Monolith

Chapter 6: Steph

Clark

The Batmobile was in Metropolis. This was not a common occurrence.

In fact, this had never happened before. If Batman ever chased a criminal to Metropolis, his only transport was his grappling gun, or else he stood on top of trains or buses, dark and grim as the gargoyles that grew from the buildings of Gotham.

Clark liked to think that this was Batman's version of politeness, since Metropolis was Superman's city and it was much more obvious other heroes were in it when they brought their giant, bat-themed, incendiary device-encrusted supercars with them. (Ollie had once joked Batman was compensating for something, which, while funny, no one else thought to be true. Diana had said it was far more likely that he just wanted to make the car look cool since he had a theme going, which had been agreed upon as the correct answer. And it was cool, in a goth way).

Clark shook these thoughts from his mind, since said supercar was in fact in Metropolis now, and he would rather like to know why. Was there some Gotham rogue here powerful enough that Batman needed his car? Did he need to tell Clark something? Why not just zeta here, or send him a message, or arrange a meeting at the Watchtower?

What the hell was going on?

The Batmobile didn't seem like it had any particular destination, though it was going very fast, so Clark could only assume something urgent was going on. Though, if Clark didn't know any better, he'd think that Batman seemed to be out for a joyride. This was of course ridiculous - and even if Batman was inclined to do such things, why would he be doing it in Metropolis?

Hovering a few hundred metres above it, Clark followed the Batmobile until it had roared (and that was another thing - Clark was fairly sure it was capable of being silent, so why was Batman going around disturbing everyone?) into a quieter area of the city that would soon melt into the suburbs, then floated down in front of it, waiting for Batman to notice him and stop.

The Batmobile screeched to a halt. Clark raised an eyebrow, unable to help himself.

The car's roof popped open. No one emerged.

Clark raised his other eyebrow.

Then, so softly Clark wouldn't have heard it if not for his super hearing, 'Shitshitshitshitshit...What do I do? Fuck...'

That wasn't Batman's voice.

Alarmed, Clark started to float closer, stopping when he heard someone else within the vehicle reply to the first voice. 'We love you, and you know this, but this one is so on you. You can explain.'

Was that..?

'So I'm on my own?' The first voice responded. 'Where's your heart, ex-boyfriend? I thought we were best friends, ride or die, to-the-ends-of-the-earth kinds of bitches?'

'We are, you moron, you know I'd die for you. But that doesn't mean that either I or Black Bat have to stand up to Superman for you. I hate saying "I told you so" -'

'Liar, you love sayi-'

'But I did tell you this would happen.'

Clark was sure of it now. One of the voices was Red Raptor's, and he'd mentioned Black Bat, so she was there too. But who was the last one?

The first voice, who was neither Red Raptor or Black Bat, sighed deeply. 'Fuck you, and fuck your mother-'

'She's dead. And she was homophobic when she was alive. You'd never have managed it. She wouldn't have been your type, either.' Red Robin said devastatingly.