You’re many things, but a coward, a rat, a bootlicker, those things you have never, and will never be.
Defeat may send you an open invitation, victory may seem light years away, but you will never give up until you are either dead or unable to function any longer. It is the creed that you have lived by your entire life, and you aren’t about to change mottos now.
After all, you’re Batman.
No sooner had she said that, you sprang into action.
Without haste, you took advantage of her arrogance (a recurring theme, it would seem), and grabbed the muzzle of the Mega-Rod, knocking it off trajectory.
Just when her face was about to contort into an infuriated mask, you sent your right fist flying right in her nose, your electric duster still functional albeit barely. Still, you managed to jolt her hard enough to buy time for your next move.
As she began to reel backwards, a single line of blood trailing down from her mouth, you brought your legs up, and wrapped them around her forearm. Locking her in a heavily improvised standing armbar, you made sure to cross your ankles beside her head. The fist managed to disorientate her to the point where she hadn’t even noticed both hands grabbing her wrist, keeping her secure as your massive thighs constricted around her forearm.
“I think I’ll take Option B!” you snarled, before pulling hard to the right with all of your strength and resolve. Wrenching her arm against your armored thighs, you could hear that familiar sound of bone breaking as soon her elbow joint turned clockwise.
As soon as the deed was done, she uttered a shrill wail that was the complete antithesis of her former smug position mere seconds ago. Dropping the Mega-Rod, she staggered off blindly, now clutching her severely broken arm.
Not bothering to recover, you soon found your finger closing around the trigger guard as soon as you sat back up. Recognizing it as a prototype of Big Barda’s signature weapon, you quickly familiarized yourself with the controls before kipping up.
“I’ll-I’ll kill you for this,” she screamed in agony, before her voice trailed off at the end. You could see a ghastly white beginning to drain away at her skin. Still clutching her impaired forearm, she was clearly trying to get away from you if nothing else.
Your knees briefly buckled beneath you for a split second, before you managed to recover your balance. Seeing Knockout leaning against some machinery for support, you knew what had to be done.
Walking towards her with your cape dragging behind, you raised the Mega-Rod high above your shoulder, preparing to club her over the head and end this brawl once and for all.
Just when you were about to swing the weapon, Knockout suddenly twirled around back towards you, snapping a spinning heel kick towards your midsection. You were just barely able to avoid her heel digging through your Kevlar as you instinctively jumped backward. Ignoring the obviously blinding pain in her forearm, she instead readjusted her strategy to be more foot-based.
Snarling in rage, she attempted to land a strong roundhouse kick to the side of the head, but you cut into her flesh by sliding your spiked end against her ankle. Howling in pain, she limped back, touching the three slash marks trailing down the back of her calf.Sensing vulnerability, you moved in with a overzealous right hook, only for her to suddenly drop the ‘injured’ card and duck underneath your armpit. Reappearing right beside you, she nearly took your head off with another roundhouse to your neck this time, forcing you back.
A searing pain began surging through your collarbone as you spun backwards in a complete 720, carried by her forward momentum. Grinning from corner to corner, Knockout then launched her metallic kneepad directly into your eyepiece as soon as you staggered right back towards her.
Blood spurted from your mouth as your head snapped back groggily, stars now dancing in front of you. Cocking one hip to the side, Knockout seemed to regain some of her previous swagger as she smiled at you.
“Perhaps I wasn’t persuasive enough, Batman. If you won’t kiss my feet, then you can kiss your life goodbye,” she purred, before suddenly lunging forward with another roundhouse to cap off the combo.
Grounding yourself firmly, you caught her foot in mid-air with one strategic forearm just before it caved through your mouth. Grabbing her ankle with only one hand, you then proceeded to throw her sideways to the ground with authority.
Rolling on the floor, she barely clambered to her feet with one arm still hanging loose at her side and her legs threatening to buckle any second now.
Spitting at your feet, she refused to simply stay down, and despite the overwhelming odds against her, lunged at you yet again.
Brandishing the Mega-Rod in one hand, you finally decided to put her down with a well-aimed concussive blast to the sternum, but Knockout knocked it out of your hands with a sloppy round kick, sending the weapon clanging to the floor.
