Prologue
Disclaimer: I own neither TDK, Superman Returns, Lilo and Stitch or Kingdom Hearts. I was first inspired to write this fic by reading NoStoryLeftUntold's fic A New Chance (highly recommend you read) and wondered what if Lois hadn't saved Rachel but some characters from out of town. Way out of town...
A/N: The excerpt from A New Chance is obviously not mine and belongs to NoStoryLeftUntold.
A/N: Many thanks to reeniecat who beta-read my earliest drafts and allowed for many good refinements.
---
Rachel couldn't help but sob. She'd been in this glass cell after being brought back to life for not even a night but she had been told should couldn't leave it. It was sterile. Depressingly so. Brought back to life? How? This was insane. It shouldn't be this way. Human beings weren't supposed to come back from the dead. Regeneration? Only lizards and starfish were supposed to do that. Right?
This was overwhelming and a lot to swallow. But most damning was this:
"Miss Dawes, are you even listening?" Luthor asked, obviously annoyed and displeased. He'd been talking again, but she took in none of it. Rachel shook her head.
"I'm sorry," She said. "But what's going to happen to me? I can't go back to Gotham…can I?"
"You're going to stay here, Miss Dawes, as I have already stated. Being the first person resurrected after being blown up, we have a series of tests to run on you to see just how well the chip works, what your limits are, etcetera."
"I'm going to be tested?!" The very idea was barbaric! She couldn't believe her ears; would they really do something like that?! "Like…some sort of science experiment—"
"I assure you, this is a science experiment." Luther said. "Besides, we can't let a woman who everyone thinks is dead run around, clearly alive and well, now can we?"
"But—but—" Rachel was spluttering. She couldn't believe it! She couldn't live like this! What would happen to her? Would she never see outside again, or talk to someone other than this wretched man?
"I'm afraid, Miss Dawes, I must bid you good night. It's quite late." Luthor smirked, beginning to walk towards the exit with the group of scientists following him. "I'll see you in the morning."
"No!" Rachel cried. She jumped off the examining table, beating her fists on the glass, when—
Everything went completely dark.
Not completely dark. There was a man with a flashlight, he was thin and wiry in a blue uniform and baseball cap with security. He had a mostly shaved head with a light fuzz of blonde hair atop his head with brown eyes. He leered at her and for the first time Rachel realized just what a sorry excuse for a garment the hospital gown was and tried vainly to cover up. There wasn't even a blanket in this room?
What did they want her to do, freeze to death and see if the chip caused her to come back to life?
---
Bart Stevens a Security Guard at LexCorp leered at the latest experiment. Supposedly some chick from Gotham City. For a dead girl she was pretty hot.
Bart turned the next corner just in time to see a fellow wearing the olive drab uniform of an Israeli Defense Force soldier. An M4 rifle with a 203 grenade launcher underneath it was clutched in his hands and before he could reach his own weapon the Israeli swung the stock of his weapon right into Bart's chin knocking him unconscious.
The Israeli soldier made a hand signal and two more figures broke from the shadows. One a massive African American a black suit and tie with an MP5 submachinegun and the other a slender Hawaiian man with a laptop.
"Oh man." the Hawaiian said as he connected his computer with the electronic lock of the cage. "Hang on we'll get you out."
He started to punch away at the keyboard when electricity coursed from the lock and hit him. "AGGH!" The Hawaiian shouted. At the same time an alarm sounded.
"David!" the Israeli soldier shouted and dragged him from the entrance.
A third figure broke from the shadows wearing US Army fatigues. "Hey! Get to the back of that cage and cover your ears!"
Rachel did as she was told and the soldier started to connect a putty-like substance to the lock. She knew instinctively it was some kind of bomb. He took some piece of metal and put it in the putty and then connected wires to the metal before connecting it to a remote. He hit the clacker and with a loud bang the door flew open.
"You can get out now!" the man shouted.
Rachel blinked for a second as the man ran into the room and took a hold of her arm, getting her clear of the opening.
The large black man in the black suit motioned upward and the team rushed up the nearest staircase. Rachel stumbled. The US Army soldier caught her arm and he noticed Rachel had scraped her left knee. He watched with amazement as the wound began to rapidly close.
"Dear God. What did they do to you?" The man muttered.
"Long story." Rachel said as she felt her pulse quicken. The soldier helped her to her feet as they ran.
"Come on. We've gotta get you out of here." The soldier half dragged half carried Rachel the remaining several floors to the roof as she felt herself going faint.
Rachel felt the world spin on its axis as she passed out. And as she lost consciousness she could feel the soldier lifting her over his shoulder with a grunt.
---
For the second time in as many days Rachel woke up in a medical facility. But this one didn't have a glass door or locks. She noticed the Israeli soldier from the group was heading towards her.
"Someone's awake." the man said before introducing himself, "Abraham Shavitz. I'm one of the medics on the Infinity Ship Ohana."
"Infinity Ship?" Rachel asked.
"It's a hovercraft under the control of the United Nations." a female voice added, "Abe, I need those blood sample reports."
"I'll get right on it." Shavitz said stepping into the adjacent space.
The woman stepped into view, she was in her early thirties and also wearing an Israeli Defense Force uniform. "Dr. Rae Cohen. I'm the ship's medical officer."
"So is this a military ship?" Rachel asked.
"Not quite." Rae said, "It's a joint military and civilian venture under the flag of the UN. I like to call it the menagerie."
"So what about this Lex Luthor character? Is he going to be arrested?" Rachel asked.
"Sadly we weren't able to capture him." Rae said.
"Put him within 600 meters of Sacha or Nikolai with a clear line of sight and he's dead." Abe said as he handed Rae the blood tests.
"Your vitals are good." Rae said as she glanced at the report, "Just a mild hiccup with your blood sugar."
"Abe. You know if he stands trial for his crimes..." Rae continued replying to Abe's comment.
"I still say let Sacha or Nikolai give him a copper coated dessert and he's not a problem for us any more." Shavitz replied.
"So what's going to happen to me?" Rachel asked.
"We're taking you to Honolulu to be examined by Dr. Jookiba." Rae replied, "Don't worry, you're not gonna be confined to a cage or anything."
The door opened just then and the man with the US Army uniform walked in. "Morning doc." he said to Dr. Cohen before turning to Rachel and saying, "Hey, feeling alright?"
"I'm feeling fine, thank you." Rachel said.
"Rachel Dawes, meet First Lieutenant Carl Allenby, United States Army." Rae replied.
"Charmed." Carl said and extended a hand. He was of medium height with close cropped black hair and brown eyes.
Rachel recognized him as the man who'd literally blown the door to her prison off its hinges. She took the hand and shook it. She noticed a patch on his ACU blouse that read EOD(1). Rachel knew what those three letters meant, Carl Allenby was an EOD operative, the sort of man who disarmed booby traps and UXBs(2) so other troops could advance, the sort of man she wished was around when the blast...Come on. You wish someone like him was around before the bomb went off and killed you. Rachel thought.
