[center][b]Chapter 4:  P.O.V.[/b][/center]

Batman sits down within the core, holding the helmet in his hands.  According to Kira, this was a memory module that would access his memories and download them into this 'Animus' program.  It could emulate the enemies, but only do basic modifications of three basic environments; Combat Arena, Race Arena and Stealth Arena.  He looks over towards the portal in the center, where he sees Kira once more working on that holographic sphere.  Azumi had already entered the portal, and was just waiting for the simulations to begin. He shifts the helmet into one hand as he removes his cowl and quickly puts on the hemlet.  It covered as much as his cowl.  A few small sticky sensors attached to his forehead.

[i]Welcome to the Animus Virtual Training Program.  Prepare for memory upload.[/i]

Kira was still manipulating the portal near Batman, this time in a single simulation, not really caring about seeing his face. She'd seen enough data on Bruce Wayne. For now, she was just working. Integrating memories, filling them, putting them together in ways that Batman could manipulate. She knew that currently, Azumi would be standing in a white void in her ODST gear, likely with the helmet on and polarized. For the time being, the Caped Crusader had reign over what would come up.

"You pick a rogue or two and a scenario, picture it well in your mind, and we'll work with it. Her outfit's likely gonna change to fit your memories, perhaps one of your enemies or your allies. Just start it up, and we'll get started."

"Understood."  He focuses and concentrates.  He had a rather extensive rogue gallery, so he needed to choose certain ones that would provide a challenge that, while not unstoppable, would still provide more than a fair level of difficulty.  Certain ones were more than capable of challenging her, and he laid out the list.  Six that would provide a good challenge, and a potential seventh if and when she passes those prior to it.

The first comes to mind.  Jervis Tetch, the Mad Hatter.  While not physically intimidating, he has a technological ability to manipulate the minds of certain individuals.  Now, the need for the environment.  Preferably one that would allow Azumi to utilize the environment.  He focuses on the Stealth arena, and begins modifying it, adding in a number of armed and unarmed henchmen, and placing Tetch within an enclosed space that can only open up when all the other henchmen are dealt with.

[i]Enemy Target and sub-targets loaded.  Environment building...  Adapting user outfit...  Simulation begin.[/i]

===

In the simulation construct, Azumi watched as the arena transformed. Platforms, staircases, handholds, all forming from the landscape in red and white. She could see a countdown, a red number, in the air, ready to count down from ten. But the change in her attire was what confused her.

She wore a black bodysuit, armored for some degree of minor impacts by the looks of things. A gray glove reached up to her elbow on her left side, a metallic gauntlet with some form of button on the forearm for her right hand. The knee-high boots were gray, as was a cloak-like hood that came down to her shoulders, over her chest and down her back as a cape, along with over her head. But the mask... the mask was one of death, the eyeholes lighting the eyes to a white, the mouth grated to give the impression of bared teeth. As a test, she had to see. The soldier flexed her forearm, the palm out, just to see what was in there. A blade popped out, about twenty centimeters by her estimates, retracting as she released the flex. Maybe an assassination tool. Still, she had to ask before they began, hoping Batman could hear her.

"What's this I'm wearing, then? And why give me a blade if I'm not allowed to kill?"

===

Outside of the simulation, he hears her query and takes note of her adapted outfit within the environment, seeing that he had the data being presented to him through the memory module helmet.  It honestly caught him off guard.  That was Andrea's outfit.  But the last time they even met was when she faced off against the Joker years ago.  And the thought of her...  He shakes his head.  Perhaps it was his subconscious manifesting the outfit.

He presses against the microphone on the module, activating it.  "I don't know why that particular outfit was chosen.  As for the blade, you can use it for more than just killing.  Disabling and threatening enemies, for example.  As for other traits of that suit, your other glove contains a miniature smoke generator.  The mask contains a voice modulator, a breathing filtration unit and variable vision lenses that can be used in junction with the smoke generator."

With that little bit of explanation out of the way, he proceeds to lay out the mission objective.  "Your objective in this scenario is as follows:  Disable the six sub-targets under non-lethal parameters.  Once that is done, the Main Target will be accessible.  Subdue the Main Target with non-lethal measures to complete the first scenario.  Do you understand what you need to do?"

