Ra's al Ghul gazed over the misty sea to Gotham harbor. All the cogs were falling into place and the machine, though slower than he would have liked, was ramping up. Nothing would stop this final cleansing. All of the agents needed to carry out the final mission were where they needed to be. Scarecrow: the agent of Fear, Azra'il: the agent of Death, the Joker: the agent of Chaos, and himself: the agent of Redemption. Now, there were but two issues – distractions, really – that needed to be dealt with, and neither was the Dark Knight.
The door behind him creaked open, breaking the seal of the room and allowing a fresh wisp of cool air to waft into the room. Ubu, his ever-loyal subject, spoke from the doorway. "Sir, it's ready."
Ra's nodded once, eyes still locked on the distant harbor, partially still lost in his thoughts. "Good." He abruptly turned on his heels and led Ubu into the depths of the barge's brig.
One of the distractions was coming from beyond the stars, but soon it would be stilled. He descended a dank staircase and passed a room from which spilled an eerie green glow. As he approached the sealed metal door at the hallway's end, he heard the cackling of The Joker and couldn't help but grin. The sheer maniacal mirth the pale man had despite knowing what was coming was admirable.
Ra's al Ghul walked between Azra'il and Scarecrow to the very visible rip in space-time and spoke into it. On the other side, a single glowing eye opened far wider than would be natural. It was said that any mortal who would dare look upon the full visage of his master would break from the mental toll.
One day, Ra's thought to himself as the rip grew a bit larger. One day, I'll be able to gaze on his full form and claim my rightful place! He raised both of his hands in supplication and began his plea. "Oh, great Icthultu! I stand before you, your humble servant and disciple. I have granted you access to this realm and this world—"
"You granted me nothing, immortal." Icthultu coolly reminded him. "You've only acted as a catalyst for what has always been destined." The omnipresent voice echoed through the chamber, filling every crack and corner. All present felt a chill running down their spines and a distinct aura of discomfort settled over the room as the Joker let off another soft chortle.
Ra's ignored the hairs standing on the nape of his neck and continued. "My sincerest apologies, Great One. The matter I wish to speak with you about is one of grave importance. The Earth is in great danger. A threat comes from the stars."
"Why should the matters of this world concern me? I am beyond this planet. Whether its population survives to my arrival or not makes little difference. As long as there is life on this planet, there is enough."
Ra's fought off a shudder at the haunting words and closed his eyes to continue his plea. Icthultu may have had no care for the other existential threat hurtling toward the Earth, but he sure did. "'Tis true, Great One; however, I believe this matter would be of particular importance to you. They may only present a threat to mankind, but would you deny yourself an appetizer?"
The monstrous entity beyond the veil seemed to withdraw from the opening, intrigued. "Speak quickly, mortal."
Head still bowed, Ra's al Ghul allowed himself a small, malevolent smile. "It is time to address some wayward children."
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"Here." Batman thrust his hand in Curtis' face with little concern for personal space. Between his fingers was a simple slip of paper, an address scrawled on it in neat and simple writing. "Tonight, one of the warehouses in the Bayside district is hosting a meeting between the Society of Shadows and a potential ally in the criminal underworld. Invitation only."
Curtis instinctively leaned back a bit, away from Batman's outstretched arm. "I'm guessing this invitation was granted to the sleazy jerkwad Matches Malone earlier this week?" he asked as he plucked the paper from his mentor's fingers and read the address. "Slip's Drive Dive? Strange name for a warehouse."
"It's not a warehouse, it's a biker bar in Bayside." Kimber, dressing for duty, shook her head as she let down her hair. She kept her tone neutral. "Papa's had more than a few calls there. Why an address to the bar and not the warehouse itself?"
The Bat ignored both inquiries. "The meeting was supposed to be earlier this week, but after we shook down that Jokerz cell in the Narrows, they postponed it. They're paranoid. Scared. Be extra cautious. Do not engage them. Do not be seen. Just observe and report."
"So this is recon first, beat-em-up later?"
Batman looked sternly at Kimber. "Observe and report," he reiterated mechanically. "What you learn there could give us an edge over Ra's and his plan. If we know what he's tasked these gangs to do, we can interfere with their movements and cripple his scheme."
