The full moon sprinkled white light off of the damp roofs of the buildings in London. Puddles laid dormant in the cracks in the street. A big one sat in a contusion in the sidewalk was ruptured as a boot crashed through it. A man, wearing a wool cap hiding his dark hair, flannel jacket and jeans, scampered through the streets. Something behind him was pursuing him. He dared not look behind him for it was to frightening.

I never thought he'd show up here, he thought.

He heard the sound of a grapple gun and a tow cable shot over his head and imbedded itself in a gargoyle a few yards ahead. A large object flew over him, attached to the cable. A dark figure landed in front of him.

The man turned right onto a lonely street and was about to find cover when he felt a searing pain in his left arm. He pulled open a door and quickly shut it and looked at his arm. A bat shaped throwing knife was stuck in his arm. Closing his eyes, he pulled it out, screeching in pain. He stumbled against a desk or a bar and grabbed a towel and stuck it against the wound. He walked over to a chair and shoved it against the door. He looked around.

There was a large rectangular table in the middle of the room. The bar he was just at confirmed his suspicions that he was in a pub or a bar, but it seemed quite old and worn down. A series of old paintings sat on the walls, but in every one, the figures seemed to be sleeping. Suddenly, he heard footsteps clomping down the old stairs in the corner of the room. He whipped his gun out of his pocket and aimed it at the stairs as a small old lady entered the room. She was small and frail and yet she seemed stronger than her appearance.

"Hmmm," she murmured. "A muggle, what to do, what to do."

The man looked confused.

"Okay, what?" He asked.

She pulled a stick out of her pocket and started mumbling.

"Hey, no talk-" He began to say.

"Stupefy!" She ordered and a blue beam of light shot towards him.

Two floors above them, someone on the outside pulled open a window and crawled into what looked like a guest room.

"Where am I?" Batman asked.

"The Leaky Cauldron, two floors up from the thug." Alfred said over the comms, sitting at a desk on a fancy yacht. "You know, when I invited you to come with me to visit my family in London, this is not what I had in mind."

"Sorry, duty called." Batman growled.

Suddenly a beam of light illuminated the stairs and he heard a yell. Batman ran to the stairs and jumped down a full flight. He reached the first floor to see the back door closing. He was about to chase the person when he saw the Joker's henchman lying on the floor.

"Batman to Alfred, target is down." Batman reported.

"Very good, sir." Alfred replied.

"No, not by me." Batman said. "Seconds before me, someone else got to him first. Maybe this pub's owner."

Batman knelt down and examined the thug.

"Strange," he commented. "No bruises, marks, gunshot or anything, his pupils show no sign of hypnosis. Like he just fell unconscious. We could be dealing with a new type of weapon here."

"So Joker wants a weapon that would paralyze victims?" Alfred asked.

"Oh, he wants it," Batman answered. "but he isn't going to get it."

Batman rose and ran out the back door and into a small, empty courtyard.

"Alfred, the combatant isn't here." Batman informed, surprised. "I saw him run out here."

"I'm picking up a heavy disturbance of some sort, Master Wayne." Alfred said. "I'm patching myself into the new visual assistance cameras I installed last week so I won't have to watch an empty screen. I'll be able to view what you're doing."

Alfred typed in a few commands on the display in front of him and the micro camera on Batman's bat logo activated.

"There could be a secret lock mechanism." Alfred said, looking at the wall thought the monitor.

Batman brushed his hand against the wall and felt a click. The wall peeled back to reveal a whole alley way, old buildings and shops lining the dark street. Batman ran forward a few steps then stopped. The target was completely gone.

"Batman to Alfred, the target is gone." Batman radioed in, only to static. "Alfred?"

"Master Wayne?" Alfred asked, staring at the monitor which had gone blank.

Batman heard a noise behind him and turned to see the brick wall was closing again.

"No!" Batman roared and began to run, only to reach the wall too late.

He punched the wall and threw mini explosives at it to no avail. He was about to run and bust through it when he heard a scream behind him. He turned again and saw nothing but heard "AVADACADAVERA!" and everything was silent again. He ran inside a broken down shop. He knelt behind a withering counter and peered out. A black robes figure was standing where he had been and was observing the blast marks on the wall made by the mini explosives. The figure was wearing a skull shaped mask. The figure turned towards him and he ducked down. The man walked away and he got up.

He snuck to the shattered window and peeked around the corner. Another dark robed figure at the end of the lane stood, waving to the first, in the middle of the fork-in-the-road where the shores on either side of the road parted. Suddenly, they both were enveloped in a cloud of black smoke and vanished. He heard conversations around the far away corner and ran to the shop on the opposite side of the stone brick road and stepped through the once glass door. Ascending some old stairs, he found a door that lead into the next shop and walked in. He entered the next shop and the next when he crept into the shop which was on the corner. An intact yet quite blurry window faced the street that lead off of the street in which he entered this strange place. He could hear the voices more clearly now and peered out.

He saw the two dark robed figures and something large laying on the ground at their feet. He deduced they had killed the person at their feet, assuming they were part of a cult with the black cloaks and skull masks. He also deduced that they killed her with witchcraft, which would explain the loud "AVADACADAVERA" curse yelled into the air. Their victim was female, hence the feminine scream that came after the curse.

"The one day Zatana isn't here." Batman growled.

Then, one of the robed assassins looked up and noticed him.

"What's in that shop, second floor?" He heard one ask.

Batman ducked out of the window as a purple bolt of lightning blasted the window to pieces. He ran for the door through which he entered when a cloud of smoke flew in and one robed assassin appeared. Batman punched him in the face, causing him to crumple to the floor. Batman grabbed a batarang out of one of his pockets, whirled around and threw it at the second cloaked assassin who was going to attack him from behind. The batarang sunk into the cloaked man's arm in which he was holding the stick item and Batman drop-kicked him. The man flew back, through the balcony fence and down to the floor below where he cracked a desk as he landed on it.

Batman picked up the dropped stick and studied it.

"What the heck is this?" Batman wondered and practiced holding it like the two cloaked assassins did.

He heard a whooshing sound behind him and turned, only to see fading black smoke. The first cloaked assassin was gone. He heard again below him and looked over the balcony at his second target only to find that he too had disappeared. He looked around and out the window.

"What the..?" Batman wondered aloud.

"A man dressed as a bat." A voice said behind him.

Batman whirled around to see a different robed figure, this time with a mask resembling a dragon's head.

"And I thought I had seen everything!" The robed man exclaimed.