The Depths of Bald Hills

The final preparations for tonight were just about finished. A few more tweaks and adjustments, but this, this should be a very enlightening and informative experiment. By now, the taunting missive from Merrymaker's League of Smiles should have already been delivered to the Gotham City Police Department. Judging by the presence of that symbol in the sky, the commissioner was taking this with all due gravity.

So was he. He could feel it, drawing ever closer to victory. The giddiness was enough to make him think that a different symbol should be in that sky, one more appropriate than a bat. The idle musing would need to wait. There was still much to do.

For example, his co-conspirator needed to finish up his work. Yes, yes, the engineering was difficult, but his partner-in-crime was up to the challenge. Time constraints, however, meant that taking his time was not viable anymore. The previous nights' experiments were more widespread than anticipated.

Which is why tonight was so important. How far could the girl be pushed to her limits without breaking? What havoc would it cause? What terror would be spread by those monstrosities? What traumas would be left behind to exploit?

He was almost as giddy as a schoolboy now. To think, when he had been a schoolboy, he had been anything but giddy. Supposed he was making up for lost time. Regardless, the time was almost at hand.

Taking a moment, he peered into the container which held the girl in thrall. She was glowering up at him, her cloak covering all of her body. Hiding behaviors, a means in which to protect vulnerabilities and wait out the predators that lurked nearby. So very primal and it shouldn't have been surprising for a metahuman to behave in such a way. Take away the meta, and they were human as everyone else.

"I hope you have been diligent with raising your mental defenses," he remarked, continuing with his adjustments. "You will need them. Tonight is going to be glorious."

The girl did not respond nor reply. She continued to glare and…hmm? What was that now? Pausing, he peered at the shadowed face that was obscured by the hood that was pulled over her head. It had occurred in his peripheral vision, and he could have…

The flash of red where the eyes were located had to be some trick of his mind. Perhaps with how dull the final touches were, his brain was seeking out something more stimulating, even if it had to make something up. The ways the human brain could behave, it could be entertaining at times.

"Did you finish your meal? I dare say, the nourishment can only help in maintaining your health. The mind and body are connected, after all…"

Again, no response. At this point, it was expected. At the very least, it wasn't more pleading, "you don't know what forces you are meddling with," such platitudes were awfully dull. This one could learn, perfect. Perhaps that would mean she would attempt to maintain her control for longer periods of time, not that it would prevent the expected outcome from occurring.

The concentration of the gas was examined one last time. The settings for how much would be pumped into the chamber were given one last tweaking, and he was finished.

He gave the girl a smile, though perhaps it wasn't the kind to grant reassurance. He was excited, and that had to slip through. "We begin, child. I hope you completed your preparations while you could." A finger placed itself on a button and pressed down. "It's showtime. Show me the extent of your powers."

From the vents, the invisible gas entered and began filling the chamber. Already, the girl was curling up, not even her cloak could hide that from his trained eyes.

The experiment had begun; now it was time to see what the results would be.

According to the coordinates Batman had been given, they were supposed to go to this place outside of the city. It was along the coast, just north of the city. A faded sign proclaimed it the Bald Hills Caverns.

This was a place Huntress had been to several times over the years. It was a popular school field trip, where kids could learn about cave systems. She was damn near an expert of stalactites and stalagmites at this point.

Because it was on the coast, she could hear the sound of the tide washing up against the shore. There was an empty parking lot next to the beach, pieces of discarded trash dancing around in the breeze that blew by. A playground was nearby, one that was one injured kid away from being condemned. It had a rusted jungle gym and wooden playscape, and then was also that spinning wheel, the one about ten kids would try to spin as fast as they could until they were thrown off of it.

Ahhh, good times.

The nostalgia aside, there was a kid that was here that wasn't having a good time. Hoping out of the Batmobile, Huntress hurried around the car and towards the cave entrance. A chain link fence was blocking access to the cave, a necessity to make certain kids couldn't get lost in the cave system.

