A bat in Bayville's skies
Chapter 17
Bayville High:
Bruce Wayne was a man of many virtues, he was a skilled fighter, a genius, a master tactician and many things more.
But one of the things he had been most proud of was his ability to keep calm under stressful situations, but right now even he was slightly worried as he looked at the situation before him.
Kitty was staring at him weirdly and he didn't quite know what to do about the situation. It had started this morning after he greeted her as he passed her by.
Her eyes lit up and she greeted him enthusiastically, then she kept looking at him at breakfast… and on the ride home… and now at school.
He let out a sigh, he had always been good at reading emotions so he had a very good hunch of what was going on.
And if he was being completely fair with himself, was he bothered by the attention all that much?
He liked her heart and personality even her silly way of talking, but…
"Focus Bruce" he said to himself as he finished his lunch, right now he needed to come up with a good excuse to get out of the school trip that he had been dreading ever since it was announced.
"I already know how a cave looks like, I have one below my house dammit" he said to no one in particular as he walked towards the room where the professor who had organized the trip was "speaking of that cave maybe I could find some use for it… I'll talk to Alfred about it later"
As he made his way towards the class where the teacher who had organized this dreadful trip was, he spotted Rogue walking out of the principal's office with a conflicted look on her face, Bruce looked the other way trying to look distracted and aloof, it was the same expression he always wore in school grounds, the disinterested student who was kind of a reclusive.
"Hey Bruce" Rogue said stopping him on his tracks "can I ask you something"
Well crap
"Of course, what can I help you with?"
"It's nothing I was just wandering why you're always alone, aren't the people from your institute your friends?"
Ah so that's what was happening insecurity fear and maybe feeling out of place.
He wondered what was going on in the house she currently resided in that had her so scared.
Maybe some mutant didn't know how to behave himself or something like that?
"I like to be on my own it allows me to think but I do care and trust the people at the institute"
"Must feel nice" Rogue muttered as she started walking away.
"Hey Rogue if you ever need anything, I'm here to help in any way I can" he said with a warm smile.
Come on charm do your work he said to himself.
And it did Rogue blushed and looked down "I…thank you" she said as she walked away.
Bruce watched her go and let out a sigh
"Poor girl, she must be pretty messed up after Croc, now to cancel my trip" Bruce said as he turned around.
Bruce returned home feeling very happy, he had managed to skip the trip and now he could put more time into tracking down Killer Croc.
Bruce scowled, ever since he had confirmed that Killer Croc was here in Bayville he had been tracking down the overgrown lizard. But he had come out empty handed, he asked Ravager about him and the small girl had said she knew nothing about him.
With a tired groan Bruce made his way to his room until he spotted Jean looking a little sad.
Bruce debated if he should ask but, wasn't she supposed to be on the trip with the other students?
Bruce let out a sigh and approached her "Hey Jean, what's going on?"
"Nothing" she said sadly "is just that for some reason they kicked me out of the trip and they let that…" she breathed and exhaled obviously trying to calm herself "Rogue take my place"
Bruce's eyes narrowed, wasn't that suspicious, take out the only one in the team who could read minds, the perfect time to attack.
He would have to put his search of Killer Croc on hold…again.
"Tell the professor I'm leaving I'll be back soon" he said as he descended towards the Bat-Bike.
He activated the radar and found where Scott was.
Call it paranoia but he had put a tracker on every bus from his high school, just in case someone tried to kidnap the children (and the people from the institute).
The mountains, a three hour trip, unless you where Batman and had one of the fastest vehicles in the world.
He changed into his suit and put on the cowl.
"Let's see what you've got Rogue" he said his voice deep and powerful.
Outskirts of Bayville, Mountains:
Scott Summers had expected a smooth trip to the caves, God knows he needed a distraction from all the crazy stuff that was happening on Bayville, a school trip seemed like the best thing to clear his mind from all the crazy thing going on Bayville.
No more fights, no more weird, no crazy super powers and especially no Bruce.
But yet here he was being stared down by Rogue who had just revealed she was part of the Brotherhood of mutants.
The same freaks that had been causing problems to Bayville and to the Institute especially.
She had managed to touch him and had his powers now, he didn't like his option at all, the stone bridge that they were currently in could be destroyed by a single hit of either of their beams and he was absolutely certain they wouldn't survive the fall.
Curse that Mystique, if it hadn't been for her and her powers, maybe Rogue could have been one of them.
Maybe it didn't have to be this way, Scoot raised his hands as sign of surrender.
