The DCFutures FanFiction Group recognizes that Batman and all related characters are property of DC Comics. These stories are written for no profit, but rather a strong desire to peer into the future of the DCU. The stories and concepts presented herein, however, are property of the author. So there. **** And then there was light. He was bound. His belt was gone, as were his gauntlets. His cape had been removed, however his mask and cowl - locked on electronically - remained. Shiva was stirring. *sniff* They were somewhere near the ocean. He could smell it. But what had brought them there? "Ah, awake at last. Happy to see you again, 'Dr. Chiroptera.'" That voice. It was Wight. **** BATMAN: DCF #49 **** Written and Directed by Erik Burnham darvey@rocketmail.com **** Batman created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger **** "Dark Knight Descending Part Two (of two): Aces and Eights" Lady Shiva: DCF created by Nick Bryan **** Sarah Challa's eyes fluttered open. She was bound, her weapons stripped away from her. Her mask had been removed. Who had done this? She heard a voice addressing the Batman - who, it seems, was also being held captive. Anger swelled. She would destroy the captor and then the Batman. ...When she could get free. "Who is there?" Shiva asked. "Ah, my other guest stirs. Allow me to introduce myself, Ms. ah, Shiva. Dr. Jeremy Wight - pleasure to make your acquaintance." "I guarantee you that will change," Shiva said, noting the Batman's silence. "What is your game, doctor?" Wight laughed, a chilling sound that had the same texture - if not tone - as a bone saw. "To the point! I like that. My point, Ms. Shiva, is simple hatred. Hatred for the man you see lying near you, hatred for what he's done to me. That hatred drew me to San Francisco and, indeed, to you." "Explain." "I am a telepath, my dear... and while stealing the secrets of a guarded mind eludes me -- thus my inability to know either of your identities -- I can still pick up on strong thoughts. Your distaste for the Batman, by way of example. I can also project fairly complex images with enough effort..." Realization hit the Batman: "My doppelganger," he said. "Quite." Wight smiled to himself. "But I must apologize. In my... enthusiasm over seeing you in San Francisco, I interrupted what looked to be quite the interesting match. Luckily, we can rectify that now." "What makes you think we're going to fight?" "Because, Batman, if you don't fight the lady, she'll surely kill you. Am I wrong?" **** Gotham City. The Batcave. Clark Kent finds himself staring at the healing matrix Tim had constructed from the stasis device that had housed Clark... for a near century. The matrix had an occupant now, and Clark momentarily wondered how Tim would take it when he finally got around to noticing. Sighing, Clark walked over to the Batcave's gym and climbed into the boxing ring. "Alfred," Clark called out. "Yes sir?" Clark was startled; he had expected Alfred's consciousness to be in the omnipresent housing of Wayne Manor's Automated Defense/Maintenance system. Instead, the familiar voice came from the butler's android body. A body so lifelike it was hard to believe it wasn't real. ...Of course, Alfred's soul had a lot to do with that. "I was wondering," Clark began, "if you'd set up the sparring droid to go a few rounds, please?" "Testing the limits again, are we sir?" Again. Hah. Clark caught the tone -- his own powers had near vanished after his run in with the deadly Firebrand virus [see The Flash v.2 #2 for more information! -E] leaving his physical powers as slightly more than human, but less even than when he'd awoken. He could maybe compete in the Olympics. ...Of course, all he needed was enough solar radiation to remedy that, but still -- it was an inconvenience. "Actually, Alfred... I was more in the mood to work off some frustration." "Understood, Master Clark. Shall I tape Master Tim's photo on the sparring droid, then?" Clark laughed in spite of himself. He really felt at home here. Was that wrong? **** Jon Isaacs woke up with a good old-fashioned hangover and an epiphany: screw the pity party - he was a cop, and a cop he'd stay until he got put in the ground. The shrapnel he took in the leg didn't stop him - some raving psychotic damn sure wouldn't. He hated it when he let himself question his place in the world. It was, however, a great excuse to drink. You gotta take the good with the bad to survive in places like Gotham. You gotta take the good with the bad. **** "Now then - the rules of the game are simple," Wight said. "Winner may leave, with my blessing. The loser will be dead. It may not be creative, but it's the way we play." Wight chuckled, filled with images he was able to pick up from Shiva's mind. Images of her last meeting with Batman. Images of her handily beating him. He loved these images. Shiva was preparing to kill. Batman didn't seem to feel that either of them would leave the place alive on Wight's good word. Which was a correct assumption on his part. The impulses from both promised a delicious spectacle for the evening. Wight depressed