Ransoming the Batman




"Excuse me for a moment."

Bruce smiled as he stepped away from his date for the night. Wayne Enterprises
was hosting a charity gala, and as always, Alfred had arranged a date for his
young master, still committed to the cause of finding a normal girl for Bruce.
This time he actually did quite well, Bruce thought, for the supermodel he had
come to the party with was far more interesting than the average blonde bimbos
he had been stalked by for the longest part of his bachelor life. Passing
through the crowd of people, having to stop many times to say hello to various
members of Gotham's elite, he finally reached the bar and got a refill of his
drink. Taking a sip, he turned around and tried to find his date in the crowd,
but with a large group of people it was borderline impossible to find her,
even though he would go as far as to say she stood out of the crowd with her
looks.

Taking another sip, Bruce was ready to venture into the sea of people in
search for his date when he realized something was wrong. No longer leaning
against the counter, his body was no longer able to maintain balance, stagger
for a second before he grabbed the counter again so as not to fall down.
Everything around him was spinning, and it was becoming harder and harder to
see clearly.

"Are you ok, sir?", the bartender asked, seeing Bruce having trouble standing
straight. "Too much drink?"

"No, I'm fine.", Bruce replied. "Just need some fresh air."

Once again letting go of the counter Bruce staggered away towards the
bathroom, doing his best not to alert the other guests to his state. Clinging
to the walls on the edge of the ballroom where he could avoid the other
guests, he slowly made his way to the bathroom to get some water and wash up.
But more importantly, he needed to be alone to contact Alfred. Something was
wrong. He hadn't been drinking that much that night, and felt completely fine
until a couple of minutes ago. This was more than just a case of too much
alcohol.

Reaching the corridor which led to the men's room, Bruce suddenly stumbled
into a woman. Apologizing for bumping into her, he tried to stand still and
focus his gaze on her so as to not cause any worries. He couldn't see her face
quite clearly, but could see her long, dark brown hair, and the tight black
dress following the curves of her slim body.

"Oh dear Bruce, is something wrong?"

Even though he couldn't see her, Bruce knew the voice all too well.

"Talia?"

"Come now my dear, you come to a party like this with some other girl, not
thinking of your beloved? Don't you think you owe me a dance?"

By then, Bruce could barely stand on his feet, having close to no control over
his body, struggling to just stay awake. Seeing Talia Al Ghoul there only
confirmed his suspicions. This was a trap. The refill he got was drugged, it
had to be. Tumbling forward, Bruce fell into Talia's arms, who grabbed him and
held him tight as she took a few steps in a circle, humming to the music
reaching them to the ballroom, pretending the two were dancing, while Bruce
slowly passed out with his head on her shoulder.

"Don't worry Bruce, I'll get you someplace safe where you can rest."

Groaning in an attempt to reply, Bruce used up the last of his strength,
everything going dark, Talia's blurry face the last thing he saw.

Coming to, Bruce was in shape no better than he remembered being before he
passed out. His head was heavy, hanging freely, as he was unable to get enough
strength to look up, groaning, trying to get a feeling of his body. His
muscles were slow to respond, refusing to obey his instructions, only
occasionally twitching as the drug he had been given still refused to
completely release its hold over his body. People were talking around him,
bright flashes visible in the corners of his blurry sight, as Bruce Wayne
tried to pull himself together.

"Wait girls, let's see if we can get a better shot when he's awake, I think we
have enough of him asleep."

Talia Al Ghul. Yes, she was there when he passed out. Bruce began piecing
together the events prior to him waking up, well aware of the large gap in his
memory. A hand passed in front of his eyes, grabbing his chin and pulling his
head up, holding it in place. Squinting, Bruce slowly made out the image of
Talia in front of him, a number of her henchwomen behind her with cameras. She
slapped him a few times on his cheeks, trying to get him to sober up faster,
to no avail. She let go of his head, allowing him to freely fall down again.

"Call me when he wakes up.", she said, walking away, Bruce catching the sound
of a door slamming shut.

Some time passed before his mind finally started clearing up, and his body
began listening to him. Though that didn't really make much of a difference to
his ability to move as it turned out. With his mind clear, Bruce could assess
his situation, and it wasn't the most pleasant of things to sober up to. He
was stripped down to his underpants, his clothes folded not too far from the
sturdy, wooden armchair he was confined to, lots and lots of duct tape making
sure he doesn't leave his seat. His arms and legs taped to the wooden frame
with thick layers of tape, with more adhesive circling around his waist and
pinning it to the back of the chair, Bruce wasn't going anywhere. And there
wasn't much he could say about it either, with the layers upon layers of tape
wrapped around his head completely covering the lower half of his face and
sealing his mouth shut.

Seeing him awake, one of the henchwomen watching him pressed a button on the
wall, and within seconds, Talia entered the room again, filled with joy from
finally seeing her captive awake. Snapping a quick picture of him angrily
staring at her, she instructed the woman around her to continue taking
pictures of him as she approached him and sat on his lap, throwing her legs
over one of his bound arms.

"Smile for the camera, Bruce.", she said, wrapping her arms around his neck
and smiling as one of her minions took a photo of them despite's Bruce furious
look. "Come now, don't you want to look nice for Alfred and the others. After
all, this pictures are for the Bat family to see."

"WMMMPHT DMPH YMPH WMPHNT?", Bruce mumbled through his gag.

"What do I want?", Talia continued, running her finger down Bruce's naked
chest, slowly circling around his belly button. "Simple, my father freed from
Arkham.", she said, her finger suddenly moving up to Bruce's throat, "Or
else."

