In the City.
West of Downtown and besides a shattered overpass.
Groups of construction sites eclipsing the damage caused by Dagger's infamy were scattered abroad.
They formed a halo around the former site of Phaser Labs, leveled to the ground.
And replaced with a new building. A fresher one. A cleaner one. One which would hopefully hold new promises for a safer and happier future….
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Inside Phaser Labs…
In a lone, downstairs laboratory.
A dark-haired man of medium stature sat at a computer console attached to a power conduit. The conduit housed a cylinder with a pulsating, ivory light within.
With thin, shaking hands he eagerly adjusted a few dials and leaned in towards a mic. He swallowed, adjusted his labcoat, and absent-mindedly straightened a name-tag displaying: 'Ryan'.
"Greetings. Can anyone out there hear me? Respond. Can anyone hear my voice?"
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Jump City.
STAR Labs.
Resting under an immaculate, blue sky.
A dwelling well protected.
A neighborhood living within the cool shadow of a Tower far off across the waters.
A wall bordering a construction site displayed wanted posters for Slade and Brother Blood, but other than that the streets were full of content, safe pedestrians.
And inside the bowels of STAR Labs within the center of it all…
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A lone, dark laboratory.
A man of average height with close cropped brown hair sat at a computer console attached to a power conduit. The conduit housed a cylinder with a pulsating, ivory light within.
'Greetings. Can anyone out there hear me?" the computer console crackled forth through speakers. "Can anyone hear my voice?"
The scientist took a deep breath. He adjusted a pair of big, wide glasses on his face and leaned forward with a rustle of his white labcoat. A name-tag displayed: 'Ray'.
"I read you loud and clear," the young scientist uttered into the mic. "This is Ray from Star Labs: Jump City Division. Over."
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Ryan's mouth was agape. He leaned back in his chair as the words filtered forth from his fluctuating computer console. A murmuring voice accompanied the blinking of his eyes.
"Jump City…," he breathed. "Oh my god. The data wasn't fooling me. That's the name of it! That's the name of it in their…."
He fumbled for words…until he realized that he was speaking to himself.
Gradually, he snapped out of it and leaned back forward to his mic and uttered:
"Greetings, Ray from STAR Labs of Jump City! This is Ryan of Phaser Labs!" He glanced over at an instrument panel on his computer. "Tell me—"
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"—what does your atomic chronometer say at present exactly?"
Ray blinked, his excitement giving away momentarily to panic.
"Atomic chronometer?"
He typed madly at the keyboard. The computer screen brought up something before him.
"Oh my god…," the STAR Labs scientist uttered into the mic. "Ryan! I can't get an accurate reading! It's fluctuating wildly!"
"Keep it steady! Maintain the Quantum Flux to at least—"
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"—ninety percent!" Ryan adjusted his own tools on the computer console as he spoke into the mic. "The Chronometer should no longer be effected! While you're at it…," he typed madly at the keyboard. "…I'm relaying my GPS coordinates to you."
A few more keystrokes.
A breath.
He stared past the mic as if eyeing a foreign neighbor beyond the invisible veil.
"Please…tell me—"
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"—as soon as you get these findings! Ryan out."
Ray's fingers were already a flurry over his identical console.
"All right, Ryan! I've got the chronometer steady," he panted. He glanced at the screan. "…and I'm receiving your GPS coordinates."
As the information splashed across the screen, they reflected off of Ray's glasses. The image bled through to his eyes and registered in his brain and splashed forth in a grin. "We have a match."
"My god….do you realize what this means?"
Ray was blinking. "Oh sweet Mary…"
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"We have broken it. The barrier!" Ryan practically shook at his console and nearly swallowed the mic. "The cross-dimensional barrier has been breached!"
The voice on the other side broke out laughing.
Merrily.
"YES! Everyone thought it was impossible…but we did it, Ryan! We did it!"
Ryan too was laughing happily. "Ha ha ha ha!" He cheered. "Wooo!"
There was a sudden echo of high heels clicking.
