It was a calm evening in Goth's Kitchen. There weren't many of those for a long time. At the center of the city was a humble little office building. At the door was a charming sign with the words "Wayne and Grayson: Attorneys at Law". This was where people who were failed by society would go to be defended. This was where Matthew Wayne, Foggy Grayson, and Karen Gordon formulated the lawsuits which toppled the Kingpain's criminal empire and sent him to Ryker's Asylum. This was the heart of Goth's Kitchen; the place the Blind Bat could remove his cape and cowl, and still be a hero.
Matt stared aimlessly out the window of his office with dark red round sunglasses on his face. He solemnly listened to the bustling of the city. It was chaotic, but the endless sounds which flooded his senses gave him a sense of peace. A menagerie of braille documents was littered across his desk. Various cases the aging Mr. Wayne would have to postpone for a few days. This was because tomorrow, he was going to Ryker's Asylum, a mental hospital on the outskirts of New York, to guard the place from a potential breakout.
After the escape of Ms. Gigantic and the Toymandarin from Belle Raft, the League was on edge for where was next. They would all look towards the place the Blind Bat would send all his major foes. At their trials, which Wayne always oversaw, he would argue that the traumas many of them suffered before had led them incapable of judging between right and wrong, and required treatment, that was the lawyer in him. It certainly wasn't the most effective place to keep dangerous criminals, but the Bat would always fight to send them there because at least in the Asylum, there was a chance to give those were mentally ill the help they needed to one day redeem themselves. The Blind Bat was a staunch believer that no one was beyond it. That was the Catholic in him.
But because of the nature of Goth's Kitchen, corruption and poor funding within the systems would always lead to the Asylum hiring bad doctors and guards who'd abuse their power to harm the patients, leading to eventual breakouts. They would escape, commit more crimes, the Bat would defeat them, send them back, and the cycle would repeat again and again, ad infinitum.
That was the old Goth's Kitchen though. That was under the reign of Bane. He orchestrated all those breakouts to keep the Bat occupied so that he would stay out of his way in running the rest of his organized crime. Now that the muscle-bound mobster was put away there as well, due to Wilson Bane's psychopathy and abuse of a performance enhancing drug called venom, things have been better. The people in power provide patients proper care now. Even some of the minor villains have been fully reformed and have ended their lives of crime. Wilbur Wesker, Jervis Powers, Maximus Angar, all people who went through the mile of sewage and came out clean on the other side. The Blind Bat was relieved, Matthew Wayne was proud.
But he knew Goth's Kitchen's current tranquility was not going to last. He knew that whatever Wesley Nygma was planning with the Legion would spell nothing but mayhem for his city. He had gotten a tip from another reformed villain, Leland Cobblepot, the Kiwi, that anything Nygma was planning at Arkham would be happening tomorrow. So, he rallied his troops, his Defenders of Goth's Kitchen, to help him secure the Asylum to prevent the Inquisitor's infernal schemes from coming to fruition.
A knock on Matt's office door snapped him out of his brooding. His senses gave him the knowledge that it was his partner, Foggy Grayson. "Come in, Foggy," Matt said in a raspy voice. The façade Matt would put on as the Blind Bat was like nails on his throat, but the deep growl was necessary for intimidation.
Into the room came a man a tad younger than Matt. He was less athletically built than the constantly training Matt, but he could hold his own. He wore a black suit with a deep blue tie, but he left the suit jacket open. A dirty-blonde mullet drooped across the back of Grayson's head. He had a worn, but friendly smile across his face as he approached Wayne, "Burning the midnight oil, huh Matt?" he asked looking down at the papers on his desk.
"Just getting some last-minute work in before tomorrow. You're coming, right?" Maty responded with his own question.
"As much as I'd love to squeeze myself into those tights again, I can't. Someone's gotta hold down the fort here. I got a trial, you know, those things we do to keep the lights on," Foggy answered sarcastically as the fluorescent lights above them briefly flickered and buzzed. "I rest my case…wait," Foggy paused once he realized Matt wouldn't have seen the lights.
"It's fine, I heard them. But Foggy, I need you on this. We can't afford to let any of them get out before they're ready. People can get hurt," Matt tried to convince him.
