EPILOGUE 1

ON THE MEND

Two figures stand atop the sign of the Monarch Theater, one held in the arms of another.  Looking down, one Batman watches another take the Joker away, the Clown Prince of Crime limp in the arms of his counterpart.  Looking at whom he himself is carrying, Batman realizes that even though that immediate threat was dealt with, there was still one problem:  She was hurt badly, and needed help.  He looks over towards Amusement Mile, and remembers seeing something during his time over there.  The promise of a familiar face.  [i]Hold on...[/i]

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Even though much of Amusement Mile found itself submerged due to the events some months back, more than a few people took up residence there.  One of the more populated areas are in the norther part of Amusement Mile, closer to the water's edge.  One such area is the Leslie Thompkins Medical Clinic.  The lower levels were submerged, but it was still usable as residence, and in the case of the few people unable to reach the Church, acted as a secondary place for medical care.

Inside a small room, the clinic's owner, Dr. Leslie Thompkins, digs inside of a bullet wound.  "There we go..."  Pulling, she extracts the third slug from her patient's back and depositing it into a pan, before wiping the wound clean and applying gauze to it.  Removing the face mask, she adjusts the IV drip and covers the figure.  Exiting Exam Room 3, she looks at the waiting figure.

Batman looks over, his cowl lowered to reveal his face.  Leslie was one of the few people that knew who he was, and one of a very few that he trusted. "How is she?"

"She's lucky, Bruce.  None of the slugs hit any vital organs, and her body armor acted as a buffer.  Not enough to fully absorb the impact, but enough to make sure it wasn't a clean- through."  She removes her gloves and deposits them in a surgical waste basket.  "I've also got her on a quick detox.  I guess it will be another three hours before her system's clean of whatever Joker got into her blood."  Looking at the state Bruce is in, she gestures at him.  "Now let's focus on you."

"I'm fine, Leslie."

"Don't give me that.  Room 4.  Scoot."  Seeing Batman hesitantly nod, she follows close behind.

Inside of Exam Room 3, the figure moves onto her back, revealing it to be the soldier, the servant, Azumi Ian.  Beads of sweat pepper her forehead as her body fights the toxins inside of her.  Her eyes flutter open, his vision blurred, her movements groggy.  Seeing the cleanliness of the room puts her somewhat at ease.  [i]A hospital...  Nothing new there...[/i]  She grabs at the handlebars on either side of her bed to push herself up, but winces.  [i]Where's that Optican medigel when you need it?[/i]  As it is, she lies there.  Minutes pass.

A small noise comes from a nearby window.  Her head tilts towards the window, seeing a figure.  The window opens, and the figure lithely steps inside.  A sword is drawn, and held to the side.  The figure moves closer, before putting the tip of the blade to the ground, kneeling before her.

"...Talia.  What are you..."  Azumi tries to speak, but her voice is cracked, her throat is parched.

"I've come to settle our debt."  The Demon's Daughter stands, her voice hushed, sheathing her sword once again.  She reaches back behind her.

"What are you..."  Azumi was... She wasn't exactly sure what she was.  The drugs she was on to detox her made it a bit hard to think properly.  But enough about this situation set off a sense of suspicion regarding Talia al Ghul.

"You saved my life.  I mean to repay that by saving yours."  Talia returns her hand to visible sight, revealing a sealed vial filled with a vibrant pink fluid.  "Lazarus.  My father's gift to the world, a way to fend off death itself."  She turns towards a medical table and finds a syringe.  "A liquid resurrection."

"Don't want it...  I don't..."

"Would you prefer being crippled?  No longer able to walk, to run, to jump, to live?"  Talia picks up the syringe and looks at it, the cleanliness of it.  "Or is that the reason why you took up that other facade?  As a soldier you had to do so much... but with a mask, you could go with a sense of anonimity, be ephemeral, phantasmic... a Wraith."  Seeing Azumi's eyes widen, Talia lightly smiles.  "Yes, I do know.  An impressive deception, but for one trained by the great Ra's al Ghul, it would be the work of a novice."

"So what?  I still don't want it...  I heard what happens."

"Yes, a small price to cheat the reaper.  But with a strong mind, even that obstacle can be overcome."  Taking the syringe, she pierces the vial, extracting the Lazarus compound.  "Are you saying that you lack the strength to overcome this?"

