[h3][u][i][b]Gotham, Present Day[/b][/i][/u][/h3] Anyone who was monitering police band radio would probably hear an odd little tidbit, starting a number of hours ago. Police were looking for an unknown figure dressed mostly in black with a helmeted mask and claws connected to the wrecking of a construction site. Because the suspect was not a [i]recognized[/i] figure, it was assumed to be hostile, even though its escape measures from the site were lacking in fatalities or severe injury, even though a five-car pile-up had been deliberately caused. Anybody who knew their way around a Caped Crusader knew that this wasn't a local, so whatever procedure was being used for [i]them[/i]...well...they couldn't afford to take any chances here. The subject had not been seen in hours, nor had the [i]other[/i] suspect, seen flying away from the scene until it hijacked a helicopter, where it flew away and was lost from immediate pursuit. Pilots were thrown from the craft onto a nearby rooftop. The helicopter itself had been found in a two-lane side-street, no sign of suspect. Only description available on him was that the suspect was probably an adult male wearing a dark-blue full-body suit with a mask on and a bright orange symbol on the chest. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> It'd taken several hours for her powers to come back, partially because she hadn't had any time to rest and think for a while. She first needed to find a place in this city where she could be out of sight, even from aerial surveilance. With her body already strained and the adrenaline wearing off, Raimi allowed herself to sleep a while among a building's rooftop air conditioning. All of today's problems had to wait, real time, or else she'd never get any of them done. She fell asleep trying to contact Oracle, not knowing if even her thoughts could reach the other time traveler in her weakened state. Time passed, and Raimi awoke with a jolt, having rolled over onto claws and poked herself. It was nighttime, and fortunately she hadn't stuck herself. Normally, she'd be in a 'seated' position while suspended in Axial Time if she were in her suit, but this was a different time, literally and figuratively. Her charge must've come back while she was asleep, though, and as she stood up she could feel [i]time[/i] once more. [color=silver][i]Oracle, are you there? I need to talk. I might've royally screwed something up here. No, check that, I [b]know[/b] I did, but I don't know what. Oracle? Hello?[/i][/color] You ever have one of those moments where you're talking to yourself, except you feel like you're talking to somebody else who's watching? Supposedly, that was Oracle, how ever-presently aware she was, at most times. If she really needed to speak to her, Oracle would respond, especially at a time like this, but right now...there was silence, and that worried Raimi now. She had to get out of time, try to figure this out from a new perspecti- A portal opened nearby, and she stepped out of it suddenly with a [color=silver]"Okay, [i]that's[/i] new. What the hell?"[/color] and an defintie expression of confusion and worry. Raimi stepped out into the open to confront herself. [color=silver]"What happened?" "Oh, you have to see this one for [i]yourself[/i]." "Okaaay..."[/color] She opened a portal and stepped into time. At first, it was hard to see what all the fuse was about. The time streams were swirling, the Axial Center was in place, no harmful abominations were in place, and everything appeared to be inta- Where was home? Where were the paths she knew and tread so often? This wasn't history! This was [i]somebody else's[/i] history, and she didn't even recognize [i]whose![/i] It was like owning a car and having the keys, but somebody switched all the parts of your car so while it looked and ran alot like your car, deep inside [i]you knew it wasn't your car![/i] She stepped out of there in a hurry, like she'd just seen a disturbing piece of art and told herself to go and have a look, then cooled down a second. [color=silver]"Oracle, are you listening? I'm in someone else's reality!"[/color] Nothing. This wasn't good. She wasn't even [i]close[/i] to anything familiar, a definite 'No longer in Kansas' sort of feeling, like even if she went to the Axial Center, she wouldn't gain that familiar feeling of having been there before. It was like her recognition of time itself had been reset. Reset? No... That [i]couldn't[/i] be it. Time couldn't be reset. It'd taken a dozen of them to mend the damage from their [i]last[/i] mash-up. Nobody could reset everything. The blast must've sent her and Cobalt - her and Allen - far out of their reality...or something. Okay, let's concentrate on this. She needed to get her bearings. She had all the power, none of the effective knowledge, so it was time to coordinate. Quickly, she leapt...and returned soon after, several times over. Raimi now stood as a half dozen of herself, each having gone and investigated something else along her timeline in order to get a grasp of the situation across this town. She addressed them now with an [color=silver]"Okay, what've we got?"[/color], so that many minds could work on the problem. [color=silver]"Well, for one, we're not in Kansas, Tokyo, or any place we were expecting. It's Gotham." "I couldn't believe it, even as I saw it. Everything labeled Gotham this, Gotham that, found [i]Crime Alley[/i] if you can believe it. "Hey, I almost got spotted by the cops, and even [i]I'm[/i] still skeptical." "That explains why nothing seems familiar. All the landmarks of this city, this country, or any other place in the world will be wrong. It's almost impossible to get a bearing. I don't even know if I [i]exist[/i] in this world." "Well, if we do, it won't take long for her to sus us out, but for now we operate like we're in hostile territory." "That's not hard. We're in America. Everyone's hostile, everyone's got a gun."[/color] The other five glared at her. [color=silver]"Geez, [i]one joke[/i] to lighten the mood..." "[i]Anyway[/i], this means we're in deep. It [i]also[/i] means that HE will probably spot us at some point, or someone working with 'im."