Creature Feature

The drive back from Arkham was long. Driving fast wasn't advised because of the long, windy roads that led to the asylum, but after the number of times he had made the trip, he raced through them at breakneck speeds. It was child's play at this time.

Back in the city limits, Batman listened in on the police band. There had been a few reports of crimes-in-progress, but nothing that was close enough for him to intervene. According to the dispatcher, those were being adequately answered and assigned, so there was no real need for his intervention.

That gave him more time to take in Strange's—and Harley Quinn's anecdotes—words about Merideth. It honestly sounded like a story of an arrogant man getting too deep into his research before it burned him—literally. It was quite possible this League of Smiles started with him, albeit unwittingly.

Concentrating that many people with Joker obsessions would eventually lead to them talking with one another. This would lead to many more interacting until they formed their own little club, one that eventually turned murderous. That was one theory, anyways.

Passing through the business district, the vigilante's eyes would take notice of the various logos plastered onto the buildings. There was Wayne Enterprises, naturally, and GothCorp, even Shreck Industries…

Shreck…

Talk about an investigation that kept falling to the wayside. That tended to happen when Arkham inmates broke loose, or one was thrown into prison. Faintly, Batman felt he hadn't given that investigation his due diligence.

There was something off about this power plant proposal. Even after searching Shreck's computer files, and even his office, he had few things to go off of. What more could he do?

Well, he could go to Shreck's house and check that out, even his son's if need be. If there was one person Max Shreck trusted, it was his golden boy, Chip. Chip wasn't the savant that Max was, but he was kept in the man's inner circle. If there was anyone that knew how Shreck operated, it would be his son.

Another possibility was going into one of the other Shreck Industries buildings. While there was a headquarters, where Shreck naturally ran his business empire, there were other buildings that helped manage his business. They were involved in the various industries the company was involved in, specialized one could say. It wasn't that uncommon a practice; even Wayne Enterprises had its various divisions in separate buildings. For instance, Wayne Pharmaceuticals was at the outskirts of the Industrial Area.

It also wouldn't be the first time he had looked into Shreck's other operations.

While the Computron deal was active, he had looked into Shreck Industries businesses, finances, and so forth. That also included on-site recon. He knew how to get into each building, it would just be a matter of which one he wanted to do first.

If he wasn't mistaken, he was approaching—

Batman jerked his head to one side. On one of the rooftops, he could have sworn he saw movement. Approaching a traffic light, he actually slowed down for the red light and looked out his side window. He saw the rooftops of the surrounding buildings, though nothing seemed—

There!

Hitting the accelerator, Batman shot into the intersection, passing traffic blaring their horns. He passed through unharmed, though the cars he had cut off had skidded to a stop. Going up a couple blocks, he then made a turn into an alleyway, killing the engine a moment later, and then having the canopy slide forward.

Standing up out of his car, he fired his grapple up to the top of the building next to him, repelling up it once the line went taut. Once he reached the top, he punched a small button on his gauntlet, one that would slide his car's canopy back into place and put it under lockdown.

Crossing over the rooftops, he headed back the way he had come, to the area he had seen that movement. He used his grapple to cross over the intersection he had blown through, seeing the traffic below working itself out. Landing on the opposite side, he holstered the grapple gun and began searching the area.

At first, he saw nothing. There were large a/c units that towered over him, the occasional roof access on each and every building, but otherwise not much. Yet, he knew he had seen something here.

Even as he walked forward, he slowly spun around, making sure all angles were searched. Again, nothing. Great, he had lost them, whoever they were. The last thing he needed was someone who knew stealth stalking him—again.

That's when he heard it, the sound of gravel crunching beneath a foot. Batman didn't move, merely moving a hand carefully to his belt, pulling out a bat-shaped shuriken. Perhaps he hadn't lost his quarry just yet.

He heard the sound again, a touch louder this time. Whipping around, Batman raised his shuriken up, ready to throw it.

And then promptly stopped.

The…person…he saw was massive. It was pure black, darkness even. It towered over him, hunched over as it used arms the size of tree trunks to hold itself up. Its posture was very much like that of a gorilla with the body to match. Its face though, was haunting. There were two sets of eyes, glowing red. One set was where you would expect a set of eyes to be, but the second one was on its forehead. It was a mouth breather as its mouth was gaping open, revealing a set of sharp teeth. To complete the picture, antlers grew out of the sides of its head, ones that befitted a deer.

