The Multiverse, a vast and wondrous place, full of wonder and horror, joy and fear, hope and despair.
A place where heroes, villians, aliens and the supernatural exist in relative harmony to each other, separated by various spheres, earths and alternate elseworlds from the true center of the Multiverse.
However, the Multiverse is also home to another Multiverse, one where a single instance would cause an entire world to break into its atomic particles, moreover, this place is full of hate, fear and uncertainty for the normalcy of existence.
Underneath the higher Multiverse, a realm of darkness resides, waiting for a single event to unleash it's unbridled hate upon an unexpected Multiverse.
But what if a traveler were to enter these broken worlds, this darker reflection of the normal reality, and see the events made altered by foolish mistakes? What if this adventurer of the unknown tried to survive, to change and possibly help the residences of these worlds of spite and despair, while looking for a way home?
Well, this is the story of such a person, one who has fought against their own nature and became better, but in this place, will it be enough?
Several letters appeared on the screen as deep red blood dripped from the edges, forming a large bat symbol in the process.
The Adventures of Cassandra Cain-Wayne: Multiversal Descent of Darkness
Chapter One: The Day the Cass Falls, A Extraordinary Cain-tastic Adventure.
Xxxxxxxxxx
-Earth-0, USA, Gotham-
Gotham, a city of sin and corruption, filled with tiny hints of light that can only be seen once in a lifetime, and are just as brief.
However, this city, long governed by men and women with either goodness or malicious wills in their souls, had a protector, one that could keep crime from snuffing out the light and make the city safer for its citizens.
That protector?
In the distance, behind a row of skyscrapers and a few airships, was a bright circular light with a bat symbol in its center.
The Batman.
However, on this day, Batman would not be the hero of this story.
Crack!
Woosh!
Clank!
No, for on this day, a hero will rise to do something no other has done before. That being an adventure of a lifetime, to save and perhaps redeem those that have fallen into the dark shadows of hate, fear, despair, loss and madness itself.
The sounds of footsteps could be heard as in the distance, on the small rows of rooftops overlooking the lower portion of Gotham, as a shadowy figure jumped from one roof to the other in quick succession, never stopping or taking a breath.
For the hero, was one that was once a being of decay and murder, trained to become a killer and nothing else, yet though the right people, became something more then an assassin of the innocent.
The figure moved from left to right as they began to stop near a small library rooftop overlooking the nearby Vencefinkel Bridge, as they stared at a dilapidated building a few streets away from the figure.
But will it be enough? Will this hero, one who returned from the land of dragons and ancient mysteries, have the courage.
The figure jumped across the gap between the rooftop as they continued to jump from each rooftop in rapid succession until dropping onto the roof next to the soon to be demolished building of long ago, noticing several big brutish men with automatic assault rifles on hand surrounding the building.
The strength.
One of the men, with a thick black mustache, looked around while turning his head to the side, not seeing the figure gliding towards him before getting knocked out by a quick kick to the face.
The cunning.
Another man, sporting an eyepatch, hearing the thud, turned around and didn't see anyone as the figure appeared behind him and knocked him out with a high upper kick to the jaw, breaking some bones in the process.
The speed.
The figure looked around before seeing two of the men walking by and quickly hid behind a corner as the men turned and got punched in the chests, making them weeze in pain before getting knocked out.
The adaptability.
The figure heard several footsteps behind her before noticing a nearly rusted emergency escape exit stairway and began to climb quickly up the first set of stairs and jumped into one of the open windows, entering a dilapidated apartment room, safe from the guards for now.
And the skills to survive the perils of hopelessness and ruination? Will this hero endure encounters of the utmost despicable that would break a normal man to their very core?
The figure opened the rotting door while making sure that no one was around before walking down the left hallway and turned right, only to discover a small light coming from the far right apartment door.
Or will this hero fall into the darkness that is primeval evil?
The figure moved towards the door as the nearby lamp post illuminated a shadow on the wall, revealing a deep shadow-like cape that was ragged and severely torn, and a vaguely human body that couldn't be identified properly.
Now, let us begin this tale of shock and intrigue, with two key events.
The figure moved closer to the door before placing their ear towards the wooden frame and heard what sounded like people grumbling in the other room before raising their leg up.
POW!
And kicked the door down in a single hit, allowing the light to illuminate the wall behind them.
One, the minor antagonists.
"What the-oh god no! Not the Batman!" one of the men yelled in horror while the leader of the group, bald yet had a good set of golden teeth, frowned.
"This ain't the Batman, it's one of his lackeys! Now shoot-"
POW!
