In a world where Batman exists side by side with the X-Men the Dark Knight finds himself unable to stand by while militant hate groups like the Friends of Humanity spread hate and conflict across the world and takes action in a way befitting a ninja trained detective avenger.
As much as Bruce respected Doctor Charles Xavier there were several things about the man that made the aspiring hero want to deck him in the face. Namely his stupidity of naming mutants as 'Homo-Superior' and making his report on the genetically 'advanced' subgroup of humanity sound as threatening as possible without being outright hostile. Seriously, why the bald professor thought brining up the whole 'extinction of the less evolved brethren' thing was a good idea? All it did was help groups of extremists like the Friends of Humanity gain more members by exploiting people's fears.
Of course, just because he knew why the members joined didn't mean that Bruce would ever condon their decisions and definitely not their actions. Friends of Humanity was not an activist group like they claimed, nor were they a political advacatcy group like some of their more public members claimed. They were just a cover for militant, anti-mutant actions that used money donated by citizens concerned about things like negative mutations or violent mutants like Magneto to fund research and production for advanced weaponry that they quickly turned against whatever mutants they could find.
He had already gathered all the evidence he needed to ensure that the FBI and Homeland Security would be all but forced to shut the organization down, but before he sent it to a few choice news companies and independent reporters there was one sect he wanted to deal with personally. It didn't have some special name or designation, nothing that would tip off the average person that they were any different from any other group in the Friends of Humanity, but they had the very real, very dubious honor of being the only sect that kidnapped young mutants for the explicit purpose of torturing them and conditioning them to become out of control violent animals that the Friends of Humanity could set loose on the world so they could further justify the existence of their organization and militant ways. The rest were killers and sometimes sterilizers, but these people were real monsters.
The fact that taking down a target as entrenched and connected as the Friends of Humanity would do wonders for Batman's infant legend was just a bonus.
Doing a quick headcount the Bat confirmed that over ninety percent of the members of the deplorable sect was in attendance at their bi weekly meeting, including their entire 'training' team and the sects leaders. It was time to strike.
Normally he would throw one of his custom shuriken at the floor's fusebox to plunge the warehouse into relative darkness so he could use the shadows to his advantage, but he had a different, more punishing plan in mind for these people than giving them some cases of nyctophobia. He had hidden over a dozen cameras and three times as many microphones around the warehouse, each positioned in such ways to either cover as much space as possible or capture nearly professional-grade recordings of certain spots where he planned on corralling the fight. If all worked out the night would end with Bruce having extensive physical proof of the group's racism and illegal armaments, on top of the proof he had already gathered about what they did with the funds they raised and the crimes of some individual members that he could spread to every major news source in the country, destroying not only the reputation of the organization as a whole but also the standings of the politicians that support it.
Jumping from the rafters the Bat of Gotham spread his cape wide, covering the warehouse in his shadow as he descended from above to rain down his rath in the name of Justice.
The next day, Xavior Manor
Most members of the self-titled 'X-Men' tried to make a point to watch the news at least a few times a week in order to help gauge the ever-changing public opinion, keep track of potential new mutants with extraordinary powers popping up, and remind themselves that there were other groups that were hated and targeted for reasons other than their mutant condition. Also political regulations, but they tried not to talk about that.
That day however found even those who hated the news gathered in professor Xavior's personal office, staring intently at the thrice rewound footage playing out in front of their eyes. A man-shaped shadow darting, charging, and slipping through the ranks of dozens of Friends of Humanity, lashing out with his fists, legs, and even head to send the gathered men and women to the ground, seemingly heedless of the broken and bloody wrecks he left them as.
"He's human," Logan, James… whatever the Wolverine was going by that day grunted around his cigar, a 'treat' that he was normally prohibited from enjoying in the mansion but was given permission while they were dealing with particularly important things. "And a skilled one, I can see at least four fighting styles being used, maybe five but I can't be sure about that with the cape and the armor."
"As none of us are as experienced with melee combat as you I will take your word for it," the professor hummed from behind his desk, "but I doubt there are many who are capable of understanding that from this video alone. There are already groups decrying him as a violet mutant lashing out at a group of peaceful activists."
Ororo Munroe, Storm, raised a finally shaped eyebrow at the telepath's words, "If memory serves this video was originally released several hours after this branch of the Friends of Humanity were exposed as domestic terrorists and proponents of genocide against mutants," she waved her arm through the air as if gesturing to something unseen, "I understand that there are those who take an organization's name and stated goals at face value and ignore their actions, but surly with how publicized everything was they could not have missed it?"
It was Scott who answered, the Cyclops clearly annoyed, "Most news stations didn't air anything about the incriminating files, be it because they wanted to fact check the information or because they've praised the group's other branches before…" he shrugged, "I don't think FOX, MSNBC, or CNN even mentioned it before the beatdown vid came out."
"And first impressions are hard to counteract," Jean sighed.
Kurt Wagner, the Nightcrawler, leaned forward toward the tv, his gaze focused on the black clad man's movements and ignoring the grumbling of his teammates, "He is a trained performer," he said confidently, "You can see it in the way he uses his cape. That is not the technique of a warrior."
Bobby Drake, the Iceman, laughed, "What, so we have a ninja from the circus going around acting like some kind of demon of kickassery? That's insane."
Kurt turned to face the cryomancer with a raised eyebrow, prompting the other man's eyes to widen before he turned away to caught into his fist, "Sorry." Sometimes it was easy to forget that the nearly ninja like German was raised as a carnival performer and not as a priest with how he talked and acted.
"Regardless of his origins it is clear he is an asset to us at the very least," Professor Xavior cut back in, "and while there are those who decry him the information he released will strike a blow against the Friends of Humanity that they will likely never recover from. We are now an 'abused' group, not merely invaders and threats. Politically speaking this is good for us, even if it is not what I would like."
"You want me to try and track the guy down Chuck?" Logan asked, "Having someone who knows how to play detective on our team could prove useful, and it'd be nice to have a real sparring partner other than Elf Boy around here."
The professor shook his head, "Not yet Logan, we still don't know what this man wants. He could be a true ally to our cause, but it is also possible he was simply trying to stop this branch's attacks against humans and his helping us was just a consequence of that. For now I will keep an eye on him and try to determine his leanings."
The Canadian shrugged and took a puff from his cigar, turning his attention back to yet another replay of the fight, trying to identify if the caped man used any more styles that he knew.
"Well if thats everything, I have a class to teach," Jean sighed, "if you need any help tracking this man's mind professor I can probably stand to take a short run on Cerebro later."
"Thank you Jean, but for now I think we all have duties to attend to. Off you go now!" He urged his staff members and subordinates, getting a few short nods before they all began to file out of the office, the thoughts on the implications of the black clad man's actions set aside for the time being. They would revisit that later, for now it was time to focus on their own assignments.
Hope you enjoyed the first One Shot idea sent in by a reviewer over on AO3! If you have any ideas for a One Shot you want to see leave a review or send me a PM and I'll put it on the consideration list! Or just leave a review telling me what you think! I'll try and get the next few out faster than this one! Until then!