August 7, 21:30 EDT Gotham U
"So you're saying the reason why Dr. Langstrom turned himself into a half man half bat creature was because he wanted to get rid of his cancer?"
Inside the science building but more specifically in one of Gotham U's many private research labs Professor Milo rummaged behind his desk while Naruto and Artemis stood at the other end, as the former having asked the opening question as he scratched his head in confusion.
"I assure you Kirk had no attention of becoming some sort of hybrid." Prof Milo said as he pulled out a series of folders from the desk. The two teens saw some of the papers spilling out each one detailing a DNA strain along with footnotes explaining each piece of genomic data.
Milo eventually found what he was looking for in the form of a flash drive which he placed in his computer. He then activated a sequence for a screen to pull down over the white board behind him as he showed what was on the files via projection.
"You see around a few decades or so ago there was a visiting German professor who taught in this very university for a semester or two named Dr. Karl Hellfern." Milo's first slide was a picture of Dr. Helfern's faculty photo which showed him as a middle-aged man with balding hair on top but with black hair on the sides with a matching beard. But what made the old doctor stand out was his taste in fashion as he was dressed in a fancy black suit with a white bowtie and a monocle resting on his left eye.
"Are you sure this guy was teaching here in 90's and not the 19th century?" Artemis asked. "He looks like Colonel Klink from Hogan's heroes."
Milo looked slightly annoyed but progressed with his impromptu lecture just the same. "Yes well Dr. Helfern's taste in clothing aside. He left behind countless research papers when he mysteriously disappeared before the end of his second semester."
"Knowing Gotham city he probably died from a mugging and had his body thrown in the river." Artemis snarked.
"Or maybe a ghost ate him." Naruto said as he folded his arms and nodded. "Trust me it's been known to happen."
"Y…yes well whatever the case for his disappearance it is the legacy he left behind in his work on genetic modification that will continue to go on." Milo showed another image this time it was a DNA sequence just like the ones on the papers splattered around the desk, but what made this projection slide different was the chemical structure formula right next to it.
"You see it might have been Dr. Hellfern who created the map so to speak but Kirk and I where the ones who plotted the correct course. With Kirk's expertise as a Zoologist and my own brilliance as both a world renowned chemical and genetic engineer we were able to find the correct genetic markers in the animal kingdom that could very well cure any disease known to mankind!" Milo ended his statement by raising his fist into the air and looking up at the ceiling titles as if he were asking God himself to throw another challenge at him.
Artemis couldn't raise her eyebrow any higher at Milo's excitement as she looked over to Naruto for a rebuttal but looked at the mystic even more strangely as he was looking at the projection of the chemical formula and DNA strained rather intensely as in his eyes were wide open and he wasn't even blinking. The archer then turned her attention back to the professor. "Look professor I'm not going to pretend I really understand most of this because I'm going on a sophomore education over her…"
Artemis paused as looked back at Naruto who only turned his eyes balls in her direction. "I have a G.E.D that I got from taking night classes at an upstate junior college."
Looking back at Milo Artemis dragged out the word. "Riggggght." As she couldn't stop watching Naruto who was watching the screen so intensely, but she found the strength to do so anyway. "The point I'm trying to make is can you explain to us how injecting yourself with bat DNA could actually cure you of anything?"
"Well I don't suppose I should be all that surprised you are after all children." Milo said rather arrogantly as went to another slide, this one was a picture of a bat that was spread open winged with a caption that under. "Desmodus rotundus or in layman's terms the common vampire bat." Milo used a laser pointer to highlight the pointy eared little creature.
"Most every species of bat have natural reservoirs for a large number of different zoonotic pathogens. But despite having an assortment of diseases the rival the CDC collection the bats themselves have an immune system that is greatly superior then our own." Milo paused his lecture seeing that both teenagers more or less understood before going on.
"Now you see what makes the common vampire bat more special than its cousin is due to the fact that its saliva has a protein that acts as a powerful anticoagulant that allows the bat to feed on its victim's blood with little to no chance of the prey's wounds closing up."
"Anticoagulant, so what you guys were trying to create some sort of super drug that could treat blood clots?" Artemis asked.
Milo looked slightly amused. "That's a rather astute assumption for a sophomore. Tell me do you know someone who developed clots in their body one time or another?"
Artemis narrowed her eyes as she folded her arms. "Is that really important right now?" she asked defensively.
"No I suppose. But formula wasn't meant to treat mere blood clots alone but help and cure patients with lymphoma, patients like Kirk Langstrom."
With a final click Milo showed the last page of his slide show which was a diagram of a human highlighted around the neck area. "Originally our combined efforts were intended to boast the immune system and eat away at the cancer cells located in the lymphatic system."
Shutting the projector off and walking over to a clear cabinet, pulling out a test tube from the rack. "But Kirk, he was impatient and was rash using an unfinished version which mutated his cellular structure into the creature you faced tonight."
"Wow I don't know if it's ironic or some kind of twisted fate." Naruto said sadly.
"What is?" Artemis asked.
"That Dr. Langstrom got the same disease that he spent all this time on to find a cure for."
At that moment Milo held a vile in his hand while giving Naruto a deadpan expression. "It's not ironic Kirk specifically tried finding a cure for his particular strain of illness. That's why this treatment can only fix blood base cancers."
"Oh…yeah that'd be one good motivator."
"Still." Artemis said as she leaned back on one of the lab's counters as she folded her arms. "I can't help but think the FDA isn't going to ok a drug or serum that turns cancer patients into a giant bat monster if they don't get the dosage right."
Professor Milo actual turned and spat angrily into a sink. "The FDA, government regulations what would any of those Washington bureaucrats know about the advancements of mankind? They keep pumping federal funding to tech companies like Kord, Luthor, and Magnus in hopes that the flashiest new power armors instead of improving our own bodies…."
Naruto and Artemis looked back at each other before they gave Milo a skeptical look but decided to keep quiet and let the man rant himself until he tuckered out.
