The Last Bat

NO POV

Jason drove through the sandy desert after leaving that town two days ago, he had looked at the map Capper stored in his backpack and saw this the whole world, or at least this side of the world, has changed completely. The whole landform has changed drastically and he saw places he once knew was gone and changed. He saw that the town he was in belonged in a area called "The Badlands" fitting name considering the state that place was in, but where Gotham was it wasn't on the map, meaning that it was most likely unexplored. Jason started thinking about other places of his old world like Metropolis, Themyscira, Atlantis, as well as other heroes and magical beings such as the Green Lanterns, Doctor Fate, Dead Man, and others. Jason groaned as he kept getting more questions than answers and started regretting leaving the Batcave, he probably could have learned more if he dug deeper. Jason stopped the car and got out, looking around he saw something off in the distance, it seemed to be... Tracks? Train tracks!

"And where's there's tracks."

"There's civilization. Check that map again, see if you can find another town." Batman told Jason

"Maybe one with more... Likeable people." Tim suggested. Jason took out the map and used it to see where the tracks lead. If this map is correct if he follows the tracks north he will eventually enter a town called Appaloosa.

"Appaloosa? Oh God." Damian groaned at the name

"I can tell already I am going to hate this world." Jason sighed as he headed back in the Batmobile

"Try to stay out of sight, we aren't sure how they will react to you. If they are anything like the last town you might have another fight on your hand." Batman told Jason

"I'll handle it."

"Like how you handled that Griffon?" Jason and Batman both glared at each other, the tension so thick you would need a longsword to cut it. Jason hit the gas and sped off, following the tracks.

It took about half a day for Jason to be able to see Appaloosa in the distance, he kept driving but soon stopped and stepped out, he was still a few miles off so he shouldn't be seen. Jason stepped out of the Batmobile and took out his sniper rifle, using the scope to get a layout of the town. Seemed like a town in a Wild West movie, a bank, a sheriff building, a saloon, and... He wasn't sure, but it looked like a strip club? Jason shook his head and was about to put away his rifle until an explosion went off. Looking through the scope he saw... No way!

"Is that...?!" Jason wasted no time and got inside the Batmobile and sped off towards the town.

MINUTES EARLIER. NO POV.

In the town of Appaloosa a young stallion stepped out of a saloon, the stallion was an earth pony with a yellow coat, an orange mane with two different shades of orange, a same color tail, he wore a brown vest and a cowboy hat and he also had an apple on both sides of his flank, his cutiemark.

"Howdy Braeburn!" A mare called out to the stallion, the now named Braeburn tipped his hat at the mare as he started trotting around the town. In the town it wasn't just ponies, but also buffalos as well, as the two tribes lived amongst each other in harmony.

"I'll never forget what my cousin and her friends did for us, makes me glad to know that we were able to put away our differences and come together." Braeburn smiled in thought as he kept making his way around his hometown, it wasn't until he saw something shine in the distance. Braeburn squinted his eyes to try and get a better look at what the thing was.

"What in the hay is that?" He asked out loud, however, before he could question any further a blast came hurling towards a building and it exploded. Ponies screamed in terror as more bolts of yellow energy flew by and started destroying more buildings

"Everypony! Get inside! Barricade yourself!" The Sheriff shouted as he helped a mare up from the ground after a blast had knocked her down. A young buffalo mare ran over to Braeburn

"My tribe will try and halt the attackers, get everypony inside!" She said

"No way, Strongheart! This is my home, and I ain't gonna let some no-good vermin get away with attacking us." Braeburn ran over and grabbed a shovel as he prepared to fight. Suddenly the attackers stepped into town, there was two of them and they weren't like anything Braeburn, or anypony, have ever seen. They big, really big, and stood on two legs. They had red glowing eyes and their "skin" were red and sliver, they also carried strange looking staffs. But what really stood out about them was that they looked... Broken. One of them was missing an arm, and the other was missing an eye. Also they looked like their skin were falling off and wires could be seen.

"Emotions detected. Emotions detected." Their voices were deep and cold, like a howling blizzard. They aimed their staffs and fired beams of energy, the beam blasted a buffalo square in the face and... He was killed on impact.

"Warriors! To me!" Chief Thunderhooves gathered his fellow warrior buffaloes all lined up and stomped their hooves, making the ground shake "Charge!" The buffaloes then charged and stampeded towards the invaders.

