Chapter 39: Bat-Meeting (Part 5)

[Clock - 11:02 | 11:02 AM]

[Calendar - 07/03/2003]

[Location - Beastialis Kingdom - Old Gotham, Gotham City, New Jersey]

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Time Skip - 6 Days

Convincing the Werebats to move in was much easier than previously thought. After all, food, clean water, a good cavern, and safety went a long way! Robert Langston also joined, and with his expertise in biology and chemistry, Atlas spoke to both Pamela and Waylon (Atlas was still a little guarded about Lonnie, but Baytor has been gone for a while now- he was dealing with something -and he still isn't sure if he should give the kid a position of authority in the kingdom) and gave Robert a noble title, and alongside it, responsibilities and funding for the research Atlas wished him to complete: The [Awakening Serum] was something Atlas truly wished to have, and with Robbie working on it, Atlas also promised him a way to get the kids a human form.

Which is what he has been working on right now.

"And... there, try it?" Atlas smiled at the small (taller than him) bat kid as he slided the ring into the boy's thin finger. The boy was called Gary, he was 6 years old, and he was an adorable child! He was really excited when he arrived at the Croc Kingdom, but he did say everything was much brighter than he had gotten used to so Atlas reduced the brightness of the artificial sun above them to give this partial dim light that gave just the soft twilight look to the illuminated regions of cavern. The other twelve children that Robert found (He explained to him how due to him using his own Homo Beastialis Chiroptera- they decided to name the different kinds of Homo Beastialis based on the order of the species! So Robbie is a Homo Beastialis Chiroptera, and Waylon is a Homo Beastialis Crocodillia -genes, only the kids with Homo Beastialis Chiroptera changed) changed by his attempted cure were also here- they were all beneath the age of 16. Atlas also asked, politely, about their families.

Gary was thrown out of his home because his abusive father didn't want any "freaks" on his home. He was found by Robert in an alleyway when some people tried to take him so they could sell him, he was the first one that he met that was like him!

Minnie was... a different story, she is 15. She used to be a pretty much stuck up snob girl, everything in her life was set up for her to be successful, she had friends, family, and money- until her face started to morph into what it is now. Her fangs were bigger than the normal female Werebat (Robert theorized it was because of hormonal imbalance), and her family- well, they didn't throw her out at first. She was taken to many hospitals, and her family was milked of everything of worth. Not wanting to doom her family, she ran away in the middle of the night as a monster. It was quite dramatic, but it's been a year already, and she regrets what she did but knows she didn't want her family to go bankrupt because of her- seriously, the doctors were practically milking her family of everything it was worth! Her name was Michelle Miller, but Gary called her Minnie.

Aron was... well, he was a though kid, 14 years old. Grew up on the streets of Gotham like many homeless people, and he fought tooth and nail for what he had- he didn't really care about the appearance change, he was more excited about his newfound strength and abilities that he used to fight for more things to have- he was also the one who took care of his three younger siblings, who were attached to him. Literally, because that's how they move around, since the youngest was barely 1 year old!

Mal was Aron's older younger sister. She is 7. Her mother was a prostitute that Aron was living with, she wasn't Aron's mother but she had taken care of him for a long time... Mal was pretty though too, having grown on the streets of Gotham naturally changed her outlook on life, but Atlas gave her a pink little bow and she was calling him 'Uncle Jester' by the end of the hour. Nothing wrong with that, seeing as she liked pink things! Aron did face palm, though.

The middle child was Will, her was 5 years old. And all things considered, he was a pretty innocent child! He spoke really loudly, but that's just a Werebat thing, seeing as the young ones can't control their scream that well- all Werebats can scream so loud it can make someone momentarily deaf! Will was pretty shy, he hid behind his brother and would only play with Miss Girl Lady Woman, the fat black rat that all the kids seemed to love because of how adorable she was.

Penelope was 15 years old too, but she was kicked out of her home. Well, she was kicked out of her home days before she started to change- she actually thought the change was a punishment from God because she was a lesbian, and when Atlas heard that he laughed. He then had to explain to her that God did not give a flying, twisting, upside down fuck about who you fuck. He then said further "Our gods actively indulge and promote Sexuality!" And then he had to explain gods and the Beastialis religion- just because the six who were being worshipped were Egyptian gods, it doesn't mean their kingdom has their own way of worshipping them! Atlas explained to her that Hathor is worshipped in every act of femininity and sexuality, in every act of love and marriage, in every act of parties and desires, the gods are worshipped constantly through your day as long as you believe in them.

