Spark of Genius

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy verse, girl genius verse, DC comics or any of that, so give it a rest.

AN: I'm actually writing this before my last chapter is even done with the beta reader and published on the site. That said, I'm really looking forward to writing this chapter. Have you ever walked into a bank and thought, "Hmmm, I bet I could rob this place…" and then go through the different steps (in your head) that it would take to do a successful heist? You haven't? Ok, then maybe I'm weird, but yeah, I always think about the strategic advantages and disadvantages of whatever place I walk into. Maybe it's due to living in some pretty rough and tumble parts of the world, maybe it's because I'm psycho. So this chapter is devoted to those who have always wondered how they would go about making a successful heist on a place that has security up the wazzoo. I hope you enjoy it.

AN: WARNING: My beta reader had to run off to another state to help out a family member, so this chapter has not been betad. I appologize in advance for any little errors that I missed.

'Thought'

"Speech"

Chapter 7: IOU One Shrink Ray

"We're now a quarter of an inch tall, and sixty four feet from the house. That's an equivalent of three-point-two miles. That's a long way. Even for a man of science." ~ Nick Szalinski (Honey I Shrunk The Kids)

The trip to Gotham had been uneventful though enjoyable in many ways. Added to the fact that Xander always wanted to do a long over the road trip and see the world, the radio news broadcasts that had cut into the music throughout the trip had made Xander smile. He had successfully made the news twice in one week. Ok, so Xander himself wasn't being talked about in the news, but the outcome of his actions were again in the news. Only three days after the Hawkgirl/Bruce Wayne love triangle and fight video had been the big story, now the breaking news report was on the mysterious yellow rotten egg smelling smoke that was billowing up in the LexCorp Towers complex and the fallout of his prank on Lex Luthor. Apparently Xander's igniting of the giant smoke/stink bomb had some unexpected results.

First of all, the building had to be evacuated as the workers had been almost incapacitated by the thick noxious smelling smoke; hence causing Superman to enter and exit the building numerous times. This lead to the unfortunate finding that though Superman's Kryptonian body might be super strong, and have other super abilities, his super sense of smell was a liability when flying through clouds of rancid rotten-egg smelling smoke. Apparently Superman's stomach was not itself 'super strong,' as its irritation from the sulfur smell and his resulting projectile vomiting right onto the departing limo of Lex Luthor proved to the world; all of it caught on live TV and radio news. The news reports were stating that it would take weeks to clean and sanitize the towers, and Lex Luthor was recorded cursing that he was going to have to throw away his suit and get a new limo.

Xander was a little sorry about involving Superman in the prank. Not to say that Xander hadn't smiled when he watched Lex Luthor get puked on live on national television. No, he was sorry about making Superman sick. How was Xander supposed to know that the smell of rancid rotten eggs was the equivalent of green kryptonite to Superman's stomach?

At least Xander realized that this new information would lead to possible defenses against getting arrested by Superman if the situation ever found Xander on the wrong side of the battle. Xander made a mental note to come up with some sort of easy spray dispenser of a liquefied form of the rotten-egg smell.

'Thinking about battles and defenses, where is this Nth Directional device leading me?' Xander thought to himself as the Nth Direction GPS device directed him off of the main roads and into the backwoods away from the outskirts of Gotham city.

As Xander drove along at the head of his convoy of trucks he took the time to look out over Gotham city in the distance. The city of Gotham sat like a blackened series of monolithic buildings, smoke stacks clouds of smog that hid the light as evening came and the shadows of the city shrouded the streets. The shadows that were formed from the tall buildings and industrial centers made the city look dark, dangerous and diseased; a rotten heart of teeming humanity in all of its struggle for wealth, power and criminal intent.

'Diseased. That's a good definition for that city, as I know some of the craziest and worse villains of the world make their home there.' Xander thought to himself as he quietly contemplated what he knew about Batman, the alter ego of Bruce Wayne, and the never ending battle against crime in that big city.

