Work Text:
-
-
The Javelin
Outerspace
-
Batman ended up being captive on the alien Ragtails ship.
This travelling alien group that called themselves Ragtails were something like pirates of space, though more on a nomadic civilization level.
They had the numbers and strength to be considered an army.
Constantly hurting other communities on other planets and all types of settlements across this part of the galaxy.
Plundering and thieving and being downright cruel.
They were well known in their “research” and knowledge they gathered on other alien species. Seemingly categorizing and creating a type of hierarchy they believed based on power.
They were a large threat and was currently at odds with one of Earths allies.
They managed to capture one of their best, Batman, and they had no clue how to get him back.
Especially as with the Ragtails research they knew to use red sun energy when dealing with the Justice League.
Both the Flash and Arrow were still convinced Batman had let the capture happen on purpose.
“What possible reason would he want to be stuck on a barbarian alien ship”, Diana started.
“Well…” the Flash began.
“No, it wasn’t in the plans he wrote down, so it wasn’t something he meant to happen” Wonder Woman went on.
Barry, Hal, and Oliver were still half convinced the Batman never made a mistake and a “mistake” was always something on purpose.
Superman next to her looked on worriedly through the plans on the Justice League digital program.
“Well on the bright side it looks like he does have a back up plan in case he gets stranded on an alien ship”, the man spoke up.
“We still ought to try to get him out of there”, He then added.
Cyborg meanwhile was working on something on the main computer.
“Guys you’ll want to see this,”
“I managed to track a signal and hookup our equipment to the Ragtail equipment, I have access to their computer, they do have a good equivalent of a firewall, so I can’t do anything too loud, or they’ll be sure to notice, but we can watch their data.. and…” he explained as he pressed a button.
“I found their camera feeds”
Green lantern who was busy pacing, feeling as though it was his fault, especially as he knew what the Ragtails were capable was, as their resident Space expert, And was specially worried because they were capable of some bad things, perked up looking to the footage.
“Knowing them, they probably brought him to their interrogation room should be under-“ Hal began, and said something indistinguishable in the Ragtail language none of them except maybe Hal understood, courtesy his ring.
Cyclops froze for a moment probably his equipment translating for a moment then nodded and started searching.
Footage began pulling up.
A room with… well it looked like a torture room.
Terrible devices, weapons, knifes, skewers, also unknown chemicals in vials, no doubt some sort of alien drugs they didn’t know. There was a table in the center, with restraints.
On the bright side no one was using the room.
On the downside… it looked recently used. Very recently used.
There was splashed chemicals.
Broken restraints… and some unconscious Ragtails.
The thing that was most worrrying was the blood.
Firstly, there was the Ragtail blood, they knew that the group of Ragtails bled this dark green color, they wouldn’t let an alien join their group if they didn’t, the Ragtails were made up of a few select pieces from one part of the universe they seemed to believe superior.
Seeing the green blood in this room was terrifying and not because there was splattered splashes of on the floor.
This green blood from the downed unconscious Ragtails in the room.
But it was truly terrifying to them because of the red blood.
The red blood that many of the tools held, used tools.
The red blood on the floor, on the table.
And the ripped black cape strewn over the floor.
So much more red that it overpowered the green.
“That.. doesn’t look good” Barry said worried.
“No.” Diana nodded,
“No it does not”
“Maybe… there’s a subsection of species of ragtails that bleed red?” Kal questioned hopeful.
Red Blood was something common to earth… but maybe.
Hal shook his head.
“No… that’s.. that’s defiantly Batman’s blood” Hal muttered his voice shaking.
Batman was one of the strongest of them.
And his blood was shed like this?
Cyborg nodded.
“I’ve seen Batman bleed before, it was a small cut, but it was red”
They weren’t quite sure what kind of enhancements Batman might’ve had, or if he even was some variant of human.
But he definitely bled like one.
But that didn’t say much. Even Superman’s blood was red, and so was Diana’s.
Hell everyone on the team had red blood expect for Martian Manhunter who bled more of a tone of purple.
“It leads out!” Kal pointed out in a hurry practically running forward to the screen when he spotted it.
He pointed and sure enough on the screen the red blood spilt making a path through the door and a little ways that they can see down the hallway.
It took Cyborg a moment to switch the camera. Their system wasn’t as intuitive as their own, as he wasn’t familar with it.
He switched finally to the next camera, they didn’t see anyone.
But the scene was strangely horrifying with how still everything was.
The camera angle was slightly crooked like something may have hit it.
Through the lens you could see down the tilted hallway.
