FalloutJack

Whispers in the night (FalloutJack/OffShoreAutumn)

It would only retreat for a time, because it had sensed power, and once it had gathered new strength from elsewhere, it would definitely return for a rematch. The strange thing of it was that he had found himself among friends to easily, instantly brought to his awareness, like a Persona. Were they simply that good, or had his power actually summoned them. He found himself in the Metaverse, it seemed, once the Dreamer had retreated, in a simple park area. And after the creature cleared out, so too had his friends, and in their place was a new figure...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That was where she had appeared, wearing that black-and-orange racer outfit, and a helmet with red backlighting. She'd been standing there with a Persona active, but it faded shortly after the Dreamer's departure, indicating that she wasn't a part of the problem, but rather the solution. Here in the present, Ren started to piece this together, but it was not completely formed yet. A small island of recollection had formed from the depths of the ocean in his mind, but that was all. He needed more, but he also needed the reason for why she came to him, here and now. Ryoko had briefly turned her attention to Morgana before Ren pressed on, the seriousness on her face breaking for a moment as she was met with another familiar face, but she kept on with the conversation at hand.

"You may not have donned your coat and mask for seven years, but that doesn't mean things stop happening in the world. Believe me, I wish it were that simple, and that this were just a social call, but it's not. More than my own wish for you to remember, Ren, I need you."

Amidst the seriousness of their discussion, there was a definite look on her face, the confirmation that she didn't just know him, but knew him well. That familiarity he sensed between them kept surfacing, and in those last words he could see not only a cry for help, but that there was so much more. He wasn't simply Joker to her, an ally to be called upon, but the one she would turn to - first and always - in a crisis, the one her trust and faith went to, and maybe even...

"I don't know what happened to you or the others in the past seven years. When we finally tracked down the Dreamer to its lair, we were all hit with a fog that made the memories fade. You, your friends, and even I was affected. The only thing keeping us rooted was Morpheus' power."

Morpheus, the god of dreams, and also...the name of her Persona.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Persona had been this pale figure with a wild shock of black hair, and eyes filled with blackness and starlight, like a universe. It was a gaunt and eternal sort of man, an unending existence, clad in a dark cloak or tunic with one shoulder bare. It faded as she revealed herself to him, a girl maybe a couple of years his senior, maybe an inch over his height.

"Sorry if I startled you there. I felt your battle with that thing and had to intrude here in order to help. Morpheus was the one that called your friends, brought them here to help thanks to your call. He manifests one's thoughts and dreams into the Unconscious World."

She stepped forwards, but not too close, because she understood that he had no reason to trust her, as of yet.

"Let me be clear on something. Right now, you're dreaming all of this, but more importantly, it's lucid dreaming, the state of being aware of the dream and being in control of it. You're not dreaming me, and that thing wasn't any part of your subconscious either. We're both real. I need you to remember that, so it can't take you unawares."

She was being completely serious here, keeping him informed for his own good so he doesn't let his guard down in the future. She didn't believe that he would. He seemed rather strong, and the bond he shared with his friends was equally strong.

"I call that creature the Dreamer, or the devourer OF dreams. It's feeding on people's minds, using their imagination to gain strength. Morpheus gives me the chance to fight fire with fire, but that alone isn't cutting it. I need to destroy it, or this will never end."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She looked into his eyes, searching for the signs of recognition from the one she put all her hopes and trust and yes even affection in before. She wanted him to remember, but at the same time knew that recalling without context or understanding was as unsettling as telling an amnesiac to their face what kind of person they were in the past.

"I've been in recovery. It took me time, even with my Persona, to get it all back. The first thing I wanted to do was find you, but that wasn't easy, and when I DID find you...your mind was still healing. I can help you remember, but the truth is that I come to you now because I found the man who created the Dreamer."

Ambition 2.0. (Massive Crossover Superhero Sandbox)

Gotham, One Mile Up

With her progress no longer being hampered by the wind and the snow, the force and velocity reduced by the effect on time around her, Raimi had managed to move from a point closer to the end and almost reach the center...when it happened. The sound had, at first, seemed like an effect of the storm, like a slowed-down thundercrack or some other similar action. Such was not the case. As she neared the center, a new form landed a short distance from her, close enough to be heard as he spoke. Raimi's first impression, upon seeing this guy, was a decided 'Uh oh'. Then, she reminded herself that this guy looked very much like You-Know-Who that everyone always wants Bats to be in a tussle with. And directly after he spoke, there was a decided 'Oh Crap' feeling as what ultimately had to be a super man addressed her as a potential enemy.