"I said no."  Though weak, Azumi's voice had a sense of finality.

"A shame then."  Talia pauses.  "Now the question becomes, what will it take for you to be better?"  She places the syringe on the table.  "What if I appealed to your more... heroic proclivities?  What if someone were... endangered?"

"He'd stop you.  You know that."

"I'm not talking about my Beloved.  But this one does wear a mask."  Pressing against her ear, she speaks.  "Have you found him?"

[i]"Yes we have, Mistress.  He is in company of the thief."[/i]

[i]Sh*t.[/i]  She tries to reach for the table, but it's out of reach.

"I am not asking you to pledge allegiance to the League of Assassins.  I merely want you to be whole."  Talia once more picks up the syringe.  "Life for life.  Equilibrium."

Azumi sighs and lies back.  "Fine.  Just prick me and get it over with."

"Don't make it seem so vulgar."  Talia move to the IV drip and injects the Lazarus compound into the solution.  "Now rest, and when you awaken, you shall be reborn."

Feeling the fatigue of the moment setting in, Azumi drops into slumber.

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Her eyes open, and immediately, realizes that she is standing.  [i]This isn't right...[/i]  Looking around, she sees that her environs were familiar.  A near perfect reflection of Arkham... like Park Row.  Looking down at herself, she sees that she is back in her standard ODST uniform, more aligned towards CQC than ranged combat.  "Hello?"  Hearing a few scant sounds, she turns around a few times, trying to figure out the source of the sounds.  Finally, she looks up.  A figure up overhead, dropping down.  Just from the pointed shapes on the head, she feels relief.  "Oh, thank God."  However, her moment of peace is stopped as she is struck with a sense of unfamiliarity.  "Batman?"

The figure lands kneeling, small glider wings extended underneath the arms.  They quickly retract as the figure stands, revealing a male figure, completely covered in black, save for a stylized red bat symbol upon his chest and a segmented silver belt around the hips.  No cape, no revealed flesh.  Just a full suit.  This was [i]a[/i] Batman, but was it [i]her[/i] Batman?

"Bruce?"

He doesn't speak.  Instead, he opts to throw a punch.

"Whoa!"  She dodges underneath the strike, and is able to back away from another.  "What are you... OOF!"  Caught off guard, she receives a kick to the solarplexus, knocking her back into a wall, which was some distance away.  "What are you doing?"  She is able to dodge another punch, this one striking the wall, leaving a sizable dent in the brick and mortar.  However, she is grabbed and tossed into a lightpole back first, making her scream out.  There was no way that this was Bruce.  He didn't speak.  He was too strong... and the suit.  That wasn't his suit!

Hearing this Batman walk towards her, she gathers her breath.  She'd been beaten by a Batman far too many times, and that last one...  She would have won.  It was high time to get some retribution for all the training and bruises she accumulated.  Seeing a foot get in range, she grabs a hold and yanks it, pulling the Batman off his feet.  Hopping on top of him, she proceeds to repeatedly punch him in the face, grabbing a hold of one of the cowl's points for grip.  3, 4, 5, 6 punches, before Batman grabs her armor, pulling her down for a headbutt.  Dropping back, Batman nips back to his feet, throwing a kick towards her head.

She grabs a hold of it with her left arm and trips his other leg out with her right one.  Keeping a tight grip on the leg, she pulls it and holds on tightly as she realizes that she's beginning to swing him in the air.  However, her swinging him stops as his head collides with the lightpole, finally causing him to groan in pain.  Letting go, she grips onto his arm and pulls, dislocating the shoulder.  Finally grabbing onto his neck, she applies a quick sleeper hold, cutting off the oxygen.  It wouldn't take much pressure to close the windpipe.  No more than 11 pounds for an ordinary person.  She applies 25.  She feels him begin to weaken, but still struggle.  Two small headbutts to her jaw, and she remains firm in her grip  His movements begin to go lethargic after 20 seconds.  After 40, he's barely able to move.

Letting go, she looks at him, before giving one massive kick to his temple, dropping him flat.  She breathes heavily.  She did it.  "I can't believe it."  Kneeling down, she grips the mask.  Lifting it, she pauses.  "Oh God."  It was Bruce... but he was... old.  Far too old to be still standing.  A face marked with wrinkles, pure white hair, and quickly appearing bruises.  "I'm sorry."  She places her head upon his chest, and a teardrop falls upon the emblem.