"…think of it a solider with the eyes of a falcon the strength of a silver back gorilla and the architectural intellect of a beaver!" Milo stopped is mild tantrum as he saw the looks the two not quite heroes were giving him.
"….Yes I can see how some people might not want the twenty foot wing span added to their bodies." Milo coughed slightly into a fist and readjusted the collar of his lab coat a bit. "But just for the record Kirk's transformation wasn't due to the formula's dosage but rather from the strength from the catalyst.
"The catalyst?" Naruto asked tilting his head to the side.
"Yes." Milo placed the vile he was holding onto a table as he bent down and placed a black and silver trim box on the same counter space.
He then began entering a sequence of codes on the keypad as he explained more clearly. "You see the problem with the formula we created was that for the longest time it would burn up too quickly from a subject's metabolism or white blood cells to take effect once entered into the blood stream. So we needed a catalyst a form of radiation that would permanently mutate the formula into the subject's cellular structure. There by enabling the body to kill the cancerous cells itself."
"Radiation…." That got both Naruto and Artemis' attention real strong. "….from which element?"
"Plutonium!" Naruto shouted as if he was answering a trivia question. "I bet it was plutonium."
"You know there are other radioactive elements besides plutonium." Artemis told Naruto dryly. "I'm going to say carbon-14."
"Well I'm sticking with plutonium." Naruto said stubbornly. "You know unless he put the medicine in the microwave and that radiated it….no I'm sticking with plutonium."
"Well you heard the kid with magical powers Prof." Artemis pointed a finger at Milo's metal case. "He's going on plutonium, and I'm sticking with carbon-14." She then leaned in forwards and smiled in mockery. "Final answer."
Milo just chuckled as he opened the case and the whole dark room still dim from the slides was illuminated in a ghastly green glow. "Sorry children buy your both wrong."
"Is it powered by Marcel Wallace' soul?" Naruto asked trying to shield his eyes.
Milo looked up at Naruto and just stared at him slightly irked. "No my sharply dressed little friend. This is no dark magic but a power that came from beyond the stars."
As Milo took the element out and held it in his hands causing the teens to gasp.
"Oh my god…." Naruto whispered. "It is plutonium! Naruto shouted accusingly at the professor.
"He said it was from beyond the stars, Naruto." Artemis stated flatly.
"…..There can be plutonium from space."
Finally having enough Milo let out an exhausted sigh. "It's kryptonite alright, kryptonite. I was trying to be slightly dramatic and build up to it but you ruined it. But he's right there's a large possibility that an element like plutonium can be found in….oh now you got me doing it!"
"This will hurt only for a second."
On the main quad of the college campus Max the speedster tortoise was replenishing his strength the only way those who were living conduits to the Speed Force could, by consuming as much food as fast as it could…..which at his normal pace wasn't fast at all.
But as the speedy reptile was chopping down on a flower from the garden bed a man dressed in a dark gray ballistic woven suit, sexy black trunks, gloves boots and a black cape kneed besides Max as he finished taking a blood sample from the tortoise.
Getting up the man's cape fluttered a bit reveling a symbol of a bat spread over the chest as well as a yellow utility belt that he pulled out a hand held devise which he placed the small blood sample on.
The man then placed his free fingers on the side of his head which was covered in a black cowl with pointy ear like accessories mounted onto the head piece. "Alfred I'm sending you the blood sample now."
All the way across town heading in the opposite direction of Gotham U was the same chauffeur driver who witnessed the speedy tortoise along with the two teenagers was driving the vintage car as he used the buttons on the steering wheel to navigate the car's computer system.
"I have it now Master Bruce." Alfred waited until he came at a stop light before he had the computer scan the blood sample for identifying genetic markers. Until then the English gentleman decided to pass the time with a little small talk. "I take it that the new prototype has gotten you in Gotham University in one piece, sir?"
"It has for now Lucius hasn't installed any of the offensive capabilities yet let alone the paint job, but all the surveillance functions are good to go."
A few second later Alfred was finally able to read off the match results. "Well back to the investigation at hand It seems you were right, sir. It appears that our leathery friend is indeed a speedster…..although this test seems rather redundant given that tortoises don't normally travel at the same speed as one of the fastest men alive."
Back on the other end the masked Bruce Wayne replied. "There was no doubt that this tortoise has the power of the Speed Force coursing though it's veins I was able to track him down in the first place by following the ion trail it left in its wake. But what I want to know is which speedster in the Justice League database does this tortoise have the same altered genetic structure."
The light turned green on Alfred as he was able to click and compare the blood sample. "Sir, it appears as though Mr. Jay Garrick of the Justice Society of America and the tortoise have the same chemical charge in their systems."
Looking back down at the reptile in question Bruce saw it paid him no mind as it was still enjoying its late night meal. "I remember years ago when I met the original Flash he told be the story of how he obtained his speed. He mentioned that the chemical company he was working for Mercury Labs had a tortoise as a mascot that they named, Max."
As if on que Max turned his long neck and looked back at Bruce as he still munched on the flowers in his mouth before turning his head back.
Letting out one of his patented Hmmm's as he began walking towards one of the campus' buildings. "Based on the descriptions you gave me on the two teenagers I have a very sneaking suspicion that the boy wearing a suit might be Naruto."
Alfred stayed silent for a moment before he responded back. "Well I was hoping to tell you this rather later Master Bruce but Lucius was able to identify one of the set of finger prints left behind on the roof top."
Pulling out a grappling gun from his utility belt Bruce fired a line onto the side of the building. "And?"
"I'm afraid they do belong to young Naruto but I'm afraid that's not all. When Lucius sent us the finger prints they were automatically crossed referenced with a person of interest at a large number of open and closed crime scenes that were and I quote from some of the lead investigators something out of the Twilight Zone and or the Doctor Mystic Mystery Hour."
With a snag of the line indicating that the hook was sunk in Bruce pressed the reeling button and shot into the air. "I knew that this was bound to happen. Naruto isn't the type of kid to stay on the sidelines forever. If it wasn't for the fact that he hates me I would have invited him to join the Team by now."
