Batman and the associated characters are owned by DC. With grateful thanks for cmar for beta reading this chapter. Thanks for all teh reviews so far! All reviews welcome!

Chapter Five - Batman – Time of the Wolf

Slade sniffed the air. He was close, he knew it. His brethren were close by and in pain. A lot of his brethren… Slade had a telepathic link to all werewolves on the planet. He had been alone for hundreds of years; it saved the pain when one of them died. He had been caught fifteen years ago and since then he had felt more and more werewolves. But who was creating them? He was always careful to kill whoever he bit. Best way. Werewolves are solitary beasts; two of them is a battle.

Slade was born about seven thousand years ago, even he had lost count. He had been a shaman seeking enlightenment and his spirit was searching the netherworld when he met the Wolf spirit. They had fought for months in the spirit world, possibly years, and when he finally beat it he took on its immortal spirit and its immortal hunger…

At first it seemed like a blessing. He could not be killed. He could not be stopped. He didn't need sleep. He didn't need food. But there was a curse. He needed to kill to appease the wolf spirit inside of him. It appeased the rage simmering below the surface of his spirit, but not for long… If he left any victims alive they became werewolves. They did not have his immortality, but they were strong, fast and had a lust for blood and were very difficult to kill. He also shared their pain. That's why he now made sure he left none of his victims alive. He didn't feel anything for his victims. You might as well feel for the ants you squash on the sidewalk. Their lifespan was inconsequential compared to his. However, something had drawn him to this place. Someone had been hurting the werewolves in this place and he had felt it all the way over in England… But where had these new werewolves come from?

That was why he had been captured originally, although it had taken a squad of Navy Seals to do that. The ones he had bitten were to be put into a submarine so he could communicate with them telepathically. Of course things had gone wrong with that idea…

"Joker," he growled.

The man in the purple hat and the wide smile stopped. "What is it, tall, dark and gruesome?"

"I smell a trap." He looked at the building they were walking towards. The windows were bathed in black shadows. In the old days he never used to worry about traps. Arrows never used to hurt that much, unless they were tipped in silver. To be fair, in the couple of hundred years he spent in Transylvania people had learned that trick. Now guns hurt him and slowed him down, but he was even getting used to that now.

He stopped walking and stared at the windows. Was that somebody moving? Were people lining up a sight on him now? He was walking in like a pimp in a brothel. "Stay there." He watched the Joker's jaw drop as he changed quietly into a werewolf. There were no horrible painful looking changes. No cries of agony as his skull flattened and pointed out and his teeth grew. He must have done this change thousands of times. He was used to it.

He padded silently up to the building.

BANG!

A bullet pinged next to him and deflected off into the distance with a whining sound. Suddenly a fusillade of shots erupted at him. Or where he had been… He leapt towards a window at blistering speed, his teeth taking a guard's neck in his mouth…


The Batmobile tore through the bus like a stone through a wet paper bag and the bus exploded in a welter of flames and scraps of metal. The Team Luthor man attached to the car laughed at this and carried on pounding the windscreen. The armour of the man was dented and small flames were burning all over the car and the man.

Batman clenched his jaw at this and aimed the car at the bus maintenance depot, a huge brick warehouse. Barrels, tables and toolkits went flying as the car ripped through the inside of the building. A small waiting room with a kettle, a few mugs and some glamour magazines was turned into so much matchwood as it tore through the back of the building.

There was an old canal at the back of the building, now the resting place of several bikes, an old car and the remains of the Manton gang, who used to hold sway over this part of Gotham before the Joker arrived. It now contained the Batmobile which landed with the grace of a brick.

The Team Luthor man who had been trying to batter his way into the car had gone. Presumably swept away when they crashed through the brick walls of the building.

"Sorry, Angela," said Robin, still on the mobile phone. "I seem to be losing the signal." He clicked on the off button on it and looked over at the grim countenance of the Dark Knight. Water was starting to seep in through the cracks in the windscreen as the car slowly sank to the bottom of the canal; hidden yellow lights came on in the car as the dark murk surrounded them. "Great place to park, Batman, real slick."


