Pain
February 22th , 2014.
Gotham
He'd managed to escape his prison. He'd managed to get from the other side of the world to Gotham without anyone being able to track him. He'd managed to get into the city. He'd managed to avoid every citizen, mercenary, policemen and ally he had. Except Selina. But he sought her out. He couldn't count on Dick to pick up on his plan. Not this time. Also.. he hadn't been sure Dick would even be alive. He'd hoped, of course. Dick was, after all, trained by Batman. And his son. The young partner of Batman were one of the finest crime fighters on the planet – capable of doing things that his meta-human coworkers would never to do.
And yet, the doubt had lingered. Only to be vanquished by Selina. He'd learned that Catwoman had helped Dick in these past months. She briefly mentioned that Dick had gotten himself a new uniform. A new name. And a extra partner. A Batgirl, of all things. He'd merely raised an eyebrow at this new piece of information. He would deal with that later.
He'd moved underground, to reach the hidden location of the Batwing. It taken longer than he liked, but finally he'd reached it. It looked the same as when he last saw it, last used it. It's been months since he'd been able to help Gotham, to help it's citizens. Bane and the League of Shadows had kept him from his mission. His life. His family.
The anger started burning inside of him. Bane and the Shadows would get what was coming to them. But first, he had to get the bomb out of the city.
Batman looked up, overlooking the city. "Don't fail me Selina. Get it done."
oOo
Somewhere over the English Channel
"Can't you fly any faster M'gann?"
"Sorry. I'm going at maximum speed right now. We'll be there in 5 minutes"
Wally leaned back into his seat, arms crossed and looking anything but happy. The rest of the team shared a look. They knew how he felt. How they felt.
"The Zeta Tube in Paris will bring us to Metropolis, and then we have to use other means of transport to reach Gotham. It'll be at least half an hour before we'll be of any use so we might as well use the time to think of what we'll actually do when we reach Gotham." M'gann responded, switching to auto pilot.
Doctor Fate had arrived only 5 minutes later after Superman had called in. With the strong magician at the scene Klarion had quickly disappeared, taking his chaos and his annoyinglaughter with him.
Doctor Fate had remained behind to clear things up with the authorities.
Leaving the Team to travel back to America. To help Gotham. To help Robin.
"When we reach Metropolis, I can be in Gotham in a matter of minutes. If only.." began Wally, only to be cut of by Zatanna.
"No Wally. You want to help Robin, I get that – we all do. But you risk setting of the bomb if you rush into the city! You need.."
"I'm tired of being told what I need to do!" Wally slammed his hands down, standing up and started pacing back and worth, with Artemis watching him with worry.
"We were told not to interfere, and look where that's gotten us! Absolutely no where! In almost four months, we haven't been able to do anything to help Rob or the people in Gotham."
"Calm down Wally." Connor said, causing the angry speedster to turn to him.
"If you.."
Connor cut him off. "I'm not saying you shouldn't run to Gotham once we reach Metropolis. But we need a plan."
Artemis snorted "Since when have any of our plans actually worked?" she asked with a smirk.
That caused the rest of them to smile.
"Well, not too often." Zatanna stood up and placed her hands on Wally's shoulders.
"But I really think we need a plan for this." she looked Wally carefully in the eyes. "Not only to actually help and save Gotham. You and Robin need to sort out your problems, soon or it'll break you both."
Wally looked at her in shock. Then he sat down, looking oddly defeated.
"I know.. " he answered, not looking up. The floor suddenly seemed very interesting to him.
"You've been using this.. situation in Gotham to push away your issues with Robin. Have you actually thought of what you'll say to him? You two didn't exactly leave on good terms."
Wally was quiet for a few moments, but when Zatanna didn't back down he sighed.
"Things aren't going to change. Artemis and I are still leaving." Wally looked at Artemis, who offered him a small, confirming smile.
"This, all of this that has been going on for a few months, that's the only reason we are still on the team. We've outgrown it. For now."
"We know Wally. You want a different life, and all of us are okay with this. Heck, I'm ready to believe that at least some of the other members at least have had the thought. But you forgot that your best friend is Robin, the Boy Wonder! None of us have been in this as long as he have. He's been doing this for 9 years. It's his entire life, and when you out of nowhere comes and tells him you want to quit the team the both of you wanted so bad.. then, how do you expect him to react?" M'gann says, sitting down beside her teammate.
"I.. I hadn't thought of that." Wally then says, looking up. "I had expected him to be angry, of course. But not for those reasons."
"What other reasons would Robin have? Wally, you are his best friend – deep in his heart Robin wants you to be happy. But that doesn't mean that he'll smile and tell you it's okay."
"You guys – you love the team too. I know Robin, Kaldur and I started it, but most of you joined our ranks rather quickly. Why doesn't you feel it like we are abandoning you?"
"Don't know. Guess Robin has some abandonment issues." Zatanna replied, causing Wally snap his head up, looking at her in shock. Zatanna looked surprised at this reaction and looked at the others before turning her attention back to Wally.
"What did I say?"
Wally groaned, and hit his face in his hands.
"I'm a idiot."
"No one's arguing babe." Artemis replied, earning a glare from her boyfriend.
"Please, I'm having a serious problem here that I can't even tell you about. Can you at least be supporting?"