"Aren't you being rather dramatic I'm sure Naruto doesn't hate."
As Bruce detached his grapple and pried opened the window of the building he ended the call by saying. "Alfred he said it to my face five years ago I'm not guessing teenage hormones and attitude did anything to lessen that disgruntlement.
"Wait so you're telling me that kryptonite is radioactive?" Naruto asked as he looked back at the glowing sliver in Milo's hands.
"Yes but I assure you we have nothing to worry about." Milo placed the sample piece back into the case and closed it. "The effects of raw kryptonite on humans are a hundred times slower then what I can only estimate on Kryptonians themselves."
"Where did you manage to even find kryptonite anyway?" Artemis asked. "Isn't just a pound of that stuff worth more than a college teacher's yearly salary?"
Milo looked nervous for just a second before he but back on a knowing smile. "Well that's what research grants are for I err I mean we were lucky enough to earn two from some very interested outside parties hoping our research would be beneficial towards them. Which is why I asked you two to follow me back to the lab tonight."
"I thought it was so we could learn more about Dr. Langstrom in order to help him?" Artemis narrowed her eyes a bit trying to get a read on Milo's true attentions.
"It is but also to ask for your discretion on what happens next." Taking the vile he pulled out from before Milo loaded it into a medical injection gun.
"What's that for?"
Milo smiled slyly as he held the gun out and aimed it right at Artemis. For about a few second he said nothing but kept the device held up casing both Naruto and Artemis to tense up. Only to look confused as Milo let his hand go slightly limp and rotating the gun around so it was upside down with the syringe pointed towards him and the handle at the archer.
"Since you broke my trank gun I'm afraid all I can offer you is this."
Milo shook his hand signaling for Artemis to take the tool which she quickly did. "This jet injector contains a sedative that should be powerful enough for you to knock Kirk out safely. After that I'd much appreciate it if you brought his unconscious body back here so I can study him and hopefully reverse his current condition."
"I've seen something like this before in movies." Artemis said lifting jet injector up a bit. "They can only be used in close quarters, right?"
"Yes, extremely close." Milo corrected. "You'll have to inject him right at skin contact for it to work."
Artemis took the jet injector from Milo and placed it in one of her shoulder holsters. "So I'm going to take a wild guess that you're not coming with us."
Milo held up his hands and started to move them in a no gesture while smiling. "As much as I care about Kirk I'm afraid I'd only hamper in his rescue out in the field. But I'm sure two well trained vigilantes like yourselves are up for the task"
"I have a question." Naruto said as he raised a hand. "When we bring Doc Langstrom back here where are you going to keep him until he's turned back into regular person again?"
"Of course there's a more surgical lab right below us that I've already prepared with a few adjustments I'm sure Kirk will be comfortable until he's back to his old self." The gleam in the professor's eye didn't go unnoticed.
"Ok but how are we going to find Dr. Langstrom now?" Artemis looked at Naruto as she held up the tracking ring. "I've been waving my hand around this whole time but I don't think I can get a signal."
Naruto walked over to Artemis and gently held her hand. Twisting the ring slightly to the right Artemis watched as a glyph appeared on the silver band glowing in the same blue as when it was near a target. And then suddenly like magic the glyph projected a beam of light that materialized into a transparent 2D map.
"See right there on the map that blinking red dot that's where he is and that green arrow's were you are…..get it green arrow?"
"…..Yeah I got."
"It's because you're like a Green Arrow and the…"
"Yes Naruto I get the joke!...you can let go of my hand now."
Naruto immediately released his grip as Artemis looked back at him slyly. "Come on Magic Man we got a Man-Bat to capture."
Artemis pulled out one of her crossbows, dashed to the nearest open window, and spun jumped out while firing a line into the night.
Milo looked rather looked rather perplexed as he looked from the gapping window to Naruto who just smirked. "Your friend knew there was a door right there, right?" he said somewhat sarcastically as he pointed to said door.
"Yeah but you know us young people, Prof." Naruto casually walked over to the same open window. "We love to make a dramatic exit." And with a snap of his fingers Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Milo fixed his coat again as he walked over to the window and closed it. "Hopefully there won't be any more surprises tonight."
"I wouldn't count on it, Milo." A mysterious voice spoke followed by a pointy eared shadow that casted over the professor.
A cold bead of sweat ran down Milo's spin as he turned around with all the fear in the world plastered on his face. "Ba….Ba…Batman!?"
Running back on the court yard Artemis kept alternating from looking at the ring map and the area ahead over her as to not run into anything. "It doesn't look like Dr. Langstrom 's too far from here. I think he's just circling around the business district again."
Naruto didn't respond right away as he was too busy drawing something on his left palm with a black tip pen. "Ah huh."
Artemis gave Naruto a side glance wanting to know what was occupying his attention rather than their current target. "What are you doing?" she asked bluntly.
"I'm trying to remember what the formula that changed Dr. Langstrom into Man-Bat looked like so I can turn him back into human." Naruto said as he tapped the end of the pen at the side of his head trying to remember the last bits. "Err but if I don't get this sealing sequence right I might make him huge or turn him into a reproduction Aeron chair by Herman Miller."
Artemis was not a loss for words mostly because she couldn't help but sprout out nonsense. "How….why…what?"
Naruto held up his palm showing her his hand doodle. "If I place the Man-Bat chemical formula around my standard shapeshifting suppression sealing array I should be able to turn Dr. Langstrom back to normal."
"Or you might accidently turn him into a coffee table no I totally get it." There was a hint of sarcasm in Artemis' tone.
"Oh yeah like that's so hard to believe." Naruto retorted just as sarcastically. "What about a chemical that turns people into bat hybrids huh? You just slap the word science in there and all of a sudden it makes sense that mixing a bunch of nonsense together gets you an army of Man-Bats go out and not blood poising."
Artemis could see Max up ahead taking it as a que to slow down but still ask Naruto. "It sounds like you think that Dr. Langstrom's transformation wasn't an accident."
