Cloud Queen
Kyoto
Batman emerged into a world of floating lanterns. There was a thick mist, as the unusually warm water met the cold air and seemed to linger over everything. Silently he moved towards the stone house on the edge of the lake. He knew Masami would be here, because this was where he would be. Several of the high-ranking Makuda Yakuza inner circle had escaped Tokyo and fled here to this isolated house. They thought they would be safe inside the fortified stonewalls of the ancient building.
They were wrong.
Floating undetected, Batman moved closer, his eyes scanning everything for movement. She was here; he just hadn't seen her yet. He'd been one step behind here until now. Tonight, in this place, it ended. He had no sympathy for the men inside. They were scum, killers of one sort or another, but he couldn't just let her murder them. There was a war going on at his very core about all of this. The principals that had guided him all his adult life screamed how wrong what Masami was doing was, yet there was another part of him, a much darker part that understood. The longer this went on the louder that darker part grew.
He'd tried explaining all of this to Selina before he left. She seemed to understand, but had begged off coming with him. Something about cats and water not mixing, she said. It was the one time he'd smiled all night. Perhaps when they got back to Gotham he'd let her 'liberate' the jade cat from his house once more. But those were distant thoughts now. He was totally in the moment, this alien world of mists and floating lanterns. The water slowed his movements, but having checked out the location from every angle, he knew this was the most vulnerable. He could see the guards pacing back and forth on the balcony. They only occasionally glanced his way, but he was invisible to them.
He felt on edge, partly with anticipation but there was something else at play tonight. What he'd never told anyone was the dark fantasies the used to plague him. The hunger for vengeance burned so hot in him when he was young he feared it would hollow him out before it was done. The temptation to cross the line, to reap an eye for an eye had always been there just below the surface. The man who killed his parents and the men who sent him to do it deserved to die at his hands. He could see it so clearly, his fingers tightening around their throats choking the last breaths from their body and only then letting them know why. He would watch the light go out of their eyes, as they understood his parents murder had sealed their doom.
Vengeance, it was so tempting, yet he'd never crossed that line. If he did, he would be no better than they were he always told himself, yet there was always a small part of him that didn't care. That part cared nothing for words like justice or law. They were meaningless against the all-consuming rage. It was only the memory of his parents at first that had stopped him. They were good people and would be horrified at even the thought. They believed in justice and the rule of law above all else. He remembered his father telling him without the rule of law there can be no civil society. You end up with the rule of the jungle, where the strong prey on the weak.
It was that simple principle among other things including Alfred that had helped him turn away from vengeance as the answer. Many might see him as a vigilante, but he always knew where the line was and never crossed it. Yes, the system was a revolving door sometimes, but that didn't mean you get rid of all of it. You fought that much harder so in the end those core principles weren't forgotten. If you want to live in a civil society, you have to fight for it.
As the years went by, he believed that darker part of him had been controlled and pushed the background. That was until this business with Masami brought it all back. She was the path not chosen, a mirror image of what he might have been. Without words something about her seemed to call to him, to speak to that long dormant desire for vengeance. In trying to understand her, she had gotten into his system. Bruce knew he wouldn't be free of this until he stopped her. He just hoped he could make her see there was another way. He had to give her that chance, for both of them.
It was the faintest movement that caught his eye. The mist provided good cover, but also made visibility less than ideal for him too. Moving silently forward, he could feel his heartbeat began to pick up. She was here. As he glanced up he saw the two guards on the terrace fall. In the next moment Bruce was moving straight for the house. He cursed the water for slowly his movements, but pressed on. His push towards the shore created ripples and the small floating lanterns bobbed up and down in their wake.
Gunfire ripped across the surface of the water to his left. Without stopping his hand flicked a batarang and took out the gunner. Gunfire erupted all over the house now. He knew she was inside like a scalpel cutting the tumor away from the host. Firing his line he was on the terrace in moments. His senses were all at peak efficiency, ready for any threat that came his way. Moving inside he met up with the first of the guards that had responded to the gunfire. He took them down hard and fast, barely slowing as he moved towards the central house.
