Justice Lords Limitless Act 2: EndWar

Robin jumped out of the Bat-Trike and rushed over the old bridge to Arkham. Batman had given him a task, but he only had one goal in mind: he had to find Batgirl, and quickly. Bane had just attacked her with her back turned, a coward's move. He could only hope the villain hadn't indulged in his Venom serum before engaging her.

A few inmates started to amble towards him. He recognized the boisterous Maxie Zeus as one but the other wielding a prison shiv eluded his memory.

"Foolish mortal! You dare stand in my way? Do you not know who I am?" Maxie Zeus, running in an undone straightjacket, speedily closed the distance to Robin as the scarred man behind him took a more cautious and eerie approach. "I am a god! With but the flick of my wrist, I could throw a lightning bolt—"

Robin gritted his teeth as the man monologued. I don't have time for this! He vaulted over the first lunatic's head and smashed his foot into the second. Landing on the ground, he exploded backward with both an arm out, clothes-lining Zeus and cutting him off from spouting any more nonsense. "Just shut up!" He wheeled around and faced the second man.

The scarred man's face was dirty and blood leaked from his now-crooked nose. Despite the injury, he was smiling. He raised his weapon to his lips and licked the blade. "Here, boy," he said, pointing the tip of the shiv to a spot on his shoulder. "That is where your mark shall be."

It took a moment, but soon Robin recognized that the scars on the man's body weren't random: they were tally marks. A new feeling of disturbed dread washed over him and he took a tentative step back only to be roughly pushed aside by a heavy hand.

"That was a mistake, mortal." Maxie Zeus had found his feet and his voice. He lunged for the young hero with a feral growl unbecoming of royalty.

Robin dashed to the side to avoid Maxie Zeus' attack and withdrew a baton from his belt. In the blink of an eye, the baton had expanded to become a staff. He hoped it would be enough to keep the two villains at bay. He watched as Maxie Zeus approached head-on while the scarred man attempted to circle him from behind. He glared behind his mask. "Let's make this quick. I have work to do."

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Batgirl slid between Bane's legs and lashed out a second time with the two bat-a-rangs in her enclosed fists, slicing into the villain's calves in an attempt to hamper his mobility.

The powerful self-made meta growled and turned to face the small Bat. "Burra!"

"Flattery will get you nowhere, Bane," Batgirl taunted back. Behind her helmet, her eyes were red. But she wasn't crying, she was angry; angry she had gotten tunnel vision. Again. Always mind your surroundings… You'd think I'd have learned that by now. Her eyes danced from Bane's angry face to the brick-red tube connecting his head to the dosage device on his wrist. She knew from Batman's old war stories that severing the tube was the key to victory, but it was easier said than done. The tube still stood, almost tauntingly, in the moonlight. Focus. Stop hitting and start planning. "Last chance to surrender, or are you really about to try your luck one more time, imbecile perro?" She narrowed her eyes behind her visor. She hadn't practiced her Spanish since Sophomore year; she hoped she wasn't rusty.

Bane roared in fury and rushed forward, fists outstretched to smother the smaller fighter. Batgirl threw down a smoke bomb and then nimbly dodged to the side as the 'roided villain charged into the empty smoke. Before he had time to comprehend where she had vanished to, a winged shadow fell over him. He turned and saw Batgirl descending from the night sky with her fist cocked back.

"Check..." Batgirl slammed her fist as hard as she could into Bane's face, forcing him to the ground. His skull bounced off the soft dirt. "And..." Batgirl vaulted over him as he swiped at her to squash her like the bug he thought she was.

After grasping only thin air, Bane rocked forward to right himself but there was a slight tug at the base of his skull followed by a pop. Suddenly he felt light-headed and his stomach churned. Like an inebriated idiot, he stumbled a few steps forward and then looked over his shoulder. Batgirl stood a few feet from him with his tube clamped under her armored boot. "No..."

"...Mate." She was breathing heavily but the adrenaline pumping through her veins felt good. "Seems you're out of shape, bucko," she said as she stilled her breathing. "The cozy life of the last few years did you no favors. Something tells me you thought this would have been easier."

