Chapter Text
Lex Talionis = Latin for “The Law of Revenge”
Rachel Wayne has been living in the League of Shadows Monastery for a little less than a year when she gets engaged to her mentor, a man she believes is named Henri Ducard. When the man places a pendant on a silver chain around her neck and promises that the next time he leaves the Monastery he will find a ring worthy of gracing her finger the two have only been romantically involved for some two months. Most people would consider that too short a time for any offers of marriage, but then again most people would have just asked and, as Henri points out when Rachel raises this point, they are not “most people.”
Three days after she accepts— without actually saying the words “yes” “I accept” or anything like that— Henri Ducard is summoned to a private meeting with Ra’s Al Ghul and several high ranking members of the League of Shadows, leaving Rachel to organize her own studies and activities for that day. So the Wayne Heiress joins a group of mentors and students who are headed to the village halfway down the mountain to pick up supplies. Rachel ends up returning to the Monastery as the sun is setting in the west, exhausted but content. The climb down and back up is the most physically demanding thing she’s done since Chao-Xing’s attempt on her life, so Rachel ends up sleeping deeply that night, with her head resting on Henri’s shoulder while his arms are wrapped around her.
The next morning Rachel Wayne wakes to the sound of her fiancé talking with someone in the antechamber which separates the hallways of the Monastery from her and Henri’s shared bedchamber. As she slowly stretches Rachel identifies the “someone” as Ubu, a tall broadly built man of indeterminate nationality who keeps his head completely shaved and spends most of his time away from the Monastery recruiting new members for the League of Shadows. Ubu had apparently set off on his latest recruitment drive just before Rachel arrived at the Monastery and had returned a few days before Chao-Xing’s attempt on her life. Rachel pauses at the edge of the bed, massaging still somewhat sore legs as the two men discuss the merits of Ubu heading to Russia next, before she stands and moves to get dressed and join them.
Rachel gets exactly halfway to the chest of drawers which contains her clothing before she all but collapses, landing painfully on her hands and knees as she starts retching and gagging. She can hear something fall to the floor in the antechamber before the door flies open, banging against the wall as Rachel starts throwing up. As she continues to retch and heave Rachel is vaguely aware of Henri placing an arm around her shoulders and ordering Ubu to fetch a doctor.
By the time Ubu returns with one of the League of Shadows doctors in tow Rachel has reached the point where she’s alternating between coughing up pure bile and painful dry heaves which make it feel like her stomach is trying to crawl up her throat. With one final gagging retch she all but falls back against Henri, too exhausted to keep her eyes more than halfway open, let alone move or speak as the doctor starts checking her over. She’s dimly aware of the doctor and Henri conversing in Chinese— which Rachel has become fluent in during her time with the League of Shadows but can’t quite manage to understand thanks to how out of it she is— as someone, likely one of the doctor’s students, brings over a cup of water and a bowl.
Rachel manages to hold on to both, although she does not protest when Henri reaches around to help her lift the cup to her lips. Whoever brought the cup and bowl moves to clean up the vomit as Rachel rinses out her mouth before concentrating on opening her eyes all the way. The conversation between Henri Ducard and the League of Shadows doctor ceases as she accomplishes this and her fiancé lifts her up, as if Rachel was a young child instead of a woman grown and places her upon their bed so that she is resting against a pillow propped up by the headboard. As Rachel answers the doctor’s questions— she hasn’t thrown up recently, she’s slightly light headed but doesn’t have a headache, she hasn’t had any abdominal pain and she hadn’t lost weight recently but had actually gained some due to being bedridden after the attempt on her life— Henri positions himself at the head of the bed, one hand resting on Rachel’s shoulder, while Ubu stands at the foot of the bed, placing an empty bucket near her feet, and the doctor starts to draw blood from Rachel’s arm.
“Is this because…” Rachel is cut off by a cough and has to pause to take a deep breath before she can continue speaking. “Because I was poisoned?”
“I don’t know.” The doctor replies as she draws what seems like entirely too many vials of blood, given that Rachel is already feeling lightheaded and hasn’t had anything to eat or drink since the previous evening. “For now, don’t exert yourself.”
