Batman’s hand ran down the wall in front of him.

It wasn’t anything spectacular, majestic, or even unique by even crude fashions. It was a wall no different than almost every other one he, Fluttershy, and the metallic beast had passed. With his optical enhancers on, he saw no change in elevation or any markings across the stone. With them off, and aided by the ominous lights of the drill-arm monster, he saw no paintings or messages written in any ink.

The wall was one thing to Batman, and it was a thing he was not fond of calling any subject or matter, physical or metaphorical.

It was a dead end.

“What does this mean?” Fluttershy asked quietly behind him, earning a small glance from the dark garbed man. He turned his head back to the blank wall after he had offered the canary pegasus the whites of his eyes.

“It means we missed something.” The sentence was spoken as flatly as every word he had uttered yet. It was met with another groan from the beast Fluttershy rested on. It made his muscles flex on instinct, prepared for whatever could come. But no blow or threatening boom followed the low pitched moan.

“Oh dear, that’s horrible!” It was bad, no denying the obvious, but to the Dark Knight it was far from horrible. Horrible would be a false assumption that caused harm, or a trap he was unprepared for. This was just a mistake that cost them nothing but time.

“We know where to look.” Batman spoke as he turned, already pacing through the water. He cautiously moved by the metallic brute, pegasus still sitting on its shoulder. He saw her curious look as he passed by. It was impossible to read any emotion from the hulk.

“Really? What was that, that is if… you don’t mind telling me.” The meekness in Fluttershy’s voice would have been audible to him even without the sensors in his cowl or years of training.

He knew because the monster’s lights shifted from peaceful green to a warning yellow.

Batman stilled in the water, his every sense prepared for another strike at his turned back. When none came, he turned to face the creature. Fluttershy was looking at it with her expression of shock while he gave a careful and inquisitive gaze.

Aside from the darkening of its lights, the metal beast didn’t make a single action against either him or the pegasus still sitting on its shoulder. Instead, it seemed to have its gaze focused on the pegasus, or so the tilt helmet told the Dark Knight. It raised an interesting question.

“Fluttershy,” Batman spoke the pegasus’s name, earning her attention instantly. “Smile at me.” The canary coated pony’s eyes widened further than they already were, her own head tilting to the side in minor confusion. However, the man she stared at didn’t make a move or speak a word.

Her head turned from the metal beast she sat on, staring at her with large yellow bulbs, then to the man dressed in black, his blank stare unchanging as walls around them. Fluttershy swallowed on a ball in her throat. Slowly, her lips turned upwards, ascending into a small shy smile.

The lights on the beast’s helm turned green.

“Oh… wow…” The pegasus’s words confirmed the hypothesis in the Dark Knight’s mind.

“It’s sensitive to your state.” His words once again earned the full focus of the pegasus. This time, he spoke on. “Depending on how you are displaying yourself, it will naturally react in a way that acts in your best interest.”

“W-What?” Fluttershy’s trembling lip and confused stare were sign enough that she understood little to nothing of what Batman had said. It was only made worse when the beast’s lights changed once again to an ominous yellow. Batman’s gaze hardened on the pegasus again.

“Relax.” He spoke as a command, causing the pegasus to curl into the shoulder she sat on. The lights on the beast did not change. “Listen, anything you think is threatening, it thinks is threatening. The more scared you are of something, the more likely it is it will attack it.”

“But… But I’m not scared of…” her voice trailed off as her focused on the dark suited man in front of her. His gaze was flat and hard. “Maybe a little…” The monster groaned beside her, head slowly turning to face Batman as well. The Dark Knight was unperturbed.

“Just relax, and it will be alright.” A quiet sigh left his lips. “As long as you remain calm, there isn’t anything to be afraid of.” Her eyes continued to gaze at him uncertainly. The yellow lights of the monster had yet to change. “I promise.”

The words sealed the deal.

“O-Okay.”

Fluttershy jumped from the shoulder of the metal brute.

It groaned in disapproval as her hooves splashed into the water, water rippling beneath her. Batman watched her shiver and shake herself before standing to her tallest height. The edges of her tail and mane floated over the water. Looking up at him, covered in water and illuminated by the yellow lights of the beast behind her, she smiled openly and fondly at him.

The lights instantly changed back to a peaceful green.

Fluttershy thought she would have needed to force her lips up, fake a smile in order to keep a conflict from occurring. If she needed to act a little bit to keep her two new friends from fighting, then she could do it easily. But, when she landed in the water, and looked up at Batman, she saw nothing but kindness beneath his dark mask and focused gaze.

