Time Unknown
I must've stumbled through the blackness of cavernous tunnels for hours always seeming to find my way back to the same antechamber in which I had originated. The cave was cool and humid and smelled of mildew and the air tasted like stale, bland earth. The tunnels were pitch black but the antechamber was conveniently lit by moonlight peering through several holes in the ceiling. It wasn't much light but it was enough to keep me from panicking. Thorne's crew had to carry me and the chair in here which meant the exit couldn't be too far away; they probably had flashlights though.
Even though I had already combed every tunnel leading away from the antechamber, I figure that sitting on my tail in the chair brooding over the fact that I couldn't see anything wasn't going to get me out of this mess any faster. So, I decide to continue trolling the passages in the event that I had missed something.
Sure enough, as I was feeling my way down a tunnel hand-over-hand, I noticed an opening in the rock that I had apparently overlooked…rather felt. I was initially apprehensive to venture deeper into the darkness but at that point, I had very little to lose.
I stepped into the mouth of the new tunnel feeling the gradient shift downwards and the composition of the floor change. My eyes were completely useless in the pitch black so I keep my hands on the wall at all times feeling my way along the jagged path as if I were reading brail.
The tunnel burrowed deeper and deeper into the rock and I became increasingly uneasy when I noticed the ceiling closing in on me. Just as I began to court the idea of turning back, my eyes suddenly picked up a faint glow around a snaking corner. My stomach swelled with elation.
I tried the best I could to suppress the desire to pick up the pace considering I still couldn't actually make out the floor in spite of the faint light but I couldn't help it. I just wanted out of here. I needed to get ahold of Robin—even though I wasn't sure how—and let him know that I had been kidnapped.
After two more turns, I cleared the tunnel and walked into a massive chamber—at least three times the size of the one in which I woke—that must have climbed a hundred feet above me and fell only God knows how far beneath me over the cliffs. Oddly enough, the chamber was dimly lit by three passive flood lights situated at different corners. I supposed that I was so stressed about being lost underground and relieved that there was enough light to see where I was putting my feet that it hadn't registered the flood lights—even dim ones—were not naturally found in caves.
I finally figured out where the chirping was coming from. The ceiling was covered with bats like moss on the bark of an old tree—a rolling, twitching mass of eyes and leathery wings.
I eased my way to the edge of the small rocky outcropping and looked over. If I wasn't careful, it was going to be a long, dark fall since I didn't have wings like my neighbors upstairs. As such, I kept as close to the wall as possible while I searched for the exit.
I followed the rocky pathway to the left as it climbed and descended devoid of reason and direction like a maze without walls.
I had no clue where I was going. I was super-frustrated and I was cramping like crazy. And, the only thing I could think of to ease myself was to blurt out, "Where the hell am I?"
"Where pain goes to take on new form," a voice echoed through the chamber.
What the hell was that?
I jumped—again. I squeaked—again. That reaction was starting to get annoying. Further, I stirred the bats to a significant chitter.
Just then, a bright light snapped to life above and behind me. It didn't afford the cavern much light but revealed its single purpose: There was Batman's eerie silhouette sitting on gray earth, backlit by a cone of blue. He was like a regal lord sitting on a throne of darkness and shadow and stone, some ten feet above me, in the same way I would expect a lord of the underworld to appear to their denizens and thralls.
Like I said, this was just getting weird in addition to intense.
He didn't saying anything else for almost a minute before I finally mustered the courage to speak, "B—Batman?"
He didn't respond. He didn't even so much as move.
"What is this place?" I shrugged, unsure of what to do next.
"Why are you here?" His voice was distant thunder.
"Umm...I don't know really. I just woke up in here. Somebody grabbed me and tied me up."
"That is how you came to be here, but not the reason. Are you merely just a pawn in a shadow's game?"
"What?"
Who asks a question like that?
He was all ice.
"No. I'm no one's pawn."
"Then why are you here?"
"I'm here because I was attacked unexpectedly and I woke up in this cave," I said running my hand over my manged hair and then adjusting myself beneath the Kevlar. "Robin gave me a task and I did it. But after I had finished it, someone attacked me from behind. I hid in a nearby building; I think Thorne's men had had a lookout." He didn't look the least bit moved and I looked completely disheveled. "Look, Batman, I'm totally creeped-out if that's what you want. Now, I want to know what the hell's going on here."
Then it dawned on me that Batman had managed to track me and sneak up behind me in the past. The only reason I had noticed him was because he wanted me to. I hadn't seen this attack coming. What if the shark had decided to take a bite this time?
"Was it you that attacked me from behind and tied me up?"
Suddenly, Robin emerged on Batman's left from the murky mix of light and shadow carrying something the size of a bowling ball in his left hand. Unlike Batman, Robin was not a silhouette but rather entirely visible in the light except for his face. He stood still for a moment and fixed me with his shadow-covered eyes. Then he took a step forward and tossed the object at me from the mound.
I stepped clear of its flight path instinctively knowing to step laterally and to safety, rather than back and to my death. The object hit the shale floor with the consistency of a pillow rolling only once and then coming to a stop.
