บท 37: Chapter 37: Bat-Meeting (Part 3)
[Clock - 23:23 | 11:23 PM]
[Calendar - 01/03/2003]
[Location - Croc Kingdom (Name Pending) - Old Gotham, Gotham City, New Jersey]
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Trigger Warning: A character has flaws (the shock! the horrors!)
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"...uninvited guests." Atlas lifted his finger and thr tea in his cup started to softly bubble up as he casted both [Prestidigitation] and [Witchcraft] to change up the flavor of the tea they were drinking, well, he and Pamela were. Waylon was eating something Atlas got him, and that was turtle meat. He pushed his hand outwards and the two extra seats at the table moved outwards as he softly pushed them out with [Push], not wanting to fling the chair towards them. Atlas, wearing his new mask that he created with the spell [Disguse Self], made his best to look as "readable" as possible. His plan here was to make Batman think he is a unhinged magician that is helping the villains and might be a threat, so that he would not only make a contingency plan for him but also leave them alone for some time. "Would you like some tea? Or maybe you're not a tea person at all, some coffee perhaps? Water? Juice? Alcohol? Blood of the innocent? Do not worry little bat, I have a lot of things in store."
He spread out his arms, and from his sitting position (Seriously, he wanted to seat on his own, but Waylon placed him in his lap and would not let him leave!) and leaned back, letting his back rest against Waylon's pretty soft abs- Muscles, when not flexing, are pretty soft -and waited. Hesitantly, Batman and Robin approached and Atlas was making backup plans inside his head: What he wanted was simple and easy, make the bat take the Croc Kingdom seriously, like Atlantis and Themyscira or whatever that island full of lesbians is called. A show of force is the easiest way to do this, and a show of "hey, we're not that bad!" might be enough to get Bruce out of their ass for a while... he will definitely leave some bugs behind, and Atlas will let those bugs here, because Bruce will need information about what's going on around here.
"Take a seat, take a seat~" Atlas leaned into the table, using his elbows on the table and using his hands to make a platform to rest his chin as he made eye contact with the bat: "So, what brings you to our humble kingdom, Mr. Bat? Or would you prefer Breaker of Knees? Bane of Criminals? Dark Vengeance? Dark Knight? Furry with Mental Issues?" With each nickname thrown out, Atlas lifted one finger of his hand, and more fingers seemed to grow out of his single hand as he casted [Minor Illusion] to make new illusory fingers appear: "Master? Bitter Leather Daddy? Joker's Boyfriend? Superman's Boyfriend? Catwoman's Boyfriend? Or would you like me to call you by your name— Bruce Wayne?"
There was only silence.
It was a risky gamble, but Atlas already had an idea about what services he could offer to the Justice League. Information! He could gather information so fucking easily that its almost a joke, with a simple flick of a page he could tell you exactly where your favorite snack was on the other side of the world! But also couldn't reveal his hand, he had to pretend to be weaker than he is while making sure everything and everyone else in the kingdom is stronger: Have fake weaknesses and lie.
"Oh, you might be wondering— How did he find out that a brooding billionaire entrepreneur slutty man like me is actually one of the scariest heroes in the world?" Doing his best Batman voice impression, Atlas twisted his hand and there was a sudden red arrow pointing straight towards Dick Grayson: "Hello you Grayson~ Waylon has talked about you~! So, imagine my surprise when I learn that you were Robin! And that you were adopted by Bruce Wayne~! Such a shocking revelation... ah... Where was I again? Ah, right-" There was a sudden change in atmosphere as Atlas' voice lowered a few octaves as a rumbling echoed in the background: "-what the fuck are you doing in my house, dude? You were not invited to my tea party, and its very rude that you just enter the kingdom and don't even greet the King, you know!" Atlas started to lower himself, letting his upper body lie forward on the table.
"...wha?" Waylon, who was having a good time eating turtle meat jerky, swallowed the last piece and turned to look at the two uninvited guests: "Well, it's not like they'd respect my authority here anyway, but at least a polite hello would've been welcomed." Huffing, Waylon picked Atlas up as he adjusted his seat, and when he sat down he let Atlas sit on his lap again: "So, hey kiddo, nice to see you again." He turned to look at Dick- the boy was sitting there beside Batman (Bruce Wayne, apparently!?) and looking at Atlas with a laser focus that was almost like he would pierce right through.
"...Waylon." Robin- Dick greeted Waylon, not breaking away his sight towards Atlas. He clearly was very curious and also defensive towards him, ad actimg like Atlas was untrustworthy (to them, he is). "What is this guy's name?"
"I feel very flattered that I have your full attention~ So~ You've come here to bring back my friends to that heinous fucking cursed place!?" Atlas spoke with the most disgust he could even muster: "I mean, the building and land itself is not that bad, but the fucking dark ghost inside is so fucked up, and yet you still throw people at that building, which is kinda of a vicious and continuous cycle of endless violence... And look at me, I've broken it for two people-" He pointed, with each index finger of each hand, towards both Pamela and Waylon: "-and all because I took them out of that place." His hand twisted and turned in a 360 degrees as he turned his hand towards Batman: "And, well, I've made more of a difference to Gotham than you at this point..."
