Batman Inc.--- Man-Of-Bats Chapter I

[Foley]

The South Dakota sun hung low in the sky like a gunfighter's belt. The day had been an impossibly hot one and the coming night was doing little to bring cooling relief to either the temperture and the tempers of the tribesmen who had been outside the courthouse of the township of Sitting Bear protesting the latest round of increased town taxes. The cops that stood between the angry men and the townhall knew them since they were all childern, but that did not matter due to the shouts of "uncaring pig!", the oppressive heat and the anger that the all day stand off combined to create a tinderbox that the slightest, barest hint of a match would cause to blow sky high.

Inside the hall, in his office overlooking the tense standoff, the Mayor stood at the window with his back to the rest of the town council. "Any word?" He asked nervously.

"None, Mr. Mayor," replied his aide.

"Why the hell not?!" The Mayor demanded, spittle flying from the side of his mouth, "We have the makings ofva bloodbath down there and we need him to keep it from happening! You did make it clear the urgency of the situation?" He half accused, half demanded of the aide, jabbing his fat finger in the air.

"I did," the mousey aide replied as he shrank back from the outraged town leader, "All he did was stare at me in that way of his before disappearing in a cloud of smoke."

"Great" the mayor said throwing up his hands, "We're going to die!"

"I don't know why we're depending on a vigilante to save us anyways," a tall, thin councilman said throwing up his hands in disgust. "Just have the police dispearse the crowd with tear gas and billy clubs."

The Mayor round to face the speaker, "First off, Man-Of-Bats is more then a vigilante. He is one of the few people that the Lakota will respect and listen unconditionally. Second using your method is what started this," he thrusted his hands to demostrate the scene out the window, "So forgive me, Gene, if I don't defer to you for a solution to our current dilema!"

"First smart thing you've done today," announced a deep voice from the deep shadows of the office's far side. All heads turned that direction and saw an imposing figure step forward. He wore long buckskin pants and a matching sleeveless buckskin shirt that displayed his massively developed arms. On the shirt was a bat-shaped emblem made of turquiose and beads. Bucksklin mocasins and large feathered headdress completed the man's attire as did the stone set square jaw on his face. "Mayor" he said by way of greeting.

"Man-Of-Bats," was the simple reply that dripped gratitude. Shame he ws the only one who felt it.

"Took ya long enough!" The Chief of Police accused.

"When you have cover an area the size of Rhode Island because you and your men seem to ignore the protection of any but the white man, it takes time for me to get around."

"What just are you trying to say?" The Chief demanded.

Man-Of-Bats gave the man a cold stare, "Besides that I'm doing your job? Well there the fact that the protests were peaceful until some killed John Stormchild. That made them angry and since so far as anyone can tell it was a cop's bullet that killed him it makes since that their anger is directed at you people."

The Mayor stepped in front of the blustering Chief, "Can you help us, now?"

The hero looked at the window the back at the crowardly politicos, "I'll try."

[Foley]

After wounds had been treated and cooler heads thought about it, they would say the fight had started when someone in the protesters' crowd hurled a rock at the head of a policeman. Others would say that the policeman in question have been out in the sun in his anti-riot gear too long and snapped due to the heat and pressure of the situation. No matter what the reason, when Man-Of-Bats swung down into the middle of the scene with this sidekick (and son) Raven Red there was a full scale mob fight in progress making it almost impossible to tell who was rioter and who was cop.

"Smoke 'em calm!" the elder hero said to the younger who nodded response.

Seconods later thick, noxious smoke emitted from tiny thrown smoke bombs took the fight out of everyone involved. Like a giant eagle, Man-Of-Bats landed on the roof of a car, Raven Red softly touching down on the ground just behind the car's trunk ready to leap into action on his father's say so.

"This ends now!" the hero proclamed, "All of you, return to your homes!"

"What about John Stormcloud," someone in the crowd shouted pointing at the cops who were also picking themselved up from the ground. "They killed him, you just going to stand there and let them get away with it. You're supposed to be our protector!"

"I AM you're protector," Man-Of-Bats answered sternly, "And you have my word that Stormcloud's killer will be found and brought to justice. But this is not the way to get justice for any of our people! Now go back to your homes."

The rioters reluctantly cleared the area, leaving dirty looks and growls of anger behind at the gather cops. Man-Of-Bats then turned his attention to them, "Any of you boys in blue decide to 'go off the reservation' as it were and try and get a little private justice for what just happened, remember this. I will find and bring you to the same justice and the killer."

With that Man-Of-Bats and Raven Red turned and left the now defused scene. But in the back of Man-Of-Bats mind, he knew that this was just the beginning and something big and nasty was going to come of it.