Summary: The Batman has always been a lonely vigilante, fighting alone against injustice in his city. But this is bigger than him and his insecurities. Will he believe in magic? Will he finally accept that there's good people beyond the stars?
Disclaimer: Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Zatanna, The Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman and all affiliated characters here are property of DC Comics, and I do not own them.
Chapter 16: B3
Metropolis Bay, Metropolis, Illinois, United States.
A flying man from another planet. A warrior of whom he had only heard vague stories, and, as far as he knew, should have been long dead. A drunkard whom Alfred had seen on TV, rumored to talk to fish and care for fishermen. An inexperienced speedster taking his first steps in a city on the midwest. A human firefly radiating an aura of arrogance and pomposity. And the showwoman he had known in his childhood, whose father had trained him.
"Fantastic, huh?" said Zatanna, smiling as if she had expected all of this to happen. He didn't know she would be there. Since when was she a hero? Since when was she so good at magic tricks and making them seem so real?
"You. What's…?" Bruce started, arms crossed.
"Oh, you can call me The Strega if you want, quote unquote The Batman," she said, emphasizing the quotes with her fingers. "That way we keep anonymity, and I don't have to call you by your other name, the one that's a bit more famous, darling."
"Wait, you're Batman? Like, the real Batman? Like, the urban myth Batman? That Batman?" The Flash asked, jaw almost hitting the ground.
"Believe me, I'm as surprised as you are," said Green Lantern, who hovered above the others, eyes fixed on Bruce.
"It's Batman! Oh, Mr. Batman, it's a pleasure to meet you!"
"Hnn," grunted Bruce. Not long ago, he wished no one knew him, he wanted to remain a dark figure in Gotham. Now everyone had seen him, and he wasn't even at his city.
"Is the batman of Gotham for real? Ha, I like it!" Aquaman approached Batman and put a hand on his shoulder. "I thought your kind didn't respond well to sunlight."
"I'll give you two seconds to take your fingers off me before you lose them."
"Not the fun type, huh?" Aquaman said, backing off with his hands up, a smug smile on his face.
"It's wonderful," Wonder Woman interjected, with a big smile. It had been a very personal gesture, and she seemed lost in some kind of memory. "I never thought there would be so many heroes gathered again. It's an honor to be here with all of you."
"I don't consider myself a hero," Aquaman said, turning towards the sea, where the Fire-Lord had submerged. "I just came here because it's the right thing to do. I don't like bullies, not even when they come from space. I've had enough of facing them."
"That's exactly what makes a hero," murmured The Flash, beaming.
"The threat isn't over yet, and I'm tired of so many undesirables in my city. Report," Bruce ordered. His gaze shifted to Clark Kent, seeking an explanation.
"It comes from the planet Appellax," Superman began. He seemed to be the most informed. "There were seven of them, and they invaded Earth as a competition to see who could claim it first. I incapacitated one, and I assume the same happened to the others."
"Yes, I trapped mine behind a waterfall, and then some government goons took it away," recounted Green Lantern.
"They call themselves Team 7. I know one of their members, he helped me defeat my enemy" said Diana.
"I threw mine into a volcano," Aquaman said, sounding both proud and frustrated.
"After six of them lost, their essences and abilities merged into the only one still active," explained Zatanna, conjuring six illusory lights of colors in the air that joined a seventh, red and flaming. "Probably thanks to some pact they made before. Now, the Fire-Lord possesses all their powers."
As if reacting to hearing its name, the sea began to bubble, continuously bursting and repairing. The Fire-Lord rose from the waters with its wings spread, its crown shining, and fireballs in its four hands. It looked like something out of a horrendous nightmare, an intimidating figure they had never known before, appearing amidst the abundant sea mist.
"What are those abilities?" Bruce asked, in the midst of the general silence.
"It rebuilds itself because the thing I found stuck to Hawaii did it. If you cut off its head, another will grow. Oh, and that's why it grows so much too," Aquaman pointed out.
"He can create some sort of… clones, it's like he puts a mirror in front of his enemies. He can only do it once with each person. Those of you who haven't had the honor of being cloned yet, don't even hesitate to destroy them," Zatanna warned.
"The Ruc I faced could turn everything it touched into gold, like a feathered King Midas," Green Lantern said. "I think it tried the same thing a while ago, and if it weren't for my ring, I'd be a Burning Man effigy."
"The fire vines he creates are very difficult to destroy, and it can communicate through them," Superman explained. "If you need to talk to him before locking him up, it'll have to be by letting yourself be tied up."