I squinted trying to optimize what light was available in the dark cave and realized that he had thrown theMask of Tengu. It was them who attacked me!
"That was you who attacked me! What the hell is wrong with you two? Is this some sort of game to you two whack-jobs?"
"Why are you here?" Batman queried again.
"You asked me that already! Why did you attack me?" I demanded.
"Because you're weak. Because you're incapable."
"What? I'm weak? I'm incapable?"
Again, they said nothing; they just looked down on me.
In that instant, I had had enough. I had grown tired of being looked down on. I had grown tired of their games. I had grown tired of Gotham. I had grown tired of men. I had grown tired of everything.
That's when I let it all out.
I stormed over and snatched the mask if off of the ground, "I won't let you play games with me! I won't allow you to look down on me! You're no better than me! I've been fighting for people since I was seventeen! I've been putting my life on the line for years!" I pointed the mask at them accusingly, "Who're you to judge me when you're hiding out in a rotting cave! I'm out there every day!"
"Why are you here?"
"I'm here because you dragged me! And, you dragged me here because you want to play your sick game with me for no other reason except that I was inspired by you! I'm here because I want to take back Gotham—I want to even the score! And, I thought you were that means! But," I calmed myself and spoke evenly, "I guess—I guess I wrong."
"Vengeance has no place here—only sacrifice."
"It's not vengeance I want. I just want to make a difference. I want to change Gotham, so that it doesn't remain the desolate hell that it is now."
"How far are you willing to go to achieve that goal?"
"Short of selling my soul."
"This path is a dark one and once started down, there is no turning back."
"Look at me. Does it look like I ended up here because I have commitment issues?"
"A mask doesn't make you the Bat; the Bat must be earned. It must be earned through a willingness to sacrifice. You have proven your willingness to make sacrifices. You were a Marine once and taught the art of soldiering. You were battle-hardened and steeled in a warzone. But know this: Soldiering will not see you survive in this war. This war is not about sovereignty and nation-building but rather about the moral fitness and the collective soul of a people. This war is about Gotham's salvation and we are its shepherds…surrounded by hungry wolves. This war is unclean and insidious. This war requires you to be more than the crude substance by which you are created. You must transcend that and transform your pain and your sacrifice, lest you become another casualty of this war. Are you willing to walk the dark path without mental reservation?"
"I thought I was weak and incapable?"
He didn't take the bait, "Are you willing to walk the dark path without mental reservation?"
My frustration and anger evaporated when I realized that this too was calculated—like the first night. This was all a test of my commitment.
"I am," I replied.
Robin moved ahead of Batman's throne. The pillar of light instantly stripped him of his features and he became the same inky blackness that Batman was to his right. It was the same inky blackness that enveloped them on the first night I had seen them.
"From this moment forward," Robin said finally, his voice sounding real and lacking the usual menace, "do you swear that you will strike at evil from the shadows in defense of the weak?"
The whole situation felt surreal, like a scene out of a movie. It reminded me of the legends knights and crusaders who swore oaths of honor and fealty to their lords.
"I do."
"Do you swear that you will regard the lives of others above your own and make war on all criminals?"
And, in most respects, the average person would find this whole display to be absolutely ridiculous and utterly insane but I was far from average. Even, if I wanted to say 'no', I couldn't. I was already in too deep and I didn't want to be on the surface with the prey. I wanted to be in the murky depths with my kind—the predators.
"I do."
"Do you swear that you will become the last bastion of defense in Gotham, defending it to the last person and leaving the wicked to fear its borders?"
"I do."
"Do you swear to accept your judgment when our mission is complete?"
"I do."
"If this oath you swear, don the Mask of Tengu and climb the relief," Robin instructed retreating beneath his cape.
I held the mask between both hands and regarded its fanged maw and hollow eyes. It was all at once a symbol of fear and of hope. I feared what was to come next but I hoped for the best. I feared that this was but another game for them but I hoped that this was a sign of acceptance.
I accepted fear and hope and turned the mask over and placed it over my head.
I drew in a deep breath and willed myself up the incline towards Batman and Robin. My feet were heavy as I climbed; my mind was apprehensive; my resolve, however, was unshaken. This mask didn't make me a Bat but my resolve did.
I came to a halt at the crest of the incline just short of Robin, looking past him through the mask's hollow eyes at Batman.
"Barbara Gordon," Batman rumbled, "you are deemed worthy to wear the Mantle of the Bat. From this moment forward you will swear secrecy, never speaking of our meetings or our operations nor reveal your truest identity. By donning the Mask of Tengu, you have accepted shadow and fear as your allies. You will show criminals no mercy and you will show them that there are things far worse than death. Criminals are superstitious and cowardly, you will prey on that…and I will provide you the means and the resources to do so."
"So what happens now?" my voice was muffled in the mask.
"Once we were two. Now, we are three."
Another light came on not too far away and I saw what resources he had for me. It was armor, a cape, and cowl with ears. The boots had heels…to make me appear taller. I wasn't going to need my flak vest anymore.
"The underworld trembles—for their fear swells in number."