## Chapter 42: We Are All Mortal
Bruce Wayne stood at a distance, his soul wandering in the darkness. An endless torrent of knowledge exploded in his mind, so vivid that he could even clearly recall the warm sensation of Bane’s blood splattering on his face during the first time the villain broke his spine.
“I am Bruce Wayne,” he whispered to himself.
The gigantic dinosaur shrunk to a normal human size of two meters in the blink of an eye, leaving Bane, transformed into a zombie, utterly unprepared. The monstrous shadow of the bat leaped into the air, and the creature that had once been a monstrous dinosaur crashed down like a comet.
Boom!
Poison Ivy sat on a chair woven from vines, turning her head to look at Robin who suddenly appeared beside her. “The virus that Jason and I were working on? He used those ingredients to synthesize that failed concoction.”
“All thanks to Professor Goldblum,” Robin said quietly, standing by Poison Ivy’s side. “Killer Croc took him to a safe place.”
He tilted his head slightly and whispered to Poison Ivy: “Ivy, don’t you want to do something with the power of the Green?”
Then he saw Poison Ivy lowering her head, half her face turning into a decaying gray.
It nearly made the young Robin jump out of his skin.
“Hush, be quiet,” he heard the corpse-like Poison Ivy whisper. “The power of the Green is incredibly weakened here, little red bird. I am powerless right now. You need to maintain the illusion that I can still fight, instead of freaking out!”
“This is impossible!” Robin anxiously whispered to Poison Ivy. “The power of the Green has been eroding Bane’s body through that drug. You should be much stronger now, the Black Rot should have been dispelled…”
“Wait, unless…”
Tim Drake’s pupils contracted instantly. He looked at the place where the Plant Master had been lying: “Where is Jason Wood, the Plant Master?”
“It’s useless, mortal.”
After a brief moment of panic, the servants of the Black Rot regained their composure.
“Even if your power surpasses ours, you are still a mortal…”
Bang!
Batman’s iron fist, driven by unmatched strength, slammed into Bane’s head, making it bounce like a rubber ball on his neck.
“You cannot kill me, I am already dead…”
Bang!
Transforming back into a gigantic dinosaur, Batman pressed Bane’s head against the ground, pushing the zombie Bane into the mud, forcing him to swallow his next words.
The Black Rot’s creation spat out a venomous curse: “You cannot escape death, mortal. You cannot resist us.”
“I don’t need to resist you, I just need to dispel you,” Bruce said. He pushed Bane to the ground:
“Bane wasn’t in my plans, but luckily…”
“You are in mine.”
He pulled the tube from his back and connected it to the tube behind Bane’s back.
“Ha! What is this? The Titan toxin?”
Bane’s face, numb and contorted, couldn’t offer any mockery. His face had split in half during the violent punch, revealing a rotten tongue and half a tooth.
“The so-called Titan toxin cannot awaken this body. The mortals we control will never…”
“Shut up,” Bruce said softly.
“I am Bane… He’s a bat, but he’s also Bane.”
Bruce thought for a moment, then whispered: “Part of Bane overlaps with me. I understand him.”
“But you don’t understand what Bane truly is.”
Sizzle!
A sound like sulfuric acid dripping on skin. Bane wailed, a mix of two voices: “What is happening?”
“The Lazarus Pit, also known as the Fountain of Youth. A treasure I obtained from the League of Assassins’ lair,” he heard the freak called Batman say, his voice cold. “This tube can connect Bane to me, and it can transfer more than just venom. It can transfer anything I’ve prepared beforehand. I’ve always known that everything with life force is your weakness.”
“I’m always prepared. Listen, trash, under normal circumstances, I might crack a joke or two, but I’m tired of being called mortal.”
“I’m going to show you how Gothamites do things.”
The trash heard the man’s cold verdict: “You’ve never been to Gotham, have you? You don’t understand what kind of opponents Gothamites are. You see us as mortals… but you may have forgotten.
The Black Rot is indeed a fundamental force of mystery, but you are merely its lowly agent. Before Arkham, you are nothing.”
“Arkham… How do you know the Master’s name?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
It wasn’t Batman speaking.
Bane’s eyeballs moved, looking at the other side of his face: “You…”
“I am Bane.” The other half of Bane’s face had regained human muscle, though it lacked any blood color.
“So what?”
The Black Rot’s hunters were still shouting: “A mere mortal, how can you escape the parasitic embrace of the Great Death?”
“You are nothing but…”
But they were quickly silenced.
“Because I am Bane.”
Grayish white flesh quickly dissipated from Bane’s face: “I am Batman’s enemy, his greatest rival.”
“Because as long as Bane’s consciousness returns, Bane can do anything,” Bruce added. “As long as Bane wants to.”
The grayish white flesh peeled off Bane’s body. Bane’s tiger eyes were filled with an indescribable meaning: “I never anticipated this situation.”
He said in a low voice: “You’ve saved a venomous snake, Batman. I myself am no less harmful than these filthy death monsters. Even if you helped me, it won’t change my determination to break you.”
Bruce responded: “But at least on the common ground of being alive, our front lines are aligned. Your fate is to be defeated by me and sent to Blackgate Penitentiary, not to become a zombie.”
Bane remained silent.
He said: “I will spare you—”
He shouted: “No matter what, we will be enemies for life! But before that — I will spare you.”
“And first, you need to focus on the present.”
Bane saw Batman give him a slight smile, the line of his square jaw beneath the mask captivating him.
He knew he wouldn’t forget this scene for a hundred years.
Bruce said:
“The most important characteristic of the Black Rot is that it’s like a leech. I’ve always thought that they might take advantage of my absence…”
Rumble.
One by one, trees fell.
Standing before Bane and Bruce was the Plant Master, completely consumed by the Black Rot.
Bane’s eyes were fixed on Batman.
“I never thought I would fight alongside you, my enemy.”
“And I had expected it, my foe,” Batman replied.
(End of Chapter)
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