Bane could nearly hear the sneer on her face. "You... Bruja!" He stumbled for her. Surely he had enough energy to at least squash her before the terrible withdrawal effects kicked in. He saw her throw a bat-a-rang at him and easily leaned to avoid it. Once it sailed by his head, Bane took a few more steps but then paused. Something caught his ear: a distinct whizzing noise behind him. And it was getting closer. Before he could look, the returning bat-a-rang struck his cranium from behind. Bane, already on unsteady legs, lost his balance and before he knew it, he had toppled forward before his foe.

Batgirl silently and glared at her fallen foe as she collected the bat-a-rang and bound Bane's limbs. Once she was satisfied with her work, she moved back to where the Riddler sat, still also bound. "Watch my six, huh?" She violently pulled him face to face with her and raised her fist. "I got six things for ya—"

"Batgirl!" Robin slid down the side of the mountain of rubble and rushed to the threatening heroine. Even in the dark and at that distance, it was clear he wore a relieved smile. "You're just full of surprises, aren't you?" He looked from Bane's bound form to her, still holding Nygma.

Batgirl crassly dropped her captive and met Robin halfway. "I haven't located Mr. Death yet." She quickly shifted the subject. As much as she wanted to gloat on her victory, now wasn't the time. Especially since the fight had been borne of her lack of situational awareness.

Robin nodded. "Though, I have a horrible feeling that he's out of the facility by now."

"Reason being?"

Robin stalked further away from the audience of the subdued Bane and Riddler. "Ra's al Ghul could very well be behind this, remember?"

Batgirl nodded.

"Ra's doesn't leave anything to chance, everything he does is planned and controlled." Robin crouched down and examined the rubble before him. "This attack is no different. This wasn't caused by an explosive device. Something blew through this wall." He stood and pointed out to sea. "Something from somewhere out there. Batman was right: there must be a boat nearby."

Batgirl crossed her arms. "You can tell all that from the rocks?" she asked skeptically. "This place is a mess! How can you—"

Robin interrupted her. "The rocks are strewn about in a random order, but primarily away from the building. It's like something big smashed through here at a high speed. Simple vector math to determine the trajectory based on the damage here," he pointed to a few piles of debris that had scorch marks, "and we find our main point of impact. From that we can determine—"

Batgirl mimicked a yawn and cut him off. "Blah, blah, blah, vectors, blah, blah blah, analysis. I get it, but that's gotten us no closer to Jena-Paul."

Robin frowned beneath his mask. "You really should pay attention to this stuff."

"Save it for study hall, Boy Wonder. We're running out of time. I don't care what blew a hole in the side of Arkham, I care about where those inside went!"

Robin heaved an impatient sigh and his eyes scanned the rocky shore of the peninsula. A moment later, he inhaled sharply and pointed over Batgirl's shoulder. "Prepare to call me amazing, then, because they're right down there!"

Batgirl followed Robin's finger and saw two shadowy figures rushing to load a third limp figure onto a speedboat that already had a few passengers onboard. Nearby the boat floated a smaller vessel, some sort of water scooter. Further on the waters was the Batboat and it was closing in fast, and trailing the Batboat was something smaller.

"What are we waiting for?" She jumped from her vantage point without a second more to lose. It took her a moment to realize Robin was not trailing behind her. "Hey!" she called into the radio as she landed on the shore. "What gives?"

"Batman gave me a task."

Batgirl put up her fists as a bald, beefy man in a simple tunic charged at her with conviction. "You found out how Arkham was blown open, what more is there to know?"

"A lot. We know the wall was blown open, but how could this have happened in the first place?" Robin stalked off into the smoldering debris of Arkham Asylum. "It doesn't make any sense to me. When the Justice Lords took over, there'd been a big to-do about beefing up the security of this place. It was one of the few things the city agreed with Lord Batman on," he continued. "A whole suite of new sensors were installed and yet somehow no alarms went off for something at sea?" The lenses in his cowl shifted function and he looked around the mess for any sort of hint to what happened. "That's suspicious, wouldn't you... Are you listening?"

"What? Totally! You have – oof – my undivided – WOAH – attention." However, Batgirl's broken-up response indicated otherwise.

