A Batman Transformation Story
(M to Great Dane)

“So… Why are you here, again?” Dick Grayson, also known as Robin, looked to the thief beside him. Selena Kyle was hardly on good terms with him, and yet they’d somehow teamed up to fight against the current rulers of Gotham.

“Why do you think?” She purred. Her feline inflection was a part of her alias, Catwoman.

“Clearly it’s not because of the recent influx in police activity, thanks to the abundance of K-9 units. You always like a challenge,” Dick mused. He stroked his chin contemplatively, and made an absent note that he’d likely need to shave in the near future. Even if Batman was currently a dog, he did have appearance standards for the ‘Boy Wonder’. Apparently it was in his contract.

Selena laughed, breaking his train of thought. “Actually, you’re not far off. I’m just not a dog person.” She shrugged, though there was a glint in her eye that spoke of untold mischief. She must have seen him notice, because she hurriedly tried to change the subject. “Why’re you trying to restore the Bat?”

Dick made a mental note to betray her before she could betray him, then considered the fact that perhaps he lived in a world that was too morally ambiguous. “I don’t know what to do without him,” he replied.

“Seriously? Aren’t you basically as smart as he is at this point? You could find some other superpowered kids, start up a team, give it a snappy name. Kind of be the light to the Justice League’s serious overtones, right? Include something like ‘youth’, ‘kid’, or ‘tween’ in the title.”

“No.” The force of Dick’s reply startled even him, and he shook his head. “Nobody would like that. Although… Maybe if I went as dark as possible. Call us the Team Titans—or wait, just Titans. Yeah, that’s got a real ring to it.” He nodded, a slow smile dawning across his face.

“Wait, seriously? I was just kidding,” Selena laughed. “I thought you were all about saving Batman, right?”

Robin paused, and considered that. She wasn’t wrong, he’d let the desire to save Batman motivate him into a path of vigilante heroism. On the other hand, Gotham admittedly was cleaner without Batman. The increase in plant life and dog parks certainly made the air cleaner, and without the factories constantly producing new bat-related paraphernalia, there hadn’t been as much smog…

Dick nodded, eyes hardening. Coming up with the best response any out-of-touch young adult could, he narrowed his eyes, fixed his gaze towards the horizon, and growled. “Fu—”

That was as far as he made it before the world below him turned to a cacophony of light and color.

When he came to, he was face-to-foot with Gotham’s two most wanted—though nowadays they were more wanted for canine care advice, rather than crimes. Discounting the whole ‘transforming approximately fifty percent of the mob into police dogs’ thing, which most people tended to do.

“Seriously, you couldn’t have waited five minutes to check that the building was clear before demolishing it?” Harley’s voice cut through the haze of Dick’s addled mind, and he looked to a rather familiar black and red set of shoes.

“It’s hardly my fault, I thought I’d made those postings rather clear. The factory wasn’t in use anyways, and this allows for much more natural light on my planned greenhouse.”

Ironically, the conversation mirrored a discussion Dick had once had with Bruce, back when he’d still retained his morally uncompromised innocence. Although… It was less about tearing down a building, and more about assembling Bat Armory 041-C.

“Yeah, well it wasn’t obvious enough to keep Kitty or the murder-twink from getting caught up in it,” Harley sighed. Something in her posture changed, and Dick looked up to find she was staring down at him in surprise. “Oh! Someone’s awake!”

Dick growled as she dropped to a low squat, cupped his chin in her hands, and lifted his head in her hands. Her thumbs circled around his cheeks, and he briefly considered his options. He didn’t have the element of surprise, but she was the less threatening of the two.

Doubtless he could take her in a fight, leverage her for a way out, maybe even change Bruce back… And it all started now. He rolled onto all fours and leaped towards her, pulling a hand back for a punch. Unfortunately, two things stopped his attack dead in his tracks.

His arm wouldn’t pull back no matter how hard he tried, and his hips and shoulders limited his range of motion to the point where he could barely rise on two legs. He ended up falling against Harley, who took his weight surprisingly well.

“Ooph! Good luck ol’ Oakley’s given me so much practice with big dogs, right?” Harley laughed, tilting her head to the side in a rather innocent fashion.

“You… Used to raise Hyenas,” Ivy deadpanned in return.

“Yeah. And they’re not nearly as big as a Great Dane. Probably. I dunno, they seem so smaller because they’re all cute and giggly,” Harley huffed, easing Dick off of her with a mild grunt of exertion.

In those dreadful few moments, Dick noticed several things wrong with himself. First and foremost, there was a rather large muzzle at the forefront of his features. Second, said muzzle had a pair of low-hanging jowls, which swayed in time with each and every motion of his head. Third, he could not stop his stupid new tail from wagging.

“GRWOOF!?” Dick barked, spraying Harley with a copious amount of drool. It was humiliating to be made into such a big dog, even if he did look a little nobler than the drooling mastiff beside Ivy. “Wroof growf!”

“Oh, I know, I know. Someone’s upset that he missed his transformation. Would it help if I said your body was so injured in the explosion that we had to transform you as soon as possible?” Harley leaned down, scratching the dog’s ears. “It’d be a lie, but… You know. Could help if I said it.”

Dick growled.

