Electric Flame

2.5

"What did you do to Jason?" an impatient man yelled.

My mind rambled on, trying to remember anything from my forcefully forgotten memories but to no avail.

"Act like you don't know what we're talking about and I'll dislocate your shoulder," another man threatened, except this time, it was a boy. Damian's voice to be exact. "That's just to start."

"If you haven't disabled the roof sensors, my guards will be here in under a minute," someone warned, but when I saw who it was, my eyes showed nothing but disbelief.

Standing in front of them was the one and only Ra's Al Ghul, except his form was a shimmering baby blue, much like a hologram of some sort. 

"Answer me," Batman threatened through gritted teeth. Although, how you could threaten a ghost, beats me.

"I'm willing to, but it'll be more expedient if you press that green button below the torch on the wall, and I'll call off my men." He did as told. "Commander, this is Ra's Al Ghul. Stand down. I will be entertaining a guest in my study." I thought that everyone knew of Ra's "disappearance. You'd think that if your grandmaster stopped showing up to events and his daughter abandons ship with her only son, they'd get an idea and put two and two together. "You remember when we last became embattled," ghostly Ra's asked, his tone merely reminiscent.

"You were planning to blow up banks," Batman answered, glancing at his only blood son for reassurance. Batman seeking courage? I was sure there were no pigs flying outside.

"Accurate, if inelegant," spiritual Ra's confirmed. "I was in the midst of toppling the economy of Europe, but you were on to me. I sought a distraction. So I hired the Joker. When your paths crossed in Bosnia, it was to appear that you had stumbled upon him. He was paid extremely well for what was intended to be a wild-goose chase. Then he murdered the boy." That's when the atmosphere in the environment grew cold, and not only because there was a piece of paranormal activity in this very room. "That was not by design. I'm afraid I overestimated my ability to control the Joker, just as I underestimated his madness," he confessed. "It grieved me, sir, to be a party to something so brutal."

"You've never shied away from drawing blood." Damian pestered his deceased grandfather.

"True, but always with purpose." Ra's seemed almost saddened, if a ghost could look that way. "Always with greater goals. This was simply an unnecessary casualty. As penance, I chose not to make war with you again, and to attempt to rectify this disservice."

I was slowly realizing what their words meant, and a great deal, too.

"Rectify?" the Batman and his protege asked in harmony.

"Yes. I had hoped to return to you what you had lost." Ra's ghostly form began to flicker, then glow a blinding white. "l have walked this world for nearly six centuries. As you know, I achieve this by bathing in the rejuvenating waters of the Lazarus Pit. Along with its healing abilities, it has long been rumored that it is capable of an even greater feat: to raise the dead. Procuring the remains of your partner was not difficult. You had come to Bosnia under the guise of Bruce Wayne, and you chose to depart as such. You even concocted the cover story: that young Jason had died in a bombing in Sarajevo. This made it easy for me. All it took was a few payoffs to replace his body. I felt confident that you would not perform an autopsy. Even if you had, we still would have bought enough time. But my plan-- well, detective-- it had unfortunate results. He returned to this world but returned damaged. My army searched for months, but we were never able to find a body or pick up a trail. I thought him dead yet again. But I hear you have been having trouble at home. I have returned your son to you as a blight upon your house. He burns the very kingdom you protect." Dang, that was incredibly deep.