The next day, Damian spent the entire day watching the news, waiting for them to report the extermination of the White Knights. He had not been allowed to help, so he would have to rely on the news for information.
Finally, they began their report on the massacre. The assassins had long since left the building, leaving the bodies for their families to find. He watched closely for any sign of Huntress, as she would be the sole survivor of the attack. The news reporter went inside the building, showing the audience all the bodies that had been left behind. He couldn't count the number of corpses, and the reporter and cameraman had to be careful not to slip on the blood that had flooded the warehouse. It served them right, Damian thought, after all, they had been the ones stupid enough to think they could actually challenge his father.
"Come on Huntress, where are you?" he muttered to himself.
When he finally saw Huntress, he picked up the TV and hurled it at the wall. He screamed and broke everything in the room as he tried to come to terms with what he had just seen.
Huntress, or what was left of her, was laying on the floor in a mix of her own blood and the blood of those closest to her. She had been decapitated, and he had destroyed the television before he could see her body. He would never forget the way she looked in death, he could just imagine her eyes behind her mask, soulless and unseeing. He wondered what her eyes even looked like, as he had never had the chance to see her without her mask on. In fact, he didn't even know her real name. He had only known her for a short time, but it felt like they had always known each other, like they were soul mates. He realized with great agony that he was the reason she was dead. He should have been there, he should have saved her, but he hadn't. Instead he had led his father to her, and had failed to save her from his wrath. His father… his father had promised him she would be allowed to live, but he had lied. His father had taken the love of his life from him, because he had deemed it necessary to murder her and anyone else like her who refused to see things his way. For the first time in his life, he began to wonder if what he had been doing was wrong. He began to wonder if he was playing for the wrong side.
He stormed up to his father's study and found him talking to one of his bodyguards, the one called William.
"Leave Damian, we'll talk later," said Batman, undoubtedly knowing why Damian was there.
"No, we'll talk right now," growled Damian.
Batman scowled at him and said, "All right, speak then."
"You lied to me. You said you wouldn't let them kill Huntress but you did! How could you?"
"I did what was necessary. If I had told you the truth, you would have warned her and helped her escape, and others would have tried to escape, as well. You would have made a huge mess of things. I didn't want to lie to you, but you gave me no choice," said Batman as he got up and put a hand on Damian's shoulder. "It's better this way, I promise. I know what it's like to lose the people you care about, but you learn to move on, you learn to forget the pain."
"I don't want to forget Huntress," said Damian with tears in his eyes.
"You need to look at the big picture, son," said Batman. "She was just one person in a sea of people. She wasn't worth any more, or any less than anyone else."
"That's not true, she was important, she was special! You no longer see individuals, only crowds." said Damian as he pulled away from his father. "Can't you see what you're doing to Gotham? Huntress was good, she meant no one any harm, but you killed her anyway! There's no line between good and evil anymore with you, all you see is corruption, when the corruption is inside of you!"
"Damian, if a man murders three people, who is to blame for the people's deaths?"
"The murderer, of course. But what does that-"
"But if a man murders three people and the judge lets him go free, and the man murders three more, who bears the blood of the dead?"
"Still the murderer."
"No Damian, if the judge lets the man go then the blood of his victims is on the judge's hands. I had to kill her for the rest of Gotham. One life is not worth thousands. What I'm trying to make you understand, is that sometimes people have to make difficult decisions for the greater good. I abhor murder, but it is the only solution."
"But she wasn't evil! She was just trying to do what she thought was right! Even after I told you how I felt about her you killed her anyway. I loved her, but you just don't care, do you?"
"I do care, but love is weakness. It has brought me to my knees so many times before, and I no longer let it affect me."
"What about me, and Mom? Don't you love us? Or are we just tools, like we were to Grandfather?"
"I do love you, but I will not let it get in the way of my duties as Batman. Everything I've done is for the people of Gotham, and I'll stop at nothing to purify this city, no matter the cost."
"Do you even hear yourself?" asked Damian incredulously. "You've lost your mind! You're just as evil and insane as all the super villains you used to lock away. You know, I used to believe what we were doing was right, I thought we were the good guys, but you've shown me how wrong I was, you've shown me that we've been the villains all along. I'm leaving, I'm going to salvage whatever I can of the White Knights and help them defeat you once and for all."
Before he could leave, Batman grabbed him. Damian tried to fight back but he was no match for his father. Batman wrestled him to the floor and pinned him down.
"I once thought you would make a suitable heir one day, but you've shown me that you cannot be trusted. You're a traitor and a disgrace, and I cannot allow this to continue." He drew a dagger and looked deeply into his son's anger-filled eyes.
"I'm your son!" protested Damian. "You can't do this! I'm your son!"
"I'm sorry, but you leave me no choice."
"No!" shouted Raven suddenly. She ran over and knelt down next to them. "Don't do this, don't murder your son. Let the boy go."
