Chapter Thirteen: Emotions
Things began coming into focus slowly. There was faint light, eyes struggling to come open. Soon Dick was awake, and immediately jumped at the pain of the needle in his arm. Batman pulled the needle out, replaced the tip, and moved over to a sleeping Huntress. Dick looked around and saw that everyone was asleep. Then he realized that they were in the batcave! "What the hell happened?" Dick shouted.
"I drugged you all before we came here, to make sure no one would see where the batcave was located." Batman said.
"Seriously? I mean, was it really necessary to drug me? I already know where it is, I used to frickin' live here!"
"The sleeping gas affected everyone in the area. You were in the area."
"You never trusted me Bruce. Never once."
"It has nothing to do with trust Dick, you-"
"Shut up. I grew up with your lectures, I don't need to hear anymore of them." Then there was silence. It was rare that Dick ever opened up to his foster father, and now seemed like a horrible time for it, but Dick just couldn't contain himself. The situation was too stressful, the stakes were too high, and he just couldn't hold it in.
Batman injected the needle into Huntress's vein, and she immediately woke up when the fluid entered her bloodstream. She uttered the same phrase Dick had when he woke up, and he gave her a brief explanation. Soon everyone was awake, except for the dying Galatea.
"Good move, you might not want to wake her up until the arrow is removed." Black Canary said.
"Actually, I didn't drug her. She was passed out already." Batman said. She was hardly breathing now, her pulse almost nonexistent.
"Help her! Now!" Dick demanded.
"Calm down. Get her into the medical area." He instructed. Dick lifted her up in his arms and carried her over to the sterilized infirmary, laying her down on the operating table.
Dick watched as Bruce removed the kryptonite arrow from Galatea and then worked to stop the bleeding. She groaned in pain and her hand searched for something or someone. Without hesitation Dick moved his hand to hers and felt her squeeze. She needed a focus point.
"I brought a sunlamp by the chemistry lab." Huntress said, entering into the infirmary area. Question helped her set it up and shine the light down upon her. She groaned a little, but it appeared as if her body was absorbing the light from the lamp.
"I've removed all the kryptonite, but there's no telling if any particulates got into her bloodstream. Wait a few minutes, and if she's still showing signs of being exposed to the radiation, let me know immediately. We may have to clean her blood." Batman said, looking down at the young woman under him.
Galatea opened her eyes slowly. Her beautiful baby blue were so unfocused, shimmering in the light of the sunlamp. Batman stepped back, and expected Dick to the same, but instead the young hero stood there looking down at her. Dick turned slightly when he heard a chair slide up behind him, and Huntress stepped back with a smile on her face. Dick sat down and waited for her to recover. For her mind to come back into focus. After a few moments she looked over at Dick, looking into his eyes.
"Hey." She said weakly, managing a small smile.
"Hi." Dick said happily, smiling back.
"How long have you been waiting here?"
"Not too long, a couple minutes maybe."
"Why?"
"I don't know… I just wanted to."
"I'm glad you did." The two talked for a while longer.
Batman headed over to Question and Zatanna. "So you still haven't told me what you found. Did you contact Toyman?" Batman questioned.
"Yes." Question said, somewhat uncomfortably. "So what about Superman? I mean, are we really safe from him here?"
"The entire cave is reinforced with layers of steel left over from the Imperiex war, steel even Superman can't break, and between those layers of steel are layers of lead. We should be safe here for quite a while. Now quite changing the subject and tell me what you found!" Batman demanded.
"Well… we got answers from Toyman, but you might not like it…" Zatanna said.
"What?"
"Superman has been dumping the bodies into the ocean around the fortress of solitude, weighing them down too. The pressure at the bottom the ocean would have destroyed any traceable remains by now." Question explained.
Batman growled and punched a wall. "Why the hell not?" He turned and began to walk away. "He's ruined everything else we've done, why wouldn't he have destroyed the damned bodies!"
"Told you he wouldn't like it." Zatanna said.
"I don't like it either. Now we have virtually no case. We have plenty of theories, but no evidence to base it on." Question sighed.
