Batman: Knight of the Hunt

Issue 10

The Ascent

On a ledge halfway up the mountain, Bane rises slowly to his feet. His vision has begun to blur, and he's breathing far more heavily than he should be, even after the brutal trek up the mountainside. He opens one of the pouches on his belt, pulling out a syringe of Venom and popping the cap off. Taking a deep breath, he jabs the needle into his forearm, pressing the contents into his bloodstream with a low grunt.

The Venom takes hold, spreading power throughout his body. Hundreds of thousands of little cellular powerplants all firing at once. He breathes out slowly, feeling the strength surge through him. His muscles seem to stretch, almost trying to break through the skin. After a moment, the wave passes, leaving him feeling simply invincible, ready for battle once more.

Batman stands up, helping the Green Arrow to his feet. Bane shakes his head at the sight of the injured archer. Only a blackened, cauterized stump remains where his arm had been, effectively placing his days as an archer solidly in the past. In Bane's opinion, the future of the Starling City vigilante is irrelevant, as he doubts a single arm is enough to survive this world the trio find themselves in. after all, as was just painfully proven, this planet belongs to the Predators. Earth's finest are nothing more than children here.

Strangely enough, he finds himself admiring the Yautja. They were there all the time, and no one in the group ever saw them, ever really felt their presence. True, there had been points when he and the others suspected they weren't entirely alone, but they had never suspected what was really all around them. The Yautja had stalked them carefully, noting their strengths and weaknesses, finding out who the leader was. David Cain had seemed to be the alpha amongst the humans, so the leader of the Yautja was entitled to him as the first kill. After that, it was simply open season for a pack, or perhaps a clan, of the most deadly hunters the ferocity of space had to offer.

Bane looks down at the needle, still in his hand. It was the Yautja who had left them the weapons and food, had even supplied Venom for his own special needs. They had done everything they could to prepare the group before the coming storm. And, he reasons, they could have easily killed them all while they were unconscious on their way here from Earth.

Everything, from the way David Cain was killed to what Kanjar Ro had to say about the Yautja, had depicted a deadly species that hunted other races as a way of testing their worth. And that is something Bane can appreciate.

The hellhounds are howling as they clamber up the steep incline toward their victims. "Come on," Bane challenges the vigilantes, "get moving unless you want to be dog-meat!"

His energy restored by the Venom, and a small taste of a gambler's thrill in the back of his throat, Bane looks up at the ascent above them. The going is too steep to climb safely without the use of all four limbs – a luxury the Green Arrow no longer has. With an impatient grunt, Bane hoists the Green Arrow onto his back and presses on up the mountain.

Batman pauses a moment, watching the giant climb with the archer clinging to his back. He knows how much Bane values strength and survival. Surprised that Bane would burden himself with Green Arrow at all, he wonders how long it will be before the giant decides that Oliver is slowing them down and leaves him behind.

The crunching sound of loose rock. Batman looks back; the hellhounds are almost to the ledge. Through the trees, he thinks he sees the outline of a Predator at the foot of the mountain. He turns and follows after Bane. After all, best to handle things one problem at a time. If the hellhounds tore them to pieces, the Predators weren't really a problem, after all.