Chapter 8: An Unexpected Death

Surely it couldn't be this easy.

Never removing his eyes from his target, Batman made his way across the dilapidated rooftops with ease, his feet often more aware of the path than he was. He wished this smooth ability was due to his years of experience at fighting crime within the city, but really he'd just been making passes down these same streets every night for the past week. Romulus had fled in this direction with Crane, meaning that one of these buildings was likely his hideout. And likely where he was keeping Crane, if the man was still alive.

He knew Romulus would have to come here at some point, it was the only English-speaking grocery in the vicinity. Batman just had to have patience and wait for his prey to come to the local watering hole. He just didn't think it'd be this soon. Perhaps he and Crane had a higher metabolism now that was causing them to need food more often? Possibly there were multiple werewolves in the area that Romulus had changed and who now needed food? Hopefully that wasn't the reason.

His pace quickened as Romulus changed his path down the alleyways, melding with the shadows and forcing Batman to pull out his heat sensory optical overlay. Usually he saved this type of technology for analyzing a potential ambush, but considering he was dealing with a creature with heightened senses he figured it was better to be safe than sorry.

Ten minutes went by, and Romulus' pace had quickened to a swift walk after leaving the streets. He was trying to avoid attracting attention, and Batman wasn't surprised. His face was well known, and even years after losing his athletic career he'd now become a mystery and legend. When his quarry came to a halt, Batman dropped to the ground instinctively. He turned his heat vision into a binocular view, peering cautiously at his prey through a drainage grate. The burly man turned slowly, his eyes looking down all the streets, alleys, and rooftops; his nose up and sniffing the air. Batman could only hope the man hadn't caught his scent. If he was going to get Crane out of there alive, he couldn't be seen. Taking Romulus alone, that shouldn't be a problem. But taking out Romulus and unknown variable of other werewolves? Even Batman had his limitations.

Finally Romulus turned back to the building, pulled a key out of his pocket and let himself in. Damn, that was close. He'd have to find something to cover his scent if he wanted to get in there. The building was tall with almost no windows up to the roof where there was a long row of them circling the building. Clever. A skylight would have been perfect for an ambush, but those windows would be near to a deathtrap. He'd be off-balance on a pulley, and he'd be an easy target.

Batman flipped his vision back to normal. That confirmed it then: Romulus was expecting him.

The door opened smoothly then clicked with the lock, and Crane put down the chemical vials he was examining to turn to his tormentor. Romulus had a bag of groceries, or at least what ihe/i deemed food. In Crane's opinion a large paper bag full of frozen meat was hardly a meal: yet another item on his list of outrages, and another reason for him to torture the man as soon as he was capable. As if Romulus suspected what Crane was turning to say, he was already shaking his head.

"No, I didn't get you any soap. Or shampoo for that matter. If I got you those, you'd be too distracted from your work to get anything done."

"I assure you I'm far more distracted without bathing items. I'm not entirely sure how you survive in such squalid conditions, but I am not fond of carrying my own stink cloud with me."

Romulus dug an arm deep into the paper bag and pulled out a container of shampoo. Crane narrowed his eyes.

"I never said I didn't take baths, Doc." He dropped the bag onto one of the numerous tables and started moving up the rickety circular staircase, his feet clanging against the metal stairs as he moved up toward the foreman's office. "Put those in the freezer. We might be having company tonight."

Crane blinked. Company? He wasn't sure who the hell a bastard like Romulus was expecting to have over, but he could guess that he wasn't going to like them. He moved over to put the bag of meat into the giant floor freezer in the corner, watching until Romulus was out of sight and making sure he heard the click of his door. Then he sprung over to the smaller storage door and pulled a tiny vial out of his pocket. He had no intention of staying in this hell hole any longer.

With a dropper he applied three drops onto the dead bolt and smiled at the low hiss. A tendril of smoke came out and he waited a few seconds watching the tiny metal bolt melt under the toxin. Crane made sure to keep his distance until the compound was complete, then pushed gingerly upon the door. There was a slight thump when the door got halfway open, but Crane wasn't trying to open it completely. The smell emanating from the room was horrid, but he didn't have time for queasiness. More than likely this was where Romulus kept his trash, relying on the stink to deter potential theft. The gap left plenty of room to move his slim form past and inside. He fumbled momentarily for the light switch before the tiny bulb flared on and filled the tiny room with an aged golden haze.