"Lex Luthor is behind this, right?" Black Canary called from the corner, where she had Green Arrow had been sitting. "If any information about this exists, then I'm sure Oracle could find it. She's got the largest, most complex database in the world, she should be able to dig up some sort of evidence." Canary suggested.
"It's worth a shot." Huntress agreed.
Black Canary pulled out her communicator to call The Oracle, but when she looked it at there was a flashing red light. "What the hell?" She questioned. Huntress checked her communicator, and the same red light flashed.
"Weird." She said. "They won't work either."
Then Black Canary's communicator suddenly turned to a blue light, though Huntress's remained the same. Canary's communicator released a hologram all of the sudden, a hologram of The Oracle. "Dinah, if you're seeing this right now, it means I was forced to use my self destruct protocol. That means I'm dead." Huntress and Black Canary gasped. The hologram continued speaking. "I programmed this message into your communicator for a very specific purpose. I want you to take my place, Dinah. I want you to succeed me as leader of the Birds of Prey. If you head to our secondary hideout, your communicator alone will act as a key to my informational database. You will have full access to it. I understand this is a lot to handle, but you have to understand, you're in charge now, Dinah. There's no room for weakness. You're my closest friend, and I know you'll have the strength to hold things together. Good luck, Dinah." And then the hologram faded.
"What? How… how did this happen?" Canary cried.
"Oh God…" Green Arrow muttered. "No… I didn't think…"
"What?" Huntress demanded.
"What is it Ollie?" Canary asked.
"Hawk. He was in the Superhuman Police Force with me, he was Luthor's spy in the Birds of Prey. I heard rumors that he was ordered to assassinate her, but I didn't think it was true!"
"Hawk… I should've guessed." Black Canary said, sadness weighing down her voice.
"You knew?" Huntress shouted, infuriated. She kicked Green Arrow in the throat, causing him to double over and fall to the floor, clutching his throat.
"I- I didn't think it was true, I swear!" He insisted.
"Why? Why did this happen?" Huntress demanded.
"I don't know details, but I think it had something to do with The Oracle knowing about one of Luthor's projects or something." Arrow gasped.
"Probably whatever he did to Clark." Question nodded, as if he had expected this. Suddenly everyone in the rooms attention shifted to Batman, who was standing still as a statue, a feeling of anger emanating from his body.
"He attacked Dick, practically my son… who knows what he did to Diana… and now…" He looked up toward the ceiling. "Now Barbara has died for this too!" He cried, clenching his fists so hard that blood seeped through his gauntlets.
Everyone felt for Bruce, Barbara, a.k.a. The Oracle, had been sort of like a daughter to him. And then there had been the danger of losing Dick, and everyone knew how he must have felt about Diana. He had suffered more than anyone for this, and now some emotion was finally beginning to break through his solid exterior. He turned and walked off deeper into the cave. "Once I'm done burying Clark, there won't be a hole deep enough for you to hide in, Luthor." He said to himself, hate filling his voice more than ever.
"Hey, um… what happened to Dick and Galatea?" Zatanna piped in, realizing the two of them had disappeared.
Outside, Dick and Galatea had left the cave through one of the many hidden exits that only Dick and his mentor knew about. The two of them walked through the vast topiary garden about a hundred acres behind Wayne Manor. "It's so beautiful here." Galatea said, listening to a nearby stream flow into a pond, observing the fantastic topiary figures. "You're so lucky to have lived here."
"Not really." Dick muttered. "You know I lived her for years, and I never even knew this area existed before tonight? The old man always kept me constantly busy, with just about everything. It was kind of like slave labor, except that slaves don't have to wear tights and fight psychotic clowns!"
"So you didn't even like being Robin?" Galatea asked.
"Well, it did definitely have its perks, and I really enjoyed it at the time… but looking back on it, every moment of it really sucked. No matter what I did, it was never good enough. I never measured up to Bruce's expectations, no matter how hard I tried to make him happy. That man made my childhood a living hell! And now I'm just trying to get out, but he won't seem to let me out of his shadow."