"Thank you." Rachel said.
"The pleasure was all mine." Carl replied.
"He's come by here a couple of times to check on you." Rae added.
"I just felt like a real moron for causing you to black out like that." Carl replied.
"You couldn't have known." Rachel replied.
"Nonetheless I hope you'll accept my apologies." Carl replied.
"There's no need to apologize but I accept." Rachel said.
"Speaking of medical matters." Rae interjected, "Carl, have you seen Sacha anywhere."
"How would I know the guy's whereabouts?" Carl asked.
"Considering you two both are always hanging around each other going back and forth in Russian I'd think you'd know where he is." Rae replied.
"Am I the Chechen's keeper?" Carl replied as he walked out of the clinic.
"Chechens?" Rachel asked.
"Long story." Rae said.
"I do have the time to hear it." Rachel said.
"Well in the aftermath of the Heartless attack on our world a lot of changes came out of it." Rae replied.
"Heartless?" Rachel replied.
"They're beings that lack hearts. Creatures formed from the darkness in people's hearts that prey on the hearts of human beings and worlds alike. We as a species had to fight to prevent our annihilation by the Heartless in a great war." Rae said.
"Wait. So let me get this straight. Creatures without hearts attacked your world and you barely fought them off? This sounds like something fresh out of a science fiction novel." Rachel said.
"That's what I thought too when my country enacted a voluntary quarantine where we build a security wall and self sufficient compounds within it's boundaries along the 1967 borders." Rae replied.
"Hell really froze over." Rachel commented, "Israelis pulled out of Gaza Strip and the West Bank?"
"We did." Rae replied, "And triggered a Civil War with our religious right which we were triumphant."
"So Israel fought a Civil War on one side and creatures that lack hearts on the other?" Rachel asked.
Rae nodded.
"How? Where did these Heartless things come from?" Rachel asked.
"This is gonna be a lot to process." Rae replied.
Rachel mentally steeled herself for this: "This is overwhelming. First being brought back to life and then there are these creatures that shouldn't exist."
"Well human beings have three main parts. The body, which modern medicine can quantify and define. The soul, which clerics and scholars still debate over. And the Heart, which has its biological component inside your rib cage. But it also is where emotion comes from. Now loss of the Heart by yielding to the Darkness inside it can turn a person into a Heartless." Rae replied.
"So you're saying feelings of hopelessness and despair can turn someone into a Heartless." Rachel asked.
"In theory." Rae replied, "Admittedly I'm no expert in exactly how Heartless come to be or where they come from."
"So how long did this war with the Heartless last?" Rachel asked.
"It's still being fought in some areas of the world. Mostly isolated areas like Iceland, several smaller islands around the world, Northern Canada and Alaska, the bottom of the sea to name a few places." Rae replied, "Almost every nation of the world united under the UN to rid the world of the Heartless. Our ships are part of this deal."
"So that's why there are soldiers and civilians from every country on these Infinity Ships?" Rachel replied.
"Yes." Rae replied, "The UN built these ships and arranged for their crews."
"For what purpose?" Rachel asked.
"The Heartless are from beyond our world. We're trying to find out where they came from, what they stand for and maybe who sent them. Our latest clues pointed to Lex Luthor." Rae replied.
"He sent the Heartless to your world?" Rachel asked, "I didn't think he had that capability."
"We don't know who or what caused the Heartless to invade our world, that is why the Infinity Ships were commissioned. To seek out other worlds and learn all we can about Heartless infestations." Rae replied.
Just then an attractive young woman of Hawaiian descent walked into the room. "Rachel Dawes, this is Nani Pelekai, one of our ship's pilots."
"Hi." Nani said, "Feeling better?"
Rachel nodded as Nani continued, "Hey. I know you must be getting bored sitting around the clinic all day. Would you like a tour? It'll be a few hours before we reach Honolulu."
"Sure. " Rachel replied.
---
Rachel walked with Nani Pelekai. They passed a small room with several weights and cardio equipment. "That's our gymnasium."
In it was a fair complexioned fellow, lean and wiry and almost six feet tall. He was shadow boxing between sets of pushups, situps, and pullups.
"That's Sacha." Nani explained.
"He seems like he's a pretty intense guy." Rachel remarked, "He's the Chechen, right?"
"That's him." Nani said.
"What's his story?" Rachel asked.
"Don't ask. He never really tells us much about his past." Nani said.
"If his Chechnya's anything like the Chechnya from my world I don't think I'd want to pry either." Rachel replied.
"On our world the Russians pulled out of Chechnya around the time of the Great Panic and during their Decimations. They left the Chechens to fend for themselves against the Heartless, thinking that the Heartless would wipe out the Chechens." Nani continued to speak just as Sacha hopped up to a chin-up bar and began to do a dozen pull-ups.
"It turns out the Chechens held out well against the Heartless in several fortified and well armed enclaves in the hills and even in their cities. The Grozny Blue Zone actually was one of the great success stories of the war." Nani replied.
"Blue Zone?" Rachel asked.
"Civilian safe areas. Places where people managed to make a stand and keep the Heartless out of their areas for at least a little while." Nani replied, "Sacha fought to keep Grozny safe from both the Russians and the Heartless, only to fight the Russians again when they tried to retake Chechnya."
"So did the Russians retake Chechnya?" Rachel asked. Her curiosity about this world was getting the better of her, for every question answered more seemed to appear.
"No. They pulled out into a cordon around Chechen territory while the UN is taking advantage of the stalemate and trying to resolve the problem." Nani replied.
Sacha walked out of the gym just then, dripping sweat. To Rachel he looked like he was barely seventeen years old, his face clean shaven, his complexion fair and complemented by his red hair.
"Good morning." Sacha said as he walked by the two women. He stopped, his pale blue eyes scrutinizing Rachel, "Who's she?"
It was Sacha's eyes that gave his true age away. They looked for all the world like eyes that had seen far too much carnage for the years they lived. They were eyes that drank in details and missed nothing.
"Sacha Asyatalov, this is Rachel Dawes, the woman we saved from Lex Luthor." Nani said.
Sacha took Rachel's hand and shook, "I still say Cobra should have let me shoot the prick."
"Sacha, not that again." Nani said.
"Fuck this let him stand trial business. Just let me get within six hundred meters with my rifle and a clean line of sight and we have one less problem with Heartless." Sacha replied.
From a door with a painting of Timon the Meerkat with a toolbox in one hand and a large hammer in the other on it and a plaque marked EOD: "Initial Success or Total Failure", Det. 0805, The Meerkats came an admonishment, "Sacha you realize there are ladies present."
