Batman and the associated characters are owned by DC. With grateful thanks for cmar for beta reading this chapter. With thanks for all the reviews so far! All reviews welcome!
Chapter Four - Batman – Time of the Wolf
The windows of Wayne Manor splintered and cracked as the explosive shells smashed against them. The windows themselves were bulletproof and rocket-proof, however the brickwork surrounding them was rather old and started to crack and cave in under the pressure.
In the seconds it took for the windows to finally disintegrate under the onslaught Batman had gone…
"Where is he?" intoned one of Team Luthor's men.
"I'm conducting a thermal search of the area, he's…" What the man was about to say was interrupted as Robin leapt on him from the roof.
"Nice suit," said Robin, as he slapped a small explosive charge on his chest. "Hope you guys are carrying spares."
He leapt from the man just as the explosive device he left on his armour exploded. The armour protected the man from harm but the reverberations concussed him and sent him spinning into the pond where his armour made him sink like a stone. Only his in built oxygen supply kept him alive.
Robin grabbed a lead rain gutter on the side of the house as he fell, the cold water in the gutter sloshed over him. "Eeewww!" The rest of Team Luthor started blasting at him, sending bricks and tiles and clouds of dust over Robin.
He reached the ground and aimed a grappling gun at the nearest man. Just before the cable wrapped around the feet of the man he threw the gun into the nearest rainwater barrel. The man's suit sent a huge electric pulse down the cable and shorted itself out. He fell in a mass of sparks and smoke into a flower bed.
That just left two. They cut the power to their rocket boots and landed with a thud in front of Robin, both pointing their guns at him. "Give it up, kid, don't make us kill you."
Robin scissor-kicked one of the men and bounced off. He swore and cursed as his leg was ringing from the pain. It was like kicking a wall. A steel arm came pounding down towards him. Robin twisted around it and tried to get the man off balance by using his force against him. He was too heavy for that though. It was like fighting a statue. Robin was pushed unstoppably to the ground.
He looked up and could see a huge steel fist pounding towards him at bone crunching speed. Suddenly a cable wrapped around the man's arm and he was pulled backwards at frightening speed. He looked up to see the grim countenance of Batman.
Batman threw an explosive batarang that disarmed the two armoured men and he stalked up to them.
"One chance," said Batman. "Why are you here?"
One of the men chuckled under his steel mask. "You've got nothing that could hurt us." He pulled his arm back to punch him but Batman hit him first. The man went flying back ten yards and snapped a tree in the garden as he landed, stunned.
Robin raised his eyebrows at this. Batman patted the heavily armoured, servo motor assisted armour he was wearing now on his arm.
"One chance," said Batman to the remaining man. "Why…"
"We'rejustunderorderspleasedon'thitme!"
"Slower."
"Don't hit me!"
"Whose orders? Luthor's?"
The man raised his head to one side as if listening to another voice. "No, it was…" He screamed in pain, smoke erupting from every segment of armour and then he collapsed dead to the ground. His armour then melted to ash as the thermo grenade in his suit destroyed any evidence of Luthor's involvement.
Batman looked around in shock and could see the same happening to all the Team Luthor men he and Robin had knocked out.
He cursed under his breath. "Luthor is too canny to be connected to this. Undoubtedly we will find out that a consignment of Team Luthor armour has been stolen by criminals…"
"Why would he want to kill Bruce Wayne?"
He gave a grim smile. "We'll have to ask him that."
Over Gotham a spotlight suddenly switched on, showing the Bat signal against the sky. They could see the flickering of several fires in the distance. The Bat Signal changed as they watched it to the black silhouette of the Joker's face, and the silhouette started laughing over Gotham.
"Gordon's changed the signal, has he?" asked Robin. "I don't think it's an improvement."
"We need to go, now."
Robin looked at his watch. "You do know I have a date in half an hour and I'm meant to compare Tacitus's and Suetonius's portrayal of Augustus Caesar by tomorrow."
"You might have to cancel, it looks like being a busy night…"
"You can tell my teacher that; she's the only one I know that is scarier than you."
Alfred delicately picked his way through the smoking remnants of the Wayne Manor foyer. "Sorry to bother you, sirs," he said, "but will you be…" He looked up at the sky and he could see the silhouette of Batman and Robin disappear into the distance. The throaty roar of the Batmobile showed it was driving on autopilot to the front gate. "Oh dear. Duty calls. I suppose I'll have to tidy up after you. Just like he was as a child." Alfred tutted as he looked around him at the piles of rubble and spent shells. "I had hoped he would get better with age."
