All New Robin - Heir to the Demon #18

It seemed to happen in the blink of an eye. Before I even had a chance to fully process Ubu’s threat, I’d acted instinctively and seized my momentary window of weakness and struck Ubu with all the strength I could muster. Did I aim to sever his hand from his body? Perhaps it was simply an accident caused by anger at all that is transpiring. That’s what I keep trying to tell myself anyways. Deep down I know the truth and it is far simpler than I would care to admit.

 

My actions weren’t done by accident nor were they caused by reckless anger. I simply wanted to hurt Ubu, and this was the only way I knew how.

 

No doubt I’ll continue to question that for a long time to come, maybe I’ll excuse myself as having been faced with no other choice but to do so. The guilty often do try to self-justify their actions when they end up doing horrible things. I’m certainly not above all of that, in fact I’ve done it more times than I care to count.

 

Trying to convince Bruce to go through with his final trial is always the one that comes to mind, the look of horror and pain on his face still haunts me to this day. It was clear to anyone who cared to look that he would lay down his life before he would take another, and yet I persisted. He had to take a life. He just had to. If the Demon’s Heir is unwilling to do what is necessary and dedicate himself to the League, how can he ask others to do the same?

 

Ubu attempts to restrain himself from letting out a loud cry of pain, as he begins to process just what I’ve done. His dedication to my father’s teachings are ridiculous. Even now, with a severed limb, he refuses to show pain to his opponent even though it’s clear as day how hard he’s trying to restrain himself. Whilst he’s distracted, I take this moment to grab hold of his sword and throw it far enough away so there’s no possibility of him grabbing hold of it before I’m able to stop him.

 

As I pick up his blade, I can’t help but notice that the severed hand keeps twitching. They’re small twitches, but they’re almost impossible to ignore.

 

I’m sorry Ubu.

 

I didn’t want any of this to happen, but you gave me no choice.

 

The tone of his supressed grunts begins to subtly change as the reality of his situation becomes clear.

 

Whilst the Lazarus pit is capable of miracles, it can only heal and repair. It cannot create or replace, so his arm will stay that way for the rest of his days on this Earth and he knows it. Blinded by anger, he swings at me with his left hand clenched into a fist only for me to dodge it with relative ease. Deep down I know I should show him mercy and not harm him further, but I ignore that instinct and return the favour. In his dazed state, he fails to dodge and my fist collides with his nose appearing to break it in the process.

 

Before he has a chance to try and desperately lash out, I charge forward and pin him against the wall with my blade pressed close to his throat. If there’s any hope of extracting information from Ubu, now is the only chance I’ll get. Once he fully regains his senses and calms himself, he’ll become uncooperative and not give me anything.

 

To ensure he doesn’t trying anything foolish, I grab hold of what remains of his right arm and squeeze hard causing him to let a larger grunt as he tries to supress another cry of pain.

 

 

 

Talia: Talk Ubu. Where is he?

 

Ubu: Where…..is……who?

 

Rather than respond to that question, I squeeze his arm harder. Much to my surprise, he fails to supress his pain and lets out a loud scream. It’s worrying how happy hearing him in pain made me feel. At long last, the Demon’s Hand is shown to be human just the rest of us.

 

Talia: I know he’s gone after Damian. What else has he got planned?

 

Silence.

 

Also not the answer I want. How unfortunate for him. I take a step back and swipe my blade against his left arm to make him afraid. Evidently the pain from his severed hand is blocking his sense of pain for other parts of the body, as he hardly reacts to that wound. That’s quickly corrected when I return my blade to its position next to his throat and slowly moved it forward so that it lightly cuts into his throat.

 

Talia: Unless I start hearing answers, this blade will keep going.

 

Ubu: The…..

 

I retract my blade so he can properly speak.

 

Ubu: The pit…..

 

Talia: Your arm is beyond the pit’s powers I’m afraid. Tell me what my father has planned, or I’ll make the other one beyond repair as well.

 

Ubu: The pit won’t save him.

 

Talia: Won’t save who?

 

Is he talking about my father? Has the pit fully rejected him now?

 

Talia: Who Ubu? Who!?

 

Ubu: The deserter…..Once the Heir to the Demon has been freed from his cage, there will be nowhere for the deserter to hide…..nowhere we can’t find him…..and when the Demon’s Heir……is finished with him…..not even the pit will be able to save him….

 

Even now at my mercy, he mocks me. I like to think that I was left no choice. As I said before, the guilty often try to paint themselves as victims faced with poor choices. But the truth is I never had to do anything to Ubu. Disarmed, bloodied and defeated, I could have simply restrained him and moved on.

 

I probably should have done.

 

Instead, without hesitation, I swiped my blade against Ubu’s throat causing him to fall silent and collapse on the ground. Is he dead? I can’t be certain having not inspected the cut to see how deep it went. It’s perfectly possible that the sudden shock combined with blood loss merely caused him to lose consciousness…….

 

But I suspect otherwise.

 

I’m sorry it had to come to this Ubu. You deserved better.

 

For a moment or two, I stand in place, taking time to breath in and compose myself. Having to face Ubu….a man I’ve known my whole life…..it’s just….

 

That doesn’t matter right now. Ubu was merely a distraction just as these towers are. As I take a moment to clean my blade before sheathing it, I suddenly realise that I’ve not seen or heard from Tim since I sent him to shut down the tower. Maybe there was more than just Ubu and Ducain guarding this tower.

 

Damn it, Ubu might have been little more than a distraction whilst they isolated and targeted Tim.

 

I race to the door that leads further into the tower, ignoring Ubu’s sword as I pass it. Please let me be wrong…..

Done