Oh look, another chapter. Should be heading into the home stretch now... but I tend to detour.
Batman ignored the throbbing pain in his shoulder where one of the creatures had bitten him. After calling in most of the Justice League, the long battle had finally ended. The Green Lantern had created a glowing green dome over all the defeated lizard-men. A few of the creatures were vainly trying to break out, letting loose unearthly screams as they clawed at the barrier. Blue and red lights flashed around the park as paramedics and police helped the unfortunate civilians who had been caught in the creatures' path. Reporters and camera crew documented the damage on live television.
Batman looked past all that at the very faint yellow glow that pulsed dimly along the fractured lines the portal had created in the air. It had taken a good ten minutes for the portal to close, allowing swarms of creatures to enter their dimension. An outline still lingered, as if waiting to burst open again. Batman already had the Watchtower monitoring it; it was no longer emitting any significant amount of energy. The glow was nothing more than a scar on their dimension, serving as a reminder of what had happened.
"Batman, what's going on?" Lois Lane demanded as she came up behind him. Batman glanced over his shoulder at her, but didn't reply. "Dammit, Bruce!" Lois hissed. "Five people are dead! Eaten alive by those monsters. And let's not get into the deaths cause by Alternate Livewire. You can't pretend there's nothing wrong!"
"I'm not. I just don't know what's causing this yet," Batman replied coldly.
"It's that kid, it has to be," Superman said, joining them. "We've got to send him back."
"What kid?" Lois asked.
Batman ignored Lois' question. Turning to Superman, he folded his arms over his chest and glared the alien down. "And if it's not him? What if there's something else causing this rift and we tear that kid away from his parents and send him back to being an orphan for nothing?"
There was a moment of silence as recognition slowly crossed Superman's features. "That's it, isn't it," Superman said thoughtfully. "You don't care about having a loyal little soldier in your war, you're not curious about what he can do or what would possess Batman to take him on as a partner or any of those things you told me. You see yourself in him and he's found a world where his parents are alive and well and you-"
"I've been thinking," Batman said, cutting him off. "There are thousands of orphans out there- why did Batman choose him? What kind of a kid pledges his life to fighting crime? Yes, I see myself in him. An orphan- probably saw his parents murdered- who is bent on justice, who has devoted his life to fighting crime. But now he's in a world where none of that happened, where he can just be a normal kid with parents who love him. It's everything-"
"Everything you wish you could have so you don't want to take it away from him," Superman finished.
Batman nodded. "I used to dream of having a chance like that- to somehow get my parents back, to give up on my crusade. He's living my dream. The kid's idiot enough to go out and fight crime right now- probably misses it and I don't blame him. But if he stays here long enough he'll give up on it. He'll realize he has a family and that's what's important. He can be happy and normal." Batman jabbed his finger at Superman's chest. "And I'm not going to take that away from him on a hunch that hasn't been proven."
"All right," Superman said, holding his hands up in surrender. "Then let's see what we can do about proving it one way or another. If it's not him, then we need to find a solution to this quick. These occurrences are getting more and more severe. Who knows what will happen next time."
"Are you two going to fill me in on what you were just talking about?" Lois huffed irritably.
"I promise Lane and Kent will have the exclusive scoop. Later," Superman told her with a quick wink.
"Right now, I need to download some information from the Watchtower so we can send those creatures back to where they came from," Batman said. "Superman, get The Flash, Fate, J'onn and whoever else looking into what might be causing the breakdown of reality here. Tell them about Grayson. If it is him, I'll send him home myself."
"On it." Superman gave Lois' arm a quick squeeze before zipping away.
Batman tapped the comm-link in his cowl. "Alfred, did you send the Batwing over?"
"It should be arriving momentarily, sir," Alfred's voice replied.
On cue, the black jet appeared over the tree line and soon touched down next to Batman. Batman nodded to Lois and boarded the jet. "I'll be back."
Everyone tensed as Batman shot out an energy beam at the lizard creatures, expecting another portal to open as soon as they were gone. Green Lantern made a gap in his dome for the beam to enter. The creatures screamed in rage as the beam sucked them in. A moment later, the whole army had disappeared into Batman's contraption. All eyes turned to the faint outline of the old portal, but it only continued to pulse weakly. A collective sigh of relief sounded from the crowd- from superheroes and civilians alike.
"I want this park closed off to the public until we can get this thing under control," Batman said sternly to Superman.
"I've already told the commissioner," Superman replied with a nod. "We'll post someone from the League here too. These last two portals were a week apart, so we have time to figure this out before another portal opens."
"Don't be too sure," Batman said, casting a wary glance at the yellow glow in the air. "Did you send Flash and the others to the Watchtower?"
Superman nodded. "They're working on it. They'll let us know as soon as they figure something out. In the meantime, it's late. Even for a Bat. Why don't you head back to Gotham and get Alfred to take a look at that shoulder."
"It's fine," Batman said absently. "What did you tell the press?"
"Not much," Superman said. "Just that these attacks are results of an inter-dimensional phenomenon that we are investigating. Don't worry I didn't say anything about the boy."
"Will Lois keep quiet?" Superman looked offended but otherwise didn't acknowledge Batman's comment. Batman grunted and with a swish of his cape, started towards the Batwing. "I want to know the moment we find something out."
"Don't worry," Superman said. He smiled and winked at him. "Flash has you on speed dial."