raced off in the opposite direction, slipping from shadow to shadow until she was back at the helicopter. She knew under normal circumstances she would have been able to just take it and fly away but not right now. She was rapidly running out of energy, an after effect of the Lazarus pit and most likely being pulled back from the brink of death. But she could still signal Batman, she hoped.

She raced into the cockpit of the copter and pulled out the com link she'd snatched. She wired it into the communications system of the copter and quickly bashed out the mind blowing complicated access codes that allowed her into the Wayne Enterprises satellites from memory. Bruce had required that she learn it by heart after her second kidnapping. Once she had access, signaled to the copter by a rapid and obnoxious beeping intruder signal, she input the code she and Bats had agreed on for her distress signal. She just hoped it had gotten through for the moment she had finished Talia had grabbed her shoulder and twisted her arm up her back. One of the two ninjas Talia had brought with her walked up to them and nodded.

"Apakah dia berhasil sinyal siapa?" Diane grinned and glared at the masked ninja. Instead of giving Talia time to answer she spat back in the same language.

"Tidak peduli sekarang bodoh! Juga tidak pernah menganggap saya tidak tahu sesuatu!" Had the man not been wearing a mask Diane bet his eyes would have bugged out of his head. He pulled his hand back and backhanded her across the face, drawing blood as he did so. Diane simply glared, used to that and worse from far worse villains than this faceless shadow goon, the same goon whom she had made a fool of not ten minutes earlier if she wasn't mistaken. She'd faced up against the Joker and been kidnapped and beaten 'til she was nearly dead by Two Face, a slap wasn't going to faze her.

Talia however would not put up with this man and his idiocy, not to mention his insolence. Diane was not some hostage to be treated with contempt. Her beloved saw this child as his daughter which made Talia a mother to this child. No one touched her child. Without removing her grip on Diane's arm Talia reached into her holster and pulled out her gun. Without even blinking she shot the man in front of her between the eyes. He slumped to the ground and Diane stared baby blue eyes wide. Talia holstered her gun and looked down at Diane who looked a bit confused and a very angry.

"You didn't have to do that!" She was struggling slightly against Talia's grip but Talia wasn't letting her go just yet. Talia motioned for her other underling to pick up the rope that had been dropped earlier. He did so and quick stepped to Talia holding out the rope to her. Talia took it and tied it tightly around the young acrobat's wrist. She turned Diane around and pulled her hands together tying them securely in front of her. Diane was watching her like a hawk, or more accurately like the bat she had been raised to be for the last three years of her life. The look was cool and calculating and held more venom than the deadliest of snakes. It was almost out of place on her face, her big baby blue eyes seeming more suited to laughter than this kind of glare. Talia smiled slightly.

"You and Bruce do look quite alike you know. If I didn't know better I would think you were actually related." The poisonous glare intensified.

"You don't scare me Talia. Bruce has told me all about you, you're really just a daddy's girl with a gun." The kid had guts. Talia could respect that, the young acrobat reminded her of herself a little. Talia's smile never wavered.

"I didn't expect to scare you little one. I didn't even expect you to be intimidated. I know Bruce too well for that his protégé would never give over to fear. But there are other ways of making you cooperate." Talia wasn't bluffing, she wasn't above teaching this snarky child a lesson no matter how much she made her think of what a child between her and Bruce would be like. Instead she pulled another, longer length of rope out from under one of the seats in the copter and tied it around Diane's wrists before using it to lead her out of the helicopter.

Diane couldn't help but be a little humiliated and very angry. It should be simple for Robin to get out of this but the problem was she wasn't Robin right now. Robin had more than just training, Robin had tools, and Robin had a mask. Diane was exposed. Anything and everything she did was all on her, the death of that man was on her, and evil though he may have been he was still a person. Talia may have pulled the trigger but his death was her fault she knew that. Diane was dragged to a small crack in the cliff face. There was writing carved into the cliff side, worn but definitely there.

"Se află în interiorul pericol cel mai păsările

Moartea așteaptă creduli

Introduceți și se confruntă cu soarta ta."

Diane read the faded inscription aloud and raised an eyebrow. She was beginning to understand now. When she had first been pulled from the pit Talia had spoken Romani to her. She had stated that she didn't know enough herself. Diane had been too busy coughing up what felt like half the pit to really take what she had said to heart but now it made a bit more sense.

"That's why you kidnapped me! To be your translator!? Really? That is ridiculous even for a super villain plan! You couldn't just hire a linguist!" Diane would admit to being a bit more than pissed off at this point. She remembered almost nothing from before the pit and she was worried about her team, she had a nagging suspicion they had been in trouble or worse the last time they had seen each other. She was rapidly tiring and was angry with herself for that. She refused to show weakness around Talia and her remaining minion.

"That may seem simpler young one but we needed someone with skill enough to survive and the knowledge of the Romani culture to assist us." Diane glared at her. Talia was smiling wickedly. Diane knew that she was being mostly truthful but she couldn't help but feel that Talia was doing this partially just to mess with her, and probably Batman. But she didn't have much time to ponder this as Talia led her into the crack in the cliff.

Translations

Thank you mighty Google!

Apakah dai berhasil sinyal siapa? Did she manage to signal anyone?

Tidak peduli sekarang bodoh! Juga tidak pernah menganggap saya tidak tahu sesuatu! Doesn't matter now stupid! Also, never assume I don't know something! (Indoneasian)

Se află în interiorul pericol cel mai păsările

Moartea așteaptă creduli

Introduceți și se confruntă cu soarta ta

Inside lies danger most fowl

Death awaits the unwary

Enter and face your Fate (Romanian pretending to be Romani)