What the hell was this?

With a click, the lock opened and was soon followed by the door. Barbara was wheeled in instead of wheeling herself. That had all to do with the fact that Daddy had insisted on seeing her up to her apartment.

He didn't have to do so, and she could have insisted that she could handle it, but who was she to say no to Jim Gordon? She had always been a daddy's girl, and retirement didn't seem to change any of it.

Though, it was nice not having her arms feel some strain from getting up here. While you could get used to it, after a long day, it made the arms get tired somewhat faster than normal and getting into the apartment with tired arms was not on her priority list of things to do. So this saved some effort and let her dad feel like he was accomplishing…whatever it was he thought he was doing.

"Thanks for the help," Barbara said as she began to divest her wheelchair with a few items, a purse primarily. Had to keep up an illusion that she was a normal, handicapped person, and plus you could hide quite a bit in the purse. Not that she hid anything important, because purses could be thoroughly searched. The modifications she had done to the wheelchair, on the other hand…

"Of course," her father answered, closing the door to the apartment. Odd how he was still on this side of it. "You look like you're living well."

Even for him, that was awkward. What did he care about the state of her apartment so long as it wasn't wrecked? Lived in was a nice way to describe it, magazines on the coffee table, scruff marks from the wheelchair wheel on the linoleum kitchen floor, a few dishes in the sink that still needed to be cleaned—

"Let me do this for you." He had zeroed in on the dishes. Why? What was…no. Oh no.

"Dad, I can take care of that. I was just in a rush this morning," she protested.

"And you should be relaxing while I spoil you," the former commissioner quipped back. The faucet was turned on and he was hard at work. Why did he need to be retired? It just gave him more time to do whatever he wanted with her. Okay, that sounded bad, not that she didn't appreciate more quality time with him, but now was not a good time.

Barbara still needed to make a call to a certain Dark Knight. She couldn't very well do it with her father, the former commissioner, within earshot! She had to find a way to get him out and quickly. This was the kind of call that couldn't afford to wait.

"You're not planning on staying up late…later, are you?" her busybody father called out from the kitchen. She could hear water being dumped down the drain. "It's late, very late, and I expect you have a very early morning. You should be—"

"I'm not ten anymore, Dad!"

"Sorry, sorry." The chuckle gave away that he was anything but. The dishwasher was opened and one of the rolling trays pulled out. "There are times I see a lot of myself in you. And I know myself well enough to know that there might be a problem with taking care of yourself. Lord knows I struggled with it, and I don't want you finding out the hard way, like I did."

"Dad, you never learned from the hundredth time," Barbara chided back. She got the concern, and he wasn't necessarily wrong about it. Like him, she had burnt the candle at both ends before.

"Better late than never that a Gordon finally learns," her dad joked. The dishwasher closed.

And the day a Gordon finally learned was going to happen one day after the end of the universe. No dice, Dad.

"I appreciate the help, and maybe I'll take you up on hitting the hay sooner rather than later," Barbara said instead, hoping to bring this to an end. She loved her father, she really did, but now was not a good time. "I just need to get to the bathroom first. Take care of some things."

"Anything I—"

"Girl things."

"Ah. Well, you would know better how to handle those better than I." Her father raised a hand to scratch his head as he stepped back out into the living room. Just as he was able to say more, maybe something along the lines of heading out, one of the lightbulbs in the overhead fan chose that moment to burn out.

Of course a man like Jim Gordon noticed.

"Well, we can't leave that like that. Where are your lightbulbs? I'll fix that up before I leave."

"Dad, it's not really a problem!" she protested. You would think it was, but she had figured out a way to get something like that taken care of a long time ago.

"No, no, no, no, no, I'll take care of it. Hm, those couch cushions look a little flat. I'll put some shape back into those while I'm at it. I know a good trick from the one I used to have in my office." That he slept on. "That table leg looks a bit wobbly too…"

"Dad, really, I can take care of it!" Barbara tried again, knowing that her father was going into Dad mode, and there had been an increase in that since retirement.

"I'm here, I can do it. No big deal. Where are the light bulbs again?"

"Dad!"

