Chapter 2: Into the Great Unknown

GOTHAM CITY
MARCH 18, 19:40 EST

As Spider-Man, Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, and Hulk disappeared into the energy tunnel of Doctor Doom's new Warp Gate, they felt themselves being buffeted around every which way. They had no idea how long they were in the strange warp, but before they knew it, they reached the end and tumbled into a dimly-lit alley in a heap.

Captain America sat up and rubbed his aching jaw, as he had landed face-first on the concrete pavement of the alley. Black Widow braced herself against a wall, and then Iron Man regained his bearings and said, "Whew! What a ride!"

Thor had fallen on Spider-Man and hit his head on the pavement, but he quickly got up while stroking his bruised temple. He was glad that Mjolnir was in his hands still, but he quickly turned his attention to Spider-Man, who was quite out of sorts.

"Spider-Man, are you all right?" asked Thor concernedly.

All Spider-Man said was, " Whoo-ooh… Let's ride it again, Daddy…" He shook his head several times and then jumped up and said, "Okay, that hurt."

"Hulk not feel so good," moaned the Hulk as he pulled himself free from a conspicuous depression he had made in the alley's right wall.

"Is everyone here? Are we missing anyone?" called Iron Man.

"Relax, Stark. We're all here. All in one piece," replied Captain America. "But I don't think this is New York City. It's not familiar to me, anyhow."

Captain America was correct, for although all the Avengers recognized the telltale signs of being in the U.S, the city was completely unfamiliar to them. For one thing, the skyscrapers were mostly concrete and steel and several of them sported gargoyles on corners and ledges. There were plenty of typical urban buildings such as apartment complexes, restaurants, business outposts, and shopping centers, but they looked less extravagant than the ones in New York. And as it was currently night, the Avengers couldn't help feeling that this American city had a very foreboding air about it.

"Where on Midgard are we?" wondered Thor.

"Hulk not like this place," the green giant murmured nervously, which was quite rare for him to do. "Too dark here. Hulk rather likes San Francisco, where he is welcome as not Hulk."

"You and me both, big guy," replied Iron Man. "Let's just see if we can get any indication of where we are in America right now."

The Avengers made their way up to the rooftops and began leaping from one building to another, with Spider-Man swinging on his webs and Black Widow being carried bridal-style by Captain America. Thor flew while Iron Man followed as his suit was active again, and Hulk simply jumped from rooftop to rooftop. Their meanderings brought results, but they were even more confused when they got those results. The name of the city they were in only sealed their confusion.

"This is weird," said Spider-Man when he noticed a tourist site advertised on a streetlight banner. "'Visit Gotham Botanical Gardens- Best Arboretum in…' Gotham City?"

"That is odd," agreed Black Widow. "I've never heard of any Gotham City in the States."

"And it's not on any map I've ever looked at," added Captain America.

Iron Man had a sudden thought, and it scared him. "This is Earth. But it's not the one we know. It's something… different, like some kind of parallel Earth coexisting with the world we know."

"Which means we might be able to find a different us who can get us back home, right?" interjected Spider-Man.

"Spidey, there might not be a different 'us' at all," Captain America said seriously. "No one on this Earth will be familiar with us, not even potential supervillains. We don't even know if S.H.I.E.L.D. exists on this Earth. The best we can do is find out what kind of superheroes live here, if any."

With that, the six heroes began scouring the streets of Gotham City for any sign of fellow superheroes who might help them return to the Earth they knew. They kept to the rooftops as they had no intention of startling any citizens going about their business. After an hour of searching, the Avengers came to a section of central Gotham. Then as they walked along the dim road of that area, Spider-Man saw something that made him shriek with excitement.

"What is it, friend Spider-Man?" inquired Thor as he hefted Mjolnir in case some unseen foe was preparing to strike. But to the surprise of the other five Avengers, Spider-Man had something entirely different to say.

"That is the most awesome set of wheels I've seen in my entire life!"

The other Avengers were intrigued by the automobile they saw parked before them and Iron Man couldn't help wondering why it had a bat-like motif from hood to rear end, from nose to spoiler, and on every hub cap. Little did they know that the owner of this vehicle was watching them from the shadows of another nearby alley.