Naruto put his pen away and started to air dry his hand. "Maybe it was I can't really saw that part for sure but you can't tell me that Milo guy didn't give off a Mad Scientist vibe."
"Well it depends on the context." Artemis shrugged. "I mean he was pretty mad about FCC regulations sure but I don't think he's mad crazy."
"Alright but you have to admit that something about him is not right. I mean come on did you see his haircut almost every kid who's gotten a bowl cut always grow up to be an antagonist or at least a creep."
"Antagonist?" Artemis asked curiously as it was a rather odd terminology.
"It's the politically correct term to refer to some who is a quote un quote bad guy." Naruto said giving finger quotation marks. "But yeah Damien Thorn from the Omen bowl cut and an antagonist, Mandark from Dexter's laboratory bowl cut and an antagonist, and Curly from Hey Arnold was an antagonist in that one episode he framed Eugene for pulling the school's fire alarm is that enough proof for you."
"All that proves is that you watch too many cartoons." Artemis replied with dry sass. "But I'm willing to admit that I think Professor Milo's not telling us everything. But we should first concentrate on catching up with Dr. Langstrom for now. If you're spell works we can ask Langstrom himself on what's really going on"
"Yeah except we have no way to catching up to him now." Naruto shrugged as he walked over towards Max.
"What are you talking about we got Max." Artemis pointed out as she too came over towards the speedy tortoise. "What is he out of gas or something?"
"In a way ,yeah." Naruto grabbed the sides of Max's head and panned it towards the archer, showing that the tortoise was munching on a flower as it slowly slurped up a steam like a strand of spaghetti. "He might move at the speed of light…sound..? but he eats like a regular tortoise."
True to his words Max just looked at Artemis with plan dull expression before he let out a tiny burb, wiggled out of Nartuo's grip and slowly began to pick at the flora in the grove.
Artemis began to lose her grip as she threw her hands up in the air. "Well can't you summon someone or something else for us to ride on?"
Naruto shook his head. "I can't anything else is either unavailable at this time or not fast enough." But by shaking his head Naruto's gaze was locked onto something in the distance.
"Well Dr. Langstrom's in the business district we can probably catch up to by navigating through grappling hooks and free running it." Artemis placed her hand on her chin as she began to tap her finger in deep thought.
"Artemis?"
The archer ignored the mystic out of contemplation rather than rudeness. "But we'd have to ride the bus just to get to the business district from the campus…"
"Artemis?!"
Again Naruto's outcry fell onto deaf ears as Artemis began to pace a bit. "Damn it but the busses don't run this late." Placing her hand over her face in embarrassment Artemis grunted out. "I think we're going to have to call a car service or something to come pick us up."
"ARTEMIS!" Just like with Max Naruto grabbed the sides of Artemis' face with his palms and smooshed her cheeks until the archer's lips popped out a bit as he turned her head over towards the direction he was looking at before.
Grabbing onto Naruto's arms to pull him off of her face Artemis looked at said object and then looked back at Naruto in shock and disbelieve. "No."
"Oh come you said it yourself we need a ride like right now." Naruto said defending his silent suggestion.
"Do you know how much trouble we'll be in when and I mean when he finds out that we stole that thing? Artemis asked with gusto.
Naruto who couldn't stop smiling at the prospect held up his fingers as he began to count off. "Ok one it's not stealing its borrowing, and number two do you honestly think that he and I'm assuming we're both talking about the same he…" Naruto paled his fists to the sides of his head as he wiggled his index fingers back and forth. "…would even file a police report if we just borrow it and bring it right back."
"Forget the cops or even him for just a sec; do you know what my parents would do to me if they find out that we stole that thing?" Artemis asked the question rhetorically but a part of her brain answered for her anyway. "Mom would at least try to ground me until college and dad….dad would probably take me out for some ice cream."
"We don't even know if it's his!" Naruto said as he actually started walking over towards the mysterious item. "Look it's not even black everyone know that he paints all of his stuff black. For all we know this could be some college student's mid-term project or something."
Artemis walked next to Naruto as she too had a hard time trying to pry her wanting eyes off the object. "Oh yeah I'm pretty sure Gotham U has a class in building nucleated powered battle tanks."
Naruto looked away from the object to Artemis and then back on the object. "Actually it looks more like an art deco futuristic hot rod."
As Naruto walked closer to what was now identified as a vehicle Artemis trailed right behind him. "Art deco….really?"
"Ok maybe it's more Retro Futurism."
Naruto paused as he could see Artemis' reflection off the vehicle's windshield as he could tell that she wasn't debating the machine's design but rather how he knew what to call it. "What, I took an art appreciation class so I could you know appreciate art….And steal symbols to use in my seal designs but if you're still hung up on the moral dilemma on borrowing this thing I got two words for you, probable cause."
Naruto pointed at the windshield as he walked around towards the driver's side door. Getting closer Artemis could see that he had been pointing at was the journal of Alan Wayne sitting right on the dash board.
"Oh great so it isn't just some coincidence that he's here. He's probably been tracking us since we were at Wayne Plaza!" Artemis said in despair but kept walking over towards Naruto as she watched him take of his right black dress shoe and sock. "What are you doing now?"
"Ok well for starters I'm still saying that this is someone's college project or thesis or whatever. And second I may not know literally anything about technology past a T.V. set but I do know how to pick a lock."
Naruto then pricked his pinky toe as he placed it on the door's window, as the blood spread out as thinly as possible before it took on the shape of a circle divided in equal parts like a pie chart with each section holding a different glyph.
The mystic then started to move his fingers around in different hand seals as the blood symbol on the glass started spin around along with him after a minute or two the circle stopped spinning as the sigil on top of the chart started to glow orange right as the vehicle's door opened automatically.
"Got it!" Naruto shouted triumphantly as he hopped on one foot and tried to redress the other as he made his way over towards the passenger side.
"So what you keep some sort of hacking seal on your toe that lets you open doors?"
"…Yeah you just saw me do it…."
Artemis let out an annoyed grunt as she ran her hand down her face. "I was being sarcas….ah never mind so I'm guessing you want me to be the one who drives this thing?"
