บท 63: First addition
(Bruce POV)
"I am perfectly capable of handling things on my own. After all, I have you, ALFRED and BOB.", I tell Sebas after he told me about going out sometimes.
"I have Decoy Bruce going out enough, why should I go? That is the reason I even created Decoy Bruce in the first place."
"And here I was under the impression that you wanted to throw off those who think that Bruce Wayne is the Batman, sir.", Sebas says with quite a bit of sass.
"Yes, that too. I still have to show myself together with Decoy Bruce, so that Ivy stops bothering me. I want to help her but she is going in a yandere direction that I find particularly off-putting. Hmm ... I could-"
"No, sir. Absolutely not!", Sebas interrupts me.
"What?"
"You will not invent a serum, gas or any kind of substance to throw that young woman off of your trail. You will handle this like a grown-up and not a prepubescent child, sir."
*Sigh*
"Yare yare ..."
"And if you could stop with the Japanese catchphrases. I believe there are more than enough in the English language."
"But Sebas-"
"No, sir. It has been long overdue that I put my foot down in this regard. You will go out and that is final.", he says and then walks into the kitchen.
"Sure 'Bruce Wayne' will go out tonight bu-"
"And I mean the real Bruce, not the decoy, Master Bruce!", Sebas says from the kitchen. How could he hear that? That must be the infamous Butler tingle ... frightening.
.
I walk into the Batgarage and get a message from ALFRED.
[Sir, there is something you might want to know.]
"Tell me."
[|'Nuisance' List of Bounty Hunters: - Lady Shiva has entered Gotham. Possible reasons unknown. She has been going around the City looking for something or someone. You are the most likely person she is looking for. After the change in her mentality, it seems likely.]
"Hm, show me the feed of the entrances to Gotham on the screens."
[... Which ones sir?]
"All of them, of course."
[Affirmative. The size will be quite small though, considering there are 172 feeds.]
"That's all right. Show me the feed starting from one week ago... No, two weeks."
[As you wish. Playing now.]
172 feeds of 'entrances' to Gotham were played at the same time. What was I looking for? Anything. I am not biased and take anything. This is Gotham, so it is likely that Shiva is looking for someone or something and that someone or something had to have entered Gotham at some point no? Lady Shiva is a very skilled assassin. She must have followed a trail to get here and if she comes here, it has to be important.
I look at all the feeds simultaneously, at 10x the normal speed. This is not hard for me anymore. Suddenly something comes to my attention and things start to fall into place. Lady Shiva, her obsession and her character ...
"ALFRED, show me feed #62 on the big screen. Also, slow it down to normal speed.", I say and watch the feed again, this time at normal speed.
"Son of a ... it seems she has gotten quite arrogant in the last year. Time for a beating.", I say. I walk to the elevator and go to the first floor where the Batmobile awaits me. The nanomachines exit my pores and cover me as I walk towards the Batmobile.
I jump into the Batmobile and BOB starts the motor. A black portal opens in front of me and I drive through.
*VVROOOOOMM*
"BOB camouflage.", I say and the car turns invisible. I might have to change the commands. Camouflage is not equal to invisible ... eh, whatever. The Batmobile shoots through the streets of Gotham and I arrive a few blocks away from the position I want to go. The top opens up and I am shot into the sky. My wings harden and I glide across the sky.
When I land on a rooftop, there is no sound. None of my movements make sounds anymore. I make my way across the rooftops, moving from shadow to shadow and watching for ambushes. But my visor tells me that there are none.
Time for some humbling ...
.
.
(Lady Shiva POV)
I stand in the shadows and watch her. She has grown up a lot since the last time I saw her. Now she only has to be found by him. But knowing him, he already knows about her and-
My instincts are screaming and my neck hair is standing up. I feel like I am in the presence of death. My eyes dart around and I get into a fighting position. My hands take my weapons and I turn around to check all of my blind sides. My heartbeat quickens and my blood pressure shoots through the roof ... he's here.
I turn around again and-
!!!!
He suddenly stands in front of my face. Right there ... a few centimetres away and I didn't even notice him coming.
[Picture]
He looks bigger slightly. The suit is mostly the same. It still gives me the feeling of looking at a wraith of death. One misstep and I am going to pay. At this moment, I don't feel it ... what I have been looking for ... excitement. Fighting against powerful opponents and being in life-threatening situations usually gives me a thrill. But with him ... when he speaks my body seems to shake. I just want to test myself against him.
That is also why I made sure she came here instead of roaming the entire world. If she's here, Cain can't do anything.
"We meet again, Batman.", I say and unsheath my Katanas. He is just looking at me through that visor of his. I know that the armour is not really armour and more like a suit. His agility is beyond peak human.
"No words? Good. I prefer it that way.", I say and attack him.