The smile naturally grew on her lips. When the green light began to glow behind her, she felt it only naturally to let out a small giggle of appreciation. She was right before, this Batman was much kinder than he looked.

Her eyes looked back to the thing she had sat on, green lights focused down on her. It’s groan echoed off the walls, rippling the surface of the water. Fluttershy felt her hooves even clatter beneath the water at the sound. Her smile never faltered though. Instead, she felt… safe.

“Mr. Bubbles.”

The Dark Knight looked down on the pegasus with a look he rarely displayed. Confusion.

“What?”

Fluttershy turned to look at Batman, her smile unchanged and demeanor positively shining, even in the cold damp halls of the waterlogged structure. The Dark Knight had a look of bewilderment on him, an expression that brought another small giggle to the pegasus’s lips.

“That’s his name,” Fluttershy spoke. “He seems to like water, but his face is full of large circles, just like bubbles in water. Mr. Bubbles sounds perfect for him.” Pride seeped into her timid voice, regardless of the situation they were in.

Batman’s eyes focused on the brute standing behind the pegasus, a metal drill attached to one of its arms. The eight different windows of light connected to its helmet all seemed to be focused on him, staring at him with as many eyes as a spider. It’s size was massive, weight undoubtedly the same, and with a voice that sounded like metal giving way to age.

And the pegasus had named it after small water bubbles.

“Right.” Batman droned the word, letting it hang in the air as she continued to stare at the beast that reminded him of everything but bubbles. He couldn’t identify what the low groan from the creature meant. Given that it’s lights were green, and demeanor calm, batman had the odd suspicion it enjoyed the name the pegasus had given it. That, or it wasn’t aware what they were even saying. In the end, it didn’t matter.

Batman turned again from the two, traveling down the waterlogged path they had come from. His cape dragged over the surface of the water, rising and falling with every ripple he made. It didn’t take too long until the churning of water echoed from behind him, followed swiftly by the heavy pounding of the beast’s boots.

“Um, where are we going?” Fluttershy asked from behind him. “I, um, I don’t mind if you don’t want to tell me, but… but I would feel better if I knew.” Her feeling worse than good meant that the metal beast that seemed to think of itself as her vassal would mostly likely react. Avoiding conflict was the best option for all of them.

“We passed two passageways on our way here, and I can now assume that they lead somewhere else.” His gaze never even turned to look at the pegasus. Batman could sense the tension by the shock in her gaze alone, directed at the back of his cowl. The lights around him continued to glow green.

“R-Really?” The voice didn’t sound worried, yet. Whatever her next question was, Batman would have to be careful with his wording. “How do you know there’s more?” That he could answer.

“All we have seen so far is a long hallway that, at some point in time, became flooded.” His hand drew itself from beneath his cape, motioning half-handedly to the walls around them. “There has so far been no other rooms that would be necessary in a structure this size. Nothing for food storage, bunking, or planning.”

“So… So you think there’s something beyond that… thing.” Here was where it would be difficult.

“Yes,” his voice spoke with no more emotion than before. “I’ve laid out the design of the structure, and it heavily suggests that there are rooms behind those two objects. What they do, or how to get behind them, is nothing I’m sure of yet.” He turned down the corner at the end of the hall, a bright green light still illuminating the path over the water.

Up ahead was one of the metal structures, the second they had passed before, but the first Fluttershy had seen. She would doubtlessly assume that they would stop at it, investigate it first. Batman, however, had no intention of analyzing this one of the two.

And as the passageway opened up to their left, Fluttershy gave a squeak of fright, doubtlessly shivering into the armor of beast. Batman watched as the green lights of the hall turned yellow. His muscles stiffened, but he didn’t stop. The creature continued to follow him.

The water continued to ripple beneath them, and the metal beast’s eyes continued to glow yellow, groaning with the low rumble that shook the walls. Batman walked on regardless of it. It was to his silent thanks that the light’s turned green, all the indication he needed that Fluttershy was calm again.

“Um,” she began, voice weak and unsure. “Did we just pass it?” That’s right, she didn’t know about the first one.

“There was another altar,” Batman spoke. “It was to the opposite path from when we entered.” He didn’t need to look to know the words did anything but comfort the pony.

“Well, um…” the pegasus dribbled of, words still forming in her head. Batman walked on silently, the creature’s heavy footsteps echoing through the chamber, keeping silence far away. “Why are we going to the first one? I mean, if you don’t mind telling me that is. Either one seem nice to me. Or… or they’re both the same, I’m sure.”

