There are spoilers for Justice League: Rise of Darkseid, you can skip page 4 if you don't want those spoilers.

Chapter 9

Attacked

Batcave

Bruce, still in his Batsuit, had just got back to the Batcave, shocked to see that his arch nemesis was back, wearing a new/old mantle. He still had the Batarang he threw at Joker. He scanned the Batarang, trying to scan the other half of blood sample, trying to find out who it belonged to.

There were no matches, Bruce had theories about why Joker had another person's blood, he could have slightly changed his DNA by merging with someone else's blood. But Bruce still had no idea of who the other blood belonged to.

Bruce slammed the metal keyboard, that connected to his computer, with his metal heavy gloves, breaking the keyboard in half. Bruce remembered the Joker killing the last Robin, Bruce's son, Damian Wayne, bringing him to Darkseid, letting Darkseid kill Damian in front of Bruce's eyes. And the Joker driving Tim Drake, the third Robin, insane, hiding him for ten years from the public, with the public thinking he's dead, causing him to lose his mind.

Bruce remembered the Joker shooting Barbra Gordon in the spine, forcing her to walk on metal braces for the rest of her her life. Bruce remembered the Joker shooting Jim Gordon in the head, killing him too, and shooting Dick Grayson in the left eye, blinding him there.

Bruce remembered the Joker pushing Bruce past the limits. After Joker shot Dick Grayson and killed Jim Gordon, Bruce couldn't take it, Bruce snapped Joker's neck, then leaving him in a burning building, causing Joker's body to rot.

Not even the time the Joker pushed Bruce past the limits was worse than the first time Joker effected Bruce, the first actual time he affected Bruce, beating the second Robin, Jason Todd, to near death and letting his conscious, tortured body blow in a building in Arizona.

Bruce was looking down for almost ten minutes until he noticed a black horned shadow that overcame him. Bruce turned around, a man, wearing a blue, Batman mask with a grey coat stood in front of Bruce. The man was much taller than Bruce, probably stronger too. Bruce looked up at the man, clinched his fists.

"Who are you?" Bruce questioned.

"A boy, who grew very fond of you." The man said, he punched Bruce in the chest, he was way more powerful than a normal human, maybe as powerful as Superman.

Bruce fell to the floor, then got up. The man jumped on Bruce's chest, he looked as if he was going to fly. Bruce tried to shoot an EMP at the man, it didn't do anything. The man just caught the electric wires and threw them to the side.

"You grown old since last time I saw you." The man said.

"Who are you?" Bruce questioned roughly.

"I am the Heretic, you will know my real name soon enough." Heretic said, "Just know, you will be seeing me around." Heretic started beating Bruce to the pulp and slicing his body up.

The Heretic left Bruce lying on the floor for hours, Bruce broke some ribs, an arm, and tore his tricep. Bruce lost a lot of blood, too much. He wasn't cared for until Terry came by, looking for answers on why his DNA match Bruce's.

Terry walked in the Batcave and saw Bruce lying on the floor. The answers could wait. Terry ripped off the armor and brought Bruce up to the Manor then closed the entrance to the cave.

After, Terry dialed 911 and an ambulance came in five minutes to pick Bruce up. Two nurses, one a man and one his girlfriend, Dana. They put Bruce in the ambulance. After, the man shut door. The door made a loud noise that sounded like a silenced gun.

Terry was offered to come in the ambulance but chose not to. "Is he going to be okay?" Terry asked the woman.

"I don't know." Dana asked, "The only thing you can do is pray for the best. You sure you don't want to come?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. There are things I need to figure out." Terry stated, Dana knew Terry was Batman, "Look Dana, I want you think I want him alive because of what he's done for me but that's not the main reason."

"What is it then?" Dana asked.

"He may be my biological father." Terry replied.

"How? Your father was Warren McGinnis." Dana stated.

"I don't know how, I don't know what happened but my DNA is fifty percent biological his." Terry stated.

"Dana, we have to go." The man who was a nurse told Dana, "I've got him strapped in."

"Ok." Dana replied, "I'll keep him alive, I promise." Dana kissed Terry on the cheek and left Wayne Manor on to the hospital. Terry went down to the cave, he saw red spray painted words on Bruce's computer. They read, "Fallen has Rised."