A/N: This chapter was pretty exciting to write! I couldn't help but bring in another one of my favorite characters. For a guy who's supposed to be a loner, Bruce does have a lot of very close allies! I remember Superman saying something along those lines in the cartoon… pretty funny when Bruce glared at him after he said it.
The many faces of Robin
She took off her black top hat and bowed to the many people cheering for her before walking off the stage and back into her dressing room. With the wave of her wand, her crystal ball came out from the closet and settled on the table replaying her performance. She sat down and with another wave of her wand, a hot cup of coffee appeared as she took a sip of it.
"Ahh… a job well done. You know Bruce… If you and Diana wanted to watch my show, all you had to do was ask. I'm sure front row seats or backstage passes are better than sitting in here the whole time." The smirk on her face grew as Batman and Wonder Woman stepped out from the shadows.
"Hi Zatanna, how are you?" Diana said warmly, trying to smile as best she could under the circumstances.
"I haven't seen you in so long. I've just been working here and there, making sure my magic is up to date, having fun… the usual." Zatanna raised her eyebrow in surprise when she saw Wonder Woman's new attire. "But enough about me… what about you two? Does Mr. Tall Dark and Brooding need more relationship counseling? I see that Bruce's influence on you hasn't gone unnoticed."
Diana couldn't help but crack a small genuine smile. Every time she and Zatanna got together, talking about Bruce or the lack of his relationship skills with her always seemed to be the topic of choice. Normally, Diana always refrained from talking about Bruce with anyone, but Zatanna was different. For one, she knew Bruce well enough to understand him and his 'issues'. But she also loved to make fun of him, especially with him standing right in front of her. Zatanna was the only other person Diana knew who could actually get away with it. With all the help that Zatanna had given Bruce throughout the years, she definitely earned the privilege joke about him at his expense.
"Can we discuss that later? People are in trouble." Batman said flatly.
Zatanna's grin instantly faded as her concern took over. "Trouble? What kind of trouble?"
"Circe recruited Ares and resurrected Jason…" Both Diana and Zatanna saw Batman's fist clench tightly. "Using Jason… they captured everyone…"
Zatanna knew all about Bruce's past with Jason. It wasn't a pretty one… as she knew most of his storied past wasn't exactly filled with fun and loving memories. Knowing the severity of the situation, she stood up and crossed her arms over her chest, listening to the information that Batman gave her. The three of them went out into the alley, quickly jumped into the batmobile, and headed back to the cave.
"Wow… what happened in here?" Zatanna's jaw dropped as she stared at the crumpled up computer.
"Oh… just a result of a relapse in anger management Miss Zatanna." Alfred said as he was still cleaning up the mess that Bruce made. "Master Bruce, if you could be so kind to be careful with that one. It isn't as heavily armored as this one."
Batman ignored Alfred as he powered up the backup computer before sitting down and getting to work. Zatanna smirked while shaking her head as she leaned against the backup computer. "So what's the plan to find them this time?"
Batman sat back, placing his fist under his chin analyzing the information on the screen. "Find Jason… he'll lead us to everyone else."
"But how are you going to find him? He could be anywhere…" Diana rested her hands on Batman's shoulders, watching him replay his encounter with Jason on the screen.
"I know Jason better than he knows me. I'll find him… besides… Jason's not that bright to begin with." Batman sat up rewinding the footage again and listening carefully to Jason's words while scanning through all possible locations of his whereabouts.
"Ethiopia!" Batman instantly stood up, startling both Zatanna and Diana. "They're in Ethiopia. Let's go."
"What? How do you know they're in Ethiopia?" Diana asked as they followed Batman into the batwing.
"Because that's where he died… Where Robin died." Batman strapped himself in as both Zatanna and Diana looked at each other nervously. They were going back to where Batman's greatest failure took place. To where another Robin might find the same horrible fate that Jason met.
The warehouse was exactly like Batman remembered it. Made up of wood, painted brown with blue trimmings all covered in ice and frost. It was also around this time of day that Batman failed to reach him in time on that fateful day. Hovering silently over another warehouse approximately two hundred yards away, Batman programmed the autopilot system before climbing out of the batwing. Zatanna followed both Batman and Wonder Woman into the warehouse. It had been a long time since she last went on a mission with Batman. She didn't really like the sneaking around and staying within the shadows for cover, but she was good at it. Bruce trained Zatanna to be able to back him up when he used to drag her along on his missions a long time ago. They silently made their way inside and onto the catwalk. It was dark and quiet...
"Something's not right…" Batman's eyes widened as he quickly spun around to warn Diana and Zatanna. "GET O…" The light instantly turned on as all three of them were thrown against the wall by a powerful magical force.
"Well well... what do we have here? The pretty little Princess, her pointy-eared husband, and a second-rate witch?" Circe floated down to the center of the warehouse with a smirk on her face as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Who are you calling second-rate!" Zatanna now impersonating Batman with a glare of her own picked up her top hat and angrily put it back on her head.
