"You really thought you had it all figured out. That you knew every combination in the deck. And it would thrill you every time you were right, when the hand came down in a familiar pattern. A familiar story... about an outsider who can see the good in all of us. About how we all have the power to fight for what is right. Or how we can each overcome our darkest moments. But this isn't any of those stories. There are familiar parts, but they're all in the wrong places. And there's nothing more frightening than when all the cards lay out on the table just right... but then another card comes and changes the meaning of the entire hand... and there's no way to know what's going to happen." -The Batman Who Laughs
Central City Earth 08 (Five Years prior to the Wanye Murder)...
Jay Garrick looked at his side kick Barry struggling to cling to life in the hospital. The poor kid had been poisoned by a dangerous criminal he wasn't prepared for. Jay looked at the kid and felt no he knew he was to blame he should have been more careful in the field.
"Jay are you alright?" Grey Ghost asked appearing from behind.
"Jeez Ghost don't sneak up on my I hate when you do that."
"I'm sure Barry will make it Jay."
"Thanks. Is it true your retiring and hanging up you cape as they say?"
"Yeah I was told I'd die if I keep this up by a psychic who I've verified as the real deal. I'm not afraid of dying Jay but I see Kid Flash I see Barry and I think there has to be a better way."
"Look I'm not Carter or Kendra. I'm just a guy who got lucky and got super speed. I'm not even really a fighter. So I get where you are coming Ji-"
"No real names in public at least not my name remember?" Grey Ghost interrupted.
"Right sorry Ghost. I just I just hope you know I'll have your back and you'll always be welcomed back in the Justice Society if you change you mind."
"That's a comfort Flash. I stay till Barry pulls through."
"Thank you old friend."
Earth X (Present Day)…
Citizen Cold struggled to move he didn't know how it could go so wrong he believed the worst was behind him and his world that with the Reich gone that the worst was over nothing but good times ahead he was so wrong "So tell me Cold. That's what they call you isn't it? Citizen Cold?" Azrael a nightmarish vampire like being asked as he walked behind his crawling victim "Did you ever think you would miss your old enemies?"
"Honestly no." Snart answered in a sarcastic tone "I have to say the New Reichsmen at least had some humanity to them."
"You mean like love?" Azrael mocked "That's what got them all killed if you ask me. Dark Arrow's love for his wife Overgirl made him too focused on her. He fell apart like a little bitch. Same with Siren X and Blitzkrieg the speedster of this world. Did you know that Blitzkrieg was in love with this world's version of Iris? Talk about funny, a Nazi in love with a black girl."
"Good for him nice to know not all the New Reichsmen were misguided fanatics." Snart retorted grunting in pain as Azrael flipped him on his back. Azrael was thin and dressed in black robes and armor, his nails were long and sharp, his voice like a snake hissing, Azrael had a black hood covering his head and obscuring his face. Snart could only see long white hair "Are you some kind of trump card they had waiting in the wings?"
Azrael let out a light chuckle "No. I'm not even from this world or this multiverse for that matter. I must say even when the Nazis were calling the shots this world was a paradise compared to mine. Did you know that beneath or multiverse there is another? A place where the darkness rules and worlds that should not exist, worlds that suffer so that your worlds can thrive are born and die over and over like a bad song on repeat." Azrael knelt down and grabbed Snart by the chin pulling him close "Did you know that? I'm from the dark I'm a nightmare made flesh. My world and so many others down in the dark die again and again so worlds up in the light the detestable light can live. Well now everything in the dark is freed by the god, Barbatos and now the nightmares meant to be locked away are free."
"Just kill him already Azrael." A woman dressed in a armor bearing a tiger skin design and wearing a cat shaped helmet said abruptly "I'm bored of this world already it fell way to easy. Tell me again why we had to wait for the New Reichsmen men to die off?"
Azrael took a deep breath before exhaling as if to calm himself "This world was safe under their protection the resistance was easy to slaughter by comparison that's why we waited Tigris. Blitzkrieg ran off to another Earth with his Iris and was our only real concern now that his comrades are gone. I decided to let him have a happy ending for a brief moment anyway. After all, all roads lead back to Barbatos, to darkness." Azrael then grabbed Snart lifting him up with one had and bit his neck. Snart screamed in agony with his last breath he died knowing his world was doomed.
Hall of Justice Gotham City Branch (Earth 08)…
It was a month after the beginning of what the world was calling the No Man's Land incident and Gotham was in chaos fortunately their was a man in the city who knew what who to call a man long forgotten a man who stayed in the shadows a man called the Grey Ghost.
Grey Ghost dressed in clothes designed for battle and wore a hood his face was covered by a gas mask of his own design "Come on I sent the signal out days ago someone should have responded."
"I never thought I'd be hearing from you again Ghost." Carter hall better known as Hawkman said while walking through the front door with is wife Kendra.
