chapter 49: Steadying the Knight

Ra's plan to finally make Bruce see the world as he saw, the reason of all the chaos, was ironically rather simple: aside from having his people covertly place bombs in certain locations of Gotham, he had also rescued and 'hired' Bane (there was a conventional reward, but he'd do it more out of payback for what happened during Arkham Origins), who would take advantage of Bruce exhaustion to take him out. And to make sure the only man in the world who could help the Bat wouldn't interfere, they had planted bombs all across the world.

The issue about it was that this was supposed to happen for over a week, not in less than an hour, and that Bruce had made new friends, one of which able to send him to Gotham in just a second.

"VEGA, Gotham, now."

The city, or at least the section closest the island Arkham was on, was still in chaos, fires burning and people screaming even after more than ten minutes, with both the police and the firefighters doing their best to control the situation. Thing was, Bruce had actually managed to stop most of the inmates from escaping thanks to my portals, with only Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze, Killer Croc and the recently brought Two-Face leaving as fast as they could. On the other hand, Joker seemed to not want to take advantage of the chaos to leave, preferring to pace in his cell and mutter about having his fun ruined.

Too bad for them I could see where they all were thanks to them being near cameras. In a minute, they were dropped inside several cells in the Fortress, cells from which they could not escape. As for Joker, his time would come one day, but not yet. I'd deal with all of them later, though. First, I had to help Bruce.

"VEGA, show me Bruce's location." VEGA promptly did as I asked.

And there he was, the man who broke the Bat, luchador panoply and everything, not as tall and hulking as me even hoped up on Venom, but still significantly bigger than the man he was currently fighting against right in front of Arkham's gates. It seemed that his body had finally recovered from the effects of the TN-1 after two years of being monitorized, intelligence decrease included judging by his elaborate rant about 'a benefactor wanting Batman to fall by his hand'. He hadn't broken Bruce's back yet, though, a good sign, but again, that could change. Nearby, Barbara and Dick were busy fighting thugs.

It would change now that I knew.

"So, how's Richboy doing?"

"Fighting against a man draped like a WWE fighter, you know who." Even John knew of Bane, if only the bare minimum.

"He's dead, isn't he?" John asked me, although it was less a question and more a statement of things to come.

I didn't even bother to reply to him, not even by pulling out a gun. Bane, like Ra's, was just a man, even with his skill, intellect and liberal use of Venom. Unlike Ra's, though, I wouldn't need to brutalize his corpse to make sure he stayed dead.

"You coming?" I asked him.

John shook his head. "Nah, I'm gonna sit this one out and see if I can do something about the pit. Besides, I don't think you need my help for some wrestling reject."

Again, I didn't waste time jumping into a portal to where the fight was taking place, specifically right behind Bane's back, just in time to see the mercenary forcing Bruce to the ground and raising his left arm in the air. Might have seemed foolish, but remember, he didn't even hear me come in, or even walk up to him and grab it.

I promptly ripped it off, but I didn't hear him scream. Hopped up in an intoxicating mixture of bloodlust, adrenaline and Venom, plus an entire life of corporal punishment making him used to pain, Bane merely grunted when the realization of having lost an arm kicked in.

"El idiota que se ha atrevido a pararme..." He began to say in spanish, talking about murdering whoever had had the gals to stop him, as he turned around to face the supposed 'idiot'.

Bane's glaring eyes widened in shock when he saw me towering over him with his right arm in my hand. That, and because he immediately realized he was about to die, and there was nothing he could do, not even close his eyes in resignation.

Like the man who had promised him vengeance, Bane didn't even have time to open his mouth before I grabbed his head, lifted him up, then smashed him against the ground, against which he exploded, showering everything within a certain radius with Bane's remains, including gore, bone and pieces of his injector, plus pieces of road. All this while Bruce, who after stopping the breakout and fighting Bane was in a bad shape for lack of a better term, could do nothing but watch as the man who nearly killed him twice before simply ceased to exist, all with a look I couldn't really find a name for. Yes, he still had the cowl on, didn't mean I couldn't see it. As for everyone else, the thugs that had been fighting Batgirl and Robin didn't waste time in running away after seeing Bane die, while both companions simply stared in horror at me.

"Holy shit man..." Dick muttered. Barbara didn't bother to say anything, she didn't need to. "You made him explode like nothing..."

The easy part was over. The hard part, the part where I had to tell Bruce about everything I had found out, was about to start.

I walked up at Bruce and a extended my hand, the clean one, towards him. Bruce stared at it, then at me, before grasping the hand and helping himself up.