"So it's beat-em-up really later..." Kimber slightly pouted. "Just sneaking?"
"Just sneaking," Batman confirmed.
"And we all know how much you love sneaking!" Curtis flashed a grin at Kimber. She scowled back and he took note. The girl hadn't been the same over the past few days, much more irritable and short. Her last date with Mawk must have gone south. Curtis fastened his gloves.
"Matches Malone wasn't the only one invited. A few other low-life's were invited, including this man." Batman handed Robin a wallet-sized picture of their target. "His name is Sidney Villie, known as Sid the Squid. He's out on parole and already trying to get back in with the various families. He will be at that bar within an hour. From there, he'll be given the address of the warehouse. Find him and follow him."
Batgirl and Robin went to their respective vehicles. As she straddled her bike, Batgirl looked back at the stoic figure of Batman. He made no move for the Batmobile, no sign that he was coming with them. Instead, he faced the Batcomputer and began typing away on the keyboard, consumed already in another project. Her lips slowly curled down as a slightly sour expression crossed her lips.
"What's he not telling us?" Robin's voice cut into her thoughts. She looked over at the Bat-Trike and watched him settle into its seat and adjust his mask, his jaw framed perfectly by the cowl. She bit the inside of her lip and kept silent, averting her eyes as he looked her way.
"What's the matter?" Robin asked her more directly. "Bat got your tongue?" He gave her cheeky grin but the best he got in return was a disgusted sigh. Snappy tonight, he thought. "That was a joke."
Batgirl narrowed her eyes and she started her engine, blocking out his voice. In a blur of black metal and blue light, Batgirl whizzed out of the BatCave with Robin in hot pursuit.
As the sounds of their engines faded away, Batman ceased typing on the keyboard. He'd caught Robin's question despite the boy's attempt at subtly, and he had to admit he was a bit worried for them. He'd told them to observe and report to keep them safe. After all, the true force behind the Society of Shadows was out of their league in more ways than one. But if they could cut him off here and now and get ahead of the Demon's Head, then they wouldn't have to worry about the malevolent thing from the other side.
They don't need to know.
He pulled off his cowl and stared into the empty sockets. It was an odd feeling to be alone in the 'Cave while his partners were en route to a mission. He felt almost out of place – had this been five years ago, he would have been spearheading the mission or perhaps even undertaking it himself with no word given to his allies. Oh, how much had changed in the last half decade. Then again, he didn't have partners like this five years ago. Tim would have been too young to head out on his own and Barbara was still an on-again off-again companion. These two were different and they would be fine.
Bruce finally broke from his trance and replaced his cowl on the designated mannequin. Besides, it wasn't like he didn't have something to do. A quick glance at a timepiece on the Batcomputer informed him that he should probably get moving. At some point 'fashionably late' would transition into just 'late'. With a grimace, he changed his skin and then glided up the stairs into the manor.
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"Any clue which gang we're after?" Batgirl pulled her bike alongside Robin's trike.
"Well, look who found her voice." Robin teased, cradled in the cockpit of the Bat-Trike. He waited for a response, but when none came, he shook his head and continued. "No idea. I do know that this Sid the Squid has a pretty short rap sheet – and most of it is for loitering."
"Really? Well, isn't he the most hardened criminal?" Batgirl found herself giggling into her radio. "Here we have Mr. Loitering trying to make it big with men that wouldn't blink twice at manslaughter." She coughed abruptly in an attempt to stifle her laughter.
Robin didn't see the humor in it and continued giving some background on their mark, his tone serious. "Laugh all you want. He's survived the murderous ire of both Rupert Thorne and the Joker. Even gave the boss a run for his money a decade or so back. In prison, he was known as the man who nearly killed Batman. He may not be the most hardened criminal, but it seems he is one of the luckier ones."
"Looks like a fender bender clogged the intersection ahead."
"Already on it." The advanced GPS built into their vehicles factored in the traffic patterns and instantly updated, giving the two a new, less congested route. "Try to keep up, Girl Wonder."
Batgirl shook her head. "Doesn't roll off the tongue as well."
