Chapter 9: Cure
Bane and Penguin noticed that Man Bat had been missing for quite some time.
"RaAaKK! I wonder if the Bat got OUR Bat?" Penguin said to Bane.
"Man Bat was weak! We don't need him! I managed to beat Batman! So, if Batman did get to him, then we are better off without him!" Bane proclaimed.
"Squawk! You might have beat him, but you do realize what Batman is capable of once he has had prep time."
Bane walked over to Penguin and stood over him. "And you've seen what I am capable of once I've had prep time myself!" Bane exclaimed. "I broke his Goddamn back!"
The Penguin didn't look scared as he stared right back at Bane. "You broke his back after he fought every lunatic in Gotham City. That is hardly an achievement!"
SMACK! Bane backhanded Penguin square in the jaw causing Penguin to fly backwards.
"You better watch your mouth! Fool!"
"RaAaKK! What the hell is your problem! You do know that you can't kill me right?" Penguin asked.
Bane stepped back up to Penguin with his fists in the air. "I might not be able to kill you, but I can kick your ass until the end of time!"
Bane turned around to walk away.
THUD! Penguin smashed Bane over the back of his head with a large umbrella. Then, as Bane fell over, THUNK! Penguin kicked him in the face causing Bane to roll over on his back.
"Squawk! You aren't the only one that can kick ass around here! I hope you remember that before you ever try laying your mittens on me again!" Penguin warned. "Now, if you are done acting like a big buffoon, we need to go recruit a new bad guy!"
Penguin began walking towards a cage that had three prisoners trapped inside it. "Not to mention, we need to collect some more food. These three won't last us another week." Penguin said while poking at the prisoners with his long umbrella. "Raak! Raak! Raak! Raak!" Penguin laughed as the prisoners tried backing into the corner of the cage to dodge the umbrella.
"Stop fucking with the food!" Bane demanded.
Penguin pointed his umbrella at Bane. "Why, I oughta!"
"You oughta WHAT?!" Bane yelled while flexing his chest.
"Squawk! Forget it! You're not worth the effort!" Penguin responded.
Bane piped up. "ANYWAYS! Now that Man Bat is out of commission, who else is left out there to recruit? Joker is M.I.A., I think Riddler is dead."
"What about Scarecrow?" Penguin asked.
"Do you really think a guy that stuffs his head and body full of straw is going to make a good recruit? Although he might not make a good recruit, he might make a good snack! Bwahahaha!" Bane laughed. "I believe there might be some refugees hiding out over by the old Wayne Manor."
"Squawk! Didn't you say that is where you encounter the Birdman? Why would we want to do that? I say we search the Narrows again!"
Bane wasn't happy with that suggestion. "THE NARROWS?! That place has been dried up for months! We need to go where the food is at. AND THAT IS OVER BY THE OLD WAYNE MANOR! Batman doesn't want any of this!" Bane proclaimed as he injected a dose of X-1 Serum directly into his chest causing his veins to pop out from all over his body.
"You're a junky! We need to preserve that stuff. We are going to need more of it as the radiation continues to dissipate!" Penguin insisted.
Meanwhile, as Bane and Penguin made their way towards Wayne Manor, Batman and Robert A.K.A. Man Bat were in the Batcave conducting some final experiments with the new doses of the X-1 Serum.
Batman held up a needle. "Well, this should do it. You should be completely cured from the mutation after this dose. Plus, with any luck, you shouldn't ever be able to transform back into Man Bat ever again."
Robert was pleased to know that he would finally look like a regular human again. "Who would have thought that you and I could have worked together to create something so brilliant!" It's been a pleasure, Bats." He said while receiving his final dose.
Within seconds, the last bit of deformities from the mutation finally disappeared. He was now back to his human self, and without any Man Bat left in him. Batman started loading a specialized weapon that could fire off the new doses of the X-1 Serum. Then he started loading another weapon with long diamond bullets.
Robert piped up. "What are you going to do with those?" He asked.
Batman looked at him. "This weapon is for shooting the enemy with a dose that will reverse the mutation. And this weapon is to KILL THEM WITH!" He shouted as he pointed the weapon with the diamond bullets at Robert.
Robert put his hands out and began to back up. "Whoa! I thought we were friends!"
Batman looked at Robert with a smirk on his face. "I'm just joking with you Robert." Batman laughed while lowering his weapon. "Although,… I haven't eaten anything for quite a while now… HA! You should see your face Robert!"
Robert nervously chuckled. "Hehe… speaking of food, I am actually feeling ravished. It's weird actually having a craving for real food and not humans anymore. Do you have anything left in the Manor?" Robert asked while rubbing his belly.