From behind the back of the Phaser Labs scientist, a young, blonde assistant walked up and planted a hand on her hip.
Lisa. The intern. With blue eyes she glared inquisitively at the back of Ryan's head.
"Doctor…," Lisa spoke. "What's going on? I heard you—"
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"—shouting. Are you all right?"
An obviously redheaded Lisa spoke to Ray's back in the basement of STAR Labs.
"I thought maybe—"
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"—the computer console was short circuiting again!" finished the blonde in Phaser Labs.
Ryan swiveled around in his chair. Joyous.
"Ha!" cackled he. "If only! Can you believe it, Lisa! It works!"
Lisa blinked suspiciously. "What works?"
"Ray and I have have finally managed to," Ryan said to the blonde.
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"Ryan and I have finally managed to," Ray said to the redhead.
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"—join the frequencies of our Quantum Flux regularities! We are now engaging in the first recorded—"
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"—conversation between two people in neighboring universes! The atomic chronometers and GPS coordinates match! This is—"
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"—unbelievable!" Ryan finished with a wave of his arms and a sigh. "Do you have any idea!"
The blonde Lisa blinked across the lengths of Phaser's underground laboratory. She regarded the flashing white cylinder that was the Quantum Flux Regulator with quasi-disdain.
"……neighboring universes, huh?" muttered she.
"Erm…," Ryan sweatdropped. "…quantum realities. Paralel dimensions. Right now—in another, identical plane of existence, there rests a different laboratory in place of this one called—"
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"—Phaser Labs!" Ray enthusiastically beamed. "Right here in Jump City!"
He swiveled and gestured dramatically to the blinking cylinder and the computer array.
Lisa looked on.
And Ray exclaimed: "Do you have any idea of what we've stumbled upon?" He swiveled to face her enthusiastically again. "The possibilities are—"
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"—as endless as…um….um…th-the stars in the sky!" Ryan fumbled for words, but grinned nonetheless. "The grains of sand on the beach!"
Lisa folded her arms.
"That's…um…very poetic," said she.
Ryan smirked coyly, looking at his assistant sideways. "Is it now?"
Lisa blinked.
Ryan then swiveled to face the mic. "Hey Ray?"
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Ray jumped.
"H-Hold on a sec, Lisa…"
He took the mic and stammered into it.
"I read you Ryan, I'm still here."
"You got a sexy assistant with blonde hair there? Named Lisa?"
The auburn-headed Lisa blinked.
Ray glanced at her. He blinked. He said into the mic:
"Y-Yeah…but this Lisa has red hair. Why?" His face suddenly washed over with understand. A breath: "Are you saying that…everything in this universe is represented there? Kinda like…a balance?
"……a red head?"
Ray simpered. "Yup. As red as….-"
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"-……um……s-something red……er, over."
"……..," Ryan amusingly grinned to himself.
Thwump!
Lisa shoved him aside.
"Oof!" Ryan went sliding on the desk chair.
Lisa took the mic. It whined to her touch as she frowned and uttered into the device:
"What's the big idea? Are you nutcases some kind of—"
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"—perverts or something!" the redheaded Lisa growled into the mic.
A dizzy Ray sat in a chair rolled away from her a few feet.
"You're supposed to be scientists!" she said. "Professionals! But here you're acting like—"
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"—kids up in a treehouse with nothing better to do but……make………p-prank calls……," the blonde assistant stopped.
She blinked….for she was hearing the exact same, identical voice spouting out the simultaneous words from the other end of the computer system's speakers. She fumbled for breath, touch of the mic, and just about all her sanity.
Ryan rolled over on his desk chair, grinning.
"Satisfied?" he mused.
"Erhm…," Lisa practically gurgled. "…uh….I…."
Ryan gently pushed her aside and approached the mic again. "Do I stand alone?" said he into the system.
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The redheaded Lisa was sweatdropping as she lingered on the mic.