"YOU!" Diana furiously darted straight at Circe, aiming to knock her head off when something large and furry tackled her. A giant lion pinned her down, growing… Diana easily picked it up and threw it against the wall.
"Come my babies… protect mommy from that mean terrible woman." Three more lions circled around Wonder Woman as Circe's grin widened. "She hurt your dear friend Huntress… make her pay."
Diana's eyes widened in shock. Those lions were her friends… She quickly turned and looked at Batman and Zatanna. The four lions began circling the three of them, growling and snarling, waiting for an opening to pounce on them.
"Not so fast…" Ares floated down next to Circe with a smirk of his own. "I'm impressed Batman. I didn't think you would have been this quick to find us. I was planning on sending the boy back to Gotham to come get you."
"Ares! Hera help me, I'll have your head for this!" Diana clenched her fists in pure hatred for The God of War.
"You are in no position to make any threats Princess." Ares waved his hand as two giant magical stone hands grew out of the ground grabbing both Diana and Zatanna. Neither Diana nor Zatanna could move as the stone hands brought them in front of Ares and Circe. Ares quickly turned his attention to Batman. "Circe, restore his friends back into their normal forms."
Circe gave him a confused look. "What? What for?"
"Because… everyone should be fully aware and conscious of what is about to happen to the so-called Greek Champion Batman." Ares snapped his fingers and four more giant hands grew out of the floor grabbing hold of Batgirl, Oracle, The Huntress, and Black Canary as they transformed back into their original fully healed forms.
"Wha… what's going on?" Oracle shook her head to regain her focus.
"That witch Circe captured you, and then turned you all into lions to attack us when we came to save you." Diana said bitterly as she never stopped glaring at Circe.
The Huntress rolled her eyes. "Oh… well this is much better… some rescue."
"Shut up... You were the one who got captured in the first place." Zatanna snapped back.
Dinah glared at them in annoyance. "Will all of you shut up? Can't you tell that all of this was a trap to get Batman here?" The girls stopped bickering and turned to see Batman standing in the center, glaring at Ares.
"It doesn't take a God to know what you're thinking about." Ares snapped his fingers one more time as Robin and Nightwing appeared across the room. Their mouths were taped shut while their arms were individually bound to magical restraints above their heads with magical spears slowly digging into their spines.
"No it doesn't… it just takes someone who can think like Batman." Jason came out of the shadows dressed in his own Robin suit. No one said anything as everyone's attention was on Batman and Jason.
Seeing Batman glare angrily into his eyes, Jason's smirked as he stood between Tim and Dick. "Do I sense that you feel betrayed Bruce?" The smirk on Jason's face quickly vanished as anger and hatred filled his emotions. "GOOD! Now you know how I felt when you allowed The Joker to kill me. And now… one of my so-called brothers will understand my pain." Jason pointed to both Dick and Tim. "Just like me… one of them will pay the ultimate price for your failure and betrayal. Another Robin dies tonight! Tonight we find out who is daddy's favorite son… Tonight everyone will know that you… Bruce… are nothing but a failure!"
All the member of the batclan couldn't believe what they just heard. They all knew about what happened to Jason and how hard Bruce took it. But this was easily going to top that and everything else Bruce had gone though in his life. Not only does he have to choose which of his adoptive sons will die, but that the only son he failed to save was the one forcing him to choose. And there was nothing any of them could do about it except to helplessly watch the events unfold without the slightest bit of hope.
"No! Not like this! Anything but this!" Diana heart shattered into pieces knowing what was happening to Bruce. She could feel his pain. To allow one to die because of his failure to save another was killing him. That no matter what happens, Bruce was going to lose. Diana was being forced to helplessly watch Bruce, her husband, her whole world suffer a tremendous amount of pain that no one should ever feel. It was just hours ago that she vowed to him that she would always be there help him in his time of need. That she wouldn't allow him to fail. But here Bruce stood. He was going to fail another Robin. Diana was going to fail him and there was nothing she could do about it.
Circe saw the look of grief and heartache on Diana's face as her grin grew ear to ear. "Look at the poor Princess… I can't imagine it getting any better than this."
"Excellent" Ares looked on with a satisfied smile of his own.
Batman glared at the witch and The God of War as he realized the full extent of the ramifications in which his pain and suffering were meant to do. "Have you figured it out Batman?" Ares crossed his arms as he grinned, knowing that their schemes were moments away from reaching the sweet taste of fruition.
Batman narrowed his eyes as he turned to Jason. "Obviously… Both of you stole Jason's body, broke into one of Ra's al Ghul's Lazarus Pits to resurrect him, restored his sanity, and convinced him to take his vengeance on what he believes to be betrayal."
"You really are The World's Greatest Detective aren't you Batman?" Circe said seductively. "Too bad you decided to have the Princess as your lover… you and I would've had so much fun."