"I'm not ready to face any of those monsters just yet. I'll leave that to the Batman for now." Xander mumbled to himself as he focused back on the road ahead of him.

The road ahead came to a bridge over a river, the fields on both sides of him seemed to stop at the bridge and deep forests began on the other side of the river.

"In 1 mile, you will be at Wayne Manor, please take a right up the driveway when you reach the gates." The Nth Direction device related in its proper feminine British accented voice.

Xander did a double take. "What did you say?" He asked the device.

"Please take a right up the driveway when you reach the gate." The voice calmly repeated.

"No, repeat the thing you said right before that, about Wayne Manor. Did I hear you correctly?" Xander talked to the device.

"Yes Sir, the gate to Wayne Manor is now ahead of you in 400 yards." The voice politely stated.

"Oh Hell no! I'm not going up there. Especially not after the Hawkgirl incident." Xander emphatically replied.

"All stop Optimus; signal the convoy to pull over right now." Xander commanded.

"Affirmative." Optimus stated as the robot sent out the electronic message to the following robotic semi-trucks.

The whole convoy seamlessly applied the brakes and pulled over in sync, something that would have told the casual observer that either the drivers were part of a driving team or all mechanical. Not that Xander really worried about their being an observer in the woods, but he wasn't going to put it past Bruce Wayne to have cameras monitoring the road.

Xander pulled the microphone to his radio system off of the dashboard and depressed the button to talk into it.

"Star, Star, this is Sparky here good buddy, what's your position." Xander stated, his other hand reaching out to flick switches and toggle buttons on the dashboard, causing computer screens and a control surface to flip and fold out from in front of the steering wheel and position themselves within easy reach of Xander.

"Whoo doggy, this is big Star screaming back at you good buddy Sparky. I am currently holding at your position plus fifty thousand. Roger Roger." The voice of Burt Reynolds from the movie 'Smokie & The Bandit' replied over the radio system.

Xander had thought it would be fun to change Starscream's voice output to that of a more 'trucker' sounding voice for the purposes of the road trip. It also had an added side benefit of confusing anybody who tried to listen in on the broadcasts; Xander thought that it might have brought too much attention if he had been broadcasting through encrypted means while traveling through Gotham. Waving around encrypted communications in range of the famous detective Batman and his super computer would be like begging the Bat to join your conversation. Thus, just like Xander's Superman radar alarm being a simple telephone ring, Xander's radio communications were going to be left unencrypted and out in the open; with the hope that everybody who heard the conversation would believe that it was a simple conversation between two truckers.

"Star, this is Sparky, What's the situation on smokies? Did you get the lay of the land for where our delivery is supposed to be?" Xander relayed as he depressed the mic button and waited for a reply.

"Why good of you to ask Sparky. This is Star, no smokies to worry about that I've been able to see, and I've got all the directions you could ask for on the location of the load." The voice of Starscream stated through the speakers on the truck.

"When you get a chance, give me a lay of the land then good buddy, Roger Roger, Sparky over and out." Xander spoke as he flipped a switch on his control panel. On the roof of the truck a slot opened up and a satellite antenna deployed from within the open section of roof.

The screens on Xander's dashboard came alive with images and information as high above Wayne Manor Starscream relayed a tight-beam laser communication relay, sharing with Xander the data coming from Starscreams high powered cameras and sensors.

Xander zoomed in on the picture and looked over Wayne Manor through the images that Starscream was beaming back to him. The high powered low-light enhanced picture showed that the building was huge, with multiple wings, an olympic sized swimming pool, an extended car garage, nice neat grounds with a tennis court and even what looked to be a horse stable and polo field. A helicopter pad was back behind the house, and Xander was able to make out an old well about 200 yards from the house; a well that seemed to have some sort of movement issuing from it.

Xander flipped a switch and the image turned to infra-red, showing heat blooms from where the heat of the mansion escaped through the windows and chimneys. There, fluttering above the well and flying in and out of the opening were little blooms of fluttering heat signitures.

