I am Batman!

"I am vengeance. I am the night.

I wear a mask. And that mask, it's not to hide who I am, but to create what I am.

Beneath this mask there is more than flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea, and ideas are bulletproof."

"What are you doing up here?" Batman growled as we stood atop a skyscraper in Gotham.

"How the hell did you even get up here?" I inquired of the man.

"Grappling hook." Batman answered.

"You have a grappling hook with enough wire to scale a fifty story building?" I chuckled, how much does a cable that long weigh? How do your shoulders survive getting yanked around like that?"

"Why are you up here?" Batman returned to his previous inquiry as he knelt atop a gothic gargoyle beside me atop mine.

"I'm pretending I'm Batman." I answered and smiled at the similarly dark dressed man.

I'd put the All-Black over my Bast fur coat, cause even though she was a craven bitch no goddess deserves the filthy Gotham City air on her skin.

"I don't remember ever saying that last line." Batman noted as his eyes scanned the city below using cybernetics in his cowl to telescope his vision.

"You should definitely take it though. That line is solid gold." I told him.

"Keep your church out of Gotham." Batman ordered with as much authority as the man legitimately wielded within the city.

None, for those wondering.

"New York and New Jersey aren't some great distance apart, Bats." I laughed, "The fire spreads much further afield already."

"Your 'fire' spreads to the homeless and addicts, you prey on the most desperate just like any other predator." Batman accused with judgment burning in his eyes.

"How dare I extend a helping hand to those most in need." I smirked, "I should have stayed in my lane and only converted my fellow genius, playboy, billionaire, philanthropists. You, me, and Lex sound like a trio that will get along like a house of cards covered in gasoline in a meth lab."

"I will…" Batman stopped when I interrupted with a raised hand.

"Sorry, Bats. I won't be able to beat ass on mental patients with you tonight. Something important just came up in Maine with your boy, Curry. I'll defuse the situation and give him the Justice League sales pitch." I chuckled and moved a red portal to Bar Harbor over me.

On the other end I saw a purple armored Atlantean trying to crawl away from a Symbiote clad juggernaut. He didn't get far before the colossal pile of simulated contractile tissue stomped on his back and he let out a defeated squeal of pain.

"Any casualties?" I asked, stimulating the pair's memory of the conflict allowing us to confirm no harmed bystanders or victims through our shared psychic link.

"None, All-Father." the pair confirmed as they knelt.

"Good work, boys." I grinned and used the All-Black to pull all the scattered and battered Atlanteans together then I covered them in the questing Symbiote to pull a complete and invasive scan of each of them to make a composite view of Atlantean physiology.

As the All-Black returned to me I felt an interesting flow as innate magic developed through my system and a set of subtle gills formed on my neck briefly before sealing shut.

"Holy shit." Arthur Curry cussed as he came out of the bar, "Mr. Simmons, it is such an honor." the future Aquaman jogged up and extended his hand for a shake, "I mean, I heard you were a big man, but never expected you to be so big!"

I shook Arthur's offered hand and grinned, "It's Mark, kid. No Jean Simmons here… sadly."

"Get back from him, my Prince!" came the voice of Mera as she followed Arthur out of the bar.

Arthur ignored her and instead looked between me and the kneeling missionary.

"Mark, like Lord and Savior Mark?" He grinned a slack eyed drunken grin, "How's a guy get himself one of those sweet black monster suits?"

"Stop trying to run away from your life." I told him, "Think about the ways you distract yourself from your problems. Consider if these are helping you, or if they are hurting you, Arthur."

"What? That…" Arthur shook his head to clear his poleaxed expression.

"Be mindful, and focus on the present." I put a hand on the man's shoulder, "Think about what you are doing right now, describe the environment around you, notice what you are feeling, actively listen to others when they speak to you, breathe and root yourself in the moment. These are the first steps."

"The first steps? The first steps to what?" Arthur asked in inebriated confusion.

I clapped his shoulder and smiled, "To be who you ought to be."

"Please, my Prince. We must leave." Mera interjected herself back into the moment.

"Listen lady, I don't know you and I don't care what kind of kink you have going on right now, but it's creeping me out." Arthur snapped at the woman.

"I prefer it when they call me Daddy, myself." I chuckled and gave the man a good natured elbow.

"My man." he laughed and sent me a high five.

It was fucking crisp.

"My Prince, please, you must come with me." Mera practically begged as she closed the distance between them.

"N…" I stopped Arthur's denial with a raised hand.

"Perhaps we should all go with you." I told them, surprise on both their faces, "Screech, initiate Atlantean Template for your host, then bind these men and follow."

"At once, All-Father!" the pair shouted and got to it.

"Lead the way, girl." I ordered the wary woman who positioned herself between Arthur and me.

"I cannot permit you passage to Atlantis." she denied while tensing for combat.

"What you permit and what will be are not the same thing." I said while looking down on the woman with long red hair running down her shoulders, "Now lead the way. I have a delivery for your Queen."

"Is it 'Dis Dick'?" Arthur crudely asked while wiggling his hips.

"Dude." I chided the man, "That's your mom we're talking about."

"Oh…" the man frowned and stopped his wiggling, "Oh, that's not right."

"Technically, you were." I laughed and slapped him on the back.