Diana's anger blew past its limits as she tried to free herself with all her might. "DAMN YOU WITCH!" She desperately wanted to bash in Circe's head for even thinking about her husband.
"My my… she has quite a temper… that's not a very good trait for a wife to have… or do you like it when she gets feisty…" Circe gave Batman a mischievous grin as she winked at him.
Ares hovered over to Diana and lifted her chin up with his finger so that she looked into his eyes. "This all could have been avoided Amazon, if you had only agreed to share my bed instead of his." Diana defiantly snapped her head away in disgust. Just hearing those words made her want to vomit as Batman clenched his fists with such anger that the Kevlar armor began to crack. The smirk on Ares' face disappeared as he grabbed Diana's face and forced her to look back at him. "Your idiotic decision to choose this pitiful man as your lover makes me sick. What pisses me off more is that I can't even have you as my own because of my mother's stupid blessing…" Diana quickly thanked Hera for what she believed to be, even before this predicament, the greatest gift the both of them received on Mt. Olympus. "…unless I receive the proper consent from the both of you to be your lover…" Ares turned to face Batman with an insidious grin on his face. "Agree to give her to me Batman, and the rest can go."
"Not a chance in hell" Batman said instantly as his white screened eyes narrowed into tiny white slits. Diana's eyes quickly snapped to her husband, yearning to be in his arms.
Ares mockingly shook his head in disappointment before turning back to Wonder Woman. "Just so you know Amazon, everything that happens here is entirely your fault." Ares loved every second of the dilemma he placed both Batman and Wonder Woman in. "If that's your decision Batman, then the choice is yours. Who will it be? No one can supplant the original Robin… or can this current one do what the first never did? It seems to me that all you really do is to simply replace one with another, just like you did with Jason. Maybe none of them matter all that much to you."
Batman took a deep breath "I cannot… will not choose between any of them. Each one means as much to me as the others. I would rather die than have anyone here suffer that fate. You say I'm not worthy of her love… your parents say different. I challenge you to a duel to prove my worth. If I win, everyone is freed. If you win, I die."
Diana's eyes widened in shock. A part of her told herself that she could not lose Bruce again. But another part, the part connected to Bruce, told her that she would be fine. That if it meant saving everyone in this room, himself included, that it was the right thing to do. By sacrificing himself, it would save him from a fate worse than death… save him from failing to save another Robin, from choosing which had to die. Diana's heart sank, she knew it was currently the best possible way out of this, but that didn't make her heart feel any better.
"And the Amazon is mine to do with as I please." Ares' smirk grew into a giant grin.
"I'll never agree to that" Batman stated firmly in his cold unnerving tone.
Ares crossed his arms over his chest. "Then we don't have a deal."
Batman started to crack his knuckles. "What's the matter? Are you afraid that you'll lose to someone as pitiful and as pathetic as me in a fight?"
"What is he doing! What is he up to? DAMN IT!" Jason snapped his head towards Ares as he saw that he was seriously considering it. "NO! This is MY vengeance to execute! Not yours! I will not let you give him a way out! He must live with this shameful failure for the rest of his life!"
"Silence you pathetic mortal! How dare you talk to a God in that manner! You have outlived your usefulness in my plans." Irritated, Ares gave him a disgusted look.
"Don't you get it Jason? He used you to get to me so that he could complete his revenge on Wonder Woman." Batman pointed to both Circe and Ares. "They wanted to bring upon her, a fate worse than death. This has nothing to do with us… they played you for a fool."
"NO! Liar! Shut up!" Jason furiously turned towards Ares. "He's MINE you stupid…"
"ENOUGH!" Ares cut Jason off as he sent a blast of light at him, stripping him of his sanity and the powers that The God of War placed upon him.
Everyone watched on in horror as Jason lost control of his body, his arms and legs violently lashing about as he screamed irrationally. Hunched over, Jason placed his hands on the temples of his head trying to regain control of himself. He turned around facing Batman and the others with a crazed insane look on his face. His eyes were wide and intense as he was heavily breathing out of his mouth while drool dripped down onto the floor.
"JASON!" Batman reached his arm out, but Jason saw Ares and instantly leaped towards him roaring with rage. With a simple wave of his hand, Ares sent Jason blasting through the roof of the warehouse and out somewhere into the cold frozen land. Despite what Jason had put him through, Bruce still cared for him, he was still his son. Anger began boiling through his veins as he clenched his fists so tight that the force he exerted shattered the already cracked Kevlar armor on his gauntlets.
Ares glanced at Wonder Woman once more before turning back to Batman. "I accept your pitiful challenge. I will prove to everyone just how pathetic you really are. The Amazon will watch as I destroy you and decimate your so-called family one by one. It will be then, that she realizes her obvious mistake in choosing such a weak and unworthy man as her lover." Ares motioned to Diana as he floated down to the ground preparing to dual The Dark Knight. A supremely confident smile appeared on his face, believing that Batman had just sealed his own fate along with the batclan and, most importantly, Diana's.