"Yeah I thought you retired Ghost is Gotham so out of hand you need the old gang? Not that we don't want to help out an old friend." Kendra added.
Ghost took a deep breath "Gotham is turning into a war zone and I can't save it through conventional means. I need heroes real heroes the kind that criminals in this city will not be ready for. I was hoping to get-" Just then a red and blue blur came zooming in Grey Ghost recognized it instantly "Thank you for coming Jay."
The blur stopped and Jay Garrick the Flash smiled at his friend "Anytime Ghost. Glad your back in the game."
"So is this everyone?" Grey Ghost asked hopeful.
Jay nodded "Powergirl is already tearing through Firefly's territory you know her straight to the battle. Her daughter is with her you remember Powergirl right?"
Grey Ghost nodded "Yes she just started when I retired nice to here she's still alive. Anyone else?"
"Yeah." Carter answered "Alan Scott is going after that Freeze guy then he's going after some flying Manbat thing. Kendra and I are going after Penguin and Jay has already opted to go after some weird Misandrist woman. We did a quick intel search before hitting the city and the only criminal unaccounted for is a Tabitha Galavan. Apparently this Kean woman went off the deep end and not even her girlfriend or whatever could handle her insanity this time around. We'll find Tabitha don't worr-"
"Tabitha Galavan is being held prisoner by Jeremiah Velaska. She was trying to get revenge for Butch Gilzean her boyfriend when her plan to kill Penguin was interrupted by Jeremiah." Grey Ghost interrupted.
"So you're going after Velaska? Figures you'd save the most dangerous guy for yourself." Jay smirked not expecting anything less from his old friend.
"I'm the best equipped to handle him and besides Jeremiah is not expecting someone like me." Grey Ghost then stopped for a moment "Hawkman there's something I need to ask of you."
"Ghost don't. I don't care what some dam half ass psychic said you coming out of retirement does not mean…" Carter stopped when Grey Ghost interrupted him.
"I left because I was told this life would be the end of me I tried to protect the innocent in other ways but I was wrong this is the only way I need to say this Carter, there's a kid Bruce Wayne he's rough around the edges a lot like me when I was starting out I've thought about mentoring him if I die before that I'd like you to reach out to him." Grey Ghost asked looking at the dusty Justic Society table.
"Look guys can we get this over with I got to get back to Central City." Jay spoke abruptly.
"Yeah besides I need to take out Jeremiah before he does anything I can't undo." Grey Ghost said "Still I feel like something worse is on the horizon."
Gotham City Sirens Club…
It was way too easy for them to take out the Sirens. Azrael's vampire horde rampaged across the city under the cover of night and tore the sisters of the League to pieces "What was it you decreed Barbara Kean or is it Barbara Queen?" Azrael mocked as he poured himself a glass it was fun seeing her struggle against her restraints and scream through he gag "I remember when you used to be beautiful Babs. Then again you only ever have had your looks not much else." He laughed "Now you're just some fugly short haired man hating dyke." Azrael gestured his finger giving his vampires the signal to ungag her.
"Who the hell do you think you are?" She yelled furious and full of entitlement "You trash my club. You kill my underlings and now your drinking my booze? You got some nerve I'm going to-"
"No." He interrupted still speaking casually "No you are not going to do anything. You're a pathetic wretch who's only managed to leech off, of others Barbara. I mean let's face you are nothing without someone to lean on. My Barbara was just like you. Pathetic and worthless to the core not to mention delusional to the last breath. Death for you Barbara would be a kindness." Azrael mused "Just look at your drinking policy ladies drink for free whilst me don't." Azrael laughed after saying it "No wonder, you stick to a life of crime probably the only way to keep this dump afloat. You are no one special Barbara." Azrael stood up from the stool walking over from the bar "Well that is not entirely true once upon a time you were special to me at least. Now your just a walking embarrassment. Want to know a secret? Years from now nobody cares or knows the name Barbara Kean you're a nobody and that's how you will always be and always were meant to be. I know this because I've been to multiple Earths and have explored the multiverse to its fullest this Earth is a little bit behind the others though."
"Multiverse?"
"Yes a multiverse. I won't bother explaining especially since you are not going to live to care. All you need to know is that you Barbara Kean are completely unimportant. Sure, some think you are but the thing about stories is that they often come with a twist and in your case the twist is that you are not the Barbara Kean in the history books." Azrael grinned "In fact when you think about how history really goes it makes since your destined to be forgotten." He then continued "It always ends the same for you no matter what Earth I go to. That's the surprising thing really. Still at least one thing is consistent about you."
"Who are you? Do we know each other?"
"Yes we do know each other Babs. We know each other intimately and not at all." Azrael spoke cryptically.
"Why are you doing this to control Gotham?" Barbara was then slapped by Azrael.