"Took you long enough." He replied as he gazed back at Bane. "Did you have to?"

"It was either him beating you to death, or me bursting him apart. And I sure as hell wasn't going to let him break your back."

"I was handling him rather well."

"I saw you fighting an entire army of thugs by yourself, then facing a man stronger than you and just as skilled. 'Handling well' might not be the proper term to describe it."

"He's not wrong you know." Dick replied, even though he didn't approach. "Bane wasn't creaming you, but you still took a beating."

After making sure that no one would be escape, we brought Bruce to the cave to treat him. The damage he received wasn't really that serious, but I thought that dropping the bomb to him in a familiar environment would dampen the impact, so to speak.

Bruce grunted as I laid him on the stretcher, but said nothing else. "How are the others?"

"They stopped the breakouts in their cities, and the Atlantean army is already providing humanitarian help." I had VEGA open portals to help them mobilize to Europe and Africa. "And Grundy is helping Spartan and his companions deal with Daizo."

"I wiped out the League and killed Ra's, and then burned his corpse to make sure he stays that way. No amount of time in a Lazarus pit will bring him back."

His somewhat relieved look evaporated into something else. Not bewilderment, because he knew I was more than capable and willing of exterminating the cult, but that and horror because I had done so anyway, and very easily.

"What?" Barbara asked.

"I'm not going to repeat myself. They had Rachel all this time, and tortured her near to death." Then, I turned back to Bruce. "I also killed Talia. She attacked me from behind and even if she hadn't, she still posed a threat to John. Also, she bore you a son."

Bruce kept staring at me, jaw clenching before relaxing. He fooled no one. I didn't know what it was (grief for the one person he loved, anger because I commited a massacre on people who despite their crimes still had trained and housed him, the simple fact I had left his possible son motherless).

Dick looked between us, and so did Barbara, both clearly shocked by this. "Sorry, could you repeat the part where Bruce has a son again? I think I'm deaf, or misheard you, or both." He asked.

"I told you already, I'm not going to repeat myself."

"But you found the girl, right?" Barbara asked sheepishly. "I didn't hear you, sorry."

I nodded. "She's old enough to be your grandmother actually, but other than that yes, I found her, but Ra's and his people had been trying to unlock her magic for themselves." I turned back to Bruce. "No one is going to shed tears for them."

"I really have a...?" Bruce trailed off, still shocked by the news. "Is he really...?" He loved to trail off when shocked, did he?

I nodded. "VEGA can scan the blood of any living being as long as I have a look at them. I teleported his crib to the Fortress before laying waste to the rest of the League. Do you want to see him?"

Not many can say they saw the Dark Knight actually smile at the sight of a happy infant playing with Garfield. Too bad he also remembered why Damian was there at all. Still he kept quiet.

Then, I showed him everything I found out about the League, and then where my recently taken prisoners where, all but Victor and Harvey trying their damnest to force their way out, and failing. His reaction was to be expected.

"Put them back in Arkham." Bruce briskly asked as we watched Ivy scream and slam herself against the walls while screaming about making me pay. No plants to control, no realistic way for to escape; at least Waylon was strong enough to make the walls shake. Her display was just pathetic. Again, Victor and Harvey, kept to themselves, with the former being morose and the latter rambling. You know, I actually hoped he'd keep his mouth shut about them.

"No. It's safer for everyone if they stay here. Even if they escape, which they won't, where do you think they'll go, exactly? They'll be still stranded on Mars. This is a better prison."

"But what about Victor and Harvey?"

"I can fix their problems, for all of them... and no, it doesn't involve putting them against a wall and shooting them in the head." Indeed, I could help them. Not only did I have the means and resources, I also had true motivation to help them, or make sure they wouldn't pose a threat to the public anymore, at the very least.

So, after trying fruitlessly to convince me to give them to the GCPD or drop them in Arkham, he gave up and took Damian with him back to Gotham, but not before subtly making clear that it wasn't over.

The world was again at peace, one of the worst man-shaped monsters had been killed off forever alongside his organization, and several of Gotham's most infamous inmates were now in so far away from the innocent that, even in the impossible case they managed to escape, they'd pose no threat to anything.

All that was left was to see Rachel.

Batman's back is safe, the Fortress got new 'tenants', and peace has been restored... but Rachel has yet to recover from her ordeal with the League of Assassins, the Slayer has a plan with the previously mentioned tenants, and Tala and whoever employes her are still at large.

And yes, the name of the chapter is corny as fuck, I know, but the alternative might not be that better (Stopping the Knightfall).