There was one light flickering on and off and on again in the hallway, which it made it hard to see down it.
And farther in the distance they could barely make out another light in the hallway this one blinking.
Without any needed instruction Cyborg clicked further.
And then they saw something.
Barry and Hal practically gasped in sync.
The scene was eerily similar to a horror movie.
The blinking dimly light hallway.
And the figures still unmoving on the floor.
It might’ve been luckily just the enemy Ragtails but it was still unnerving.
“B-Batman got them” Barry muttered, berating himself inwardly for the accidental stutter.
“He sure did” Hal muttered shocked, honestly always shocked by Batman’s skill.
“Batman took care of these men, they look like soldiers, I can’t get the back footage, but it looks like Batman escaped the room and they came to subdue him” Cyborg explained his theory.
The group nodded
“Let’s try and find Batman” Superman urged forward.
Cyborg went forward.
And with how slow the thing was loading and the way the footage kept getting worse more blurry and staticy it really felt like a slow creep towards something horrific just like a horror movie keeping you on the inch of your seat.
Drawing you in and in as your nerves grew higher.
Only their worries were real.
Very real.
What had happened to Batman?
What happened to their friend?
Another hallway. Knocked men. Though this one had red alarm lights.
Another hallway. This one pitch black they couldn’t see anything on the screen.
Another hallway you could see the direction one of the Ragtails fell as they tried to escape.
At this point they wondered if they should be more worried for the aliens than their friend. But they knew Batman didn’t kill.
And these aliens would’ve done a lot worse.
Finally they made it to a camera that brought something different.
It was only then that they realized they had audio this whole time.
They had been hearing a solid static before, but that was because there had been no action in any of the footage only quiet downed men.
It was one of the Ragtails speaking, one that was wearing the Ragtail uniform of a doctor.. or maybe a scientist? Another Ragtail behind him this one was the leader.
They recognized him, General Zarfeck.
Some more men infront of them.
In the far distance down the hallway as the lights flashed like lightning, and red alarms blinked, the Ragtail men charged and were being taken down by every other second.
“Hold on, It may take a moment for me to translate” Cyborg paused for a moment, tapping away.
“It’s alright I got it,” Hal interjected.
“The dude said to the boss that, ‘he doesn’t understand and that he ran some tests’ ” Hal explained, his green ring held up so he could properly translate.
They weren’t sure what to say from that.
It didn’t give them much to go off of just that the Scientist Ragtail ran tests on something.
“Oh and he sounded pretty scared shitless!” Hal added with a grin.
“Cyborg can you get better eyes on Batman, that’s him taking down the men, Right?” Kal asked the man.
Cyborg nodded and expanded the screen.
Showing now the footage of the two Ragtails standing at the trapped corner at the end of the hall, and between them and the other end, alongthe frame of the hallway of all the men running to attack Batman. And finally a clear shot on Batman as he took them down.
Bodies thudded to the floor again and again, routinely, and almost rhythmic.
The footage was loud as it focused on the fighting.
They couldn’t translate much of anything as the Ragtail men roared and attacked and the noise as they fell to Batman with loud thuds.
They were thoroughly impressed by Batman.
He was surprisingly missing his token belt, something they knew a lot of his tools and equipment was stored in, but he was still fighting efficiently and very strongly with random gadgets, he kept hidden on his person, but mostly just his bare fists.
He had some cuts on his pants, two thin gashes showing some pale skin and red blood.
His cape was ripped but still hung around him obediently.
There was a large rip on his right shoulder to his hand that showed his skin.
Cuts and gashes and scars.
He was armorless in places, there was only the barest of the black material gripping on his fingers.
And more shockingly half his mask was ripped.
Some of it cut showing some of his brow and eyes.
Luckily, for Batman, who took to keeping his identity secret even to his teammates like it was breathing, it was rather blurry and they couldn’t make anything too defining.
Just that he had black hair that curled out a bit, and dark eyebrows that remained sturdy and determined.
Unfortunately, for the three, Green Lantern, Flash and Green Arrow who were betting whether he had all solid white eyes or not, they couldn’t be sure, the footage not detailed enough.
The bet would not be settled today.
At least the theories of Batman being blonde was over.
He took a knife from his shoe at some point and as he did so tripped a man and flipped him over before backhanding him in the head with the butt of his knife.
He was like a one man army.
The crew gasped as suddenly a Ragtail with a sharp baton got a good hit, stabbing him in the side.
Batman grunted as he was rammed in the wall and the League looked on worried, unused to seeing their friend so badly hurt.
