Chapter 5: Honor

The Walker family ran for their lives while Batman threw five batarangs at his adversaries, Shriek blew them away. Tai Ji charged at the villains, dodging debris as he ran in. When he was close enough, he performed a flying kick on King, sending sailing down the pier a few feet. Shriek was about to attack the Black Tiger but Batman distracted him with another batarang. Batman tackled the sound genius while Tai Ji prepared to go toe-to-toe with King.

King swung his sword at the Black Tiger. Tai Ji ducked and came up with an uppercut but King barely evaded. Tai Ji wasn't perturbed; he switched his strategy mid-air and gave the feint royal a kick. He landed on his feet and prepared to launch another assault. But King threw several of his razor sharp playing cards at his adversary. Tai Ji performed several backflips to dodge the cards, landing in another fighting stance once all the cards had passed. He performed one more flip, landing behind a few crates. He found a few loose boards on one crate and broke them off. He jumped from his hiding spot and hurled the boards at King with brutal precision; King moved out of the way in time but was grazed in the shoulder enough that it would leave a serious bruise later.

King was impressed with the Black Tiger's skills but was confused by his motives. He got to his feet and took an unassuming stance. "Why are you aiding Batman?"

"Several reasons," Tai Ji answered, still poised to fight. "Some, you won't understand; others, Batman, himself, probably, wouldn't believe. But I imagine there was one simple to sum up all those reasons."

"Oh? And what is that?"

Tai Ji simply declared, "Some of us have more honor than others."

King had to stop himself from laughing at the assassin. "Honor. What a ridiculous notion. Quite the foolish reason to help a man who put you in jail."

The Black Tiger smirked. "I must say that I find somewhat hard to take to criticism from an individual who would kill his own family simply because he failed in his own schemes."

The corner of King's mouth twitched in frustration. "You know nothing of it!"

"No? Then, by all means, your majesty," he shifted into another stance, "come educate me."

Batman was blown down the pier by Shriek, being knocked out of the air. He moved out of the way of another attack then threw a batarang. He dove in the water to maneuver for his next attack. He swam, dodging explosions sound against the water; once he close enough, he used his rockets to explode from the water and tackle Shriek. He wrapped Shriek's arms behind him and tried to pin him down but the sound genius gave the Dark Knight a swift strike by throwing his head back and smacking the hero in the face. Batman stumbled back and just barely managed to dodge a swipe from Shriek's claws, taking to the air. Batman threw a gas ball at Shriek but he already knew that trick. He used another sonic burst to prevent the gas ball from detonating anywhere near him, sending it up in the air where it exploded.

"Gotta do better than that, Batman," Shriek taunted.

Batman growled. Unfortunately… he was right.

They tag team battle went on for a few minutes; Tai Ji forced King back near Batman and Shriek where the duo took turns battling each foe. Batman and Tai Ji almost battled in perfect sync, giving in each subtle clues of the next move they were going to make. With their battles of four months ago in their heads and hearts, they knew the fighting styles of one another well and were able to work together with that. It was quite the mental trip for McGinnis but he found himself being very grateful that Tai Ji was there; this rescue operation would've been impossible to pull off without him. Conversely, Tai Ji found this to be the first time in a long time he found himself fighting for the right cause. It brought more peace to his spirit, almost equal to when he learned the crimes against his family would be answered for. To fight alongside Batman told him that he wasn't a monster anymore; he was a man, once again.

The fight raged on and Batman finally had a chance to have Shriek on the ropes but the villain unleashed a powerful sound wave. The damage hit a boathouse, not too far from the battle, where Batman saw the Walker family was hiding, threatening to sink them into the harbor. The Dark Knight broke off his attack against Shriek to go check on them; Tai Ji noticed his comrade was rushing and kicked King away to go join him. Both men had to dodge attacks from the villains as they ran. Once they were inside the house, Shriek tried to collapse more of the building on them. Fortunately, no one was caught on the first blast. The villains weren't sure if anyone was hit or not, so, they had no way to know if their adversaries and victims were dead.

"I can try again!" Shriek started to aim.

"No!" King said, "We will handle this ourselves, close and personal. Come on!"

Batman and Tai Ji had the Walkers at the far end of the boathouse, away from the initial destruction.

"You guys okay?" Batman asked them all.

They nodded.

He looked at Tai Ji. "You?"

"Just fine," Tai Ji nodded. He looked at a wound on his arm. "With an exception."

