Splendid Isolation

Chapter 4; Survival 101


It was mid morning before J'onn awoke, as a Martian he had some resistance to the cold, but he felt himself unable to change his form, he couldn't levitate from the ground, and he couldn't hear anyone else's mind but his own. Perhaps the loss of his powers had taken some of his immunity with them.

The last thing he remembered was fighting in the forest...then...darkness...and cold...mind numbing cold. He opened his orange eyes and was surprised to see the greyish-brown walls of what was presumably a cave, and he heard the crackling of an open fire.

He flinched back as the sight of the flames met his eyes but calmed as he saw that it was no danger.

"Have a nice nap?" a deep voice asked him. J'onn turned to see Batman leaning against the cave wall, with his elbows resting on his knees, he tossed a small twig into the fire almost absent-mindedly.

J'onn glanced around the cave to see Superman, Green Lantern, Flash, Wonder Woman and Batgirl and Robin resting under their capes.

"You found this cave?" the Martian asked ad Batman nodded. It was only then that J'onn noticed that the caped crusader had removed his cowl, revealing the handsome face of Bruce Wayne. "Little risky, that, isn't it?" he asked.

But Batman didn't answer, instead he pulled his cowl back on and stood up, then he tossed a small black object to J'onn. "What's this?"

"Taser," Batman replied and started to walk out of the cave.

"Where are you going?" J'onn asked, finding it unusual to be unable to read his mind to find the answer.

"To find food," the man said and then left without another word, leaving J'onn alone with his sleeping comrades.

Batman stalked quickly through the snow, and was quickly reminded of the days he'd spent in the far east, days spend wandering the mountains and finding small villages, with stunning temples building into the faces of the mountains themselves.

He had no troubles navigating the snow covered landscape but he found nothing to use as food. Batman had been hoping for at least more plants, maybe some kind of Arctic fox or a frozen river that he could use for fishing. But it seemed that the dead trees he'd been using for firewood were the only plants for miles around.

Trying to use landmarks to remember the terrain was all but useless; as with sand dunes of the African deserts, the snow moved and deceived the human eye. He found nothing like the cave or the dead trees to remember, knowing that they couldn't hide in said cave forever, Batman hoped that he could at least find another shelter, but he didn't.

He checked for the small tracker he had thrown during the fight in the woods and found it using his equipment, it was lying in the snow, he'd had to dig just to uncover it. Using his the small scanner he found that it was covered in a strange residue, most probably from the creature that had transported them here.

Then found that there was something giving off a similar signature to the west, it was possible that it was the creature, or it could be a way out. Batman didn't know which it was, but he'd have to find out. But first he'd need to find food, neither he, nor the League would get far without it.

So he set off into the snow, the small dots on his scanner that signified Batgirl and Robin growing smaller with each step he took.


"J'onn..." Wonder Woman said quietly after she'd opened her eyes, she felt lethargic and cold, too cold.

"Good to have you back with us," the Martian smiled. Around him the others were already awake and they too smiled at her. She soon noticed that all but the Dark Knight were present in the cave with a crackling fire burning. "He went to find food," J'onn told her seeing that she was looking around at the other heroes.

"Oh," she sighed, and then leaned back against the wall. She noticed that Batgirl and Robin were messing with some kind of radio and smirking ti each other, but she didn't think anything of it. Until she looked down and saw a black cape covering her, "What's this?" she asked.

"It's Batman's," Superman told her with a small smile, "If it wasn't for him we'd have frozen to death out there. I don't have my powers," he said soberingly.

"Nor do I," J'onn said.

"My ring is useless," Green Lantern sighed as he tried and failed to once more to use its power.

Flash tried again to use his famous speed but he ran at normal pace around the cave, "I'm..slow...okay..." he muttered and sat back down by the fire.

Wonder Woman sighed deeply and stared into the dancing flames, she was worried, there was no doubt in her mind that this was a serious situation. She slowly stood up and tried to fly, but she didn't even move an inch for the ground. "Nothing, huh?" Flash sighed.

"No," she muttered and stared down at the silver wrist bands she wore. "How can my powers be gone when I still have these?"

"I don't know," Superman replied, "But we have to find out, let's wait for Batman to come back before we toss ideas around, he might've have found something."

"Let's find out, shall we?" Batgirl asked and raise the finished communicator that she and Robin had, hopefully, just 'd found that the com-links used by the League were useless here, but Batman's technology was more advanced and designed to block out interference so they hoped to have more luck. "Batgirl to Dark Knight, do you read me?"

When no answer came immediately they began to worry, despite the fact that Batman often ignored their calls. "Batgirl to Batman, what's your position?" she asked again, but again there was no answer. "Batman, so help me, if you don't answer the god damn..."

"What've I told you about monopolising the line?" Batman's sardonic voice asked and they breathed a sigh of relief.

"You said not to, but you didn't say anything about the bat-line," the girl replied.

"Not everything has to start with 'bat'," he told her and they smiled.

"When you dress like a bat, and call yourself Batman, it does," she said, "So where are you?"

"Would you like street name or coordinates?"

"Batman..." Robin sighed.

"I'm not far from the cave," he said, "I'll be there soon."

"Did ya find any food, Bats?" Flash asked quickly.