Batman knew that voice. He hesitated for a moment, then sliced open Damian's throat with the dagger. It killed him to have to do it, but it was better that he do it, instead of someone else.
He turned to Raven and yanked down her hood and gasped when he saw her face. He couldn't believe it, it was Selina.
Selina pulled her hood back down and ran from the room as fast as she could. Baffled, Batman gave chase and followed her. He had to know what was going on.
"Selina!" he shouted. "Selina, wait!"
As he ran after her, he heard a horrified scream come from upstairs. Just as he was about to grab her, he heard Talia shout at him.
"What have you done!" she wailed. "Our son! You killed our son!"
Batman recovered from the distraction too late. Selina had escaped.
"Why did you do this? How could you do it?" asked Talia as she approached him, tears streaming down her face and her clothes soaked in Damian's blood.
"He turned against me, he betrayed me. He was no good Talia, no good."
"You did not have to kill him, there were other ways we could have dealt with him."
"No, there wasn't. Just be glad it was me who killed him, and not an assassin. Besides, it's better this way. Isn't that what you told me when Nightwing was killed?"
"That was different, Damian was your son!"
"Nightwing was more my son than Damian ever was, despite being my own flesh and blood. You basically told me to just get over my son's death, but when it's your son, then it's wrong. You're a filthy hypocrite, Talia."
"Even my own father never took things this far."
"He never needed to, you were a good servant to him. He had more than enough reasons to keep you around, because you were useful to him. At least I loved Damian, I loved him enough to save him from what he was becoming."
"That was not the only reason my father loved me! How could even say that? You murdered your own child out of love? You are a liar! You never loved him!"
"Did you ever love him?" accused Batman. "You sent him to me over ten years ago, not because you wanted us to love each other, but because you wanted him to disrupt my work, to make my life more difficult in an attempt to make me side with your father. Is he even my son Talia, or did you lie about that too?"
"Of course you are the father, I would never lie about something like that! Yes, I sent him to you to disrupt your work, but I also wanted you two to get to know each other as father and son. I had hoped that maybe you would accept my father's offer and marry me for Damian, for your child. I loved you both so much, I wanted us to be a happy family, but look what you've done, you've taken this too far. You have ruined everything!"
"Many other people have lost their children too, but you only care about yours. I kill to bring peace to the people, but you don't care about them. You only kill to save the planet, while you disregard the people! Only when it affects you personally do you care about life other than your own, you have no idea what it is like to sacrifice what you love for the greater good."
"You are a monster," she whispered.
"I'm the monster?" he asked angrily. "You lied to me Talia, you told me Selina was dead, but she was just here! You've been lying to me for over ten years, you know how much I care about her, why would deceive me like that?"
Talia's expression went from anger and grief to fear instantly. "I was afraid if you knew she was alive you would have chosen her instead of me. I would say that I'm sorry, but I'm not. I did what I had to so that we could finally be together. I love you so much, that slut does not deserve you, not in the least." Talia took his hands in hers as tears poured down her face. "We can still be together, we can still save the world. We can have more children, good children. We can forget all about this night and be happy for all eternity. Please forgive me Beloved, please forgive me."
In response, Batman slapped her, knocking her to the floor. "I can't even trust my own wife," he growled. "The entire world is against me. All I've ever done is try to save these people, I've sacrificed everything to save this world, and yet the world continues to punish me. No more."
"Are you going to kill me?" asked Talia as she wept at his feet.
"I should, I want to, but I'm not going to. Not now anyway. I don't have any time to waste on you."
Batman left the house for the last time, but before he did so he made William watch her so that she couldn't escape and leave the city. He was sick of Gotham, the place was infected with a disease that he had been unable to cure despite all his efforts. He realized that Gotham couldn't be saved, and instead he needed to stop the infection from spreading. He called some of the assassins to begin setting up bombs all throughout the city, and he ordered them to not say a word about it to anyone. He had had the bombs made a long time ago, just for this day. They would die, but as Ra's had said, they would willingly lay down their lives for their master. He would destroy the city that night with everyone in it. These people were no more than carriers of the disease, and if allowed to live they would only spread the infection to other parts of the world. No, he needed to end Gotham, it was the only way he could save it.
xxxx
Batman stood atop a building, taking one last look at his city before its demise. He had a helicopter waiting for him so he could escape; while he wouldn't mind dying, he still had a job to do. He wished he could allow himself to die, because continuing on and trying to save a doomed planet was becoming too much for him to bear, but he had made a promise to put an end to the evil in the world and he wasn't about to break it. After all, he had finally realized that he could not keep his promise to keep Gotham safe, so he would just have to make sure he did not fail again when he moved on to the rest of the world.
