The Dark Knight - Heir to the Demon #12

The first move has been made, and it’s not at all what I expected.

 

Knowing the tactics of Ra’s Al-Ghul as well as I claim to, I anticipated a direct assault on the cave as the first move of attack against Gotham. But the security systems at the cave have yet to be triggered. Instead he has deployed a form of warfare he previously viewed as cowardice.

 

Chemical warfare.

 

According to the Waynetech satellites, the League of Assassins have repurposed the old guardian towers that stand on the outskirts of the city and are using them to pump out a toxic gas that is quickly covering the entire city. From the sample that we’ve been able to obtain, the gas appear colourless in low concentrations but when it’s in sufficiently high concentration it has a faint yellow appearance. Whilst the production of more Lucifer is essential to our success in combating Ra’s, I’ve been forced to task both Lucius and Alfred with analysing the gas and developing a neutralising agent.

 

From what little additional information the satellite feed has been able to provide us, it appears that due to their age, the towers output of the toxin is slow so we have the benefit of time in our favour before it makes it into the heart of the city. Either way, we can’t afford to waste this brief window. Wayne Tower may be capable of producing an airtight seal to prevent toxins from getting in, but the likes of the GCPD and Gotham General do not.

 

Given how Gotham General still holds the fifty or so patients that were deemed to critical to move, it’s imperative that this toxin is stopped before it has a chance to make it to the hospital. So we have no choice. We’ve got to go out into the toxin. Fortunately, what both Alfred and Lucius have already been able to determine is that though the gas is toxic if inhaled, it is unable to corrode a rebreather meaning that it’s safe for us to traverse Gotham.

 

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the members of the national guard that the President and Governor deployed to assist in ‘maintaining security’ as they call it. It’s likely that this gas attack was developed solely to remove them from the theatre of combat so the League need only concern itself with us.

 

Yet, I can’t help but feel some guilt. My aim with creating that false terror threat video was to limit the number of lives that would be caught up in this battle between ourselves and the League. Instead, I’ve ended up trading the lives of civilians for the lives of soldiers. They were heroes. They unwillingly gave their lives trying to defend the country that they love. I shall not let their deaths be vain. I will make Ra’s pay for this.

 

Dick: This….this is horrible….

 

Scarlett: Do you think any of the national guard managed to make it to safety?

 

Jason: I don’t know Scarlett. I really don’t know.

 

Tim: Do we know just what’s in this gas?

 

Bruce: Alfred and Lucius are still working to analyse the gas and synthesize a neutralising agent.

 

Roy: This isn’t right. What sort of monster gases people without a second thought?

 

Barbra: One who believes himself above all others. A man who thinks it his right to decide who deserves to live, and who deserves to die.

 

Bruce: This cannot be allowed to continue.

 

Dick: What are you suggesting?

 

Bruce: The gas is toxic if inhaled, but the tests that have already been performed show it is unable to corrode a gas mask and rebreather.

 

Tim: You’re saying we go out there and try to shut the towers down ourselves?

 

Bruce: Without a neutralising agent, there is little more we can do than simply prevent the gas from covering all of Gotham at present. We must ensure that the gas is not able to make it towards the GCPD or Gotham General.

 

Scarlett: But what about the soldiers? How do we help them?

 

I say nothing, simply turning towards the live satellite feed looking over Gotham. Tim, Dick and Jason all recognise what my decision to not answer Scarlett’s question means, and they say nothing. It doesn’t take long for Mr. Harper to realise as well, much to his disgust.

 

Roy: You’re just going to ignore them? Leave them to die?

 

Bruce: They’ll all die anyway if we don’t stop this gas from covering all of Gotham.

 

Scarlett: They’re innocent in all this! This whole attack is only happening because of you! We have to save them!

 

Jason: Scarlett…

 

Bruce: We have to prioritise. Say we’re successful, say we save what? Ten of them? How do you then justify saving ten of them and dooming the hundred or so police officers in the GCPD to death? How do you justify to Barbra that her father died needlessly because you chose saving one man over an entire city? How do you justify to Tim that his friend died in Gotham General because you let your emotions overrule your head?

 

I’m no doubt coming across as far too aggressive in this situation, but it’s necessary. They need to know how essential it is to place the decisions of the head before the decisions on the heart. It’s the only way we’ve got any chance of making it out this alive.

 

Roy: Ollie would try to save them.

 

Bruce: I’m no Oliver Queen.

 

Roy: That’s for sure.

 

Dick: Thank goodness.

 

Bruce: Given that the towers cover all four corners of Gotham, we’ll have to divide our forces in order to neutralise them simultaneously.

 

Barbra: So we split up into teams? Who goes with who?

 

Bruce: Barbra, you and Dick take the east tower.

