CHAPTER 1
Batman stood as still as a statue. All around him the real statues were shadowy shapes in the museum. The Dark Knight blended right in.
The Caped Crusader did not move a muscle. He had trained himself to stay in one spot for as long as it took to catch a criminal.
If he had an itch, he did not scratch it. If he had to sneeze, he suppressed it. If he had to breathe, he inhaled as quietly as a bat.
There was a reason Batman stood in the midnight shadows of the Gotham City Museum of Natural History. There was a very special exhibit of rare and valuable fossils on display that were worth millions of dollars. The money was a temptation for any of the super-villains in Gotham City, but one of the fossils was extra special: a skeleton of a prehistoric penguin.
The skeleton was the only one known to exist. Batman knew this was an irresistible lure to the master criminal known as the Penguin. The short and stout villain had a special liking for anything to do with the portly birds. He dressed in a tuxedo to imitate an Emperor penguin. His nose was long and pointed just like a penguin’s beak. Even his laugh sounded like a penguin squawking.
WAAUK! came a sound at the entrance of the exhibit hall.
Batman shifted his eyes — but not his head — in that direction. He saw four dark shapes moving into the hall. One of the shapes was very short. It waddled on stubby legs and was supported by an umbrella.
“WAAUK! WAAUK!” The Penguin cried. “There it is! Oh, it’s such a wonderful sight!”
The villain’s attention was focused on a fossilized skeleton. He rushed right past the hidden Batman. The Penguin looked at the ancient bones with admiration in his eyes.
CLAP! CLAP! CLAP!
He clapped his hands together in delight.
“There it is — a Waimanu manneringi,” the Penguin said. “It’s the oldest known penguin in Earth’s history.” The plump villain sighed in appreciation. “It dates from the Middle Paleocene period, at least sixty million years ago. Isn’t it beautiful?”
One of the Penguin’s helpers tilted his head. He and his companions were dressed in tuxedos and wore masks shaped like penguin heads. “A why-man-new . . . what?” he asked.
“It’s awfully big,” another helper added. “I thought all penguins were really small.”
The Penguin shot his thug a harsh look. “Oops! Sorry, boss,” the thug said.
The Penguin ignored the comment. He knew he was short. He had been teased about it all his life.
“This specimen is five feet tall,” the master criminal said proudly. “It was a giant compared to its brethren!”
At that moment, the Penguin realized he should be more concerned with stealing the fossil bones than about defending his own physical stature. “Wrap up this precious prize,” he ordered. “I have a special place for it in my collection.”
The masked minions obeyed their boss. They pulled out spray-foam guns from their tuxedo jackets and aimed the nozzles at the fossil bones. Their fingers started to squeeze the triggers.
FLAP! FLAP! FLAP! Something gigantic flew out of the shadows. The frightened thieves dropped the foam guns as bat-shaped objects struck the weapons.
“AWWWK!” the Penguin squawked.
The shape swooped over their heads. It landed between the Penguin and the fossil and then stood like a dark guardian. Huge bat wings spread out on both sides of its body.
“You’re so predictable,” the Dark Knight said. “I knew this penguin fossil would bring you out of hiding — and right into my hands.”
“Batman!” the Penguin cried. He was not prepared to face his old enemy. “Why don’t you get a day job?”
“Crime never sleeps,” Batman stated. “And neither do I.”
“If you can’t sleep, then I’ve got a way to knock you out — permanently,” the Penguin said.
The Penguin turned to his masked helpers and ordered them to attack. “Bash this bothersome bat!”
The costumed crooks rushed toward Batman. “So predictable,” said the hero.
The Dark Knight stood completely still and let them come. In the few seconds it took for them to reach him, Batman observed how his opponents moved. He detected their weaknesses and physical faults.
The first one had a slight limp in his left leg that was probably from an old injury. It was an obvious weak spot.
Another thug held his mask onto his face with one hand. That meant it was loose, and the villain could not see through the eyeholes very well.
The third thug was very slow and lagged behind the others. He was hesitating because he was afraid. Afraid of Batman.
The Dark Knight smiled. Fear was his greatest weapon.
Batman launched himself into the air like the creature that inspired his name. He flew straight at his attackers.
KAAAAAAA-POW! Batman’s first punch smacked the crook that couldn’t see very well. The bad guy crashed to the floor. As Batman expected, the second, limping henchman tripped over the first one and fell to the ground with a THUD!
The third frightened crook ran past the spot where Batman had been. He was tempted to keep on running. He hadn’t known that the Dark Knight could fly!
What other powers does he have that no one knows about? the frightened crook wondered.
Lost in his fears and thoughts, the crook did not see that Batman was swinging from a Batrope attached to his Utility Belt. WOOOOOOOOSH! Batman turned in a huge arc in the air and came back at the startled henchman. To the frightened minion, the Caped Crusader now looked like a giant man-eating monster out of some ancient myth. The thug was frozen with fear.
BLAM! Batman rammed into the crook with both of his boots. The henchman sailed backward and hit the floor hard. He was still conscious, but he didn’t get back to his feet. He lay on the ground, covering his head with his hands.
The Dark Knight swooped around in another wide turn. Below him, the Penguin used one of the fallen foam guns on the fossil skeleton. He was encasing the giant penguin in an egg-shaped cocoon.
Batman plunged toward the master criminal like a hawk toward its prey. He snatched the Penguin by the collar of his fancy tuxedo and carried him up and away from the precious fossil bones.
“AAAAWWWWK!” the Penguin cried. He still had the foam gun in his hands, so he fired it at his flying captor.
SPLOOOOSH!
The wet goo covered the Caped Crusader’s face. But if the Penguin thought the Dark Knight would let him go after that, he was wrong.
Batman tightened his grip. If he couldn’t see, it was more important than ever for him to hold on to his captive.
However, the Penguin managed to squirm free of Batman’s grasp. “This bird wasn’t meant to fly!” he said with a grin.
The portly criminal fell toward the ground. His chubby body hit the floor.
WHOMMMMMP!
Almost all the breath was knocked out of his lungs.
CLACK! CLACK! CLINK!
The foam gun went spinning out of his hands and skittered across the floor, far away from his reach.
The Caped Crusader landed on his feet not far from the Penguin.
Batman slowly scraped the foam from his face and eyes with the back of his hand. When his vision cleared, he saw his foe scrambling for an umbrella.
Batman knew what the Penguin was planning. In one swift motion, Batman pulled out a Batarang from his Utility Belt and threw it. WOOOOOOOOOOOSH!
KLUNK! The weapon hit the umbrella’s handle and knocked it out of the criminal’s grasp.
As the umbrella hit the ground, the impact activated a sword blade concealed in the tip. SCHING!
“It’s dangerous to play with sharp objects,” Batman said, pointing at the blade. He picked up the foam gun. “Here, let me make it safer for you.”
FWOOOOOOSH!
“WAAAUUHH!” Penguin squealed as the goo covered him from neck to toe.
“And that’s a wrap,” Batman concluded.