The Batcave - One Week Later
The cave didn't smell like a high-tech command center anymore. It smelled like a machine shop. Ozone, grinding metal, and sweat.
Jean-Paul Valley sat at the main console. He was still wearing the suit. He never took off the suit.
"Report," Jean-Paul barked at the screen.
"I... I'm tracking a shipment of Venom," Tim Drake stammered. He was standing three feet away, afraid to get closer. "It's moving through the subway tunnels."
"Good," Jean-Paul stood up. The servos in his armor whirred. "I will collapse the tunnels."
"Collapse them?" Tim stepped in front of him. "Jean-Paul, you can't! There are maintenance workers down there! Homeless people!"
"Collateral damage," Jean-Paul said, his voice modulated and cold. "Bane uses the tunnels. If I destroy the veins, the beast starves."
"That's not how Batman works!" Tim shouted. "We don't kill innocents to stop criminals!"
Jean-Paul stopped. He turned his helmet toward Tim. The yellow eyes glowed menacingly.
"Who are you to tell me how Batman works?" Jean-Paul hissed. "You are a child. A sidekick. A liability."
"I'm Robin," Tim said, gripping his bo staff. "And Bruce entrusted this city to us. Not just you."
"Bruce failed," Jean-Paul took a heavy, metallic step forward. "He failed because he was weak. Because he let children play war."
The Fight
Tim didn't back down. "I'm coming with you. To make sure you don't hurt anyone."
"No," Jean-Paul said. "You are not."
Jean-Paul backhanded Tim.
It wasn't a playful spar. It was a gauntleted strike powered by hydraulic servos.
CRACK.
Tim flew across the room. He smashed into the trophy case, shattering the glass. He crumbled to the floor, gasping, blood pouring from his nose.
"Tim!" Conner Kent shouted.
Conner had been hovering near the ceiling, watching. Now, he dove. His eyes flared red.
"You want to hit a kid?" Conner roared. "Hit me!"
Conner slammed into Jean-Paul.
Usually, Conner could move mountains. But Jean-Paul had modified the suit. He had anticipated the Kryptonian.
"Countermeasure: Red Sun Lamps," Jean-Paul commanded.
The floodlights in the cave shifted spectrum, bathing the room in dull, red light.
Conner screamed as his strength instantly evaporated. He fell to his knees, weak as a kitten.
Jean-Paul grabbed Conner by the throat and lifted him up.
"You are an abomination," Jean-Paul sneered. "A lab rat. You have no place in my crusade."
He threw Conner onto the floor next to Tim.
I stepped out of the shadows. My tray rattled—a rare sign of my agitation.
"Mr. Valley," I said, my voice low and vibrating with restrained demonic power. "You are damaging the merchandise. And you are assaulting the staff."
Jean-Paul turned to me. He pointed a razor-sharp claw at my chest.
"And you, demon," Jean-Paul said. "You serve the Batman. Correct?"
"I do."
"I am the Batman," Jean-Paul declared. "And I am giving you an order."
He pointed to the exit.
"Get them out."
The cave went silent.
"Excuse me?" I asked.
"The children," Jean-Paul said. "They are banished. They are not allowed in the Cave. They are not allowed in the Manor. If I see them in Gotham wearing masks... I will treat them as hostiles."
"You can't do that!" Tim cried, clutching his broken nose. "This is Bruce's house!"
"Bruce is a vegetable," Jean-Paul said cruelly. "This is my house now."
He looked at me.
"Escort them out, Sebastian. Or are you going to break your contract?"
I stood there. I looked at Tim, bleeding. I looked at Conner, gasping under the red lights.
My contract was absolute. I served the head of the house. I served the Batman.
If I attacked Jean-Paul, I would be breaking the vow I made to the Wayne line. I would be rogue.
I closed my eyes. The bitterness was like ash in my mouth.
"As you wish, Sir," I whispered.
I walked over to Tim and Conner.
"Come, Young Masters," I said gently, helping Tim up.
"Sebastian, you can't listen to him!" Tim pleaded.
"I have no choice," I said, my voice devoid of emotion. "Walk. Before he kills you."
The Driveway - Rain
I led them to the garage. I put them in one of the civilian cars.
"Where do we go?" Conner asked, rubbing his neck. "We have nowhere to go."
"Go to the Titans Tower," I instructed. "Or to Master Dick in Blüdhaven. Just... stay away from Gotham."
"He's crazy, Sebastian," Tim said, tears in his eyes. "He's going to destroy everything Bruce built."
"I know," I said. I reached into my pocket and handed Tim a small, encrypted flash drive.
"What is this?"
"The backdoor codes to the Cave's security," I whispered. "He thinks he has locked you out. But I built this system long before he was born."
Tim looked at me. "You're staying?"
"I must," I said, looking back at the dark manor. "Someone has to feed the cat. And someone has to be there when he finally falls."
I closed the car door.
"Go. And do not come back until the Wolf is ready to kill the Dog."
I watched them drive away into the rain.
I was alone. Alone with a madman in a metal suit and a comatose master who couldn't hear me scream.
The Cave - Later
I returned to the cave.
Jean-Paul was welding a new weapon onto his arm. A flamethrower.
"Are they gone?" he asked without looking up.
"They are."
"Good. Now we can work."
He stood up. The suit was massive now, bulky and terrifying.
"Tonight," Jean-Paul said, the yellow eyes flashing. "We hunt Bane."
"He broke Bruce Wayne," I said, pouring him a glass of water (which he ignored). "He is dangerous."
"Bruce Wayne fought him like a man," Jean-Paul said, revving the chainsaw attachment on his gauntlet.
"I will fight him like a machine."
He walked to the Bat-Pod.
"Tonight, Sebastian... the King falls."
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