The beast emerged fully broken from his confines inside Nolan's mind.
While chaos ensued outside, inside the mind of Nolan him and his personalities watched the beast take the seat.
And didn't try to fight it.
"I'm sorry." Vey said his expression crestfallen as he looked upon Nolan
Nolan grimaced and sat beside Vey who had collapsed onto the floor, "Nothing to apologize for vey. Batman is an expert in close quarters combat and you have fought him multiple times. He probably learned all your patterns."
Quentin nodded joining them gazing at the beast, "It's not like we would have faired any better."
Kieran laughed plopping down next, "Let's just hope this bastard gives up the seat easily yeah?"
***
The beast ignored all pain that coursed through his body as he gazed at Batman. The agony didn't halt the explosion of gratification that was before him.
He was free again and this time Nolan seemed to develop an ability.
"Let's test it." He said to no one in particular while looking around at the several factions struggling to kill each other off and escape
He saw the hues surround them immediately and began to infect everyone in his sight with the color red.
"This." He breathed a deep satasfying breath while making eye contact with Batman, "Is the perfect place for my kingdom, and I get to beat you into a pulp again Bat."
the Beast was already sprinting.
On all fours.
Fast.
Predatory.
He covered twenty feet in a heartbeat, claws digging into wet pavement as he barreled forward.
Batman barely got his guard up.
The Beast slammed into him, full mass behind the impact. The hit threw Batman across a burning vendor stall; the wooden cart shattered, sesame buns and flames bursting outward.
Batman rolled, tried to rise—
The Beast was on him instantly.
He pounced like a jungle cat, feet first, knees slamming into Batman's chest plate. Batman skidded across the street, grapnel launcher ripped from his grip.
The Beast's ego pulsed through every movement —
the confidence,
the hunger,
the sheer joy of dominance.
He wanted Batman broken.
He wanted Batman humbled.
And Gotham was watching.
Batman swung a precise strike toward the Beast's throat—
The Beast ducked low, scuttling sideways on all fours, a blur of animal instinct. He twisted, shoulder-checking Batman so hard the pavement cracked beneath them.
Batman tried a counter-grab.
The Beast ripped free.
Batman tried a nerve strike.
The Beast sank his teeth in between Batman's armor plating.
Batman recoiled—
and the Beast hammerfisted him across the jaw, sending him tumbling into the side of a crashed Cartel truck.
The truck door buckled inward.
Batman barely got to his knees before the Beast lunged again, tackling him into the street, punching, clawing, smashing his head against the asphalt.
A Triad gunman stumbled near them—
eyes glowing red from the Beast's aura.
He shrieked and attacked his own ally with a butcher's knife.
A Falcone sniper scrambled onto a fire escape—
another red-hued fighter tore him off and beat him against a dumpster until the metal caved.
Cartel fighters clawed at each other, biting, stabbing, howling.
Young Justice tried to survive a nightmare.
Kid Flash skidded to a stop, eyes widening at the carnage.
"What—WHAT IS EVERYONE DOING?!"
Aqualad's voice was low, controlled, terrified, "This is similar to what happened to you. They are being infected!"
Robin spotted the epicenter — the Beast dominating Batman in a crater of rubble.
"WE NEED TO HELP BATMAN!"
Artemis fired a stun arrow at a rampaging Cartel brute. He didn't fall — he kept sprinting until Superboy tackled him through a brick wall.
M'gann felt the aura hit her mind like a spike."I—I can feel him. His mind is fractured. Something is—something—something angry so ANGRY!"
"FOCUS!" Robin shouted.
But it was hard to focus.
The streets were a maze of blood, fire, and red-eyed killers. Flames torn into the night sky and the police convoys were just beginning to arrive.
And at the center of it—
The Beast Was Winning.
The underpass leaders shivered at the sight of their boss and the sheer carnage around him.
The sight of the beast would be engraved into everyone's mind.