"Bats." Xander replied, as a big smile started to grow across his face.

Xander stared at the picture for a few seconds, and then looked down to his right where the Nth Direction device was stating that the Nth Metal was located somewhere right about where the well behind Wayne Manor was situated.

"I wonder?" Xander muttered as his thoughts started churning. "I mean, to have traveled this far… and it is the Batcave." He continued talking to himself as his thoughts turned over in his head.

"After all, Jesse would never have forgiven me if I came all this distance, and to this alternate dimension, and didn't see if I could sneak into the Batcave." Xander finished.

Again the image of the fluttering bats drew Xander's attention. His smile grew till it almost went from one ear to the other.

"That's it! Bats! Wa ha ha ha ha ha! This is going to be so awesome!" Xander finished.

With that, Xander pressed a couple of buttons on the keyboard in front of him and the back wall of the truck's cab split apart, opening a direct path by which his bucket seat could then slide on rails into the trailer portion of the semi truck.

Xander's eyes were glassy with thoughts of the invention he was about to make; all the while his chair moved him back to disappear into the trailer of the semi.

As the sliding doors in the back of the crew-cab closed, the sound of Xander's whistling a nameless tune could be heard; a tune that his 'mother' Agatha Heterodyne had whistled whenever the spark of genius had hit had inspired her to build something new and insanely wacky as well as genius.

It was finished. A small mechanized clank, its frame covered in a black synthetic lightweight fabric that mimicked leathery flesh, flapped its wings and hovered in the air in front of Xander. Inside of the clank was a bevy of optical and sensory scanners, computer jacks, analysis machines, sampling devices and even an echo location device that would act like a bat's sonar. In honor of the man whose cave Xander was about to trespass on, Xander had labeled it the 'Bat-clank.' It perfectly mimicked the weight and body temperature of a bat, and there was no way that it could be flying like it was flying, nor that it could be as small or as light as it had turned out.

Xander was pretty sure that he had broken at least five laws of physics and outright mocked gravity in his creation of the Bat-clank. It simply shouldn't be able to fly given how much the materials that went into it weighed. Furthermore, some of the sensors that Xander had inserted into the little fluttering clank had originally been as big around as his head, so the simple size to mass ratio of what he had created just wasn't logical given the outcome of the bat-clank that was able to lightly land and hide in the palm of his hand like a baby bat.

"Oh well," Xander stated with a shrug, "I'll worry about mother nature crying in the corner later, it's time to break into the Batcave." Xander finished with a smile.

"Ok little guy, you know where to go, I'll be in communication from the cab of the truck. Get a move on." Xander told the Bat-clank.

"Toots, you go be the relay and stand at the lip of the well. Try not to be seen, ok?" Xander commanded his first and right hand clank.

"Toot Toot!" The little clank answered as it jumped out of the back of the truck and started sprinting its way through the woods towards Wayne Manor and the well behind it.

Xander turned around from his portable work station in the trailer of the truck, walked to the front wall and sat down in the bucket seat that was sitting there.

Depressing a button on that was next to the seat belt, the wall between the cab and the trailer opened up, and the seat once again slid back into the front of the semi truck; the wall sealing behind him.

Xander flipped the switches that would focus the command screens to the images coming from the Bat-clank; the signal was being bounced from the Bat-clank to Toots, the little clank, and then from Toots to Starscream in a tight-beam laser, only to have the signal bounced back to the cab of Optimus where Xander was enthroned. It was all about plausible deniability. The tight beam and the multi-bounce would enable Xander to control the Bat-clank while still staying a safe distance away in case the fecal matter hit the high speed air oscillation device.

Putting on his headset, Xander saw that the Bat-Clank and Toots were nearing the lip of the well behind Wayne Manor.

"It's show time." Xander mumbled to himself. "Ok clanks, commence insertion into the Batcave, be careful not to be seen by the Batman and look out for any sensors that may be lining the shaft." He commanded his minions.