The main entrance had a building in front of it, which was where the Bald Hills Cavern tourist attraction was run out of. The thing with this cave system was that it had many entrances and the people running the place had done their best to close off as many as they could. New entrances were still being found, so as you can imagine, it was still a problem for them.

"I'm supposed to go in alone," Batman said the moment the two met up in front of his infamous vehicle. "So that's what we'll do. I'll go through the main entrance; you'll enter through one of the other blocked entrances. The entire system meets up in the first main cavern a hundred yards deep. No doubt we'll meet our first resistance there."

Huntress nodded. Since this was the League of Smiles behind Colin's kidnapping, that made sense. Having her position herself to ambush them would help bring them down fast, save for her searching for Colin on her own. With all the attention Batman inevitably drew, she could get him out without anyone being the wiser.

"I'll search for Colin," she stated then. "I can send you an alert on the comm link when I have him out."

It was Batman's turn to nod his affirmation. Clearly he knew the main objective was saving the kidnapped boy and not trying to put down the League of Smiles. Yes, they were an objective, but they weren't the priority right now.

Suddenly, the Dark Knight tilted his head to one side as if he were listening for something. Had Huntress not been looking, she would have missed it. "It's entirely possible that Colin isn't here and this is just a trap. We'll need to be on the lookout for other possible hideouts for them to keep the boy."

That was a good point, though it was one the purple-clad vigilante didn't like the thought of. Nothing could be easy in this city, could it?

Then, Batman abruptly threw his arm out, a batarang leaving his hand. She could hear the projectile whirling through the air until it struck something, a sharp cry of surprise ringing out. Whipping around, Huntress caught sight of a figure crouching by the back of the Batmobile. The batarang was stuck in the ground, damn near pressed against a leg. Because of the shadows, she couldn't get a good ID on the person.

Batman just stormed up to them, the dark-haired woman following behind him. Then he growled as he came to a stop next to the person. "I told you to stay home," his tone low and clearly angry.

By then Huntress got a good look at just who had earned the vigilante's ire. It was that boy that had been hanging around the Batclan lately, uhh, what was his name again? It was something ridiculous, she remembered, something like…oh right, Son of Batman. She hoped he was still workshopping that because yikes, that was bad.

"I cannot improve if you keep me off the field of battle!" the young boy protested. Well, maybe young was the wrong word here. He was clearly on the verge of being a pre-teen, if he wasn't already. "Even you had to test your mettle!"

"I told you, this has nothing to do with your skill as much as your discipline, which you're clearly lacking."

The Son of Batman was now trying to pull the batarang out of the ground. Now that she was closer, she could see the shuriken had pinned his leg to the ground, having pierced into his leggings, or whatever he was wearing on his legs. It wasn't armor, that was for certain.

"Now, you're going to stay in the car until we finish here," Batman continued. "Do you understand?"

"The way I see it, you need assistance," the boy countered instead, and Huntress already knew he had screwed up. You didn't challenge the Dark Knight until you were one hundred percent in the right, and sometimes not even then. "You are clearly walking into a trap."

"A trap I have no problem springing. Now stay in the car."

"I will not do that, Father!"

Alright, this was enough. Yeah, she didn't want this brat here either, but they had more important things to do than a father trying to discipline his headstrong kid. "Hey, we don't have all night here," she interjected. "We have a hostage situation that we need to deal with. With the psychos that are in there, they might get bored and turn their attention on Colin."

Batman glanced to her, staring for a moment, then nodded his agreement. "Take the boy with you and keep him out of sight. I still need to draw the League of Smiles attention." He then returned his attention to the Son of Batman. "And you will do everything Huntress tells you to. You disobey her even once, and you'll never see the streets again." He then leaned closer to the boy. "This is not up for debate."

"I will not fail you again, Father," the boy replied.

Batman then stormed off, leaving Huntress with the brat. "Well, if you're coming, then come," she grunted before she strode away. While she knew the Dark Knight needed to be front and center for this to work, that didn't mean she wanted to babysit his kid either. So help her, if this "Son of Batman" got in the way and Colin got hurt because of him, Batman wouldn't get a chance to discipline him.