The two rode in an unusual silence for a time. Weaving between cars and down side streets, they felt the shift in road quality as they crossed into the Bayside district. The traffic lightened, with mostly trailer and cargo trucks dotting the road rather than the common sedan. When they were mere blocks from Slip's, Robin veered into an alley followed closely by the Bat-Cycle.
"You ever get the feeling that the Boss is keeping secrets from us?"
"You expect the boss to tell us everything?" Batgirl sourly dismissed Robin's question with an uncharacteristic callousness.
"Well, no, but—"
She denigrated further. "Is it bright in Robinland today?"
Especially snappy. "Oh, hush," Robin hissed. "You know what I mean." He downshifted to slow his vehicle a bit. "This stakeout. There is no way these guys are just simple... gang members. Most of the gangs are too pedestrian for Ra's, and I'm sure his goons not only outnumber most of Gotham's gangs, but they're also better trained. Only the mob families could match the Society's influence and numbers, but the Falconés never collaborated with Ra's al Ghul before.
"Sure, but remember the Burnouts? They're with Ra's."
"And they only seemed to be a means to an end." Robin slowed his vehicle. "He dropped them soon after that plane fiasco."
"Maybe it's the Jokerz?" Batgirl offered. "If he has the Joker and the means to restore the Clown Prince's mind, why wouldn't the Jokerz seek Ra's out to work for him? He gets free manpower and they get their patron serial killer back?"
"Possibly... But they're still too scattered and new. Don't even think they have a central leader. They're just individualized groups collected under a banner." He paused. "Besides, do they even know Ra's al Ghul can bring the Joker back? All the public knows is that he's missing."
They parked their vehicles in the shadows and went through procedures to ensure the vehicles would be safe.
"Okay, what if the Society of Shadows have plants in Gotham's gangs to shift control his way? I mean we did see a legion or ten pour out of that antique store. Who's to say there haven't been Society members infiltrating gangs in the last few months? Get a boost in their numbers..."
"The Bat would know. For as stealthy as the Shadows are, Batman is familiar with how they operate. I've read a few of his reports on them, that's not something they'd do. Besides, there's no way such a surge in membership of any gang would elude his monitoring. And he'd tell us—or at least I would hope he would since there is a significant difference between fighting a sloppy brawler that deals in haymakers and an assassin trained from birth."
"Well, maybe that's the secret he is keeping from us?"
"Doubt it. We know about Ra's. We know about his clan. Hell, I fought one of his ninjas. The boss would have no reason not to tell us..." Robin trailed off as he stared at the Bat-Trike pensively. "There's something else that he's keeping us in the dark about. Something deeper. Something bad."
"Paranoid much?" Batgirl walked up to Robin's side, lips pursed in mild annoyance. "What could be worse than Ra's wanting to destroy the world?"
"The method he wants to use?" Robin gave her a knowing look out of the corner of his eye, his head barely tilting in her direction. "When I interrogated Two-Face, he kept mentioning a three-armed beast named Karkull."
"Asked the Bat?"
"Yeah."
"And?"
"He lied."
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The act was much easier when drunk. Just bumble through the night and that would be enough to earn more social points. He had even memorized a new joke. It was crass, it was vulgar, it was everything a rich socialite like Bruce Wayne would say after drinking a few too many shots of expensive tequila. But he couldn't this time. Not even one drink. Diana made him promise during the car ride that he wouldn't drink any of the vices and he, of course, couldn't tell her that he never actually did drink. So here he was at the party pretending. Pretending to have fun without any way of escape into the night.
Now I really do wish I had gone with them. How Diana had talked him into going to another social function so soon was beyond him, but he was there now. The only thing that made him feel at home was the lightweight batsuit under his Bruce Wayne suit. If anything, he could bumble into a waiter and get 'hurt' and leave. Or perhaps ruin Diana's dress with a clumsy attempt at caviar. Either way, that would end with him joining Batgirl and Robin on their mission.
"C'mon, Bruce!" Diana tugged him back to the table they shared with Daggett. "And put on a happy face." Aside from the poor first impression at the previous function, Diana had actually taken a liking to Daggett, much to Bruce's surprise and pleasure. As far as business mattered, Daggett was a competent and trustworthy man and a friend from Bruce's short college days.
As if on autopilot, Bruce pulled out his date's chair and she sat.