Xander watched the images coming from the Bat-clank's sensors, he was thankful that he had included the sonar as there were a few close calls as the clank maneuvered through the tight confines of passage as well as the reinforced metal bat shutters that were meant to keep all non-bat intruders from reaching the cave. The clank sent Xander a signal relaying an image of a shutter control device. Apparently the Batman had considered intruders coming through the small shutters, and they looked to be rigged to close after the bats had returned from their nightly feedings.

"Whew, lucky we came here during the evening then, isn't it." Xander postulated to nobody in particular; however Optimus was nice enough to answer back with an "Affirmative."

The bat-clank took three really sharp turns in an 'S' like pattern before Xander saw that it had come out into a gigantic cavern.

It was awesome! The cavern was made of a mix of layers of dark granite and other hardened igneous rocks with stalactites and stalagmites jaggedly shooting from the ceiling and floor. A river poured through the depths of the cave far below, and Xander could see the batboat moored on a doc. The bat-copter and bat-jet were secured to mechanical lift devices from the ceiling and far below them the Bat-clank's optical sensors saw a motor-pool area with different models of Batmobile present. Above the river and below the hanging aircraft were multiple floors of catwalks and work areas, all in gleaming metal with incandescent track lighting built into the edges of the floors. Focusing on the area with the cars, Xander was able to see that the tank like Batmobile was there, along with some of the sleeker versions; even the original blue model, with the bubble cockpits, from the 70's was present. It was everything that Xander could ever hope for.

Directing the Bat-clank to fly down to get a better view, Xander had the Bat-clank invert itself upside down and had it attach itself to the cavern's roof, granting Xander a 360 degree view of the cavern.

Xander was absolutely going crazy in a haze of fan-boy induced excitement. He was actually looking at the inside of the real Batcave! There was the science center, the equipment armory, the costume display area. It even had an extremely large screen attached to the Batcomputer, and Batman was sitting in front of it!

The little voice in Xander's head spoke to him, "Wait, rewind, double check. Yep, we're screwed, the batman is here." The little voice stated in a tone that foretold oncoming doom.

"Wait a second, he hasn't seen us yet, we should be alright." Xander stated out loud to the little voice in his head.

"Since when has luck ever let us get out of a situation the easy way?" The little voice reminded Xander in a condescending voice.

"Fair point." Xander cringingly replied, totally oblivious to the fact that he was having a debate with his inner monologue.

Xander continued to pan the cameras in the Bat-clank around the cave. Yep, sure enough, there was Batman looking at some data on the Joker's latest jail break from Arkham asylum.

Xander was torn on what to do. On one hand he was excited to see Batman in his 'native habitat.' On the other hand, Xander was fearful of getting caught, especially getting caught before he got a good view of the museum exhibits and really got to look at the devices secreted about the cave.

"If only I could get him to leave, then I could poke around a bit more easily without getting caught." Xander said to himself. "It's too bad that the batlight can't go off right now and signal Batman that he is needed in the city." He continued speaking to himself.

'Oh, the batlight!' A thought popped into his head. Xander flipped two switches on his mic and was connected to the trailer of the last truck in his convoy.

"Hey, I need a rocket clank to jet on over to Gotham Police headquarters and flip on the Batlight pronto like. I don't care which one of you does it, but I need it done right now." Xander stated as he flipped the switch from talk to listen.

The sounds of fighting between the clanks could be heard. Xander just face palmed himself and then clicked the mic to talk again. "Ok, the first rocket clank that I built, you get to go. How many times have I told you guys not to fight over who gets to help me? Stop messing around and get going" He commanded.

A reply of musical toots and honks and tweets was his reply, and the sound of a rocket engine firing could be heard from outside the truck's window.

