[b][center][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bA1PAkKD3Q4]Ready or Not: 
Pt. IV[/url][/center]
[/b]


[b]Then
Kenya[/b]


Both Bruce Wayne and his mentor Sergi Kravinoff, better known as the legendary Kraven the Hunter, were walking through the knee high brush of the Savanna. Both men carried opposite ends of a large wooden stake. The carcass of a boar swayed gently back and forth from the pole by its feet. They carried the dead pig towards the hut they had called home for the last few months.

"Our time here is ending," Kraven said nonchalantly. "I have taught you almost all that I can teach. You can track, stalk, and hunt masterfully."

"You've been a good teacher, Kraven," Bruce said.

"You have been a good pupil. Not too bad for a rich boy."

Bruce chuckled softly. No compliment from Kraven ever came without some small way to undercut the praise. "I can make arrangements and be on my way by the end of the week."

"Good. Because tonight, we will have our final lesson. One last hunt."

"What will we be after?"

"Tonight," Kraven said with a twinkle in his eyes, "we hunt the most dangerous animal,"



[hr]


[b]Now
Old Gotham
12:05 AM
[/b]


I shot out a grapnel line into the night and waited for it to catch on the nearby building. The party was barely over, and I was out looking for trouble in a city that had it by the handful. This is where I belonged. Give me the stash houses over the penthouses. And, besides, Billy Russo was in need of a talking to.

Alfred found out rather quickly that Kraven was at the party on Russo's invitation. I normally made it a habit of not inviting mobster trash to my parties, but the people at the foundation were responsible for sending out invites. They would also need a talking to. The line went taught and I swung into the air. I released the line and activated my cape's glide flight function. I flew over the courthouse that I shared a name with and glided over the rooftops of the oldest part of the city like the winged creature some criminals believed I was.


[b]KRAK![/b]


Rifle fire broke the stillness of the night. I grunted in shock as my grapnel line went slack, the rifle's bullet severing the line. I began to free-fall towards the street, tumbling and twirling through the air. I struggled with my belt and pulled out an emergency line. Desperate I wildly aimed at a stone gargoyle on the building above me. The line caught and I jerked with the sudden stop. My body swung to the right and crashing through the office building's window. I fell hard to the floor and rolled to the stop, dazed and in pain.

That's when I heard the footsteps.

"This is what you have become?" A voice said from above. I felt strong powerful hands on my neck. I was picked up and shoved into the face of my former teacher. "You were a great hunter once," Kraven said with a sigh.

"And you used to be sane," I growled as I swung my arm at Kraven's head. He had his hand out and waiting, dropping me to the floor with swift counterstrike. He twisted my arm behind my back until I felt a sharp pain. Kraven growled and kept twisting my arm. I could feel tendons twisting, the arm in danger of popping out of the shoulder socket.

"I could kill you now, it would be easy. For a week, I watch and wait. I see you in action. And I am disgusted by what I see?"

"Someone who can kill, but doesn't?" I gasped.

"No. I see a once great hunter reduced to being a fool in a costume, a fool who relies on toys and not the hunters instincts."

With his free hand Kraven reached down and ripped my utility belt from my waist. "I am going to kill you. I was paid to kill Bat, and I will kill Bat. But not before I shame you to the point where you will be begging for death."

Kraven brought down the butt of his palm on my head, knocking me unconscious in one fluid motion.


[hr]


I came to groggy and dazed. I ran my hands across the ground and felt gravel. Through my half shut eyes I looked up and saw my bare hands. Kraven had stripped me of my gloves and gauntlets. Standing up, I saw what else he had done. In addition to my belt and gloves, my boots and cape were gone. Just my suit and cowl remained. I was on a rooftop somewhere in the industrial area of town. Factories, plants, and smokestacks cluttered up the skyline.

"Your toys are gone," Kraven's voice said from somewhere close, somewhere I couldn't see. "All there is now is the hunter and the hunted. It is time for you to die, richboy. The hunt begins now."