AN: Well, faithful to my habit, it took me forever to even think of updating this story, that being said (-insert lame excuses-) enjoy the sequel.
Considering the situation, the first night was rather calm and uneventful at the good guy's HQ. That, at least, is what most of them though as they slept more or less soundly in their separate quarters.
But one of them was particularly restless and quite unwilling to sleep the night away. Inuyasha strode through the metal hallway leading to the exit, armed and ready to settle this quickly. The others had explained him that both bases were protected by some sort of impenetrable energy barrier, but he wasn't impressed, the red Tessaiga could pierce any barrier, it would pierce this one. Naraku had managed to escape him in the past trough careful planning, several henchmen and a large part of the shikon jewel, and now he had none of this, if he could get to him quickly, the demon would be at his mercy.
He reached the large metallic double doors and attempted to open them, but he lacked the strength and the proper grip to do so, as neither had handles or any kind of handhold. On the wall next to them was a small wall mounted machine he had seen once in Kagome's era, she had told him it was a computer. He needed to press the right buttons to make the door open…but he had no idea which one it could be.
A raspy voice from behind made him jump and bring his hand to his sword: "Not to familiar with modern technology, are you?"
The half demon turned back to find himself face to face with the dark figure known as Batman, standing in the middle of the corridor, enveloped in his cape and staring at him eerily. Inuyasha wondered how he could have sneaked behind him without him catching his scent, but remembered that most people in this so called team had some sort of special power, better not give it too much though, that guy was on his side after all…creepy as he might be.
"Even if you had any clue how to operate it, I programmed it not to allow anyone to leave without imputing the proper password, I though someone might not be much of a team player and decide to take on all twelve of our opponents by him or herself. Seems I was right, was I not?" he continued before the half demon could add anything.
These word infuriated Inuyasha: "Where I go and what I do is none of your business! I didn't ask to be part of this little team here and I'll make sure this whole mess is short lived, I'll go get Naraku and the rest of them and wipe them all out in a single strike, end of story!"
"A fool's claim, supposing you can break through the barrier that protects their base with your sword, which is very unlikely since it's partly technological in origin, you will find yourself faced with twelve terribly strong opponent, one of which as already proven craftier and more powerful than you several time in the past…" Batman continued.
"You don't know what you're talking about, now shut the help up and give me the password or I'll…" as he said this, Inuyasha leapt forward to grab the dark man by the collar…
But Batman ducked under the half demon's incoming hand, grabbed him by the collar of his kimono and used a judo technique to hurl Inuyasha forward using his own momentum, sending him tumbling to the ground effortlessly.
"You'll what, kid? Beat it out of me?" Batman asked, without any mockery meant in his voice.
"Damn you…" Inuyasha growled as he got back to his feet…
"If you go out there alone, you will get killed, if you get killed, we will be at a serious disadvantage, first because we would be outnumbered, second because only you have concrete knowledge of how Naraku fights and operates and third because your "backlash wave" technique could very well be our best chance against several of our opponents." The dark knight explained.
"How do you know about the backlash wave? How would you know anything about me anyway?" The half demon asked, irritated, but deciding not to attack Batman again for now.
"The computers in this complex contain extensive information about all twelve of us, the most personal and secret ones are heavily encrypted, though not heavily enough for me. Their info on ours opponents is scarce however. And that's why I can't have anyone rushing headlong, because I have to assume he or she would gets slaughtered, which is unacceptable" Batman explained.
"I don't need you looking after me; I can take care of myself!" Inuyasha replied angrily.
"That's good, but if we want to win this thing, taking care of yourself won't be enough. We will need to work together, there are some master schemers on the other side and it is very likely they will team up, if only as an alliance of convenience, to take us all out." Batman explained.
Inuyasha clenched his fist in frustration, as much as he wanted to take out Naraku, he had to admit the caped man was right, using others to reach his own end was Naraku's specialty, it would most likely use the eleven other villain to his own advantage…
"Hmph…fine, guess you're right… By the way, who put you in charge?" The half demon asked bitterly.
"I'm not "in charge" merely making sure no one does something stupid if I can help it." Batman replied.
"Whatever…" Inuyasha said, turning away and heading for his room, frustrated by his encounter with the dark knight. "By the way, I'm no kid, I'm nearly 200 years old!" he added before turning the corner.
"Good for you." Batman said out loud after he left, heading for his own room.
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Unknown to both of them, two other heroes were restless. Rogue entered what seemed like a communal dining room, except she hadn't seen anything remotely looking like a kitchen nearby. It seemed instead that machines on the side of the walls dispensed food when asked, kind of like those things in sci-fi series.
"Ok…this is weird…chocolate ice cream." She told the machine.
And out of thin air, a bowl of chocolate ice cream appeared in the machine.
"That, at least, is convenient." She said for herself, having not heard the other person who had entered the room shortly after her.
"Can't sleep either?" Jaina Proudmoore asked.