Batman was surprised to see the wound. It was minor but he was still upset that he didn't catch it before now. "When did that even happen?"

"King stepped up his speed for a quick second and it caught me off guard, I'm ashamed to say. I crashed into something hence the injury."

"Why didn't I notice that?"

"Shriek had your face slammed against the ground."

Batman rolled his eyes.

The Black Tiger looked at his wound. "How embarrassing to suffer a wound in such a way."

"You haven't fought in a long time."

"Good point."

Batman saw that the villains were coming towards the damaged house, presumably to finish this at close range. Considering Shriek could've easily pummeled the building from distance, like Batman thought he would, this really spoke to their hatred. "Wow, they are mad."

"Dear daddy holds a grudge," Jack pointed out.

"Yeah, and Shriek isn't any better."

Tai Ji took into account their proximity on the pier, their enemies, and the fact that they had civilians to protect. It drew him to only one conclusion. "You can't save everyone, Batman."

Batman looked at him.

"But you can save those who aren't ready to die."

Terry looked at him, suspiciously. "What?"

Tai Ji smirked. "You already saved my soul. My life… I'll do with what I will."

"What are you even talking about?"

The Black Tiger motioned toward the Walkers. "Get them out. I will cover your escape."

"Are you crazy? You can't do that! Sure, you can take King but not both of them."

Tai Ji stared at him. "We either argue about this and three people will die or you let me fight and, in which case, only one person may die."

Batman grunted. "No! Forget it! We'll get their attention! I'll throw a smoke ball and get all of us out of there."

"I doubt that."

"Didn't ask!"

Shriek blew apart some more debris, opening up the boathouse.

Batman looked at Tai Ji and mouthed, "Ready?"

The Black Tiger nodded.

He looked back at the Walkers and they nodded, too.

Batman waited for them to step inside a good ways into the boathouse then threw several smoke balls. The Dark Knight grabbed Melanie's hand and pulled her from the hiding spot, followed by Jack, Queen, and Tai Ji, who was bringing up the rear. Shriek blew the smoke away and he and King saw the group running. Batman fired a number of batarangs from his wrist launcher with his free hand, causing the villains to duck. Shriek was about to fire a wave of sound when Tai Ji threw a metal pail he caught sight of and hurled it at him. He charged in and kicked the sound villain in the helmet, spinning him around. He followed by burying his leg deep in Shriek's gut.

Batman looked at him, "TAI JI!"

Tai Ji looked back. "GO! GO! GET THEM TO SAFETY!"

Batman wanted to argue…

"BATMAN, GO! NOW!"

He growled but relented. He turned to the family, "COME ON!" He helped the family get away, running away from the boathouse and away from the wharf.

With them gone, Tai Ji refocused on the still recovering Shriek. He rushed at him, dropped to the ground, and gave Shriek an upward jumping double foot strike to the chin. Shriek fell backward while Tai Ji carefully stalked him. He was suddenly blasted by the energy strike from King's sword. Tai Ji hit the ground and looked at the former leader of the Royal Flush gang.

"You really had nothing to do with this, sir," King declared. "But you have interfered for far too long."

Tai Ji chuckled. "Forgive me… but I'm rather proud for of my interference."

He dodged King's next attack, just barely however. He didn't dodge a sound blast from the wounded Shriek. Tai Ji gritted his teeth from the hit. He dodged another blast and landed near a tool box. He smirked.

'A weapon wouldn't hurt.' Tai Ji grabbed the tool box and found large wrench next to it. He stood up and hurled the tool box at King's head; he blocked it with his sword but not the follow up kick from Tai Ji. The Black Tiger managed to just barely dodge a sound blast from Shriek; he charged at him and hit him across the helmet with the wrench. He whacked him as hard as he could again. Shriek tried to aim his left gauntlet but he buried the wrench into the sound generator, shorting it out. Tai Ji followed up with a kick. He was going to attack him again with one of King's razor cards stuck in his shoulder. The Black Tiger gritted and turned around. He kicked the wooden floor board hard enough to break it and kick it at him. King slashed it out of the air and tried slashing at Tai Ji but the former killer ducked underneath the sword and punched King in the face numerous times. He kept up this pace until he claw slashes on his back. He stumbled and fell at Shriek's attack. The wound wasn't very deep but it slowed him down but not enough to be critical.

Shriek's sound wave at point blank range accomplished that mission.