…

Batman had scored more victories in his battle against crime in the past starting from when he successfully returned the Joker, Harley Quinn, and the Riddler to Arkham Asylum after their attempt to extort millions of dollars from Mayor Hamilton Hill through the kidnapping of his son. Mr. Freeze had been on the run as well, and he had been bent on destroying GothCorp once and for all to repay Ferris Boyle for tampering with the experiment that could have saved his beloved Nora.

Batman didn't consider Mr. Freeze an insane man at all. Despite what some in Gotham P.D. said about him, the Dark Knight knew that Victor Fries was a broken man, deprived of the love of his life through his employer's amoral greed and now unable to find peace even in the walls of the cell he so rarely left.

Tonight would be another one of those nights Batman would never forget. While on his nightly patrol, Batman tapped into the live news reports and observed headlines talking about an unfamiliar phenomenon of some sort that had occurred on the west side of Gotham which callers referred to as an "unusually loud sonic boom". After scouring the area where the boom came from, he headed toward the center of Gotham to calculate the potential cause in the Batmobile. When he got there, he saw a sight that was as intriguing as it was disconcerting.

He saw a group of six individuals who looked to be superhumans by their garb and in some cases, their technology. There were three men: one in a hooded uniform sporting the stripes of the American flag with a single star on the chest; one in red and yellow high-tech armor that encompassed his body; and one clad in armor that was ornate but also very protective, though his head was bare. There was one teenage youth in a red-and-blue uniform bearing a spider motif, a redheaded woman in a black bodysuit whose insignia was a red hourglass. What really caught Batman's eye was a giant humanoid male with lime-green skin, clothed only in dark cargo pants. The creature was seven feet tall and powerfully muscled, his hands could hide bowling balls, and his feet were at least a size 22.

Batman's instincts told him that these strangers had to be superheroes, but he wasn't about to take chances. He had to be sure they were what they appeared to be. He took a pair of Bat-shurikens from his utility belt and prepared to get the attention of these newcomers to Gotham City.

…

The Avengers continued to observe the car that stood in front of them, and they all thought whoever owned it had to be someone as wealthy or more than Iron Man. However, Captain America broke the intrigue and said, "Guys, I know we're all curious about this bat-like automobile, but we need to find any superheroes who can help us get back home."

"Well, maybe whoever owns this car has some way of helping us," implied Iron Man. "So we just have to find out who owns it and our problems are over."

It wouldn't have made a difference if the Avengers had attempted to leave the area, for suddenly out of nowhere, there came the sound of whistling air and in a few seconds, they saw two metallic objects resembling bats fly directly overhead and lodge in a telephone pole. Then before the heroes' startled eyes, a grim, forbidding figure leapt from the shadows of the buildings and was highlighted by the moon for only a few seconds before he landed in front of the Avengers, standing tall and still like a silent, ominous specter of fear.

"Lucky guess here: this car might belong to this guy," Spider-Man quipped.

The Avengers observed this stranger and saw that he was clad in a gray uniform with a black cape and cowl that gave him the appearance of a huge and terrifying bat-like creature. He was also wearing black gloves with razor blades from the wrists up and black boots, and the only item of color on him was a brass-colored belt with several compartments. Moreover, this man was strongly-built and looked like a hard opponent to face in battle. Still, that didn't stop the Avengers from preparing to engage him in combat.

…

"Uh, shouldn't we be asking this guy for help or something?" inquired Spider-Man.

"I don't think he was expecting company in his city-to-protect," Black Widow replied.

"He must be uncertain if we're heroes at all," Captain America considered. "So we have to do this. Subdue, but use non-lethal force at all costs."

Batman was clearly unimpressed by these strange supers as he had been analyzing them with his detective methods and had discerned that they were not quite as well-organized as most teams of superheroes he knew of, and he could see that only Captain America and Black Widow had enough training in the martial arts to take on him and hold their own.

Still, the Hulk was the first to begin charging at him with his brawny arms raised to deliver a pounding blow.

Batman stood his ground and said, "I don't prefer to engage in petty struggles with fellow superhumans, least of all potential heroes, but I will defend myself if necessary." Then without even looking away, Batman said in a commanding voice to the Batmobile, "Taser level 16."

