Batman Alternate Universe--Conquering the Beast

Hitting the streets

Chap 2: Hitting the Streets

The Batmobile's speakers were pumped to the max, blasting out "Imma be" by the Black Eyed Peas into the streets as it cruised by. Inside was The Bat and in the passenger seat, a new little superhero.

Everything was chicken wings and pork rinds until the Bat-signal flashed up into the sky. Bruce had been expecting this, crime struck often on Friday's.

"Now Dick, I have to go check this out and you've got to stay in the car." Bruce said to him, her eyes stern and serious as she pulled up to the place.

Dick licked his greasy fingers and nodded his head.

Bruce bit her lip as she looked outside, then turned back again, her voice a tad more urgent. "I mean it. No matter what happens, you don't get out. Promise?"

Dick was starting to get a little frightened, but put on his most adult face and nodded seriously. "Yes Miss Bruce. I promise." Up until now, the whole thing had been really no different than if him and Bruce as herself had gone joyriding. Now though, he could see Bruce changing. She was different, more serious, on edge. Is this The Bat?

Bruce adjusted her mask, gathered her cape, and then the door of the Batmobile opened and she got out. Dick sat up in his seat and pressed himself against the darkened windshield to better watch what was to happen next.

Something was off.

The Commissioner had told her over the phone that some sort of illegal shipment of drugs was going to take place in Wharf 3. So here she was. But there was no one around. Gordon said that his information was solid. She thought as she carefully made her way across the gravel drive. The only reason the police could not do this was that there was no proof that this shipment was drugs, and they needed a warrant to investigate it.

But why isn't anyone here? Why don't I hear men working? The Bat slipped in-between two large wooden storage crates and tried to walk silently.

"Alfred, you there?" The Bat touched her mask where it covered her right ear. Nothing but static. Alfred probably hadn't seen the Bat-signal yet.

This just doesn't feel right. I should climb one of these crates and get a better vantage point to see things from. The Bat turned and set the toe box of one of her boots up on a slat of one of the crates.

Rat-tat-tat!

Suddenly the night air was filled with gunfire and the crate next to her began to explode, sending out splinters of wood. Scrambling as quick as she could, The Bat lunged up the side of the crate and rolled to its other side, dropping back down.

She landed on her hands and knees and quickly stood, flattening herself against the crate. Holy shit, someone's here! And has a machine gun.

She waited a moment, then dived to the side and across an opening to hide behind another crate.

Rat-tat-tat!

The gravel in the walkway popped and exploded. Okay, so he was to her west and judging by his shots, had some sort of height.

"Master Wayne? Can you hear me? What's going on?" A voice said in her ear.

"Alfred, you're just in time." The Bat whispered as she began creeping through the maze of wooden storage crates. "I'm at the docks, Wharf 3. Can you fly a drone over and give me some heat signatures so I know who I'm up against?"

"I'm on it." Alfred said. "Where is Dick?"

"He's in the car."

The com went silent then and Bruce knew that Alfred was busy getting her that drone. She took a deep breath, then reached down, picked up a sizable rock and threw it ten yards away. She was in a full sprint when she saw the brief flashes of lights from the darkness to her south, as her rock hit the gravel and gunshots peppered the area.

The shooter was on a storage crate, tucked in a cubby-hole between stacks. She had to draw him out before she could fight him. She saw a glint of the barrel of his gun, saw it turning. He heard her coming, another moment and she'd be full of holes. She pitched a batarang up at him and he shot off only three rounds before her weapon found its mark and hit his hand. She slid across ten feet of the gravel as his gun fell and hit the ground behind her.

She turned to see a big man jump down from the crate. She scrambled up and came at him with everything she had.

A punch, a kick, he took them all with barely a step backward, blocking each and then...

Then he started to fight back.

Two punches to her face. A knee to her gut.

She smashed his face with her forearm; he grabbed her arm and twisted it.

Her shoulder popped. She screamed. He'd just dislocated her shoulder. Idiot, idiot...!But there was no time for lamentation. Only for action.

She brought her leg up from behind her and kicked him in the groin. Then she grabbed his head with her good arm and kicked off a storage crate, twisting his head back and landing on top of him.

Her shoulder screamed as she thudded down with him. She knew the rules. I have to get up. Fast.

She wasn't fast enough. He grabbed her neck with his arm and pulled her back down. He started strangling her. She grabbed a canister from her belt and sprayed pepper spray right in his eyes. He released her for only a moment, then his arm buckled down even harder on her. She could hear him cough from behind her. He must have been in terrible pain, but that wasn't stopping him. She managed to grab the dial on her belt that controlled how much electricity went through her gloves. It was for sending the pulse through her cape and having it stiffen. She cranked it up. This was really going to hurt him. She slammed her left palm into his leg.

"AAAAaaaagggg!"

She was free. She hopped up and scrambled away quickly.

He was shaking on the ground, but already, she knew he was recovering. For this brief moment, she was able to get a look at him. His costume was midnight blue and red. It covered every part of him but his bulking biceps and shoulders. His mask was just two eye slits on a black head, flicks of streaking red coming up and down from each eye.

"Who are you!" She demanded, nursing her shoulder.

He was getting up now. He stood far taller than her, a giant of a man. He flung his arms down and back, stretching them out. "Zey call me zah KGBeast."