"I'm surprised anyone could." Rogue admitted.
Jaina sat in front of the teen mutant.
"I mean, I'm used to weird stuff, being a mutant and all, but being teleported here with you guys who all seem like big shots where you're from, suppose to take on a bunch of incarnation of evil, and now machines that make food appear out of nowhere, none of this makes sense." Rogue started ranting.
"Actually making food appear is not such a big deal, it's a simple trick really…" Jaina said as she uttered a magical formula to summon some water. A gourd of pure water appeared in her hand.
"Girl, how'd'ya do that?" Rogue asked in shock
"Magic…" Jaina answered, surprised at this overreaction "…Never seen this before?"
"Matter of fact no, I haven't, I've seen mutant powers that look a lot like magic, but you're telling me this is the real deal?"
"No one practices magic in your world?" Jaina asked, curious as to how it was possible that anyone could not know about magic, it was one of the fundamental forces of her universe after all.
"Nobody I know…" she answered.
"Well, I guess we come from very different places, I don't recall ever hearing of mutants myself. Well yes, we use the term but it's usually for something bad, such as when a creature becomes monstrous and deformed by exposure to magic, which clearly isn't your case…"
"Well, mutants are human who, through evolution, developed unique special abilities. It's different for everyone, but the powers all come from the same gene, sometime it makes you able to heal quickly, or control the weather, and sometime it does change your appearance, one of my friends is blue and hairy because of his mutation. Normal people hate us, they think we're freak and accident of nature and that we're too dangerous to let go free." Rogue explained.
"I see, and what can you do?" Jaina asked.
"Very little, people don't change their mind quickly, but we do what we can, me and a bunch of other mutant banded together in a group called the X-men and try to bring some sort of peace between human and mutants, not easy to do since a good lot of other mutants are fine with waging war on them and thinking themselves their genetic superior…" Rogue explained.
"No I mean, what can you do, as a mutant, what's your special ability?"
"Oh…"
She removed her glove and looked at her hand.
"My "gift" is pretty much a curse, when I touch someone's skin directly I absorb his life-force, a part of his memory and personality, and some of his abilities as well. With other mutants, it's generally their powers. Thing is, I can't turn it off, so touching me for an extended period of time can be fatal, not to mention that I generally can't control the new power." She said sadly.
"I'm…sorry." Jaina said, touched by Rogue's situation.
"You and so many others, ain't much that can be done about it, but what about you, how come you can do magic?" the mutant answered.
"Years and years of practice, though I did have an innate talent at first. In Azeroth, that's how my world is called, magic is rather common. I studied in Dalaran, an entire city dedicated to arcane practice and quickly became one of the most powerful archmage in the realm. Magicians are a little distrusted by other humans because it's a well known fact that magic corrupts. Having too much power at your disposal quickly makes you prideful and callous if your mind is not strong enough to cope with it; it was the downfall of many of the greatest wizards in our history. I'm one of the few mages who reached this level of power and still kept her feet on the ground, still, common folk tend to distrust magic, can't really blame them." Jaina explained.
"Guess power, whatever the form, corrupts. Professor Xavier, my teacher, says that people fear what they don't understand, and that this is the reason for most case of discrimination in the world." Rogue said, smiling.
"Your teacher was wise indeed; I've seen countless examples of this in Azeroth." Jaina added.
By then, Rogue's ice cream bowl was empty.
"Yeah, Xavier's been great; he helped me and the other kids a lot…Makes you wonder why I was picked to be here, so many other people where I'm from are stronger, or anyway more "heroic" than me…" the young mutant pouted, resting her chin on her hands, elbows on the table.
"I've been asking myself the same thing, sure I'm a powerful sorceress, but as far as forces of good go my world as much more to offer. I've come to the conclusion that it's because we are the one most closely associated with the villain on the other side…" Jaina said, her voices drifting to a whisper, as she turned hers eyes away.
"That…would make sense, Mystique was my foster mother and she did cause a lot of trouble to me, I'm surprised they'd consider her a force of evil though, selfish and manipulative yes, but not really evil…not that I know. But if you came to that conclusion, what is your connection to this lich king guy?" Rogue asked.
Jaina smiled sheepishly.
"We use to be lovers…" she admitted.
"We ARE talking about the same guy right? Corpselike skin, white hairs, glowing blue eyes, clad in really scary armor?"
"He wasn't always like this…there was a time where Arthas was Prince of his kingdom, and I guess you could say I was princess of mine, and we were together for a while, put life pulled us both apart, he wanted to become a paladin and me a wizard, both profession that require dedicated study, so we decided it was better to focus on our calling rather than our relationship. A few years later we were both assigned to look into a strange plague that turned the people of his kingdom into undeads." Jaina told her story.
"Undeads, as in zombies?" Rogue asked, disgusted.
