Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of The Batman or Calvin and Hobbes. They are owned by Warner Brothers and Bill Watterson.
Coming back with an arm fool of paper and crayons tucked under one armpit. Immediately, he picked out one piece, selected a black crayon. Speaking as he drew, Calvin gave his idea, "We place the body near the road, where it can be easily seen. We'll keep watch from my bed room window."
"And if one shows up?"
"We'll use our combined powers to take it down."
Twiddling his thumbs, Hobbes thought for a second, "Just to be on the safe side, I suggest we build some weapons, just in case."
Calvin rolled his eyes and scoffed, "Alright, you big baby. We'll build some clubs."
An hour passed, nothing happened. Counting seconds off the clock, they became increasingly bored. No one was moving on the streets. Why? Someone must notice this skeleton. The creator must be looking for it. Peering from the upper window, the two began to become complacent and stepped down from their perch and let their attention drift to other matters. What is some kind of prank? Hobbes did not think so, but if no one comes around, then they have to dispose of the skeleton before dad finds it. While he was thinking that, Calvin was trying to come up with an excuse as to how the car was damaged. The truth could not be believed.
"I still can't believe you lifted that car. How did you do that?"
"I'm not sure. I thought I could give it a try and I did. It was so cool. There was a rush in my arms and hands, like when I eat Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs."
"Can you do it again? Try lifting that dresser."
Setting down his crayons, Calvin approached the dresser next to the door. Looking it over, he doubted in his mind that he could lift it. He placed one hand on opposite sides and tried to lift it with a groan, but it did not budge. "No dice" rubbing his brow.
"Hmm, perhaps we should try something else."
Before it could register in Calvin's mind exactly what, a baseball sailed through the air and struck him in the shoulder. It was a soft blow considering the padding coming from his winter coat, but it still was enough to be felt and Calvin, needless to say, was very angry.
"I'll get you" he cursed. With no hesitation, he grabbed the dresser and held it high above his head
.
"That's it!" Hobbes smiled, "Your power comes from Adrenalin. When I was endangered, you were scared and that is how you gained power, and now when you are angry, your power came back."
Looking above, Calvin thought it over, "Whoa, you're right." suddenly, the blood flow to his hands was stymied and control was lost. "Ugh! Help!" the dresser tipped over and bounced onto the bed.
"Hey, it's the Grey's! They are outside." pointing them out.
"What are they doing here?" Calvin asked as he jumped onto the bed and looked out the window.
"I don't know, but if they are out and about, it's something serious. Perhaps they are here to look at our goon"
There was just a handful, twelve or so, hunkered down inside a crater they hastily made. It was unusual. Their tactics. "You go and talk to them," ordered Calvin, pointing them out, "I'll pack up some things and we'll go with them."
Nodding, Hobbes hustled down stairs and outside as quickly as his hind legs would carry him. Startled at first to see a tiger, the group pointed their weapons at him. Stopping and holding up his paws, Hobbes calmed them down, "Easy boys. I'm an endangered species."
Relaxing, they allowed him to approach.
"Where's the rest of you?" asked Hobbes.
"We are scattered throughout the town" one of them replied. "Captain Miller dispatched our teams to counter every threat. We lost radio contact about half an hour ago. We were on our way back to base, when we came across all of this."
"Every threat? How many threats are there?"
"More than we can handle. Looks like our Nemesis, the goons, are back. And I'll tell you, they are different, like upgraded models. They are harder to kill."
"I know" said Hobbes sitting on the rim of the hole, "We killed one about an hour ago and dissected it. Turns out they have a steel skeleton and our operated by remote control and small computers. These are not the ones we dealt with long ago."
"Any idea who made them?" another Grey asked.
Hobbes shook his head, "No, but we did find an ace of spades etched into some of the metal."
"That's just great" another spat, "now they are computers. How can we kill them if they are computer operated?"
"We hit ours with a car" the tiger smirked, gesturing with his thumb at the dented sedan behind him.
Chuckling, the Grey's looked to their sergeant for orders on what to do now.
"Alright, we need to report back to base."
"Where's base?" asked Hobbes.
"About seven streets that way," pointing south east, "Our orders are, if things get out of hand, we lose contact with command, to report back to base and await instruction."
"Mind if we tag along?"
"Not at all. Just have to keep up."
"Great," standing up, "Let me go grab Calvin and we'll go"
Hustling back inside, Hobbes found Calvin still cramming belongings into his tiny back pack. "Comic books, silly puddy, yo-yo, notepad..."
"Come on. They are heading back to their base. We can go along."
Calvin stops what he was doing and turned his attention to Hobbes at the door way, "What about mom?"
"I'll wake her up, you will need to convince her to go."
