Love Hina Fan Fiction / Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction / Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 Fan Fiction ❯ Bat Tales ❯ Birthday Part 1 ( Chapter 6 )

Yes, I know I owe you guys a chapter. Here it is, then.

---

Shinji trusted his instincts. Like his body and mind, he’d honed his natural feelings into almost a kind of sixth sense about the world around him. It had saved his life on many an occasion as Batman.

And right now, he was getting a vibe while sitting in the uncomfortable chair in Dr. Akagi’s office that he should prepare for the fight of his life, with the way the blonde doctor was eying him across the desk.

“Shinji,” she began. “I’m going to skip the bull and get right to the point, all right?” Shinji nodded slightly. Ritsuko took a deep breath.

“I know… It’s you. I know what you’ve been doing. And… I want it to stop.” Ritsuko flushed slightly. “It’s… Very flattering… In a strange way… And I know that, you, being you… Have certain… Needs, shall we say?” Shinji blinked awkwardly. Not having as much experience reading women as reading men, he decided to assume the worst.

“I see…” Shinji stood up, and assumed the posture he took when he became Batman. Ritsuko kept her eyes locked with his.

“How did you figure it out?”

“It… Wasn’t hard,” Ritsuko shrugged. “When you and Misato and the others have been over at my place… Well…”

“Ah,” Shinji nodded. He assumed she’d noticed him when he’d gone off to stop a bank heist the TV had reported over dinner. He’d thought someone had been watching him change, but he hadn’t been sure. Now he was.

“I know… What I do seems strange… Even foolhardy, sometimes,” Shinji began, mindful of the surveillance on this particular room. “I know it could badly affect our relationship and do a lot of harm if it came out.”

Ritsuko nodded, also feeling a bit confused. Are we talking about the same thing here?

“But… It’s something I have to do. I made a promise, and I chose to keep it. My choice.” Shinji sighed. “It’s a heavy burden. It’s a tough responsibility. And I know every time I do it I might not make it back home the next day.” Shinji’s eyes narrowed in determination.

“But, I have to do it. To redeem myself, in my eyes, if no one else’s.”

Ritsuko stared at Shinji blankly. Shinji stayed silent.

“… Well… That’s… An interesting… Way to describe… Stealing my panties,” she trailed off, red faced. Shinji’s face turned scarlet.

Oh. THAT’S what she was talking about… Oh great.

“Er… I… Um…” I am Batman. Batman DOES NOT get tongue tied!

Then what are you now? A sardonic voice in the back of his head teased.

“What did you think I was talking about?” Ritsuko asked, blinking quizzically. Shinji smiled sheepishly.

“Er… I thought you.. Might have thought that… I was… Batman?” He offered pathetically. Ritsuko stared at him for a moment… Before she began to chuckle. The chuckle became a laugh. The laugh grew into an all-out guffaw.

“AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” She finally settled into some giggles as she sought to keep herself calm.

“Ah… Sorry, Shinji… It’s just… I haven’t laughed so hard in ages,” the blonde confessed, smiling at him. “Thank you.” She got up, circled the desk, and kissed Shinji on the cheek, before she turned and headed out the door. Shinji stood there, looking shocked.

“… Um… Sure…”

---

Touji Suzuhara whistled a cheerful tune as he walked down the hospital corridor. His sister’s condition was looking better every day, and soon she’d be able to start her physical therapy towards walking again, just in time for her birthday. Not to mention that Hikari had finally agreed to go out with him, and that Kensuke’s recording of Batman saving them had made them both rich.

“It’s a frigging beautiful day,” he grinned, as he reached his sister’s room.

At that moment, however, he was violently shoved aside and to the floor. He hit with an “oof!”, and turned his head to look balefully at whoever had knocked him over.

“Hey pal, watch where you’re going!” The man was dressed like a doctor… With white skin, green hair, and red lips twisted in a maniacal smile. He looked down at Touji with a leer.

“Oh, sorry dear boy. Let me give you something for the pain, shall we?” He produced an oversized mallet, which he used to whack! the athlete cold with. Laughing manically, the clown doctor entered Mari Suzuhara’s room, a few additional men and women dressed as clown nurses following. A few moments later, a delighted Mari Suzuhara was being wheeled out of the hospital room in a festive wheelchair, being pushed by a grinning, laughing Joker (or ‘Dr. Laffo’ as his nametag read). The rest of the circus entourage followed, carrying balloon animals and other clown paraphernalia. The nurses and patients in the corridor watched, smiling as Dr. Laffo and his gang threw confetti, blew party horns, and made a gay spectacle of themselves.

“HAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA! So, Mari my dear! What would you like for your extra special birthday surprise, hm?”

“Oh! I’ve always wanted to see NERV… Oh! And Batman! Batman saved me!” The little girl said excitedly. The Joker laughed manically.

“Why of course, my dear! Anything for you! If you want to go to NERV, and meet Batman, you will! And so will I! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!”

---

Shinji smiled slightly as he carried the brightly-wrapped package in his hands. He was looking forward to giving Mari her birthday present, and actually seeing her. She had such life and brilliance in her, that warmed his heart whenever he saw her. She called him her hero.

Well, technically, Batman had saved her from the collapsing building. And Shinji Ikari had gotten her injured in his first battle against the Angels. But she adored both of his identities.

Even if I didn’t get into this gig for gratitude… It’s nice to get it every now and then. He considered, smiling. He started across the crosswalk, less than one block from the hospital, before a loud siren drew his eyes to the right.

An ambulance with a clown face attached barreled toward him, lights and klaxons blaring. Acting entirely on instinct, he leaped up, landed on the hood of the vehicle, and leapt again onto the top of the ambulance. He tumbled before landing behind the vehicle in a judo crouch, the present dangling from his teeth.

“Woah!” Shouted an onlooker, whom Shinji ignored. He watched the ambulance recklessly scream away. He frowned, then shrugged.

The politely stop the joyriders, he thought simply. Right now, I’ve got a package to deliver.

A small voice in the back of his head whispered that something was definitely wrong about that ambulance and that he’d better pay attention, but he ignored it. No Batman today. This was Mari’s day. Batman would just have to wait.

---

The tiny voice in the back of his head was now screaming, as he found Touji being wheeled away on a gurney, an oxygen mask over his face as anxious doctors and nurses pushed him towards the ER.

“Doctor! Doctor! What’s going on?!” Shinji shouted, shuffling in and running alongside Touji’s gurney. The prostrate athlete’s eyes widened at his face, and he struggled to say something through the mask.

“Sorry son, he’s got a ruptured diaphragm, we need to operate now,” one of the doctors exclaimed, trying to push Shinji away. Touji’s long arm shot out and grabbed him by the collar, as his other hand pulled off his mask.

“He’s… Got… Mari,” he gasped. “He’s got her… Stop…” The mask was forced back on, against Touji’s weakening resistance, as he finally let go of Shinji and left him standing outside the swinging-closed OR doors. The young man stared after his friend, before turning, adopting the determined gait of another man.

He’d reached the lobby when the news broadcast on the TV was interrupted by a hideous, grinning face.

“HELLO, Tokyo-3! Uncle Joker here! Today’s a special day, for all of you, and Mari Suzuhara here!” Cackled the mad clown.

Shinji’s eyes widened. Joker was standing in the Commander’s office of NERV. His father was nowhere to be found. In fact the whole office looked as though his father had never existed-It was brightly decorated with streamers, balloons, and grinning clowns. Mari Suzuhara was seated in his father’s seat, a large birthday cake before her smiling face.

“So, Mari dear, what would you like for your special day, more than anything?” Joker pressed, his grin widening. Mari smiled innocently.

“I would like, more than anything… To see Batman so I can thank him for saving me!” Mari enthused. Joker gasped theatrically.

“Well then, we’ll just have to get Batman here for you! I’m sure you’re watching, Batman, so here’s what you do. You come here to NERV, and join us in our lovely party, or…” The Joker cocked a thumb at the clock imbedded in the cake itself. A number of wires were connected to the clock from the large, red candles.

“You’ll miss the best surprise of all! HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAA! Hurry up, Batman! You wouldn’t want to disappoint us, would you?”

“Man, that clown’s one sick bastard,” muttered one of the doctors in the waiting area, “huh kid-Kid?”

Outside, the Batman stood on the sidewalk, holding out a remote control. A few moments later, the sleek, powerful Batmobile screeched to a halt in front of him. He jumped into the cockpit and roared off, the powerful turbofan engine of the vigilante vehicle roaring to life as he sped for NERV.

---

Cliffhanger! MWAHAHAHAHA! R&R! Or you’ll never see another chapter again!