A Rose By Any Other Name

As the Caped Crusader struggled against the wires screaming in wretched gut twisting pain, his flesh tearing underneath his outfit from the barbs that dug their way into the bone of his wrists and ankles. The heat was finally causing burns on Batman's face to crack across, his flash becoming dry but his blood kept the now low electrical current flowing, however his blood kept dripping from his nose, arms and ankles. He had been hung up for an entire day now. The Shadows looking more and more like shambling corpses and they kept him fed and just nourished enough to keep him alive.

The Corpses began to laugh and suddenly Batman felt a sudden surge of electrical power as the faceless bastards splashed him with brine from the Metropolis bay.

"The night is returning." Batman thought as his eyes began to fail him and he felt the darkness take hold.

Suddenly Batman felt the room get icy cold and he snapped awake, his eyes fully functioning now. His skin tingled, his blood froze, but there was a seeming warm presence in the center of this chill. "Freeze?"

The squeal of an old wheelchair rolled across the concrete. Suddenly Batman was being attacked by a swarm of giant vampire bats with contorted bodies and a terrifying grin. Batman was trying to move away from them and run away.

Somehow he was on the floor now but still forced in the same position. He turned and felt a brain-warping pain and body scaring pain as he turned but noticed his body stayed.

"What is happening?" One of the 'bats' slashed his throat and he felt nothing. Realizing that the bats and his freedom were false illusions, Batman closed his eyes and when he opened them he was still above the fire pit, and still hung up by the dull barb wire.

A slight chuckle was heard, but it sounded more like an echo, or a memory.

The Laughing Shadow appeared holding Bruce's child, "Batman, you are so sad." His voice seemed to be cracking. He stepped forward and showed that his mask had been sliced into a smile. "You should smile more. I'm sure it wouldn't suit you, but you still need some joy."

Batman tried to respond but the dryness of his suddenly the chill extended and he felt another icy cold wave.

Suddenly Batman saw Mr. Freeze, in his monotonous voice he rambled on, "And you think you could have done anything? My cure was meant for both of you and you go and kill the man you needed to save."

"I didn't mean to." Batman pleaded.

Freeze stepped closer, "You are worthless, you couldn't even save a murderer." He stood on the edge of the pit. The image of Freeze grew fainter, "You couldn't even stop the murderer..."

"Quiet Freeze!"

"You don't deserve to live! So many have died because you couldn't act." Freeze looked up," and because you let him die, Quinn killed my wife!"

"No! She couldn't! She wouldn't!"

"So I slit her throat."

"What..."

"And her dying words were so poetic, she had said," he spoke but Batman only heard Harley's sweet voice, "Tell B-man, I'm sorry."

"NO! Freeze she was pregnant!" Batman struggled hard against the wires, the binding slowly eroding against Batman's unnatural force, like the winds of the Sahara.

Freeze lowered his head, the image of Freeze flickered and appeared for a second as scarecrow, "I know. It is why I have come asking your forgiveness, and to die."

"What?"

"Good bye Batman." He stepped forward and plummeted towards his death and the destruction of his suit caused an enormous explosion but suddenly it all was gone.

"What is wrong with me?" The Batman looked his arms and legs remembering the barbed wire. He struggled upset that his mind is breaking he feels himself screaming but at the same time cry out for his mother and begging the shadows to stop hurting him.

"Oh Batman. Quiet! You'll wake the baby." The Laughing Shadow said.

Batman continued to struggle, his body slowly breaking and bleeding. His eyes beginning to fail him. "Please stop this."

"Why?"

"Because it hurts...because I think I could help you...because you have my son!"

"I don't care, you can't help me, and who says it's your son?"

"What?"

The Laughing Shadow got in close,climbing onto the structure and getting inches from each other,his featureless face even more frightening, "I said, Who says it is your son!" He bellowed into Batman's skull. He jumped across the fire pit and rolled. "I mean it is Harley we are talking about."

"Hey!" Batman shouted.

The Shadow turned and faced the bleeding hero, "What? Do you think that bitch would change just for you? Wow you can fuck her. Whoopee Fucking Do!"

"Why do you care?"

The Shadow turned back and regained his composure. "Not me...I am not the one who lusts after her. I love her yes, but not like..." he looked up and shook his head. "I couldn't do that."

