Final Showdown

How had this all happened? How did he get so careless? How did he allow her to get in the way? The questions continued to race through his brain even as he raced through the dark corridors of crates and materials in the warehouse. He had to move faster, much faster, he didn’t have time for his fatigue to slow him down. He pressed himself harder, he ignored the way the dried sweat pinned between his flesh and the suit grated against him stinging his body, he ignored the way every joint and muscle seemed to cry out in agony, he ignored the throbbing headache from the blow to the head during his initial encounter with the villain.

His mind continued to bring thoughts of her to the surface. He had brought this upon them. He had allowed her in. He had granted her permission into his life. How could he have let this happen?

Thought’s kept coming but now he put them to the rear of his mind, he could see her, lying on the floor, a single warehouse light illuminating the ground where she lay, she was unconscious, he refused to accept any other explanation. She was unconscious.

It was easy to tell she’d put up quite a fight, she was bruised, the dark spandex was torn in places and he could see swelled spots where bruised muscles were beneath her costume.

“At last! I knew you would not disappoint me Batman!” The booming voice announced as the vigilante moved into the light thrown by the fixture on the ceiling.

The shadowy figure whirled, his jagged cape billowing around him as he glared up at the muscle bound psychopath standing on a stack of crate above him. Bane flashed him a wide toothy grin beneath his leather mask, flexing his massive body as he crouched down, a predator ready to pounce.

“Your precious cat is broken… And now Batman; you also shall break, for the last time!” With a roar he leapt from the stack of crate, crashing down towards the dark hero, exactly 350 pounds of muscle, six foot one, ambidextrous, no longer reliant on his venom for power, he was an even greater threat than he was the first time they had a ‘final’ show down.

The bat darted out of the way and the monstrous humanoid landed in crouch on the floor that seemed to actually make the ground shake. Bane turned, snarling and charged like an enraged rhinoceros.

He was read for him, right leg bent, left extended, a quick push from the ball of his right foot launched him skyward up over his opponent, he whipped his body around, his left heel snapped down, slamming hard into the back of Bane’s head and sending him stumbling forward to hit the concrete floor hard.

He didn’t’ stay down long, barely even the blink of an eye. He grinned widely at the Bat as he turned to face him.

“This is what I have thirsted for, for so long! To push you to your limits! To see just how far you would go! And I finally found the way to do it!” He smirked, looking over Batman’s shoulder at the battered and shattered woman on the ground behind them. “She’s quite the feisty one you know, almost as formidable as I expected you to be tonight!”

He grinned, noticing the slight twitch of the hero’s eye, he was pressing at the right spot. “Nimble to, good at dodging, quick reflexes, she was impressive… Until I caught off her escape route.” Bane chuckled softly, blocking a high kick from the hero that he easily saw coming.

His eyes narrow as he stared at Bane. He was taunting him, manipulating him, weakening him with words, pressing at his weakness, he had to block it out! He had too! If he didn’t end this soon, if he didn’t get her to a hospital…
“NO!” He roared, lashing out sudden.

Bane stumbled back wide eyed, rubbing his jaw and laughing.
“Most impressive Batman! You have perfected your right hook since last we met!” He grinned that almost animal grin once more. “She had a mean right hook as well, not quite as strong a finish, but formidable. I made her pay for that though… She gave quite a satisfying squeal.”

Bane gave a deep rumbling laugh, deflecting another kicking, block a series of swift punches, and then catching the Bat in the abdomen with an under hand jab, sending him sprawling back onto the ground.
“Have you ever actually made her squeal Batman?” He asked, smirking once more. “Not as much as I did I’d wager! For a moment I almost thought she’d beg for more, quite a tight little one she is!”

His eyes narrowed, his nostrils flared, Bane had gone too far and the villainous assassin didn’t realize it until it was too late. He remembered every major fight which didn’t involve a serious concussion, he couldn’t recall a time he’d moved so fast. A left hook, a swift jab to the ribs, a leap that brought his knee up to collide hard with Bane’s nose. The crack he heard was extremely satisfying to his ears.