“Because the one we just passed likely leads to a larger chamber.” Batman spoke as easily as before. “Or into a series of smaller rooms. The first one, however, would likely be used as a storage facility. By itself, it might not mean much, but there is at least a chance that it will give us an idea of what this place is. And, what it is.” Batman didn’t need to move his hands from his cloak to gesture to the metal beast behind him. Fluttershy already understood.

“Oh!” The pegasus spoke with the tone of realization. “You think we can find out where Mr. Bubbles came from?”

“Or who created him, possibly.” With the light behind him, Batman looked to the ceiling. “Given the age of this structure, seeing as it’s made from clay and stone, its difficult to be sure of anything without seeing it.” They turned another corner walking down the first hallway they entered. It was too far ahead to see, but Batman knew the metal altar was ahead of them. He only hoped the mystery of it would not be a difficult one.

Fluttershy must have sensed the same thing, as she didn’t speak again. With the waterlogged path behind them, only the pounding of the beast’s metal boots echoed through the hall. Compared to before, it was a short walk before they reached the entrance. The distance to the other end of the hall seemed much longer.

“Wait.” Batman instructed, turning towards Fluttershy and the beast with a flat open palm. When the two stopped, he lowered his hand. The pegasus blinked at him in confusion. He, however, didn’t explain himself. She would figure it out shortly.

He walked forward down the hallways, flicking on the scanner of his cowl as the light of the beast dissipated into the shadows. The altar came into view quickly.

Batman was quick to disregard the metal spikes around the central hole. They were too small in size and too large in number to hold any significance aside from design. The hole was the center of his focus. His gloved hands ran around the rim of it, feeling for any resistance or traps. None were found.

His looked down the center of it with his scanner, seeing nothing but a small hole and a wall. It appeared to be no more significant that the spikes around it. Batman trailed his vision and fingers down the metal design, noting briefly in the back of his mind how unstained and almost new they appeared. It contrasted harshly with the clay and stone of the structure. It did, however, hold significance that neither were as aged as the structure appeared to be.

Batman leaned back with a dissatisfied squint in his eyes. There were no buttons, levers, or even slots along the structure. The idea entered briefly into his mind that this design would require a sacrifice, but was disregarded easily. The hole was too small for anything larger than a child to fit through, and it had no contraptions or false walls to indicate so.

He looked into the hole again, dissatisfied with the little he had learned of the object. Everything about it suggested it was an altar of some religious sorts, but it had no more significance other than that. He reached inside, letting his arm feel around the cavity of the metal hole. It was smooth, just as the walls of the hall were. His hand continued to extend down it, searching for any small shape or hole that would reveal the secret of the device.

Instead, he found an edge. The hole opened up into something.

Batman’s vision looked down the hole again, arm removed from it. The wall was still there, just at the end of his scanner’s vision. Yet, he was still able to reach past it. His eyes narrowed in annoyance. The solution was obvious, but not one he was fond of performing. He had done worst acts, however.

Turning around, he walked the short distance to the beast and Fluttershy, the bright light shining down the hallway more than obviously marking where they were. The pegasus was quick to spot him as he stepped in the light of the creature’s helm.

“What did you find? Is it safe?” Batman looked at her carefully, gauging what words to say next.

“I need your help.” It seemed appropriate, and hopefully wouldn’t frighten her. The shock she displayed was easy to predict, the shuffling and nervous clicking of her hooves over the creature’s large shoulder was just as easily foreseen.

“W-With what?” Honestly would work best here.

“There is something beyond the object, a room as best as I can predict, but I can not reach it or see into it.” He kept his gaze focused on the pegasus. With any luck, she would conclude herself what was necessary. It was always easier to talk someone into an act when they realized what was needed. Asking someone a task they weren’t aware of usually was met with dismissal.

Fluttershy’s eyes fluttered, her mind working silently. Only the groans of the beast echoing off the walls kept the silence at bay. When her blue eyes locked onto Batman’s again, her wide and filled with shock, he knew what she was thinking.

“Y-You need me to…” she audibly gulped. “To g-go inside?” It was a miracle by itself the creature’s did not attack Batman, given the sheer amount of fear the pegasus was displaying.

“Yes,” Batman was quick to follow with his confirmation. “Given the size and location of the passageway, it’s safe to assume that it is designed for others to pass through easily. “

“How can you be… um, sure?” That was an easy question.

