"You have to start out learning to believe the little lies to believe the big ones."

[matchmadeinhell]

They had to try their best to do this thing incognito. After all, the plan was get in, get the shard, get out, and while several of them were total unknowns in this world, three of them ran the risk of being recognized by some of the resident superheroes and supervillains since they were from a similar dimension and had equivalents here.

Nightwing, not so much since he usually wore a mask, but Cassie and Kon didn't wear masks as part of their costumes, and Kon especially wore a very familiar face. He was younger than Kal but still approaching adulthood now and that meant his cloney resemblance to the current de facto ruler of the world was pretty uncanny now.

That was why Kon was in disguise. He was wearing his usual jeans, black long-sleeved shirt, black boots, and black gloves. But he had a dumpy, shapeless, brown jacket over top of it all, a blue baseball cap, and a pair of dorky, large-framed glasses. Fortunately, spring was only just starting in this world and hadn't quite chased away the chill of winter so they could all bundle up with clothes that made them look innocuous.

The magical door had appeared in an alley, against a nondescript wall. As soon as they were all through and had closed it behind then, Kon peered around a corner to see if he could recognize where they were by the city's night-time skyline.

"Looks like Gotham." A pause. "It's hardly recognizable, though. I've never seen Gotham this clean."

He squinted instinctually, trying to peer around some more with his X-ray vision and found it working in full when he usually struggled with it back in the Guardians' universe. He held up his hand and poured on the teke, creating a field around it.

"My powers seem to be stronger here for some reason. The ones that are limited in the Guardians' universe are back, like my teke. You guys feeling the same? Most of us are superheroes or equivalents in our worlds. Being in a superhero universe might be amping up our powers or something. Maybe making the belief stronger."

It all ran on narratives, right? Stories? This was a story superheroes were supposed to be in.

Comments

Gotham City

[morethanmyth]

It was a good thing they had those powers. There was something very...dystopian about the place. Creepy pro-Superman and pro-stormtrooper propaganda posters were plastered all over.

Now that it was after dark the streets were empty because of the curfew, making it even creepier.

Silence was perhaps better than the usual Gotham night-sounds of gunfire and yelling but it was still just a little too quiet, devoid of the sounds of cars or night life or people commuting to their overnight shift jobs - the normal sounds of any large city at night.

Re: Gotham City

[daddyphantom]

"It always amazes me when I run into people who apparently think Emperor Palpatine had the right idea," was Danny's snide remark as he surreptitiously used a ball of ectoplasmic light to get a better look at one of the posters.

[willbeyourhope]

Haruto placed a hand over his chest - it was subtle, but he could feel a difference, almost like he had too much mana. "I feel it, too. Guess the world overall is on our side even if the inhabitants aren't."

[mark_in_the_sands]

"Put the glow away," Cassie hissed, reaching over and pushing Danny's arm down. "Bad enough we're out here after curfew, let's not let them know we're free-range metahumans too."

She'd hidden her bracers under an overlarge boyfriend sweater, her blond hair under a brunette wig, and her face behind glasses and heavy make-up. She was trying to slouch to disguise her height, but that wasn't working very well at the moment. It felt good to be back at full power, even if this definitely wasn't her Gotham.

"Most of the inhabitants are on our side," she countered. "We're trying to keep Kuk from destroying this and every other universe. I can't imagine there are that many people who want to be utterly destroyed, even here."

[morescaredofyou]

"So now I can actually stick to a wall without falling off of it again? Awesome. Good to know that I don't have to worry about experiencing that particular indignity on this mission. Although I'm sure I'll find plenty of other indignities to experience instead."

Peter didn't test out the theory to make sure. Crawling up the nearest wall wasn't exactly 'inconspicuous'.

In Batman's Bunker - npc tag

[holydefendersbatman]

They were clearly underground somewhere, in a hideout that looked almost like a concrete bunker. Computer screens lined the walls and there were lab tables with very complex equipment. One table had a clear container sectioned off with little, glowing green pills inside each pocket.

Renee Montoya, Catwoman, Batwoman, and Zatanna all sat down or leaned against the nearby meeting table and apparently decided to hang back and let their fearless leader talk to the people they'd brought into the hideout. The only one that stepped forward to take part in the conversation was Batwoman, who was currently hosting the spirit of Deadman, aka this world's Dick Grayson. He was giving Batman the good ol' 'Now look what you've done, how exactly did that work out for you?' raised eyebrow.

Batman shot a steely glare at Superboy, clearly unnerved by the idea of having him in his hideout without being...contained, but ultimately turned to face them all, focusing in particular on their Nightwing.