This was bad, but then she could clear this up. The only thing about that was that the same time field that had allowed her to carefully walk up here without falling was still accelerating her in every way possible. So, when Raimi spoke...

"What?Nonono,that'snotwhatI'mdoinghere!Thatdoesn'tevenmakesense!Whywouldthisguyhaveapartneraroundasinglemachinewhenhe'sdoingthisaroundthe- Holdon."

...which is when she stopped, because she realized that as much as he was speaking in slow motion to her, she must've sounded like a tape recording with the fast forward button jammed on to him. There was every possibility that he could follow all that because he had super senses or something, but Raimi wasn't sure, so she fixed it with a quick gesture, expanding the field. The blur of a human being that John had seen standing there, talking a mile a minute with rapid gestures suddenly resolved into a form that moved and acted normally...before his surroundings began to slow down by a marked degree. The figure shugged, speaking alot more coherently now.

"Sorry, time physics. Gets weird. I'm not here to help the wizard. I came up here to disable this thing, find the guidance system, and send it crashing down somewhere empty-ish. Pretty sure you want the same thing, so how 'bout a hand? The only thing you can do here is trust or not trust, 'cause you don't know me and we really don't have time to back-and-forth, so what do you say?"

She waited for an answer, knowing that very little time was technically passing in reality, but that what she was doing now was only a case of allowing the act of talking to effectively be a free action. Raimi felt that she could do this without him, but it would be much easier WITH the S-Man, and alot harder to counteract the sheer speed that he could bring to bear.

Whispers in the night (FalloutJack/OffShoreAutumn)

She knew that he'd treat this with suspicion, but...not like this. This wasn't merely Ren Amamiya she was talking to, right now, but rather Joker, and Joker was treating this a little like a Hold Up sort of moment. That bothered her, and he could see that she hadn't expected a reaction quite like that. She had to accept it, though. As soon as she'd exposed particular knowledge of his past, including the presence of Morgana, it was undoubtedly going to be more of an interrogation than a conversation. So bet it. She was prepared to face that. Firming her gaze into something more serious, she replied "Alright, then.", and began.

"My name is Ryoko Yumekishi. I was born not too far from here, actually. I'm heavy into psychology, and I like foreign culture. Most importantly, though, I have a Persona and access to the Unconscious World, or what you termed as the Metaverse."

There it was, then. Not only a name to the face, but a clear-cut reason for why he should know her, and vice versa. She confirmed that this was not a mere social call, but something bridged upon that aspect of his life that was simultaneously the most interesting and most dangerous. More to the point, there was no beating around the bush that she specifically knew him, that they had met and talked and potentially worked together. One thing was for certain, though. This all had the hint of familiarity, but again it was under a pile of dirt, waiting to be excavated. So far, she was only confirming suspicions, but it seemed clear that she had details, that she could and would clear this up for him. Or else, why even invite him? Ryoko continued.

"I'd always worried you wouldn't remember back then, partly because you had alot on your plate, but mostly because we didn't meet under any normal circumstance. Seven years ago, you were living far from here and not by choice, and that was when you were attacked in your sleep."

Another flicker, all too brief, when she said he was attacked. Just a mass, a gray liquid mass - shifting and massive - filled with huge drowned corpses. It was a nightmare creature, a midnight horror that defies understanding or reason...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You were attacked by the Dreamer."

It came from the grayed-out edges of his memory in the midst of his slumber. Whatever he was dreaming about abruptly ceased. In the real world, he might've turned in his sleep, disturbing Morgana, but nothing more than that. However, inside was a different story. Inside, his Phantom Thieves outfit appeared on him, and he knew without question that he needed to defend himself. A gelatinous wall of horror lay before him, spreading its mass around to try and surround him. The mass was filled with drowned corpses with sunken faces in terror, too large to be even remotely normal. And somewhere in the midst of all that, the presence of thought and desire to crush him - to eat him - was in there, as well. The surface of it all gave way to glowing eyes, terrible ragged teeth made of bones, and even a...smell?

"You were attacked in your dreams by a creature which feeds off of them, feeds off of YOU,
but unlike the other victims in its path, you could defend yourself."

Star Wars: Legacies (Always Open)

No problem, man. Take care.

Whispers in the night (FalloutJack/OffShoreAutumn)

It was one of those...butterfly kind of feelings, if that makes sense.

