An entry for the Wattpad multilingual holiday contest: Magic Holiday Thrills
(https://my.w.tt/UiNb/0AeoqOyAwI)

The holiday movies I used are Iron Man 3, Batman Returns, and Krampus (but mostly Krampus).

Deadline: Dec. 20, 2017

The Batmobile came to a stop outside the Engel house. They were the last people in this town; but upon seeing the damaged house, the Dark Knight knew he was too late. The cockpit to the Batmobile opened and Batman pulled himself out. He sighed as he mentally kicked himself for being too slow. He should have seen the signs. Some Great Detective, he thought to himself. So many people have come to Bruce Wayne for help, but he's been so busy with both his lives that many things have fallen through the cracks. He had to double his efforts, even if that meant working through Christmas.

A familiar sound of fire and energy broke through the night. As usually it sounded like a freight train going through a fireworks factory. Batman cringed as the iron-clad figure landed with the usual flare. The faceplate popped open to reveal Tony Stark. "No fair," said Stark, "I already called dibs."

"I've been working this case for the last few weeks, Iron Man," said Batman. "This monster started in the slums of Gotham and has moved on to this suburb."

"Well, I promised Pepper one more rescue before I came home, so you can go back to your exploding penguins and cat burglars."

Batman simply brushed by Iron Man. "I don't have time for this."

"You don't have time for this?" said Iron Man. "I have a board meeting in the morning. Plus, Cap says he's found the last HYDRA stronghold; thinks that scepter thing is there. And then there's this kid from Queens."

Batman ignored Iron Man and continued his investigation. Tony laughed while he watched Batman scrape some residue into a sample jar. "You know things would go so much faster if you used modern technology instead of Batarangs. Like a spectrum analysis. Jarvis, stoke up the spectrum analyzer." Within seconds, the Iron Man suit dinged like a microwave. "Ha! See? The trail goes that way." Iron Man then turned to see the Batmobile already heading in that direction. "Man, I hate that guy," Tony said before launching into the air.

By the time Iron Man caught up, Batman already set up his climbing gear near a big hole in the ground. "Why are you still following me?" he asked.

"You can't save Christmas alone," said Iron Man with a shrug. He peered over the hole's edge. "Wonder where that leads?" His scans registered nothing more than a deep hole.

"It leads to the Underworld," said Batman. "This beast drags people down into the Underworld and keeps them prisoners forever."

"Why?"

"Because they lost their Christmas spirit."

"Seems a bit harsh. Couldn't he just force them to read A Christmas Carol instead? How do you know this anyway?"

"I'm Batman," was all the Dark Knight said and began repelling down the hole.

Iron Man groaned and activated his flight-repulsers. "That doesn't really answer the question," hissed Iron Man as he hovered next to Batman. "So we're about to travel into the Underworld to battle some ancient magical being. Shouldn't you unite the League?"

"No. Shouldn't you assemble the Avengers?"

"Uh..." said Tony as Thor answered the video call.

"What seems to be the trouble, friend Stark?" said Thor.

"Sorry, wrong number," said Tony hanging up.

The hole was deep and dark. The only light came from Iron Man's suit and Batman's Bat-light. The two were silent for a long time until Tony finally couldn't take it anymore. "Did you ever change that password about me?" he asked the Bat.

"No," said Batman.

"I would've thought it'd be about Superman, since you don't like him."

"At least Superman knows how to be quiet. And I don't...not like—"

"So what are your plans for Christmas?"

"I'm going out on patrol."

"What? No office party? No date with Catwoman? Christmas is the best time to be a rich bachelor."

"I don't do Christmas."

"You're not going to spend it with family?" asked Tony, almost stopping mid-air.

"What family?" Batman said, with a bit too much edge in his voice. "Christmas is just another time for the criminal element to inflect pain. I can't let others feel the same pain as I do."

Iron Man slowly drifted to the bottom. This time he made no smart-aleck comment or strike a pose. He then cleared his throat and reminded himself of the task at hand. He turned to Batman, who was already hard at work picking the door lock. "That's the gate to the Underworld," said Tony. "You can't just use a lock—" The door slowly opened. "Never mind."

The duo of dollars stepped into the room. It was filled, shelf after shelf, with snow globes.

"This guy has serious issues," said Iron Man.

Batman checked the globes. "These are the names of the missing families. And here are the Engels." Batman showed Tony the globe. Inside Iron Man could see a family sitting around the fireplace. Batman sat the globe back down. "Look for a release."