“Until those tests come back she’ll be staying right here.” Henri replies, his hand tightening on Rachel’s shoulder for a moment before relaxing as the doctor bandages the puncture site on Rachel’s arm.
“You won’t hear any objections from me.” Rachel laughs bitterly as the doctor gathers the vials and heads off with her student, who has cleaned up the vomit, while another student whose arrival Rachel hadn’t notices informs Henri that he’ll fetch a light breakfast before he also leaves the bedchamber. Once the doctor and the students have left Ubu turns towards Henri and raises one of his eyebrows, initiating a brief and entirely silent conversation between the two men which Rachel doesn’t even try to follow. Eventually Henri speaks, remarking that Ubu may wait in the antechamber “if he so desires” which leads to Ubu nodding silently before leaving the bedchamber, closing the door behind him with a gentleness which one wouldn’t expect to see in such a strongly built man.
“How long do you think it will take?” Rachel asks her fiancé, absentmindedly reaching over to touch the bandage on her arm only for Henri to reach down and take hold of her hand.
“Not long if this is due to the attempt on your life.” Henri replies in Arabic, squeezing her hand once before dropping it so that he can cross the room and retrieve an Arabic book from the bookshelf. “Perhaps longer if it is unrelated.”
“I thought I was supposed to be taking it easy.” Rachel smirks. Henri had started teaching her Arabic about two weeks before his proposal and while Rachel had started understanding the language quite quickly it had taken her longer to be able to respond with a speed and accent which Henri deemed acceptable.
“This is taking it easy.” Henri replies as he moves back towards the bed, offering Rachel the book before he sits down beside her. “Otherwise we’d be starting alruseaatu.”
“Alruseaatu?” Rachel asks as she takes the book from Henri and opens up to the bookmark located near the middle.
“Russian.” Henri clarifies.
“English, Mandarin, Arabic, Russian… how many languages do you speak?”
“As many as I need to.” Henri’s response brings a soft smile to Rachel’s lips.
“And how many of those languages do you plan on teaching me?”
“I haven’t decided yet.” Henri replies as he glances down at the book for a moment before reaching out to point to one line. “I believe this is where we left off.”
“There lived in the city of Baghdad during the reign of the Commander of the Faithful, Harun al-Rashid, a man named Sindbad the Hammal, one in poor case who bore burdens on his head for hire…”
Rachel spends the next two or so hours reading from the book, with only the occasional interruption from Henri to correct her pronunciation or translate a word she can’t figure out form context clues and a brief interruption in the form of Ubu delivering a breakfast of white rice porridge and tea eggs. By the time the breakfast arrives Rachel feels quite well and ends up eating the bowl of porridge and two of the three tea eggs. Henri is finishing the remaining tea egg when Rachel is interrupted by the sound of someone knocking upon the door to their bedchamber.
“Enter.” Henri calls out, taking the book from Rachel’s hands and placing it off to the side as the door opens to admit the League of Shadows doctor.
The doctor’s gaze darts between Rachel and Henri as Ubu moves to stand in the doorway behind her, with his arms crossed in front of him. Henri clears his throat, prompting the doctor to look down at a sheet of paper she’s holding in her hands and start practically babbling out what seems like a never ending list of what isn’t wrong before stuttering to a halt after she says that Rachel’s blood tested positive for “human chorionic gonadotropin.” Rachel can feel Henri stiffen at this announcement as she struggles to remember what in the hell that is only to have her through process come screeching to a halt at the next words that come out of the doctor’s mouth…
“Given the level of hCG in your blood I’d estimate that you’re four weeks pregnant.”
“Pre… pregnant?” Rachel whispers, one hand unconsciously moving to rest over her stomach. It feels as if the rug has been pulled out from underneath her— but in a good way, like the first time Henri kissed her or when she realized that Henri had proposed. Although on the outside she probably looks shell-shocked, inside Rachel is almost ecstatic, overjoyed at the idea of not just having a child but having Henri’s child. However there is also a darker thought running through Rachel’s mind, one which springs from a memory of words she had exchanged with Henri Ducard shortly after joining the League of Shadows.