The monster roared as it lunged forward. It drew up a massive fist before throwing it straight down, an attempt to crush the Dark Knight on the roof. Immediately, he threw himself backwards, dodging the blow as it smashed down on the roof. The surface gave away instantly, the fist bursting through as it appeared to sink into the building.

One hand reached for his belt and Batman retrieved a second bat-shaped shuriken. Whipping his arms across his body, he threw each one for the creature's head. His aim was true as one struck its left temple, the other on the right check.

Each projectile bounced right off of the black monster's head, not even so much as leaving a bruise. It didn't look the least bit harmed either as it stared at him with its four eyes. It did growl as it yanked its arm out of the roof before it launched itself up into the air. Bringing both of its fists over its head, it swung them down as it closed in on the vigilante.

Batman instantly dove to one side, going into a roll. The monster landed where he had been standing, slamming its double-fisted attack onto the roof, crushing the concrete into pieces. Ending up on his feet, Batman had a few more shuriken in his hands, his thumbs pressing the main body of each one, causing a small red light to flash on them. Again, he whipped his arms out, sending them flying.

Again, each projectile hit their target, but this time they exploded. The creature roared as each explosion caused it to flinch back, making its body appear to jerk spastically. Thin clouds of smoke were formed as the quick flashes of fire burnt out, providing some smoke coverage.

That all changed as the monster took a step towards the Dark Knight. Again, there didn't seem to be any damage done to this thing, its upper lip twitching up and down as it growled.

What the hell was this thing?

It raised one arm up, the one closest to the vigilante, to its side. The far one it suddenly jerked, dragging it through the roof of the building. Eventually, that arm swung upwards, sending a barrage of broken cement and debris towards the dark-clad man. Batman danced to one side to avoid it all, even leaning his head to one side as he avoided a rather large piece that flew at an angle that removed it from the rest of its brethren.

And then the monster was lunging at him again. It threw another fist one that was moved more like a side-sweep rather than a punch, or even a thrust. Batman just ducked beneath it, feeling wind pulling at him as the fist passed over his head. Taking his chance to lunge, the dark-clad man rammed his own fist into the creature's side, though it didn't even seem to feel his blow. There wasn't even so much as a flinch from the hit. Oddly enough, it didn't feel as if the vigilante were punching a wall either. He had punched his fair share of walls and bodies before and this felt like a body.

Abruptly, the monster swung its extended arm back and its elbow collided with the side of Batman's head. Instantly, he was sent flying through the air, stars erupting in front of his eyes. A grunt of pain escaped his lips as he flew. He ended up crashing back onto the roof, hitting shoulder first before he went skidding across it. Once he stopped, he let out a groan before he began to push himself back up.

He heard the roar first. That was his first sign the monster was on the attack again. Jerking his head to look the way he had come, he saw it sailing through the air, closing in on him. Shooting a hand to the back of his belt, he pulled out his grapple gun and then pointed it to one side. He fired the grapple, hearing the grapple claw make contact with something a couple seconds later. Hitting the retraction button, he was then pulled across the roof, his body dragging across it, but fortunately in time to avoid being crushed as the monster landed where he had been laying.

Reaching the end of the grapple line, Batman disengaged the grapple claw, allowing it to return to the barrel of the grapple. As he came to a stop, he was already climbing onto his feet, placing the grapple back into its place on his belt. All of this was down in one fluid movement.

And then he turned to face the monster. Batman's cape flowed over his body from all the turning he was doing, but with a rolling of his shoulders, he pushed the cloth behind his back. This revealed the electrified brass knuckles he had slipped onto his hands, each one crackling with tiny volts. In a show of aggression, Batman swung his arms out and then inward, his fists striking each other as a flash of electricity erupted from the collision of brass knuckle against brass knuckle.

"Alright, you big bastard, let's see you handle this," Batman growled.

The monster roared before it charged towards the Dark Knight. Batman took off running towards it as well, the two closing the distance between the two rapidly. The monster raised one hand up, its fingers forming sharp looking claws, then swiped it downward at its opponent.

Batman danced to one side to avoid the claws, then threw his fist right into the creature's abdomen. Electricity crackled from the blow. Pulling the fist back, Batman threw his other one, repeating the process as he pounded fist after fist into the monster's gut.