I swing my blades towards him and he moves out of the way. His arms were still at his side and looking at me. He is studying me ... he knows. Of course, he does. And those fools think of challenging him. Ridiculous, he probably knows about their plan already.
*Cling*
He blocks my second blade with his arm guard and deflects the other with his hand. I increase the speed of my attacks and add the new rhythm I found into the mix. I am constantly trying to improve and adding new things to my fighting style to throw him off.
I slash at him and then flip to kick him in the face. I don't expect the attack to work and already transition into my next chain of attacks. He catches my leg, like I predicted and my other leg shoots towards him. I pierce one of my blades towards him, as my second leg gets caught as well.
*Whoosh*
But it never makes contact. Batman uses his strength to bring me in close and then throws me away. I flip and land on my feet, ready to attack again. But as I turn around, my eyes widen and I manage to dodge a blade at hair's breadth.
*SCHING*
I create some space between us, but he doesn't allow that and follows me. He has a blade in his hands. It looks different from the one he used last time. He attacks me with it. To novices, this attack seems simple and basic, but I can see the amount of training and dedication that went into this simple overhead slash.
I block the attack with both of my blades.
*CLANG*
My teeth clench as the pressure continues to rise. My legs push against the force and I can feel the strain this is causing. I give it everything I have to not break here. If I do, it is all over. But the situation makes me angry.
He is not even using ... BOTH HANDS!!
I look at the blade he is holding.
[Picture]
I have never seen a blade like this. Is it one of his own? Where does he take the time to do all of this? Is he really human?
I managed to push back just enough to get out of the stalemate we had and create distance. He looks at me for a second and the moment I blink, he is already on me again. His arm moves at lightning speed and our blades clash with one another.
*CLANG*
*CLING*
*CLING*
*SHING*
A cut appears on my face. I have to change my strategy. He has already adapted to my new 'unpredictable' fighting style. I created this specifically for him so that he wouldn't be able to read my attacks. But it was all for naught it would seem. It took him all but five minutes to figure it all out.
I block his next attack and bring my blade up to strike him. However, I am not given the time to do that as another attack is already coming. I block his strike but am already on my back foot. He is pushing and I have nothing to throw at him. I need to get out of-
*BOOM*
"Pffff", the air leaves my lungs as a fist lands in my stomach out of nowhere.
I bite my tongue to not fall unconscious and increase the amount of adrenaline coursing through my body. I tilt my body back managing to not get cut in half. I don't feel any anger from him. Everything is strategic and deadly. No emotions to be felt at all. Like a machine.
*CLANG*
*CLING*
"Urgh!"
His blade cuts my wrist. The cut is shallow but perfectly placed and a lot of blood flows. I need to end this fast. I tilt my head to the side but get an elbow to the face.
*BOOM*
*BANG*
*BOOM*
He mixes acupuncture into the mix and one by one shoots my limbs down. I can't move anymore and he finishes it with an uppercut.
*BOOOM*
.
When I open my eyes again, he stands in at the side of the roof and looks down. It is as I guessed, he has noticed her already. I'd be surprised if he didn't.
I try to stand back up, but every move gives me pain. I can't move. ... I see. There are acupuncture needles inserted in specific areas, stopping me from moving a muscle. I don't try to move again and simply wait.
"Do you think you can manipulate me?", I hear his voice right next to me.
"No."
"Then what do you hope to achieve with this? Do you think I wouldn't kill you if the need arises?"
"... No. It did cross my mind, but I can't see you betray yourself just because of a girl. But she doesn't want to kill ... at least right now."
"So? You're her mother. Take responsibility."
"... I can't. He would find me and then he would take her back. Ra's ... also wouldn't allow it."
"If he comes here ... I'll use him as fertiliser.", he says and then ... jumps off the roof. He didn't even take the acupuncture ne- ...
*Sigh*
Of course, he did.
.
.
(3rd Person POV)
In a dark alley, like they are usual in Gotham, a fight is taking place. This is nothing unusual, but this time, the group of thugs are getting pummeled by a little girl. The girl doesn't say anything and takes them out without killing them. Her movements are precise and fast.
A moment later, she is finished and the group of thugs are lying on the ground unconscious. The girl takes a deep breath and turns around. However, just as she does that, a figure appears before her. Batman has chosen this time to approach her, after watching the fight.
The girl, however, tenses and moves back immediately. Her senses which have been honed from birth, are screaming at her that her life is in grave danger.
Trained by her father to be the ultimate weapon, she was not taught to speak. Instead, he relied mostly on actions to communicate with her. Also, he cut her off from the outside world, only exposing her to anything or anyone other than him when absolutely necessary.
As a result, the parts of her brain normally used for speech and language processing were trained so she could read other people's movements and body language to recognize their thoughts without verbal communication and predict, with uncanny accuracy, their next move in a fight.
And now, Batman and the girl meet for the first time ... Cassandra Cain.
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