Lex Towers in Metropolis was a huge gleaming glass monstrosity. It towered over anything else in the city. Because of the various God-like fights of the superbeings in Metropolis it had been rebuilt several times. In fact it been built to specifications to survive an earthquake of a Richter scale 8 and a metahuman level 4. The penthouse, where Lex Luthor was currently residing, had a thin film of lead surrounding it to stop Superman peering in. He also had a speaker on the outside sending out various sounds in the low frequency ranges to hopefully annoy Superman when he flew past and stop him listening in.
Superman was currently in space fighting an alien invasion force so Metropolis was strangely quiet. A couple of supervillains had turned up in Metropolis and had done the metaphorical equivalent of ringing the doorbell to see if anyone was in, peered in a couple of windows and left a note saying they would try again next week. They then lumbered off to Florida where their outlandish clothes and muscle bound physiques would not attract any undue attention.
Lex was currently in his office drinking a very expensive coffee which he had brought in especially from Brazil each week. His desk was awash with various reports and papers. He had four flat screen terminals in front of him, all of them were flashing up various reports and information from his considerable empire. He also had two phones on his desk, both of which were ringing, both of which he ignored.
Gotham was prime real estate. Most of the "square mile" in the centre was owned by Bruce Wayne. With him out of the way the company would be forced to sell the land to stay afloat. He had already been making the market jittery by buying vast amounts of Wayne Corp stock and then selling it all on the market at once to create a glut and artificially lower their price. With Wayne out of the way it would be ripe for a take over. With his plan for Gotham as well they would be giving away the sites in Central Gotham…
One phone would not stop ringing so he picked it up.
"Luthor."
"Sorry to bother you, sir, but the Team Luthor unit assigned to pick up Wayne was met by Batman. He disabled them. We had to terminate them before they started talking. We have adapted Team Beta to his techniques though and modified their armour. They'll get him next time."
Luthor shrugged. Thirty million dollars of training and equipment down the tube. Small change compared with what he was after. "What news of Slade?"
"He is definitely in Gotham. We are expecting him to assault the research centre soon, but we expect the Batman to interfere again..."
"Mobilise all forces in the area including any remaining members of Team Luthor to terminate him, immediately." Batman was probably too wily to be caught by any of his men but it should hopefully keep him busy anyway.
"Sir." The phone clicked off.
He drummed his hands on the desk whilst he thought. Slade was old. Old and cunning. He would be unlikely to fall into the trap he had for him down there. Even with such a bait as he had prepared for him. He did need him for the final phase of his plan though, unfortunately. He might have to deal with this personally…
He pressed a button on his desk and his secretary walked through the door. She was a slim elegant woman in her early thirties. "We're going to Gotham. Prepare my personal helicopter."
"Yes sir. How long are we staying? Macy's is having a sale there at the moment. Can I have an extended lunch break there tomorrow?"
Luthor gave a grim smile. "You'll probably want to stay indoors tomorrow when you see what's running about…"
Outside one of the Lexcorp research centres was a permanent camp of animal rights liberationists. It was one of the longest running camps they had that had been set up for the past three years. They heckled anyone going into the place and distributed leaflets to anyone willing to have one. Originally, when they first started, three of them had broken into Lexcorp. It was then they realised that although Lexcorp might not care much about animals they cared even less about people. The local hospital picked up what was left of the three several weeks afterwards…
They now just camped outside and badgered anyone who came within heckling distance.
Moss man (or to his parents, Kevin) accosted a little old lady walking a dog past their camp. "Animal rights, man, you shouldn't leash the beast."
The dog started growling at him as they walked past. She was doing her best to ignore him. "Just ignore the smelly man, Freda," she said down to her dog.
There was a laughing sound and Moss man was dragged backwards into one of the tents. "See the nasty man has gone," she said to her dog and carried on walking down the street. She ignored the horrific sounds of growling and teeth gnashing going on in the tent and carried on walking up to the entrance of Lexcorp. One of the guards, a huge man carrying a heavy machine gun as easily as if it was a flywhisk, walked up to the gate.
"Can I help you, ma'am?"
"I do hope so, dearie, I do hope so. You couldn't hold this a moment, could you?" She handed him her handbag. "Now where did I put it?" She started looking in her pockets. "I know Mr J gave it to me before I left. You ever met my puddin'?"
