[Batman Pov]
Meanwhile inside of the watchtower, doctors were furiously working on saving Will. He was fading rapidly, "Quickly we need to stabilize him." the doctor shouted.
"Will he live?" The Dark Knight asked
"If he does, I'm not sure if he will be able to do anything other than eat and drink out of a straw." The doctor replied, furiously attending to Will's injuries.
"The boy has superhuman healing abilities, why aren't they activating?"
"I'm not sure, I am going to put him in a medically induced coma until we can figure out a way to treat him." The Doctor said applying antibiotics and wrapping up the many cuts and burns that were leaking blood.
Batman was angry, frustrated, the boy did not deserve this. He felt responsible, as soon as he heard Grundy was around he should have made a move. He chose to wait, he didn't want the criminal underworld of Gotham to know Will was working with him and he made a mistake. He forgot Will was still just a boy, and looking at him now he was not sure if he'd ever be the same again. The boy was impulsive, rash, emotional, sure but he was also strong and resilient. He seemed to bring brightness with him despite everything he'd been through. Bruce felt truly guilty, he could not let something like this happen again on his watch. Images flashed through his mind of his son Jason horrifically injured and carrying him out of that collapsed building. It filled him with rage. "What could The Joker possibly want with all those chemicals?" He asked himself as he turned to leave.
[Barbara Pov]
Back at the manor, the morning after Will was injured, Alfred went to bring Barbara her medicine and breakfast. He knocked on the door, and opened it up. Barbara's eyes lit up, "Hey Will good–." Her words fell off when she noticed it was Alfred.
"Master Barbara, I'm afraid Master William will not be bringing you your medicine and breakfast for quite some time. He said sadly
"Why, where is he, what's going on Alfred?." Barbara asked with a worried expression on her face.
"Well Master Barbara, Master Wayne sent him on an undercover mission that went horribly wrong. He was forced to fight KGBeast, Deadshot, and Solomon Grundy by himself. It is unknown whether he will live or die, however it would seem he saved many lives from Grundy's Rampage." Alfred said seriously
"Wait, is he going to die? He always gets injured, he will heal quickly." Barbara said with disbelief on her face.
"No Master Barbara, I was told if he survives he will likely have to drink out of a straw the rest of his life. He may heal, but many of his bones were shattered to the point that they do not know if they can put them back together. He will likely die, they were all genuinely surprised he was still clinging to life after his extensive injuries." Alfred said as he placed the tray on the dresser by her bed, and left the room.
Barbara looked at the glass of water Alfred brought her sadly. She picked it up and took her medicine, and tears began to fall down her face. She was frustrated, why would Bruce let something like this happen. What the hell was going on, why did it have to happen to Will. She did the only thing she felt she could do, something she never thought she would do. She clasped her hands together, one good hand, and the other in a hard cast, and she prayed for the first time in so long she couldn't remember the last time she did it. She hadn't done it since her parents died. She didn't know if anything could hear her, but she did it anyway.
[Penguin Pov]
In the Penguin's Office, Penguin slammed his hands on his desk and screamed, "DAMNIT, our shipments were seized, we lost several men, Dembe is in custody, and Will one of our best enforcers just fucking vanished."
"It will be okay, sir." Orca said in a lovely voice, however inside she felt distressed at this news. They took a serious loss today.
"That little shit better be alive. I can't believe he took on Grundy, Deadshot, and KGBeast. He has gotten alot better, remarkably fast. I wonder what he would be like if he stopped holding back and just started killing these fleas. I must have him, word is going to spread, the kid is absolutely verified now everybody is gonna want a piece of him if he survives…. He likely did, the kid is a fucking cockroach, always has been." Penguin said to Orca
"Indeed, the kid is remarkably hard to kill, he always bounces back." Orca said
[Will Pov]
Back in the Demon's Realm, time passed differently, what was a single day outside in the real world ten days passed in here. Every day Will was subject to more and more pain, he had grown so used to it. He trained every day under the pressure and pain, and both his proficiency and martial prowess increased. He wasted less energy, each move slowly being refined until it was far more lethal than before. Each time he struck out his energy moved in accordance, he could absorb and convert far more energy than before. Each day that passed on the outskirts of the Demon's Domain, the monstrous being on the throne wearing his face would send abominations with the faces of the people he cared about after him. Each time it got more difficult, at first he merely increased their numbers. However, as Will became used to the pressure, he increased their fighting prowess. They were always slightly stronger than him, always a little bit better, he had to close the gap between them with sheer viciousness, brutality, and skill. His technique was slowly but surely being honed under the pressure of the demon. Each day was a life and death battle, each day he survived. He fought tooth and nail every night, and every day he slowly inched forward into the middle of the realm. He would get to that black throne and destroy the demon, he would kill it. All that filled his mind were demonic martial techniques and destruction. He wanted to slaughter, to maim and kill. His eyes were like a savage beast, like a wolf that was eyeing its prey as he fought his way forward. The demon on the throne merely smiled his shark toothed smile back at Will, as he watched him struggle. It amused him, he had improved in the way of the demon quite rapidly but he was not even close to the end of this. He still had a long long way to go before he could become worthy of the title demon.
