CVII
Our Own Brave New World
In his data storage facility in Shiruta, Bruce Wayne watched as the thin, black smoke of Raven's departure dissipated through his still hands. She had left him again and asked for his forgiveness… Why? He was the one that was responsible for the impending extinction of humanity and she had left him… Forgive her for leaving? He was only surprised she hadn't left him sooner…
He steadied himself against the giant concrete block that encased the only possible means to averting disaster. T.S. Elliot had been correct: the world would indeed end with a whimper, gasping. But he had to keep trying…
"Talia… Is there any way to turn this damned thing off?!"
"My father was a very thorough man, Bruce Wayne. He means for the world to die?"
"Yes... He called himself the 'Champion of the Green'. His entire plan was that the plants would reclaim the Earth… Apparently, they talked to him. Those who remained would be only slaves for plant life."
"Slaves?… Surely even you must see the opportunity here? I have five hundred members surrounding this facility… strong men and women. Our own brave, new world…"
"…You're as insane as your father!" Barbara Gordon could not believe what she was hearing.
"My dear, close your mouth and listen. Should humanity perish, there will be only one who leads an army… me. But we may rule together, Bruce."
"Raven will…"
Talia's finger shot out to next to Barbara's still-moving lips to silence her, whispering a 'shhh' sound as her finger rested directly over Barbara's mouth. The red-headed VP glared at the dark-haired matriarch of the League - the fire in her cold blue eyes scorching the calm, almond eyes of Talia – enraged at this insult.
As the scarlet woman snatched the offending finger from her mouth, Barbara Gordon suddenly collapsed into an unconscious heap on the floor.
"A simple trick your wife uses, Mr. Wayne."
"Have you… Is she alright?"
"Oh, I will deal with her later. But let us speak alone now…"
Talia al Ghul stepped over the prone form of Barbara Gordon to rest her hands upon Bruce Wayne's firm chest, his back suddenly against the large concrete block. He could feel her fingers dancing across his shirt upon straining chest muscles. She slowly brought herself closer to his body until he could feel her heat and the passion within her…
"Do you remember the words I spoke to you in the elevator, Bruce? That in another life we must have been lovers?... Is this not another life… a new beginning for us?"
"Talia… I'm married to Raven… she is my Fate…"
"Raven has gone to her father, Bruce. I feel her betrayal here." Talia took his hand and placed it firmly on her breast, just over her beating heart. "Your wife is lost to you. Now there is only you and I. When the rest of the world dies, what is left for Trigon? Only what he came for… his daughter. He has new worlds to conquer. And what he leaves behind of this world, beloved… is ours."
Bruce jerked his head aside as her sensual lips moved forward to taste his own. But she would not be denied. She continued to kiss his neck gently, her warm, perfect body pushed against his own while her hand eased lower, sliding between his legs…
"I know she has been unkind to you, beloved… What earthly pleasures she has denied, I could grant you ten-fold for each and every night of your life..."
He placed his hands on her shoulders and pushed Talia away. Bruce Wayne's cold eyes stared at her with distrust…
"How could you know that, Talia?"
"There are parts of your soul that whisper to me… begging for my touch. The love you would deny us, that has been denied to you for so long, let me share it with you. This world is ours. We will make it better. I will take away all your pain..."
"My pain makes me the man I am. I had to learn that the hard way. And there's only one woman's touch I would ever beg for…Raven's. I belong with her… And when did you start pushing souls out of their body, Talia? You certainly could have used that trick on Luthor only yesterday…"
"Clever, detective…"
Bruce's worst fears began to crystallize when he saw a wide smile cross Talia's face… a smile that did not belong to her. Something fundamental changed in her features as her amber eyes now glowed…
He knew who this was. God help him, he knew.
"A last moment of happiness, Bruce Wayne… wasted. Perhaps I should have used the fire-haired bitch after all... But then, I do rather fancy her for myself… Would you like a little sister, Raven?…"
Evil laughter emitted from Talia al Ghul and flooded out all of his remaining senses. The room shifted as all bearings of sanity slipped from his mind to the encroaching darkness that engulfed him from below... until he was submerged in blackest Hell.
Grasping beneath him, he found Barbara's still unconscious body near his feet and managed to cover her with his own body as things from another reality grasped at him, pulling him towards certain doom. There was no Raven to protect him on this journey across dimensions. His love had been tested and he had passed. But that would not guarantee him safe passage.
Slick with ectoplasm from the clutching appendages of things beyond this world, Bruce Wayne was spit out into the cold, desert air with Barbara, still in one piece… The cold winds of dark Kahndaq chilled him to the core as he found acclimated to ground and stood up, leaving his friend at his feet.
"Bruce!"
Frantically wiping the slime from his eyes, he turned towards the voice he knew so well in the darkness, his wife slowly blurring into focus. She stood beautifully on the sands only twenty feet away, a divine creature of serenity. She should have been the first thing he noticed. He should have run to her ecstatically, taking her into his arms to end this long nightmare…
But he could not.
Because he saw a foot. The nightmare had followed him into reality.
Irrational panic stirred a memory in his mind of a different time - a lifetime ago. He had been eight and his parents had taken him for the first time to see the Statue of Liberty on Bedloe's Island in Gotham harbor.
From a distance, it looked like any other statue. But he remembered standing at its base, looking up at this gigantic, frightening lady... She almost seemed alive. His parents tried to explain the significance and history of the massive structure. Their words didn't matter, only the awesome enormity of the statue mattered to the child.
He felt like that now. Except this was no lady. This skin was not the green of the copper he remembered as a child. It was dark red. And alive. But it was the same size. A white sash – as large as all the sails of a tall ship combined – ruffled in the breeze twenty feet above him, hanging between the giant's massive, muscled legs. A ton of alien metal crafted the greaves that encased his calves.
There was nothing subtle about this two-hundred-foot tall god. He was strength and power on a scale that did not exist on this world. Terror rose within Bruce as every primal instinct he knew screamed at him to turn and flee. When he remained frozen in place, every rational instinct cautioned him to fall on his knees and grovel before this mighty terror.
But like a child of eight again, Bruce Wayne remained standing and staring up in awe at his father-in-law…
Trigon.