The monster took a step backwards, but that was all. That was the only difference between his first punch earlier and the ones he was landing now. Again, he didn't feel like he was beating on some strong surface. He knew when he was punching a body of muscle, bone, and flesh, and he felt that sensation over and over as he pounded. Yet, even with the electrified brass knuckles, he wasn't seeing any different result.

The monster, however, had enough. Letting out another roar, it raised its other hand up, revealing more claws. Darting to one side, the vigilante avoided another swipe, this time seeing claw marks form on the roof where he had been standing. They joined another set of claw marks, ones undoubtedly made from the first swipe.

Alright, something wasn't right. His explosive shuriken hadn't damaged this thing; his electrified brass knuckles hadn't caused as much damage as they normally did. He had a concussion detonator and a few Freeze Grenades on him, but he wanted to keep those in reserve. He had precious few of those at the moment; yet, he needed to hit this thing with some serious firepower.

Then an idea formed in his head.

Going into a run, Batman raced across the rooftop, slipping off his brass knuckles. He pocketed them even as he reached the edge of the roof. Behind him, he could hear the monster chasing after him, its feet stomping on the roof as it snarled.

Pulling out his grapple, he fired it across the street, the same one he had created a traffic jam earlier. He didn't wait for the line to go taut as he launched himself off of the roof. Thankfully, the line tightened a moment later and he went swinging through the air.

Now came the next phase. Letting go of the grapple with one hand, he moved it to the gauntlet of his opposite arm, striking a button on it. "Computer: activate Protocol Seven," he commanded.

All the while, he swung down through the air, heading right for the mouth of an alleyway. He entered the alley in midair, landing shortly after. Letting go of the grapple, he kept up with his momentum, already in a run.

From above, the monster came into the alley as well. It seemed it had leapt right after the vigilante and somehow followed him here. Well, not quite. Its body struck one side of the alley, tearing a trench across the wall. Chunks of brick and debris fell off, raining down on the alley and subsequently Batman. He immediately came to a stop, backing towards the opposite wall as he held his arms up above his head to protect himself. The debris struck the ground before him though, a few smaller pieces hitting the wall above him, and falling onto him harmlessly.

The monster eventually landed on the ground; unfortunately, it was between Batman and where he wanted to go.

Crap.

Because of its bulk, it filled up most of the alleyway, effectively blocking his way forward. It snarled and growled as it took a step towards the vigilante.

Slowly, he edged backwards. He needed to get through this monster and he knew he couldn't just push it back. The only ways he could see were above or under the creature. Its next move would determine which way it would be.

It raised a clawed hand up then. Letting out a roar, it lunged towards the Dark Knight, slashing its claws at him. Batman darted to one side, avoiding the slash. Immediately, he shot one hand out, pushing it down on its extended arm. Leaping off of the ground, his foot then struck the wall next to him, followed by his other. He ran along the wall, using his hand pressed down on the monster's to help him go upwards.

At least, that was the plan. The dark-clad man found himself running upward, but right towards the antlers sticking out of the creature's head. Gritting his teeth, he did the only thing he could do and sprang right off of the wall, diving through the gap between the antlers, just over the monster's head. The monster tilted its head back in an attempt to watch him do this, inadvertently helping the dark-clad man as he passed right over it.

Going into a flip in midair, Batman landed on his feet and immediately took off running down the alleyway, passing right by an intersecting alley. Once he did, he skidded to a stop, spinning back around to face the monster.

The creature had also spun around to give chase, stomping towards him—just like he wanted. It reached the intersecting alleyway, raising up a clawed hand to attack him with.

Which brought it right in front of his car, the headlights slid to either side to reveal the turrets of its powerful cannons.

A deafening blast erupted as the cannons fired, an explosion erupting against the side of the monster. The force of the blast sent it crashing into the wall next to it. Brick and mortar cracked and shattered, a large section of the wall sinking inwards, but not outright breaking into pieces.

"How did you like that?" Batman asked rhetorically as he raised his arms up, holding hand close to the gauntlet of its opposite side, one finger extended out, hovering over a button. The monster was actually leaning against the wall, seemingly panting as it tried to catch its breath.

Then it tried to push itself off of the wall. This prompted the vigilante to push the button on his gauntlet and the cannons on his car fired again. Another blast struck the monster, slamming it back into the wall and then through it. Waiting a few seconds, Batman fired another round, seeing light flash through the gaping hole in the wall, followed by the monster shrieking. Yeah, he had hit it again.