"Eerrrm, no."
"He wouldn't let me leave without it." Her face lit up as she pulled out a gun. She pointed it at the man and pressed the trigger. A little flag shot out the muzzle with the word 'BANG!' emblazoned on it. She giggled as the guard went white and started to back away. "I picked up the wrong one! You know what it's like." The guard ran back to the guardroom still clutching her handbag. She fished around in her pocket and found a small remote control unit. She pressed the button on it and the guardroom exploded as the explosive device she had in her bag blew up. "Yeah, that's the one."
Behind her a man with the face of a clown, the smile of a cherub and the heart of a gibbering psycho scampered towards her. She turned towards him, peeling off her disguise. The dog ran off down the street. "Do you think that's a good distraction, dearie?"
In the Luthor research building, klaxons started wailing and several spotlights could be seen homing in on the gate. Back in Gotham City the Joker had, with his new found wealth, hired a gang to cause a few problems to the Gotham police department and also, he hoped, to distract the Batman. Not that old pointy ears could be distracted for long.
Slade walked up behind the Joker, his face looking strangely feral as his angular features were caught in the spotlight. For a second the Joker could swear his eyes gleamed gold like those of a dog caught in a headlight. The Joker crooked one arm and Harley hooked her arm into it. A spotlight caught the Joker and Harley in its fierce neon glare.
"The world is a stage, my dear Harley."
"Let's go slay the audience!"
The Batmobile roared down the dark streets of Gotham towards the Gotham Police Headquarters. Batman was monitoring the police band. Alongside the normal chatter was the comment, "Captain Kendall to report to headquarters, urgent." If Gordon wanted to speak to speak to him immediately he used that statement on the police band.
There was also a lot of chatter about various explosions in a variety of shops and warehouses. No casualties as yet but it was stretching the police and fire department thin. There was also a small riot going on in downtown Gotham.
A screen in the Batmobile flickered to life again.
"What is that?"
"A spy satellite is trying to pinpoint us."
"Luthor?"
A radar screen also lit up and showed three green blips fast approaching. "Lynx attack helicopters and some members of Team Luthor," he said. He pressed a button on the dashboard and a dial tone was heard. "Gordon."
There was the sound of ringing and then a voice picked up the phone sounding rather harassed. "…coffee two sugars. And find out what the hell Lawoski is doing out there. I don't pay him to sit on his… Gordon here. What do you want?"
"It's Batman."
"Thank God." There was a slurping sound. "Two sugars I said! Two sugars! You trying to poison me? Sorry about that. All hell is breaking loose here. My men are stretched to nothing here. We've got reports of the Joker been seen near the Luthor Research Centre at the corner of 23rd and 5th, I've only got two units to spare, could you deal?"
There was a whistling sound outside, Batman twitched the wheel and a sidewinder missile blew a huge hole in the road where the Batmobile was. This was shortly followed by a shower of gravel and tarmac hitting the car windscreen.
"What's that noise?"
"Static. I'll be there shortly." He pressed a button and the phone slid back into the seat.
Several Team Luthor men shot past the Batmobile, firing as they went. A number of parked cars exploded into flame as the shells they fired at it bounced off and exploded randomly.
Batman floored the accelerator and the car shot forward, bullets and shrapnel bouncing off it.
"I couldn't give Angela a call, could I?" asked Robin. "I'm meant to be meeting her in fifteen minutes."
Batman shrugged. "Be my guest."
Robin got out his mobile and scrolled down to her name. Outside the car two determined members of Team Luthor had landed with a metallic thump on top of the car and applied magnetic boots to stick to the surface like glue.
"Come on, come on," said Robin. She picked up the phone. "At last. Hi Angel, it's Ro…. Tim here. It's about tonight."
Batman sent an electric shock pulsing through the outer frame but these Team Luthor men were in upgraded insulated suits. Electric blue lightning coursed over their armour and grounded itself into a nearby lamppost.
Clang.
One of them started to pound the glass between the Dark Knight and himself. Robin could see the mirrored helmet of the thug through the window. The other Team Luthor man's hand started glowing as an oxyacetylene torch lit up. He started trying to cut his way through the door. Batman's lip curled back as he scraped the car down the side of Gotham's National Library. There was a shower of sparks and a huge clang sound as he scraped off the Team Luthor man who was trying to cut his way through. The other one was balanced on top of the car though, no way to scrape him off…
Tim had the phone to his ear. "Yeah Angela. I'm going to have to cancel, I'm afraid."
