It's hard to see in the room, even with Dick and Jason holding out their flashlights. The walls are covered in filth and cobwebs, showcasing months of abandonment. An old lightbulb hangs from the ceiling in the middle of the room, naked and cracked, and a medical table is pushed against one wall, where rusted surgical tools lay amongst dark stains. In the center of the floor is a broken chair that had long ago fallen on its side; around it are more stains, their muted color disturbingly obvious as having once been a vibrant scarlet.
Jason's grip on his flashlight tightens as he steps further into the room. He swings the flashlight about slowly, taking in the familiar sight with stunned silence. He hadn't even recognized the outside of the room. But looking about now, the icy terror he had always associated with the place creeps back into him, making it hard for him to think clearly.
Dick's gaze switches between Jason and their surroundings, and it only takes a few seconds for him to make the connection. His gaze falls upon the bloodstains in the center of the room, and he stares for a long while, unable to look away in his horrified rage.
The clattering of Jason's flashlight falling to the concrete is what snaps Dick's attention back to his brother. Jason's hands are visibly shaking as he staggers over to the broken chair and grips the rotting wood, which he uses to lower himself to his knees.
"Jason?" Dick says in an uncertain voice.
Jason doesn't answer. Reaching up, he rips off his helmet and tosses it aside as he bends over, curling in on himself. Dick hurries to Jason's side and crouches beside him, placing a hand on Jason's back.
"Jay?"
Jason is staring at the bloodstains surrounding him, his eyes wide and clouded with dark remembrance as demented laughter and agonized screams echo in his head. His breathing quickens, and the color drains from his face at an alarming rate.
"Hey," Dick says anxiously. "Jason, look at me. Jason."
Jason's gaze snaps to Dick's, though he doesn't seem to be fully aware of who he's looking at.
"I-I…" Jason blinks hard, trying to focus. "Need to get out of here," he whispers. He moves to stand, and Dick immediately grips Jason's arm, helping pull Jason to his feet. Dick snatches up Jason's discarded helmet and flashlight as they stand, and together the two head for the door, going back out into the dark hallway.
As soon as they are outside of the room Jason leans against a wall, pressing his hands against his eyes. Too overwhelmed to hold himself up, he sinks to the floor, breathing heavily as he struggles to regain control.
"Jason?" Dick kneels in front of Jason and reaches out, but Jason pushes Dick's hands away, shaking his head.
"Just…give me a second," Jason chokes out, squeezing his eyes shut. Minutes pass, with Jason trying to still his body's shuddering and Dick helplessly watching. Swallowing hard, Jason slams the back of his head against the wall in frustration. "Fuck," he mutters. "Fuck."
Dick leans forward and swiftly pulls Jason into an embrace. Though tense at first, Jason eases into his brother's warmth, taking solace in the much-needed touch. Anything to steady him, to reassure him that he's okay, to tell him that someone he trusts is there with him.
"It's okay, Jay," whispers Dick.
Jason nods desperately into Dick's shoulder, not caring how childish he feels clinging to Dick.
They don't move from what seems like a long time.
Eventually, Jason's shivering ceases and he pulls back, glancing away from Dick in embarrassment. But Dick isn't deterred; reaching out cautiously, he brushes back Jason's hair, checking the pallor of his face.
"Here, Jay," he says, pulling out a hydration pill. "You need water." He gives it to Jason, who eyes the pill in distaste. But he takes it anyway, and upon swallowing it seems to calm somewhat.
Jason slumps back against the wall, looking utterly ashamed. "Sorry…" he says quietly. "I figured we might run into it down here; I should have been better prepared."
"Don't you dare apologize, Jason," says Dick. "You've done nothing wrong."
Jason gives his head a shake, letting out a frustrated breath. "You'd think that after all these months I would have a better handle on this." He pauses. "Will it ever go away?"