Rachel recognized Carl Allenby's voice as the man lumbered out of the room. "Screwing around on the computer again?" Nani said, "Told you Google's a dangerous thing."
"Hey. I was doing research." Carl protested.
Nani peeked into the small room at Carl's computer screen. "Yeah. Google isn't research!"
"Says who!?" Carl replied in mock protest, "I could easily type in anything and get some good results."
Rachel's gaze followed Nani's and added, "I don't know if the fixtures for the Super 14 Rugby tournament count as work related research."
"It could. The first ever Super 14 tournament since the war. Big event. Possible terrorist factions could attack it." Carl said, "For all I know Paul Redecker could show up. Quite a few folks wanna send that guy to hell because of the Redecker Plan. What better way to do that than hiding a bomb somewhere in the stadium? They are holding it in South Africa this year."
"Don't try and hide it, Carl." Nani joked, "You were goofing off and reading about Rugby."
"Well as a lawyer I'd have to say you're doing a good job in making the evidence of your goofing off sound circumstantial. But emotional appeals don't always work." Rachel smirked.
"OK counselor you win. If I'm ever on trial remind me to have you as a legal aid." Carl replied.
"I'm not exactly licensed on your world. I'm not sure what good I could do you." Rachel replied.
"Hounded by the bureaucracy again Shorty." Sacha joked. He stood at least five inches taller at six foot one to Carl's five foot seven.
"Oh shut up. At least I can find cover from snipers easier than you can." Carl joked back.
"Well, as much as enjoy watching Round three hundred and seventy-eight of Carl versus Sacha I'd better get back to giving Rachel a tour of the ship." Nani replied.
"OK." Carl said.
"Dos vidanya." Sacha replied.
"It was nice meeting you guys." Rachel replied as she and Nani left.
As they walked down the hallway Nani pointed out a large open area with tables and a television set and sound system. "That's the Mess Hall." Nani remarked, "And behind it is the kitchen."
"Who cooks for you guys?" Rachel asked.
"We all take turns cooking." Nani replied.
"And thank God we're landing in Honolulu." Abe Shavitz said as he walked by.
"What!?" Nani protested.
"You don't want to be there when Nani cooks anything." Shavitz replied.
"My cooking is not that bad!" Nani protested.
"Spaghetti sauce is not supposed to be green." Shavitz replied, "And your cooking has been known to drive rats to suicide."
Rachel couldn't help but chuckle at the Israeli medic's remark and Nani's chagrin. "I'm not much of a cook myself either." Rachel replied.
"Trust me you probably can cook better than Nani." Shavitz replied.
"I'm a pilot not a cook." Nani protested as they walked off.
Nani indicated another small room to her left: "That's the TOC or Tactical Operation Center, it's kind of the ship's nerve center and above it is the Control Room or Control, where we fly the ship from."
"Where are we going?" Rachel said.
"My quarters, if you'd like that is." Nani replied, "I figured you were getting bored sitting around the medlab and it's a little less like being in a lab."
"I don't want to put you out." Rachel replied.
"Nonsense. You're not putting me out. There's enough space for you to hang out if you so desire." Nani replied.
"OK." Rachel replied. Nani opened a door to a small two room area. There was a bed, desk, a couple comfortable looking chairs and a mini-fridge as well as a small bathroom and shower area.
"Feel free to help yourself to anything in the fridge." Nani said and handed Rachel a small piece of paper. "Here's the combination if you want to walk around. I've unfortunately got to attend to some things."
After Nani left the room Rachel tried to keep her mind occupied. She glanced at Nani's desk. There were pictures of a small girl which she took to be Nani's sister and a small blue creature she couldn't identify, a younger Nani and her sister and who she guessed were her parents, and there was a picture of Nani standing next to a young and lean Hawaiian man, David. It was the man who tried to help get her out of her cell.
Rachel made a mental note to check on David just before she yawned. It never really dawned on her how tired she felt as she sat down in one of the chairs. She grabbed a copy of Time Magazine from the desktop. She started to read a couple pages when she yawned again and started to fall asleep...
---
Rachel heard the sound of the magnets of the MRI scanner going off. The two operators were two of the weirdest looking creatures she'd ever seen. One of them was a roundly built and purple skinned fellow with a wide mouth, a huge and mostly bald head with three little black hairs, a little nose, and four yellow eyes.
The other was a thin yellow alien with three stout legs a small bald head with two purple tongues topped with a single small antenna that acts as ear and nose, and one large eye in the middle of his face. He moved his three fingered hands across the operator's console while the large bald alien was made observations and wrote on a large notepad. Rae had introduced the fatter of the pair as Dr. Jumba Jookiba and the skinny one eyed one as Wendy Pleaky.
"So what's the verdict?" Rachel asked as the bed of the MRI slid back into the open. She was glad she was out of that casket-like enclosure. The insides of that MRI scanner reminded her too much of the inside of a coffin for her liking.
"Well you definitely have a chip implanted in your brain." Dr. Jookiba replied, with a vaguely Russian accent, "As far as long term effects we won't know until we have more time for observation."
"So what does that mean for me?" Rachel said.
"We'll have to monitor you regularly with routine medical examinations." Dr. Jookiba replied, "The test results from today's examination will be the baseline."
"So what's the next test?" Rachel said.
"I'm gonna take some blood samples." Jookiba replied. Rachel sat down at the chair Jookiba indicated as he bound a rubber strip around her left arm and searched for a vein. Rachel shut her eyes. She'd always hated needles, even after years of being a blood donor, and winced as Jookiba stuck the needle into the vein and began to fill five tubes with blood before he removed the needle. Rachel opened her eyes and watched with fascination as the wound automatically began to close even before Pleaky could put gauze on it.
"Interesting." Jookiba said.
Rachel stepped down from the chair as Jookiba led her to another room. This one had a treadmill and an EKG attached. She raised an eyebrow and felt slightly nervous when she saw a couple laboratory technicians setting up oxygen and other resuscitation equipment. A female paramedic attached some leads to the EKG before connecting it to Rachel's body underneath the t-shirt she was wearing.
"What does this test entail?" Rachel asked.
"We're gonna test if Lex Luthor claiming that your heart-rate rising too fast could lead to a heart attack." Jookiba said, "With your permission of course."
Rachel mused for what felt like forever. What if she hopped on that treadmill and raised her heart rate and then died again? What if those paramedics were unable to revive her if that did happen? But what was the point of being brought back from the dead if she couldn't fully experience life.
"Yes." Rachel said with a quiver in her voice, "I'll do it."
"OK. First start at a slow pace and then bring it up every sixty seconds." Jookiba directed.
Rachel climbed onto the treadmill and started at first at a walking pace. She felt her heart quicken when she raised it to the pace of a normal jog. Then she sped it up to a brisk run. She felt her heart rate climb but no adverse effects. She kept speeding it up to that of a max-paced sprint until Jookiba signaled for her to stop.
