Chương 30: chapter 30: The Visit
In the Batcave, as Alfred cleaned the car above him and Dick patrolled around the city that evening, Bruce was rewatching a recording of Doom Slayer, specifically the one in which he fought a giant humanoid made of ink, tearing a man out of said creature nearly beating him to death.
A man who apparently was some kind of japanese peasant turned into a creature similar in nature to Clayface, if the tabloids were sincere, a man who used his powers to become a particularly stealthy blight on Kanto and then rise through the ranks of the NPA, so secretive about his real nature that he even managed to shake Superman's hands once.
Commander Uehara Daizo.
Bruce grunted. Men like Daizo were the reason he was so distrustful of anyone he didn't know on a personal level, and of the police in general, only worse given he wasn't just a crooked cop, but a literal ink monster.
Daizo, and Doom Slayer.
Thinking about the heavily armored super soldier made Bruce remember the new device he charged WayneTech to make for him, and bring up the concept to the screen, revealing what seemed to a heavily mechanized Batsuit with LED lights instead of eyeholes.
Lucius called it the 'Exoframe Batsuit'. Corny name, but then, so was Batman for many.
This was the most powerful battlesuit Lucius could make him with the hidden resources from Wayne Enterprises: jets on the bots to enable subsonic flight, exoskeleton strong enough to lift well over fifty tons, armor capable of withstanding up to the latest sabot rounds in the military, explosives that could crack the armor plating of the tank that shot those very same sabots, disorienting sonic cannons, and a miniaturized fission reactor to provide it with the power required. Overkill, of course, but fortunately he had yet to use it on anything alive.
The previous itineration had been much less armed: he had ordered it in case Clark went rogue again, to have something else aside from kryptonite to stop him but without having to resort to actually killing him, knowing that the most likely reason Clark might turn on Earth again would be yet another brainwashing.
And then Doom Slayer came, and then after showing how brutal he could be he killed the Red Trident terrorists, and Bruce realized that he'd need something more forceful to stop him in his tracks due to the (likely) possibility of him crossing the line. Ironically, the massacre he inflicted also left several rounds and shells around. Their recovery and re-use allowed his engineers to modify the exoframe to fit the new needs that arose.
Namely, withstand those very same rounds, if only enough to allow Bruce to get close and personal. Naturally it costed him a entire fortune of several million dollars to find metals strong enough to do it and a exoskeleton strong enough to move it, however, and all that mass meant he would be trapped if the reactor went out or the suit suffered a system failure.
All in all, though, it'd be worth it just to have something to stop Doom Slayer if he ended up going rogue... or, not as unlikely as it seemed, liking killing too much. For men like Slayer, one death was never enough... and he had already killed dozens. He didn't care if practically all of them deserved it, being either misanthropic terrorists or demon-possessed husks, or even if Doom Slayer regretted killing the latter.
Still, despite his brutality and willingness to use lethal force, it didn't mean he didn't respect him, if only a little: he was honest, resolute, more than willing to help other heroes in their tasks and, despite his feelings about the contrary, he had yet to actually cross the line between vigilantism and villainy (yet). Most importantly, though, was his willingness to admit he needed help from others.
Like that Rachel girl.
Remembering her, Bruce leaned on his seat and sighed as he closed his eyes in thought.
Private detectives, agencies, his own work, friends with contacts, satellites across the globe... Nothing worked, he couldn't find the gray-skinned sorceress; not even Zatanna could find her despite her efforts and magical prowess, though to be fair to the magician she had just found out she could cast actual magic. It was as if she had been swallowed by the earth itself (something that might have been entirely possible given the circumstances).
...and found himself staring at Doom Slayer's opaque visor, ten times larger due to being projected on the main screen. The only reason he didn't jump was that he forced himself to not do it, forcing his mind to remember that Slayer was not in front of him, but several million miles above him.
Didn't stop him from grabbing the emergency batarang he always had with himself and pull it out as a reflex. Clark had told him that Slayer could hijack any known form of communication, but he never expected him to do it to his comms. And something told him that he could do nothing against it.
He put the treacherous thought of Doom Slayer knowing everything about him to address him.
"Doom Slayer."
"Bruce." He said, apparently not caring of what just happened... or, more likely, what he had just seen. "It's been five weeks since we saw each other."
Bruce was fairly certain that he was the one supposed to say that. "Why are you calling me like this, Slayer?"
As always, Slayer's response was simple and straight to the point. "I must go to Gotham."
In an uncharacteristic lack of stoicism, Bruce's eyes widened in shock and horror. The mental image of Doom Slayer entering Arkham Asylum and killing every inmate before going on a rampage through the city formed on his head, but he managed to supress a shudder.
Doom Slayer noted his obvious unease. "No, I'm not planning on purging the asylum, if only as long as the... 'patients' stay there." Bruce could clearly hear sarcasm in his voice. "As a matter of fact, if all goes well, I won't even enter the city proper."
'And for your sake, you better not' Thought Bruce before speaking, making a mental note about reinforcing Arkham's security. "Then why did you call me?"
Slayer stood silent for a moment "To tell you about it. I'd prefer to say it in front of you, not through a screen. And call Robin and Batgirl. It's important. I'll be there in an hour."