"Believe it or not, I kind of know the feeling. I never even had a childhood, I was immediately aged to a point where my powers would be at their peak… and then after that I spent the first years of my life becoming a brainwashed puppet for Cadmus. They taught me emotion was a weakness, and I was punished severely whenever I showed any sign of feeling. They constantly pushed me to my limit with endless testing, and they were never happy with the results, they always wanted more power."
They were both on the verge of tears now, but strangely, they felt extremely happy. It was the first time either of them had ever been comfortable sharing these feelings with anyone.
"You're feeling ok, right?" Dick asked, breaking the silence.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"
"Well bats said something earlier about kryptonite particulates getting into your bloodstream or whatever, so I was just making sure."
"No, I feel fine. I appreciate the concern though." There was another pause, and then she stopped walking and looked Dick in the eyes. "Why are you concerned?" She asked.
"You aren't used to compassion, are you?" Dick smiled.
"No, I guess I'm not. You don't see a whole lot of that at Cadmus."
"I can imagine. That Amanda Waller chick is mean, tough and built like a brick shithouse, I doubt she's very compassionate." Dick laughed. Galatea laughed too, and then nearly fell over. Dick caught her.
"Whoa, you ok?" He asked.
"Yeah, I guess I'm still just a little tired from that arrow. It'll be a while before I'm a hundred percent again." She said, regaining her balance. But after she was back on her feet, she remained in Dick's embrace, and then the two froze. Then, almost mechanically, they both moved in for a kiss. But before their lips could make contact, a spotlight shone heavily upon them.
"What the…" Dick groaned, looking up to see some sort of hovercraft fleet above them. An army of Cadmus soldiers began dropping out of the hovercrafts, all heavily armed. A series of jeeps pulled up further back, and more soldiers exited from those. But among this group was Amanda Waller herself. The sight of Amanda brought Dick's description of her back to Galatea's mind, and despite the situation, she couldn't help but giggle under her breath.
"What do you want?" Dick demanded, staring Amanda down. All guns were immediately aimed toward him.
"Stand down kid. We just want Galatea back, and then we'll be on our way." Amanda Waller said. A tall blonde man wearing sunglasses stepped up next to Waller. He was unarmed, but something about him seemed more dangerous than any of the other soldiers.
Dick stood firmly in front of Galatea, drawing his escrima sticks and holding them at the ready. He stared at Amanda's blonde bodyguard. Why did this particular man seem so intimidating? Dick shook his head and focused. "Not a chance." He said defiantly.
"Galatea is Cadmus property, and we are taking at back." Amanda said, her voice equally strong.
"Your property? Are you kidding me! She's a human being!" Dick screamed, rage boiling up inside of him.
"Human being? Hah! She was created in a test tube. She's not a human being, she is a perversion of nature." Amanda responded. "Galatea was a mistake, one that we must quickly erase." Amanda then looked past Dick to the weakened Galatea standing behind him. "She's not even supposed to exist."
Dick had never been so angry before. "Dick, don't. Please." Galatea pleaded, but he could barely even hear her through his own violent thoughts. He clenched his weapons tighter and thought about moving in on Waller. A soldier stepped forward and pointed his gun toward Dick, and Dick was immediately staring him down. The soldier stood unafraid, and Dick was practically looking down the barrel now.
"Go ahead and try it." Dick threatened, his eyes narrowing. "I guarantee you that my reflexes are faster than your trigger finger" The soldier began to squeeze the trigger. Dick stood frozen, watching. To Galatea, it seemed that time had slowed to a crawl. Everything was still. The only thing in motion now was the man's finger, squeezing tighter on the trigger with ever passing moment.
Then a baterang flew out and sliced the gun in half! "Stop!" A heavy voice barked. Everyone looked over and saw Batman on top of a tall topiary sculpture, looking down on them. Soon everyone else was in the area too, ready for a fight with Cadmus. Now the soldiers looked afraid, there were around thirty of them, but they knew it was a fight they would probably not win. And yet Amanda and her blonde bodyguard were completely unafraid.