"Are you sure?" raising an eyebrow, "I mean, how can I convince her? Snow goons are going to get you" snarling his teeth in simulation.
"Good point. I'll write out a note, telling her we went to Susie's house for a party."
"Good Idea" giving a thumbs up then seal his pack. "I'm all set. While you write, I'll gather some food."
In ten minutes, the two were outside, minus their cloaks to elude discovery. The Grey's were ready as
.
"Try to keep up" the sergeant smiled and, together, the team began huffing it down the street. While jogging, Hobbes noticed that all of the houses were closed up, blindes covered the windows, no lights, no activity. Strange, usually this neighborhood is a focal point for joyous banter. Turning right at the intersection of Martin, the Greys formed into a simple column, one behind the other with Hobbes at the tail end. He kept looking over his shoulder to make sure no one was following. To his hearts relief, they were not for several blocks. As they neared their base, the Greys began to slow down. One was still trying to raise other squads with a hand held radio with no success. Tired and hungry, they continued on for several hundred more yards before turning onto Spencer Lane. Seven buildings down as a ordinary five bed room, three bath house of red brick with a chimney on it's right far wall, and a oak wood duplex entrance way.
"Nice place" Calvin complimented as they walked onto the raised patio. The sergeant rapped on the door, a slit opened up, "What's the password?" a voice asked from within.
"Calvin is a booger brain" the sergeant said.
"Hey!"
"Come on in" the voice said, then the slit slammed shut and one of the doors opened.
There were only a half dozen Greys inside, their field jackets removed as well as snow boots. They were clean and trim, they had not been outside, or at least not for very long. "What happened?" one of them asked the sergeant, "We lost contact with Captain Miller and the rest of the platoons."
"I know" sighing in frustration, "That's why we came back. Orders state we wait here till everyone else comes back."
"Uh, what if they don't come back?" Calvin raised his hand in the back. All eyes fell on him.
"If we do not hear from anyone for three days, they are considered missing. Those inside the fort are ordered to stay put, send out local patrols as needed, but stay close to base for possible attack."
"So we have to stay put?" Hobbes roared.
"Not unless we can regain communication with an officer. Anyone of them can countermand the order."
"Well, I'm not going to just sit around here" Calvin barked harshly. "I'm going back out there and look for those damn things. If they want a fight I'll give them a fight with my special powers " He stomped out sharply, leaving a rather embarrassed Hobbes to answer for him, "Uh, he's just under a lot of stress. Very bad memories." smiling nervously. The Grey's said nothing and Hobbes rushed out to catch up with his red hot friend. Reaching his side, Hobbes asked where would they go. "We won't last the night out here" he said.
"I know, I just want out of there. Being held up inside the house just brings back memories of the Alamo for me. We have to learn from our mistakes."
Hearing this coming from the loud mouth, Hobbes was taken aback, in a flash the twerp had matured and was making bold decisions. Was it a fluke or was he evolving? At the time, Hobbes did not have the answer for this question, but what did have an answer to was weapons. As they marched along the sidewalk parallel to the road, several metal pikes presented themselves lightly buried under the snow. Just in case.
"We need to find a roof top. We can see better up there" pointing at a three story apartment complex with a fire escape.
"There's someone up here" Calvin hissed, pointing to the other side of the roof top. Someone was millling about, not able to be seen by the air conditioning units. Clubs in hand, they approached cautiously. Was it human or machine? They couldn't tell. Whatever it was, it seemed to be moving the pause for several seconds. It did not seem to detect them just yet. The last few feet, the two looked at each other, nodded and charged out together in unison, waving their weapons high, yelling curses. As they came out, the slender body of a human presented itself, holding up it's hands, "Whoa, easy, kid" she said, "I'm human"
"Holy...it's a girl" Calvin realized, but he still did not lower his club.
"I'm Bat girl" she responded with fold arms. Looking her over, it was a teenage girl, about five foot six with a lock of red hair coming out behind a hood with pointed ears and large white eyes, a cap hanging over her shoulders, and thigh length leather boots.
Hearing this, Calvin fell onto his back and let out a boisterous laughter. Gasping for breath, he was heard saying, "What kind of a name is Bat girl?" He never caught on that the jabbing Hobbes made, was actually his infatuation. Even though species were between them, he thought she was cute, like Susie Derkins.
She remained unfazed by his put down, and Hobbes failed to contribute, despite his pledge to hate all girls. It was a dream come true for him. For the longest time, he thought that it was just a myth that a real bat girl existed. She was every bit what writers had penned her to be. Sassy, smart, and beautiful. But he with held his intent in front of Calvin while he was regaining his composure.
"
What are you doing out here?" asked Hobbes.
"I was sent here to be on the lookout by Batman. I just find it as a way for him to get rid of me for awhile. There was nothing really specific, just be on the lookout for anything strange. Next thing I know, there are snowmen charging down the street, tearing about humans."