Before Robin could retort, Batman's voice came through a loudspeaker mounted on the Batboat and commanded attention. "Jean-Paul Valley! Stay where you are!" A bright spotlight from the boat illuminated the simple short pier.

From where he stood on the rocky shore bathed in light, Azra'il looked at the advancing Dark Knight and sneered. "There is no Jean-Paul Valley!" he bellowed back. "Only Azra'il, Angel of Destruction!"

Batman ejected from his vehicle and descended upon the boat that Azra'il and company were boarding. He landed on the bow and glared at the two criminals at the helm. Scarecrow recoiled but Azra'il just glared right back. Before further action could be taken, a grunt from the shoreline caught his attention. Batgirl was up against Ra's al Ghul's strongman, Ubu, and she was losing. Ubu was deceptively mobile for a man of his size and despite being only human, unlike Bane, he hadn't gone slack. He was easily out-maneuvering the heroine and as the two continued to tangle, she was getting more and more worn down.

"What will you do, Batman?" cackled Scarecrow nervously. "You can't save the girl and stop us from leaving!"

"Watch me." The Dark Knight tossed a smoke pellet into the boat and then jumped for the shore to engage Ubu just before he could deliver a crushing blow. Batman landed behind him and kicked the back of his knee, causing the formidable opponent to buckle forward into the sand.

"Robin,"

"Busy."

How dare… Batman took in a breath as Ubu stood. "Batgirl, go for Scarecrow and stop that boat from leaving! I'll take Ubu."

Batgirl nodded with a pained groan as she recovered, then rushed into the smoke obscuring Azra'il and Scarecrow from view.

"I may be no Bane, Batman," Ubu addressed the Dark Knight as he rose from the sand. "But I, too, can break you!" He went in for a tackle.

Batman wasted no time in jumping over the dive. In mid-air, Batman twisted and threw a bola for Ubu's feet. The attack wire wrapped around Ubu's body and he fell to the beach restrained and surprised. Batman landed soundly and quickly ran to properly bind Ubu before he could free himself of the wire. No such luck. Just as Batman was within arm's reach, Ubu went up with an explosive force, knocking the detective into the sand and snapping the wire that had contained him.

"It's going to take more than a simple string to keep Ubu down!"

Apparently. Batman charged forward to meet Ubu again in combat.

Batgirl took a chance to look over at Batman. It was difficult to make out her boss even though the smoke was starting to subside, but he seemed to be holding his own. She turned back to her own fight in time to dodge the downward arc of Scarecrow's rod.

"Are you just going to stand there Jean-Paul, or are you planning on helping?" Scarecrow, annoyed, called out to Azra'il for aid as he swung his staff again for Batgirl's head.

"It makes no difference. They can't stop us – He won't allow them!" Azra'il finished repositioning a third body in the boat. It gave off a content giggle as it settled in its seat. "Get her off the boat as fast as you can," he demanded. "I'll get it started."

Scarecrow made a face but did as he was told, tossing two of his fear gas grenades at Batgirl.

Great, Batgirl thought to herself. And just as the Batman's smoke was clearing up. She was less than amused. As the thick and toxic smoke filled the air, she engaged the ventilation system built into her helmet and then grabbed her bat-claw, hoping to fire at Scarecrow to reel him into his own sick smoke. She was too slow. By the time she had aimed, Scarecrow had moved to Azra'il's side at the helm. Batgirl staggered a bit to keep her balance as the boat lurched from the shore.

"Don't worry, I got you! Just hold your breath!"

Batgirl regained her balance just as a short but lanky figure leaped into the boat and grabbed her by the waist.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" she asked as his arm caught her hip.

"Saving your behind," came the muted, matter-of-fact reply.

The stranger leaped from the boat with Batgirl in tow. She attempted to free herself from his grasp to remain on the accelerating boat, but it was too late. The two landed in a heap on the rocky shore. Batgirl was the first up. She watched the boat of criminals pick up speed in the dark waters and then quickly disappear beyond the harbor. Befuddled, she looked at the newcomer with restrained frustration.

A young man in red and black smiled cockily beneath his domino mask as he got to his feet. "You're welcome."

"What the hell was that about?" she fumed.

