章節 117: BRUCE VS TALIA
"You shouldn't have come here," Bruce activated his lightning ring and teleported them to a confined space that he had built for situations like this. There isn't any way out and the air in the room is being maintained with oxygen cylinders. Anyone inside this confined space would not be able to survive for more than two days. In other words, a literal prison cell.
"What?!" Talia was surprised by the sudden change around her. One moment she was standing in Bruce's office, the next moment they were inside a confined space. "Teleportation?!" She guessed his move. She was a little late to react to the movement, but nonetheless, she got back to her normal composure within the blink of an eye, thanks to her training and experience.
"Ah! Look at you, so calm, trying to make countless countermeasures against my next move or thinking of a way out. Humm... Maybe threaten me with my family or something..." Bruce smiled mockingly. Talia narrowed her eyes.
She indeed planned to threaten him with his family. She planned to sneak into the company in the guise of a worker. Her goal was the secret behind the blueprints that Falcone and Black Mask were after all those years ago. Well, this was her secondary objective, but she was a bit overconfident and decided to wrap up the easy mission first before going for her primary mission, however, things turned south for her. Her cover was blown the moment Bruce Wayne set his eyes on her.
But, something was bugging her. She didn't understand... How did this teleportation work? Some kind of device or some other power? If it's a device, then, was it what Falcone and Black Mask were after all those years?
"Anyway, threats won't work. So, that brings us to our present situation. Why approach me? What's your goal? Whatever your intention, your move was careless. I could have pretended to be oblivious and approached the situation and caught you red-handed in an unfavorable position to you or your people... But that would have been such a waste of time."
"Should I say it confidence or ignorance, Bruce Wayne?" Talia couldn't help but sneer. She took out two daggers from under her sleeves. She twirled them in her hands expertly.
"Now that would be a shame... Haaa..." Bruce sighed. "Now, I have to kill you," He replied blandly.
"That's the most hilarious thing I've ever heard," Talia's figure vanished from his vision. She appeared above Bruce and lunged with her daggers. However, Bruce already predicted her move. He simply took two steps back. Talia's daggers struck the floor where Bruce had just been. Without missing a beat, her figure once more disappeared and appeared before him. This time she tried to slash his throat.
Bruce, dodged her moves, as he took a couple of steps back. He was smiling, for the dagger that missed his neck missed it by inches. This fight is different from all the fights he has been in so far. Even Elana never attacked him during their sparring with such killing intent and efficiency. And yet, here he was, smirking. Why was he confident and what was that for, if it was not pure confidence? He dodged her strike by a hairsbreadth, not because of any lack of ability, but simply because of her speed. He wanted to toy with her, which meant either he had enough confidence that she couldn't deal him any damage or he really wanted to have some fun. Probably both. Well, considering the nanites in his bloodstream, killing him is almost near impossible.
Talia's speed, agility, her footwork were astonishing. Her daggers slashed the air with incredible speeds that could literally anyone with a single strike. His eyes could barely follow her moves, yet his brain processed her moves a little quicker than he could actually anticipate them. It felt surreal. His heart beat rapidly.
After a couple of dodged attacks, Bruce's eyes finally adjusted to the high-speed. Just then, three daggers flew through the air. Bruce swiftly moved his body to dodge all the flying daggers. Talia was faster and more efficient. Every one of her attacks could've killed a lesser fighter or someone who had no knowledge about martial arts. Bruce could tell, even though all he did was dodge everything to annoy her and make her a bit restless. But, she showed no sign of getting affected by his tactics. She's pretty impressive and experienced...
It went on like that for a couple of minutes. Both Talia created a distance between them. Her breathing was normal, even after all that speed and effort. She was trying to gauge Bruce's condition and her eyes widened as she noticed that he wasn't even exhausted a little bit. What surprised her more was his dodging skill and his eyes... His eyes were never on her, but rather, her daggers.
"It would seem Elana taught you well," Talia praised.
"Heh..." Bruce clicked his tongue.
"To think that she would teach you this much. Truly surprising," Talia let out a sigh. "But..." She bent down on one of her knees like those pro athletes do, ready to run. But Bruce knew better; she was ready to get serious.