It went against his nature to make noise. That was how he was able to sneak up even on the world's most enhanced people when it came to senses. The situation was different though.

Batman had been told to come alone. He hadn't. So to make certain whomever was in the caves that they believed he was the only one coming, he made noise. He wanted it known he was here and he was doing as instructed.

As he had told Huntress, there was a cavern about one hundred yards in. As he reached it, he found the awe-inspiring sight of a large chamber, the ceiling covered in stalactites, the floor forming a path from the placement of stalagmites. That path opened up to a wider area where tour groups could spread out.

And in this area was the cackling mass of clown-dressed lunatics, all of them focused on the Dark Knight.

Front and center was the one dressed as a dentist, a rubber red nose his one clown feature, Philip Miles. He was one of the prominent members of the murderous League of Smiles, one that began with the murder of his psychiatrist, Byron Merideth, or rather, allegedly.

Puzzle pieces were falling into place, coincidences that no longer appeared coincidental. Every victim had been easily identifiable save for Merideth. His was the lone death that had been disfigured, but confirmed by dental records. Per the M.E. report the dental records that had made the ID had come from Miles.

What had once looked like a brutal murder was beginning to smell a lot like a set-up. Then came the deaths of those Merideth would have personally benefited from. Was it outlandish to consider that perhaps Merideth wasn't dead, and in fact faked his death, using one of his patient's credentials to cover it up?

It was a simplistic set-up when compared to the more intricate ones the residents of Arkham were known for, but sometimes you had to think horse instead of zebra when you heard hoofbeats.

"Welcome to the Bald Hills Caverns," Philip Miles announced, his posse cheering and giggling in response. Batman strode towards the man, not even breaking stride as he raised up his dentistry drill. "This will be your final—"

Miles never got the chance to finish his boast. The reason for that was Batman's fist slamming into his face. Blood erupted from his nose as several teeth went flying out of his mouth. Miles collapsed to the floor, the other members of the League of Smiles scrambling out of the way so that they weren't hit. They all stared down at the unconscious dentist before they all simultaneously looked up at the dark-clad man.

Batman raised his hands up and cracked the knuckles of one fist, doing the same to the other a moment later. "This is your one chance to turn yourselves in," he warned them. "Because once I start, I won't be stopping until you're facedown, broken and bleeding."

There was a moment of silence.

Then one of the clowns screamed as he lunged at the Dark Knight, swinging a large club for his head.

In an instant, Batman blocked the swinging club, then quickly grabbed onto the man's wrist. With his other hand, he performed a palm strike, one that hit the outside of the clown's elbow and forced it to bend unnaturally until it snapped. A wild scream erupted from the painted man's mouth as his arm appeared deformed. Clenching the hand that performed the palm strike into a fist, the vigilante finished him off with a backhand blow that sent him crashing to the floor.

And then the rest of the room erupted into mayhem.

They tried to rush him as a mob, which wasn't a bad idea. However, they weren't coordinated at all, and that allowed for some efficiency in his takedowns. For instance, there were two clowns that were right next to each other, keeping pace with the other. Lunging at them, Batman shot his hands out, grabbing onto either side of their heads, and then cracked their skulls against each other. Pulling them apart, he tossed either man to the floor, where they landed in front of a few of their friends, many of whom ended up tripping over fallen bodies. One could call it a comedy of errors.

Then came a female clown, screaming wildly as she slashed at him with a knife. Batman backed up a step with each attempted cut, pulling her further from her friends. When the latest slash missed him, the vigilante then stood his ground and reached forward, grabbing onto the shirt the female clown wore.

He then yanked her towards him even as he leaned back and went to fall to the floor. Her wide eyes were the first sign of her surprise as she followed him downward. The moment Batman's back hit the floor, he had his legs coiled up, his feet pressing into the woman's stomach. He immediately extended his legs, letting go of the clown as he sent her flying over him, hurling through the air until she crashed into a stalagmite.

Going into a roll, Batman went feet over head, soon ending up crouched on his feet, his cape falling down his back a moment later. By then, he had a few bat-shaped shuriken in his hands, ones he sent flying the first moment he could.

