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Bat Cat	By : Kip Category: DC Verse Comics > Batman Views: 5312 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own the Batman series, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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"What! Someone's in my quarters?" Bruce forgot the pain in his leg, "What about Cat? Is he okay?"
Twisting, Kal scanned the room. "I don't see him…"
Cat… Bruce jabbed a gloved finger at the touchpad, wondering when it had gotten so slow? Was this what life was like for Wally?

Silently the door retracted, revealing the darkened room beyond.
"Good lord…" Staring at the sleek body sprawled out on his bed, Bruce relaxed. "Kal, if you can't see that, then you need binoculars! Either that or start keeping those ridiculous glasses on even when you're not in civvies."
Grinning at the totally bewildered Kryptonian, Bruce returned his attention to the animated throw rug cheekily draped across the full length of the compact bed.
"And you," He addressed his four legged friend, "Can get your full scale furry self off my bed and into motion. Alfred's serving dinner in twenty minutes, and I don’t intend for either of us to be late."
Padding up to his human, Cat ignored the conversation and concentrated on the people, something about the Big One had his ears pricking up.
The Big one smells worried, why?
Right now Kal was looking at Cat as if the tall man were able to see right inside Cat. Not that there was anything to see, not with dinner still an age away and lunch just a fond memory. Licking his whiskers, Cat thought longingly of steak; not the way Bruce liked it, but the way it ought to be: raw and ready to be gobbled up. Mmmm!
"I can hear your stomach rumbling from here," Bruce teased, rubbing a gloved hand over Cat's ear. "You're as bad as Kal," He grinned, "Although I bet you're the bigger bed hog…" He glanced at Kal as he spoke. "What? Cat's got four legs to your two, that's got to put him at an advantage."
"Bruce," Kal started to say.
Cat waited, feeling unaccountably nervous.
"What did he look like? This mysterious intruder?" Bruce was still checking around the room. "And what was he wearing?"
Still feeling slightly awkward about having said anything, Kal was relieved that all seemed to be well, but when had his extra senses ever been that wrong about anything? He thought it over more fully, "Kind of lanky, with dark hair." He said, in response to the first part.
"What length?" Bruce was absently scratching behind Cat's ears. Arching, the panther arched presented his neck hopefully, seeking a continuation of the process. All very normal, very kitty-cat behaviour.
So what did I see, and why couldn’t I see Cat in here then?
"About mid neck." Kal answered, shoving aside the more distracting questions for the moment.
"Collar length?" The other man suggested.
"… If he'd been wearing a shirt." Kal supposed warily.
"He didn’t have a shirt on?"
Photographic memory supplied Kal with far more detail on that than he had ever wanted. Unfortunately his brain wasn’t in gear, but his mouth was. "He didn’t have anything on." Oops! now the cack was going to hit the fan and no mistake!
Amazingly Bruce seemed to take that in his stride.
Probably still more distracted about having an intruder, Kal supposed. Or trying to prove me wrong… Or maybe he's just too tired and sore to care? And at least part of that is my fault, despite what Bruce says…
"So we're looking for a skinny perp with dark scruffy hair, who likes to flash people?" Bruce asked, sounding more sceptical by the second.
Too much to expect really – when does Bruce ever switch off? Kal hesitated. That description still didn’t quite tally with what he'd seen, "Not a man, more a teenager, youngish," He started to say.
"A teenage boy?" Bruce cut him off, "Wandering around naked in my room?"
"Actually," Kal blushed hotly, really wishing that he wasn’t going to have to admit this, and certainly not to the very-proper Bruce.
"What!" Bruce definitely wasn’t in the mood for niceties. Kal supposed that his leg must be hurting again, and by the sound of his stomach rumbling Bruce wanted dinner. Kal wondered if either of those was going to get any priority over the latest conundrum? From what Kal knew of his friend, Bruce would fall down and die right in front of him rather than ever admit to the slightest trace of human weakness.
Better get it over with… then he can shout at me, and we can get him home, before anything else happens.
"He was laying on your bed…" Kal finished warily, dropping the conversational brick with immense reluctance.
"In. My. Bed?" Bruce's voice turned flinty. "You thought you saw an underage boy laying naked in my bed?"
"On it, not IN it." Kal corrected automatically. Wrong move. The flinty tone grew ice crystals, long ones.
