Summary: In Japan, the first invader lands and an American multimillionaire businessman is the only one there to protect those people. However, he just human...

Disclaimer: Batman and all affiliated characters here are property of DC Comics, and I do not own them.

Chapter 1: B1

Yokohama, Japan

"Mr. Wayne, we're one minute away from landing" the pilot informed him. She was a beautiful woman, and a great pilot. He had to pretend to care more about the first detail.

"Thank you, darling, you're a doll" he replied, pretending he had just woken up. He took off his headphones, adjusted his tie, and looked at the skyscrapers of one of Japan's most important commercial cities. Yokohama. He allowed himself a smile.

The only advantage of making boring deals with other businessmen was that he could visit other places and distract himself from the chaos in his city. He touched his assistant on the shoulder, kissed her earlobe, and asked her to buy on his behalf the hotel where he was going to meet those famous Japanese businessmen.

"The whole hotel, sir?"

"Yes, honey. I'm sorry, it's like a reflex."

When his assistant went to the back to fulfill his order, he silently apologized to her. She was a true saint for putting up with him. And he was an idiot who was forced to put on the façade of a horny idiot.

As he got off the jet, the first thing he did was taking his briefcase. The others could take care of the rest, but that briefcase was part of his arm. It was nearly ten at night, so he had to go straight to dinner with the businessmen. He didn't intend to arrive on time, but his usual elegant delay had to noticeable enough for them to lower their guard, but not so that they would leave.

When he arrived at the hotel, he was already the owner. He spoke Japanese fluently, so he quickly left his demands to room service and got the phone numbers of two maids, the receptionist, and a young guest. He wasn't going to call them, of course, but they could always become a perfect excuse for when he went out, if he made sure everyone saw him seducing them. And he did make sure.

However, the dinner and the meeting were extremely boring. Boring enough for him to regret staying there. He entertained himself with some mind chess against a mental image of his butler while he received bids, courtesies, figures, and more bids.

"Is that really all you have to offer? In that case, what would you say if…?"

"Mr. Wayne" his assistant interrupted.

"Oh? Yes, honey, what's wrong? Do you miss me already?" he asked aloud, causing everyone in the dining room to turn and look at the unpleasant, annoying American. His three "opponents", the Japanese businessmen, began to whisper among themselves, seeking an answer to the business game in which they were definitely losing.

At the same time, he heard a familiar voice in his ear. It was the same message as his secretary's, but with a calmer tone, and a much more British accent.

"Master Bruce, you have to leave."

"Mr. Wayne, we have to go."

"Why do you say that honey?"

At that moment, he noticed the commotion outside. People were anxious, all running in the same direction. The hotel staff stood up as their phones began to ring.

"Is something happening, doll?"

"Master Bruce, I've just received news that something landed outside."

"Mr. Wayne, I'm told that something fell from the sky." His young assistant made a gesture with her hands, and the staff turned on the large TV in the dining room that, just like the rest of the hotel, now belonged to him.

There, the news reported of a rocky object that had crashed into a skyscraper. The cameras were filming from afar, on helicopters, the column of smoke coming from one side of the building. People nearby were running and screaming. Something could be seen among the smoke, but either the reporters were not brave enough to get close, or - and this was a much more likely scenario - they had been instructed not to film any closer.

"It was a meteorite, Master Bruce. An inhabited meteorite."

Bruce stood up and grabbed the briefcase tightly with his left hand. He felt the color rising to his face. "It had to be today?" he thought. "Right here?"

"Well, gentlemen, it seems that Godzilla or something like that is attacking you. Or how do you call it? Gojira?" he asked, but the businessmen had already stood up, phones in their ears, making pleading gestures for him to wait.

"We have to go, Mr. Wayne," his assistant said, taking him by the right arm. "The jet is ready to take off."

"Of course, honey, just give me a moment and… oh, my God!" he yelled loudly, in his clumsiest Japanese accent. He pointed his finger at the TV. "It must be an alien! Another one, like four years ago! Run!"

The reaction was immediate. In a few seconds, people were crowding at the exit, where Bruce had strategically positioned himself. He ran among them, while his assistant shouted his name and lost him in the crowd. He felt sorry for her. She was a true saint.

"Master Bruce, I see you moving in that direction. What are you doing?"

"What I have to do."

"They're not showing it on TV, Master Bruce, but I see it very clearly here, with WayneTech satellites. It's a living being, coming out of a meteorite. It is throwing rocks like bullets, and now it's inside the building. It comes from outer space, Master Bruce."

"I know, Alfred. That's exactly why I must go. Don't stop me."

He ran along with the crowd, cursing the useless fancy shoes he had been forced to wear. Bruce waited for the moment when the crowd would naturally crash with those running in the other direction, fleeing from the chaos. The skyscraper was twelve blocks away, according to his phone's map. He had to run for five blocks until he found the opposite crowd.

"You are not prepared for this. It is not Kryptonian" Alfred Pennyworth insisted. Bruce knew how much he cared for him. He had done so even from before he found him in the rain, wearing his father's trench coat, next to a police car.

