Earth-52 IC

[ChronicLunacy]

Deadshot

Deadshot could stop him from right here. Even if his aim had been a bit off today (sorry, Lock-Up) he could just pull the trigger and that gun would go flying from the mugger's hand, Deadshot thought, raising his arm and wristol and looking down at the scene. Hell, it wouldn't even take that much. If he yelled down at the mugger he might get startled and run off. Could he really just stand there while that woman died in front of him? He flashed back to that tree again, the quaking branch underneath him, one of his dad's guns in his brother's hands pointed right at the back of the man's head while his mother waited for the shot in the kitchen. He heard his gauntlet click and a round chamber as he went through the motions of readying the rifle in his mind, right up to the moment when he'd shot it out of his brother's hand and saved his father's life.

Then the reality of the situation came back to him and he looked down his trembling arm at the mugger. "I could..." he started, warring with himself. He didn't even really know who it was down there in that alley, just a terrified mother and child. What kind of monster would he be if he just let them die?

But they were already dead, weren't they?

With that terrible thought, Deadshot lowered his arm and put his hands on the edge of the roof. He forced himself to watch the result of his inaction if that was the choice he was really going to make.

Spoiler

Show

If no one stops him, and I mean stops him not just talking to him, Deadshot's going to be so caught up in the memory that he's going to shoot the gun out of the mugger's hands.
Blast 5 (Accurate Attack for 3, Improved Sunder, Precise Shot 2): (1d20+19)[26]

[Terron]

The Black Crossbow being next to Deadshot catches in the edge of his eye, the gun-guantlet, loading a round and the man aiming down. He quickly steps behind him, but then Deadshot lowers his weapon. Luigi returns his white globed hands to his pockets, and casually walks away from the sniper.

---

* post roll count doesn't match database

[DeafnotDumb]

Lieutenant Walker

Walker freezes, her mind ticking. She's too late to stop the man's death, but the woman's... and then she draws her swordstick and it's too late. "Jesus." She speaks, stunned and angry. The MCU prepares you for a different kind of brutality than regular homicide, where lives are stopped and crippled and destroyed generally through an accident of chance and emotion and circumstance, without any grand purpose behind it. She doesn't think. It is not in the nature of cops who witness a crime or dogs chasing a cat to stop and think. She simply gets out Lock-Up's grapple and moves towards the scene of the crime, to grab the kid, to ID the suspect, to do something but stand there like the useless bag of flesh she is.

[industrious]

Crime Alley

They are witnesses to a murder, perhaps the most important in Gotham's history. Some take their benefactor's words to heart, and force themselves to watch in atonement for the sin of doing nothing. Others cannot stop who they are, and attempt rescue from the rooftops.

They are too late. Around them, the heptagram glows softly, and they find themselves sealed behind a barrier that they cannot break no matter how hard they try. And no matter how much they shout, they cannot be heard.

The father is already dead, lying in a pool of his own blood. The mother is sobbing, and the child is screaming.

BANG.

The pearls around the woman's neck go flying; the chlid slumps to his knees. Sirens wail in the distance, and the mugger takes off in a sprint, rushing away from the approaching noise.

"Nooooooo!"

None of them had ever seen Bruce Wayne. The poor soul was locked in Wayne Manor, away from the world and human contact. People would occasionally make remarks of fond reminisence about the Wayne family, and the tragedy of the last Wayne, but little more. Kate only knew of them from her father's stories. From her mother's recollections.

They had never seeen nor heard Bruce Wayne. But the anguish in his young voice was unmistakable.

On the far side of the alley, a squad car pulls up, and a Jim Gordon younger than any present save the Spoiler gets out of the car, looking in horror at the scene. There are no words, only a mad sprint to comfort the boy.

"No..."

A last whisper from the newly made orphan is the last thing they hear, before the spell takes them back.

[industrious]

Crime Alley, "Present Day"

They return in the same spot, thirty years later. The clouds mask the night skiy and stars, and hide the skyline of downtown Gotham. The air smells of pollution and grime and corruption. And there are billboard ads for cell phone service and cheap alcohol covered in grafetti.

Silence for another moment as they try to digest what has just happened. What they just witnessed. The Spoiler opens her mouth, closes it.

