Chapter 11: Cat and mouse

Batman impatiently looked at the digital clock on his wrist. It was already half past five and the sun on the horizon was already tending to set. He and Damian stood on a cliff inside the protected reserve right next to their jet and waited for Wonder Woman, who was already 5 minutes late. In front of them the wide sea and behind them a dense forest from most diverse foliage and conifers.

Bruce had taken Selina's suggestion and contacted the Amazon. He had also informed Clark of their plan and given him the choice to take a part in it. But Batman didn't count on Superman showing up. He probably already had enough to do with his angry wife and would rather not have his son worry about him getting into the fighting ring with this beast once again.

Slightly tense, the detective opened a small screen on his minicomputer. Unmoving, a small red dot flashed near their position, indicating the location of their target. According to the altitude display, the creature was barely 40 meters below their feet in a cave. Even as they approached the cliff, they could see the huge crevice, which contained kilometers of passageways and over thousands of years, the rough waves had gradually washed out the sharp-edged rock, seemingly creating a perfect retreat for this creature.

A hiding place with wide, large cavities and no light. Moreover, a very good way to corner it.

And Batman took advantage of that in his plan.

"Here she comes."

Damian drew Bruce's attention to Diana, who had just appeared in the sky and was now heading straight for them. Elegantly, the Amazon landed directly in front of the bat and his son, greeting them both with an apology:

"Sorry for the delay. I ran into a capsized sailboat on the way. So, what's the exact plan and what exactly are we pursuing anyway? It's not like you've told me much."

Batman gave her a short nod and then opened some documents on his computer hologram:

"As you probably heard on the news, there was an incident at the new Metropolis lab last night. The incident had opened a portal and spawned a creature that is our target for this mission. I consider its classification to be highly dangerous, as it could easily take on Superman and nearly killed him."

Diana's expression took on a very serious tone when she heard about Clark's exit with the Beast. However, Bruce continued to speak unperturbed:

"To make sure no one else gets hurt, we have to try to catch it in its sleep."

Diana raised her eyebrows in surprise: "You want to catch it? Why that?"

"Firstly, because I doubt we could slay it, since not even Superman has managed to do that, and secondly, to examine it more closely and use the new information we've gained to make sure that no more of its kind will show up in our world."

Diana nodded in confirmation: "Good, what are we going to do?"

Batman again opened the map on his computer:

"Thanks to Robin, we know exactly where the creature is. A direct fight would be too dangerous from my point of view. That's why we'll sneak up on it from two sides and encircle it that way. In case it is awake, i will then serve as bait so that you can catch it with your lasso undetected. I will then throw several gas bombs near the beast while it can't fly away. However, since I don't know to what extent anesthetics affect this creature's body, I filled it with various intensities of isoflurane. This drug not only will put it to sleep, but it also paralyzes its muscles. So if it doesn't fall asleep right away, it will at least become inert or at best immobilized. If this occurs, we must place it in the capsule in my jet. This will be able to continue keeping the creature under anesthesia, ensuring that it can no longer harm anyone. Understood so far?"

Briefly, the Amazon nodded.

"Good, now to the strengths and weaknesses. It has enormous strength, almost equal to Superman, is extremely heavily armored and can shoot its feathers like projectiles. In addition, it has kryptonite formation and presumably silent flight, as our analysis has shown that its feathers resemble those of owls. It also uses its tail as a stabbing weapon, which is equipped with small rakes. So be careful that it doesn't get you or it will tear your flesh apart. Lastly, there are attacks with high voltages of electricity. However, keep in mind that these are only the strengths that we could find out in our short time. It's quite possible that the creature has more than those we know of."

Diana swallowed slightly at the massive list.

"As a weakness, we have only been able to record light so far, which is why we attack during the day. However, we'll have to hurry since the sun won't be in the sky much longer."

Batman closed his screen and looked up from his computer:

"To cover the case that the creature does get away from us, Robin will guard the entrance with the jet and also guide us through the cave from there using ground scans."

Damian perked up:

"Excuse me?! The jet has artificial intelligence. It doesn't need a pilot to do that!"

Robin couldn't believe that his father wanted to exclude him from the actual fight again. He always did this as soon as a mission reached Justice League level and it became too dangerous in Batman's opinion. While his father tried to wrap it up as best he could so Damian wouldn't notice in order to avoid an argument, he wasn't so stupid.

"I need someone out here in case this creature tries to leave the cave. Then you need to try to stop it from flying away and track it if necessary. There's no guarantee that during the fight the tracker won't come off. Also, the signal could get disconnected in the cave and that would prevent me from controlling the jet. You are of better use out here than in there."

Seriously, Batman finished the order to his son, who did not like it at all. Deeply annoyed, the boy fought a silent eye duel with his father. But it ended, as always, with Damian taking a clear non-verbal stance and grudgingly giving in. What else could he do? Either he did what he was told to or he had to expect to hang the Robin on the nail for the time being. This really pissed him off.

