Moonlight over Gotham
A Batman/Moonstone Fan-fiction

 Axel grumbled to himself, "It's too cold to be fixing problems right now."
Snow was starting to stick in his spiky, brown hair. He stuck his hands in
his jacket and looked around. He looked fairly ordinary, even if his pants
were a touch too tight. He was looking out into a busy street at night. It
was definitely not a good neighborhood. Several ladies of the night were
standing near the street, watching what they considered to be fine
entertainment.
A crash resounded from a bar across the road. Another crash was heard, and
then a huge burly figure burst through the window, landing lightly. He was
wearing a black tank top, and a black and white full skull mask. Black
combat paints and combat boots. He spun around, and blocked a kick to his
face with his right arm. "Not bad kid. You're almost as good as the bid 'A'.
Talk more than the guy with the pointy cowl, though." He growled, launching
himself in a complex one, two punch.
His opponent blocked his shots casually, and then went for a foot sweep. He
was wearing a mostly black body suit, and a modified domino mask. Gold
metallic belts finished off the outfit. "Now you sound just like Batman,
always complaining about me talking too much." He paused to dodge a couple
of punches, and threw his opponent with a judo throw. "By and by, who's this
'Big A' person, Cross-skull? Hero? Villain? Vengeful spirit? I like to know
who's who, and what's what. And sometimes even, when's when!" Nightwing
quipped, purposefully messing up his opponents name as he did a quick dodge
to the side.
"Captain America? You never heard of him? He's the boy scout in charge of
the Avengers." Crossbones replied. He slipped out a few daggers and tossed
them at figure.
"Whoa!" Nightwing yelped as he ducked the daggers, and then caught a foot in
his stomach. Nightwing rolled backwards, and then bounced to his feet. In
each of his hands, he held two disks. With a quick toss, he threw them in
such a pattern that one of them would hit his target.
Electricity sparked, and stunned Crossbones for just a moment. Nightwing was
there and pounded him in several vitals. He finished off his opponent with a
huge crescent kick to his face. "Whew, good workout. This guy is really
good." Nightwing said, as he struggled to get his breath.
Axel took that as his cue, and stepped up. "Um, excuse me, uh, Nightwing.
This guy is in the wrong universe, and I need to return him to where he's
from." Axel said hesitantly.
"Your kidding right? What are you, some sort of inter-dimensional janitor?"
Nightwing said incredulously. He slapped his forehead in consternation.
"Um, yeah, basically. Don't worry, he won't even remember you unless you
meet again. Which isn't too likely." Axel conveniently ignored to tell the
hapless hero that he wouldn't remember Crossbones either.
"So, where have you guys been fighting? I can't even leave any daggers and
odd things like that laying around with anomalous energies. It causes more
crossovers." Axel said slowly.
Nightwing snickered. "It'd be easier to ask, 'where haven't we fought'. The
docks, downtown, and of course this district. So roughly four miles or so."
Nightwing said with a grin.
Axel groaned. He'd have to play a little fast and loose. He'd try to absorb
all of the ambient dimensional energies. First, double check to make sure
there aren't any more 'Marvels' around. He closed his eyes, sending out
unearthly senses. Nothing. It was safe to continue.
He raised his hands, and glowing energy sprang up and returned the wayward
villain.
-
Across town a light flashed brilliantly, signaling the arrival of another
Marvel above the roofs of an apartment building. Moonstone struggled to
control her flight after just appearing in the middle of a city, turning at
just the last moment. Her opponent was not so lucky. His body armor absorbed
most of the damage, but left him stunned after he struck a wall.
"Well, well, well. I guess that took the fight right out of him." Moonstone
said, floating in the air. She reached down, and grabbed the thug with her
left hand. With her right hand, she blasted his jet pack.
"Hey, Moon-chick, eat hot energy!" The thug in the battle armor said, just
before unloading all of the energy in his plasma rifle into her face.
Moonstone screamed in agony clutching her face and dropping the thug. She
crumpled to the ground, struggling to stand back up. He stared at her for
just a second, and then glanced down at his empty rifle. The only thought
going through his head was, that shot would have blasted a hole in a tank. A
very big tank.