It's Gotham. What can they say?

But then...then it happens. A long thin cord wraps itself around Deadshot's wrists from somewhere above him. And with a jerk and a scream, he is wisked out of sight.

Deadshot

Hell exists, and he is face to face with a Demon.

The Demon's skin is almost entirely in black, and his grip is strong. With a single hand around the marksman's neck, he is dangled off the edge of a gargoyle. There are blades around the Demon's wrists.

The Demon's eyes are pure white, with neither lens nor retina nor cuticle. Yet Deadshot can feel his gaze stare into his soul.

The Demon's face is all in black, and there are two horns straight and pointed. Deadshot can see that the Demon has taken the mouth and lower face of a man, and somehow attached it to his own.

The Demon has wings that do not fold but hang behind him, leathery edges ragged. Deadshot can see them rustle in the breeze.

The Demon has carved a rune of some sort on his chest in yellow and black. Deadshot can only guess at its profane meaning.

The Demon speaks in a voice straight from Hell.

"Deadshot. What is one of the Secret Six doing in MY city?"

[Bruendor_Cavescout]

The Question

Kate continued forwards - if she noticed the other Gotham Knights standing by, or Lt. Walker following her, she gave them no indication - and was stepping to the edge of the roof as the heptagram glowed again, trapping her on the wrong side of a mystic barrier. "No..." she whispered beneath her mask. Her heart leapt into her throat. "No, no NO!" She pounded her fists against the mystic prison, desperately trying to find a way out.

The cruelty of the prison was that while her voice could not escape, she could hear the sounds of the tragedy unfolding beneath her. She heard the sobs of Martha Wayne, the screams of young Bruce, the loud retort of the second shot, the clatter of pearls to the pavement, the whine of distant sirens, and the footfalls of the Waynes' unknown murderer. As the gun fired, Kate shuddered, and sank to her knees roughly in unison with the young boy. She took deep heaving breaths, tears forming in her eyes beneath the second skin, watching as a young boy's life and mind is destroyed before her. She bowed her head in defeat, one hand still balled in helpless rage, the fist pressed against the barrier, as useless in this moment as she was.

Spoiler

Show

JIC: (1d20)[13]

[ChronicLunacy]

Deadshot
Defense: 22
Condition: PURE PANT-SH%$&ING TERROR

Deadshot was too caught up in beating himself up over letting Martha Wayne die when he could have easily done something to change it. He hardly noticed the magic circle spring up around them again, or the getting sucked through the eye of a needle feeling of time travel, nor the sounds and smells slightly change due to coming back to the present day. He held his hands out in front of his face, looking at them with scorn, wondering what use they were, when he was suddenly yanked up to his feet and then into the air by a nearly invisible cord that bound his primary weapons together and more than halved his ability to fight back. He gave off a startled yelp as he was pulled away from the others.

He stopped, swinging weakly, only to be grabbed and held up by the neck by a winged vision of Hell; something he'd never seen before that turned his bones to ice and nearly opened the floodgates on his bladder. He pulled against the cord binding his hands together and struggled ineffectually in the demon's grip for a moment. The only thing saving him from screaming like a little girl was his fearless stupidity, the thing that made swinging from skyscrapers and dodging automatic weapons' fire fun instead of shocking and terrifying. Still, this thing was a lot more scary than automatic weapons' fire, so it took him a few moments to find his voice. Even then he had to struggle against the thing's crushing grip around his throat, so his words sort of squeaked out.

"Your city? What? I thought I was in Gotham. Also: Secret what? Have we met?" he rambled, thoroughly confused.

Spoiler

Show

He has the Fearless feat, so that's the only reason he can talk right now.

[DeafnotDumb]

Lieutenant Walker

The policewoman is whipped back in mid-flight, dazed and angry and self-hating. She grasps her cane and with much too strong a grip and slides it back into it's sheath, visualizing putting away her anger with it. It happens. It's Gotham. It's better now, or she would make it be. There's no other way.

She looks around herself, and the first things to catch her attention are Stephanie and the Question. The former's face is quiet and hushed and there's a lot going on behind it. Katherine suspects she's never seen something like this before. There's plenty of nasty things that happened in that kid's life, but none had quite the same callous disconnect from emotion that act had, nor did she have to stand back and watch it happen, not being able to do something. She knows that feeling. And the Question...