Dick watches Jason with a sad expression. "Jason, what happened to you is not something you can just brush away with time. Time may make it easier to bear, but it can't erase what happened." He lays a hand on Jason's forearm. "Having natural reactions like this isn't a statement of who you are, or the lack of 'strength' you have. You have proven time and again how strong of a person you are; coming here tonight is only another testament to that. Words cannot express how much I admire you."
A small smile touches Jason's lips, and he quickly wipes a hand over his eyes. "Damn," he says quietly. "You should write down these speeches you're always spouting off. You're fucking cheesy, but you're good."
Dick chuckles. "I try." He picks up their flashlights and holds Jason's out. "You ready?"
Jason nods, taking his flashlight from Dick. "Yeah."
Dick stands and stretches out his hand, which Jason grasps, pulling himself to his feet. Jason picks up his Gotham Knight helmet and studies it silently for a moment. Then he slips it on and straightens, his body language conveying none of the emotions still lingering within him.
Moving his flashlight about, Dick observes their surroundings for another possible way past Bruce's blockage of the hallway. He'd rather not have Jason go back through that room, so if he can find a different way through, he'll take it. Swinging his flashlight upwards, Dick glances at the low ceiling above them. A grin pricks at the edge of his mouth.
"You got that explosive gel Bruce made?"
Jason looks over at Dick. "Yeah."
Dick nods his head upwards. "Instead of going around the debris, why don't we just go over it?"
Jason's gaze follows Dick's, and, despite himself, a small smirk spreads across his lips. "I do like shortcuts." Pulling out the device used to eject the gel, Jason aims it at the ceiling and sprays the substance onto the ceiling in a circle about three feet in diameter. Then they both step back and Jason presses the side button on the device. The gel explodes, shaking dirt from the walls and dropping the circular piece of the ceiling to the floor in-between Jason and Dick. Dust flies up from the impact and the two boys instinctively move back further, though Dick is the only one to fall into a coughing fit.
Jason snorts as he puts away the gel device. "Told you – you should make a helmet."
"Shut up," snaps Dick irritably.
Jason gives a soft laugh, though the sound lacks Jason's usual energy. Dick glances at Jason in concern, but he knows this is not the time to dwell on it.
Pulling out his grappling hook, Jason aims it at the hole and shoots it through. He immediately zips upwards, disappearing into the dimness above. Dick quickly follows and lands gracefully onto the floor beside Jason.
They're in an empty hallway. It's poorly lit, with only a few of the overhanging bulbs casting a feeble light onto the walls surrounding them.
"Well, this floor can't be abandoned," Dick comments. "Since lights are being used here."
"Really crappy lights," observes Jason. "I find it hard to believe this is a wing officially in use. Unless Arkham's really gone down the shithole."
"Someone's using it, though," says Dick, his eyes narrowing as he looks about them. "Which isn't that surprising. After all, how much illegal stuff has gone on under Arkham's radar?"
"Too much," mutters Jason darkly.
Grimacing at that, Dick instead focuses on pulling up a digital map of Arkham on his gauntlet. Honing in on their location, Dick gestures to the right. "Looks like that's the way to go if we want to get to the B Holding Cells, where Bruce and Tim were last."
"I wonder if Barbara got through the firewall yet," says Jason. He presses a hand to the side of his helmet, tilting his head slightly. "Oracle? Oracle, do you read me? It's the Gotham Knight. Oracle?" No answer. Frowning, Jason drops his hand. "Guess not."
"She'll get through soon," Dick says. He begins walking in the direction he had indicated, with Jason following. "But she's also a bit pre-occupied at the moment, working with Alfred on trying to locate the apparent bombs Harley and Joker placed throughout Gotham."
"I really think that's a waste of their time," Jason says. "I'm positive it was just a bluff."
"Regardless, we have to be sure."
Jason sighs. "Yeah, I know." He adjusts his flashlight, the movements making its beam dance haphazardly across the floor.