"Emotions detected. Exterminating." The invaders aimed their staffs and open fired, blasting away at the buffaloes. Many of the warriors met their end from the blast. Thunderhooves gasped in shock as he watched his fellow brothers fall at the hands of these invaders. He growled in anger and charged straight at the one with a missing eye, Thunderhooves clashed against the invader and tossed him away... At least, that was the idea. Thunderhooves was able to drive the invader back, but it was able to find its footing and stand its ground. The invader looked down at Thunderhooves and brought down its fist down on his head, cracking the ground beneath them from the force. Thunderhooves groaned in pain as his head was ringing from the punch, he looked up and found himself staring down at the glowing barrel of the invaders staff

"Exterminate emotions." The invader said. Thunderhooves closed his eyes and waited for the end. A blast was heard but Thunderhooves was still alive. He opened his eyes and saw Braeburn

"Stay away from him, you giant trashcan!" Braeburn shouted as he then threw a lasso at the invader's staff to try and pull it away, it worked somewhat but the invader had a strong grip, the invader yanked its arm back and sent Braeburn flying at towards the invader. The invader then smacked Braeburn with its staff and kicked Thunderhooves away. Braeburn groaned and tried getting up but gasped when he looked up to see the hulking invader staring down at him. Braeburn's eyes widened in fear as he was at deaths doorstep

"I'm sorry... Cousin..." Braeburn shut his eyes as he awaited the end.

CRASH!

Braeburn opened his eyes and saw a black chariot crash into the invader.

"What the buck was that?!" Braeburn shouted as he watched the black chariot crash the invader through a building. The black chariot pulled out and suddenly a strange being wearing a red helmet, brown jacket, and strange looking armor with a red bat symbol on their chest stepped out. It carried a weird black stick thing in its hands.

Red Hood cocked his gun and aimed at the other Man-Hunter, pulling the trigger he started shooting, the Man-Hunter stepped back as the bullets hit them, normally bullets had no effect on them, but they bullets were hitting the weak points in its body.

"Come on, you aon of a bitch! You hunt emotions? Then face unyielding rage!" Red Hood shouted as he then threw two explosive batarangs at the Man-Hunter, exploding on impact. Red Hood ran forward and took out Nightwing's batons and leaped forward, the Man-Hunter fired his staff but Red Hood was able to turn his body just in time to dodge, Red Hood then stuck his batons into the Man-Hunter's missing arm socket and electrocuted it. Red Hood knew that wouldn't be enough so he took out another batarang and jammed it into its left eye, Red Hood then flipped on top of the Man-Hunter and jammed his other baton into its now broken left eye.

"Shocking, isn't it!" Nightwing joked

"Not now, Dick!" Red Hood shouted as he electrocuted the Man-Hunter. Sparks flew and the Man-Hunter started shaking

"Error. Error. Error." The Man-Hunter shook violently and Red Hood saw this as he cue to jump off. Rolling back to his feet Red Hood watched as the Man-Hunter exploded, catching the staff Red Hood turned back and got blasted in his chest, sending him flying back into a building as the other Man-Hunter had gotten back up

"Exterminate emotion." The Man-Hunter marched towards Red Hood. Red Hood groaned in pain, luckily his armor held up but damn did it hurt.

"Fuck..." Red Hood groaned and looked up to see the Man-Hunter standing over him, the Man-Hunter then raised its boot and stomped it down on Red Hood's chest, he groaned out in pain and glared at the Man-Hunter "You lousy talking trashcan!" Before the Man-Hunter could stomp on Red Hood again, Braeburn and Strongheart tied up the Man-Hunter with a lasso

"Pull!" Braeburn shouted, some other ponies came to help as they pulled at the rope. The Man-Hunter took a few steps back but turned around, before Man-Hunter could blast them Red Hood tackled him and lifted him up

"Oh no you don't! Your fight is with me, you motherfucker!" Red Hood then ran and threw Man-Hunter into a building, Red Hood grabbed the destroyed Man-Hunter's staff and ran towards him, blasting him with the staff. Red Hood getting closer while bombing the Man-Hunter with blast after blast. Red Hood then stopped when all that was left was the head of the Man-Hunter

"Exterminate Emotions. Exter... Minate... Emo... Tions..." The Man-Hunter finally shut down. Red Hood picked up its head and examined it.

"W... Who... What are you?" Braeburn asked while taking a few cautious steps towards Red Hood. Red Hood glanced over at Braeburn and looked down at him.

"Holy cow! He's bigger than Celestia!" Braeburn thought to himself as he gulped.

"Get everyone who was hurt medical attention." Red Hood said as he headed outside the building.

"Hey, you can't just leave! You gotta at least help them rebuild." Nightwing told Red Hood.