"Do you really need me? You already have Karen, Tim, Cage, and the Fist on this. Three of those guys have powers, and the one that doesn't is running things remotely. You don't need a guy who can hit people with sticks at an above average skill level," Foggy defended, twirling a pencil in his hand, "Besides, why not just call Selina, or one of your Superfriends for help? This is all for them, right?"
"Romanoff is indisposed right now with a mission elsewhere. We're also on complicated terms for the time being," Matt responded with a twinge of bitterness. "As for the League, I'd rather have my own people on this. As strong as they are, I don't want them to accidentally destroy what I've built there."
Foggy scoffed, "What's the point of being on a team with those guys if you can't call in favors to get their help?"
"I'm a part-timer, Foggy. I have no serious commitment to them, and they have commitment to me. My mission is parallel to theirs, and it only intersects when I let it," Matt explained with a groan.
"Bullshit! Just admit that you don't fully trust them." Foggy motioned closer to Matt, grabbing a few of the papers and looking at them as if he was reading off evidence. "You call yourself a part-time member, yet you show up to all the meetings because you don't want to be left out of any information. We could've gotten help to take down Bane from any of them at any time, but you only called Thor after Bane broke your back, and that was just because he was a doctor. You sent him back to Neo Metropolis right after he stitched you back together, wouldn't let him help you. And let's not talk about the World on Fire Contingencies…" he trailed off as if he was cross-examining Matt.
"Enough, Grayson," Matt said with a low growl in his voice. "They're colleagues, I don't want to have them closer to what I do than I need to. They are more gods than men, and I dare not put myself on that pedestal."
"Just colleagues?" Foggy said skeptically. "You and Stark went golfing a bunch during that stupid case with HammerWorks. You were a groomsman at King T'Kurri's royal wedding. I've seen Thunderman call you his best friend," he listed off before deciding to go for the jugular of arguments against the Bat's detachment, "Do I have to mention Diana?"
Matt didn't give a verbal response immediately; he cracked his knuckles first. "Tread lightly, Grayson," he warned.
Foggy dialed back his inquisition, "Fine, fine. I'm just saying you're closer to them than you'd like to admit. So why don't you trust them to operate here?"
"It's not about trust. I trust them to keep the world safe, but Goth's Kitchen is my city. There is so little that we as common people can control. When the dangers which threaten this world are so large-scale, the League forgets about the people down below. I can't patrol the whole world and still give every person the same thing I can give to the good people of this city. I can't just be a hero, an avenger, or even a symbol. I have to be a guardian. The League can't do that in their domain, but I can do it in mine."
"No. I want control because the world works this way," Matt answered. "For the first time in who knows how long, the city is at peace. I want to turn it into a place that will live on without me. When I'm gone, Goth's Kitchen should be able to stand on its own. I don't need the others to give it crutches."
Foggy gave a dry chuckle, "Sharp as ever, Matt. But you don't have to do it on your own." He gave his partner a playful punch to the arm. "Like it or not, you stand among gods. Even as a part-timer. We can handle the city, and you can figure out exactly what you want to do with your life. Maybe finally settle down,"
"I know that, but not yet. There's still work for me to do," Matt answered turning back around, "But when it does come, I have Tim to take over," he added stifling a laugh, "He's a much better Pupil than you ever were."
"Well, the laser eyes do help, don't they?" Foggy asked rhetorically.
"Perhaps a little. But the best part is h-," Matt began to respond before he started hearing the familiar sound of ripping metal from across town, near the docks. It was likely Lorna again, doing who knows what in his city. "Foggy, I'll have to come back to this conversation later. I have a troublesome woman to see."
Without much fanfare, Matt went over to what appeared to be a tall liquor cabinet. He punched in a code on the lock to open it up to reveal no gin or scotch, but a spare costume he had stored in the office. "See yourself out, will you?"
Foggy was resigned to having this happen multiple times in any given week, so he turned around and left the room, "Okay, g'night Matt."
