The shadows danced across the walls as the man ran. He ran for no reason. He couldn't escape. As the armed gunman ran, he heard a sound in front of him. Two steely eyes stared directly into his.
"Alright, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. Now, where's the Firefly?" a dark voice said.
"I… I-I don't know! Honest, he went off to God knows where!" The man was close to tears, Batman had him by the collar now.
"I KNOW it was your boss that torched the Iceberg Lounge. I will ask you ONE more time. WHERE. IS. THE. FIREFLY?!"
"At the Wayne manor! He said something about stealing a fortune!" Batman froze up a moment.
"Thanks. You've been very helpful." Batman smashed the man into a wall, dragged him to the street, and tied him to a streetlamp for the police to collect. He eyed the skyline, where he noticed flames in the window of the Wayne manor, up on a hill. "Batwing. Alfred, send the Batwing."
"I've noticed things are heating up in the 'apartment'. Have I forgotten to turn on the AC again?"
"Very funny. Get me in there."
"Yes sir. Batwing deployed."
Inside the Wayne Manor building's grand hall, Firefly stood in the fire he had started with hostages who were at one of Bruce's parties. "One, at least ONE of you has to know where the man's fortune is! Unless, of course, you wouldn't mind me getting a little upset." The hostages were afraid, many crying. Finally, a man stood up.
"Fuck you, buddy. We aren't telling you a god damn thing!" The Firefly lifted his head. His gang members immediately trained their guns on the man, who stood strong.
"Look at this guy, ladies and gentlemen! Let him be an example. Watch and learn." The Firefly raised his flamethrower, his hand squeezing the trigger. The sound of lightbulbs shattering stopped him. He looked up to see a batarang take out the lights, and the room went dark.
"What the hell happened?" One of the gang members asked.
"Shut up, moron. The Bat's here." The Firefly cautioned. All the gang members nervously aimed their guns at the ceiling, unable to see much. All of a sudden, a sharp sound was heard in the ceiling everybody jumped. "FIRE, YOU DUMB ASSES!" The Firefly screamed. The room lit up with gunfire. Batman appeared behind one of the thugs and yanked him to the ground, knocking him out. Chaos erupted and gunshots were going everywhere. The Firefly spotted Batman and took to the air, lighting the ceiling on fire. With a little more light, the people on the ground could see. Batman dove behind a knocked over desk, and the hostages got up to fight the gunmen. In the struggle, the Firefly swooped in and grabbed Batman, flying up. A hole had burned through the roof, and the two flew through it, high into the night sky. Batman grabbed a match from his utility belt and shoved it towards the Firefly's jetpack.
"What are you doing? You'll get us both-" Firefly's scolding was interrupted by a loud boom. A cloud of smoke enveloped the two as they slowly fell own to Earth. They crashed onto the Wayne Manor roof, and rolled down the sides. Confused, Batman got up and nearly dodged the Firefly's flamethrower.
"This pyro can't fly, but he can still burn!" Batman's cape caught flames as he jumped to dodge the flames. He stumbled over the burning hole in the roof and fell backwards. He crashed onto a desk, and the Firefly dropped down on top of him. "Say goodnight, Batman." The Firefly shoved his flamethrower into Batman's face. However, the sudden silence in the room caught his attention. The hostages and thugs had both stopped fighting and were looking up. The Firefly looked up to see what the problem was, and Batman took his chance. He punched the Firefly in the throat and promptly shoved him onto the ground. Batman stood up and eyed the sky to see what it was. A strange object had appeared in the night. It seemed to be a black and blue patterned hole in the sky.
"What… is that?" A thug asked.
"Quiet." Batman sharply spoke.
"Look!" A hostage shouted. Batman noticed black objects dropping out of the hole.
"More! More of them!" People started shouting as more holes appeared in the sky, each dropping more black objects. The Firefly was getting up, and he seemed shocked at the situation.
"What… what the?" He exclaimed.
"RUN!" People started shouting. The black creatures, grotesque shadow-esque monsters dropped in through the roof. The thugs opened fire, but the monsters were unaffected by their shots. The Firefly spewed flames on one which was cornering him, which eventually stopped and fell due to the fire. That made one. Batman engaged one in combat, activating his electric gloves. The monster was fast and vicious, with red ringish things on its face and 'hair' that reminded him of dreadlocks. The thing didn't seem to like electricity, as when Batman hit it it lurched back in pain. Batman quickly sped up his strikes and soon enough had the creature on the floor. Batman prepared to make a knock-out blow when a chilling voice filled the room.
"Do you think that will really save you?" Batman turned. A group of 'shadow beasts' walked up the long hallway in group formation, and at the center of the formation was something strange, even to Batman. From the fires of Firefly walked the silhouette of a figure. It eventually came into view. It appeared to be a man, but at least two feet taller than Batman. He had on a metallic looking helmet/mask that covered his head and neck to his shoulders. The face of the head piece was truly disturbing, a sharp toothed mouth with its tongue rolling forward. The pupils of the eyes made something like a plus, and the eyes were huge. The shape of the head was somewhat triangular. The rest of him was clothed in black robes, patterned on the sleeves with two light blue lines. His sleeves were two long and drooped almost to the floor, and his shoes were pointed like a clown's. He was a sight to behold. He stood upright and completely still, the eyes of the helmet soullessly staring straight forward.
"Who… what are you?" Batman asked.
"Surrender. Your forces are inferior." The thing said emotionlessly, although sounding somewhat annoyed.
"Screw that!" the Firefly shouted, charging the figure with his flamethrower. About two feet from him, Firefly sprayed the figure with his flamethrower until he ran out of gas. "Shit, work! C'mon, work!" Firefly shouted. The figure held up one of his arms and the fire instantly ceased. He was untouched. He lifted his other arm and the Firefly was lifted into the air. The figure then violently lurched his arms forward and the limp Firefly went flying at Batman, as if thrown. Batman dodged and the Firefly crashed into a table, knocked out. Batman activated his shock gloves and charged. Two shadow beast appeared behind him, melted from his shadows, and grabbed him. Batman stamped his foot onto one with all his might and it lurched away in pain. The other grabbed Batman in a choke hold, and Batman jumped back first onto the ground, smashing it. Consumed by rage he lifted his hand to kill it.
"Is it worth it?" Batman stopped. The figure was speaking, and all the shadow beasts were kneeling.
"It appears to me that you are the one in charge here. So let me offer something: you may live, or…" the figure pointed to the shadow beasts, which all had hostages and were ready to kill them on command. "Let him go. Or kill him." Batman eyed the monster in his hands. He looked at the hostages, who were frozen with dread. He knew what he had to do. He shoved the monster backwards, letting him go. He fell to his knees, the leader of the shadow beasts hovering above him. The man raised his arm, and the air immediately froze around him. The hostages, thugs, and Firefly started to fade away leaving blue balls of flame. The environment darkened, and black shards of shadow started to appear all over the place.
"I have conquered. And I shall conquer all." Batman fell to the ground. He eyed his arms, which had started to disappear. He was joining the others. He suddenly couldn't move, and was limp all over. Before he blacked out, he saw the man creating a throne from nothing. He sat in it and the shadow beasts barked a salute. Batman couldn't make out much of it, except for one word: Zant.