"No, you think to small Barbara just like Oswald and just like Ed you all had so much potential, but you never saw beyond Gotham or yourselves. I think perhaps that's the one thing Theo had that put him and keeps him even in death above you all. He didn't see Gotham as a finish line he saw it as a stepping stone. Something he and I much as it makes my blood boil to admit but that's something he and I had in common I think we were both mirror images of one another and that's why I hated him so much. I saw in him the man I truly was all I had to do was admit it to myself. Goodbye Barbara it was fun seeing you one last time." Azrael poured a bottle of liquor on her and lit a match he tossed it and watched as she burned alive Azrael smiled as he took in the screaming woman her agonizing death was music to his ears.
Penguin's territory (same time)…
Penguin crawled on the ground in pain his entire territory was over run by vampire like monsters they were like Manbat but different more he didn't know why but they were more perverse "Whoever you are you will pay for this."
"Yeah, yeah you're the Penguin blah blah. The king of this stupid city." A woman in black said while walking slowly behind him he didn't know who she was but something about her was familiar. She dressed in black skintight clothes and her head was by a hood and her face was was covered by a mask "Hard to believe I used to obsess over killing you now kill a Penguin on any Earth just bores me."
She kicked him over on to his back she put her heel on his chest she took out a cross bow aimed it right at him. He finally got a good look at her "You, your?"
"I'm Huntress." She pulled the trigger before he could finish speaking. Her arrow shot him right in his head and then she said, "and your dead."
"Huntress." One of the vampires snarled.
She glared over at them "What is it?"
"We found this Earth's Lee Thompkins and Edward Nygma they are moments from being brought back from the dead." The vampire said then he asked "What do you want us to…"
Huntress cut him off "Kill them both Strange to if you haven't already. Only thing more boring than killing Penguin is killing Ed and that stupid bitch Lee just kill them wait now that I think about it don't take them to Azrael in the catacombs beneath the city. You know how much Azrael loves his Lees and torturing Riddlers. Just take them to the lair before sunrise."
Arkham Asylum (Jeremiah's Lair)…
The asylum was abandoned and perfect for Jeremiah to use as his lair "So you really thought you could get to me huh? Didn't expect me to get you I bet. It was only logical I'd go after you while your guard was down I expected more from you honestly." Jeremiah asked Tabitha who he kept tied to a chair.
"After what you did to Selina yeah you bet I was coming after you. So this is the part where you kill me? Even if I die Bruce is going to find you if not him Selina."
Jeremiah cracked a smile "Eventually I will kill you. First, I need your help Ms. Galavan."
Tabitha scoffed "Like I am ever going to help you."
"Oh, I think you will." Jeremiah walked over to the lab table removing a sheet he revealed a strange piece of a head gear.
"What is that?"
"Are you familiar with a device used by a professor Hugo Strange? He used it on patients such as Oswald Cobblepot and Barbara Kean. I made his machine based off his designs. I made some improvements however."
"What kind of improvements?"
"Hugo's version required basic and mediocre drugs. I'm using a combination of red queen and Johnathan's fear toxin. It's my hope that once I perfect the process I will be able to make Bruce come around to my way of thinking first I need someone to survive it to understand the potential effects regardless there's no absolute guarantee it will affect everyone the same way." Jeremiah explained getting the head piece ready.
"Get that thing away from me!" Tabitha jerked away struggling with her restraints.
"I'm not giving you a choice." Jeremiah said forcibly putting the device on Tabitha's head. He took out to needles connected to the device via tubes "This is to get the drugs in your system."
"Stop it!"
"You should be honored this is for scientific discovery after all." Jeremiah finished getting the needles into her skin "Careful I don't want to damage an artery."
"I'll kill you!"
"No you won't." Jeremiah flipped a switch and the saved up power did it's work Tabitha started screaming as her brain was shocked and her body was pumped full of drugs Jeremiah leaned back casually oberserving her writhing in agony. "Fascinating." Jeremiah then heard a noise outside the laboratory "Must have a visitor." Jeremiah walked out of the lab carrying a gun. He partly hoped it was Bruce in his own sick way he missed his friend a lot "Is that you Bruce? I have to thank you. I was worried I'd have to come and find you." Jeremiah saw a shadow down the hall he followed knowing Bruce wouldn't kill him. He turned the corner to find a dead end "Curious. I've never known you to be the hiding type Bru-"
In that moment Grey Ghost came up from behind Jeremiah "I'm not Bruce." In seconds Grey Ghost was on Jeremiah disarming the gun in his hand and his other holstered weapons. Jeremiah tried to fight back but Grey Ghost was more experienced and better trained.
"Ecco!" Jeremiah cried for help as he was thrown to the wall.
"She's not coming Jeremiah I took her out first. It's over and before you reach for your detonator I disarmed the bombs you rigged up in the building and I have disarmed the new bombs you have in the city."
"Impossible no one is that well prepared." Jeremiah charged Grey Ghost who easily beat him to a pulp.
"I'm not just anyone." He delivered the finishing blow knocking out Jeremiah "I'm the Grey Ghost protector of Gotham."