Kay, it must be my word program that ffnet doesn't like. Stupid word program. So I'll just put big spacing between the sections and see if that does it. And oh yeah, forgot the disclaimer: Batman and all thing JLA/U do not belong to me, they belong to their creators and DC comics. There. Enjoy!

Justice League: Shadow in the Mind

The night was dark and cold. But for the creature that stalked the inky black streets and alleys, the conditions were perfect. Cold darkness best inspired fear. And fear was what the creature craved most. And death. Before the night was over, it would have both.

END SCENE

The alley was marked off by yellow police tape, hiding the horror that lay in the darkness beyond. Barricades kept the morbidly curious back, allowing the police to do their jobs. Nobody, as usual, was watching the rooftops and so nobody saw the dark shadow land silently to investigate the scene below. When the crowd began getting rowdy enough that it drew the attention away from the body, the shadow took advantage and dropped down for a closer look. It was as he had feared. The woman's throat had been torn out, all the blood drained from her body. The only trace of the life source left was the small amount that clung to her fear frozen, white face and some spatter on the walls.

He melted back into the shadows as medics entered the alley, preparing to remove the body. He shook his head. This was the fifth death in three nights and whatever was responsible had been leaving no clues behind. Still...He slipped his night vision lenses into place and carefully and methodically searched, just as he had done at the other four scenes. But unlike the other four, this time he found something. Bloody, animalistic footprints.

Now there were two things Batman found strange. First, why could they only be seen with his night lenses? There was just enough light coming into the alley that the investigators should have been able to see the bloody prints. The spatter on the wall was proof of that. The second strange thing was that the prints were going up the wall, like the killer had just simply walked up there. Hmm. He hadn't had a mystery like this in a while. The killer was at the very least half animal and whatever it was, it wanted him to find it. Or maybe whoever was controlling it wanted him to, if someone was controlling it.

Taking out his grappling gun, Batman returned to the roof and followed the trail. Half an hour later found him in the one of the more dangerous areas of Gotham City, which didn't surprise him in the least. The people in this area tended to be closed mouthed. Keeping a secret here was easy, as people didn't see anything beyond their own pathetic lives. The tracks led to one of the many buildings that should have been knocked down years ago and would probably come down on its own any day now. Silently, almost invisible, the Dark Knight, gained entrance to the building through the roof access. He moved carefully through the darkness, every sense alert to unseen danger. He stopped when he saw light pouring up from a room below. As he crept toward the opening to see what lay below, a familiar laugh rang out, prompting an inward sigh.

"Figures," he muttered as he looked down on the room.

Sitting in a chair, giggling like a psychotic school girl, was Batman's most deadly enemy, the Joker. Draped across him, stroking his face lovingly, was his girl, Harley Quinn. The pair had broken out of Arkham months ago and had simply vanished into thin air. Now that they had resurfaced, it was time to shut down whatever they were up to and send them back. His eyes carefully scanned the room, looking for the pet Joker was obviously keeping.

Finding no signs of anyone or anything but the two of them, Batman decided to drop in and get things started. Taking out a batarang with a rope attached, he sent it soaring. Harley shrieked as it wrapped around her and he yanked her off Joker, then sent another batarang flying as he dropped down into the room. It plowed into Joker, knocking him and the chair over backward.

"Batsy!" he exclaimed in a happy voice, watching Batman approach from where he lay. "I knew we'd run into each other sooner or later."

"You led me here, Joker," Batman growled back softly, reaching down and pulling his adversary to his feet. He pushed him up against a wall.

"Lead? Now how could I do that when I've been here enjoying a quiet evening with my sweet Harleykins?" His eyes moved to where Harley lay on the floor, struggling to untie herself.

"Don't play with me tonight Joker!" Batman snarled back, slamming Joker against the wall. "Tell me what the hell you set loose on the streets!"

Joker grinned. "Don't want to catch up eh? All right then. Harley dear, show our friend our little pet."

"Sure thing puddin'," Harley replied brightly, springing to her feet as she got free of the rope and skipping out of the room. She came running back in a moment later, spinning around to watch something else come into the room.

The...creature looked like a brutal cross between a wildcat and a hyena. It was strangely hairless and dark gray in color. Its yellow cat like eyes gleamed with madness and a terrible pain as if every moment it lived was agony. It opened its mouth, revealing two razor sharp, blood stained fangs. All other teeth were missing.

"What have you done?" Batman whispered, tightening his grip on the madman.

"Well, you know how you're always hearing the Hospitals and such crying out for donations? It broke my heart hearing how they're continually running short and are in desperate need, so I decided to help. And in the process, I created life!"