Rachel stepped off the treadmill. She felt winded but not anywhere near the verge of cardiac arrest or a heart attack despite having rapidly raised her heart rate.
"What does that mean?" Rachel said.
"That Lex Luthor's warning was basically a load of crap." Jookiba replied.
"But when the team pulled me out of Lex's lab when I ran to the roof I passed out. Why was that?" Rachel asked.
"It could be any number of reasons. According to Dr. Cohen's report it was likely due to the fact that you had just been revived to delicately put it and also according to the blood test she performed on you results you passed out because of acute hypoglycemia. When did you last eat when you woke up in the medlab?" Jookiba asked.
"I don't remember eating anything after I got up. And I honestly didn't feel like eating anything." Rachel said.
"Hypoglycemia. Nothing more I conclude." Jookiba said.
"Do you need anything else from me?" Rachel replied.
"No. There's a shower next door and your change of clothes." Jookiba said.
Rachel left the medical laboratory and went into the locker room. It was clean but not as sterile as the LexCorp lab she woke up in. She stripped her t-shirt, sports bra, panties, jogging pants, and t-shirt off before turning the shower on. After she'd showered and dried herself off she put on the clothes she'd borrowed from Nani. A bit more casual than she was used to wearing on a day to day basis but they were comfortable enough.
Rachel headed for the lobby where Nani was waiting for her. "How'd it go?" Nani asked.
"According to your very strange friends I have a clean bill of health with a schedule of regular checkups." Rachel replied.
"That's good to hear." Nani replied, as they both stepped into Nani's car and the vehicle drove through the traffic of Honolulu, "So where are you staying?"
"That's a good question." Rachel said.
"Hey. You can stay with us until we can get you an appointment with the Housing Department." Nani said.
"Housing Department?" Rachel asked.
"During the war we were having to husband resources to include housing. We actually had a family from Texas, the Morrisons, living with us until last year when they were able to reclaim their house in Galveston." Nani replied, "The housing department was the part of DeStRes that made sure refugees had places to stay."
"DeStRes?" Rachel asked.
"Oh. That's shorthand for the Department of Strategic Resources. They're the ones who helped focus our efforts for retaking the United States and now to get us back on our feet again." Nani replied.
Rachel looked out the window and immediately noticed a much greater emphasis on public transportation and a lot fewer luxury type vehicles than she was used to seeing.
Nani pulled the car into the driveway of a small yet comfortable house that was raised up on stilts with a retractable front staircase. Rachel noticed the neighborhood itself was walled. Not simply one of those decorative gated community walls but a 20-foot tall concrete wall. There were also watch towers and every house in the neighborhood was on stilts with retractable stair cases. Every house had several solar panels on the roof.
"We still face attacks from the Heartless. The undersea hordes still mean that some do make it ashore and we have to be vigilant." Nani replied, "It's based on the Israeli 'Masada' model, those self sufficient residential compounds that helped Israel weather the storm better than almost ninety percent of the world."
Nani parked the car in the compound's parking lot with Rachel tagging along behind her. Rachel noticed a twelve year old Hawaiian girl playing with a blue creature that resembled a small Koala bear standing about 3.5 feet tall and weighing about 120 lbs and a dog that sort of resembled a dingo.
The twelve year old bore a strong resemblance to Nani. Nani knew her little sister on sight.
"Hi Nani..." Lilo said as she hugged her big sister.
"This is Rachel Dawes. She's gonna be a guest at the house for a while." Nani said.
"Hi." Rachel said, pleasantly and bent over to shake Lilo's hand.
"Hi." Lilo replied, and introduced the small blue creature, "This is Stitch."
"Could you clean out that spare room?" Nani said, "I tried calling you on your cellphone..."
"My battery died." Lilo replied.
"So what about dinner?" Nani asked.
"David's cooking right now." Lilo said, "And Carl and Sacha were coming over too if you don't mind..."
"I can help." Nani said.
"Blech." Stitch said.
"Why are Sacha and Carl coming over?" Nani asked.
"Carl was coming to pick up Dingo anyway." Lilo said. The Australian Cattle Dog barked at the sound of his name and headed over to Lilo.
"Carl I can understand. But that doesn't answer the question why he and Sacha are coming over for dinner." Nani replied.
"We had a power blackout two nights ago. All the food in their refrigerator got ruined and I just went shopping." Lilo said as everyone trooped upstairs.
Rachel looked around the house. Everything was done up in a cheerful tropical motif, there were Elvis records and CDs around the coffee table.
David, the handsome looking Hawaiian man Rachel had briefly met when the team broke her out of LexCorp Lab, was cooking. Rachel was suddenly aware of just how hungry she was.
"Phew. I'm glad David's cooking." came another voice.
Rachel turned to see Carl Allenby standing behind her, "Where did you come from?"
"The house next door." Carl replied, "We live next door to Nani and Lilo and we're coming over to help with dinner."
"That's nice of you." Rachel observed.
"Hey. We gotta do something. They saved us a trip into town to the nearest restaurant." Carl replied, "And also once we saw you were a guest we had to make sure that you don't wind up with food poisoning your first night...hey!"
"My cooking is not THAT bad." Nani protested as she clopped Carl in the back of the head.
"Yes it is. And worse." Lilo teased her big sister.
"See. Even your own kinfolk agree." Carl replied.
"Oh shut up!" Nani said.
"Look. If even Stitch, whose stomach is resistant to most poisons, won't touch your cooking you know it's terrible." Carl replied.
Nani glared at him with a look that spoke of death and daggers.
"I'll help in the kitchen." Rachel offered as Carl headed over to help Sacha with cutting some vegetables.
"Oh no, you're a guest. You shouldn't have to..." Nani said.
"You guys were kind enough to give me shelter, it's the least I can do." Rachel replied as she headed to the kitchen to wash her hands.
"I've got my share of help." David said when Rachel asked him if she could do anything to help, "You could help Lilo set up the table if you want."
Rachel headed over to help Lilo by putting the silverware up while the younger girl put the place mats and plates and glasses in place.
When they were done Lilo went over to the stereo system to put some music on. Rachel asked, "So what are you putting in?"
"The greatest artist who ever lived of course." Lilo said, "Elvis Presley."
"I disagree." Carl said from the kitchen, "Phil Collins was the greatest artist who ever lived."
"Not this again." Sacha groaned, "You realize you're arguing music with a twelve year old."
"They called Elvis the King for a reason." Lilo replied as the opening notes to Elvis Presley's Devil in Disguise began to play.
Despite herself Rachel smiled. The easy going and friendly atmosphere this small group seemed to have was almost infectious. That's an 'illness' I wouldn't mind having. Rachel thought.