a button on the control panel before him, unlocking the electromagnetic bonds on his combatants. "Lady and gentleman, let the show begin." **** Tim Drake had an annoying little voice that followed him wherever he went. You know, a little whisper that doesn't even sound like one of your own thoughts, but is in your head irregardless. The volume on that whisper had been cranked to eleven. It's gravel tone rang in Tim's ears like a shout. Battle is not the time for a joke, it said. There is no time for joking whatsoever. It takes valuable seconds away from other, more important, things. Levity presents no usefulness. Energy should not be spared on things that were of no use. **** His silence is deafening. Lady Shiva knew herself to be the greatest fighter in the world. There was no question of that fact. None. That's why she bore the name of Shiva. Sarah Challa, on the other hand, was still something of a human being. A human being facing something of a quandary at this very moment. A man who was not what he had been before. Sarah Challa, no, Lady Shiva had met the Batman previously. A year before, give or take a month. [See this meeting, written by Nick Bryan, at the Batman DCF site! -E] The Batman had appeared on newscasts several times since their initial confrontation. He had been all too quick with a bit of asinine wordplay on each occasion - both in person, and in front of the cameras. There was, however, some conflicting information. Some on the scene of a would-be rape categorized Batman as a bloodthirsty savage, the kind of violent, invincible thug that had been popularized in the cinema. Others, from an undone terrorist action at a hospital, viewed the Batman as cold, precise, and terrifying. This lent credence to a popular theory that there were several Batmen. However, he had recognized her. **** Simply... amazing. Wight watched his 'contest of champions,' simply breathtaking in its beauty. Silently, the dark-garbed man and woman circled each other. Shiva struck first, her arms a blur of motion, weaving through the air with speed and grace before making a lightning-fast strike at the Batman's eyes. He blocked it, also with an impossible speed, following up with an ungentlemanly kick towards the woman's groin. Shiva caught the Batman's knee in her hands and used it as a hold, launching herself into the air in a backwards flip, catching her opponent with a kick to the chin as she did so. This was ballet, Wight thought. A beautiful, terrible ballet. Nothing had ever captured his attention in such a way before. He found himself wondering what went through one's mind when engaged in such actions and reached out for an impression, a stray thought... anything. From the Lady Shiva, Wight felt uncertainty. Not of herself, her confidence in her own abilities rivaled his own. She was uncertain of the Batman. How or why he could not tell. Interesting. Her opponent was completely clear of, at least, any obvious thoughts on the battle at hand. Yet there was the presence of conflict in the Batman's mind. It just didn't seem to fit. Square peg, round hole. Amazing. **** A quip. A laugh. A smile. A smirk. Tim Drake was used to using these things as weapons. Offensive. Defensive. It didn't matter which. He'd used them in school. He'd used them in life. He'd used them in business. He'd used them in costume. But you are not Tim Drake, the voice said. You are Batman. Batman has no use for quips or laughter, smiles or smirks. Batman is fear and terror and loneliness and vengeance. But what do I, Tim wondered, have to avenge? Your parents were taken from you. My parents? My parents were taken by nature, not by man. They were not really your parents. You had no parents. You were mixed together in a test tube and deposited in the womb of Mary Drake. Your parents were taken from you. That makes me adopted. My parents loved me. They don't need avenging. You were manipulated. I am my own man. Your world is not your own. You are a plaything, an experiment. Your emotions were played with. Shannon was taken from you. She doesn't want to ever see you again. You were almost a father. Your child was taken from you. Vengeance. No! Revenge is not mine to take, by necessity or choice! I WANT TO HELP! You will help. You do help. You were created to help. You do not help enough. You laugh and play and pretend. I save lives. Not because I have to. Not because of some tragic obsession. I want to! I'm strong, I'm smart, I'm fast, I'm rich! I do what I do because I can! Because it's what you were built to do. Do I see the Queen of Diamonds soon? Do I change my last name to Valley and develop an attraction to bladed gauntlets and fleur de lis? I'm Tim Drake! Timothy Patrick Drake II! And I am Batman... ...in spite of it all. **** Lady Shiva is confused by her opponent. He blocks. He dodges. He will not attack in any meaningful way. It is almost as if -- he doesn't notice this battle is being fought at all. Yet his form is flawless. Again the impossible rears its head to mock her. Wait. His posture. Whatever had been distracting him... ...Is no longer doing so. Shiva cannot