[IC] Gotham Knights - City On Fire

[vancexentan]

Suddenly being on the other side of the building, and alive, quickly became a confusing prospect for Damocles. What the hell was going on?It took him a moment to consider what had just happened. Then it came to him rather quickly. "Magic, or speedster. No other explanation...bloody meta humans. I suppose I can't exactly complain." Damocles grumbled he figured he may as well do his job though as he saw Batwoman was nowhere nearby which meant she probably went to do something else related to escaping goons. "Scrambling the signals won't last too long. I need to get information quickly. Destroy any evidence that directly links our identities to Bane's operation." Damocles concluded as he went over to where the fighting was located after sending out a signal to short out the power to the nearby area by way of destroying a power conductor. With the area shaded and in the dark the enemy would be further disoriented the only light was what was on fight. Pulling out his guns and putting silencers on he opted to make sure things didn't go bad. As he hid in a corner one of the thugs came along no doubt he was dabbling in venom. As such this would be a bit more brutal than he intended. Keeping to the shadows he watched the man crawl around in the dark and Damocles slowly aimed his gun, having issues due to the darkness, and then aimed he missed his initial shot but the following three shots hit the man in the leg and Damocles rushed him throwing his gun down on the ground and grabbed his baton he beat the man down further and then pushed him onto the ground with his leg on top of him. "Talk! What's your mission here!? Where's your boss!? If you don't talk I'll blow your brains out and toss your corpse into the sea. I'm not a batman I'm worse." Damocles said slowly, and calmly to the man his voice icy, and cold without a hint of fear, or warmth in it. He wanted to make the man understand that he meant his words. Even if he couldn't kill the fuck he could at least make him believe it. His baton still at the ready and with them an still bleeding from the leg he wondered if the man would break, or if he'd need to blow out his knee.

[Omega Man]

The behemoth of a dragon man hit the scene hard grabbing a Venom junkie and disappearing into the shadows only for a tree to fall several meters away. Jack was still using a combination of different fighting styles to take on two goons at a time before a third darted in and out of the action. Two other pushers, after seeing the one get snatched up, headed for an exit. The park itself was much like Central Park in New York City; large, with a small pond near the center, several statues, bridges, and benches. One bench of course got destroyed the minute Skeleton Jack did what looked like a professional wrestling move, a choke slam of sorts that took the muscle bound pusher down for the count.

"I wonder what Bats is up to...? Maybe that was HIM trying to tail me? There's no way he knows. I have to find the girls before the rest of the Muppets, even if I don't decide to help Al Ghul and the League." Jack thought, picking himself up after a few moments.

Looking over his left shoulder Jack was caught off guard from the right as one of the other goons had grabbed a piece of the metal bench debris and struck Jack in the head. He'd need more than an aluminum arm rest to finish the job. Jack pulled a blade from seemingly nowhere and with a spin lodged the blade into the junkie's thigh before he could land another strike with the arm rail. As the pusher tried slapping a few more patches on his arms it was obvious it was too much. Jack kept him at a distance with kicks and tripped the muscled brute a couple times and then... the guy's heart finally gave.

"Damn..." Jack thought standing there taking note of the situation. One of the remaining pushers had got up from the beating he'd already received and struck Skeleton Jack across the back with a steel mesh city trash can....

The two goons who ran earlier were nowhere to be seen. They'd either got away, or they were the next to face Kaze.

Elsewhere...

"The Bat has more friends than I had expected. Two storage sites have been compromised and a portion of the city just lost power..." Bane thought in a worn out looking locker room mirror at a sink.

He stepped out and walked to another corner of an old beat up gymnasium with a boxing ring in the center that had seen better days. With the touch of a button on the wall a panel opened up revealing stairs that he then walked down. There was the basement. The holding cells. He told the three goons in the basement level...

"Gotham wants me to come out and play. I may have to kill another one of Batman's acquaintances. Here's the top of the line stuff. Put it up your nose, eat it, whatever... just do it before the Superpower Hour gets here. Stick to the plan...." Bane instructed putting his mask on.

