by Clay Arceneaux

3:56 AM.
The number glowed up at the Batman from his dashboard. It had been a quiet night, especially for a Gotham Halloween. It had been a quiet couple of nights, for that matter. Nothing more serious than street crime and a little standard B&E most of this week. Batman hated to admit it, but he was a little disappointed. There were at least 7 of his usual rogues at large at the moment, but they had been lying low. Somebody usually tries something on Halloween. This year... nothing.

He tapped the screen on his console, scrolling through the police reports. Robin had wrapped up the minor gang scuffle an hour ago. Huntress had been decently busy on the east side. She hadn't hospitalized anyone either, always a good thing. No, nothing currently being reported. Batman clicked through a few more screens, until he came to the one that showed his and Robin's GPS positions. Looked like Tim was about 5 minutes from the Cave.

"Probably not a bad idea." Batman sighed heavily as he too began to make his way toward home.

The Batmobile was just leaving the city when an alarm sounded.

"911 call received at 4:18 AM." The computer related. "Beginning playback."

"Help! Help us!" It sounded like a young woman screaming into a cell phone. "It's huge... came out of the woods..." And then the call broke down into unintelligible screaming.

"The call signal has been traced." The computer continued. "Location: Kane Kampground. Course plotted. At top speed we will be there in 7 minutes."

"Right outside of Slaughter Swamp. Great." Batman growled as the Batmobile now sped to the rescue. "Grundy."

"Note- Gotham County Sheriff's unit 14 has beeen dispatched and will intercept target area before we can arrive."

"Batman, Robin." Robin's voice came across the radio. "Just got the alert. I can gear back up and catch up with you, but Slaughter Swamp's the other side of town from the Manor. It'll be a half hour before I can get there unless you want me to take the Batwing."

"No. By the time that thing warms up and is flight-ready you won't have saved that much time. Come when you can. I've stopped Grundy solo before. Depending on which one this, I might be able to do it again. Assuming that's even who it is. Alert the Watchtower just in case."

"Will do. On my way. Robin Out."

A tense 7 minutes later the Batmobile pulled onto the gravel driveway of the Kane Kampground. Disengaging the headlights, the windshield switched to a full IR* mode that allowed Batman to still see everything. Now if he could just do something about the popping gravel sound, he'd be good to go.

(* IR- Infrared)

"Engage auto drive, ahead slow. Locate the Sheriff's deputies' car and head in that direction." Batman scanned the nearly deserted campground. "Engage external parabolic audio. Engage thermal imaging."

The view from windshield became a shifting blob of greens and blues. There, to his right, was the red/orange glow of the patrol car, and the deep orange of a dying campfire. Batman could hear them now, too, muffled crying and heavy steps, with the two deputies whispering to each other as they followed. On the ground near the campfire the thermal picked up the heat signature of a human. Batman pressed a few commands and the Batmobile's sensor suite confirmed the man was still alive. A young man, mid-twenties at most, unconscious, fractured collar bone, broken arm, several broken ribs, and no sign of major internal bleeding. As the auto-drive continued on, Batman swung his scans to the direction he heard the noises. There he saw several bright colored blobs that indicated human figures. Closest to him was a second young man, no minor injuries, leaning against a tree. Twenty yards past him were the two deputies, each carrying a shot gun, slowly working their way through the trees. A good 70 yards past them, Batman zoomed in on the last group of blobs. Two women, too far away for a medical scan but certainly alive, each slung over the shoulders of a large greenish yellow humanoid. He switched back to IR view.

It was Solomon Grundy, alright.

"Transmit our location and situation to Robin and the League. Crosscheck Grundy's dimensions with his last known encounter, we could be dealing with a recent resurrection. And patch me in to those officers' radios." Batman steered the car toward the edge of the forest where Grundy went in. "Officers. This is Batman. That's Solomon Grundy ahead of you and he has the women with him. You're not equipped for this. The League's been alerted. Fall back to the campsite and I will get those women clear."

