Chapter 12: Dimension Crisis Pt. 3

Nightshroud flew high into the air and dodged Nightshroud's projectiles and fired some of his own.
"How did Nightshroud give Nero a new body?" Alcor wondered as Nightshroud landed.
"We can't think about that now! We got a fight on our hands!" He said as he flew at full speed and crashed into Nightshroud, sending him into a wall. Nightshroud quickly dug himself out and engaged Nightshroud/James in hand-to-hand combat.
"Wait, his martial arts isn't very good…" James thought. "Is this the advantage you were talking about?"
"Yes!" Alcor replied. "Two years ago in this world, you were still the Valiant Warrior! It means you haven't gone to train with Doctor Fate yet!"
"Shoot you're right!" James realized. "But he still named himself Nightshroud…"

"It's likely the circumstances would've warranted a name change." Alcor replied. "I mean, you can't keep that name after what he's done…"
"True."
James blocked Nightshroud's punch and kicked him in the stomach. He then backflipped and did a spinning back kick, sending him into another wall.
In a rage, Nightshroud exploded out of the wreckage and flew at James. But he was ready, so he jumped over him and drove his elbow into Nightshroud's back.
"ARRGH!" He yelled as he smashed into the ground.

James then started coughing heavily again, and a little bit of blood was expelled onto his arm. He was knocked into the wall as Macea punched him hard in the stomach.
"Oh, so now she's joining the party isn't she?" James thought.
He quickly grabbed Lilith out of the air and threw her into Nightshroud, sending them back into the wall.
"Hey! Look!"
"Huh?" James turned, and saw a portal.
"What!? A portal?" He asked. "It's not active, meaning he was planning to travel into our dimension too!"
"That's right idiot!"
Suddenly, Nero smashed into him and pinned his arms over his head. Lilith then pinned his legs. Nightshroud then walked over to him. He crushed his boot into his stomach.
"Ack!" James yelled as he coughed up more blood.
"Well, I guess this ends our little encounter." Nightshroud grinned. He raised an arm and a red energy ball appeared.
"I must do something!" James thought. "A power I haven't used yet?"
"Or maybe a power you rarely use!" Alcor clued him in.

He gasped. That's right, he's only used it once…that night he first realized he had powers at the Batcave…the moment he realized he could do extraordinary things…
"So I guess that makes me Batboy then?"
The memory flashed in his mind for a moment, but that was all he needed.
He looked at Nightshroud and fired his heat vision at his face.
"AHHH! OW!" He covered his eyes in pain.
That second of delay was all he needed. He then blasted Nero and Lilith off of him and kicked Nightshroud into the ceiling.
James then turned to the machine that powered the portal.
"Alcor! Hack into that thing and turn it on!"
"Got it!"
Alcor's blue Solarium quickly flew out and into the machine, starting it up.

James then took out three bat-lassos and threw them at Lilith, tying her up.
"That's not gonna hold her…" He thought. "But at least long enough to escape."
Nero quickly fused back with Nightshroud and charged at him. James quickly grabbed him and threw him into the portal.
James suddenly spotted a black book underneath some rubble. Grabbing it, he started towards the portal.
"Alcor! Come back! I'm going to destroy that thing!"
Alcor fused back with James while he took out a timed explosive batarang and left it on top of the machine. He flew into the portal just as the batarang exploded, destroying the machine and depowering the portal.

30 minutes earlier…
The Justice League was ambushed by a swarm of Superman robots in Arkham.
"I'm going in!" Green Lantern yelled as he flew deeper into the Asylum. The Lantern looked through each room, until finally stumbling upon Hawkgirl unconscious. He detached her tubs and carried her bridal style back into the main hall, where the Superman 'bots were destroyed.
The Justice League then walked outside, suddenly surrounded by police.
Batman swung in front of them.
"Hold it! These are MY prisoners!" He ordered.
"Your costume's okay, but how do I know you're really him?" The lieutenant asked.
"Are you questioning my authority lieutenant?" Batman threatened.

Everyone went silent.
"Stand down!" The he said.
"We'll go out the back." Batman said.
As soon as the police were gone, Superman walked beside him.
"Well done, I thought you were him for a second."
"I am him." Batman said.