The room wasn't large, not that he'd expected it to be. But along the walls in front of him and on either side were mounted gun racks, with a large variety of daggers and firearms. Crane rubbed his hands together in anticipation. Obviously Romulus had been collecting these for a while, but he hadn't expected so many!

He rushed forward, fumbling for a couple of blades and one of the smaller revolvers. In his haste he left the door ajar, and in just a few short moments it closed with a polite click. It wasn't loud of course, but the noise made Crane halt in mid-grab for a second knife. Quiet though it was, he knew it was still loud enough for Romulus to have heard it. Then from behind him, the door was pushed open with a violent crash, the hinges squealing against the strain. Before Crane could even turn, he was up in the air. He could feel Romulus' hand gripping the scruff of his collar, his own feet flailing off the ground.

"Hmm, I was wondering when you'd find him."

"What?" Crane shoved his fingers down next to his collar to keep from being strangled by his own shirt. "What are you talking about?"

Romulus sat him back down on his feet, "You mean you didn't see our friend here?"

Crane turned, coughing to clear his throat. When he turned around he gasped, backing painfully into the gun rack behind him. Hanging from a worn and dirty orange extension cord was Dr. Milo himself. The white eyes were wide and glassy, staring up into the sky. His face, once frequently flushed, was now pale white and the cheeks had caved from the weeks of decay. Beneath him lay a small pile of weeks-old feces and urine which Crane realized with growing despair he must've walked right through. The obstacle he hit when he entered the room he realized, his heart racing, must've been Milo's body: just on the other side of this door, watching him work all this time.

Crane felt his legs losing their strength, could feel the blood fleeing from his face and the world was starting to spin. He'd known Milo, at least as a young researcher. Had Romulus driven him to this? A brilliant mind such as his hanging himself in a closet?

Romulus took a step to the side, smiling at the corpse and folding his arms across his chest. "I think he ran in here wanting to shoot himself really, but I don't think he had the guts for it. Hanging's a pretty bad way to go, eh Doc?"

Crane wanted to move his lips, but it was taking all his energy right now to keep breathing. In and out, breathing that putrid, disgusting odor which had at one time been his acquaintance.

"Well that's why I bit you, if you must know. Milo here ran out on me, as you can see. The bastard would've rather died than help."

He had no idea what the hell Romulus was talking about, but Crane knew he had to get out of this room. Staring up into Milo's dead lifeless eyes, and more importantly knowing that this could quite easily be his own fate, was more disgusting and freakish than any torment he could have imagined.

Romulus was watching him closely, and flexed his wrist once before slamming his fist into the corpse's face. The frail neck snapped easily, and the body fell into a heap on its own feces, the head flying off into another stack of gun racks. Crane let out a yelp of shock before rushing out of the closet and back into the lab. But just as he exited the tiny room, his legs gave out, and he hit the cold ground as he finally blacked out.

When Batman decided to become Gotham City's protector, he knew he would have to face moments like this. Times of anger, disgust, outrage. Still, as he hung next to one of the windows of the old factory building, it took all his training and dedication to keep him focused on what had to be done. Milo hadn't been a decent man by any means, but Romulus' total disregard for his life spoke volumes. Even as deranged and inhuman as his Anthony Romulus had become, Batman couldn't give up on him. Any more than he could give up on Crane who'd just passed out only feet away from the corpse of his chemist predecessor. No, even for animals like Romulus, he had to believe there was hope. Sometimes that was the only thing that kept him from murder.

Slowly Romulus was leaning down to Crane, and regardless of the risks, Batman knew he had to act. He kicked back off the building's edge and then allowed gravity to take hold and carry him through the window itself, his boots shattering the glass. The dart gun was extended, and Batman took the shot, cursing to himself as Romulus just barely jumped aside. He extended his cape and his feet crunched to the floor in a shower of shards.

"It's about time you showed up. I was hoping you weren't just following me for kicks you know."

"Romulus, you want help and I can give it to you. I know you're looking for an antidote."

With a smile, Romulus shook his head. "Sorry, Bats but your help means locking me up forever. No, I wouldn't trade my freedom to make your city safer."

Crane was still unconscious. Batman could only hope he'd be able to stall Romulus long enough to allow him to come to his senses, or at least keep Romulus focused on him. A dive for Crane would only make them both vulnerable. "Think of the lives you've taken, Romulus. The beast inside you is the cause of this cruelty. Do you remember your sports career? You had a home, family, and friends. Let me help you return to them."