"No, I don't. I got rid of the Man-Hunters, my work here is done."

"These people... Ponies, they need help. You can't just walk away." Batgirl argued.

"You're right. I'll drive away."

"Don't bother. He'll just go back to being that selfish jerk he always was." Robin scoffed. Red Hood growled at Robin and groaned

"Tch, go to Hell." Red Hood opened the Batmobile and tossed in the staffs and head of the Man-Hunter, closing it he walked back over to the populace, all of them staring at him with a look of hope, fear, and curiosity. Red Hood looked down at the pony from earlier, Braeburn, and walked towards him. Braeburn froze as he saw Red Hood walk up to him, having to reel his head back a bit to really look at him

"Sweet Celestia, he is HUGE!" Braeburn thought to himself.

"You hurt?"

"Ah! U-Um... C-Come again?"

"Are you hurt, dumbass? You need to see a doctor or what?"

"Oh! N-No, I-I'm fine. T-Thank you for saving my town! We would've been goners if you haven't shown up." Braeburn smiled nervously at the GIANT standing over him. Red Hood looked around at the destroyed buildings and saw the ponies helping their wounded

"Get me some tools, you tend to your wounded." Red Hood told him. Braeburn blinked in confusion and what shocked to hear this

"What? N-No, you've done more than enough-"

"Shut up and get me the tools." Red Hood ordered him. Braeburn nodded and scurried off, after a bit he came back with a large box with tools "Ah'm Braeburn, by the way."

"Didn't ask." Red Hood grabbed the tool box and started walking towards one of the destroyed buildings.

Hours Later. Night Time. No POV

Red Hood sighed as he leaned back against the Batmobile, having spent the rest of the day helping repair the town. Braeburn, even some others, tried talking with him but Red Hood ignored them, despite the insistent nagging from Nightwing and the others about how he should "talk with the locals." Red Hood heard his stomach growl and he groaned

"Hungry?" Braeburn came up next to him holding an apple pie and a cup of cider, setting them down next to Red Hood. Red Hood looked away and crossed his arms

"No." Just as Red Hood said this his stomach growled once more. Braeburn chuckled a bit and sat down. Gently nudging the food and drink a bit closer to Red Hood. Red groaned and grabbed the pie, lifting his helmet a bit as he took a bite... And then started scarfing the whole thing in a few seconds.

"... It's good..." Red Hood grumbled as he took a sip from the cider "Apple juice?"

"Apple Cider. Figured you could use a stiff one."

".... This can barely be counted as spike punch. Still good though." Red Hood drank his cider.

"Really? I've seen a few stallions get knocked down from a few drinks." Braeburn laughed as he looked at Red Hood, seeing his mouth he knew that Red was like nothing he ever seen before "What... What are you? Sorry asking, but Ah ain't never seen anything like you before."

"An incredibly sexy, badass, dead man?" Red Hood grinned. Braeburn looked at him and turned a little red as he chuckled.

"No, Ah mean... You stand like a Diamond dog, have no fur, don't really have a snout, and wear strange armor." Braeburn eyed Red Hood up and down as he listed all these, he also noticed that Red Hood was incredibly well-built, able to see his toned legs and arms. He could see them bulging and tensing up when watched Red Hood battle the Man-Hunter, it looked like he could crush watermelons between his thighs and crack coconuts with his hands. Braeburn gulped and looked away.

"Keep guessing, cowboy." Red Hood grinned as he finished his cider "How's your people?"

"My what?"

"Your people? The townfolk. Whatever the fuck."

"O-Oh, well... We lost a some good ponies and good buffaloes, but... We'll pull through. And thank you for helping out with rebuilding. You could've left after saving us, so thank you again. From all of us." Braeburn smiled warmly at Red Hood.

"Good." Red Hood then stood up and got in the Batmobile "Thanks for the food. It was... Well, it wasn't too bad."

"Aw shucks, don't mention it." Braeburn then closed his eyes and used his hat to cover his face as Red Hood sped off, leaving a trail of dust behind him as he drove. Braeburn looked off in the distance as Red Hood drove away. He couldn't stop thinking about him and his heroics. Having never seen anypony as strong, brave, or as strange as him before.

"Ah better send a letter." Braeburn ran off to his house and quickly grabbed a piece of paper, a quilt, and some ink.

Dear Applejack,

Ah hope this letter finds you well, recently our home has been attacked by these strange things and we lost some good ponies and most of our town was nearly destroyed, but by Celestia we were saved. A strange being wearing a red bat on his chest rescued us, he fought off the attackers with strange weapons and great skill, he even saved Thunderhooves and me from death! After he defeated the attackers he even stayed behind to help rebuild our town, Ah fear to think of what would've happened had he not shown up, but thank Celestia he did. Ah never gotten his name, but Ah will surely never forget him. Say hi to the others on the farm for me.