And with that, the roof of the Batmobile slid open, Batman fired his grapple into the trees and zipped into the night air. As he swung through the trees, Batman was pleased to see the deputies falling back as he'd asked. He continued on until he landed in a tree just a little ahead of the lumbering swamp creature. Batman could hear the women crying softly. The HUD in his cowl flashed the results of his search - Grundy was physically different. A little bigger, actually.

"Solomon." Batman called.

Grundy turned back and forth trying to see who called him. The girl on his right shoulder cried out, but Grundy's growl quieted her.

"Who's there?" The swamp zombie snarled. "Whadda you want?"

"I want you to put the women down."

"Grundy not think so. The pretties keep Grundy company."

"They don't want to go with you, Grundy." At least now he has an idea of how smart Grundy was this time. "Put the pretties down. We can talk about this."

"Solomon Grundy knows you, Pointy-Ears." Grundy straightened his back and cracked his neck. "You not talk, you hit."

The women were struggling hard now. Batman could tell Grundy was trying not to hurt them, but was getting very frustrated. When Grundy lifted his left arm a bit to try and get a better grip on his wiggling captive, Batman fired a line at that lifted arm. When the cable wrapped around Grundy's wrist, Batman flipped down to the ground, holding the other end of the line, adding his weight to the pulling effort. It was just enough, as a surprised Solomon watched as one of his "pretties" dropped to the ground and scrabbled away from him as fast as she could. For his part Batman let go of his end of the rope before Grundy snatched it back.

"You want pretty, Pointy-Ears?" Solomon shouted to the night. He lifted the remaining woman over his head and threw her. "Catch."

Again Batman's grapple fired, and pulling the Dark Knight into the air, he swung over to catch the screaming victim. He was successful enough, but as they landed safely on the ground Batman realized Grundy had thrown her at nothing like his full strength, even at his weakest. Under the woman's screams, Batman heard the rapid pounding of Grundy's approaching footfalls. The supposedly dim giant couldn't see the black clad hero well in the dark forest, but he could certainly hear his victim's screams. Clutching the girl tightly, the Batman rolled right, barely avoiding a pair of crushing white fists. The woman screamed even louder as Batman carried her out of the reach of Grundy's wide sweeping arms. The Caped Crusader flung some capsules from his belt into the giant's face, where they exploded into a small cloud of pepper smoke. Solomon Grundy roared and stumbled backward, the stinging smoke burning the swamp zombie's eyes and throat. Batman clamped his hand over the woman's mouth and tried to calm her down, but she was too hysterical.

"A panicked victim, a smarter and bigger than average Grundy, in the woods, in the dead of night." Batman sighed to himself. "Wish this was a job for Superman." The sharp crack of breaking wood focused the Bat's attention. "And now we're bringing the trees down. Perfect."

Again Batman carried his frightened charge clear of Grundy's attack. Removing his hand from the woman's mouth, he cast a swing line back up into the trees and swung back toward the campsite, trying to put distance between them and the raging monster. Batman tried to calm the girl as the whipped through the trees. About 20 yards from the edge of the forest, the pair came to a stop. She was still shaking and crying, but the woman had recovered enough of her wits to run in the direction of the headlights when Batman growled "Go! Now!"

The rolling thunder of Grundy's footfalls grew ever louder. Batman charged back into the forest to face the pale giant. Like a tornado, Grundy sent trees flying before him as he raged. Dodging the falling timber, Batman threw a bola at swamp monster as he leaped over the villain's head. The thin cables wrapped the zombie's upper body tight. Before Grundy could react to the first bola, another wrapped around his legs, sending him crashing down. A second later there was another flutter of the Bat's cape as he leaped past, a pair of Batarangs striking Grundy's shoulders, releasing powerful electric shocks the coursed through Grundy's chalk white form. Howling in pain and rage, Grundy snapped the cables binding him after a little effort, and crushed the offending metal bats.

"Stupid Ropes! Stupid Shockey Things!" Grundy started to rise to his feet. "Point-Ears not beat Grundy with toys! Grundy will..."