“Like I said, we haven’t seen anything to indicate the purpose of this place, not even a barracks or storage room.” It was easy to see she would need more than simply his word. “The metal object is like a lock, keeping others out. Someone who is small enough, such as yourself, acts as the key, opening the door for others.”

“Why?” Another question Batman couldn’t answer.

“I won’t know until I learn more, but I need your help to do so.” It was clear by her bit lip just how much the pony was against the idea. But her continued silence was indication enough that she was fighting with herself for a decision. She wanted to help, but fear was stopping her.

That changed when the beast began to move.

“Mr. Bubbles?” Fluttershy spoke the creature’s supposed name in confusion, his lumbering steps moving him down the hallway. He moved past Batman without motion or threat of assault. The Dark Knight watched them, cautiously.

He followed behind the pair as they neared the end of the hallway, the creature’s green lights illuminating the end. Batman heard Fluttershy give a gasp of shock, but she did nothing more.

The creature’s massive hand reached upwards.

Batman had a hand on a batarang in an instant, holding it back to throw. But, the creature didn’t attack him or Fluttershy. Instead, held its palm facing upwards upwards, low enough to the ground for the pegasus to get on. The pony looked at the massive appendage, appraising it before touching it. When she did, she set her hooves on the gloved hand. Her weight didn’t even cause it to flinch.

The pegasus let out another squeak of fright as she the hand she was on moved forward. She soon found herself just in front of the altar’s hole. Batman’s grip on his weapon grew tighter.

“Mr. Bubbles?” Fluttershy spoke the creature’s name as a question. It groaned in response, but didn’t stop lifting the pegasus towards the hole. The pony looked towards the beast, lifting her easily with its massive hand, then to the hole she was being directed towards. The only thing keeping Batman from acting was the fear of Fluttershy’s safety.

But then the pegasus surprised him.

“Okay,” she spoke easily, smiling at the large beast. “I trust you.” Then, without another word, Fluttershy turned tail and walked into the hole, just fitting into its circular shape.

Batman and Mr. Bubbles were left outside the structure. Neither moved and only one made any sounds. The groans continued to shake the halls. The smaller of the two turned his gaze towards the larger, judging the metal man intensely. It seemed to know what was beyond the altar, if only that there was something beyond it. Given the level of caution it had in Fluttershy’s safety, and then the openness to let her travel into the hole, it also seemed rather sure she was safe. The question as to how, or why, he couldn’t answer.

Before he could speculate further, the wall began to move.

Not merely the gate, or a section of it, the entire wall. It screeched in protest as it moved, as if it had not been for sometime. It was pulled into the ceiling above, crawling into an alcove. The ascent was slow, but the progress was visible.

With a loud boom, it stopped.

The next action from Batman was only too easy to figure out.

“Fluttershy?” He called the pegasus’s name. The answer came swiftly.

“I’m here.” The timid voice returned. “I… I stepped on a switch.”

Batman walked into the room, the hulking suited monster following behind him. He could just make out the skittish pegasus in the dark, wings and mane shivering in fright, softly illuminated by the lights of the drill-armed beast behind him. The pony quickly galloped over to him, brushing past his cape in silent thanks for his presence. He let her do so.

His three-dimensional scanners showed the room to be little more than a storage site, as he had thought it would be. Desks lined some walls, papers hanging above them. Books figures, and other miscellaneous items were on top of the tables. It was impossible, however, for him to see what was on them, not without lighting. His vision looked to the wall he had passed upon entering, and he saw what he needed, but not what he expected

A light switch.

The simple device looked as foreign as he did next to Fluttershy, two things that seemingly didn’t belong. The structure, its shape, its material, it all indicated such age in the building, but here was proof that it was anything but ancient. Rather, it could very well have been built only days ago.

The lack of decay around the crypt made sense.

Regardless, it was easy to see what had to be done. Taking the two steps necessary, Batman raised his hand and flipped the switch.

As light filled the room, the cries of shock shook it.

The beast roared like it had before, when it had tackled Batman in the passageway. Batman swung to look at it, hands raised and prepared for another strike. The metal behemoth stood in the doorway, drill spinning with a frightening speed. It’s eyes glowed red, staring forward into the now lit room.

But it didn’t charge at Batman, or make motion to attack him. The Dark Knight looked down at Fluttershy, the pony currently shivering in absolute terror. It was hard to judge if it was because of the lights or the beast’s roar. Either would have done it. He placed a hand on her back, to which the pony instantly knelt into. The contact seemed to help.

