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"In this world, the weak are the sustenance of the strong. The strong live, the weak die."
– Makoto Shishio, (Rurouni Kenshin)
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<(Bruce Wayne POV)>
"You really thought that you could outsmart me, Bruce? ME? The man who had been running this entire organization for the last five hundred years? Me, who had not only started the League of Assassins but even developed it into the globe-spanning organization it is today? HAHAHA, you might be an intelligent 'boy' but you are still plenty inexperienced it seems. You have overestimated yourself too much." Ra's Al Ghul mocked as he looked at me with a pitiful smile, challenging me to prove him wrong.
"And as for you my sweet Talia, you showed me that you truly are my daughter, ambitious and cunning., just as I like it. You had been preparing the last few years for this day, hadn't you, preparing to take over the League the moment you get a chance? You have been lying to Bruce and even yourself when you said that you wanted to do this for your sister. But the truth is you just wanted to do this for power, you just wanted to be the new head of the League. Hahaha, you could have been my perfect heir... Pity that you are not my son." Ra's Al Ghul said with a sneer.
"How?" I asked without any change in my expression.
"How, what?"
"How did you know what we were planning?" I asked. I knew that Talia wasn't the one to leak the information of the 'coup' if I were to go by his words as well as the current surprised and angry look on her face but I still needed to make sure that she hadn't betrayed me in any way. If she has, then Ra's wouldn't be the only person disappearing from the face of the planet tonight.
"I see that you too share my distaste for betrayal, Bruce. But worry not, my daughter has only betrayed me tonight... for now, although I am sure that your turn also would have come soon too if I were to die that easy. She has the blood of a ghul after all." Ra's smirked as he looked at his daughter with complex eyes filled with both pride and contempt.
'That's one messed up and misplaced pride of a father.' I thought to myself, albeit a bit relieved that I didn't lose my gamble by putting my trust in her.
"As for how I knew, it was petty obvious for someone like me who has been suppressing rebellions for centuries. I have had my fair share of students trying to take over the League after thinking that they didn't have anything to learn from me anymore. Of course, they were all idiots for thinking that I had actually taught them everything I knew. And, as for you, I knew that you weren't a normal kid the very first moment I saw you. Your acting skills were truly great since even I was confused for the greater part of two years about your true personality and the extent of your physical capabilities but even the most perfect actors slip up.
It took me a lot of time to realize who Bruce Wayne truly was, and to connect the dots. But, I succeeded nonetheless and found out why you were truly here... You, Bruce Wayne like many MANY people before you, are a power-hungry, greedy, and selfish little person who wants nothing more than to amass more and more power in the name of safety and justice, just so that you yourself can feel safe in this little world of ours. So that you have a purpose, a meaning to your existence. But, the worst thing is you don't even realize that yourself, do you?" Ra's Al Ghul stared directly into my eyes, his gaze unmoving like they were trying to hypnotize me.
"You sure you aren't just imprinting your own personality in me? I mean, those words sound a lot like... you." I said with a straight face.
Honestly, I was trying to buy some time because I wanted Nyssa to wake up before the fight broke out since a battle would mean that I would be unable to protect her unconscious ass from threats.
"Imprinting my personality? It is funny you mention that since my plans tonight really are something along those lines, that's of course if you fail. So, what have you decided Bruce Wayne, will you kill Nyssa? Sacrifice her for your goals, and become a true member of the League, the next leader of the League as my heir or will you give up the best chance you have at taking over the League for yourself just because of a little useless thing called... love?" Ra's Al Ghul couldn't help but chuckle as he uttered the last word, making his distrust in the concept clear.
"What are you talking about father? You can't let Nyssa die. She didn't do anything, we didn't even include her in our plans. She is innocent, please I beg you father, let her go. I will replace her if you want. I can take her place. Bruce, please don't kill her. She trusted you. Don't betray her trust. I will do anything you wish, just don't let her die, please." Talia begged with constant tears flowing from her eyes as she tried her best to struggle against her captor's clutches but unfortunately, the strength of a dozen trained ninjas was greater than even her enhanced physical capabilities.
"... Truthfully, I am pretty hurt that you would even think I could kill her Talia. I know how to look after what's mine. Also, as you yourself said Ra's, I am pretty selfish, sacrifice just isn't my cup of tea. That's for heroes and I am definitely not a hero, I lost the right to call myself that a loooong time ago..." I said as I noticed Nyssa slightly moving, her eyes twitching. She was slowly waking up from her induced sleep. "But you can call me something else, you can call me...vengeance." I took out about six black kunai and threw them to three ninjas standing the closest to Nyssa while throwing the other three at the ninjas holding Talia, instantly killing all six of my targets.
"I see you have made your choice then. A real pity." Ra's Al Ghul sighed, not even acknowledging the death of three of his ninjas.