Before the great zombie could finish, Batman landed a ferocious leaping kick to Grundy's jaw. With a spin to keep his momentum going, the Caped Crusader brought another kick down into the elbow Grundy was lifting himself with. The mighty joint buckled enough to send Grundy back to the ground again. A massive white arm swept at the where Grundy had last seen his attacker, but of course the Batman had disappeared back into the shadows. Grundy raised himself back to his feet with a rumbling growl, only to be met with a face full of explosive Batarangs. Again the giant swamp zombie howled, and staggered back. Batman raced forward again for another strafing attack, but his boot snapped a dry branch, alerting the monster. Twisting to face his foe, Grundy swung both of his mighty arms together into a thunderous clap creating a huge shock wave. The wave swept the Dark Knight into the air; he barely twisted away from being smashed into a tree. Another device flew from his belt as Batman landed, exploding with even more force in Grundy's face.

"Stupid Pointy-Ears and his stupid belt and his stupid toys!" Grundy growled, wiping the soot from his face. "Why can't stupid men leave Grundy alone!"

"Come on, Grundy, you can't be tired already." Batman raced past the giant again, leaping to strike the monster's head again as he runs back toward the campsite.

"GRUNDY CRUSH!" The white behemoth roared as he followed behind.

"Car - combat mode engage." Batman ordered into his cowl radio. At the edge of the trees, weapons emerge from the quarter panels of the Batmobile. "Officers," Batman continues. "I'm going in hard, confirm the hostages are secure."

"Uh, yes, sir, Batman." One of the deputies responded. "We've got them."

"Good. Keep them clear." Batman heard Grundy closing behind him and smiled to himself.

Bursting from the tree line, Batman leaped into the air and fully flared his cape.

"Lights, full." Batman said low, pulling his cape in close as he landed on the car's hood.

The Batmobile responded by activating all of its lights very brightly. At that second Solomon Grundy has emerged from the forest and is instantly blinded by the unexpected lights. Batman flipped through the open roof, and into the driver's seat.

"Gotcha." Batman sneered over the car's loudspeaker.

A pair of grappling claws fired from the front of the Batmobile, embedding themselves into Grundy's thick hide. And then the cables came alive with sparks as Batman sent thousands of volts into swamp zombie. Grundy screamed a crackling scream, as tiny arcs of lighting danced across his body. For almost a full minute, the Dark Knight continued to shock his foe before the claws release the pale giant. No sooner did the electrical assault end than the whirr of electric motors could be heard as the rear mounted missile launchers acquired their target. With a small pop and long hiss, a pair of projectiles, each no bigger than a road flare, raced toward the shaking villain. The twin impacts shook the forest and send the massive creature hurtling backward through the trees. The force of the blows carried the man-thing back over 100 yards, smashing into and through a few trees as he tumbled.

From behind him, Batman hears the rev of a familiar engine. Robin pulled his motorcycle up next to the Batmobile.

"Well glad I hurried." Robin smiled as he pulled off his helmet.

"Glad you did." Batman nodded as he climbed back out of his car. "This just as easily could have gone badly." Batman reached behind his car seat, rummaged a second, and produced a large, powerful looking set of manacles. "He'll be out for a while."

"You sure?" Robin asked as he followed his partner into the forest.

"Tested him pretty thoroughly." Batman replied. "He didn't absorb the energy of the shock-rangs, he took a full 4 seconds to snap those bolas rated to hold Aquaman, and he was dazed by the vault buster. By the then I knew just what it would take to drop him."

"Still took both your 'Kal-stunners'." Robin smirked as they reached the prone form of the mighty Solomon Grundy.

"And almost burnt out the tasers' generators." Batman lifted Grundy's arm into the manacles.

"Pointy-ears..." Grundy exhaled as his other arm was snapped into the binder with his last vestige of consciousness. "Grundy hates... pointy... "

"Happy Halloween to you too, Solomon."

The End.