Lucien and his crew of survivors got off the Titans jet immediately. The bat cave air was humid— muggy almost as a thin sheen of fog danced across the uneven grounds.
He didn't think much of it until Etrigan began to sizzle like bacon on a skillet.
"I grow tired of all these holy precautions. I fear if I'm thrust into any more I'll meet an early coffin."
"You'll be fine, Etrigan. I've diluted the holy water diffuser solution to about point five percent. You'll burn, but that's it. I understand some of my allies look up at me from their homes and I need to be able to target the enemy while not hurting them." Batman said casually as he continued to brood over Wally's suit.
"Nightwing."
"They all passed. We also have the person of interest." Nightwing said as they all approached center stage.
Lucien had to fight not to express his grievances with the character.
As a child he loved Batman. He was also more into Superman and Aquaman— but as he got older he gravitated towards the James Bond in a batsuit character. Then he got even older, and realized how overexplored he was. How much shine he took away from other characters.
He grew out of comics before he could truly feel or process the discomfort. Now he was meeting him, in the flesh.
A nocturnal billionaire playboy and surrogate father of countless prodigies.
"Lucien Lamb." Batman said as he looked up from the speedsters suit. "You've made quite the impact."
"Wrong place at the wrong times, unfortunately." Lucien replied.
"And yet you remain. Based on how you move, you have military experience. You have superhuman physicality, regeneration better than many meta humans and your own natural set of weaponry but you still use a rifle and knife when you can. I suspect your…. specific brand of lycanthropy is a new development. That or it has a crippling weakness leaving it unreliable. Even so, you're a quick study."
"How'd you come to that conclusion?" Lucien asked.
"First thing you did when you stepped off the plane is scent the air. And you've been following us with your ears this whole time— probably to avoid the fog's scent dampening affect. Even dogs who are born with their abilities take a bit of time before they know how and when to best use them. Impressive." Red-Robin said from above.
"So, do you want to continue examining me or can we get to work?" Lucien asked.
"Part of this job is examination." Batman replied.
"So is murder." Lucien replied.
"You can't kill what's already dead." Batman replied before looking back down at Wally's suit. "They want to frame you. But I know who my enemies are. And they took my family— I'm not sure if you know me but I don't deal with loss well, Mr. Lamb."
"Currently we're due for six more Robins drafted as a coping mechanism." Red-Hood mumbled under his bench.
Arsenal chocked on his own spit and Green Arrow flicked his arm.
"How about apocalypses? How well do you deal with those?" Lucien asked.
"I guess we'll find out in a matter of hours." Batman said before turning to his wall of computers and clicking a button on the underside of his gauntlet.
Immediately, the screens turned on and gave them a live feed to the news back in Washington. At the Hall of Justice.
Superman stood at the bottom of the steps, sitting while surrounded by dozens of reporters and flashing lights. They looked ready to consume him until he put a hand up and silenced the masses.
Like a god in grandmas clothing.
"I ask that you all listen closely and calmly. My name is Superman. That's all you need to know. I'm a servant to the people— to justice. To the idea of a better world. A dream made real. There are….. yes, there are others like me. There were more. Within three days many of my closest friends have died trying to stop the rise of a threat worse than any we've faced. Martian Manhunter…. Hawk-Girl…. Green-Lantern…. Green-Arrow and many more. All victims to one. His name is Lucien Lamb. The Wolf. He's a beast. His hunger isn't satiated by food. He wants power. Those he doesn't convert through sheer violence, he turns with the curse of Vampirism. A hideous magical virus that alters the mind and body drastically…"
"Vampires are real?" One of the reporters asked before sticking a microphone in his face.
Lucien could've sworn he saw the Boy Scouts eyes turn red for a fraction of a second.
"Sir, I'm an alien powered by the sun. Why wouldn't Vampires exist?"
"Due to your solar connection, doesn't that make you a natural enemy to these Vampires? You remain our last bastion of Hope, Superman."
Superman nodded, "It's true. But it's not enough. I'm only one man." He stood and looked directly into the camera. "I only have one request. To all my remaining heroes spread across all of this beautiful world. Come to the Hall of Justice. We're a force that needs to show it's strength in the face of darkness. We can be light everlasting... we can make the day remain."
Within Superman's speech full of lies, he could hear the truth beneath.
He said he was a servant to the people. Truth was, he was a servant to something much worse. Not justice, injustice. Not a dream, but a nightmare realized.
He said he was only one man, but they were many.
And with every superhero coming to gather at one place, there would only be more.
So many more.
No one had to discuss that fact. They all knew it. The plan was simple. A mass transformation of heroes into Vampiric soldiers.
"That's….. bold." Green-Arrow commented as Batman shut off the monitors.
"It couldn't work, right? I mean sure it's Supes but what? He plans to just ….. bring every superhero to the hall of Justice and bite them?" Black Canary questioned.
