A/N: Well, I am announcing that the next chapter is going to be the last one. Please let me know if you want there to be a sequel or if you have any general questions about Anastasia or the story! Oh, and leave me a review about the chapter itself because I love hearing your feedback! Thank you all for sticking with me through this whole story!
Disclaimer: I do not own anyone from the DC Universe! I own Anastasia and all other original characters only!
Resurrection
The Crippled, Beaten, Broken Things
Hunched against the bottom of the mountain in the darkness while her partner towered over her, she watched as men dressed in black scrambled around the island searching for their now-separated trio. The two had wrapped around the mountain twice and there was no sign of an accessible entrance that didn't require some bloodshed on their part. As Bruce gave her the signal to stand up and follow after him to look around one more time, she grabbed his wrist and motioned toward something she had failed to notice until that moment.
When she had moved to stand up, the moonlight shined down on a small opening in the mountain and Bruce headed over toward it with her following close behind. The man with her searched the crack for something that could harm them, but there was nothing and he glanced over his shoulder at her. Though she hadn't been able to connect with his direct gaze, she knew the message he was communicating. It was a warning–that the cave was an obvious trap set for them by Ra's al Ghul. The teenager nodded toward him in an acknowledgement that she understood the danger and was prepared for it.
Bruce stood back up and gave her some space to open the entrance. Glancing over her shoulder and around the immediate area, she then looked back at the stone and grasped at the invisible force. Groaning under her breath, she pulled the force to the right and the slab of rock followed her motion.
The thought on her mind was that opening the mountain was too loud as a League member shot toward her, his katana held high above his head and swinging down toward her. Behind her, Bruce grabbed her collar and jerked her back while his plated arm caught the member's blade. A group yelled behind the two of them and she turned around, watching as a small group of assassins ran toward them. Panic ran through her for a moment and she looked over her shoulder at Bruce, but he was having trouble with his opponent which led her to believe he had been hurt when he first came to the base.
Anastasia glanced back at the nearing group with a newfound determination and stomped her foot on the ground, a tremor running through the sand and right at the group, tripping them all. While her hand lit up with fire, she ran around the group and created a ring of fire around them, blocking them from moving for a bit. The teenager whipped around, running back into the cavern as the assassin shoved Bruce to the ground, sword held high. She yelled out in anger and she pounced at him, her fire-coated fist smashing down against him hard enough to send him to the ground. The fire began to burn his clothes, but she had learned her lesson and willed the flames out, kicking his face to ensure he was unconscious.
"Are you okay?" She asked softly while Bruce stood up, stumbling as his leg almost gave out on him. Her gaze lingered on his leg as he limped forward and she jogged forward to catch up with him. "Do you think…that maybe we should turn back around?" He glanced down at her and she made a face. "You're hurt, Bruce, and I'm…angry? We're not exactly that much of a threat against someone with a whole league at his beck and call."
"They're going to underestimate us, then. We have the advantage." Bruce retorted as he started walking again. "And I've dealt with worse than this. I'm going to be fine. We need to address your anger, though."
She made a noise in the back of her throat. "It can make me stronger. My anger fuels my fire–literally."
"Anger does not make you stronger. It makes you stupid and reckless." Bruce replied in a clipped tone. "For the moment, you need to forget about what DuPont did to you, what Ra's did to you. You're here to save a life now–not exact revenge."
Running a hand through her dark hair in frustration, she glanced at the ground before looking back up at him with a frown and anger behind her eyes. "Would you be able to do it, Bruce? Forget about what the man who took them from you did and then save his life like he was some innocent person?" She whispered. "You visit them every week. I know you do. I see it. Don't stand here and act better than me, preach about forgiveness and being better than revenge."
"I'm not a better person than you, Anastasia. I never said I was." He replied in a strained tone. "But I can tell you that I did have my chance for revenge–just like you–and didn't take it. I decided to do something better than that–become something better and chose this life. You haven't taken his life yet, but he will die if you leave him here. Be the better person. Make Karina proud of you."
Anastasia had committed to saving the man who murdered her sister, but deep down, she didn't want to be the better person. Antoine DuPont had his time and he went down the wrong path, but Karina had been stolen before she even began to live. Why should she save a man who cut down children like his own daughter and sell drugs to people and more? But then she remembered her promise to keep people from experiencing the same pain she had and DuPont had, at least, a daughter to mourn his passing. Save a man who ruined her life to keep from ruining the life of another–it was a complicated web that was woven.
