Batman was leaning against the wall in all appearances of someone who was bored. To anyone who did not know him, he would have been passed off as such, but the Green Arrow knew his friend much to well for that.
Arrow knew Batman was cognizant of all his surroundings, big and small. His lighting quick brain was quickly analyzing all around him and classing them as important or not. Arrow often marveled at how intelligent bats was, not that he would have said so to his face. He could practically read his friends body language like a book now though.
Arrow could tell the crime fighter was annoyed and feeling impatient, though only someone who really knew him could tell. The girls weren't close enough to sense that. Batman didn't let any girls get really close to him.
All the female heroes knew the Batman was untouchable, but that didn't stop them from trying. Many questioned his sexuality because of this, but Arrow knew better.
Girls were considered by Batman to be a distraction and anything that was considered a distraction in Batman's perfect crime fighting world was quickly disposed up. Batman was a crime-fighting machine, nothing more, or so he treated himself.
Batman let no one in, except Arrow, but that was only because Arrow was like him, powerless but rich enough to make a difference in the world through crime fighting.
Arrow was happy though. He was like the net that caught all the girls that bounced off Batman's thick, woman resistant hide. Batman made his dating life good.
Black Canary and Wonder Woman were off in a corner together giggling. They were waiting for someone, a fourth member to their team, someone Batman didn't know. Anything Batman didn't know bothered him. He curled his lip in impatience. The Flash casually toyed with the hem of his shirt, bored as well.
Then, Arrow heard the sounds of the girls greeting someone. He turned to face his female counterparts and his jaw dropped. There was another girl standing with them now, but she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.
She had long, dark brown hair and a splash of brown freckles across her nose. She had big amber eyes showing plainly behind a sky blue mask. Her skin had a copperish tinge to it, as if she had spent most of her life out in the sunshine and she had long, beautiful legs.
She was skinny and wore elfish sky blue shoes and short, sky blue shorts and a sky blue tank top that cut off an inch above her belly button. Across her breast was the image of a swift. She was talking excitedly with the girls.
"Ok", said Canary, "I'll introduce you to the rest team. That's the Green Arrow, and that's the Batman." The girl nodded and gave them both a dazzling smile. Arrow was too enraptured by the girl to notice the slight change in the demeanor of his friend. Batman was showing interest in the girl, more interest then usual.
"Boys", Wonder Woman said, "this is Drifter, the last member of our team. Say hello." Arrow rushed up to shake the girl's hand, causing the other two to giggle. Batman gave her a nod.
"Alright", he said, "We had better split up the teams."
"Can't you at least get to know her first", Canary said sassily. Batman gave her a frosty glance and she fell silent.
"Now", said Batman, "I'll put Canary with Green Arrow." Arrow grinned happily. "Wonder Woman with the Flash, which leaves me with Missā¦"
"Drifter', the girl said. Batman nodded and turned to walk away.
"Hold on bats, slow down, lets get organized first. You're scatterbrained today. I guess you'll take the patrol in that direction", Wonder Woman said. "Now, lets decide on the rest."
"Fine", Batman said, waving his hand distractedly. He out a hand on the rim of the building and stared out into space, the expression on his face one of a man fighting a battle.
"What's gotten into him", Wonder Woman whispered to the Green Arrow. Arrow shrugged.
"Even I don't understand him all the way."
"Ok Drifter", Canary said, "how do you feel? Go away Arrow, this is girl talk." The Green Arrow stalked away.
"Scared to death", Drifter said, "I thought I'd get paired with one of you two."
"You'll be fine", Wonder Woman soothed, "I guess he just wants to see what you can do. Just don't talk much and do what he says and you'll be fine." Drifter nodded, worrying at her bottom lip.
Batman gave an annoyed grunt and said, "Are you organized yet?"
Canary rolled her eyes and said, "Yea bats, we're ready." She went over to stand next the Green Arrow, who started sweating.
"Lets go", Batman said. Drifter followed him, casting a frantic glance back at the girls, who waved their hands at her in an encouraging sort of way. Drifter hop skipped to catch up with Batman and then shortened her stride to a brisk walk. She came up about an inch below his eye level. He was so tall, she thought.
"Where did you come from?" Batman asked gruffly. Drifter was surprised. She had expected a silent watch. Whatever, she would go with it.
"I move around. I came here and ran into Black Canary and Wonder Woman. We talked and Canary asked if I wanted to be part of the Justice League. I said I'd think about it and they told me to come on patrol with them since they needed a sixth person. I'm sorry if I was late."
Batman dismissed her remark with a wave of his hand and walked purposefully over the rooftops. Every once in a while, he leapt over some large space between the roofs and watched approvingly as Drifter gracefully pranced over them. "Where are you staying?" Batman asked.
"At the Hall of Justice", Drifter said, "I haven't been there yet. Wonder Woman said she'd find someone to give me a tour and find me a room."
"I can", Batman said abruptly.
"Ohh", said Drifter, "thank you." Batman nodded his head and continued on his trek. "Where are we going?" Drifter asked.
"To the batwing", Batman said, "We can patrol the city faster that way. You don't mind do you?"
"No", she said, "I've never ridden in an airplane before. It should be interesting." Batman nodded and jumped over the last building, the batwing now in sight.
"There she is", he said. Drifter nodded approvingly when she saw it.
"Nice", she said. Batman opened the Batwing and held out a hand to help the girl in. She took it with a grateful smile that melted Batman's knees, although he tried not to show it. He got up next to her and took the controls.
As they drove around the city patrolling, Batman sent a side glance over at the girl in the seat next to him every few minutes. She was such a pretty thing and something about her disarmed him like no other girl he had ever known. He kept them all out, but none had wormed their way under his skin like she had, without even trying.