David took a carrot from the counter, holding it up like a microphone, and began to sing, "You look like an angel. Walk like an angel...talk like an angel. But I got wise...You're the devil in disguise..."
As he sang he put an arm around Nani's waist. Nani couldn't help but smile. Rachel remembered that there were photos in Nani's small room back on the Ohana that showed her with David. That definitely confirmed her suspicions that David and Nani were definitely an item.
Everyone chuckled at David's performance and Nani blushed. Afterward David checked his cooking and announced, "Dinner is served."
Dinner was a light-hearted affair that Rachel couldn't help but get caught up in. Small jokes and witticisms were exchanged.
"David. I must say your beef stew is incredible." Carl said.
"Nani. I'm surprised you can stay so thin with David's cooking." Rachel remarked.
"You should come over to our place when Sacha makes his borsht. It's incredible." Carl replied.
"Sacha actually believes food should be cooked too." Nani replied.
"Hey. I cook my steaks." Carl replied.
"Two minutes a side isn't considered cooked." David remarked.
"I agree." Rachel said.
"The only two ways to eat beef. Burned to crisp or bleeding raw." Carl replied.
"That stinks that the steaks we had in the freezer might be ruined." Sacha replied.
"At least power failures don't ruin a good gift." Carl replied as he took a bottle of vodka from a bag.
"That's the good stuff." Sacha said.
"I thought Muslims didn't drink." Rachel remarked.
"Yes. But I still know good vodka when I see it." Sacha replied.
"Hey I thought this was an occasion to celebrate." Carl replied as he poured several tumblers for everyone but Lilo, Stitch, and Sacha.
"I'd like to propose a toast." Carl said as he recapped the bottle.
"To?" Nani asked.
"Well. To our guest, Rachel Dawes. The second person in history to have ever been given the second chance." Carl said, "She now has a second chance at living."
"To second chances." Carl said as he raised his tumbler.
"To second chances." Even Rachel joined in that particular toast. A second chance where she wasn't some science experiment.
"Hate to cut this short." Sacha said, "But I've got night watchman."
"I've got you tomorrow night, buddy." Carl said.
Dinner started to wind down. Nani, Lilo, and Rachel cleaned up the table after the meal had finished while Carl and David were doing the dishes.
Rachel put her hand to her mouth as she yawned. A combination of the day's events and the small drink of vodka made her just want to get to bed.
"If you don't mind, I'm going to bed." Rachel said.
"See you in the morning." Nani said.
Rachel padded upstairs to the spare bedroom that Nani had mentioned. She kicked her shoes off and lay in bed. Despite how tired she was, she lay awake on her back, thinking of the past day. Brought back to life. Brought to some world she didn't quite understand.
Rachel noticed a legal pad near the bed. It was unused and had a little layer of dust on it. She picked it up, sneezing as she blew the layer of dust off the first page. With slightly shaking hands she began to write:
The past day and some change has been one of the more bizarre ones of my life. It appears that there is a way to bring the dead back to life developed by none other than Lex Luthor. He succeeded in bringing me back with some chip implanted into my brain. I've never felt a broader span of emotions in the span of one day in my life.
I was overwhelmed with joy at first. I could see everyone again. See my mom. See Alfred (I hope to God he never gave Bruce that letter). See Bruce. And Harvey. I know he survived the blast. I heard him screaming my name as Batman dragged him away before I...died.
Then I felt this horrible sadness when Luthor said I'd never see the light of day again. That I was to be some kind of experiment for him. When he and his scientists left the lab I almost cried myself to sleep when these strange people showed up.
They broke me out of my cell ironically enough with a bomb, and got me to their ship. It's some kind of weird hovercraft. I remember disbelief when I woke up in the medical lab to come face to face with an Israeli paramedic and doctor.
Rae Cohen, the doctor, told me the reason that their ship was created was to find out about some creatures called the Heartless that apparently overran their version of my world. I sound like I'm writing some two-bit science fiction novel but apparently it is the truth.
Creatures without hearts overran the 90% of the world and humanity is fighting to reclaim it. According to some magazine articles I read before my medical appointment with Dr. Jookiba, which proved Lex Luthor's heart attack theory wrong by the way, all of the United States is secure once more. There's a big ceremony in two weeks re-opening Washington D.C., which has been declared officially secure. Canada's almost been retaken with campaigns being fought in the north to retake the tundra. Mexico has been taken back and has actually changed it's name to Atzlan.
I'm now in Honolulu, HI living with the pilot who flew me out of LexCorp Labs, Nani Pelekai. She lives in a modest three bedroom house with her boyfriend, younger sister, and the strangest creature I've seen yet. Considering I've seen a four eyed (and not because he wears glasses) alien and a one eyed and according to Lilo gender confused one eyed alien that's saying something...
Lilo. She's something else. She's a little bit on the loner side but definitely well meaning and kind. Though she and Stitch have a history of driving Nani and David up the wall with their antics. Biggest Elvis fanatic I've seen under the age of sixty.
Our neighbors are two crewmembers from that ship that saved me. The Ohana as it's called is almost like a world's fair, Dr. Cohen calls it the 'Menagerie', of people from all the different countries of the world. There are Israelis, Americans, and Chechens that I've seen. Military and civilians live onboard her as well.
Anyway. Back to my neighbors. Carl and Sacha. The former was the man who literally blew my cage door off its hinges. He's an EOD guy. And the other guy, Sacha, is an intense and mostly quiet fellow from Chechnya. According to what everyone says, he's a sniper of some great skill. They were over for dinner tonight.
I wonder what the next day is going to bring. Whether I'll be able to see everyone again, even once more.
Rachel finished writing and realized she'd scribbled nearly three pages back to back on that legal pad worth of feelings. She yawned and stretched before lying back down and falling asleep.
Little did Rachel realize that she was being watched. From a car down in the parking area former Gotham City Police Department detective Anna Ramirez sat in the front seat of the car.
"Hey. Is that where they moved her?" one of the two LexCorp Security employees, Kyle Fischer said.
"That's where she's living now." the other thug was named Clarke Gilbert.
"Not for long." Kyle Fischer said.
"Remember the boss wants her alive." Ramirez said, "Keep observing everything. Remember we have to be fast. We have to be smooth. And we have to get away from their neighborhood security folks."
As she spoke Ramirez walked out to a spot. "Here's a blind spot where the guard towers won't see us until it's too late and we've already got a hold of her. We're parked a few steps away from it."
Ramirez and her two fellow LexCorp employees had no idea they were being watched. From the house next door Sacha watched from the attic. This wasn't good. Something didn't sound right about those two men and one woman in the parking lot.
Sacha headed downstairs to wake his housemate. "What's going on?" Carl grumbled as he pushed the blankets aside on his bed.
"Some people in the parking lot. I don't like the look of them." Sacha said.