Katherine doesn't like the freak, but that doesn't mean it's good she's taking it this hard. It's odd, too, and the back of Katherine's mind presents some puzzle pieces and goes 'Ah-ha!' but she ignores it. She steps forwards and places her hands on their backs, the only comfort she can think of giving. It's better than any words she could have, anyway. Then she looks around for Lock-Up-

-and suddenly frowns.

"Where's Deadshot?" She asks.

[industrious]

Deadshot

"Don't play games with me, Lawton."

The Demon's grip on his neck is loosened...slightly. He's no longer gasping for air. However, there is a breeze going down his neck and his feet are dangling several hundred feet up and, well. That hand on his neck is the only thing between him and the far-too clingy ex named Gravity.

"How did you escape from Arkham? Who else is with you now? Talk. Or Else."

[Terron]

Luigi observed as the scene took it's most expensive toll on the Knight's psyche.
He closed his eyes, as if feeling the shot himself, when the woman was shot down. As sad as it was, he couldn't do anything, not now that he was surrounded by the magical circle.
In a flash, the group was back on Gotham, his scarf flickering and flapping again, by the sudden magical trip.
Then, out of nowhere, Deadshot is pulled up, to the dark heights!
"Deadshot!" screamed Luigi is astonishment, seconds before the marksman was pulled into complete darkness, and he lost sight of him. Narrowing his eyes, Luigi tried to scan the place where he saw Deadshot disappear, hoping to spot him.

Notice: (1d20+7)[23]
JCR: (1d20)[3]

[DeafnotDumb]

Lieutenant Walker

The cop's eyes, trained by thousands of nights spent on Gotham streets or staying up looking for that one piece of evidence in the hundred page financial report, flick upwards immediately. All they catch is a confused blur ascending upwards.

"-the hell?" She sounds truly confused, asking for confirmation. "I think I saw Deadshot just get lifted upwards to a, a, building top that looks like nothing I've ever seen before."

JIC: (1d20)[9]

[ChronicLunacy]

Deadshot

How the hell did this thing know his name? For a single moment Deadshot was glad that he was away from the others since they couldn't overhear. "I think you have me at a disadvantage, Pointy-Ears. You want to try putting me down so that we can talk about this like rational people? See, I'm not used to being the interviewee in this sort of situation. Usually it's me asking the questions to the nutjob, not the other way around." he said. "Now, uh...if you don't put me down I'm going to have to insult you some more. I don't want to do it, but I will if you force me."

As Deadshot distracted the demon-man with his blathering, he pulled a knife from his gauntlet with his fingers and started to work on the cord, hiding the sawing with his cupped hands.

Spoiler

Show

Escape Artist: (1d20+11)[31]
Sleight of Hand: (1d20+11)[28]
JIC: (1d20)[20]

[Bruendor_Cavescout]

The Question

Slowly, the faceless crimefighter came to her feet. Though thirty years had passed between the closing and opening of her eyes, it still looked remarkably the same. Thirty years of crime, loss and tragedy had left its mark on Crime Alley, and Gotham as a whole. As depressing as Gotham was, at least they were home.

Then she heard Deadshot's scream. She heard the cry rise into the darkness, so she cast her gaze towards the cloudy heavens. A greasy rain began to fall, and like the Black Crossbow, she too scanned to see what had become of her teammate. Her eyes fell upon a red and gray form about hundred feet above the pavement, and she moved into action. She climbed towards where Deadshot was dangling, and steeled herself to meet whatever unknown foe had chosen this night to attack the Gotham Knights.

Spoiler

Show

JIC: (1d20)[10]
Stealth (not that it will help against the GDBM): (1d20+18)[26]
Climb (not sure if it's needed, but what the heck): (1d20+14)[31]

[industrious]

Gotham City

The Demon's eyes narrow at Deadshot's actions. A moment. Pondering.

"Lawton."

The Question's head peeks up, and she sees the black form of the Demon as well.

"Question? But...not."
He releases Deadshot, and the marksman starts to fall. The Demon takes a single step down the length of the gargoyle, and dives in afterwords, snatching the Question with a single hand as he does so; gauntleted hands close around Kate's collar.