"Heh, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you all are hitched already," Daggett commented gravally as Bruce took his seat.
"I'm always polite, Roland." Bruce flashed the grin he practiced nearly every night. "It's part of my charm," he added with a wink to Daggett's date; a different woman than before. The redhead blushed.
"I'm just surprised you came to this fundraiser." Roland Daggett balanced his chair on its rear legs, putting one arm over the backrest. "Normally you shy away from banquets like this. But better late than never to indulge."
"I must say I'm not too thrilled about a date auction for charity, but Diana convinced me to come out of my cave again."
"And how could you say 'no', right?" Daggett's date put in.
Bruce stole a glance at Diana. She wore a gorgeous white dress with gold trim and matching accoutrements that shimmered like gemstones under the warm lights. Her hair rolled down her shoulders smoothly and bounced as she faced his way, her baby blue eyes melting his icy set on contact. Her ombré red lips parted in an innocent smile. She was positively radiant. I don't know... It's getting more difficult each time. "It isn't easy, but sometimes I manage it." Bruce smiled at Daggett's date.
The younger woman returned with her own toothy grin. "You two do make a cute item," she said.
Diana turned her head and scoffed slightly with a light smile. "Oh, I don't think that could happen. The papers would probably never let it go. The world would probably go crazy."
Bruce's eyebrows raised in surprise. He hadn't expected her to reject the idea. For the better part of the last year, their interactions ranged from mild romantic tension to overt flirting. Had he been reading her wrong this whole time?
He leaned to one side, supporting his head with his knuckles in a casual way as he scrutinized Diana's expression. "I think the world could do for a little crazy, though." For the first time in a long while, he felt uncertainty. Then he saw it: the way the corners of her lips curled up slowly and her smokey eyes narrowed. It was an expression of success and delight. She wanted him to admit it himself. Walked right into that one.
"Aw, do you really mean that?" Diana cooed softly.
Why lie now? "Yes."
"Bruce, you're gettin' soft." Daggett's voice was playful but carried a warning.
I don't think I care, Roland.
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Batgirl and Robin quietly scaled the defunct building that had once been a travel agency headquarters of some sort. Once on the roof, the two quickly got into position to watch the bar across the street. Through the tinted windows, Robin watched a bar fight in progress reach a less-than-peaceful resolution as one of the beefy bouncers posted outside the door rushed inside, fists clenched.
"Well, this is it. Slip's Drive Dive. Nothing out of the ordinary yet."
"This Squid guy should be here by now, right?" Batgirl scratched her neck and then leaned against the roof ledge. "The boss said he would be hard to miss..." She looked at the digital image of their mark on her heads-up display.
"Pretty sure he's already inside. I don't see him, but a car registered in his sister's name is parked on the corner. We just have to watch it and the door." Robin propped himself up on his elbows. "The waiting game begins."
As Robin watched the joint, Batgirl cast her eyes down to the street below them. A few rough-looking Gothamites were walking below, boisterously waving beer bottles in the air and croaking out some unrecognizable shanty in an off key. Across the street, a gang of teens in hoodies gathered around a car. Soon the vehicle would be stripped of its tires and radio, no doubt leaving the owner in dismay... Assuming the owner was still alive.
After an uncharacteristically silent few minutes, Robin quietly cleared his throat and looked at Batgirl. "We could be here a bit. Usually you're pretty chatty, but you've been pretty quiet tonight. Anything on your mind?"
"..."
"You know, how's life?"
"..."
"Your pop's doin' okay?"
"..."
"Fantastic. What about your cousin?"
"..."
"Mawk?"
"Shut up, Robin."
"Well. That cut deep."
"Hope it was to the marrow."
Robin didn't miss the venom in her voice. She wasn't joking. "Going for blood, eh?" he said, more to himself. He waited a moment for the air to clear before asking, "You want to talk about it?"
Batgirl bolted up from his side and wrung her hands in the air. "Can you just drop it?" she exclaimed a bit more forcefully than she'd meant to, her mind swirling with emotions and thoughts she couldn't correlate. As the fog in her mind thickened, her mouth continued to run. "I'm not in any mood right now, alright? Let's just wait for Mr. Squid and follow him so we can get this done. Then I can go home and you can be alone like you always are." Her cheeks felt hot and the clouds in her mind darkened as she panted in anger. "Okay, Curtis? No jokes, no chit-chat. Just work. Got it?"