They walk for a while, checking the rooms they pass for anyone inside. Most of the rooms are dark, and they don't come across a single person in any of them. Soon enough, they're approaching the end of the hallway, and there's only one remaining door on the left to check. As the draw nearer, Jason prods Dick with his elbow, nodding to the light seeping out from beneath the door crack. The two approach cautiously, pulling out Batarangs. Dick hesitates a moment, then shoves the door open, and he and Jason step inside.
The sight they find halts them in their tracks.
There's only one person in the room. And for a long moment, neither Dick or Jason are quite sure who it is. Hanging from the wall opposite of the doors, the shriveled figure is strung up by multiple tubes spreading out from his body in various directions. Pale and emaciated, the prisoner looks far closer to death than life. His head is hung in exhaustion, but at the sound of the door opening he lifts his gaze, glaring at the intruders with bloodshot eyes.
Jason's mouth drops open slightly in surprise. "Bane?"
Bane heaves in a ragged breath. "Ah…followers…of the Bat…" he whispers weakly.
"Who did this to you?" asks Dick, unable to conceal his shock.
"Dr. Young, the bruja…" chokes out Bane. "She drained Venom from…my blood. Must…stop her…"
Jason eyes the computers placed in front of Bane curiously. Walking up to them, he turns on the center monitor. Immediately, a small tab pops up.
LOGIN REQUIRED
USERNAME: DR. YOUNG
"Hm," Jason muses. He taps the keyboard thoughtfully. "I might not crack this as fast as Tim, but give me a few minutes to see what I can do."
Dick gestures to Bane. "What about him?"
Jason shrugs. "He can hang on for a second."
Giving Jason an exasperated look, Dick turns to walk over to Bane, but before he can do so, the login screen on the computer cuts away to blackness. Startled, Jason jerks back as the blank screen melts away to the image of a grinning Joker.
"Sorry to cut in, kiddos!" exclaims the Joker. "But you're both too nosey for your own good; this is my business." His gaze shifts to focus solely on Jason. "Jason my boy, is that you under that ridiculous helmet? Harley's been telling me all about your latest endeavors. Including your…more recent violent outbursts." His grin widens. "And I have to say, Papa Joker can't be any prouder of you!"
"Shut the hell up, Joker," Dick says savagely. "What do you want this time? Why take over Arkham?"
"Sorry, Bird Brain, but I have better things to do than monologue to a pair of second rate sidekicks," says Joker. He nods his head behind him, in the direction of Bane's still form. "How do you like my puppet?" His smile twists, taking on a most menacing look. "Let's say we cut him down!"
There's the sudden sound of metal gates sliding away, followed by the gushing of liquid. Dick and Jason snap their heads up to watch as a neon green substance rushes through the tubes connected to Bane. As the liquid flows relentlessly into the shriveled body, Bane lets out an agonized scream, twisting violently against the tubes stringing him up. Then, his limbs begin to expand. Muscles throb and grow, with veins protruding painfully as they are revitalized with fresh Venom.
Moaning horribly, Bane continues to yank at the tubes in vain attempts to break away. Soon he's as muscular and huge as he ever was in his prime, but he only seems to get larger from there. Finally, he lets out a thunderous roar as he rips himself free from the tubes, tearing off chunks of the wall with him. Bane lands on the floor with a heavy thud, the vibrations of the impact strong enough to cause Dick and Jason to stagger back, throwing their arms out to keep their balance.
"Oh shit…" Jason says, staring up at the enormous figure. Bane swivels his head around as though in a drunken haze, and then his gaze lands on Jason and Dick. Without a moment's hesitation, Jason gives Dick a hard shove away from the giant standing over them. "Nightwing, move!"
Emitting a furious growl, Bane rushes forward, smashing aside the computers as he heads directly for Jason and Dick. Jason shoots his grappling hook into the ceiling and uses it to propel him through the air, giving him increased momentum as he slams his feet into Bane's face. Bane reels back, though he whips out his hand as he does so, catching Jason around the waist and roughly throwing him across the room.
