Soul Of The Matter

'They didn't hurt you, did they?

Yarasa rolled out of the pocket on the batsuit, shaking herself out. The beetle flew up to stare him in the eye as he pulled off the suit. Bruce looked back with a raised eyebrow and she laughed slightly.

'You would have felt it if I was hurt, wouldn't you?

He smirked, pulling off the last bit of the suit and pulling on a regular shirt. 'I was too busy focusing on the people beating me up.'

She laughed again, landing on his shoulder and fluttering out her wings a bit. No one ever thought Bruce could be Batman, because Yarasa could never be seen and, normally, she was big and bright.

'You mean too busy focusing on beating them up, right?'

'Shush you.' He grinned, flicking her antennae. 'You know they deserved it.'

He limped into their bedroom, lying down with a sigh. They'd get a good two hours sleep before they had to wake up and be Bruce Wayne and his glamorous dæmon. Yarasa moved onto his chest, buzzing happily.

'Hey Bruce?' She muttered.

'Yeah?' He yawned back.

'You did a good job, tonight.'

He smiled. 'Go to sleep, Yara.'

She grinned.

Alfred closed the door slowly, face falling as soon as it was shut. He’d heard screaming so gone running but it was just a nightmare and Bruce had been so ashamed and embarrassed, he’d practically shoved the butler out of the door.

‘They’ll be okay.’ Arreta said, as the walked back to their room. The snow leopard had at least managed to bring some comfort to Bruce’s dæmon, Yarasa curling into her side until Bruce pulled her away. ‘You just wounded his pride a bit.’

‘I was trying to help, seems I only made things worse.’

Arreta jumped up on the bed, getting herself comfortable before looking at him again. ‘If you weren’t there to help, things would definitely have gone worse.’

‘You don’t know that.’ Alfred muttered, sitting down next to her then falling back onto the bed. ‘I’m failing him, Reta, and failing his father while I’m at it.’

‘Come on, don’t be stupid. That boy needs you, and you’re there for him. We’re going to keep being there, aren’t we?’

Alfred nodded, jaw setting. ‘Of course.’

‘Then you’re not failing him. Thomas would be so grateful.’

Alfred smiled but said nothing. He’d much rather Thomas be alive.

Galdutako flew around Rachel, keeping out of her sight so that she didn’t realise how much he was panicking. Of course, as the butterfly’s human, she knew exactly how much he was panicking but she didn’t need to know that yet. She was tied up and staying calm but he was free and unable to keep himself still.

‘Harvey, in case...’ Rachel wasn’t even focusing on Gald. She was talking to Harvey, their Harvey who was so far away, who they just wanted close. Gald would give anything for Zatitu to be with him. ‘I want you to know something.’

There a sound on speaker, and then Harvey speaks, sounding broken. ‘Don’t think like that, Rachel. They’re coming for you.’

Gald flies to the speaker, trying to be closer to him. ‘We don’t want them to! We don’t want to live without you.’

‘Gald...’ 

‘I do have an answer Harvey.’ Rachel interrupts. ‘My answer is yes!’

Then Harvey was shouting and they knew. Harvey was so scared, so angry, there was only one person who could have arrived. Gald flew to Rachel’s shoulder, pressing his small wings against her neck. He would stay with her.

‘Harvey? Harvey, it’s okay. Somewhere-’

Commissioner Gordon rubbed his face as his son stormed upstairs and slammed his door. Jim’s wife glanced at him for barely a second before heading upstairs as well. Jim sunk into the nearest chair, head in his hands.

It had been a long day.

‘We can’t keep this up forever.’ Buruzagi said, having leapt onto to back of the chair. He moved one hand over his shoulder to scratch behind the wildcat’s ears.

‘We have to Zag. They’re not going to stop Harvey Dent Day.’

‘Well,’ she said, jumping down to curl up on his lap. ‘We don’t have to make a speech every year.’

‘Who else are they going to get to do it?’ He said after a long pause. Buruzagi just stared up at him. ‘Who else can tell them all about the fall of the Batman, about the great Harvey Dent? It has to be me and you know it.’

Buruzagi bristled, hissing slightly. ‘Next year, the mayor can do it. They’ll get sick of listening to us anyway.’

Jim chuckled, shaking his head. ‘We’ll write a speech next year so boring they’ll never invite us back.’

They chuckled, happy to ignore everything for one more day. 

Ezkutuko tilted his head slightly as the girl stormed out of the room. The girl was angry, always angry with Ezkutoko and the human he was linked to. Not his human, not anymore.

‘She’ll be leaving soon.’ Ra’s said, watching the door that had just been slammed. He normally had more emotion than this, could respond to other people like normal person. But normal people had normal dæmons, not snakes that had appeared from nothing after you rose from the Lazarus Pit.

‘They all leave. Does this one matter?’

‘This one is my daughter.’

‘You’re old. We’re both old. We’ve had many daughters.’

Ra’s nodded, moving so Ezkutuko could slither onto his arm. The dæmon went under his sleeve, emerging by his throat, fangs baring ever so slightly. Ra’s may have the title of Demon’s Head but it was Ezkutuko who held the power, who would kill Ra’s without question if a new Head of the League emerged.

‘Letting her go could jeopardise the League’s mission.’

‘She will do what she wants.’ The snake said, a drop of poison falling onto Ra’s skin. To his credit, he didn’t flinch. ‘We have our mission, we will complete it.’