"Well I would except I don't have a license and I don't know how to drive." Naruto said as he got into the vehicle.
"Of course you don't." Artemis replied back as she got behind the wheel. Looking around the dashboard for the controls she warped her fingers around the vehicle's twin joystick controllers. "But what makes you think I know how to drive something like this?"
"Because Jade told me that the first time either of you drove it was in an assault vehicle like this one." Naruto placed on a straight face as he shook the true reason out of his head as he slid his hand on Artemis' shoulder and looked deep in her eyes. "Because I believe in you and….ah the power of friendship and stay golden Pony Boy…"
Artemis looked back at Naruto just as intensely before she brook out in a small laugh as she turned on the vehicle's ignition switch. "Ok Johnny, let's go catch us a mutated scientist.
Flee, fly, fast, forward, downward, dive, dip, dodge, evade, expand, explore, elevate, cry, circulate, capture, CRASH, bevel, balance, breach, bob, angulate, appear, absinthe, Abba.
Whatever trace amounts of sentient thoughts were running through Man-Bat's mind as he tried to run away as quickly as possible could only be identified as one word phrases. The fact that they were all forming together in two sets of unity just showed how impressive the now submissive human part of the artificially created chimera was.
But alas the creature was still a slave towards its animalistic instincts which was telling it to fly further and further away from the university as it took some sort of comfort in sailing beside the tall buildings that made up Gotham's Business District.
That is until Man-bat's latest sonic sweep picked up multiple bogeys heading right towards him. But with a quick dive the man made monster evaded just in time to miss several flares lighting up right on its face.
"Damn it we almost had him."
Panning all the way down to street level Naruto pounded his fist angrily on the dashboard of vehicle he and Artemis were using in hot pursuit of the Man-Bat.
With the silver tracking ring wedged right into the flaps of the central ac fan Artemis was able to use the magical G.P.S. to tail the flying creature as it was flying parallel to the roads, while Naruto tried his luck in pressing almost ever button he could find on the dash.
"Naruto knock it off with the flares already." Artemis demeaned as she quickly shifted into another lane thanking whatever all mighty being that might be looking down at them tonight as so far the streets had very few traffic. Unfortunately that couldn't be said for the sidewalks as the bright flares caught the attention of onlookers who pointed right at Man-Bat in all his glory wings and claws and all.
"We don't want anybody to call the cops or else you're going to be curing Dr. Langston's bleeding corpse from a sniper round."
Leaning forward to get a better look himself Naruto replied. "I don't think that'll be a problem his echolocation's keeps altering him of danger even before it gets to him, He's like Radar O'Reilly."
Naruto stopped and saw the very dry look Artemis' was giving him at that moment. "What?"
"Why can't you just use normal references and say his spider-sense is tingling?"
Now it was Naruto's turn to look at his partner in disarray. "What are you talking about He's a bat not a spider!"
Artemis focused back on the road and on the ring as she turned at an intersection and started to head east. "You know normally I'd call you out on that but I think the fact that I'm driving the Batmoblie in the heart of Gotham City easily over shadow's your inherit absurdity."
"…Driving the alleged Batmobile. There's still no proof that we stole that jerk's car."
"Jerk, what do you have some personal grudge against Batman? And I thought you said we were borrowing it?"
Naruto chose not to say anything at that point he just huffed and bloated his cheeks like a pouting child a bit as another button caught his eye. "I wonder what this one does?"
"Wait, Naruto stop that might be…."But Artemis caution fell on deaf ears since Naruto had just pressed it.
"Reconnaissance drone online" a female robotic voice spoke throughout the alleged Batmobile's sound system speakers just as the dashboard on Naruto's side shined out a blue light that took the form of a flat transparent video screen.
From the screen Naruto watched as it went from black to the perspective of the top of the vehicle if you were to look straight ahead. Next a black remote control that looked like it belonged to a video game system came out of the glove box.
Naruto took no hesitation in grabbing the controller as he started to mash the buttons around. "See I told you a college student made this car. I seriously doubt Batman would be cool enough to install a Sega Genesis into the Batmobile."
"Sega Genesis?" Artemis questioned with bravado. "Ok what year do you think this is in that anyone would install a Sega Genesis into anything?"
"I'm sorry have you never heard of Earthworm Jim?" Naruto looked back at the virtual screen not seeing Artemis' reaction face as the video feed started to show the video begin to tilt upwards and move forward Naruto could see from the windshield that a small black aerial drone in the shape of a large batarang shot out into the sky in which the video feed matched to perspective.
"Ok I'm now like ninety-nine percent sure that we're in an unpainted Batmobile." Naruto nodded as he started to control the drone around in the sky.
"Not that I knew that before." Naruto at that time spoke in a clear loud and articulate tone as his eyes darted around the car.
"Naruto pay attention!" Artemis shouted as she tried not to look away from her line of sight but pointed over towards Naruto's video screen. "Man-Bat dead ahead!"
Naruto looked back on the feed to see that the drone was trailing just a few feet away from the monster. "Ok so which button shoots out the net?" while fiddling around with the other control buttons the mystic pressed a button on the side that made the car speak again.
"Audio broadcast online."
A second later the now semi conformed Batmobile was filled with the sounds of a high pitched screeching.
"Oh crap what the hell!" Artemis shouted as her left eye started to twitch rapidly.
"It's his echolocation!" Naruto placed his hands on his ears to try to block off the sound, unfortunately Artemis could use the same move as she needed both hands on the wheel err driving controls. "On a normal sized bat it just sounds like a bunch of squeaking and chirping but with him it's like if the sounds of nails on a chalk board had a baby with the singing of a yodeler!"
"Isn't there some way we can jam his echolocation?" Artemis asked as she took a sharp swivel to evade another car.
"Well sometimes when two bats are after the same food like a moth or something. The bat that's more further away will send out it's echolocation at the same time as the closer bat it pretty much scrambles their senses until they fly away or crash!" Naruto shouted over Man-Bat's echolocation.