Again Bruce turned to Diana, who already knew this game. It felt like every time Damian was on one of their missions, the two of them would clash slightly and silently fight their duel.

"To prevent the gas from hitting ourselves, I've brought appropriate masks."

Deftly, Batman pulled out one of the gas masks from one of his many pockets, as well as an ear button for communication, and handed it to the Amazon.

"If there are no further questions, I hereby declare this mission started. Let's not waste any more time."

Briefly, Bruce looked at both Damian and Diana, who nodded at him in affirmation, before Wonder Woman rose into the air and Batman raced toward the cliffs. With great speed, the bat jumped far over the cliff, spun himself in the air to catch one of the many rocks with his grappling gun, and then swung like a pendulum into the dark cavern, followed by Wonder Woman. Damian on the other hand retreated angry into the jet.

For about ten minutes, the two Justice League members now walked across the rocky terrain, in search of their target. Again and again they had to step with extreme caution over small streams and crevices, because the rocks were very wet due to the maritime influence and partly on them proliferating algae made this already difficult path very slippery. In addition was this absolute darkness. Although night vision devices helped them to minimize this circumstance, it was still difficult to distinguish literally green algae from green rocks through these things.

"In twenty meters, you'll have to turn right."

Damian's voice sounded bored in their ears and Batman only replied: "Got it."

Wonder Woman slightly grimaced her face. In typical Batman fashion, neither of them had said anything, and to avoid another ten minutes of silence, Diana broke it:

"So, you said Superman was hurt in the last encounter. How is he?"

"Physically fine."

Astonished, Diana inquired: "Physically?"

Bruce paused for a moment and sighed heavily before muting his voice for Damian so he could speak freely to her without interruption: "Clark wasn't just hurt, he was dead for a few minutes."

Shocked, the normally composed woman's blue eyes snapped open as an incredulous: "What?" left her lips.

"And add to that the fact that Jonathan was there and had to resuscitate him along with Damian. So I'm not sure to what extent this thing shocked them."

One of Wonder Woman's hands moved in front of the Amazon's mouth and quietly she spoke, "The poor boy."

Objectively, the bat continued:

"If I had known about it, I wouldn't have let it get this far either. But you know those boys. They're always running away and putting themselves in danger. It was only a matter of time before it came to that. And it's usually Damian who causes these actions. Maybe me and Clark shouldn't have put the two of them together. They're just too different."

Diana wasn't surprised that the usually silent Batman was suddenly talking about these issues. She knew that he was thinking a lot about the Two Boys, as it affected not only his family, but Clark's as well. Sometimes the distanced man then sought her advice without really asking for it:

"Bruce you can't think like that. It's precisely because they're so different that they grow on each other. Damian has spent his life only with adults and is learning through Jonathan what it means to be a kid and Jonathan is learning through Damian that being a hero is not always what the media shows us."

Bruce's voice grew more somber now:

"It's not just that either. After Dick passed away back then, his runaways got worse. I know Dick was very important to Damian and I couldn't give him the same thing he gave him. I thought through Jonathan I could ease his pain a little and give him a friend again. But instead, now he's not only putting his life at risk, but Jonathan's as well. I don't want Clark's family to suffer because of this."

Diana could understand her friend's concerns. Nevertheless, she replied:

"Bruce we all know the risk. Even if Damian had not met Jonathan, it would not have guaranteed that the boy would have continued his carefree childhood. Especially when you have superpowers, sooner or later you get sucked into our world and Jonathan's desire to be a hero would have done the rest. Even though it was hard and he had to go through it at such a young age, he is now richer by one important experience. He'll pay more attention from now on."

"Maybe-"

"You are now in close proximity. At the end of the corridor is a large cavity where the monster keeps staying in the center. If you walk along the walls, you can encircle it."

Damian interrupted his father just as he was about to add something. Briefly, the bat thought for a moment before a "Batman?" came from the line and Bruce de-muted the channel:

"Roger that."

Again he turned to the Amazon: "We should put the gas masks on now."

Still slightly concerned for her friend, Diana nodded in understanding, pulled her mask over her face, and silently entered the dark cave with Batman.

With extreme caution, they both looked around, but there was nothing of the creature to be seen wherever they looked, but the cave was also too large to see anything far away.

With a hand signal, the bat signaled Wonder Woman that they would now separate to go along the opposite walls. Understanding, Diana nodded and ventured deeper into cool blackness on the right rock wall while Bruce worked his way along the left.

To keep track, the billionaire pressed a button on his hood, whereupon a display on the inside of his eye lenses opened to reveal both their exact position and also the one of their target.

With this help, he positioned them both in the middle of the rocky wall and instructed Diana to maintain her location, whereas Batman now moved toward the center to play the distraction.