The red-breasted teen stood. "So you did return to the hero gig. Why'd you try to talk me out of it? Wanted all the adventure to yourself?" If he'd heard Batgirl's question, he'd ignored it. "Nice suit, by the way. Is that wig part of the helmet or a separate piece? You look a bit shorter, though. And smaller." He paused for a moment with a hand on his chin as he inspected her form. "Did you lose weight?"

The nerve... Batgirl was about ready to strike him when Batman stalked up beside her.

"Ubu got away on a PWC. Not sure where it came from." He glared at the pint-sized 'rescuer'. "But I know it isn't mine," Batman venomously finished, his chilling voice pointing directly at the newcomer. "I told you to stay away."

"Oops." The kid shrugged with little care for, or fear of, Batman's rebuke. "But you totally needed my help. I just saved her butt from Scarecrow's gas."

"There's a ventilation system in my helmet!" Batgirl spoke slowly and deliberately, finding the strength deep within her to not strangle the interloper. "The gas was getting filtered out!"

The kid shrugged again. "Better safe than sorry. That's my motto. Besides, this isn't my first rodeo. See the 'R'?" He pinched the black and yellow symbol on his tunic. "I'm Robin. Seeing as you didn't know that, you must be new."

Batgirl felt her eye twitch behind her visor and found herself clenching and unclenching her fists. "You must be new?" she repeated with indignation. "You must be mentally damaged! And if you aren't," she took a menacing step forward, "you're about to be."

"Batgirl, stand down," the Dark Knight demanded. Then he turned to the young Robin. "I don't need your help with this mission. You were fired. Now, take off that mask."

"Oh, please!" Tim replied. "Batman needs a Robin! What good is the dynamic duo if it is Batman and Batgirl? That doesn't exactly roll off the tongue well."

Batgirl pouted slightly and grumbled under her breath, "It was 'Batman and Batgirl' for a while—"

"Batman." Another voice came over the radio and interrupted the spat. "I've got something here."

"Bring it."

"I'd rather not move it."

Tim looked from Bat to Bat but couldn't make out who they were suddenly talking to. "Wait... you guys have radios in your cowls? So cool!" He fidgeted with his mask, but his face fell upon finding no earpiece attached. "Aww, lame."

Batgirl ignored the former sidekick and responded to Robin with an exaggerated sigh. "Just bring it. We have a situation here."

"Fine." There was a grunt and then a pop on Robin's line. "I'm on my way." Moments later, Robin was descending the debris pile to the shore.

"Another newbie?" Tim watched as Robin landed before them soundlessly.

"What's the issue?" Robin asked as he rose.

"That uniform's pretty cool!" Tim was duly impressed. "Stealthier than bright red, right? Is that you, Nightwing?"

"What?"

"No, he's not in the States right now..." Tim thought again and looked at the 'R' symbol on Robin's chest. "Another R, huh? What are you, like, 'Red Robin' or something?"

There was a moment of silence.

"I'm Robin, er, Robin." Robin stuck out his hand to shake Tim's.

Tim looked at him in shock, shook Robin's hand, then turned to Batman with indignation. "You replaced me?"

"Can we do this later, Robin?" Robin asked. "GCPD got across the bridge finally. They started swarming the main facility toward the end of my investigation. No doubt they will be combing the shore soon."

Batgirl nodded in agreement. "I'd rather we keep up the illusion of being figments of the night..."

Batman stared Tim down. "Cave. Now."

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Diana stepped out of the guest shower and removed the towel wrapped around her body as she fished clothes out of her chest of drawers. As she got dressed, she thought about the young man who'd effortlessly scaled Wayne Manor's front gate. It was an impressive feat and no doubt the kid had been a delinquent in the past if he was putting those skills to use trespassing private property. "At least it seems Bruce is good with kids."

She didn't know all that much about Wayne aside from rumors and press releases, but she did know that he had an adoptive son: a boy who'd been tragically orphaned in some sort of circus accident. For a moment she'd thought the boy who'd scaled the fence had been Bruce's son, after all the boy had displayed rather impressive acrobatic finesse at the fence. But even before he'd introduced himself as Tim, she'd remembered that Bruce's son – Richard, if she remembered correctly – was an adult himself. No, this was another young man that seemed to hold Bruce in high regard.