"Locking it up? Are we not going to kill it?" Aquaman asked, clearly confused.
"No life deserves to be taken by others," Superman replied.
"The jerk came from another planet to conquer us!"
"And that's why we must stop him and show him that he cannot possess this planet. I also came from another world, and I don't think that makes me any less deserving of my life," said Superman. He called the creature him. Of course he did. Not only because of the Lord moniker, but also because Superman didn't want to consider it a monster.
"It can also clone itself to create small fire monsters, "Bruce intervened, ignoring the absurd argument between Superman and Aquaman. "It controls them remotely and they are relatively fragile."
"Do we just… run over them?" The Flash asked.
"Yes. We must keep them away from people. And you'll take care of that. I've heard little about the Central City speedster, but I assume you're suited for the job."
"Huh? Me?"
"Superman, it seems that the light emitted by that extraterrestrial is part of its powers, and that red light weakens you. Any idea why?"
"None, to be honest."
"I have an idea. But, for now, help The Flash and protect the populations of your city from the fire puppets. Wonder Woman, your sword can harm it, but you'll only succeed when it's not strong enough to rebuild itself with its plasmatic body. You'll be part of the vanguard, but stay alert for when you can decapitate it."
"Decapitate him?" Superman asked. It wasn't surprising.
"It's not a human, Superman," Bruce replied. "It's a mutant from another world."
"So am I."
"Yes, and you're lucky to look like a human. If Team 7 shows up, they'll be able to take it away, dead or alive. Aquaman, keep the Fire-Lord in the water, attack it with all your might so that it stays down there until everything in it turns to vapor. Green Lantern, your ring can create things, right?"
"Hey, wait a minute! Why are we listening to him? Who made you leader?" Green Lantern asked, floating again, facing Bruce with a glare behind his bright green mask.
"This is not the time for this, Lantern."
"Look, man, I am a high-ranking officer in the Green Lantern Corps of Oa! I won't allow a vigilante —who is clearly just a guy dressed as a bat— to come and…"
[There is no rank "high-ranking officer" in the Green Lant…]
"Silence, ring!"
"Hn. How does that it work?" Bruce asked, examining from afar the shiny object on Green Lantern's ring finger. His hypothesis was that it was of extraterrestrial origin, but that man seemed human.
A feral scream interrupted them, and when the seven turned to the sea, the Fire-Lord was surrounded by a flaming aura, which now concentrated in its hands, while fiery embers emanated from its crown, streaking across the sky, soon to become its servants.
"Superman, Flash, destroy the puppets before they hurt anyone! Lantern, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, attack the monster and try to take its flames to the sea! Also, try to cut off its oxygen supply so it can't burn! Of course, prevent it from shooting more fire!"
Shrugging, Aquaman plunged into the sea while Superman and The Flash quickly disappeared from sight. Wonder Woman ran and leaped towards the Fire-Lord from the bay. Green Lantern simply gave Bruce a look of disgust, accompanied by equally ridiculous and unnecessary questions:
"And you?"
"Are you still here?"
"No. Are you going to just sit here barking orders while us real heroes bust our asses?"
"Unlike you, someone has to think." Without saying anything else, Bruce turned his back on Green Lantern, who flew off at full speed to stop the Fire-Lord's fire rays with the large green shields he materialized.
"What about me?" Zatanna asked.
"You? I don't even know why you're here. Leave before you get hurt."
"You're not as charming as you used to be… Bruce," Zatanna said, smiling, barely whispering his name.
"How did you defeat one of the Appellaxians?"
"Take a guess." The Strega turned around when half a dozen fire monsters, smaller versions of the Fire Lord, appeared running towards them.
She said some words that Bruce didn't understand, and suddenly a huge purple cloud appeared over their heads, about 60 feet above. To Bruce's surprise, a very intense and very bright rain fell from the cloud, and after a few moments of moans and groans, the fire creatures disappeared, leaving only columns of steam and the smell of dry earth behind.
"How did you do that?"
"Didn't I just tell you? Take a guess. Magic is not a difficult word, you know?"
"No. I mean, how did you really do it?"
"Oh, Bruce. Your skepticism was always kind of amusing to me. I simply threw water at them with magic."
"The sea doesn't affect the Fire-Lord."
"Yes, but this is magic water. Oh dear. You're very stubborn, aren't you?"
"He certainly is," said the voice in his head.
"Not now, Penny-One."
"Oh, is that the Alfred you always talked about?"
"Oh, is that the Miss Zatara you barely talk about?"
"Penny-One, what's going on?"
