Thanks for the great game. The tide really turned once Geo-Force missed that RCE on Azrael. After that I was really just trying to pick off who I could, but sheer numbers were on your side.

That knockback on Dutchess was also killer as I had to sacrifce a Flurry attack to get her back in the game.

Not sure how my KOs affect the next match if we're starting a new arc.

i think they dont carry over to a new arc

hopefully

cuz without batman my team is sunk

“Batman,” Robin said, shaking his mentor from his nightmare.

“… Where am I?” Batman said, getting up from the hospital bed he was in. “What--?”

“You push yourself much too hard,” Dr. Leslie Thompson said, shaking her head. “I can only patch you back together so many times, you know.”

”Leslie,” Batman said, sighing and letting himself relax on the bed. He remembered the place, now that his wits were back and the nightmare had faded. He’d spent many an evening on this cot in Dr. Thompson’s back room. She was one of the few normal people who knew of his mission, and one of his few good friends. She always insisted on mothering him, and he was usually happy to let her - though he had to put up a token resistance.

“We got the King and his ministers,” Robin said. The young teen was sitting nearby, his mask and cape draped over his chair. Bruce realized his own cowl was missing - along with his shirt and gloves. His torso was taped tightly, and he had more than a few bandages in place. He must have taken a harder hit than he had thought.

“And Geo-Force?” he asked.

“Looks like the coup was all his idea,” Tim shrugged. “The ministers have gotten things back together and the King made a big deal of his first appearance this morning. Seems things will be under control before long.”

“Did anyone get the data for what Geo-Force was doing while regent?”

“Right here,” Robin said, holding up a disk. “Me and Spoiler were able to dig out the dirt while the others were tracking down that woman who was with GF.”

“Good,” Bruce said, taking up his costume pieces and pulling on his shirt. “It’s unlike an organization like Checkmate to do something so dangerous and blatant. If they involved themselves in a coup, they’d have been much more covert. I can‘t help but feel that woman who worked with the outsiders is involved.”

“Uh, yeah-- about that…” Robin said. “She’s gone.”

“You lost her?” Batman said, as Leslie looked over his wounds before letting him finish pulling down his shirt.

“Not like-- well, sorta,” Tim said, sounding discouraged. “We had her, and were gonna hand her off to the League for holding, since they’ve got better facilities for her power-level than we do. But while we were waiting, her cell…uh, it exploded.”

“Did she--?”

“No, she was just gone. Weirdest thing - the sound was like a bomb, and it was seriously deafening. We were sure she’d self-destructed or something. But she was just…gone. No damage done, no traces of her left-- she just vanished into thin air.”

“Then we have to get back to the Cave,” Batman said, mask in place. “There is much to do.” He turned to the Doctor as Robin put his cape and mask back on. “Thank you, Leslie. I’m sorry I couldn’t stay longer.”

“Oh, I’ll see you again, I’m sure,” she chuckled. She watched as Robin left out the back to prep the Batmobile. When he was out of range, she turned back to Bruce, suddenly serious. “But you take care, out there. You aren’t on your own, now, and you would do well to remember. These aren’t the bitter people that you let yourself become - they’re children. They have bright futures, and they deserve to see them.”

“I am being absolutely--“

“Don’t say it,” Leslie said, shaking her head. “Because you can’t be certain. You can be careful, but never certain. Don’t let these kids wind up like you-- it isn’t protecting them, it’s only guaranteeing they’ll wind up… broken.”

Batman just nodded and left. Robin tried briefly to start up conversation, but he remained silent. Leslie’s words stayed with him the entire ride back.

To be Continued…

Disregard the above post...accidentally clipped out the first half!

===================================

“Batman! Batman are you OK!” Robin said next to Batman.

Batman grunted and got up to one knee looking like a wreck of a man. He had many cuts in his suit that gave way to sharp wounds. He looked around with his hawk’s gaze, and that brief glimpse of human weakness vanished from him. He came to his feet, his cape draping over him like night over Gotham, and moved to a side wall. If Robin hadn’t come to know the man’s movements so well, he wouldn’t have recognized just how hurt he was.

“I’m fine,” Batman grunted. He pointed to a panel across the room. “That computer-- shut it down.”

Robin wasted no time crossing the gap. His fingers flew over the console, running hacking programs that would make a computer-genius twice his age blush. “It’s a shield,” he said, impressed with the technology. “A pretty impressive jamming system, too. No communications, no transmissions, no teleporting-- locks the room down pretty tight, actually. Not tight enough to stop me, though…”

“The rest of you,” Batman said to his lieutenants as they gathered together. “Fan out and find the real King. They would never have risked killing Markovia’s monarch like this…”

The darkly costumed youths nodded with resolve and vanished into the shadows to find the missing ruler. Robin shook his fist with a smile as he finished his work.

“Got it,” he said. “We’re back in the open, Batman.”

“J’onn,” the Dark Knight said, speaking into his personal Justice League communicator. “Track my location-- can you get a lock on Geo-Force’s position?”

“Affirmative, Batman,” came the low voice of the Martian. “I have him, now.”