He catches up with Deadshot, still in freefall; a Knight in each hand, the Demon's wings extend, and they glide down to the rest of the group. All see the Demon. The Spoiler inhales sharply. The Demon's gaze falls upon her, and she tries very very hard not to curl into a ball and become invisible.

"I see."

He stands before them. Powerful. Imposing. All-Confident.

"Listen up. You have entered an alternate reality. This is not your Gotham."

The clouds begin to part, and they see it. The skyline. In the Gotham they know, No Man's Land had caused the city to be rebuilt. The Kane family had tried to preserve as much of the original Gothic archetecture of the city as possible, but they were only able to do so much. Luthor and Wayne Enterprises had modernized the city with steel and glass.

Not this Gotham. Here, stone and structure prevailed. Gargoyles dotted the ledges of almost every roof; needle-like spires topped several skyscrapers. The Wayne Enterprise building was the tallest building in Gotham; it towered over all others, a yellow neon W adorning its side. Where the red symbol of Lady Justice shone over the roof of the GCPD was instead the yellow-and black sigil on the Demon's chest.

"It's mine."

[ChronicLunacy]

Deadshot

Deadshot's hands came free in freefall, snapping the cord that had held them together, and he had almost shot a zipline to the nearest building when the demon caught him and they glided down to the others. When he was set down he took several quick steps away from it while trying belatedly to look casual. He dusted himself off theatrically and put his hands on his hips. "You know, if I hadn't already had to deal with time travel today I'd be a lot more incredulous after hearing that." he said, cocking his head to the side.

"Now, who are you and how do you know my name? Which by the way, I'll ask you not to repeat in our present company. I like you guys and everything, but I don't want Lieutenant Walker busting down my door or bothering my at my day job..."

[DeafnotDumb]

Lieutenant Walker

"Says you." Katherine responds automatically. "It's mi-" Her voice fades away.

"What in the name of hell?" She stands there open-mouthed. This freak may be right. It doesn't look like her Gotham. It looks like something out of a nightmare, where the world is twisted and turned to something just not quite correct...

She looks at the demon, and doesn't flinch. It's a close thing, closer than it's been for a long time, but Katherine doesn't flinch even when she really, really should. It's a matter of personal pride - or stupidity, if your tastes run that way. "I know every freak in my city." She begins. "Who are you?"

[Bruendor_Cavescout]

The Question

As she climbs, she hears Deadshot bantering with someone - a little faster than usual, suggesting that whatever it was frightened the overconfident marksman. That worried Kate. Still, he hadn't shut up yet, which she took some solace in. She peeked her head over the edge of the roof and saw...

...grabbed before she could do anything, the creature before her grabbed the collar of her trenchcoat. Her eyes went wide beneath her mask - this man was fast. Just as she was registering Deadshot in freefall, the black garbed man had grabbed ahold of him, depositing the two of them back on the rooftop. This man was fast, strong, capable, and inhuman.

She took a few steps away from the Beast, smoothing her trenchcoat. Her heart was pounding, and she swallowed hard before she spoke, trying to calm her voice to keep her fear under control. "I'm with Deadshot - any other night, and 'alternate dimension' would be a hard sell. But tonight's been a bad night. Who are you, and how can we get back to our Gotham?" She put a little too much edge into the word "our;" she hoped the Beast wouldn't catch it.

Spoiler

Show

JIC: (1d20)[16]

[Terron]

Luigi instinctively takes a step back, he already has his crossbow in hand, and a bolt in the other. However this creature of the night didn't seem aggressive, as for now. He relaxed a bit, still holding down his crossbow. Time travel, alternate realities... Wasn't it too much? "Porca miseria..." he mutters under his breath. At the Question's... question, he briefly commented. "We could search for this dimension's Ra Al-Ghul, I suppose."
"So... Perhaps the 'King of This other Gotham' would care to introduce himself, and explain this unprovoked attack, yes?" The Black crossbow said.

[industrious]

((For the sake of plot, I'm not having Luigi mention 'Ra's Al-Ghul just yet. I don't want to have the stereotypical fight then teamup.))