Artemis stood up, and walked over, taking his hand in hears. "I'll always support you. Now.." she kneeled down, looking him in the eyes. ".. what's this about abandonment issues?"
Wally looked around, only to see all of the team members looking at him expectingly.
"Sorry. Can't tell, bat secret."
"How come you know – you aren't a bat." Connor asked, a frown on his face.
"Batman doesn't know I know. That's only reason I'm still alive." Wally answered half jokingly, causing the rest of the team to laugh and/or snort in agreement.
A beep interrupted their conversation.
"We are here, the Zeta Tube is located directly beneath us." M'gann informed.
oOo
Gotham
'On second thought, informing Bane that I'd stolen his trigger may prove to be the dumbest mistake I've made.. today anyway.' Nightwing leaped back, avoiding Bane's attacks by a hairs length.
After the trigger had been picked from his pocket the villain had gone wild in his attempts to get it back. Causing Nightwing to hold back on the attacks and get more defensive.
Nightwing managed to get some distance between himself and Bane, as the fight between the mercenaries and the police took a turn for the worse. Bullets were flying everywhere.
Nightwing quickly surveyed the battle ground, locating commissioner Gordon some hundred meters away. Still alive, still fighting.
'Come on Barbara! Can't you just disconnect the damn thing?'
He was brought out of his thoughts as a dark shadow suddenly loomed from behind him. He jumped, setting of with his hands, flying over Bane's head. While flying he snatched out a batarang, cutting the venom cord.
'That's a upsite. Seems like Bane finds it hard to concentrate when he is this pissed off.'
Nightwing landed in a safe distance of the now screaming Bane. It always seemed like a very painful act, every time Bane was cut off his venom. 'Guess that addiction for you.'
Nightwing looked away the few seconds he knew he had before Bane would come around. Even without his venom Bane was still strong, fast and dangerous.
Everything was absolute chaos. People lying dead everywhere. The people of Gotham, the policemen.. even the goddamn mercenaries!
Nightwing turned his attention back on Bane, attacking just as the man looked up. He attacked, kicked and ducked and was gone again.
'Can't get too close. I can't risk the safety of the trigger, but I can't take down the big idiot fighting like this!'
Just as he was making ready to land, pain shot through his thigh, causing him to loose his aim. He hit the pavement, hard. He rolled around, gasping in pain, as he tried to stand up.
'Damaged ribs.' he quickly checked his leg, looking for the cause that now send radiating pain up through his leg and body.
'Gunshot wound to the leg.' He checked the back of his leg. 'bullet went straight through.'
He managed to stand up. He could still use his leg, as long as he could ignore the pain.
'Nothing vital damaged. In no danger of loosing too much blood. Leg works." He hid the pain from his face as he looked around. He couldn't see the man firing the shot. Maybe a stray bullet..?
"Not looking so good, are you niño?" Bane asked, laughter in his voice as he approached the hurt hero.
Nightwing went into a fighting stance, glaring at his enemy.
"You don't look so good either Bane. How is it to be cut off? I've heard addiction can cause severe pain to the nervous system – any change you suffer from that?"
Bane laughed darkly, cracking his knuckles. "Sorry niño. Even without my venom, I can still crush you like a bug. A pest. A tiny insect."
"You are starting to sound like Cobra, you know that. You guys hanging out now?" Nightwing supplied, escrima sticks in hand. Bane guarded him with care.
"Don't mention that man to me niño. He ruined my creation! My product!" Bane attacked, causing Nightwing to duck and aim for his stomach. They both got a hit in – Nightwing managed to put a current through the man again, but Bane managed to hit him. Hard. He gasped when the pain shot through his chest.
'Come on ribs, don't fail me now!" he caught his breath before Bane recovered himself.
"Give me the trigger, and I'll let you live." Bane offered, smirking.
"Oh sure. So I can live for another week? That's very kind of you Bane, but I think i'll have to turn down your offer since I plan on kicking yours and every other villains' asses until the end of my life."
"You can talk niño. But I can do this all week and so can my men. We'll just wait for the bomb to go off by it self. And our plan will be fulfilled."
"Sorry Bane." A new voice cut in, causing both of the fighting men to look up. On the roof above them stood Batgirl.
"Your little blocker is history. Blown to hell." she informed
"So? You still can't get the bomb out. We win."
"Oh no, we can't. But he can." Batgirl supplied, pointing backwards.
A strange silence filled the square as those who'd heard Batgirls words stopped fighting.
Then, a faint sound could be heard. It grew stronger by the second. Nightwing quickly abandonment his fight and joined Batgirl on the roof.
A few seconds later the Batwing flew over their heads, heading directly for the ocean.
And from it, in a cable that looked like nothing a normal man could bent, was the bomb.
All the drama!
In the Dark Knight Rises, I always found it rather off that 'the Bat' were just .. parked on top of that building. Wouldn't somebody notice it? I find it odd, but what the hell why not.
Poor Nightwing got shot. But he's a big boy, he can handle it.
Here in Denmark we aren't very religious. .
But we still have a lot of Holidays, oddly enough. We are experts in securing ourselves a day off at work/school. Especially in spring – we have soo many public Holidays in May. Last year our prime minister actually suggested that we should cut off one of the Holidays (Called Great Prayer Day). It wasn't very well received, shall we just leave it at that?
Anyway, one of these holidays have just passed, giving me some extra free time.
Which is why I've managed to write another chapter already.