She thought about Richard as she pulled on some long socks to stave off the cool air. From the scant facts she could remember, Bruce had adopted Richard as a nine year-old and raised him. Nine years old… The way Richard's situation mirrored Bruce's own tragic childhood was not lost on her. He tried to be to Richard what Alfred was to him. She smiled at the thought. I suppose he does have a heart.

She ran her fingers through her hair and exited the guest room. As she did, a painting of some foreign-looking Wayne ancestor caught her eye and a thought crossed her mind. Bruce had raised a child. For nearly ten years, Bruce had effectively been Richard's father. Yet she hadn't seen even one picture of the boy, and Bruce never never mentioned him. Not once. What had happened?

"Bruce?" she called out into the emptiness. There was no response. She made her way further into the upstairs hallways and tried again. "Bruce? Are you still here?"

She turned a corner and started down a flight of stairs. Halfway down, she was able to glimpse the kitchen. It was barren. Both Tim and Bruce were gone like the wind. I swear, he is the most mysterious socialite I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. As she walked through the various rooms, the picture of his parents caught her eye again. To witness your parents gunned down before your eyes as a mere child. She wondered how many times he had wished that he had died that night with his parents. I wonder what that does to a boy.

As she stared at the picture, she thought of her own mother, Queen Hippolyta, and how devastated she would be if her mother were to fall. It had been awhile since she'd spoken to her mother… and they hadn't exactly been on the nicest of terms last they interacted. In that thought, she recognized something: a possible answer to her question. What if what happened between Bruce and his son is exactly what was happening between her and her mother? Estrangement.

She started to feel a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. One of them would have to reach out to bridge the gap and she knew her mother would be too proud to do so. She also knew the burden of apology wasn't on her mother's side… Walked back to her room and pulled a piece of paper out from a desk drawer. On It were a series of thoughts and blurbs that she'd scrawled in the hope of one day shaping into a letter for her mother.

A tear tugged at the corner of her eye. "Maybe it's about time I got to writing this."

She walked, slowly and pensively, back to the parlor. She turned one of the lush chairs sitting before the cold fireplace to face the portrait so she would be able to see it while sitting. If ever she found herself at a loss for words, one look at the portrait would hopefully give her inspiration as to what to write next.

Once in the chair, she began to draft the long-overdue letter to her mother.

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The Batboat coasted into the private dock just behind the black jetski. Meanwhile, in the garage, Robin and Batgirl were parking their respective vehicles.

"Quite the night, huh?" Batgirl grinned as she reclined against a cave wall and waited for Robin to exit his vehicle.

"You tell me," Robin replied slightly sour as he climbed out of the Bat-Trike. "I'm not the one that went up against Bane—"

"And won!" Batgirl interrupted quickly.

Behind his lenses, Robin rolled his eyes. "Don't lie to yourself. You know what I mean, Batgirl. You're lucky he didn't shatter your spine on that first punch." Robin passed by her with a grimace on his face and walked away from the garage.

Batgirl pushed off the wall awkwardly and chased after him. She gulped down a sour feeling as they made their way to the main chamber. "Yeah, yeah. I know I was stupid for dropping my guard, but hey! I came out on top and that's what matters!"

"This time," Robin added. He stopped walking and looked back at her. "Just be more careful. Alright?"

Batgirl blushed slightly and avoided his gaze. "Don't tell me you're starting to get a feel for me?" she asked in a surprisingly shy and vulnerable tone.

Robin let out a chuckle. "Not at all, Batgirl. I just don't want to be the one to tell Mawk his girlfriend died fighting a supervillain." He walked off, a smirk playing on his dark lips.

"Oh, morbid much?" Batgirl called after Robin with a smile.

"You're welcome."

The two stepped off of the joining walkway and into the main chamber. At the Batcomputer, Batman was finishing a conversation with Warden Gordon while near the cases of retired uniforms, Tim was slipping out of his Robin outfit and back into his street clothes with a look of dejection.

"This bites." Though it was a whisper, the curious acoustic qualities of the cave carried his frustrations throughout the air.

