“Ugh... ohhh... wh-where... am I?” Batman groaned, slowly awakening. He saw himself held in chains within a prison cell where a large window was opened outside the warship.
“What is this place?” he asked. As if on cue, the prison doors were opened by two guards. The Storm King and Tempest Shadow evilly smiled at him before the guards stood aside with emotionless looks.
“Enjoyed your beauty nap, big bat?” Storm King taunted.
“Where did you take me?” Batman demanded, struggling to free himself.
“In my ship, of course! Besides, I think it’s time to have a little chitchat. I LOVE getting to know new creatures, right Tempest?”
“Indeed, Your Highness. It makes the experience more... invigorating,” she replied, her broken horn sizzling with eagerness.
“Well, I sure hope you don’t get boring while talking because you’re making me sleepy already,” Batman smirked.
Enraged, Tempest ignited her horn, but the king held out his hand before her. “Easy, my little pony. This creature will get a taste of his own medicine soon, but for now, I want to speak with him... alone.”
Tempest gave one last cold stare at the smug prisoner before nodding. “As you wish, Excellency.” Nodding to the two guards, they also left with their commander. Thus, the Storm King was alone with the prisoner.
“Soooooo... how was your day?” the villain casually asked.
“It was great... until you showed up out of nowhere and nearly destroyed the city. Why even ask?” Batman snapped.
“Hahahahaha, you know I just love messing with folks like you. But I gotta admit... you gave one heck of a challenge against me; no other adversary has managed to face me with such determination and ferocity before. Considering that you are a walking bat, I am actually... impressed.”
“So this guy has no clue I’m a human in a bat costume? Hmmm, looks like I’ll just play along,” Batman thought.
“You know what? I think you have some potential I can take advantage of,” Storm King said.
“What kind of potential?” Batman asked, arching an eyebrow.
“Oh, you know, that kind that enables you to be a much better opportunist and stuff like that. Actually... oh! I got it! You... can be at my side! How about that?” Storm King grinned.
“And why would I ever join you? After everything you just did to Gotham, you now attempt to gain a follower out of me?” Batman questioned.
“Okay, look, this ‘Gother’ City you’re talking about—,”
“Gotham,” Batman corrected.
“Whatever. This city isn’t exactly my ultimate target; I am just trying to gain access to its bountiful treasure it has! With it, I will have a chance to conquer the rest of the multiverse... thingy.”
“Bountiful treasure? You... mean the city’s technological inventions?”
“Precisely!! Uh... what’s ‘technology’?” Storm King wondered.
“So you came all this way to steal our technology in order to possibly take over the multiverse AND my planet?” Batman realized.
“Pretty much. After all, I can already taste such tremendous power,” he wickedly grinned. “All the other worlds will tremble before me, and I will function as the big-boom daddy overlord!! Big dream achieved, baby! Imagine thousands of copyrighted songs and books being written in my name! Imagine the crossovers... dominated by my supremacy!”
Batman had to recompose himself after hearing the Storm King’s self-delusions. “Okay, there are two words that come to mind about you... delusional and weirdo; if I have to say a third... goofy, just goofy.”
“Awww, that’s very sweet of you, batty boy! But flattery won’t do you any favors,” he glared.
Batman had to think of an idea to escape from his prison. He noticed his adversary was holding his staff while he stood very close to the cell’s bars. Thinking back on his “bat” remarks earlier, he secretly smirked.
“You have a choice to make, my friend. You can either join me and become my loyal warrior, or I’ll have your own friends and family suffer at my power. Think about it; I can even replace Tempest for you, and you can fill her place. Just say the word, and I’ll welcome you with open arms. We can rule the world together!” The Storm King offered.
“Yeah, that’s definitely tempting. In fact, I have something to say to you in response to your offer,” Batman grinned, slowly walking towards the bars.
“Ohhh! What’s that? You accept it?” he smiled back.
“Even better... THIS!!” He spat at the Storm King’s right eye, temporarily blinding him.
“AHHHH!!! Bat venom! My eye! My eye! I’ll be infected!” the king panicked as he covered his eye. He dropped his staff right towards the bars.
Batman used his free legs to jump at the bars before he ignited the flames from his boosters. The flames incinerated the steel bars with ease; then he kicked the staff upwards which triggered it to fire at his chains. The chains broke off from his arms, freeing him completely. Smirking, he grabbed the Staff of Sacannas and preceded to jump out of the window.
“NO!! That’s my staff!!” Storm King angrily shouted. However, he realized that his eye did not swell from the assault and was completely fine.
“That was just... saliva! I guess he only injects venom whenever he bites. Tempest! Concentrate your attack on the bat creature now!” he commanded.
Batman flew a great way from the airship and hovered just between it and the city of Gotham. “How does this thing work? That dude had to move the sun and moon with it. Let’s see if it works for me.” He pointed the staff towards the sun and kept it there. However, the sun remained where it was and nothing else happened.
“Come on, come on!” Batman grunted, shaking it back and forth. He repeatedly thrusted the staff forward, but it still didn’t work. “How does he even activate it anyway?”
Suddenly, a massive beam of magic flew past him which startled him. He looked behind him to see the warship speedily approaching him while shooting magical projectiles right at him. He flew away from the city while he still held the staff.
“Come on, work for me! Work!” Batman yelled. He even hit the crystal itself but nothing happened. “This is even harder than I thought.”
“There he is! Fire!” Tempest shouted. A huge purple fireball was thrown from the ship toward Batman.
“HURRY UP!” Batman panicked, shaking the staff repeatedly. Just when the fireball was getting close to strike him, he held the staff in the air with both hands. It suddenly ignited itself and fired its beam at the projectile, completely destroying it.
Batman widened his eyes in surprise at the work it did. “Whoa... that was a close call. I guess it needs two hands for it to work?”
“What the—? Did he just...? FIRE AGAIN!” Storm King ordered.
Two more fireballs were launched toward their target, but he quickly blasted them to bits with the powerful staff. “Impossible! He actually figured how to use it?! Keep firing!” Storm King shouted.
“Time to end this,” Batman muttered. He sent another beam of magic at the Storm airship itself. The blimp began to slowly deflate from the blast.
“Oh, great...” Storm King said. He jumped out of the ship with several guards following him. Tempest hesitantly followed suit.
The ship fell down on the ocean and sunk itself into the depths thereof. Batman then flew back to Gotham with the staff in hand. “Time to clean up your act, bozos,” he said as he glared at the Storm army. He created a huge beam which turned into a tornado on the ground. It absorbed every single invader from the city into itself as they all screamed in terror.
The army was soon gone from plain sight once the tornado vanished into thin air. “Hopefully, it took them back to where they came from. Man, this thing is so powerful. I have to give this to Bruce once I’m done here,” Batman said. After this, he generated a portal with the staff.
Suddenly, his com link rang. “Terry, can you hear me?”
“Bruce, I’m here. I just escaped that storm creep’s nightmare ship. This staff thing is so powerful it can literally do anything,” Batman reported.
“I’m glad you’re okay. Whatever that staff is, we have to investigate its properties and lock it up before it falls to the wrong hands again,” said Bruce.
“Agreed. I’ll meet you back in the bat cave,” Batman finished.
At that moment, a lightning beam struck him on the back. Although he was unaffected by it, it still got his attention. He turned back to see two villains murderously glaring at him.
“You will pay for this, bat freak!” Storm King angrily shouted.
“Uh-oh...”