PREVIOUSLY IN PART 2...
Batman stares at the costumed shooter in awe upon hearing him utter his real name & insinuate that they have met before. It is in this moment that Wayne realizes that he is the psychopath that killed the Riddler. What he couldn’t understand is how the gunman would be here waiting at Jason’s gravesite for him, unless the chase was a setup. His white slit eyes narrowed as he came to the conclusion that he fell into a trap.
‘Hahaha you’re so quiet for a man who’s just been shot…what’s the matter?’ chuckles Hush at the wounded Dark Knight.
‘Oh I know what you’re thinking…what’s bothering you deep down…it’s not that I shot you, nor that you, the World’s Greatest Detective were outsmarted by me and fell into my trap… No…you’re thinking about the boy you failed all those years ago who should be right here…’ continues Hush as he points to Jason’s gravestone.
‘Tell me Bruce…how does that make you feel?’ he asks with a sinister smile.
Frustration turns into remorse as Bruce stares at Todd’s tombstone. Thunder shakes the ground as a storm moves in & heavy rain begins to fall. As he felt tears beginning to form, Wayne’s sadness transitions into anger as he turns his attention to the gunman.
‘Who are you?’ growls Batman as he glares at the shooter.
‘Do you think it was by coincidence that we’re here? At this gravesite? On a rainy night?’ quietly replies Hush.
‘Death & legacies…that’s what this is all about Bruce….what you took from me…it should be mine…MINE!!! YOU DON’T DESERVE TO HAVE IT ALL!!...I DO.’ erupts Hush as he moves closer with his gun still pointed at the Dark Knight.
‘Do you remember? All those years ago…you and your family cheated me! We both had upbringings of wealth and fortune, but with one tremendous difference- your parents loved you and you were happy. My father was a drunk who beat me and my mother…and my mother was no better…she kept her little bony, frail mouth shut and took the beatings my father dealt to us both to keep her fortune! I still relish the day I finally ended her miserable existence… But you Bruce…you had it all, even after you lost everything. My fiend of a father would’ve died when I cut the brakes in his car had it not been for the gifted surgeon that was Thomas Wayne saving his life in the emergency room. And then there was the time when we were in summer camp…and you and your mother sat idly by as they hauled me away to the sanitarium for beating that impudent brat’s brains in. You just stood there! Staring at me as they took me away!!! I thought you were my friend...but now I realize you simply pitied me… ’ trembles Hush in a quiet icy tone.
Bruce’s eyes widened in shock as the masked gunman’s true identity was suddenly realized.
‘No…’ uttered Batman in a voice barely above a whisper. ‘Tom?’
Hush’s demeanor suddenly changed from irate to triumphant, as an evil smirk crept slowly over his lips.
‘Well done Bruce…well done…You are as sharp as ever I see…all those times we played chess & strategy games together paid off. World’s Greatest Detective indeed…’ chuckles Hush .
The Dark Knight glares at the gunman who was once his childhood friend; the costumed psychopath who stands before him is Thomas Elliot. Bruce shakes his feeling of numbness and decides this revelation of Hush’s identity had to wait.
‘Where’s Jason?’ snarls an infuriated Batman.
‘Oh…I think you should be more worried about the one who has a gun pointed at you, rather than chasing ghosts. You will NOT IGNORE ME!’ bellows Hush as he moves even closer to the wounded Wayne.
Overhead, lightning strikes a nearby tree, causing Hush to be briefly stunned. Seizing the opportunity, Batman leaps at Elliot and successfully tackles him to the ground- causing Hush to drop his gun.
‘Believe me…you have my FULL attention!’ yells Wayne as he pins Thomas to the ground and lands two powerful blows to Hush’s skull.
Hush roars in anger as he is able to knock the Dark Knight off of him with a powerful knee to Bruce’s abdomen. Batman quickly recovers and is able to block Elliot’s powerful punch aimed for his head. The two begin a brutal clash in the graveyard, matching each other blow for blow as the storm’s thunder and lightning seems to strike in rhythm with the quarrel that ensues.
Finally, Bruce manages to connect his right fist with Hush’s left temple as a thunder crack erupts from above; the force knocks the disoriented madman to the ground. Batman looks down at Elliot as the heavy rain continues to pour.
‘It’s over Tom.’ pants the exhausted Dark Knight.
Uncontrollable laughter escapes Thomas’ lungs at Bruce’s proclamation that the fight had ended.
‘Hehehe…Over?...Hahaha…OVER?! THIS IS FAR FROM OVER BRUCE!’ shouts Hush.
‘I SAY WHEN THIS IS OVER!! ME!!!...AND I SAY IT ENDS NOW.’ proclaims Elliot as
he draws a secondary pistol from his trenchcoat and aims it at Wayne.
Batman froze; he was in point blank range of Hush’s gun and would be unable to dodge the bullet in time. Before Elliot could pull the trigger, a thrown wing-ding disarms Hush. As Thomas clenches his arm and yelps in pain, he glares in the direction of where the wing-ding came from to find Nightwing.
‘You’re right…it is over Hush.’ declares Nightwing with a smirk.
Elliot’s eyes widen as he recognizes Grayson’s voice & furrow again in anger:
‘YOU….’
Batman grabs Hush by his throat, suspends him in the air and bellows in a voice almost as a snarl: ‘ENOUGH OF THIS! WHERE IS JASON?!’
‘Hello…’ replied a voice in the darkness. Batman’s attention turns to the direction of the voice, as the shadowed figure reveals himself to be the Red Hood.
‘I believe you should be more worried about your newest Boy Blunder’s current condition, rather than the one you’ve already failed.’