"I'm just saying you're going to have a hard time accepting these kinds of… events. They're not criminals armed with knives or drug dealers shooting guns. You're dealing with extraterrestrials, sorcerers, beings from other worlds and meta-humans, Master Bruce."
"And what do you want me to do? Turn back without doing anything?"
"I'm just asking you to be a little more open minded while also taking care of things that surpass us mere humans, Master Bruce."
"Hey, Bruce? Say hi to him," said Zatanna, pretending he hadn't heard all that.
"Hn."
Over the sea, Wonder Woman kept cutting off the Fire-Lord's limbs with her sword, but they kept growing back. Aquaman, underwater, had the alien clamped by the legs so it couldn't fly away, and clumsily hit it with his trident. Green Lantern began repeatedly striking the monster with beams of an unknown energy.
The Fire-Lord looked down, its eyes gleamed, and after a gigantic flash, Aquaman seemed to have let go of his prey, as the enemy spread its wings and soared into the sky. Wonder Woman shielded her eyes with her arms, allowing the alien to attack her with a furious blaze that threw her into the ocean. Aquaman screamed while holding his head.
"That's what you wanted to avoid, right? Him getting into your head and seeing all your traumas," Zatanna said, coldly this time.
"What's with that tone?"
"You're only using them to experiment. To know how the enemy moved."
Green Lantern flew around the Fire-Lord as it launched a thousand incandescent balls into the sky. The alleged space police officer created a somewhat imperfect sphere around the enemy, trapping it inside. The idea had been Bruce's, but the guy-in-green had executed it well. The luminous sphere was intended to prevent it from using the air to ignite.
The Fire-Lord bent inside the sphere and its eyes sparkled like fire sparks. Then it suddenly opened its limbs, destroying the barrier around it and sending Green Lantern flying with a series of heat waves. He crashed into a skyscraper west of Metropolis. A skyscrapper that belonged to Wayne Enterprises. Bruce remembered for a second the past. A damaged skyscraper, thousands of people screaming in horror as two aliens fought in the sky.
"No, I'm using them because it was a good tactic and because it could work," Bruce replied, returning to reality. He pressed a button on his hood, and soon felt his loyal Alfred by his side again. "Penny-One, speak to me."
"The radiation it emits seems similar to that emitted by the sun, Master Bruce. When that brave emerald hero trapped it in that sphere, for a moment it stopped emitting that heat and had to resort quickly to brute force."
"Which means that if the Lantern were stronger, we could have won the way I had thought. Are you sure it's like the sun?"
"Indeed. Although, temporally speaking, they are not the same. It's heat, fire, and solar waves, but of a higher magnitude."
"I see. Keep those data safe, Penny-One, they may be useful to us in the future." He pressed another button on his hood. "The Flash, can you hear me?"
"Huh? Batman? Wait, how did you access this frequency? And I'm sure I threw away my earpiece! Where did this one come from?"
"How fast can you move?"
"Well, fast enough to have dealt with thirty of those things and to save… I don't know how many people, but I can't be everywhere at once. My legs are getting really tired."
"It's not your legs I need, but your arms." As Bruce spoke, a dozen black war helicopters passed over his head, the same ones he had seen in Japan. Team 7 had arrived, and they would be inevitably destroyed if he didn't come up with something soon. "I want you to throw everything you find at the Fire-Lord, as fast as you can. Even a pebble works, as long as you're precise and hit its vital points. I want you to do it when I tell you."
"A pebble?"
"You have to be very fast. Very, very fast," Bruce emphasized before turning off the communicator and the signal connecting him to The Flash. Then he pressed the secret button on the third pocket to the left on his belt and spoke to Alfred again. "Penny-One, was it activated correctly?"
"Yes, sir, it's in position… but are you absolutely sure about…?"
"Shoot it when I tell you."
"Sir…"
"Alfred!"
"Very well, Master Bruce."
The helicopters fired all their artillery at the monster, which moved swiftly towards them, deflecting bullets or protecting itself with its four arms, while continuing to shoot flames into the sky, creating its army. Like a cannonball, the extraterrestrial passed through a helicopter, shattering it amidst an incredible explosion.
Some of their crew, dressed in black, managed to jump down with their parachutes, but the fire beast approached them again to finish them off.
Aquaman, already recovered, appeared in the air beside the monster, and trident in hand, he smashed it with his body to divert it from it path. Wonder Woman, standing on a rock, used her strange golden lasso to tie the helicopter crew and pull them to the ground at such a spectacular speed that she not only managed to save all the parachutists, but Bruce could only see a blur instead of her arm.
