Chapter Text
“Hey Hal?”
“Yeah Barry?”
“Well, it's basically confirmed that Bats is a vampire right?”
“Yeah, and you still owe me a favour for that. Anyways, what brought this up?”
“Well, Vampires can turn into bats right? And Gotham apparently has Manbat… Is that just Batman but as a vampire? So they just swapped the name round…”
“... Barry what the fuck it’s like 2am.”
“I KNOW but like-”
“GOODNIGHT BARRY! You have work in the morning and I just got back earthside so shut up and sleep!”
And yet Barry couldn’t stop thinking about it. He was a forensic scientist after all, his whole thing was to get information broken down to the very finest details, to map everything out and read the evidence until he had one irrefutable line of events. So Batman and Manbat being from the same city? Obviously it was how the Gothamites referred to their protector depending on how he wished to show himself at the time. And the fight he had just been in was definitely further proof.
The league was fighting some sort of magic user. Well saying ‘the league’ implied everyone was there, but it was only Barry, Arthur and Batman(Who technically is still not part of the league on paper, but is in everyone’s hearts). Everyone else either couldn’t be contacted or was simply busy with something else. Besides Batman had said they would be enough, and if The Bat said so, then it must be true. Barry was very much cursing himself for following the cryptid with a taste for his species’ blood at this exact moment, because he was currently running from his worst nightmare. A giant swarm of cockroaches with super speed. (Ok maybe not his WORST nightmare but still terrifying all the same.) Everytime Barry felt like he’d gained some distance from the flying immortal cloud of eww they appeared anew, evil buzzing sounds as their freaky little wings moved at mach 5.
Barry risked peeking at Arthur, who was currently staring, mystified, at a very angry swarm of fish he couldn't commune with. Said fish were also all wielding tiny spears and swords and trying to stab him but they were honestly too small to even pierce the Atlantean’s armour. The main problem was he couldn’t help because the school of fish was surrounding him so well he couldn’t move in any direction.
This left Batman, who was missing. Ever since the wizard (that was probably the right term, he didn’t remember what Batman had called him earlier) had cast a spell yelling about their worst nightmares he had gone missing. Slinking into the shadows just as the spells came into effect. Spawning the strange hell the two heroes were now suffering from. Barry had even tried running towards the magician, but every time he got closer the cockroaches swarmed from the ground and got in his face and he had to turn around. Either way he would like to complain to superhero HR, his hell was a lot worse than Arthur’s, this was species favouritism or something.
A sudden screeching sound startled Barry enough that he almost tripped, stumbling and having to catch himself. His heart hammered in his chest at the idea of the bug army catching him. But they were gone. When he looked back to see how much they had gained on him the floating buzzing swarm of fear had just… vanished? Instead the magician was focused on a large thing hanging off his face. Both man and creature screamed loudly, though at least the wizard’s words were English, the creature just kept saying ‘EEEEEEEEEE’ over and over again.
“Get it off get it OFF GETITOFF AAAA!!!!” The wizard waved his hand and Arthur’s evil fish mutiny disappeared. Both heroes walked towards the wizard, aware of this being a trick just in case. But as they approached they realised it probably wasn't. Because attached to the Wizard’s face was the largest bat Barry had ever seen in his life. It was about the size of a medium dog. Clawed hooks on the tips of its wings curling into the Wizard’s hair as long fangs were lodged deeply into the poor Wizard’s nose. Large leathery wings blocking the man’s sight and little back talons rested dangerously on the man’s neck.
“DON’T JUST STAND THERE, YOU’RE A HERO! SAVE ME!” Arthur frowned but relented, walking forward to gently attempt to pry the feral looking mammal off the wizard’s face. But it was latched on hard. Wide white eyes seemed to lock directly onto Barry as it snarled at being gently manoeuvred. No way…
“Batman?” Everyone froze with growing horror as the Bat finally released the Wizard’s nose and turned to stare at Barry, chattering slightly. Wow ok, he could see why he was called Manbat now, he was the most strangely human looking bat he had ever seen. Also he was huge for a bat! The wizard spluttered and waved his hand, probably casting some sort of spell to force Batman back into his human form. It worked. However, Batman was still perched on the Wizards face. Except said face was now buried under several hundred pounds of Vigilante.
Barry focused on getting a pair of magic cuffs, tastefully ignoring the way Batman swiped the blood dribbling down his chin. Arthur helped him haul the now unconscious Wizard to his feet and the two of them dragged him to a containment place. Batman stayed behind, staring at the small spot of blood where the Wizard had collided with the floor. Barry grimaced, poor guy probably didn’t like having been forced into his bat form, if that was what the magic did. Barry imagined being stuck as a bat and unable to turn back to a human and shivered. He could ignore the slight snacking Batman had of the wizard, guy deserved it for traumatising them.
“Now watch as your worst nightmares come to life!” The wizard then chanted something, his hand waving twice as he aimed spells at Bruce’s two colleagues. Thankfully the man was chanting in pig Latin, a language Bruce learnt when he was in Med school then got bored and dropped out. For barry the spell was simple, ‘Be chased by pests as fast at you forever’, For Arthur is was a simple ‘Your people revolt’. The the Wizard turned to Bruce, mouth already moving and chanting but faltering slightly.