[/color] They all knew what she meant, of course: Batman. If this was Gotham City and all of its everything was real, then in some form or another, the Dark Knight was around, or any number of his proxies. The best [i]and[/i] the worst case scenario here would be to get his attention, especially after what happened earlier in the day. They were in a world where their favorite comic was real life, like the part of the Spider-Verse where Spider-Man is a show and Peter Parker meets the actor who played him and the man who wrote the show. Raimi didn't even want to [i]think[/i] about all the implications of Batman being real that it [i]also[/i] meant. Just having to share the same reality with him was blowing her mind. He could be extremely helpful, but- [color=silver]"Under [i]no circumstances[/i] should any iteration of go and seek him out. We know how he is about people in his city. Even if it's our business, even if we're trying to fix the problems we created, he doesn't like people messing around inside of it. Eventually, he'll find [i]us[/i], and hopefully he's in a mood to hear our story. If not, we're in [i]alot[/i] of trouble."[/color] Because it was hard to imagine them lasting long in a proper fight against Batman, the world's most-prepared human being alive. Might shock or blindside him for a while, but he'd hold out even under the worst of circumstances and turn the tables if they had to fight. Even one of the others would be a hard sell in a fight. They all separated now, disappearing into their place in time and leaving the current Raimi alone. This was gonna be rough. She had no resources but what she had on her person. It'd be safe enough to leave her equipment suspended in time to travel around in her normal clothing, but she didn't have any American money...or a passport...or any idea of who to go to for [i]normal[/i] help. Well...maybe [i]that[/i] was something that Gotham's Finest could help her with, once she got down to street level and her street clothes. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> [h3][u][i][b]Gotham, 2039[/b][/i][/u][/h3] Just a dark alley somewhere, in the lower level areas of Gotham, among the more dilapidated sections where the word 'dilapidated' wasn't likely to be spoken, because the kinds of people you got around here were nothing but gangers, such as...the Jokerz. It was actually chill time down in clown town. The gang was enjoying a little brew scored off of a successful raid on the Ts territory, laughing it up as they drank it up. All was good in Gotham's darker side, as far as they were concerned, as one member was making their sign, but he was laughing it up as he sprayed it upside-down. The others laughed as he finished with a [b]"Tada!"[/b]. It was a great day to be alive. Aaand lemme just stop you right there. There was a certain spark in the air, all of a sudden, like lightning preparing to strike or not enough fabric softener in your [i]everything[/i]. Pins and needles feeling, without warning, as the wind seemed to picked up and swirl around a particular point above them, twenty feet in the air. They were a witness to some real St. Elmo's Fire, right there, not that any of them knew what that [i]was[/i], as bolts of energy crackled in place and something flew - or was flung - right into the wall where the upside-down sign was located. The Joker who'd made it sagged his shoulders, going [b]"Aww, [i]maaan![/i]"[/b]. Whatever hit it cracked the wall severely and left scorch marks, ruining it. The freak event ended, and servos kicked in as the figure rose from where it hit the ground after the wall. They saw a machine in blue-black armor, eyes lighting up as it stood, body smoldering with great heat. [color=ed1c24][b]"Temporal Descent successful. Combat chassis compromised, but intact. Scanning..."[/b][/color] The android began to move around its surroundings, scanning the area for...something. They watched as the three eyes swiveled around, even regarded them for a second, but seemed to largely ignore their presence. The Jokerz began whispering to one another. [b]"Yo, whachu think it is?" "It's a robot, fool. Whadya think?" "Yeah, but like...from where? Here or outer space?" "It showed up outta' [i]nowhere[/i]. I think that means not from around here." "What're we gonna do about it?"[/b] Now, you must remember that to become a Joker, you must've made some seriously wrong choices in life, and [i]then[/i] made even more. They were not brilliant, these clowns, and frankly neither were their rivals. But Jokerz, oh boy... When the leader went [b]"Give 'em the welcome they [i]deserve[/i]."[/b] and pulled out something to clobber the machine with, you [i]know[/i] are going to end poorly. He was thinking [i]'It looks damaged, so let's slag it, take it apart, and use its parts however we want.'[/i], and to be fair, it [i]was[/i] damaged...externally. None of the core systems were damaged, which meant when any of them or [i]all of them[/i] went to attack, the android swiftly [i]owned[/i] them. Clubs and stuffed rubber chickens dodged or knocked aside, attacks deflected, and it did not stop there... When you attack [i]Zen[/i], he makes sure that you are down and STAY down. So, soon after the fight started, there was an impact to ribs, a kick to the face, a sudden thrust of the knee to the solar plexus, a toss of Joker into Joker, and then he began to get [i]mean[/i]. While making certain to crunch bones and tear ligments in two of them, he prevented the others' escape by charging eye beams and blowing up the gathered cycles. The two stragglers were soon run down as it flew their way, scooped them off of the ground, and dropped them among their friends, making sure that something [i]broke[/i] when they landed before he did, nearby. [b][color=ed1c24]"Lawbreakers, you will stand as testimony to this frame of time as a message that civil disobediance will not be tolerated. All shall conform to the Laws of Zen."[/color][/b] He resumed scanning even as they groaned in pain. When one of them attempted to call backup with their phone, Zen took it, made immediate connection, and scoured the internet, as well. This was not what he was looking for. This was not [i]when[/i] he was looking for. [color=ed1c24][b]"Lawbreaker-One not located within this timeframe. Begin Temporal Descent."[/b][/color] Another swirling mass of energy, and he was gone. There was groan that followed, and then [b]"He took my phone home..."[/b].