Her eyes open, and his body is gone.  She looks around, and behind her, she sees a door, partially open.  She moves to it, and pushes it all the way open.  There's a small line of blood in the hallway, leading deeper in.  Seeing it, she enters, unaware that the door closed, and unaware of the building that she entered:  The psychiatric offices of Hugo Strange.

Following the trail, she finds it leads to another door.  Opening it, she walks through, only to get a vision of neon pink, and a sense of vertigo.  Dropping to her knees, she shakes her head and looks up.  "What."  Getting to her feet, the area ahead of her is familiar... far too familiar.  A haunted memory...  "Reach."  She moves with such trepidation.  She saw Reach burn by the Covenant.  Looking at herself once again, she finds that her outfit has changed.  Her armor's undersuit.  Putting the hood on, she begins to walk across the charred earth, and the shards of lechatelierite pressing against the soles of her boots.

It seemed like hours of her wandering, taking in the utter devastation of the land.  It chilled her to the bone to be on a glassed world.  She continues to move, but pauses.  Off in the distance, two figures.  There was no vertical land masses nearby, so they couldn't be atomic shadows.  Were they nothing but ash statues, the remnants of the glassing procedure?  Or was she not the only one on this barren hell?  Throwing caution to the wind, she moves towards the figures, and seeing movement, realizes that they weren't victims.  She then breaks into a full run, arriving in moments.  However, the scene is... jarring.  Ahead is a giant hole in the ground, no doubt a point of impact from a Covenant Orbital Lance.  Next to the hole are the two figures, both men, one kneeling and one standing.  "What's..."  She pulls on the man who is standing, and moves back.  "You!"

The figure is another familiar one, garbed in red and white cloth along with dark under armor.  A mask covers his face, save eyes, while a crimson hood tops the mask.  A longsword is attached to his belt, and a pair of mismatched shoulder guards cover his shoulders.  His right arm had three scallops upon it of great length, while his left arm holds some kind of mechanical device with a pincer-esque tip.  "We meet once more, Visitor from Outside."

"Azrael.  What are you doing here?"

The Agent of the Order of St. Dumas grabs a hold of the kneeling figure and throws him to the ground, his appearance nondescript, save a cloth bag over his head.  "This interloper has put himself in affairs that do not matter to him.  Such a thing must be punished.  His actions can no longer be tolerated."  Instead of activating the device on his left arm, he instead unsheathes the sword at his waist and throws it to her.  "Take his head."

"What?"  She is barely able to catch the sword, and stares at it, dumbfounded.  "What did he exactly do?"

"That is of no concern.  All you need to know is that his crime cannot be tolerated, and that the cost is his life."  Pushing the man's covered head over the chasm, Azrael gestures to Azumi, placing his boot on the man's back.  "Do not hesitate, or else it will end in tragedy."

She holds onto the blade, and while she feels the heft and weight of it, she does nothing to suggest using it.  "Who made you judge and jury, Azrael?  I'm not doing anything unless I know why."

"There is no time, soldier."  Azrael continues to apply pressure to the man's back, feeling him squirm.  "Take his head.  That is an order."

She looks at him.  "That's how it is?  You're gonna stoop to giving me an order?"  She'd taken so many orders already in her life.  Not just from her COs during her time as an ODST,  not only from Batman during her training sessions in Space Paranoids, but also from Dani and Rikka, and her subservience to them.  To have this guy, whom she had no idea who he was under the mask, order her to kill someone for a reason he will not divulge?  She drops the sword, grabs Azrael by his chestplate, and throws him to the ground.  "Hell no."

"A poor choice, soldier."  Azrael gets to his feet, and the device upon his left arm activates, generating a blade of light.  "What about duty?"  He leaps at her, swiping down with the light blade, Azumi rolling out of the way.  "Commitment?"  His arm thrusts towards her, which she ducks underneath and rolls again.  "Respect?"  His arm arcs towards her, but she catches it.

"I understand duty and commitment.  I [i]live[/i] it."  Azumi throws the arm to the side, cupping her right hand behind his right shoulder, and punches the shoulder, dislocating it.  Ducking underneath a punch from his left arm, she grabs it and applies pressure on the wrist.  "Respect's different.  That has to be earned."  Azrael lunges back with his head, getting a gut shot in, but she grabs a hold underneath his mask.  "You haven't earned mine!"  She pulls the mask off and kicks him face first into the charred earth, tossing the mask away.