“Yeah, yeah. Someone’s upset they missed their time in the spotlight. But… This isn’t just about you, no it isn’t,” Ivy cooed, in a surprisingly soft tone. Apparently she had a weak spot for dogs. “This is about our dear friend, Selena.”

A light dramatically flicked on behind the two, illuminating a bound and gagged Selena Kyle. She was stripped of her mask, and surprisingly beautiful without it. Harley pranced over to their criminal counterpart, and motioned for Ivy to bring Dick along for the ride.

Dick growled as a vine snaked around his neck, more of a collar than the noose he’d usually have received, but he still slid along behind her. He whimpered, and looked to Selena even as the thief was ungagged.

She spat on the ground immediately, making a face at the cloth that had been forced in her mouth. Then the thief looked to Harley and Ivy, fixing them with a stern glare. “Seriously, have you never been gagged before? Use a clean cloth, for God’s sake!”

“Sorry, we’ve had trouble keeping the towels away from Oakley,” Harley giggled. “Every time we have one in the same room, he—” As if to prove her point, the mastiff beside Ivy growled and pounced, his tail wagging as he leapt upon the towel.

“Gross! You’re telling me that was in a dog’s mouth?” Selena crinkled her nose, stressing the word ‘dog’ like it was poisonous.

“Selena, honey, it’s okay. We know you’re a cat person, and it’s perfectly fine to be wrong,” Ivy cooed. “And that’s why we’ve gotten you a puppy of your own. Meet Goliath. He’s a big dog, but we think he’s a perfect match for you.”

“Plus he’s literally the only dog we’ve got on hand!” Harley chimed in.

Ivy ignored her. “Just give us five facts, and by the time we’re done, I’m sure that you’re going to absolutely adore our good boy here.”

Selena didn’t seem particularly keen on agreeing to their terms, but it wasn’t like she had any choice in the matter. “Fine.” She grunted, giving them a baleful glare.

“Great!” Harley practically bounced in place, clapping her hands. She motioned towards Dick, flourishing as though she was on stage. “To begin, our first point is that dogs are healthy for you! Taking walks with them is the best form of exercise. Come on, Goliath, show us how good you are at walking!”

Dick would have rolled his eyes if he could. However, he could see no better way out of this, and so he settled on padding up to Selena, then doing a lap around her. It was surprisingly fun to walk on all fours, a new economy of motion mixing well with the bounciness of his velvety paw pads. So, naturally, he took a second lap. And a third.

Selena giggled, and Diack couldn’t help but wag his tail. There was a bit of pride to be had in that as well, if he was able to act like a good enough dog to even get through to Selena Kyle.

“Second,” Ivy purred, “Dogs are very protective and loyal. Like Goliath here? He’s so protective that he’ll tackle anyone at the slightest bit of aggression to you, especially mailmen.”

Diackh knew that she was playing him. On the other hand, she wasn’t wrong. There wasn’t anyone in the world as protective or as capable of being protective as him. And loyal? That described him to a fault! As long as his owner was worth being loyal to, of course.

“Mailmen, really?” Selena couldn’t help but laugh a bit at that. “I’m sure that won’t be an issue. Of course, I have been in the market for someone a little on the loyal side. You wouldn’t believe how fickle relationships can be once people find out you’re a master thief.”

“Aw, the one thing she couldn’t steal is hearts,” Harley pouted. “Lucky thing that Goliath here’s gonna love her with all of his, because dogs are the happiest, friendliest animals in all of nature. It’s like, science! Probably.”

Doliakh nodded so hard that his jowls bounced. Of course, his ears weren’t the biggest of the floppiest, but he did his best at wiggling those too. His tail wagged like crazy, and he quietly savored every smile and laugh from his owner.

Then he realized that he was being completely ridiculous, and that he shouldn’t bother with quietly savoring it at all. “Groof! Woof woof!” He wagged his tail happily, beaming up to Selena and giving her a wide doggy smile.

“Ooh, good boy! You’re proving my next point for me, and that’s that dogs are always energetic and willing to play, not at all like cats,” Ivy chuckled. She laughed a bit harder as Selena’s nose crinkled from her offhand usage of the c-word.

Doliath wagged his tail like crazy, suddenly more energetic than… Well, than ever! He wasn’t sure, remembering was something that was slow, and he didn’t want to be slow, he wanted to be happy fast! He barked loudly, swishing his tail from side to side.

“Oh, he’s such a…” Selena was at a slight loss for words. She looked to the dog curiously, as though she was worried she’d say the wrong thing. “Um… I don’t really know how to talk to dogs.” She blushed.

“All you need to do is call him a good boy, and he’ll take care of the rest!” Harley chirped. “Because dogs are all just so huggable and lovable!”

“Okay…” Selena replied, looking unsurely to her dog. “Good… Boy?”

It was like falling in love and winning the lottery all at the same time. Goliath bounced onto her with a happy bark, nuzzling up to his owner and licking her cheek happily. He loved being called a good boy, it was so good to be appreciated and loved like this, and he loved all the appreciation and warmth she gave him!

Selena laughed, one of those warm and kindhearted sounds that filled Goliath’s doggy heart with delight. The Great Dane’s tail wagged like made, and he covered his owner’s face in licks and pleasure. He loved being her good boy, and wanted to be the best, best pooch possible!