"Good night, Foggy. Don't forget to wake up Karen tomorrow. I need her at her sharpest," Matt requested as he was sliding on his armored tights. Once he was done putting on his gear, he grabbed his walking cane and broke it into two halves, attaching the now unconcealed Bat-Batons to his belt. He then opened his office window and leapt off into the night.
On the outskirts of Goth's Kitchen, within a construction site shut down for the night, the Polar Blade was fighting off a quite peculiar adversary. This was a crusade for revenge. Her initial goals of burying her father's helm were now out of her range of feasibility. Her fury was redirected towards tracking down the man who killed her mother. Lorna was lucky enough to happen upon the yakuza members in Goth's Kitchen. She briefly dispatched the thugs by restraining them in the piles of rebar lying around the site. She could very easily have sliced them to pieces with her sword, but perhaps despite all her pain, she did not have the will to end a life, at least not theirs. For the duration of this fight, her sword had remained sheathed. But for their leader, it was drawn, for she desired blood.
Still clad in her green cloak and white mask, she walked towards this clan of yakuza's leader. The two had seemed to be fighting for about ten minutes before the Bat first heard Lorna rip apart pieces of the site. She unleashed a relentless assault of girders, rivets, and rebar towards the villain. He swatted away the oncoming debris as if it were mere twigs, pebbles and vines tossed by a child. Monstrous strength lied within the man, and he was more the former than the latter.
Although, it was a strange combination of monsters that this man was. He appeared to be a skeleton, but also a vampire. This is one of the more peculiar results of the Amalgam. He was a combination of the traits from one Morbius the Living Vampire, and the bizarrely less threatening Lord Death Man. The foe in question wore an all-black bodysuit with a red sash around the waist. White, bony hands protruded from the sleeves, but the body itself still looked muscular. He wore a blood red cape which looked like bat wings. The head of this man was just a plain, white skull. No flesh or even eyes, just glowing red pupils from empty eye sockets, paired with a set of vampiric fangs from the skull's mouth. This was Doctor Larry Morbius, but he seems to proclaim himself as…
"I AM MORB DEATH MAN! YOU SHALL FALL TONIGHT AT MY HANDS! YOU WERE BUT A FOOL TO STAND AGAINST ME, GIRL." The strange man announced, extremely loudly. His voice was also one of the most grating things a person could ever hear. Dr. Morbius' screeching was akin to throwing a dying cat into a rusty blender, throwing it against a chalkboard, and then dropping a steel pipe on top of the shards. That is the noise every syllable of every word of every sentence the amalgamated immortal utters makes. Funnily enough, the screeching of his voice seemed to attract swarms of bats from around the city towards the construction site. Even a mile and a half away, the Blind Bat could still hear him, and his hyper-sensitive hearing caused Matt great discomfort from just passively listening to the ghoul. Despite that, the Bat pursued onward.
Lorna remained silent as she made a dash toward Morbius, her sword aimed outward. The skeleton ran towards the swordswoman as his skull's face twisted from looking human to something more monstrous. She gave a crossing swipe against the monster, but as it sliced at the bone of the forearm, it barely left a scratch. Morbius let out a grating cackle as he sent a powerful jab into her stomach, forcing Lorna aback.
Lorna looked down to see a toolbox lying on the ground where she stood. She held out her hand to magnetically lift it up and toss it at Morbius. Nails, wrenches, and even a hammer went flying out of the box as it all cascaded around him. Some of the nails punctured through his suit. The wrenches tore and tattered his cape. And the hammer landed a blow against his skull, leaving an ugly crack across his right eye socket. But through it all, Morbius continued onward, "I KNOW YOU PURSUE ME BECAUSE YOU SEE ME AS YOUR NYEMESIS! BUT NEIGH, I CARE NOT WHO YOU ARE! WHATEVER I DID ON THE DAY I CHANGED YOUR LIFE, IT WAS NOTHING TO ME BUT A TUESDAY!" He yelled further with great grandiosity. But it was in fact actually a Friday when Morb Death Man killed Lorna's mother, Suzaku Toru.