see the Batman's eyes, but knows they are focusing on her now. He explodes with movement. She counters his attack with a maneuver both graceful and devastating. Unfortunately, Shiva had underestimated the strength of this man. Her counterattack merely gave him better position. She could see her end. Her eyes unflinchingly followed his fist from a striking position right to her... "Meep!" Batman said. "Got your nose." **** The fight had ended. The Batman was victorious. Wight... was furious. He felt like a villain from the movies, watching a relatively simple plan turn afoul. No. No, he would not have this today. **** "You spared me," Shiva said. "I do that, gorgeous." Batman chuckled. Shiva growled low in her throat; this was the same man she had encountered before. Her humiliation was complete. Still, she had to ask, "Why?" "We have to set a good example for all the kids out in TV land, Sheev." Batman was scanning the room, looking for a door, a window, a something... he wanted to find their 'host' and show the kids in TV Land a little something else. And then... the pain. **** It felt like being a slow roast in Hell -- something Tim could speak with some authority on. "You couldn't just be a sport and let the lady win, could you?" Wight. He was stimulating pain again. This was no worse than the jolt that had knocked him out in San Francisco. Apparently being ready for it helped some. Great silver lining there, Tim. A door that wasn't there before opened, and Wight stepped out. Batman felt his pain double. Suck it in Drake, suck it in... "How will you stop me now, little man? Your trusty bag of tricks is taken from you!" More pain. "You can't just reach into your little yellow belt and pull out a deus ex machina, can you? It must hurt." There was a twinkle in Wight's eye, followed by a redoubling of pain... and then Batman was on one knee. Wight chuckled. "Do you remember beating me Batman? Twenty-nine broken bones and a punctured lung. And then I was incarcerated... like a common criminal!" "Got news for you, pal. You are a common criminal." Bad move, Tim. Lord, it felt like his insides were about to burst. "And then you add insult to injury. Do you think it funny now? DO YOU FIND MY JOKE FUNNY?" Wight screamed. "Goodbye, Batman." Tim expected more pain. None came. Sweet release from the grips of pain washed over the Batman's body, the euphoric kind that makes you want to lie down and sleep. Like poppies in Oz. Well look who turned out to be the cavalry. "I warned you," Shiva said, driving her knee into Wight's abdomen, "That you would know regret. Shiva is no one's pawn. NO ONE'S!" Batman loosened his facemask to spit a clot of phlegm and blood on the floor. "You should not have ignored me," Shiva coldly growled, relieving the good doctor of at least three teeth as she did so. "I felt your hold on me loosen as you were raving... and that will be your end!" Shiva's fist was caught. Batman said simply, "No killing, Shiva." "How dare you! After what he did to me? To you?" "Call me hopeless, Shiva. I choose to live up to the heroic ideal." Batman's breath was ragged. "I won't let you kill him." "You're in no shape to... to" Shiva turned, but Wight was gone. Where? "I know you're still here," Batman said. "Give up now. We'll see if we can't get some subscription TV in Arkham for ya huh?" "Don't patronize me, Batman! And don't waste what precious time you have left!" "What are you talking about?" Shiva said. "You aren't any position to..." "Auto destruct," Wight said, "Activate." Batman and Shiva looked at each other. And ran. They found a flight of stairs. Ascended. Down a corridor. Through a door. And another. And... "Oh no." Shiva and Batman saw the sun setting on the horizon. And ocean on all sides. They had been taken to a closed down offshore oil platform. "How do we get out of here?" Shiva asked. Batman answered by diving into the water below. He heard the splash signaling Shiva's entry into the sea seconds before his senses were rocked by the exploding facility. **** An hour's swim later, Batman and Lady Shiva emerged from the sea onto the shores of California. "What do you say?" Tim asked. "Excuse me?" "Thank you!" "For what?" "You would've regretted offing him. Admit it." "You spared my life, Batman. In return, I saved yours. Go back to your city... and return to San Francisco at cost of your own life." Shiva turned and walked away, never looking back. C'est la vie. Meantime, that little voice that had plagued Tim for... for as long as he could remember wasn't there anymore. Coincidentally, neither was any doubt or insecurity in his role as hero. **** END **** NEXT: Our fiftieth issue. **** GOING BATTY **** Ladies and gentlemen... I gotta apologize. It's my own fault! I was going to run letters here. I downloaded them off my email address and saved them to disk. And then I deleted them from my inbox to save space. ...So what happens? My disk gets corrupted and I can't retrieve the mail. Wotta revoltin' development. I read all the letters (obviously) and thank you all for taking the time to send them. I appreciate everything I get.