"Okay," she sighed. "You're right. I'm sorry. Let's, uh…let's go. We're wasting time."
There seemed to be hesitation radiating from him and she thought he had more to tell her, but he instead continued trekking forward through the dark cavern. There was a light up ahead that grew brighter and brighter as they neared it. A few lit torches lined the cave walls and she had to roll her eyes at how cliché the whole scenario was. As they were about to reach where the cave opened up, Bruce held out an arm to stop her from alerting the guard watching over whatever lay beyond them.
It took no time for her partner to sneak up behind the man and knock him out. When the man was on the ground, she shuffled ahead to kneel down on her hands and knees beside the Batman who was on a knee himself.
The two looked out into the large room that stretched out where Ra's al Ghul and Talia were up on a natural platform, hovering over an unconscious DuPont. There were a few of the League members surrounding them and one man provided Ra's with a scimitar. His hand ran along the blade while he murmured something to his daughter that Anastasia couldn't hear, but made the brunette nod before jumping off the platform and walking out of sight with a few men surrounding her.
"Anastasia Azarova," the immortal's voice echoed and she ducked down a little lower. "I know you're here. I should have you killed for betraying me, but you are still weak from your emotions." She bit her tongue and fought against her rising rage. "You have misunderstood me. I sought to raise you up and make you more than what you pretended to be. You could control Mother Nature herself. You could be Mother Nature herself," he amended. "Why run around in a world that has ignored you and shunned you for being what you are–a god among men?"
The teenager dug her fingers into the stone while they started glowing, but when Bruce caught her arm, she took a breath and shoved her hand against her chest to keep her lit hand from attracting attention. There was a noise behind them and before she had time to react, she was shoved forward and Bruce dropped off after her in an attempt to keep her safe. But now, instead of the older man grabbing onto him, she grabbed him so that she was up against his chest and shoved her hands over his shoulders to blast air against the ground and cushion their landing.
A simultaneous groan passed between them both when they landed, but from what she could figure out, neither had been wounded too bad in the fall. The two of them stood up and she looked up at Ra's who held out his blade against the neck of DuPont. In his other hand, he held out something that blinked and when she looked at it hard, she realized it was a trigger for a bomb. It made both her and Bruce stop approaching him and she sucked in a sharp breath, dread running through her.
"Don't waste your breath on a pathetic worm like this one." Ra's motioned down at the unconscious man with his scimitar. "You will take your place amongst us because it is where you belong. You know this is true." A flame flickered to life in her hand and he chuckled. "There is a natural born killer in you and I am going to bring it out. You and the detective are going to take your place now. Kill me and this filth or save Mister DuPont and allow me the time to detonate this bomb."
Anastasia took a step toward him and paused for a moment when seeing him lift up the trigger a bit before walking ahead again. "You're not going to detonate it because you need us both." She called him out and climbed up on the platform. "But you're right. I am a god. If you let Bruce go then I'll take my place. I swear it. Let Bruce and Dick go."
Ra's opened his mouth to speak, but she darted forward and tried to grab the detonator from him. Her arm moved up to catch his blade, but it sliced into her arm and she stumbled back. Bruce had jumped up behind her and helped her hold back Ra's. But the immortal managed to shove them back and his hand then flew down to the trigger, detonating the bomb.
The first thing she heard was the booming that resonated throughout the cave and then she saw fire coming toward them. Bruce shoved her down on the ground next to DuPont, his cape coming over her, but she looked up quick enough to throw her hands out, stopping the fire from swallowing them–though the same could not be said of Ra's al Ghul or the members of the League that had stayed behind with him. The screams of their pain–sans the immortal–echoed throughout the cave and her mind and she knew she would be haunted by the cries of those men.
Anastasia groaned at the immense pressure that dropped down on her. A bubble had formed around the three, but the inferno was so powerful that she could feel the blistering heat. She turned around and looked down at Bruce who was, in turn, looking up at her.
"We have to get out before the cave starts collapsing." She cried out over the flames. "I can hold back one thing, but I can't control two elements at the same time. We have to hurry because this is too much–" she let out a strangled scream and looked down at her legs. A pair of hands stuck out from the fire, one burning and gripping her shin tight while the other stuck a searing blade into her thigh.