When the swarms of bats arrived at the scene, all the skeletal vampire had to do was point a bony hand towards Lorna, and they flocked to her. The bats scratched and bit her. While her cloak provided adequate protection, some managed to sneak through. One lucky strike even managed to make her bleed. Lorna clutched her katana and held it outward, using her magnesis to pull the blade around in a circle. She spun around rapidly like a helicopter. The gust of wind created by the motion forced the bats to flee.
Morbius seemed impressed with her ingenuity. "Alright, it's morbin' time," he muttered grimly under his breath. This seemed to be some sort of nonsensical catchphrase with significance beyond my understanding.
He slowly sauntered forward as he cracked his knuckles. His voice became calmer, quieter, yet still as annoyingly nasally. Once he saw that Lorna was a capable opponent, he became more serious. "I recognize the scent of your blood. It is familiar to me. A kill from so long ago that I can not place it. To whom do I owe the pleasure of having such a feisty new meal? A husband, a sibling, a parent?" The skull grinned as he taunted her.
Lorna saw red as she charged forward again and stabbed her sword through Dr. Morbius' stomach. Given the fact that this was a skeleton, there was nothing within that area for Lorna to stab, so it passed through his clothes and cape harmlessly. Morbius looked down at the sword through him, nonplussed. "You are the not the first to try and strike Morb Death Man in such a hapless way. For I am deathless!" he proclaimed as he grabbed Lorna's arm, and heaved her over his shoulder, leaving the sword within him and herself unarmed.
Lorna tumbled over by some of the construction vehicles left behind at the site. She looked around to see a cement mixer and a crane with a wrecking ball behind her. She formulated a plan as Morbius approached her.
The vampire removed the sword from his abdomen and brandished it towards the girl, "You didn't even have the guts to kill my henchmen, and that's a lot coming from a guy that doesn't have any guts. You wield the weapon of a killer, but I know you have starved it of its purpose. It thirsts for blood, and so do I."
He leapt into the air and went to pounce on Lorna. But as he descended, he was slammed by the wrecking ball of the crane and was sent crashing to the ground. Morbius staggered to his feet to prepare another attack, only for Lorna to aim the cement mixer's trough towards him. "How's this to quench your thirst?" she asked with a hint of snark. With a flick of her wrist, she yanked the sword out of Morb Death Man's grip. The mixer then unloaded a viscous stream of cement over Morbius, cascading over him like gravy on a biscuit.
Morbius tried to throw the quickly drying cement off his body, but Lorna started forcing bands of rebar through the stony substance. She restrained Morbius tightly as the cement cloak became a compact cell. He was covered head to toe in, now reinforced, concrete. The vampire tried to squirm his way out, but he was completely immobilized. His skull still poked through what could literally be called "streetwear", allowing him to continue yammering at her. "YOU THINK THIS WILL HOLD ME?! NEIGH, I SAY! I'LL GET OUT OF HERE, AND FROM NOW ON, MORB DEATH MAN SHALL BE YOUR GREATEST NYEMESIS!" It occurred to Lorna that the skeleton said the word "nemesis" strangely, but it wasn't important enough to her to bring it up.
The Blind Bat finally arrived at the site on the docks, landing from a nearby rooftop. He sensed the presence of everyone in the area, listening for the heartbeats of all the goons to make sure they were all alive. He was relieved to hear one in each one of the hired thugs, though did not find one within Morb Death Man, though given he was a vampire and a skeleton, he wasn't quite sure what to expect. He turned his attention to Lorna, who was holding her sword to Morbius' face. "Polar Blade, your job here is done. The police are on their way to get everyone here. I'll handle this…thing myself. You can go now, I don't want you fighting in my city," he stated in a firm tone. The Bat wanted to deescalate the situation as fast as possible.
Lorna glared at the Blind Bat, "My job is not done until he suffers for all his crimes, for all the people he has hurt and killed," she retorted with a slight quiver in her voice.
The Bat noticed this as he surveyed the trapped monster, "He was the man that did it, wasn't he? Killing him won't bring your mother back. Vengeance will bring you no peace, trust me. There is no soul fully beyond redemption. Don't cross that line," he pleaded as he slowly moved closer to her. The Bat had a very strict policy on killing, and no one was going to kill anyone in his city.