Your parent’s death wasn’t your fault… it was your father’s. Anger does not change the fact that your father failed to act. The man had a gun! Would that stop you? I’ve had training! The training is nothing! The will is everything! The will? The will to act.
If there was one thing that Rachel Wayne had learned in the year she had spent in the League of Shadows Monastery it was that Henri Ducard had the will to act… and the training to back that will up. He was Ra’s Al Ghul’s right hand man, possibly even his designated successor given the way that the more senior members of the League of Shadows looked to him in Ra’s Al Ghul’s absence and how often Ra’s Al Ghul consulted with him.
“Beloved?” Henri’s voice pulls Rachel out of his thoughts and she blinks, finding herself and her fiancé alone in their bedchamber.
At some point Henri has moved, so that instead of sitting at Rachel’s side on the bed he is seated in front of her, holding Rachel’s left hand in-between his hands. Although to most Henri Ducard’s face would appear blank, Rachel can see concern in the tightness of his lips and a sort of softness around the edges of his eyes. It’s obvious to Rachel that her reaction— or rather her lack of a visible reaction— to the news that she is pregnant is the cause of this concern. So when Henri looks like he’s about to speak Rachel silences him by reaching out to cup his cheek with her free hand before she leans forward and presses her lips against his.
“We’re going to have a baby.” Rachel smiles as she pulls back from the kiss and her hand falls to rest upon Henri’s broad shoulder.
“Yes…” Henri replies with a soft chuckle. “Yes we are.”
“So what happens now?” She asks.
“The League doctors aren’t exactly accustomed to monitoring pregnancies or delivering children… and this is hardly an ideal place to raise a child, let alone carry and bear one.” Henri notes. “So I suppose the two of us will have to go somewhere more civilized.”
“The two of us? But as Ra’s Al Ghul’s right hand…” Rachel trails off, unsure of what the right words are, but certain that Henri understands what she is trying to say.
There is a moment of hesitation on Henri’s part and the silence seems to press down upon Rachel as the father of her unborn child shifts to face her more fully and reaches out to grasp her hands and rest their entwined hands on the blankets covering Rachel’s lap.
“Beloved… the League of Shadows learned the value of theatricality and deception long ago. This Monastery is one example of this— it is not really our headquarters, just one base among hundreds which are scattered all over the world— and the man you call Ra’s Al Ghul is another. He is just a member of the League who has accepted the duty of masquerading as the League of Shadow’s leader. There are men like him in many, but not all, of our bases.”
“And the real Ra’s Al Ghul?”
“Is known to those who pretend to be him… and certain trusted members of the League.” Henri explains. “To everyone else he appears to ‘just’ be Ra’s Al Ghul’s right hand.”
For a moment Rachel just stares at her fiancé, taking a moment to look at him as if she is doing so for the first time even as her thoughts are consumed with memories of first meeting him in the prison cell, fighting with him in order to gain entry into the League… and the night he’d given her the pendant which she wears around her neck.
“Ra’s Al Ghul.” The name sounds different, now that she’s applying it to him instead of the man pretending to be him, though she’s certain that it wouldn’t sound different to anyone else. “If not for this, when would you have told me?”
“Once you became a fully fledged member of the League.” He replies, before reaching out to brush a finger against the pendant that hands around Rachel’s neck. “Or before giving you the ring I promised… whichever came first.”
Rachel reaches up, placing her hand over Hen… over Ra’s Al Ghul’s hand so that she’s pressing it against the pendant and against her chest. She remains silent for a moment as closes her eyes, takes a deep breath and gently squeezes her fiancé’s hand before letting it go. As her hand drops to her lap Ra’s pulls his back, so that he ends up holding it somewhat awkwardly in the air between them for a moment before lowering his hand to rest upon his knee.
“So… did you have a specific ‘somewhere more civilized’ in mind?” Rachel asks.
“As I said, the League of Shadows has bases all over the world… so where would you want to go?”
