"Ah, Erica Richards, the Avatar. It's a pleasure to meet you."
He landed the plane amid some bushes, then climbed out.
We snuck behind a few trees. "Erica, you do exactly what I tell you to do, when I tell you to do it. No buts. Understand?"
"Umm, yeah?" Not really.
He nodded, then raced into the greenery with me close behind him.
It took a while for us to climb the tower without me flying, but we managed to make it work.
My hands were clutched onto the stone ledge, praying that I wouldn't slip with Batman right susunod to me.
"Stay here." He jumped over the ledge, and I heard grunts and groans.
What, he thinks I can't handle fighting a few guys? I felt hurt sa pamamagitan ng this, but I shoved it off.
"Erica!" He called from the top.
I flipped over the ledge and found Batman pinning an old guy to the ground.
"If you would please hand me my receiver, I will call off my guards and make it easier for the both of us," sinabi the man.
Batman thought for a bit, and handed him the receiver just a few inches from his face.
"Ubu, call off the guards. I will be entertaining a guest."
Batman let the man stand up. "It ought to be better inside, Detective," he glanced at me. "Ah, Erica Richards, the Avatar. It's a pleasure to meet you."
The hostile look on Batman's face told me not to reply.
I followed the two men inside the toasty room, where a mesa sat against the glass window that Batman had broken.
The man poured a glass of wine inside two glass cups. "Wine?"
Batman shook his head, while I said, "I'm only 17."
The man looked intently at the Dark Knight. "Are you going to introduce me to the young lady, Detective?"
Batman sinabi nothing, and the man sighed and looked at me. "I am Ra's Al-Ghul."
I gasped. "THE Ra's Al-Ghul?"
He smiled, but sinabi nothing.
"Tell me what happened to Jason," Batman ordered.
Ra's sighed. "I was wrong for trusting the Joker in my brilliant plan. I underestimated him; I'd have never guessed he would've gone so far as to kill the boy.
"I felt guilty in the months that followed after his funeral. And so I found out that there was a myth that came along the Lazarus Pit for years."
"What's the Lazarus Pit?" I whispered.
"A pit that has the ability to make people immortal." Batman glared at Ra's while he sinabi that.
"The myth," Ra's continued, "believed the the Pit could restore lives. I knew it was 50-50, but I had to take the chance.
"I'd held confidence that you wouldn't perform an autopsy, and it took only a few bucks to make the switch of bodies. But when we dipped him into the Pit, you could say he came back...damaged."
It took me a while to take this all in. Finally, Ra's ended his story and turned to the window, muttering something that sounded Arabic.
Batman tapped my shoulder and motioned for the exit, and we left without another word.
"But when we dipped him into the Pit, you could say he came back...damaged."