His thoughts drifted back to that night so many years ago, when he had reached that turning point in his life, the night that would ultimately cause him to become the Batman. That awful night so long ago, the memory of it and the pain it caused was nearly too much to endure. He tried not to think about it, he tried to bury the memory somewhere it couldn't hurt him anymore, but he always failed. Of course, how could he be expected to forget when the mask he wore and the criminals he fought constantly reminded him of why he had become Batman in the first place?
"I couldn't do it, I couldn't keep my promise. I failed you, and I'm sorry," he whispered. He turned and was just about to climb into the chopper and activate the detonator, when he heard a familiar voice speak from the darkness.
"Lovely night tonight, don't you think? I don't think I've ever seen the sky filled with so many stars."
He turned and saw Catwoman, a smirk on her face.
"I can't believe you're alive. All this time I thought you were dead," he said incredulously.
"The doctors said that when Harley destroyed my life-support machine, the lack of oxygen must have shocked my body into waking up, like it jump-started me or something."
"Why didn't you ever come back until now?"
"No one just wakes up from a coma all fine and dandy, especially when they have a bullet in their brain. It took a long time for me to recuperate, and by the time I finished recovering, you had changed and you had changed Gotham. I didn't want to just rush in without thinking things through, what with you offing bad people like me."
Batman sat on the ledge of the building and motioned for her to sit next to him. She sat next to him and rested her head on his shoulder.
"I missed you so much, you have no idea how sorry I am that I let that madman hurt you."
"Do you still love me, even after all these years?"
"Of course I do, not a day passed that I didn't think of you."
"And you with a wife and child, you sly dog."
"Don't talk about them."
"I am so sorry about what happened, the world has been so unfair to you. All you do is give and give, and the universe continues to punish you. Why is it that the good suffer so much more than the evil?"
"You're one of the few blessings I've been granted in my life, and yet I still cannot have you."
"Says who? I want to be with you, and you want to be with me. What's to stop us? In case you hadn't noticed, things have changed, and I think we can finally be together. With the work you've done for this world, you can be the king and I your queen."
"I don't want power, I only want to abolish crime and the people's suffering."
"We can do both. With me as your queen, I think you could get used to being in power."
Batman looked down at her and smiled for the first time in years. He wrapped his arms around her and pressed his lips against hers. Oh, how he loved this woman. Kissing her was like taking a drink of water after days in the desert, it made him feel alive again. Yes, she would be his queen, and with the Lazarus Pit, they would always be together. He would never let anything separate them ever again.
Suddenly, he began to feel hot, even though the night air was chilly. He ignored it at first, but it grew worse, until it was like he was on fire. He began to have trouble breathing, he pulled away and gasped for air. He looked to Catwoman for help. Seemingly unconcerned, she pulled out a tube of lipstick and showed it to him.
"I found this in one of the plant lady's old hideouts. Apparently it still works."
"H-How could you, you said you loved me," coughed Batman.
"I'm doing this because I love you. Can't you see this isn't you? You're not the man I fell in love with, you're a tyrant who kills in the name of peace. By compromising your own morals you forced me to compromise mine. This was the only way I could save you from yourself."
Batman fell back and Catwoman caught him. She held his head in her hands as she said, "You became Batman because you didn't want to see anyone else die, you wanted to save the world, but all you've done is poison it. You've become the very thing you sought to destroy. Gotham is dying, but perhaps now it can recover, as can the rest of the world. I hope you'll forgive me, but I'll understand if you won't."
Batman pulled out the detonator. "No!" cried Catwoman as she tried to grab it from him, but she was too late. He pressed the button before she could stop him.
"Congratulations, you've just murdered more people than all the rogues combined!" said Catwoman angrily as she stood and ran to the helicopter as the world began to explode around them. "Remember that I love you, and will always love you, even now that you've murdered all of Gotham, even now that you're a monster."
She took off in the helicopter and left Batman to die. He reached for the anti-toxin in his utility belt, but stopped himself. As he drew his final breaths, his eyes were finally opened, he finally saw what he truly was. It had taken his own death to make him see. Catwoman had been wrong, he wasn't a monster, he was far worse. He had wanted to save the people, but all he had done was hurt them. He had fallen into the pit of madness, he had sunk even lower than his enemies, but had failed to realize it until it was far too late to save himself. He had become a puppet while evil and darkness pulled the strings. He hated himself for what he had become, he felt tears of grief run down his face for what he had lost: his soul. What does it profit a man to gain the world but lose his soul? Nothing, absolutely nothing. He had forfeited his soul in an attempt to cleanse the world, but nothing, not even the lives he fought to save, were worth his soul. He had lost himself, and the world was paying the price. No, he would not save himself, he needed to die. Perhaps if he died, the world would finally be able to heal from all the damage he had done. Gotham was dead, but maybe it could be reborn from the ashes. It was all he had left to hope for. As he drew his final breaths, the world around him was engulfed in flames.
Author's Notes: One more chapter! Don't stop reading yet :)