Drifter seemed to show little to no interest in him the way all the others did, and yet she had him on a hook. Distracted as he was, he failed to see the missile coming straight towards him. His eyes were lost in her soft brown hair. But, he didn't miss Drifter's scream.
"Batman", she shrieked and jumped at him. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Drifter appeared to be changing in mid air until the Batwing could not contain her body. She grabbed Batman in her now enormous jaws and curled her body around him.
They were falling. Batman could see nothing but black and could hear and explosion. Then, they hit the ground. Batman was thrown from Drifter and knocked out.
When Batman woke up, he was surrounded by the wreckage of his plane. From his surroundings, he ascertained they were in the Metropolis Park. His costume was burned and torn and his gloves had been ripped open so that his fingers were exposed. Even his boots were torn apart.
Batman kicked the wreckage of the batwing. "Ugg, how could this have happened, this is terrible; how are we going to get back to the Hall of Justice now?"
Right after he said the word we, he wondered why he had said it, since he appeared to be alone. Then, he remembered Drifter.
Batman searched around for Drifter and found her leaning against a tree. She appeared to be unconscious. Batman raced to her, fear in his heart. He put an arm under her and held her up. "Drifter", he said anxiously. Drifter opened her eyes and gave a groan.
"What happened", she said, disoriented.
"You saved my life", Batman said, suddenly realizing what had happened.
"Oh yea", said Drifter. "That missile, Ohh but your plane." She got up slowly and looked around. "Its destroyed." Batman nodded, the painful facts returning to him as well. "I'm sorry", said Drifter.
"It was my fault", said Batman, "I wasn't paying attention. Now, I just wonder how we're going to get back?"
"You can ride on my back", said Drifter, "I'm fast."
"What do you mean?" Batman said, turning to face Drifter. But, what he ended up facing was not a girl, but a large black panther about the size of a horse. She looked at him mildly from behind glowing amber eyes. "Impressive", said Batman, "can you bear me?"
"Easily", she replied and turned her body so that it lined up with his.
"May I hold onto your fur to pull myself up?"
"Of course", Drifter said. Batman climbed up, his fingers digging into her fur. As soon as he was on, he found a blue collar buried in her soft black fur. It felt like silk between his fingers.
"Hold on", Drifter said, and she crouched to the ground. Her claws dug into the earth and she hurled herself foreword. Batman found himself pressed to her large black body at the force of the g's now hitting him. He looked out at his surroundings and saw the park fly by.
Then, they were in a metropolis. Right before sprinting into a street, Drifter pulled back her large legs and stopped. Batman managed to pry himself from her bulk with a gasp. He was breathing heavily. "What is it?" he asked.
"Don't know which way to go", Drifter said, breathed heavily, "never been here." Batman nodded and looked at the city. He wasn't used to seeing the area from this level, and his sense of direction was beginning fail him.
Batman was ready to hasten along and get back to the Hall of Justice so he could track the missile that had destroyed his Batwing. He defiantly wanted pay back from whomever had made him look bad in front of Drifter. Plus, they were beginning to attract stares from random passersby. You didn't see the Dark Knight on a large black leopard every day he mused.
"If we could get on top of one of those buildingsā¦"Batman said.
"Easy", Drifter replied and sped foreword again. She leapt across all the freeways in great bounds and over to one of the towering skyscrapers, where she fastened her long claws into the concrete and began to heave her body upward.
Batman felt the frightening sensation of free hanging and stretched out his body as far as he could to mount his feet on Drifter's strong hips. He felt his legs contract and expand as her's did. It was a strange feeling. His arms clung to her collar.
People were gazing up at them in shock. It was as if they had never seen a large black jaguar with a man hanging off it scaling a five-story building. Batman shook his head and focused on holding on.
Drifter scaled the building in under ten minutes and stood panting at the top. Batman got off her back and stood looking around. "There", he said, "there's the Hall of Justice." Drifter gazed over at it.
"It's big", she ruminated quietly. Batman nodded. "Shall we go", Drifter asked. Batman nodded and climbed nimbly back onto her back. Then, she leapt forward, front paws outstretched and claws fully extended.
They soared through the air as if flying and landed lightly on the next building. Batman involuntarily whooped with excitement. Drifter gave a rumbling purr that sounded like a laugh and continued to jump buildings.
When they got to the Hall of Justice, Drifter landed lightly on the lawn and pranced happily in place. She lowered her body to the ground to allow Batman to get off her back. "Bats", the Green Arrow said running foreword. "We saw you're ship crash and we looked for you but we didn't find you. Are you ok?"
"Yea", said Batman, "thanks to Drifter. She saved my life." Drifter lifted a paw bashfully. Batman ran his fingers over her soft fur and felt her purr. His heart fluttered.
When Batman got back to Wayne Manor, he sat quickly down at his computer in the batcave. Dick was there to meet him. "Bruce, Bruce", he said excitedly, "how was patrol, was it cool. I wish I didn't have to go to school. I saw you on the news ridding that giant leopard. That was so cool."
"Yea", said Bruce with a wave of his hand. The look on his face said he hadn't really been listening to very much the nine year old had been saying. Dick put his hands on his hips unhappily.
"Are you listening?"
Bruce looked at him strangely and said, "Ohh yea, is there anything to eat here?" Dick rolled his eyes and gave a sigh.
"Are we even going on patrol tonight?" he asked.
"I'm kinda tired", said Bruce, "I had a pretty long day. Tomorrow. I have to do some tracking tonight and find out who shot that missile."
"Fine", said Dick unhappily, and stalked off to his room. Bruce worked late into the night, but found no leads.