In a Team Luthor base just outside Gotham, two battered armoured men touched down on the roof and headed down the grey metal stairs towards the armoury. A small man in a white coat busy testing a self-loading machine gun looked towards them when they walked in. They were battered, scorched and under the armour they were bruised and bloodied.

"Back to the drawing board?"

"Yep."

A private jet tore through the skies of Metropolis towards Gotham City. It was a luxury model, only three made in the world, one for the Sultan of Brunei and two for Lex Luthor. He was under no illusions as to his popularity, so he always had both leave the airport at the same time in different directions.

Luthor was ignoring the no smoking sign and was happily lighting a cigar and blowing smoke towards the flashing light. Things were going well so far. He was on the videophone to the head of the Lex Corp Research base.

"Our men have made contact with Slade, sir."

"Good."

"He's changed form; he's already killed three guards."

"Spring the trap. Now."

"Sir."

The screen flickered to show a member of Team Luthor. His armour was looking battered and smoking slightly; the red mark on his shoulder showed he was the captain. "We have not been able to stop the Batman, sir."

Luthor gripped the side of the airline seat he was in, making marks in the moulded plastic. "I want that vigilante dead."

"We might need help, sir."

"He must not get in that research plant! Call in any Team Luthor men in the area!"

"Sir!" The screen flickered and went black.

Luthor drummed his fingers against the seat for a few seconds while he thought. It might be time to call in some favours. Some big favours.

He pressed a button on the keypad in front of him. "Get me the White House and the head of the CIA…"


The huge werewolf shook the dead guard like a terrier with a rat and threw the blood-soaked body against a wall. He roared and made to leap towards another guard who was firing constantly at him but having no effect, when lights blazed on and a silver net dropped from the ceiling.

Several guards with electric cattle prods started jabbing the howling beast to try and knock him out. Half a dozen heavily armed guards surrounded him, aiming their weapons. A man in a white coat got a hypodermic out and drew out a sample of blood from the enraged beast. The man then ran through a steel door behind them. The door clanged shut behind him.

"Cough, cough."

The guards swung around at this interruption.

"I can see you boys are busy so I won't bother you…"

"It's the Joker," said one of the guards, raising his gun. "Put those hands up, clown."

The Joker gave him a sideways glance and giggled. "You really don't want me to…"

"I ain't scared of you, you ugly clown. Let me see those dainty whites." The guard clicked the safety of his gun and raised the gun to his eye.

The Joker tutted. "With that sort of attitude I'll take you off my Christmas card list."

"Now Joker, I'm losing my sense of humour."

"You mean you had one to start with?" The Joker slowly raised his hands. Half a dozen guards edged in closer; the sound of triggers being edged back echoed around the room. There were a few bits of metal in his hands that clinked to the floor.

"What the hell are those?"

"Pins." The Joker leapt behind a concrete pillar, and several metal egg shapes spun into the room and exploded in a welter of smoke, flame and shrapnel. The guards that were standing were blown about the room like rag dolls. The shrapnel also tore off the silver net that was containing Slade. A hand grenade, even at close range, would have little effect on him.

The werewolf morphed back into the form of Slade, complete with black trench coat.

"Where now, pooch?"

Slade sniffed the air and closed his eyes while he concentrated; he then pointed at a steel door in front of them.

"It's locked, my pedigreed chum," said the Joker, waggling the door handle as much as his eyebrows. Harley wiggled up behind the Joker.

Slade walked up to the door and kicked it down. It was thrown back into a hallway in a cloud of concrete dust.

The Joker looked at Slade appraisingly. "Your coat's got a glossy sheen, I bet you eat Cesar?"

Slade glared at him. "I could kill you in a bite. Give me enough reason to and I will."

The Joker grinned at him as he walked past, then silently mouthed to Harley. "No sense of humour!" They both giggled at this.

Slade glared at them. "What?"

