The tunnels shook with gunfire and collapsing support beams when Naima's voice snapped through the comm, sharp and breathless,
"Boss the Bat's here!" Static. A harsh curse. Her voice returned, even faster,
"And— shit— our people from the docks are reporting Young Justice is moving off Odessa's territory and heading straight for us. Robin's leading them. We need a plan, boss. What do we do?! Do we go to B?"
Fear wasn't just in her tone it was in the tunnel walls themselves, vibrating with the approach of hero's
Vey clenched his jaw, mind fracturing into voices:
Nolan spoke first, 'Looks like whatever Two-Face hoped to distract Batman with wasn't enough. I'm not owing him for shit!'
'We knew this was coming. We planned for this.' Kieran reassured conveniently forgetting they didn't plan for both the bat and young justice to arrive
Vey nodded once, to all of them.
He thumbed the channel open.
"All units, listen up. We're going to Plan B. Evac to designated points. Burn what you can't carry — don't leave supplies for the enemy blow them to pieces if we have to. Move fast."
He turned his attention back to Naima, voice cutting steel,
"Naima, you know your job. Stick to the plan. I'm going to slow our guests down."
He didn't wait for confirmation.
Vey ran.
Boots pounded through the maintenance tunnels, through smoke and dust clouds. He hurdled a fallen support beam, lungs burning, the world spinning in streaks of red emergency light and flickering shadows.
The blue glow in the corners of his vision had started to die.
"Damn it…" he hissed. "Should've brought another vial."
"No. That was a crutch!" Quentin yelled wishing he could be piloting right now
"We have the abilities. The gas just kickstarted it." Nolan said sharply trying to hide the worry in his tone
Kieran was unusually serious, "You can do this. Focus. We're here."
His breathing steadied. The panic dulled into a cold, sharp point.
Then — gunshots. Shouts. Echoing chaos.
He burst into a larger tunnel, Underpass territory and the scene stabbed reality into him.
Batman stood like a black monolith in the swirling haze, dropping one of Vey's men with a single, brutal strike. Another fell trying to crawl away. The Bat moved relentless methodical unstoppable.
Jesus Christ it was like a movie scene.
"HEY!" Vey roared, ripping his pistol free and unloading a tight burst.
Batman spun, cape flaring, bullets sparking off armor. His head snapped toward Vey, instantly locked in . A shadow moved behind him,
Robin.
The boy wonder soared in with a flip, escrima sticks crackling as he landed beside his mentor. Footsteps thundered from every direction — Aqualad with water blades forming at his sides; Artemis nocking an arrow; Kid Flash's lightning blur skidding to a halt.
Young Justice at full strength crumbling the rails.
Pandemonium erupted.
Underpass fighters scrambled for hidden exits, dragging wounded, firing wildly behind them. Others held ground just long enough to give their friends a chance to escape only to be crushed by the team cutting through them like razor wind.
Aqualad's water blades snapped a rifle in half.
Kid Flash blurred through a barricade, zip-tying a screaming gunman.
Artemis fired a shock arrow that dropped two men convulsing.
Robin dove into melee, flipping over crates, striking precise and hard.
And Batman, Batman was a storm.
Grabbing a man by the vest, slamming him into a concrete pillar so hard the tunnel lights flickered.
Vey took it all in the chaos, the fear, the collapsing lines and drew a single conclusion,
This wasn't a battle.
This was survival he needed to do something fast.
He raised his pistol again.
'If I can just slow them… just long enough for' Naima's evac to finish
He aimed at Robin first.
Blue light flickered again faint, but enough to twist the world's edges.
"Come on…" Vey growled behind the mask
Vey's pulse hammered in his neck — each beat thudding against the inside of his skull like a war drum. He forced his breathing slow, eyes flicking around the chaos as his mind fractured into hyper-focus.
The world shifted.
A chain snapped.
Colors pulsed off people like heat signatures — emotions rendered visible. Batman's aura loomed in the darkness ahead… and it wouldn't move. A void-black silhouette, anchored and immovable, as if the very concept of fear refused to cling to him.
Unshakable.
A wall.
Vey's jaw tightened.
Fine. Not the Bat. Not yet.