Xander waited and watched Bruce Wayne working at the bat computer. Data and past engagements between Batman and the Joker were flashing on the screen. Xander was shocked to see Joker's crimes listed on the screen. The villain was worse than most of the comic books or cartoons ever really showed. Murderer was a mild term to describe the Joker, psychotic genocidal maniac would probably be a better descriptor for the psycho. Xander merely shook his head in disgust that the Joker continued to be allowed to live and prosper while good people died.

In the back of his head, Xander kind of blamed Batman for the deaths of the innocent that were listed on that giant computer screen. Time and time again Batman had beaten joker and captured him, sent him off to jail for life. Why Gotham didn't have the death penalty Xander would never understand. Xander felt a wave of both respect and disgust flow through him as he looked at Batman and reviewed what he knew of Batman's actions when facing the multitude of villains who populated Gotham. Sure the hero lived by his code of conduct, but Xander felt that there were some villains that could never be redeemed and were just better off dead.

A red light started flashing on the control dashboard in the truck, and Xander turned his attention to the little screen it was attached to. Flipping the switch, Xander saw the rocket-clank using its directed flame to cut through the chains locking the on/off switch to the bat light that sat on the top of the Gotham PD's headquarters building. Xander saw the clank successfully cut through the lock, and then throw the lever which ignited the huge spotlight; projecting the image of 'the bat' onto the clouds above the city. Xander immediately turned his attention back to the image of Batman at work on his computer in the cave.

Xander watched as the computer screen in front of Batman switched from the image of the Joker to display a red bat symbol which was flashing in time to a loud klaxon alarm. Xander watched as Bruce Wayne pulled the cowl of his costume over his head, and then ran off and jumped into the Batmobile.

Xander smiled to himself. His ploy had worked.

The Bat-clank flew through the Batcave and fluttered through its depths, mapping out the details and recording everything for Xander's future watching enjoyment.

The Bat-clank swooped and soared throughout the cave. Xander had originally meant to only examine the cavern when he had first had the idea of breaking in, but now he figured that while he was here he might as well look over the museum and see if he could find the Nth Metal that had originally brought him to Wayne Manor.

In directing his clank towards the exhibit area, Xander became a bit distracted by a green glowing pit of some sort of chemicals. Directing his clank to flutter over the pit, a flash of realization hit Xander like a bolt from the blue.

The glowing chemical pool beneath his Bat-clank was a Lazarus Pit!

"If I can tap the powers of the Lazarus Pit I may be able to create a power source similar to that which ran the Castle Heterodyne." Xander exclaimed in wonder as he gazed at the pictures coming to him through the screen.

"Bat-clank, flutter down to the edge of the pool and take a sample of the chemical makeup. We will need to analyze it to see if we can figure out how to track it to a usable location as well as for figuring out how to work this into a new change in our plans." Xander directed.

The Bat-clank fluttered down to the rocky shore of the pit and leaned down as if to drink from the chemical ooze. Opening its mouth, a thin translucent straw telescoped out of the Bat-clank's mouth and into the Lazarus Pit; the green glowing fluid was then seen to flow up the straw and into the body of the Bat-clank.

Finished with its task, the Bat-clank withdrew the straw and again continued its flight. Xander was thinking furiously about the possibilities that could be opened to him through the use of the fluid, but just like the Nth Metal, he would have to find a ready and available supply first before he could do anything with it.

The Bat-clank flew its way into Batman's museum. It circled the giant penny, flew up and around the animatronic T-Rex from Dinosaur Island, and then around the collections of knick-knacks that Batman had collected from his many battles with the numerous villains of this world. Sure enough, in the middle of the displays was a pair of brass knuckles that the Bat-clank's sensors said was made out of Nth Metal.

"Well, I'm not going to steal that." Xander stated. Figuring that he might as well look around while he was there, he moved the Bat-clank through the rest of the displays.