"Mr. Wayne, you know I have a long running respect for you, but I cannot allow you to hide this fugitive any longer." She announced.
"Galatea is not threat. Especially not right now, look at her! She can barely stand!" Batman argued.
"Why do you think we chose now to come here? She will recover, and when she does she could be right back to her hold ways."
"What were her old ways, Waller? She just blindly followed your orders like a robot!"
Now Amanda was silent, unable to come up with a reasonable response. Finally, began to turn and walk away. "You're waging a war with Cadmus now, Mr. Wayne. I hope you're ready for the fight of a lifetime."
"If you don't want to completely waste your own time, deal with Superman. He's actually a threat to you!"
"We are well aware of Kal El's actions, Mr. Wayne. And we assure you appropriate action will be taken. We have an ambush set up, we're taking him out later tonight."
"It'll never work!" Batman argued. "You'll be throwing away the lives of your soldiers for nothing!"
"And I suppose you have a better plan, Mr. Wayne?"
Batman was silent. He had a few plans, but she wouldn't agree with any of them. "Just as I thought." Amanda said, continuing her pace. She climbed back into the jeep, but before leaving, she called, "Oh, and Batman, if I see you or any of your little helpers within a thousand kilometers of this ambush, you'll be taken down on the spot. Do not interfere. Is that clear?" She demanded. Everyone was silent, and soon the jeeps drove off, with the hovercrafts quickly rocketing ahead.
Batman headed back down, deep into the cave. He walked over to the fairly new telepad he had installed in the batcave. Then he called Flash.
"Hello?" Wally West's voice came on the other end.
"It's Batman. Are you still at headquarters?"
"Um, yeah, I've been here for quite a while. Where have you been?"
"Focus. How many people are in the tower with you?"
"Just Shayera and J'onn, and they're both asleep. J'onn keeps waking up for like five minutes at a time, then passes out again."
"Ok, I need you to go into the trophy room and get me something… send it through one of the telepads to the batcave."
"Um… ok, what is it?"
"You can't tell anyone about this. Is that understood?"
"Yeah, sure. What do you need?"
"Our portal to the Phantom Zone."
Meanwhile, back on Themyscira…
Diana had used the healing waters on Themyscira, and had almost completely recovered now. She was still scarred to some degree, but for the most part she had physically healed. Now she had something more important to do. She had to confront her mother again. She headed into the palace and soon she was face to face with Hippolyta, still filled with an almost visible rage toward Superman.
"Mother, what are you planning to do?" Diana asked.
"I am planning to kill this man, no matter what the cost." Hippolyta said.
Diana was silent for a long time, she felt like she should protest, but did she really want to? She wanted Clark dead, she couldn't deny that. After what he had done… she hated him. And she felt horrible for hating him, because he had been her friend for so long. But at the same time, the Clark she had seen that night… was he really the same person who had been her friend? Who had had her back in countless battles? Who had saved her life so many times, and vice versa? Not, it was not. Diana had never been so conflicted, but she knew the answer.
"Mother, if you were to kill him, I would not shed a tear. But what worries me is your methods of doing so. How exactly do you plan to reach him?" Diana asked cautiously.
"Artemis and I are still discussing strategy. We know that you have grown attached to the world of man; we will try to avoid casualties. But I assure you Diana, I will have this man's head on a spike, whether they hand him over to us or not."
"Mother, you must know that this plan is outright idiocy. I-"
"Not another word Diana. I refuse to stand idly by and ignore what this monster of a man has done to you! It happened to my sisters and I… with Heracles… and I would have given anything to destroy him. I do not want you to go through the same torment, my daughter."
"But senseless violence will not ease anyone's pain! We are warriors, but we are not savages! The Amazon's isolated themselves for the soul purpose of avoiding conflict!" Diana argued.
"But we have never been provoked to step out of isolation before. I will have justice brought to you."
"But what if I don't want that?" Diana screamed, angered by her mother's sudden ignorance.
"But you do, don't you?"