"You're all forgetting three things." Batman suddenly said as he looked at the fabrics of Wally's suit under a microscope, "Superman is a genius. He knows humans better than I do— that's why him turning to the side of villainy is the worst case scenario for us all. He knows how we work. What we hope for. He's also not alone. He's working off the plans of someone else. This only looks like a bold move to us, because we don't know what the whole play is."
"What's the third thing we're forgetting?" Lucien asked.
Batman helped up four fingers.
"One, Aquaman has been radio silent for two weeks. This whole thing went up three days ago…."
"Any tactically world conqueror with the power to transfer something like Vampirism would attack the water first. It makes up most of the globe and houses beings stronger than humans who also already hate humans." Lucien realized, "Fuck. I completely forgot."
"Atlantean Vampires? Guys come on. Let's…."
"Let's what?" Hawk asked Green-Arrow.
Arsenal turned to Lagoon-boy, "When was the last time you went back home down under?"
"Three weeks. I've been on bad terms with….. Aquaman." The Atlantean looked sick. Terra and Beast-boy held his hands
"Perhaps now we know why." Batman said. "Our other three reasons are as follows, among the Vampire ranks is a member of utmost importance. Dr. Light."
Lucien put the pieces together immediately, "Thats how the light was bending around them so well."
"But that's not the worst of it. Wally West is dead— so is Eobart Thawne. The two fastest Speedsters to date. There are still two remaining that I've also lost contact with. For them it's been longer than two weeks. I was off in Russia working with Batman Inc. Depending on how long they've been changed will determine how far along this….. faction is."
"Not long at all." Lucien replied, "I ran into a whistleblower. He told me everything. The Queen of Blood died and this all started. They're fast at work— but new. That's why Superman is making a move on all the heroes now. They're in a rush." Lucien said.
"We need to be doing the same. Let me get a wooden broadsword and a crossbow I'll creamate a bastard right now." Hawk said.
"It's already handled." Batman said.
"How?"
"I have repurposed joker toxin distributors in every state at every main city ready to unleash a mass narcotic agent. It'll last a day at most and give us enough time to take down Dr. Light and capture what I've considered the most beneficial heroes to become Vampires."
"You want to put the whole United States in a coma..?" Lucien asked.
Batman didn't reply, he simply stared with his pure white masked eyes.
"What about drivers? People in labor? There's millions that would die if they just fell asleep at a random moment."
"We've got it covered." Red-Robin replied, "On his command, I'll rig the traffic lights with a resonance electrical override device."
"I reported a rare outbreak of measles to every hospital in every capitol city which will cut down activity there. But ultimately, there will be casualties. Just less than what the Vampires would have." Red-Hood explained.
"Much less." Bat-Girl added.
"None would've been cool too." Signal added.
Nightwing looked around then before turning back to Batman, "Where's the little one?"
A shadow fell from the cieling and landed on the table they stood around. He wore a black hood and cape with a green interior. Beneath the cape he wore a black, green and gold Robin suit with the familiar R logo. Despite his tanned skin, he had Batman's nose and lips. Even at his young age.
"Damian Wayne." Lucien thought.
"Robin, you were supposed to remain in hiding." Batman said firmly.
"They made it through the mist." Robin replied.
"There are ways around everything. Now is not the time to rely on one means of exposure." Batman explained.
Robin shrugged, "Well, I guess it's too late to avoid that."
Batman shook his head, "No. it's not to la—"
Before anyone could react, Robin spun at blinding speeds and unsheathed his sword, running it through Batman's throat in a blur of shadows and blood.
"Yes, it is too late, father."
Lucien could've cringed at the sound of everyone's shocked gasps.
"BRUCE!" Someone yelled.
"Identities, remember?" Nightwing said before taking his hand out of Black Canary's chest with her heart in hand, "For example, nobody scream Dinah. The name sucks anyw—"
"Bastard!" Green-Arrow and Arsenal started shooting.
Nightwing and Robin blurred around the room in the form of shadows and flurries of bats. When they were human, they threw batarangs and smoke pellets, adding to the madness at inhuman speeds.
Lucien charged through. He grabbed Robin by the head and squeezed.
"Back up, wolf!" Robin snarled and exploded into a cloud of bats.
A volley of darkness bullets stopped the bats from shredding him alive.
Thanks to Raven he got a clear shot of Etrigan and Nightwing.
"Fool! My rage will never overcome my disappointment, but it will come close in this moment!" The demon roared a wave of hellfire.
Nightwing panicked, "NO!"
The flames swallowed the Vampire.
When they died down, Nightwing stood naked and steaming, wearing a jewel on his foot. A yellow ring.
"….. now they'll know how I made it this far." Nightwing finished his sentence as a new yellow-lantern uniform flashed across his skin.
He shrugged.
"Green was already taken, guys…."