The Batmobile responded to its owner's voice-activated commands instantly, and before the Hulk knew what was happening, Batman only stepped aside as the Batmobile launched its tasers at the lumbering brute. Hulk was caught off guard and roared with mild pain as the taser cables sent high-level bursts of electricity coursing through him. In only seconds, the Batmobile tasers retracted and the Hulk slumped to the ground while Batman turned his attention to the other five Avengers.

"Tell me he did not just take down our big gun in three seconds flat!" yelped Spider-Man.

"Okay, I won't tell you," Iron Man responded.

"Cease your jabbering and let's get this situation handled!" snapped Black Widow, and she and Captain America led the charge. Hulk got up in a moment and joined them, but the Avengers soon found themselves in over their heads.

Spider-Man scaled a building and leapt at Batman, intending to hammer-fist the back of his skull. "Think fast!" he said in a good-humored way as he came down. But for the first time in his life, Spider-Man's spider-sense failed him, for Batman simply moved with lightning-quick reflexes and seized him by the wrists before he flung the unsuspecting teen hero straight into the building wall he had climbed.

"Okay. He thought too fast even for me," Spider-Man groaned.

Black Widow somersaulted over Batman's head and came at him with tactics from Tiger and Leopard kung fu and tai chi, only for Batman to block every punch and parry every chop. He seized Black Widow's left ankle on the first kick and flung her away. Even when he had been engaged in dueling Widow, he caught Captain America's shield attack and swept his feet from under him.

When Iron Man fired his Uni-beams on him, Batman only deflected the rays with a reflective Batarang and then used some explosives rigged to fire electromagnetic pulses to shut down Iron Man's suit. When Hulk came at him, Batman only attached a tow-cable box to his back which resulted in Hulk being rocketed through a brick wall. Even Thor seemed to have trouble facing Batman, who dodged every lightning bolt that fell from the sky, and the bolts that Thor projected directly at him were parried by a lightning rod.

"This guy is cleaning the streets with us!" complained Iron Man.

"I tried using my Widow Bites on him, but his suit's lined with protective coating," added Black Widow.

"Then it is time I put him to a real test," Thor said grimly.

He flung Mjolnir at Batman, who only stepped aside and managed to catch the hammer by the strap. However, he felt himself being pulled along with the hammer toward the waiting hand of Thor and tried to pull on it with all the strength he had. For a moment, it seemed that Thor had successfully put the Dark Knight in a tight spot, when before the eyes of the startled Avengers, Batman pulled the hammer free from the unseen force that was drawing it back.

Thor's sky-blue eyes widened in astonishment as the other five Avengers prepared to engage in combat once again, even if they were going to receive another proverbial kick in the backside. Suddenly Thor put up his hands and said, "Fellow Avengers, stand down! This one is no threat to us! He is counted worthy to wield Mjolnir!"

"Holy smokes! He's right!" added Spider-Man. "Call off the fight, Cap!"

With that, the Avengers stood down and approached Batman, although Spider-Man and Hulk kept behind the others to avoid giving him another wrong impression.

"So we're done fighting now?" inquired Iron Man, which earned him a glare from Black Widow.

"We're done with this fight, yes," Batman replied in an uninterested manner. "Besides, I wasn't intending to fight. But I did have to see if you were who you appeared to be."

"And to you, we're…" began Iron Man again, only to have Batman answer all at once.

"Superheroes. And not just because of fighting skills or superpowers. Your leader is clearly wearing America's colors, which no criminal super or otherwise would even dream of wearing."

The Avengers felt a wave of relief pass over them and then Captain America said, "I know it's a little unorthodox, but we can get to know each other individually a bit later. For now, you can just call us the Avengers."

The Caped Crusader cracked the barest hint of a smile.

"Call me Batman."

A/N: And so, the Avengers have had their first encounter with Batman, the Dark Knight of Gotham and have had themselves tested and found worthy of trust. Chapter 3 will see the Avengers forming a social bond with the Dark Knight and then meeting the Justice League. Enjoy reading, and Merry Christmas.