19. Spread the 'Earth' Around
Summary: Read it, you'll get the title.
Seven hours earlier,
Deep under the grounds of the imposing Wayne Manor, home of Gotham City's richest and most famous person, four people sat quietly, a fifth standing next to them, all of them watching the dull glow of the red bulb atop the door of the specially constructed soundproof room.
Within the room, a freshly bathed, shaved and new costume garbed, Batman recorded and encrypted the video file that he was going to send through the dimensional relay. With the help of his Lords' counterpart and the schematics of a specific 'Kherubim' technology, he had been able to send through their link, he was able to further hone, both his search patterns, as well as his transmitter. As a result, not only had he been able to nearly triple his alternate earth count to seventy-three, he had also been able to increase the efficiency of his signal. While earlier, the probability of a proper and complete signal transfer was just 0.1, that is ten percent, now it was up to 0.55, putting the odds in his favor.
"What do you think he is saying in that message?" Tim Drake a.k.a. Robin asked of both Alfred and Dick, and maybe even Barbara.
"Don't know," Dick shrugged in his answer. "Must be an initial message introducing himself, telling about Diana and finally how they can contact him back."
"Contact him? Oh, okay," Tim got the idea. What use was the communication signal if the other party could not respond back? "That's why he's encrypting it."
At that, Barbara nodded. She had helped Batman to tweak their encryption so that once the preliminary introduction was done with; only the 'Batmen' would be able to open the main file. On top of that, the schematics were under an even higher level of encryption, and would need Wonder Woman, the one from their world, to provide voice identification with the secret code that she and Batman had in place for such an occasion. In case she was hurt and wasn't able to speak, a powerful combination of a retinal, DNA, fingerprint and handwriting passcode would be required. This was all to keep the design of the transmitter and any information about this earth away from the hands of any 'unwanted' parties. Even after all these precautions, including the safety protocols to destroy the file in case anyone tried to hack into it, Batman realized that there might be technology to overcome it, even with the Diana clause he had put in it. However, given the situation, he had decided to take the chance….and for that very reason; he kept it a secret from anyone outside of his family. Not even Superman, let alone the executive body of the Justice League, knew about it.
"Stop." Cassandra's soft yet firmly spoken word brought a halt to the conversation. The red light had just gone off. That meant only one thing.
The file was ready to be transmitted.
----
One hour earlier,
"Did he say anything?"
"Yes sir, although I must say it was highly cryptic in nature."
"What was it?"
"He said, it's a call to the Batman….from the Batman."
--
Bruce's hand stalled at the dial of the grandfather clock. 'Message to the Batman, from the Batman.'
"Diana," the name automatically escaped his lips.
"Pardon sir?" Alfred looked to his back thinking that maybe he did not notice the entry of their Amazonian guest, either one or both.
"Nothing." Shaking his head, Bruce completed moving the dial to the correct time before pressing the hidden lever to allow the clock to swing out of the way and the door behind it to slide open.
Entertaining the thought of maybe intimating both Dianas, he shelved it for later. Without actually checking and confirming the lead, it would be futile getting their and more importantly the trans-located Diana's hopes up.
That thought in mind, he headed to the changing room for his costume.
----
"Uhn…Uhn…har…"
BEEP BEEP BEEP
"…der…uhn, huh. Hey!" THUMP! The raven-haired woman cried out. In throes of passion one second, the next she found herself being literally shoved away, her bare behind hitting the hard ground.
In reply to her expression of displeasure, all her muscular lover did was…nothing. Nada. He just disregarded her.
"Asshole…."
"You know you like it when I put it there," chuckled Thomas Wayne, a.k.a. Owlman of Earth 2, walked to the communication center, naked as the day as he was born and flopped down onto the plush chair, accessing whatever message had come through his personal frequency. Punching in his access code, he brought up the newly arrived message.
"Ummm," Lois Lane a.k.a. Superwoman, sashayed to his side and with the finesse of an acrobat, settled down between his legs, her head lowering to bob at his crotch. Married to Clark Kent, Ultraman of that earth, she was openly having her 'secret' affair with her, in her eyes, more manly associate. Both of them knew that Ultraman knew about their setup….especially at times like these, when it was just the two of them on the Crime Syndicate's satellite. Even though Owlman treat her as badly as she treated her own wimpy husband, the otherwise dominatrix Lois, just couldn't stop herself from being with him. Maybe that was just the reason for their 'love', which given the psychological setup on the upside down Earth 2, would more appropriately be termed as 'screwing around'.
"What the…" Owlman's face contorted in a scowl at seeing the face appear on the screen. In return, he pulled Superwoman towards him, pushing more of himself into her mouth. "Not that freak again."
"Who…mmph….is….mmph…"
"Hah, nobody," Thomas shook his head. Lifting one finger, he reached for the delete button….
Ping
---
"Bye-bye message say open," the angular shaped face of Bizarro-Batman looked away from the cracked screen of his Bizarro-Bat-computer.
"So I," he jumped down and picked up the upside down chair he had been standing on, and….