"Then it's a good thing we have a bat of our own!" Artemis still following the tracker ring and drone visual synced her next few turns perfectly all they while her eardrums were at the mercy of Man-Bat. "Naruto try to see if the drone has a recording function. If we copy Dr. Langstrom's we can broadcast his own soundwaves and use them to make him crash into one of the buildings!"
Even with the extremely uncomfortable noise Naruto managed to muster up a shocked comical facial expression. "But….but that sounds so mean!"
"NARUTO!"
"Ok, ok here goes nothing!" Naruto didn't start messing around with the drone's controller again, this time he looked towards the right side of the virtual screen to see a few icons highlighted indicating different functions. Raising a finger Naruto clicked on a circle Icon that had the words REC under it only to hear the care say.
"Function unavailable."
…Naruto pressed the button again and like before the Batmobile's voice over rang over Man-Bat's screams.
"Function unavailable."
Naruto grunted as he began pressing the button over and over again.
"Function unavailable. Function unavailable. Function unavailable. Function.. Function.. …." Naruto finally slowed down enough so as the last press was more of a norm causing the Batmobile to say one last. "Function Unavailable." Clear and undisrupted by itself.
"Naruto if that stupid button wasn't going to work the first time…" Artemis shouted out of both frustration and anger only for Naruto to scroll his finger all the way down to the corner of the screen and press a button in the shape of a megaphone.
"…What made you think it work the next….." Artemis' voiced dipped all the way down as she realized that the loud screeching musical stylings of Dr. Langstrom had disappeared completely.
"Well that didn't work." Naruto stated as he used his pinky finger to dig in his ears. "Good think there's a mute button."
Artemis mauled over but said nothing at Naruto previous actions as she grunted out. "Is there anything else that can interfere with a bat's sonar?"
"Hold on a second." Naruto reached over and started flipping through the pages of Allan Wayne's journal. "It says here that there is a species of moths that can jam a bat's sonar as a defense move."
"So what are you going to summon a swarm of moths like you did with that bull's head from that fight with Grundy?"
"No but when it comes to moth's I know a guy who works for a guy who's like way too into those little jacket eaters." Naruto reaching into his breast pocket and pulled out a black flip phone.
Using his thumb to open it up the mystic hit the speed dial and quickly held up the device to his ear. "Please be in Gotham; please be in Gotham oh hey Gary!" Naruto's voice picked up in a friendly manner but the look of anxiety was still on his face.
"Listen Gary I'm calling because…no I can't hang out right now…what no I'm working on a job right now…." Naruto paused for a second as he ran his hand down his face. "Gary I don't care if there's a Lord of the Ring's marathon on right now…because I think those movies are boring."
Artemis not able to hear the other end of the phone call was trying to understand what was going on right now as she looked at Naruto trying to drive and pay attention to the boy's call.
"It's like three hours long I don't know I guess in that genre I just like Willow better…no not the gay witch I'm talking about the movie Willow you know Warwick Davis…What yeah I know he played one of the space teddy bears from Star….ok I'm sorry ewok whatever I didn't call you to talk about movies I need a favor but it kind of depends if you guys are in Gotham."
In an unknown location in what looked like a circular royal throne room decorated in mauve and marigold a villain sat on his chair of power that was seated in the middle of the room and bellow his feet were a series of computers and work stations surrounds him that were being operated by a crew of loyal henchmen.
The henchmen all dressed in the same uniform of black body suits that covered everything but their faces under grey jerkins, shorts, gloves and boots with grey google masks in the shape of moth wings with blue tinted lenses all slumped in their chairs looking bored, were sleeping or just faking that they were working.
But one henchman who was more portly then the rest wasn't doing any of those things as his coworkers as he was busy at his workstation trying his best to hide the landline phone he was using.
"Ok hold on a second let me check." Covering the lower half of the phone the chubby henchman looked around before leaning over to his right whispering to his coworker who was holding his chin in an open palm in one hand and tapping his finger on his control panel away with the other.
"Pssst dude, dude!" Gary whispered trying to get his coworkers attention. "Are we back in Gotham City yet?"
Gary's coworker who was taller and skinner looked back at him with a raised brow and thanks to their expressive googles it showed on his masked face. "Why does your mom want you back in time for dinner?" he asked in a somewhat nasally voice but not in a sarcastic way but due to the fact that Gary's mom had used their work line to call him in the past.
"What no I'm talking to a friend of mine he wants to how long until we get back."
That statement alone peaked his coworker's interest. "What friend everyone you know is in here. Is it one of the guy's down in the engine room?"
"No he's not a henchman now are we done playing twenty questions or are you going to tell me, 34?"
"Ok, ok keep your tights on geez. Look we're still at the Legion sanctioned fueling station in Blüdhaven. Gotham's just across the bay alright." The henchman numbered as 34 stated as he pointed down at his monitor that showed the current energy levels of the flying fortress that they were in.
Gary uncovered the telephone as he spoke back to Naruto. "Yeah we're close by….no we weren't out arching the boss had to go to like secret circle of secrets meeting at the Legion of Doom headquarters…I don't know what it was about all the villains made us henchmen and technical support stay in the parking hanger so lame, so why are you calling again…"
But as Gary was chatting away the big chair that was fixated a few steps higher than the rest of the flight deck sinisterly spun around until the leader of this bunch of henchmen was looking right at Gary.
"Henchman 31!" a diabolical voice said out loud getting all the other henchmen to immediately to shape up as they all pretended to look busy now.
Gary swiveled his own chair around as he got up and saluted his boss with the corded telephone in his hand "Yes, my liege!" Gary shouted answering to his designated henchman number.
Rising from his throne wearing a black body suit with his muscular chest and shoulders covered in white fur material, razor sharp gauntlets with mounted wrist shooters, a back that held up a pair of expandable pale grey wings that had a hypnotic circular eye like design on them while styling a helmet cowl complete with an upgraded version of tinted googles and mechanized razor sharp teeth that moved to the contours of his facial expressions was the one the only Killer Moth.