"There isn't likely to be a supermarket here, Flash," Lantern told him.

"Yes, I found food," Batman told them.

"What'd you find?"

"Foxes," the man said and his young partners paled.

"Did he just say...'foxes'..." Batgirl asked them, and Robin nodded, "As in...live foxes?"

"Not anymore, no," Batman said and they could swear he was smirking, "Batman out."

"Batman, wait..." Robin shouted but the line went dead. "He did that on purpose."

"He didn't really mean...real, real foxes...did he?" Flash asked looking concerned.

"With Batman ya never know," Robin sighed.

They took turns waiting at the caves entrance, and all were shocked to see the huge blue planet in the sky. It looked so close, too close. Robin and Batgirl had argued that it was going to crash into them and 'splatter their ashes across the galaxy', but Superman told them it was unlikely to do so.

Wonder Woman had said little, she hadn't gotten used to the ways of man's world yet and now it seemed as thou she was on a different world again. It was a lot to take in.

Currently Superman and Green Lantern were stood leaning against the mouth of the cave as they waited for signs of Batman.

"So, where'd you think we are?" Lantern asked his friend.

"If I had to guess I'd say either the north or the south pole...but that..." Superman pointed towards the huge planet they could see in the sky, "Says otherwise."

"No kidding," Lantern muttered.

"Hey...d'you see that?" Superman asked, and squinted off into the distance, "Is that...Batman?"

"It's either him or some other giant bat thing walking round in the snow," Lantern smirked and the two ran off towards their friend. When they reached him they were surprised to see that he looked frozen and tired.

With one arm over Superman's shoulders and Green Lantern carrying the dead foxes they brought Batman back into the cave and he fell back against the wall by the fire.

"I bet you didn't sleep at all last night, did you?" Superman asked him.

"Couldn't," he replied, "Too risky."

"And how'd you find these?" Lantern asked lifting up the carcasses.

"Don't ask," the Dark Knight sighed. He pulled out one of many sharp bat-a-rangs and went to stand up but Robin and Batgirl stopped him.

"What d'you think you're doing?" the boy wonder asked him.

"You want to eat meat before it's skinned?" the Batman asked with dry humour.

"I'll deal with that," Lantern told him and with difficulty he took the weapon from Batman's hand, then left the cave with the carcasses.

"Make sure you burry the skins..."

"Yeah, yeah..." Green Lantern replied and his voice echoed through the cave.

"And you call me a boy scout," Superman said to Batman with a kind smile.

"Hmm," Batman muttered as Robin gently pushed him to sit on the ground.

"You are a boy scout, big guy," Flash smirked at him.

"So what's Batman?" Superman asked.

"Indian guide," Flash said after a moments thought, and they laughed.

"So, what else, besides foxes, did you find?" Diana asked Batman.

"No identifiable landmarks for at least a 3 mile circumference around the cave," he said tiredly, "I found the tracer I threw in the fight yesterday, it was emitting a signal that I followed to the west. It could be a way out, or it could be that..."

"Monster?" Robin suggested.

"That we fought..."

"That we tried to fight?" Batgirl corrected.

"And I assume you saw the giant planet in the sky," Batman finished.

Within minutes Green Lantern returned with the skinned foxes and secured them to some twigs, leaving them to cook slowly by the fire. He used the water that had thawed in the rebreathers to wash off his hands. "You buried the..."

"Yes, I buried the skins, I know," Lantern said, and Batman stared at him. "What, I watched survival shows as a kid," he shrugged.

"Hmm," Batman murmured.

"That's gonna take a while, isn't it?" Flash asked and gestured to the animals.

"Uh-huh," Lantern nodded as Flash groaned.

"So what now?" Superman asked, after a short silence.

"We can't just stay here..." Flash began unsure.

"Predicting the weather in extreme climates is difficult, if not impossible without proper satellite access. If we left now, without another shelter in mind, we could end up lost in the snow, or trapped in another storm without any landmarks to use as guides..." Batman said with far more confidence.

"But..." Flash tried to say, but Batman's voice was still louder despite his lethargy.

"Not to mention the lack of appropriate clothing for this climate, you may have some immunity, but without your powers you aren't equip to deal with," he added.

"Then what do we do?" J'onn asked.

"You do nothing," Batman told him, "I'll continue to plot the terrain, once I find something suitable we'll move to the west to follow that signal I found."

"Why..."

"I'm the only one with the right equipment to withstand those temperatures for extended periods of time. My suit is designed to deal with that cold, and I have experience in this kind of terrain" he said.

"You do?" Diana asked him curiously.

"Yes," Batman nodded.

"How much?"

"Several years in high altitude mountains, princess," he replied.

"When did you go there?" Flash asked him.

"A while ago," Batman answered cautiously.

"Aww, come on, give us something more than that, Bats. Where'd you do? which mountains?"

"The Himalayas, the Alps, several years in Tibet, Bhutan, then Siberia and Oimekon in Russian winters, and yes, I spent time in the north and south poles as well," Batman told them.

"Man, you get around, Bats," Flash replied.

"Hmm," he nodded in agreement.

They spent the rest of the day telling stories about their adventures in the League while they waited with trepidation for the meat to cook thoroughly before even touching it, let alone eating it.