My thanks to Stargaze29 and Methos2523 for their kind words of encouragement.
Batman & Benson 7
Chapter Ten
The Bat creature let out a horrendous screech as it dived down right at Batman. But the Dark Knight ignored what was so obviously a scare tactic on the monster's part and kept himself calm as he quickly analyzed the situation.
In the few seconds that it took for the Bat creature to dive down at him, Batman had sized up his opponent, and realized that it was about to rip him to shreds with the razor-sharp talons on its feet. And so Batman did the most logical thing he could do.
He ducked down, as if cringing in fear. This immediately emboldened the creature, as it dived down further for what would surely be a killing blow. Yet by making it dive lower in its attack vector, Batman had caused the creature to make a fatal mistake.
It was now completely within reach of Batman's grasp.
Just when it was right on top of him, Batman reached up at the last minute and grabbed both of the creature's feet, catching it in mid flight. The monster let out a petulant roar, as it now backed up and flapped its wings harder in an attempt to lift Batman up into the night sky.
But Batman instead pulled down as hard as he could, using all of his weight, and he brought the flailing monster down to the roof with a satisfying crunch. The creature's head actually bounced off of the hard asphalt.
Not giving it a moment to rally itself, Batman then stood up and bashed the monster in the face with a solid kick. He moved in to kick it again, but the creature forcefully shoved him backward with a sweep of one of its wings. Batman had collided into a skylight. The steel mesh cage over the glass had prevented him from crashing through to the floor below.
The creature let out another wild roar as it flung itself at the Batman.
Batman was grateful for having chosen to wear the armored Batsuit this evening, for he felt several slashes by the creature on his armored body as they were both joined in a bizarre embrace.
Staring face to face with the monster, whose vile breath washed all over him, Batman suspicions were confirmed that this was nothing more than an animal. Trying to get it to talk would be a waste of time. He would have to resort to a more primal tactic.
The creature was momentarily stunned when Batman landed a vicious punch right across its ugly face. Batman punched it again, startling the monster backwards just enough for the Dark Knight to kick it in the stomach.
The monster then glared at Batman and let loose a roar that was filled with rage.
"You're not fighting a little girl this time, Skippy," Batman snarled. "You want a brawl?" He raised out his arms. "COME AND GET IT!"
The incensed monster flung itself at the Batman.
Just as the Batman attacked with a full-on combat charge.
They collided and fell to the roof in a tangle of fists and fur.
B&B
The Sky-Ten news helicopter had been airborne for nearly an hour over Gotham City. It's normal job was to provide rush hour coverage of the highways and streets for the tens of thousands of people who commuted into this major urban center for work on a daily basis. But it was airborne several hours early tonight.
Since the Bat creature attacks had begun, the "sky team" had been further tasked with finding the monster and hopefully capturing it on video. This was a job that was met with a great deal of nervousness on the part of Lewis, the "sky team" producer, who saw this new task of finding the Bat creature akin to going for a swim in shark-infested waters.
Yet night after night, they went up and encountered nothing. The lack of any Bat creature sightings made Lewis wonder if the big flying bastard was nothing more than an urban myth; just Gotham City's answer to Bigfoot.
And so it was with a great deal of disbelief when Lewis glanced down at the Vermeer Building and saw what oddly looked like the Bat creature hugging somebody. Then Lewis flinched when he saw the monster get punched in the face by none other than the Batman himself. And there was only one thing that Lewis could say to this sight.
"HOLY SHIT!"
"What?" Teddy, his pilot, said in a panic. "What the hell's wrong?"
"Starboard!" Lewis screeched at him. "Look starboard, at the roof of the Vermeer building, now!"
"Sweet Jesus," Teddy whispered, once he saw the full-on battle below them. "Switching on cameras, now."
Lewis nodded in satisfaction when he saw the fight on the console monitors. "Keep this bitch hovering right over them!"
"Like I would do anything else," Teddy said. He shook his head and let out a low whistle at the ferocious brawl below them. "Jesus, I've seen some weird shit while flying in the Army, but this really takes the cake!"