"Kal, and we've been friends for a long time so I'm going to give you a chance to explain, what EXACTLY are you saying here? Only I'm really not happy with where this conversation seems to be going, maybe even less so than with the idea that you might actually have seen someone in here."
All of which Kal could totally understand: given that for a great many of the years with Dick as his ward had been filled with idiots making unsubstantiated slurs against Bruce's integrity and questioning Dick's moral safety while in the grim man's care.
And now he thinks I think… oh, this is bad! Bruce wasn’t the only one who was tired.
"Especially if that person was anywhere near my bed…" Bruce added darkly.
"You weren’t unhappy with Cat using your bed," Kal pointed out.
"CAT, yes, not some scrawny trespasser! Now, Kal…"
"I did see someone!" Kal backed up just slightly. "There were bones and a pulse…" Flailing about for something to say that wouldn’t land him in deeper, he blurted out the one thing that sounded as if it might possibly save him. "I don’t have that good an imagination!"
"You're almost certainly right about that bit." Bruce raised a weary brow. "So, assuming that you did see a person in here, where did he go, and how? And what was he doing here in the first place?"
And there was the puzzler.
Why would anyone go to all the trouble of getting onto the station, only to end up doing a little petty burglary in a rarely-used bedroom?
Kal could think of at least four other places on the satellite that would not only be easier, but actually worth the effort. Considering how paranoid Bruce was, this room was probably one of the hardest places to get into on the entire station, but that alone didn’t mean that there was anything in here worth stealing.
Somehow this all has something to do with Cat… Kal didn’t know why, but he was getting a definite gut feeling about that.
Was the intruder here trying to steal Cat? He is rather unusual… That idea actually made a sort of sense, except …
But to do that, someone would have to know about Cat, and that Cat was going to be on the station today, and Bruce said it was a spur-of-the-moment decision to bring him. Kal thought that through a bit further.
Besides to gain access to the satellite they'd have had to plan the attempt days in advance, learn our routine, breach several layers of complex security… none of which sounds like something that could happen at a moment's notice.
"I don’t know about the other bits," Kal admitted. Spotting something, he stepped over to the bed and reached down, plucking the evidence from the covers. "But there is this…"
I knew there was really someone here, I knew it!
Staring at a couple of strands of long dark hair dangling from Kal's fingers, Bruce's mind was in a whirl.
"What if someone else could walk through things like J'Onn can?" Kal was saying. "We could have an intruder on the station. We ought to,"
"… make damn sure that it isn't actually one of MY hairs, before we get everyone else all stirred up?" Bruce suggested as he took a closer look at the limp strand. "Since Cat wouldn’t take kindly to a stranger shedding all over him, and as he doesn’t look bothered, my guess is that that's the most logical explanation for that hair." He very subtly adjusted his balance to try and take some of the weight off his injured leg. "I have dark hair, I regularly sleep in that bed, and I'd be very surprised if I hadn't left at least some traces around the room."
"But you,"
"No, Kal," Bruce cut him off, "I don’t sleep in the suit…" It occurred to him how very surprised Kal was looking at that moment.
Why would that be? No? Then again… There was something rather fey about Kal at times…
"Kara said," Kal's voice trailed into silence as he noticed the death glare.
"And how would Kara know what I do in bed?" Bruce almost didn’t want to discover the answer to that one. Except he did. Lots of things irritated Bruce, but few of them rankled more than finding out that he didn’t know about something. Especially when it happened to be about him.
"X-Ray vision?" Kal admitted sheepishly.
"You didn’t!"
"I didn’t!" The look on the too-honest face was proof enough all by itself. "I wouldn’t sneak a look at you, Bruce."
"I don’t suppose you would," Bruce agreed, "But if you don’t have words with your cousin about proper respect for other people's privacy, then I will." And they won't be very nice words either!
Silence curdled awkwardly around them.
"Yes?" Bruce finally gave in and asked. "Was there something?" And are you going to get to it sometime today?
The way that Kal was standing there fidgeting, suggested that there was a lot more on the Kryptonian's mind at that moment than what Kal was going to say to his errant relative.
We could be here all month at this rate.
"I … don’t know how to explain what I saw, but are you sure about," Kal jerked an eyebrow toward Cat.
"I've been sleeping with him in my bedroom for the last two months, and feeding him tidbits under the table whenever Alfred wasn’t looking," Bruce pointed out. "It's a bit late to worry about my safety isn't it? Besides, J'Onn confirmed it, Cat really is an animal," He patted the top of Cat's head softly. "Sorry, pal, you're a darn smart cat, but a cat for all that."