Two of the shuriken struck a couple of clowns on the heads, knocking them out cold. Another hit one that was slowly pushing themselves off of the floor, one of the clowns that had tripped over their fallen friend. Another stabbed into the shoulder of another, causing them to shriek.

At that moment, he saw movement. Towards the back of the mob, he saw two figures darting back and forth—Huntress and Damian. They picked off a clown as they rushed from one side of the cavern to the other, the rest of the clowns oblivious to this as they tried to push their way towards the Dark Knight.

Not that he had to keep their attention. Emerging from the crowd was a towering man, shirtless and only wearing a pair of pants, suspenders keeping them up. His face was painted of course, but it didn't hide the fact he was bulging with muscles. And in his hands were a large sledgehammer—no, it was actually one of those oversized hammers one saw at an amusement park.

And he was heading right for the vigilante.

"Crush his head!" one of the clowns cheered. "Crush his head like a melon!"

"You can do it, Tiny!" another one shouted.

Of course, his name was Tiny. Tiny adjusted his grip on his hammer, raising it up to hold over his head. The moment he was within striking distance, he swung it down.

Batman jumped backwards, the hammer smashing the ground he had been previously crouching on. Immediately, Batman sprung towards the towering man the moment his feet touched back on the floor. He swung a fist, one that rammed right into his foe's sculpted six-pack. There was a grunt, but that was the only sound Tiny made as he stared down at the vigilante.

Undeterred, Batman pounded another fist, and then another into the man's abdomen, receiving the same result. He had to stop as he jerked to one side, Tiny lifting his hammer back up over his head. "Hit me all ya want, Batman," the strongman clown jeered. "You can't hurt me!"

Oh, he couldn't, huh?

Drawing a leg back, Batman then swung it forward, his foot slamming right into Tiny's groin.

There was a gasp. Tiny dropped his hammer, where it hit the ground behind him. The large man dropped to his knees, grabbing at his manparts, eyes bulging from the pain. Grabbing either side of his head, Batman pulled his head down just as he was swinging his leg up again, this time ramming his knee into the hurting man's face.

He used his knee again, hitting Tiny in the face once more before he let him go, the muscle man collapsing to the floor.

Suddenly, the cacophony of jeering clowns went quiet, their echoing voices softening with every passing second. Many stared incredulously at the sight of their towering friend lying collapsed on the floor.

And Batman stared back, taking one step and then another. "Who's next?" he growled lowly.

Moans and groans answered him, and those who still stood no longer held the same confidence, or bravado. They tried to run, but some bolas and the intervention from Huntress and Damian finished the rest. The only sounds that greeted him came from his own breathing.

"You dealt with them quite efficiently. I should have expected that."

The voice echoed throughout the chamber, and he was on alert, quickly checking his surroundings. Only the darkness could be seen which hid this latest adversary. This could only be the self-named Merrymaker. He knew what the Joker's voice sounded like, knew it by heart, and no interference from acoustics would change that.

Aloud, he yelled, "Where's the boy?" This was deliberate, giving Huntress and Damian the change to slip back into the shadows.

The cacophony that followed was a chuckle, the simple noise reverberating throughout the cave. "Ah, the boy is but tucked away in a safe, little crawlspace. The poor boy, he's quite claustrophobic."

Over there. Merrymaker's voice grew louder in that direction. He needed the madman to keep talking and guide him to where he was.

"Are you here to save him?" Merrymaker taunted, doing most of the work for him. "There's not much to save, not with his problems. I took it upon myself to bring him some merriment, and put a smile on his little face."

His fists tightened, but his cape hid that. He didn't like that tone, nor that last remark.

"Come, come, we're waiting for you," the disembodied voice cajoled. "You're moving in the right direction. Perhaps if you move fast enough, you might be able to save what's left."

The rooftops were usually a good bet if you wanted to arrive at a play without being seen. That was the preferred method in Gotham. However, when you had other options, why not use them?