"Nothing! Nothing! Personal question?"

"What?"

"More for Harley than me, but why aren't you naked when you change back to your delicious human form? I mean, you are a werewolf?"

"I'm no mere werewolf, I am more than that. A lot more."

"Right, right," said the Joker.

"Can you lose the clothes for me, big guy?" asked Harley.

The Joker looked askance at this. "You never ask me!"

"Jealous? I don't need to ask you, yo-yo pants, besides you know the pale and pasty look always turns a girl on." She ran her fingers up the Joker's thin purple chest.

"Harley, you tease!"

Slade shook his head. "Come on, people, let's get it together, we're nearly there."


Luthor's jet was approaching Gotham Airport. Several planes from Europe were put into holding patterns when he requested an emergency landing.

"Could you please turn off your mobile whilst we are landing, please sir?" asked the pretty hostess to the plane's one and only passenger. "Also if you could strap in, please."

Luthor fixed her with a steely glare but carried on his phone call. "You've got the blood sample? Excellent. He's escaped the first trap? Well, that was to be expected. I didn't realise he would have that psychopathic clown with him, though. Tell the men to shoot to kill. What's with the blood sample?"

The voice crackled on the other end of the line. "It's as we hoped, sir. The DNA is stable. The werewolves we have from the original batch are not controllable, sir, but with this sample from Slade we should be able to stop that."

"You mean you can control them? Give them simple commands?"

"Better than that, sir, better than that, a lot better than that."


Gotham River, like an ancient monster; the boats moored up on the side were swept back and forth as a huge sinister black shape swept under them. A concrete ramp used for launching boats suddenly had a huge black armoured car roaring up it, trailing water, weeds and a determined sucker fish that flolloped off after a hundred yards.

A green screen flickered into life on the dashboard, showing the radar. It was empty; they had shaken off their pursuers.

Batman floored the accelerator and the car roared off towards the Luthor research plant. In the distance he could see smoke pumping out of the entrance to the building and he could hear the sound of automatic gunfire deep inside the building…

Metropolis City Bank had an unexpected visitor. A man dressed in black crawled in through the air conditioning and changed his shape to squeeze through the impossibly tight gaps. In seconds, the man poured like liquid metal into the main foyer of the bank. Various alarm systems detected him and then were immediately shut down by the elastic villain.

Several minutes later he poured out of the side ventilator shaft with several dozen small bags of money. Not a bad day's work.

"Cough! Cough!" A muscular shadowy figure touched down gently a few metres away from him. The light behind him cast his face into shadow. He walked purposefully towards the villain.

"I might have known you would stick your cape in, Superman, I've been itching to try this out on you." The man stretched out a hand to the shadowy figure at the end of the alley. He removed a cap on the ring and an eerie green glow lit the alleyway. "You won't believe how much this cost me, Superman, but it would be worth it to put you in the ground."

The man walked nonchalantly up to him and studied his hand with interest.

"Very nice, what does it do?"

The villain looked slightly confused at this. "It's Kryptonite! It will kill you!"

"Really, really?" He walked around the villain with interest. "Superman is away this week. I'm Nightwing; I'm covering Metropolis for him. I don't do Kryptonite."

The man's arm warped into a spear shape and his skin hardened into iron as he stabbed at the young hero. "You will die just as easily!"

Nightwing dodged the spear, slapping the man down with one hand and wincing at the pain. The spear crashed into the wall behind him, sending bricks and dust flying.

The man's arm changed into a club and he smashed it down on Nightwing's head. Or rather where it had been.

Nightwing vaulted the club, leapt for the nearest fire escape and kicked him in the head as he did. The villain went flying back and straight into a net wielded by Batgirl and was dragged up thirty feet in the air. Just before he changed his form again and oozed out of the net Nightwing sent a drug tipped dart that sent him to sleep.

His communicator started beeping quietly in his ear. "N, this is B."

"Yes?"

"I've got a small favour to ask you and BG?"