The mountainous man stumbled back, wiping his hand over his now bloody face and snarling.
“Most impressive, but you will not draw blood again this night!” With a roar he lunged, catching up the bat in one massive hand and hurling him into a stack of old wooden crates.

With a shattering crack the old boards exploded around him, collapsing in on top of him and pinning him in the debris. He struggled to get free while Bane laughed.

“How does it feel Batman? How does it feel to know you have failed? You have lost everything! Your city is falling, slowly seeping into the darkness of a criminal empire which I shall rule! Your old friends no longer heed your call for assistance! And your woman, well, you might have some comfort there, I might just keep her for myself.” The leather clad criminal said with a lewd smile. “But first Batman… I will end you!” He gave a feral roar as he lifted a massive metal crate off the ground, stomping towards where the vigilante lay pinned beneath the rubble from the stack of crates.

As the crate came crashing down on top of his opponent Bane felt an overwhelming sense of accomplishment, his smile so wide it made his cheeks ache, his laughter so loud he didn’t hear the scream of rage behind him. How careless of him to leave that whip lying on the seat of that old fork-lift.

The snap cut through the air like the roar of a mountain lion, the leather tendril curled tight around his neck, his eyes bugging as the whip snared tight and she yanked back viciously, sending him tumbling the ground, caught by surprise by the sudden attack.

She glared with fiery eyes as he rose to his feet, looking at her furiously.
“You dare interrupt my moment of triumph woman? You will die too!” He roared, charging forward in a shoulder ram.

Let it never be said that Catwoman was a hero. Never let it be said that she would not take that final step if she had to, and this time, she knew she did, even if she didn’t have to she would have. She had just watched, dazed, barely conscious, as Bane took from her the one thing she’d ever truly loved. Her speed was unbelievable, her reflexes above human capability. She dodged the charging bull of a man landing in a crouch and bringing her leg around, slamming her heel into the back of his knee. She smirked as he howled in pain and fell to one knee as the ligaments of his left knee join tore.

“That’s just the start bucko. You don’t even know what pain is yet!” She snarled lashing the whip out.

The lethal weapon lashed through the air, slicing easily through his shirt and tearing into the rippling muscles of his back.

“You see, there are two things people just seem to forget when they deal with me…” She said as she darted out of the way of a wide swing from his fist as he forced himself to his feet despite the pain in his leg. “The first is that I have a photographic memory, I only have to see you perform a move once and I’ve got it for life, you’ll have to learn tricks on the go if you even have a hope of standing a chance against me right now; by the way lest you think other wise, you don’t!” She snapped her hand out, the claws on the tips of her gloves dug viciously into his cheek slicing incredibly deep bringing flesh and blood with them, along with his mask as the left his face.

She landed in a crouch behind him, tossing the mask away, her claws dripping with his blood, her bright green eyes glowing like a feral cats.
“The second!” She said, cart wheeling out of the way of a vicious round house, a phenomenal feet of agility from such a muscular human. “Is that any master of a whip can flay a man’s skin off in less than ten strokes.”

“ONE!” She screeched as the whip lashed out, tearing into his chest with searing pain, ripping open his left pectoral and cutting into his abdominal muscles leaving a burning after effect as she curled it back out of his reach.

“Two!” She snarled, swinging the whip out, it curled around his thigh before she yanked it back leaving a crescent moon laceration over his leg.

“Thr-EEK!” She yelped as he caught the whip even as it made for his throat, a quick yank sent her flying towards the air towards him.

“As you said Catwoman, to beat you I must learn new tricks!” He said as he caught her and pulled her in against his chest.

She cried out in pain as his arms closed around her in a tremendous bear hug maneuver, she didn’t know how man ribs had just shattered, but it was enough to ensure she wouldn’t be doing much physical exertion for the next month or more, if she even survived the night.