The Fire-Lord caught Aquaman with its four arms and its eyes gleamed again, but the drunken guy headbutted it straight in its flaming chest, managing to hurt it and break free from the grip. Enraged, the Fire-Lord created endless fiery whips with its fingers, which it threw at all the choppers around. The agents aboard them jumped into the sea, but the Fire-Lord kept attacking with its fire limbs.
Green Lantern appeared like a meteor and created a series of shinning shields in the air, protecting the agents in the sea. He had a hand on his other arm, which was noticeably trembling. Him cursing in the air indicated that he was having difficulty protecting himself from the continuous attacks, but Bruce was no longer thinking about that. The fire branches now spread across the sea, against all logic, reaching the bay and the beach sands.
Without a word to Zatanna, and despite her complaints, Bruce ran into the ocean and jumped into the water, being instantly caught by the fiery arms. His suit began to emit vapor and foul gases due to the heat, and it wouldn't be long before his body began to burn, or he suffocated with the limbs climbing up his body, already reaching his neck.
"Are you from Appellax?" Bruce asked, instead of shouting like the agents in the sea.
"Seven… One… Conquer Earth…." the flames responded.
"Ah!" Batman screamed in pain, but he had to endure a little longer. "Red sun."
"No…"
"Yes. R-red sun… Do you fear, alien?"
The Fire-Lord seemed to scream and its flames burned brighter than ever. Before he burned, Bruce found himself back in the bay, with his uniform emitting smoke, but at least he was alive. He had calculated that Wonder Woman would cut off the alien's arms at that moment to free him, and he confirmed that she had. Now, they were both on the bay. Wonder Woman had the monster tied by the neck with her golden lasso while its limbs grew back. But why was Bruce also on solid ground?
"A simple 'thank you' wouldn't hurt, you know?" Zatanna said at his side. In her hands, there was still a pink glow that emitted neither heat nor electric charge.
"What did you do?"
"I'm not going to answer that again. I brought you here, that's what matters. And now, what do we do?"
"Wait for them to finish shooting," Bruce muttered. They both looked back. Bruce was too tired to try to hide, so people could verify the myth and see Batman for the first time. But it wasn't just full of stupid Metropolitan onlookers watching the battle as if their lives weren't in danger. Among them, seven had approached Bruce and Zatanna.
They were seven heavily armed agents, wearing highly technological black uniforms that he was unfamiliar with, overflowing with experience through their pores. The cavalry, or in other words, Team 7, seemed to have arrived, and one of them was the blonde who had helped him in Japan. Agent Lance, he remembered.
Another one wore a red cloth mask hanging from his forehead, and another… The patch over his left eye, the katanas on his back, the two-toned shoulder pads, one orange and one blue; he knew "Agent Wilson" perfectly.
"Prepare the cannons," said the one who seemed to be the leader, a robust man with blond hair and cold blue eyes, who had the surname Flagg written on his chest. The guy was overflowing with Americanness, although Bruce couldn't explain what sense that word made.
"So it's true, huh?" said the one with the red mask, named Cash. "Batman does exist. And I like the girl in the tuxedo."
"Ignore them," added agent Slade Wilson, a mercenary whom Bruce had met in the worst way years ago.
"Wait for Wonder Woman to get away from him before firing," requested Agent Trevor, raising his high-tech gun with his robust arms. Bruce didn't know what he was going to shoot, but he guessed it was something powerful.
"Always so concerned about the immortal demigoddess, huh?" mocked the one wearing the surname Dean on his chest.
"Don't start, Kurt," reprimanded agent Lance.
"We can't waste any more time. On my mark," ordered agent Flagg.
"Now, Flash: fire!" Bruce shouted as he turned on the communicator, just as Flagg gave the order.
"Fire!"
Seven impressive black cannon guns fired at once. At the same time, from the rooftop of a skyscraper to the west, through a huge tube that Green Lantern had created —finally showing a hint of intelligence—, The Flash threw his makeshift projectiles amidst a lightning storm that came out of his arm.
He didn't expect many to connect, but with one well-thrown, very fast, it was worth it. One of them must have succeeded at the same time as the water, steam, wind, smoke, and desolation rose into view of Metropolis. Whatever it was that Team 7 had achieved, the most important thing was to end that threat in one go, and it hadn't been enough.
But if The Flash and Green Lantern had achieved their goal, then it was the job for Superman's fists, Wonder Woman's sword, and the thermodynamic missile that Batman had prepared, ready to launch from his WayneTech skyscrapper on Metropolis.