But Bane's arm hasn't even finished the movement before Nightwing comes swinging in, delivering a hard kick to Bane's stomach. Bane throws his own punch forward but Nightwing dodges it, sliding out of the way and throwing two Batarangs so that they embed in Bane's shoulder.
Bane roars in anger, twisting around to see Nightwing once more rushing at him. The moment Nightwing jumps into the air the Gotham Knight comes flying in alongside him, and together they knock Bane onto his back. The Gotham Knight lands directly on top of the giant and begins throwing his fists into Bane's face, but a harsh twist of Bane's body is all it takes for him to throw the Knight off of him and send him sprawling.
"Nightwing?" Nightwing pauses, tilting his head at the sudden static-filled voice coming in through his comm. "Gotham Knight? Are you guys there? Can you hear me?"
"Oracle!" exclaims Nightwing, dodging another one of Bane's punches. "You got through!"
"Yeah," says Oracle. "I've been looking into the bombs, and –"
There's a loud crash as Nightwing is thrown into one of the turned over computers.
"…what are you guys doing? I can't see anything; your mask cameras aren't working."
"Just having a little throw down with an old pal," replies the Knight. He throws a smoke bomb into Bane's face, causing him to stumble back in momentary blindness. The Knight flips through the air, landing on Bane's back. He drives a fist into the side of Bane's head, but his arm is grabbed and he's flung into the wall behind them with a hard thud. "Ow…" he groans. He looks up to see Bane storming towards him. "Can you hold on a sec, Oracle?"
"Incoming!" exclaims Nightwing. The next second he slams into the side of Bane, causing the giant to stumble into the broken computer desk. Nightwing easily jumps free from the crash and hurries over to the Gotham Knight's side. "Something's weird with Bane," Nightwing says, holding out his hand.
The Knight brushes the hand aside irritably and stands. "Describe 'weird,'" he says. "Cause when you're referring to Arkham inmates, you need to be a bit more specific than that."
Nightwing rolls his eyes, then whips his head around at the sound of Bane's thundering steps. He and the Knight launch themselves out of the way just in time, and Bane is forced to skid to a stop before crashing into the wall.
"I mean –" Nightwing picks up a cracked computer monitor and chucks it at Bane, who knocks it aside with a furious cry. "That Bane has never been this strong before. Our hits should be doing a lot more damage than they are." He ducks away from another punch, then spins around and gives Bane a hard shove in the Knight's direction.
Immediately the Knight crouches low and swings out his leg, trying to knock Bane off of his feet. But Bane hardly budges at the impact, and instead reaches down and wraps a hand around the Knight's throat, pulling him up so that the two of them are face-to-face.
"I tire of your petty brawls!" shouts Bane. "Give me a fight worthy to be battled by Bane!"
"How's this?" The Knight reaches out, ripping one of the Batarangs free from Bane's shoulder. In the same, swift motion he then thrusts it forward – directly into Bane's right eye.
Letting out a scream of agony, Bane releases his hold on the Knight, dropping him to the ground.
Scrambling back, the Gotham Knight pulls himself to his feet and glances at Nightwing. "I hate to admit it," he rasps, massaging his throat. "But you're right. He's not going down like normal."
"So how do we do this then?" asks Nightwing.
"If you two aren't big enough to stop him, then find something in the room that is," cuts in Oracle.
"Hey, wait a minute," the Knight says indignantly. "I didn't say we weren't –"
"Knight!" interrupts Nightwing. He nods at Bane, who straightens, having recovered from the initial pain of his injured eye. Leaving in the Batarang from where blood now runs freely down his face, Bane turns to face them once again. Gritting his teeth, Nightwing glances about them frantically for anything that might help.
The Gotham Knight tilts his head up, and then grins. "Remember what we did to get out of the floor below?" He gestures upwards. "Why don't we do that again, only on a larger scale?"