]

-00492

[Kazemitsu]

Kaze continued to watch Jack, now identified by his helmet, take on the group of thugs and junkies. Two of which beat feet trying to get away. We can't have that. He thought as he chased them. The only sounds he made was the slight flutter of the full body cloak he wore while he tailed them. The pair started to split up which is when Kaze lunged out from the shadows. Spear tackling one of them into the pavement. Without missing a beat he was up off the dazed man. The other was running faster and the reptilian man was not in the mood for a chase. Wrapping his mitts around the light post he tore it from its concrete base and hurled it like a spear at the Venom pusher.

A clang and scream rang out as the man was sent toppling to the ground, utter agony tearing through him regardless of the Venom coursing through his body. Snorting derisively he turned his attention to the second pusher starting to get to his feet. His tail snaked out and cracked him across the head, knocking him out from the force that tumbled him a few feet. The nimble limb wrapped around the pushers arm and dragged him along as he went and gathered the second downed man. He was barely conscious and the rough movement of getting dragged by his leg brought pained groans from him.

"Lets see if the skeleton can get some answers outta you lot.." He muttered, dragging the pair back to where Jack had been fighting. Assuming he's still here and hasn't run off elsewhere... He thought as he moved swiftly despite the several hundred pounds of meat he was dragging behind him.

[Burning Kitty]

Guardian had just begun the scale the warehouse he set on fire to get to his car when the Venom started to wear off. He thought it would have lasted longer, he figured it was due to the Guardian Serum, it prevents him from getting drunk and other poisons are rendered virtually useless. Then he began to lose feelings in his legs. "Oh shit." The Guardian Serum must burn out faster when fighting the likes of Venom. He dropped the Guardian Suit then himself to the ground while he still had control of his legs. The Guardian Suit he dropped first he opened it up and lined up his forearm with the injector built into the suit. He didn't know why but it was very important he not inject himself to early, something to do with total organ failure or something he didn't really listen he just knew it would kill him. They tested it down to the millisecond, he learned to time it based on the way his body felt.

A discarded gun was laying nearby he grabbed it with his free hand just in case one of Bane's goons came by. He didn't need the gun, he injected himself as soon as he could no longer feel his legs at all. Once the Guardian Serum took full effect he put the Guardian Suit back on. "OW tell the boss lady that while Venom has its uses for Guardian, that the Guardian Serum wears off faster because of the Venom. It is one of those open in case of extreme emergency type of situations. How has your research into possible Bane locations coming? To many active criminal elements to narrow it down? Fucking Gotham. He is luchadore, or at least the pictures of his mask makes him look like one. Luchadores are wrestlers, research the history of each one and find any with a wrestling background."

[Unknown100]

A few days ago…

“We did it.” Batwoman looked down where Black Mask was getting dragged into a cop car.

“You did it,” Nightwing corrected and went on, before she could protest. “Look, I was stuck in this case, until you showed up with your close quarter gun fighting and your guerilla warfare. Please don’t argue; I’m still a bit out of breath.”

“Oh, yeah? Tonight was tough on you, Mr. Wingman?”

“It was. Once the fighting starts, it’s no easy thing keeping up with you.”

This brought the tiniest of smiles to Batwoman’s lips. “Well, you taught me well.”

“Yes, and somehow, I immediately became your wingman, and not the mastermind behind this operation.” He took a good long look at her. “You know, you should smile more often.”

“You sound like my girlfriend.”

“Well, every time you hit me, you act like my girlfriend. That was another compliment by the way.”

Batwoman’s cape gracefully swayed in the wind, while she moved away from the broken window. Nightwing had done what so few others had managed: He had stayed at her side and not died. If he too had enlisted and fought along side her, then perhaps her past would have been less gruesome. Perhaps there would have been hope behind all those empty medals.