You drift off into sleep, your body is floating away, and then suddenly things seem a bit...weird. You're not sure if you're dreaming, or if awake. Your immediate thoughts and surroundings are mired in confusion, as you don't know what to make of them, at first. It wakes an old man with a big nose to set you straight. That's the kind of sensation that card imparted. It wasn't just a message. It was an invitation, an initiation back into those strange times, back then, changing hearts and putting to rights what's wrong. It was a familiar feeling, an uncertainty of the situation, that indication...that things are about to get interesting. Most importantly, though, it was the way to seal the deal and show that this was not a prank or a phan or anything like that. It was real, and that meant it needed to be addressed.

So, he had come here, to the club at Dotonbori Canal, where the nearby running water, the open terraces, and the ceiling fans make an effort to keep its guests cool in this stifling hot evening. He didn't have to wait too long. Anyone pulling Ren out of his apartment with a card like that wouldn't keep him waiting. The footsteps were light, not really giving much away before he looked. As he did though...

You never know what to expect in a situation like this, but in this case... A woman came to the terrace area. Dark hair and eyes of similar color to his own, though her hair went straight down hear her waist instead of his on head's jungle disaster. From this perspective, it was hard to tell, but either she had an inch on him in height, or perhaps the other way around. Slim and built, wearing a loose shirt and pants that would breathe in this heat, she looked like she trained, as she was very fit, and very easy on the eyes.

As Ren laid eyes on her, though, there was something else: A flicker in his vision, a faint image of a younger - but siimilar - figure, in like a racing jumpsuit and helmet? It began to fade as the helmet was pulled off and a mane of black hair cascaded down. It was her. He knew her, but he didn't know her. It was one of those tip-of-your-tongue things. It was there in his head, somewhere. More than deja vu evoking the idea of something happening before, he was sure of it...but knew not why. The most important factor was that the memory felt exactly like the card. This was his caller, no question.

All of this processed in the few seconds it took to look him over, for her to be satisfied that she herself had the right person. Her wait had been longer, in more ways than one. Stepping into the terrace proper and taking a seat across from him, the woman addressed Ren in a familiar fashion, not like a stranger, at all.

"Sorry if I kept you waiting. The coffee in this place is alright, but you have to ask for anything special to be done to it, and it takes a little while to fill the order."

She said this, looking down at the cup she had brought with her, paralleling his own. It was a little more up to the Sojiro standard, by the smell of it. At least, it was an attempt by the Cafe Paris employees to make it so. She regarded the pair of cups for a moment, processing something only known to her, along with the look she'd receive upon walking in here. Then, she lifted her gaze over to Ren, as though searching for some hint across the table, looking for indicators of reaction as she spoke on.

"It's been a long time, though...you don't remember me, do you?"

It wasn't that she was so much as disappointed as...possibly expecting it, maybe prepared for it? Her eyes wandered now to the nearby bag, then, and she added...

"Either of you."

Whispers in the night (FalloutJack/OffShoreAutumn)

Duly noted.

~ Valkyria Chronicles - Changing of the Guard [Pt. 2 - Open] ~

ISAAC BLACK

It was of no surprise to Isaac, as the great slab of dog settled down nearby, that he was described as difficult to handle by previous owners. Isaac was not a dog breeder. He was a dog/wolf tamer, but that was on the bottom rung of the animal breeding ladder. He had an understanding of other peoples' desire to bring in or weed out certain traits of an animal. It was Isaac's job to provide the basic foundations by bringing fresh blood into the mix that would eventually become everything from sheepdogs and Collies to the massive mound that was this Mastiff. Even still, this hunk of dog muscle was certainly a breed to be contended with, and so people without a respect or understanding of how a bulky animal works don't know how to deal with them. Isaac chuckled at the man's comment about the two canines. Well...still canine and lupine, to be fair.

"Regal? Maybe, but your boy there is a mountain, and that's a pride in of itself."

And given that Rikes felt no personal threat from him, it must be said that Schafer had that mountain under control. Any dog in the world can be a trusted companion. It was only those who would turn them into weapons who would give any sort of impression of the breed as a violent one. Of course, neither Rikes nor Valkur were trained specifically as weapons, but as relief dogs, yet they were still given training to defend themselves in addition to their natural instincts. Actually, it was more than that, but rather to temper and focus their instincts to a finer edge with a stronger decision-making process, so that they would act in a specific way in certain situations automatically. This was, of course, how you got a dog to do most anything on command, but military training is a bit more complicated than 'Fetch'. In any case, the Sergeant settled down with the rest of them and asked about the anty.

