There was a whirlwind of shape and color as Robin was yanked backwards; he suddenly found himself standing next to his teammates in the center of the bat exhibit with Kid Flash's hand still on his arm.
"Now what are we supposed to do?" Kid Flash asked, throwing his hands up in the air.
Before either of them could answer, a furious roar echoed as the creature burst into the large hall, sending the fragile wooden door into splinters across the floor.
"Our new objective is to detain him," Kaldur ordered, unleashing his water bearers. "Do not hurt Dr. Langstrom."
"I don't think hurting him is going to be the problem," Kid Flash darted off.
The creature's head whirled in their direction. It shrieked again, revealing horribly long fangs, before it shot towards them, massive wings outstretched. Robin leapt to the side, barely dodging a swipe of its claws, and he tossed two batarangs as he spun away a second time. The creature moved incredibly fast, and swatted them out of the air like they were nothing.
It lunged at Robin, its claws slashing towards him, but water curled around its wrist like a whip and yanked the arm back. The creature's head turned towards Kaldur, snarling, as a second stream of water ensnared its other arm.
"Dr. Langstrom! You must calm down!" Kaldur's arms shook, straining with the effort of keeping him immobile. "We are trying to help you."
"I don't think the doctor's in right now," retorted Robin.
The creature's response was unsurprisingly another roar. It suddenly quit pulling back and resisting the grip Kaldur had on it, and instead rushed the Atlantean teenager in a blur of motion. Kaldur's eyes widened before he was tossed across the room by a vicious backhand, his water bearers clattering to the ground.
"Kaldur!" Robin rushed forward as the creature stalked toward his fallen friend.
A haze of yellow and red suddenly spun rapidly around the monster, and then Kid Flash was standing before Kaldur as the creature struggled to get free of the coils of velvet rope KF had secured around it.
Robin saw the creature strain against the rope and knew exactly what was going to happen seconds before it did. He fired his grapple gun and shot into the air, aiming a vicious kick at the creature's head. The monster's muscles bulged and he ripped through the rope as if it was nothing right as Robin's' boot slammed into his head, knocking him back into the wall.
Robin rolled and landed next to his friends as Kaldur rose.
"A plan would be good about now," Robin said as the creature rose with a furious snarl.
It opened its jaws and screeched, a sudden, horrible, piercing sound filled the air and stabbed into their brains. The teen heroes cried out and clamped their hands over their ears. Robin squinted through the pain, his eyes widening as the creature yanked the desk that was bolted to the ground into the air like it was nothing.
He shoved his teammates to the ground as the desk flew over their heads, skimming their hair.
"That's it!" growled Kid Flash. "I am so over this!"
The red head lurched to his feet and charged the creature, moving at insane speeds and throwing as many punches as he could everywhere he could reach. The creature snarled and tried to grab the speedster, but he darted away too fast only to dart back and throw more punches.
"Somehow I think he's just annoying it," Robin commented as he helped Kaldur to his feet. The Atlantean's eyes turned upward.
"Kid Flash, push him back towards that sign!" he ordered as he grabbed his fallen water bearers.
"Ay, ay captain!" Kid Flash saluted and ducked as a massive claw slashed towards him. He darted back, delivered three swift punches, and leapt back even farther. The creature roared and shrieked in fury as it struggled to catch the young speedster.
Robin readied his batarang, his eyes zeroing in on his target. He had to time it just right.
"Whoa!" Kid Flash cried out as the tips of razor sharp claws barely missed his torso. "Anytime, guys!"
Kaldur rushed the creature from behind, slamming his elbow into its back with as much force as he could muster at the same moment that Robin threw his batarang. The creature stumbled forward, and the batarang sliced through the thick cable hanging from the ceiling, causing the giant vampire bat model to fall rapidly. Kaldur rolled back as Kid Flash zipped away, and the huge model crashed into and pinned the creature beneath it with a huge bang.
Silence.
"Did-did we do it?" Kid Flash asked, panting.
"It appears so," Kaldur replied. "Now we just have to-"
The creature rose, heaving the massive model into the air and towards the teenagers like it was nothing.
The heroes scattered to avoid being crushed, and when they looked up, the creature had taken off into the air using its massive wings, and soared straight through the skylight. Huge, deadly glass shards rained down on them, and Kaldur seized the bat model's broken wing and heaved it over their heads just as the glass impacted.
He tossed it aside once it was safe and looked up at the broken skylight, where the creature's form disappeared into the night sky.
"Well that's just great," Kid Flash groaned. "Now the Man-Bat's loose in the city."
"The Man-Bat?" Robin raised his brow incredulously. "That's what you came up with?"
"Well, gee Rob, I'm not sure if you knew this or not, but Batman's already taken!" retorted Kid Flash with a scowl. "You got anything better?"
"I believe we should be less worried about what to call Dr. Langstrom and more concerned about how to take him down safely before he harms anyone," Kaldur advised.
"How are we supposed to do that? He could be anywhere in the city by now!" Kid Flash gestured towards the skylight.
"Or just above Gotham Hospital heading east," Robin remarked, pulling up his wrist computer, where a flashing red dot appeared on a map of the city.
"When the heck did you find time to put a tracker on it?" Kid Flash asked, impressed.
"Uh-oh. Looks like he's headed towards the East Park Side," Robin's eyes narrowed. "That place will be packed with people out for Halloween."
"Then we must stop him before he gets there. Kid Flash, you read through his notes, do you think you could create a cure?" Kaldur asked.
"Hey, I'm a genius, but even geniuses can't always whip out a cure to an experimental formula in an hour," Kid Flash replied, then looked towards the office with a sigh. "I could give it a shot."
"Do what you can. At the very least, learn all that you can about the formula and gather the evidence you need. Robin and I will work to subdue him."
"Be careful," Kid Flash nodded and sped towards the makeshift lab.
Robin sighed, looking at the chaos and mess they had created in the exhibit hall. "Batman's not going to like this."
"He will like it less if we do not capture the Man-Bat before innocent people are hurt. Let's go."
Sorry about the wait, readers, this chapter was difficult to write! Hopefully the rest of the story will flow a little easier. Let me know what you thought! Also, I of course have had another idea for a story, so my question to you is, should I post the first teaser chapter, even though it may be awhile before I can really start writing it and posting regularly? Or should I finish this one first before posting anything for the next story. The other one will be darker, like my Collector story. Let me know what you guys would like me to do in your reviews. :)