Present…

Bane had shattered all pretense in a single night. Nightwing was dead, and even when Batwoman drove 65 miles per hour with Bane’s lieutenant on the back of the bike, she couldn’t forget that fact.
Neither magic nor miracles would change what Bane had done. Even if Nightwing came back, that murderous son of a bitch had still done an unspeakable act. Gone too far.

“This is Batwoman. I hope you’re all alive and well. There has been a development, so when you’re done for tonight meet me. You’ll know where,” she said as she arrived at the GCPD. Getting 280 pounds of angry thug onto the roof was no easy task. Batwoman took a second to gather her strength before turning on the Batsignal.

“Bane told me, you and Nightwing were close,” Trogg started to tease. “You want to hear how he died? You want to hear how he begged? Not at first, of course, no. He was a real trooper, until Bane told him about our plans for the girl bat. He seemed so concerned about her. Must have been love. But it's broken now.”

“Go on, I'm sure you can provoke me better than that, big boy.” Batwoman managed to keep her voice calm. Yet inside the anger lit up like a wildfire.

“Bane will punish her. He already knows, and he will punish her because you all made such a mess of things. Did you really think you could challenge him like that without repercussions? Why on earth would he allow that?”

[vancexentan]

Having gotten nothing from the thug after the man promptly told him twelve different ways to fuck himself Damocles promptly shot out the man's remaining ankle, and had to restrain himself from finishing him off. The man could bleed out possibly. Damocles took the man's phone and activated an app from his own phone and took a secured copy of all the main's recent call numbers, and contact info before beating him over the head with his baton to knock him out. He looked around at the dark desolate area. Damocles decided now it would be best to not dally he would need to find the nearest source of venom and take, or blow it up. He couldn't leave the area without doing that. Leaving the moron to his fate be it death, or salvation Damocles rushed forward turning his screen's brightness to a lower setting, and using another app to see exactly where he was going by using a radar device to look for possible hostiles. The sooner he got the job done the better. Batwoman, and that moron guardian be damned he was going to do something productive tonight if at all possible. He couldn't help but he was assigned to the completely wrong job regardless.

[Burning Kitty]

Guardian got Batwoman's message. He flew to the location. There wasn't much room on the roof so he put the car into hovermode and stepped straight on to the roof. He made sure to store the Venom he took in a secure compartment that if not properly accessed through a convoluted set of steps, that frankly pissed him off, would electrocute the thief. Quite a few mechanics at his base were nearly killed because they were a curious cat.

Batsignal, Guardian never understood that, there were far better way to set up contact with the Bats and the GCPD. It made him wonder if Bats was nostalgic for the simpler days. But the rumor of his hideouts which his coworkers jokingly referred to as the Guano Pit, along with his hi-tech gadgets, and his sweet ass rides made the nostalgia idea seem silly, but he couldn't figure out any other reason.

"Batwoman what is this development? Get balls for brains over there to talk?" Balls for brains started to say something but Guardian kicked a sizable piece of material, he didn't pay any attention to what it was just the size, right into the guys throat. It shut him up quick. "I didn't ask for your opinion now did I Balls for Brains? That is a rhe..question with no response needed." He stopped saying rhetorical because he didn't think Balls for Brains would understand the meaning of the word.

[Metronome]

Wraith left the manufacturing plant and arranged to have the blood samples and such picked up at a specific drop off. He had just stored them away at said drop off when he caught Batwoman's message. He started to head to the meeting place they had discussed prior, and hoped that it hadn't changed.

When Wraith arrived on the rooftop, he saw Batwoman, a very large, disgustingly muscular human man, and Guardian just arriving. Ka'van lifted himself up to the roof and set his feet down silently. His black form was hard to pick out among the dark night sky, if not for the grey cape. His red eyes almost matched the hints of sunrise peaking out in the horizon.

"I'm afraid I haven't made much progress tonight," He admitted. He glanced at the mound of muscle, then back to Batwoman. "What have you found out?"