"This'll get us an Emmy for sure!" Lewis excitedly said, as he called the station to let them know they had to go live on the air right now.
B&B
"There we are," Holly said, as she poured Selena another cup of tea.
Selena smiled at the extra sweet manner in which her good friend and ally had treated her. Ever since Selena had returned, licking her wounds at almost having been the play toy in the psycho-sexual bed games between Harley and Ivy, Holly had gone into full Florence Nightingale mode.
Holly had insisted on running her a hot bath, but Selena declined, instead settling in for a quiet evening at home in just her kimono. Holly then served her tea and cookies as she listened sympathetically to Selena's tale of woe.
"It's this damned city," Holly said, once Selena was finished. "Every time we try to pull a job here, something bad happens. I was kidnapped last time; this time, it was your turn. We should just write off the damned diamonds, pack our packs and hightail it out of here."
"Maybe you're right," Selena admitted with a sigh. "Gotham City's become really weird, lately."
Holly just gave her an annoyed look. "What do you mean, it's 'become weird'? It's always been a weird place, Selena. It's bad enough Batman's always lurking around, breathing down our necks. But, with that Bat creature now flying around, this place has become a real freak show!"
'The Bat creature,' Selena thought with anger. It seemed her misfortunes in Gotham City started on that first night, when the Bat creature attacked her on that rooftop. 'Oh, never mind,' Selena thought, as she took a deep breath to relax herself. 'No sense crying over spilt milk….'
A despondent Selena was about to call it a night just then when something on Holly's laptop caught her eye. 'Speak of the devils,' she thought, as she watched footage of Batman fighting the Bat creature. 'There they both are!'
"Is that live?" Selena asked, as she grabbed Holly's laptop and enlarged the image. Sure enough, it was a live feed from the local news affiliate. This battle was happening right now, right on top of the Vermeer building. "Son of a bitch, that's right down the block…."
"Selena, wait, where are you going?" Holly said with a moan. "I thought we were leaving Gotham City!"
"We are," Selena called, as she stood in the bedroom. She stripped off the kimono and put the Catwoman suit back on. "Right after I give the Batman a hand with that Bat monster thing."
"Oh, come on, Selena!" Holly whined. She stood in the doorway of the bedroom. "When are you going to realize that you're not some kind of a superhero?"
"Batman saved my life tonight, so I owe him big," Selena told her. "Besides, that Bat creature prevented me from getting the diamonds when it attacked me for no good reason. So, if nothing else, I owe that rat-faced scumbag a good beating!"
B&B
Alex nervously waited for news in the Special Victims Unit bullpen beside Rachel, Lana and Elliot. They sat in the waiting area, a space normally reserved for people waiting to speak with a detective. As they scanned the news on the TV, Alex was puzzled when she saw J'onn take a seat with them. J'onn didn't sit facing them, instead he sat facing the crowd of police who were busy working their leads in the bullpen.
"He's my personal bodyguard," Rachel whispered to Alex. "He and Katie stopped Clayface from attacking me earlier today. And when I asked why he wasn't working with the other detectives, J'onn told me Liv ordered him to keep watch over me. Apparently, he has an ability at spotting shape shifters, being one himself."
"Clayface attacked you today?" Alex asked with horror. "Jesus, Rachel, why didn't you say something?"
"Given what has happened since." Rachel gestured at a photo of the missing Barbra Gordon that appeared on the TV.
"My problems are small potatoes. Besides, between J'onn and my own security, I'm well protected."
When Elliot abruptly glanced over at them, they both stopped talking. "Just shop talk," Alex informed him.
"Eh, you lawyers," Elliot jokingly said. "How you can still talk shop while the world is coming to an end is beyond-"
"THEY'RE FIGHTING!" Katie screamed, as she frantically ran into the SVU bullpen. She had left to use the rest room. Now she held up her iPhone and pointed at it. "Batman and the Bat creature! They're fighting on the Vermeer Building! Switch to Eye On Goth News!"