Before you could retrieve it, she threw a wild haymaker at you with her one good arm. Unfortunately for her, you easily blocked the futile blow, hooking her forearm underneath your armpit to keep her anchored. By twisting her arm towards you, you improvised an inverted armlock, literally forcing her to kneel. As she thrashed against you, you refused to let up, continuing to wrench her arm underneath your armpit.
To expedite the process, you took advantage of her position to grab a handful of her hair and pull her straight into a knee to the face, which nearly dropped her right then and there.
Literally hanging by a threat at this point, Knockout feinted a collapse, which caused you to loosen your vice grip, a fatal mistake. Just as her left knee was about to touch the ground, she suddenly brought her right foot up in a desperation move.
The top of her foot collided with your already bloodied face, forcing you to relinquish the hold with a startled cry. As you staggered back, Knockout rose one last time, bloodied yet unbowed, and lunged towards you with all her might.
Seeing no other way to end it, you put an end to her warrior mentality by sidestepping her blind charge, and planting a swift knee to the gut that took the fight right out of her. As soon as it connected, she spat out a mouthful of blood and probably teeth, and leaned forward. Her knees wobbly, she glowered up at you defiantly one last time as you simply raised your right fist, the metal attachment still attached, and struck her down.
With a thud, Knockout collapsed to the floor, unconscious, arguably the most powerful and skilled of the Society splinter group. Her fiery red hair sprawled across the floor, you towered above her battered, beaten body.
Hubris had been her undoing, from the moment she began taunting you with her bare feet you had already formulated her eventual downfall. Still, it had taken almost everything out of you just to put her down.Kneeling down next to her, you properly detained her by snapping a pair of handcuffs around her wrists, waiting until the inevitable click until you sighed with relief.
Tossing the electric knuckle duster aside, you staggered towards the fallen Mega-Rod, and retrieved the weapon. Somehow, you knew you’d be needing this sooner or later.
Activating your comlink, you once again contacted Oracle.
“Oracle, I’ve contained the splinter group. No broken bones upon initial assessment, but my pride is definitely broken,” you reported, allowing yourself a brief bit of amusement.
“Nice work. Do you want me to call GCPD to clean up the mess?” Oracle replied, typing furiously at the Bat-Computer.
“And the Green Lantern Corps. Carol’s been corrupted by the Sapphire gem again. Hopefully Hal can get through to her,” you replied.
“Alright, I’m contacting the Watchtower right now. I’ll contact you when I get through,” she said.
“Roger th-” you started to affirm, before you heard a sound behind you.
You barely had time to throw yourself to the side before a suspiciously pink trident construct lodged itself in the machinery that you were just standing against. It soon dissipated into nothing.
Rolling to your feet, you narrowed your eyes as you gazed at Star Sapphire, her aura acting as a protective layer as she levitated above the ground, a smug look on her face.
“It’s over, Carol. Your ring leader, Cheetah, is unconscious, along with the others. The ship has already sunk, no reason for you to go down with it,” you attempted to reason with her.
“Oh I can assure you, my dear, deluded Dark Knight. The ship, is alive and well,” she smirked, flashing you a knowing smile just as her eyes flickered above you.
Cursing yourself, you attempted to take her down quickly, but a familiar tail suddenly coiled around the muzzle, tearing away away from your grasp. You glared up only to receive a double kick for your efforts, slamming into your cheek and knocking you to the ground.
Cheetah dropped down from the catwalk, her mouth bloodied but otherwise still intact. A vicious smile crossed her face as the Mega-Rod clattered to the ground next to you.
“You didn’t think it would be that easy, did you?” she purred, brandishing her claws.
You immediately made a lunge towards the Mega-Rod, only for a fireball spawned out of seemingly nowhere to incinerate it within seconds, the metal dissolving in a blur of motion that surprised even you.
Craning your neck back, you saw Volcana, who stepped out of the shadows. Balancing a ball of fire in one hand, she cracked her neck eagerly.
“Now what are you going to do?” she taunted, preparing to hurl another fireball.
Your eyes narrowed, hiding the fact that you had already been through the wringer, and now, you’re on the road to surviving the crucible. Standing up, you drew a single Batarang, symbolic perhaps of your inability to stay down.
Cheetah took the first step forward. “You seemed pretty confident taking us all individually. Let’s see how you do three-on-one!”