[Unknown100]

Batwoman used a second to acknowledged the people there.
“His name is Trogg, perhaps the most infamous and important of Bane’s lieutenants. He’s ruthless, brutal and not a fan of personal hygiene, it would seem. Luckily, he also likes to run his mouth like a drunken Youtube personality. Don’t you, Trogg?” She poked the beaten man with the tip of her boot.

Guardian’s well-placed hit seemed to have removed all will to retaliate. Now he just lied there with his hands and feet still bound by the steel cables. His grim expression made him look even more of a caveman than ever.

A dark shadow moved over Batwoman’s face as she went on. “However, what he had to say was troubling. It would seem, that whatever plans Bane has, extends beyond challenging Batman. Along side Batgirl, Bane also has Nyssa Al Ghul and the daughter of Deathstroke, Rose Wilson. I can’t say with certainty what he intends to do, but I can say what he doesn’t intend to do: As you all know, Bane's mind is his true weapon, and he has not done this with the intention of fighting 3 enemies at once. No. Instead he might use the women to trick or blackmail both the League of Assassins and Deathstroke to attack Batman. A fight I’m not sure he can win. Not in the state he’s in right now. He might seem alright, but there's something beneath the surface. Which means that in the end it will come down to us. To secure Gotham. To stop Bane.”

A part of her had hoped to read Trogg while she told her theory, as this could give her an idea of how close she had gotten to the truth. But the lieutenant’s Neanderthal face had remained expressionless.

“If you have any other theories, now is the time,” Batwoman ended on.

[Omega Man]

Jack and the behemoth known as Kaze made quick work of the remaining Venom junkies. Their bodies were thrown all over the green vegetation of the park. Benches were busted, and trashcans were turned over with trash flying through the night.

"Where's your boss, junior?" asked Jack, throwing the last remaining punk not currently knocked out.

"Go to hell skull-man!" shouted the muscle bound idiot.

"Your boss has three girls hostage... WHY?!" Jack asked backhanding the guy into a nearby tree.

Elsewhere....

"It seems I've caught you in a dead end. It's appropriate. Strength beats speed every time..." Bane taunted as the dark clad speedster called Bolt was obviously in panic mode.

The speedster tried simply running by the giant of a man but he was caught with a clothesline. Bane picked him up by the ankle and swung him one handed like a baseball bat into the building closest to them in the alley. The young hero's ankle snapped like a twig.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Batwing hit the scene from above, "I've got visual on Bane. We're somewhere in the Bowery..." he said into a communicator before coming down hard with a boot to the back of Bane.

"Now why doesn't Batman hide behind a suit like this?" Bane asked swatting at Batwing with one hand while still holding the broken limb of the dark speedster in his other hand.

Bane actually used the crippled speedster like a weapon and struck Batwing out of the air.

-00492

[Kazemitsu]

Kaze dropped the bodies he had dragged along behind him as Jack started to question the last conscious member of the enemy. Everyone was still breathing and the worst injuries were probably some busted ribs, concussions, and possibly broken limbs. Rolling his shoulders he approached the pair just was Jack backhanded the junkie into a tree. "You need more intimidating tactics, Skeleton. Bane can beat them to a pulp whenever he wants." He said as he approached the downed criminal.

Crouching down, getting eye level with the wounded man, he started to pull back his hood. Revealing a muzzle, scales, horns, and rows of razor sharp teeth. "Talk to him, boy. Or else I will eat you starting with your arms. Then I'll devour your legs so you're a useless stump." He growled before snapping his teeth a micrometer from the junkies nose. His breath smelled like old blood and death with an underlying acrid stench. Nothing human about the monster in front of him.

[vancexentan]

Not letting the goons do as they pleased Damocles found a bag full of venom patches and quickly lit it on fire before ditching the place as soon as possible after leaving a small note to incriminate the penguin in the deal. It was a small crumbled piece of paper that could've fallen out of someone's pocket on the way out of there. It had 'orders' on it from one of the more well known lieutenants from Penguin's group. Penguin could easily be left as a target as he runs the arms deals in Gotham usually. He had to ditch the whole area jogging to find the nearest serviceable area that was not being clouded by his little interference device. It took longer than Damocles had intended to as he ran he had to make sure not to get into too heavily populated areas. It would draw attention to him. Best stick to the remote parts of town.