The swordswoman threw her sword at the Bat, but she stopped it mid-air. It was just a few inches from his face, "Stay back, only one thing you said was right." Lorna took a deep breath as she collected herself. "Yes, this was the creature who killed my mother, but don't call it "he". This is not a man. The monster known as Morb Death Man is a cancer upon Japan," she continued, averting her gaze from both the Bat and Morbius.
"Okay, so I didn't mishear him. That is what he's actually called," the Bat commented, realizing the unintentional ridiculousness of the truly heavy situation.
"You know, I'm right here," Morbius tried to interject, but Lorna struck him across the face with her fist.
"Who said you could talk?!" Lorna yelled at the skeleton. The Bat was actually a bit relieved, because any time he heard Morb Death Man's voice, he would cringe from the noise. "You were right, killing it will not bring my mother back. But it will bring peace to all its victims," she paused to look at her sword, slowly drawing it away from the Bat and back to her hand.
"When my father left our home to assist your League on a mission off world, Morb Death Man and its clan wrought havoc upon the country. They systematically eradicated every superhero in Japan. The Ashen Beastmaster, the Golden Monkey, even the Single Strike Shogun fell. The people prayed for someone to save them, and their answers were snuffed out by it. My actions are to avenge them, not enact revenge."
The Bat had never heard of any of these heroes, but for all he knew, they were just like him. They could also have been people once faced with injustice, but then used the power they gained later in life to make sure no one in their communities would have to face the same. Despite just learning their names, he mourned their loss. "I'm sorry that we couldn't have helped back then. But we are not gods. We are limited in our abilities, your father especially." Blind Bat knew the League was limited, and his faith in their ability to guard the entire world was often put into question.
Lorna scoffed at the Bat's response, "My father was gifted power from the oldest beings in the universe to free his people from genocide. He was the answer to their prayers. And like it or not, your League are the gods of today. You have the Asgardian, the Amazon, the king of a mythical city, a man who returned from the dead, a living green pantheon, reincarnations of Egyptian royalty, and the god of the digital age. Your League is above the world, that gives you the responsibility to watch over all of it, and you failed to protect those who protected us. So let me correct your mistake."
The Bat absorbed Lorna's words. He had often pondered the nature of his God, and his teammates relationship with the concept. Thor, Diana, and Billy were gods in their own rite. Norse, Greek, and Roman mythology were confirmed to be essentially real by their existences. Wolfhawk and Stormbird confirmed Egyptian mythology, and Fate and his children had magic that pulled from all over the great beyond. He stood alone on the team as a mortal immersed in a personal crisis of faith. I wish I could tell him some semblance of his belief in Christ was true, but that's not my role anymore.
His role among them often filled him with conflict as well. Does a mortal man truly have purpose among those who carry so much power and operate so differently than him?
Lorna took her sword back and sheathed it into the scabbard wrapped in her cloak. "And one more thing; I have no intention of killing Morb Death Man," she added, "This city is your domain, and I am aware that you have a rule for other vigilantes against killing. I honor your reign."
The Bat was pulled from his thoughts upon her answer, "Oh…well, thanks. What are you going to do then?"
Lorna held out her hand and lifted Morbius into the air with the rebar in the concrete. "I want this beast to suffer. And as it has no soul, and can not die, per its repeated outbursts which I know you could hear, I shall dispose of Morb Death Man like this," she explained as he turned around to face the docks. She looked off into the distance towards the sea. She wound up her arm, and she thrust forward as if she was throwing a baseball.
Morbius was sent hurtling across the skyline, the skeleton screeching like a banshee the whole way, "THIS SHALL NOT BE THE LAST YOU SEE OF MORB DEATH MAN! I WILL FIND YOU, AND I WILL KILL YOU, MY NYE-" he was cut off as he caused a large splash about 200 feet from the shore, sinking in his stony tomb. He sank to the bottom in an instant, likely never to be heard from again.
The Bat was genuinely conflicted on how to feel about the whole situation. While he thought he should have been against what Lorna did, she also followed all his rules as far as killing. The one she dispatched was immortal, not to mention extremely annoying. And while he didn't want to admit it, she was justified in doing to Morbius what she did. Given the mitigating circumstances, the Blind Bat was going to let this slide. "Alright, I guess you're above board."
