Chapter Text
In a cave somewhere near Gotham there was a man, a man whose beard reached the ground and whose body was so old and frail that at first glance one would think he was but a skeleton. Besides him lied a dead body strapped to a table.
A woman came from deep within the cave with a potion on her hand. She had also been alive for far too long if the number of wrinkles on her face was any indication. The witch, whose long dark blue coat made her look more like a shadow than a person in the cave’s dim lighting, forced the potion down the throat of her test subject.
“It better work this time Beldame.” The old man growled
“Don’t worry Trygg I have spent many years honing the craft of magic. My attempts will prove fruitful sooner rather than later.”
The corpse briefly spasmed before stopping, seemingly as dead as it was moments before.
Beldame could feel Trygg glaring at her.
Suddenly, the newly created undead awoke and began struggling against its restraints, intent on killing both Beldame and Trygg. Not to avenge itself or anything, the zombie wasn’t sentient enough for that. All the pitiful monster knew was that it was in pain and that these strange creatures in front of it were the closest outlet for that pain.
“Cease your fighting, servant!” Beldame ordered.
The zombie obeyed its master’s command, immediately falling limp on the table it was strapped against.
“You shall listen to mine and Trygg’s every command! Understand?” she barked.
The monster nodded.
“Stand up!” Trygg shouted, testing out his control over the zombie.
The zombie stood up, just as Trygg had told it to.
“It appears that all our hard work has paid off. All that remains now is for us to amass an army of those things and together, my dear, we shall rule the world!” The frail master proclaimed.
But before the terrible duo could finish their mini-celebration they heard footsteps approaching them. Fearful of who it might be they quickly gathered what they needed and fled the scene, leaving their first “servant” behind to be discovered by a certain bat.
I
Detective Shayera Hol was sitting on her desk, she was supposed to be pouring over some case files but right now she was lost in thought. It was only a few months ago when she had decided to become a superhero to earn the trust of the earth’s people. And yet, the ruse had worked spectacularly thus far. She had to admit, it was a little scary how quickly humans took to Hawkgirl. They really ought to be more wary of aliens if Darkseid’s invasion was as bad as she was told.
She then thinks back to her home world of Thanagar and how much she’d give just to visit, if only for the chance to take that back bag shaped contraption hiding her wings. But she does not dwell on these feelings, she knows that her mission is of upmost importance.
Suddenly, a human came into Shayera’s office and snapped her out of her trance.
“Hello Ms. Shiera, we have another case for you,” reported a cop.
“What’s it about?” Shayera responded.
“One Hillary J. Bawder filed a report claiming that her grandma’s corpse is missing from its grave.”
“Another grave robbery?!”
“It seems so.”
“I swear no body’s buried in Midway’s cemeteries anymore! They’ve all been dug up!”
“It’s not just Midway either a lot of our neighboring cities have also been experiencing this problem. And nobody seems to have found out who the culprit is. Have you, by chance, made any progress on that front?”
“I’ve linked the situation to another string of grave robberies in Gotham a few months back, but its perpetrators weren’t caught either. I’ll have to look into it more.”
“Well, good luck.” The police man wished as he waved his hand.
“Goodbye” said Shayera.
II
Hawkgirl was flying over Midway city doing what other heroes call “patrolling”. You basically fly and/or swing over the city you have chosen to protect and keep an eye out for threats. It’s not too different from the kind of patrolling she did back home actually.
However, her flight was cut off by the feeling that she was being watched.
“Who’s there!? I have a mace and I’m not afraid to use it!” she bellowed out
A shadow moved from atop one of the roofs. “You are being arrested on suspicion of multiple accounts of desecration of a human corpse and assistance in a conspiracy. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you.” It said, making an effort to sound as clear as possible.
“But I did nothing wrong!” Hawkgirl exclaimed, raising her mace.
“It will be much easier for the both of us if you come without a fight.”
Hawkgirl was not content with that answer. She swung her mace at the shadow, but it dodged out of the way, revealing itself to be Batman in the process. Batman pulled out a tranquilizer and charged at his adversary, but she managed to catch his hand. Hawkgirl took this opportunity to get a better grip on him and then flew high into the sky.
“Put that thing back where it came from or we’re both gonna drop,” she stated.
Batman did as was requested of him and put the syringe back in his utility belt. Hawkgirl lowered both of them back to the rooftop they were fighting in. However, right before Hawkgirl had put Batman down she was struck by his tranquilizer shot and was rendered unconscious before she could react.
III
When Hawkgirl woke up she was half-surprised she was put into the back seat instead of thrown into the trunk like some kind of hostage. Unfortunately, while Batman might have been kind enough to not toss her into his car’s luggage compartment, he wasn’t kind enough to leave her unchained. Her hands were handcuffed behind her back and her wings were tied together with some kind of cloth.
“Let me go! You know I’m innocent!” Hawkgirl yelled.
Batman looked back at her for a moment “Evidence suggest that you are a co-conspirator of Trygg the sorcerer and Beldame the witch. You are being driven to the police station where you will be held until your claims of innocence are confirmed to be either true or false,” he stated matter-of-factly.
“I haven’t done anything wrong! I can prove it you just have to let me go!”
Batman took a moment to think about this. Normally he’d just drive her to the MCPD and be done with it but he has a feeling that she’s right. “Fine,” he let out “But I’m never letting you out of my sight until this is done,” he continued.
“I can work with that,” Hawkgirl replied.