DC:The Darkest Knight

[3 days later]

 "I believe it's time for me to get back to my duties, Master Bruce." Alfred said as he handed me a cup of tea. He had been staying in the Batcave for the last three days, getting used to his new strength.

"Sure, Alfred," I replied, lifting the cup to take a sip...what in the actual fuck?

For the last 3 days, Alfred never left the Batcave. He was on 24/7 surveillance for his own safety, and there are no ingredients in the Batcave to make tea, let alone where he stayed. Yet, here I am, holding a cup in my hand with tea in it.

Is he a god, god of tea's?

{Sir, Zatanna Zatara is at the underground entrance by the waterfall.}

Eden displayed Zatanna's hologram, showing her in front of a large titanium door.

"Do you want me to take Miss Zatanna back to the manor, sir?" Alfred asked.

"Nah, it's okay, Alfred. I got this, you can go on with your job. I will handle her," I replied as he nodded and walked away.

"Eden, tell her not to touch the door and guide her to the real entrance."

{As you wish, sir.}

The door in front of her was decoy. Spikes would emerge, and acid would pour down on her, along with 100 darts filled with the poison from the golden poison frog, one of the most lethal poisons known. Just a small amount could be fatal; about 2–3 grains of table salt of it is enough to kill a human. These darts will shoot from the walls, and if anyone tries to catch them, the needle inside will just shoot from its tip, which is where the poison actually is, and there was a trapdoor in front of the metal door that led to a pit of lava.

[Zatanna POV]

Three days ago, I thought it would be nice to surprise Bruce since he often calls me. But I haven't been able to reach him, Alfred, or Teleute. They haven't been answering any of my calls either. When I asked the staff at the manor about them, they just gave me vague answers like they are dealing with important business or they will return soon, things like that.

So, I decided to look for them myself. I started at the manor, checking every room but couldn't find them. Then, I remembered Bruce once mentioning he likes to relax by the waterfall with his wife.

While wandering around the waterfall, I stumbled upon a tunnel that looked man-made, leading into the mountain. As I entered, I noticed the walls were made of concrete, confirming my suspicion.

After walking for a bit, I found a large metal door.

{Miss Zatanna, please refrain from touching the door.}

Just as I reached for the handle, I heard a strange mechanical noise.

"dleihS." I quickly cast a shield spell and began to scan my surroundings.

{My name is Eden, Miss Zatanna. I am an artificial intelligence created by Master Bruce. If you could follow the path, I will guide you to him.}

Mechanical voice said as the concrete wall to my right transformed into another metal door, which then opened.

"Are you trying to trick me? I won't fall for it. Show yourself," I demanded, still searching for them.

"Z, it's me, Bruce. I'm on the other side of the door." Bruce's voice echoed around me.

"Bruce, is that really you? Where are you?" I asked, unable to see him.

"Just walk through the door, and it will take you to me."

Hearing Bruce's voice eased my tension a bit. I decided to step through the door, but I stayed cautious, unsure if it was a demon trying to deceive me by pretending to be Bruce.

***

[Bruce POV]

"Whoa!" I heard Zatanna's voice and turned around to see her standing in front of the waterfall path, looking around with amazement and her mouth wide open.

I let her admire the Batcave, while I continued my training with the hologram.

"Bruce, what is this place?" Zatanna asked, approaching me. "And what's up with this blue guy? It doesn't seem magical," she said, pointing at the hologram that looked like a person.

"It's a hologram, a training dummy." I switched it off and walked to the edge of the training area.

"Welcome to the Batcave," I said, spreading my arms.

"Okay... but what is this place?" Zatanna repeated.

"It's a place I built two years ago to serve as my sanctuary when I become the savior of Gotham," I explained, extending my arm forward as one of the bats inside the cave landed on it.

"What do you mean, savior of Gotham?" Zatanna asked with a confused face.

"Let me show you; follow me," I said, gently patting the bat before it flew away.

"By the way, where is Teleute?" Zatanna asked.

"Working."

"But aren't you, like, super rich? Why is she working?"

"Because that's what she wants to do when I am working on something since it gets boring for her, but you can ask her yourself later. Now, come."

Then I told her my plans about becoming Batman while showing her the Batcave. She reacted the way Alfred did, freaking out and thinking that I was just trying to kill myself.

I convinced her just like I did 'convince' Alfred. If it were Selina who was here instead of Zatanna, I would probably just brush it off instead of trying to convince her since Selina is not that important to me.

I am not highly fond of Catwoman, but I'm keeping her around and making her loyal to me by being 'good' to her because she will be useful to me in the future.

***

"How is it even possible to build something like this in just 2 years?" She asked.

{SCANNING IS COMPLETED}

"Seriously, Bruce, how did you create this? It feels almost alive. At first, I thought you trapped a soul in the computer," she said, pointing at the Batcomputer.

