Author's Note: This idea came to me just a few days ago. I originally had an idea for a Batman / Angel crossover with Angel in Gotham to hunt down a mystical relict and Wolfram & Hart hiring the Joker to kill him, which would call Batman into the plot. Then I remembered a little short story that appeared in the Elseworlds Annual of L.E.G.I.O.N. and together, they became this.

So have fun, enjoy, and remember, none of these characters are mine. They are copyright Joss Whedon and DC Comics respectively. Oh, and the first few paragraphs are taken more or less directly from Frank Miller's brilliant Batman: Year One story.

Of Bats and Men
(X-Over with Batman)

I've tried to be patient. I've tried to wait. But I have to know. How, father? How do I do it? What do I use to make them afraid of me?

I have wealth. The family manor rests above a huge cave that will be the perfect headquarters. I even have a butler with training in combat medicine. Everything I could possibly need is at my fingertips, everything I need to take up the war against the criminals.

Yes, father. I have everything. Everything but patience. I have already waited eighteen years. Eighteen years since that night. The walk to the car after the movie. And the man with the frightened, hollow eyes and a voice like glass being crushed. The night I saw you murdered right before my eyes. The night all sense left my life.

There is one final ingredient missing. Some primal element that will instil fear in them. But what...?

Without warning it comes. Crashing through the window of your study... and mine. I've seen it before somewhere. Yes, it frightened me as a boy, this giant winged shape, this bat. Frightened me... that's it. Yes, father.

I shall become a ba...

"Ah, there you are!"

A blonde woman jumps through the shattered window, dressed in leather pants and a pink top, a wooden stake in hand. What is she...?

"Come on, drop the bat thing! It's getting so boring."

The bat suddenly transforms into a man, dressed in red and black, pale face, long black hair. The woman seems neither surprised nor frightened. Not frightened at all.

"So we meet again, Slayer." He speaks with a cheesy East European dialect, almost like a B-movie actor. "Maybe this time you and I shall..."

"Oh, zip it!" The woman surges forward and drives her stake into the man's chest. Moments later he explodes into ashes.

"Scratch Dracula," she mutters, wiping dust off her clothes. "Again. Wonder how long it takes for him to come back this time."

She finally seems to notice me, giving me a smile. "Nice mansion," she says. "Sorry about the window." Then she is gone.

Left in the darkness, the ashes of the strange bat-man still on the floor, I come to a decision, father.

Whatever shape my battle against crime shall take, I shall most definitely not become a bat.

THE END