"I know who you are, why you're here, and what you're after. A man named Benedict got in contact with us. He told us about you and the world you all came from and directed us towards the artifact that fell from that universe - something he obviously couldn't touch himself. He thought he'd fooled us into trusting him but his hostile intentions towards you were more transparent than he thought. We found the shard and we hid it for safe-keeping."

A pause.

"He made it clear that if you came here, you'd already know who we are and what's been happening in this world. If that's the case, you know we need your help."

[goddamnwingman]

Batman's probably never had that particular look from two directions, especially not one so similar. Tim had his own version of it, of course, but Dick had been doing it for longer.

And on the heels of that thought was a reminder that Tim should have been here.

He crossed his arms, leaning against the nearest piece of equipment he was unlikely to break while listening to Batman. And, honestly, it made sense that that was the reason they couldn't find it. If Bruce had found it, especially with Zatanna and technology on their side, he'd find a way to mask it so that their brands wouldn't be able to lead them.

Didn't stop him (and probably a couple of the others) from checking his brand just to be certain it was still giving him nothing.

"Yeah. If he thought he fooled you into trusting him, Batman, he really had no idea who he was talking to." And from what Dick had seen, there weren't much in the way of fools on the other side. Which meant that Kuk had likely known Batman wouldn't trust his representative. "We wanted in and out quickly. The longer that shard is out of its own world, the more unstable things become."

[daddyphantom]

"And if we take too long to put it back, whatever you want us to do here won't count for anything because every reality'll collapse." Danny added.

"It would not surprise me if you just got duped into doing exactly what they wanted you to."

[holydefendersbatman]

"I'm aware of the risks," he said, "but I'm afraid I can't give it back. At least not yet."

Yes, he was going there.

"I need insurance."

[morescaredofyou]

"Insurance? Insurance?! You'll risk not just your own reality being destroyed, but every other one in existence, when you could have stopped being a crazy paranoid bowl of nuts for just a few minutes and tried asking us to help? Because guess what! That would have been way easier, and then you wouldn't have to worry about the death of all reality. Also, you wouldn't have had to be a massive dick."

Peter paused, and glanced apologetically at Nightwing. "Uh. No offense Dick."

The Big Kids' Table - Plotting Out a Plan of Attack

[injustice_npcs]

They had all been given seats at large meeting table. And tea and coffee, thanks to Alfred, who seemed to be trying to offer all the hospitality that Batman was lacking.

"To start with, we're going to brief you on what we're up against the resources they've gathered at our disposal, and then we'll explain what we have to work with. The very very little we have to work with." She said, "Then when Bruce is back, we'll decide our plan of attack."

Re: The Big Kids' Table - Plotting Out a Plan of Attack

[have_mustache_will_travel]

Sitting at the table as well with bright wild eyes and a broad toothy grin was a familiar face. One of the only DC related guardians that had been specifically told to stay behind.

"Oooo this is gonna be so much fun! Can we keep some of them? They're so cute and full of hope and not crushed by the brutal fist of a heartbroken godlike alien!"

This universe's Harley Quinn was only marginally more serious then the previous versions at first glance. But the fact that she was being welcomed here among the resistance was probably a good sign, right?

Then again as she brought her knees to her chest and spun her chair around in delight...maybe welcome wasn't the right word for her place among the others.

[matchmadeinhell]

"No way in hell are we staying," said Kon, "Some of us have to go back to a world crushed by the brutal fist of an egotistical, bald #$%$&@#."

Kon leaned back in his seat, arms crossed behind his head, balancing precariously.

Or at least it looked precarious. Really, his chair was rooted to the spot by his teke.

"Speaking of evil bald guys, where's Lex Luthor in all this? He's gotta be sticking to the dorsal region of somebody powerful like some kind of evil remora, waiting for his moment to strike."

npc tag - open to comments or questions

[injustice_npcs]

"I'm getting there," said Batwoman.

Apparently, they didn't regard Harley being there as a problem at all because at most she got a glance from Batwoman before she continued on.

She called up the Justice League on the view screens.

"The League is comprised of nine members: Cyborg, The Flash, Yellow Lantern, Hawkgirl, Raven, Shazam, Sinestro, Superman, and Wonder Woman. Aquaman, so far, has maintained neutrality after Atlantis was threatened by Superman, but he might be swayed to either side of the conflict if we press things. And Lex Luthor works with Superman, helping the League by providing them technology and working out the logistics of their evil empire. After I go over each one, feel free to ask any questions."

She called up an image and footage of Superman.

"Superman is the one in charge, obviously. He says 'jump' and the others say 'how high?' He expects absolute loyalty from the rest of the League - and from the rest of the planet. By threatening the world governments into doing what he wants, he's become the de facto ruler of the world."