"Mostly cigarettes and tobacco, or anything that can be easily carried and handed off. Nothing that anybody couldn't stand to be without or couldn't recover on their own. Count is five, right now on cigarettes. Full cigars and tobacco pouches are worth at least that much. Any other items are negotiable. Depends on what you bring to the table. Wouldn't ask anyone to bring anything big out here, nor do I think anyone has much around that could be consider 'high stakes', anyway."

He'd avoided the idea of a 'high stakes' Isaac Store poker game specifically because of the problems that would occur, as a result. A person who puts in something that they couldn't stand to lose or just something that was of heavy need or value around here would cross that boundary of harmless supply and trading to outright commerce of goods under the table that would be a bit more beyond the pale. He and Britta had agreed from the start: They were not a business. If anything, they would call it decent training for their partnership in business after the war, but this was not for profit. This was to support everybody in the trenches to ease their lives so that they were in some better state TO be alive while in this war. Once you started doing things that started tallying large debts and losses among people, where they were trying to spread whatever good there was to be HAD among people, that was going to be trouble and the higher-ups wouldn't like it. The reason, as mentioned previously, that this all wasn't cracked down upon was that it didn't cause problems. Schafer was dealt in, and while they probably wouldn't be here too long, they would break up the slog that was their duty and their dubious existence here in these trenches.

Britta Hagen

There was a momentary pause and confusion before the curious Private Blanc responded. She had caught him off-guard with something, perhaps in that he was so new to the company that procedure hadn't been explained to the man. It wasn't too surprising. There were a number of people who weren't exactly given adequate instruction on the basics of how anything operated out there and were forced to find their own way. Britta had, for her part, made it a point to learn said systems in her patrols and other movements about camps or trenches in order to get the right feel for things and pass that information on to those who needed it. She found herself nodding as the man began to explain his lack of footlocker, her smile sort of deepening at the mention of her and Isaac.

"We do what we can. They don't always give the fullness of consideration to the lower ranks here. You mentioned that this was a special circumstance?"

There were, and...wow. One look at the item in question was all it took to see that it was not a member of the standard issue carbine rifles. The wood stock was of a deeper and finer finish, probably of a better quality wood. The sheen of the metal in the good light told of a more loving craftsmanship in the smithing process, and maybe... Yes, the way he talked about the ammunition, the way he looked at it, it was clear that this...was more than sentimental. This was an almost unique piece. Britta didn't consider herself any greater an expert on weapons than most anybody else in these trenches, but even the uninitiated could tell that this was a cut above the rest. The only question was...what circumstances led it to be here with this man in these trenches like this? She did not ask, because there was definitely a certain pained or forced demeanor about the man, and now may've not been the time to broach the subject. No, better to make him feel welcome and help him in his time of need. In fact...

"I have no problems with having someone tag along with me on my rounds, especially if you need to get a feel for the place. I take it you haven't been assigned to anywhere yet, either. Let me see... Hold on. Corporal Ericson, do you need me around here, right now? Anyone?"

One of the nearby soldiers did got that faraway look people did when considering their options, then shook his head.

"People are rotating here in a bit. We can handle things 'till then."

Several others agreed with his statement. Britta thanked them and turned back to 'Monsieur Blanc'.

"Let's take a walk and we'll handle this right now. Then, you can help me moving people's supplies if anything needs moving about camp and such. It's better to get your feet under you here sooner than later, I say."

Outwardly, she remained positive, though inwardly, she was also like 'And better to get this little gem out of the public eye sooner, as well.'. That was a helluva piece of equipment! She could only begin to guess where it came from. The most plausible answer was that it was simply a weapon that'd been in the family for a while, but something in the man's emotions made her wonder if there wasn't something more...

Ambition 2.0. (Massive Crossover Superhero Sandbox)

Gotham, Present Day

The weather change had been rather abrupt, like...really abrupt. Like...Star Trek IV levels of abrupt. It wasn't natural. She had been just about to go change into her street clothes when this happened. The temperature dropped, which was a definite no-no for shedding layers, and then the wind and the snow came with...lightning? Thunder snow?! They were having a thunder snow? But it was clear skies, a little while ago! Who could have performed such a sinister act?! Heh... Sorry, had to do it. Raimi switched her helmet's mental boost frequency to basic radio to see if there was any relevant news. What she got was...

"Weather Wizard? Never heard of 'im."

