Prologue: Big Leagues
Disclaimer: I don't own the Kim Possible franchise nor the Batman franchise. There is no profit to be made in writing this work.
Author's Notes: Well, here begins my Kim Possible/Batman crossover. With any luck, it may just end up being on par with Mr. Classic Cowboy's "Knights".
----
Pulling onto the interstates, you can't miss the City. It hangs there, on the edge of the horizon like a big, puffy cloud. Its towers jut out of the earth like pillars keeping the sky aloft, and the luminescent glow from the thousands of lights gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling on the inside. But as you cross its threshold, your eyes start to adjust, and you see the City as it really is.
As you swerve onto a backstreet to avoid the five o'clock traffic jam, you find yourself on a thin, cracked slab of asphalt, flanked by ominous, gothic buildings that stretch up out of the sight of mortal eyes. Suddenly, that cloud has gotten a lot darker.
Your hands, a lot moister than when you pulled into the City, start to clench the steering wheel a lot tighter. You start humming to yourself to drown out the screeching whine of the police siren that is too close for comfort.
The engine coughs in protest, and curses you for not filling her up when you had the chance. You ease the vehicle over to a vacant lot on the side of the dirty avenue. Reluctantly, you kill it.
That siren is even closer now. You hum louder.
Everyone's eyes are focused on you. You shrink in your seat, and squeeze the steering wheel as though it's the only thing keeping you afloat in this sea of dirt.
You rise out of the car slowly. The door barks at you as it's slammed closed, chastising you for being stupid enough to abandon your only source of protection.
Footsteps create a symphony behind you, tapping in a sinister rhythm in a rapid crescendo. Please God, you say to yourself, let it be a wino.
When the brutish kick from behind sends you gracelessly hurdling to the ground, you know they don't want your money. They just want to hurt you.
The man approaches you, the warm summer air covering him in a thin sheen of perspiration. He opens his mouth, and makes a noise that sounds like a cat being strangled. He's laughing.
There's an unmistakable shnk as the edge of the switchblade eagerly leaps out of its shell. In the reflection of the metal, you see the look on your face, and curse yourself for being such a coward.
The symphony is in its second movement now, and it's louder than before.
In the dark sky above, you hear the wind howl as it roars across something in the air. Above your head, a clink echoes as a tiny piece of metal digs into the granite building. The symphony abruptly stops, as its conductor is knocked to the ground.
Something descends from the Heavens above, landing in front of you. Suddenly, the night is darker.
There are muffled screams as a shroud that could only be forged in the pits of hell expands and envelopes its victim in eternal blackness. There are cries of defiance as the stubborn man tries to resist against something that can't be stopped. Suddenly, those cries of defiance turn to cries of fear.
The shroud recedes, and the night turns to face you. You crane your neck to look into its blank, emotionless eyes. It takes you a moment to realize that you're staring into the eyes of the Devil himself.
"Word of advice," it speaks in an inhuman tone that nonetheless commands obedience, "next time you run out of gas, do it on a safer street."
You nod, your jaw too slack to form a coherent word, and watch as this knight of darkness ascends to sky in which it fell from.
As the adrenaline racing through your veins begins to slow itself, and you wipe the sweat from your brow, you realize that the City is a war zone, and you have just been saved by the general of the side that's worth fighting for.
Metropolis may be the dwelling of America's favorite son, but it's here, in Gotham, where the real heroes are.
----
Kim sighed as they trudged down the dilapidated, broken sidewalk. Above them, neon signs incessantly flashed, their multicolored faces displaying a happy, utopian outcome if passerbys would simply shell out two-hundred fifty bucks for whatever product they were selling.
This city is so two-faced, the auburn-haired beauty thought miserably as she
caught a glimpse of a beautiful, flowing dress in the window of a ritzy store. As her eyes
focused, she saw an elderly woman, clothes ragged and covered in layers of dirt begging with a passing couple for a dollar or two in the reflection of the glass. With another deep exhale, she jerked her head back down to staring at the cement pathway.