Robin bit his inner cheek and his eyes fell back to the street below. He turned away from Batgirl and sharply inhaled as his mindset shifted to accommodate the demand. There was an uncomfortable silence for a beat before he finally responded in a low and hoarse tone. "Yeah... yeah, we can drop it... My bad." His voice trailed off into the night breeze. "Sorry."
Batgirl's stomach tightened as remorse instantly washed over her. That wasn't what she'd meant to say. Her stomach tightened and she instinctively reached out to place a hand on his shoulder, but stopped just short of contact. The heat at her cheeks extinguished and a rare moment of clarity broke through the dark clouds in her mind. She shouldn't have blown up on Curtis. Why had she gotten so angry at him? He didn't deserve that. After all, I love him.
It was a pure and simple thought, unfiltered and raw. It was also wholly unexpected. Batgirl's hand fell limp to her side and her eyes went wide behind her visor. Oh, my god... She opened her mouth to speak but a low and unintelligible groan is all that came out.
"What?" Robin, voice neutral, asked his ally, his back still to her and eyes focused on the bar across the street.
"Nothing. Forgot about it." The lie was a terrible one, and she could tell he didn't buy it. But she could tell he wasn't about to turn around and talk with her after the verbal abuse she'd just dished out. No matter how much she wanted him to. She cursed her lack of self-control. "Just– Keep an eye out for this twerp."
Robin grunted from his perch and continued his watch.
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Bruce checked his watch again. The dial had barely moved. He had only been at the banquet for a little more than half an hour and he was already bored out of his mind. The auction would begin on the hour and once that started, there'd be no escaping the rest of the sham event – and he couldn't even retreat into a boisterous persona. Being "drunk" was at least stimulating. This was torture.
Diana, returning from the women's room, leaned down and put her lips to his ear. "Would you like to dance?"
Almost torture. He stood with his date and they took to the dance floor. The song was slow and easy. Soon he found himself relaxing and actually, dare he admit it, enjoying the dance. He gracefully led Diana around the dancefloor in time with the music and the other couples. Alfred would have been proud. When was the last time he had actually enjoyed dancing? He couldn't remember. Most of those times, he was 'drunk'.
The pair continued dancing and, as they did, other couples seemed to slowly fall away. It felt to Bruce like a scene straight out of the romance movies Barbara had so passionately tried getting him to watch. A scene close to the end where the extras step back allowing the main characters to share a kiss and fall in love. It felt cliché, but it also felt like an opportunity. One wrong step could spell disaster for Diana's gorgeous dress.
He was about to end the dance with a goofy antic to break the tension and create a reason to leave when he realized why the other dancers had moved away: he couldn't feel the floor.
"Diana..." he whispered into his partner's ear, almost afraid. "You're flying."
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True to Batman's words, Sid the Squid was not at all an inconspicuous individual. The only reason a gang would take such a character on? Bait for the police. Tell the squirt nothing and let him take the rap. Robin and Batgirl had no trouble finding him. He had rushed out of the rear parking lot of Slip's ten minutes ago and had nearly caused two accidents already.
High over the dingy streets of Gotham's Bayside district, Batgirl and Robin tailed their quarry, swinging overhead on high-tensile wire as their vehicles remained safely parked in the alley near Slip's.
"Remind me why we couldn't drive after him?"
"Batman said they are paranoid," Robin replied between buildings. "If Sid catches the slightest glimpse of us, this mission is over and we're likely dead."
"Or Batman would just fire us," she offered lighty.
"Feels like the world's on the line, Batgirl. Whether Batman does it or the Society, it wouldn't matter."
"So, fired from breathing?" Batgirl tried for a joke to walk back her earlier malice.
Robin was silent for a moment. "Sure."
He jumped from the edge of the next rooftop and activated the gliding mechanism in his cape with Batgirl trailing just behind. Soon the two Gotham knights were sailing over the heads of Gothamite deckhands scrambling through their nightly races. Robin dove one street over from Sid's vehicle to generate more lift, as Batgirl hit a roof and rolled into a leap toward another building.