Joker talked as though he were giving a ground breaking speech. "Batman, meet my pride and joy...George! He's a revolutionary breakthrough! He's the ultimate blood collector. Granted, he's still got a few bugs in him. I haven't quite figured out how to get the blood he collects out to give to the hospital but..." he shrugged and giggled.

Batman responded by hitting the lunatic hard, tossing him into Harley and then rolling out of the way as 'George' attacked. The beast was amazingly fast and, naturally, extremely angry. Batman took a few hits, but thankfully its claws didn't penetrate his armor. The fight went on for several minutes, with Batman managing to inflict a few wounds before the unnatural creature turned the tables and brought him to the floor. Batman cried out in pain as fangs sank into the vulnerable part of his shoulder, attempting to rip down and take him apart.

He struggled one handed with the blood sucker while his other hand rapidly searched his utility belt for a weapon. He came out with an electricity gun, which he jammed into the 'George's' tongue and turned on to full power. A horrible scream split the air as the electricity coursed through the mangled body. The eyes grew impossibly wide and blood began to ooze out of them. Batman kept the electricity going a few seconds longer, then turned it off. 'George' shuddered, eyes rolling into his head as he fell to the side. A shudder of breath ran through his body and then all was still.

"Huh," Joker said from where he stood next to Harley. "Weak against electricity." He looked at her and shrugged. "Who knew?" Looking back at Batman who was struggling to his feet, he began backing away. "Well Bats, the reunion was fun, but we gotta split now. People to see and all that." The two criminals turned to run, but Batman sent another rope flying, wrapping around the both of them and tying them tight together.

"Oh no!" Harley shrieked as they went down, landing with a heavy thud. Batman grimaced as he pressed an alert button that would bring the police, then pressed a hand to his wounded shoulder. His gaze raked the couple over, satisfied that they wouldn't be getting loose anytime soon without assistance. He wrote a quick note for Commissioner Gordon, who he knew would be coming, then slipped out of the building. Time to head for home and care for his wound.

Part 1

Two Nights Later:

Batman perched motionless on the roof of a warehouse, watching a couple of men on the dock below. He was doing his best to ignore the fact that his body was telling him he should be at home, resting instead of jumping into something that could have been handled without him...

"You don't look well. Are you all right?"

He managed to retain his control and therefore did not jump. Damn! He hadn't heard her come up on him. His senses were starting to agree with the rest of his body. "I'm fine," Batman replied shortly. 'But you're not,' something whispered in his mind. 'You know you shouldn't be here. You should be at home, resting...'

He shook himself and silenced the voice. Tonight was too important to be at home in bed. He and members of the League, those being Diana, Flash and Green Lantern, had been working on taking down a major smuggling ring for several months and tonight was going to see the end of it. This ring had been responsible for a large amount of drugs circulating Gotham streets that had resulted in the deaths of several kids, both street and 'normal.' Nope. It didn't matter how he was feeling. Nothing was going to make him sit this night out. Princess Diana, better known as Wonder Woman to the rest of the world, studied him closely. He looked pale, more so than normal. The night was cool, but she could see sweat on his face and she was sure she caught a grimace of pain quickly pass over his features. "I don't think you are," she murmured. She reached out to touch his shoulder, starting when Batman snatched her hand, stopping it from reaching its destination.

"I said I'm fine," he repeated without looking at her, a note of warning in his voice.

Diana narrowed her eyes and was about to argue when John's voice came over the comm link. "Look alive boys and girls. We got lots of company coming."

"Bout time," came Flashes' voice. "I'm dying for some action here."

"Quiet," Batman murmured, watching as four cars arrived on the dock. From the water, two motorboats approached. All in all, twenty men had gathered. The cargo from the boats was quickly unloaded and placed in the cars while the leaders of the two groups shook hands and talked like they were old buddies. Probably were.

Batman waited patiently, ignoring the throbbing in this shoulder and suppressing the annoying urge to throw up and when he heard the cue, gave the order to attack. The group swooped down and all hell broke loose. Batman threw all his concentration into the fight and, oddly, the ache in his shoulder and the turning in his stomach abated, replaced by...excitement? No, that couldn't be right. Battles and hurting people, even evil people, didn't excite him. So what was this he was feeling? The sound of a boat gunning its engines reached his ears. Looking up, he saw three men in one of the boats, about to attempt a desperate getaway. With a growl, he finished off his current opponent and ran to the dock, jumping and landing hard in the speeding boat, immediately disarming one of the men and tossing him carelessly over the side. He took out the second man just as easily, but the third gave him a run for his money. He was admirably skilled in the martial arts and fighting on a runaway boat didn't seem to bother him at all which was fine with Batman. It didn't bother him either.