His student's voice came through on the other end. [i]"Yeah."[/i] The countdown came down to zero, and she was off.

Kira was relatively stoic for several seconds as Azumi began her quick, quiet assault. As per her instructions, she was not causing any casualties, though she was knocking out three of the unarmed men in a matter of seconds, using her unarmed style. The AI looked to Batman for a moment before going back to her work.

"Any particular reason you think your ex-fiancé's outfit came up, then? That can't have been pure coincidence and you know it."

He pauses to think about it.  "I noticed that a lot of Azumi's mannerisims were shared with a number of individuals I encountered.  But one of the largest things I noticed was that she was obsessed to an unhealthy degree.  Andrea's obsession to get revenge for her father was one of the worst cases I've seen.  Maybe my subconscious noticed the correlation and selected the outfit."

He brings his hands up to his mouth, thinking back.  Just how many years had it been since he last saw Andrea?  5?  7?  It's been so long.  [i]Or maybe I'm trying to save her by saving someone else from their obsession.[/i]  He could still remember that crushing sense of depression after their last encounter, on how he couldn't save her, and how it continued on.  Could he finally put that aside by saving Azumi from the obsession that eats at her?

"Keep telling yourself that, then." A pause as she thought on what he had said. "She's still going to hunt them down, those two she talked about. Maybe not kill them, but definitely hunt. You might be able to get a good idea of what they did to her to deserve it if you actually talk to her, try to get closer in ways other than your fists. Looking at things other than her military training. You know as well as anyone that your training isn't all that makes a person unless that person is a psychopath."

"You're right."  She had more than a valid point.  He was focused solely on the mission and the task at hand, and not noticing what actually made the person do what they do.  He didn't ask questions, he punched first.  And for so long, he said that knowledge of your enemy was the most important thing.  He kept to that, but he didn't delve into the nuances like he first did.  It was an eye opener, to say the very least.

He presses the mike on the helmet.  "There are two other tests after this.  Once those are done, we need to talk."

===

"Aye aye." Finally, the last of those soldiers dressed as cards of some sort or another were unconscious. A broken nose with his own AK-47 had done the trick.  The woman was silent, waiting for the next area to open up, wanting to finish this bizarre leader so she could move on to the next group. What would he or she be like? Seemed related to Lewis Carroll's famous novel if the outfits were anything to go by, but hard to tell which of Wonderland's creatures this Main Target would be.

"Oh me, oh my, just look how the time did fly."  A man walks out of the added portion of the area, garbed in a blue trench coat and a black top hat.  He looks down at one of the knocked out guards and scoffs, before kicking him across the face.  "Pathetic peon."  Taking out a radio, he speaks again.  "Cards, report."  after a period of silence, he repeats his command.  A moment of recognition, then a look of concern, fear even, crosses over his face.  "That can't be it."  He retreats inside the added portion, before returning, a styliezed axe held with both hands.  "You won't take her away from me!  Alice is mine, do you hear?!  I have given her her greatest dreams!  I made her fantasies reality!  I will not lose her!"

"..."

She probably should have expected the weirdest of the weird from the enemies of a guy who dressed up in a bat costume, but still. The Mad Hatter as a villain? Or at least someone who used the motifs and had kidnapped someone named Alice.

All right, no time to wait, had to keep moving. A Mad Hatter with an axe was not the best of situations, but she'd seen worse. In any case, she didn't think he could actually see her yet, and didn't have a mask of any sort. The smoke gauntlet would probably work here. She had worked out functions built into her mask as well along the way.

Perched in a crouch on a platform, the soldier dropped off the back, grabbing the edge with her hands before dropping to the ground, doing her best to ignore the shock of landing on her feet that was only slightly dampened by a crouch. Movement training could come later.

Silent, she waved her hand out to one side, a cloud of smoke sweeping around the area, the box she hid behind as well as likely the area in which the target remained. The smog would mask her movements, keep him from seeing what angle she would move from. In order to confuse him more, she directed the thickest of the smoke to only one side of the white cube, moving around to the other one as it all started up. It was time to strike. Disarm first, knock out second.