Gordon and the cadre of detectives switched over to Eye On Goth News on the main monitors, while Alex did the same with the smaller TV in their private cubbyhole. Her eyes grew fearfully wide behind her glasses as she watched the brutal battle between the Batman and the Bat monster. The fight was atop the Vermeer Building, and it was being covered by a news helicopter.
"I was just searching for any news about Batman on my phone," Katie said. "And the results came up with this!"
"It must have just started," J'onn said.
"OH!" Elliot shouted, as they watched Batman deliver what should have been a knock-out blow right to the face of the monster. The creature let out an angry roar as it clawed Batman in the chest. The Batman then kicked it away from him. There was a brief pause, as the unnatural combatants warily circled each other, then they resumed their intense battle once more.
"I need to speak with you!" Rachel suddenly said to J'onn.
Alex got up and followed them as they went into Olivia's unused office. The bullpen kept erupting with uproarious cheers from the assembly of cops every time they watched Batman land a punch to the creature.
The only people who watched the fight solemnly were Jim Gordon and his wife, who stood clutching each other pensively.
"Is Barbra there?" Jim's wife pleaded. "Do you see her?"
Jim comforted her as best he could. But the truth was, Alex couldn't see where Barbra was in the images being shown. She hoped Barbra was nearby, and that this fight, as savage as it was, would lead to her being rescued.
Alex heard Rachel shouting at the top of her lungs from Olivia's office, which had its door left ajar. She entered and closed the door behind her, checking the blinds in the windows, satisfied that they were all drawn. They now had complete privacy.
"Inspector Benson's orders were quite explicit," J'onn said. "She wanted me to remain here and protect you."
"I am the District Attorney!" Rachel cried at J'onn. "I am ordering you to go and help the Batman!"
"I must respectfully refuse your order," J'onn said calmly. "You may punish me as you see fit, of course. But, until the danger to you from Clayface is over, I am staying here with you."
Rachel burst into tears. "They say you're more powerful than even Superman! You could stop this fight! But you won't! You won't even lift a finger to help Batman!"
"I am helping Batman," J'onn said softly, "by protecting you."
Rachel just shook her head and cried into her hands.
Alex came over and hugged Rachel tightly. "I can't watch, Alex," Rachel sobbed into her shoulder. "I can't watch him fighting that monster! I hate seeing him get hurt!"
"I know," Alex said in a soothing tone. "Let's just stay here for a while, ok?"
Rachel shook her head as she gently broke their hug. "No, it's all right. I'm fine, now. I really should be out there for the Gordons, in case they need me." She appeared to compose herself as she wiped her tears with a tissue given to her by J'onn. "Thank you. Oh, and Detective? I apologize for my outburst."
"No need to, ma'am," he said. "I understand."
When they emerged into the bullpen with a newly fortified Rachel, the battle was still going on the screens, and the multitudes of cops were still cheering on the Batman like they were all watching a football game.
Elliot came up to her and said, "Can we talk? Alone?"
Alex just nodded in puzzlement as she led him back into Olivia's empty office.
Once he shut the door, Elliot said, "Where's Liv?"
"What do you mean? You know where she is, she's off helping the Batman."
"I see the Batman beating the shit out of that monster, and more power to him," Elliot said. "But I don't see Liv anywhere nearby. I don't like it. Where is she?"
"Actually, the fact that you can't see Liv is good, Elliot!" Alex said. "I hope she's nowhere near that battle!"
"So she's just helping him on the sidelines?" Elliot asked. "I mean, it's not like she's dressing up in a weird costume, and running around, fighting crime with him, right?"
Alex momentarily had an image of Olivia in her Huntress outfit, and that caused her to hesitate slightly in her response.
Yet that was all Elliot needed. "Dear God, Alex," he said in a shocked whisper. "Don't you dare tell me that she's actually running out on the streets with him, personally fighting Batman's crazy war on crime!"