"...I see." Batman's eyes narrowed. Atlas could feel the man looking and analyzing his entire being, and he felt kinda dirty being looked at like that- And Waylon has made him really dirty before! Bruce stopped for a moment before he said: "You were the one to cause all that ruckus on Akrham Asylum, huh?" Atlas did not need to even look at him to know he was dropping various bugs all around, he didn't even need to move that.
"Of course I did all that- You can't simply take my little croc boy, put him in that place, and expect me not to go get him back!" Atlas huffed- his magic was slowly, ever so slowly, as he reached out to cast the spell he has been preparing this entire time. He has been taking this slowly because he didn't want the Bat to know he was doing this, and there was a risk that he would notice and the ruse would be up! "So-" With a lift of his hand, Atlas casted [Sleep] on both Batman and Robin. "-good night." He had to empower the spell with Batman, mostly because the man resisted heavily against the sudden surge of energy that entered his mind and tried to make him go to sleep- But a simple recast of the spell made him go right to sleep, well, after a few recasts of the spell... Seriously, Batman is no joke! "Well, now the real shit starts..."
You might be thinking "Hey, wasn't he supposed to not make himself seem like too much of a threat?" And yes, he didn't want to be seen as a huge threat by the Bat, but here comes the punchline: He had cast [Detect Thoughts] the moment he saw Batman, and had been reading his surface thoughs the entire time. Now, he barely got anything out of that man's mind because of his mental defenses, but there was one thing he got- the word "Enemy" over and over again. The moment he said his name "Bruce Wayne", he got a wave of distrust alongside the phrase "High grade Enemy", and when he tried delving in deeper he got stopped by the mental defenses Bruce had. And that's when he made the decision of messing with Batman's mind- Before you start to yell about how that is such bullshit, Atlas was nervous, okay!? He wasn't going to do anything way too bad, he's just gonna buy more time before Bruce inevitably learns that someone messed with his head and gets Martian Manhunter to undo it, but until then they're going to become a powerful kingdom.
So he decided to do it in a... natural way, using Batman's own paranoia and mind. Casting [Mind Scour], Atlas delved into Bruce's mind. With the power of a 9th level spell, he was able to easily go through the man's mental defenses and enter his deep subconscious mind- there, he did a few things.
First, he edited Bruce's memories of their meeting.
He only saw the masked man lift his hand and Robin go to sleep, which made Batman react, but the masked man explained he wanted to speak to Bruce alone. He explained to him that- Atlas had to focus for a moment, rewriting this part of the memory using Bruce's paranoia as a guide to make it look natural -the Joker was planning something, something sinister. "I've already given you the little suitcase, what else do you need to know that I'm on your side? On the Justice League's side?" But Batman did not truly believe him for now, the man hasn't shown much to be trusted, but he had power so Batman had to pretend to at least believe him: "...Bruce, I'll tell you why Gotham is so fucked- You know Cipactli? If you don't, seek that old man, Doctor Fate, and ask him to come check Gotham... He will tell you it is cursed land. Also, make sure he performs an exorcism on Arkham Asylum too, that place is really bad."
With that, Atlas started to mold Bruce's memories. He made him remember that after the meeting, he managed to sneak around, spreading his bugs and little cameras, to keep an eye out on this place. That in turn fed his paranoia and made the memory look natural, which was why he was doing this in the first place... He also made sure that Batman belive that Killer Croc and Poison Ivy would no longer cause trouble. Well, this might backfire in the future, but Atlas truly believes this is necessary in the now-
And, well, as a bonus, he also learns everything that the Batman knows!
-there was a surge of knowledge, years and years of training and research that would take Atlas even more time to fully process everything that Bruce Wayne knew. At least, now, he had knowledge of everything he was paranoid about! He saw his early childhood memories, his obsession over the death of his parents, and how he blamed himself... Atlas just, sighed, and nudged the memory a bit. Bruce had in his mind that it was all- some fucking how -his fault, and that was not healthy! Atlas modified the emotion of guilt that was attached to the memoried associated with the death of the Waynes, switching it away for grief, sadness, and slow but gradual recovery. 'I hope this helps?' It might help, it might not.
Regardless, he prepared for the final part of the meeting- he had placed a few fake memories in which they discussed a few things and Atlas even offered his services to the Justice League as an information broker. And with that, he allowed Bruce to wake up- Immediately, he started speaking like he was speaking the entire time: "-It's been a good meeting, Bat, but if you'd be so kind, please do leave this kingdom now... I've got a big hunk of crocodile to go to bed with." Without even turning around to look at Batman, Atlas flew up with [Fly] and tugged Waylon's arm, Pamela also simply stopped sipping on her tea and softly sighed, following after the duo.
Bruce stayed there for a few seconds, feeling like he had lost something... until he remembered the meeting, and frowned.
It seems he'll have to update some files.
-Author-
Ou no, a character has flaws! What a tragedy.
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