The Takedown

"They say adamantium is unbreakable. I intend to prove them wrong!" Bane roared as he prepared to snap Logan's spine across his knee.

Kitty and Barbara sprang into action without hesitation. Barbara leapt onto Bane's back, focusing on cutting off his Venom supply. Bane abruptly dropped Wolverine as he struggled to get Barbara off of him. "That was a foolish mistake, whelp..." Bane growled as he finally managed to grab Barbara. "You were smart to target my achilles heel, but you had to know it was never going to be that easy."

"I figured as much," Barbara choked as Bane tightened his grip. "But it looks like you forgot how quickly Wolverine can get back into a fight."

"Huh?" Bane grunted as he felt claws slashing across his back. "NO!"

"You really should have seen that coming," Batgirl uttered as Bane looked to see the tubes pumping venom into his veins cut completely open. His grip on Barbara loosened enough that she was able to free herself from Bane's grasp and kick off from his chest, landing on her feet several feet away. "Looks like your advantage is gone."

"Not yet," Bane answered back as he tossed Logan off of his back. "I've still got enough in my veins to crush you two."

Logan grunted as he got to his feet. "Any ideas, kid?" he asked as he looked at Barbara.

"He's going to go into withdrawal eventually. We can speed up the process if we make him exert himself," Barbara suggested. "We've just got to survive until then."

Meanwhile, Kitty had phased through the floor behind Deathstrike. "We're not done yet, Yuriko," she called out, causing Deathstrike to turn her attention away from Batman. Kitty hit Deathstrike with several hard blows to the face and body, providing Batman enough time to administer first aid.

Kitty was quick to dodge and evade Deathstrike's attacks, making quick use of her powers to make herself intangible as needed. "You can't keep this up forever," Deathstrike hissed.

"I can try," Kitty retorted. "You're not as unbreakable as you think you are."

An amused smile crossed Deathstrike's face. "You know I have the advantage in every way right now. Strength, skill, endurance..."

"Numbers?" Kitty asked, causing Deathstrike to laugh dismissively.

"Ha! The Batman can't help you now. I've made sure he--"

Deathstrike's boasting was interrupted by an electrical current coursing through her body, courtesy of a charged batarang. "You weren't thorough enough," Batman growled, his leg wound now bandaged.

Kitty took the opportunity to phase through Deathstrike, disrupting the cyborg's systems and causing her to collapse to the ground.

Batman looked over at Kitty and gave her an approving nod. "Impressive work, Pryde. I'm beginning to understand what Batgirl sees in you."

"I'm the best at what I do," Kitty smirked. "You OK? That gash on your leg looked really gnarly."

"I'll live," Batman answered. "Besides, we're not done here."

Batman gestured to Barbara and Logan, who were keeping Bane occupied. He was beginning to show signs of the venom wearing off, but he wasn't quite done yet.

"I will... break... all of you..." Bane panted, his muscles beginning to twitch erratically. "Break... you..."

Bane continued to fight, but his movements were slower, more clumsy. Less precise. It was clear that his mind had been clouded from the venom withdrawal. No thought to his movements or attacks, which he usually calculated with brilliant precision, now nothing but primal fury.

"He's getting sloppy," Barbara noted as she dodged a haymaker from Bane. "But I'm not sure we can hit him hard enough to take him out just yet."

"He'll go down if I cut 'im up," Logan said, ready to lunge.

"Don't do any lethal damage," Batman ordered. "We're not killing him."

"Yeah, yeah, bub. This ain't my first rodeo," Logan grunted. "You want him alive, I'll keep him alive. Ain't gonna be pretty, though."

"It never is," Batman replied. "Do what you have to, as long as he's still breathing when you're done."

Logan nodded and lunged at Bane. Violent but precisely, Logan slashed at the reeling giant, carving a series of shallow but painful wounds across the giant's chest and arms. Bane roared in pain and fury, but in his weakened and confused state he wasn't able to keep up with Logan's relentless ****. Before long, he fell over, exhausted and defeated.

"Looks like we're done here," Logan said as he retracted his claws. "But we left one hell of a mess."

"I'll take care of it. GCPD has already been informed," Batman assured them. "But we need to leave. Now."

"What about your leg? How can you even walk after that?" Kitty asked.

"I've been through worse," Batman answered dismissively. "Let's go."