"I still can't believe he got us to call him that." A random henchman said to another as he tried his best to whisper.
"Shhh It was the only way we could get him to buy a bumper pool table in the rec room." The other henchman whispered back.
Unfortunately the conversation was picked up by the mighty masked Lepidoptera as Killer Moth held up his wrist an aimed it at the first doubting henchman.
"Silence!" Killer Moth commanded as a dart fired out of his wrist and shot the henchman right in the forehead. "I won't have my authority questioned by the likes of any of you sorry excuses of slacked jawed worker drones!"
"You!" K.M. then pointed over to one of the henchman guarding the right side of his chair. "Take henchman…."
Killer Moth paused as a silky feminine voice spoke from the sideline said. "47"
"….Henchman 47 to the chamber of a thousand torments! There I want 47 to sufferer torments seven to Nine hundred and ninety nine, but make sure Henchman 40 administers torment seventy four he's the only one who knows how to work the power hose."
"Yes Killer Moth!" the loyal henchman saluted as he went over and picked up Henchman 47 by the shoulders and slowly dragged his dead weighted form out of the throne room.
As soon as the powered doors closed Killer Moth set his sight back on Gary. "Now Henchman 31 what were the rules again about making personal calls during work hours!"
"Wait a second before you kill me….or put my feet in a tank of mutated lobsters you should know that this is totally a business call." Gary said frantically as he waved his arms about.
Sitting back down on his throne Killer Moth squeezed the arm rest of his chair before he interlocked his hands and held them up, menacingly. "Oh then like then by all means 31 tell me who you have on the other end of that call so that they too can suffer my wrath if your following words displeases my peaked interest in any way."
Gary having been a seasoned henchman was under the impression that after all the closes times he was close to biting a bullet and coming unscratched from great falls that he really had no reactions to Killer Moth's threats as he went ahead and said. "Ok so get this a friend of mine just called me about a Batman sighting. Apparently the Dark Knight's out right now flying all over Gotham's business district testing out some sort of realistic looking bat flight suit."
"Really?" the did peak Killer Moth's interests as the gears in his head started to turn. "Yes, yes I see no dubitably our beloved Caped Crusader has chosen to embrace his animal persona a bit more strongly now. He's using some sort of guidance system based on a bat's sonar capability."
"Echo location." The same silky voice from before spoke up causing Killer Moth the focus his attention towards her.
Sitting at a desk more elegant and tastefully decorated then the henchmen a long ebony haired woman with ivory skin wearing a dark evening dress paused her work as her ruby eyes glazed deeply into Killer Moth's. "Sonar's essentially radar detection used in an underwater 360 degree environment bat's use echoes to locate their intended targets in front of them, hear the difference." The beautiful woman went back to work and chuckled to herself from her play on words.
"Lady Nocturna!" Killer Moth said dramatically as he rose from his seat once again. "If I told you once I've told you a thousand times never correct me in front of my minions!"
Nocturna didn't cower in fear like most would in her situation. Instead she just glared right back silently at Killer Moth.
"But back to the matter at hand if what this friend of yours says is true then Batman won't be expecting a surprise attack during his little field test."
Killer Moth then shook his closed hands back and forth in excitement like a school child about to visit his favorite pizza casino. "Oh man I could really get in some good arching out of tonight I need it after the day I've had."
To add to his stress the villain placed his hands on his lower sides and stretched out his back just before striking a dramatic pose and shouting at the top of his lungs. "Minions set a course for Gotham City at once!"
"Ahhh we're still refueling." The Henchman 34 said as he swiveled his chair around and raised his hand as if he were in high school. "Did you want to us to stop or…"
Killer Moth dropped his pose as he asked. "Well how much power do we have right now?"
Turning around to check his screen Henchman 34 answered. "Enough for us to get to Gotham, not enough to get back to Niagara Falls."
"What oh damn it!" Killer Moth stomped his foot as he cried out. "But I want to kick Batman's ass now this is totally the best time to kick Batman's ass!"
"Wait hold on a second boss!" Henchman 34 typed a few more commands as he double checked his work. "If we stop at the Legion of Doom station in New York after we arch Batman we should have enough power to make it back to our home doc."
Killer Moth scratched his metal chin for a second. "Wait to show some initiative you idiots could learn a lot from number 34." He said addressing the other henchman who all too busy paying attention to their boss to scowled at 34 who collapsed his shoulders in isolation.
Once again taking his seat Killer Moth turned to the lady in black beside him. "Lady Nocturna cut the fuel line and set a course to…..31 were did you're source say they saw Batman again?"
"…..The business district."
"Yes to the business district!" Killer Moth waited for a couple of seconds starting at the giant video monitor the size of a movie theater screen but saw that his ship wasn't moving at all. "Nocturna I gave you an order!"
Nocturnal refused to look at Killer Moth as she got up and threw her head up in anger. "Do it yourself Mr. Big Pants."
Killer Moth looked back at Nocturna in silent annoyance as he tapped his fingers along his chair as he turned his head away and folded his arms. "I'm sorry from before ok…..are you happy."
Nocturna used a finger to start up the launch sequence as the whole command deck started to shack and 34 could see on his panel that the power cord was severed. "There we're launching right now." Nocturnal said not bothering to turn around.
The command room was silent for a few more seconds until Henchman 31 who was looking back and forth between his boss and the boss's number two asked out loud. "Are you two fighting?"
Killer Moth and Nocturna faced each other before addressing 34 in unison. "Get back to work!"
Back down on the mean streets of Gotham Artemis and Naruto were still in the Batmobile still trailing Man Bat who was actually doing laps around all the tall skyscrapers.
"Ok Gary said Killer Moth's command ship should be here in about two minutes." Naruto stated as he closed his phone and placed it back in his pocket. "If he's super obsessed with moth's like any other themed villain then he probably has a gadget or something that can mimic the echo location jamming abilities of a tiger moth."
Artemis stayed silent during the call but finally spoke up as something had been bothering her for a while. "I still can't believe that your friends with a supervillains henchman." She said as she flexed her fingers on the steering wheel. "I mean I know you're not exactly a superhero but don't you find it weird to have any kind of….positive connection to a criminal?"