Azrael doesn't speak, but merely pushes himself back to his feet.  He stands there, his back towards Azumi.  Moments pass, then he finally speaks, but it is not the voice of the Agent of St. Dumas.  "Perhaps I have not earned your respect, soldier.  But, for the moment, you have earned mine."  He turns around.

Azumi expected a different face.  Instead, it is a face that she is familiar with.  "Ra's."

Indeed, underneath the mask and the Suit of Sorrows stood the Demon's Head, Ra's al Ghul.  He begins to laugh, as his body turns into a glass statue, before it shatters, the fragments disappearing into the wind.

Looking at the prone figure near the gaping hole, Azumi pulls him back and brings him to his feet.  "Alright, whoever you are, you're safe now."  Grabbing a combat knife on her person, she cuts the bonds holding his wrists, which he proceeds to rub.  After a few moments of getting feeling back into his wrists, the figure graps the peak of the bag over his head and pulls it off.

She's stunned into near silence.  "...Greg?"

"Thanks, 'Zumi."  His voice sounds hoarse from lack of use, but it was his voice, no doubt.  "Appreciate it."

"No... no problem."  Her voice pitches a bit higher than normal, and a small blush crosses her face.  Admittedly, part of her wondered why.  Greg made it clear in the past that they were friends, and just that.  So why was she crushing on him?  And another thing bothered her.  He called her 'Zumi.  Never, EVER did he call her that in the past.  It was always Sergeant or Ian.  This wasn't right.

"Actually, I appreciate everything you've done so far.  I know it must have been tough for you these past few months, with all that you've been through."  Greg sighs and sits near the edge of the pit, a leg dangling over the edge.  "Why don't you take a load off?"  He pats at the ground next to him

"I..."

"You've done so much.  Don't you think that you finally need some 'me' time?  Relax."  He continues to look at her.  "Let someone else take care of it."

When those words left Greg's lips, Azumi realized what this was.  It was a test.  And if this was a test, so were her battles with that Batman and the masked Ra's, as well as anything else that was ahead.  The first question that enters her mind is [i]What's the right answer?[/i]  But already, she knew what it was.

"I can't."  As much as she wanted to, as much as the idea of just letting someone else take the reins, it didn't set right with her.  She needed to be the one to take these risks.  She needed to toe the line.  She had to be the standard.

"You sure?"  Greg looks at her, and seeing her resolution, nods.  "You are."  His body begins to fade.  "Be careful.  The next part's the hardest..."

She stands there, putting a hand on her head, and sighs.  Hearing the ground beneath her rumble, she looks around, before gazing skyward.  Overhead, a haunting and familiar image.  Covenant forces arriving en masse, their numerous warships breaching the atmosphere.  "Ah sh*t."  Bombardments begins to resound, drawing closer to her position.  "Sh*t, sh*t, sh*t!"  Making a immediate decision, she leaps into the pit that Greg once sat on the edge of.

She drops down, deeper and deeper she goes, the sounds of bombardment faint to Azumi's ears.  There is another flash of vibrant pink light, and she impacts, groaning painfully, clutching her ribs.  Spitting up a little bit of blood from a bitten lip, she looks up, and finds herself back in Arkham City:  The Bowery, from the looks of it.  However, part of it looked wrong.  Parts of it seemed too sleek, far too advanced in comparison to the Gothic architecture she'd pictured with.  Getting back to her feet, she shakes her head, trying to get rid of any kind of lingering effects.  However, each shake of her head begins to distort things even more.  She lists to one side, placing a hand against a wall, but not a wall of concrete or stone, but cold, unforgiving steel.  From her guess, it was near Wonder Tower, if not the walls near the entrance to Arkham City.  But looking up, she blinks a few moments before she speaks.  "What the..."  It wasn't Wonder Tower.  It was something more familiar, something native to her:  ONI Alpha Site.  She staggers back, as a nearby doorways opens up.

Inside of the lighted doorway, another callback from the past, a familiar voice:  "Come inside.  Join us."