As soon as he could Damocles stopped in front of a roadside diner and breathed heavily pulled down the cloth around his face he took a moment to catch his breath before looking over the phone data he had received he made his way into the diner. Sitting in a corner booth after ordering a slice of cake he quickly thought over what he could do. First off he made a list of contacts that he got from the man so he could name names to Batman later. Then he figured he should actually see if he could track any of the calls made from the phone. After some complicated sleuthing he meticulously tracked all the calls he could some were issues, others were not. However something stood out to Damocles. "Seems suspicious...alright let's see here..." he muttered as his cake came and he paid for it ahead of time before sending out a message through his phone to the members of the bat family. Issuing a statement that he had found information linking criminals in the area to a desolate gym that shouldn't be in use. Chances are there was someone, or something there. At the very least a planning stage. Damocles was in no hurry to save the hostages though he didn't intend on leaving them there. He needed to catch his breath after the shit storm that was the last part of the operation. This wasn't his usual MO and he wondered if he should just give Batman his money back.

[Omega Man]

Batman was too late. The speedster who agreed to help track Bane was dead. The body was used like a baseball bat to strike Batwing out of the air and the young hero's armor was severely damaged but Luke was still alive. Then Batman got the same message that Batwoman and her team had received: possible location of kidnapped victims was a rundown old gym on the outskirts of town. Batman didn't know Batwoman's group was sticking together for the most part so when he responded for everyone to meet him a couple blocks away from the location it wasn't that big a deal. First, he had to get Luke medical attention...

Across town...

Skeleton Jack and Kaze managed to get info in the form of an address. It wasn't something the drug dealer went mouthing off about, however Jack just looked in the guy's phone records and saw something about an old gym on the far side of town on the corner of Johns Ave. How on Earth could the two of them get across town without Jack's cycle or some kinda car...

"How far do you think you can carry me on your back, Reptar?" Jack joked noticing the look in the giant creature's face.

Later, across from Johns Avenue...

Batman, Batwoman, and the rest of the allies were on the rooftop waiting for the others. Jack and Kaze didn't have communicators, so Batman wasn't even sure they would see the pair. Until he did...

"We may have to make our move without.... what the..?" Batman noticed the two coming towards the gym fast and before they could blow the team's cover Batman shot a grappling hook and put himself between them and the gym that was still a few hundred yards away. The current time was 1:37 am.

"What's your game, Jack? Why would you run in there like a man possessed?" Batman questioned as some of the group met him down in the street.

That was when Skeleton Jack did something nobody expected and removed his helmet.



"Because my daughter's in there, Bats." he replied after revealing himself to be Slade Wilson, aka Deathstroke. "Now get the hell out of my way..."

-00492

[Kazemitsu]

Kaze snorted when the junkie, dealer, whatever he was fainted from the threat. "How...disappointing..." He growled as he grabbed the man by his head. He was so sorely tempted to just end him but still he followed Batman's orders. Tossing the body onto the pile of other perps he made the same anonymous phone-call with one of the downed mens cellphone's. Crushing it into a pile of circuitry he turned his attention to Jack and his question.

"I can carry you as far as we need to go. My name is Kaze, not Reptar." He stated grumpily before using his tail to put Jack on his back. He flipped his hood back up to hide his features before bolting full tilt. Following Jack's directions since he honestly didn't know Gotham at all.

It honestly didn't take him long to make the distance vanish even with Jack on his back. His massive stride due to running on all fours and ability to turn on a dime made short work. As they neared their destination Kaze slammed on the brakes, tearing up the pavement beneath his hands and feet as Batman made his appearance. A little talk here, a little reveal there, and it turns out Slade had hitched a ride on the reptilian man.