“And now Catwoman, it is time for you to join your precious winged rodent!” He growled, squeezing harder.

Tears sprang to her eyes as her body began to go numb, she was blacking out, it was too painful, she couldn’t fight the darkness encroaching upon her but then, suddenly he dropped her. She cried in agony as she tumbled to the ground, her bruised muscles and broken bones throbbing and aching.

She looked up through the encroaching darkness and her tear filled eyes, feeling confused by the sight she saw, Bane, flailing wildly, a huge black object seemed to have eaten his head and was clinging to his shoulders, finally he got hold of the monster in his massive hands and hurled it away. It tumbled through the air and landed crouched on the ground, springing forward almost as soon as it touched down, hitting him low, a well aimed hit. The creature brought its shoulder directly into Bane’s crotch. The villainous fighter howled in pain as it rolled between his legs, whirling, huge black wings outstretched as it glared at its opponent, blazing white eyes narrow to mere slits as Bane staggered around to face it. Now she got a good look at the object impaled into Bane’s flesh between his shoulder blades, causing blood to flow in thing rivulets around the grooves and rolls of his muscular back; a batarang.

Bane gave a low growl, he was swaying like a drunkard but he wasn’t giving up, with a bestial roar he crashed down toward the Bat, one huge fist hurtling at him like a mace, the other hand lunging like a claw ready to snatch him up and crushing him like a bug.

He leapt up over Bane’s punch, landing on top of his fast and using it like a spring board to avoid Bane’s grabbing hand, now landing on Bane’s shoulders with heavy heels, pushing for all he was worth and using Bane’s strength against him to send him crashing to the concrete floor, once again the warehouse itself seemed to shake from the weight of the beast that fell.

He quickly flipped off the monster’s back landing in crouch once more, turned and watching, ready to strike when Bane rose. Tense seconds passed, he waited, his body aching, his chest heaving as he panted for breath, one of the ears on his cowl had snapped off, his costume was torn in multiple places exposing the Kevlar mesh beneath it, his mask itself had torn slightly and the left side of his upper lip was swelled slightly and bleeding.

Bane never rose. He would never rise again. This had been the final showdown. An autopsy would reveal it in fact was neither bat nor cat that had killed him but an overload of adrenaline coursing through his veins, his heart working over time, and causing cardiac arrest.

The Bat rose, quickly moving to the Cat’s side and pulling her up gently into his arms. She clung to him, tears still streaking down her cheeks, joy, pain, exhaustion, heart ache, all of it welling up as she clutched to him for dear life. The police arrived, late as usual, the paramedics were too late to save the villain. The vigilante and his companion were rushed to the emergency room with a police escort. The hulking goliath once known as Bane was driven to the morgue.

Bane’s mask was removed as he lay on a cold metal slab waiting for autopsy. The bat and the cat lay in hospital beds only a few hours, their masks never removed. Neither allowed themselves to remain at the hospital, their presence there was a beckon to villains wishing to strike at weakened vigilantes, and was a threat to other hospital residents. It would be several weeks in a Justice League medical bay, tended by some of the best trained physicians on earth, among other worlds. But it wasn’t a tedious endeavor to him, it was more than worth it to see her safe. To see her beautiful green eyes looking at him from her bed, to feel her hand as she extended it from her own bed and wrapped it around his, squeezing tightly. He had been careless, he had let her into his life, he had allowed her into his family, and they had paid the price, and despite it all, they were both still here, they were still together, and nothing could change that now…

The End.

Author’s Notes: I’ve not done a Batman story in quite some time. Inspirations for this story came from music and songs: Hallelujah by Rufus Wainwright, Hero by Nickel Back and Saliva, the most brilliant of all Super Hero themes, Superman’s Theme by John Williams.

I hope you enjoyed this little bit of fiction, if you did, please Review, heck even if you didn’t review it and tell me why you didn’t like it! Thanks for reading.