Apprehensive, she pauses a moment.  But, Azumi knows, somehow, deep down, that the only way to escape is to continue on.  Taking a deep breath, she steps into the light.  A mild sense of vertigo tugs at her gut, and she drops to her knee.  Shaking her head one more time, she finally fights off the visual distortions and gets back to her feet.  To her confoundment, she finds herself inside of an clear elevator, floors rapidly moving past her.  The passing of the floors slow, eventually stopping altogether.  Gathering her wits, the door opens, and she steps past the threshold, arriving on a balcony.  Looking down, her jaws drops.  "No.  No way.  No goddamn way!"  Beneath lay Arkham City in flames, but it wasn't just Arkham.  It was also New Mombasa.  Next to the Pinkney Museum was the NMPD HQ.  Off in the distance, she saw the Church/medical center, and off in the distance, out towards what she perceived to be Amusement Mile, lay the ruins of the Orbital Elevator.

"Wow.  I've seen all kinds of messed up, but this takes the cake."  Azumi turns to her left, hearing another voice, not the one that beckoned her to enter, but one familiar nonetheless.

"The...  Jess?"  She shakes her head, trying to make sense of this.  Why was she here?  How did she get here...  And why was Jess holding her hand?  She tries to jerk it away, but Jess holds tight.

"You know, it's kinda cute when you're trying so hard."  Jess grips tight, and moves in close, slightly blowing into Azumi's ear before whispering into it.  "You know, kind of... exciting."  Her opens hand slides down, gently touching Azumi's lower back.  "Don't you think so?"

"I...  I..."

"Of course, it's just easier to, you know, give in?  Let what feels natural flow?"  Jess steps back, gently touching Azumi's right cheek with the back of her hand.  "Just let your hair down.  I know that you want to."  She circles the soldier, before stopping at her back.  Grabbing gently onto her shoulders, she begins to rub them, massage them.  "Just you...  Me..."

"I just..."  Azumi's mind begins to fill with a sense of comfort.

"And what about those others?  You know the ones I'm talking about.  They could join us.  Our own personal paradise."  Jess lets go of her shoulders and walks around her again.  Their faces come close.  "Wouldn't that be nice?"  Their lips touch, and the two begin to embrace.

Azumi's mind enjoys a moment of peace and tranquility, but some part of her feels that this isn't right.  And with the sensation of tightness against her skin, her eyes look away from Jess towards her arms, seeing her suit change, becoming skintight, black, sleek... [i]Oh hell no![/i]  The kiss breaks suddenly, and Azumi steps back, pushing against Jess, equally shocked and enraged to find herself, once more, in that humiliating catsuit, once again taking on some of Jess' features.  "No.  Absolutely not."

"What's wrong?  I thought you liked this..."

"Like?  LIKE!?"  A small vein pulses on Azumi's forehead.  "What in the hell makes you think I enjoy being stuck in this..."  She pulls at the suit on her arms, barely able to make it budge.  "Hellish fetish wear?  It's tight, it's uncomfortable, and it's just sickening to think it's on me!"  She begins to tear at it, small strips of it being shredded from her arms and torso.

"Oh, stop that!"  Seeing more and more of the suit being removed, Jess' eyes darken.  "Stop.  Stop.  JUST STOP!"  There is a flash of light, and Azumi pauses, covering her eyes for a moment.

Azumi uncovers her eyes, and once more finds herself back on the streets outside of the entrance to Arkham City, with the ONI Alpha Site now at her back, her attention towards the Museum and nearby NMPD HQ.  All the constant jumps in geography, all the moments of missing time were making her grip on what was going on seem all the more jarring.  Logic, it seemed, was being thrown out the window.

"Oh, you're beginning to lose touch, huh?"  Azumi turns towards the voice once again, and once more finds a few familiar figures.  To the left, Dani stands there, the smallest of smirks crossing her lips.  To the right stood Rikka, looking as resplendent as ever.  And behind them, hidden in shadows, was a third figure, once she could not discern at the moment.

"Do you see what happens when you fight against what's natural?  There's nothing but suffering for all involved."  Dani begins to move towards Azumi, who responds on instinct by pulling out her pistol, even though it was nowhere to be found on her self.

"If I'm right, and this is all in my head, I could drop you right now, and I wouldn't feel horrible about it."  She takes aim at Dani's head, although her hands slightly tremble.