While traveling building to building might never completely leave him, Red Robin was willing to try a different approach tonight. With the sun gone and night taking over, the only light came from the city itself, all of it manmade. Streetlights, windows, and the various businesses that operated at this time to the day were the providers. Darkness, however, had a way of slipping through the spots where light weakened, which helped to mask what could be right in front of you.

All of that was to explain why the Teen Titans took the T-car to Sacred Heart. Yes, it had some heavy fire power, but it was the real backup plan here. It could be used for a quick getaway if needed, or to rush someone to an operational hospital if there were any serious injuries. If Raven was here, it would be a good bet someone would be hurt. Perhaps it would be Raven herself.

Cyborg was driving, of course. No one would be in the driver's seat of his baby unless something was seriously wrong. Red Robin was in the front passenger seat leaving the rest of the team to squeeze in in the back seat. Starfire was in the middle while Beast Boy had taken the form of a house cat to make for more room and was currency curled up on the Tamaranean's lap. Kid Flash had a window seat, all the better for him to get out and get running as quickly as possible if needed. That left Wonder Girl with the other window seat, though for her it could be more for a quick escape.

Shouldn't think like that. Wonder Girl was tense from being in the same city as Batman. So was he. Every night with no Raven would bring the big man himself down on them, and with an increase in constructs showing up, they were effectively on borrowed time. This had to be the night.

The T-car was parked at a corner, one that had a view of Sacred Heart further down the street. The place looked dark with no signs of activity. Already that was checking off some boxes. A few more needed to be checked off before he would sign off on going in.

"Any kind of activity, Cyborg?" he asked.

His answer came a second later. "I got some electricity flowing into it. More than what should be going in there. Less than what is typical for a hospital. No one's there so there shouldn't be anything, and it's way too high if some homeless people managed to find a way to tap into the grid, whether on purpose or by accident."

And that checked off everything.

"We keep to the groups, and we check every room. It's going to take some time, but we need to be thorough. That's what, five stories worth of rooms? There's also closets and operating rooms, break rooms, lobbies, storage, rooms to hold drugs and the like, and we need to look into every one of them. Any questions?" Red Robin glanced to his left, but did not turn fully to face the rest of the team. His attention needed to be on the hospital itself in case something last second occurred.

"You know what I say. Might be closer to…a minute? Two if you really want to be thorough," Kid Flash said.

"Stick with your team. We don't know what to expect and who you're with might need you close by," the team leader warned.

"Don't say anything about screaming for help," Wonder Girl cut in. "I know you guys were in a situation where screaming didn't help. Listen to Red on this one and stay close."

"We do not need to be risking unnecessary harm," Starfire agreed.

"So how do we do this? Leave the car here and walk? Or do you want me to drive closer?" Cyborg asked.

As much as he wanted to say leave the car here, it made better sense to get the vehicle closer, in a parking lot perhaps. However, he didn't want to alert whoever might be in there that they would be having company. If they had figured out a way to gain some control over Raven's powers, a construct could be waiting right there for them. Then it was going to be loud and everyone up and down the street would know the Titans were here.

Nevertheless, "Get closer. Make sure the car's in incognito mode." Cyborg's fancy way of saying the car would be invisible to the naked eye, but it would be helpful. Even if they made noise getting out, if someone looked through a window, they'd see nothing while the team entered the hospital.

Now, how to remember where they parked in case they needed a speedy exit…

"Guys?" That was Beast Boy, and there was an edge to the shapeshifter's voice. Normally he was excitable and happy-go-lucky, so this was enough to get Red Robin's attention, along with the rest of the teams. "I'm picking up on something."

Normally, this would be where they would turn to Raven, but she wasn't here. Animal instincts, however, were giving them a heads up, and judging by how Beast Boy's furry head was starting to puff up and how high his head was, ears swiveled directly forward, cat instincts were alerting the green teen to something.

Quickly facing the direction that the green cat head was facing, Red Robin peered through the wind shield, searching for anything abnormal. Cats had better night vision than humans, so he would need—wait. Wait, he was starting to…

Oh no.

Down the street, the same direction as Sacred Heart, everything was becoming darker, as if the very shadows were moving to congregate. No they were, and from where they were thickest, the first construct of the night began to emerge.