A flash of anger ignited within Alex just then. "I'm just as worried sick about her as you are right now, trust me. But it's not a crazy war that Batman is fighting here. He's been trying to save Gotham City by pulling it back from the abyss that it's been sliding into. It's not easy. And he's not the only one who's fighting this war, we all are in our own way. That includes Liv and me."
Elliot shook his head with amazement. "If Liv has a tip that could lead to this kid being rescued, why not work it through her own SVU squad?"
"Because getting this tip requires that she do something illegal. And it's best if she worked uncover for now."
"I don't believe this!"
"You don't believe what, Elliot?"
"The lengths that you people would go, just to save this cesspool of a city! You're going far beyond the pale of what's legal, risking your careers, your very lives? You're now working in open defiance of the government, Alex! All for what?"
"I recently helped a family named the Powells," Alex said quietly. "They came to Gotham City with their two kids, seeking sanctuary, because they were being hunted like animals by the OHMR. They all have powers, Elliot. They gained them through a freak accident in the Amazon jungle, where their plane crashed. They didn't ask to be super powered. And they sure as hell didn't want to flee from their home in California like fugitives. But that was the card that was dealt them.
"What am I risking my life and career for, Elliot?" Alex continued. "It's for people like the Powells, who have done nothing wrong, but who are being hunted simply because some asshole somewhere decides that metas are evil people."
"But Batman has now sucked you and Liv into a far larger battle," Elliot said.
"It's the same battle, Elliot. Batman has always been about fighting evil, no matter what shape it takes or what mask it hides behind. And he's inspired so many other decent people here in Gotham City to do the same. We didn't stop fighting when Cadmus came after us, and we're as sure as hell not going to stop now."
"But it's a lost cause, Alex! Both you and Liv are throwing your lives away on a lost cause!"
Alex just shook her head sadly. "Look, I'm really sorry you had to shoot that girl, Elliot. I truly am. But she was shooting up the SVU, she just killed Sister Peg; have you ever considered how many more lives you probably saved when you did shoot her?"
He angrily pointed at her. "That has nothing to do with anything, here!"
"Bullshit!" Alex shouted back at him. "You may have given up on yourself and the rest of the world because you had to shoot that little girl, but there's another little girl out there right now who needs our help! So, by all means, stay here and drown in your bitterness all you want, but I'm going out to see what I can do to help Barbra Gordon…just like what Batman and Olivia are doing this instant. Now, if you'll excuse me."
She left Elliot standing alone in the office, staring broodingly at the floor.
B&B
Robin had pulled the Tumbler into an alleyway by the side of STAR Labs. Once he turned off the engine and popped the cockpit roof, Chloe let out a sigh as she said, "Here we go again."
Olivia glanced at her with concern. "You ok?"
Chloe nodded. Clad in a completely black outfit with a black, pull-down hat, she gave Olivia and Robin one a nervous smile. "This was where Batman parked when we last stormed this place. I keep breaking in here so many times, they ought to just give me a key."
"Stay close to Huntress the whole time," Robin told her.
When he glanced questioningly at Olivia, she nodded. "I got her back, Robin. We ready?"
"Blocker discs on?" Robin asked.
"Check," Olivia said with a glance at the disc on her belt.
"Yep, mine's running," Chloe confirmed.
"Then let me open the door for you guys," Robin said, as he fired a grapple line up to the third floor of the STAR Labs building. Once there, he gained access inside through a ventilation grate.
"C'mon, we should be right outside waiting when he opens it," Olivia told Chloe.
They climbed out of the Tumbler, which automatically sealed itself up, and ran over to the large metal door. Olivia glanced up at the security camera that peered down at them and hoped that these blocker discs still worked. They should be, because their own comms were down thanks to the wide spread jamming.
When the door opened, Olivia instinctively placed her hand on the baton in the holster on her hip, just in case it was somebody other than Robin.
But she and Chloe were relieved to see that it was Robin after all.
"Place looks deserted," he said, as they entered the building. "I think we can risk taking the elevator."