Bruce kicked at Ra's al Ghul and sent him back into the fire while picking up DuPont and throwing the man over his shoulder. Because she was preoccupied with holding back the fire, which had jumped forward and almost caught her clothing, she had to stumble after Bruce and ignore the automatic instinct to clutch at her bleeding leg. Behind her, she could hear the cave beginning to crack above, but she continued to chase after Bruce, her arms still held out and holding back the blaze.
It seemed to take forever for them to even reach another exit route that was on ground level, but the cave was beginning to crumble around them. Just as she was entering the corridor that exited out to the beach, the opening collapsed and shut off the fire behind them. She was relieved only for a moment before the cave around them began falling and she threw her hands up above her to keep the rocks from crushing them.
Bruce said nothing to her, instead letting her step ahead of him to let her move the rocks out of the way to clear a path. He kept close to her each step of the way both to protect and make sure the strain was as small as possible on her. The end of the cave seemed so close, but she was beginning to falter and her vision was starting to blur from blood loss.
The cave must have crumbled completely because the weight suddenly crushed down on her so much that she was thrown to her knees. Bruce dropped down as well because the rubble was a mere few inches above their heads, getting lower and lower. Tears had started to stream down her cheeks because she was struggling so hard to keep them from dying, trying to protect the man that had become like a father to her, and the frustration and rage built up in her so much that with one final burst, the area around them exploded and cleared a path out to the beach.
Anastasia dropped onto the ground, on the verge of unconsciousness. For a moment, she must have blacked out because when she came to, someone was placing her down onto the sand of the beach. When her vision cleared, a woman was hovering over her, something golden in the middle of her forehead. The dark-haired teenager took a deep breath and her head fell to the side, gaze locking on the red of her robin.
"We're going to get some medical attention for you. Just hold on, sister." The woman above her explained and Anastasia looked back at the woman, coming out of her daze and realizing that said woman was the woman–Wonder Woman. "You're going to be alright, little warrior. I promise."
Must be dying for her to talk to me like that, Anastasia thought absentmindedly as she leaned up. Wonder Woman supported her back as she stood up, hopping on a leg because the stab wound felt like it was on fire. Her gaze moved around, landing on Bruce and the actual Superman who were talking a few feet away, Dick beside them but his eyes on her.
"Can we go back to Gotham?" The elemental user whispered weakly, catching the attention of the trio across from her and Wonder Woman. "I…I want to go home. Can I get stitched up there?"
"You should be sent to the nearest hospital. Superman can take you there quickly and Bruce can meet up with you there." Wonder Woman replied.
The younger replied by taking a deep breath and then looking up at the older with a look of desperation. "Please can we go back there? I'm so tired and want to go back home. I just…I need that right now."
"Our ride will be here in a minute, A." Dick explained and walked over to her side, grasping at her hand. "You should lean on me some. That probably hurts a lot." He suggested and wrapped an arm around her waist without a word from her. "Sorry I wasn't there to protect you, Ana." He murmured.
All she could manage was a sound mixed between a sob and laugh. "I don't think you could've, Dick. Didn't you hear? I had to save Batman's ass."
Just as the plane was rising into the air to take them back to Gotham, there was a beep from the front panel. Both she and Dick glanced toward the front seat where Bruce pressed a button and a transmission displaying Alfred popped up. The older man glanced around and his gaze moved over to both she and Dick in the back, pulling a sigh of relief from him.
"Thank heavens you are all alright. I had feared the worst." Alfred commented.
"Doubting us, Alfred?" Bruce retorted with heavy sarcasm.
"Not for a minute, Master Bruce." The butler responded which made the two teenagers scoff in the back. His attention was brought to them and he cleared his throat, the small amount of amusement gone from his expression. "I have some…troubling news, Miss Anastasia."
"It can't be much worse than what I've dealt with tonight, Alfred." She murmured under her breath.
"It would appear that your mother and father…well, the two were arrested for possession of illegal drugs. The two are going to be sent to Blackgate Prison, Anastasia."
It had been worse.
When what he told her had processed thoroughly, Anastasia doubled over and ran her hands through her dark hair but left them there, clutching the dark tendrils in her hands. She let out a choked sob before tears rolled down her cheeks and she finally caved in to the breakdown that had been there ever since Karina died–finally allowed herself to break like she had wanted to all along.
Because that really seemed like the only thing she could control at that moment.