"Where's James?" Batman asked.
"He went to find his other self." The Flash said.
The Justice League had convened at the Batcave, ready to return to their dimension.
"Don't worry." Batman said. "This world's Nightshroud has his own portal. We still talk, it's Superman he's angry at."
"Why?" Superman asked.
"This world's Superman lobotomized Poison Ivy, or "Pamela" here."
Everyone gasped.
"By Hera…" Wonder Woman said.

"I know." Batman turned back to his supercomputer. "The act tore James apart. In fact, he turned against the Justice League and attacked Superman mercilessly, nearly destroying the watchtower. Superman believed that Pam would never fully reform as a new person, so he lobotomized her to save himself any work. It nearly drove James insane, so he left. Supergirl also left. She was against what Superman had done, so she and James started dating after that."

Everyone gasped again.
"My sister, dated James?" Superman asked.
"He doesn't in your world?"
"No." Batman said. "He still dates Isley."
"Lucky him." Batman replied. "Anyway, we've wasted too much time. Get back to your dimension and stop the Justice Lords. For all we know, your James could already be there waiting."
Everyone nodded, and left through the portal. Batman took one last look at Batman, who gave him a nod. Nodding back, he ran through the portal and disappeared.

Back in the Justice League's dimension…
"Come on bird boy, keep them coming!" Pam ordered.
Robin sighed and gave her a bowl of grapes.
"One by one come on!" She said.
He rolled his eyes and fed her one grape at a time.
"When James gets back…I'll kill him myself…" He thought.
Robin and taken Pamela back to James's apartment to temporarily watch over her to make sure she didn't do anything reckless. Robin had turned his back one moment and had to yank her back into bed for trying to escape through the window.
Suddenly, a portal opened up at the foot of his bed.
"What the-?"
Nightshroud appeared through the portal and smashed into the wall, unconscious.
"J-James!?" Pam sat up.
Just then, James flew through the portal and landed in front of Nightshroud.
"J-James!?" Pam cried out.
He turned. "What the!? PAM!"
He quickly ran to her and hugged her tightly.
"Ack! J-James! Too hard!" She winced.

"Sorry…" He replied.
"James!" Robin said. "What're you doing here!?"
"I just came from another dimension!" He explained. "You see, there's an evil Justice League out there right now called the Justice Lords! They—"
He relayed the whole story to them, including the lobotomies of all the supervillains and Pam, and meeting the other Nightshroud.
"That's him there." He pointed to the unconscious figure on the floor. "I brought him here because the Justice Lords are—"
"Look!" Pam pointed at the TV.

BREAKING NEWS

"This is Lois Lane of the Daily Planet reporting live from Metropolis!" The woman spoke. The purple-clad woman was running towards what looked to be a fight.
"What we are seeing now is TWO Justice Leagues fighting against each other!" She said. "No wait, I'm getting information that says the group calls themselves the 'Justice Lords'!"
"Shoot! That's them!" James yelled. "I gotta go help them!"
He quickly restrained Nightshroud in Solarium and flew out the window.
"What the hell was that!?" Pam asked Robin.
He shrugged. "Hero business."

Nightshroud flew towards the warehouse where the fight was taking place. He quickly realized that Nightshroud was starting to wake up, so he increased his speed
and threw his body at Wonder Woman, who was about to crush Batman with debris when the body smashed into her and rolled into a wall.
Nightshroud extended a hand and helped Batman back up.
"Thanks." He said. "Is that the other Nightshroud?
Nightshroud/James nodded. "Yeah, he's despicable. It turns out—"
"Tell me later." Batman interrupted. "We still got a fight on our hands."
He nodded. "Right."

They quickly went in opposite directions to help their teammates.
Nightshroud shook his head groggily and looked around him. Seeing the Justice Lords and the Justice League duke it out, he groaned.
"Great, these bastards again…" Nightshroud muttered.
"Hey! Those are OUR teammates!" Wonder Woman up next to him.
"YOUR teammates." He corrected. "Don't drag me into this."
"Whatever, let's just end this." She spat.