Once they got into the elevator, Olivia hit the button for the top floor, which was where the office of Dr. Neville Charger was located. Francine had told Chloe and Lana that any top secret files concerning STAR Labs would be kept in the administrator's safe in his office. Francine had even given them the code word that would unlock the safe, yet she warned that this code may well have been changed in the time that she had been driven into hiding.
"What if we get an unwanted reception when the doors open?" Chloe nervously asked as they rode up in the elevator.
"Leave them to me," Robin said. "Hopefully, we'll be in and out before anybody notices anything."
Olivia pointed at the surveillance camera in the elevator. "The security office will notice these cameras are out. That might sound the alarm."
"One problem at a time, Huntress." Robin gave Chloe a double take. "Too bad you don't have a mask…."
When Olivia stared at Chloe's hat, which hugged the top of her head, something occurred to her. "Alfred packed that hat, too, didn't he?"
Chloe nodded. "Yes. And it fits perfectly. Why?"
"Pull it down over your face," Olivia told her.
"But then I won't see!"
"Just do it, please, Chloe."
Chloe pulled down the hat over her face, and she let out an excited squeak at the pair of eye holes that had been expertly cut out for her to see. "This is so amazing! I have a mask!"
"God bless you, Alfred," Olivia murmured with a smile. "Always thinking of every last detail…."
"Here we go," Robin said, when the elevator slowed to a halt.
Olivia braced herself for anything when the doors opened with a binging sound. Yet there was nothing there. Robin entered the hallway and made a visual sweep. Then he nodded and gestured for the women to come out.
It was a simple matter of finding Charger's office, for it was the largest, most elaborate one on the administrative floor.
"You two go in," Robin told them. "I'll keep watch out here."
Olivia was about to ask if he could use back up, but she realized there was no time to dawdle. Every wasted moment was another moment that poor Barbra remained in the hands of her captor. The safe was located under a small table that stood up against the wall behind Charger's desk.
Chloe started taking out her tablet computer in an effort to break the lock when Olivia stopped her. "Wait, let's just try the password, first."
Nodding, Chloe bent down and typed in the password that Francine gave them: Araxes. To her surprise, the safe door swung open, exposing several paper files and one flash drive.
"The dopey bastard never changed the password," Olivia muttered in amusement. "Hell, even I change the password on my laptop every few months or so…."
Chloe pulled out the items and placed them on the desk, which was loaded with a large collection of action figures. 'The new guy running STAR Labs is a major geek,' Olivia thought, as she thumbed through the physical folders. There was nothing in the folders that pertained to any experimental bat program. "Can't find anything here," she said. "It's just financial reports for the overall facility."
"Maybe what we want will be on the digital files," Chloe replied. She was busy loading the contents of the flash drive onto her tablet. "I hope!"
Robin entered the office. "We may have company coming. How's it going?"
"Found a flash drive in the safe," Chloe told him. "Downloading it now."
Robin looked impressed. "Great news! I thought you'd still be trying to crack the safe open."
"Charger never changed the damn password," an incredulous Olivia said. "In this day and age, you'd think he'd be a little more security-minded, you know?"
"Huntress, stop acting like a cop for five minutes, ok?" Robin said with exasperation. "I mean, we are here illegally, remember?"
"Uh, yeah, sorry," Olivia sheepishly said. "Can't help it…."
"There's someone coming up one of the elevators," Robin reported. "It might just be a regular security sweep, or they might be coming to check on the faulty cameras up here. How long do we have on the download?"
"Done now," Chloe said, as she closed down her tablet and placed everything back into the safe.
"Then let's go," Robin said, "down the steps."
They entered the stairwell just as Olivia heard the elevator doors ding. They flew down the steps, all the way to the bottom, until Robin stopped them with a wave of his hand. After he warily checked outside the door, he waved them onward.
Olivia let out a sigh of relief once they were back inside the Tumbler. Robin sealed up the cockpit and revved up the engine just as the side door to STAR Labs flew open. Olivia cheerily waved at the angry security guards, knowing full well that they could not see her through the opaque thick glass of the Tumbler.
