Chapter Six: A Nation of Murder
XXVII
Mother and Daughter, Father and Son
Arella crashed hard into a room… somewhere on Earth… she was certain. She had heard her daughter's voice for the first time in a year. At first, she thought it was Raven's soul self or empathic telepathy, perhaps even the last thoughts of a desperate mother about to die, longing for her departed daughter, until she felt Raven's arms around her. Tears filled her eyes when she knew that Raven was there. Good Bye was forever in Azarath.
And now Azarath was gone, forever.
A man, maybe ten years younger than herself, rushed by her to grasp around the floor near her… where Raven should have been.
"I assume you're Raven's mother, Arella?" he inquired.
"I am." There was a power about this man that Arella had not sensed in a long time. She regarded him carefully.
"Bruce Wayne. I'm your son-in-law, Raven's husband… Ah, there you are, my love."
Arella watched as Bruce ran his hands along an invisible body, in a bizarre act of mime. He felt his way along a pretend body until he located something and tapped it. Then the body was no longer pretend, it was Raven!
"Azar be praised!" Arella rushed over and held her limp daughter. Her fears were immediately realized when she glimpsed into Raven's vacuous eyes and felt the cacophony of one thousand frightened lives stirring inside her.
"Was she hurt? Does she need medical attention?" Bruce was already on his feet and ready to aid.
"No, Mr. Wayne. Please… sit. Remain calm." Arella had to catch her breath. "She carries the souls and experience of all of Azarath inside her… Her mind is overwhelmed."
Bruce sat. "Please, tell me what happened… and call me Bruce. I'm sorry we have to finally meet under these circumstances." Bruce watched as Arella turned pale.
"Horrors…" with that, Arella had no more.
It was too much. Everything went black.
Bruce watched as his mother-in-law collapsed beside her daughter after saying one word. What had Trigon done?! He rushed over to her to examine her breathing… Good. There seemed to be no discernable injuries, although there was a good chance she was in shock. Bruce picked her up – like her daughter, she was slight – and moved her to the bed. He positioned pillows under her legs to elevate them and then covered her with the duvet, tilting her head to the side.
Bruce then moved to Raven. Her condition was similar, but very different. She seemed catatonic. She made strange whimpering noises and twitched. Bruce left her on the floor with a pillow under her head. He needed Alfred…
As though his needs were broadcast to the man, Alfred walked through his bedroom door. It was rare for him not to knock first, but perhaps he had heard the hard landing…
"…Bruce… There's a call…"
"Alfred, thank God you're here! I'm going to need medical assistance. Raven and her mother, Arella, they're here. Something's happened to Raven! She needs help."
It was Alfred that brought up the wi-screen1 in Bruce's bedroom and accepted a call. Bruce felt his temper rise. Business be damned right now! His wife was in danger of losing her mind! They needed emergency medical attention, not halo screens.
Bruce's temper stopped mid-stream when he recognized the familiar face of President Lane on the screen. She looked upset and… devastated. Was she wiping a tear from her eye?
"Mr. Wayne… I wanted… to inform you personally. Bruce, I have some very, very bad news... I'm afraid Captain Richard Grayson… died in the line of duty twenty minutes ago. We don't have all the details, but the nuclear device he was sent in to disarm… detonated…He was a great and courageous man, Bruce. This is a terrible, terrible day for all of us. I have to go, but I wanted to tell you how sorry I am for your loss before all Hell breaks lose."
Blip. The call ended. The room stood still, the air around them became thick. Bruce's mind began whirling with calculations of how far away from a nuclear explosion Dick would have to be in order to survive in the stealth suit. If he were flying from the explosion… a mile? Were there structures he could have gotten behind? Were there others with him? But they only had one suit…
Bruce brought up a new wi-screen and tapped into surveillance satellites. He zoomed into Kahndaq and replayed feed from the entire country starting thirty minutes in the past. And there it was, the circle of light, white then green, visible from space. It started out as a pin prick from this distance and grew to the size of a quarter. He locked in the coordinates, zoomed in and started again. Switching to night vision, he found it - the convoy parked in the desert. He zoomed in closer.
At 04:00 local time, the blinding explosion occurred, but he didn't see Dick… Could it be that...?
Suddenly, the strange, dark part of his soul whispered to him… he was invisible.
Hesitantly, Bruce overlaid the transponder data from the stealth suit to the satellite imagery. He had to know. He watched the dot appear and come closer to the trailer with the camouflaged tarp at 03:58:45. Watched it slip under the tarp seconds later. Then it was the longest minute of his life. He gasped when the explosion began. A light brighter than the sun filled the screen. The suit was keyed to Dick's DNA. No one else could wear it…
"…So it is true." Alfred's voice startled Bruce. The world was all too real. He could hear the old servant's sobs behind him.
He needed Raven. He needed her to take this pain, this anger. She could save his sanity…
The dark beast of terrible purpose he had buried twenty years ago broke free. Your little black bird can't save you now, Brucy. You and me, sonny-boy... Just you and me, lad. Just trust me… We'll make it right.
Terrible dark purpose overwhelmed him. There was no more reasoning. He needed Raven… Raven was gone. He needed… Revenge. The entire landscape of his soul tipped into the abyss. It was too much; his mother, his father and now Dick. His son. They had taken everything from him. They would even take Raven. She might even be gone already. No.
The strange, dark part of his soul knew what to do.
1. WI-screen – stands for Wayne Industries screen. A holographic screen formed by free floating nano-particles in the atmosphere. These can be brought up anywhere by anyone with registered DNA by simply drawing a rectangle with your finger. The sale of this technology was the driving force and funding behind the success of WayneNet ten years previous.