 

Dick: The one closest to GCPD?

 

I notice a momentary pause from Barbra. It’s short, but noticeable. No doubt concern for the safety of her father.

 

Barbra: We’re on it.

 

Bruce: Jason, you and the Outlaws will take the southern tower.

 

Jason: Roger.

 

Roy: Wait, how the hell are we supposed to stop those towers anyways?

 

Bruce: Alfred will be feeding us all live information including the tower’s schematics when we arrive.

 

Dick: Good old Alfred.

 

Tim: So which tower does that leave me with? North or west?

 

Bruce: You and Talia will take the western tower.

 

Tim: Talia?

 

Bruce: She’s a skilled combatant. We’d be foolish not to make use of her help.

 

Tim: Then why’s she going with me and not you?

 

Bruce: I need someone I can trust to keep an eye on her.

 

Tim: You don’t trust yourself?

 

Bruce: Not unless it’s necessary.

 

Talia: He’s always been like that, I’m afraid.

 

Dick: You don’t need to tell any of us that, we’ve had to live with it.

 

Jason: Wait, it doesn’t make sense that three of us are going to the southern tower but you’re going alone to the northern tower. Doesn’t it make more sense for Roy to go with Tim and Talia go with you?

 

Bruce: I’ll be fine. I have the sword.

 

Scarlett: What sword?

 

Tim: You know how every member in the League has a chemical in their body that gives them an unnatural healing factor? He's got a magical sword that neutralises it.

 

Dick: Then why haven’t you tried giving all of us one of those swords!?

 

Bruce: Because I had to do a deal with Hephaestus, and he would only forge me one blade.

 

Roy: That’s why you had us retrieve that stuff from Greene’s mansion.

 

Bruce: That was only intended as a contingency for this very scenario. The blade was the product of desperation.

 

Barbra: What did you have to promise him in return for it?

 

Bruce: Far too much.

 

Before I can say just what it was that I pledged to Hephaestus, an alert appears on the monitor. The gas cloud is beginning to move further into the city. We don’t have much time.

 

Bruce: Suit up.

----------------------------------

 

One Hour Later...

 

We all depart from Wayne Tower, slowly making our way towards our respective towers. I suspect they all know the reason I decided to take the northern tower. It's the closest tower to Wayne Manor, or at least what remains of it, as I'm all but certain this gas attack is a cover for the League's attempt to free Damian from the cave. As much as I want to prevent them from releasing him, I have to follow the same advice I gave all of the team in the bunker.

 

Head over heart.

 

Right now the gas is a far greater danger not just to Gotham, but to the entire eastern seaboard, so neutralising it takes priority over preventing Damian's release. Ra's is aware that I will prioritise preventing the spread of the toxin, and no doubt he'll have precautions waiting for all of us at each sight. But if I know him even a fraction as well as I claim to, he'll have anticipated my intention of dealing with the northern tower.

 

Just what he's prepared for all of us though, is a mystery. But whatever it is, I faith that the others will be able to overcome it. Though the gas is seemingly incapable of corroding our masks, I do not want to risk any unforeseen consequences from deploying both the Batmobile and Batwing to transport each of us to our towers. Thus, we have no other choice but to do this the old fashioned way.

 

Rooftop running certainly is a lot easier in a mostly abandoned city. But it's as I leave the Diamond District and enter Otisburg that I notice something down on the street just in front of Striker Clothes and opposite the Stacked Deck ,

 

I quickly make my way down on to the streets and find the bodies of two members of the National Guard.

 

Both decapitated.

 

They died long before any gas could make into their bodies. Evidently this gas attack is intended not only to distract us from their likely imminent attempt to free Damian, but also to remove the rogue element introduced by the President federalising the National Guard.

 

It pains me to see their lifeless bodies in such a state, Scarlett was right when she said all that this is transpiring here is my doing, and they all know it. They just don't want to say it to my face. But despite that, I have no choice but to press on.

 

Whether I chose to fight or not, Ra's and the League have always had their sights set on destroying Gotham.

 

At least, that's what I like to keep telling myself.

 

No.

 

Come on, Bruce.

 

You cannot start thinking that way.

 

He wants you to doubt yourself, to question all of your moves.

 

You cannot let him.

 

These men gave their lives seeking to defend the country they loved. You it to them to stop all of this.

 

If not for yourself. Then for them.

 

I take a moment to break one of the display windows of Striker Clothes and decide to cover both of their bodies. No-one should have to see them like this.

 

Ra's will pay for what's done to them.

 

With that, I retrieve the grapple gun from my belt and continue on my path to the northern tower, all whilst waiting for that dreaded alert.

 

The warning that the Batcave has been breached...

 

Done