Batman and the associated characters are owned by DC. With grateful thanks for cmar for beta reading this chapter and thanks for all the reviews so far! All reviews welcome!
Chapter Eight – Batman – Time of the Wolf
Deadshot giggled as he saw his bullets pound into his foe. The Batman seemed to be hunched up on the roof. Behind Deadshot the clouds skittered away from the moon revealing his foe…
Now Deadshot, it has to be said, had experienced a lot in his short but remarkably violent life. His father was cruel to him and I don't just mean making him eat his vegetables or making him wait till 10 am on Christmas morning to open his presents. However, considering what Deadshot turned out like I would say he wasn't cruel enough. He had also spent several years in various jails, and not the kind of jails for tax dodgers, which have golf courses and cable TV. He was in the kind of jail where the lights are out by 9 pm and if you want a glass of water after that, then tough (unless you ask one of the guards very nicely)! He had, in a nutshell, seen a lot, which is why when a huge werewolf forced its way out from under the Batman's cloak he wasn't overly surprised…
He loosed several shots at the Batwolf but it didn't slow him down at all… Deadshot had a bit of a death wish it has to be said. He wouldn't ever kill himself but he often put himself in harm's way with a smile. However when that smile had lots of sharp teeth he decided against being in its way and he leapt none too acrobatically off the building…
Barry Fosco, the Metropolis poisoner, looked at the hubcaps of the Greyhound bus as he walked past it. Plain stainless steel hubcaps. He tutted. No changes from it since it was installed. He chuckled to himself as he thought of one Greyhound bus he had seen with a standard chrome with a black centre, apart from one front hubcap which was standard chrome with a white centre! Fools! He and his friends on the hubcaps chat room had a good laugh at that one…
He paid for his ticket in cash and sat down on the seat, carefully placing his bottle of coke down next to him. An attractive blonde girl sat down next to him and put down her bottle of coke next to his.
"Hello, I'm Kenneth, you can call me Ken," he said. He never gave his real name when going on a hit.
She gave him a quick glance to take in the green cardigan, scrubby beard and thick glasses. "Hi."
"Are you going to the Fourth Annual Hub Caps Reunion in Gotham as well? They're giving out free hubcap polishing kits to the first fifty through the gate! I'm going to camp outside for three nights. I bet you are as well? You look like a hubcap girl!"
She gave him a small smile and said. "Sorry, my seat's over here…"
"It's first come first served! You don't reserve a seat on a Greyhound!"
"Whatever!"
He sighed to himself. Curiously, women never seemed to share the same passion for hubcaps that he did. He picked up his bottle of coke and a tiny bottle from his pocket. It was a sleeping draught to help him catch some shuteye on the long drive. He was a master of potions and poisons. He added a couple of drops to the bottle of coke and took a sip from it.
"Sorry that's my drink I think…" said the girl, taking the bottle from his hands.
"Errr, no, that one's…" The drug was starting to slow him down already.
"Sheila," said the driver, looking back as he navigated the Metropolis Streets, "you couldn't give me a sip of coke could you? I'm parched."
"No, but that one's…" said Barry, the sleeping draught making his eyelids heavy.
The girl pointed at the bottle next to Barry. "That one's yours…"
"But you don't understand, it's…" he said, slurring his words.
The driver swigged back the drugged coke as he drove down the streets of downtown Metropolis. "Thanks, that's a real eye opener and no mistake."
"But you see…"
The girl took the bottle back. "Leave some for me…" She finished the bottle.
"The problem is… is…" Barry fell asleep and was quickly followed by the driver and the girl… The coach ran slowly through the central reservation and ended up fortuitously in the Metropolis City Impound Yard.
A red blur zipped down the side of the Gotham skyscraper and picked up a non-too gently falling Deadshot.
"My hero!"
Bruce Wayne's identity was normally subsumed by the Batman, now the Batman's identity was subsumed by the Wolf. The Batwolf leapt from the top of one skyscraper to the other, powerful muscles under his sleek coat rippling as he ran. He then leapt from the skyscraper through the window of a young woman's apartment. Glass smashed and tinkled over the linoleum and his claws dug into the floorboards.
A cat hissed and spat at him from the top of the cupboard. He prowled past a mirror and could see what he had become… All teeth and claws…
The door opened; the woman screamed, dropping her shopping over the carpet, and the Batwolf leapt past her towards the stairs and freedom…
Deep in the bowels of Lex Corp Towers lurk two of Gotham's finest. They are not lurking there out of any fine intent but more because someone or rather something is intent on finding them.