Waiting again, Batman stared at the hole, waiting to see if the monster would re-emerge. When it didn't, he carefully crept towards the opening, coming to stand in the intersection. Well, perhaps not standing; he began to back towards the front of his car, fully intending to jump onto the hood so that way he could fire another round from his car's cannons.

Unfortunately, before he got safely out of the cannon's firing line, a massive clawed hand crashed down onto the edge of the hole. Emerging out of the darkness of the hole was the monster, looking no worse for wear. Well, if you didn't discount some burnt marks on its side anyways.

Seriously, what the hell was this thing made of?

"Hey! Ugly!"

Batman found himself jerking his head to one side, the monster doing the same. Much to his surprise—and subsequent anger—was Cyborg. He had one arm forming his signature energy cannon, and was aiming it right at the creature.

Then the teen cyborg fired his blast, a blue and white beam racing towards it. The monster took it head on, but found itself being blasted backwards through the air.

Surprisingly, the beam faded away a moment later, which left the monster sailing through the air backwards. It became apparent why as a large green gorilla was rushing towards it. At the last moment, it clasped its hands together at its hip before it swung them upwards. "Alley oop!" Beast Boy shouted as he struck the monster against its back, sending it flying upward.

Tilting his head up, Batman saw two figures floating in midair—Starfire and Wonder Girl to be exact. Both girls had their hands above their heads, the former's cackling with green energy. As the monster flew up towards them, Wonder Girl dropped towards it, swinging down a perfectly timed jackhammer blow. She smashed the blow on top of the creature's head, sending it back down to the ground, where it crashed hard. The cement cracked and splintered from the collision.

Starfire then took action as she let out a war cry. Swinging down her arms, she unleashed her Starbolt, a powerful one at that. The green blast crashed down on the monster, drilling it downwards. A powerful wind blasted outwards, pushing up against Batman, Beast Boy, and Cyborg, the three raising up an arm each to cover their faces.

The moment Starfire stopped her Starbolt, a crater was revealed. The monster was laying in the middle of it, but more importantly it seemed to be crumbling to pieces. There was no more wind, but small particles were drifting off of it until the creature was completely gone.

The moment it was, Batman looked upwards to see the two girls descending to the ground, landing gracefully next to Beast Boy, who had reverted to his normal green form. "Salutations, Revered Batman," Starfire greeted him. "I hope you are well this night cycle."

The vigilante just stared at the Tamaranean for a moment. "Where's the rest of you?"

As if in answer, Red Robin landed nearby, on Cyborg's side of the alley. There was a blur as well, Kid Flash appearing almost out of thin air. "Hey, we finally found the Batman guy," he told the taller teen.

That was six. Where was Raven? Before he could ponder that much further, Red Robin stepped towards him. "Sorry to interrupt, but we thought it would be best to take that construct down as soon as possible."

A construct? That made him narrow his eyes. "You're in Gotham," he said instead.

That caused the teen to stiffen. In fact, a number of the Teen Titans did. "You didn't…" Red Robin trailed off.

As if to finish for him, another voice spoke up. "Batman, this is Oracle. I've got a message from Red Robin for you."

Batman just stared at the former Batclan member before he slowly raised his hand up to the side of his cowl to respond. "You don't say."

This was not how he wanted this to go, but then again when was luck ever on Red Robin's side? Yeah, that's what he thought.

So of course night one they had to run into Batman himself. Then Oracle finally is able to get into contact after it was already too late. Having those eyes burn into him was never a pleasant time, but at least he had friends, right?

Friends that were keeping their distance. Some friends they were. Well, here it was, best to get it over with and keep your fingers crossed that there would be no broken bones this night.

It was sometimes easy to forget how tall he was. Even now as the teen vigilante was reaching the end of puberty and the growth spurts that came with it, Batman still towered over him. The cape over the shoulders gave the illusion of slimness when he was so much bigger. The way he loomed, white eyes narrowed and the barely there line that was his mouth which was curved downwards did more to hint at incredible displeasure.

"What are you doing here?"