Ra’s said nothing.

‘That was a bad idea.’

Harvey looked up at his dæmon, eyebrows raising slightly. They were  in a cell and the chameleon was not happy. She ran back and forth across the bed, tail twitching. 

‘Really, really bad idea, Dent.’

He held a hand out and Zatitu sighed, brushing her head against it. He rubbed her nose with his thumb, a small smile forming on his face. ‘What else were we meant to do? The people wanted action.’

‘So that involves lying to them?’

He chuckled, looking around at the guards. He doubted any of them actually believed he was Batman, but this would buy them a bit of time to lay a trap for the Joker.

‘Is it lying if everyone knows your lying?’

‘Yes, though it’s up to chance if they get mad at you.’

Harvey rolled his coin over his fingers and smirked. He threw it up, catching on the back of his hand. ‘Tails we’ll fail, heads it’ll all be amazing?’

Zatitu hit her tail against him arm. ‘Don’t be silly, Harv. Can’t always make your own luck.’

He shrugged. ‘Isn’t that what we always do? Chance is on our side.’

He flipped the coin again.

Leialak looked out of the window, down at all the destruction the citizens of Gotham were causing. It was excellent, Gotham would be broken exactly as they wanted. But Talia wasn’t there and nothing would be complete without Talia. 

‘She’ll return when she is ready.’

Leialak looked back at Bane, slumped in his chair. He held a hand out and the bear dæmon slowly moved over, nudging her nose against his fingers. He slowly stroked her face and neck, smoothing the fur around the scars she had there.

‘But what if she doesn’t? What if she doesn’t want us anymore, or we’ve failed, or-’

‘It will all be fine. Even if she doesn’t return to us, we will have destroyed this city and it’s protector. We’ll move on and she’ll find us.’

‘But-’

He shushed her, shaking his head. His dæmon was so strong in form but had been broken by the Pit far more than he had. She was soft and no longer wanted to fight, unless it was to protect Talia. They would always protect Talia.

‘We will complete our mission, that is all we can do.’

Leialak nodded, curling up at his feet. She just wanted Talia.

Selina looked around her room, sighing inwardly. This was not where she wanted to be, not where she deserved to be but it was where she had to be. But not for too much longer, only until they got the clean slate.

‘You’re thinking about this too much.’

She looked up at Lapurra as he fluttered down from the ceiling. The moth landed on her outstretched finger, antennae twitching.

‘And what exactly should I be thinking about instead?’

His wings fluttered in an approximation of a shrug. ‘How about how we might be getting this clean slate?’

Selina rolled her eyes, tilting her hand and shaking him off. He cried out but fluttered up to her eye line.

‘We have a plan, just need to get into Wayne Manor.’

‘Yes, and getting into the house of the richest man in Gotham will be so easy.’

Selina rolled her eyes, looking at herself in the mirror. She had to look smart yet simple, beautiful if noticed but not so much to draw the eye.

‘The man’s a recluse, probably won’t even realise there’s anyone in his house.’

Lapurra chuckled slightly. ‘Well, maybe we’ll see the mysterious Mr Wayne.’

Selina just smirked.

Bigarren flew around the cave, taking it all in. John was just staring forwards in awe and she flew to his shoulder in excitement.

‘Is this ours now?’

He didn’t respond, though did raise a hand to stroke the falcon’s feathers. His dæmon didn’t ask again, knowing her man was too wrapped up in his thoughts to register anything except the cave Bruce Wayne had left for them, the Batcave.

John started walking along, running a finger lightly over the surfaces and smiling softly. It was all amazing, all his and Bigarren’s. They could save people, really do some good and make things better for all of Gotham.

‘Getting a bit ahead of yourself, Robin?’

John finally snapped out of it, his first name always managing to get his attention. ‘Well, what else are you thinking about? We’ve got all this and can actually use it for-’

‘Breathe, Robin.’ Bigarren chuckled. ‘We’ve only just got here, we can wait a few days to actually start using it.’

He smiled, nodding slightly. They could wait a little bit, get used to the place. Then they’d go out, following Batman’s footsteps, taking up the mantle and protecting Gotham from all who-

‘Robin!’

Ebakiondo was laughing. She always laughed as they were being interrogated, as her man was thrown around the room and beaten. She felt the pain, of course she did, but it just made her laugh.

Her man joined in with the laughter, shaking his head. He’d been slammed into a wall, their heads now ringing. ‘Oh, bad idea. Everything gets scrambled when you do that.’

Their interrogator snarled, hitting him again. ‘Shut up, Joker. Tell me what you know.’

Ebakiondo just laughed harder, rolling into her side. The other dæmon snarled at the honey badger, stepping forwards and snapping her jaws. Ebakiondo ignored the panther, still laughing as her man was punched in the face.

‘Listen, if you want to know, I’ll tell you. Of course, I’ll-’

He broke off laughing, turning to his dæmon who only laughed more at his scarred face.

‘Alright, Joker.’ The interrogator said, grabbing his shirt and lifting his up. The panther crouched low, ready to pounce. ‘You’re gonna tell me and you’re gonna tell me-’

He cut off with a gasp, turning to his dæmon. The panther’s neck was now between Ebakiondo’s jaws.

The Joker smirked. ‘You wanna know how I got these scars?’