Bruce had only a few feet to close when a large rock crossed his path. According to his map, their target should be directly behind it, presumably asleep, since the little red dot hadn't moved in hours.

As quietly as Batman could, he first used the gray rock as a hiding place to remain undiscovered before his gaze slowly ventured over the edge. And what he saw did not please him at all.

Instead of a dangerous monster, he found only rocks and dust. It was not here.

Batman gave up his position and now stood at the exact spot where the signal lit up.

Suspiciously, he looked around and finally found a black feather right in front of his feet with his tracking device blinking happily on it. What a bummer.

"You can come out. It's not here anymore."

Astonished, the Amazon abandoned her hiding place and closed in on Batman. Critically, she looked at the feather as her friend also continued to speak:

"It must have lost the feather while it was flying through this cave. Maybe one of the stalactites on the caves ceiling grazed the feathers."

Sighing, the woman braced a hand on her hip:

"I guess that would end the hunt for now. Any alternate plans?"

"Maybe it's still somewhere in this cave. I could have drones scan the many passages and sur..."

"BRUCE BEHIND YOU!"

Wonder Woman swapped places with Batman just in time, as the Amazon was whipped away by a long luminous object and now flying through the entire cavern before coming to a crashing halt against the outer rock wall.

"Diana!"

Alarmed, Batman called out to his battle partner, but received no response. Instead, a menacing growl now sounded behind him, and hastily the Bat's gaze turned to one of the many large stalactites behind him.

A long spiky structure swung back and forth under the stone, its flashes illuminating the blackness of the cave. Batman's eyes ached as the glare was further intensified by the night vision, and he quickly turned it off to get a closer look.

Blue flashes danced around the stalactite and some sort of tail floated in the air. However, gradually more and more feathers seemed to grow on it, towards the rock hanging from the ceiling, and visualized finally legs, arms and four huge wings.

Batman's eyes grew wide as realization hit him.

Optical camouflage.

Then, as the head revealed itself, Bruce found himself confronted with bared teeth and an animalistic snarl. He could not make out the exact face, as most of it was covered by something resembling a helmet of feathers. But this sight was enough to send a shiver down his spine.

Spurred on, the dangerous creature slowly climbed to the tip of the stalactite and, growling loudly, prepared to attack the second one of these intruders. Lurking, it pressed its body closer to the rock and prepared for the jump, while its long claws scratched over the rough ground.

As Batman guessed the beast's intent, he unnoticedly pulled a small bullet from one of his many belt pockets. At the moment when the creature was about to pounce on its victim with a screech, a dazzling white light illuminated the dark cave and made the creature back away in fear. It collided with the stony ground, blinded, and tried to ease the pain by rubbing the sides of its claws across its face.

Bruce took advantage of the moment to drop the first dose of his anesthetic bombs directly onto the creature's head, allowing the gas to enter its airways unimpeded. Again, the creature shrieked in annoyance as the acrid smell hit its sensitive nose, only irritating it further.

The many black feathers that generously covered the winged body began to rub against each other, creating electricity. The moment Batman saw this, he took no risks and put distance between himself and the still-blinded creature as it lit up more and more and crackling lightning bolts traveled around its body. The huge cavity became brighter and brighter, so that by now one could easily see the complete 60 meters in diameter.

Finally, the pent-up energy was discharged in a massive shock wave. Lightning danced widely over the rocky structures in search of its victims. Although Bruce had reached the edge of the cave by now, he was not entirely spared some lightning. Electricity caused his muscles to contract uncontrollably and ripped him off his feet. Gritting his teeth, the usually indomitable man fell to his knees and fought the convulsions. The 30 feet between himself and this monster showed him that if he had stood just a little closer, he probably would have been grilled by now.

This was really one hell of a beast.

Groaning, the bat rose back on his feet as the lightning died down and watched as the creature's eyes cleared. Their eyes met and Bruce was already getting ready for another attack. But instead of finishing him off, the creature just screeched angrily in his direction and then fled down into one of the many tunnels, probably afraid of being exposed to that brightness again.

Batman looked after it for a moment in amazement, but wasted no time. He immediately rushed to Wonder Woman, who was moaning and rubbing the back of her head.

Bruce asked about her condition and held out his hand to help her: "Are you all right?"

Smirking slightly, the Amazon accepted the offered hand as she replied:

"Yes, you weren't exaggerating when you said the beast was as strong as Superman. It's got quite a good punch."

Reassured, Bruce helped her up.

"We have no time to waste, or it'll get away from us. I've been able to insert one dose, but apparently it has a higher tolerance than I calculated."

"All right, which way?"

"After me."

Without letting any more precious seconds pass, both Justice League members ran into the tunnel where the creature had just disappeared. Batman tried to contact Damian during their run, however the power surge had probably caused their ear buttons to break and become inoperable. So now they had to continue chasing their target without a navigator.

