Mini-Grand 5111 [Round 3: Menagerie]

Originally posted on MSPA by Pick Yer Poison.

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High above the town, the massive plane floated, hovering expectantly as it waited for gravity to remember it was there. It would be waiting for a while.

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[color=#JUSTICE]Batman crouched behind a bush, peeking out beyond the edge. Had he not been wearing a fishbowl helmet, this effort might have proven successful in not revealing his location, but as it was, within moments everyone in the immediate vicinity was gawking at him. He was in a very delicate situation, and he knew of only one way to turn it back in his favor.

He leaped out of the bushes, rolling when he hit the ground, to end up roughly in the middle of most of the gawkers. He stood up quickly and brushed off a few leaves that had decided to hitch a ride. "Fear not, citizens, I am here to help!" He turned to an old lady sitting on a swinging bench on her porch and not really making much progress on her knitting. "You there! Able-bodied bystander!" It came to him that maybe that wasn't the best descriptor, but he carried on regardless. "Have you any crimes to report?"

She looked around lazily, making sure he was really pointing to her, then turned back to him. "Well," she stated in a slow, unmistakeably English voice, "I recall that Jimmy stole one of my pies yesterday. He's the little boy next door, you see, about seven years old. He's quite charming, but don't let that fool you, the boy's a born thief!"

A much younger voice piped up from across the cobbled street. "I dint steal nuttin'!" Batman looked over and saw a very young boy, who he presumed was Jimmy, clutching a lady's hand, who he assumed was his mother. "Yer a liar! Liar, liar, pants on fire!"

His mother tried to quiet him down in vain. "Hush, Jimmy! Don't talk to Mrs. Manning that way!" Jimmy refused quite creatively, letting go of his mother's hand and running right up to Mrs. Manning, where he continued to call her a liar.

"Yeah, you keep acting like you didn't do it, you little rat! You'll get yours tonight, I say!" Mrs. Manning shook her knitting needles at the irate youngster. Groaning erupted from the crowd, but Mrs. Manning ignored it. "The stars foretell it! You'll all meet your ends when the fog comes! All of you! Each and every bloody one of you!" With that, she stood up creakily and shuffled indoors.

Batman thumbed towards the door once it had slammed shut. "She always like that?" A couple of people nodded, and the crowd began to disperse, none of them wanting to have anything to do with the weirdo. Or with Mrs. Manning, for that matter. Batman dispersed with them, but found himself alone. He sighed and began to wander. Batman was used to not being appreciated. Batman did things because they were right and for the greater good, not because they'd make him famous or well-liked. That was just how Batman was.

The sun set as Batman wandered around the town, and a thick mist began to gather along the ground, growing thicker with every passing minute. Withdrawn in thought as he was, Batman didn't realize it was gathering until he found he couldn't see more than ten feet in front of him, a fact he found worrisome.

But not half as worrisome as the thing that promptly emerged from it.[/color]