It started off with a foot, one that was clawed and two toed with a hyperextended third claw where the heel would be. This foot was attached to a long, spindly leg, one that stretched forward until claws dug into asphalt. The leg tensed, and then the rest of the body began to pull itself out of the growing mass of shadows.

It was big, bigger than most of the constructs they had faced. Hell, it was bigger than that pink mass that had formed in one of the training rooms back at the Tower. The body was elongated, flexible yet appeared hard like a carapace, one similar to that of a grasshopper. Another spindly leg joined the first one, forelegs they both were. Two rear legs were short and stubby, breaking the illusion that this might be a bug-themed construct. The whiplike tail reinforced that as it snaked out and struck any cars that happened to be parked along the street, pushing and shoving those vehicles out of their places.

Then the face took form. It was like looking at a skull, one whose jaw was dislocated and thus always opened. The eyes were empty sockets, though in their dark depths one could make out a faint, unholy, red light. Cracking and popping noises came from it, probably from that jaw.

It was long, really long. At least a city block, maybe more. Before you thought that that didn't sound too long, a city block could be much longer than you thought, several hundred feet sometimes. So, this was a big and long bad boy, and it was between them and Sacred Heart.

Damn it, change of plan.

"We gotta deal with that first, now," Red Robin ordered as he began shoving open the front passenger door. "Who knows what it'll do if someone comes across it."

That size, an easy way to kill a lot of people quickly. It could not be allowed to roam Gotham freely.

And there just went the carefully laid plan for the night.

"You're almost there. Just a little further…"

The acoustics were distorting Merrymaker's voice. The increase in the volume was the clue Batman needed to proceed further. His footsteps were booming with each step he took. Uncharacteristic, which meant it was deliberate for him. He wanted the monster hidden in the shadows to know he was there and that he was getting closer. It helped to mask Huntress and Damian's more muffled footsteps.

He also hoped that it would comfort the boy, Colin, letting him know that help was on the way.

His cape draped over his shoulders, hiding his body and allowing him to keep a shuriken in hand. There was no doubt he would have to act and act quickly; there was a child's life on the line and he would not put it at any further risk than it already had been.

The first sign that he had nearly arrived were the small lights that had been staked into the cave's rock floor. They looked small, cheap, and something you could find at a big box camping store. His pace quickened slightly, light peering between stalagmites and stalactites up ahead. Briefly, it felt like he was entering through the maw of some great beast.

The cave opened up into a chamber. Stalagmites and stalactites lined everything to his left, a few fusing together into columns. To his right, sheer rock raised up to create an overhead vantage, some stalagmites lining the edge while smaller stalactites were just beginning to form above them.

"He really is a ball of neuroses," Merrymaker commented, chuckling. "A fear of strangers, abandonment issues, prone to lash out violently when scared… Really, the lad should be lobotomized."

The one hand not holding a shuriken clenched tightly. The only one who was going to have his head ripped open was this madman.

"Enough hiding, Merrymaker," the vigilante growled. "Or should I say Dr. Byron Merideth? There is no Joker, there never was. You took advantage of the clown's reputation and used it as a smoke screen so that you could kill your enemies behind the scenes. Your ex-wife who you hate. The lawyer who gave her such a winning judgment. Who was next on your list? Your creditors? The people who loaned you money? Your landlord? The people who you feel cheated you out of your little fortune?"

It was so simplistic. Had it not been for his own concern about that grinning lunatic's involvement, he would have cracked the case open long before the previous night where the League of Smiles set out enforce to wreak havoc throughout the city. The connection with Philip Miles and the fact that Merideth's "corpse" was the only one whose face had been deliberately disfigured were too coincidental. Though whose body he ended up using would need to be uncovered, first and foremost was taking down Merideth.

His words seemed to have taken the wind out of the doctor's sails. Deafening silence had answered the vigilante. That was a problem as it would make it harder to find Merideth's location.

"Your reputation as a detective is well earned." Merideth was getting a second wind. "What could have led you to develop such a mind like that? Something the complete opposite of the delusional rubes I have had to treat over the years…unless you may have more in common."