The smokish fog covers the area, causing the Mad Hatter to look around wildly.  "This can't be the catepillar's work.  Oh, no, sir!"  He backs up a few steps, before turning around wildly.  "It's you, isn't it!  I said you'll never take her from me!"  Coughing from the smoke, he begins to swing wildly, in the vain hope that his axe would hit something or someone.  However, with each swing he grows more fatigued, more and more air being drawn in, more and more smoke causing him to cough in rapid succession.

Perfect, she was scaring him, making him paranoid. He was falling for her distraction as she came around the back. Soon, she came close to him, her footsteps quiet still, and struck.

Both hands reached for him. One grabbed his right elbow as the axe came back for a swing, the other the shaft of the axe itself. Both yanked as one. She felt little resistance as he released the weapon in shock, feeling it hit the ground on its blade as she took the same arm in both hands. Turning, she threw him to the ground over her outstretched leg, tripping him up, but still leaving him to land prone. Forcing her knees into his back, she yanked both arms behind him, up....

[i]Crack.[/i] One arm broke, causing a yell of pain. Not wasting a moment, she did the same to the other, causing another scream, then hefted up the axe... The flat of the head slammed into the back of his own, and he went limp.

As it would seem, this mission was complete.

===

Batman breathes as he sees the conclusion of this session.  For a moment, he thought that Azumi would have used the axe in a way that would have ended in a terrible way.  Instead, she used her head.  Now that this session was done, it was time to formulate the second one.  Already, he knew what to do.

---

Time passes, and Batman presses the microphone on the module.  "Good work."  She was growing accustomed to the outfit, and readily dealt with the scenarios he laid out.  "Now pop out of the simulator.  We need to talk."

===

Azumi took a deep breath, panting as she looked down at her target. A woman who looked like she was in a pilot's outfit from the mid twentieth century. She had also taken out someone with a high degree of stamina, a large man in blue body armor with gray shoulders and a black balaclava before after moving through a maze of traps. Taking some damage. After these three, she was tired and hurt, though just about as much as she would be from a normal session with her mentor.

"Got it..." she said, kicking the woman once to be sure she was unconscious before she heard a buzzing sound behind her. Turning, she saw the portal of light, outlined by binary code and photographs. She stepped through...

===

The woman came out on the other side, back in her Space Paranoids outfit for the first time in hours. She checked how she looked, being sure of her equipment, and looked to the two around her. Batman with his helmet, Kira still at the controls. She had probably opened the portal. For the first time in hours, the soldier spoke to the Dark Knight face-to-face. "What is it?"

"I know you explained it to me briefly, but what's your drive behind this training?"  Batman continues to sit down.  "I know you said you needed to be better, and that you wanted to deal with some past foes.  But what did they do in order to provoke your actions?"

Azumi was silent for a few minutes, glad that her helmet was up, hiding her eyes. She had to look away when Batman said that, a frown on her face. She didn't like to speak about what had happened to her, but he seemed trustworthy. If nothing else, her training had proven he was an actual hero, not just faking it. "...can we talk about this in private?"

Batman nods, and removes the memory module from his head, revealing his face.  Looking at his cowl, he attaches it to his belt.  For something like this, it would be more appropriate for him to be unmasked.  "Let's go."  He stands up and nods at Azumi, inviting her to lead the way.

Azumi just looked him over. Black hair, pretty normal eyes, maybe about thirty or forty. First she had seen of his face. Did he trust her, then?

Enough of that. She nodded, walking out of the Central Computer Core, waving for Kira to keep the simulation stable with a few hand motions over her shoulder from her spec ops training. She stopped near the terminal in the Mesa, taking a breath before looking to the man before her.

"I don't say this a lot. I have to know you won't tell anyone."

He pauses to think about this, before he nods his head.  He was known to keep secrets.  "I understand."

"And if you tell anyone, I will hunt you down. Know that." With that, she sighed, looking down, and began to speak.

"It was on the outside. Radiant Garden, near the headquarters of that group of heroes and heroines that live there. I was spying on two women who seemed suspicious: Rikka, a photokinetic, and Dani, a hypnotist. It was the start of my journey, so I needed to figure out who was on my side, who wasn't. I saw Dani hypnotize Cid, the mechanic here, and tried to assassinate them both." A breath. "I was blinded by the light used while I tried to hide in darkness, especially with my nightvision. Then Dani caught me with darkness, held me captive. Rikka took my helmet. Asked me if I wanted to be the maid of the 'Light of Destruction.' I blew her off...and then Dani took me."