Batman forced himself up.
Breathing ragged.
Armor split.
Blood dripping from beneath the cowl.
The Beast rose with him, pacing on all fours, circling him like prey, teeth bared in an arrogant grin.
"Pathetic!" the Beast growled, voice shaking lanterns overhead, "But you will do well as a general in my kingdom, you have suffered man bat."
He cracked his neck, muscles bulging.
"Now stand up—"
Batman did.
The Beast's grin widened.
"—so I can break you again."
He launched.
Young Justice sprinted toward them.
The red-infected surged at Young Justice.
The city roared with fire and madness.
***
Batman circled in, cape torn, stance low, bruises blooming across his ribs.
Young Justice landed behind him in a skidding arc—Robin, Kid Flash, Artemis, Miss Martian, and Superboy—all forming the practiced semicircle around the monster.
Bodies of the knocked out thugs that charged them littered the area.
The Beast grinned with too many teeth.
He charged.
He hit the line like a wrecking ball. Robin moved first—batarang flash, quick pivot, staff strike. The Beast dodged like a wolf, low and skittering, claws scraping sparks as he dipped under Robin's swing and launched upward, raking his clawed hands across the boy's chestplate and sending him spiraling into a fruit stand.
Kid Flash blurred in— WHIP–WHIP–WHIP
fists and elbows hammering The Beast's face.
The Beast roared—no words, just rage—and snatched a wooden market stall pole, swinging it blindly in a wide arc.
The pole caught Kid Flash mid-dash.
Wally cartwheeled across the asphalt like a ragdoll.
Batman was on The Beast instantly, grappling hook snaring his arm and sending an electric current that froze the beast. He quickly tore it free but the damage was done.
Artemis fired three arrows in a tight triangle. Miss Martian followed by slamming him psychically with a telekinetic shove. The Beast slid across the street, claws carving trenches into the concrete to slow himself.
For a moment… Young Justice pushed him back.
Their rhythm was too good. Their angles perfect. Batman's command calm and precise.
But the Beast was still smiling.
He exploded forward, leaping off a shattered sedan hood. Batman blocked—
CRACK!
The Beast's knee hit his jaw. A follow-up elbow sent the Dark Knight staggering.
He pivoted to Artemis—ripped up a manhole cover— THUNK!
She rolled aside just in time as it shattered the street where she'd been.
Miss Martian flew in—telepathic pressure pulsing—but The Beast tore free of her psychic grip and hurled himself upward, grabbing her leg mid-air and slamming her into a parked bus which she quickly phased through.
Robin rejoined the fight, swinging down from a balcony.
The Beast grabbed him mid-air by the ankle and flung him straight through a restaurant window.
Shattered glass rained like glitter.
But then—
A shadow fell over him.
Superboy landed.
Hard.
Concrete cratered beneath his boots.
The Beast froze… then growled.
They clashed.
Superboy hit first— BOOM—a punch that threw the Beast across the street, crashing him through a mailbox and into a rolling SUV.
The Beast lunged back in, claws ripping across Superboy's chest, sending sparks off the Kryptonian skin. Superboy responded with a brutal headbutt that sent blood spraying from the Beast's nose.
The Beast stumbled.
Superboy didn't.
Another punch.
Another.
Another.
Each one seismic.
For the first time… The Beast's grin wavered. Superboy was simply stronger.
He tried to circle, move low again, become an animal—but Superboy lifted a crushed street bench and hammered it down onto him, forcing him into the asphalt.
Batman arrived with electrified gauntlets—
ZAP—CRACK—ZAP the Beast convulsing under the voltage. He tried to move but a water whip locked him in place.
Aqualad finally showed himself.
Robin, Artemis, and Miss Martian regrouped, forming a perimeter.
Kid Flash limped in behind them.
Young Justice formed the wall again.
And this time…
The Beast struggled to rise.
Sirens crescendoed.