Cat purred, blissfully indifferent to everything but the petting.
"What if," Kal worried aloud. "What if he… wasn’t?"
"Wasn’t what?" God, the man has a one-track mind! And people accuse ME of being obsessive!
"Wasn’t just a cat," Kal finished quietly.
"Well, of course he isn't 'just' a cat." Obviously someone had to remind his twit of an alien friend that Cat Woman had done quite a bit of meddling with Cat's genetics, and Bruce felt himself to be just the person to do it. "A normal Felix sylvestris can't change size like Cat can, but even so,"
"Bruce, what if he can do more than just change his size?" Kal pressed. "I know what J'Onn said, but…"
"Cat," Bruce addressed his pet with amusement. "If you can change into a person, then do it now, huh?"
The near luminous eyes bored into his, as if gauging his seriousness.
"If you can shut him up," Bruce jerked an eyebrow at Kal, "then I'll get Alfred to buy half a dozen fresh herrings tomorrow, and I'll feed you the lot myself, piece by piece." He added conversationally.
In the event, it was Bruce who found himself without a word to say, as Cat took a deep breath and stretched, and somehow continued stretching. Quite suddenly there was a lot less fur and a lot more skin. Bare skin. Very bare, pale teenage skin.
Jesus Christ on a bicycle… And he'd been sharing a bed with… Not to mention a large chunk of the rest of my life…
"Oh my goodness!" Kal blinked and gaped. "That's the kid I saw earlier."
"Thank god for that," Bruce finally found his tongue. "I'd hate to find that we still had a total stranger running around the place."
"Bruce?" By now it was Kal who was staring. "Uhm? I think you ought to have this… for him."
"Right," It had begin to occur to Bruce that the youngster was showing rather more flesh than was either sensible or acceptable in public, even if they were still safely inside Bruce's personal quarters.
Oh, this is embarrassing on so many levels…
Worried eyes peered at him shyly from under the dark fringe of hair.
I would never have let a person get that close to me… never… But was this such a bad thing? Bruce actually found himself wondering about that.
When Kal thrust a familiar red rectangle of fabric into Bruce's hand the Dark Knight had just enough presence of mind to wrap the gangly youth in it and sweep him into his arms.
"Thanks, Kal." Crouching on the floor, Bruce remembered his manners; even if he was still a bit shaky. By the feel of the body in his arms, he wasn’t the only one. Without thinking about it, he drew the youth closer. Twisting, Cat buried his face in Bruce's neck, hiding. Bruce could feel the pounding of the youth's heart, feel the tremble in the slender limbs.
He's terrified, but of what? Not of me, surely? He hated that idea. I don’t ever want to make him uncomfortable. Maybe he should have been appalled by the situation, but what was done was done. Didn’t Cat know him well enough to realise that Bruce wasn’t going to do anything rash?
"Cat,"
The boy moved, regarding him with grave silence.
"It's alright, buddy," Bruce said softly. "You didn’t do anything wrong. We'll get to the bottom of all of this, somehow." He had no idea of how he was going to fulfil that promise, but he had no intention of letting his little friend down.
Not so little either… he must be nearly as tall as me. He looks to be about sixteen. That was when a less appealing thought occurred to him.
Cat's been growing at an incredible rate lately, maturing much faster than a human ever would… If normal cats average around fourteen years, what about him? How long has he got before…
"His growth rate has been fantastically accelerated," J'Onn announced, checking and rechecking the readings. "How old did you say Cat was?"
"He's been with me for nearly nine weeks." Bruce leant back against the other couch, carefully keeping the weight off his injured leg.
The changeling watched him, eyes travelling slowly up and then down.
What's Cat thinking? I wonder… can he speak?
"He is worried about you." J'Onn announced, "And if he is physically capable of verbalising, he does not yet know how to accomplish it. He does not seem to think in words, as we would. Which I assume is why I did not detect any of this previously."
Shit…
"Thankfully, that at least is quite under his control. Even in this shape."
"I didn’t mean,"
J'Onn cocked an eyebrow in what Bruce had come to recognise as the equivalent of a sarcastic grin. "I know." J'Onn said dryly, "However, you need reminding on occasion."
Bruce merely gave him a look. Unfortunately death glares didn’t seem anywhere near as effective on Martians as they were on Kryptonians.
Cat tilted his head, watching them. Sliding down off the couch, the youth flowed back into the panther shape.
