Batman: Death and Vengeance

Whatever it takes

Two days later Gotham was to some extent quiet. For once the streets were like normal as before full of normal people. Apparently after the GCPD incident, the people of Gotham now had hope as they saw the American Soldier fighting off the Grey Assassin and saving the GCPD. There was also talk about the return of the original Batman but no one was believing it cause it sounded quite impossible. For once in a very long time Gotham was peaceful. "Hmm just one fight made such a difference. Amazing" Gordon thought as he took a smoke while standing on the balcony of his apartment. Over at Wayne Manor the sun shining from the between the curtains woke John up. He and Raven had gone a bit overboard with last night's fun. However John was happy in a way that they did so. Unfortunately they always had to show their affection and love for eachother on the battlefield or in the batcave. Having a bit of 'normal' in their life felt quite refreshing. John kissed Raven affectionately which woke her up. "Well at least you didn't throw me out of the window with your magic this time" John said as he was quite used to that happening. "I thought about giving you a break today." Raven said as she also sat up leaning on the headboard of their bed like John looking outside. "It feels so peaceful doesn't it?" Raven said which kind of surprised John cause the word peace was very rare coming from Raven. But John knew what she was saying. "I just hope it lasts at least until we take out Darkstar." John said as he knew he would have to embark on that mission sooner or later. They slowly got up freshened up and made their way downstairs to see Dick Grayson sleeping with the tv on. "Yikes" John said as he turned off the tv and let Grayson rest. "When was the last time I saw him rest like this?" John said as it was truly quite rare to see Dick sleep at all. "He must be tired" Raven said as she and John made their way towards the kitchen. John started making Coffee while Raven sat down at the kitchen table and was reading the news headlines. "America is taking back Gotham: United States Military did not bluff. Hmm it's filled with stories about the American Soldier." Raven said as she was surprised too see that everywhere throughout the digital paper was American Soldier's heroics over and over again. "Let's just hope he doesn't cause as much trouble as I think he can cause. His ego got hurt yesterday and people like that tend to make up for their ego getting hurt." John said as he handed Raven a cup of coffee and sat down beside her. "Rave I don't know why but I got this feeling that this peace won't last." John said quite concerned about why he was thinking like that. Had he lost all capability of feeling peace or was this just a false sense of peace? "I know cause I'm feeling the same way. There has to be some catch to all this." Raven said as what John had said kind of awoken a bit of realisation in her heart too. "Hey kids sup?" Dick walked in. "You woke up?" John said as he and Raven both were surprised to see he was up right after they were discussing about the peace they were feeling. "I just felt like something was wrong and apparently something is wrong cause you two woke up earlier than me, had coffee and I actually slept last night." Now even Grayson was feeling strange. "We need to go to the batcave now" John said as he got up. "Kid you know right?" Dick asked. "Yes it's exactly like then." John said as they were walking toward the batcave. While they were going down in the elevator Raven asked "Exactly like what?" to which John replied "We all had this same feeling the day we lost Damian.". The elevator doors opened and they all entered. "So you mean something like the Seige war can happen again?" Raven said. "Worse than that" John said as he sat down at the Batcomputer and the trio began scanning Gotham just to make sure.

In Gotham port two officers received a call regarding people breaking into containers. "Sheesh and here I thought everything was peaceful" One officer said as they were cruising in their vehicle around the area where apparently the incident took place. "You sure it wasn't a prank call or somethin?" The officer who was driving the car asked to which the other officer shrugged. Their suspicion would soon be cleared as they crossed another row of containers to see more than half a row destroyed with people lying around all over the place. "SHIT!" One officer said as he got out of the car. "This is officer Perry report we have multiple bodies at the docks send in medics and backup asap." The other officer said as they examined the people who were apparently Russian mob to see they were all dead. "What the heck happened here?" Officer Perry said. "AAAHHHHH" KABLAM! A person flying back crashed into their patrol car destroying it. The police were caught off guard as two gunmen appeared but a shield came flying and knocked them both out. And from the direction of the destroyed containers came the American Soldier running at full speed who jumped and shield dived straight into a goon and landed kick and punch combinations on the two more goons who were also there. "Clear." He said in a very dark tone. "What happened he-" the officer was cut off mid sentence as the soldier punched him unconscious and front kicked the other officer sending him flying backwards into a pole. "OFFICIAL UNITED STATES MILITARY WORK!" he yelled as he ran towards the warehouse. For some reason the Soldier was more muscular, stronger and a lot more mean. "WHERE ARE YOU CRIMINAL!?" He yelled as the one who was sent flying was actually the Riddler. "I am here but I a-" The American Soldier's hand burst through a wall and grabbed the Riddler out with his hand wrapped around the neck of the villain. "I'M TAKING BACK GOTHAM FROM THE LIKES OF SCUM LIKE YOU!" he yelled as he slammed the Riddler to the ground. He took his shield and yelled "FOR AMERICA!" And continuously slammed down the shield until the Ridller was decapitated. "GRRR GRR" The Soldier grunted as he left the scene.