She wasn't moving when suddenly she launched forward towards Bruce. Her speed was even faster than before. The pointy ends of the daggers were before his eyes in the split-second when suddenly Bruce moved to the side and dodged, leaving the tip of the daggers to pass by his face. Talia let the daggers go as her right hand touched the floor and her legs kicked the two daggers, sideway, toward Bruce. His eyes widened a bit.
"Nice!" Bruce was impressed.
He caught the oncoming daggers and threw them back at Talia, who was charging toward him. She caught the daggers and threw them back, once again.
"Copycat!" Bruce laughed. Talia gritted her teeth. "Let's see how long you can jump around."
Thus, the daggers began to fly in the air. First, it was two, then four, and now six daggers were constantly being thrown from the Talia towards Bruce or vice versa. Daggers began to fall off of their grip and dance in the air as the duo caught and threw them away and not a single attack connected with a target. The clink of metal connecting to the metal could be heard and they just kept going.
'Was there a secret trick or something?' Talia wondered. 'How was this possible?' It was just impossible to keep the game going forever. 'How's he keeping up with me? No... More importantly, he never attacked me with killing intent, just dodged everything,' thought Talia. The last observation bugged her. A flutter of fear crawled inside her chest and goosebumps emerged on her arms.
There was only one explanation she could think of, 'He is far superior to me!' And that couldn't be! She was trained and was part of the Al Ghul family, the feared, the strongest of the organizations in the criminal underground and this Bruce Wayne was... What is he anyway, except for just being some rich nobody? And even though he was being taught under Elana, but to gain this much strength... If he is this strong then what about his teacher, Elana? Just how strong is she?
Talia used to look up to Elana's skills, but things changed when she tried to leave the League. And today, she realized that what she saw back then was nothing but a small fraction of what she could truly do.
"Come on, you can do better than that," Bruce taunted with a smirk as the daggers continued to dance in the air. Their arms were nothing but blurry. He wasn't using the nanites, but the power of the lightning ring to boost his physical speed and senses. Of course, she had no idea that Bruce was using a superpower and thought she was going up against a physically trained person.
Talia realized that she was getting nowhere and decided to stop her strategy. She dodged the oncoming blades and ran to the far end of the room. Her arms were aching, breath came out in labored gasps. Her ankle was swollen. She didn't even realize it till now. Her legs felt so heavy as if she was back on the snowy training field again and felt that cold mountain air against her face. This wasn't what she had envisioned to happen and she didn't like that. It wasn't good.
"That's better. But, I expected something more interesting," Bruce made a show of yawning. "Well, I guess this is your limit, huh?" He began to spin a dagger in his hand like it was some circus knife or whatever the hell that's called.
"Tell me, what's your goal... Ah! Sorry! Let me remind you... It was supposed to be your people's goal, or rather, Ra's Al Ghul's goal. I know you are after that spaceship in Waller's hand, but what I can't figure out is, why approach me? As far as I'm aware, no League members were supposed to be targeting the Waynes, yet you just broke that year-long oath that your dad made," Bruce said with a satisfying smirk. He got what he wanted, the proof of the League attacking him first despite their oath. Now, the Waynes won't have to follow through with the deal of sending orphan children to the League and will no longer be indebted.
"YOU..." Talia quickly caught on to Bruce's words, "YOU PLANNED THIS ALL ALONG!"
"Planned? Me?" Bruce brought a palm on his chest, shrugged his shoulders, and pouted, "Wasn't it you who approached me first? Wasn't it you who attacked me first? I got proof, if that's what you want to prove that you attacked me first."
"You... bastard!" Talia grabbed her ankle and applied pressure on the dislocated part. "Gaaahh!" She screamed in pain but pushed the leg until the joint clicked back into place.
Bruce watched as she groaned, and got back up on her feet.
"I know you are far superior to me in every way, but this arrogance of yours will be your downfall," Talia pulled something invisible in the air. The daggers lying around the room flew toward Bruce with blinding speed from all directions. There isn't any space for escape. They will all pierce his vital spots.
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Next, Ch: 118: Leap of faith
Ch: 119: Interlude: Missing events
Ch: 120: Deadshot and Waller
Ch: 121: Pym Particles
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