"Isn't he one of your enemies?" He asked while eying Slade warily. The bestial mans breathing was barely even labored from the long trek and he was already thinking of beating Jack/Slade. But Slade's kid was in there...so maybe the asswhooping came after they destroyed Bane?

[Unknown100]

Batwoman watched as Skeleton Jack’s behavior suddenly made a lot more sense. Him revealing himself to be Deathstroke seemed to stir just about everyone there. Yet only Kaze matched Batwoman's fury.
"Because my daughter's in there, Bats. Now get the hell out of my way..." Deathstroke said, but Batwoman blocked his path and didn’t even flinch when she looked him right in the eyes … or what was left of them.

“If you’re as smart as they say, you know we won’t just let you run in by yourself. Then again ... maybe you aren’t quite yourself. Bane is playing you, can’t you see that? He wants you to rush him like a shaved head trainee. He wants you to give us all away. He wants you to oppose us. But let me tell you something…”
She moved closer, and suddenly it was as if all the punishments, she had endured that night, didn’t mean a thing. In that moment, she seemed like she could take on the entire rogue’s gallery of criminals in Gotham.
“You can drop all the masks you want, but nothing has changed. Rose, your poor daughter, is in danger because of you and we are going to save her. And it doesn’t matter what kind of rage you got inside that cold heart of yours, because if you oppose us we will put you in a body cast, and I’ll make sure you’ll never see your daughters face again. However, we will then have wasted even more precious time. So, Slade Wilson, I guess the real question is: Are you prepared to risk your daughter’s life again?”

There was no hesitation in her words. Nor were there sympathy for his predicament.

[Burning Kitty]

Guardian had enough of this bullshit. He walked right up to Batwoman. "I don't give a flying fuck what your problem with Slade is. Right now you and dinosaur boy are the ones slowing us down. Both of you get your head out of your ass. If you want to keep Slade from Rose you are going through me first. Batgirl is in trouble because of you and Batman, not to mention the others. Now are you going to shut up and get to work or do we have to continue this dick measuring contest? I'm good either way, I don't have skin in this game but I sure as hell won't let you deny a man his family because of your self-righteous holier than thou ego bullshit." He was prepared to fight this bitch, he'd use every dirty trick, every underhanded measure. No one has the right to deny a man his family no matter what.

[Metronome]

Ka'van followed the group to the gym rather silently. As per usual, the chill of his presence was the only thing that proved he was really there at all. He was as silent as a ghost as he drifted along. Once they arrived, two of their colleagues made an unapproved rush towards the gym. Ka'van stayed back and watched silently as the scene played out. Jack revealed himself to be Slade, who Ka'van knew as a villain. He had thought the aura he'd gotten off that guy was a bit dark...

But, they all had the same goals here. Arguing with one another wasn't going to get them inside.

"Perhaps I could offer my assistance?" Ka'van said, stepping onto the ground and walking towards them. His steps were soft, almost inaudible. "I can phase myself and a number of people inside at once. Once inside, I can take out the lights and remain invisible to scout ahead."

[Unknown100]

Batwoman turned to Guardian and for a while she said nothing. Then she unleashed.
“We need to get our heads together before we go in. Or we will all fail. And my problem with Slade is the graveyards he has filled and the children he has orphaned. A fact you seem to have forgotten, just like you forgot the reason Batman left me in charge of search and rescue. I can keep quiet I can coordinate. But you just showed up, blew up and messed up everything. This night became chaos when you acted on your own. And yes, I should have predicted it, I should have stopped you, I should have brought you down before you risked Batgirl’s life, but I failed. As a leader, anyway. But when that’s said, I’m more than willing to keep a man from his daughter. There’s a reason some people loose custody and I’ve seen the sadistic influence on children who’s fathers were killers. I’ve seen the pain when people like you assume that ever person on the planet deserves their child. They don’t, not all of them! And besides that, you are playing right into Slade’s hand. He is playing right into Bane’s hand. And …”
All of a sudden Batwoman stopped. She changed from contempt to that of a thinker.
“And I suppose, I’m playing Bane’s game too.” She sighed. “We shouldn’t fight. This may be the fight of our lives once we get in. But Slade is not just walking in there before we have a plan of attack.”