A deep breath. Her voice began to shake. "Everything went blank. It all came back to me suddenly, a few minutes later..." The choked up nature rose as she spoke more. "I told them my name. Told them what I wanted, everything. Said I was worthless, that I deserved no mercy." The helmet folded back into her collar, her distraught face fully visible, as if she was unable to keep it up due to her distress. "I kissed their feet on hands and knees." Tears welled in her eyes, almost spilling over the edge. It was as if she was reliving it all, her hard mental exterior peeling back to show her true face. "I massaged Rikka's bare feet with my gloves, then polished Dani's shoes... she said it wasn't enough..." Finally, the dam cracked, a few tears dripping down her cheeks as she tried to look away, to hide it as she slid to the ground against the terminal. "...she made me use my tongue. Made me lick the dirt and filth away, made me take it all without complaint...then I went to fetch them a meal. I vomited when I came to, had to fake my way out to be free..."

The cracks were more clear, and she buried her head in her knee, trying to hide it at all, breathing deeply to keep from sobbing. "But they humiliated me. They broke me down in seconds...didn't even have to waste a second. I was...I was weak, couldn't do a thing, just a puppet... I want to be able to fight villains outside of soldiers...but how can I if I fall to the first ones I come across? And...and how can I trust anyone, how can I believe anyone at all, anything, even my own tech, if everything can fail me? I don't even know your name and I'm talking to you like a therapist... That should show how much of a weakling I am."

He puts a hand on her shoulder. "It's difficult.  Feeling that no matter what you've done, there's always something that will stick with you, a moment of weakness, where you felt that there was something more that you could have done." He clenches that hand, remembering his own.  "You're not the only one who's suffered at the hands of others."  He lets go of her shoulder, and once more making a fist, he punches the terminal, yelling.  It was coming back to him.

"My name is B...  My name is Bruce Wayne."

The woman tensed as he made his outburst, almost reaching to her gun in self-defense. Her training was borderline hard-wired. She relaxed, hugging her knees. "Thank you....Bruce... I just....I just don't know what I'm doing anymore. Everything keeps crashing down. Magic is not my strong point. I don't want to be weak, don't want to just be some useless damsel... I..."

Finally, she admitted it. "...I'm scared..."

"I know that feeling."  Bruce sits down.  "Were I come from, I'm part of a team.  Every other one of them has something that puts them far above other people.  Whether they're aliens, given a piece of advanced technology, are able to move faster than light, or are birthed by magic.  I have to push myself to make sure that I don't fall behind."

"As for being afriad... It's nothing to be ashamed of."  He pauses, and wistfully thinks back to happier times.  "If there's one thing my father taught me, it's that it's okay to be afraid.  The only time that it can be a problem is if that fear overrides everything else, and if it ends up dictating the rest of your life."  He looks at her before looking into the horizon.

She looked up to him, her eyes bloodshot. "But...how am I supposed to do that if I can't trust anyone? Anyone could be on their side, anyone could know everything they could about me. I...I left him behind. Cid. And... and I can't forgive myself for that. They could know even more, know how to get to me... how can I fight that?"

"You can trust me."  Bruce holds his hand out.  "And you can't obsess over what they do or don't know.  Doing so will end up eating away at you until there's nothing left.  Believe me, I know what an obsession can do to a person."

"No offense," she looked up at the unmasked hero, trying to force herself back together. "But saying you're trustworthy isn't very....good. Stilll...I hope I can."

She paused for a moment. "Do...do you want to know anything else about me?"

"No.  Do you have questions about me?"

"...your name is good enough for now." She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, her helmet reforming. "...This didn't happen, clear? We need...need to get back to training."

"As you wish."  Bruce stands up, touching the knuckles of his right hand.  His punch to the terminal stung a bit.  As such, he turns around and heads back into the Core.

[center][b]|\-/\-/|-------------------------------------------------------|\-/\-/|[/b][/center]