There was a wooden ventriloquist's doll that had numerous bullet holes in it, there was a burlap sack like mask with one eye hole in it, a toy flower that shot acid and a joy-buzzer that would give a person quiet a jolt. A red monk's hood caught Xander's attention, as he remembered that there were some pretty nasty vampires around in this universe; vampires that seemed to like to target Gotham. In another glass display Xander could see guns of all sorts. One that had a flag that said "Bang!" on it, one that must have been Dr. Freeze's gun, and one that was simply labled as a "Shrink Ray."

Xander was busy geeking out on all of the displays in the museum when the auditory devices on Xander's monitors played the sound of a loud metallic bang.

Xander felt a cold tingle trickle down his back, and he was beginning to think that Murphy and his lady friend bad luck had probably come to visit him again.

Sure enough, as he directed the Bat-clank to fly towards the ceiling, he noted that the swarm of bats was fluttering throughout the cave as it settled in from its evening hunt. Worried, Xander flew the Bat-clank towards the metal shutters.

The shutters were closed. Xander's Bat-clank was stuck in the Batcave.

"Damn it! I have to get that sample from the Lazarus Pit. I've got to find a way out of there." Xander angrily cursed.

Directing the Bat-clank towards the door that the boat, plane, and car exited, Xander found that they all were also locked.

'Should I try the door into the Manor?' He thought to himself.

Unfortunately, the steel door to the manner was also closed and locked tightly.

'Ok Xander, you're a genius now. You've got to think of something good to get out of this mess.' He reflected. 'If you can't find a hole to get out of there, you're just going to have to make one for yourself.' Xander postulated.

Flying back towards the museum, Xander struggled to find something strong enough to blast a hole out of the tightly secured cavern.

Fluttering around a corner of a laboratory, Xander literally ran into the answer to his problem.

A static thud sound rang through Xander's headset and the screens went fuzzy for a second as the bat-clank flew head first into an unmoving orange and green figure of some sort.

Quickly righting itself before it could hit the ground, the Bat-clank rose from the ground to hover so that it could see what it had just run into.

There, standing in front of Xander's hovering Bat-clank was the headless body of the android Amazo.

Xander was literally agog, mouth wide open and brain rebooting as the little mad genius inside of him screamed, "I Want It! Give Me Give Me Give Me!"

Amazo was simply that, an amazing creation of a mad scientist searching for the ability to impart immortality upon himself. Inside that brainless body lay the combined powers of Superman and the Flash as well as the ability to absorb the powers of other super powered beings; whether they be super heroes or super villains. Ok, so since it was headless it no longer had the heat ray or x-ray vision eyes of Superman, nor was it as durable as superman as shown by its lack of a head. However it was still incredibly strong, could fly, and could almost outrace The Flash. Sure the android had been bat shit crazy, but then again so was the mad scientist Ivo who created Amazo.

Then again, Xander didn't really care about crazy. After all, there was a 52.3% chance that some people would call Xander himself crazy, what with his penchant for robots who often spouted comedy routines or quotes from movies. That chance of being perceived as crazy increased exponentially if anybody was around to hear him when he broke out in the occasional bout of evil sounding laughter and the inevitable mad cackle.

Concentrating on the task at hand, Xander remembered a cartoon movie about Batman fighting the reborn Robin who had been killed by the Joker only to come back to life and call himself the Red Hood. Somehow in the battles between Batman, the Red Hood, and the Black Mask a battle had taken place between Batman, Nightwing and Amazo; ending when Amazo lost his head due to an explosive Batarang. What was left of that body was now standing right in front of Xander's Bat-clank.

The headless body of Amazo was his ticket out of here; he just needed to lend the headless being a little brain power.

"Ok, change of plans, again." Xander declared, "And since we are going to be leaving a bit of a hole, we might as well steal something else to throw the Batman off track if he comes looking for his missing super-sized action figure; got to love that punching action and ninja grip."

With that, Xander maneuvered the Bat-clank to land on the dismembered neck of Amazo. As the Bat-clank landed on the headless body, it sank its claws into its perch, and little metal cables started to burst through the skin of the Bat-clank. The cables sunk into the body of Amazo, squelching as they pushed through the flesh of the android's corpse and sparking as they made connections to the metallic neurological system and spinal cord of the deceased supervillain.