Batman

"I'm Batman."

He turns away from them, punching a key on his gauntlet.

"Batmobile. Intercept."

A sleek red and steel vehicle rises from the alley, hovering above them. A bubble canopy opens.

"I have other matters to attend to. The car will take you to a safehouse where your questions can be answered. Car. Engage Interior Cloak. Set Course to Firewall."

The Batman turns away, and smoke envelops his form. When it clears, the dark figure is gone without a trace. The car remains, floating above the air.

It's a magnificent piece of work. Decades ahead of anything they have. And it flies.

[DeafnotDumb]

Lieutenant Walker

There's a pause as the costumed freak steals away into the roofs of the city that is not quite Gotham, and then Walker speaks. "I hate that guy. How about you?"

Then an idea strikes her, and she places her hand up to her ear to activate those little com-bead things, the ones that keep her in contact with the MCU. "Allen? Sarah? Anyone there?"

[industrious]

((The Batmobile is actually still waiting for all of you to enter it. Batman left the old fashioned way.))

???

Neither of them answer. Instead, a different voice answers. Older. Female. Forties.

"This is a restricted channel. Cease broadcasting, or you will be charged accordingly."

Her voice wasn't recognized by whoever was on the other end. Which raised further questions.

[DeafnotDumb]

Lieutenant Walker

Walker lets her hand drop, and for the first time since this whole mess started, since tachyons and time-travel and dead parents and magic, looks, really, really worried. Her face doesn't look like it belongs to her. "Can we just get into that thing and go?" She asks quietly. I need someplace to think."

[ChronicLunacy]

Deadshot

"Unless you've got a better idea, I say we do what the scary Batperson tells us to do." Deadshot shrugged and got into the mysterious stranger's flying car... Okay, putting it that way, it might not be the best plan, but it was the only one they had at the moment. Truthfully, Deadshot was more preoccupied with pondering about what his alternate reality self was doing at Arkham. What kind of a person was this Deadshot?

More importantly...who was the better shot?

[Sophistemon]

Lock-Up
Bruised 2, Injured 1.
Defense 20.

Quite a few things happen in rapid succession, almost too quickly for Bolton to keep track of, but he manages. The woman is shot and dies in an alley beside her husband, the bloody puddle of their fluids sparkling when the pearls reflect the moonlight. Ra's magic kicks on and transports them back to the present - but not to their present, he notes, basing his conclusion on the different architecture. Deadshot is captured, whisked away, and then very quickly returned to them by the black-clad Batman, who speaks cryptically before vanishing in a burst of thick smoke. He leaves behind his vehicle, the 'Batmobile', and bids them take a seat and allow the machine to fly - fly - them all to a place called Firewall. The man's technology is impressive, and Bolton is pleased to note that none of it appears to be magical in nature. This 'Batman' is no monstrous demon of the night, but a man bolstered by technology, albeit technology that surpasses Lucis' by a mile. He eyes the car, bobbing gently in the black void of the night sky, and grunts. "My car," he says, almost defensively, "is bigger." Before taking his seat, he glares at Deadshot. "And you. When we get out of whatever all this is, you owe me a beer. In a mug."

Just in Case: (1d20)[9]

[Bruendor_Cavescout]

The Question

Kate released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding once the Batman disappeared. She nodded at the Lieutenant's words. "I don't think we have much choice. I don't like getting in some strange person's car - let alone this guy's - but I don't think we have any other options."

The Question cautiously inspected the interior of the Batmobile - what a pretentious name - and carefully climbed in.

Spoiler

Show

JIC: (1d20)[15]

[industrious]

Batmobile

A flying car. A car. That flies.

The experience is not at all what anyone thought it would be.

It's better.

The Batmobile handles like a sports car mixed with a jet engine mixed with a roller coaster. Its engine roars with power. And there is more than enough leg room for all. Even the Cluemaster's unconscious body.

There is only one problem with the ride, however. The windows are tinted inwards; it is impossible to see out of them. This makes sense; the Batman's safe house location needs to be kept a secret. However, what had to be an incredible view is lost because of it.

Eventually, the car comes to a complete stop, and the canopy opens...