"He's making a left into a parking lot," Batgirl noted.
"I see him." Robin fired his bat-claw at a building near Batgirl's position and swung after Sid's car as Batgirl crossed the final pair of rooftops just before him, coming to a stop atop Sid's destination. "With their back to the harbor, huh?"
"No surprise there." Batgirl stowed her bat-claw as she came to a stop at the ledge and watched Sid the Squid pull into a warehouse's sparsely populated parking lot. "Easy escape into the water if anything goes south. Remember last time?"
"True." Robin landed softly on top of the waterfront building next to Batgirl. Both watched from above as Sid crookedly parked his relative's borrowed – or stolen – car and then scampered inside. He turned around and faced Batgirl, looking at her for the first time since her outburst. "How about we join him?"
Batgirl's heart skipped a beat as his eyes landed on her and she sarcastically bowed and gestured for him to lead the way. A clumsy way to avoid his blank gaze. "Age before beauty." She gestured to a ladder.
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One sentence. Two words. That was all it took for Diana to panic. Her eyes snapped open in a split second and, in another, she and her date fell to the floor. "W–what do you mean?" She looked at Bruce with a tinge of horror.
"You were flying," he repeated quietly. It was hard enough for him to believe it, he could only imagine how amazed Diana was. They weren't supposed to come back. This would have to be studied. We have to go. He took Diana's hand and forced a smile. "This is incredible," he whispered into her ear. He tried his best to mask the urgency and panic he felt. At least now he had his excuse. "We have to figure this out."
Without waiting for her response, Bruce pulled Diana to her feet and started for the door. She rose in a bit of a daze, her mind still reeling from the experience. As Bruce half-dragged her for the door, murmuring broke out amid the small group that had gathered around the two. The rumors were already starting.
"Where are you going, Bruce?" Daggett spoke up from his spot among the onlookers as the crowd parted for the two.
"We are going for some fresh air." Bruce quickly responded, throwing his smile over his shoulder to belay concern. "Don't want to worry too many people!" He did his best to sound confident and suave despite his growing worry.
"Be safe, Bruce. And wrap it up!" Daggett joked back.
Under normal circumstances, Bruce would have shot back a clever quip that would quash any perverted rumor that Daggett or other guests would stir up. But this wasn't a normal circumstance. This slight manifestation of Diana's power changed everything. If the powers stripped from her were returning, then what did this mean for J'onn. Or Superman?
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The mission was supposed to be a simple reconnaissance. They had gone on plenty such missions before with no issue. Despite how boring stakeout missions could be, the odds of actually failing one was abysmally low. However, this mission had started off on the wrong foot and had only gotten worse as the night dragged on.
Robin and Batgirl had easily slipped inside the warehouse through an unlocked skylight and began watching the group below. From the night's start, Batgirl had been surly and unfriendly; but after her outburst on the rooftop, both heroes were now on edge with one another. They'd barely spoken two words to each other since entering, but as they watched the gang below, it became more and more clear that they were well over their heads.
The group was much more organized than expected, looking more like Falconé's or Thorne's men than two-bit crooks. Yet their weapons were clearly more advanced – looking more like something out of a science fiction movie than a military armory. Even the way they spoke about some of the items was almost inhuman. But, it wasn't until Batgirl saw the leader of the gang that the otherworldly feel of the gang made sense.
Her breath left her as the tall, muscular man in the brown suit marched out of the warehouse overseer's office and down a flight of stairs to the main floor. "Oh, shit..."
"What?" Robin shifted his eyes from the crates being moved to the newcomer barking orders.
"You don't recognize that guy?" she asked without breaking line of sight with him.
"Not really. Should I?" Robin used the tech in his cowl to get a better look at the leader. He was an older gentleman, probably in his mid to late fifties, but very well-built. His face looked like a boxer's after at least a dozen lost matches. Robin's mouth twisted to the side as he fought off a smirk. "I wouldn't forget a mug like that."
"That's 'Ugly' Bruno Mannheim!"
"Intergang's leader?" Robin's eyes widened. "No way... I thought he was... you know... Dead?" Then Robin frowned. "I knew it!" he whispered, more to himself. "I knew he lied. There's some real inter-dimensional shit going on here... and I'll bet that they're already working with the Society!"