"Was that…? I mean, was I talking to—"
Ray was smirking. "Yup! Now give me the mic back—"
The redhead leaned forward to the device one last time. "Hey, er, Lisa…do you have a tattoo on your—"
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"Ahem," Ryan cleared his throat.
A beat.
He glanced at Lisa.
The blonde was blushing.
Ryan changed the subject with an energetic exclamation to Ray through the mic: "We've got to tell someone! But where to start? The most elite in my scientific community can't be the same as in yours! How do we coexist? How do we distinguish cultural boundaries between separate dimensions? I mean, this is first contact here!"
"Cultural boundaries……"
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Ray sat, adjusting his glasses in thought.
He was pondering and pondering until eventually he said:
"Well, the culture here in the city is largely influenced by the Titans..."
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Slowly, Ryan smiled.
"The Titans…," he said. "….so you have them too. Well that's good." He took a warm breath. "That's very good. All right!" He stood up and held the mic proudly. "We'll call the Titans! That'll make this an orderly thing! If you like, I can go ahead and send a message to their leader Cyborg! Since—"
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"—Simon Stone's been offline, he'll be glad that something good came out of Phaser Labs!"
Ray was blinking.
He replied:
"Since when did Cyborg become the leader? Robin didn't go back to Gotham City, did he?" A pause. He murmured to himself: "Stimon Stone?"
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Ryan bit his lip.
"Erm….I….I-I suppose this is going to be a lot more complicated than I thought.
"Er, r-right! I'll call the Titans down here and we can continue…"
"Yes, that would be nice," Ryan involuntarily sighed and his eyes glanced aside. "If just to see Robin again."
"Yes," Ray's voice hesitantly filtered back. "I-I'm sure he'll come."
But suddenly….
THUD! THUD!
The blonde Lisa gasped.
"?" Ryan turned and looked at the back door to the laboratory.
The frame of the door was shaking, as if someone or something was pounding in from the other side.
Ryan's brow furrowed. "What in the devil?"
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Ray anxiously sat up at his computer station.
Redheaded Lisa leaned over as the spectacled scientist at the machine was suddenly awash with concern.
"What? What is it? You aren't losing the connection, are you!"
"No, it's not that. It's……"
THUD! THUD!
The pounding sound filtered through the speakers of STAR Labs.
Ray and Lisa shifted uncomfortably as a drunken laugh eerily sounded itself.
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"HA HA HA HA HA!" a muffled voice warbled from beyond the doorframe inside PHASER. "Gang way! Coming through! HA HA HA HA!"
CRASH!
The door burst down.
Ryan's and Lisa's eyes widened.
"Ryan, are you okay?" the voice from the other side electronically shook. "Lisa? Ryan?"
Ryan's lips quivered and he gasped.
"N-No…."
Into the underground laboratory marched the dark and villainous visage of Johnny Rancid. He twirled rusted chains around in the air and struck a pose with his grimy jeans and black tank top.
"I hear there's some valuable crap in this overinflated rathole! Well out with it! Johnny Rancid's got some debts to pay! Ha ha ha ha!"
Lisa screamed.
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The blonde's distress shattered through the speakers of STAR Labs.
Ray shook where he stood.
The redhead behind him bit her nails.
"Lisa!" Ray exclaimed. He ignored the awkward implications of his words. "Is she okay? Ryan, get the Titans! Can you hear me!"
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"Contact the TITANS!"
"I….I…," Ryan fumbled nervously for the emergency relay button. His eyes were locked on Johnny Rancid.
And Rancid's dark eyes were locked on him.
"Oh no you don't, punk!" the villain swung his chains.
SWOOOSH!
They wrapped around Ryan's body.
With a flick of his wrists, Rancid effortlessly tossed Ryan across the laboratory.
THWUMP!
"Ooof!" Ryan gasped, curling up on the metal floor of Phaser and sputtering.
Lisa gasped.
"Heheheh…," Rancid marched over towards the flashing cylinder. "Come to poppa!" He greedily fingered the Quantum Flux Regulator. "Whatever this thing is…I bet it'll buy me a harem on Ebay!"