She played various clips of footage - footage that was fairly horrifying. Superman standing at a podium, speaking to the public, surrounded by saluting Stormtroopers in a scene that was reminiscent of several very very bad times in human histoty. Superman killing ring-bearing Green Lanterns. Superman shooting heatvision through the waist of a heroine in black leather and fishnets - one that Kon, Cassie, and Nightwing would recognize as Black Canary.

"Don't make the mistake of thinking he's just a bruiser - he's smart. We've gotten a few over on him but he's screwed us more than once and knows how to rely on the people around him and utilize them well. He's also a master manipulator, both of the public and of the rest of the Leaguers obedient to him." She went on, "It's important to note that he believes in what he's doing. This isn't some shallow grab for power or prestige, he thinks he's on some kind of holy mission to bring peace to the world, that he has the right to be arbiter of life and death and justice for everyone on the planet."

"Powers-wise, he's got a standard flying brick powerset with a whole lot of perks. Superstrength, flight, and invulnerability, as well as superspeed, super-fast reflexes an superhuman endurance, a healing factor, superhuman breath capable of freezing things or gale force winds, X-ray vision, heatvision, microscopic and telescopic vision, and enhanced senses - superhearing and an enhanced sense of smell. All of his powers are based on solar energy absorption - yellow sunlight fuels his powers, red sunlight weakens them. He's also vulnerable to magical attacks and kryptonite - green meteor rock from his home planet - of which we have a very limited supply."

[morescaredofyou]

Peter turned to the other Guardians. "Okay, are you guys seeing this, or am I imagining the Codpiece of Doom there? Because I'm pretty sure that must have come from my nightmares. I mean seriously, look at that thing! I'm going to need a picture of that for when I go home, so that every time someone makes fun of my costume I can pull it out as proof that it could be worse."

It all sounded rather glib, but without the suit on - without a mask hiding Peter's face - it was pretty clear that he was very much disturbed that footage. He'd been told about this before they got here, sure, but seeing it...that was another story. Especially when the perpetrator was someone who was supposed to be one of the greatest heroes in the multiverse, not a villain.

The Reyes House, El Paso, Texas - Nightwing and Danny

[el_paso_cast]

Batman had given them an address in El Paso, Texas to visit, advising them to show up plainclothes and to make sure they weren't seen in costume anywhere in the area.

He told Nightwing to show Jaime and his family his Titans communicator to prove he was who he said he was, as Jaime had been an auxiliary member of the team.

That was about it.

What wasn't said spoke volumes. Batman clearly seemed troubled when telling them to go ask for his help - and maybe even a little guilty.

So it was with barely information at all that Danny and Nightwing approached a little house in an El Paso neighborhood with a tidy little lawn, and a girl in pigtails playing with barbies out in the front yard. She started to stare at them suspiciously as they made their approach.

Re: The Reyes House, El Paso, Texas - Nightwing and Danny

[daddyphantom]

"Hi, you must be Jaime's sister. My name's Danny, and this is Dick." Danny said, crouching down to get closer to her level, and thumbing over to Nightwing as an introduction.

"Could you tell your parents and your brother that a pair of stupidly optimistic people are here to talk to them, and that they're free to tell us to go jump in a piranha-filled lake if they don't like what we have to say?"

First order of business was to get the girl inside so it didn't inadvertently look like they were using her as a bargaining chip. Danny knew how violently people could react if they even suspected someone was threatening their family. All he needed to know that was to look at himself.

[goddamnwingman]

The suggestion that they go in civvies wasn't exactly something that Dick needed to be told. But he did have his uniform with him, which meant he had his Titans communicator as well as the communicators that Brainy had developed.

Of course, the fact that Batman was pretty much throwing them into this BLIND was NOT lost on him, either. And the guilt...well, Dick wasn't certain what to expect, other than he wasn't going to like it.

Dick snorted at the introduction, shaking his head. "Well. You're not wrong." This was probably very stupidly optimistic. Reaching in his pocket, he offered her the Titans comm. "You can give that to him. At least he'll have something to throw at us if we're meant to go jump in a lake."

[el_paso_cast]

Milagro Reyes took the communicator from Nightwing's hand and looked at it. She knew what it was. Jaime had let him play with his one time and she "accidentally" hit the button and got to talk to the pretty lady on the Teen Titans with the star powers.

"He's not going to want to talk to you. He blasted Batman out through the window the time he came. But I'll go tell him and my parents you're here."

Well, that explained a few things. Or, at least, made the levels of tension clear.