Hush begins to chuckle between his gasps for air as Batman tightens his grip around his throat. Wayne glares at Elliot for a moment and in a blind rage, hurls Hush into a nearby gravestone head-first. The force of the throw & the collision of Elliot’s head breaks the tombstone upon impact- indefinitely incapacitating Bruce’s once childhood friend.
Without a second thought, Batman redirects his attention towards the Red Hood.
‘I’m tired of all these games. What have you done with him?’ demands the Dark Knight.
‘Calm down. He’s safe…for now. And that’s the point. I’m going to give you the same chance to save him as you had the same chance to save the last Robin.’ replies the Red Hood with a sense of humility in his voice.
‘You will find him in the factory where all this madness began…the site of your first and possibly greatest failure…where you killed the original Red Hood & created a monster…’ continues the Red Hood in a cryptic tone.
Batman was shocked at this statement. He knew exactly where Tim was- the Axis Chemical Plant, where he failed to save the original Red Hood and helplessly watched as he fell to his death in a vat of toxic chemicals…or so he thought.
‘But you better hurry…you only have twenty minutes to save him.’ finishes the Red Hood.
The Dark Knight stood in disbelief at the crimson helmeted vigilante. For a moment, Bruce was in denial that the man who stood before him was in fact Jason.
‘If you let this happen…you will be no better than him…trying to repeat history by endangering Tim’s life at the sake of proving a point will solve nothing.’ replies Batman.
‘Don’t you DARE compare me to that murdering psychopath…EVER.’ explodes the Red Hood in response.
‘You want to be different from him? Then let Tim go…don’t do this…’ pleads Batman to the unstable Red Hood.
The Red Hood stands silently for a moment, staring at the Dark Knight. He then takes from his jacket pocket a remote detonator. He flips the switch on the remote to ‘disarm’ & throws the detonator on the ground at Batman’s feet.
‘You’ll find him unharmed in the center of the chemical plant…I never intended to hurt him.’ quietly states the Red Hood.
Batman turns to Nightwing’s direction and orders: ‘Go.’
Dick looks at Bruce for a moment and then nods in acknowledgement before deploying his grapple and swinging away to re-acquire Tim.
‘So what happens now…Dark Knight?’ inquires the Red Hood in a taunting tone.
‘You wanted me to follow you here…and here I am. So you tell me…Red Hood.’ replies Batman in a similar voice.
‘I think we both know where we go from here…Bruce.’ threatens the Red Hood as he un-holsters a large hunting knife from his hip and moves into a battle stance.
Batman lowers his head in disappointment at the Red Hood’s answer. There was no avoiding what would happen next- Bruce would have to fight him.
‘Guess I held out hope that it wouldn’t come to this…I don’t want to fight you.’ responds a despondent Dark Knight.
‘I’m sorry…but this is the way it has to be…’ finishes the Red Hood almost apologetically before lunging at a surprised Batman.
After a millisecond of hesitation, the Dark Knight charges at the Red Hood and greets him with a powerful blow to his helmeted head. The force of the punch sends the Red Hood flying in the opposite direction. He recovers in midair as he backflips back onto his feet and in one single motion leaps back at Batman with his blade, clutched in his left hand prepared to strike.
Unfortunately for Bruce, he was exhausted from his battle with Hush and still was steadily bleeding from his gunshot wound in his left shoulder. He manages to dodge the knife, but fails to block the bone crushing right hook from the Red Hood. His brutal blow connects into the left side of Batman’s rib cage-indefinitely breaking 3 ribs on impact. The Dark Knight howls and seizes up in excruciating pain as he drops to a knee. In this moment, the Red Hood reaches down and removes Batman’s cowl. Gasping short but heavy breaths, Bruce holds the left side of his chest with his right arm and stares at the Red Hood in shock.
This opponent wasn’t naturally strong; he managed to punch through Batman’s Kevlar hardened body armor & break 3 ribs with one punch. The best a normal thug could do is bruise the ribs, but never break them. The Red Hood was enhanced in strength and agility, just like Talia had warned Bruce that he would be.
‘I see the Lazarus pits have done wonders for you.’ pants the Dark Knight still clenching his side as he slowly gets up from kneeling.
This statement takes the Red Hood slightly by surprise as he responds: ‘Funny, you’re not even in the slightest a bit worried that I’ve unmasked you…’
‘That’s because we both know who we are under our masks.’ replies Batman, wincing in pain as it hurt to talk loudly.
‘Well, guess I should level the playing field then and take off my mine…even though you know who’s face is under the Red Hood…’ declares the Red Hood, as he removes his helmet to reveal a face wearing a crimson mask that Bruce’s trusted partner wore many years ago.
His face was much older and hardened, but nonetheless the same as it was all those years ago. It was the face of the second Robin, the boy who was brutally murdered at the hands of the Joker so many years ago. And his name was…
TO BE CONTINUED!!
Be sure to come back soon for Part 4 of...
BATMAN: DARK KNIGHTS!
In case you want to review...here are the links to 1 thru 6 of my Batman Reboot saga, as well as my fancast for this epic storyline & the continuation of Batman Beyond!!
BATMAN: DARK KNIGHTS PART 2
BATMAN: DARK KNIGHTS PART 1
BATMAN: KNIGHTFALL
BATMAN: KNIGHT OF VENGEANCE
BATMAN: CITY OF CHAOS
BATMAN: THE CAPED CRUSADER & BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHTS
BATMAN REBOOT - BATMAN BEYOND FANCAST
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Til next time!
-Your UFNSM