"Rogue listen to me, it doesn't have to be this way… deep down you know were not to blame" he started.
Rogue snorted "Oh yeah sure thing darling, that's the reason why you and your pals went to ma place and tried to kill me and my mum?!" she said as the tone in her voice raised.
"It wasn't us I swear, it was Mystique! She is playing you like violin!" Scott responded.
Scott saw Rogue stop for a moment, she looked at the ground and stayed quiet for a moment.
"I… don't believe ya" she said, but her voice lacked conviction.
"Rogue look at the Brotherhood do they seem like the people you can trust?" Scott said as he approached her.
An image of Killer Croc flashed through her mind.
"No…but where am I supposed to go if I leave them?" Rogue said sounding defeated.
Scott smiled and approached, when he was sure no beam would hit him, he put a hand on her shoulder.
"Our doors are always open for any mutant who needs help"
Rogue smiled at him feeling a sense of hope for the first time in what felt like an eternity.
But their moment was stopped by the sound of a Wolf.
They both turned around to see a large white wolf growling at them, only to transform into the beautiful and dangerous figure of Mystique, she stared at Rogue with disappointment.
"You're so easily swayed Rogue, it only took a couple of words from a handsome boy to make you change sides"
Rogue glared at her "Maybe I wouldn't have been so eager to leave ya if you weren't a bunch of monsters and manipulative old hags!"
Mystique snorted and shook her head "it matters not, this place will become your icy grave"
Scott frowned, this was going to get ugly.
They were interrupted by the sound of a powerful engine, which suddenly stopped leaving only the sound of the wind as their companion, Rogue looked around confused.
Suddenly she was tied from head to toe, she screamed and Scott grabbed her before she hit the floor.
"What da hell?!" she yelled in confusion.
Scott let out a sigh of relief, at least someone had come to help him out.
Batman stood between the teenagers and Mystique, he glared at her.
"Who are you?" he said as he walked towards her.
"Mystique and you're the infamous Batman a pleasure to meet you!" she yelled as she launched a kick straight to his skull.
Batman blocked it with his right arm and launched a punch with his left one.
Mystique morphed into a little girl avoiding the hit only to morph back into her original form.
"You're pretty good" she said, the she change into a version of Ra's Al Ghul shocking Bruce.
"But you're not the only one that has been trained by assassins"
Batman gritted his teeth and threw baterangs at her direction.
Mystique avoided them without breaking a sweat and stared at him with Ra's eyes.
"I'm disappointed in you" she mocked him.
"I don't remember him saying that when he died" Batman said and threw another Baterang.
Mystique avoided it like the others and frowned at him "is that the only thing you can do?"
Batman pressed a button on his utility belt and the baterang exploded making the stone bridge start to collapse, Mystique cursed and turned into falcon flying away from danger.
Bruce wrapped a rope around Rogue and looked at Scott "Hold onto her with all your strength"
Scott didn't had time to argue because Batman immediately fired his grappling gun to a safe cliff and jumped taking both Scott and Rogue with him.
Rogue and Scott screamed as the hanged miles away from the ground.
The felt themselves rising little by little.
Both of them looked up to see Batman pulling them to a safe place.
When they were both safe Scott looked at his comrade enraged "WHAT THE HELL MAN?!"
Batman stared at him "You're alive that's all that matters"
Scott frowned and decided to let it go this time, they had been in a tight spot after all.
Batman untied Rogue, who stared at him "Thanks… I guess"
Batman nodded and turned towards Scott "Can you make it back to your school group?"
Scott looked around and at the distance he could see their bus "Yeah, we'll stay there go back to the professor tell him we have a new mutant"
Rogue smiled and looked at Batman, to her surprise he didn't seem mad, simply curious.
"Sure, stay safe" Batman activated the Bat-Bike (he's still working on the name) and in a matter of seconds it was next to him.
Batman jumped on it and pushed the engine to its limits, becoming a small dot on the horizon in a short amount of time.
Scott ran a hand through his head "This is going to be fun to explain to Jean"
A/N: I'm alive! So sorry to leave this story untouched for so long I hope you can all forgive me, but the good news is that I don't plan to abandon this story any time soon. I re-read it and I have a clear idea where I want to take it (speaking of re-reading oh boy are the first chapters embarrassing to read…so many errors and confusing lines)
I hope I have improved in our short hiatus.
But that is all for now and hopefully you'll se more from this story soon!
Au-revoir!