Metropolis jail has cells ranging up to three miles underground in a huge granite plug that used, millions of years ago, to be the central core of a volcano. Cells had been driven into this in an attempt to keep some of the super beings captured by Superman prisoner. As you can imagine it is all very well, Superman punching out someone who has the strength to topple a building with one breath, but what do you do when they wake…

Deep underground in a cell that was guarded by security that makes Fort Knox seem about as well guarded as the average candy store, a well-dressed young businesswoman was walking down a corridor in Death Row, the most heavily guarded prison section on the planet. The long corridor ended in a steel door that was over ten foot thick and protected by a rolling randomised combination lock that was in sequence with two keys owned by the President and the head of the CIA. The number changed every thirty seconds. This woman had the keys…

A quick tap of the right number later and the door opened. The man in there was part human, part robotic. He was at the other end of the cell performing his daily fitness routine of 500 abdominal crunches followed by 500 press-ups. He did not look up when the door opened, just carried on with his fitness routine, not that he needed to but boredom was his main enemy here...

"Who are you?"

"I'm Amanda Waller, currently on assignment to the CIA. We're reforming Task Force X."

The man rolled to his feet and looked at her. "The Suicide Squad?"

"As you know, after your last little jaunt the President himself signed your death warrant. They're warming up the chair for you now. If you eliminate a couple of people for us, we might overlook your little indiscretions…"

The man lowered his eyebrows giving his face a fiendish look. "Why don't I just escape?"

"Enjoy that last meal you had?"

"Braised steak, what's not to like?"

"It also contained four thousand nannites, each wired up with a particle of semtex, and lead lined kryptonite. They are currently in your head. They will explode in 24 hours unless you complete your mission."

With unnerving speed the man picked her up by the neck and pushed her up the wall with his metallic arm. "Why don't I kill you now and worry about that later?"

She tried to smile at him. Difficult when you are suspended three feet above the ground by your neck, but she tried her best. "It is also triggered to my heartbeat. If it stops, so do you."

He grimaced, his metallic teeth grinding and making sparks. "Who do you want me to kill?"

"You won't be on your own, Sizzlin' Sally has a few more meta humans to ride the lightning today. We want Batman and his family killed!"


The Batmobile glided to a rather damp halt outside the Luthor Research base and parked behind an old van. The gleaming metal surface seemed to shimmer as a hologram simulation disguised it as an old beat-up Chevy. The door hissed open and Batman and Robin stalked out towards the building, keeping to the shadows.

Various shots and echoes of screams could be heard drifting through the air. The shadows seemed to deepen and darken as they crept like assassins towards the building. Suddenly the air was filled with the sound of rocket boots and a helicopter.

With a clunking sound half a dozen heavily armoured Team Luthor men landed in the entrance to the building, and behind them a helicopter landed in a cloud of dust. Lex Luthor got out of the helicopter and strode towards the line of Team Luthor men.

The armoured men now had directional flame throwers attached to their arms and every now and then spouts of flame tinged the air.

"Batman!" shouted Luthor.

There was silence from the street.

"BATMAN, I KNOW YOU ARE OUT THERE!"

A batarang shot out of the shadows towards one of the Team Luthor men. The man seemed to glow a light blue for a second as an energy shield sent the projectile flying back where it originated. It clattered harmlessly against a wall.

Luthor chuckled. "This is private land, Batman." He stamped his foot down to reiterate the point. "My land. If you or any of your cronies step one boot onto it I'll have your head for my wall."

He was answered by silence. Behind him in the huge research building he could hear the sounds of gunshots and explosions as the Joker and Slade went deeper into the building. He gestured to half of his men. "Go and capture Slade. I need him alive. Kill the clown."

"Affirmative, sir," intoned one of the men. With a clanking sound, three of the men strode into the building.

The other three looked at Luthor. "Find and kill that vigilante Batman."

"I see him, sir," said one of the Team Luthor men, his eyes glowing red as he scanned the dark shadows. He sent a stream of liquid flame towards an alleyway…