"I know Intergang has done stuff like this before, what with the Apokoliptian weapons years back, but what makes you think that they are already working with Ra's? Batman said this would be their first meeting."
"That's not what he said, that's what we assumed. Batman didn't send us here because the gang is going to join Ra's. Sid and Matches, they were just new recruits. Intergang is already allied with Ra's."
Robin was soon proven correct. One of the Intergang members activated a small hand-held electronic and a large portal cracked open in empty space. Batgirl had to physically cover her mouth to keep from squealing as space-time tore before her eyes. Out from the portal came Ubu, beefy arms crossed. Ra's al Ghul's right hand spoke for a time with Bruno before pointing around the warehouse and making gestures for various large cargo containers to be carried through the portal.
"This is insane..." Batgirl murmured. "What do you think they were talking about?"
Robin was silent.
Quickly, the Intergang members began carrying boxes through the portal. Those that went in, did not come out. Bruno himself went in at one point and didn't return. After a few minutes of watching the gang members empty the warehouse, Batgirl began to grow restless.
"How are you able to stay still for so long? And quiet?"
"Patience and practice," Robin muttered back. "When they leave, we can check for anything left behind."
A few Society of Shadows members came through and stood on either side of Ubu. When finally the last container was seemingly carried through the portal, Ubu swept his vision over the now-barren warehouse floor.
A distinct feeling of foreboding began to creep into Batgirl's chest. Things were getting deeper than she'd ever anticipated. If Ra's was working with Intergang and they were indeed sharing futuristic interdimensional weaponry, then the mortality rate of this extracurricular activity would rise higher than the already inherent danger. Death now wasn't just a possibility, it was becoming a probability. She swallowed her pride and addressed her companion with a whisper. "Robin, about earlier, I just want to say—"
"Don't worry about it. I was prying." He quickly shut her down in a crisp and cool tone. "Let's focus on the task at hand." His voice was all too similar to her mentor's... and it didn't sound forced. It scared her.
"Okay, yeah," she shakily replied. "Sorry..." A tear slid down her cheek and tickled the corner of her mouth as the pounding in her chest grew. She looked back to the scene playing out below them. Those below continued to mill about in an orderly fashion. "I wish they would leave. They've moved everything... what are they waiting for?"
"Karkull," Robin breathed in fear.
"Yeah... So, you never told me what Two-Face meant..."
"No, there." He pointed as best he could from his vantage point at the portal. "Karkull."
Batgirl followed his finger and saw just what had stymied her partner.
A tall, gaunt daemonic thing materialized behind Ubu. Wrapped in abyss and clothed in a tattered grey cloak, the thing felt more like a presence than even a being. Two long arms with fingers splayed wide hung at its side as a smaller, shriveled arm seemed to reach for the sky from its right shoulder. Under a pointed hood, an uncountable number of pulpy tentacles hung from the thing's face just below two glowing, pale green eyes that refused to blink.
Even as she watched the thing float there, she strained to make sense of what she was seeing. "What the fuck is that..."
"Karkull," Robin breathed again. "We're dead meat."
"Why?" Batgirl barely breathed the question, still enraptured by the swirling darkness embodied below.
"That thing isn't human. It's extra-dimensional."
"And?"
Bruno spoke to it with what seemed to be pride. Ubu waved dismissively at the man and walked to the portal. His ninja guards entered ahead of him but he paused just before stepping through and looked to Karkull. The creature seemed to say something and Bruno's face paled.
Robin's breath hitched. "It knows we're here."
True to Robin's words, Karkull turned – or rather, it shifted – and its withered hand pointed to the causeway in the warehouse's rafters from which Batgirl and Robin had been spying. A sickly green ray fired from the third hand, creasing the space between the netherbeast on the floor and the causeway above and striking the support beams. The entire portion collapsed, sending Batgirl and Robin crashing to the ground before the remaining Intergang members. As the two scrambled to their feet amid the crumbling wreckage, the demon turned its back on them.
"That such fleas could penetrate your defenses upsets me, Bruno." Karkull's voice was loud but despite its volume, it did not echo. He turned his back to the two heroes. "Deal with them." Then he and Ubu faded into the portal.