Diana was again silent. In truth, she did want justice. She wanted justice, and vengeance, and resolution. She just didn't want anyone else to have to die for it. But maybe no one did? Hippolyta had said that they would avoid casualties. Perhaps this wouldn't be such a terrible thing… Diana stepped outside, in deep contemplation. John was outside now, feeling much better.
"You contacted Shayera?" He asked frantically. Diana shoo her head.
"Wally. Shayera wouldn't answer, but I had Wally give her the message."
"That doesn't make me feel any better at all. West can barely tie his own shoes, I don't see him calming down a murder situation." John sighed.
"You should have more confidence in him John. He sort of looks up to you, you know."
"That's what makes him so irritating."
"Where's Atlas at?" Diana asked, wondering about the Kryptonian beast they had ridden to the island.
"Hopefully he's on the Amazonian dinner table."
"Is there anything you don't hate?" Diana asked jokingly.
"Yeah, I don't have a problem with beer." John said, seeming completely serious.
"Is your ring fixed yet?" Diana laughed.
"No, I think it might be beyond repair. I have a replacement back at HQ, when we finally get home. Where are we at on that situation, anyway?"
"Well it sounds like we might be headed back to America with an invasion force, by the looks of things."
"I thought you were talking them out of that?"
"Well the thing is… do I really want to? I mean, at this point I honestly wouldn't mind seeing Clark dead. Assuming we can even call him Clark anymore."
"Diana… it always seems like revenge can take pain away, but it never works. Never." He turned around and faced her. "Take it from a guy who's tried. If he dies, it will change absolutely nothing."
"How would you know?"
John was silent for a very, very long time.
"John? Is- is there something I don't know about?"
"You know I was a Marine, right?"
"Yeah, a veteran U.S. Marine, everyone knows that."
"Yes, but no one knows exactly why I left the service."
"Why?"
"It was seventh year of service. I had spent seven years sharing blood, sweat and bullets with my unit. We began moving in on a group of terrorists, biggest assignment of our lives. But we got caught. We would have killed on the spot, except this one guy in the unit, one of my closest friends, he scored us a jeep. But he took a bullet. He told us to go on without him, said he'd take as many enemies out as he could. We drove off for a bit, but I couldn't take it. I jumped off and started running back. But as I was running back for him, the jeep exploded behind me. The son of a bitch had planted a bomb. It was a setup, the bullet he had taken was a blank! He had been paid off by the terrorists to kill our whole unit. I took out all the terrorists in the area in a rage, and chased him out into the desert. We fought for a while, but he overpowered me. I demanded to know why. Why he would sell himself out like that, why he would betray us to make a quick buck. And he looked me in the eyes, he kept a straight face, and he said… 'just business.' Then he shot me in the back of the head. I've got a metal plate in my head now, you know. I'm lucky to have survived that bullet."
"Oh… John, I never knew…" Diana said.
"Just business. I couldn't believe it. Just business. Just freaking business! That's why he killed our whole unit! That's why he stabbed us all in the back! That's why he put a bullet in my head!" John was getting angry now. "The story doesn't end there… after I recovered; I wasn't ready to let him go. I snuck off base almost every night. I stalked him for months. Hour by hour every night, I stalked him, watching. Finally, after I was at a point where I hated him on an unimaginable scale… I attacked him. I beat him senseless, I pummeled him within an inch of his life. And then I drew my knife, and I looked into his eyes. He begged for his life, he asked how I could do that to him… and you know what I said? I said, just business. And then I killed him. I one slash, I killed him."
"Then what happened John?"
"Then I stood up, dropped the knife, and wanted to die. Revenge doesn't fix anything Diana. Two wrongs really don't make a right. After I killed him, I only felt more empty. More horrible."
He looked her deep in the eyes now. "You get pushed, you want to push back. Hatred is almost second nature to humans. But please Diana… don't push back. Be the adult and walk away. I don't know what we're supposed to do… but if you kill Clark, I promise you it won't change anything at all."
Diana nodded. She really did understand, but at the same time, what choice was there? No prison could hold Superman forever. It seemed the only thing they could do was kill him, no matter what the cost. John was right about one thing, hatred is second nature.