“You will be stuck in the form of a…” The wizard froze, clearly not being as up-to-date on Pig Latin as he pretended. Bruce used this opportunity to swing from the shadows, managing to get a well timed punch on the man’s face. This unfortunately had the side effect of the man yelling “Bat-!” at him when startled. Bruce’s punch landed square on his jaw before he could finish saying his name. And just like that, poof, Bruce felt himself shifting.
His suit started to grow, or maybe he was shrinking? Either way it didn't fit anymore and Bruce could NOT risk someone seeing his face. He quickly jumped back into the shadows, hiding behind some rubble just as the suit disappeared completely with a small puff of grey smoke. Now Bruce would have to worry about public indecency. Except, when he looked down, he couldn’t see a human body. It was all soft black fur and supple leather. He had been turned into a bat. When the wizard went to yell at him he had finished the spell and turned Bruce into a bat. Fucking Fantastic.
Peeking back at the mess Bruce watched as the Wizard seemed to be preparing some sort of spell to fire off at Arthur, clearly unhappy at how little the fish armada was affecting him. He waved his hands as if he was about to start chanting about screaming louder making him stronger, but Bruce reacted before he could utter a single word. He charged from the darkness, yelling for him to stop, sadly he did not seem to have the ability to speak like most magic creatures. The Wizard startled, turning to stare in wide eyed fear as Bruce slammed into his face. Something crunched but he ignored it, straddling with his wings and feet to grab something, anything, to stop him from being thrown off. It seemed flying wasn’t something he had a hang of, which was fine for now. Finally getting his wings hooked, one in his hair and the other on his ear, he watched as the wizard opened his mouth to chant again.
“Not on my watch!” Bruce snarled, but it came out as more of a SCREEEEEEK. Then he just, bit him. It was dirty fighting, but as he’d taught Dick, do everything you can with the tools at your disposal. Rather come out alive than dead on the moral high ground. The Wizard screamed now, too occupied at the pain to bother to chant anything else, waving his hands and yelling a few times until Bruce felt gentle hands try to remove him from the man. “Contain the criminal first!” Bruce snarled, turning his gaze onto Barry as much as he could without releasing the Wizard’s nose. (His sobbing had turned into blubbering, apparently his mum would kill him over his new nose piercings.)
“Batman?” Bruce rolled his eyes, unsure if it would show with a bat’s features. He released the near catatonic villain and turned what he hoped was a Batglare at Barry, trying to exude unimpressed with every fibre of his fuzzy little being.
“Obviously, help me bring the suspect in for questioning on how to reverse the spell.” Barry stared at him for a few more moments in shock, he shouldn’t be, he clearly had the smarts to realise Bruce was the bat, and now he was wasting precious time. What if the villain escaped whilst Barry did nothing.
Almost as if Bruce was prophetic, the wizard managed to shake off his stupor and waved his hands, yelling a quick word Bruce wasn’t able to catch. It wasn’t much to worry about however as Bruce quickly felt a burst of something similar to growing pains as suddenly he was falling. Another loud crunch and Bruce found himself crouching on the ground, the Wizard’s face in the dirt beneath him… Oops? The sound of the wizard’s breaking face was apparently enough to shock Barry into action, zipping away for a moment to return with a pair of cuffs. They would have to find a way to stop the man from speaking, his magic was clearly connected to his chanting. He brought a hand up to his chin to think, only to grimace when his fingers came back covered in blood. Drawing his attention towards the coppery taste of fresh blood in his mouth.
He stared down at the perfect face imprint in the dirt, small spatterings of blood pooling in the craters. Oh god, what if this man had blood diseases! Bruce did not want to deal with the disapproving look Alfred would give him if he came home with some strange illness…Again… He glanced up, Arthur and Barry had the wizard under control. Bruce disappeared into the shadows, quickly swiping the blood into an analyser and praying to any gods that cared that it would be clean.
“And then this massive furry thing appeared and just, bit his face. You should have seen it Hal it was legendary.” Barry was zipping from one end of the room to the other in his strange form of pacing as Hal lay face down on his living room floor. He raised his head to speak only for Barry to talk over him. He dropped his head back onto the floor with a thud.
“Like, I knew Manbat would be large as it is literally just Man and Bat, but that bat was huge Hal. Largest thing I’ve ever seen!”
“Have you thought that maybe that’s just what Gotham bats look like Barry?” Barry froze in his pacing to stare at Hal like he was a genius. And then just like that Barry was gone in a flash of yellow and red lightning. Hal loved the guy but he had to stop bothering him at ungodly hours. Nevermind it was already 10am, it was the principle of it anyways. Maybe he could use his favour to ask Barry to… Nah these were too funny to miss. That morning Hal’s dreams were haunted by Massive mutated bats with Batman’s seductive voice chasing him into the void.
“Master Bruce, would you like to tell me why an analyzer was used yesterday to check for, many, venereal diseases.”
“...no I would not like to.”