She had a head start and he was playing catch him again. He pushed himself harder, moving faster towards her. Those that got in his way didn't last very long. He heard the rear doors open and a rush of men flee the house. They had made a mistake in their panic. In the open they were sitting ducks for her. She would pick them off one by one. He saw the first bodies as he rushed towards the back doors. There was no need to check if they were alive. There was too much blood for that. Cursing under his breath he pushed harder, reaching the rear doors and diving through. Gunfire racked the back of the stone house, but it was wild and erratic. Rolling he made his way off the porch and down to ground level. He got his first sight of her.
"Masami! He shouted.
She stopped and turned to look at him. A surprised and confused look came over her face, but then she disappeared into the mist. He pressed on.
The mist was thicker here, a dense fog that made seeing five feet in front of your face difficult. He heard a scream on his left, but then dead silence just as quickly. Time was running out, he knew, she would kill them all and then disappear. He saw movement out of the corner of his eye and moved into action. The submachine gun ate up the trees around him, but he was already in another spot. The man seemed intent on shooting everything in his field of vision. A diving roll brought Batman up on the man's side. A right cross took him down.
Another scream filled the air and then another. Cursing he raced on. He had scouted this whole location earlier, so even in the dense fog he knew where he was going. The boat launch was a hundred meters straight in front of him. The Yakuza men must be trying to reach it, to flee, to escape the nightmare that had pursued them all this way. Sporadic gunfire and screams filled the night air as he ran between the trees and finally reached the clearing. Bodies littered the ground. The mist seemed to thin for a moment and he saw her. She was holding a knife to the last Yakuza man's throat ready to cut his head off.
"Masami! Stop!" He shouted, racing down the dock. She flinched, but seemed to hesitate at the sight of him.
"This is none of your business,' she hissed.
Bruce slowed and raised his hands as he reached the dock. The mist was still making it difficult to see her, but the knife remained firmly against the terrified man's throat.
"It is my business,' he replied. "This isn't the way."
"An eye for an eye,' she whispered.
"No." he shook his head. "There is another way, a better way. I know you want vengeance or revenge for what they did. I understand that, I do, but this is wrong."
She didn't move as he slowly took a few steps towards her. He couldn't make out her face, as she was concealed behind the man she was holding. The knife was still at his throat.
"I know about your parents, Masami,' he said. His voice was calm, gentle even as he spoke to her. "I know what happened, what these men did. I know the desire that burns within in you, I do, but this isn't the way. This is wrong."
"You know nothing!" She spat out at him.
"I know your parents were good people,' he replied. "Your father was a man of honor. Your mother was a loving woman of honor too. Your father wouldn't want this. Your mother wouldn't want this either, Masami. They wouldn't want this."
The mist cleared and he stood looking at her. He could finally see her face and there were tears of blood rolling down her cheeks. She seemed to hesitate for a moment. He thought perhaps he'd finally gotten through to her.
"They wouldn't want this, Masami, they wouldn't."
She didn't release her grip on the Yakuza man, but she seemed to shake as more tears came.
"You-You're right,' she finally said. "My-My father was a good man. My-My mother was-was a good woman. He wouldn't want this. She wouldn't want this."
She suddenly looked him deep in the eye. There was a cold, unflinching rage burning in her pure black eyes.
"But I-Want-This. I want it."
Her hand moved in a blur and blood gushed from the Yakuza man's throat. She had cut so deep when she released him his head flopped back as he fell. Batman started moving towards her, but she began to spin. The Dragon suddenly blossomed from her skin and it's tail swiped at him. He was knocked back into the water. When he looked up the mist had filtered back in and she was gone. He heard a sound to his left and saw a hand stretch out from the fog. Selina.
"Well, you tried." She said.