"He feels most comfortable with this form," J'Onn explained.
"I can see why," Bruce agreed.
"He also felt that you would be more comfortable with him in this shape."
Bruce thought that over. "Yes, I guess I am."
Padding over to Bruce, Cat inhaled deeply, examining the armour and the site of the injury.
"It's just a…" Bruce was about to say 'few scratches' when he noticed the intensity of the glares being directed at him. Damn, these guys were fast learners! "Okay, so you both know me pretty well by now," He admitted. "I just want to get back home, have a hot bath, and let Alfred take a look at it."
"Up," J'Onn indicated the couch.
"J'Onn?"
"I am not letting you leave here until I have assessed the injury." J'Onn told him.
Gently closing his teeth around Bruce's gauntleted wrist, Cat tugged at him.
"You too, huh? It's a conspiracy, is what it is," Bruce complained lightly, but suffered himself to be taken over to the couch. Standing around waiting had caused the leg to stiffen and by now it was getting distinctly painful to try and do anything with it.
"Not broken, but a serious fracture and the muscles and ligaments are badly torn and inflamed." J'Onn pronounced. "I will fetch the necessary kit. Wait here."
Once J'Onn had headed off to fetch the medical supplies, Bruce turned his attention to his furry friend. Crouched halfway to the door, Cat was hunched and unhappy looking. The downward tilt of the furry ears tugged at Bruce's heart. The little guy was thoroughly miserable right now, and it was up to Bruce to fix it.
"Go kitty sized?" He asked, watching as Cat complied. "And come up here?"
Springing up beside him, Cat waited.
"I was surprised," Bruce whispered softly, taking off his glove so that he could touch the glossy fur with his bare skin. "But I'm not mad at you, none of us can help the way we are… and I'm still your friend, if you'll have me?"
Purring for joy, Cat pressed against him, arching and rubbing.
He's always so pleased just to be with me. Who could resist that? And why would you want to? Just for once, Bruce didn’t even try to suppress the emotion. Running his hands through the silky pelt, he lay back, setting Cat squarely on his chest, and chuckling at the almost-constant vibrations as the little creature purred in contentment, kneading Bruce's armoured pec's with enthusiasm.
"Just don’t go big on me right now." Bruce smiled. "This bed isn't built for two."
Breakfast was a rather stilted affair. Cat had taken the hint, and the opportunity, and gotten out just as soon as he had bolted his breakfast. It was equally obvious to Bruce that Alfred wasn’t happy, and just as plain to him why that was likely to be.
He's annoyed with me for still letting Cat into my bedroom, even though we both know that he's not just a harmless little kitty. Well, it's my room and I can share it with whoever, or whatever, I please.
"Out with it, Alfred."
"I have to say, sir, that I feel that you are not doing your duty by your friend."
Now that isn't at all what I was expecting…
"Not?" Bruce thought that over. Cat had slept on his bed, had scarfed breakfast, and was now outside probably gleefully terrorising the local wildlife. That seemed like all of the animal's needs were being catered for.
Except for she-cats… So far at least, Bruce had yet to see any of those in the vicinity. Maybe he's still too young for that sort of thing?
"Well, we seem to have ourselves a pretty problem, and no mistake," The older man announced.
"Alfred?"
"What I am wondering, sir, is now that you know about young Cat, what do you intend to do about it?"
"Do?"
"Indeed, sir."
"What can I do?"
"The first question that springs to mind," Alfred ignored the eccentricities of his employer, as he often did when hearing answers that he didn’t like, "Is to wonder if he truly IS a cat?"
"So far as J'Onn can tell, yes." Bruce began to guess where this was going. "You mean, is he a person that becomes a cat, or a cat that becomes a person?"
"Precisely, sir."
"He was born as a cat, and he generally stays as a cat, so in my book that makes him a cat." Bruce stretched cautiously, feeling the leg twinge. No crime fighting this evening then? Damn, another day out of the loop! At this rate Dick would be getting himself very comfy. Or grumpy.
"Sir?"
"Sorry, Alfred, I was drifting."
"I assumed as much, Master Bruce; however my concerns were more to do with ensuring our young friend's welfare."
"Alfred?"
"You appear to be assuming that Cat will want to stay here with you for the rest of his life. That may not be the case." Alfred pointed out very reasonably. "He needs to be equipped to face the outside world."