"Why so glum KP?" A soft voice asked with pseudo-cheer from her left. She looked up.
"Hmm? Oh, nothing Ron." She told him, giving him the best fake smile she could conjure. He saw right through it.
In her mind, Kim wasn't the least bit surprised. The boy had been her best friend since childhood, and had been with her through basically every good and bad thing that'd ever happened to her. He could read her like a book.
"Come on KP, you can tell me."
Once more, Kim Possible sighed deeply, and looked towards her best friend and confidant. No point in sugar-coating the issue.
"I hate this. I mean, I wanted to go to Gotham U because I wanted to get the best education there is. But I didn't know we'd be so far away from each other. This city is so dirty. I don't think I can handle this by myself."
A sad smirk crossed the blond boy's features. He gently brought his index finger to touch Kim's chin. "What are you talking about? You're Kim Possible. You can do anything."
Waves of nostalgia crashed against Kim as she heard her mantra recited.
"Thanks Ron, but how are we going to see each other? We're in two completely different states!"
"Don't worry about it, I'll drive down here every weekend to come visit you."
The girl smiled, genuinely this time. He'd always been there for her. Why should that change now? No matter what the sitch had even been, he had always supported her.
Her slender arms wrapped around the boy, pulling him in close. Though they'd done this many times before, it surprised the both of them. Despite the summer temperature, she enjoyed the warmth of being pressed up against her best friend.
Without a moment to think about the repercussions of such a move, Kim felt herself press her lips together, and lean towards the unsuspecting Ron. Her face inched close to his. A spark of electricity danced between the rapidly-closing space between the two.
"Heeelp!"
The girl's head whipped around in the other direction, her bright red mane of hair caressing the boy's face. Her eyes focused on the source of scream, and she watched as an elderly lady was viciously shoved into the faded brick wall behind her as the dirt-covered, sneering punk jogged off with her purse. The girl's tactical mind was already beginning to plan out the quickest and most efficient way to take down the thief.
Turning back, she stared at her friend, and frowned at the predicament. It was a tough choice, but, in the end, the decision was obvious.
"Sorry Ron," the girl stated with authentic regret, "Duty calls."
Executing a flawless back flip, the world savior several times over landed in the centre of the empty street, and began to pursue the dubious thug.
Muscles tensed as her athletic legs started to pump. Moments like the one with Ron happened very rarely in a lifetime, and when they were so rudely interrupted, it didn't please Kim in the slightest.
I'm going to make this twit hurt for that, she thought determinedly as she closed in on him.
----
The Sun begins its descent, its dying light casting out a regal violet hue in the sky, as if the celestial lamp was trying in one last, desperate attempt to get the people of earth to remember what it had brought them today. Suddenly, from the roof of a particularly tall skyscraper, a shadow lurches, cutting like a black razor across the sky, stealing the robbing the splendor from star.
To those new to the city, the giant, pointed ears, flowing wings, and massive frame would look like a demon straight from the pits of hell. But the denizens of Gotham know better. That shadow in the sky is a defender, a crusader. A…dark knight.
----
His body screamed in protest as he used his grappling hook to swing across to another of the endless monoliths in Gotham.
Fifty-seven full hours without food or sleep. He had instead spent that time painstakingly searching for clues in Gotham's sewer system, hunting for Killer Croc before the half-man, half-monster could devour his hostages as promised. When the ordeal was over, the five children had been returned to their parents, and Croc was lying in the intensive care ward of Arkham Asylum.
If he had any sense, he would return to Wayne Manor, have Alfred run a hot bath, and then sleep for the next day. But it was nightfall, and the safety of the city superceded his own personal luxuries.
"Heeelp!" A woman's voice echoed across the barren street below him. Activating his infrared vision, the slits in his cowl narrowed as he witnessed Chris "Scorch" Matheson violate his parole.
The city was quiet tonight. He had captured both Killer Croc and Cornelius Stirk this week, and with them both locked up where they belonged, there were no high-priority criminals to track. Commissioner Akins and the boys in blue would be able to handle this night.
