AN: Hello everyone! I am so sorry for my long absence. Lots of writer's block. Anyway, you will be pleased to know that I am resolving to follow and new upload schedule from now on. I'm going to be operating on a quarter system and trying to update every one of my stories at least once within a four-month period, starting from January. We'll see how this goes and I will hopefully get more material out for you.

As always, infinite thanks to my lovely beta annbe11, without whom I would not be writing these words.

And now, ON WITH THE SHOW!

Chapter 5 - Batman and Nora

Nora had just finished helping the wounded Dark Knight make a sling (using fabric ripped from the pants of defeated inmates) when an Arkham guard woke up in one of the side rooms of the transfer chamber.

"Are you alright?" Nora asked, noticing the guard was a little unsteady.

"I hurt all over, but I'll be fine in a bit," the guard said, wincing as he waved away her concerns. "The bigger question is what happened to Batman. Is there anything I can do?"

"Joker happened," Batman said simply, joining them. "We have to catch up with him. Where does that door lead?"

"Extreme Isolation," the guard said. "Only the hardest nut-cases get put there. That door is the only way in. I'll see what I can do to get it open." He limped over to the control panel and began working the console. A few moments later, he swore in irritation.

"What's wrong?" asked Nora.

"The main security loop is locked," he explained. "I don't have any control."

"My word!" came the voice of the Joker. "I've never had a situation so perfectly summed up in five words!"

Nora and Batman whirled in all directions, searching for the clown's hiding place before they both saw him on the TV screens.

"Having trouble working with all that pretty security, Bats?" the Joker asked with a grin.

"Joker!" growled Batman, curling his uninjured hand into a fist.

"Who were you expecting? Two-Face? Penguin?" asked Joker, looking a little insulted.

"We're going to find you, Joker!" snarled Nora, taking a step forward to glare at the screen.

"Believe me, Shortstack, I can't wait! Still, I have some prep work to do before that happens. Be a little courteous and wait till I'm ready. Ta ta!" The insane clown started to walk offscreen before he stopped and turned back. "Oh, I almost forgot! Just to make sure you don't interfere…"

He pulled a remote out of his pocket and pressed a button, causing a screen behind him to turn on. It showed security camera footage of Commissioner Gordon and Officer Boles talking with the doctor and security guard that Nora and Batman had saved. Before their eyes, Boles pulled his gun and clubbed Gordon over the head with it before shooting the doctor and the guard in the head.

"No!" shouted Nora, just barely stopping herself from lunging at the screen. Batman clenched his jaw hard but said nothing.

"Our dear old police commissioner is on his way to Harley as we speak," giggled the Joker. "If I see you two getting too close to me, I'll send her the message to kill Gordon right then and there. What do you know? Maybe I'll livestream it, get some instant feedback. It might even start trending! AH-HA-HA-HA-HA!"

Just like that, the video feed ended and silence settled over the entire room.

"Oh my God…" breathed the guard, looking like he was about to throw up. "He… Boles… the Commissioner… Oh god."

"We'll get him back," said Batman, glaring at the empty screen. "Come on," he said to Nora. "We need to keep moving."

"But we don't know where he took Jim," said Nora.

"We'll go back to where Gordon was taken," explained Batman. "From there, we'll search to clues to find where he was taken."

"O-okay," Nora said with a nod. "Sounds like a plan."

They both walked out of the transfer room, stepping over the unconscious inmates right outside. They had only made a few steps before Batman lifted his fingers to the ear-area of his helmet.

"I'm here, Oracle," he said.

"Oh! Your tech support!" said Nora. "Tell her hi for me. Hi, Oracle!" Batman turned away from her, listening to the voice on the other end. Nora scowled and crossed her arms. "Or just ignore me. Sure, go ahead. Keep acting like I'm not here," she muttered.

"Joker got away," Batman said to Oracle. "He's sealed himself off from us. He's got the Commissioner." He paused. "Don't worry, Oracle. I'm getting him back. I promise. I won't let Joker win." Another pause. "My arm is broken, but I have assistance. Make sure Robin stays where he is. I need him in Gotham in case news of the breakout hits the media. I'll stay in contact." Batman clicked off his communicator.

"I'd like to introduce myself to your tech support sometime," grumbled Nora, looking sidelong at Batman.

"We'll see if you earn that privilege," he responded. Nora gave him a flat look but decided to move on.

"How's your arm?"

"It will be okay," he said, pulling a syringe out of a compartment on his belt before injecting it into his injured arm. "That should speed up the healing process."

"Yeah," Nora said with a nod. "Broken bones take a while to heal, even with Aura."

Batman came to a stop.