[Burning Kitty]

"I don't care how many graveyards he has filled. Batman has filled them too. He doesn't pull the trigger himself, he fills them with inaction. Sure he takes the villains off the streets, but he knows they always get out again. He is just as culpable as the villains he puts away. He is only delaying the inevitable. If he doesn't want to sully his hands by actually killing someone he could have done hundreds of things to stop them, but he chose to let them remain physically capable of escaping over and over again to keep on murdering. You are no different, just a bunch of clowns in a mask playing at hero and failing the innocents. None of you on your pedestals with your lofty ideals are actually making a difference in the long run.

Of course you are playing Bane's game, we all are I chose to have fun with it. As for a plan of attack, you don't think a father tearing up the place can't be fucking useful? He is your biggest asset right now and your to blind by your own vision of how things should go to see it. No wonder Bane was able to do so much in so little time to the Batfamily. When you lot are finishing fucking around and decide to actually do something let me know until then I'll be doing surveillance."

He uses he grappling hook to get up to the top of the building. He has his car hovering letting his over watch gather surveillance from the cameras. "What do we have? Nothing on the ground floor or the second floor. Yes I mean beyond the goons. Goons are always a given. I mean nothing as in no weapons, drugs, kidnap victims, etc. Hack into the government servers that would house the building's blueprints. It may have a basement the old gym never used or was forgotten about. I'll wait for your call." He calls them over the radio. He thought about telling them but the pedestals can figure out for themselves. As soon as Bane was dead, he was out of here. Dealing with these idealistic buffoons was not worth the pay he was getting.

[Omega Man]

Batman cleared his throat. The group went silent after Guardian ran off.

"I know you could hand this group their asses with your usual arsenal. You've fought the League's best. Bane killed nearly every Robin and left them in my cave a few days ago. He has Batgirl in there. Rose. And Al Ghul's daughter. I'm not even entirely sure they're alive..." Batman began saying.

"If my s.. if my daughter is dead..." Slade started to reply.

"If he's hurt your daughter in any way, he's yours. I'm looking for a knife he used to kill the boys. Constantine thinks with that knife he can bring the boys back..." Batman continued. "Ka'van can get us in undetected. Batwoman, shift focus from the girls to that knife. It may be a weapon Bane has on him, or it may be another one of his goons. Slade and I will find the girls."

The group was still divided. Guardian was doing his thing. Several of the others looked at Batman for the word to go in behind the hooded figure.

Moments later....

"We've found the bunker. What's it look like up there?" Batman spoke into his communicator in his cowl without answer.

What came after sounded like an explosion and a stampede of a dozen gorillas. However Batman and Slade pushed forward to the entrance of the bunker. They reached the three cells to find Batgirl and Rose alive. Nyssa Al Ghul, the eldest of the three laid dead. Her throat slit. Batman rushed to Barbara and cut her loose and removed her mask from her mouth. Slade did the same for his teenage daughter.

"Dddd... d..Daddy?" Rose looked up at the white haired man.

"I've got you, RoRo." Slade replied winking with his one good eye, giving the girl even more of a shocked expression.

"What's the plan, Batman?" Slade asked looking back.

"I want you to take Barbara and Rose and get out of here as quickly as possible. No telling what Ra's will be lead to think about the situation. This could've been Bane's plan all along. I've got to get upstairs and find that knife. When this is over we need to have a talk, Slade. About what all of this is about. You're not telling me something.... Batman replied.

Batman lead the way back up to where Bane and his goons were tearing through the gym and the allies of the caped crusader. Slade and the girls ducked out the back entrance. It was time to end this. What appeared to be Bane and a dozen or so jacked up friends of his were more than a match after the generator kicked on and the lights returned. Batman jumped into the fray...

-00492