Tired and slightly irate from being woken up at 2 AM Carl nonetheless knew Sacha never gave warnings like that in jest. He grabbed a night vision monocular sight as Sacha peered through the PSO-1 telescopic sight on his Dragunov SVD sniper rifle.
"What do you see?" Carl asked.
"That car just outside of the lights' cutouts." Sacha said.
"I got it. Two men? One woman?" Carl said.
"Yes." Sacha replied.
"Surveillance?" Carl said.
"More than likely." Sacha said.
"But Rachel's world doesn't have any awareness of other dimensions or means of traveling to them." Carl replied.
"That we know of." Sacha added.
The woman walked out of the car and started talking. "Now what?" Carl asked.
"Dry run. They've noticed the same cutouts of the guard towers." Sacha said, "That's what I would do too. I'd observe the defenses and look for weaknesses."
"They know our towers are focused more for the external as opposed to internal threats too." Carl remarked.
"So what do we do? Take them now?" Sacha said.
"No. We won't." Carl replied, "If we kill them all we can't get information from them. But it would be good to get rid of the trash that followed us from Rachel's world."
"So we wait till they attempt their move?" Sacha said.
"Precisely. That's where you come in. But here's the stipulation. Try not to kill one of them." Carl replied, "We can question the living one."
"Shoot to wound?" Sacha said.
"Precisely." Carl said. "I'll be right down there as back up. If you can't get a clear shot I'll take the last one down."
"It's risky." Sacha remarked.
"Yes. But getting a hold of one of them alive means we can get to the bottom of what they want with Rachel." Carl replied as one of the men rehearsed grabbing Ramirez as if she were Rachel and hauling her into the car.
Sacha was already mentally rehearsing how he would shoot the man in that instance.
---
Rachel awoke the next morning, feeling a little less confused about the entire state of affairs. She headed downstairs where Lilo was starting to cook breakfast.
"Morning Lilo." Rachel said, "Have you seen Nani anywhere?"
"She's still sleeping." Lilo replied, "I always try and beat her over here to get the cooking knocked out. It wouldn't do to have a guest sick with food poisoning."
Rachel noticed there was coffee brewing in the pot and saw David leaning on the island, covering a yawn. "Morning sleepyhead." David said, "Did you sleep well?
"I did. Thank you." Rachel replied, "How about you?"
"I had night watchman duty for the house." David said. At Rachel's quizzical look he added, "There's always gotta be someone awake as the night watchman at each house. During the war it used to be that the Neighborhood Security Team would come by and talk to you about if you'd seen anything suspicious. Now that the cops have largely reformed we're not having to use the volunteer NSTs as much but we still maintain having a night watchman."
"May I?" Rachel asked as she indicated the coffee pot.
"Help yourself." David said with a tired grin. Rachel poured him a cup and handed it over to David after she poured one of her own. She went to the refrigerator and took some creamer and grabbed the sugar dish.
"Nani's gone to the grocery store right now." David said, "So she asked me to take you to the DeStRes office to help you with resettlement this morning."
"After you stayed up all night? I couldn't ask you to do that." Rachel replied.
"It's not too imposing. I'll drop you off and Nani will swing by and get you when she's done shopping." David replied as they headed downstairs.
Rachel and David walked into the parking lot, past a gray Crown Victoria sedan with a handsome brown haired man sitting in the front. Just then a large, muscular man and a Hispanic woman that Rachel instantly recognized as Detective Anna Ramirez seized hold of Rachel.
"Let go of me! Help!" Rachel shouted.
David tried to break Rachel loose only for Ramirez to grab a canister of a strange substance and spray him in the face.
"AAGHH!!" David screamed in agony and rolled on the ground. "Help me! Help me!! Bugs!!! AIIEEE!! They're crawling all over my skin...help me!"
Fear spray. Rachel instantly recognized as she struggled against her captors. They dragged Rachel towards the car as the sound of a single rifle shot cracked and the car's windshield shattered. The driver bucked in the seat wildly as the bullet shattered his forehead and pierced his brain.
From his vantage point Sacha lay on his stomach. He saw Rachel and David walking together through the telescopic sight of his Dragunov rifle. It was then that the woman and the larger of the two men he observed last night rushed from the car and grabbed hold of Rachel, shoving David to the ground. He watched as David tried to fight Rachel's abductors only to get some chemical sprayed into his face.
Sacha took aim at the handsome man with the slicked back brown hair at the wheel of the car. He centered his crosshairs on the man's forehead as he breathed in and began to apply a slow, steady, and deliberate pressure to the trigger.
CRACK! The SVD bucked in Sacha's hands and shattered the windshield of the car as well as the driver's forehead and brain. He moved his crosshairs as the large man and the Hispanic woman were shoving Rachel into the vehicle. He centered them on the man's neck, an inch above the clavicle. Again with slow and steady pressure on the trigger Sacha let fly.
As the second thug fell grasping at his neck Sacha adjusted his aim. The woman was still struggling with Rachel while Sacha aimed for the area just above her left breast. He let the air out as he pressed the trigger. CRACK!
Rachel heard the unmistakable sound of a body hitting the ground and the choking gasp and rasping noise of a man she knew had been shot in the throat. It was about then that she felt Ramirez push her to the ground.
Ramirez felt a hammer blow strike her chest as she fell right next to Fischer who still lay gasping and rasping as blood gushed from his throat. She tried to say something but let out a hollow cough. Academically she knew that she'd been shot in the chest and that this was a sucking chest wound. The direct result of a punctured lung.
Before she could do anything she saw a man standing over her. He was somewhat swarthy with close cropped black hair and wearing jeans, hiking boots, and a olive green t-shirt. He set one booted foot onto Ramirez's hand, the one close to her gun.
"Try anything and I'll finish what my Chechen friend started." Carl said as he aimed his USP .45 automatic at Ramirez's face, "You'd best cooperate so I can give you first aid. Otherwise you'll bleed to death before the ambulance gets here. I'd rather take you alive for questioning though."
Ramirez barely found the strength to nod as the man knelt by her side and took a piece of plastic from his pocket and a small roll of medical tape. He taped the card to the exit hole on four sides and took another piece of plastic for the entry wound. He taped it over there on three sides.
He lay Ramirez on the side of her good lung and said to Rachel, "Keep an eye on her, I'm gonna go help David."
"Carl. It might be better if I helped him." Rachel said.
"Huh?" Carl said.
"I know what this woman, Ramirez, hit him with." Rachel said.
As the ambulance came into the neighborhood Carl asked, "So she's from your world and you know her?"
"She's the one that kidnaped me in the first place." Rachel replied as Sacha ran downstairs, his Dragunov sniper rifle slung across his back.
"Sacha. Go with Ramirez in case she tries anything stupid." Carl replied.