"Trapped in a metal tube," said Nightwing, "what a great day!"
"I don't like it here…" came a voice ahead of him.
"You're not the only one, Batgirl."
They worked their way up two floors and gently lowered themselves out into the room they were after. The server room.
The room was cool and very noisy from the air-conditioning and the sound of the servers in the background.
"Keep an eye out for anyone," said Nightwing to Batgirl. He unclipped a small device from his belt and plugged it into the USB port in the back of a server.
He pressed his comm. button. "R, this is N."
"R here, what's up, bro?"
"We're in Luthor Towers, B has asked us to hack Luthor's personal files."
"Don't get caught. Have you attached the USB device I gave you?"
"Yep. What's that noise in the background?
"I'm listening to music. B sent me home early…"
"You been a naughty boy?"
"Shut up… Just getting a signal…"There was the sound of the clattering of keys. "Are you sure you plugged it in properly?"
Nightwing went to the back of the server rack. "Yep."
"Is the server switched on?"
"How do I know?"
"Does it have any lights on?"
"No, this one doesn't, isn't that strange? I'll try another one. Don't you roll your eyes at me!"
"How did you know? Right, getting a signal. Yep, I'm in, just going to change their admin password. Okay, I'm on their network, searching for Luthor's files." There was a few seconds silence. "Got them! Right, downloading his files now onto the 400 gb USB drive. Most of them are encrypted but I can decrypt them here at my leisure once you get that drive to another computer; it'll take too long to download them from there, but I can open up a VPN link to their servers through..."
"And for those of us who don't speak geek?"
"Just sit back and chill out. By the way, should I tell Batgirl what your password is? What would Oracle say if she found out?"
"Shut up! And it refers to when Oracle was Batgirl anyway!"
"Yeah, yeah, and on late breaking news three pigs were spotted flying over Gotham!"
"Why've I got a weird whiny voice in my earpiece?"
Batgirl ghosted up behind Nightwing. "What was that about your password?"
"Nothing, nothing!"There was a chuckling sound from the comm link. "Shut up!" said Nightwing. "If you say anything to her I'll insert that computer into you blunt end first!"
Ten minutes later he was done and Nightwing was trying to avoid Batgirl's stare. "Thanks N. Just resetting their administrator account to FPrefect and changing their password to solongandthanksforallthefish just to annoy them! Have a good night, guys!"
The batwolf pounded down the Gotham streets. A primitive sense in him was taking him home. All over Gotham City wolves started to howl…
Nightwing removed the device from the back of the server and attached it to his belt. Batgirl motioned at him to stay silent and stay back from the door…
A red light lanced into the server room from the glass door, quickly joined by another, then another and another.
"Sniper sights," whispered Nightwing. "Stay down, Bat…." He looked around, he was alone. "Talk to myself, why don't I."
She had gone back into the air conditioning of the building. How to get past the glass door to the air conditioning? He got out a small dentist's mirror from his utility belt and looked around the corner. One of the red lights winked out. Then another. The mirror showed a black blur dancing around a team of heavily armed guards. They might as well have been armed with flowers for all the effect they were having.
The door hissed open and Batgirl walked in. "Are you going to wait here all day?"
Lex Luthor looked up at the sky as the moon hid itself for the last time that night. There was a slight cough behind him. Happerstein. One of his men. He would have to stop him doing that wretched coughing and start speaking to alert him. If he did it one more time he would cut his tongue out himself.
"Mr Luthor?"
"What is it, Happerstein?"
"The guards are conducting a search of the building and are starting a sweep of all the subway tunnels in the area. Slade seems to have disappeared; he does not appear on any of the cameras or security devices in the area either."
"Like a ghost…" murmured Luthor. The details were sketchy as to all of Slade's powers, but considering he had survived thousands of years he had to be pretty wily.
"Also, sir, you know the break-in in Luthor Towers?"
"What of it?"
"They have, eerrmm, broken out, sir. I have spoken to Bill and he spoke to the IT director and he spoke to Simon, you know the guy who set up the…"
"Cut to the chase, Happerstein, before I cut to your throat."
"Well, your personal files have been downloaded. Not your personal, personal files but the ones you had set up on there for such an eventuality?"
