Katt Girl, Robin, & The Harley-Kidd: Chapter 39: Into the Portal: Part One
**From Chapter 10 of Batman: The Facebook Killer**
Batman started walking back towards the Batmobile to retrieve the cure, which would reverse the mutation that occurred after he had been exposed to the X-1 Serum and radiation from nuclear fallout, when suddenly, a large portal opened up directly in front of him. A man in a red cape walked out from the dark portal.
"Bruce of Earth 237. I need you to come with me, IMMEDIATELY!"
Batman wasn't sure what he was witnessing. "Who the HELL are YOU?, and where did you come from?"
"My name is Stephen Vincent Strange, A.K.A. Doctor Strange! And I come from a universe that is on the exact opposite side of your universe! If we don't leave right now, both of our universes may soon cease to exist!"
Batman looked around at the Batcave. All that he could see was an empty void. There was nothing left for him to hold on to. He hadn't cured himself from what the X-1 Serum and radiation had done to him yet.
"I'm going to need to take my cure before I go." Batman insisted.
"No!" Dr. Strange piped up. "Where we are going, you will need to be the Nuclear Batman. Just put on your radioactive suit. I will provide the suit with all the radiation you will need throughout the duration of our journey. Now, we must go before it's too late!" he declared.
Since Nuclear Batman didn't have anything left to lose, he adjusted his radiation helmet to make sure it was on tight, and then decided to walk through the portal with Dr. Strange.
Dr. Strange spoke up. "I must warn you, everything that you have ever known about the Universe is about to change."
Meanwhile, on Earth 811, Gabby A.K.A. Katt Girl, and Lola A.K.A. The Harley-Kidd, had just watched the news report which stated that Harvey Dent had been kidnapped by men in a van. (At this time, Harvey Dent had already begun transitioning into Two-Face, and he was actually faking his own kidnapping in order to set a trap for Batman.) Gabby and Lola were concerned about Bruce because he had just been involved in an epic battle with an evil, mind-controlled Superman. Now, with the disappearance of Harvey Dent, they felt that Bruce could certainly use their help. It had been a few months since they had gone out as Katt Girl & The Harley-Kidd. Gabby was now sixteen years old, and Lola was nine. Their outfits were starting to get a little tight because Gabby and Lola had been growing up so quickly. They would have to make some adjustments before heading out.
(In previous chapters, we found out that Gabby, Lola, and their mother, Selina Kyle, had been sent here from the future. On Earth 811, the future time-line Batman had sent them back through a time-portal, designed by the Clockmaster, which managed to send them back twenty years into the past. Batman only had mere seconds to send them back just before Darkseid managed to destroy their world. Plus, we found out that Bruce Wayne, from the future time-line, was married to Selina Kyle, and he was also Gabby and Lola's father. Future Selina Kyle had discovered that a key component as to why Darkseid was able to destroy their world was a direct result of her and Bruce Wayne meeting each other for the first time and falling in love. Gabby was six years old, and Selina was pregnant with Lola when they were sent back twenty years. Future Selina Kyle knew that she would have to stop the past Bruce Wayne and the past Selina Kyle from ever meeting each other for the first time, because somehow, their love for each other caused a ripple-effect in time that led to the future destruction of their world. Despite the fact that the future Selina had successfully managed to keep the past Bruce Wayne and the past Selina Kyle from ever meeting, something still went wrong. She wasn't aware that Gabby and Lola had already managed to disrupt the new time-line by intervening in an event which caused Bruce Wayne to get shot, forever changing the course of history for the younger, twenty-four year old version of Bruce Wayne. Originally, Bruce wouldn't have been shot because he would have never met Gabby and Lola. But, many origins were altered after that event unfolded, not only for Bruce, but also for Gotham City, and many of his future enemies. Bruce still became Batman, but many circumstances had changed due to that one moment in time when he met the time travelers, Gabby and Lola.)
On the other side of Gotham City, Earth 811 Batman was checking for clues at the location where Harvey Dent had been kidnapped earlier by three masked men in a van. Batman had originally planned to follow up on a lead about a different case at Arkham Asylum, that possibly involved Jarvis Tetch and Hugo Strange, but the kidnapping of Dent took precedence over any of the other cases he had previously been working on. The crime scene had already been worked over by the detectives at the GCPD, but Batman had a keen eye when it came to discovering clues that most others wouldn't be able to detect. He could tell that there was very little struggle by Harvey to try and escape. In fact, there weren't even any skid marks from the van. Usually, in a kidnapping, someone would have stopped fairly quickly which would have left marks, and then after the abduction, they would have sped off quickly which would have also left some type of a tire mark. This crime scene didn't have either one. Then he noticed something very similar to another case that he was working on. It was an earbud. The same type of mind-controlling earbud that was used to control Superman. (Batman had previously discovered that Jarvis Tetch and Hugo Strange might have been the ones who designed the mind-controlling earbuds. Hugo Strange was working as a psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum.)