Milagro ran inside the house. Faintly, from the inside, they could hear, "Moooom there's some dumb super-people at the door, tell them to take a hike."

Tim Hunter's Pocket Dimension - Haruto and Peter

[holydefendersbatman]

When Zatanna teleported them to Tim Hunter's pocket dimension, the teleportation got a little sluggish towards the end, as if the magic was taking a peek at who she was bringing along with her. Still, it let them through, apparently deciding that if they were guests of Zatanna, they were okay to let in.

It was very mundane, the little pocket dimension they were in, but perhaps that was to be expected given how much of Tim Hunter's life had been ruined by the extraordinary. It was just a run down part of London, outside some housing estates. Faceless people milled through the streets. They were, quite literally, faceless, just blurred figures meant to fill out the serene little picture of mundanity, to maintain the illusion that it was real.

Tim, a bespectacled boy of seventeen, was skateboarding in a skate park a short distance away. Even though he was doing an activity that was, ostensibly, meant to be fun, his expression was blank and distant, as if he wasn't entirely in the present.

"Let me talk to him first, so he doesn't just kick us all out before you even have a chance to speak to him."

With that, Zatanna went off to signal him down and have a little chat. Tim stopped skateboarding to talk to her, his gaze brightening slightly when he saw she was there, but the moment she made the fact she'd brought visitors clear was very obvious.

...because the metal railings he was standing near suddenly reared up in the air like snakes, animated by his anger. She held out her hands in a placating way and seemed to calm him down, gesturing off at Peter and Haruto a few times before waving them over. The railings went back to being railings again.

While he waited, Tim slumped down to sit at the edge of a ramp.

[morescaredofyou]

Peter watched the railings settle back down. "Well. Now I'm not completely terrified of being strangled to death by metal bars at all."

With a glance at Haruto, Peter cautiously inched towards Tim and Zatanna. "Uh, hi? I'm Peter. Please don't maim us. I kinda like my nice, not-maimed life. Nice to meet you?"

The Kent Farm - Superboy and Wonder Girl

[matchmadeinhell]

They were quite some distance away, hiding behind a grain silo as they scoped out the Kent farm. Kon was checking it out, his eyes glowing a faint blue as he used his X-ray vision.

"I'm not seeing any security. No cameras, no traps, no alarms, nothing." And he'd been very well trained for that now. Sneaking, breaking into places he shouldn't, disabling security systems. "That's...bad."

He shook his head, X-ray vision turning off. "That doesn't mean they're not protected, that means he's so secure on his rep scaring anyone off he doesn't think they need anything else. All they need to do is yell." He tapped his ears. "It's sort of an unconscious thing. We're always half-listening for certain voices. That's all the security they need. Just a yell and he'll show up and tear whoever's threatening them apart."

That meant all it would take is a yell to bring him down on their heads.

"We have to play this carefully, keep them from getting spooked. He's not going to be listening in on normal conversation, it's too hard when you're far away, but if they raise their voices at all..."

They had to keep them calm through all of this.

Re: The Kent Farm - Superboy and Wonder Girl

[mark_in_the_sands]

"They might not shout if it's you," Cassie pointed out, keeping an eye on the horizon for any incoming attacks. Short of the Flash, Wonder Woman, or Superman, she could at least give Kon warning. "Well, maybe in surprise and delight, if they're not in on the not-dead-just-in-the-Phantom-Zone treatment. Do you see them?"

Whether the Kents were apart at the moment or in a room together would change the way they approached the situation.

[matchmadeinhell]

"They're in the kitchen, drinking coffee and -"

He listened.

"- having a conversation about what to do about Kal. We have good timing." The corner of his mouth quirked. "Pa just said he wants to try to get a super pill so he won't break his hand slapping him upside the head."

His expression grew wistful.

"God, I miss him. It'll be nice to see him again, even if it's a different him. Ma, too."

He hadn't seen his version of Ma in ages and he couldn't even check up on her to see if she was okay without risk of giving away Kal's secret identity and putting her in danger.

He drew in a deep breath.

"C'mon, let's just go to the front door," said Kon, taking to the air. "That'll spook them the least."

[mark_in_the_sands]

Cassie chuckled. "Smart man," she said, snaking a hand out to give Kon's a squeeze. It wouldn't be the same as having his Ma and Pa back, but they'd still be happy to see him. After going a few rounds with the Bat-asshole, Kon needed that.

And this couldn't be as awkward for her as the time they'd caught her trying to sneak out after sex in the barn. Deadlier, maybe, but definitely less awkward.

She let Kon take the lead toward the door, still hand in hand, and kept her eyes on the horizon.