AN: A one-shot inspired by Green113's crossover story "Batman Adventure Chronicles: Black Triage" and loosely set in the world of his story, posted with his permission. It simply popped into my mind and I decided to write it down.
On the Batsuit, its the one from the Play Arts redesign by Tetsuya Nomura. I like to call it the "X-Shadow". That suit is badass and striking.
The Promise of the Bat.
"His new suit is more intimidating than the last one described." Inunaki commented, standing off to the side of Doctor Masamune's desk where the old man himself sat behind. Ran stood right in front of the desk and with the members of Black Label seated on the couches. All of them looking up at the photo of the Batman in his new outfit projected on their respective holoscreen.
He stood tall and proud, looming over the thugs, the cancers and tumors of the city, he's beaten to unconsciousness. The side of his back to the camera, slightly obscuring the large red visor in the front of his face that stretched upward along the ears of the cowl. A large pair of arms extended above the cape ending into a pair of long bat like wings that practically draped his sides. What appeared to be a second pair of arms connected to where the humerus meets the radius and ulna of a bat's wings extended upward, with hands seemingly resting on the shoulders.
"So he's got a new Halloween costume. So what?" Sayo said from her seat, glaring at the screen with a sneer, biting down her thumb nail in anger. "It won't save him. I see him again, I'm gonna rip his head off and gut him like a fish."
"Your missing the underlined point." Miki rebuked at the bluenette who looked at her agog.
"What Tsurugi-san is saying..." Ran took over, "...is that Batman is not only adapting but also upgrading his arsenal to counter us at a pace exceeding initial expectations. And, though I've yet to verify this, there's evidence that he's been recruiting others to his cause. If this is indeed true, our future missions will become far more complicated."
"We cannot allow this man to gain more ground." Everyone turned their attention to the Doctor, "While I commend his contributions on the continued health and longevity of the city, his simple treatment of the illness afflicting society will only lead to a fatal recurrence in the future. We must adapt and learn all there is in order to excise this rogue antibody and bring true justice to the plagues and tumors festering in the body of Tobioka."
"Well, I ran my own search on this guy. Put his face through every database I can call on." Inunaki shrugged his shoulders in defeat. "I burned through a number of favors with nothing to show for it."
"Yes, this man is proving quite the mystery." Ran added, with a ting of indignation in her voice.
Mikoto stared at the screen, eyes narrow in contempt at the shitheel constantly interfering with their triage. Looking to the right of her, Arashi was glaring at the image, his hand covering the sneer on his face. She has never seen him so angry. Turning her head to the left at the adjacent couch sat Oriha looking at the screen with both her fingers scratching the sides of her head and generally looking confused at the picture she managed to take.
"Is something wrong, Oriha?" She asked, breaking the tension in the room as all eyes fell toward them.
"Well.." The youngest member of their group turned to Mikoto, her head tilted to the side with the confused look still present. "..its just weird."
"Is there something you wish to explain?" Yuuko asked the idol, gently.
"Well, when I took the picture, he wasn-" Whatever she was gonna say came to an end when she looked back at the screen, her confusion shifting to that of panic. When the others returned their eyes to the displays, they learned why.
The photo that showed Batman facing away from the camera now shows him facing towards it, looking directly at it, giving everyone a good view of his new suit. And he looked like he was standing closer.
"Ran!" The doctor called out.
Ran quickly followed the unspoken command and made to turn off the projectors from her tablet. The windows depolarized as the lights came back on and the screens went dark. But the projectors remained active, the holoframes visible as solid metal despite the illumination. One second later, the screens came back on. The Batman now stood in a close-up view, his red visor cowl and redesigned bat symbol on his chest took up the majority of the screen.
Before anyone could react further, the windows polarization function activated on its own. Blocking out the daylight's rays from the room. The light fixtures began to dim out, some exploding with a resounding pop as the projectors shut down, save for one. The holoscreen facing the doctor began loosing picture, static quickly overtaking the frame in silence. Suddenly, a familiar glowing red symbol of a bat appeared over the static screen followed by an equally foreboding red glowing visor.