Eyes grew wide, "You actually saw them tear humans apart?"
"Yes, dude. They ripped their bodies apart and scattered them across the neighborhood. Now I'm talking to a tiger on his hind legs. Talk about strange."
"You want strange?" Calvin rose up, "I'll give you strange. Those goons are man made and they'll be coming after us in a few minutes."
"Come with us." Hobbes stepped up, "He's right, you know, goons will be swarming through the streets after us. You'll be safer at the base."
"Where is base?" she asked.
Pointing it out from their perch, Hobbes showed that it was just a few buildings away. There were more Grey's funneling in, bringing inside supplies and a few survivors. So far, no new goons have been sighted, but it was growing dark quickly and the temperature was plummeting just as fast. Bat girl surmised that it was best to be in doors. "I think I'll take you up on your offer" she said. Hearing this, Calvin interjected, "Whoa, Hobbes, she's a girl" he spat, waving his fists angrily above his head. "No girls are allowed at the base."
"It's not your base" Hobbes casually replied, "Captain Miller will allow her to stay."
"No he won't. She can't come with us" stubbornly put.
Hobbes merely rolled his eyes and looked back at the beautiful red head, "Never mind him, he's just stubborn. He'll warm up to you eventually"
"Like hell I will"
"Watch your mouth or I'll tell mom."
"Why are you two up here?" Bat girl asked.
"We're superheroes" Calvin flexed his muscles.
"Superheroes? You're a bit young to be a hero, kid" bending over and tapping his nose lightly.
"Well, believe it, lady. We have special powers. I can lift heavy objects like a car"
"Impressive. What can you do?" turning to Hobbes.
"I stand on my hind legs and talk like a human" said Hobbes, gaining a giggle.
"Whatever, look, we are superheroes and you are not. Now we have important stuff to do" Calvin began making tracks to the fire escape. Reaching it, he looked back at the fortress to see the familiar Grey uniforms on the front lawn. "C' here. Look. They are back" he rejoiced. The other two came up to his side and observed for themselves. "We better go inside as well before they seal the door" Calvin said as he hustled down the fire escape. Hobbes went as well, climbing down the rusted ladder. When reaching the bottom, they were surprised to see Bat girl waiting on them, "If you're super heroes" smiling, "You would have taken the easy route."
Jogging up to the front entrance, the gate keeper asked for the password, "Calvin is a booger brain" Hobbes whispered, loud enough for Calvin and Bat girl to hear.
"Hey!"
Allowed in, they found a cluttered mess. Filthy, wet, exhausted and numb Grey's were littered about on the floor or had their backs pressed against interior walls, painfully removing their winter gear as their worn out bodies gave in. The captain lifted up his eyes to see a familiar pair of faces pressing through the crowd.
"Hey, you two made it" he said to them as they came close. These were friends from the first insurrection, and proved their mettle at several times. Behind them, he caught sight of a hooded red head, she was much taller than the others, but in the given darkness of the fortress, it was hard to tell until she was close.
"Who is that?"
Turning to her then back to Miller, Hobbes said, "This is Bat girl. We found her on a roof top not too far from here" Calvin remained smugged, not saying anything except crossing his arms and turning his head away in disgust.
"You are welcomed here. We built this place after the first invasion to protect the citizens, but those darn goons had the jump on us. We could only save a few, the rest are captured, dead, or scattered too far away to be found." Miller hissed.
One of his Greys was looking through a firing slit into the outside. He couldn't see anyone, just an abandoned neighborhood. Frustrated, Miller turned away from his quests and stomped away to a back room. A lieutenant stepped in his place and took the three to the basement where the rest of the civilians were huddling, sharing blankets, and trying to comfort one another. Looking at each of their faces, none could be remembered. They were strangers, from different streets and neighborhoods, no children, all adults or elderly. When the three came down, no one said anything or bothered to look at them.
"This is awful" Bat girl whispered, "Who could have done such a horrible act. Not even the Joker or Penguin would have done as much destruction in one day"
"give it time" Hobbes assured her. "Now that we are bottled up, they can swarm around us from all sides, coming in like waves from the sea, numerous and unstoppable."
Bat girl turned to him, "Sounds like you have been through this before" quietly so that no one else could hear them.
"Yes, that first invasion the captain was saying about, he, Calvin, and I, plus a handful of others were trapped at Susie's house about seven blocks away. We were trapped there by a massive army of goons, different than those we have today. We escaped, but lost a large number of people along the way."
Looking around at the interior fortifications, which must have taken months of planning and execution, she asked him, "Do you think it will happen again?"
Hobbes did not answer, instead he sighed and handed her a blanket, "You best rest now, tomorrow will be a busy day"