Ranma 1/2: Crouching Dragon, Hidden Bat
Chapter 2
The batmobile sped along the highways and backallys at a high speed. Inside, the Batman gauged each turn and his speed with care as he raced through the City of Gotham.
Beside him, rather than his intrepid companion Robin, sat a red haired girl dressed in black silk, with a sigil of a Dragon in scarlet on the tabard she wore. A dragon mask lay in her lap, and a blindfold over her eyes. What could be seen of her face was quite green. The Batman glanced at her and thought back to a little earlier.
Batman watched in fascination as the young woman who was calling herself 'Scarlet Dragon' was sprayed down by a hidden hot water trap left by the Joker. For anyone else, the trap would have resulted in horrible, even life-threatening, burns. But instead the young woman transformed into a muscular, black haired young man, and with only second-degree burns. With a faint blue glow, those too started to erase themselves from the young man's body, healing far faster than any wound had right too. "Sorry about this. I should have checked for another trap."
"You have a lot to explain" Batman said. "But not now. Looks like he must have posed as a delivery person. Take a look" he gestured towards the fridge. Inside, the body of the cook could be seen, half his face melted off with acid, and a delivery tag fastened to his neck.
The now male Scarlet Dragon read the tag slowly, then folded his arms and growled quietly. "this Jokeru needs new jokes. That was ... how you say ... kokoronai?" He said the last in Japanese.
"Tasteless." Batman said "and yes. That's part of his trademark."
On the tag, written in crayon was the phrase 'One gross, can whu-pas'.
With a shake of his head, the male Scarlet Dragon went over to the sink and turned on the cold-water tap. Then he splashed himself. The change was almost instantaneous. Where there was standing a highly muscled male with black hair, now there was a buxom redhead in his place.
"We have to go back to the Batcave to process this data. I take it that simply blindfolding you would not stop you from being able to find it again." Batman growled towards the shapechanging person before him.
"No. I have an excellent sense of direction." she replied.
"Very well. I can drug you or you can remain here and I will contact you" He offered, already knowing the answer.
"I can't exactly learn from you if I don't go with you. I guess I have no choice. I'll let you drug me. "
Once they had gotten off the property of the Embassy, the Batmobile pulled up on autopilot and sat rumbling. Batman climbed in carefully and was amazed to watch the girl leap clear over the car from a standing start beside it. As she got in and secured the door, she then removed the dragon mask she wore. Beneath that, she still wore a domino mask that helped conceal her identity even without the dragon mask. The inside of the mask caught the Batman's attention. Wayne Enterprises manufactured most of the components. If the material of the mask was in fact steel like he thought, then the mask alone would weigh in excess of 20 pounds.
Carefully reaching over, he blindfolded the girl then drew an autohypo from a kit in the dashboard. Loading a charge he looked her over. "how much do you weigh?"
"Just under 300 kilos in this form. But double the dose. I metabolize drugs fast." she responded again.
He nodded and injected the concoction into her bare arm. The effect was almost instantaneous as the drug sped through the young martial artist's blood stream.
"whoa. That stuff hits hard. erk." she said groggily. "Hope you have a sick bag, just in case."
Batman smirked then and the batmobile sped off into the night.
The vehicle slowed as it entered the Batcave, finally coming to a halt on the large rotating platform that served as its garage. As the platform spun around, Batman reached over and undid the blindfold from the Scarlet Dragon's eyes.
"it's ok if I cure myself now, yes?" she asked in Japanese without really looking up.
"if you can. I usually have to provide the antidote. It is a rather potent solution" Batman responded.
The Scarlet Dragon merely nodded once slowly and her eyes glowed blue for a moment. The green faded from her skin and she straitened up in her seat, before donning the dragon mask in her lap once more. As the duo climbed from the Batmobile, a voice called out through the darkness.
"Hey! who's the extra stray you brought home this time?" a cocky voice cut through the darkness.
"A new hero it seems. Scarlet Dragon, meet Nightwing." Batman said
With that Nightwing went to step out of the darkness behind the Scarlet Dragon to surprise her, but she simply turned and bowed to Nightwing first. "A pressure to meet you, Nighto wingo-sama" she said, her voice a touch softer than what she was using earlier.
Then suddenly from behind her came another voice. "Master Batman, Commissioner Gordon is on the line for you. Something to do with a crime at the Japanese consulate."
With an "EEP" The scarlet dragon leapt straight up - and grabbed onto the stalactites covering the ceiling of the batcave.
"Jumpy, isn't she?" Nightwing commented to his one time mentor.
Batman just brooded and headed towards the computer. Picking up the phone he spoke quietly but succinctly. "Hello Commissioner"
"Batman, what's this I hear about a crime at the Japanese Consulate that isn't being filed with the police?
My people claimed to see you and some other costumed person leaving the grounds. But the embassy won't even talk to me."
"Commissioner. They are foreign diplomats. Any police investigation would involve the media, which is exactly what they are trying to prevent. Also, Commissioner, Joker is back."
"What!!!! Damn. I'd hoped that we'd seen the last of that nut job."
"Unfortunately, it seems we haven't. I'll contact you as soon as we have a lead." The Bat said as he hung up the phone. Sitting down then, he began the task of feeding the information Scarlet Dragon provided into his system. It was a simple task, the Scarlet Dragon having taken excellent photographs. The only problem was when he got to the notes that she had written. The spelling was atrocious, obviously the work of someone for whom English was not a primary language.
"Scarlet Dragon, you will have to read your notes to Me." he called out.
Slowly the Scarlet Dragon let go of the stalactite and fell to the floor. Landing as if she had never jumped she crossed over the bridge to where the Dark Knight was working and took up the folder. As she read off the data to him, Nightwing walked up behind the pair to look over the girl's shoulder. It wasn't difficult to do, as he had a height advantage, but he did so slowly for the moment he approached, she tensed.
As the Scarlet Dragon read off her notes to the Batman, he busied himself with other chores. In truth, the Batcomputer had one of the Best voice recognition software, and was entering what the girl was reading as she read it. He however, was searching for something else. Sex changing martial artist. He remembered seeing something about that...
As the Scarlet Dragon finished reading off her notes, she looked up. Batman was standing there with his arms crossed, Nightwing still standing behind her. She noted immediately the tension in the room. "There is a problem?" she asked, her Japanese accent coming through strong in the silence.
"There might be, Saotome Ranma. Especially if you can't explain why you're wanted for murder in China and Japan."