"My God." Dick said as they watched everything that happened. "He is going after Almatech. He got rid of Nigma before he could use the serum on himself." John said as he got up. Raven immediately informed Gordon about the situation while Dick tried calling Star labs in an attempt to see if they could help out as Reverse Flash was also spotted in Gotham. "Is it ready?" John asked Fox who was on the phone. "Yes Mr Wayne stable and ready." Fox said as John hung up and headed towards the suit chamber. "I've informed Gordon. The GCPD is evacuating all locations near Almatech, and GCPD." Raven said as she too headed for the suit chamber. "We gotta stop Jonah before he kills even more people." John said while selecting the Max Impact Batsuit cause it was quite apparent that the American Soldier was jacked up on more Super Soldier serum. "I'll help with the evacuations" Raven said as she too was putting on her suit. "GUYS HURRY!" Dick yelled. As the duo ran they saw that The American soldier was halfway done killing criminals and destroyed half of Gotham in doing so. "LET'S GO NOW!" John yelled as he and Raven sped their way out of the Batcave in the Batmobile. While en route Batman called up General Thruston. "What is your golden boy doing general?" Batman said in a very angry tone. "He's gone awol is what he is doing. He ran off last night and took all the serum." The General said as he was furious too. "Is there any immediate way of stopping him?" Batman asked to which the General replied with bad news. "The serum is designed in such a way that if taken in once the user becomes literally invincible. He could go toe to toe with Superman right now if he wanted to." The General said as he said he would help as much as he can too.

The American Soldier grabbed one of Darkstar's lackies and ripped him in half. He was done dealing with all the street connections and was finally ready to deal with the real problem as he stood outside Almatech. "STOP!" one of the guards yelled as a boy stood behind him who was scared. Unfortunately it was a school trip for kids from Gotham High. "GRRAHH" The soldier ran towards the guard but before he could do anything he was hit by the Batmobile and out from the vehicle emerged Batman and Raven. "Get them out of here." Batman said as he made his way towards the soldier. "Im gonna kill you!" He said as he punched Batman with full force which hurt the knight. Batman responded with a full force kick to the head with a remote explosive explosion on his head. This time neither did the helmet explode nor did he receive any damage. "HEH" The soldier said as he grabbed Batman and threw him into the Almatech building with full force. He stood there and Batman did not emerge. Thinking he was done for the soldier made his way inside and started fighting the guards and henchmen slowly but surely making his way towards Darkstar. "OH SHIT WHAT DO WE DO NOW!?" Keil said as he looked at Darkstar who was in putting on his Batsuit. "What? We end this here one and for all!" He said as he was now fully suited. Behind him Reverse Flash also appeared. "oh boy is this gonna be a treat. Oh and I also brought some backup." He said as beside him was Captain Boomerang, Red Dragon, The Fighter and Bane who was now juicing up on both venom and the Godmaker serum. Darkstar smiled inside his suit as he was ready to kill the American Solder. "Sir the Batman he is still alive." One of his henchmen said making this deal even more sweeter for Darkstar. Downstairs Batman came to his senses as he heard screams and sounds of clear fighting going on up stairs. "GRR" He grunted as he got up but immediately was thrown outside again as Reverse Flash was there. "I'm gonna enjoy this" he said as he started a beatdown on Batman. Batman exploded a glue grenade making the speedster stop for a while and he handed out a beatdown of his own on the Speedster slashing him up a bit with his gauntlets. "GRRAH" Reverse Flash broke out and was about to phase stab Batman when suddenly an explosion took place up in Almatech which distracted the Reverse Flash. Batman kicked him back and as soon as he did so a sudden blast of lighting fell on the evil speedster which sent him flying away. Batman got up and wondered what that was and was surprised to see The Flash (Kurt Allen). "You made it." Batman said as he shook the speedster's hand. "And I'm stronger than ever." The Flash said as he zoomed after the Reverse Flash. Batman knew that more villains are up there and Jonah might have encountered them already. "Raven have you made it out?" Batman said. "Yeah what about you?" Raven asked. "Near the entrance meet me there it's about time we went towards the actual threat." Batman said as he took off towards the entrance. Batman knew that The American would do whatever it takes to take down Darkstar. He knew that as Batman himself would do the same and the score he had to settle with Darkstar gave him all the motivation he needed. Now the question stands. How many more people are going to die? And will the Dark Knight be able to hold himself back from killing Darkstar?

To be continued