Ryan stumbled to his feet. "N-No! Don't touch that!" He limped towards Rancid, panting. His white labcoat dangling on his shaking shoulders. "You have no idea how important that is to maintain the structural integrity of this dimension and the next—"
"Hey!" Rancid snapped at him. In a blink of an eye, he had a luger pointing its barrel at Ryan's neck. "Did I tell you to go all Mr. Wizard on my ass? Shut up!"
The blonde Lisa wrung her hands and pleaded: "Someone! Please!"
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"Do something!"
Ray nervously panted.
He uttered into the mic of STAR Labs. "Lisa? Can you hear me? Don't panic!" He gulped. He tried: "M-Mister Rancid, er, sir, please listen to me!"
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"Take anything you want," the speakers of the nearby console warbled. "…but do not mess with this machine! You could-"
But before the otherworlder's speech could finish, a supremely confuzzled Johnny Rancid blinked and did a double-take. "Whoah…," he turned his head away from where he was aiming his luger and stared at the computer. "Who told HAL here to do ventriloquism?"
Ryan fidgeted. Once. Twice.
"…..!"
He pounced Rancid.
"Dah!" Rancid wrestled with the scientist.
Ryan tried to pry the gun from Rancid's grasp.
The two strungled.
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"Nnngh!"
"Augh! Nghh!" "Leggo! Daagh!"
Ray and redhead Lisa listened.
Eyes wide.
Bodies still.
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On the other side, Rancid got the upper hand.
With a seething growl, he overpowered Ryan and shoved the scientist off.
"Nnngh!"
Ryan stumbled backwards….and slammed into the Quantum Flux container.
ZAAAAAAAAAAAAP!
Ryan's eyes went wide.
His entire body convulsed from the bright bands of white energy and hotness.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!"
The sparks started to grow hotter and hotter and…..burrowed through a pocket in space and time.
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Ray and Lisa heard the agonized scientists from the alternate dimension.
"AAAAAAAAAAUGH!"
"NOOOOOOO!" Ray shouted. He turned. He pointed at Lisa. "Lisa, go—"
A flash.
The Quantum Flux container in STAR Labs started to fluctuate.
Suddenly, trans-dimensional bolts of energy from the linked system started to branch out and eat into the laboratory.
And immediately—as if without hesitance—the energy beams converged on Ray and consumed his body in a horrifically familiar fashion to that from beyond the 'veil'.
ZAAAAAAAAP!
"AAAAAAAAAAAUGH!"
Ray shook and shivered and…
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Ryan's body convulsed and smoked and…
As absorbed into the white aura of the container's bright anomaly.
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Ray let out one last shriek as he too was absorbed into the fury.
Lisa screamed, pulling at her red hair.
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Lisa screamed, pulling at her blonde hair.
And Johnny Rancid laughed and cackled at the scene in Phaser Labs.
"Ha ha ha ha! Wooo doggy! Someone get some marshmallows!"
Ryan was completely and utterly absorbed.
The quantum flux sizzled, blinked, and glowed brighter until—
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KERPLUNK!
It dropped to a dead heap at the bottom of STAR Labs.
Ray was completely absorbed.
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In Phaser Labs, Johnny Rancid shuffled over till he stood behind the collapsed container.
He swiftly picked it up.
A dark smirk across his face as he held it up to his eyes.
"Heh…killer….souvenir…."
BEEP
BEEP BEEP Rancid's eyes angrily turned and glared across the domain which was suddenly flashing with a red strobe.
A blonde Lisa leaned limply against the computer console, her fingers pressing hard against the calling button for Titan's Tower.
Rancid merely smiled at her.
Shivering, Lisa frowned. "You've made a bad mistake…," she said.
Rancid hugged the suspiciously glowing container under one arm and aimed the luger at Lisa with his other.
"Heheheh…," he squinted his firing eye. "Don't I know it."
BLAM!
Bard vs Noir