Soon after, the sounds of police sirens were heard as the Goth's Kitchen Police Department was enroute to apprehend the remaining henchmen. Lorna looked to the Bat, "So, are you going to draw your symbol in gasoline on the ground?"
Blind Bat was annoyed at the question, "I did that one time when I was just starting out. I was a lot flashier back then. How did you know about that?"
"My father told me the story," Lorna answered with a sigh, "He told me a lot of stories about you. Of the members of the League, he spoke the highest of you. You were different from the rest." She spoke solemnly, but her walls were ever so slightly starting to crumble, showing an inkling of vulnerability.
The Bat was flattered, he admired Lorna's honor and respect for his territory. "Well, based on your actions tonight, I know I can trust you to operate within the statutes of my jurisdiction. So, I have a proposition for you. I need your help."
Lorna was hesitant at first. While her work here in Goth's Kitchen was done, there was a draw in being able to work with the Blind Bat, "What do you request my services for?" she asked in a stern, professional tone.
"I have intel that Ryker's Asylum will have a breakout tomorrow. I have a few people already scheduled to help with security, but every bit helps," the Bat explained, "You're smart, strong, but you have restraint. While there are dangerous inmates in there, many patients there aren't violent, and will need protection. You've upheld my code for the people you want to kill the most out of respect for me, that's why I know you can be trusted."
Lorna mulled over the idea, intrigued by the prospect, but she wanted something else to sweeten the deal for her. "If I help you, what's in it for me?"
"Flights to and from Japan are not cheap, I can pay you handsomely for your work. I doubt that Fate had a lot of money to leave behind, especially since Jessica got the tower. Do you even wish to meet your half-sister?"
"No," Lorna was quick to answer. "My father didn't want this life for me, nor do I. I trained my skills and did what I did today out of necessity. With justice served, I'll return to a normal life. The less attached I am to my father's other life, the better. I'm not going to be a superhero." Lorna asserted.
"Very well. How does five thousand dollars for a day, and I keep your existence a secret from the League sound? You want to stay detached; I won't take that from you," while this could be seen as extortion or blackmail from the Blind Bat, it wasn't fully malicious. He truly felt that if Lorna met Jessica, it would be greatly beneficial for both. But either way, for now, he was going to help Fate's youngest however she wanted to be helped.
Lorna was intimidated at first by the Blind Bat's blackmail, but she knew if he was going to tell the League of her existence, he would have done it already. What she was surprised to hear was that he would keep her a secret from his colleagues. "You have yourself a deal. I'll guard the Asylum starting at sunrise. At the end of the day, I'll take my payment and return home."
The Bat nodded as he sensed the police cars were just around the corner, "I'll see you there tomorrow, Polar Blade," he said before using his grappling baton to fire a hook off into the abyss of the city. He hoisted himself off into the night and disappeared. He would rather not deal with the Commissioner tonight.
Lorna rolled her eyes behind her mask. She wasn't a fan of being referred to by her weapon as if it were her name. But as the police arrived, she decided to make a quick getaway. With the clench of her fists and some focus, she started to levitate. She was wearing steel-toed boots and was using her powers to lift herself via the boots. This was the same way the Fatal Compass had flown, as despite the nigh-infinite mystic power that lay within the Helm of Nabu, flight was somehow not one of the inherent powers provided. She flew into the air and followed close behind the Blind Bat, into the night.
As the two disappeared, the police arrived. Out from a squad car came Commissioner Paxton Gordon. He, among the other officers, cased the area and began taking the incapacitated and restrained goons. The weary Gordon pulled out a cigarette and cobalt blue lighter. He was happy he was going to be taking a lot of members of the yakuza off the streets of Goth's Kitchen. But he was also aware that given this new vigilante's involvement, for which he saw a billowing green cloak rise away from the scene to dictate as such, there was going to be SO much paperwork.
Gordon took a drag on his cigarette and bowed his head in exasperation, knowing what was ahead of him. "Blind Bat, I thank you for your help, but also damn you for making me deal with another one of your colorful loons."