Bruce stood before Salem.

Cinder stood behind him. Both were dressed as ninjas, holding masks in their hands. Cinder fully supporting what was happening. After five years with Wayne, he had more than proven himself to the League of Shadows, and now was finally time for the final test.

"You've traveled the world to understand the criminal mind and conquer your fears," Salem said. In her hand, she held a pot, and placed the flower Bruce had brought with him inside. She mixed it inside the pot, a smoke slowly beginning to billow out. "But a criminal is not complicated. And what you really fear is inside yourself. You fear your own power. You fear your anger, the drive to do great or terrible things. Now you must journey inwards."

She stopped mixing the flower, and handed the smoking pot to Bruce. He took it in his hands.

"You are ready," she said. "Breathe."

Bruce looked down to the pot, and held it closer to breathe in the smoke coming out.

"Breathe," Salem whispered. "Breathe in your fears."

Suddenly, the memories passed through his mind again.

The winged creatures. The scratching. The bite.

Bruce's hand snapped to his neck, but the glove prevented him from feeling the bite mark.

"Face them," Salem whispered, backing into the shadows.

"To conquer fear, you must become fear," Cinder said. She stepped backwards.

Bruce turned around, and watched as she put the ninja mask on. "You must bask in the fear of other humans. And humans fear most what they cannot see."

As she finished, Bruce put on his mask. When he looked back up to her, an army of ninjas had come together in formation around her. He couldn't see her anymore, she was somewhere within one of the lines of ninjas.

The smoke from the flower had more affects on his brain. The ninjas before him all appeared to have glowing blue eyes, which seemed to stare into his soul. The masks showed only the area around their eyes, and their outfits made it hard to identify male from female. Finding Cinder would take a lot more than a fist fight.

"You have to become a terrible thought," Cinder's voice came to him, but the effects done to his brain made it sound as if she was everywhere at once.

The crowd of ninjas drew their swords, and the formation parted down the middle, leaving a path for Bruce to walk down.

He drew his own sword, as Cinder spoke once more.

"A wraith."

He slowly walked along the group, sword in hand, observing the eyes of every ninja. Though he couldn't identify their eye color, he tried to recognize the skin that was exposed.

"You have to become an idea!"

Suddenly, a ninja burst out from the crowd, swinging her sword at him. Bruce ducked under Cinder's attack, but as he turned around, the crowd closed in, turning themselves into tighter walls, allowing Cinder to slip away before Bruce could spot her.

Now in a tighter space, Bruce continued moving through the crowd, searching for his teacher, his heart pounding in his chest.

"Feel terror cloud your senses."

Bruce looked to the opposite end of the human path from which he'd come, seeing two candles, his vision shaking from the flower's smoke.

"Feel its power to distort."

Further Bruce walked, until he was more than halfway into the crowd.

"To control."

The formation closed in around him, and separated a path in a different direction. At the end of the path, he saw a box, with a single candle above it.

"And know that this power can be yours."

From the corner of his eye, Bruce spotted movement. His fear amplified, and he spun around, blocking Cinder's attack. There was only a brief scuffle before the crowd closed in again, and separated once more, taking her with them.

Bruce looked back to the box, and slowly approached it.

"Embrace your worst fear."

He could feel the rhythmic thump in his chest, as he approached the box slowly and cautiously. One step after another, he found himself closer and closer.

"Become one with the darkness."

He stepped out from the crowd, and reached for the box. His hands reached for the lid, shaking with fear. He took a deep breath, and pulled it open.

In the blink of an eye, he saw a swarm of bats burst out from the box, fluttering around him. He instantly swung wildly at them, and collapsed to the ground, flailing to keep them away. His concentration was broken, and his fear was overwhelming him.

This wasn't the right way to do things. The challenge was to face and conquer his fears, not to let them overcome him. It wouldn't be easy, but this was the challenge.

Bruce lifted himself to the knees, letting the bats flutter, along with his heartbeat. He was terrified, but he fought against it, unwilling to fail this challenge.

"Focus. Concentrate."

Bruce lifted himself to his feet, the bats beginning to fade away around him as he stepped back into the formation of ninjas.

"Master your senses."

Again he spotted movement, and he backed away as Cinder lunged at him once more, swinging the blade of her weapon, and swiping it against the flesh of his right arm, leaving a bloody mark. Bruce avoided a few more hits, and again the crowd closed in. He looked down to his arm, at the wound Cinder had left.

This was his opportunity.

He looked to the other ninjas, and started cutting multiple in their right arms.

When the crowd parted, Bruce was gone, blending in with the crowd. Cinder smiled underneath her mask, knowing he had learned a method of blending in. But there was one thing she had done to him that would make him stand out, and it didn't take long for her to notice a scar on a ninja's right arm.

In an instant, she stepped up to him, bringing him to his knees, and pulling the blade to his neck.

"You cannot leave any sign," she said, removing her mask.

Then, she felt a blade against the back of her neck, and the voice of Bruce.

"I haven't."

He removed his own mask, and Cinder smiled, proud of her student.

They heard clapping, and they looked up to see Salem above them, clapping at Bruce's victory.

"Impressive . . ."