Batman cut the transmission with Gordon and said, "If you had followed my orders before, we would not be in this mess."

"What mess?" Tim exclaimed. "I saved her from the Scarecrow and his fear gas!"

"Saved who?" Batgirl interjected. "My helmet could filter out the gas, remember? All you did was keep me from taking down the Scarecrow! That means everyone who got away is on you." She pointed an accusatory finger at Tim.

Tim made a slight sound of surprise and backed away. "Look, woman, Scarecrow's a nasty customer! And it wasn't just him! There were, like, three other people on that boat and it was pulling away! You don't even know where it was going! I'd say your capture would have been more likely than theirs once that boat hit open waters."

Robin crossed his arms and leaned against the Batcomputer's screen as Batman got to work. He watched Batgirl angrily approach Tim Drake as if she was a cat that had cornered a mouse. "This could get ugly," Robin noted.

"Hmm." Batman seemed almost wholly uninterested. Instead, he was busy reviewing the list of patients and inmates yet to be accounted for.

"I had the Scarecrow on the ropes and Azra'il was definitely not paying me much mind!" Batgirl's fingers were splayed out, tensed. "I was so close and you—" She jabbed a clawed finger at him again. "You let them get away!"

Tim, wide-eyed with concern at this Batgirl's ferocity, took another step back and propped himself up against the case that held his uniform. "Look, I'm sorry, alright? I thought you were in danger and had a split second to make a decision. Like I said, better safe than sorry."

"Danger? Why the hell would I be in danger? I had just taken down Bane! What threat could Scarecrow possibly pose with his stupid gas?"

Tim's face darkened as memories from his tenure in the red-and-black dredged up to the surface. A night of horror that saw him pitted against a Batman with no fear. He shivered as he remembered the internal struggle of whether or not he should subdue Batman and face Scarecrow on his own... Of whether or not he could subdue Batman and face Scarecrow on his own. He glared at this new Batgirl. "You have no idea."

"That's enough." Batman stepped between Batgirl and the former Robin. "Tim, you went out when I explicitly told you to stay put."

Tim looked up at his former mentor with a look of disbelief. "I was trying to help! Just like before!"

Batman raised his voice. "You disobeyed a direct order!"

Tim felt his heart skip a beat and a pang of sadness tugged at his heart. The dream of rejoining the war on crime in red and black was quickly slipping away and a feeling of fury rose in its place. "I thought I didn't work for you anymore?" Tim replied, coolly.

Batman tightened his lips and looked down his nose at Tim but before he could say anymore, a soft chime echoed through the BatCave. The chime faded and Batman looked back at the staircase that led to the Manor above. "Proximity alert? Tim, I hope you closed the grandfather clock behind you when you came down here."

The color drained from Tim's face. "Oh, crap... You don't think she'd...?"

"What's that? Something else you've messed up?"

"Oh, shut up, Bat-Brat!" Tim snapped at Batgirl's chiding.

Batman removed his cowl and started for the Armory as Batgirl and Tim's argument started back up, though at a lower volume. Even though the grimacing mask of Batman had been removed, the scowl remained on Bruce's face as he entered a stall to change clothes. As he did, Robin, who'd been silently watching the tense interaction, approached the Armory and spoke. "Hey, Boss? If Tim knows you're Batman, should he know our identities as well?"

"I don't see why he should," Bruce replied as he emerged from the Armory in haste dressed in sweatpants and a casual workout tank top. He glowered at Tim. If the kid had forgotten the grandfather clock and Diana was still in the manor... He hurried for the stairs. The last thing he wanted was another unexpected visitor in his cave. "He will be leaving soon."

Robin watched his mentor rapidly ascend the stairs to the Manor above.

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Diana turned from the portrait and placed the paper she had been writing on down on the end table. Something was not right with the room. It had bugged her for the longest time. Something was off about the normally simple and tidy room and she could now finally put her finger on what the issue was: the clock. The great grandfather clock was slightly shifted to the right. Diana stood and approached the heirloom to correct its position but was surprised when she saw what appeared to be a slight cavity behind it.