Her finger made the quick motion across her captive's throat, simulating the
slice of a knife. Getting the message, Bruce grunted into his gag as he fought
the tape holding him, pulling up as hard as he could, the muscles on his arms
flexing and tightening as he tried to break free of his bonds, his wrists
cutting into the layers of adhesive tape pinning them to the armchair, but
with no success. Pleased with the futile efforts of her prisoner, Talia
smiled, grabbing Bruce's head and kissing his gag where his lips would be.

"I love watching you struggle."

Wiggling in place over his crotch for a few seconds, Talia got up, asking her
henchwomen if they got enough pictures of them for the ransom message. Having
gotten confirmation of it, she signaled all of them to leave Bruce alone to
his struggles, noting that she is watching him through a pair of cameras,
unwilling to miss a single moment of his captivity. She was the last to step
outside of the room, blowing Bruce a kiss before she slammed the door shut. By
the time the lock mechanism clicked, Bruce was already trying to escape.

There were no gadgets he could rely on, no help from the Bat family. If he was
to escape his predicament, he would have to find a way to do it on his own.
Once again pulling on the tape, screaming into his gag from the immense effort
he put in, he got the same results as the last time. The layer of tape was
simply too thick for him to rip it apart. However, while his strength didn't
seem to be enough to do away with the tape it appeared to be enough, or close
to enough, to what the chair could handle. For as he tried to move his arms
up, he could clearly hear the sound of cracking wood, the chair arms doing
their best to stay in once piece despite his force.

With a starting point to his escape plan, Bruce started thinking of where he
would go from there. Focusing his efforts on his legs, he tried kicking
forward as hard as he could, but unlike the arms, the legs of the chair proved
too sturdy to weaken, the hard wood refusing to twitch under his strength.
With a pair of cameras watching his every move, only having his arms free
wouldn't be enough. In the time he'd need to untie himself, the room would
already be swarming with enemies. Sighing into his gag, Bruce once again went
back to the beginning of his plan. Tapping his feet while he was thinking, he
suddenly noticed that the tape around his feet had began to lose it's grip on
the wood, sliding up and down just a little bit as he moved. This could work,
he thought.

As a plan formed inside his head, Bruce started struggling furiously,
screaming into his gag, drops of sweat appearing on his forehead from all the
effort. The tape clung to his skin, burning more and more as he fought it, but
he wouldn't give in, even when the chair started to shake in place, losing its
balance. Suddenly, he shifted his body weight, the chair swinging back, the
taped man letting out a helpless call for help through his tight gag as the
chair fell back, a rush of pain going through his body as it hit the floor.
Even before he made his move, Bruce was well aware he was in for a hard hit,
but still, the pain he felt at the back of his head forced him to pause for a
few minutes, while he pulled himself together and his sight clearing up.

Once he was finally ready, Bruce made his move. Taking a deep breath, he
grabbed the edges of the chair arms, and in one swift motion, pulled upwards,
ripping them out of their place. At the same time, he pulled his feet as low
as he could, sliding into the seat as much as the tape around his waist would
allow it, managing to slide the tape around the chair legs until his feet were
free. Rolling on his side, he managed to get rid of the small planks still
attached to his wristsm snapping one of them in half and using the crude edge
to dent the tape around his waist enough so he can rip it apart. The rest of
the chair detached from his back at the exact moment the door flew open and a
number of Talia's goons ran inside.

Without any more time, Bruce was forced to fight them while still gagged, duct
tape hanging from his wrists and ankles. With his mouth sealed shut, he had
trouble breathing, and knew he would have to take them out quickly, or risk
getting exhausted quickly in a longer fight. Luckily for him, despite their
obvious training at the hands of the League of Shadows, the women were no
match for Bruce, even without all of his Batman accessories. One by one, they
fell, Bruce panting heavilly though his gag, as sweat dripped down his back
and chest, his waist burning, the tape leaving a big red mark on his skin.
Just as he thought he had defeated the last of them, Talia sprung from the
darkness of the outside corridor and rushed him.

He was too slow to react, his opponent catching him off guard. She swiftly
moved in behind him, twisting one of his arms behind his back, while using her
other arm to to clamp a wet rag over his mouth and nose. Exhausted, with his
mouth sealed shut, it was impossible for Bruce to control his breathing,
quickly inhaling the sweet smell coming from the rag..

"Hello lover, forgot about me? Remember that I still know how to take your
breath away." Talia said with a mocking laugh while she pulled Bruce's head on
her shoulder and forced him to look at the ceiling.

Groaning through the tape he was still gagged with, he tried using his free
arm to hit Talia with his elbow, but she easily dodged his blow, twisting his
arm even further behind his back.

Feeling himself starting to weaken from lack of oxygen Bruce used all his
power to yank at her hand covering his nose and mouth.

Bruce was able to free himself and with a swift spin he escaped Talia's grasp.

"Hmmm, so spirited and with tons of stamina. That is why I like you so much
Bruce." Talia laughed teasingly.

Talia feinted a punch only to do a spinning kick into his stomach, sending him
back into the wall. He grunted from impact but before he could put up a
defense, Talia was right in front of him, kneeing him in the stomach. Once
again out of breath, Bruce was forced to inhale deeply, exactly what Talia
wanted, ready to clamp the rag over his nose again, filling it with the smell
of chloroform, more than enough to seal her victory.

"Tim to take some rest my beloved." Talia smiled.

Bruce had no strength or breath left to put up a fight. His eyelids were
growing heavy, his sight blurring up as all of his energy left his body. His
arms soon stopped trying to push Talia way, falling down the side of his body.
With a triumphant laugh his captor let go of him, allowing his body to slide
down the wall into a sitting position, Bruce moaning into his gag a couple
more seconds before everything around him once again faded into darkness.