Bane wins...does he? (POV of Dracula)

Dracula watched, partly fascinated, as the huge beast moved and seemed to stop them with pure power. He had to admit that this new monstrosity was impressive in a strange way. With a single blow of its fists it had triggered an earthquake that forced it to swerve. By one of them, this Bane had stormed to Zatanna and tried to crush her. To his astonishment, a skeletal barrier surrounded by an indigo-colored glow reappeared. With his brow raised, Dracula watched as his bride was crushed into the ground by the force of the attack. The barrier still seemed to hold, but he could see that this shell began to break under the force of the blows. But before he could come to her aid, Bruce had already gathered his pack and stormed towards his opponent. With fast jumps he rushed over the battlefield and swung himself up to the huge monster to attack him. Dracula fell on Bruce, but he was much slower than in the fight with him. Apparently, the Wolf King had lost a lot of power in the fight against him and even if Dracula didn't want to admit it. It was like him. Never had he had to fight so long under the influence of the seal. While Bruce tried to get on the back of the monster he tore one of his arms to pieces on his way there. However, Bane managed to grab him and hurl him through the remains of some buildings until he was left in a dump. Unfortunately for him, parts of the building above him collapsed and buried him underneath.

Dracula watched as Bruce desperately tried to free himself from the rubble as Bane rushed at him. Dracula looked at the situation almost impassive and wondered exactly what had just happened. Sacrificing a certain victory over Zatanna to attack someone else seemed stupid to him. To test his theory, he hurled several fireballs of necrotic power at Bane and hit him right in the shoulder. There the flame ball exploded and tore Bane from his legs. To his regret, Dracula realized that he could no longer develop his full power. As the enemy rolled over the ground struggling to extinguish the flames Dracula went to Bruce and crossed his arms. The king of the undead did not lift a finger to help his comrade in arms out of the rubble. By the time Bruce had finally freed himself from the rubble, Bane was already completely covered in vines and vines.

“Have you noticed it yet wolf?” Asked Dracula, staring down at Bruce as the Wolf King finally freed himself of the debris.

“Yes, he can only focus on one opponent at a time.”

“His wits are gone, but he still knows how to fight and kill.”

Checking on Zatanna across the street, Bruce was relieved to see her float above the crater she was beaten into, looking back at the Wolf King and nodding with reassurance. With a guttural roar, Bane freed himself from Pamela’s vines and looked around for anymore that would impose him. Snorting and breathing hard, the bar looked to his scorched flesh and down to the rest of the feral wolves trying to scramble over the jagged walls of necrotic bones walling up the battle. With a growl, Bane snatched up one of the feral wolves, the thing whimpering in surprise before Bane opened his jaws wide and bit the creature in half at the waist. When he did, Dracula and the Wolf King realised his necrotic burns were healing.

“We need to cut off his food supply!”

“I agree… AND keep him busy.”

Fully healed and rolling his new shoulder, the black Bear growled and glared back at the two plotting against him. Sneering and baring his chipped, yellow fangs, Bane gripped at the stone beneath him and fell into another charge, exploding out of the collapsed building and surging towards the two at full speed.

Dracula was amazed at the beast he saw before him, just as he was amazed at Bruce. The longer the fight went on, the more human... he seemed again. It was as if the transformation of him was still not complete. He seemed to gain more and more control over the wolf within himself without suppressing him. Slowly Dracula wondered how far this transformation and fusion would go. Out of the corner of his eye he could see how Zatanna turned into the redheaded wolf and talked to her. His attention was distracted by Bane, however, who was now rushing at her again and could bring the two of them into trouble again and again.

*

Floating towards Aloe Vera as she directed the vines to contain the massive bear, Zatanna could already see the massive wolfess deep in concentration, trying to keep up with the bear while Harleen guarded her from the feral wolves still scrambling around the battlefield. Her and Bruce’s pack were hard at work trying to round them up or cull them, but their numbers seemed endless.

“We have to work together to save them.” Cried out the vampire magician, watching as Bane quickly freed himself of his vine tangled noose only for a new one to take its place.

“we ARE! It’s taking all we have to contain this madness.” Growled Pamela, almost desperate to save her love from the monster trying to kill him.

“No, I mean we need to combine our powers to stop him, give him something to be distract by while we get rid of these animals.”

