Chapter Twelve: World War Wayne
LXXV
Betrayal
How?
In the forefront of mourners for Richard Grayson, it was the only thing coursing through Bruce Wayne's mind… A thousand scenarios all failing to answer one simple question… How? He would not let the awful thing that the president had said be true until that question was answered. Luthor's words hung upon the gray skies causing the world to stand still as Bruce Wayne went over the inner workings of the engine of destruction…
How?
Bruce had not issued the command… He had not pulled that trigger. But he had defined the area, and that was something that only he could do. The DNA/blood cell encryption was unbreakable - there was only one reader in existence and it was located in the caves below Wayne Manor.
How?
At first, he had hoped Luthor was bluffing, inferring from old Wayne Industries research that maybe Wayne did have some ultimate weapon. That had been the easy answer. But now there was the distinct possibility that he was not. That the thing he should have never created had just killed 11 million people…
Worry about it later, Wayne! Think!
And there it was… The hard answer. The one he could no longer avoid. The image he had unconsciously pushed out of his mind yesterday now crawled from the chasm of sanity to haunt him. The high-altitude/space hybrid suit that David Cain wore… It not only looked like the one they were working on… it was the one they were working on.
The awful truth hit him then. The dots connected - slicing a line through his heart. However much he didn't want it to be true, it was the only explanation.
No longer could Bruce suppress the cry of anguish emanating from his core… a guttural moan of suffering lost to the crowd. Raven wrapped gentle arms around him, held him, whispering into his ear.
"Who my love? Only tell me who."
Bruce struggled to control his breathing, to control his maddened lungs which shook in his chest. Shudders racked him until Raven took his hand. The pounding mantra of how was now replaced by why. A trusted friend had just enabled the murder of eleven million people. No bonds of familiarity or loyalty would ever stop Bruce Wayne from the course of justice. Time to leave.
"Us…Luthor and woman…Barbara…and… Lucius."
The familiar darkness swirled around him once more as his family reappeared in the Wayne living room. Alfred seemed taken aback by the sudden journey, while Arella was alert. Raven put her arms once more around Bruce to hold him close.
"Be strong, my love. War is upon us."
She disappeared once again in a cloud of bilious black smoke only to reappear seconds later with Barbara Gordon and Lucius Fox, who had been sitting side-by-side at the funeral. Both of them fell to the ground, unsteady. Raven teleported into the astral dimensions once more.
She finally reappeared a moment later, holding firmly onto Lex Luthor and the mysterious woman. Lex recovered himself and scanned the room for a moment before his eyes once again settled on Wayne.
"Is this to be retribution, Wayne? Shall I die for my sins against man?" As contemptuous as ever.
"Your sins, Luthor? Since when did you start admitting to your crimes? Or reading your speeches for that matter?" Bruce turned his gaze to the woman standing beside Luthor. It seemed impossible, but he wondered... as she gently removed her niqab and gazed back into the depths of his soul, he felt there was something hypnotic about her cinnamon features, her liquid eyes…
"Beloved."
For a second, Bruce felt himself slipping to the familiar island in his soul…
That vision passed as he snapped back to reality – watching as Talia al Ghul suddenly collapsed to the floor, unconscious before impact. His wife, eyes glowing amber, glared down at her. Bruce felt Raven's anger crackle in the very air around them.
"If you ever so much as look at my husband again, witch… I will personally feed your soul to the Nebu!"
Talia al Ghul could control a soul. Raven Wayne controlled one thousand.
"…Kill that bitch!" Lex Luthor had now regained control of himself… somewhat. "This was all a League plot, Wayne. They used me to kill everyone in Kahndaq. I'll have Ra's al Ghul's head on a platter before this day is over!" Luthor was taking a device from his pocket…
"Did you give that nuclear bomb to Kahndaq?" It was Barbara Gordon who spoke, surprisingly calm, slipping high heeled shoes off her feet.
"… Yes Miss Gordon, I did. Would you have something to say about it?..."
SMACK!
One hundred and twenty-five pounds of Barbara Gordon was channeled through her right fist to Lex Luthor's jaw.
Bruce had witnessed Jim Gordon drop a man with an unbelievably powerful right-hook twelve years ago. That man had been Tony Zucco, the murderer who had killed Richard's parents. Two hundred pounds of murderous rage had come crashing to the floor after Jim Gordon had unleashed a lightning-fast right hand, breaking the gangster's jaw in three places before Richard could be harmed. They called him "Glass-Jaw-Tony" after that night, but Bruce Wayne was not so naïve. James Gordon had hands of stone.
Barbara Gordon was her father's daughter and then some.
Lex Luthor lie insensible on the floor next to Talia. Staring at the unconscious politician, Bruce Wayne had no doubt that Luthor's jaw (at the very least) was dislocated.
"That's for Richard, you son-of-a-bitch!" Barbara Gordon rubbed the knuckles on her right hand, staring down derisively at the president, cheeks aglow with fury. Alfred dashed off for the first-aid kit and ice.
"Bruce…" Lucius stared at the down-and-out politician. "I know he's the president, but this man is very dangerous. We should hand him over to the authorities. Tell the world it was all Luthor's madness, try to make it right before World War 3 begins."
"Why did you do it, Lucius?" There was cold blue fire in Bruce's eyes that made Lucius Fox unable to meet his stare.
"Do what, Bruce?"
"It was you who gave the command this morning. You were the one who used the engine of destruction to murder eleven million people... Why?"
"Lex Luthor is a criminal mastermind, Bruce. He must have figured some way to hack into your system."
"There was no way, Lucius. You were the only one I told when I moved the data to Kahndaq. There are only two living DNA strands that can even access the command center. Yours and mine. That high altitude suit that Cain was wearing when he boarded the CERN satellite, that was the Wayne Industries prototype you were working on. How long have you been working for the League, Lucius?"
"…Twelve years. Twelve years, patiently waiting… It wasn't an easy thing to lose the presidency of Wayne Industries to a twenty-year-old only because his last name matched the stationary."
"But why, Lucius? Why kill so many people?"
"The life eternal, Mr. Wayne… You remember that long vacation I took to Switzerland after your successful nomination?"
"You were in an automobile accident. I remember."
"Accident…I died, Bruce… The League brought me back. This body you see before you, it wasn't the one I left Gotham with."
"You had extensive reconstructive surgery…"
"No Bruce, no surgery in the world could have saved me... My soul was given a new body, a second chance by Ra's al Ghul. The only price was to serve a cause far greater than any you have ever known… But I had sincerely hoped that you would be the one to push the button…
…It wasn't an easy thing to do, I assure you. After Richard's death and the destruction of the White House… all that rage inside you, all that grief… and still you wouldn't do it... So it fell to me. It always falls to me."
"Why, Lucius?!"
Bruce Wayne had gripped both lapels of the black suit Lucius Fox wore, pinning him against the wall. Eyes of burning vengeance only inches away bored into the old CEO's soul. Lucius Fox simply turned his glance sideways, past the burning stare of Bruce Wayne to that of his wife, a wide grin spreading across his face as he looked at Raven Wayne.
"Because the League made a deal with the devil, Mr. Wayne."