"What are you talking about?"

The Shadowy Villain turned and began talking to himself, holding his head, "Sir? No I couldn't. But...I...ok..." He turns back to the Bat, "You seem to have a very negative fan-base with you." He reveals a gun and shoots Batman just under the knee.

Batman screams in agony, "Who are you working for? Why were you just talking to yourself. Tell me!"

"Talking? I wasn't talking."

"Shadow! Tell me!" Batman shouted at his captor.

"I wasn't talking!" His voice was cracking, like he was almost crying. The Elite Shadows began to walk towards him.

"You were. Now tell me or I will beat it out of you!"

The Laughing Shadow stomped, "I was not talking to myself!" He continued to stomp and scream. "I am perfectly sane! I am a good boy, I will not talk to my friends when people around." The villain held his head and scream as if he was being beaten. He dropped down and all of the elite soldiers ran to him while the grunts mumbled to each other. "Please no more." He began to sob as he acted as if defending himself. Suddenly he was silent, the elites surrounded him and Batman could only see bits of the frantic man. Shadow of Deceit crouched down and held his hand while the a female soldier who Batman did not know also knelt. "Please I am good boy...right?"

"Yes brother. You are." The Deceitful Shadow said.

"You are safe here. We did what he commanded, and the bad people will never find us again." The woman said. She stood up and marched to the fire pit. "This is your fucking fault!"

"What is wrong?"

"You and your crusade against the criminally insane!"

"What?"

"Because of your symbol, thousands of crime fighters were spawned. All of us, except our mercenary help came from an orphanage and then we were taken to a mental ward for all beating the living shit out of the bullies. While at the Institution , he was brutally beaten because he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and the 'security' was evil. They beat all of us for our 'mental disorders' but it was fine, because we were the lower class of people. We were put in the asylum because we were a danger to society." She began to tear up, "Batman said that the mentally disturbed should be locked away because of the threat they pose."

"I never said that." Batman shouted.

"The Batman said that we were bad people because we talked to our imaginary friends. We were evil because we liked to hurt people who hurt our friends. We are demons because we killed the masked vigilante who decided to try and sneak in and kill us for being evil incarnations." She stomped hard, "And when we killed the Bat-fake we realized we were in danger. Soon after that we escaped and found ourselves as criminals. Then He gave us purpose again and we knew why we were put on this wretched evil planet."

"Why? What do you think is your goal?"

"Why to kill the source of evil...you! To kill you Batman!" She unveiled her handgun, aimed and prepared to kill him.

"What happened to all of your parents?" batman asked before lowering his head from the pain.

"They were killed in a gun fight between your fans on both positive and negative side." She shook the gun, "You are the main source of our pain! Now...DIE!"

"NO!" a very familiar voice shouted, before a string of hacking coughs cut the air. "Not yet deary. We need to make him suffer." Suddenly a man in a wheelchair began to roll to the elites. They bowed down to him as if he was a god. "We must make him beg." He struggled to stand then he to knelt down to the convulsing man and removed his mask.

His face was tender, innocent, sweet, his broad chin matching Bruce's own, and his eyes full of pain and anguish. Evil burned behind the eyes with tears of pain. "Master?"

"Yes my child?" The man from the wheelchair asked in an obviously cracking voice as he began kneeling closer, his snow white skin was now visible.

"I love you master. You have been so kind since father abandoned me." He tried to reach for his master's face.

The white hand caught the young man's and held it. "I love you to junior."

"Am I a good boy?" He asked as another shock went through him.

"Of course you are. Have you been enjoying your reunion?"

"Yes, Master."

"Reunion?" Batman thought as he began feeling the lose of blood take over again and flashes of his life as Batman began. Punch for punch ,he saw the face of Dent get fried in court. He saw Catwoman get brutal beaten, he felt the pain of his back breaking as Bane crushed him. Finally he saw the Joker's dying breath and that horrific laugh echo through his skull. "JOKER!"

Suddenly the horrific laugh echoed, "About time Bats."

Thanks for reading and being patient. It's been hard writing chapters and dealing with school. Also this is the last chapter for this for a little bit so I can work on my other stories.