Romulus was crouched against the wall, his eyes wide with fury. "I'm glad you showed, Batman." Then he stretched his arms forward, his spine lengthening as his feet remained planted. "I've been looking forward to seeing you again."

Batman kept his eyes fixed on him, preparing himself for when Romulus would lunge at him. The man's fingers were growing longer as long black claws ruptured from the base of his nails, pushing off the shelled fingertips. Romulus winced slightly, but didn't seem to mind terribly much as coarse black fur started emerging from behind his ears and his eyes became inhumanly large. Batman tried not to be shocked by this, but the differences between Romulus and Crane's transformations were incredible. Crane obviously couldn't change at will; otherwise he would have escaped the warehouse. However Romulus had been able to transformwithout almost any effort. Was Romulus' disease different from Crane's, or was Crane simply too recently infected?

Romulus' body was now covered in fur, his shirt badly torn but still barely hanging on. His jeans fell off in tattered bits and as Romulus removed what had been his legs from the material, Batman noticed the feet were now thickly furred paws equipped with blackened claws. Then Romulus' head started to change, and he was unable to withstand the pain any longer. He howled against it and shook as his mouth and nose extended outwards.

While he was distracted, Batman pulled up the dart gun and let fly first one then two darts into Romulus' side. The howls increased in pitch and intensity as the beast glared at him with bright yellow eyes, his face still not completely changed. Batman took the opportunity to run to Crane's limp body, scooping him up over his shoulder. From behind, the claws were scratching across the metal floor as the creature bounded toward him. Batman leapt over one of the tables and shot a grappling hook into the glass window he'd entered through earlier. He pulled into the air even as a sharp pain tore across his leg. He looked over his shoulder to see the creature pacing back and forth, his large eyes never leaving the two figures and his long purple tongue lapping in anticipation of a meal.

Batman hooked the base of the grapple onto his belt as he tried to wake the man he'd only just narrowly rescued. "Crane, wake up. I need your help."

Crane squeezed his eyes as he forced himself awake, his heavy lids opening slowly to the nauseatingly bright room. The smell of Milo's corpse was still terribly strong within his mouth, and he had to resist the urge to vomit. As his stomach finally settled, he realized that not only was he dangling precariously in the air, but that Batman was holding him. He blinked in confusion before looking down to the hairy mass beneath them. Romulus was moving casually about the room, carrying one of the large tables over and laying it atop of another.

"He – he's changed!"

"Yes, I know." Batman glanced over his shoulder before returning to Crane. "I need your help to stop him. He's going to find a way up here eventually. I've pumped him full of tranquilizers, but they don't seem to be kicking in."

Crane nodded, still trying to shake off his nausea. "I had no idea he could transform at will."

"Look at him closely, Crane. Is he the same creature that bit you originally?"

Crane knew exactly what he was getting at, and he gave Batman a long stare before turning to study the werewolf below. "You think there's more than one of him?"

"If there are, I need to know. Now."

Crane squinted down at the creature, wishing he still had his glasses and wondering when they'd fallen off. Romulus' black fur was dark as night against the gleaming silver metal throughout the room. Black, hadn't the one in the field been gray? And he hadn't had anything more than moonlight to view the creature before, not that he'd been trying to catalogue the color at the time. He shook his head, "I don't know."

Batman leaned in closer, "Then you have doubts?"

"Well, I mean… the one was gray, he's black. And I wasn't exactly complimenting his fur coat the last time we met!"

"But Romulus believes he's the one that bit you."

"Well yes, he does."

Romulus had piled three tables now and began climbing, his weight making the tables creak under his weight and slide in loud shrieks along the floor.

"Hang on, Crane." Batman muttered, and Crane obeyed, linking his arms around the Bat's neck even though the very thought would have typically made him roll his eyes. Batman removed the grappling hook from his belt, and placed a hand firmly on the window ledge. Then he detached the hook itself from the open window and as Crane positioned himself so he could look down from beneath Batman's arm and around his cape, Romulus had reached the top table, and was leaning down to lunge in their direction.

"Hurry it up, Batman!"