But just as they got so worried,
Batman shoved the man off and slammed him to the floor.
He looked down for a moment as if admiring the wound.
“That looks bad” Hal winced.
“He.. has healing abilities right?- well if Superman and wonderwoman do-then- he’s got to right?“ Green Arrow asked.
“None that we know of” Wonderwoman shook her head.
Batman was always tightlipped about such things.
Batman took out the baton and held it in his hand.
Barry gasped looking like the fact physically hurt him.
“He shouldn’t take out a weapon out of a wound like that!” He protested, almost ready to scold Batman if he could hear him.
Batman then used the baton to ram one of the men into the side and then took down several more men with it.
He was on a roll.
Men down.
Another down.
And another.
Then a sudden rupture rang out and it looked like one of the men had this type of gun that shot out thin piercing spikes, like needles instead of bullets.
Batman dodged and rammed into a door in the hallway and opened it to hide behind for a moment, using it like a spontaneous shield.
It was just a Moment, as they watched Batman take a deep breath as if collecting himself. A vulnerability they weren’t expecting to see before he ran back out.
He ran right towards the man with the gun.
Dodging the needles with a duck but he couldn’t escape all of them.
It was then that their attention was drawn to the dark metal equipment on his left wrist the one still covered in his suit.
A dark black thin sheet of metal expanded. It looked a bit like a batarang, a longer one.
But he used it to sit on his arm and he deflected some of the needles similar to how Diana used her gauntlets to deflect.
It seemed what looked like a blade, had dual purpose.
Unfortunately one shot past and it cut him on the bare side of his face by his cheek, clean red blood dripping down.
Oliver hissed like it hurt him to see.
Batman didn’t let it bother him as the splash of redblood splattered past his head, worrying them all.
He ran at the Ragtail and threw the gun backwards and the two engaged in a fight, they punched and punched and fought in hand to hand combat.
This specific Ragtail was big.
And decided to use his largeness as a weapon now that he’d lost his gun.
Without warning he rammed his head forward into Batman.
With half his armor on his cowl split away you could tell the impact threw Batman off for just a moment.
It threw him off enough that he seemed to had forgotten this was an alien race with what could be other attributes despite the somewhat similar humanoid built, he kneed the Ragtail in the crotch.
“He’s lucky that hurts them anyway,” Hal muttered.
As the Ragtail did flinch and crumbled a bit, but not as much as a human man would, which caused Batman to add a solid punch to the head, knocking them down.
“Well he’s definitely from Gotham” Superman muttered.
There was only a few men left now.
Some were shaking in their boots.
Batman seemed a bit out of breath now surprisingly.
Cyborg had been working to improve the audio this whole time so they had slowly heard improvement hearing the guns and eventually the punches thrown and the grunts and eventually even the sound of the blades.
Now very clearly as there seemed to be almost a pause in the battle after that.
The other men may have thought the big man with the gun was going to be able to handle it and had stood to the side.
And now that he had fallen they seemed scared and shocked the larger guy wasn’t able to take care of it.
In the stalemate as the foes only stared eachother dow, they could hear Batman’s heavy breathing.
He was tired.
They remembered he had been perhaps tortured before this all, and had already take out many of the Ragtails army before thy caught up to him on the cameras.
They saw blood on the tools.
He had also maybe even been drugged.
They remebered the chemicals in the room.
Batman rubbed the dripping nosebleed he had gotten after the Ragtail had slammed their heads together.
The blood smearing across his face.
“Alright,” the Batman muttered lowly.
Fixing his stance.
Batman looked like any other Gotham punk with the stance he pulled up. But it was the look of a skilled well renounced fighter.
“Let’s get this over with.”
The uneven battle continued.
Be that uneven due to numbers, or uneven to Batman’s unreasonable efficiency.
He fought these men down, getting closer and closer to the General and his Second who began to look really worried, trapped at the corner behind all the men fighting for them.
“Oh no..” Barry muttered tapping Oliver to look.
The man gasped.
The others saw their attention.
“He’s getting up..” Kal voiced their worry.
The big man with the gun Batman had taken down who was unconscious was slowly getting up.
Glaring at his opponent.
Luckily he now still had no gun, but he looked madder than before, cracking his neck.
As Batman was fighting now the remaining four men he snuck up behind him and wrapped his arm around Batman’s neck in a shoulder-lock.
“Gah!” They even heard him shout in surprise.
Batman reached up to the arm as it lifted him off his feet.
Shocked someone was able to get the drop on the Bat they looked on surprised.
Kal gasping.