He decided to take the initiative (and the better part of valor), and ran to
the edge of the roof. A quick hop, and he was skidding down the fire escape,
and reaching for his emergency camouflage poncho. By the time he hit the
ground he was nearly invisible. A moment later, he was another shadow in the
alley.
Moonstone flew into the alley, a snarl on her delicate features. She hated
to be made a fool of. Anger seethed within her. Glancing around, she flew
higher, trying to find her opponent.
-
Axel, better known to super heroes as Access, raised his glowing hands. An
aura grew around him, slowing expanding towards the riverside. It flashed
for just a moment more, and then disappeared. With a wave at Nightwing, he
stepped into a shimmering portal. The portal disappeared in a moment.
Nightwing just shrugged, and then started to walk into the nearest alley. By
the time he got to the roof top, he had already forgotten his fight. So you
could imagine his confusion when he got to the Batcave, and couldn't quite
remember how he had collected such a large collection of bruises.
-
High above the city, a figure scowled. Something was happening in his city
that he didn't understand. Some people would have laughed at such a
ridiculous, baseless assumption. But he was one of the best detectives that
had been born. You listened to your hunches, understood that sometimes you
had to follow your instincts. Those instincts were screaming that something
had arrived, and was going to disrupt the delicate balance that held sway
over Gotham.
Something that Batman would have to deal with. And with that he leaped into
the air, hundreds of feat above the street. He calmly waited for the right
moment, and then threw a line at one of the cornices. He swung out over the
city. His cape billowed behind him, most of his features hidden in the
darkness. Still, he was unmistakable. The dark knight hunted the dark.
-
"Gone. I can't believe it." Moonstone mumbled to herself. Her minutes of
searching had revealed nothing of the high tech warrior. He was one the
Imperial Forces of America. Just another band of would be world beaters in
her book. Just another sign that America was going to pot. Fast.
But they were using innocents, transforming them into superhuman soldiers.
Much like her fellow team mate Charcoal. He was a powerful fighter, but he
was just a kid. A kid that was almost brain washed into helping take over
the U.S. That's where the Thunderbolts came in. They'd decided that the
Imperial Forces of America needed to be taken down. And that led to the
fight with them. But something had gone wrong. Moonstone was definitely
lost.
Where was she? It looked to be a major city, bigger than anything in
Colorado. It really didn't look like the west coast to her. And she didn't
recognize anything to make it stand out. Which was odd, because the city had
some striking, gothic statues. Definitely enough to make it stick out a bit.
Moonstone zipped down to the street level, heading for a booth that sold
newspapers and magazines. She started to glow a little bit, just to give him
some warning. The vendor gaped, staring openly.
"Excuse me, could you tell me what city I'm in? I seem to have lost my way."
Moonstone asked in her 'sexy' voice. It usually got results and fairly fast
too.
The man didn't respond for a second. He'd never seen this meta-human before.
He was sure that he would have remembered one as foxy as her. "Yer in
Gotham, ma'am. Are you ah new super-heroine?"
Moonstone froze for just a moment. This wasn't quite the response she was
expecting. "Could you tell me where Gotham is? It doesn't sound familiar."
She smiled again, hiding her trepidation. The Thunderbolts were amazingly
infamous. After all, they had almost succeeded in taking over the world, the
only thing that had stopped them was themselves. It had resulted in the
Thunderbolts being actively hunted by all of the governments of the Earth
for 'crimes against humanity.' Even if half the team had renegaded against
Baron Zemo, and destroyed his one chance to take over the world with the
bio-modem.
"We're on da east coast, ma'am. Just south of Metropolis about forty miles."
He bobbed a bit, smiling widely. She sure was pretty, wearing a skin tight
metallic outfit in gold and dark red. A sculpted gold helmet covered her
upper face, letting her blonde hair free. It didn't hurt that she had a
figure that most super-models would kill for.
"Um, Metropolis? I'm afraid that doesn't sound familiar either." Moonstone
frowned. This wasn't looking good.
"Metropolis? Dat's the home of Superman, the biggest and bestest super-hero
of da world." The guy beamed. Everyone knew of Superman.
"Oh boy. I think I'm really lost. Could you tell me the year? And if a group
of superheroes known as The Avengers exist? Or ever existed?" Moonstone
asked with another smile. After all, the man was being so helpful. And
hadn't started to scream for the cops.
They were interrupted by sounds of gunfire just a few hundred feet away.