Then Batman directed his gaze toward the now well-lit room. The papers, both laying on the table and hanging from the wall, gained a whole new perspective to him.

Even from the distance that he was, it was easy to tell they were research notes.

“W-What is… is all of…”

Batman didn’t answer her. He couldn’t. Anything he would have said would have been a lie. The only thing he could say would be a denial of knowledge. But experience in the past, among colleagues and civilians alike, had taught him an untold lesson in remaining silent. If he didn’t speak, they would assume he knew.

The silence that he prolonged gave him time to think in the streets of Gotham or the Justice League watchtower. Here, in a crypt far buried beneath caverns he had never explored, it was no different.

He tapped the edge of his cowl, lighting the display with holographic imaging. The three-dimensional mapping program burned into life, the last of the sensors he had used. His fingers ran over the side of his head, pushing through the multiple visions available to him.

The scanners passed into a highly technical grid, shining a light blue. The familiar reduction in his sight occurred instantly, dropping off everything that was beyond five feet in front of him. Everything that they could see, however, was given more detail and vividness than the average human could believe.

The pages and pictures across the tables and walls changed in ways he was familiar with. The melding colors became distinguished, the small bleeding in the ink reversed. All at once, the many sources of information became readable again.

Batman’s hands worked over the documents, holding each one up for his eyes to read over. The computer lenses over his eyes scanned the data much faster than he could read, storing them into his database, working connections he needed more than just his mind to see.

The more his eyes began to see, the more lines his on-board computer drew. Along the peripheral sides of his vision, the images of the pictures he had scanned popped into view, lining and highlighting select parts of the broken or dried stills. They connected to words and phrases scribbled across the pages of other documents, linking them together.

It didn’t take long for the pattern to emerge.

Walking into the room initially, Batman expected these to be logs of an exploration, perhaps even notes on the construction of the structure they stood within. Instead, what he and his computer found was far more haunting. All of the evidence, all of the images, and all of the text pointed to a single name he had never heard of before, in myths or legends.

Lifting his head and focusing his vision towards the yellow pegasus, Batman tapped the edge of his cowl, returning his vision to a less detailed, but broader vision of the room he was in. Fluttershy sat on the ground, looking up at the monstrous creature that had followed and aided them so far. It too sat on the ground, legs outwards with the pegasus between them.

“Fluttershy,” Batman spoke, earning the immediate attention of the pink maned pony. “Have you ever heard of a creature called… the Songbird?”

“This is always the best part.” The words slithered from the Azula’s lips, dripping from her like the venom of a snake. She had the thin-lipped smile to match.

“The cold realization that all their prior ideas and assumptions were wrong. The sudden and horrifying epiphany that there is no escape, no way out, and no hope to spare.” Her fingers knit themselves together as she leant against the stone railing of the castle, gazing up at the screen with her cold golden eyes.

A slow hum left her lips as her eyes focused on the dark-gowned man, looking over the files and papers with familiar eyes. She had never met the man before, in her last life or the one she was living now. But she knew those eyes. They were eyes that she had seen on only so few before, but those few that she both admired and avoided.

They were the eyes of a being that saw beyond what was there. Able to see what was in front of them, but then being able to finish a puzzle that was missing one too many pieces. Worse than that, they were eyes that had been trained to do so, with nothing but unconscious thought.

“He is far from the strongest.” Azula noted carefully, if only to herself. “Not a thing about him extraordinary from any other pest. But,” she felt her lips sharpen with her words. “He may very well be the wisest of them.”

To the princess of the Fire Kingdom, wisdom of the mind was a more dangerous trait than any strength of the body.

Her smile, however, did not falter with the knowledge.

“It is unfortunate that we are enemies.” Almost majestically, Azula rose from the railing, hands gliding down her arms until they were set on the cold stone beneath her.

“Together, I doubt there would be any creature or plan the king or god could design to stop us.” She watched with fascination as the self-proclaimed Batman worked through the documents lain across the table, tapping on his forearm as he read the dried ink. Even with a shivering pegasus and hulking monster, his concentration did not falter.

Doubtlessly, one to be admired.

“Enough of that for now,” the fire princess dismissed easily as her attention turned from the screen. “What of the others?”

Azula’s golden eyes focused on another screen of moving pictures. This one held no more familiar faces than the last. Yet, to her, she had a far deeper connection to it than any of the charades being shown across the screen.

She could only smile in coy joy as the image of a white mask shown across the side of the mountain. Next Chapter: The Next To Awaken Estimated time remaining: 6 Hours, 36 Minutes