CLANG.
"That noise? Oh nothing. Just watching TV. I've got a cold. I'm ill. Sore throat."
CLANG! Crack. A small filigree of cracks appeared in the windscreen.
"Speaking with a sore throat. Yes, I know I can, that's the kind of guy I am, great. Cough! Cough! Quite strange, isn't it?"
Batman threw the car into a spin to try and shake off the limpet-like man but he clung on with a grim determination. The smell of burning rubber filled the air and smoke hung heavy in the street afterwards. It did not work though. He was still attached to the top of the car.
CLANG! CRACK! A huge crack appeared in the triple reinforced bulletproof windscreen.
His magnetic boots were too powerful and they clung to the car. He raised his steel fist again. One more punch would probably crack the glass and expose them to the tender mercies of Team Luthor. There was a bus depot up ahead. Batman accelerated towards it and crashed the car into the side of an empty bus at over 200mph...
Fifteen years ago…
Bruce scrabbled backwards over the broken breezeblocks. There was gnashing of teeth as the man tried to bite him.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he said. A change seemed to come over him and the strange fire that was in his eyes left him.
Bruce backed to the wall, to keep the man at chain distance. "Who the hell are you?"
"I have been here for the past six months! You must release me!" The man rattled his chain and squinted at the torchlight. He was dressed in ragged clothes. "I have not been myself recently." He rubbed his eyes and breathed deeply.
The other children filed behind Bruce, all keeping him at a distance.
"Please just let me go, I implore you."
"Hey back off, man," said Carson. "We don't know what you're here for. You might be a killer or something."
The man's eyes glowed slightly at this but he said nothing. He pulled a sleeve up to show a row of tubes and small glass capsules. The tubes went into his arm. "They have been experimenting upon me! I don't deserve this!"
Carson looked at this contemptuously. "Maybe you do, how do we know what you are here for?" He walked up to him and pushed him down. The man was obviously quite weak and just collapsed on the ground. "What's your name then?"
"Alex Slade."
"What are you doing down here, Slade?"
He looked at the children for a few seconds, his eyes narrowing. Then he shrugged his shoulders. "I was a prisoner in Gotham State Penitentiary. The warders gave me to these scientists."
Bruce straightened up a bit at this. "So you do deserve punishment. What did you do, Slade?"
"Non payment of debts."
"That doesn't sound too bad," said Lou.
Slade shuffled his feet a bit. "Of a bank I robbed." He looked up at them, his eyes imploring. "I needed the money, man! I had a loan shark after me. My sister needed an operation or she'd die."
Bruce looked at him for several seconds. "How long have you been down here?"
"Six months, I told you."
"You are sorry for your crime?"
"Every goddamn day."
"Would you do it again?"
"No. For God's sake no! If I get out I will live a good clean honest life."
"Okay." Bruce looked at the others. "Guys, see if you can find a crowbar. Something to lever open these chains."
Lou shook his head. "I dunno, Bruce, can we trust him?"
The man was looking at them imploringly. "We can't just leave him down here. He could die."
"Why don't we tell someone about him?"
Bruce looked about and over his shoulder. "Who to tell? There's no-one here!" He opened a rusty steel door the other side of the cell and found he was in some sort of office complex built underground. Water dripped from the light fittings and everywhere was the smell of damp and mildew. The place looked like it hadn't been occupied for months, possibly years.
He turned back to Slade. "How long have you been down here alone for?"
"I've lost track of time down here…"
"Why did they leave you?"
He shrugged his skeletally thin shoulders. "Don't know."
Outside in the wall was a lever with the signs "Open" and "Close" on it. Bruce shrugged his shoulders. They couldn't leave him down there. He might die.
"Don't do it, Bruce," said Lou.
"We can't leave him here." With a grunt of effort he pulled the lever down and the silver chain that attached Slade to the ground and prevented his change fell off him.
"Free!" Slade said. His lips seemed to curl back, exposing his teeth. "FREE!" His face seemed to blacken and elongate in seconds. "FREEEE!" He growled. Huge yellow incisor teeth grew and his hands seemed to flatten and form claws.
Bruce looked at the others and they looked at him. "We'll close the door I think." Bruce slammed the door shut and they started running down the corridor.
There was a huge bang sound behind them and the door was torn open like it was made of paper and a huge wolf was bounding down the corridor towards them…