"I can't say for sure. Refugees had broken in and gotten a lot of stuff after the nuclear bombs hit. You can check it out if you want to." Batman replied.
Robert made his way upstairs to the Manor. He began opening up cabinets and pantries, but there wasn't much of anything there.
"Hmm… Let's check the fridge."
After opening it, a foul smell came out. "Oh GAWD! That stinks!" He exclaimed as he looked at the green mold that had grown on the old food. "Eww! That's nasty!"
He made his way to another pantry door. When he pulled on the knob, it was stuck, and it wouldn't open. "Oh, trying to play tough are we?" he playfully asked.
Then he started opening up the drawers to see if he could find a knife or something that could pry the pantry door open with. Finally, he found a knife, and then he went to pry open the door.
When he got it open, his eyes lit up. "Bingo!" He yelled out because there were all kinds of canned foods. "Hallelujah! The other scavengers weren't able to find this stuff!" he celebrated.
He picked up a jar of unopened peanut butter. "This looks like it will do for now." He said as he made his way back into the kitchen to find a spoon. He was startled, and dropped the jar of peanut butter, when suddenly he heard-,
"WELL WELL WELL! What do we have here?" Bane said while confronting Robert.
"RaAaKK! It looks like he has shedded his Bat-skin!"
Robert took out the knife that he used to open the pantry door, and then tried stabbing Bane in the stomach with it. The knife couldn't penetrate through the skin, instead it bent in half. "Shit!" Robert said aloud.
"Shit is right!" Bane retorted. What is the matter Robert, you didn't want to be one of us anymore? Now what are you supposed to be besides a little puny human?
"HE'S BAIT!" Batman's voice yelled out from behind them.
"Wha?" Bane turned to look just as Batman fired his weapon.
BANG! The weapon shot out a pellet, and then hit the ground right in front of Bane and Penguin's feet.
"Ha! You missed!" Bane yelled out.
Suddenly, a cloud of blue smoke exploded and surrounded Bane and Penguin. They both started coughing as they breathed in the smoke. As the smoke cleared, Bane and Penguin could feel their bodies shrinking and losing strength.
"Do you smell that?" Batman asked. "Breathe it in! That's fear!" Batman exclaimed as he pulled the other weapon out from behind his back.
Bane and Penguin were both transformed back to the way they were before the X-1 Serum and the radiation caused them to mutate. "SHIT!" Bane said aloud.
"Shit is right!" Batman retorted as he fired his weapon at Penguin.
"SQUAWK!" Penguin blurted out as the diamond bullet pierced his fat belly.
Bane quickly ran, and then jumped through one of the windows of Wayne Manor. Batman managed to get off a shot just as Bane was crashing through the glass. The bullet hit Bane in the leg. Batman ran out after Bane, leaving Robert alone with a dying Penguin.
Robert looked down at Penguin. "WELL WELL WELL! What do we have here?"
The Penguin laid on the ground holding his bullet wound. "RaAaKK! How did you do this? How did you figure out how to reverse the mutation?" Penguin asked.
Robert walked over to the broken window, and grabbed a shard of glass. He then walked up to Penguin. "You don't need to know how I did it! In fact, you don't need to know anything ever again!" Robert exclaimed as he thrusted the shard of glass into Penguin's throat.
Meanwhile, outside of Wayne Manor, Batman was tracking down Bane. Bane was easy to follow thanks to the trail of blood spurting from out of his leg. As Bane limped along, he suddenly heard the cocking of a gun. He turned around to look, even though he already knew who it was.
BANG! A diamond bullet shot out and hit Bane right between the eyes. Bane fell over dead.
Batman put the barrel of the weapon next to his own mouth, and then blew the smoke off of the tip. "Keep the change, you filthy animal!"
Moments later, Batman had made it back to Wayne Manor. There he discovered Robert standing over Penguin's dead body.
Batman knelt down towards Penguin's body, and then started to devour it.
Robert was amazed at how hungry Batman was. "Wow Bats! You really tore him up!"
Batman looked up at Robert with blood dripping off of his chin. "You are lucky they happened to come along when they did! You were about five minutes away from becoming my next meal!"
Robert gasped. "Well, I'm certainly glad they did come along." he said while wiping the sweat off of his forehead.
Batman stood up, and then headed back down into the Batcave. Robert cautiously followed behind him. Batman then began prepping more weapons. He loaded them up by strapping them around his back.
Robert was confused. "Batman. Why not take the new X-1 Serum and reverse the mutation effects?" He asked.
Batman grabbed hold of Robert, and then stuck him in a cell and locked it. "I'm not taking the serum yet because Wild Bill is still out there somewhere,... AND I'VE GOTTA GO TO WORK!"