Information flooded the screens in front of Xander as he successfully hijacked Amazo's body.

"Super Strength online, check. Flight capability, check. Super running speed seems to be a bit damaged from an injury to the leg. Looks like it is missing all functionality associated with mental capabilities, imaging, etcetera. But go figure, what else can you expect when its missing a brain and the head that goes with it." Xander detailed as he listed off the information that the screens were giving him.

"Ok, when I start this bugger moving, I'm going to have to grab the decoy items fast and blast out of here quickly before any of the Batcave's security functions can come into play." Xander explained to himself as he cricked his neck from side to side. Depressing a lever on his control board, two joysticks raised themselves out of the armrests on his chair.

"Let's hope all of that time playing 'The Last Starfighter' arcade game comes in handy and I can make it out of here in one piece." Xander declared as he took a couple deep breaths and began to get ready to control Amazo's flight.

The body of Amazo took flight, immediately going into a vertical superman pose at it shot straight towards the roof, only to do a fast dive towards the museum area.

The response from the security alarms in the Batcave were immediate. Red lights began to flash, klaxons sounded, and the Batcomputer began to attempt to auto connect to Batman in his Batmobile.

While all of this automated process was going on, Xander was in the midst of doing a smash and grab on the first display case that he came to, the display of weapons.

To Xander at the controls of Amazo, it seemed as if time slowed down. In the brief instance that Amazo had taken flight, Xander was already plotting his course towards the weapons display. After all, if there was one thing all mad scientists wanted and needed, besides a super-mechanized headless android body with which to experiment, it was a shrink ray.

In the blink of an eye, and at speeds faster than a speeding bullet, Xander ducked the android into the weapons display, broke the glass, snatched the shrink ray, and rocketed towards the rocky ceiling of the cavern.

"Here's hoping that Amazo is made out of super strong materials." Xander mumbled as he mentally crossed his fingers.

Just as the android was about to impact the roof of cavern head first, Xander triggered the arms of the corpse to swing forward in a mighty blow.

Xander could hear the explosion through the windows of the truck as static filled the view screens and headsets on his ears.

One second passed, two seconds, and then a third and a forth second before the screens became active; showing that Amazo was airborne in the skies above Wayne Manor.

"Woo Hoo!" Xander shouted as he released the joysticks and pumped his fists. Unfortunately, letting go of the joysticks was a bad idea, and the android decided to plow through a bunch of trees, effectively turning a swath of the forest around Wayne Manor into nothing more than kindling.

"Um, oops. Uh, I meant to do that." Xander winced as he quickly took control of Amazo and directed it to shoot towards the clouds.

High above Xander and the manor below, Starscream slowed to a hover and its cockpit opened up, allowing Amazo to land safely inside before Starscream again closed its cockpit and accelerated to top speed; heading away from Gotham as quickly as possible.

"Ok convoy, get us the hell out of here." Xander shouted, quickly flipping switches, dongles, and toggles to get the truck back into its original configuration.

"We've really outworn our welcome in this part of the world." He hurriedly relayed over the radio to his trucks, "Move it out double time!"

A 'Toot Toot' sounded from outside the truck, and the little clank that had been the relay hopped in through the open passenger window of Optimus.

The convoy pulled off the side of the road and rapidly put distance between them, Wayne Manor, and Gotham city.

By the time that the Batmobile returned to its cave, Xander and his minions were long gone.

AN: I love holidays. Plenty of time to write, and I'm enjoying this story, so I'm going to see if I can knock out another chapter. I'll probably be ready to write a couple of chapters of Freak of Nature and Aspects of Death after I catch up to where I want to be in this fic. Cheers!

Edit: (chapter 8 is finished and will be posted in a few days after I've had a chance to edit it a bit more*)