"Oh, really?"  Dani takes a few steps forward, eventually standing stopping right in front of her.  Grabbing the barrel of the pistol, she raises it to her forehead, her flesh literally touching the barrel, and holds it there.  "Can you really do it?  If so, just pull the trigger.  It's easy, especially for someone like you."

As much as she wanted to have this happen, as much as she wanted to put a bullet in this Dani's skull, her hands continue to jitter, and her breathing comes in short bursts.  Why was she hesitating?

Rikka speaks.  "Drop it."

As much as Azumi wants to keep a firm grip on her weapon, she shakily drops the pistol to the ground, and sees both Dani and Rikka smirk.

"It looks like your friend taught you to be too noble for your own good."  Rikka looks over in the distance.  Azumi follows her gaze and sees another pair of figures, one standing, the other prone and lifeless.  Gazing at the standing figure, she finds it to be another man coming from a line of dark-costumed figures, garbed from head to toe in black, with golden and copper detailing around the chest and head.  Over his mask is a set of goggles and a copper carving that imitated an owl's beak.  More owl symbolism mark the chest, but standing out in a jarring way is a large crimson Omega symbol, giving off it's own radiance.  Looking over to the fallen figure, her eyes water, and her gasp hitch within her chest.  It was Batman, her Batman, numerous silver knives embedded in various points on his body: chest, arms, legs.  Yet, the most jarring was that the smallest amount of revealed skin of his showed to be dessicated, rotten, much like a years-old corpse freshly dug out of a grave.

"Nobility only goes far.  Subservience is a far greater gift to receive.  Isn't that right, Emily?"  Rikka turns to the figure hidden in the shadows, who proceeds to walk out.

Shock, indignation and rage immediately cross through Azumi's mind as she laid eyes on Emily.  A young lady, dressed in a regal maid uniform, her eyes glazed over in blissful ignorance, and a single, small crimson button upon the uniform.  But Azumi knew those eyes, and what they were before.  They were [i]her[/i] eyes.  This was herself.  Broken, browbeaten, a slave.  And when she hears Emily speak, it is indeed her voice.

"Her Greatness' words ring only of truth, and I am blessed to be at her beck and call."

"That is right, my sweet.  Now, fetch me my oil.  I must be anointed once more."

"As you command, my Blinding Goddess." Emily turns around and re-enters the ONI Aplha Site, ready and willing to do as her Lady commands.

"Is it not magnificent?  To do as commanded, without any concern over that paralyzing concept of free will?"  Rikka walks up to Azumi and gently caresses her cheeks.  "You know, that deep down, all people seek to be controlled.  And I can see it in you...  You crave that need to be controlled.  The only thing that stops you from submission is your great lie, your freedom.  Soon, so very soon, I will free you from that.  And when that time comes, you will know the ecstasy of my control."

"Not before I'm done with her."  Feeling her hair being grabbed, Azumi is thrown to the ground, her head cracking against the pavement.  Looking up, Jess is once more in front of her, but not as she normally was.  This was her Mirror version, altered, with a sizable yellow symbol upon her chest, one that she had seen before, upon Crane's outfit.  Trying to get back to her feet, the Mirror Jess grabs her and lifts her up, before slamming her against the wall of the ONI Alpha Site, once more dropping to the ground.  "I'll show her the misery of her freedom."

Azumi stands once more, only for her arms to be ensnared by Jess' Lightning Ribbons, binding her arms behind her and keeping them tethered to the building nearby.  Seeing Jess walk up to her, she tries to kick at Jess, only to have her legs ensnared by Trench magic, making her drop to her knees.

"What's the matter, Zumi?  Feeling a little under the weather?"  Jess kneels down in front of Azumi, only to get bloody spit  in her face.  Wiping it off, she once more grabs Azumi's head, and slams it twice against the building, before holding onto her and whispering into her ear.  "You're afraid.  I can feel it."  Pausing, she licks Azumi's bloody forehead.  "I can taste it.  You feel them, you fear me, but what you fear, most of all, is the idea that you aren't your own master."

Looking into Jess' eyes, Azumi is clearly able to see the color of her eyes change, from their natural violet color, to a vibrant yellow, and in part, she swore that she was that symbol in her eyes, as well.  Seeing Jess step back, she tries to pull her arms free of the Lightning magic.

"Oh, no, we can't have that."  Jess' hand stretches out, and a bubble of Trench magic engulfs Azumi's head.

