Batman faces the Manbat... And his managerie!

Gripping the man’s arm as tightly as he could, Batman found his grip slowly slipping as the thin man began to change. At first the changes were subtle, a beard forming on his face that quickly spread up and around his face and his ears grew to points while his nose curled up. The real changes occurred in his arms when the wrist Batman held grew twice as long. The webbing that was forming between his fingers grew along with his fingers, doubling in length every second until each webbed finger was as long if not longer than his arm. Wrenching his arm free, Langstrum screeched with a fanged mouth, becoming hunched after his shirt and lab coat burst at the back, sharp claws burst from his shoes and his pant legging tore and sagged. In the span of a minute Batman was forced to back up and reach for something behind his back when the 7-foot-tall man-sized bat screeched at him and back-handed the Dark Knight with enough force to send him crashing back into the lab, breaking open animal cages in the process.

“No… Stop… Work… Mine! ALL Mine!” Screeched the Man Bat, flapping his massive wings before clicking forward on one outstretched claw after the other, stalking Batman as he got back up and kept his eyes on the beast and the animals that got loose. Seeing the rat from earlier, Batman pulled out a silver Batarang from his belt and killed the creature, the silver instantly burning its flesh before it crumbled into dust.

“MINE!” With a screech that made the windows shake, Bruce was nearly caught off guard when Langstrum body tackled him through a work table, reducing the thing to splintered stone and wood before the thing opened its mouth wide and bit down hard over Bruce’s shoulder. Crying out as the former doctor’s fangs pierced into his shoulder, it gave Bruce the opening he needed to drive the batarang into Kirk’s side, forcing it to open its mouth and cry out in pain and be knocked away by Batman who now had a second batarang ready in his other hand like a knife.

Frantic and thrashing, the Man-Bat knocked over cages and glass tubes across one table after the other in response to the acidic burn of the batarang eating at his wounds. One cage containing a cat had broken open and the animal immediately ran in fear, trying to make for the door. Alert, Batman tried to cut it off and instead it turned too quickly for Batman to catch and the black cat jumped to the half open window and made its escape. Gritting his teeth, Bruce turned his attention back at the screeching monster that had backed itself into a corner, panting and clutching its wounds. Looking down at the wound in his side and arm, the Man Bat glared at how the wound refused to heal, glaring back at the blood stained batarang, the creature hissed. “Bad metal… Metal hurt…”

“The metal is silver, I told you Doctor Langstrum, this experiment was a mistake, its time to stop it, come with me.”

Wide eyed and feral with rage, the Man-Bat slowly twisted into a crooked grin before bringing its outstretched wing over to a light switch, as soon as the end digit flicked the switch, the dark laboratory was filled with a bright bluish white light that Bruce recognised.

Moon light

Breathing in sharply and holding his mental discipline, Batman remained human but found that the Man-Bat under the artificial moon light began to heal again, his wounds becoming puckering scars before fading completely. But that was not the worse of things. From the room where the human test subjects were contained, Bruce could hear growls and hisses along with the tearing of fabric. Then there was silence. With the force of an explosion, a massive black form bulldozed through the wall and kept going until Batman was forced to dive to the side to avoid it. Getting up, Batman gasped when he was forced to look up at the hulking mas of… a killer whale! A killer whale with massive arms and solidly built legs, its mass was so great, it took up nearly the entire lab, and its pronounced fin cut through the ceiling like a leathery knife. Heavily turning to face the prone man, the were-orca made a low frequency growl before lunging again, its mouth wide open and filled with studded bullet shaped teeth as long as Bruce’s fingers. Diving to the side again, Batman barely had enough time to grab a handful of gas pellets and throw them in the beast’s outstretched mouth before it snapped shut and collided head first into the wall, taking it down and causing alarms to go off in the building. Belching out black smoke from its lipless mouth, the creature made a low call before slumping down heavily on the floor.

Panting and getting up off the ground, Bruce was caught off guard when a massive claw raked his back and shredded the fabric of his cape and back. Falling to his side and going into a fetal position from the pain, Batman looked up to stare deep into piercing yellow eyes. The were-owl flapped its wings behind it while brandishing talons as long as butcher knives, silent and unblinking, the bear sized owl creature side stepped awkwardly, the matching talons at its feet clicking and piercing the floor. Already he could feel himself healing, the artificial moonlight serving him as it was the others who made themselves known. Scuttling out of the ruined door way, a black skinned arachnid crawled out and scurried over the wall; its upper body was like that of a woman, her clawed hands kept close to herself like someone who was shy while six red eyes blinked back at him, her lower half scuttled on eight legs with a beachball abdomen sticking out of her lower back. Afterwards another made itself known, slithering out of the hole and raising up to human height while the rest of its body coiled and slithered into the ruined laboratory.

Bands of red, black and white slithered back and forth hypnotically as the were-serpent joined the group, its upper body was also like a woman’s but also not, what could have passed for hair was in actuality a cowl of scales, her arms remained but brandished claws of her own, but what caught the Dark Knight’s attention were yer yellow eyes, or were they green? Blue? They changed, flowed from one colour to another, the Dark Knight was forced to look away and blink to avoid getting vertigo.

“MY work… Heal Gotham, yes?”

Slowly getting up and facing the Man-Bat, Bruce kept his eye on the others, including the were-orca that slow got up and seemed even larger than before it passed out.