There was a sound, one that was moving and in his direction. However, Batman was not alarmed as he came to a stop. He knew what the sound was and was not surprised when several bats flew overhead, flying in the direction from which he had come. They were harmless, more likely alarmed at an intruder in their home and unable to tolerate the invasion for any longer.

However, there was a sharp cry, high pitched, and decidedly human. The Dark Knight was on guard, quickly searching for any signs of…

There!

Tucked between a clumping of stalagmites, a small body curled up in itself. Wide eyes were full of terror, a small body trembling out of pure fear. The hospital issued clothing was thin, so some of that trembling may have been due to shaking, an attempt for the body to warm itself up. White eyes narrowed at the cuff wrapped around a thin wrist, a thick chain attached to it that led to a bolted anchor. Colin was restrained to the cavern floor.

Merideth was watching, he knew. However, Colin did not need to hear a threatening voice right now. So, he raised up, softened it, and called out, "Colin."

"Stay away!" the boy shrieked, pressing himself against the stalagmites.

Calmly, taking a step closer, "I won't hurt you."

"D-don't touch me!" Colin cried out, raising an arm up to serve as a last line of protection. Batman noticed that something was wrapped around the child's upper arm. From here it appeared like a thick strap, and attached were numerous small canisters. A tube was attached to the top of one of them, and the familiarity of it alarmed the vigilante.

"Did I forget to mention that including the high functioning autism, and the numerous phobias, Poor Colin suffers from chiroptophobia."

A fear of bats.

Colin's fearful reaction made more sense. He was aware that children throughout the city looked up to him, and had fantasies of meeting with him. No doubt Colin was one, and due to his youth had not considered his own phobia until it was too late. The design of his costume was working against him and Colin.

Another red flag. Something wasn't adding up. Merideth so far had used subterfuge to hide his crimes, drew sick minds to himself with a focus on delusions and Joker obsession. Abducting a child with phobias, specifically chiroptophobia, went beyond the sick doctor's M.O. If he didn't know any better, he suspected that someone else might be involved.

"Fear not, Batman, the Merrymaker is here to help," Merideth continued. "To bring merriment back into poor, little Colin's terrifying world, I have provided him with a coping mechanism."

It was quick, sharp, but Batman swore he heard what sounded like a beep. It wasn't enough to help him locate Merideth. The hum that started immediately froze him in his tracks, his grip on his shuriken loosening.

Through the tube attached to the strapped-on canisters, a horribly familiar green liquid flowed—no, pumped—upwards, disappearing behind Colin's shoulder. Colin cried out as his body seized, chest thrusting outwards, while his head pulled back. Veins began to bulge beneath the skin and thin muscles gained mass in a manner that was unnatural to such a small body.

Horror paralyzed the Dark Knight as he immediately recognized what was happening.

Merideth had just injected a child with Venom.

"It was difficult to find a large enough cache," Merideth remarked, "but it should be enough to give Little Colin a fighting chance against the big, bad Batman."

The hospital shirt was torn to shreds and rags as it could no longer contain Colin's upper body. The pants managed to hold, but it was clear it was stretched against large thighs. The skin around Colin's face took on a stretched quality, pushing down on the natural baby fat and distorting the child-like features.

Even from here, the fear in Colin's eyes morphed into something else, rage thanks to the Venom's influence on the adrenal gland. An arm that bulged with increased mass pulled against the chain that restrained it, and the newly enhanced strength tore the bolted anchor out of the floor, small pieces of rock scattering about.

With nostrils flaring, the maddened Colin began to charge, his eyes on his very rescuer.

Author's Note: This last scene was inspired by the Heart of Hush storyline, written by none other than Paul Dini. Yes, that Paul Dini. Naturally, some changes have been made, so how things will go down next chapter might be intense given the subject matter.

Guest: ShadowMajin has a better idea than I have, but by my estimation, Batman should be in his late thirties, approaching his forties. Batgirl, I think, is eighteen, maybe a year younger/older.