Barely able to hold a small breath, Azumi's eyes are covered by the Trench magic, slowly darkening her vision.  However, it begins to brighten, as she sees so many familiar faces.  Zero, Cheryl, Audrey, Kira, Greg and Isaac.  So many friends...

[i]"Isn't that just precious?"[/i]  Jess' voice filters in through the Trench magic.  [i]"They seem so happy, so at ease..."[/i]

However, such a moment of peace doesn't last, as numerous figures appear around them.  She screams at them, only for the dark water to enter her mouth.  Her attempted scream goes unheard, instead replaced with a number of other screams, each of them coming from her friends, all of them muted and muffled.

Kira is the first to suffer, and although her end is quick, it remains gruesome, as her head is torn from her body, the mesh of her digital form dissipating.  Zero tries to pull out his Zero Saber, only for his arm to be cut off, blood and other fluids escaping.  He grabs at his stump, only to his head readily crushed.  Cheryl reaches for her gun, only to be pinned to the ground, a spear protruding from her gut.  She tries to remove it, only to get speared by more, with the final one going through her right eye.

[i]"You can stop this, Azumi."[/i]  Rikka's voice once again cuts through the swirling of the Trench magic.  [i]"Submit to me, and the rest shall live.  Resist, and they shall end."[/i]

Audrey tries to reach for her weapon, onyl to be grabbed by four of the figures.  She tries to pull herself free.  However, their grip on her is too great, and they begin to pull.  She screams as her limbs are pulled off, the life in her eyes beginning to fade.

Isaac is the next to fall.  He is able to fight off a few, but one in particular is able to get close enough and latch onto his back.  The figure begins to flash, with Isaac trying to pull this figure off, while others latch on as well, their own bodies beginning to flash.  Isaac is able to get out one last scream before the flashing bodies detonate, destroying them, as well as Isaac.

Greg is the last to fall, fighting tooth and nail against the figure, his friends gone, his blood gone; only he and his righteous anger remained.  However, his anger leaves him vulnerable, as a figure throws a green fireball at Greg, hitting him square in the face.  Greg stumbles back, falling to the ground.

Azumi's eyes tear up, as she sees Greg move towards her.  He reaches up, and his face has been sorely damaged by the fire.  The flesh under the skin lay bare, pock-marked with burns, and a sizable portion turning a pestilent green.  The flesh begins to dissolve, and he is able to utter one last word:  "Help..."  He falls limp as more of his body is consumed, leaving rotten and charred flesh and quickly blackening bone.

The tortures are getting to be too much, her buttons being pushed with such ferocity, such uncaring glee. Choking on the water, seeing all of their pain, their deaths so recent, so lucid. With so much horror, it is hard to concentrate. So hard... so hard to think of anything... Easier to break, to pull away, to let her, Zumi, take over...

[i]No![/i] There has to be a way out! There has to be some way she can fight this! And then, like a sickening ooze, she hears it, feels it within her very bones. That voice, so familiar.

[i]"Do you now see that sacrifices have to be made in the name of peace?"[/i] Ra's al Ghul, the Head of the Demon, leader of the League of Assassins and Talia's own father. [i]"That the Detective, while formidable, has ideals that will always be his greatest weakness, because they are foolish. They are impossible. He hopes for a reality that the human condition does not allow for. But you know this. You are a soldier, and so am I. We fight the same war, the war for peace. And we both know the truth: that one life will always be worth less than millions, than [b]billions[/b]. We do not [b]end[/b] lives, my dear child. We allow for millions more to continue and to start. And to accomplish this, you know what must be done. We are demons, dear child. We are demons because demons are necessary to keep this world's peace. The Detective understands this too, but incorrectly, for he only takes the guise of one, and not the soul. He does not have the will to do what, deep inside, he knows must be done. But we do. We are willing."[/i]

The Demon's Head pushes on her, "Zumi" pushes on her, the water pushes. Threatening to choke, to suffocate, to drown in an endless sea of pain and torture, mindless and subservient.

Suddenly, everything blurs, the sky a deep red as she loses all attention to what she is doing, lost in a pure rage. Female screams echo all around, flickers of sensation registering during the entire ordeal. She is the raging cyclone, swirling through with abandon. She is the boar rushing down a hill, aggressive and without any resistance whatsoever. She is the blacksmith striking the blade, inelegant but efficient. She is the thistledown on the whirlwind, unending and unyielding. She is so much more, all of it without mercy, without thought.