"Zombies, skeletons, ghosts, liches, name them, the scourge, the group of undead that had sent this plague, have them all. They were all controlled by a very powerful creature called the lich king, who set in motion a plan to drive Arthas insane, turn him against his fellow humans and ultimately come to merge with him, giving birth to the creature you saw earlier. He was still human last I saw him, but he was already starting to turn insane, I left for the sea to escape the ravage of the scourge and only heard rumors of what had happened: Arthas pursed an agent of the lich king to the frozen north where it resided, he sacrificed his soul in the name of vengeance, became a deathknight, came back to his kingdom, murdered his father the king, destroyed the elven kingdom of Quel'thalas and then Dalaran, killing my mentor Antonidas. Later on, he traveled back to the lich king, this time to merge with him…I never confronted him as a deathknight and neither now that he's become the lich king, I don't know what to expect." She concluded.
"Wow, and I though things were bad in my world…But hey, there's still a chance there's some good left in him right? If he's being manipulated by this lich king thing, perhaps he's still his old self deep down." Rogue said, trying to cheer her.
"I prefer not to cling to such a hollow hope, he's committed several atrocities even when he was still partly himself, he's the enemy now, and he's too powerful for me to take lightly…" Jaina said, gathering her resolve.
"If ya say so girl…" Rogue answered, interrupted by her own yawning "…Woah, guess I was more tired than I though…"
"We should both get some rest, who know what we can expect tomorrow." Jaina added.
"Right…" she stood up "Nights miss Proudmoore."
"It's Jaina, please." The sorceress answered.
"Ok, Jaina" Rogue said before going through the door.
Jaina stayed in the dining room for a little while longer, pondering what she had just learned. All these people came from different places, but they shared more than she expected. They would prevail, together, now she felt sure of it.
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Meanwhile, at the bad guy's base, four people were meeting in a large room, a lounge with a great window opening on the desolated world they had been transported to. This room was an extension of Lex Luthor's personnal bedroom, which door's was to the far end of it.
He had invited three of his fellow villains to meet him here.
"Ladies and gentlemen, despite the strangeness of our situation, I'm glad to see some of us understand the value of sophistication." He said, raising his cup of wine to the other villains.
"I assume you asked us here for another reason than share a drink, haven't you Luthor?" The scarecrow asked, removing his mask to drink from his glass, revealing his thin features and unkept red hairs.
"Or maybe you feel like having a moment with the most "human" members of our little groups" Mystique added from the couch she was sitting on.
"Doubtful, I don't think I would be here otherwise…no this is about strategy, isn't it Lex?" Kerrigan added from a dark corner of the room.
"Quite perceptive of you, this is precisely the reason I wanted to speak with you people. We are in a precarious situation here, if we are to ever leave this strange world, we must crush all opposition from the so called heroes out there…" Luthor explained.
"And you're afraid we can't?" Scarecrow asked.
"I have no doubt that our combined genius and power is more than enough, unfortunately I fear we would lack a crucial advantage our opponents have on us." He continued.
"Cooperation." Kerrigan stated, smiling slyly.
"Indeed, you might have notice that we have some less than sane elements among our number, as well as creature's whose though patterns differ greatly from one another, not to mention quite oversized egos…" Lex continued.
"You're afraid we'll destroy each other from within." Mystique concluded.
"It is a distinct possibility." Kerrigan added.
"This is why I believe us, the smarter and more level headed members of this little association should work together, to keep this misfit alliance under control, and direct its resources more effectively." Luthor concluded.
"A fine plan, but while I agree we are more fit to call the shots then the other, we also happen to be among the weakest, physically that is. I doubt my fear gas puts me on any even footing with Naraku, Arthas, or Zhyzack. I also doubt they will just shut up and follow." Scarecrow said.
"True enough, but power is not the only way to rule, let them "think" they are in control while we pull the strings from behind…" Mystique suggested.
"You two also seem to be greatly underestimating the power of our charming colleague here…" Luthor said, gesturing at Kerrigan.
"Why thank you Lex, I see what you have in mind, and I like it, you want me to keep the weakest minded of our allies, namely Zyzack, Ridley, Kefka and Carnage with my mental powers…" she said. Lex Luthor nodded.
"While Mystique, scarecrow and yourself use wits and deception to keep the others happy enough to keep working effectively." She concluded.
"You read my mind." Luthor approved, smiling.
"Quite literally in fact." She added.
"Well then, let this be settled, from now on the four of us shall keep this group working, and report only to each other in doing so, can I count on each of you?" Luthor asked.
"I'm in." Scarecrow said, smiling widely.
"Then so am I." Mystique added, turning to scarecrow and winking.
"You three, of all people here, certainly would make the best allies; I will help you in your little scheme, Lex, but don't go thinking this gives you right to order me around." Kerrigan said, turning a wicked smile to the bald man.
"I wouldn't dream of it…" Lex assured.
The four villains parted on this, going to take some well deserved rest, they would need it…
…Because the next morning marked the beginning of the hostilities.