Both combatants were so involved in the fight that they didn't notice where the speeding boat was heading. Even when Batman got the upper hand and had the other man pinned to the floor, crying out in terror, he still took no notice. He was too wrapped up in the fear the other man was displaying. Fear that seemed to provoke him into wanting to cause more, not caring that it could possibly kill the weak mortal below him...

On shore, Flash dumped one of the men in the pile with the others and glanced around, taking a quick head count. Hm, Bats was missing... His gaze moved out to the water as a speed boat motor reached his ears, seeing two more of the men treading water before spotting the boat and his missing teammate. Alarm surged through him as he watched and a few second later, he called out, "Hey! What's the Bat doing? He's gonna crash!"

Instantly, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman took to the air, rushing as fast as they could after the runaway boat. Just seconds before it was going to go up in a ball of flames, Green Lantern let loose the power of his ring. The field of light surrounded the boat and picked it up from the water and Batman still didn't seem to notice anything beyond the terrified man beneath him.

"Get him off me! Get him off me!" the man was screaming.

"Diana!" John exclaimed, opening part of the field. Wonder Woman soared inside and grabbed Batman, pulling him away. Batman responded with a savage growl and began struggling violently in her grip.

"Batman!" she exclaimed, "Batman stop!"

When John's energy field went out, Wonder Woman leapt from the boat, slipping into a fighting stance as an enraged Batman jumped out after her. As the others started toward him, Batman stopped moving, swayed, then slipped bonelessly to the ground. Diana quickly knelt by his side, pressing two fingers to the side of his neck.

"He's burning up!" she exclaimed as she felt the intense heat of his skin. No wonder he'd been sweating earlier...

"He's insane!" the man in the boat, being held firmly by Flash, shouted, eyes wide, skin as white as a sheet. "He's not human! He's a monster!"

"Diana get him back to the tower. Flash and I will wait for the police to pick this bunch up," John said and Diana nodded, carefully picking Batman up and heading for the nearby hidden shuttle.

"What do you think is wrong?" Flash asked and John shook his head. "Don't know. But I got a real bad feeling."

END SCENE

"I came as soon as I could," Superman said an hour later as he entered the room outside the medical lab. "What happened?"

"The Bat went nuts!" Flash replied, then went on to explain what had happened. Superman frowned, then looked to the door as it slid open and J'Onn emerged. "How is he?"

"Gravely ill," J'Onn replied. "He has a dangerously high fever and is in a state of delirium."

"What's causing it?" Flash asked.

"I'm not sure," J'Onn answered. "I've found traces of some kind of toxin in his system but I'm having difficulty isolating it. Hopefully it will be identified soon." He turned and went back into the room, the others following. He moved to Bruce's side and pulled back the sheet covering his sweating, trembling body.

"I believe whatever caused that is responsible for his current state," he said, pointing to the man's exposed right shoulder. The group pressed closer to have a look and discovered a stitched up, nasty looking wound that resembled the bite mark of a large animal.

Flash whistled low. "Wow. Would hate to run into whatever did that."

John's eyes were narrowed as he gazed at the wound, then he snapped his fingers. "Wait a second. Computer, access news archives for the latest out of Gotham City concerning Batman." There was a pause, then a beeping as a TV screen was lowered down and a news cast from Gotham began playing.

"Our Top story tonight," the anchorwoman was saying, "The killer that has been stalking the streets for the past three nights has been brought down by Gotham's own, The Batman. The mind behind the killings, the infamous Joker but it was not he who had been doing the actual killings that claimed five. It was a creature he had created.

The beast," the screen switched to a picture of a very gruesome, very dead thing, "had consumed all the blood of its victims which, according to the Joker, was a simple attempt to collect needed blood for the hospitals..."

The screen went blank as Superman switched it off. Shaking his head in disgust, he said, "Think I'll go have a visit with Joker."

"I'll go with you," John said, heading for the door. Superman nodded, lightly touched Batman's good shoulder, then followed his friend out.

As Diana looked at Bruce's shaking form and listened to his unintelligible rambling, a deep sadness filled her. She sat down and put a hand on his arm, looking up at J'Onn. "I will not let him go without a fight," the Martian answered her unasked question, then turned to study the readouts the computer was reporting.

Flash sighed inwardly, an image of the dead beast slipping into his mind, causing him to shiver. Hearing voices in the outer room and recognizing that they weren't Clark and John's, Flash decided to play messenger and brief the other league members who would be coming to find out about Batman's condition. It was better than doing nothing and would allow J'Onn to work uninterrupted. As he headed into the other room to brief those who had gathered, he silently asked whoever was watching and listening to help pull Bruce through.