The screen then turned off by itself, leaving Bruce alone in the cave with his thoughts. While he actually liked being asked to have permission to get in Gotham (especially from someone he really didn't want to see setting foot in), he was mostly concerned by the fact Slayer did so instead of simply waltzing in through a portal and doing whatever business he had in the city, and leaving before he even realized what happened.
Unless...
Bruce pulled out his phone and called for Alfred, his recent 'visit' having made him temporarily paranoid about just calling him with the communicator.
"Alfred, call Dick and Barbara and tell them to suit up. We'll be receiving a guest in an hour."
"Who, Master Bruce? Mister Kent? Maybe even Miss West?"
"Worse, Doom Slayer." Bruce replied. He swore he could hear the old butler's body stiffen at that. "Don't ask me what for, he only told me he wants to come here and see me face to face. Just inform them about it." Before he hanged it, he said one last thing. "And don't bring out the rifle; he might not even care it if you shoot him."
A groan of resignation came from the phone. "As you wish."
Half an hour later, Bruce, Dick and Barbara were sitting on the main platform of the Batcave in front of Slayer, who had come through one of his portals. Alfred was standing nearby, carefully inspecting the large armored man with a subtle interest. The youths, on the other hand, couldn't contain their unease at having him standing right in front of them, Barbara especially.
"So..." Began to say Dick, clearly wanting to break the ice. "Is living in Mars nice?"
Doom Slayer didn't move his head, but replied nonetheless. "Exactly Antarctica, but dry. desertic and with much less oxygen."
"Uh, nice to know." Dick replied, clearly feeling awkward by the situtation.
Barbara didn't say anything, busy as she was looking at Doom Slayer. Gordon would have thrown a massive fuss if he had known that Slayer was there with them.
Bruce decided that it was time to know what exactly did the soldier want.
"Now that we are face to face, why did you call me?"
Doom Slayer looked at him. "It's about Rachel."
Bruce rose an eyebrow at that. Did he and Constantine find the woman already, despite the fact he himself had asked for their help in the search? "Did you find her already?"
"Not exactly. I got help from a source, but..." Doom Slayer trailed off, confusing the four, before continuing. "Before I keep talking about Rachel, I think I should tell you about the other reason I wanted to see you."
"And that is?" Alfred asked, speaking for the first time since Slayer arrived.
Doom Slayer looked at Bruce. "Do you know about a Cyrus Gold?"
Hearing that name, Bruce felt his jaw stiffen. He had faced the man two years prior, three months after Joker's debut, as Blackgate suffered its second riot. Thing was, he was not original Cyrus, but rather, his mutated husk, one that could face brutes like Killer Croc and handily win.
Solomon Grundy.
An undead monster that apparently had been one of Ras's many, many victims involved in his experiments with Lazarus' Pits. What made him difference from the others that he didn't stay dead... nor human, all things given. After all, a Pit could resurrect a living creature, but whatever the Demon's Head did to the poor devil turned him into a fifteen-foot behemoth gifed with enough strength to throw a tank a mile away.
A fifteen-foot behemoth he had been forced to face a few weeks before Darkseid's invasion.
How had he been supposed to know that the zombie had made his way to Blackgate's underground?
The only reason he survived at all was that Grundy was still weak and confused from reanimating after several years of being 'dead', plus the fact he seemed to be susceptible to lightning. As for how he knew how powerful he was, Bruce had seen a recording of Grundy taking on an armored platoon, and then Superman. Clark won the brawl, but only because he was able to give his all in the fight, ending it by flying through the giant: it wasn't like Grundy could be considered alive.
"I have a lead on Rachel's location. Thing is, her magic signal is spread across the entire planet, with the largest being on Slaughter Swamp, and something tells me that either the Swamp, or Grundy himself may be the first step in finding her."
"Are you saying that the mighty Doom Slayer needs the help of Bats?" Dick said, voicing what everyone was thinking at the moment, before frowning. "Then again, this IS Grundy we're talking about, and we all know he can take on Supes... if only for a couple minutes."
But Slayer shook his head. "Not really, I only came to you so that Bruce would know about my intentions beforehand and therefore not overreact. It would be nice to have you with me though, in case anything goes wrong and I require your help."
"Heard that Bruce? Doom Slayer MAY need our help." Bruce didn't know if his protegee was being sarcastic due to the possibility a superstrong, resourceful and determined man may end up needind their assistance, boastful BECAUSE of said fact, or a combination of the two.
"Still, you gonna kick Grundy's ass? He's a zombie, he's already dead, you know, if you get what I mean." Barbara pointed out.
"Actually" Doom Slayer said. ", I have plans for Grundy."
So, Batman is already preparing countermeasures for Doom Slayer, the man himself finally visits Bruce's home, if briefly, and wants the Batfamily to go with him to deal with Grundy... or will he? Did I write the characters as they should? The chapter is a bit shorter because I thought it was already long enough for the kind of chapter it was. If you're wondering where's John, he's doing business back at Liverpool: the SI thinks he doesn't need his help for this particular task, since Grundy lacks weaknesses to exploit. And, as alrady stated, he has plans for the big lug.
Finally, from now on further chapters will be posted on fridays, partly because I want more time to spend writing my legit book, mostly because I think I might start writing longer chapters.
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