About two hundred meters further on, Bruce finally heard the familiar hissing and crackling again. It came from a new cavity within this extensive cavern. With hand signals he instructed Wonder Woman to keep hiding behind him.

Cautiously, Batman peeked around the stone wall and saw this creature just placing itself on a rock, facing their direction. Annoyed, it flashed its tail and spread its wings menacingly to appear even more intimidating.

Bruce knew, the reason why:

"It knows we're here."

"Any plan?" Diana already had her shield and sword ready in case the beast attacked. But Bruce already knew what to do:

"The plan remains the same. I'll distract it and you try to get it with the lasso."

Suspiciously, the Amazon drew her brows together and whispered to him, not very enthusiastic about this idea:

"Are you sure? It could kill you with one blow."

But Batman remained undeterred:

"I know what I'm doing."

With that, the bat stomped out of his hiding place and sought confrontation.

The closer he got to the rock on which this creature was clinging, the more its sharp teeth bared, its pointed claws scraped across the rough stone until sparks flew, and its many feathers, which had taken on the color of the cave for self-protection, stood up.

Batman saw the individual parts of the tail harden and fuse in such a way that they formed a dangerous electric sting, covered with lightning.

But Bruce was not impressed by this. Instead, he withstood the cold turquoise eyes under that feathery hood. The man knew not to show any weakness to an animals, and expressed this at his best by staring unmoving into its eyes.

However, he did not keep up this gaze duel for long.

He took advantage of the situation to drop another gas bomb with a much higher dose of isoflurane onto the creature, enveloping the covered face in a thick cloud of smoke.

But unlike before, this beast was no longer impressed by it. Rumbling, the head found its way out of the dense gas without taking its gaze from Bruce.

Once again it prepared to jump and started its attack on the bat with its claws outstretched. Batman, however, saw this coming.

He quickly jumped out of the way with the help of a quick roll, preventing the creature from tearing his body apart.

But it wasn't quite enough to escape the tail. Just barely, the sharp stinger still brushed across Batman's left arm, not only causing a gash, but once again electrocuting his body.

So while the feathered beast landed into the nearest rocky wall, the Bat again briefly lost control over his body and collided hard to the ground. Slightly dazed, Bruce shook the tangled haze from his mind as he also saw this critter about to lunge at him again.

"Diana NOW!"

Just before the screeching creature could reach the grounded Batman, a golden rope tightened around the bird-like creature's slender torso, binding not only its arms tightly together, but also one of its two pairs of wings.

Wonder Woman used all her strength to keep the kicking and screaming monster under control, but this was more difficult than first thought. Bruce had started throwing anesthetic bombs at the beast's head again, but they didn't do much good with the violent flapping of the two free wings. Instead, the gas just spread uncontrollably around the room and Batman didn't like the fact that there was still no effect, despite the high doses. He needed an alternative quickly.

Meanwhile, Diana braced her entire body against the enormous forces of the creature and tried not to give in. However, she had underestimated all these strong limbs.

For in addition to the bound arms and wings, which tried to push the rope outward to loosen it, the claws of the remaining two wings now joined in, helping to push the sturdy rope apart evenly.

Wonder Woman struggled against this movement but she felt her strength waning:

"Batman, I can't hold it much longer!"

Bruce did the only thing that still seemed effective to him in this situation. As before, he pulled a grenade from his belt and threw it, aimed to weaken the light-sensitive creature. But he did not expect the level of intelligence this creature has.

While the explosive projectile was still flying, the hard feathers of the tail, which now reached out to the bomb, spread and closed tightly around the grenade. With a soft puff, it exploded under the heavy armor without producing even a spark of light.

In disbelief, Batman stared at the slightly smoking tail. So it had learned from its previous experience and developed appropriate measures. This fight just took a more than bad turn.

Unfortunately, Diana also no longer managed to maintain the necessary strength against her opponent. In the meantime, the many limbs had pushed the magic rope far enough apart, so that the creature was able to free its body from the lasso ring with a powerful leap and clawed itself into the nearest stalactite.

Angrily, it hissed at its hunters, but instead of attacking again, the creature seemed to think for a moment before deciding to escape again and disappear into the passage from which they had come earlier.

Wondering, Wonder Woman looked after the creature before turning to her partner:

"It's trying to escape."

Bruce just pulled a serious face and opened his computer:

"I've been able to attach a new tracker so a pursuit will be easier. We'll keep trying until we run out of resources. Human lives could otherwise be in...Oh no."

Batman's features slipped for a brief moment. Without wasting any more time, he stated to ran after the monster.

Perplexed, the bewildered Amazon joined in and asked while still running:

"What is it?"

Promptly she received an answer that she did not like at all:

"It's heading for the exit at highspeed. Damian will try to fight it alone!"