Nightwing looks up. "Ah. Gotcha." He braces himself as Bane begins his advance. "Alright, you take care of the ceiling. I've got Bane." Then Nightwing is rushing towards Bane; at the last possible moment, he flips over Bane's head and lands on his back. Immediately he whips out a Batarang and begins cutting loose the tubes attached to Bane. Venom begins squirting everywhere, splattering about wildly due to Bane's attempts to throw Nightwing off of him.
The Gotham Knight take two steps in Bane and Nightwing's direction before launching himself into the air and grabbing onto one of the metal pipes running along the room. Swinging up onto it, he rips the explosive gel device free from his belt and begins spraying it onto the patch of ceiling directly over Bane. "Nightwing!" he shouts. "Move your ass!"
Nightwing instantly jumps off of Bane, somersaulting through the air to the opposite side of the room. At the same moment, the Knight hits the detonator button and shoots his grappling hook, pulling himself free from the explosion.
With a loud boom, the ceiling implodes, falling directly onto Bane. Brick and cement pile onto him, along with support beams and plumbing pipes. On and on it goes, until finally all that is visible of Bane is his left shoulder and arm. The dust begins to settle, and soon there is no movement to be seen coming from the pile.
The Gotham Knight lands next to Nightwing, looking at the mess with satisfaction. "I am so glad Batman came up with this gel stuff," he says.
Nightwing shakes his head in amusement. "And how are we supposed to detain him? He broke through those tubes and ripped out parts of that wall pretty easily." He's quiet for a moment, thinking. Then he reaches into his utility belt and pulls out a small hypodermic needle. "I guess I can use a sedative."
The Knight snorts. "And how long that is going to last on Bane? Especially super-Bane?"
Nightwing shrugs. "A normal one wouldn't do much." He walks over to Bane's motionless form and brushes aside some of the debris, uncovering Bane's neck and face. "But this version I've got here? It's a pretty heavy duty version. Made specially for people like our friend here." He shoots the sedative into Bane and steps back. "Trust me, he should be out for a while."
"Whatever you say," says the Knight. He looks over at the destroyed computers. "So what, this Dr. Young was experimenting with Venom or something?"
"Looks like it," Nightwing replies grimly. "Whatever the new stuff was that was pumped into him, it made him far more powerful than usual." He holds two fingers to his ear. "Oracle?"
"I'm here. How's Bane?"
"Out cold. But he seems to have been injected with a new kind of Venom. We think a doctor here at Arkham was experimenting with it. Could you go into the city's computer and pull up all you can find on a Dr. Young?"
"Sure thing." There's a pause. "Have you guys found any sign of Batman or Robin yet?"
"No," Nightwing answers grimly. "But we're not near where the breakout was yet."
"What about their tracers?" asks the Knight. He glances down at his gauntlet and presses a few buttons, opening up a small display screen. There are two dots visible in the room they're standing in now – one for him, one for Nightwing. Zooming out the map of Arkham, he looks it over carefully for any other tracer dots. "There. It's Batman's – he's in the main Secure Treatment Transfer Room." He pauses. "Robin's not there."
Dick frowns, trying to ignore his unease. "Maybe his tracer just isn't showing up on the grid. I mean, the communications system only just got back online."
"I hope so," mutters Jason. Reverting the screen back into his gauntlet, he begins heading towards the door. "Well, let's get going then. Before your 'heavy duty' sedative wears off."
Casting back a wary glance at Bane, Dick follows Jason back out into the hallway and in the direction of Batman's tracer signal.
Please be alright, Tim.
/
/
/
I hope I'm not being too confusing with switching between characters' real name and their hero names. Like using Jason vs Gotham Knight. Basically, when it's just the two of them, or when they're having more emotional moments, I use their real names. And when they're fighting, I use their hero names. That's basically the way I'm going about it.