But pursuing Croc had consumed most of his time. He hadn't even been able to phone Tim and talk to him after…what happened. The boy was in bad shape. The slits in the cowl narrowed even further.
A hiss shattered the silence as the grappling hook latched onto another building. His cape spread out across the sky as he swooped down after Scorch Matheson.
Commissioner Akins and the boys in blue may be able to handle the night, but that didn't mean they wouldn't have help.
---
For a low-life, Kim mused, her breathing starting to become heavier, he's pretty fast.
The chase had gone on for five minutes now, with the dirt-caked mugger only realizing he was being followed after two minutes.
Taking a sharp turn, the punk knocked over a garbage can to impede his hunter, and then dashed down the dark corridor of an alleyway.
Great, another alley. Kim had already stumbled into three on her tour of Gotham, getting lost in one of them. Just how many of these damned things were there in this city?
She could hear his ragged breath coming from the depths of the dark abyss and the crashing sounds as he toppled over the ubiquitous garbage cans. This guy was not a fighter, he was a coward. This didn't surprise Kim. To her, criminals were a superstitious and cowardly lot.
The dim light that the dying Sun had been provided suddenly flashed out. Instinctively, the young woman looked out, only to see something that just came underneath a jackrabbit as a foreman on a construction site in her "Things I Won't See in Gotham" list. A gigantic shadow, one that resembled a bat, descended like a vulture diving in on its prey.
For a woman of her age, Kim had seen a lot of strange, frightening things. However, this one truly chilled her. Goosebumps broke out across her skin, and she heard herself gasp.
Knock it off Possible, she scolded herself, you've faced worse than this. Visions of simian ninja men, pale sociopaths with lethal hands, and mutant delinquents flashed in Kim's mind to reassure her.
A frantic, terrified screaming snapped her back into reality. The darkness of the alley prevented the woman from seeing what was happening, but she knew that whatever had dropped from the sky just moments ago was now attacking the thug that she'd been chasing.
The feral cries for help caused Kim to push aside her own fear, and charge into the dark. The kid may have been a low-life, but she swore to protect people from evil, and today was no exception.
As she got closer, the screaming stopped, and an even more horrifying silence settled in the air. For a moment, Kim feared the worst.
Her advance was stopped as something hit her square in the chest, knocking her onto her back. She heard the object hit the ground beside her with a thud. She groaned, and brought her hands across the surface of the item. Its texture and size quickly told Kim that she had been hit with a purse.
With a sigh of relief, she allowed her head to roll back. Her gaze shifted upwards, and she let out a sudden scream. Towering above her was the monster from the sky. It was a mass of muscle. A bright yellow belt with many pouches rested at its waist, and a barely-visible emblem of a bat was displayed across its chest. The most petrifying part about it though were its eyes. Most of its face remained hidden by either a black mask or shadows, but the eyes were clearly visible. Bright white and emotionless, they glared down at Kim Possible with irritation. Draped over one of its shoulders was the unconscious body of the punk.
"W-what are you?" Kim stammered out, shocked by what stood above her. Normally, she'd have some witty banter on hand, but she was too scared to form anything other than that sentence.
It responded in a voice that was as cold as its eyes.
The body of the mugger was heaved to the ground, and the bat-like monster ascended back into the sky, leaving the girl to repeat the words that it had said to her:
"I'm Batman."
----
End Author's Notes: This is just a note to any Bat-nerd who is reading this story and commenting on my broken continuity. In this storyline, everything in "Hush" would've happened, except anything to do with Two-Face. Also, all the lead-ups to "War Games" (i.e. Tim Drake leaving as Robin; Stephanie Brown becoming Robin, then getting fired) all happened, but the actual "War Games" hasn't. And only some of "Identity Crisis" has happened. It's the way I have to write it for anything to make sense.
Hope that you guys (if there in fact are any) enjoyed this unusually long prologue. I hope to have the next chapter up soon.
