Batman

"Talia, my daughter."

Ra's al Ghul looked expressionlessly at Talia as she continuously stirred the tea powder. Her gaze was clearly unfocused. Though her hands had not stopped moving, her mind had long since wandered elsewhere.

"Hm? What is it, Father?"

She came back to her senses and looked at him in confusion. The cold wind blowing in from afar was carrying away the last wisp of heat from the tea bowl. If this continued, it would freeze.

The fire in the hall burned fiercely, casting their shadows onto the walls like dark monsters.

"What are you thinking about?" Ra's al Ghul turned his head and continued looking at the distant mountains. This place had daylight for half the year and night for the other half. Nanda Parbat was currently in the polar night.

"Nothing. I was just distracted. The weather has been so cold lately."

Talia made up an excuse. She could not possibly say that she had been thinking about Gotham.

Ra's al Ghul gave a soft snort but said nothing. He knew what his daughter was thinking, and so did the distant mountains. Her little thoughts were like a black speck on a snowy peak—however small, they were plainly visible in Ra's al Ghul's eyes.

"I told you before. Gotham must be destroyed. Its existence is a stain upon this world."

Talia lowered her head, added some hot water to the bowl, and set the kettle back over the fire. "Yes, Father."

Ra's al Ghul sat quietly on his cushion, breathing in the scent of matcha. He liked Talia's obedience. Moreover, the reason she could remain alive and enjoy the immortality granted by the Lazarus Pit was because he liked hearing the word "Father." It carried the authority of a parent.

Her mother had died long ago, so she had only a father, and could only have a father. Even though he had possessed the Lazarus Pit for a long time, he had never resurrected that woman, even though she had been his wife.

"Once Bane finds what I want, we will begin. Gotham devoured members of the League, so I will make it pay in blood."

Despite saying such things, Ra's al Ghul's expression remained calm, as if he merely wanted to wipe a spot of mud from the snow rather than erase a city of eight million people.

Even if Gotham were completely empty, he still wanted to wipe out that city that represented ugliness. Only then could he feel at peace.

After all these years, peace had drifted farther and farther away from him. The calm on his face was merely an imitation of the past; inside, he had always been a raging sea.

"Yes, Father."

Talia pressed her lips together and responded faintly. She knew that when Ra's al Ghul went mad, no one here could stop him. And Batwoman had vanished at exactly this time. Even with the League's intelligence network, no one knew where she had gone.

Talia had originally wanted to suppress the news, because she knew that once Batwoman was gone, her father would definitely set his sights on Gotham. It was always like this. Even knowing full well that it was a trap, Ra's al Ghul would charge straight to its deepest point to investigate.

The League had suffered many losses because of this.

But the situation worsened too quickly. One of the assassins lurking in Gotham had disappeared the day before yesterday. Early this morning, another assassin found her body tossed by the roadside, left to be drowned by the heavy rain.

Ordinary assassins had no right to use the Lazarus Pit. Death meant death.

When the news arrived, she knew she could no longer conceal the fact that Batman was not in Gotham. A League member had died, and the League had to avenge her. That was the assassins' rule, and it was the core guarantee keeping so many assassins united beneath the organization.

She forced herself to tell Ra's al Ghul the news.

Ra's al Ghul's expression did not change, but she could see the flames in his eyes ignite with a buzz.

He sent someone to contact Bane, the person most familiar with Gotham.

Bane had once been a member of the League of Assassins. He was brave, skilled in battle, and immensely strong, until he somehow angered Ra's al Ghul and was expelled.

Afterward, that big fool somehow found someone else to serve. When they met again years later, he was wearing a gas mask and carrying a Venom rig on his back.

The Venom called "Titan" behind him could double both his size and strength, greatly enhancing his recovery and resistance to damage. But prolonged use of Titan Venom damaged the brain and caused organ failure. At present, only Bane possessed the unusual physique needed to endure it.

Ra's al Ghul saw the scrap metal he had casually tossed aside by the roadside, only to find that someone had forged it into a precious blade and placed it right before him.

Naturally, he would not let such an opportunity pass. At the time, he sent Talia to contact Bane and cause trouble in Gotham.

Bane did not hold a grudge. He had always been on good terms with Talia, and the moment they met, he agreed to assist his former employer.