(And that's how Atlas was shaping the Beastialis Religion, to constantly flow faith to the six Guardian Gods of Beastialis! Atlas is nothing if not efficient)

Teles was a silent 14 year old kid- as in, he was mute. He couldn't communicate with ASL because his fingers were weirdly crooked because they were broken by someone (he didn't want to talk about it), so Atlas got him a [Ring of Telepathy] made. It wasn't really difficult to make, it was just costly. Atlas was pretty sure he was a genius though- He could read in five different languages, and he could also understand them! Spanish, German, English, French, and Portuguese too. Atlas used the [Materialize] function of his system and gave him a book called [The Lies, the Truths, and the Gays - Everything you need to know about Queer History through the Multiverse, by Emperor Cut Sleeve] and let him read it as he spoke to the others. Gotta teach kids history, so they don't grow stupid.

Kid was next- That's his name, Kid. He was the youngest one there, being not even 1 year old yet! He was like a small, fluffy little bat boy. He was fluffier than others mostly because it seemed he was a different species of bat than the others, his fluff was kinda white to a lighter shade of gray. He loved to hang onto the back of his older brother, and Atlas also was able to see that he besides the obvious minor malnourishment, he was completely and perfectly healthy.

Dan was next and, well, the best way to describe them was a poor child that was abused by his family. He was only 8 years old, and his face was disfigured. Atlas looked over it to see it had scarred over and he'd need a little bit of time to properly heal him (if he rushes the process, there might be unseen consequences) but he told the boy to bathe on the waters of the Healer's Bath House and he'd be fine after a while! He was completely blind in one eye and he had a nasty scar on his face, and Atlas wanted to murder whoever did this to a poor child. Dan kept most of the time to himself, but he was friendly to the crocodiles, he liked reptiles it seems.

Cassandra is the oldest child that was found by Robert. She is 15 yes, but her birthday to 16 is getting closer and closer- in just a week or so? She was not kicked out of her house, instead her parents were very supportive of her changes and wanted to help her, which was why they wanted to find a cure for her... Well, she wouldn't disclose the details, but her family was scammed, and now their house was no more. She didn't exactly explain, but now her family is homeless and they were trying to get out of Gotham before she got separated from them 2 months ago. Atlas simply asked if she wanted help on finding them, and when she cried and hugged him, he had to think about a few things...

Jessie was the stick that broke the camel's back. She was 2 years old, and the moment she climbed on his back (he had landed to take a look at Will's injuries), she refused to get off and would cry if someone tried to get her off. She was the metaphorical stick that broke the metaphorical camel's back because all her crying got Waylon's attention, and he came back when Atlas was holding her in his arms and trying to comfort her as she held onto him.

And you know what he said!?

"...huh, you'd make a good mother." The smug smile and the consideration in his eyes made Atlas weak at the knees- at his non-existent fucking knees! (He should really make himself new legs)

Atlas had to contain himself- you know how embarrassed he was at that moment!? Thankfully Waylon left to do his king duties, which were to spend time with his people and help around. They were still a budding nation, so it would take a while before they got any heavy work, so he could relax for a little while.

The last child but certainly not least, was actually not a Werebat at all. Like the Werebats had once done for him, Robert found a lost child and decided to take care of him... He refused to speak much, but everyone referred to his as Jay. Jay was a quiet kid until you povoked him, and even at 7 years old he was an angry boy! Atlas could see the signs of abuse, so he did what every adult should do- he helped the boy. Being patient, being kind, but also being somewhat authoritarian. Jay didn't speak much at first, but every once in a while, Atlas would get a few words out of him like "...okay" or "fine".

But hey, progress!

"Okay, I'll try it..." The shy response he got from Aron was adorable! He clearly didn't want to ignore the adorable crush the kid had on him (even though he could not understand it, what is there to like about him?) but he also didn't want to let it grow. He thought that maybe the boy would've noticed how he's unavailable... Is he? Oh fuck, he doesn't want to have a crisis over the nature of his relationship with Waylon right now! "...did anything change?"

"Hum... Well, you look like a kid still." Ruffing the hair on the boy's head, Atlas considered the new item a huge success: "A [Ring of Human Form] successfully created." He truly loves Transmutation magic! He flew and looked down at the children Robert deposited on him, and smiled at them: "Well, everyone- Time for a bath, c'mon, to the Healer's Bath House."

Before you say anything- Atlas reworked it. He, at first, wanted to make it an inclusive and open space, but then he realized it might not be very... good for children? Not that anything sexual would go down there (that's against the rules) but he wanted them to have their own fun too!

So he turned the second floor into a mini water park.

...what? The kids like it.

And so do the crocodiles. In fact, he has watched the Guardian of Children - Sobekneferu, go down the water slide with several of her children.