Prodigal Son Part 1

Pov Batman

He missed his sons

That had been the first thing he had realized the moment he was sat down for trial and it was the last thing he thought every night before he went to sleep. 

He hadn't had the chance to speak with any of them before he had… killed the Joker. He hadn't had the thought to in all honesty, during that long drive back to Gotham all his thoughts had been of what he had done, if it had been the right thing to do

It had

There was no other way to see it… but that didn't make it easier. It had been the first time he had shed tears since the death of Jason. Not for the joker of course but for that one part of him that had been left that was still the innocent boy he had been in the ally

That boy was finally gone, completely, with nothing remaining.

But he didn't regret what he had done

He'd talked to Clark since then and told him why he did it. That it wasn't just for him, but also for everyone who had yet to be hurt by the Joker, those who he couldnt let him hurt. 

Like his god-daughter 

What the Joker had done had caused Lois to enter labor early, only a few days after the nuke had been removed from Metropolis, but even then the baby was ok, little Martha, named after the mother who had raised Superman into the man he was and also the mother of the man who had stopped Clark from going past a point of no return

The joker had failed to hurt her and now he never would.

…

But sadly that only made him miss his own family even more. They weren't able to visit him since he had kept his identity a secret, even when they had confiscated his suit he had not taken the cowl off. And in an orange jumpsuit and his black cowl, he looked almost comical.

He wondered how they had taken the news. Damien likely wouldn't care, his mother's blood ran strong in his veins no matter how much he didn't like it. But Dick and Tim would take the news harder, as would Alfred

And Jason… he had no idea how he would have reacted to the news. Joy? Anger? Would he care at this point? 

He fell asleep to these thoughts, just like he had for the past month

…

…

…

And then he awoke to a metallic hand grasping onto his leg, alarms blaring as something slammed through the wall of his cell

And then he was flying at the wall!

Twisting mid-air he landed feet first, catching himself, although without his boots to lessen the impact it still hurt, arches of pain surging up his legs as he then dropped into a crouch on the floor, staring in the dust that filled up the other side of his cell

And then he saw it, a glowing red light that seemed to grow brighter and brighter, turning the cloud of dust a deep crimson as whatever it was charged at him.

It was fast!

A black hand, claws like knives sped towards him at a speed he was barely able to register, the tips glaring at red-orange color as he felt the heat coming off them. Ducking he tried to avoid the attack but it still grazed him, one of the claws drawing a line across his chest, cutting the skin and cauterising it simultaneously 

Grunting in pain he spun on his heel, dropping low and swinging a leg at full strength. Provided the target was human it would strike directly into the kidney, dropping them to the ground and putting them in a great deal of pain

But before it could land… a hand caught it

And then he was flying again, this time out of the hole in the wall

Into the rain and straight out of the converted watchtower and down onto one of the walls of the penitentiary 

This time he couldnt catch himself, the fall was far too great, all he could do was lessen the fall! Pulling out the mini Batarang he had kept hidden in one of the cowl's ears, he jammed it into the wall as he fell, feeling it take traction but not enough to hold on, but just enough to stop him from breaking his legs as he fell, rolling with the fall to reduce the damage. he had however felt his shoulder dislocate in the process, painfully.

And as he looked up, scrapped and likely already bruised from the fall, he saw his attacker as they, it jumped down after him

An Android, darker and sharper than even one of his own suits, a glowing red visor staring him down as it landed with little effort, cracking the concrete of the wall ramparts beneath it. It looked like the very fears he had struck into the hearts of Gotham's criminals had come for him

So, popping his shoulder back with a click, he took a stance, letting the rain wash over him

And it copied him

So he adjusted his form to another style

And it copied him

He adjusted again

So did it 

Boxing, Muay Thai, western kickboxing, sambo, savate, jiu-jitsu, wrestling, judo, Taekwondo, karate, Kung Fu, and Krav Maga, he tried each of them

It still copied him

No that wasn't right… it wasn't copying him

It also knew each of them, all of them

So he charged forward instead… and so did the machine

He went for a right hook, it went for a left. But just before landing the blow, he let himself fall, slipping on the wet concrete, skidding on his knees under the blow, and slicing at its side with the small but extremely sharp Batarang

And he felt the blade simply clang off 

And then he felt, yet again a hand grab him, far quicker than he could have expected as it latched onto the back of its neck, lifted him up, and then threw him once more. Not upwards or off the wall, but straight down, straight into the concrete

And as he slammed down he felt his breath leave him and saw stars as his vision sparked and wavered. It had been a while since he had been hit that hard, and even longer since he'd been hit without a suit

He barely made it in time to roll out of the way as a fist slammed down, right where his head had been, shattering the concrete. Furthering the roll, he used the momentum to regain his footing and stood up, pushing forward off one of the wall ramparts as yet another fist slammed down.

And as he stood up, once again facing the Android in front of him, he couldnt help but grit his teeth from the pain and brush at his ribs with his hand. Cracked, maybe broken in at least two places

Sucking air back into his lungs, he stared down his opponent as it slowly approached him, stalking with the certainty of a lion approaching a starved wolf

"Who sent you?!" He coughed out, spitting a glob of blood out of his mouth as he snarled at the android "Ivo?! Brainiac!? The court of owls?!"

That seemed to stop it in its tracks

For a few seconds, it seemed to pause, looking at him, before tilting its head as a robotic voice sounded out in the darkness

"Batman"

And then it leveled an arm at him, the palm of its hand crackling with red energy