"This isn't my first rodeo," grumbled Tony. "We could just smash them. Should've brought Hulk." Tony sighed then continued to grumble as he searched. "Can't believe I'm having to team up with the Bat...and at Christmas. I should be at home with Pepper, but noooo, some ancient being with an obsession for snow globes has to cause problems." In the middle of his tirade, Tony noticed the name on an empty snow globe. "Uh, Bats, why is your name on this globe?"

"And it appears that your name is on this one," said Batman.

"Oh, well, that can't be good."

"No. It is not," said a deep voice. A pair of hooves first appeared out of the shadows. Then a humanoid form. Finally ram horns.

"Whoa," said Tony. "He's a big fella."

"You two will be the prize of my collection."

"Us?" said Iron Man. "We're superheroes. We're like the definition of hope and charity. We're like the poster children for Christmas."

"Exactly. But of late, you two have brought a dark cynicism to the world."

"I'd call it realism, but OK," said Tony.

"You, Batman, spend your holidays chasing villains instead of spending it with what family you have left. And Tony Stark, you're obsession with building more Iron Men to protect the world nearly caused you to lose the one woman that can tolerate you."

"Only one?" said Tony. "And I destroyed those suits...for Pepper. I'm all about the holidays."

"And yet here you are, Iron Man, fighting me instead of being with Pepper Potts. And in your mind, plans for an Iron Legion. Max Engel also gave an impassioned speech but he remains here still. None escape Krampus."

"We'll see," said Batman pulling three Batarangs.

"That's right," said Tony as his repulsers charged.

Krampus laughed. "You're toys mean nothing to me."

Batman paused. He put the Batarangs away. "He's right."

"He is?" said Iron Man still pointing his repulsers at the creature.

"We shouldn't be here fighting some embodiment of the holidays. We should be with our friends and family. Instead of fighting him, we should be with what family we have. We should be grateful for what we have and not become so obsessed with holding on to what we have that we almost lose it. Look around us. He's placed them in snow globes. They might be trapped but...they still have their family. Krampus has removed their distractions so that they can spend time together, more than once a year."

"Yeah," said Tony. "I have Pepper and you, Bats, have...uh, you have the Batmobile."

"Chicks dig the car," said Batman.

Krampus seemed to be thinking this speech over. He almost seemed to have a tear in his eye. "Do you mean it? Do you mean what you say?"

"Maybe," said Iron Man. "But honestly, we were just waiting until the Bat-bombs Batman placed earlier reached zero."

"Wait, what?" said Krampus before a series of explosions rocked the place. "No!" he screamed. The globes shattered releasing rainbow lights. These lights shot out of the lair and up the hole. Krampus turned, full of rage, towards the heroes. He roared. Iron Man blasted him with his uni-beam. Krampus flew through the air, smashing into a series of globes.

The heroes reached the hole as Krampus smashed his way through the door. Iron Man took to the air as Batman grabbed his rope. The Batmobile's wench pulled him up, quite quickly. Krampus climbed up the wall.

"I suppose you have a solution to that!" said Iron Man.

"Always," said Batman pulling out a detonator. "While you prattled as we descended, I planted explosives." Batman pushed the button. More explosions rocked the place. The walls began to cave in, but Krampus continued on their tail. Finally, the heroes were on the surface. Batman crawled out as Iron Man flew high into the sky. Another, final blast, caved the hole in.

"Whew," said Iron Man, "that was close."

Suddenly the figure of Krampus erupted from the hole. His leap took him high into the air. "None escape Krampus!" he shouted, sounding more like a supervillain than a mythological being.

Krampus clawed towards the airborne Avenger. It almost looked like Krampus was trying to give Iron Man a high-five. Apparently, Tony must have thought the same because he primed his repulser holding the gauntlet out as if he was going to high-five him back. Then at the last second, he switched to a barrage of missiles to Krampus's face. "Too slow," said Tony as the monster fell back to Earth.

Krampus fell back through the hole he'd sprang from. Tony then unleashed the repulser beam he'd prepared on the hole, sealing it tightly. Once he finished, he landed next to Batman, who was already checking the Bat-news feed. The people were back home and safe. "Not bad for a guy who dresses like a bat," said Tony. Batman ignored him. "We did a good job. I think we should celebrate. Too bad all the shawarma joints are closed for the holidays."

"Alfred has Bat-Nog at the cave."

"Yeah. OK. I'm all in. I'll text Pepper; see if she wants to come. By the way, nice speech back there."

"You hang around Superman as much as I do, you pick up an impassioned speech or two."

The End.

This fanfic was based on the movies Batman Returns, Krampus, and—

Below the Earth in the Underworld, a figure crawled out of the debris. Krampus dusted himself off and approached his cabinet. He pulled out a snow globe. Inside this master globe was an glowing stone, a very old and powerful stone (though some might call it a gem). "Next year, their souls will be mine."