Darting her green eyes between Bane and Zatanna, Pamela nodded and stopped what she was doing. “So be it.” Weaving their abilities together, Aloe Vera’s vines grew out and gathered stone nearby, entangling and wrapping around the boulders and debris of the battlefield while Zatanna infused her necromantic spells into the construct

*

The heavy gait of Bane’s gallop sent buildings to shake and rattle. Bulldozing through crushed cars and fallen trees with the same ease as walking through a field of tall grass, as he charged towards the vampire and werewolf. Teeth and claws were barred and ready to rend the two warriors when a sudden crash of stone, vines and bone collided with the beast and struck him in the skull with enough force to hear the crack of bone and the chipping of teeth. Lumbering into view once the dust settled from the impact, Dracula and Bruce looked up to see a titanic golem of stone, vines and bone stomp into view, its head a collection of blooming vines and dozens of skulls with indigo glowing eyes. Rearing back a boulder the size of a car for a fist, the elemental construct launched an attack on the prone bear, letting loose a barrage of punches and blows that rained down on the beast and kept Bane busy.

Dracula stopped on a lamppost after his last jump and watched the spectacle in front of him. The giant golem itself was impressive, but the fact that two completely opposite magics so easily combined was very disturbing. This creature literally stank of life and death. It should have torn the spellcasters to shreds in such an outrage. But the golem came at just the right time. It would give Dracula time to regroup and regenerate his powers. But he hadn't even begun to focus on it when Bruce stormed off and apparently wanted to get to Zatanna and his wolf. He could see that this crazy giggling wolf had a hard time shielding them alone and so he followed Bruce.

“Keep them both safe Harleys, the Count and I will deal with this horde and focus back on HIM when we can.” Bruce answered, pointing at Bane as the golem continued to slam rubble and stone down over him. Looking back to Zatanna, the vampire was focused on her golem while maintaining the wall of bone keeping the feral wolves from escaping. “Zatanna, close the fence keeping them here, drawn them all to us.”

“How DARE you command one of my…” growled Dracula angrily, but realized that he was completely ignored. This miserable flea dog dared to order one of his brides around. However, his angry speech was interrupted by Bruce with a loud howling. For a second it almost looked as if even the wild wolves would follow this call, but their confusion lasted only a second. His own pack, however, immediately formed a circle around the two spellcasters and fought with claws, fangs and everything else they could muster against a never-ending flood of monsters.

A blood curdling scream announced the arrival of Black Canary, landing in front of the pack and screaming out a shockwave against the attackers that stunned and reeled them into submission, while Talia leapt from one beheaded corpse to another in their moment of distraction and pain. By now the horde was dwindling, as the wall of bones receded back and made the killing field smaller, drawing in the feral wolves in the process. Now numbering over a hundred, the pack and vampires thought they finally had a means of stopping them… Then they heard a bellow of rage nearby. Turning their attention back to Bane, the Bear had grabbed hold of the construct by the waist and hoisted it off its feet, several the plant life from the Earth below and throwing the 50-tonne golem towards the pack and Vampires.

“LOOK OUT!!!”

Gathering who they could, the wolves jumped out of the way as the mass of rubble and bones crashed into where they had made their stand. An explosion of rock and earth sending them all tumbling to the ground, buried in debris and plant matter. Getting up with ringing ears, the Lycanthropes slowly got up and looked around, stunned from the impact. Staggering out of the rubble, Bruce clutched at his head as his ears rang and his mind swam. Looking over to his side he found Dracula slowly picking himself up out of the rubble, clutching at his healing wounds.

“Are you…?”

Waving back to Bruce to silence him, the Vampire Count regained his footing and frowned, clutching at his still wounded shoulder and wearing nothing left but his tattered pants. “As the men of this century elegantly put it… Fuck off!”

That stupid grin of Bruce's didn't fit him at all as he sat up and the bones in his body slowly healed. A look at his wife showed him clearly that the magical burden had been too much for her. She lay unconscious in the arms of the wolf who looked at her worried before she crossed the eyes of Dracula. In these eyes he could see that the she-wolf, despite all her will to fight, had given up. They had given all they had and yet it had not been enough. She would certainly keep fighting but she no longer believed in victory. Dracula had seen that look in a thousand eyes. Every time they had faced him.

Slowly he stepped next to Bruce and stretched out to look briefly at his arch enemy. They both nodded their heads without a word and then stared at Bane.

“Together…” Charging towards Bane, the rest of the feral were ignored save for those that got in the way as the Lycanthropes and vampires made a charge against the bear. As one, the spiders scurried around the beast, enveloping him in thick webbing while the snakes and wolves slashed and bit at what they could. The vampires darting between attacks to slash and stab at the massive bear.

While Dracula took care of the wolves on the ground who were throwing themselves into the shredder like sheep, Bruce seemed to take a different approach. Again, he climbed up Bane and seemed to have a specific goal that Dracula could neither recognize nor understand. All he could do now was attract as much attention as possible. And he did. Each of his attacks killed a werewolf. Around him lay the bodies of over a dozen of these beasts and his whole body was full of blood and guts and yet he kept fighting. Like a whirlwind he moved among them, tearing arms from their bodies, shredding skulls under his fist or setting his enemies ablaze. But then he paused as he looked up. Bruce was in Bane's mouth and was tossed back and forth like a puppet. With an almost uncanny amount of effort the wolf king somehow managed to lift his jaws so that he was not bitten in two. However, the blood flowed out of him in wide fountains and the screams that left his mouth were witness to the eerie pain he had to endure. And again this redheaded woman saved him.