"What's Aura?" he asked. Nora froze as she stared at him.

"You don't know about Aura?" she asked, dumbfounded. What was wrong with this town?! They had no idea what Aura was, they didn't know where Mistral was, and they didn't even know about the Grimm!

What was wrong with the people in this city? Was this the place where Jaune grew up or something?!

Nora instantly discarded that thought. Her comic-lover of a team leader would never forget to mention if his hometown had an actual superhero in it.

As Batman stared down at her, Nora waffled. She also pancaked, flap-jacked, and maybe even fried toasted.

"Um… I've never had to explain this before," she said, wringing her hands. "Plus, I usually leave the explaining thing to Ren. Anyway, Aura is a… a manifestation of our souls. It's a source of power we can use. It strengthens us and protects us. Huntsmen and Huntresses use it to fight the Grimm."

Pyrrha had made Nora memorize that from their textbook so she would stop saying things like 'It lets us stomp monster-butt!'

"And what are the Grimm?"

Nora made a face. She should have known this question was coming."They're monsters. Creatures without souls that are trying to drive humanity to extinction."

She shot a curious look at Batman. His straight face revealed nothing, but it seemed like this was new information to him. Why? He seemed like the type to know just about anything.

"Why does nobody here know what the Grimm are?" she asked. "You guys should be up to your necks in them by now, but you're not. Why is that?"

Batman was silent for a long time.

"I don't think we have Grimm here," he finally said. "Tell me more about this place you come from."

As the two of them continued making their way through the hallways, Nora told him about the kingdoms, the huntsmen academies, how Aura worked, and about the friends she was trying to find. Batman made only occasional comments, mostly listening with a curious look in his eyes. Nora never really prided herself on her ability to explain things, but she felt she did a good enough job.

"And Ren and I have been friends since we were kids," Nora finished with a smile. "He's the ninja while I'm the smashy one. We can take on anything as long as we're together." Her cheeks suddenly became pink. "Well, not exactly together-together. I mean, maybe we are, I'm not quite sure. We haven't really talked about it. Not that I don't want to or anything, I mean, he's really handsome and he really gets me and I get him and-"

"I get it, Nora," Batman said, peeking around a corner before waving her to follow him. "And based on what you've been telling me, I have an idea of where you came from."

"You do?!" cried Nora. "Tell me! Tell me!"

"Well," Batman said, "none of the creatures or kingdoms you talk about exist on Earth."

"Earth?" Nora asked, cocking her head.

"Exactly my point," Batman said. "I think you've found yourself on another planet."

Nora stared at Batman, her eyes widening to the size of the pancakes she loved so much. That information ran through her head, over and over, before coming to a single, stunning conclusion.

"YOU'RE AN ALIEN?!" Nora screamed in shock. Batman scowled at her.

"You're the alien here, Nora."

She blinked.

"Ooooooohhhhhh…" said Nora after a moment of thought.

"Thankfully," Batman continued, "it shouldn't be too hard to find the place you came from. I have some associates who can help. Does Remnant have a Green Lantern?"

Nora blinked at him.

"Well… Vale and the other kingdoms had tons of lanterns," she said. "I'm sure that some of them must have been green." What a weird question for a guy like him to ask.

Batman stared at her for a long moment before letting out a long exhale through his nose.

"Never mind," he said before continuing down the hallway. "Look sharp. We're almost there."


After traveling back through the halls of Intensive Care, Batman walked into the office that they had left Gordon and Boles. Things had changed drastically in the last…

Has it really only been twenty minutes? Batman thought. It feels like hours.

Batman shook his head clear of useless thoughts and calibrated his cowl to register the room as a crime scene. His gaze fell on the two lifeless bodies of the men he and Nora had saved such a short time ago. He sighed but looked away to search the scene for clues. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Nora about to enter the room from behind him.

"Don't come in, Nora," he said over his shoulder. "It's not pleasant."

"I've seen death before," Nora said, walking into the room and looking sadly down at the bodies. "Just not so much in one night." She stayed silent for a moment before looking over at him. "What are we looking for?"

"Something out of place," he answered.

A few moments later, he found it. A metal flask was sitting in the corner of the room with cheap bourbon dripping onto the floor. With a few calibrations, his investigation was done.

"We have a trail," he said.

"What? How?" asked Nora, looking confused.

"This flask belongs to Boles. I scanned the alcohol and I can pick up traces in the air," Batman explained. "We can follow the trail right to Boles, and presumably the Commissioner."

"You can do that?!" said Nora, her jaw dropping open.

"Yes. Now let's get moving."

"Right behind you, Batman."