The Batman had never looked more vulnerable feet in the air, looking almost short and thin compared to this heavy sized alien.
He looked worn and tired, he didn’t look in his best condition, their attention drawn again to the rips in his armor, which they had almost forgotten about with his seamless moves.
With the other hand the Ragtail grabbed one of Batman’s clawing hands that tried to escape.
The alien grabbed The bare unarmored one in his hand and at his wrist you can hear the crunching breakage in the audio.
Barry and Kal gritted their teeth. Oliver grabbing his own wrist imagining how that must hurt.
“Damnit!” Batman shouted as his bones snapped.
His voice revealed whatever he usually used to corrupt his voice had broken somewhere in between his fights.
His voice not gravelly and deep and odd. But instead with a more human like quality. Still deep but not unordinaryly so.
It seemed Batman then noticed something the alien was doing in his motions and the Bat began to struggle a bit pronounced to avoid it.
Then he cursed as it happened, he was thrown into the wall, a wall with a glass window into another rooms,
He slammed into it cape twirling around him and he fell through the glass.
It didn’t look fun, they all winced.
And Cyborg felt a small guilty part in him for being the one to find the camera footage so Batman unknowingly had his team all watching while he got tossed around.
He felt just a little guilty again as he quickly opened up a new window featuring the inside of this room where Batman had ended up.
They watched with bated breathes as Batman layed there for a moment in the room before beginning to get up.
They all watched as it looked like he was practically dragging himself back up.
The Ragtail hopped through the window and marched towards him in the room.
Hal clenched his fist,
“These guys don’t quit” the Green Lantern muttered.
Batman got to his forearms and reached to grab some sort of tray that had been knocked off one of the tables that he had been thrown into.
He grabbed it and threw it at the Ragtail. It must’ve been heavy, as it successfully hindered the alien for a moment.
While Batman made to retreat across the room.
Jumping on the table and to the next and grabbing something on one of the tables to hurl back at the man.
Unfortunately the big man recovered and rammed at him blindly like a bull.
Batman slipped from the table like a shadow and rolled underneath it popping up at the man to underpunch him to the jaw.
It did good damage.
The big guy crashing to the side before shaking his head trying to shake it off.
Batman reached to grab what looked like a bottle with something special inside, some kind of chemical. Ready To finish the job.
Before he could the man grabbed him by the throat.
Batman flinched for a moment before and he was being thrown yet again, this time back out of the room through what was left of the glass and on the floor back in the hallway. With the other four men.
Cyborg entranced with the action like them all, quickly adjusted the camera feeds.
The glass contained chemical he had been ready to use as a weapon unfortunately broke on the impact in his hand, and they heard Batman gasp as it burnt a bit through his suit.
His left hand now becoming unarmored, and revealed like his right.
The pale skin looked scorched.
Without wasting a moment, he recovered quickly.
He advanced to his forearms and bounced back up jagged, shattered piece of glass in his hand and he drew his arm back and threw it back into the room with his opponent.
The shattered glass acted like a dart and ran through one of the man’s eyes.
The alien cried out and fell to the floor.
“Just four left” Hal murmured out loud.
“Six” Diana reminded him of the General and the Second who looked like a doctor or scientist.
The four in the hallway moved to attack him and Batman didn’t waste a moment.
Lowering to the ground kicking several off their feet.
Then kicking some of the glass into their eyes.
This momentarily stunned them.
He used the chance to bring out his grapple they were surprised he still had on him and wondered what good it would do here in such close quarters.
“What’s he gonna-“ Oliver muttered.
“There’s nowhere to grapple-“
Batman extended the string and wrapped it around the man’s neck then With the other end connected the man to the ceiling.
The Ragtail was pulling on his neck trying to get it off as he was slipped off his feet and dragged up, Batman at that point only needed to punch him once in the stomach and he was hanging there unconscious.
Now onto the last three, one stabbed something right in Batman’s shoulder, Batman pushed him into the wall afterwards and hard enough at the right angle their head was bashed and they fell down.
Batman eyed the last two like a predator.
They were both tall and big a bit like that one that wouldn’t go down but not nearly as confident and brave.
Batman ran and jumped ontop of one.
He didn’t have any weapon in his hand as he brought his both fists down, the fists thy were all too aware of one being broken, and one burnt. He bashed the man right in the forehead over and over.
The man began to fall and Batman jumped off, it was only the sound of the man thunking to the floor and Batman’s feet delicately landing cape swooshing for a moment behind him as he then walked over slowly and confidently to the final man.
A built one but one that was practically shaking in his boots, looking like he wanted to run.
