Good day/or night to you all. And welcome to "The Renaissance Solution". My latest attempt in a long while to make multi-franchise crossover and my first new fanfic in a long while (hopefully I kicked that damn writer's block). Anyway, hope you all enjoy the prolouge,also as per usual with these types of things I don't own any characters involved with this story and they belong to their respective owners.

PS: If any of know me my from my other work, and did enjoy those stories, I apologize for discontinuing them. I lost my drive with those stories and it didn't help that I kept starting stories with other's left unfinished. Hopefully with The Renaissance Solution I'll get this train running again by just focusing on something I've wanted to do for awhile (and this time I'll actually plan out where this story goes like professional should) Anyway enough with the the p.s.-ing, enjoy the story.

0 A New Wager

It was in the final moments of a crisis to his world that the man found himself elsewhere.

Standing in an almost endless void of white, the glowing-eyed, silver age-lookin caucasian man in black suit, blue coat and blue fedora plus silver necklace struggled to gauge where he was in his universe or any of the other 52 universes.

No, this wasn't any of the 52.

"My, my, it's not often I get visitors...well visitors like you and tentacle-face." a young voice suddenly making itself known behind the man.

The man 180'd to see what seemed to be a young boy but...he was all white, featureless, a perfect blank made to look human.

The man's eyes widened but he managed to keep his composure. "What matter of being may you be? A new god? A watcher from that other multiverse, a remnant of Barbatos's invasion?" his voice was weathered yet refined in it's own way.

The boy didn't say anything, instead he just beckoned the man to follow him.

Feeling at somewhat of a loss, The man followed the boy as he began feeling a growing dread that he hadn't had in many a millenia.

After awhile, The man and "The Boy" came up upon a large stone structure in the shape of a door, where another being stood waiting. The being irked the man immediately when him and the "the boy" came closer to the structure.

On closer inspection as they met up, The man saw that the being in waiting was almost like a shadow trying to copy the shape of a man with a black slime-like body with a single lime-green stripe on each of it's limbs and waist. Another thing to note were the blue crevices on the various sections of the body with white faces in them. Tendrils moved about in the air and around being with the same crevices and green lines.

The being turned to the man and just stared at him before saying, "you smell like hope and humanity...you even have the same color as that cheater." it's voice garbled, deep and definitively inhuman.

"And I can by your demeanor that your an abomination that enjoys seeing things torn asunder." The man retorted coldly.

"well you have a bit more bite than him that's for sure."

"well, if this being you speak of is anything like me, he clearly made the right choice. Even with this mockery of the human form, I can tell you lost to this person in some way."

"He cheated, I won. He just couldn't handle his precious humans fully-indulging in their purest urges and hates when I won fair and square."

"you sound just as asinine as that despot from Apokolips. Never relenting even when he should realize there's always a chance that humans can achieve anything even with their prejudices, hungers and weaknesses."

The Boy simply watched the two as they gave eachother what amounted to a dick measuring contest. Before speaking up, making them go silent as they turned to "him".

"good to see you two having a nice chat...but I think we should get to the main question that I'm quite sure we all have." The boy paused for what seemed like dramatic effect, "...And that question being...why are you two here, in my home, in a universe where your rules and sources of power are nonexistent?" his voice still cheerful.

The man looked the man-like being who seemed to look to him waiting for his answer and inturn, The man waited for the man-like being's answer.

A silence grew between the three before the man relented and gave a possible answer that didn't seem so far fetched to himself. "A cataclysm nearly came to pass in my universe and the universes surrounding it, a mad dragon who wished to sink all worlds of light into the dark nightmares of his dark multiverse. In the end thanks to the heroes of Earth, this mad dragon was stopped...but at the cost of a hole being punctured into my universe's boundary, the Source Wall. My guess, the excess multiversal energy from the puncture blew me from my universe and into this domain somehow." he finished.

The man-like being quirked it's head at mention of the Source Wall. Did it not have one in it's universe. Well, the Stranger supposed not all multiverses had one, he remembered the other multiverse that crossed with his not having any Source Walls.

"but that wouldn't explain why you're here. I'm assuming you don't have a Source Wall?" the man asked the man-like being.

"A wall that seperates universes? Sounds like something out a comic book. but to answer your question--no, no my world has nothing like that."

"Then it's mystery, isn't it?" the boy said cheerly with a big toothy grin that seemed to form out of nothing upon it's face.

"Not a fan of mysteries unless I'm the culprit, boy!" The man-like being complained.

What seemed like a sigh escaped the boy, "I know what happened. Why you are here. In the moment of your arrivals, I felt a chain reaction of a few universes experiencing a tandum warping of power and for a moment and even now I see all these worlds and their people and even beyond that. I feel destiny calling some how and trying to bend me so very hard to it's will and I've never bent to anything's will." it sounded pained but excited in a way

"so can you return us to our worlds?" The man asked feeling the dread come back to him after the boy's ravings.

"yeah, I feel like I have a renewed interest in tearing down the hopes and dreams of those sad, pathetic creatures Philemon so dearly loves!" The man-like being gave the man a gesture as if to thank him.

It was then that the man let go of his building rage and threw a shortsighted fist at the man-like being who dodged it immediately.

Reacting quickly, the man then released from his palms, a blast of blue energy at the man-like being.

The attack stun the abomination, felling it to the ground and before it knew, the Stranger stood over it with a foot on its chest. "I won't allow that, even if they aren't my under my protection, I will not have you corrupting any humans." He said sternly as a twinge of anger inched its way throughout.

"Naive." The man-like being said haughtily as it's tendrils reached out and began choking the Stranger with the Stranger inturn pouring more energy into the horrid creature.

They didn't relent and kept going at him as the tendrils tightened and energy grew stronger.

Nevertheless, before any serious damage could be caused. They were forced away from each other like dolls, and stood up straight like they were being controlled by a child as the boy looked at both of them.

"Well it's seems to be some bad blood here hmm..." The two's bodies were restrained as the boy thought to itself. It then snapped it's fingers, "...how about you two settles through less tiring means...like a little wager perhaps, and I play mediator."

The Stranger and the man-like being had a feeling what it meant by wager.

"...and if we refuse this wager?" the Stranger asked.

"well here's the thing, no one can get out of hear without losing something (usually), so let's say the winner gain's authority of the loser's universe."

"Ooh hehehehehe...I like that!" the man-like being said with a chuckle. "I'll do it, what's another place to torment."

The man gritted his teeth but relented before nodding his head in agreement.

"Then let's start with names...I am simply Truth." Truth said pridefully.

"Nyarlathotep, the crawling chaos, Time Count, Akinari Kashihara, ec cetera." Nyarlathotep said smugly

"I am *sigh*...the Phantom Stranger." the Phantom Stranger said solemnly

"Great, now then who should our players be?" as another smile forned across it's face.

It was the smile of a child on christmas day and it made the Phantom Stranger face flush and heart be pulled by dread for what he had agreed to, now realizing that Barbatos's onaught was just the beginning of something far more worse then he could ever believe possible...

End Chapter Zero

Hope you all enjoyed the prolouge, leave a review if you like. And I'll see you all next chapter.