Multiple armored SWAT convoys rolled into the surrounding streets, tires screeching, lights flashing, armored officers pouring out with ballistic shields, rifles, and tear gas.
"DROP YOUR WEAPONS!"
"DOWN ON THE GROUND!"
"SHUT THIS BLOCK DOWN!"
The red-hued berserkers didn't even hear the warnings. They charged. SWAT opened suppression fire—rubber rounds, tear gas, cryo grenades. Criminals hit the ground, screaming and convulsing, some still trying to claw at officers even as they were zip-tied.
More convoys sealed off each cross-street, barricading Chinatown in a tightening ring of steel.
Dozens of Nolan's criminals were dragged onto armored vans but not as many as the others most of his teams escaped through the tunnels.
More still fell fighting each other.
And through the flashing lights and chaos…
The Beast rose slowly, body trembling, mask cracked and hanging from one side.
He stared at Batman.
At Young Justice.
At the circle of squad cars and SWAT rifles.
'Look around.' Nolan's voice entered his ears, 'You need to run.'
'I DONT RUN!' The beast shouted back
'How can you control a kingdom from the most secure prison in the world you fool?' Kieran snapped
'And what about your people right now they will need a leader.'
'Yeah the underpass is going to need a leader right now.' Vey added smoothly
The beast looked around.
The Beast's muscles seized, then exploded into motion.
He didn't attack Batman.
He didn't roar.
He didn't posture.
He bolted.
On all fours.
A blur of torn muscle and blood ripping across the pavement.
Batman shot a grapnel— THWIP—CRACK —but The Beast twisted mid-run, claws ripping into the side of a burning delivery van and hurling himself sideways, using its frame as cover.
Superboy launched after him—shockwave cracking the street—but the Beast dove beneath a row of toppled vendor carts, smashing through crates of ruined lanterns, ducking past SWAT smoke grenades rolling across the ground.
Kid Flash tried to intercept, but the ground was a minefield of shattered debris and flailing red-hued rioters. One berserker lunged blindly at him, slowing Wally just long enough.
Miss Martian pushed into his mind—
And slammed into a wall of pure, murderous instinct.
NO WORDS.
NO REASON.
ONLY FURY.
She staggered.
"His mind is— GAHH!" she shouted.
Batman sprinted after the blur of movement. Artemis fired arrows to cut off escape paths. Superboy tore a chunk of debris aside.
But The Beast was already scrambling up the side of a noodle shop—claws digging into brick, blood smearing the wall behind him.
He climbed like a starving animal.
Impossible angles.
Bare hands.
No hesitation.
Miss Martian reached out telekinetically—
The Beast tore a metal AC unit off the wall and hurled it down at her. She dodged, but it shattered through a squad car, exploding its windshield.
Superboy leapt to the rooftop—The Beast was already gone.
Batman reached the roofline seconds later, breathing hard, blood dripping from his lip.
He scanned the darkness.
Nothing at first.
Then—
A shadow.
Far down the block.
Bounding rooftop to rooftop on all fours, body lurching, nearly collapsing with each desperate leap.
Bleeding heavily.
Slowing.
But still moving.
A long smear of dark red marked the tiles behind him.
He wasn't winning.
He wasn't dominating.
He was fleeing.
The Beast reached the final row of tenements bordering the river—the city lights painting him in broken neon. He paused atop the highest roof, body shaking, one leg barely able to support his weight.
His head lifted, nostrils flared, and chest shuddered.
He stared back toward the police blockade and the heroes gathering below.
The growl that slipped from him was a low, wounded thing—still defiant, but far from triumphant.
Then he dove over the edge.
A splash exploded far below.
By the time Batman and Superboy reached the riverbank, there was only a widening ripple on the black water… and a trail of blood drifting downstream.
—
A/N: the only reason I have Batman getting so throughly dominated is because the beast fights off of pure animal instinct with no rhyme or reason for his moves.