"Good, tell the Head of Security at Luthor Towers to analyze the break-in and protect against it happening again. Tell him the next break-in that happens, I'll mail him back to his wife in pieces."
"Sir, I've told you about that before. This is a company, not a gang; you can't use words like that. I'll just say it'll be mentioned at his next pay review." Happerstein licked his lips. "It's really not my place to ask, sir, but…"
"But what?"
"Those files that were stolen; what were they?"
"Just a little something to divert the Batman from where the real action is."
Waking up feeling battered, bruised or in one particularly memorable case hanging upside down over a tank of clownfish (the Joker had real trouble getting the piranhas at that time of night), was not new to him. However, waking up naked in bed with a headache was not something he'd experienced since his college days and then at least he had the advantage of who he had woken up next to… He did not like losing control.
Thoughts were coming back to him. He had been bitten. He raised a hand to his shoulder. It was fine.
He stood up, put some shorts on and stood in front of the mirror. The injury had healed up completely.
A cold draught forced the curtains into the room and he span around to see a huge hole in the window, the paw marks to the bed telling its own story...
There was a coughing sound from behind him.
"Good morning, sir, I trust you…" Alfred looked at the window. "Good heavens, sir, does this mean…"
"I'm a werewolf…"
"I was going to say I'll need to get the glazier on this side of the house as well, but that puts a completely different complexion on things."
"Yes."
"You'll have to curtail your night time activities."
"Yes."
"If people are expecting the Batman to rescue them and he rips their throat out, it will not do your public image much good…"
"I know."
"Don't expect me to take you for a walk in the evenings either…"
"Alfred?"
"Yes?"
"Shut up."
Gotham hospital has a special wing for all those whom the Batman has taken off the streets. Since he often damages them first (a euphemism for breaking their bones and hanging them upside down from the nearest building) they often need several weeks in the hospital before spending several years in jail (or in the case of the more colourful inmates in Arkham, several weeks before they attend the Gotham Council Work Experience Projects for Homicidal Maniacs). The wing had its own security guards and a full time police presence. This had now been doubled since a new inmate was there…
He opened one eye first and surveyed his surroundings. White ceiling. Metal hospital bed and a stern looking policeman holding a shotgun in the corner. No, three policemen. He looked around some more. Better make that four. He opened his other eye and tried to rub his face.
Tied up.
Typical.
"I pay my health insurance regular as clockwork and this is the service they give me!"
"Nurse," growled one of the policemen. "The fruitcake's awake…"
"Fruitcake! Fruitcake!" he warbled. "That reminds me that last time I was here, they had some positively scrumptious sandwiches. I never tire of dry bread and cheese! Do they have the same imaginative chef now or has McDonalds snapped up such a talented cook?"
"Don't get too close to him," warned the officer. "Last nurse who got within range of those teeth lost her hand."
"Don't listen to him, ducky, I never bite on a first date. My memory is a little hazy as is my makeup; you couldn't touch up my lipstick could you?"
"No."
"You're mean! What happened to me anyway? Did the big bad boob have his wicked way with me again? I told him to get me back before midnight."
The nurse put on some disposable gloves and carefully removed some bandages round his arm and chest.
"Any lower my dear, and Harley will get jealous…" He fixed her with a beady eye. "I didn't ask you to stop…" He looked about him. "Where is Harley, anyway? Did she escape? Is she even now planning my rescue with some imaginative scheme involving a cucumber?"
"She's in the next room; she hasn't woken up yet. You were bitten by some sort of creature and left in an alleyway in downtown Gotham. Strangely, your wounds seem to have healed up."
The Joker narrowed his eyes and lowered his voice an octave. "Really? Really… The next time I meet Slade I'll put a smile on that toothy grin of his…"
After the Greyhound company had replaced their driver (the original one somewhat mysteriously had fallen asleep at the wheel) and paid the impound fee to get their coach out of the yard, it was now approaching the outskirts of Gotham.
Barry Fosco woke up to see the hazy grey buildings of Gotham out of the window. He smelt of old sweat and dirty clothes at the moment and his back had a crick in it from sleeping on the chair.
No matter.
He would book into a motel, clean himself up, and stake out his target. He already had a few ideas how to kill Bruce Wayne without even having to be within a hundred yards of him…
There were several hundred people bitten by the werewolves in last night's carnage… The more that were bitten the more power he had and now he had no pain with it…
The power was coursing through him.
Power that had not been seen on Earth for thousands of years…
