Robin is worried about Batman

It wasn’t unlike Bruce to go missing for days but Robin was getting worried. Other members of the JLA were disappearing too. He’d been scanning police frequencies and listening to numerous unconfirmed reports of a panther being spotted in Gotham Park when the Batcave’s motion sensors activated.

“What? Who could possibly….?” he wheeled around in his chair and stood to confront the new guests.

Six stunning women stood in front of him. He relaxed slightly when he saw Zatanna, Powergirl and Black Canary but what was Catwoman doing with them and who were these other two women. One of them, the one with a full head cowl covering her face and a bat symbol on her chest, stepped forward, cocking her hips and running a sharp claw down his chest.

“Robin, so glad you’re here. It’s good to be home. I wouldn’t want you to miss this.” she purred.

“Bruce?!” The Batcave’s automatic threat scanning systems sounds a silent alarm. “Threat detected. Foreign agent found in biosignatures. Identities compromised. Avoidance of physical contact advised” said the computer in his earpiece. Robin reacted and leapt away just as Kara’s eye beams hit the spot where he had been standing.

Perched on an outcropping of rock Robin assessed the situation. “Sorry girls, you won’t catch me that easily” quipped the cocky young hero. “Bruce, I’ll save you. I’ll fix whatever has been done to you, just resist it.” he shouted as he disappeared into a crack in the cave wall.

“I’ll deal with this. He’s mine.” hissed Midnight as she set off in pursuit. Catwoman was about to set off in pursuit when Kara stopped her.

“Better not Selina, Midnight knows this place better than anyone, she’ll be fine. Besides Robin is just a sidekick, what harm can he do?”

Catwoman stopped and returned to Kara’s side. “Yes mistress. I was just looking forward to a hunt.” Kara stroked her as she knelt down at her side.

“Soon Selina, soon, but first you can help me find where Batman kept his contingency plans in case any of the JLA went rogue. There are still a lot of people who would destroy us, or even worse, try and return us to our former selves.”

A few minutes later Kara heard a noise from behind her and turned to see Midnight coming down the stairs followed by a radically changed Robin.

“What is this Midnight?” asked Kara, intrigued.

“It seems my transformation has also given me certain… abilities. I found Robin hiding in the archive and a somewhat vampiric urge came over me. I tasted Robin’s blood and, well this was the result. She’s quite loyal and, I must say, something of an improvement!” said the increasingly well named Midnight.

“Is this right Robin, are you with us?” said Kara.

“You betcha sister! I love the new me and I’m ditching the name Robin. Call me Dusk. I’m a baaaad girl now!” she said smiling and revealing her sharp new pair of fangs.

“Zatanna, did you accidentally make Batman into a sex vampire?” said Black Vulture.

Zatanna shrugged. “Not deliberately, I just asked for a loyal evil servant. I guess the evil version of Batman would be a vampire. Sometimes the magics work in mysterious ways!”

“If Superman or Wonder Woman are coming here I need to beef up the security. Come on Dusk, you know this place, you can help me.” growled Midnight.

“Sure thing Batm… I mean Midnight.” answered Dusk.

Midnight and Dusk crossed the footbridge and stepped out of the main cavern of the Batcave into a darkened passage. Once they were sure they were out of hearing Midnight flipped a switch on the wall.

“There, that should prevent even Supergirl from hearing us” she said as the ultrasonic blocker activated.

“Oh thank god! I don’t know how long I can keep up the ruse Bruce. I mean look at me. Did you really have to use the Transmog chamber to turn me into a girl? Couldn’t I have just been the evil male sidekick?”

“Kara must think we are on her side. Turning you into a girl was the best way to prove I changed you and she’d have detected any kind of disguise with her X-Ray vision. They trust us now, just don’t call me Batman again.”

“Sorry Bruce. How did you stop from turning evil?” asked Robin.

“I didn’t. I was truly a villainess for a while. It’s my fault Black Canary was transformed. I lured her to Kara. Years ago I got Doctor Fate to place a magical protection on the Batcave. As soon as I we teleported in my old mind was restored. I’m lucky it was only Zatanna’s magic that transformed me, I’m not sure how Kara’s powers work or if Doc Fate’s protection would work against it. It doesn’t seem to have restored Zatanna or Black Canary to their old personalities.”

“So we’re stuck as women for the moment until we can cure Kara? Well at least I’m hot!” said Robin, grabbing her breasts and kneading them with her slim fingers.

“Careful Robin. The transmog chamber can have side effects. If you stay in a different body too long you’ll start to develop the personality traits of the body you’ve copied. Eventually it will become permanent. We can’t risk you staying like this.”

“Oooh, who am I a copy of?”

“Unfortunately the only female body in the data banks that wasn’t one of the women already here was Harley Quinn. It was a gamble but they didn’t recognise her face under your mask. Your fake fangs seemed to fool them.”

“Well we’d better find a solution before I start becoming her and calling you Puddin’.” said Robin, running his tongue over the ceramic fangs glued to his teeth.

“Funny.” snarled Batman.

“What? I’m not allowed to make a joke?”

“Not now. We need to contact Superman, fast. I need to get to the secondary comms array. You patch it in at the satellite dish.”

“Sure thing Mistah B.” said Robin as he skipped away. Batman watched him go with a concerned look on his face.

“Focus Bruce.” he said to himself and then set off down the darkened tunnel.