"What you see here is not even a fraction of the things I will do, Zatanna. Even this cave is not finished yet; only the first layer is ready, where the Batcomputer, mini lab, training area, and platform for the Batmobile are located. There are still many places I need to build. The second layer only has a natural habitat for land and water animals, and I'm going to add a few things there as well. The third and fourth layers are still empty, and they are bigger than the first layer," I explained while granting her access to level 2, keeping the fifth and sixth layers a secret.

With access level 2, she could enter the Batcave by herself, use the Batcomputer without access to secret information, and explore up to the second layer. Beyond that, it was off-limits for her.

I didn't give her a higher access level because I didn't fully trust her yet.

"Hey Bruce, what's this?" Zatanna asked, holding up a round metal coin with my face on one side and the Bat symbol on the other.

"Bat-wave, a shockwave device that is powerful enough to destroy a 20-story building, but it's just a prototype. My real goal is to create something that could even shatter a planet, maybe a galaxy or universe." I replied, taking the Bat-wave from a startled Zatanna and flipping it. But before I could catch it...

"potS" Zatanna said, stopping the Bat-wave mid-air. "Bruce, are you insane! How could you do something like this? What if it activates by accident?"

"Insanity and genius are just two sides of the same coin," I remarked as I caught the bat-wave and tucked it into my pocket. I headed towards the natural bat-habitat to feed my pet Golden Poison Dart Frog, Inland Taipan, Blue-Ringed Octopus, and funnel-web spider. I'm using their venom on some of my gadgets, and I'm developing a natural toxin that could even take down a god.

"I want to feed them too, Bruce," Zatanna said, noticing the animals as she quickly forgot about the near-death experience she just had.

"Sure, but be careful not to touch them," I replied, handing her a shrimp to feed the octopus.

"Wait, are you one of those people who don't let others touch their pets?" Zatanna asked as she tossed the shrimp into the aquarium.

"Nah, you can touch it if you want, but these are some of the most venomous creatures on the planet," I said while tossing a rat into the snake cage.

"Bruce, you are truly evil, you know that, right?" Zatanna said, her hands just inches from the Golden Poison Dart Frog.

"Meh, just a little fun between friends," I replied, giving the spider a cockroach and finishing up the feeding. Then, I headed towards the training area.

"Just a little fun between friends is something like throwing a water ball on their faces or tying their shoelaces. Like this, pu delgnat era secaleohs ruoy," Zatanna said, her hands glowing as my shoelace came undone and tangled.

"Not warning them right before they touch a poisonous animal," Zatanna said as she walked past me.

Instead of fixing my shoelace, I simply took off my shoes and quietly untied the lace before putting them in my pocket.

"You're getting better at magic, Z," I said, tossing my shoes aside.

"Yeah, I've 'officially' started my magic training," Zatanna said with excitement in her voice, as she had a wide smile on her face.

"So you are learning real spells instead of cheap tricks, right? like those bubbles from two years ago?"

"Those weren't cheap tricks." Zatanna said as she lightly punched my shoulder.

But when she punched my shoulder, I 'accidentally' tripped, hit the railing, and threw shoelace in my pocket to the railing as it was tied to the railing itself without Zatanna noticing, then fell off the layer we were on into the deep pit of the Batcave.

"BRUCE!" Zatanna shouted as she jumped after me and wrapped her arms around me.

"taolF," she said, and we stopped falling, hovering in mid-air.

"pu ylF," she cast another spell, and we returned to the first layer.

Once we landed, Zatanna dropped to her knees, breathing heavily.

"Good job, Zatanna. It looks like your training is paying off," I said, but Zatanna turned to me with pure fear in her eyes, and her face was as pale as my beloved wife.

"HAVE YOU GONE MAD? WHAT IN THE SEVEN HELLS WERE YOU THINKING, JUMPING LIKE THAT? WHAT DO YOU THINK WOULD HAPPEN IF I WASN'T ABLE TO SAVE YOU? YOU COULD HAVE DIED, YOU IDIOT!" Zatanna yelled, getting up and hitting me while tears streamed down her face.

"Nothing would have happened to me because I knew you would save me, Z," I replied, hugging her as she continued to cry. Even if she hadn't caught me, there was a safety net below.

"Because I trust you," I added, and she hugged me back, then bit my shoulder hard enough to draw blood.

"You're such an idiot. I hate you," Zatanna said, as she began to calm down and held me tighter.

'Congratulations! Your relationship with 'Zatanna Zatara', future Sorceress Supreme, has increased dramatically.' I gave myself another notification.

'Eden, create another project named Catwoman and scan a cat's DNA.' I gave Eden a command through the neurolink in my bat symbol on my chest that connected to my brain with a safety protocol. If it's ever hacked, it will destroy itself without damaging my brain.

{As you wish, sir.}

I should invite Selina to the Batcave and create a training program with the main focus on agility and flexibility to train her.