Still, yeah, it DID look like the bad weather was centered around a particular source, one that was waaay up there. Looking up...a blob of snow decked Raimi in the face. But after she shielded herself from the weather, it was apparent that the source definitely wasn't going anywhere. That had to be it, a mile up. A mile... And she was still having trouble navigating around here. Hmmm.

"May as well give it a try."

She was definitely getting hungry, though, so a meal after this was over definitely needed to happen, somehow. So, Timekiller on the move! Raimi vanished into a portal...

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Elsewhere in Gotham...

He had ditched the helicopter and just kept moving. Police authorities were nowhere nearby, and he made a clean getaway, knocking out a guy and taking his clothes to fit over his suit. So, you have a young brown-haired Englishman walking the streets in a shirt, a tie, a trenchcoat- Why the hell did this sound so familiar? Okay, the hair was wrong, but he couldn't exactly help his genetics, now could he? Allen Forscythe was not a magus, anyway. He was the heavenbreaker, the fulcrum of the chaos. He was Cobalt Thorium G. And...he was also quite lost, for a while. He'd wandered about town, looking for a place to put his feet up for a while, and found himself in a more rundown part of Gotham. Yes, Gotham, like the comics. Okay, no problem. He went to a rundown establishment of third-rate hotel rooms, scrambled the front clerk's brains, got himself a few keys, chose one at random, and took to the room...with the clerk's little television. Allen lay in bed and just watched some tunes for a while, thinking about what happened back there, between him and the Timekiller. She behaved like she knew 'im, but this was their first meeting. Well, time traveler. Makes sense. He let the TV on as he took a snooze, but was awakened by sour weather and a special news broadcast that made him chuckle.

"Heh heh heh...relevance. Good one."

Apparently, some washed-up villain was attempting to extort the world with some bad weather. Cumulatively, it wasn't a bad idea, but if this was something maintained by a machine, as it said, it was only a matter of time before an air base launched a squadron of planes to nix it. After all, didn't this sort of thing happen in GIJOE? And if there was anyone like him in the world with powers... Powers... Hmmm. That gave him an idea. He stepped out of the room, headed on upstairs, broke through to the roof, and stood out in the harsh, terrible blizzard with the errant lightning bolts abound.

"This'll do, for a start. Unchaos!"

A field with a 50-foot radius suddenly went up, and in it...was an ocean of calm. The wind became a gentle breeze, the snow fell lightly and softly, and any stray lightning bolt became noticably weaker. And Cobalt did grin. The bad weather was charging him up, the longer the better for him!

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

London, Present Day

Of course, the United States was NOT the only place affected by this disaster. Here in the UK, it is somewhere around 2-3 o'clock in the morning, and this weather machine had parked itself above the heard of the country! True, the weather was often quite bad in this part of the country, and some might even laugh at this sort of thing, but to sustain a blizzard and thuderstorm at once? That could knock out the power! But who could we call upon to deal with London's dire times? John Constantine? No! Bicycle Repair Man? I think not! This was a job for that swarthy short-man, that well-dressed dispensor of wit and charm, none other than...The Dapper Dwarf!

Yes, the Dapper Dwarf, a diminutive purple-skinned man with a moustache, always dressed keenly in black with a top hat and spectacles. No one knows where this stranger came from or where he goes when he leaves, but he fights for the betterment of all mankind against the forces of the notorious Baron Von Madness! Always a gentleman fighter, his power is derived from increased momentum into exponential force, and thus he keeps on moving! But now, he must halt in his tracks as he sees the effects of the device hovering high in the sky!

"By gods! Even London can't stand to be literally buried in snow! I must get up there and disable that contraption! But how...?"

The answer was simple, in fact. No air vehicle could possibly make it up there, no building was tall enough for him to simply jump off of. There was only one way! He had to run around the whole of London to gather speed, AND THEN catapulting off of Big Ben! THAT should produce the momentum required! He'd already heard a man in Tokyo was trying similar, anyway! TALLY-HO!!

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Elsewhere in the UK...

Inside a room in The House of Madness, a group of men ALL answering to the name, Baron Von Madness, sat at a table and waited for the last man to bring the bagels. However, as the last man DID show, he was in wide-eyed and as exciteable as hyper-active terrier.

"Everyone! IT'S SNOWING OUTSIDE!!"

They all gasped as one, and shouted "LOOT PARTY!!" before nearly trampling the man at the door. Moments later, in store fronts all over the place, people were being pelted by snowballs from strangely-dressed men with duck sceptors as random establishments were robbed by this gaggle of mad geniuses!