The battle was fierce. The Green Lanterns, Jonns, Wonder Women and Nightshrouds were evenly matched. But the Flash was avoiding Superman's attacks with ease.
"Right here big guy." He pointed to his chin.
"Grr…" Superman threw a punch at him.
The Flash quickly grabbed his arm, spun him around and threw him into another room.
Following, he saw Superman groaning under debris.
"Wow Supes, you really know how to bring down the house." Flash said cheekily.
At that moment, Superman busted out of the debris and slammed him into the wall.
"Argh!" Flash yelled as Superman held him by his neck.
"Can't do it can you?" He asked. "I'm the last piece of your conscience. And this is the one thing you'll never do."

"I've done a lot of things I thought I wouldn't do." Superman replied. "One more won't be so bad.
His eyes widened as the kryptonian raised his fist.
"Hold it!"
Everyone looked and saw Superman with Lex Luthor holding a large white device.

"Nice company you're keeping shows your true colors." Superman threw the Flash to the side.
"It's just one of the hard choices I've had to make today." Superman replied. "Go for it."
"Oh yes." Luthor aimed at Superman and fired a yellow beam of energy.
"AHH!" He yelled as he collapsed to the ground. He tried to fly at him but couldn't sustain the energy.
"It's a power disruptor." Superman explained. "And yours are now gone."
Luthor than turned and zapped the remaining Justice Lords along with Nightshroud.
"No! NO!" He shouted, but it was too late. His Solarium was drained completely.
"Whoa…" James muttered.

Batman then handcuffed them all, ready for the police.
"This would be so sweet." Luthor spoke.
Superman turned and saw the power disruptor pointed at him.
"But a deal's a deal." He then handed the disruptor over to the kryptonian and left.
"What deal?" Green Lantern asked as the rest of the League converged.
"A full pardon in exchange for his help." Superman said.
"Everything he does now is YOUR fault!" Superman yelled angrily.
"It's a high price, but it's better than the alternative." He replied.
Soon all the Lords and Nightshroud were loaded onto a police truck and hauled away.
"Ugh, that world was awful." James said. "And meeting the other me was even worse."

"How bad?" Batman asked.
"Just horrible." James replied. "It turns out, the other James had bought stock in Waynetech and got rich off of it. Then he told me that he abandoned Pamela for Supergirl after Superman lobotomized her. When I was speaking to him, it's like he never cared for her at all. It's like she was just there because he was bored and needed something to keep him busy. It was scary."
"Rough." Flash said. "I guess you seeing the Pam in that dimension lobotomized must have been traumatic for you."
"It was!" James replied. "I mean if she's killed, that's awful, but at least she'd be in a better place. To me, being lobotomized is even worse. Because you're not actually living, you're just a slave…"

"That sounds like the Anti-Life Equation…" Alcor said.
"Anti-Life Equation? Didn't Doctor Fate tell us about that?"
"He did, and I did some research and apparently it's a mind controlling thing. With the Anti-Life Equation, you can make people your slave. At least that's the simplest I could find."
"Ugh…Sounds awful."
"Indeed."

"I also found this in his base." James said.
He pulled out the black book.
"I think it's a journal he kept since cutting off all contact from the Justice League."
"Be careful with what you read in that James." Superman warned. "Since he changed so much in his world, it may disturb you."
He nodded. "I'm a big boy, I can handle it."
Flash chuckled. "I usually say that."
James smiled. "Well I gotta get back to Pam thanks for everything!"
He flew towards his apartment. As the Justice League got further and further, his expression turned serious.

"This journal is definitely going to be disturbing." He thought. "I mean talking to him was bad enough, and now I'm going to know his thoughts too. This is going to be a lot to explain to Pam…"

In an undisclosed location…

A scientist looked at the two test tubes filled with fluid. He could see the two figures moving inside trying to get out.
"Almost complete." He muttered and turned to his collegues.
"Notify Ms. Waller the process is 95% complete."
"Yes sir!" The other scientists spoke.
He turned back to the test tubes.
"This project could change the world…" He thought. "I wonder if this is even right…"

The scientist was so into his thoughts, nobody saw the radar had picked up an unknown blip that was heading right for the Pacific Ocean…

Hold it! Don't think this is the end of the story! We are only halfway! Onwards!