Firewall

Firewall is done entirely in white, and is what appears to be a single, massive room, about 150 square feet; the size of half a football field.

The first thing that hits them is the voice of that obnoxious reporter from N! (who Kate has personal experience trying to get out of her hair), commenting on a very specific event.

"And we're live at this year's Thomas and Martha Wayne Foundation Charity Ball, where the man of the hour himself, Gotham's most eligible bachelor, Bruce Wayne has just arrived..."

The second thing that hits them is the smell of nachos. Freshly made. Crunching noises as whoever is there is eating them.

The group exits the car, and they see the sole occupant of Firewall. She's dressed very similar to Batman; a black set of body armor, with cape and cowl and pointed ears. But what is most relevant is the purple coloring on the sides of said armor...or as it's wearer would insist...eggplant.

"No. Way," the Spoiler gaps, the first time she's spoken since the double murder.

"Yes, way." The young woman strides towards them, confidence and swagger in her step. She reaches the Spoiler, and strikes a casual pose, hand on her hip, eyes two inches above her counterpart.

"Hi, me!"

[ChronicLunacy]

Deadshot

Before taking his seat, he glares at Deadshot. "And you. When we get out of whatever all this is, you owe me a beer. In a mug."

"Yeahhhh...look, I swear that's never happened to me before." Deadshot quipped, despite having the grace to look sheepish and apologetic. "I'll buy you two, buddy. Deal?"

Then they were whisked away to the Firewall -- a huge, white room. "You know, you'd think a guy named Batman would live in a cave or something..." he said as they walked in, pondering the weird, purple PT Cruiser with a cannon mounted on it. His attention was drawn away, however, when Spoiler met her mirror image. He didn't exactly follow, but both voices were the same and the following conversation sealed it. "Whoa..." he said as he was faced with the first bit of incontrovertible proof that they really were in an alternate dimension. He could almost hear Walker's cursing disbelief already, and it made him chuckle.

[DeafnotDumb]

Lieutenant Walker

"What the - what the-"

The policewoman stares open-mouthed as two Spoilers - two - appear in front of her vision. She staggers back and grips the thing nearest to her for support, which happened to be The Question. She raises her hands, points at both the girls, and her hand starts to tremble on her stick - a sure sign of an impending explosion at the unfairness of the world. "This is a nightmare." She says with absolute finality, her voice almost cracking. "This is a ****ing nightmare. I'm not ****ing having this if it's ****ing real. What the ****?"

Her arm raises and points a trembling hand at the Spoiler from her reality. "You. Turn it back. This isn't funny."

Spoiler

Show

JIC: (1d20)[19]

[Bruendor_Cavescout]

The Question

Kate was often thankful that her mask hid facial expressions - doubly so tonight. When she heard the bubbly voice of the reporter, her eyes rolled beneath the mask. That reporter had stalked the social scene for several years, and made her mark following the escapades of Gotham's elite. She was a vulture, a harpy, a scavenger. However, it looked as though they found the first of the major differences between this alternate reality and home - Bruce.

Then the Spoiler met herself, and Lt. Walker grabbed ahold of Kate's arm. Again, Kate thanked God that the mask did not betray the unbelieving surprise upon her face. "If this is a nightmare, Lieutenant, then we're all having the same one." Her voice was quieter than usual - even Kate was having a difficult time believing this was actually happening.

Spoiler

Show

JIC: (1d20)[6]

[industrious]

Stephanie Browns

"Well that's just rude."

The not-Spoiler glares at Walker. It isn't very intimidating, but it isn't meant to be. It's meant to have her feel ashamed.

"Come on, Spoiler, let's ignore her until she apologizes."

"...We can do that?"

"I'm Batgirl. And this is my HQ. And this is my car. Which is called the Compact. And this is a highly advanced supercomputer that I'm using as a TV. And these are nachos. Want one?"

"...Cool."

While the Spoiler relaxes in a seat the looks a) very expensive and b) extremely comfortable, Batgirl heads back towards them.

"Listen up. Batman told me i'm supposed to answer your questions, and help orientate you. The way my counterpart is feeling, I really don't want to help in the slightest. So, we are going to start this whole conversation over."

She sticks out her hand, and waits for someone to take it.

"Hi. I'm Batgirl."