But this was bigger than Alfred's fears. Any chance of harm, no matter how low, had to be taken as a certainty. And he was ready to take that chance.

"Master Bruce, I beg of you, sir! It is not a Krypt…"

"They're all the same, Alfred!"

Bruce blended in with the crowd and slipped into the first alley he found. He saw some police helicopters pass over his head. He sneaked into the back door of a bar after distracting the guard with a simple misdirection trick. He entered the bar, climbed some stairs, reached the upper floor, jumped through a window, and climbed more stairs. He reached the last staircase, where a couple was having an intimate moment in public and startled them with his best thug impression. Finally, reaching the rooftop, he opened the briefcase.

It was so quick that he thought he had broken his own record. The suit was made of carbon fiber and lightweight titanium pieces. It was a very dark gray shade, and, on the chest, it had the symbol he had chosen to instill fear in criminals, a large bat with large wings, black as night, on a golden circle coated with Kevlar, where all fools would aim their guns.

The pants were black and light, and both the boots and gloves were a perfect dark blue for camouflage. He had recently added some sharp, light steel spikes that he had dipped in kryptonite to fight the alien. The hood had been incorporated with a night vision system, a gas filter, and a radar. What took him the longest was putting on the utility belt and the blue cape. The first one included ingenious gadgets of the latest military generation. The second one would allow him to reach the building blending with the shadows.

That was his uniform. That was the identity he had chosen. The Batman.

He dodged a pebble. That had probably been a verbal oversimplification. Rather, the creature had thrown a rock the size of a wild boar at him, and he had to dodge it by jumping to another building in a hurry. He turned to look at the skyscraper where the creature was, three blocks away.

He focused all his strength on his legs and jumped again from a very uncomfortable position to dodge a second rock. He rolled on the rooftop of the building, while realizing what was around him. Dozens of gray boulders, as big as animals, flying through the night sky, thrown by the extraterrestrial in the skyscraper.

A painful blow to the back of the head made him lose focus. Everything spun around, and he almost passed out. The hood he wore offered some resistance, but not enough. Bruce looked at his opponent, regained his concentration, and used a somersault to dodge a second blow. In the air, he noticed a helicopter approaching with a strong light, so he applied an old shinobi trick to blend with the shadows and go unnoticed until it passed by, and he could focus again on what he had in front of him. He avoided a third rock, and soon he had three enemies to face. Things he had never seen before.

"Master Bruce, are you okay? Master Bruce!"

"Alfred, how many meteorites fell here?"

"Here, on Earth? It is said that there are…"

"No. Here in Japan. In Yokohama."

"Only one, sir. May I ask why you are asking?"

"Hh. Because that means it landed alone, but it's creating companions."

The rocks that the creature had thrown were changing. They were the size of a child, with legs, arms, a thin body, and a large, round, hard rocky head. The creatures lacked facial features on the head. After a quick inspection, he noticed a similar, but much taller monster, in the skyscraper, amid the smoke it had caused. The monster was throwing its offspring with its stone arms. It didn't seem to be decreasing in size, but Bruce knew that it was somehow throwing pieces of itself.

Bruce pressed a hidden button near his ear in his hood, and the camera on his forehead activated. It could only record for five minutes, but it would be more than enough time to get some help. He stood up and jumped away from the three small monsters around him, similar to the dozens that were now walking the streets of Yokohama.

"Can you see them, Alfred?"

"Oh, dear heavens…"

"I'll take that as a yes."

"Is it creating clones of itself?"

"No. The boulders are whole, they do not take shape or consciousness until they fall. They're like golems. Maybe it is making them, but nothing can be created out of nowhere. I wonder if they take form from the buildings themselves."

"Are you alright, sir? The camera is moving way too much."

"Oh, sorry, I received a strong blow to the back of my head, courtesy of those things. So, I'll try not to move so much, you old whiner."

The little golems approached clumsily. They were stone monsters, with round, heavy rocks for hands at the end of their upper extremities. They were empty dolls; it was just that they could hit very hard.

He dodged a boulder, and had to jump again to avoid the second, which had appeared on top of him. Taking advantage of the momentum, Bruce rolled on the rooftop, jumped, and kicked the third creature, which was near the edge of the building. His right leg went numb upon contact, but he managed to make the golem fall off the building.

He searched in his utility belt and took out half a dozen micro-bombs. For a moment, he felt like an idiot. If he created an explosion, it would attract attention. But then, what if he had already caused an accident with the golem that he had kicked down to the street? With the explosion, everyone would see him. Did the urban myth of the Bat matter more than the lives of the people?

"Master Bruce, sir, get out of there, please. This is not like last year against the Kryptonian. Kryptonite won't work against these. You're not prepared."

"I made an oath, damn it!" he shouted, while trying to dodge the very heavy blow of a fourth small monster that he didn't see crossing the sky. His right leg didn't respond, so he protected himself by crossing both arms in front of him. The hit hurt like hell, and he couldn't help but scream. Loudly. He could hear his loyal butler screaming, too.

"Master Bruce!"