“NO!!!!!!!!” Screamed Aloe Vera, seeing Bruce thrashed around like a chew toy in the mouth of the massive bear before being spat out and tossed aside to tumble into the dirt at his feet. Her red hair billowing over her lupine head, Aloe Vera conjured plant growth to spear into the animal, her eyes wide and tear streaked as her plants impaled the bear over and over again while vines gathered Bruce and tried to pull him to safety. Bringing him in close, Pamela whimpered, kissing at his snout and pressing her claws against his crushed and wounded chest to stem the bleeding as Harley joined her, dropping her bat to do the same.

But while they were taking care of their king they were unable to take care of the fight. They did not even realize that Bane was running at them. No. They noticed. But as Dracula suspected. They had given up. All they could hope for was to die by their king's side. Dracula closed his eyes and a lonely, bloody tear formed a path across his cheek. He did not cry over the loss of the Wolf King or this noble gesture, but because he knew what would happen in a few seconds. He had long since seen the shadow on the horizon and could not have imagined greater loyalty than he saw what was about to happen.

Seeing his prize being taken, Bane growled and stomped forward, quickly being distracted when Goliath flew in and slashed at Bane’s eyes and face. Roaring out in rage, Bane grabbed hold of the gargoyle by his waist and slammed him down onto the ground, raising a clawed foot and stomped down on his body, the crunch of bones from the first stomp alone told he was dead, but the bear never checked until the fifth stamp of his foot to look down at the blood soaked crater. Fueled by anger and revenge, Dracula leapt towards the bear’s face, grabbing hold of what he could and reared his fist back, punching deep into Bane’s eye socket and ripping free the optic nerve in his steely grip.

The roar Bane gave nearly drove the man deaf before he felt a massive claw grab him from behind and pry him off. Glaring back at the vampire even as a new eye regenerated and replaced the one torn out, Bane crushed him in his grip, tossing the vampire king towards the others and slammed his fist down in an intimidation stance. The pack and brides rallied to gather towards their fallen leaders and fend off the feral now closing in. Standing between Bane and the rest, Black Canary breathed deep and let loose a banshee cry that sent shockwaves towards Bane, making the beast clutch at his ears as his fur turned grey. Then with a roar of his own, the bear clapped its claws together, creating a shockwave that stunned everyone and sent them all reeling and tumbling back, even the feral were blown away from the intense force of strength.

“YOUUUUUU… CANNNNOT…. DEFFFEEAAAAAAT…. BANE!” The bear slurred, closing the distance between him and his opponents, his horde surrounding the beaten vampires and lycanthropes until he loomed over them all. “FIRRRRRST… EAT… BONNNNNNES… THEN… GOTHHHHHHAM!”

Dracula lay on his back and felt the blood flowing from his ears. Above him he could see the sky and how the clouds were illuminated by the full moon. This monster was his equal. Maybe even superior. For a seemingly endless moment he just lay there and enjoyed the infinite silence. He thought of all the thousand battles he had fought and all the powerful opponents. Humans, magicians, demons, monsters and what not. Then suddenly he started to laugh out of his soul. His laughter was quiet at first but with every second it grew louder and louder. It wasn't a crazy laugh like from the Joker or any kind of laughter you could imagine. It was rather a laugh of a man who was having a great laugh about something.

Still laughing from the bottom of his heart, the count rose and struggled briefly with the dizziness but overcame it. Around him he saw the wolves on the ground, his women on the floor, even the walls of his castle had cracked. He could feel the fresh wind blowing over his skin and making his hair blow wide. Then the laughter died down and he looked directly at Bane. Even this monster and the other werewolves had stopped at his strange reaction and looked at Dracula in confusion.

“You think me defeated animal?” Called out the Count, stepping out into the clearing with bare feet, oblivious to the bloody footprints he left behind the others still weakened and injured from Bane’s assault. Spreading his arms out wide, Dracula glared up at his opponent, his vision so blurred he couldn’t even recognise the form in front of him, but he didn’t care. “Do you think this rabble of beasts and that poison in your veins makes you mightier than me?!” Seeing Bane sneer, the Count continued. “No matter what you make of yourself, you are but a beast, a ‘dog’ of war. But I am Monster!... It takes a MAN to kill a monster!”

Finding his footing and keeping his arms out, the drained and broken Vampire lord looked up at the bear, a smile forming on his bloody lips just as he caught sight of the beast’s fist clench and rise to deliver the finishing blow.