"Hera..." The young woman peeked behind the clock and saw the space wasn't just a slight cavity: it was a cavern. A deep cavern. Is this where you disappear to, Mr. Wayne? She teased the man in her mind. With some effort, she managed to force the clock away from the opening just enough to squeeze by it. Once on the other side of the clock, she recognized the artificial construction before her.

"Stairs?" Indeed a bland, stone staircase descended before her, fading into the darkness. There was a single lightbulb hanging over the landing, but nothing else that she could make out. "What in Tartarus?" She thought of running, she considered slipping back the way she came to avoid the ire of snooping around her host's home. After all, she was only here out of his good graces. But curiosity got the better of her and she started her descent down the mysterious staircase.

After a few tentative moments of descending into the black, she looked behind her and realized just how far away the solitary light was. She felt scared, but not scared enough to turn around and head back up. She had already gone this far and she was dying to know what waited at the bottom. So she continued.

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Someone was coming down the stairs. He could hear it. This was his cave, after all, how could he not know when someone was in it?

Light feet. Unsure steps. Slight faltering. He was sure who it was and picked up the pace. If he could get to the intruder before she could get around the first bend, he would still be able to salvage the situation.

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As Bruce ascended to intercept Diana, Robin took out a small handheld device and carefully studied it as he approached the Batcomputer as Batgirl, who'd finally made a truce with Tim Drake, took some time to clean and run maintenance on her bike. As the two worked independently and silently, Tim Drake couldn't help but feel out of place.

With Batman out of the 'Cave, he was the most seasoned fighter there and yet neither the new Robin nor the new Batgirl seemed all that impressed or star-struck. And judging from how miffed the Batgirl seemed about his actions, perhaps he had gotten off on the wrong foot. Now wasn't the time for maverick behavior, now was the time to prove he could be an asset. If he could get them on his side, perhaps they'd vouch for him with the Bat.

Tim looked at Robin and cleared his throat. "So, let's review. What happened tonight?"

Robin didn't even turn around. "We lost," he replied matter-of-factly. He placed his clue on the desktop of the Batcomputer and inspected its side.

"All thanks to Tim the Boy Blunder over there." Batgirl stood from the Bat-Cycle and stored the tools she'd been using in a toolbox tower mounted to the cave wall.

"An honest mistake made in a split second," Tim replied, dismissively doubling down on his defense as he watched Batgirl approach where Robin sat at the Batcomputer. "What matters more is where do we go from here?"

"We?" Batgirl replied a bit scornfully. "What's this about 'we'? You're not staying. You heard the boss. You were fired."

Tim chuckled as he stepped up to the Batcomputer and crossed his arms, cutting her off from further approach. "Don't let my age fool you. I heard what Bruce said, but I'm the second Robin, okay? I was here way before either of you. Why wouldn't I stay?"

"Things change," Batgirl answered, unknowingly echoing words Tim had heard from Barbara.

"And things are about to get a lot harder." Robin punched in a few codes and activated Batman's backdoor routines to access the Arkham database. The statuses of most inmates liberated by the prison break were updated. A short list of criminally insane patients previously held in Arkham scrolled on the screen. Most were accounted for in one way or another, but a few were still flagged as missing. Robin let out a low groan of frustration as he read a few familiar names. "Obviously Mr. Death and Scarecrow are not in Arkham anymore."

"I heard Croc got away, too," Batgirl added.

"Mhmm." Robin nodded his head. "Considering Ubu was there, I'd say for sure Ra's al Ghul was involved with this." He pointed to the item resting just to his right. "This inconspicuous thing is capable of putting out an electromagnetic pulse capable of wiping out a two-story building's electrical system."

"You think that Ra's al Ghul gave that to this Mr. Death guy?" Tim pitched in.

"Shut it," Batgirl snorted. Then she turned to the device and looked at it inquisitively. "It was given to Mr. Death by Ra's, wasn't it?"

"Doubtful." Robin shot down the assumption. "More than likely a guard within the asylum planted the device. Probably one of the same guards who obscured Ra's al Ghul's visits to Arkham. It was caught in the blast that took out the east wall." Robin hit a few keys and pulled up a blueprint of Arkham Island. "This right here is where it was planted, at the base of a guard tower. The guard tower. The only tower equipped with radar and a clear view of the water."