"Hmm… it would appear that the kidnapping of Harvey Dent might also be related to the makers of the mind-controlling earbuds." Batman proclaimed. "It looks like I will be going to Arkham Asylum after all."
Several minutes later, Hugo Strange was sitting at his desk, when suddenly, his office door was forcefully kicked open by Batman. The door was forced open so hard that it created a gust of wind which blew several important papers off of Hugo's desk.
Batman walked directly in front of Hugo, and then tossed the mind-controlling earbuds on his desk. "I know you are involved with the kidnapping of Harvey Dent! I also know that you and Jarvis Tetch have been working together to create these earbuds! Now, tell me where Dent is before I have to beat it out of you!" Batman demanded.
Hugo remained calm. "I have no idea what you are talking about. I had nothing to do with the kidnapping of Harvey Dent nor have I designed any sort of mind-controlling earbuds. Now, please leave my office. And before you go, please leave me an address so that I can bill you for breaking my office door."
Batman was pissed. "I said EARBUDS! I never said anything about MIND-CONTROLLING earbuds! Now, your door isn't the only thing I'm going to break if you don't start talking!" He exclaimed while slamming his fist down on Hugo's desk.
Batman looked down at some of the papers that had fallen to the floor. He noticed a notepad that had the address of an abandoned warehouse written on it. "That must be where they are keeping Dent." Batman thought to himself.
Hugo realized that Batman had seen the address. That is exactly what Hugo wanted to happen. "Again, Batman, I have no idea what you are talking about. Now, please leave before I have to call the police."
Batman had gotten the clue that he had come for. After giving Hugo a mean stare, Batman turned around, and then quickly left Hugo's office.
After Batman was out of sight, Hugo made a phone call to Jarvis Tetch. "He's on his way. Make sure you stick to the plan!" he demanded before hanging up the phone.
Minutes later, Batman had made it to the narrows. He stood atop a building adjacent to the warehouse where he believed Harvey Dent was being held captive. He took out his binoculars to get a better look into the warehouse windows. In one of the windows he could see a man standing guard. He was also carrying a machine gun. In another window he spotted a van that matched the description of the van that was used in the kidnapping. He took out his grappling-gun, and then shot a hook towards the roof of the warehouse.
He quickly zip-lined across, and landed on the roof. He then roped his way down to one of the windows. Inside the window he could see a total of three henchmen standing guard. Then, after one of the henchmen moved to the side, he spotted Harvey Dent tied up in a chair. His mouth was gagged, and he barely looked like he was conscious.
Now was the time for Batman to make his move. He held the rope firmly, and pushed off the side of the building causing him to swing outward. As he swung back, CRASH, he used his momentum to bust through the window. The three men were startled because they weren't expecting him to make that type of an entrance. One of the men tried to fire his weapon at him, but Batman quickly threw a bat-r-rang knocking the man's machine gun out of his hand. Before the other two henchmen could do anything, Batman threw a bat-boa which instantly tied up one of the henchmen, and then drop-kicked the other one to the ground, instantly knocking him out. The original henchman that had the machine gun knocked out of his hand had managed to pull out a handgun. Batman did several cartwheels and flips as he tried dodging the bullets that were coming at him. Finally, when he made it to the henchman, Batman hit him with all his force causing the man to fly backwards and bounce off of the wall pretty hard.
Batman quickly made his way over to Harvey Dent. "It's okay! I'm going to get you out of here!" Batman declared as he took the gag out of Harvey's mouth, and untied him from the chair.
"Look out behind you! Harvey yelled out, causing Batman to turn around.
But, when Batman turned around, nobody was trying to attack him. Then, after Batman turned back around towards Harvey, he found himself staring down the barrel of a 44-Magnum.
BANG! Harvey fired a shot hitting Batman directly in the Bat-symbol on his chest.
Batman fell to the ground and went unconscious for a second. Luckily, Batman's suit was bullet-proof, and the bullet didn't penetrate the armor. Harvey could still see Batman moving, so he quickly made his way towards Batman, and then pointed the gun directly at his head. Suddenly, Just before Harvey could pull the trigger of the gun, a bat-r-rang knocked the gun out of Harvey's hand. But, the bat-r-rang wasn't thrown by Batman. Harvey turned to look up at one of the windows. Katt Girl was crouched down, sitting in the broken glass from where Batman had crashed through. Harvey tried reaching for the 44-Magnum.
THUD! Harvey was attacked from behind with a baseball bat.
After hitting the ground, Harvey looked up to see Harley-Kidd standing over him. He looked over at the 44-Magnum.
"Go for it! Make my day! I could use the batting practice!" Lola exclaimed.
Harvey was wise enough to surrender. Batman finally regained consciousness. He stood up. "How did you find me?" He asked.
Katt Girl piped up. "What? Did you think you were the only great detective in Gotham City?"
Batman picked Harvey up from off the ground, and then tied him up.
"Why Harvey? Did Jarvis and Strange get to you?" Batman asked while looking for mind-controlling earbuds in Harvey's ears. But, there wasn't anything controlling him.
