Bane's Challenge: The Dark Knight's Unexpected Move

Cat and Killer Croc were alive. Adam couldn't help but feel a twinge of disappointment. No, overjoyed! With the Ventriloquist, who seemed to have materialized out of thin air, he pulled the three survivors from the wreckage.

[Killer Croc's Broken Scale]

[Description: This scale fell off Killer Croc after he was brutally beaten and witnessed the retreat of his powerful foe. Along with the scale, his warrior spirit was shattered. It may be used to summon a Batman from a parallel universe.]

Adam blinked, looking at the very much alive Killer Croc.

[Could a non-human object summon a normal human?]

["Bane ran away? How could he run away! There's actual magic in this world that lets you survive without fighting? Then what was all my fighting for?"]

[Converted Crisis Energy Units: 50]

[Current Crisis Energy Units: 60]

[Warning! Downloading targetable Batman file]

[Bat-Dragon]

[Threat Level: E]

[Earth-27 is a world inhabited by dinosaurs. There is no Justice League, only the Jurassic League. All heroes and villains are dinosaurs.]

[Do you wish to consume 20 units of crisis energy to synchronize immediately?]

Adam didn't want to synchronize in front of his team. First, get the wounded out of here. He helped Deadshot to his feet. Deadshot groaned, "Am I going to Arkham Asylum? I Don't wanna go to Arkham." Killer Croc, dazed from Bane's beating, stood up groggily. His eyes were unfocused, not even registering the massive Batman looming over him. He groaned, "I'm so hungry, do you have anything to eat? My arm is broken." Then his eyes finally focused, landing on the figure before him. He flinched, trying to stand straighter, but slumped back down. He has no strength.

Cat, still masked, was in the best shape. She was the only one of the three who could stand unaided. She limped away, only to receive a sharp hit on the back of the head from Adam. Adam found that he was getting better and better at knocking people. Everything seemed to be going smoothly. Now, he just needed to get them out of here, continue manipulating them from the shadows, recruit more muscle, hire more fighters.

But one question nagged at Adam. Bane, had he really retreated so easily? Adam frowned, stepping behind the three wounded, the old man, and the three dead bodies. He had a bad feeling. Knowing Bane's tactics from the comics, the man was both cunning and ruthless. He always tested Batman's limits before engaging. Fleeing without a fight wasn't his style at all. If he were Bane, he'd take advantage of the moment Batman thought he was gone and strike from the shadows –Adam's face paled. He wanted to slap himself for jinxing it.

....

"Alfred?"

No response. "Alfred? Alfred?"

"Ah, apologies, Master Tim. I got distracted– where were we?"

"We should capture Batman and beat him with a whip and a crowbar." Tim Drake, the third-generation Robin, crossed his arms, making the shackles rattle. Seeing Alfred's silence, he grew anxious. "Don't you believe me? He's not the one I know."

"He's not the Batman you know. He is Bruce."

"He's just pretending to be Bruce."

"You don't understand." Alfred seemed distant. "You don't understand at all, Tim. Gotham, Gotham gave him back to me."

"What?"

"He's alive. The boy who died with his parents in Crime Alley, my little Bruce, he's alive! He was so young not the Batman you know. But, this wretched city, this hateful city, I've cursed it a thousand times. It took Thomas and Martha, my dearest friends, but today, it showed mercy!"

"Alfred, wake up, he's not at all..."

"No, no, I know him. He's my little Bruce! Tim, Bruce and I talked. We're retiring, leaving Gotham, going to Fiji to live out our days." Alfred rambled, a sentimental old man. Robin almost forgot how sharp and capable he usually was. But old age brought nostalgia, sentimentality, and stubbornness. "Jean-Paul, Jason Todd. Bruce has lost so many, Tim, let him go. Gotham isn't Bruce's burden anymore."

He lamented, "Bruce, my poor little Bruce, he's suffered so much! His body is a wreck. Every punch grinds his bones together, causing agonizing pain. Two-Face, Riddler, Joker their scars fester in every rainy season".

"But what about Gotham? Who will save it without Bruce?"

Alfred paused. "Much as I'd like to say, let Gotham burn, Bruce said he'll find a successor." He continued, "That Clark Kent fellow he asked you to find, the one you couldn't locate. I don't know why Bruce chose him, but, Bruce is going to be free, and we should all return to normal life. And you—" He embraced the young Robin. "We're leaving Gotham, leaving your parents, and finding a new life together, yes?" Tim hugged Alfred back, taking in the scent of his elderly butler. He couldn't refuse.

"If this Clark Kent that Bruce mentioned can truly protect Gotham..."

......

Adam felt a surge of relief. Until he saw the hulking figure emerge from the shadows. All the blood in his body rushed to his head. "Bane—" Everyone stared in horror. Deadshot scrambled to load his gun, Ventriloquist ducking behind him. Cat, well, the slender girl was suddenly unconscious. Killer Croc, surprisingly, also stood, positioning himself beside Adam. 'It was always safer near a superhero', he reasoned.

Recalling the civilians Batman had protected before, Croc felt a newfound empathy for them. "World's gone mad," he grumbled. "Never thought I'd be fighting alongside Batman." But no one cared about Killer Croc's existential crisis. Everyone was ready for battle. Batman slowly rose to his feet. This action alone sent a shiver down Bane's spine. His heart beat like a drum with fighting spirit mixed with fear, and the venom flowing in his veins like magma surged, strengthening his body. This raw power, this murderous intent, could snap a man – any man – like a twig.

But this man before him was different. Never had Bane felt such doubt, such gnawing uncertainty that he could break this particular "twig."

"I knew you in a damn cave, thousands of miles away." Bane spoke, his voice a rasping growl through the ventilator mask."I met you in my dreams, then I escaped that hell, that nightmare, for one purpose. To find you. To break you. To take your Gotham."

"So you came to my city, and hid like a rat in the sewers?" He heard Batman's voice, cold and mocking. "You unleashed Arkham's lunatics, watched me deal with them, too afraid to face me until I was exhausted?" Bane knew Batman was trying to provoke him, but he wouldn't fall for it.

"I've seen too many arrogant fools like you. You've caused so much death, so much suffering for the sake of ruling this city? A ridiculous reason."

"I will kill for anything." Bane countered, his momentum building with each word. "I will kill to silence a harsh sound." His muscles bulged, bones creaking. "I will kill to extinguish the light in the eyes of those who dare look at me." He saw the anger in Batman's eyes, a spark of challenge he'd never encountered before. A direct confrontation with the Dark Knight, at full strength! This was. Too exciting!

Then he saw the big black bat put the Cat and Deadshot on his shoulders without saying a word, picked up Killer Croc with one hand, clamped the ventriloquist under his ribs with the other hand, and put his feet together, and turned into two wheels in a flash.

Bane:?