Hal Jordan: “Wait. You’re not just some guy in a bat suit, are you?”
Eldritch Abomination Bruce Wayne, secretly very proud that all of the lessons Alfred (also an Eldritch Abomination) taught him about cloaking are finally paying off and the humans think he’s One Of Them: “Hn.”
Hal Jordan, trying not to freak out because he needed another meta/super human on this mission and Bat Guy in spandex just isn’t gonna cut it: “Okay. Fucking sick, man.”
I like my Batman a little eldritch flavoured, observe:
His fingers are just a tiny bit too claw-like, especially when Batman. It's really useful when climbing or having to catch someone (mostly his kids) but it makes him feel the tiniest bit less human.
His body temperature really depends on his mood; happy, loved? He's warm! Perfect cuddle temperature! If he's stressed, sad, tired? He's cold, as in 'I just came back from outside and it was raining'-cold
His eyes are just a tiny bit reflective, it makes the staring a bit more creepy and Bruce sometimes feels a bit insecure about it.
His hearing, sight & his memory is higher then the average population. He hasn't noticed it yet, sometimes he just drops a "They're around the 3rd corner" and his current teammate just has to deal with it.
His intuition is frankly disturbing. His kids can not do something that is incredibly dangerous without at least a text: "Do not."
He got this as a gift from Gotham herself, she saw the little boy in the alley and went "Hmm, you're my favourite now."
We all know that Bruce uses the ‘Brucie Wayne’ persona (sometimes to a ridiculous degree) to protect his identity as Batman. And while I love Brucie, I would like to propose an inverse. Where Bruce doesn’t put much energy into his playboy persona because he leans more into the cryptid aspect of Batman.
Bear with me for a moment.
Those familiar with the Batman fandom are likely aware of the concept where the people of Gotham believe Batman and Batkids to be this cryptid-demon-bat-creature thing that sprouted out of the ground one day to beat up criminals. And they grow to accept it because why wouldn’t they? Gothamites are built different. #onlyingotham
And I would love to see an alternate universe where Batman hears these rumors… and embraces them. Making Batman appear even more like a Creature™.
He’s not actually supernatural, he’s very much still human. But people don’t need to know that.
Let his costume have claws, give him a full mask that obscures his human features. Have him construct gadgets that allow him to cling to walls, give him shoes that let his feet stick to the ceiling like a genuine bat. Some iterations give him a voice modulator to disguise his voice; take that a step further and have it copy and mimic sounds and voices. Let him use smoke pellets or something to subtly create a fog to confound and jumpscare people.
I mean, come on. Bruce has picked up a lot of niche skills and knowledge when training abroad all those years. In the DCAU, he trained under Zatara to become an escape artist. There must be so much more he could pick up from a magician.
And honestly, this would arguably strike more fear into the hearts of criminals. Correct me if I’m wrong, but people tend to have a different fear response if they believe they are being hunted by an unknowable eldritch horror compared to something more tangible and familiar like a man in a bat costume. We got to remember that Batman isn’t just a vigilante, he’s also a symbol. A living reminder to the city’s crime and corruption that, as long as he’s around, their actions will now have consequences.
Plus, Batman is already a Dramatic Bitch™ and lowkey a theatre kid. He can be an Eldritch Horror™ as a treat.
I love when there's a superbat fic where it's a super super slow as fuck slow burn romance comedy where Batman repressed his emotions for too long that he had forgotten how to feel what it's like to love(romantically), and then suddenly he's met with this inescapable trap that is Clark Kent and Superman on a random tuesday night where a gotham rogue(idk who it is) went to metropolis to do some crime there and met the biggest blue of all. And like, when I said slow burn, I mean slow as fuck burn. But it only applies to him because Clarky Kenty has already fallen in love with this socially awkward and anxiety & paranoia filled eldritch, incompassable bat creature he met one night when out patrolling/investigating the crime before getting involved and saw in action how this shadow-bat-whachamacallit demon thingy beat and solve the most complex looking stuff he's ever seen. Like, not too complex — just enough to boggle his mind.
It's like interacting with something akin to bat-shadow-demon thing that he strangely fell in love with, and now he can't stop talking to Lois about it. Sometimes calling it ehat teens call 'his pooky'
The shadowy Batman takes you into his cape void made of shadows. Everyone for some reason thinks your getting raild when within the void but really your just having a fine discussion with a shockingly advid listener of a shadow creature about your personal theories on the recent killings going on in your city. Along with being told evidence no one else but the police knows so you can further conspire...
It isn’t haunted by the previous Wayne’s or the ghost who lived on the arcs of land past. Rather, Wayne Manor is haunted by Gotham.
The spirit of Gotham is not one singular entity but a collection of dark energy that personify as human-ish.
Bruce Wayne has known that his home is haunted for as long as he’s lived.
The first sign of paranormal activity was the temperature. Bruce Wayne can never be too cold or too hot in his home. All he has to do is complain and The Manor bends over backyards to serve his every desire, to solve every complaint.
The plants grow well. Really well. Even in the harsh winters the flowers can still bloom so long as the Wayne wants them to.
But the most damning evidence is the darkness. The darkness is never empty and it never disappears. No matter what, the shadows lurk. And the entities in the shadows lurk along with it, covered in the heavy blanket of darkness.
Bruce has very rarely seen what’s in the shadows, but he’s felt them. Very intimately.
They’re hands.
Hands attached to impossibly long arms that twist and turn and sprout from no body but from the darkness. They never disappear, never reduce. Instead, it seems they multiply each and every time Bruce sees them, feels them.
God, does he feel them.
The wretched hands are obsessed with feeling him. They dig their fingers into his hair and card through the black strands, cup his face in gentle hands and trace his features.
The hands that live in the shadows have always been present in Bruce’s life. When he needs them they appear, holding him when he can’t stay upright no longer. The arms twist around him and it’s the most warm embrace he’s ever felt.
On a dark and stormy night, Bruce is up late in his office. It’s late enough that it’s basically morning, but that’s never stopped Bruce before.
There’s a knock on the old dark oak doors of his office. Bruce doesn’t call out, doesn’t ask who’s there because there’ll be no answer to receive. He rises from his chair and opens the door to the dark hallways of Wayne Manor.
The first sign that Bruce is not alone is the darkened hallway. After adopting a traumatized Dick Grayson, he’s always made it a habit to have the lights on to keep the boy comfortable. No one turns the lights off except for the entity in the shadows.
Bruce tilts his head back with a sigh, his open posture invites the shadows closer. Arms wrap around his waist, holding him tightly as he allows himself to melt in the embrace. His hands are held in a gentle grasp, face cupped in warm hands and his hair toyed with as the shadows continue to engulf him.
The hands pull away moments later, leaving only the shadowy hands in his. They pull him forward, guiding him through the dark halls of Wayne Manor until they reach his room. From the darkness, hands pull the covers back, leaving room for Bruce to lay in bed, which he does when gently pushed down.
The hands tuck him into bed and continue petting his hair until he falls into a deep sleep.
Holy heck this post ran away from me O_O This post is inspired by this post by blackkatdraws2.