“Good,” Batman said, closing off the comm. “Robin… I’m going to need help.”

“I’ve got you,” Catwoman said, appearing from behind him and pulling his arm over her shoulder. She had been wounded as well, the rips and tears in her leather catsuit revealing her own cuts and bruises. She still found the strength to grin and tease, though. “You try much too hard to look tough, you know.”

Batman said nothing, but looked at her a short time before allowing her to help him out to the Batplane. As soon as she had him in a rear seat, he slipped into unconsciousness.

“You look so different when you sleep…” she said to herself, running a finger across his lips. “Like you’re real. Like a human being. Like…”
_________________________________________________

Batman woke up to the scream of a young child. The boy was calling out that something horrible had happened to his parents, and was begging for help. Batman looked for the child through blurry eyes, finally able to focus his vision on the boy in front of him. The blur, however, gasped in shock and fear, running away as fast as he could down the alleyway.

Batman got up, following the child through the Markovian streets, but this boy was surprisingly fast. Running at full speed, he could barely keep up. His vision slowly cleared, and he saw other people looking on in fear and surprise at this frightening masked man chasing after a young child.

The boy dashed down an alley and Batman pushed to follow. The kid tripped and fell, and Batman stopped short. He walked slowly toward the boy who was on the ground, holding his leg and crying. He kneeled by the boy and reached a hand out to comfort him. The kid turned around and screamed Batman’s name in abject horror.

The Dark Knight pulled back in shock as he finally saw the boy’s face. It was him - he was the boy. He staggered back in surprise and realized the alley as crime alley. His foot hit something, and he went sprawling backward to the ground. He looked down and saw his parents’ dead bodies. His father was looking at him. Bruce saw disappointment there…

“BATMAN!” young Bruce Wayne shouted again and again.

The man was now a child, and felt very cold-- deathly cold.

“BATMAN!”
_________________________________________________

“Batman,” Robin said, shaking his mentor from his nightmare.

“… Where am I?” Batman said, getting up from the hospital bed he was in. “What--?”

“You push yourself much too hard,” Dr. Leslie Thompson said, shaking her head. “I can only patch you back together so many times, you know.”

”Leslie,” Batman said, sighing and letting himself relax on the bed. He remembered the place, now that his wits were back and the nightmare had faded. He’d spent many an evening on this cot in Dr. Thompson’s back room. She was one of the few normal people who knew of his mission, and one of his few good friends. She always insisted on mothering him, and he was usually happy to let her - though he had to put up a token resistance.

“We got the King and his ministers,” Robin said. The young teen was sitting nearby, his mask and cape draped over his chair. Bruce realized his own cowl was missing - along with his shirt and gloves. His torso was taped tightly, and he had more than a few bandages in place. He must have taken a harder hit than he had thought.

“And Geo-Force?” he asked.

“Looks like the coup was all his idea,” Tim shrugged. “The ministers have gotten things back together and the King made a big deal of his first appearance this morning. Seems things will be under control before long.”

“Did anyone get the data for what Geo-Force was doing while regent?”

“Right here,” Robin said, holding up a disk. “Me and Spoiler were able to dig out the dirt while the others were tracking down that woman who was with GF.”

“Good,” Bruce said, taking up his costume pieces and pulling on his shirt. “It’s unlike an organization like Checkmate to do something so dangerous and blatant. If they involved themselves in a coup, they’d have been much more covert. I can‘t help but feel that woman who worked with the outsiders is involved.”

“Uh, yeah-- about that…” Robin said. “She’s gone.”

“You lost her?” Batman said, as Leslie looked over his wounds before letting him finish pulling down his shirt.

“Not like-- well, sorta,” Tim said, sounding discouraged. “We had her, and were gonna hand her off to the League for holding, since they’ve got better facilities for her power-level than we do. But while we were waiting, her cell…uh, it exploded.”

“Did she--?”

“No, she was just gone. Weirdest thing - the sound was like a bomb, and it was seriously deafening. We were sure she’d self-destructed or something. But she was just…gone. No damage done, no traces of her left-- she just vanished into thin air.”

“Then we have to get back to the Cave,” Batman said, mask in place. “There is much to do.” He turned to the Doctor as Robin put his cape and mask back on. “Thank you, Leslie. I’m sorry I couldn’t stay longer.”

“Oh, I’ll see you again, I’m sure,” she chuckled. She watched as Robin left out the back to prep the Batmobile. When he was out of range, she turned back to Bruce, suddenly serious. “But you take care, out there. You aren’t on your own, now, and you would do well to remember. These aren’t the bitter people that you let yourself become - they’re children. They have bright futures, and they deserve to see them.”

“I am being absolutely--“

“Don’t say it,” Leslie said, shaking her head. “Because you can’t be certain. You can be careful, but never certain. Don’t let these kids wind up like you-- it isn’t protecting them, it’s only guaranteeing they’ll wind up… broken.”

Batman just nodded and left. Robin tried briefly to start up conversation, but he remained silent. Leslie’s words stayed with him the entire ride back.

To be Continued…