Naruto dipped his head down with his arms folded, the expression of his face held the steady gaze of a philosopher contemplating the duality of good and evil, right and wrong, Led Zeppelin and Taylor Swift. Only to snap his head right up look at Artemis and smile. "Not really. I mean Gary might be a bad guy but he's not a bad guy. If that makes any sense besides I'm mostly fighting ghosts, zombies, demons, or pirate zombie ghosts compared to that Killer Moth's just an annoying loud jackass in a stupid costume he's harmless."
"…..Didn't he once capture Robin and broadcasted the Boy Wonder slowly being encased to death from a pair of robotic silk spinning caterpillars?"
Naruto went silent for a second before saying back. "Yeah… well that's on Batman….its not my fault he's a bad parent besides it's not like that happened to us so…."
In that moment all the cars that were ahead of the stolen borrowed Batmobile stopped immediately as the sound of a loud engine humming, gust of wind blowing all the street litter and a long shadow casting over everything on the ground as a large vertical shaped object descended down from the sky and hovered between the skyscrapers stabilizing at a mid-level.
"What the hell is that?" Artemis asked in a monotone voice.
"Oh yeah I guess you've never seen Killer Moth's command ship. He usually rides the Mothmobile while he's arching but it looks like he's pulling out the big guns for tonight."
Artemis couldn't keep her eyes off the hovering ship with a duel glance "So in this case the big gun is a giant pine cone?"
"It's supposed to be a giant cocoon." Naruto said.
Back sky side the lower hanger of the cocoon opened up as Killer Moth stood at the edge, his wings spread open as he took a big whiff of the warm summer air.
"Smell that boys it smells like dead bat meat." Killer Moth let out an unholy laugh as his henchmen were busy rolling around dog sized metal cages that they lined up evenly in front of the opened hanger.
"Are my precious little angels in position?" Killer Moth asked as he addressed the henchman who was holding a controller connected to all the cages.
"Oh sure boss we're ready!" the henchman said with a cheery voice.
"What? I wasn't talking about you schmucks!" Killer Moth yelled making the henchman jump back.
Killer Moth then knelled down and hugged the side of one of the cages. "I was talking about the sweet little angels from daddy's lab yes I did." the creature inside the cage started to bash around the cramped space as a slew of acidic slobber splashed out of the cage causing the spit up to sizzle the second it touched a physical surface. "Oh looks like my boys are hungry tonight!"
"Well yeah we were stuck in a parking garage all day." The same henchman as before said. "It's not like there's a food court in there."
Killer Moth just looked back at the henchman as he just shot a dart right at the man's jugular, ignoring him when the underling foamed at the mouth and flopped on the ground.
Almost immediately another henchman grabbed the controller from his fallen coworker as Killer Moth got up and spotted a flying object flapping over yonder. "There you are my old foe."
As if on que Man-Bat let out another high pitched wale as it used its voice to guild itself in the night.
"Yes! Cry Havoc, and let slip the moths of war!"
On his leaders command the henchman pressed a button the opened the cages letting a swarm of giant sized mutated tiger moths the swoop into the city sky and make a bee line right towards Man-Bat.
"Yes, yes ha ha ha ha!"
"Hey wait a minute I thought it was hogs of war?"
Killer Moth stopped laughing as he looked at the one of the henchman who was moving the cages.
"Oh yeah you mean that old PlayStation game were you control and flop the pig or something."
"I thought it was a quote from that movie Animal Farm?"
"Oh yeah I think I saw that wasn't it a sequel to Animal House."
"Oh no you're both way off it's a quote from Babe 2: Pig in the City!"
Killer Moth looked at his henchmen and then at his wrist shooter and grunted out. "I knew I should have gotten the model with a bigger carousel."
"What the hell is this?!" Naruto watched via the batarang shaped drone as the mutated moths were heading for Dr. Langstrom. "I didn't want them to kill him."
Artemis tried to hold her tongue but it wasn't really her style. "I'd hate to say I told you so but this is what we get for relying on villains. They can't be trusted not a single one of them."
Naruto actually managed hold back a verbal comment as he grunted out and started to punch every button with gusto then before. "He's got to have it come on damn it!"
"What are you doing now?"
"Come Artemis think about it the car, the gadgets, the suits and the fact that he's a total man hussy behind the cape and the cowl and all Batman is a James Bond fan boy." Naruto ran his hands over the batmobile's parking break opening a secret compartment that held a shiny red button. "And what fan boy of 007 doesn't have an ejector seat!"
"What a second Naruto maybe you should thing about….." before Artemis could finish speaking the roof of the batmobile blew open and driver's seat started vibrate as the smell of burning rubber started coming out of it. But instead of getting angry or scared Artemis looked up at Naruto with a dry look. "…Just for the record If I survive this I'm seriously going to rethink this partnershippppppppppppp!"
The chair took off like a bottle rocket with Artemis strapped along with it. The Archer saw a control stick pop out of the seat which she grabbed and managed to control the direction the chair was flying in.
"That's good Artemis keep it steady!"
The Archer looked over her shoulder to see Naruto Uzumaki sticking to the back of the chair crouched down as his hair and necktie dangled from the acceleration. "What did you think I'd let you go into this Mexican standoff alone, Partner?"
Artemis just smiled somehow get adrenaline pumping through her blood kept her from getting mad in this situation as she pulled out the jet injector, twirling it in her hand like a revolver. "Alright let's see who wins Man-Bat, the swarm of giant moths, or us!"
"An eclipse!" Naruto unbuttoned the bottom of his dress shirt as he exposed his stomach as the spiral sun appeared around his belly button.
"What?"
"A group of moths is called an eclipse!"
AN: I posted a poll on my profile page check it out if you're also Marvel/Naruto fans. I'm in Texas right now and the whole central time's messing up my internal clock I miss my beloved California so much but my hotel room's got a kick as a/c unit so I'm conflicted.