What followed next will be remembered by everyone till their last breaths.
The projection shattered like it was physical glass and out came a large silhouette of static in the vague shape of a man...with wings. It landed right on top of the desk in a crouch, directly in front of the chairman. The same red visor and bat symbol staring at him.
Ran instantly took aim at the side its head with her Glock 21SF and pulled the trigger four times. The bullets pass right through the figure sailing to the far wall. The target didn't even flinch. No blood. Nothing to show its been injured. Almost like it's incorporeal.
Hitsugi ran up, foregoing any caution, ready to slam her fist down on this intruder for having the balls to bust into their meeting. But before she could do the deed, a powerful burst of energy threw her and everyone away from the desk. Only the chairman was left unaffected.
The silhouette took hold of the doctor's medical gown with both hands, pulling him right in front of the visor. Doctor Mochizuki quickly retrieved a pistol, a Sig P328, from the hidden compartment in his desk. Before he could do anything, the pistol was snatched from his hand and shredded to pieces by the squeeze of a demonic-like talon hand that immediately took hold of his wrist. A second, equally monstrous hand taking his other wrist. He was pinned on the spot, the rest of the room worried what would happen if they try to make any further action.
The static specter spoke. Its voice, clear of any crackling or hiss, reverberated throughout the room.
"Listen to me well, Mochizuki. There is nowhere in this city, nowhere on the planet and beyond, where you can run where I can't catch you. No safehouse you can hide in where I can't find you. No force you can muster that I can not overcome.
I see from the shadows. I listen through the shade. In the darkest corners and blackest crevices, I reside.
I will take down your organization. I will exposed all the actions you and its members, past and present, have done.
I will ensure you all face Justice for the crimes you've committed.
For all the lives taken.
This is the promise of the BATMAN!"
The static apparition burst into hundreds of small, static silhouette bats that swarmed the room in an instant. Ran, Yuuko, Miki, Sayo and Inunaki stood their ground and shielded their faces. Arashi, Mikoto and Oriha dove behind the couch. Mikoto and Oriha clung together, the latter screaming in fright. And then the bats vanished. The lights came back on and the windows returned to normal setting letting the suns rays in once more.
"Doctor!" Ran raced toward Mochizuki's side, worry most evident in her otherwise professional demeanor.
The others followed suit, gathering around the Doctor's desk, frightened for the health of their leader.
"I'm fine." The doctor reassured them. His palm was resting over his heart, taking deep, slow breathes before turning to his second. "What's the state of our systems?"
Ran hesitated for a moment, concern more for the chairman than their computers, but she gathered back her thoughts and took hold of her pad. She ran a quick scan of their network and came with a result. "Everything appears in order. No reports of any unauthorized access to any of our servers. No viruses or malware. I'll need to run a full sweep to make sure."
She kept scrolling and stopped, a frown instantly sown on her face. "I was afraid of this. All our data on the Batman has been deleted from the main servers. I'll check the backups. Hopefully, he hasn't gotten access to them."
"He!" Sayo slammed her fist into her palm. "So we agree that it really was that fucker that came crashing. How the hell did he even do that shit? Bursting out of the projection like that. What the fuck?!"
"I don't have an answer for you, Hitsugi." Inunaki replied. "One thing I can say: when this guy makes a statement, he makes it clear." He turned the groups attention towards the windows.
Burnt directly over the ampoule insignia of their organization, with only small bits still visible, lies a much different symbol.
A symbol of a large, black bat.
AN: And the Batman declares war on Black Label. That was the idea.
For clarification: Oriha was the one who managed to sneak a picture of Batman. At least she thought she sneaked a shot. When she took the picture, Batman was crouching from having to knock out a thug. He knew she was there, skulking like she does, and let her take the photo. All for the moment above.
Batman has no powers himself. I have no problem with the suit having abilities, though.