Beneath The Mask

Chapter 8: Lost In Memory

  The warehouse was eerily silent, the only sound Damian's own breathing, and his soft footsteps. He was investigating the crates where he had last seen his family disappear, straining to open them. He gripped the handle hard, and pulled, straining against the effort. At last the large crate door gave way, revealing an empty and shadowy crate. Damian cursed angrily and slammed the door shut. As he did so, he heard the door echo, but it wasn't a normal echo. It echoed from within. He hesitantly opened the door again, peering inside. Now that he looked at it again he could see a small hatch on the ground at the far end of the crate. He walked over without hesitation and opened the hatch, peering inside. It was dark, but a ladder descended downward to what looked like a large space below. Damian looked back the way he'd come, making sure no one was following him. He took a deep breath, then dropped down the hatch, skipping the ladders altogether. He dropped at an alarming speed, the ground rushing to meet him. He landed in a neat crouch, then straightened. He took in his surroundings, giving the room a quick scan. 

  It was dark and blank, but a couple armor stands were positioned near a doorway leading into another room. The armor placed on the stands looked old and rusted, and countless dents covered them. But they still gleamed in the very faint light coming from the candles that hung from the wall. 

  Damian approached the door cautiously, then hesitantly reached out a hand to push it open. It let out a loud squeak, causing Damian to wince as he stepped through the doorway into the new room.

  However, this was not so much a room. It was a long hall, and long fiery torches were positioned on the wall on either side of it, giving the room a dim appearance. As Damian took a cautious step forward, he caught the sight of something horrific in the corner of his vision. He turned to face it to get a better look, and he sucked in a quick breath.

  It was the head of his brother, Dick Grayson. It was placed inside a glass case atop a royal red cushion with gold edging the edges, giving it a queenly appearance, but Dick's face was contorted with agony. His eyes were covered by his mask, but you could still see the pain in his lifeless ones, and his mouth hung open in a soundless cry of help. Damian couldn't help but take a step back, only to bump into the wall behind him. He whirled around, only to be met with the face of Tim Drake, laid in the same ceremonial way as Dick's. Damian put a hand to his mouth, holding back his earlier dinner that threatened to rise up. He forced himself to look forward, to take a step forward and continue down the small passageway. As he walked down, more heads were revealed in the same ceremonial way as the previous two, and all were familiar to Damian. Jason Todd, Stephanie Brown, Rose Wilson, Shawn Tsang, Father, and lastly, Alfred Pennyworth. Damian forced himself to look away from the butler's face that was contorted into disappointment. He couldn't bear the empty gazes of all his dead family. 

  No. They're not dead. They can't be. They're alive and well, waiting to be rescued… As much as Damian tried to tell himself that, he couldn't bring himself to quite believe it. His whole family, if it truly was his family, was beheaded and placed upon pedestals to look pretty. No. It couldn't be them. It was just a test. A filthy test that he had to pass. He was taught to not fail. So he would not.

  He swallowed back his earlier dinner that had risen in his throat, wincing at the sharp tang. He stared straight ahead and walked confidently forward, leaving the horrific hall behind him. He let out a silent sigh of relief as he left the hall, but his relief quickly turned to alarm at what he saw.

  His whole family was before him, forced down onto their knees with a robot-ninja positioned behind them, guns pointed at their heads. Each had a metal device strapped around their necks, and wore strange cuffs that glowed slightly blue. Their heads were hung, and they seemed almost in a trance, unable to move.