New Story: A Necessary Evil (Batman/Nightwing) Part 4
JM
depicted in the story belong to and are copyrighted by DC Comics and/or its
subsidiaries. I am in no way related to the company and have no ownership
over the characters. This is fan fiction. This story depicts males in
----- 4 -----
"Alright, you've got my attention. Tell me what I need to know."
Batman turned and made eye contact with the doctor, and then nodded.
"Step this way, Nightwing. We don't have a moment to lose." He pulled open a
recessed door behind him, and disappeared inside. Batman held back, and then
motioned for Nightwing to step inside. As the two heroes passed through the
narrow door, it swung shut silently, a rush of air sealing it closed completely.
The area behind the door was the main testing room for Batman's lab. Tens, if
not hundreds of antidotes, sprays, vaccines, and solutions had all been
developed here to fight off one noxious substance or another. As Nightwing
reacquainted himself with the room, he couldn't help remembering that one time
when they had stumbled across a particularly arousing plant of Poison Ivy and
he had barely made it home before collapsing from severe blue balls.
Batman had clearly invested in some improvements since then. Stainless steel ?
everything. Cabinets, medicarts, sterile containers. A large cart on rollers ?
also in steel ? with numerous drawers, large and small, nearby. And in the
center of the room, something out of a mad scientist's cartoonish dream: a
large mobile examining table that, as they entered, had been modified into a
sitting position, a panel of buttons and controls arrayed down the right side of
the table's base. What seemed to be extension panels for arms and legs were
carefully folded under the table.
Nightwing's acute sense of crime solving told him the room had seen some use ?
and recently. Empty syringe wrappers on stainless steal counters, used rubber
gloves piled in the tall, metal biohazard basket. And above all else ? a smell
he couldn't quite place. Human sweat, mixed with ? what was it? Chlorine?
Vaguely reminding him of swim team practices in college.
Batman had placed himself strategically on the far side of the room, with arms
folded across his chest, he leaned into the corner of the lab, his cape draped
slightly over one counter. His eyes avoided the other two men ? staring into
the distance.
"Nightwing. What I'm going to tell you now is, of course, strictly in
confidence. Before we begin, I'm afraid I need to go through the formality of
asking for your consent that, whatever you learn here, whatever ? happens ?
here, will not leave this room."
All three men were silent for a moment. Nightwing chuckled, then responded,
"Doctor, I have no idea who you are, but I can assure you that the Batman knows
full well he can trust me. We've gotten to know each other pretty well over the
years, wouldn't you say Batman?"
The older hero said nothing. The doctor began to pace.
"Right. Perhaps I should explain, then, "continued the doctor. "Batman asked
for my help shortly after he found the first sample of the liquid. Under his
supervision, we initiated tests at my university lab. The first runs were ?
disturbing."
"We knew that this substance was being used on men, primarily. I began testing
male lab animals ? rats, then dogs, then our resident monkey. In each case,
only a second's exposure showed a huge leap in testosterone levels, as well as a
highly increased amount of ? sexual arousal."
Nightwing smirked. "A lab full of horny animals, doc? Bet you don't get that a
lot."
"Not just ? horny ? to borrow your phrase. Frantic. Manic. In short ?
artificially induced ? well, heat."
"We knew we had to proceed quickly to human subjects. Once we were sure our
animals suffered no long-term side effects, I asked three of my students for
their consent to undergo testing. They did, and ? we administered the liquid,
in an inhaler form. We ? tested them one afternoon and? "
Nightwing grew annoyed by the long pauses. "Yes?"
"Two of my assistants are still with us. The third, the oldest of the three ?
was unable to endure the stimulation and suffered a massive coronary after two
hours of exposure to the substance."
"Death from, what exactly?," Nightwing asked.
"Well ? simply put, so much adrenaline and dopamine response to the substance
was produced, and so much ? well, arousal ? induced that ? upon the fifth
ejaculation, he collapsed."
Another pregnant pause. "The. Fifth?"
Batman felt the need to speak.
"Nightwing, this is a sick fuck who has found a way to stimulate desire to
inhuman levels. Cut to the chase, doctor. " He snapped out the words, and
began pacing himself.
Dr. Tanner's eyes followed Batman as he paced the room. "During our testing on
our different subjects, the last one in particular, we made a discovery which
gives us some hope of defeating this substance. We learned, basically, that,
over time, our subjects' response to the drug lessened until, finally, it became
more ? manageable. The reaction I mean. Not entirely gone, mind you ? but
clearly not as altering as the first exposure."
Nightwing thought for a moment before he spoke. "So, you've got some sort of
super Viagra, basically, that you have no clue how to cure, but you've kept
giving it to these ? what, volunteers ? until their systems were saturated
enough with the stuff? A bit unethical, don't you think Doctor?"
Batman responded. "We had no choice."
Nightwing stared at him, then said, "You mentioned the last test subject ? what
made him so special, who is he?"
Dr. Tanner was silent.
Batman stopped pacing, turned to Nightwing and said, "It was me."