"Pity this." I quickly threw a kunai at Ra's with lightning speed, aimed directly at his throat. I was sure that as only an enhanced he would fail to dodge the projectile that I had thrown with almost all my super strength but surprisingly instead of dodging it, he just caught the kunai with his bare fingers, displaying a bored expression on his face, making the entire feat seem like nothing extraordinary.
"I told you, I didn't teach you everything." He said with an inexpressive face as he playfully twirled the kunai in his fingers and threw it back at me which I tool easily caught with my left hand.
"That makes two of us," I replied as I threw it at one of the ninjas running towards Talia to hold down since she had mostly freed herself by overpowering the remaining ninjas.
"Take care of them, Ubu. I have to prepare for the true ritual." Ra's Al Ghul confidently ordered as he silently walked further into one of the forbidden parts of the structure, disappearing into the darkness.
"You aren't getting away that easy," Talia yelled as she threw a couple of flying knives at her father meant to kill him but they were all quite easily blocked by the giant minion standing in his path.
"You two shouldn't have betrayed him Talia because now I have to do something to both of you that I never wanted to. So, don't blame me for this." Ubu said as he took out a small strange cylindrical instrument from his robe with a needle on the top.
"Talia go and free your sister and maybe try to thin the ninja population with your sister. I'll take care of the humanoid bear." I said as I cracked my neck, dodging one of the ninjas who was stealthily trying to go for the kill while I broke his neck with a single punch.
Talia who was also busy killing a pair of ninjas just looked at me and nodded with a complicated face. From the look on her face, it seemed like she was thinking something that she should not be thinking but I failed to determine exactly what. However, I was not worried. Even if she decided to run away or betray me now, I was currently at a stage where it wouldn't matter because I had plans of my own and one of my backup plans was already on its way here.
"I told you Bruce, never make Ra's Al Ghul your enemy but you went ahead and did just that. And to think that I was just beginning to like you. Now, I'll have to break every bone in your body to please the master. *Sigh* You could have averted all this and made it easy for all of us by just not plotting against the lord. You would only have to kill some nobody or some thief in that case to pass the trial and you would have been a loyal member of the organization." Ubu sighed, his voice almost sounded... sad.
"You can just stand back then Ubu. I don't have a grudge against you. I only have an enmity with the Demon's Head. So, if you stand down, I will let you live, I promise. Plus, if you don't remember, Ra's Al Ghul himself just stated that I am much stronger than a normal human. So, if you were struggling to win against me when I was holding back so much of my true physical might, why do you think you are going to have a chance now?" I debated. I truly didn't want to kill the man. Despite being a loyal bodyguard for Ra's Al Ghul, I had never seen him do anything that was morally ambiguous. He was always only focused on his job to protect Ra's Al Ghul. In a way, he was Ra's Al Ghul's version of Mercy.
"I can't defeat you huh? Well, I guess that would have been normally true... but unfortunately, it's not." He instantly inserted the needle in his hand into the side of his own neck as a small sound of a pressure valve being released was heard. "If you are going to cheat, I am too."
At that moment, Ubu suddenly started undergoing a huge change in his body, both outside and inside. His skin darkened into a pale greyish color, his eyes reddened and his veins especially those near his neck bulged all while the sound of cracks of his bones shifting reverberated in the air.
"What did you do to yourself?" I asked, disgusted at how his body was slowly deforming to become even more bulkier than before.
"Master was running a little project on the side in our Arabian base to compete with the superhuman drugs that the Japanese and Americans were developing, particularly drugs like Mirakuru... a d-drug to increase our physical abilities to AAAAH SUPERHUMAN MONSTROUS LEVELS. *PANT* *Pant* It's still in development and not even nearly p-perfect but it's enough f-for squashing traitorous little bugs like y-you. HahahaHAHAHHAHA. So, congratulations to you Bruce Wayne, you will be the first victim of VENOM." Ubu completed in a monstrous voice as his transition also ended, setting him as an almost eight-foot-tall giant of a human with bulking muscles that would make any grown man feel like a small baby in front of him.
"... Wow, God you look... hideous. I guess waiting for your speech and slow-ass transformation to be over was worth it, huh? If I had killed you the moment you injected that serum, I wouldn't have gotten to see your magnificently ugly face, so I am really glad I didn't. I guess that's why the main characters always give the bad guys the required time to complete their ultimate transformations. It's because they are genuinely curious to see the final result... God, you are one ugly piece of shit. You look like the perverted baby of a deformed elephant and an overweight hippo if they had a threesome with a zombified walrus." I could not help but comment. And I wasn't lying at the least. The current Ubu could be nominated one of the wonders of the world if an award was ever given based on how ugly one possibly could be.
[{Image}]
"... I WILL KILL YOU"
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