Meanwhile, Back at a lake near Wayne Manor…
"Hey! Galatea?" Dick called, running. After Cadmus visited, Galatea had just run off. He had gone out searching for her, but so far had turned up empty. Then finally, he reached a lake out in the woods behind Wayne Manor, a private lake that Dick had really never known existed. And there Galatea sat, on the shore, with her feet dangling in the water. There was very little shallow here, it was more of a water hole than a lake. You walked off of land, and the water was immediately six feet deep at least. Dick sat down next to her.
"Are you always this persistent?" She asked distantly. She had her knees up and her arms wrapped around then, her baby blue eyes completely unfocused.
"Yup. It's part of my charm." Dick smiled, but Galatea seemed to be in no mood. She was extremely silent. "Listen… I'm sorry Galatea."
"For what?"
"Well, first for whining about my life to you back there. That was pretty immature of me, I grew up in a multi-billionaire's mansion, what do I have to complain about? You obviously had things a lot harder." He told her, but the look on her face made him think that that may have been the wrong thing to say.
"It's alright. If I went around comparing everybody's back story to mine, I'd just depress myself." She said.
"No offense, but you already seem kind of depressed. What's the deal, you just kind of, ran away?"
"Well what would you have done, Dick? I just had it announced to me that I'm a mistake and a perversion of nature!"
"Don't listen to that crap, Galatea. The problem with Cadmus is that they think with their guns, not with their hearts."
"Don't most people think with their brain?"
"You know what I mean! Cadmus isn't capable of looking past you're power. To them, you're just another weapon, and they refuse to look any further than that. They refuse to see the person in you, the amazing, fun, hardcore, amazingly attractive person." Dick said, with not a hint of dishonesty in his tone.
"You're a great guy, really Dick." Galatea smiled, but then her smile quickly turned into a frown and she looked down. "That's why you need to stay away from me."
"What?"
"Dick, I'm practically a bullet magnet! And anyone near me tends to get caught in the crossfire. I'll never be able to have a normal life, I'll always be hunted. Always dehumanized. I wouldn't want to mix you up in my life. Like Waller said… I'm not even supposed to exist."
"Don't think like that, come on. Normal is boring anyway. You think I live a normal life? I dress up in leotards and pound the crap out of criminals every night! And about that other part… don't ever believe that Galatea. You may not be exactly what Cadmus was expecting, but you exist for a reason. It's just not the reason they wanted you to exist for. You aren't meant to be a weapon; you're so much more than that." D
"And how would you know so much about me, huh?"
"I spent the first half of my life dealing with sleazy circus bookies; I learned to figure people out really fast."
"You came from a circus?" Galatea grinned. "That explains the taste in wardrobe." They both chuckled. Then another silence fell upon them. To try and ease the awkwardness in the air, Dick began skipping rocks along the surface of the water.
"Let me try that…" Galatea said, picking up a rock. She tossed it out with, forgetting her own strength. The rock plowed through the surface of the water and slammed into the other side of the lake, digging into the ground and making a very small trench. "Oops…"
"That was awesome!" Dick exclaimed, awestruck. And then they both began laughing hysterically. But Galatea's laugh was a bit uneasy. She placed her hand on her shoulder, where her wound had been. "Does it still hurt?" Dick asked.
"Kind of… it just sort of stings a little." She responded.
"You should clean the wound out, those clothes are a bit dirty from our fight with Superman earlier, some bacteria could have come off your shirt and infected it." Dick told her. She nodded and then peeled her shirt off, much to Dick's surprise. He tried not to let her catch him checking her out; examining her perfect figure, the glow of her skin was broken only by the whiteness of her bra. She grinned, and Dick knew he had been caught. He quickly turned his head.
She took a handful of water, let out a light beam of heat vision into it to kill any bacteria, and then cooled the water back down with a light burst of super breath. She then used the water to clean the puncture wound on her shoulder. As she performed this task, Dick couldn't help but notice several scars on her back.
"What's with all the scars?" He asked.
"Remember how I told you I was punished by Cadmus whenever I showed emotion?" She asked.