Her immediate reaction is to say something along the lines of “I don’t know” or “I don’t care” but as she opens her mouth she thinks of Alfred Pennyworth, she remembers how he had welcomed her back to Wayne Manor on the day of Joe Chill’s parole hearing and she thinks of the dreams she has had since she left Gotham, the dreams where he welcomes her back to the city her family built. As those images race through her mind she realizes that— despite everything that has happened and despite the fact that she’s been something close to happy here, in the League of Shadow’s Monastery— Wayne Manor is still her home and Gotham is still her city.
“I want... I want our child to be born where I was.” She tells Ra’s Al Ghul. “I want to go back to Gotham.”
For a moment Ra’s Al Ghull doesn’t say anything as, unbeknownst to Rachel, the leader of the League of Shadows thinks of his plans for Gotham. He thinks of how Rachel Wayne was supposed to lead the League of Shadows to the city of her birth and raze it to the ground. He thinks of how members of the League in America are in the process of reaching an agreement with Jonathan Crane, of how shipments of the same flower which Rachel had carried up the mountain are being prepared. But for the woman he loves and for their unborn child…for them he can be merciful.
“Then that is where we will go.”
For his wife and for their child Ra’s Al Ghul can and will tear down his plans and give Gotham another chance to redeem itself… or rather for the League of Shadows to force Gotham to redeem itself instead of destroying the city.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Alexander Knox almost sleeps through the scoop of a lifetime.
It’s 4:30 AM when his cell phone goes off and he almost just rolls over and goes back to sleep… but at the last minute decides to answer it. It ends up being his sister’s ex-husband’s younger brother, who works at Gotham International Airport, calling to say that he’d spotted Alfred Pennyworth— the Wayne Family Butler who’d ended up inheriting everything after Rachel Wayne was declared dead— leaving on a private chartered plane headed towards somewhere in Asia. Not knowing what to think Alexander Knox had thanked the man and set about figuring out exactly where Pennyworth had gone… but had only managed to figure out that the plane and (presumably) the ex-Butler were due back within 10 hours. So Alexander Knox had done what any self-respecting journalist with a background in tabloid reporting would do… he’d grabbed a giant cup of coffee, his camera and some binoculars, driven out to Gotham International Airport, parked near the private hangers and settled in to wait for Alfred Pennyworth’s return.
Then Alexander Knox almost sleeps through the scoop of a lifetime again.
It’s only due to sheer dumb luck that he wakes up form what was supposed to be just a moment’s rest for his aching eyes and, as he tries to get more comfortable to rest his eyes some more, he notices that that the plane Pennyworth had taken is taxing down the runway. He jolts upright, spilling cold coffee on himself as he fumbles with his camera and zooms in, watching the plane glide into one of the hangers. A few moments later, when Alfred Pennyworth steps out of the private hangers, Alexander Knox finds himself perfectly positioned to get what he assumes will be a shot of a disappointed old man who has failed to find Rachel Wayne… but instead he gets a series of pictures of a smiling Alfred Pennyworth leading a man and a woman towards a waiting town car. Despite the fact that she’s been missing for almost five years, Alexander Knox recognizes Rachel Wayne instantly… and he would have to be legally blind ot miss the fact that she’s more than friendly with the unknown man who has apparently accompanied her back to Gotham.
So Alexander Knox doesn’t end up sleeping through the scoop of a lifetime and The Gotham Gazette scoops everyone else, running a special issue which boldly declares THE PRODIGAL DAUGHTER RETURNS. For two days the Gazette and every other paper, tabloid and news channel in Gotham and beyond run nothing but wild speculation. Then Wayne Enterprises finally release a press statement. Apparently Rachel Wayne had left Gotham all those years ago on some sort of quest for inner peace, or closure or something along those lines. She’d ended up in a Buddhist Monastery in some middle of nowhere place whose name no one can pronounce… and that’s where she’d met Henri Ducard, the man who accompanied her back to Gotham.
Henri Ducard is apparently a British expat, who’d been at the Monastery pursuing some sort of historical research on a topic so dull and tediously specific and unimportant to the grand scheme of things that not even Wayne Enterprises’ PR people could make it seem interesting. Of course they hadn’t tried too hard, because the only info about Henri Ducard that anyone really paid attention to was that Henri Ducard was Rachel Wayne’s common law husband.