That was more of a demand than a question. Honestly, Red Robin had a mental betting pool on what would be the first words uttered by Gotham's greatest protector. This was the one that had the greatest likelihood of being uttered. So there was a winner there.

The masked teen fully expected the hostility. Batman was always territorial about Gotham and he didn't want just anybody waltzing into it. With straightened shoulders, he bore the scrutiny because Raven was worth bearing it. Even if she had been on his case more and more recently, challenging him and disapproving of some of his decisions, she was still a friend and teammate.

She was worth this.

"About a few weeks ago, we busted up an organization of metahuman traffickers. They had been targeting us for some time, and everything finally came to a head. Currently, they're being disbanded, but before that, Raven was captured and sold by them. We managed to trace the buyer all the way out here; however, we do not know who they are or where in the area."

"And you think they're still in Gotham?" The question practically sliced through anything else the masked teen would have said next. The white eyes were demanding an answer. Well, at least this time he could give one.

"That monster, the one you were fighting, that tells me whoever purchased her is nearby. If not in the city, then in the city limits. The closer we got to Gotham, the more we began detecting them. Cyborg developed a system that scans for them and there's a greater concentration here than anywhere else.

"They aren't real like you and I. They are constructs, ones with no real life to them, and are purely made from Raven's powers. They 'die,' they return to her. Unfortunately, we can't trace that return and we've only had one time where we could have theoretically done it. Until we find her, there are going to be more. Many more."

He could not get a read on him. Batman was as stoic as ever, not even giving a hint of what he was thinking. You could only wait until he spoke, which would not take much longer.

"Raven's powers, what are they? Magic? Some other supernatural force?" the World's Greatest Detective voiced.

Ah. That was a hard question to answer, because even then Raven was vague about it. Oh, she had given details, but even then it was hard to wrap his mind around it. So he answered as best as he could using Raven's own words.

"She inherited her powers from her father, a demon. What would you call a demon's powers?"

It seemed that was one question that not even Batman could answer. However, Red Robin felt the need to continue because there were definitely going to be more questions about them.

"She explained that she has to remain in control of her powers at all times. It's to the point she controls her own emotions and comes off as distant or aloof. Should she act on her emotions, her powers could interact and the results could virtually be anything. One of those examples are the monsters. She does not intend to make them but so long as she is out of control, there will be more."

On this point, he had to keep hitting it. Batman needed to understand that this was going to be a problem, a real one, that couldn't be ignored or put to the side because it would only get worse and worse. One nightmare inducing scene had been enough. To know it could have been so much worse sent a chill up his spine.

"This has happened before," Batman stated. It was no question at all.

"We managed to keep it contained within the Tower," Red Robin confirmed.

There was a growing look of displeasure, one that was hard to see unless you knew what to look for. Tiny microexpressions, such as a twitch or the smallest of downward curves gave it away.

"Do you know who the buyer is?"

"H.I.V.E. was really good at concealing the identities of everyone they did business with. They didn't use names, just a random set of numbers though they did record any and all services they engaged in. A lot of the time it was just transactions. There were other things that aren't relevant to the situation. The person who bought Raven was one of their newer 'customers' and only the geographical information was what we could find."

For a detective like Batman, the lack of information had to be irritating him. At the very least he was hearing him out. Red Robin couldn't ask for more. Whether he would let them stay and do their business was a different matter entirely.

"You have only a suspicion that your teammate is here. You're following a trail of digital breadcrumbs that only confirm that the purchase was committed here. Raven's powers are of a supernatural and demonic nature that if not kept in control can possibly endanger the very lives of the people who live here." With each statement, Batman leaned in closer and closer, his lips moving though his teeth seemed to not part once. "And you didn't think to notify me of this before you came here?"

Truthfully, there had been. Red Robin even had an earpiece from which only one person could be contacted with it. It was…left behind in Jump and lets leave it at that. Really, he knew what the real answer would have been had he made contact through it, to stay in Jump while Batman took care of it.

The rest of the team wouldn't have gone for it. Raven was one of their own, and while there were a few who absolutely trusted that Batman would find her, not all of them were keen to sit back and wait. To be honest, the teen vigilante didn't blame them. It would be his ass on the line, but that was something he was more than willing to take the heat for. Let Batman distrust him; he was a Teen Titan now.