In fact as Batman was less than a foot a way he turned around and went to try to run.
Batman picked up his speed and slammed him to the ground.
The momentum he used to bring the final guy down must’ve made him loose his footing because Batman stumbled and leaned to the wall for support a little dizzy, after succedully taking down all those foot soldiers.
“Oh no..” One of them murmured hoping exhaustion wouldn’t win out in the end of this all.
They were used to fighting on Batman’s side and knew he always kept on going, but this time sitting there watching, each hit and punch and battle, they were too aware of strength it took and the damage done. Batman should be exhausted.
The Bat looked to his shoulder like that was the cause of his dizziness and pulled out a long dagger, some bright purple chemical rimmed on it along with red blood.
He was poisoned.
“Gah-!” he gasped as it was yanked out and with his other hand held on the wound.
He continued his way forward even though the poison was obviously effecting him.
“I-I don’t understand” The scientist spoke first, using a translator this time so they all understood him. It seemed the Ragtail wanted to speak to Batman.
“We ran tests, you- your species- it is inferior.”
The General looked just as afraid as the Scientist was stammering.
“His species?” Kal muttered.
He wondering truly if the Batman wasn’t some kind of human-variant like the majority thought and maybe something other… like himself.
“Maybe I was right?” Hal muttered surprised,
“He’s some sort of vampire”
“How would that be inferior?” Barry asked nervously, seemingly the only one paying attention to the words.
They listened as the scientist Ragtail continued.
“We experimented on you, drugged you made you docile.. but yet you wake, we torture you, cut you, shoot at you, you have a broken hand, a concussion, poisoned, and dislocated shoulder… broken ribs, bones, you should be down, dead, unconscious at least!” The man just seemed mad about it now.
“Yet still you move! What are you? You’re supposed to just be human!”
What?
The Justice League froze in shock.
Batman didn’t give an answer, he got off from the wall looking downright ferocious.
Stalking forward.
He was bloody and bruised and still he moved onwards.
“Your not even enhanced, we heard some of the humans on Terra have specialties, you are just human, how can you beat us? How are you still moving?”
The justice league had horrifying realization.
One of their leaders, the horrifying man who seemed capable of everything and was, who never backed down, always got things done, perfect, efficient, who they all assumed had to be inhuman, he had to be by all the feats he’d done.
They realized this Man, Batman Was also downright insane.
He was only human and so so daringly capable.
The scientist who was shakingly holding a crossbow type weapon aimed and shot in fear, his hands shaking.
It got Batman in the leg and still as he winced for a moment, he went on.
Only proving the words.
He was inmoveable.
The man shot again, it got Batman in the other shoulder he winced for a moment and almost lost his footing but moved onwards.
“If this is what just humans are capable of..” the man sounded terrified.
Seemingly reconsidering his data.
“No! There has to be something, what’s keeping you moving? How are you- what’s keeping you from failing?”
Batman sighed as he got closer. Almost with a tone of simple annoyance.
“So what if I am just human” he said simply.
The scientist shook his head rapide.
“There’s got to be some thing, some drug, enhancement, some secret-“
Batman pushed the gun to the floor and got him by the neck, the general backed up scared as he watched his Second.
“There is no secret.. “ Batman spoke,
“though I guess…”
The group leaned closer to the screen.
It was always unusual for Batman to really talk back with his oppenant.
It must be the concussion.
They wanted to know what the Bat would say.
“I just really want to go home and take a nice nap after being tortured for several hours” he said spitefully and tossed the man to the side.
“I- I surrender!” The General, General Zarfeck stammered.
“Good, because I wasn’t kidding.” Batman’s voice was a bit of a slur as he spoke but still heavily intimidating.
“The audacity, to bring someone to your torture room when you just met them,” his tone was a sigh and. almost jokeful now.
He then frowned like he was confused over what he just said.
“Damnit I am concussed”
He then frowned as he looked up and down at the General who was shivering.
He then reached and grabbed something the General wore that looked familar, kind of like-
No, it was; Batman’s belt, from which the man must’ve stolen it.
He pulled out what must’ve been comms from a pocket, and suddenly Batman’s voice resonated in the ship in double feature with the audio from the camera and the now connected comm line.
“Coming in to Javelin Ship, this is B-01 Batman, Hello team, will need pick up at these cordinates, hostiles down, will need Lantern to handle peace treaties”
“T-treaties?” The General stammered surprised.
Batman glared at him.
“Y-yes of course!”
“Ragtail barbarian group will be successfully taken down, will need a new cowl upon arrival.. injuries, manageable, over and out”