Batman put away the grapple and clutched Crane to his chest. As Romulus leapt from the top precipice of his makeshift ladder, Batman pushed off from the wall and back flipped onto his feet on the opposite side of the room. Watching from over his shoulder, Crane watched as Romulus pushed his muzzle out to try and grab the Bat with his teeth before slamming into the metal wall. Then the world turned upside down as the Bat flipped in midair and Crane shut his eyes tight against the vertigo. As soon as his feet hit the ground, the Bat was on the move. Not out the exit as Crane had hoped, but into the closet with Milo's corpse.

"What? Where are you going!"

But Crane's words were ignored as Batman leapt into the room and closed the door behind them. Then he pulled off one of the gun racks and wedged it between the door handle and his foot, only moments before the resounding slam told them Romulus had tried to follow. Then the beast started his assault, hitting the door over and over again. Crane backed up and nearly fell over Milo's body, a few flies went past his face and he leaned against the wall as he tried to keep his composure.

"Why," he gasped. "Why did you corner us! We could've gotten out, we could've been on the roof by now!"

"Because Romulus wouldn't stay inside for long. He'd follow us, ripping apart anyone that got in his way."

Crane rubbed the bridge of his nose. "So you were afraid of people getting hurt. Did it ever occur to you that he might do far worse damage to us?"

Batman reached over and pulled out some knives, sliding them in under his belt. "We'll stay put and take a stand here."

"No, those aren't going to do you any good. Not unless they're covered in silver."

"Are you serious?"

"Why would I joke about something like that?"

"I assumed that was only myth." Batman grit his teeth as he braced his body against the door. He was starting to realize just how bad of an idea it had been to come into this room. He'd been acting on instincts, and this room had looked defendable. Now he doubted the door would last more than an hour with Romulus throwing his weight against it every few moments. It creaked and groaned with every hit.

Crane started pacing in the cramped little room, attempting not to look at Milo's body, but his eyes always returning to it again. The ugly orange extension cable was so bright in this tiny room, it was no wonder his eyes were attracted to it. He followed it up with his eyes in an attempt to keep his mind off the body, and saw it loop around a few pipes on the ceiling. He blinked, wondering how in the world Milo had been able to reach so high in the room to tie that cable. He squinted up to it, and saw a tiny outline of a door at the top. Some kind of crawl space? He put a hand on one of the mounted gun racks, wondering if it would hold his weight.

"What are you doing?"

Crane turned to him and placed a finger against his lips, "Pacing, what does it look like I'm doing?"

Batman nodded, he hadn't been certain Romulus could hear them but it made sense. He watched silently as he kept his back bracing the door.

Crane climbed up the levels of gun racks, his thin legs and arms looking a bit spiderlike as he easily pulled himself up. The lycanthropy strength was certainly something to be grateful for at the moment. When he reached the top, he dragged his fingers across the edges until he found the handle. It was dusty, but certainly not as much as the rest of the room. He pulled hard on it, and felt the slight click as it came down an inch. Then he put his fingers into the gap and pulled down a ladder. Although he'd expected it to creak and moan, the sides of the ladder looked well-oiled as though someone had taken care of it. His eyes returned back to the extension cable knot on the pipes, it must have been Milo he realized. And even as he said this he spotted the scratch marks on the knot, deep scratches that ate into the cable exposing the multicolored wires within. Milo hadn't tied that knot. He looked down at the decapitated body again, then to the separate head not far from it. Milo hadn't hung himself, he'd been murdered. But why?

The ladder halted as it reached its final length, and Crane crawled swiftly down to the ground again. When he'd gotten down, Batman glanced up at the ladder questioningly. Crane held up a finger to wait, and then held the sleeve up to his nose as he moved over to Milo's corpse. He started with the front pockets then with the pants pockets. All were empty. Maybe he hadn't had anything that threatened Romulus after all. Maybe he'd just killed him on a whim. But something was off. He looked at the stub of the neck again and at the markings on the neck where the extension cord was still looped. The skin damage there was not raw and bruised where the body had struggled against the cable, but instead it looked like it had been hung post-mortem. How odd!

He checked the pockets again, wondering if he'd missed something. Then the curled skeletal hands, nothing clutched in their grip and it didn't look like anything had been held there. He sighed, glancing momentarily at the head again with its wide bulbous eyes and open mouth. Then the light caught something near the neck, sparkling metal momentarily. Crane approached it cautiously, kneeling down to examine it further. It looked like a chain emerging from the esophagus. He turned the head over and aimed the light down the gaping throat and saw a much larger gleam of metal. White metal.