"Would you know where to start looking? What to look for? Would you not be distracted because of the possibility the Joker might be making another comeback?" Okay, that last one came out a little heated. Thanks to his call with Oracle earlier, he had the gist about the League of Smiles. It was so obvious that it had to be that giggling lunatic. It was the worst situation possible, yes, and it would only delay finding Raven. By then, whatever chaos occurred between that madman and the Bat would overshadow everything that Raven was creating until it was too late.

Still, that last question seemed to make Batman pause. That he suspected his archenemy was back only gave the masked teen more proof that the Titans had needed to come.

Not even Batman could be everywhere. That was at least one lesson he had learned before having to leave Gotham the first time.

Batman was no longer leaning forward and into his face. The famed vigilante was now standing upright, unreadable once again. His cape hid the rest of his body making it all the more difficult to tell what he could be thinking. That was the point, but it wasn't helping the former Gothamite when he needed all the help he could get.

When Batman finally spoke up, it was abrupt as it was short. "You can stay. For now. Find Raven, get her out, and leave immediately. No sightseeing. No hiding. No games. You keep me informed of everything, no exception. Do not attract any attention to yourselves and do not kill anyone. Do I make myself clear?"

Red Robin gave a short and quick nod. "Absolutely."

The cape barely swished as the Dark Knight spun on his heel. "Do not get involved with the League of Smiles. You find any sign of them, report it immediately. You mess up once, you're out and I find Raven for you."

There was no need for any follow up threats. They both knew it would be a given.

No sounds were uttered as Batman left. Even as Red Robin was watching, not even taking his eyes off the older vigilante, Batman seemed to merge into the shadows and then he was gone. Just like he had never even been here…

Cyborg was not even close to that kind of quiet, his titanium feet clonking against concrete. "That had to have been tough," the cybernetic teen remarked.

"Dude, you just faced Batman and didn't even get punched!" Beast Boy squeaked from beside the taller teen. "How are you not, like, a puddle of ooze right now?"

A very good question and he wasn't keen on finding out. Instead, he ignored some of the remarks from the two-man Batman fanclub here and got straight to business. "This is conditional and you heard the man. We need to resume the search and do it now. Cyborg, you were able to scan that construct, right? Anything new?"

The cyborg gave a scoff. "It's like I'm missing something. I can register they're here but not what happens to Raven's power once the bastards stop being corporeal. I hate to say this, but I still need data. A lot of it."

They didn't have the time or the leeway for that. To even get this had to be difficult for the dark vigilante to allow. It could also mean that he was taking the matter with the Joker seriously and knew he couldn't split his attention or resources to do both. You knew it had to be a bad situation when he wasn't ending on a threat to break several bones in your body.

"Is there not another strategy we can use so as to not offend our host?" Starfire floated to his side, seemingly picking up on what was not said or was in between the lines. There were weird times when the Tamaranean could be insightful. "We do not want to further endanger the citizens of this settlement, but to gain the data we need will surely do that."

Another strategy. Right. Something to help speed this up. At the very least they could try and eliminate certain parts of the city. Whoever had Raven needed to keep her somewhere, so figuring out where she wasn't would narrow things. She would need to be kept in a place that wouldn't draw attention nor would it be out of place. Blending in while hiding in plain sight…

"Cyborg, try to identify every single place in the city that's abandoned or considered abandoned. Next, see which ones are drawing electricity into it," the masked teen instructed. "Look for anything unusual, like a closed ice rink or a rundown factory. Anything that shouldn't have anyone in it, but is having too much traffic going into it should be a good place for us to start."

"You think one of the big bads around here might be involved?" Cyborg asked, his human eye glazing over as he was already getting to work.

"I hope it's not, but we have to start eliminating as many possibilities as we can. The faster we can find Raven, the faster we can leave Gotham, and the less likely we'll have Batman breathing down our necks," Red Robin summed, glancing up at his taller teammate. "We lucked out tonight. Let's not push it."

Further away and behind him, Kid Flash stood next to a very quiet Wonder Girl. The speedster was watching, keeping uncharacteristically silent until he leaned closer to the armored blonde and spoke in a voice that was supposed to be quiet but that anyone could hear easily.

"He was more intense than I was expecting, even more than that time at LexCorp. No wonder Red's all uptight."

Wonder Girl didn't even budge, but she remarked, "Tell me about it."