The pair of them followed the trail of alcohol in the air, twisting through the halls of Intensive Care. They ran into the occasional group of inmates, all of whom had a surge of misplaced confidence when they saw Batman's broken arm. He and Nora were quick to show them their error in judgment.

Eventually, they came to the elevator room, with the rusted metal shaft stretching upward, seeming almost endless.

"I am so glad we don't have to take the stairs," Nora said quietly as she stared up toward the ceiling.

A console was set to the side of the shaft and an Arkham guard was busy fiddling with the wires.

"Come on, come on!" he said to the console. "Work already."

Batman was opening his mouth to speak to him when a high-pitched giggle suddenly echoed through the room, making the guard jump in fright and take a few steps back. A figure darted from the shadows and suddenly Harley Quinn was reclining on the elevator counterweight, idly kicking her legs like a child.

"Uh, uh, uh, uh, B-man," she tutted, waggling her finger at him. "Mistah J's not quite ready for your party just yet." She giggled. "Besides," she said, pulling out a small remote, "the elevator is out of order."

She clicked the remote. Far above them was a fiery explosion, followed by the sound of shrieking metal slowly getting louder. With a demented giggle, Harley's counterweight was pulled up the shaft and quickly ascended out of sight.

Instead, Batman saw the burning remains of the elevator car falling toward them.

"MOVE!" he shouted. Nora took a flying leap to where the guard was standing dumbfounded before grabbing him and hauling backward, getting them both away from the impact point. Batman jumped in front of them and held up his cape as a shield. The elevator landed with an enormous crash, launching shards of metal shrapnel everywhere. Batman felt more than a few shards impact his cape, but the reinforced fabric held. When things went quiet again, all three of them stood up.

"That lady is starting to get on my nerves," grumbled Nora, glaring up toward the ceiling. "So, she thinks we're stuck here?"

"She never was very bright," Batman said, pulling out his grappling hook and aiming it upward. The line shot up into the shadows before pulling taut and lifting him upward.

"When am I gonna get one of those?!" demanded Nora from the ground floor. When Batman did not give her an answer, she rolled her eyes and started climbing after him. She bounced from perch to perch, digging her fingers into the concrete walls for a few moments before flinging herself toward the next handhold.

Perfect. Batman had a few moments to himself. He lifted his good hand to the side of his cowl.

"Oracle, do you copy?"

"I'm here, Bruce," said Barbara. "Um…I wanted to ask… what happened to your arm?"

"Ran into some sort of giant mutants Joker made. One of them broke my arm."

"Oh god! Are sure I shouldn't send Tim?"

"I'm certain," Batman snapped. "I've already found some help for the moment."

"Right. Your mystery girl."

"Any results from the DNA scan I sent you? Any abnormalities?"

"There's nothing," answered Barbara. Batman blinked in surprise.

"Nothing? That doesn't make sense."

"I'm telling you, Bruce. That girl you're with is one hundred percent normal human. I even checked for any Amazon DNA markers and I still found nothing. No sign of any mutagens that could result in superpowers, either. I don't understand it."

"You said she's a normal human?"

"That's what the scan says. Sorry."

That meant that Nora wasn't an alien. In all likelihood, this meant she was from some sort of parallel Earth. A different problem than it had been before, but still not unsolvable.

"Any sign of Dad?" asked Barbara, bringing him back to reality.

"Not yet, but we're getting close," said Batman. "Harley tried to slow us down. Dropped an elevator on us."

"Are you okay?" Barbara asked, worry evident in her voice.

"We're both fine," answered Batman. "I'll contact you again when we reach the end of the trail."

As Batman clicked off the com-line, he heard panting coming from over the edge of the platform he stood on. Slowly, Nora pulled herself up onto the edge and stood hunched over with her hands on her thighs.

"You… are… the worst…" Nora panted.

"Get your breath back quick," said Batman. "We're moving on."

"Okay…" said Nora as she straightened up. "Okay… I'm okay… let's go."

"Also, I have some news," said Batman, leading them down a hallway. "You're not from another planet."

"I'm not?" she asked. "But you said I was."

"You're from another dimension. Different circumstances entirely, but I can still help you get back."

"Oh good," Nora said as her shoulders slumped in relief.

She's taking this well, Batman thought with a hint of confusion. Regardless, they had to keep moving.

When they turned a corner, they found themselves at a stop. The trail of alcohol particles led to a large metal door, but the door was sealed and the console jammed. The only way forward was through a nearby air vent, which Nora was quick to tear the cover off of, allowing them to start crawling through the ducts.

As they reached the end of the ducts, they heard the sound of gunfire. The vent led out into the Cell Block Transfer corridor, where the gunfire was coming from. Batman observed the room with his detective vision and curled his hand into a fist when he saw all of the bodies of Arkham guards lying in front of three armed inmates.