"Yeah."
"That's evidence of the punishments." She said distantly. Dick had not realized how much she had been abused during her time with Cadmus.
"I'm sorry." He said.
"Why are you sorry? You didn't do anything?"
"Well… I just feel sorry for you, I guess."
"Well don't, I hate that." She said, almost angrily. Then she turned and looked him in the eyes. "Oh and, thanks for sticking up for me back there."
"Not a problem." He said, holding her gaze.
"You know, I think we were in the middle of something before they showed up." She smiled.
"I believe we were." He said, and then they both leaned in, meeting in a passionate kiss. After about a minute, they were interrupted by a voice off to the left.
"Aw, isn't that cute." Huntress said, her arms folded and a grin spread across her face. Question was next to her, standing rather awkwardly. Dick and Galatea immediately pulled away.
"What are you two doing out here?" Dick demanded.
"Apparently the same thing you." Question said, immediately pulling the zipper up on his pants.
"Gross…" Galatea whispered, shaking her head at the thought of Huntress and Question, and, that.
"This isn't exactly what it looks like." Dick smiled as Galatea quickly pulled her shirt back on.
"I think we should get these back in the cave. We don't need any more problems right now." Huntress said, and her and Question motioned for the two of them to follow. Reluctantly, Dick and Galatea went along. Soon they were all in the cave.
"Well where have you all been?" Black Canary asked.
"Vic and I caught these two making out by the lake." Huntress said with no subtlety at all.
"What?" Batman shouted, anger filling his tone. He grabbed his old apprentice and pulled him into a corner. "Dick, what the hell do you think you're doing?"
"What? I really like her, ok."
"You just met her this afternoon!"
"So?"
"This is ridiculously stupid, Dick. As soon as this is all over, she's going back to prison. You know that right?"
"What? You can't do that to her!"
"I can and I will. She's a criminal Dick, like it or not. She broke plenty of laws, she'll serve time for them."
"You're insane! I'm not letting that happen!" Dick said defiantly.
"Its idiocy to form bonds with the people we fight. Unfortunately our line of work restricts us, Dick. I thought you understood that by now."
"Idiocy huh? I guess that puts us in the same boat, considering you did the same damn thing with Selina! Oh wait; you went a step further didn't you? Because you and Selina had that psycho son!"
"That's different!"
"How?"
"Selina was a thief. Galatea was a monster!" As soon as Batman said that, Dick punched his mentor in the face. Suddenly all eyes were on them. Batman quickly recovered, and he said nothing. It was almost as if he expected the punch. He probably did. "Facts are facts Dick. I want you to forget about her, starting immediately."
"Yeah, of course that's what you want. Of course you don't care at all what I want! You never cared about what I want!" Dick shouted. "You're just a selfish little child! You're stuck in the past Bruce! Mommy and Daddy died when you were little, we all get that. You aren't the only one! Hundreds of kids lose their parents! But hundreds of kids don't dress up like a bat and beat clowns to a pulp every night! Grow the hell up Bruce!"
Now it was Batman's turn. He backhanded Dick so hard that the young man fell flat on his back, clutching his cheek. "Stupid kid. You don't know what you want. You never did." Batman said angrily, walking away. Galatea helped Dick up, and he quickly headed for an exit.
"Dick, hold on-" Galatea pleaded.
"Come on kid, don't do anything stupid." Green Arrow said calmly.
"Yeah, just cool down Dick. Everyone's really stressed right now, we can't let our anger get the best of us." Black Canary agreed, but he wouldn't listen. Galatea grabbed his arm, and he looked back at her pleadingly.
"I- I need some time alone." He said, and after a moment she nodded and let him go.
Batman headed over to the telepad, where Question happened to be standing. "That was a little harsh." Question said.
"Shut up." Batman barked. The telepad began to glow. "It's about time Flash." The dark knight muttered. A device soon appeared on the telepad, a device that opened a portal to the Phantom Zone. Batman picked it up and headed into a private area of the batcave.
"What are you going to do?" Question called after him.
"I'm going to end all of this."