CRASH
"Now that is badder," he began to laugh out loudly, letting his emotions all hang out.
"Now I come and burn bad lunch for butler my Alfred."
----
"Bruce," the female voice sounded through the intercom.
"Yes Barbara," the baritone of Bruce Wayne spoke in response. Humming a lively tune, he grew silent at Barbara Gordon, a.k.a. Batgirl's next words.
"I need you to come down to the cave. There is a message for you."
"For me?" Echoed Bruce. "I'll be right there."
A couple of minutes later, the elevator pinged, its door sliding open to reveal the smartly dressed Bruce.
"What is it Barbara dear," he lifted his hands to his side as he walked towards her. "I was just about to leave of my date for….who is that?" Bruce changed tones midway, his eyes widening in surprise. "It looks like….a…"
"A Batman," Batgirl supplied for a smirk. 'A Batman.' What a joke. Had it not been for the seriousness of the message, she wouldn't even have entertained it.
"Well, yeah," the dapper Mr. Wayne nodded. "Wait a minute. You called me here. Do you think that that…thing…."
"I know it is not you Bruce," Barbara silenced his speculation. "What I want to know is if you know the code to open it." She asked as she replayed the 'free' introduction.
"How would I know?" Bruce dumbly scratched his forehead. "Listen dear one, I just run what is upstairs. Down here, it's all yours. Now if you excuse me…"
"See you tomorrow Bruce," Barbara flipped over her shoulder as she set on trying to unlock it by using her self-created decryption software….at least for creating a second copy.
"Oh shi…." she gasped as the file just….
----
Beep Beep Beep
"Bruce…" The honey smooth voice called out to the man hunched over the microscope.
There was no answer and just as she was to call out again, Diana smiled as she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm here."
"A message just came in," Diana brought up the encrypted file that their moonbase's computers had just received. It was just the two of them….that is if you did not count the three children playing a few feet away from them.
They were just two, because they were the only survivors. Years ago, their 'Planetary' masters had slowly but surely killed all the super-powered beings of the world, all for gaining access to their technology. At the same time, others, normal human beings opposed to their plans were also taken care of. Two such people were Thomas and Martha Wayne, Bruce's parents. The only child and last of the Waynes, Bruce had spent twenty years learning, preparing and gathering all the resources he would need to bring the oppressors down. It was during that time, in the final leg of his preparation that he came across to such meta-beings, Diana of Themiscyra, the last of the Amazons and Clark Kent, an alien who had been sent to earth as a child. Having lost their family to the same people who killed his parents, Bruce found kindred souls in the beautiful Diana and the dashing Mr. Kent.
When they finally made their move, years of preparation paid off as all four members of the 'Planetary' group, received the same treatment as they had handed out to their victims. Sadly, for the trio, Clark was also among the fallen.
That was five years ago. Since then, not only had Diana and Bruce married each other, they had also given birth to three beautiful children, two twin girls, Hippolyta and Martha and one boy, whom they named Clark after their teammate.
Knowing Bruce's passcodes, Diana unlocked the first part of the message and started to play it.
----
Present,
Of the eight people present in the conference chamber of the Justice League watchtower on the moon, only one of them had tears in her eyes.
--
Asleep in her room, Diana was awakened by her doppelganger bursting through the doors.
"Diana, you need to accompany me to the moon," she said. Even though Diana wanted to reveal the exact nature of their trip and the cause behind it, she refrained from doing so.
"Is something the matter?" The to-be-mother's hand automatically gravitated towards her abdomen.
"We have something for you," at least that much was correct. "A way to get you back home."
Whatever sleep and lethargy was clouding her mind was gone in an instant….and ten minutes later, given the urgency of the situation, both Dianas teleported to the watchtower.
--
Her eyes brimming with tears, Diana stepped forward to the large view screen, caressing the flat surface in a effort to get to the masked man whose picture was displayed there.
"It's him…..Bruce….."
-
-
Note: The various earths depicted in this chapter (except for the Bizarro one), are all taken from 'Elseworlds' and or Alternate situations in the DC universe.
1. Earth 2: The Crime Syndicate International. Thomas Wayne (not the father, but second brother of the already dead Bruce) is Owlman, Lois Lane-Kent is Superwoman.
2. Bizarro Earth: Something I remembered seeing in the old Superman comics and cartoons.
3. Batgirl's Earth: On this earth, James Gordon and his wife died and the Waynes took her in. She grew up to become Batgirl. The Bruce Wayne of that earth is the wimpiest Bruce I have ever come across.
4. JLA-Planetary Earth: From the crossover 'Terra Occulta'.
All situations are in keeping with their respective representations, except for minor changes like the rather graphic description of Owlman and Superwoman's relationship and; Bruce and Diana's children in the future of the Terra Occulta timeline.
Had another one in mind, one where Catwoman is good and the now dead Batman, 'was' a sinister, sadistic villain….but dropped it in the end, 'cause, what's the use? Batsy's already flown the coop.
Next, what does the message say?