"More inmates with weapons ahead," said Batman. He turned his head to look Nora dead in the face. "You need to follow my lead and do this quietly. Understood?"

"Understood," Nora said with a nod.

Batman returned her nod and quietly pushed the vent cover out of it's holdings. They both climbed out of the vent, safely out of view to the gun-wielding inmates. After taking a glance above at the numerous gargoyle sculptures along the wall, Batman pulled out his grappling hook launcher.

"Hold onto me," he said quietly. Nora wrapped her arms around his torso and held on. Using his launcher, Batman swung them up to the gargoyles and then maneuvered them so they safely dropped to the ground behind the unaware guards.

"Watch me," Batman mouthed to Nora before sneaking up on one of the inmates. He looped his right arm around the man's neck, closing off his airways, while a kick to the back of the man's knee threw off his balance enough for Batman to pin him to the ground. The inmate struggled for a few more moments before falling into unconsciousness. Batman looked back at Nora, seeing that she was watching him carefully, and inclined his head at the next thug. "Your turn," he mouthed. Nora nodded.

Her approach was well done. She was light on her feet and surprisingly stealthy, despite her wardrobe's alarming shade of pink. When she was close enough, she lunged forward and caught the inmate in a choke hold.

That was where things went wrong.

In his shock at being attacked, the inmate pulled the trigger of his weapon, causing three bullets to fire from his rifle. The bullets only hit the floor, but the damage was done. The last inmate spun around in Nora's direction, bringing his shotgun to bear. In another display of strength, Nora tossed her inmate aside like a ragdoll and charged at the alarmed henchman. Like before, she kept low to the ground to make herself a smaller target.

However, in such tight quarters and faced with a shotgun, that didn't really matter.

CHOOM!

Batman's eyes widened as the buckshot slammed into Nora's shoulder. She gave out a small cry as the force spun her around. Batman moved then, grabbing the inmate's head and slamming it into a pipe before he had the chance to cock his gun. As the man slumped to the floor, Batman turned back toward Nora. She had managed to keep her footing and had a hand clamped over her injured shoulder. Batman took a step toward her before he froze in surprise.

Where was the blood?

"Ow-ow-ow-ow," groaned Nora as she stood up straight, massaging her shoulder before swinging her injured arm in slow circles. "That's gonna sting for a while."

Batman blinked. She was acting like she had just pulled a muscle, not taken an entire buckshot blast. Nora finally noticed him staring and gave him a blank look.

"What?" she asked. "I told you that Aura protects me, didn't I?"

Batman blinked and nodded.

"You did. I just didn't think it would extend to blocking bullets."

"Welp, we all learn something new every day," she said, giving him a smile. "C'mon, we should keep following the trail."

The door ahead of them was locked, leading to another detour through the air ducts for them. As they came out into the large space of the Entrance Station and Decontamination Chamber. Batman looked around the room, counting six gun-wielding inmates. Two of them were in the raised observation booth while the other four were arranged covering the front door on the opposite side of the room from him and Nora. Joker began 'encouraging' his men over the PA system, but Batman tuned out the clown's words and looked down at Nora.

"I have an idea on how to beat this," he told her. She nodded, giving him her full attention. "I think it would be best if you waited for me to get in position, then take down the two in the observation booth. If your Aura makes you durable, then you can get their attention while I take the rest of them out from behind. Can you do that?"

"You bet your pointy ears I can!" Nora said excitedly, giving him a salute. Batman nodded.

"Get up on that gargoyle and wait until I give you the signal."

With a blinding smile on her face, Nora started scrambling up the wall until she perched on the head of one of the gargoyles that rested above the observation booth. Batman quirked his brow, seeing that she seemed to be trying to strike a dramatic pose while she waited on him. Putting it out of his mind, he used his grappling hook to move from gargoyle to gargoyle until he perched directly above the other four inmates. He looked back to Nora and gave her a nod.

Without a moment of hesitation, Nora leaped from her perch, pulling out her warhammer and holding it aloft. At the last moment, she brought it down on the roof of the observation booth, smashing a large hole in it for her to drop through.

A second later, the windows of the booth exploded outward with an explosion of pink smoke.

Batman was stunned for a moment, but a glance with his detective vision showed that the two inmates in the booth were merely unconscious while Nora was still upright and lying in wait for the inmates below him. He could even hear her giggling from here.

As the now-shaken inmates began firing up at the observation booth, Batman let a long breath out through his nose. He had worked with all sorts in the past, but only a few times had he ever worked with someone like Nora.

Batman narrowed his eyes at the inmates under him. It was time to go to work.