Chloe sat looking over the data she had downloaded on her tablet computer. Olivia smiled when she saw Chloe still had her black mask down over her face, which gave her the extremely weird look of a petite executioner who sat with her knees up to her chest, checking messages on her computer.
"Uh, yeah, thanks," Chloe said absently, as Olivia pulled the mask off of her head in one movement. Chloe was still transfixed on the screen. "I got something! There's a folder here regarding a program that was begun at STAR Labs called Night Flier."
"That has to be it," Robin said.
When Chloe opened the folder, and did a quick read, she shook her head dismally. "The program was started at STAR Labs. But then it was moved to what they called 'Site B'."
"Great," Olivia said. "Where's this Site B?"
"It doesn't say," Chloe said. She double-checked the files, then shook her head again. "There's no other mention of it anywhere. But there's still plenty in there about how the program got started, and how Dr. Kirkland is being used a lab rat. It says that he's being held at this Site B. I just wish they'd tell us where it is!"
"Can I have a look?" Olivia asked.
When Chloe handed her the tablet, Olivia speed-read over the Night Flier file as quickly as she could. There was one term that stuck out like a sore thumb. "The Suicide Squad?"
Robin glanced sharply at her. "What's that?"
As Olivia read that section of the file in detail, a chill began to climb up her spine. "It says here that the Suicide Squad was a group of soldiers who each volunteered to be turned into the Bat creature! They were called the Suicide Squad because of the extremely dangerous nature of the tests! Jesus, what the hell were these guys trying to do, create an army of these monsters? That's a scary thought!"
"I've got an even scarier thought, Liv," Robin solemnly said.
"What could that possibly be?"
"What if they succeeded?"
The somber silence in the Tumbler that followed was interrupted by an anxious Chloe, who fearfully said, "Um, can we just go home now? Because I just want to spend the rest of the night hiding under the covers…."
"Wait a minute," Olivia said, as she consulted Chloe's tablet computer once more. An idea had occurred to her. It was a long shot, but what the hell….
"What?" Robin tersely asked.
"I'm just checking up on more references to this Suicide Squad," Olivia muttered. She shook her head when she fumbled at the tablet computer, which had an operating system she was unused to. "Damn it, you kids today and your weird computers…."
"Here, allow me," Chloe offered. She took the tablet from Olivia. "What do you need?"
"A search for the term 'Suicide Squad', " Olivia replied. "Try and find a base, or a hideout that they might be using."
"That would also be where they're running this Night Flier project!" Robin said with a nod. "Liv, you're a genius!"
"Don't thank me yet," Olivia told him.
"No, you can thank her," Chloe cut in, as she smiled down at her computer. "Neville Charger's own notes say here that the Suicide Squad is based in a warehouse just outside Gotham City limits, in Willow Hills. I even have the full address."
"It might still be a dead end," Olivia warned.
"Which is why we're going to go check it out right now," Robin said. He pulled the Tumbler into a tight turn and took River View Drive, which would take them directly to the Willow Hills area. "You want to let Batman know what we've found, Huntress?"
As Olivia started to call the Dark Knight over the comm, Chloe just switched off her tablet and cheerfully said, "So much for spending a night hiding under the covers. Just as well…wouldn't want to miss all the fun, anyway!"
B&B
The Bat creature charged Batman once more, but the Dark Knight was ready for this assault. The creature, being simple-minded, was very predictable in its combat tactics. Once it attacked, Batman sidestepped it, and as the monster swept past him, he bashed it on the head with both fists clenched together.
This sent the monster straight to the roof once more, and it momentarily lay there, dazed. Batman took this moment to grab a homing beacon from his utility belt. When he clamped it onto the tip of one of the creature's leathery wings, the monster stirred up in an agitated mood once more.
Yet instead of attacking Batman again, the Bat creature took flight into the night sky, heading west.
"Good boy," Batman muttered, as he ran towards the parked prowler. "Run along home, and show me exactly where you live."