A gasp, then another. Finally, it ended, vision cleared.

Blood. The blood is everywhere, all around the streets, on her body, her clothes, her face. The knives she didn't know she drew drop from her hands as she looks at her handiwork, shocked to silence.

Jessica's body is split raggedly across the midsection, her entrails spilled messily on the ground, mixed with the same dark water. Rikka's right arm is cut off, as her head been cleaved in two down the middle, all of the remnants on the ground. Dani's heart is cut out of her body, a roughly circular hole where it once was.

Her own body fairs little better, the doppelgänger of "Emily" having its head severed, a spike of a whip impaled in her back, keeping her kneeling.

All together, the remnants show so much blood that it was difficult to tell that there was a street at all in some areas.

She is too shocked to scream, too horrified by her own actions for anything... but then she hears him again, sees the lights in the distance, falling to her knees in the blood, curling up in a fetal position in her horror at her monstrosity.

[i]"I am a monster, Azumi. You know this, and I admit it freely, because it is what is necessary. And finally, you understand. You have become a monster at last."[/i]

Curled up, Azumi whimpers.  So much horror, so much death, so much pain...  This was terror beyond terror for her.  The terror of her own potential.  Her stomach churns, and she vomits.  She continues to whimper as a figure appears over her, it enveloped in a vibrant brightness.

[i]"Such pain..."[/i]  The light dissipates, revealing her Wraith uniform, it hovering in midair.  [i]"Such misery..."[/i]  A glove reaches down towards her.  [i]"Let me help you.  Let me take this burden."[/i]

"My pain...  My misery... My burden..."  Azumi rocks back and forth on the ground, the words repeating again and again.

[i]"[u]Our[/u] burden."[/i]

Azumi looks once at the Wraith, and slowly, tentatively, reaches towards the glove.  They touch, and a bright light envelops the area.

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Azumi wakes up with a startle, touching her face, her neck, her chest, as if trying to determine if this was reality.

"Azumi."  She looks over, and it's him.  Batman.

"Bruce.  Thank God."  She reaches out towards him, and he holds her, receiving comfort once more.  Her breathing steadies, and she looks over at the doctor.

Leslie stands there, her left hand over her mouth.  It was barely 20 minutes ago when she treated this young woman.  Now, she looked to be in the pink of health.  "This doesn't make any sense."  Moving over to Azumi's back, she checks it.  "You should be..."  Removing a bandage, she's baffled.  "Absolutely okay."  Where there should be a bullet hole, there was nothing but smooth skin.

Batman lets go of his hug on Azumi, and looks over at the nearby table.  Seeing a syringe moved out of place, he picks it up.  Seeing the slightest of pink liquid inside, he grips it tightly.  "Lazarus..."  Sliding it into his belt, Batman kneels down by Azumi's bed.  "Are you okay?"

Azumi looks at Batman, but pauses as she sees something out by the window.  Looking over, she sees Wraith's head peeking out at her.  She's about ready to say something, but a glove appear, a finger extended and over the lips.  [i]"Shhhhh..."[/i]  She blinks, and proceeds to see the Wraith fade away, like smoke in the wind, until it is gone.

Taking a breath, she looks at Batman.  "Fine.  I've never been better."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[b]DAYS LATER[/i]

She feels horrible.  Lost.  He's gone.  Taken from her far, [i]far[/i] too soon.  She was saved by him.  He revealed the true nature of things to her.  And he loved her, in his own strange way.

Harley Quinn looks out the window of the Manager's office in the Steel Mill.  Mr. J...  [i]Her[/i] Mr. J... is gone.  Bat-Brain took him away.  It hurt.  It hurt deeper than anything she'd felt before.

"Uh, Harley?"  A thug calls out from the floor  "Everything okay up there?"

"Nothing's okay.  He's gone...  Just gone."

"You need us to do anything?"

Harley pauses.  "Find some piggies and bring 'em here.  There's a lot thing to do."

"Sure thing."  The thug turns around, but pauses as he hears Harley move up there.

"Shhh...  There, there..."  Harley sits down in front of the window, gently carressing what she held in her arms.  [i]"Hush, little baby, don't say a word...  Mumma's gonna kill for you the whole. Damn. World."[/i]