Within a week of Rachel Wayne’s return and Henri Ducard’s arrival in Gotham the two are officially married, apparently without any real ceremony whatsoever. The Wayne Heiress keeps her last name while her husband drops his own to become Mr. Wayne. Less than a week after the marriage the news gets out that Rachel Wayne is pregnant, which is apparently why the two of them had returned to Gotham. As if that wasn’t enough to keep reporters writing about the couple for the next century Rachel Wayne proceeds to quickly and ruthlessly reclaim control of Wayne Enterprises, sending William Earle running form the hills, perused by the few members of the FBI and State Police who aren’t wrapped up in cracking down on corruption in the Gotham Police Department, which leaves only James Gordon and a handful of officers standing when the dust finally settles.
As the Gotham Police Department replenishes their ranks with new recruits and transfers from what seems like every corner of the country Rachel Wayne installs Lucius Fox as CEO of Wayne Enterprises and the two being the process of dismantling practically every project that William Earle had approved of, shutting down weapons manufacturing and reviving several projects which had previously been considered financially unviable.
Some papers note how Henri Wayne seems to be following in the footsteps of Martha Wayne and becoming a patron of various charitable causes in Gotham, such as the Police Ball and multiple community improvement projects… but not even the conspiracy theorists— who, if given the chance, will go on and on about how Henri Wayne is clearly a Reptilian who has replaced Rachel Wayne with some sort of robot— don’t suspect that by the time Rachel goes into labor the Gotham City Police is comprised almost entirely of member of the League of Shadows, or that Henri Wayne’s community improvement projects are geared towards dismantling the various mob families of Gotham.
Behind the wall of Wayne Manor live some two dozen of the most loyal men and women of the League of Shadows, many of them born to families who have been members of the League for generations and a few of whom have children of their own who have already pledged themselves to the service of Ra’s Al Ghul… and his family. As Rachel’s pregnancy progresses she gains a permanent shadow in the form of Ubu, who is the only person aside from Ra’s Al Ghul and Rachel’s chosen doctor to be allowed in the Manor’s master bedroom when Rachel goes into labor.
Seven hours later Rachel Wayne and Ra’s Al Ghul have a son, whom they name Thomas Amir Wayne— Thomas for Rachel’s father and Amir because it means Prince in Arabic. Not two days after Thomas is born Rachel is back at her training so that by the time their son is two months old Rachel Wayne passes her final test, becomes a true member of the League of Shadows and takes her place as Ra’s Al Ghul’s right hand, second only to the man himself.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Four years pass in what seems like the blink of an eye.
Wayne Manor becomes the headquarters of the League of Shadows, the empty rooms filling with members of the League pulled form bases all over the world. In Gotham more members of the League fill every level of the Gotham City Police Department, practically every non-elect position in City Hall and even a few of the elected positions. The criminal families of Gotham are united at last under Carmine Falcone, but are mockeries of what they used to be, fruitlessly trying to hold on to what little importance and influence they can.
When Police Commissioner Lobe suddenly retires and is replaced by James Gordon instead of someone the crime families can control everyone in Gotham knows that the mob is going through its final dying gasps and even the foolishly optimistic know that the crime families of Gotham won’t go quietly. Everyone, from the League of Shadows to the Police Department to the ordinary people of Gotham expect that the mob will stage some sort of last stand, that they’ll lash out in a desperate attempt to turn the tide and regain control of Gotham City. Most people think that “last stand” will be an attack on some public official— some say it’ll be the Police Commissioner, some say it’ll be the Mayor, some say it’ll be the District Attorney. There are calls for the Police Ball to be canceled, or for the three not to attend— but Hannah Dent refuses to “give in to criminals”, Commissioner Gordon feels obligated to protect the DA and Mayor Garcia is up for reelection in the Fall… then Rachel and Henri Wayne make it known that they are planning to attend and the event goes ahead as scheduled, albeit with a great deal more security then has been present in many, many years.