“This isn’t going to heal anyone Langstrum, lycanthropy is a plague, and thanks to you, you’ve made multiple strains.”

Screeching in rage, the feral cry was what set off the others to attack. Catching the were-owl by the arm with its next swipe, Batman took his silver batarang and drove it into the creature’s side and twisted it to keep it lodged there. Shoving the owl back, he barely had the time to react to the lightning quick strike of the snake woman, his hands in hers as the rest of her body coiled and constricted around his. With inhuman strength, he could feel her grip tighten and hold him so tightly he felt his ribs crack. It took everything he had not to look directly into her eyes, her hypnotic stare was sickly alluring and he nearly faltered when she snapped forward to bite. Pressing a dimple in the side of his glove with his thumb, a sharp whine filled the room as an electrical current flowed through the snake woman. Going into violent convulsions, the were-snake went limp and Batman managed to pull himself free, until he was caught in the grips of another predator.

Pried out of the coils by many gripping limbs and crying out when clawed fingers raked his chest, Batman was pinned against the floor as the were-spider hissed and attempted to bite him, her face, human-like and feminine unfolded a pair of fangs and lower serrated jaws that clicked and snapped at his chin and face, dripping venom that sizzled the floor and burned his cowl. Each foot was like a stabbing knife which clicked and chipped the tiled floor. A swift kick sent her off him and roll onto her back with her many legs kicking to right herself while Batman coughed and reeled back. He was surrounded, five vicious creatures glared at him with murder in their eyes, waiting for their chance to strike.

He had to stop this, if these creatures got out it would make the werewolf plague look like a rash. His city would be dead by next full moon! Looking around, Batman made his plan when he spotted the fuel line for the bunsen burners. Darting to the far end of the lab, the others gave chase, too full of bloodlust to realise what he was doing when he pulled the rubber lining out of the protective case and filled the room with flammable gas. Breaking out of the lab and rolling into a sprint into the hallway to avoid the swiping talons and claws, Batman grabbed an emergency fire axe off the wall and found the main gas line overhead. Striking a junction and moving to the next, Batman could already hear the creature breaking free of the door and making chase. The first to catch up with him was the were-spider, lunging for him with claws and front legs outstretched before they ended up bound by titanium bolas cables with a careful throw by Bruce. Hissing and screeching, the she creature struggled with its bindings as the others caught up. Striking another junction, Bruce could already smell the rotten egg stench of the propane filling the entire floor.

Seeing the window at the end of the hall, Batman pulled as many timed explosives that he had in his belt and set them for a 5 second timer, looking over his shoulder he didn’t need to see they were only seconds away from him in mid sprint. Tossing the explosives behind him, Bruce jumped through the window and escaped, spreading his tattered cape to land roughly in the middle of the parking lot and look back at the five-story lab. Looking back at the beeping marbles on the floor, the were-creatures tilted their heads in confusion until they stopped beeping.

The explosion was like a cascade, blowing out each floor from the top to the bottom one at a time, until the entire building went up like a fireball and imploded into itself after sending red heat and flame out and knock the Dark Knight over from the aftershock. Coughing and spitting out blood from his mouth, Bruce looked up at the smouldering pit that used to be the Langstrum lab. Getting up on shaking legs, Batman leaned against a car to regain his footing, staggering up to make his way to the batmobile in the hopes it survived the explosion. As soon as he made just ten steps, an explosion rocked the fiery pit and a gaping mouth roared out and captured Bruce in its mouth. Dragging itself out of the fire and rapidly healing in the exposed moonlight, the were-orca had continued to grow, becoming 4 stories tall and nearly the length of two school buses. Fighting with all his might, Batman had his hands and feet at the teeth of the monster trying to snap its mouth shut. He was weakened, wounded, and try as he might, the creature was still growing larger and stronger in the moon light.

Crying out, he lost the match when the orca’s mouth snapped shut. Making a low sounding call, the were-orca looked over the rest of the city, lumbering slowly towards the dock works, towards water. Suddenly his eyes bugged wide, its mouth slowly opening until it was forced wide open in the grips of a growling black furred werewolf. Wild with rage, the wolf surged out with his hands and feet until a loud click told him he had broken the were-orca’s jaw. Lolling out in pain, Bruce leapt free of the slack jaw and brandished his claws out to cut deep into the giant monster’s neck. Like a knife, he cut his way up and around the monster’s neck, striking away its protesting fists until the head went slack and fell off the creature’s shoulders.

Landing on his feet and looking back at the now dead and shrinking corpse, Bruce looked around and sniffed at the air, checking the area for any more survivors that had escaped the explosion. Finding nothing else moving in the flaming heap, as soon as fire trucks could be heard arriving to put out the fires, the werewolf made his escape into the night.

*

Stepping out of a bar and checking her purse, Selina Kyle smiled to herself as she counted the wallets she had plucked while at the club. It was all too easy, but there wasn’t too much of a thrill stealing from men at a bar just trying to ignore the fact the city was surrounded by a ring of fire.

She wanted a REAL thrill, but currently there wasn’t anyone alive to steal from and even then, who could she sell it too? Sighing, she made to turn into an alley to make a short cut home, when she spotted a black cat meow at her.

“Well hello little one.”