"I'm not Harvey anymore! Harvey is gone! I'm Two-Face now!"
Batman's eyes got wide when he saw the way Harvey's scarred side of his mouth did most of the talking while the other side remained still.
"Oh Harvey. You used to be one of the good ones. I'm going to try to find you the best help." Batman declared.
But, something in the back of Batman's mind was telling him that Harvey might have been too far gone.
Just then, suddenly, out of nowhere, a huge dark portal opened up directly in front of all of them. Batman quickly stood in front of Katt Girl & The Harley-Kidd to guard them from a potential attack.
Gabby stared into it. "Whoa! I haven't seen one of those things since I was six years old."
Two men came out from the dark portal. It was Doctor Strange and the Nuclear Batman.
Everyone stared at the Nuclear Batman. They noticed that his height was nearly two feet taller than the Batman of their Earth. They also noticed the weird radiation mask he was wearing, and the strange way that his outfit had been absorbed or fused into his skin.
"What the H E double hockey sticks are you supposed to be?" Lola asked.
Doctor Strange piped up. "There isn't any time for explanations right now! You guys need to come with us!"
Two-Face chimed in. "How did you get here? How did you create a portal?"
Doctor Strange looked over at Two-Face and then he snapped his fingers. Two-Face immediately fell into an unconscious state. "I said, there isn't any time for explanations!"
"What makes you think that we would be willing to go into that portal with you guys?" Batman asked.
"I'm not talking to you Batman. I'm talking to them." Strange said while pointing his finger at Katt Girl & The Harley-Kidd. "You guys aren't supposed to be here, at least, not yet. The longer you girls stay here, the more damage you'll cause to the Universe, in fact, the more damage you'll cause to multiple Universes.
Without any hesitation, Lola went through the portal.
"Wait!" Gabby yelled. Then she turned to look at Batman. "Sorry, I've gotta go! She's my sister!" she said while running into the dark empty portal.
Batman gave both Doctor Strange and Nuclear Batman a menacing stare. "I better see them again! Or, I will hunt you down through whatever space and time that you come from!"
"I give you my word, Batman of Earth 811." Doctor Strange said as he and Nuclear Batman walked into the portal.
Suddenly, just like that, they were gone.
On the other side of the portal, Gabby and Lola were amazed. As they looked around, they could see events happening all at once on several different planets and in multiple universes.
"Who are you guys, and where are we going?" Lola asked.
Doctor Strange looked down at Lola. "My name is Doctor Strange and this is Nuclear Batman of Earth 237." He replied. "We are going to be traveling into the Nexus of all of the Universes to stop the bad-guys. But, first we need to make another stop on your Earth.
When the portal opened up again. The four of them were standing in the back dressing room of a circus event. Chad and Dick Grayson had just got done performing their Flying Grayson's trapeze act. (In previous chapters, Chad and Dick had been working along the side of Batman. But, after certain events unfolded, which led to their parents death, Chad and Dick decided to put their crime fighting life on pause and follow in their parents footsteps by returning to perform their families act called The Flying Graysons) They walked back into the dressing room to find Strange, Nuclear Batman, Katt Girl, and Harley-Kidd standing there.
"Chad! Richard!" Lola and Gabby yelled while running up to them to give them a hug. Chad and Dick were happy to oblige.
"What are you guys doing here?" Dick asked.
Gabby shrugged her shoulders. "I dunno! This Strange guy and this other dude that looks like a messed up Batman came to us and told us that we needed to go fight some bad guys, but we needed to stop here first." She replied.
"Ahem..." Doctor Strange cleared his throat. "I'd hate to break up the lovely reunion going on here, but Chad Grayson needs to come with us, IMMEDIATELY!" He insisted.
"Why me?" Chad asked.
"Because, you aren't supposed to be here. You were saved by an anti-hero spirit named Shadow Stranger when he gave you a magic potion that healed you after being paralized from the waist down. If Gabby and Lola would have never gone back in time, the Shadow Stranger would not have ever existed. But, now he has transformed into the Shadow Master. He is still inside you. And, we are going to need his assistance to defeat the evil abroad. (In previous chapters, Chad had been paralized while trying to investigate a crime scene. He was shot in the back by a criminal known as the Executioner. The Shadow Stranger gave Chad a magic potion that healed him of his paralysis, but at the same time, he was preparing Chad's body to be his next host. The Shadow Stranger evolved into the Shadow Master, and then completely took over Chad's mind and body. Chad, and his miraculous willpower, managed to subdue the Shadow Master's mighty hold over him.)
"It's okay if you go, Chad." Dick said. "I will wait for you to come back. Until then, I can stay with members from the circus. Besides, they are my family also. You go save the Universe." He insisted while giving Chad a hug good-bye.
A tear shedded from both Chad and Dick's eyes as Chad followed the group into the dark portal.
**If you would like to read, "Into the Portal: Part Two," you will need to read Chapter 6 of another story-line that I am currently writing called, "The Son of the Joker: The Ties That Bind:"**