His gaze snapped to Kid Flash — bright, frantic, jittering with every shade of anxious yellow and restless orange. That one, Vey grinned beneath his mask. Reckless. Distractible. Breakable.
He inhaled sharply.
The haze overtook his sight — swirling neon like oil in water — and he bent that chaotic color toward a single, overwhelming hue:
Red.
Kid Flash froze mid-step. His body trembled. Then—
He clutched his head and screamed, fury tearing from his throat:
"GET OFF ME!"
He turned violently and tackled Robin, slamming him into the dirt. The two tumbled, Robin choking in surprise as Wally's hands clamped around his throat.
Vey didn't waste a heartbeat.
He lunged.
His fist cut through the air toward Batman's cowl — a straight, vicious strike. Batman blocked, forearm snapping up like iron. Vey pivoted, throwing a knee toward the ribs — Batman deflected again, fluid, clinical. The Bat countered with a punch — Vey slipped under it, feeling the wind off the armored glove.
They circled, predators in close quarters.
"What did you do?" Batman growled voice low, controlled rage.
"Nothing you haven't done," Vey snapped back and threw himself into a flurry of blows.
The tunnel echoed with each impact — glove on armor, boot scraping against rails, gas mask filter hissing as Vey ducked another strike. Sparks kicked from Batman's gauntlet when it glanced off a tunnel girder.
Vey's shoulder slammed into Batman's chest, driving him backward into a stack of crates. The Bat grunted — barely — and then grabbed Vey by the lapel and launched him across the tunnel. Vey slammed onto his back, skidding across gravel.
He rolled fast — instincts saving him — as a batarang shrieked past his ear and buried itself in the concrete wall.
Vey surged forward again, and this time he aimed to break something.
A spinning elbow — blocked.
A hooked kick — dodged.
A knife-hand to the throat — caught in Batman's palm.
The Bat squeezed, vise-tight.
"You're hurting people who never had a chance," Batman said, voice colder than the rain outside. "They follow you because they're desperate."
"And they'd rather die than go back to how Gotham treats them!" Vey snarled sweeping Batman's legs.
The Bat hit the ground, but rolled instantly, already regaining stance.
Not a second of weakness. Not a single opening.
Aqualad turned spotting Kid Flash's attack — "KF!" he shouted, abandoning his current target to sprint toward the struggling pair. Artemis pivoted as well, bow raised.
The distraction was everything Vey needed.
He snapped a hidden blade from his forearm and slashed across Batman's armor. The metal plating held, but sparks flew — Vey kicked off the hit, somersaulting back into a ready stance.
He saw the martian holding her head in pain and realized she was trying to access kid flashes mind.
Perfect.
'You can't win a straight fight. You know that." Nolan said, 'Stop being prideful Vey!'
'We slow them. Nothing more. Enough time for our people.' Quentin agreed
But man did Vey want to win.
Batman advanced another silent step.
Vey raised his hands and sneered behind the mask.
"Round two, Bat."
He was about to throw himself back into the fray—
When the tunnel lights blew out.
Darkness swallowed the battlefield.
Screams echoed. Gunfire flared then died. Somewhere distant — a rumbling explosion.
Young Justice faltered for a moment, instinctive caution overtaking confidence.
And Vey smiled.
Naima… good job.
Batman's lenses glowed white as he turned his head slightly — trying to locate Vey in the dark.
But Vey was already moving — heart still roaring, vision alive again with streaks of fading color.
The escape was opening.
And the war against the bat was only beginning.
****
Naima pushed forward through the dark of the abandoned rail tunnels, her people close behind. Flashlights stayed off, they knew the turns by muscle memory. Hidden ladders, maintenance doors pried open years ago, a service corridor no one but the underpass crew still used.
They climbed the final rung and slipped out through a rusted grate onto the edge of the docks. The Odessa compound loomed ahead — floodlights busted, smoke still drifting from the earlier Young Justice assault. Sirens wailed faintly somewhere deeper in the district, but here the night felt like it was holding its breath.
Naima swept her gaze over the group: rifles ready, armor scratched, nerves high but steady.
"You know the boss's plan," she said. "Let's move."
—
A/N: unfortunately sometimes you must lose to learn the most. Batman has insane willpower and mental fortitude. One thing about this story is I want not only Nolan to evolve as a character but also his orginization. Ty for reading