Leave me? Why would Cat want to do that? He's happy here, isn't he…
"I am just saying, sir, that at some point Cat is likely to wish to seek out younger and more entertaining company," Alfred accurately interpreted the silence. "More appropriate company," He added.
"His own kind?" Of course Bruce had thought about that, not a lot, but he had thought about it. Dreaded it really, but he wasn’t going to admit that to anyone. If he could have hidden it from himself, he would have, as it was he found a way to push the notion aside each time it resurfaced.
But what if Alfred's right?
"Hardly, sir." Alfred had begun to polish the silver; a sign that Bruce was expected to think about this in more depth.
He does this to me every time … and damn, if it isn't effective…
Wrinkling his nose, Bruce ignored the sour odour of silver polish for the moment. "I very much doubt if Cat knows what his kind is," He said dubiously, "it doesn’t seem likely that the mind of an animal would capture his interest for long, and he just doesn’t have the life experiences to fool a person of his own age group into thinking he's human. Once Cat reveals what he truly is then he's almost certainly going to be rejected, if not worse."
"Very likely, sir," Alfred nodded sagely. "Meta-humans then?" Locating a spot of tarnish the older man ruthlessly eradicated it.
"Alfred." Perhaps it was time to share his concerns?
"Sir?"
"I …" Bruce couldn’t quite say it.
"Master Bruce?"
The quiet tone was more effective than Sodium pentothal, at least it was on Bruce. "Cat might not live long enough for it to matter," he managed to mutter.
"Sir?" Wary now, Alfred glanced up.
"Cat has aged from child to nearly adult in just the time we've known him. At that rate, he'll be dead before the year is out."
For the first time, Alfred looked genuinely concerned, not simply bothered about details or observing the social niceties. "Are you sure, Master Bruce?"
"No," And that was the one thing stopping Bruce from plunging into complete despair. Cat's biology was too different from anything already documented, for any of them to be able to draw any reliable conclusions. "I'm not sure…"
"Then what do you intend to do, Master Bruce?"

"Take one day at a time, Alfred, and make sure that Cat gets full value for every minute that he does have. Even if it's only one summer."
"Very good, sir."
For once it felt like Alfred really meant that.
The talk with Alfred had helped Bruce come to a clearer decision, now it was time to share that with Cat. Limping outside, Bruce cast around for a sign of his furry friend.
"Cat?" Still calling softly, he headed for the sunny side of the garden, and one of the strategically placed benches.
Nice to see this place in daylight… should do it more often really. Enjoying the morning air, Bruce sauntered on.
Don’t think I've taken the opportunity to come out and smell the roses at all this year. Halfway between the rose borders he became aware of something watching him.
"Hey buddy? What are you up to?"
There was no answer, except for the breeze rustling the grass and the occasional warble of bird song.
Cheeky little devil, stalking me, huh? If his leg hadn't been proving so troublesome, Bruce might have been inclined to turn the game back on the little furball. As it was he was currently just about capable of walking, assuming he did it slowly and didn’t try to push.
What the? His eyes had caught a flash of dark, swiftly lost behind the farther bushes.
Over there.
As he made his way steadily across the well tended lawn, a sound made him turn.
Nothing?
Another few steps and Bruce guessed exactly what was to come…
He's getting better at this whole hunting lark. Still, the bench is only a few yards away now. He's probably aiming to leap out on me before I can get to it! Damn, if he does pounce, how big is he going to be? Bruce really wasn’t looking forward to evasion tactics, not with his injured leg already twinging.
Can't blame Cat for acting according to his nature though…
Rounding the corner, he half expected to find a poised body on the lawn ready to spring, instead there was only grass.
"Cat, I know you're out there." Bruce stated confidently, hoping that that would pre-empt the strike.
Except he's not buying it, is he…
The silence was deafening. Nothing moved. For a moment he was part of a frozen tableau. Turning, there was nothing but empty lawn, punctuated by clustered mounds of rose bushes smothered in exquisitely scented blooms.
He won't be lurking in any of those… those damn things have claws nearly as long as his.
The lack of sound was becoming unnerving.
"HELL!"
Bruce suddenly found that he had company: big stripy roar-in-your-face-and-eat-you-alive company. This wasn't cat: this was trouble! The tiger was near enough for him to see the flecks in its eyes, that and the anger.
It's going to attack.
"Oh, shit…" Even if running had been an option, there was nowhere to go that the animal couldn’t follow.
Tensing, the massive frame launched itself at him.
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