On the screen, a diagram was drawn that showed the range of the sonar versus the range and power of the weapon hypothetically used to blow a hole in Arkham. "As powerful as that blast was, based on the reconstructed trajectory, it would have been within range of the sonar."

Tim's face lit up. "So that means that the ship couldn't set up a shot to fire unless someone on the inside disabled the tower! Otherwise, it would have been spotted and the coast guard would have been scrambled to intercept it."

"Exactly."

"Fine, but that still leaves a bigger mystery." Batgirl shook her head. "That's a whole lot of trouble to go through just to spring Scarecrow, for a reason that we still don't understand, might I add. But to then also take a D-list criminal like Mr. Death? In fact, it almost seems like Jean-Paul was the goal since he's the one who Ra's visited, not Scarecrow."

"It's clear that Ra's has his fingers in the staff at Arkham since visiting Azra'il raised no alarms. But I doubt it would have been as easy to slip by if he were visiting Professor Crane. But more than that, Ra's wants people who will follow his plans to the letter with no deviation and no ambition. Who better than a man whose religious devotion set him off? When Batman ordered Jean-Paul to surrender, he didn't call himself Mr. Death. He called himself Azra'il."

"The Angel of Death." Batgirl reverently nodded her head. "I heard. You think Ra's is behind the name change?"

"Definitely. Jean-Paul's mind must have been pretty impressionable after being thrown in Arkham."

"More bad news," Tim piped up as he scrolled an RSS feed on his phone. "Been following the chatter while you two got all technical." He looked up and bit his lip before continuing, partly enjoying the suspense he was building. "The Joker's been added to the list of missing patients. One guard reports that she last saw him with Jean-Paul, er, Azra'il heading to the shore."

Batgirl couldn't help but laugh. "The Joker? You mean Jack Napier, right? He's no more violent than a retiree at a nursing home. The wall to your prison is blown wide open and you go through the trouble to drag the Joker with you? He's basically dead weight!"

"We're dealing with Ra's, remember?" Robin replied, a bit more serious than Batgirl would have expected.

"So what?" Batgirl countered. "Again: lobotomized zombie. The only real threat with Ra's right now is Scarecrow and maybe that lame of a villain, Azra'il. What could Ra's possibly gain from also taking Joker?"

"I dunno," Robin replied, half-sarcastic. He pulled up the files of the chemical Batgirl had been analyzing a few weeks earlier. "You tell me." He pointed to the second chemical structure.

"Lazarus Pits..." Batgirl's face fell.

There was a moment of silence.

"You think Ra's can actually bring back the Joker? I thought that it only worked on dead people and people that at least have... their brains intact."

"You're the chemist, you tell me," Robin replied. "I don't know the full extent of what that juice is capable of. I only know that it has kept Ra's alive since he discovered it. The boss' reports say that it can heal wounds. Though whether it can heal brain damage such as a lobotomy or not... That's anyone's guess."

Batgirl looked at the screen and sighed. "He was right."

"Who?" Tim asked.

"Batman. He told me that this city harbors evil. That somehow or another, they always come back."

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

A speedboat pulled alongside a nondescript ship anchored amid the waves. At the helm, a blond man in prison clothes and a disturbingly calm look in his eye moved away from the wheel. "We're here." He walked to the rear of the boat and pointed a jagged knife at a second man, bound and scarred.

A third man, with the appearance of an undead Puritan preacher wearing a noose like a necktie, hoisted a fourth man, gently laughing, over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. "It's about time." The preacher stepped off of the boat onto the landing, and waited for the former Mr. Death to gather his prisoner.

"There's no need to rush. They cannot stop the inevitable." Azra'il pushed past the preacher and led a fourth figure, struggling and swearing, off of the boat at knifepoint. The unsightly quartet made their way onto the larger vessel.

Ahead of them, a port door swung open with a creak, and on the opposite side stood Ra's al Ghul, flanked on either side by Ubu and Talia. "Welcome, gentlemen. Let's get started." He turned to lead the quartet deeper into the boat, followed closely by his loyal bodyguard and his daughter. "This world won't end itself."