Sacha nodded as the Paramedics were strapping Ramirez to a gurney and handcuffed her to one post. Ramirez struggled against them and Sacha fixed her with a cold stare.
Ramirez had put two and two together rather quickly. This fellow who looked like a red haired seventeen year old with the Dragunov sharpshooter rifle was the one who'd shot her.
"You're lucky I didn't kill you." Sacha said.
"You were trying to take me alive?" Ramirez asked.
"I never shoot to wound. I always shoot to kill." Sacha replied.
"Bugs! They're everywhere! HELP! Oh God!" David screamed.
"David? It's me Rachel. Listen to me...you're gonna be OK." Rachel said as she tried to get a hold of his thrashing arms.
David looked up. It wasn't Rachel he saw peering down at him. It was something else entirely. It was a desiccated face. One eye hung limply from a shriveled optical nerve. The other was dead and unblinking. Dead flecks of skin and hair fell onto his face from the corpse that was now straddling him.
"GAHH!!!" David said as he thrashed.
The Paramedics were strapping David to another gurney as Carl took the Fear Spray bottle that Ramirez had dropped when Sacha had shot her.
"What are you going to do with that?" Rachel asked.
"I'm gonna go take this to Dr. Jookiba." Carl said, "I recommend you stay at the house with Lilo. Sacha can keep a watch over you..."
"Like hell I'm staying put." Rachel said.
"Alright. Go with me to Dr. Jookiba's." Carl remarked as he headed to a green Chevrolet pickup truck. He hit the key fob to open the doors and opened Rachel's for her, letting her sit down before he closed the door and headed to the driver's seat. He started the truck and headed for Jookiba's lab.
"How do you know about this stuff?" Carl asked as they drove.
"I kind of got sprayed with it." Rachel said.
"What does it do? Is it pepper spray or something?" Carl asked.
"It's a strong hallucinogen that makes you hallucinate your worst fears." Rachel replied.
Carl's eyes widened as he gingerly put the canister into the glove box. He parked the truck at Jookiba's lab as the pair of them dismounted the truck and headed to Jookiba's lab.
"Hey Doctor Jookiba?" Carl asked.
"Yes?" The alien replied.
"Do you think you could do an analysis of this compound and synthesize a cure." Carl replied.
"I'll do my best. What is it?" Jookiba replied.
"It's a fear toxin." Rachel replied, "It's a hallucinogen."
Jookiba began to run his tests on the chemical. "I'm not sure when I'll have an answer, where can I get in touch with one of you?"
"We'll be visiting its victim in the East Wing." Carl replied.
"I'll call your cell." Jookiba said, "Or I'll walk over there."
---
"How's our patient?" Carl asked as he walked into the hospital.
"Which one? The one your Chechen friend shot or the one exposed to the unknown drug?" asked Sarah Groover, the head nurse for the ER.
"Either of them." Carl replied.
"Well. They just got the gunshot victim moved. She's still under observation at ICU with a police escort." Sarah replied, "And your friend Sacha is with them. You might want to tell him to keep his UN armband on next time. The sight of a Chechen in half military and half civilian garb with a long barreled firearm does tend to make people nervous. Care to tell me why you requested police escort?"
"She just tried to kidnap our friend here with two colleagues." Carl replied.
"I suppose Sacha dispatched them rather cleanly." Sarah replied.
"Yes." Carl replied.
Just then the large, imposing looking bald black man that had been on the team that got Rachel out of her cell walked up to them. He still wore his standard issue black three piece suit and white collared shirt. She recognized him as Cobra Bubbles, captain of the Ohana and supposedly formerly of the CIA.
"Captain." Carl remarked.
"I understand you and Sacha found that our guest had some unwelcome followers." Cobra said.
"Yes." Carl said.
"And you took care of them. I'm told Sacha's shooting prowess was displayed prominently in your neighborhood?" Cobra replied.
"Yes sir it was." Carl replied.
"Perhaps you two might have informed me what you were up to." Cobra Bubbles said.
"We didn't want to spook them or tip them off that we knew what they were up to." Carl replied.
"You still were taking a big gamble with Ms. Dawes' life." Cobra replied.
"She was never in any danger. I anonymously tipped off the Honolulu PD an hour before Sacha shot those three kidnappers about a vehicle that would be transporting a kidnap victim. If they got through us, they'd have to face a police cordon." Carl replied, "Let's not forget you also have a live suspect as well. Sacha's with her right now."
"Who was she?" Cobra asked.
Rachel spoke up, "A corrupt police detective from my world. She was working with this mobster, Maroni. She kidnaped me and put me in the warehouse with the bomb and..."
Rachel could recall it all again: Suddenly, intense heat engulfed her body and her last few seconds of consciousness were spent, flames bursting before her eyes in a marvelous display of orange and red, so beautiful, even if it was killing her…
"It's OK." Carl said as he gently led her to the nearest seat while giving Cobra a glance, "I'm sorry you had to recall all that again."
"It's fine. Really." Rachel said as she blinked a couple times, briefly trying to convince herself that she wasn't seeing the explosion that killed her again.
"What about David?" Cobra asked.
"He was hit with some toxin from Rachel's world called Fear Spray. Dr. Jookiba's working on it right now and hopefully synthesizing an antidote." Carl replied.
"Where is Ramirez now?" Cobra Bubbles asked.
"She's in the ICU under observation." Sarah said, "She's conscious but a bit hostile."
"Just how hostile?" Cobra asked.
"Not physically. At least she knows that she got a reprieve from death." Sarah replied, as she opened the door to where Ramirez was staying, "But I wouldn't count on hearing her life story."
Anna Ramirez glared when she saw the three people that the nurse let into the room. Rachel Dawes was in company with a large bald African American man in a black suit and the man who'd helped foil her kidnapping plot.
"Ramirez. What brings you here?" Rachel asked.
"You should know the answer." Ramirez said.
"Let me finish the question." Rachel replied,"Who sent you? The Joker? Maroni?"
"I believe it was LexCorp." Sacha said dourly.
"How do you know?" Rachel said as Sacha held up a LexCorp ID badge issued to one Anna Ramirez. It was dated around the date of her funeral.
"So Lex sent you after me. How did you get here?" Rachel asked.
"You think you're so safe here because your friend and his pet Chechen foiled our attempt. But that doesn't mean that there won't be others." Ramirez replied.
"I think you've taxed the patient too far today." Sarah interjected.
Cobra nodded impassively and gestured for the other two to leave the room. Ramirez said, "At least you're not in Gotham. At least you won't hear what a monster your fiancé became after you died!"
At this Rachel froze midstep. No. That can't be true. It couldn't be...Ramirez is corrupt. She's a liar...
"Why should I believe you?" Rachel replied.
"Wuertz. Maroni and his driver. Three men died all by the hand of Gotham's White Knight." Ramirez replied.