He picked up the head and rushed over to Batman, who widened his eyes. Both his arms were braced against the gun racks on either side of the door, and his feet were planted firmly as his body reverberated with each pummeling the door took. Crane pointed down the corpse's mouth like a child showing his mom a particularly colorful caterpillar. Batman blinked in disgust momentarily, wondering why the hell Crane had decided to defile Milo's corpse, when he too saw the metal. Removing his hand for a moment, he reached into the mouth, grateful that he was wearing gloves. He found the angular metal and pulled hard on it, hearing the gooey pop of it being released from the tissue. The smell was horrid, but when he pulled it out completely he saw that it was a large white metal cross with a long chain. The edges of the cross were very angular and quite sharp, as though Milo had filed them down over time. Batman lifted it and nodded to Crane, who cringed and cautiously held the back of his hand toward the cross. When it barely had touched it he hissed in a breath and yanked it back instantly. Damn, if this was the effect it had on Crane when he barely touched it, he only hoped it would work on Romulus.

Batman looped the chain over his arm, then picked up more of the gun racks and secured them between the floor and the door. They wouldn't last, but it would buy them some time. He turned back to Crane, and was shocked to see he was placing Milo's head back near the corpse. He shook his head and grabbed him by the arm, pointing upwards. Crane nodded and started climbing. They went up the gun racks and then to the ladder. While Crane was able to move up the racks without incident, Batman was far heavier. Probably not just due to his weight but also the body armor, several of the racks fell off in mid-climb, and he had to move doubly quick to make sure he could make it up the side. Then they moved swiftly and silently up the ladder and into the dark crawl space.

Unlike the smell of the corpse below, this area smelled very much of treated wood. The ceiling was only about five feet from the floor, so the two of them had to crouch to move. When Crane turned to lift the ladder, Batman held a hand out to stop him. Crane's face was a mixture of shock and fear, and Batman held the sharp cross tightly in his grip.

Crane shuddered before nodding slowly. He only hoped the Batman knew what he was doing. Now they were in an even more cramped room, and with even fewer potential weapons. Crane pulled out the small pistol he'd grabbed earlier, checking to make sure it was loaded and that the safety was off. If they were going to die up here he wasn't about to go down without a fight.

Then the wolf crashed through the door, falling into the gun racks on the opposite wall and started circling the room with its nose in the air. Romulus was so large in this form that his body took up at least half the room so that circling was almost like spinning. Crane swallowed down the dry lump in his throat as Romulus' yellow gaze turned up to them. He growled deeply as bits of saliva fell from his jaws. Then he hunched up preparing to leap and Batman leaned over the gap, his hand with the cross staying hidden.

When Romulus leaped, his body lengthened as he sprung up, his black claws spread out as he gripped one of the middle ladder rungs. Crane's heart was pounding in his chest as he leaned forward, attempting to keep his gun steady. Romulus leaned back on the ladder then jumped again, his large head and open jaws coming just slightly up through the opening in the floor, and Batman struck. With a cry he revealed the gripped hand holding the large cross and brought it down into Romulus' left eye. Romulus cried out, his high pitched howl echoing within the tiny crawl space. The wolf then fell past the ladder, hitting the floor with a thud. The blood was oozing out of his eye, and slowly his body started to fade back into his human shape: first the head, then the arms, then his torso and finally his legs. Crane stared trying to calm his breathing as Batman dropped down from the opening. By thenRomulus was nothing more than a muscular naked man curled up, his screams of pain much more hollow as he clutched his injured eye with the large protruding cross.

Batman began tying him up with a thick black cable he'd produced from his belt. He'd already covered him with one of the tattered blankets from Crane's sleeping bag in the other room. He was wrapping the cable around Romulus' legs and arms, "Come on down, Crane."

Crane blinked, realizing that he hadn't moved since Batman's assault and shakily picked his way down the ladder, dropping down to the ground floor. "What's going to happen to him?"

"He'll be taken to St. Luke's Hospital, and I've already warned Gordon of what he's capable. You, on the other hand, have a major task ahead of you."

Crane blinked, "What?"

"You need to come up with a cure for this."

Crane shook his head, "I… I don't know if I can. The notes he left, they're all incomplete. Nothing seems to make sense from them."

"You have about fifteen minutes to search this entire building for his notes before the Gotham PD arrives. Be quick."