Robin carried on skipping as he made his way to the satellite relay. The secondary comms was a backup incase the main unit was compromised but but it needed to be patched in manually. Robin’s thoughts turned to the other women who had been transformed. They didn’t seem to mind. In fact they seemed happy. Happier than they did when they were always worrying about saving the world. Maybe a little chaos was good for the soul?

Robin stopped for a second. “No. I can’t give in to these thoughts. It’s this body, trying to change me. Affecting my thought patterns. It’s happening faster than we anticipated. Must fight.” He shook his head and refocused on the task at hand. Reaching the relay he quickly switched the coloured cables over and activated the secondary comms unit.

“Such pretty colours” he murmured as he played with the cables. “Red, green and white. Just like the Joker!” his hand moved as he laughed and brushed against an exposed wire, a bolt of electricity sparking at him. He was thrown backwards away from the relay, knocking his head against the wall.

The eyes that opened a minute later had a different look to them. There was a sinister gleam that matched the wicked grin plastered all over Dusk’s face. “Tired of Robin. Tired of goody goody Robin. I wanna play. I wanna have fun. I wanna be baaaaaad. The real Harley has Mista J. I’m gonna get myself a Missus K. She’ll take care of me. She’ll let me be a bad girl. Not like stupid Batman. I’m gonna be Dusk and Batman’s gonna be my bitch! Only one way to make that happen. Supergirl’s gonna help me!” she squealed then jumped to her feet and Dusk skipped off down the corridor happily.

A minute later having reached the comms array Batman punched in the code for Superman’s communicator. Robin had done his job and the call went through successfully.

“Superman, are you there?”

“I’m here. Who is this. Why are you on Batman’s channel?” came the reply.

“Kal, this is Bruce, security code 12645 alpha. Ignore my voice, it’s a long story. The JLA is compromised. Kara, Dinah, Zatanna and Oracle are no longer themselves. Along with Catwoman they are forming a new villainous collective with Kara at the head.”

“Kara… That could be dangerous.” said Superman warily.

“Indeed. Wonder Woman is aware but I don’t have a location on her. I need your help.”

“I’ll find her and come to you. Stay where you are.”

“Roger. Batman out.”

“Good luck Bruce.”

As Batman signed off his communicator buzzed again. “Bruce, it’s Robin. I’m in the control room. They’ve gone.”

“Good work Robin. I managed to contact Superman. Stay there, I’m coming to you.”

“Ok boss.” said Robin and the link went dead.

Batman made his way back to the main cave. As he stepped into the room he heard a voice.

“evom ton nac namtaB.” he stopped, completely immobilised. He realised his ruse was over. He wondered how they could have guessed when Robin stepped out into his view, her eyes glowing yellow. Batman knew something had gone wrong. It must have been Robin’s new body.

“Hey there Bats! Do you like my new outfit?” Robin was wearing one of Barbara’s old Batgirl costumes. “Being Robin is soooooo boring. So I decided to give evil a try! Meet Badgirl. Me! I’m Badgirl!” she yelled, skipping around in front of him. “Once I told her you were still you Kara said if I brought you here she’d give you to me. Once you were given a little priority rearrangement that is! We get to be a team, but I get to be the boss and you get to be my sidekick! How cool is that. Kara gives such good presents. Look at me! I got proper fangs now, not like those stupid fake ones you gave me!”

Kara stepped in front of him, filling his vision as she hovered inches from his face.

“Hey there Bruce” she knocked her knuckles on his forehead. “It is Bruce in there isn’t it? It’s so hard to tell. Dusk here was eager to give you up. She told us all about Doctor Fate’s protection, but it seems it doesn’t work on my Cat’s Eye powers. You really did drop the ball putting your only hope in the body of a deranged lunatic. Now look at her. She’s totally insane. I love it! I know why the Joker keeps Harley around. It’s so much fun! She’s all mine now, and so are you.”

Kara’s eyes lit up and engulfed Batman in her Cat’s Eye light. Immobilised by Zatanna’s magic Bruce had no moves left. His mind melted in the corrupting ray. The wicked thought’s of Midnight returned, filling his mind, pushing him aside until there was nothing of the Dark Knight remaining.

“Oh thank you Kara.” hissed Midnight, no longer Batman and so free from Zatanna’s spell. “Something hit me when we teleported into the Batcave and I lost myself. I, I remember being him. I remember him doing something at the comms… Superman is coming. He can stop us. There’s technology in the Fortress of Solitude that could change me back. It’s too much of a risk. Midnight, Catwoman come here. I’m going to give you a gift!”

They gathered closely round Kara and she began to glow. Her whole body started to give off a yellow light and they were all engulfed. Each woman was lifted into the air and yellow sparks crackled around them. Slowly the glow began to fade and they sunk to the ground.

“What was that? I feel great!” asked Catwoman, examining her new longer claws and tasting the venom that was dripping from them.

“My fangs have grown. I can taste the corruption in them.” said Midnight.

“I have given each of you the power of the Cat’s Eye Diamond. It will manifest in it’s own way for each of you. You are each now new seeds for the corruption and if any of us are restored to our old forms all is not lost. We will each have the power to bring anyone back into the corruption. Just don’t over do it. You saw what happened to Oracle. As fun as it looks I don’t want any of you going feral on me!”

“Meeeeoooow.” purred Dusk.

“We shouldn’t all be together. If we are facing Superman we must accept the possibility he may win. If we are all together then all really is lost. I suggest splitting up, gathering more recruits.” said Midnight, always the tactician.

“Agreed.” said Kara. “Zatanna, you’re with me. Powergirl, Midnight and Dusk, stay together. Catwoman and Black Vulture too.”