Rachel wanted to disbelieve this. She wanted to believe that it was some fairy tale Ramirez had made up to get under her skin.
"Is it true?" Rachel asked when they were out of the room, "Did he..."
"We know nothing of Harvey Dent's activities after your death." Cobra said, "We only know that he perished a few days after you. We know nothing more."
"I have to know the truth." Rachel said.
"Would you really want to?" Cobra replied.
"Yes." Rachel replied as they headed to the room where David was strapped to a hospital bed.
"No! Get away! Get away!" David screamed in pure terror as Nani tried to reason with him. Even through the glass of the window Rachel could see the tears running down Nani's cheeks.
"David. It's me...Nani...oh please snap out of it..." Nani said.
"Demon! Demon! Get away!" David screamed as he bucked against the restraints.
"Can we do something for him?" Carl asked an orderly.
"If we sedated him it could kill him." the orderly replied, "We don't know enough about the chemical that hit David to make any sort of educated guess of its secondary effects."
Dr. Jookiba walked into the room just then. He was holding a syringe in his hand. It contained a greenish-blue liquid. "This should counter that toxin that hit David." Jookiba said.
"What do you mean should?" Nani asked.
"Meaning I've never tested it before. But all tests of this chemical showed it was effective against the Fear Toxin." Jookiba said as he took hold of David's arm.
David thrashed against his restraints as Jookiba held the syringe up. In David's eyes all he saw was a four eyed, fanged monster with a wicked looking proboscis sticking out of it's clawed hand...
Jookiba injected the antidote. Gradually David's thrashing ceased and he calmed down. "Wh-what was that stuff..." David asked.
"It was a hallucinogen from my world." Rachel replied, "It's called Fear Spray or Fear Toxin."
Nani threw her arms around David. Tears of joy filled her eyes, replacing the ones of fear and pain she'd shed when she saw what David was enduring.
As David's restraints were removed and he was being further examined Rachel wondered what else Lex might do to try and retrieve her. The knowledge that the chip implanted into her brain
---
Unknown location: "Your team failed to bring your experiment back." the black robed and hooded figure remarked.
"And now she is away from your world." another black robed and hooded figure added.
"That chip is what we need to achieve our goal." the first figure said.
"I can send another team through the Corridors of Darkness." Luthor said, "A better armed and equipped team."
"Brute force might not be the answer. That world that Rachel was taken to is a world that recently fought off a massive invasion of the Heartless. They would be prepared to resist armed incursions. The element of surprise was on your side when Ramirez's team went through. Not anymore. They will expect another assault." the first figure replied.
"Can you not synthesize another chip?" a third figure spoke up, "The Superior is growing impatient."
"I have tried." Lex replied, "But our first successful experiment got away. We have not been able to repeat the success of the first experiment."
"Have you tried implanting it into a Dusk(3)?" the third figure asked.
"Both Dusks you gave me were horrible failures." Lex replied.
"Perhaps with the proper conditioning the latest Nobody(4) will be able to locate your last experiment. Based on the emotional ties he had with her before he lost his heart to the Darkness, Harvey Dent would be a formidable ally." the third figure replied.
"He is somewhat unstable though." Dr. Jonathan Crane said as he walked into the light.
"Permanent stability is not necessary for our ends." the third hooded figure said.
"He will need to be monitored. Watched. This is not only a man emotionally unhinged by the death of his beloved, this is also a man who is cunning and intelligent." Dr. Crane replied.
"Perhaps the key lies in the fact that his beloved is still alive. At the proper time and proper place we reveal that information to him. And maybe he might be of help to us to recover Rachel." Lex replied.
"Very shrewd Lex." the third hooded figure said, "You might have saved yourself from being transformed into a Dusk."
---
Meanwhile in another unknown location a being was being born in the most loose definition of the word. Harvey Dent groaned as he opened his one eye that still had an eyelid. The other eye also had sight as he sat up.
"Someone's awake." a hooded figure said.
"Wh-where am I? Am I in Hell?" Dent asked.
"You aren't. But you are not in Heaven or even Purgatory, Harvey Dent." the hooded figure replied.
There was a hollowness a certain empty feeling he felt as he sat up. What good was being alive without Rachel? For a brief instant he allowed himself to remember the softness of her touch, the taste of her kisses.
"How did I get here? How am I even still alive?" Harvey asked.
"You aren't alive Harvey in the strictest sense. Nor are you dead." the hooded figure said.
"Then what am I?" Harvey asked.
"You are a Nobody, Harvey Dent. When Rachel was taken from you and you died you surrendered the darkness in your heart. Whatever Heartless was created from that instance died before it could form. However you are still here." the hooded figure ask.
"How in the hell am I still alive without a heart!?" Harvey demanded.
"There are two manifestations of the heart. The biological heart which distributes blood through the body and the spiritual definition of the heart. The latter is what you lost to the Darkness with your beloved Rachel." the hooded figure replied.
"This is pure Kafka." Harvey Dent replied.
"I assure you Harvey Dent, Franz Kafka had no hand in creating your present state." the hooded figure said.
"Then who? The Joker?" Dent spat, "The mad clown is capable of many things but supernatural mumbo jumbo isn't one of them."
"In a sense you created this for yourself Harvey, when you allowed your anger at losing Rachel to cloud you." the hooded figure replied, "But we were the ones who brought you back to life."
"To what end?" Harvey Dent replied.
"The answers will come in due time. But for now, rest, scores you need to settle still await. There is the matter of one James Gordon and one Batman..." the hooded figure replied.
"Yes. Those are two who need to pay." Harvey Dent said.
"But wait for now. Harvey. There are aspects of being a Nobody you need to get used to before you traipse of for revenge." the hooded figure said.
For the time being Harvey was gonna listen to this hooded lunatic. But only just so much. "Revenge is a meal best served cold."
"I believe you might want this item." the hooded figure said as it pressed his father's coin into his hand.
"Who are you?" Harvey asked.
"I and more importantly my Organization are the closest things you have to friends right now..." the hooded figure replied ominously...
---
To Be Continued....Up next. Ramirez's interrogation, Rachel's adjustments to life on this world, and the conditioning of the Dent Nobody. But have the mysterious hooded figures found more than they bargained for with Harvey Dent's Nobody?
A/N: To fans of my other works, fear not I've not lost inspiration for them. This fic was one that just screamed to be written when I watched The Dark Knight.
Some Endnotes:
1. EOD - Explosive Ordnance Disposal
2. UXB - Unexploded Bomb.
3. Dusk - A lesser form of Nobody.
4. Nobody - From Kingdom Hearts 2: "If someone with a strong heart and will, be they evil or good, becomes a Heartless, the empty shell they leave behind begins to act with a will of its' own..." According to the cosmology of Kingdom Hearts Harvey Dent's Nobody is Harvey's body and soul. His heart was lost to the Darkness.