Love, Braeburn.

Braeburn slid the letter into an envelope and headed to the post office, which was somehow nor destroyed during the attack. Strange, oh well. Braeburn looked off into the nightsky and smiled

"Thank you." He whispered as he will be forever grateful for his savior.

JASON'S POV

How the hell did those Man-Hunters even get there? There was no way that they could've been wandering around the world this whole time, right? I groaned and shook my head as I glanced down at the head of the Man-Hunter

"It might be possible that it was deactivated long before the virus hit and had just recently been turn on. Although why it took so long is the question." Batman inquired as he stared down at the head

"You don't think someone turned it on, right?" Batgirl asked

"I don't think so, at least, I hope not." Nightwing said "Don't want to even imagine how many people these things could've killed if you hadn't shown up."

"On the bright side I got some new toys." I smirked as I was always happy to have more firepower with me

"Of course you would be happy with the laser staff." Robin chuckled

"And you wouldn't?"

"Touché." Me and Robin both shared a small laugh but it quickly died down. Looking back I still found myself alone.

"They're not here. They're gone! Get that through your head!" I thought to myself as I later pulled over and stopped the Batmobile, sighing softly I took off my helmet and leaned back in the seat. Closing my eyes to try and get some sleep.

Darkness. That was all I could see. But... I-I could hear something. It sounded like... No. No no no! Not this! Anything but this!

"What do we have here?" A voice called out as a bag was removed from my head, I stared up in shock to see... Him! That sick twisted smile, that pale face, and that haunting blood smile "Wakey wakey~"

"MMMPH! MMF! MPFH!" I tried to scream bur my voice was muffled as I looked over and saw... My own mother. I cried out to her to help me, to save me, but she just turned away to smoke.

"Aww, I just love family reunions. Let's go and take you to go see dear old papa."

SMACK! WHACK! WHACK!

I cried and groaned in agonizing pain as I was beaten to a bloody pulp by Joker's crowbar.

CRACK!

"Hahahaha! I think I heard a pop, let's see if you can make that sound again!" Joker laughed as he bashed me over and over again with the crowbar

"You are nothing."

I cried out in pain as Joker then smacked me across the face with his crowbar, coughing as blood tickled down my mouth. He removed the gag and shoved the crowbar in my mouth, tasting the cold steel and my own blood.

"You really thought you were worthy of being the new boy wonder? Ha! More like boy blunder." Joker then kicked my chin and made me bite down on the crowbar, my teethes cracking and flying out my mouth from the impact.

"Worthless."

"Alright, I think that's enough. Oh! But one more thing." Joker leaned down and smiled madly at me while staring into mg bloodshot eyes "Tell the big man I said... Hello." Joker then laughed as he then walked over to my mother... And whacked her over the head. I watched as she hit the ground and groaned in pain, I glanced over and saw-

"NO!"

I jolted up and screamed as I woke up in a cold sweat and was shaking, my breathing was fast and rasp, my throat felt dry and I felt so cold.

"Stop it... Stop..." I gripped my arms to try and stop myself from shaking "Stop it, damn it!" I shouted as I pulled out my knife, pulling at my sleeve I silted my wrists, groaning in pain with each quick but painful cut. I shut my eyes gritted my teethes until I finally stopped shaking. Looking down at my wrists I saw that I had cut myself five times, blood oozing out from the cuts and dripped down my arm. Normal people would be wincing or crying out in pain... But it felt... Calm. It helped with... That. It was the only way I can find peace. I sighed and took out a first aid kit and started to wrap up my wrists.

SOMEWHERE ELSE

Far off in a world just outside this one a pony was seen rubbing her head. The pony in question was definitely an anomaly, the pony was a mare but vastly different. She had a long, flowing mane and tail that looked like a beautiful night sky lit up by stars, a dark blue coat, dark blue eyes, and silver armaments on her hooves and around her neck. She also had a crescent moon on her flanks as her cutie mark. Princess Luna panted and groaned as she stood up, she's the princess of the night and protector of the dream realm, traveling between dreams of her ponies to help with nightmares and other possible threats, but she found one that was simply... Horrifying as it was strange. Luna had tried to help but she was thrown out, meaning that the dreamer had awaken.

"What was thou creature?" Luna asked out loud as she pondered about what that was, and hoping to see them again to help.