Bruce Wayne is laughing in Brian Wallach's ears while the sharp point of the batarang is pressed against his skin, and Brian is desperately trying to think. He doesn't want to be forgotten. He doesn't want to disappear. He doesn't want to die. He doesn't want his life to just float away as if it was never meant to exist. This isn't Bruce's body, this is Brian's, This is my body, Brian thinks, This is my life, and he inhales through his nose. He needs to fight back, but one wrong move and the sharp tip will cut open his skin, and he'll bleed out. This is exactly what would have happened if...
Then it hits Brian. He wasn't sure why he hadn't thought of it before. He was too distracted by the fact that he might be disappearing for good - a thing he always feared would happen since the shift first occurred - that he wasn't thinking about the situation clearly. In one movement, he tilts his head back and slams it into Bruce's hard, and the other man falls back. Brian, somehow miraculously able to get off the chair now, and while Bruce is trying to gain his composure, Brian slips into the shadows of the room.
If Bruce wants a fight, he'll get a fight, but Brian isn't going to go out like this. He can't. Not when he has his own life to live. He had once thought that he could co-exist with Bruce, but if this is the way the man really is, there is no way that can happen. Brian is still confused, still not thinking completely clearly, but when he has moments of clarity, he knows this Bruce in front of him isn't the real Bruce Wayne. He's an impostor.
You're right, he isn't real, Brian hears the real Bruce in his head, Fight him, get control back.
The impostor is hunting the room, looking for Brian (and the real Bruce, stuck in Brian's head), and Brian is hiding in the dark shadows of the room. He wishes he had infra red glasses right now, it could prove easier, but he has to rely on his senses. This isn't me, you know this. This isn't the first time we've dealt with impostors Bruce tells Brian, and Brian nods, as he listens carefully to the man and his movements. He hears the man pick up speed and run towards Brian, and Brian dodges out of the way, slamming his fist into the back of the man's neck before he gets away again. Good, Bruce says, and Brian knows he doesn't have the full knowledge of martial arts that Bruce does, but Brian has picked up a few moves. The impostor is screaming now, taunting Brian, telling him his life as he knows it is over.
We need to work together Bruce says, and Brian nods, replying, I've always thought that. He senses the approval in that statement and he decides to run for the man, taking him in a fight full on. The impostor and Brian start matching blow for blow, and Brian is too deep in concentration to realize he's hitting every time, he's dodging, he's moving like he's dancing on air. This is Bruce's doing, he's guiding Brian to move, to dodge, to fight. He's making Brian stronger, just as Brian had a feeling would happen eventually. The impostor is losing, he's bleeding from the mouth, his nose is broken. He's on the floor, he's at the mercy of Brian, and he's yelling something. "Just kill me, Brian, you know you want to. Kill me, and you'll be rid of Bruce forever," the impostor taunts, and Brian tries to speak.
To his surprise, his mouth has returned, and Brian just laughs at the man. "Who says I want to be rid of him?" He asks, as he leans down and punches the man in the face, and as he does so, the man dissolves into thick black smoke, and disappears into the air.
As the smoke disappears, there is only Brian in the room. He picks up the discarded chair and places it back in the light, closer to the other chair. He looks around the pitch black room, rubbing at his chin, eyes darting around as he tries to find a way out. There isn't one, not one he can see. So he moves towards the chair, and notices the discarded batarang on the floor. As he picks it up, he flips it around in his hands a few times, before he holds it up to the light. The shadow creates the bat symbol on the floor, and Brian's mouth ticks upwards in an smirk. He wonders if this weird feeling of excitement was what Bruce had felt the first time the symbol lit up in the sky. He also wonders if he's always going to be going back and forth with Bruce, both men fighting for dominance. It had been a fear of Brian's, thinking he was going to lose control of his life. Now, he wondered if it was possible to somehow merge with Bruce.
"I've wondered that as well," comes a voice, and Brian looks to see the real Bruce walking towards him. Bruce extends a hand out to Brian and smiles, and Brian takes Bruce's hand. They shake, and smirk in amusement towards each other. "I suppose we don't really need to do introductions, we already know a lot about each other," Bruce says, and Brian laughs. "I suppose you're right," Brian agrees, and the two men pull the chairs closer and take a seat. For a moment, Brian thinks this might be another trick of his mind, but as he thinks that, other lights start to turn on in the room. As the lights turn on, it is soon revealed the men are in the batcave, sitting at a table. The one location that both Brian and Bruce have access to, and have been using as a means to communicate to each other. Both men seem to find this situation amusing, and at the same time, laugh.
For the first time in two years, they're finally able to talk face to face, and oh, they have a hell of a lot to talk about.