ELANA AND TALIA

[Present time]

Bruce threw three rapid jabs, she avoided the first two and blocked the last one. When Bruce stepped away, she ducked and came low to deliver an open palm to his middle. When he raised his leg and leaned to one side to protect his body, Elana slipped and slid the edge of her palm toward his other calf, going for his tendon. It was a skillful move. She planned the momentum so that his own weight would increase her strike. Bruce leaned back slightly as she drove through, barely touching her heel. Then he swung his leg back down and stopped it, midair, six inches from the side of her neck.

She blinked in surprise, Bruce slowly placed his foot down.

"What's troubling you?" He asked as he charged in for the second round. He could feel that Elana was distracted and wasn't concentrating at all on the fight.

"You wouldn't understand even if I explained," Elana also charged in and aimed her elbow at Bruce's jaw.

"I wouldn't know till you explained," Bruce blocked the blow and then elbowed her under the ribcage. The strike made her feel that pain, as well as knocked the breath out of her lungs, causing her to stumble. "Don't tell me you are having a midlife crisis?"

"Idiot!" Elana laughed as she twirled her left hand through the air, and chopped back over her shoulder with her right, hitting him across the cheek. When he evaded that, she spun and punched, but missed by a hair as his movement was unpredictable, then she ducked to her left when he did a right cross at her face. When he pulled back, she threw her hands in a reverse jab toward his chest. Bruce twisted a half-twirl away and aimed a finger strike at a spot just behind her collarbone. It didn't quite touch her, but he was already backing away as his target would've been her throat or sternum if she hadn't evaded in time.

"I know everything. I just want to know it from your mouth," Bruce didn't stop his assault. He jumped back and pulled out a katana from the rack on the far wall.

"I doubt it," Elana pulled out a spear, its length and weight were adjusted to her strength and physical height, and she lunged the spear. Bruce dodged the thrust, jumped back as the blade scraped him on the chest, and then she swung the end up over his arm, the impact sounded heavy, but was deflected as his sword edge brushed off the top of the shaft.

Then they fought. The long spear swept across in a circular cut, Bruce parried it with ease, his feet shuffled back to make room and not to give ground, a straight thrust almost managed to run her through before it got stopped with a hand strike. His free arm looped up to press the shaft away, she freed a hand and attempted a fist at his abdomen. Her wrist was clamped instantly between thumb and fingers, then Bruce took a side step and twisted his hand, using his leverage to throw her head first to the ground. But that didn't work due to her wrist remaining free as his grip hadn't been complete enough, the distraction was enough for the shaft of the weapon to slip, and the butt struck his flank as she backed into him.

The unexpectedness of the sudden impact caused Bruce's breath to momentarily freeze. Seizing the opportunity, Elana slipped down low with her hands resting on the floor and her hips level with Bruce's. Swiftly shifting her balance, her feet appeared as her leg wrapped around the inside of Bruce's ankle and calf, and then a slight lean was applied against him. Using her momentum as well as her flexibility to yank forward with one arm, Bruce's ankle was forcefully dragged and snapped toward him, making him lose his balance.

As Bruce toppled over her back, the hand holding the katana struck out in desperation and met with the wooden floor. Before falling completely flat, the leg that wasn't immobilized by Elana was forced upward to land between his knees, pressing both sides, stopping him from dropping, the sharp pain from his ankle returned again as it was almost snapped at that moment. At that time Elana leaped back as Bruce stabbed at the ground and separated them.

"That was a good one," Bruce muttered as he pressed his knee.

"You're the one who told me not to hold back. You didn't ask me to fight within the limits either," She didn't smile this time, Elana stood and twirled the spear.

"Well, as I said, a good one. The spear's long range might seem like a plus point against my katana, plus your disarming technique and close-quarter combat make up for the spear user's close-ranged drawback. It's just incredible. So, Elana, if you don't mind me asking, where did you learn such techniques?" Bruce stood up. He cracked his neck and stretched his legs, then pointed his katana toward Elana, "Weapons, hand-to-hand combat, stealth, counter-ambush, there's almost nothing a normal human could beat you in. I still remember that night when you slaughtered those assassins in the blink of an eye. So, who taught you the art of killing? Or should I say, who was your assassin trainer?"

For a moment, Elana vanished, one moment she was at the corner, the next, she was before his eyes. He didn't have the chance to react as her palm grabbed his throat. She pushed into the wall, creating a small depression in it as her grip started to tighten. "How?" Her voice and eyes were ice cold which made Bruce shiver.

"Oh my, you are a controller type, eh," Bruce laughed. It was hard to breathe and his blood was pumping fast. If he wanted he could have easily gotten out of her grasp, but revealing his trump card was not something he was willing to do unless necessary, plus it was a golden opportunity to find out the truth as now Bruce didn't even have to trick her. "Care to explain, my dear Elana? Should I just assume that an assassin from the League has infiltrated the Wayne family and if I kill her, more will come for revenge? In that case, I'll just kill them all, over and over again, no matter how many assassins he sends. They will then target my weakness, my family. But before that, I will just drop an arc reactor, obviously, an unstable one over their headquarters, wipe the league clean..."

Bruce smiled when he saw her expression change. Two months earlier, while Jarvis was going through the bat scanner, planted all over Gotham and Metropolis, it caught some unusual activities. Upon further investigation and tracking, he discovered an unusual group of people. They came into the city through different routes. They spent a month gathering information and even joining different workplaces. Bruce ran their information through the system and found that their IDs were legit, but Jarvis discovered the tampering after only ten minutes.

All their stories checked out. Every detail on these 'fictional' identities had been ironed out over time, every avenue looked at, nothing left to chance. Heck, even their family history was in order, and people had been hired to act the parts as well. The fun part was none of them had any connection with each other and according to the digital footprints, they never met each other ever.

Most people never pay attention to them because they come from different parts of the continent, their activities don't usually have any connections, and no suspicious details ever got caught by anyone. One month earlier, all thirty of them met a single woman, separately at different places. Now, why would thirty people who had no connection with each other or that woman meet with her? And how does that woman know all the locations of the security cameras and even the hidden bat surveillance cameras? Even after thirty meetings, Bruce was yet to capture her face.

But what surprised Bruce more was the fact that after meeting that woman, they began to meet each other, becoming friends and all. What followed were discussions, exchange of information, and some stuff Jarvis wasn't able to trace, and even with his AI brain had trouble figuring out. That was the first red flag.

Then through sheer luck, Jarvis was able to record a ten-second clip of that mysterious woman, through one of his public Batmobile hidden cameras, entering a café. And when he ran her face through facial recognition, it came out as Talia al Ghul, daughter to the head of a dangerous organization called 'The League of Assassins'. But the records showed her as a foreign chemist who was on holiday and visiting a friend.

Bruce kept on tracking her every second without letting her go out of sight. He knew that the regular cams and scanners wouldn't work against her. So, he used his stealth nano suits to follow her around, and then he saw her meeting with Elana.

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Next, Ch: 114: The bitter truth

Ch: 115: Overdrive

Ch: 116: Victor and Nora

Ch: 117: Talia vs Bruce