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Gotham, One Mile Up

The wind and snow blew around the rotating mechanical structure in the sky, lightning arcing this way and that, then...

"...Agh!"

She missed the mark so many times! Portals had opened, and even though it was a whole lot easier to navigate the open air in this new time, it was still difficult to find the right spot and elevation in time, a trial-and-error of portaling and falling, re-portalling and re-trying. It was REALLY hard to get her bearings, sometimes, even when she was on the inside, hovering by the portal and looking out, because it was all just storm, storm, storm, object, LEAP! Finally, one of her managed to cling onto one of the longer struts of the weather machine. Ahead of her, another one just barely managed it, claws tearing and rending metal for a bit before grabbing purchase.

"Anybody else make it?"

"WHAT?!"

"DID ANYBODY ELSE MAKE IT?!"

"I DON'T KNOW YET! MAYBE LATER! OR EARLIER! WHAT'S THE PLAN?!"

"I THINK WE'D BETTER MERGE, SO WE CAN ACTUALLY HIT THIS THING!"

"SOUNDS GOOD!"

She crept forward carefully, knowing that her other self had a bit tenuous a grasp of her place, right now. Grabbing a leg, the two of them merged and...she created a field accelerated time around herself. This would be akin to that time Temple Fuget had those handheld acceleration devices. Her powers in this form were not unlike some of those effects, but right now, she was only increasing her speed to the point where the wind and snow were less effective on her, making her form kind of blurry. She sighed now, saying "Much better." as she got up and walked along the strut, carefully minding her footing. Her progress in terms of normal time was a brisk pace, as she headed for the center.

"Now...how the heck does this thing work?"

Ambition 2.0. (Massive Crossover Superhero Sandbox)

Gotham, Present Day

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 recognized 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 them...well...they couldn't afford to take any chances here. The subject had not been seen in hours, nor had the other 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 time once more.

Oracle, are you there? I need to talk. I might've royally screwed something up here. No, check that, I know I did, but I don't know what. Oracle? Hello?

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 "Okay, that's new. What the hell?" and an defintie expression of confusion and worry. Raimi stepped out into the open to confront herself.

"What happened?"

"Oh, you have to see this one for yourself."

"Okaaay..."

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 somebody else's history, and she didn't even recognize whose! 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 you knew it wasn't your car! 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.

"Oracle, are you listening? I'm in someone else's reality!"

Nothing. This wasn't good. She wasn't even close 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 couldn't be it. Time couldn't be reset. It'd taken a dozen of them to mend the damage from their last 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 "Okay, what've we got?", so that many minds could work on the problem.

"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 Crime Alley if you can believe it.

"Hey, I almost got spotted by the cops, and even I'm 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 exist 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."

The other five glared at her.

"Geez, one joke to lighten the mood..."

"Anyway, this means we're in deep. It also means that HE will probably spot us at some point, or someone working with 'im."

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 and 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 think about all the implications of Batman being real that it also meant. Just having to share the same reality with him was blowing her mind. He could be extremely helpful, but-

"Under no circumstances 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 us, and hopefully he's in a mood to hear our story. If not, we're in alot of trouble."

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 normal help. Well...maybe that was something that Gotham's Finest could help her with, once she got down to street level and her street clothes.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Gotham, 2039

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 "Tada!". 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 everything. 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 was, 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 "Aww, maaan!". 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.

"Temporal Descent successful. Combat chassis compromised, but intact. Scanning..."

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.

"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' nowhere. I think that means not from around here."

"What're we gonna do about it?"

Now, you must remember that to become a Joker, you must've made some seriously wrong choices in life, and then made even more. They were not brilliant, these clowns, and frankly neither were their rivals. But Jokerz, oh boy... When the leader went "Give 'em the welcome they deserve." and pulled out something to clobber the machine with, you know are going to end poorly. He was thinking 'It looks damaged, so let's slag it, take it apart, and use its parts however we want.', and to be fair, it was damaged...externally. None of the core systems were damaged, which meant when any of them or all of them went to attack, the android swiftly owned them. Clubs and stuffed rubber chickens dodged or knocked aside, attacks deflected, and it did not stop there... When you attack Zen, 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 mean. 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 broke when they landed before he did, nearby.

"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."

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 when he was looking for.

"Lawbreaker-One not located within this timeframe. Begin Temporal Descent."

Another swirling mass of energy, and he was gone. There was groan that followed, and then "He took my phone home...".

Dragon Ball: Universe Zero

@Double You or Darkmoon, and she was stated to be watching the fight.