Moonstone spun around, and spotted the disturbance. It looked like some sort
of convenience store robbery. Without thinking, she flew at the disturbance.
With practiced moves, she smashed in the front window, bars and all.
The scene that greeted her was one found all too common in this day and age.
A young man clutched his chest as he slumped up against the wall behind the
cash register. A young oriental girl was screaming as one of the robbers put
a gun to her head. And then all heads turned towards the front window, which
didn't exist anymore.
Perfect! Moonstone smiled for just a single moment, and then unleashed a
small fraction of her power. Blinding light encompassed the room, stunning
everyone for a minute.
A minute was all she was needed. More than long enough. Gunfire spattered at
her as streaked forward. A single punch knocked one out. The second was
flung at a wall, and bounced hard. The last one managed to actually shoot
her once, following her by sound alone. A futile effort, as the shot
ricocheted into the ceiling.
And then the gun didn't move. Through the spots in his eyes, he saw his gun
hand (and gun) in her hand. His eyes bulged as he realized she was crushing
the gun in his hand. "I'd suggest you let go, unless you want to have a
broken hand too." Moonstone said casually, continuing to crush the gun. He
let go as fast as possible, and started to run for the door. He had made it
about twenty feet when he was struck in the back with an energy bolt that
flung him into the side of a car. He slumped into unconsciousness.
Moonstone smiled as she felt the rush of a job well done. Her attention was
jerked back to reality by the young girl screaming something in Chinese. She
was hugging the wounded clerk desperately, babbling hysterically in Chinese.
Moonstone kneeled next the clerk, and quickly did a field medic type check.
He wasn't likely to die, if he received immediate medical help. "He'll be
fine, just wait for the ambulance. Once there here, he'll be fine."
Moonstone said as soothingly as possible.
"You no understand. Anton is babies father. Need Anton to help raise my
baby. He no die. Not die." The young girl started to blubber, holding the
young man close. She looked like he was going into shock.
The world seemed to focus in on the girl in Moonstones eyes. Everything else
became less important. As in the past, Moonstone started to act, almost
without thinking. "Where is the closest hospital? Tell me NOW!" Moonstone
demanded.
Shan looked on in terror. The pretty lady was glowing, and seemed to be
angry. Moonstone reached down, and picked up the wounded man and headed for
the door. Shan finally understood what she had asked. "Shan know. Hospital
only small blocks away. Shan lead you there." Shan stood up, tears in her
eyes. The pretty lady wanted to help Shan and Anton.
Moonstone stepped out into the street, and looked over at the scared young
girl. Shan pointed in a direction, and started to walk as fast as possible.
Moonstone shook her head, and then leaped into the air. Snow swirled in
behind her as she streaked in the direction. From the air, a lot of
buildings look similar. Especially in a big city. Luckily, most hospitals
had helicopter pads. She managed to spot it quickly.
Moonstone flew into the emergency room, and yelled out, "I've a gun shot
victim here. He needs immediate help!" One of the orderlies pointed towards
a gurney, and yelled for a nurse. Moonstone put Anton on the gurney and then
stepped back to let the medics in to help save his life.
Moonstone stepped back, and sat down suddenly. She really wasn't unused to
fights, and even death, but she was losing control. More and more, she was
acting totally driven. It was almost as if another person was in her, and
trying to get out. A warrior who had different morals. She wasn't a nice
person. She liked to manipulate people, make them do what she wanted. She
wasn't brave, she would flee a battle if it looked like it would go badly
for her. Or even her side.
But lately, she didn't. Or wouldn't. And it was scaring her. Always
afterwards, when she thought about it, she would realize that she was
becoming someone else. Or maybe something else. And she was sure that it
dealt with the dreams that came more and more regularly.
Moonstone realized with a start that she was staring at her fingers on her
left hand. Almost unnoticeable, blood from young man named Anton covered her
palms .
A cold realization struck her. When would it be her blood spilling out onto
the ground? She heard the shriek of someone screaming. It took her a moment
to realize that it was herself. Moonstone ran for the exit, knocking over a
couple of people on her way the  door. She smashed it open, spraying the
glass and steel of the sliding door across the road. She took to the air to
try and clear her head. She stopped screaming after just a few minutes.
What was wrong with her?
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