[one week later]
A week passed in the outside world, and Will's condition stabilized and his bullet wounds and burns healed. However his bones and internal injuries, as well as his destroyed muscles were not healing. It was almost as if he had overloaded Deathstroke's healing factor. It kept him alive, but since he wasn't awake circulating the technique he could not heal at a quicker rate. Nearly all of the Batfamily came through and checked on his condition daily, all except for Barbara who was still on bedrest and Dick who never really cared much for Will. Most had nearly given up on him recovering.
In that week he was unconscious, word of his deeds really spread among the dangerous underbelly of Gotham. The criminals had taken to calling him, "The Berzerker." Each time the story was told it got more and more exaggerated as it spread through all of Gotham. Soon all of Gotham's criminals knew who he was, and since he was unclaimed everybody wanted a piece. Black mask wanted him, Penguin wanted him, Scarecrow Gang wanted him, The Falcone's wanted him, and Two Face wanted him. Right now there was a citywide search for him among the criminals of Gotham, and the first one who found him was the winner. They all sent goons to wait for him outside of school, and his apartment, but there was no movement from the Berzerker.
Back in the Demons realm, Will had been fighting for his life for seventy days and seventy nights. He was a different man, his spirit was forged and refined under the demon's pressure. Slowly he took the final step and moved fully into the middle area of the Demons realm. He was covered in black blood, filth and grime. His techniques were nearly flawless and his manipulation of demonic energy had improved significantly. His control was no longer that of a mere infant, he discovered he could even use it to cover and strengthen whatever he used as a weapon making it far more effective than before. As soon as he stepped forward into the middle area, an absolute behemoth of a man stepped out. The man was covered in pustules and looked absolutely disgusting. His eyes and mouth leaked yellow fluid, and he stood at around 6'9". The skin on the left side of his body had rotted away leaving his muscles and bone exposed. He smiled creepily, then charged Will at the speed of a moving car. He cracked the ground with each step sending blood and loose body parts flying as he charged. Will merely smirked at the man, and waited for him to get close. Will could sense the man's demonic energy moving within him getting ready for a spirit crushing strike, the man punched out so fast that the average person would only see a blur, but to Will it was as if he was moving in slow motion. The strength of Will's soul had improved drastically. Will spun as the punch went right by his head. Will jumped up and focused a large amount of demonic energy into his foot and kicked out. A large boom echoed out as Will's foot connected with the man's head. He heard a sickening crunch as the man went flying to the left. Will flitted out, but was surprised when he felt an incredibly strong punch smash into his gut, a loud boom echoed out as Will was forced back several feet. They quickly clashed again, massive booms echoed out as they went blow for blow trading massive amounts of damage. Will didn't care as he circulated his demonic techniques to the max. Each blow they struck out with was a powerful Spirit Crushing Strike. Their bones broke and snapped back into place as blood flew everywhere, they were like two feral beasts attacking each other at lightning fast speeds. Then the man struck Will across the face with a powerful punch, it dazed Will for a moment. Then the man grabbed him, lightning fast, he was stronger than Will, so Will was unable to free himself, so he kicked out with a spirit crushing strike that didn't even phase the abomination. The abomination quickly began head butting him with all his strength, black and red blood flew everywhere as Will was pummeled by spirit crushing strikes. Will was barely hanging on, and when the abomination threw its head back for one final headbutt, Will viciously struck out biting the abomination in the throat. Black blood and pus oozed out of Wills mouth as he viciously ripped out the abominations throat. The abomination instantly froze and began to fall, when it hit the ground, Will spit out the monster's throat and stomped its head in until it was a pile of mush and brain matter. Once he was sure it was dead he felt the space around him freeze, he was unable to move once again. The pressure lessened considerably as he flew forward towards the demon chained to the black throne. When they were face to face the demon smiled, "Well done, very well done, accept this gift from me. You have mastered the spirit crushing strike and the reforging technique. All you need to do is catch your real body up now, it shouldn't take long. Here are a few new demonic martial techniques for you to master. Remember, a Demon's magic is powerful, but a true Demon's body is their most powerful tool. Until you have an invincible demon body don't even think of trying to learn anything as pathetic as magic or curses. Eventually you will be able to bend and tear the space around your fist with a single punch."
Will was forced towards him as the demon once again touched the diamond tattoo on his forehead. The pain was intense, but compared to what he'd been through in the past seventy days it was nothing. His hatred fueled him, as the techniques ripped through his skull. The first one was a technique that allowed the user to use demonic energy to turn a part of their body into a sharp blade. One could use their hands and feet to easily cut the throats of their opponents or jam their hands directly through their bodies. The next one was a defensive type technique, one that protected the user against all types of magic, curses, and elemental manipulation. It covered the body in a shield of demonic energy that could be used to deflect these things depending on the level of the user of course. The third was the most tyrannical, it allowed the user to use demonic energy to directly increase their base power, the only limitation was if you used more than your body could handle there would be dire consequences. An image of a fist directly exploding after punching something flashed through Will's mind.
Then he woke up. He was in a hospital bed, in a full body cast completely unable to move. It should have hurt, but it was almost nothing compared to what he just went through. There were tubes covering his whole body, and the room was metallic and empty. Will wondered where he was, this was no ordinary hospital. Perhaps he had been kidnapped and experimented on, he thought to himself. He closed his eyes and began to circulate the reforging technique, the black diamond tattoo appeared on his forehead as his shattered bones were forced back into place held together by demonic energy. The energy ripped through his muscles, bones, and organs at a far faster rate than before.