The crime families of Gotham don’t make their last stand at the Police Ball. They don’t attack James Gordon, or Hannah Dent, or Anthony Garcia. They don’t target the entirety of the Police Ball with a bomb, or a mass shooting, or anything along those lines. People slowly start to breathe a little easier as the night goes on, thinking that perhaps they were wrong, that perhaps the crime families of Gotham had decided to go quietly into history. Rachel and the man that Gotham thinks is named Henri know better so, claiming that their son is waiting up for them at home, they leave the Police Ball early... or at least they try to.
But the moment that the Waynes start to leave they are stopped by a young man in a GCPD uniform, apparently one of many officers attending the Police Ball in uniform who acting as security for the Mayor, Commissioner and District Attorney… but unlike those officers, this man isn’t a member of the League of Shadows and has the scars from a Glasgow smile enhancing the smirk on his face as he pulls out his gun.
For a moment all that Rachel Wayne can hear are the screams of the civilians around her, followed by shouts for the man with the Glasgow smile to put the gun down and what sounds like a veritable stampede. She blinks, suddenly aware that she’s staring off into space, not seeing anything and feeling strangely disconnected from her body. Then she tries to take a breath… only to choke on nothing and crumple forward as pain races through her body and she falls to the ground.
“Beloved!”
Only to be pulled into her husband’s arms as a weight presses down on her stomach, drawing a gasp of pain from her. She looks down in confusion and sees that the weight is her husband’s hand… and it’s covered in blood. Suddenly light headed, Rachel hears herself gasping out his name— his real name— as her world starts to go dark. As her eyes start to close she can feel herself being lifted up and is vaguely aware that her husband is talking to someone about something called Al-Eizariya.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
She floats back up to a numb sort of consciousness, to find herself suspended in a dark, silent abyss… just like how she had awoken after Chao-Xing’s attempt on her life. After a moment she forces herself to open her eyes and, as she struggles to focus her vision she opens her mouth to take a deep breath… only to have something which isn’t water come rushing in to her mouth and nose as she realizes she is submerged in something that feels like water but which she somehow knows isn’t water. As soon as she realizes this the numbness vanishes, replaced with a burning sensation on every inch of her skin that is soon followed by what feels like liquid fire racing through her veins. She screams mindlessly and thrashes, a small and distant part of her mind noting that she’s tied down to some sort of hard surface as her eyes roll back in her head. Then she’s being pulled up, through the not-water to the surface and Rachel Antoinette Wayne fades away and Zajwa Al Ghul— the wife of the demon— emerges from the sickly green liquid of the Lazarus Pit.
Author’s Notes:
This first note is both for this chapter and pretty much every chapter of this little collection of AUs— I am not a medical expert and while I am female I have never been pregnant. If you are a medical expert or have been pregnant then feel free to leave a comment correcting my mistakes and I’ll probably fix them. I say probably because if it’s like “this ruins everything and would mean rewriting not only this fic but big chunks of Scilicet…” I will invoke the rule of comic books not being identical to real life and only partially correct things.
Now to the chapter specific notes:
The book that Rachel reads from is an unspecified Arabic version of Arabian Nights, aka One Thousand and One Nights, though given it belongs to Ra’s Al Ghul it’s probably pretty darn old. The bits Rachel actually reads out are taken from Sir Richard Burton’s 1850 translation of The Arabian Nights, specifically the opening of Sinbad the Seaman and Sinbad the Landsman found here.
hCG aka human chorionic gonadotropin is the “pregnancy hormone”. It’s produced by the placenta right after implantation and can usually be deteted in the blood 2-3 days afterward and in urine 3-4 days afterward. It’s actually what home pregnancy tests (aka “pee on a stick” tests) are testing for. According to this site you can get an estimate of length of pregnancy via a woman’s hCG levels.
Alexander Knox is the reporter in the 1989 Batman movie. The Mayor is the same one from Batman Begins and yeah that’s a non-Two Face Hannah Dent.
Yes that is the Joker shooting Rachel Wayne at the Police Ball.
Al-Eizariya actually means Place of Lazarus and is actually a city in the West Bank. I’m just using it as a way of saying “Lazarus Pit” in Arabic.