Once he was back in the pilot's seat, Batman sealed up the Prowler and took flight, following the homing beacon that he had placed on the monster. It was still headed west, in a direct line out of the city.
Huntress came on the comm, and she informed him of a possible site where a STAR Labs project called Night Flier might be set up: at a warehouse in the Willow Hills district. She said they were headed over there to check it out.
"I placed a homing beacon on our flying friend," Batman told her. "He's leading me pretty much on a direct route to the Willow Hills area right now."
"If we should run into each other, then we'll know for sure that that's the place," Huntress said.
"Once you get confirmation, call Jim Gordon immediately," Batman ordered. "Let him know the address. Don't wait for me."
"Got it. One other thing," Huntress added, "we found this place in the info regarding a group of soldiers called the Suicide Squad. Apparently they were so named because they all volunteered to be turned into this creature! Just thought I should give you a heads up."
"I'm expecting to meet a lot more than just the creature when I arrive," Batman said. "But thanks anyway, Huntress. Hope to see you soon."
After the call ended, Batman nursed some pretty dark musings over why a man would allow himself to be turned into this creature. He understood that the monster he had been fighting was a scientist named Kirkland who had undergone the trasformation out of sheer desperation, which he could almost understand. Having Waller looming over you with her veiled threats would be enough to drive any rational man to do irrational things.
But to actually volunteer to be turned into this monster required a pretty hard core mindset. Batman had suspected that many of the die-hard fanatics in Cadmus who were responsible for the Meta prison camp horrors had escaped justice. And the very existence of a project like Night Flier only proved that these fanatics were not only still active, but were operating under the protection of some very powerful people in the government.
When Batman arrived at an unlit warehouse complex on a dead end street in Willow Hills, he just knew it was the place. Sure enough, he saw the Bat creature fly into an opening in the upper part of the wall that instantly sealed itself up a moment later.
Infra-red showed no warm bodies outside, but there would be plenty of surveilance equipment. Switching on his blocker disc, he commanded the Prowler to hover off the deck at six feet behind the cover of the nearby woods. He opened the cockpit and was about to jump out when a sudden movement on the hull of the Prowler caught his attention.
He was stunned to see that it was Catwoman. She let out a sigh as she released her whip from the rear vertical tail. "You ought to have more hooks or handles on this thing," she told him. "You realize how hard it was for me to hold on? And you were flying pretty high, too!"
"What the hell are you doing here?" Batman snarled at her.
"Settling a score," she coolly replied.
"I could have turned you in at Harley and Ivy's," Batman said. "But I didn't."
"You're not the one I'm gunning for, honey," she said. "It's that overgrown rodent."
Before Batman could reply, she jumped to the ground.
And once she landed, the entire area was suddenly lit up by large exterior lights that surrounded the perimeter.
"Damn it," Batman muttered, as he jumped down to the ground beside her. "You could have waited until I was sure it was safe. But no, now they're on the alert."
Catwoman laughed. "What're they gonna do, send out the same creature whom you've just been using as a punching bag?" She raised her hands in a sarcastic manner. "Oh, I'm so scared!"
When he heard the familiar screeching sound, Batman glanced up at one of the trees and saw the Bat creature. It glared at them as it hung upside-down with its arms outstretched.
'Odd,' Batman thought. 'He doesn't look any worse for wear…his healing properties must be very-'
Batman's thoughts were cut off when he heard another shriek in the opposite direction. He glanced in that direction and saw another Bat creature that hung from a second tree.
When Catwoman quickly tapped him on the shoulder, Batman glanced at a third creature whom she pointed out. This one was crawling along on the ground as it snarled at them.
"Oh, great, there's even more of them," Catwoman said in a small voice, as Batman pointed out five more Bat creatures in the trees around them.
"Well, well," Batman murmured, as he and Catwoman were now surrounded by no less than eight Bat creatures. "This is an interesting development."
Catwoman backed up against his back and pulled her whip loose. "I've gotta hand to you, Batman," she said breathlessly, "there's never a dull moment whenever you're around…."
To Be Continued...