Tai Ji went sailing back into a wall. He tried to catch his breath before he began to crawl along the ground. His breathing became labored, which made him realize that the last blast caused something inside his body to become decidedly damaged. Another sound blast didn't help the situation and it sent him flying into the wall again, the force being nearly equal to being ejected from a car crash. It almost put him through the wall.

King took a few breaths, "Quite… the agile… assassin."

Tai Ji pushed himself into a seated position against the wall. He was out of breath and what breath could get was blocked. "You… should've…" He stopped to get his breath. "…seen me… in my prime."

Shriek walked toward Tai Ji with King following behind. "I was hoping to kill Batman tonight… but you'll do."

He looked up at the approaching villains and chuckled. "We all must die sometime… I choose to face mine without fear."

"Let me oblige you then..." Shriek aimed his gauntlet.

Batman had just gotten the Walkers away from the pier.

"I've already called Gordon," Bruce said over the com. "Go get Tai Ji!"

Batman exhaled and whispered, "Got it." He looked at the Walkers, "Alright, all of you stay here and, for God's sake, stay quiet and out of sight! Help is on its way!"

"Batman…" Melanie said.

"Not now!" He deployed his wings and took off for the sky to get back to the boathouse. He rocketed to his destination and crashed through the skylight…

…but not in time to stop what happened to Tai Ji.

At point blank range, Shriek fire a wave of sound right at Tai Ji, blowing him through wall behind him.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Batman threw a flurry of batarangs at the duo, causing them to duck. He followed by tossing multiple exploding gas balls. With the villains distracted, he attacked both of them, fast and furious; something neither one was prepared for. He wasn't thinking about attack strategy right now; he went back to what he knew best: how to street fight and let all his anger fuel his fists.

Shriek slid across the ground from Batman's last punch and grunted. 'No time for this…' He hit a circuit on his gauntlet, causing the whole pier to shake and the boathouse started to come down. The villains took their chance at escape and exited the boathouse while Batman dodged parts of the building. He thought about chasing after them but he looked at his ally afloat in the water and saw that he required his immediate attention. He dove in the water, scooped up Tai Ji, and flew him away of the crumbling boathouse.

Batman tried flying to the closest hospital he could but he noticed that he wasn't breathing.

"No!" Batman said. "Tai Ji? Tai Ji!" They flew to a nearby building where Terry did everything could to try and revive him. "Tai Ji? Can you hear me?!" He performed CPR, trying to wake him. He was doing chest compressions, "Tai Ji, come on!" He kept pushing on his chest. He breathed into his mouth again and went back to his compressions. "Tai Ji, please, man! Don't do this! Don't die on me!"

After a couple of more compressions, the weary warrior coughed and opened his eyes. He looked at the hero.

Batman gasped. He could see what Tai Ji knew: it was almost the end. "No…" Batman whispered. He spoke up, "No… Tai Ji… hold on! I'm gonna get you some help!" He started to pick him up so they could fly to a hospital. "Just hold on a little…"

But Tai Ji put his hand up, "No. No, Batman. It's fine… I want this… I can… die… with honor…"

"Don't say that!"

"It's because of you, Batman…" He was calm. "I have… some honor back… I'm… I'm not a monster, anymore."

"No, NO! No, Tenzin, hold on!"

Tai Ji smiled at hearing this hero say his real name. "Thank you… for calling me by that name…" He looked at the sky. "I forgot it… for a while." He looked back at the hero. "Heed my words from before… my… my friend. Walk… you… your path, Batman. My own hand… led me to death… I don't… don't mind this… but go. Stop those men… do… what you do best…" He pointed at the bat symbol on the hero's chest, "be a protector. Your city needs you… it needs… its…" His speech slowed as his hand fell, "…hero…" He slowly closed his eyes and let go. The Black Tiger… was gone.

Batman looked up in disbelief. His mouth was open as he tried to catch his breath… but he couldn't. He just gritted his teeth… and leaned down, burying his face in Tai Ji's chest. His grip tightened on his Tai Ji's shirt. He didn't want revenge right now; that would come later. All he wanted, right now, was to grieve for his comrade.

A/N: Feel free to let those feels flow. I don't blame you. I'm a little sad, right now.

Well, I must say, King and Shriek have screwed up now. And, Terry will not take this lying down.

Next Chapter: Survivor's Pain

Batman is left to grieve over his fallen former adversary and do his best to plan how to bring down his killers.

Be here for it.