Batman grit his teeth as the beam impacted his chest, less out of any physical pain that it caused and more in anticipation of the effect that the beam would have. His momentum kept him moving forward for a few seconds, during that time he began to rapidly shrink in size with each step- losing inches, then feet, until he was only a paltry six inches in height. His widened eyes at the realization that he had been shrunk in such a short amount of time matched the Sizer's as he stared at the shrunken vigilante.
"Batman!" Robin cried out, startling the super-villain who quickly whirled around, aiming his stolen weapon at the sidekick. Robin dodged to the side as the Sizer fired his ray, causing it to hit a dumpster instead; he rolled under another beam, and leapt to avoid the weapon's changing arc as the Sizer moved to follow him. Meanwhile, Batman was dashing towards the side of the alleyway, trying to avoid the footfalls of the two giants.
Robin quickly aimed one of his signature R-shaped shurikens at the villain's hands, making the Sizer shout in surprise, dropping the weapon as he cradled the cut on his hand. However, instead of turning off the beam continued to fire for a few seconds, wildly thrashing about like a fire hose as it indiscriminately fired. Robin was struck by a beam, soon shrinking down in size like his mentor, as was the Sizer. A garbage can was struck as well, but the worst was yet to come as the beam hit an exposed water pipe on the side of one of the nearby buildings. The pipe burst as the water pressure became too much for it, send a pressurized stream over the small costumed figures, which rapidly washed them out of the alleyway and into the gutter.
Batman retrieved a rebreather on his belt just in time for the wave to hit, sending him sprawling as he tried to find something to hold onto. Grabbing onto a crack in the road, he summoned all his willpower and strength as he clung to the asphalt. Looking back, he saw both Robin- wearing his own rebreather- and the Sizer get swept away in the flood to locations unknown. Grimacing, he could only weather the tide and hope that his sidekick's training wouldn't fail him at his reduced height.
Once the water stopped, he quickly took off his rebreather and activated the communicator built into his mask, calling Barbara Gordon- the former Batgirl and current Oracle. "Oracle, this is Batman," he spoke, "Robin and I encountered the Sizer but were shrunk down in size. Robin and the Sizer were swept away by a stream of water; can you get a read on Robin's locator?"
"On it," Barbara replied. Bruce could hear tapping coming from the other end of the connection as Oracle brought up the relevant program. "That's odd... I don't see either of you. Hold on..." Another round of typing as Barbara looked for any problems on her end. "Sorry, I'm not seeing anything."
Batman shook his head. "Unfortunately, I think it's too dangerous for me to be running around at this height. Can you send Cassandra to pick me up and get Stephanie and your team to search for Robin? Hopefully he'll call you soon, but we might need to track down the Sizer anyways. Cassandra can take me to Dr. Palmer's lab in the meantime."
"Right. I'll call the girls and get everything in order. I'll call Dr. Palmer too."
"Thank you." Batman gave Oracle his location, then hung up. Using his grappling hook, he repelled out of the gutter and onto the sidewalk, quickly walking to the side of a building so as to stay out of the path of any late-night walkers. While he waited, he checked his gear to find that most of his electrical gadgets were completely useless, either due to being shrunken down or the water- or a combination of both. His suit had been spared, yet it seemed that some things, like his tracker, had been damaged anyways. Letting out a rare sigh, Batman began to lean against the wall.
---
Just a few blocks away, Robin was in a similar situation. Having narrowly avoided a sewage drain, he was now catching his breath on the sidewalk. He didn't know where the Sizer was- he had either been swept further away than he had, or had ended up in the sewer like Robin almost did. Either one meant that he was effectively out of reach of the Boy Wonder now.
Suddenly, his phone began to buzz. Quickly retrieving it from his utility belt, he was glad to see that it was a call from Oracle. Putting the phone to his ear, he gave a short "Hello?"
"T- Batman- shrunk, he's- away. Just stay- come find you."
"What? I'm sorry, you're not coming through clearly."
"Wh- Can't hear- so just fo- training. Stay safe, Robin." With that, Oracle ended the call. Robin folded his arms, letting out a huff of frustration as he looked around, kicking a miniscule piece of gravel away as he waited as Barbara had instructed.
---
Unbeknownst to either of the two crime-fighters, a third party had been watching their scuffle with Sizer. More specifically, Harley Quinn- her jester outfit barely concealed by a tan trench-coat- had heard the ruckus and decided to check things out. After frantically taking cover as the Sizer's weapon went out of control, she cautiously approached the discarded gun. Picking it up gingerly, she cautiously looked around before stowing it away underneath her coat, a small grin slowly widening on her face. "This is gonna be so much fun!" she sang, skipping down the alleyway before some other costumed person could take away her new prize.   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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