During the operation, he used a wrestling move to snap Batwoman's spine and threw her into the Lazarus Pit in the Middle East where he had once suffered, intending to torture her by making her watch Gotham perish while being powerless to stop it.

Unexpectedly, Batwoman was rescued by a former enemy, Lady Shiva. Not only did she heal Batwoman's spine, which had been broken into several sections, but she also taught her new techniques and combat skills.

Batwoman then returned to the city and drove Talia away again. She discovered that Bane's weakness was the plastic tube on his back that delivered Venom. After pulling it out, she easily defeated him, locked him up in Blackgate Penitentiary, and confined him with specially made equipment weighing fifty tons.

Until recently, somehow Bane obtained the ingredients in prison and mixed up Titan Venom again. With his power greatly enhanced, he escaped once more and hid somewhere in Gotham.

The Demon's Head thought of Bane again this time and sent someone to inform him that the League of Assassins needed something special. The League would owe him a favor in return.

Only Ra's al Ghul and Bane knew what this so-called special thing was. Even Talia did not know what it was.

But she could guess that it was nothing good.

Talia's feelings were complicated at the moment. On one side was her friend Batwoman; on the other were her father and the organization. It was as though two voices in her mind were constantly pulling against each other.

In truth, she felt that Gotham was doomed this time. Batwoman's whereabouts were unknown, and even if she wanted to secretly warn her, she could not.

Ra's al Ghul naturally understood that as well. So he now waited in feigned calm for good news from Bane. He was even in a good mood, taking Talia out in the middle of the night to admire the snowy scenery he had watched for hundreds of years.

"Ah, Talia, is my tea ready?" he asked softly, stroking his beard. "Surely I will not have to wait until Gotham is destroyed before I can taste it?"

"Of course not, Father. It is ready. Please enjoy."

Talia rose from her kneeling position, placed the tea bowl on a wooden tray, and slowly pushed it before Ra's al Ghul.

Ra's al Ghul nodded in satisfaction. A kindly smile appeared on his face as he looked at her approvingly, then he lifted the tea bowl and took a light sip.

"Very good. This Kyoto matcha is very authentic. Your tea-making skills have improved again."

"Thank you for the praise, Father." Talia bowed low. She had been raised this way since childhood. Obeying her father seemed almost instinctive to her.

She had always struggled against that instinct, but now it seemed there would never be any hope again.

"Hahahaha!" Ra's al Ghul threw back his head and laughed. His powerful presence burst forth without restraint. The flames shook even more violently, and his laughter echoed continuously through the distant mountains.

That laughter held pride, relief, and madness.

"No one can stop me anymore! Destroy Gotham, then destroy the world!" He patted Talia's head and helped her up. "Upon the corpses of the Amazons and the ruins of Earth, we will let the world be reborn in fire! A world that belongs to me!"

However, just as he envisioned that beautiful future, a hoarse voice suddenly rose from a dark corner of the room, shattering his Beautiful Dream.

"I wouldn't be so sure."

"Who's there?!"

Ra's al Ghul instantly drew the sword at his waist. It was an Eastern-style double-edged longsword, his most skilled weapon. He was renowned as one of the greatest masters of blades and swords on Earth, a world-class swordmaster.

He had never imagined that someone would dare infiltrate the League of Assassins' headquarters and get so close to him.

The newcomer did not answer his question. She merely stepped forward slowly, allowing the flickering firelight to reveal her appearance. Black cape, black uniform, black mask. Her wavy black curls fell over her shoulders, and two pointed ears stood upright atop her head.

She wore black lipstick and a golden circular pendant engraved with a bat around her neck. It served as both decoration and her voice modulator. Her blue eyes stared at Ra's al Ghul through the mask, expressionless.

Ra's al Ghul frowned, pushed Talia away, and gripped the hilt with both hands, raising his presence as he prepared to fight.

"How could you possibly find this place?"

Batwoman flung out two Batarangs, striking the fire basin directly. Strange gray mist sprayed from the darts, and the raging flames in the basin went out instantly. Not even a wisp of smoke remained, and the hall fell into darkness.

Only her voice, processed through the modulator, sounded from another direction in the dark.

"Because... I am Batwoman!"