"AH!" he got out while getting kicked in the face as the figure began to dodge the bullet fire and grabbed one of the men, breaking his arms while dropping the gun in the process.
"AAHHH!"
POW!
CRACK!
BANG BANG BANG!
The figure ducked a barrage of bullets while sliding under the man's legs and grabbed them before throwing him to the ground in a single quick motion.
CRACK!
Breaking his ribs in the fall as the figure stood over the now broken bodies, the ceiling light still working despite the storm of bullets, feeling relieved that the fight wasn't too serious or boring.
And two.
ZOOP!
The figure turned quickly and saw a small human sized black circle with a deep purple core that swirled with a strange energy as black bolts of lighting sparked from the edges, right in front of them and appearing out of nowhere as a black substance began to leak from it, the air around it beginning to be sucked into the circle like a black hole.
The Call to Adventure in the form of a portal to somewhere.
WOOOOOOOOSH!
The figure went wide eyed before trying to run for the doot, but the vortex was too strong and was pulling them into the void, the furniture and bodies flying into it as well.
Welcome, to the story of a lifetime, one that will decide the fate of not only this world, but many others.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSHHHHHH!
The figure grabbed onto one of the walls and tried to grip as hard as they could muster before-
CRACK!
A chunk of the wall broke off and caused the figure to go flying into the vortex itself.
For this is...
The circle twitched before collapsing into itself, leaving a dilapidated and destroyed apartment in the process.
Where our story begins. So says the Fuginauts, protectors of the Multiverse and beyond.
(Elsewhere)
-Unknown location-
Down, down and all around when the figure, as they entered a place of madness and unknown logic. Nothing exists yet everything exists within this space, for this is the realm between realms, the home of all yet of none.
For in the deep crimson realm of red and tinges of black, was the name in which all who travel this place, for good intentions or for ill, have placed upon it.
The Bleed.
But for the hero floating down through eternity, the strange colors of this realm illuminated them and showed their true form to no one's eyes, although the person's mask was beginning to break for unknown reasons.
That hero was revealed to be a tall young girl with short black hair, a D cup chest and wide hips, wearing a black skin-tight leather suit with a yellow bat logo on the chest area, a black domino mask that was breaking apart near the eyes to show their deep blue color, a yellow pouched utility belt around her waist, a black cape that was severely torn and ragged while seemingly smoke like near the ends, thick white bandages around her hands and black boots.
This was the Black Bat, better known as Cassandra Cain-Wayne and she was out cold from the shock of comprehending this realm, unable to see that her attire was breaking down into subatomic particles.
As it broke to its most basic form of matter, the energy of this realm began to coagulate onto the girl's body like gooish slime, forming a protective cocoon of red and black in the process.
ZOOP!
Which soon was sucked into the same purple vortex as before as the screen became black as night.
(Elsewhere)
-Earth, USA, Metropolis, New Troy-
The camera slowly returned to normal as it revealed a war torn city filled with broken buildings, destroyed vehicles of every description and the constant stomping of great machines, bigger than the largest skyscrapers, taking the large tripods sporting a single circle domed 'eye' with two large tentacles near the bottom as well as a third tentacle on it's behind, who's clawed ends held a single gray sphere with two overlapping white rings around it and a single opening at the front, that burned with hot white energy, greater than the sun itself as a thick black smog covered part of the city in perpetual evening.
In short, a hell on earth.
However, on this day, a change was in the wind, one that would determine the fate of millions.
ZOOP!
WOOOOOOOOSH!
The strange purple portal opened above the city as the cocoon of red sped like a speeding bullet towards the ground, jets of hot flames licking just behind it, as it moved towards the every nearer terra firma.
Uuuuuuulllllllaaaaaaaaaaaa.
Uuuuuuuuuuuullllllllllllaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
Uuuuuuuuuuulllllllll-
CRASH!
And like a domino, the nearest tripod, just letting out a guttural noise unlike anything human ears have ever heard, was hit by the strange object as it toppled into the nearby Daily Planet, destroying it in the process as the cocoon headed towards the outskirts of the city itself.
WOOOOOSH!
BAM!
And just like that, a crater was formed just outside a rather bleak and plantless facility, akin to a detention center with barbed wire fences a few feet high, as the flames licked the sides of broken cars, overturned and abandoned. However, as the flames died down and the trapped semi emaciated humans started to draw closer to the crater itself…
Crack.
Crack.
The cocoon itself shattered and turned into shards of red stone as the occupant began to come to, a little nauseated and slightly sick in the stomach.
"Ugh…" she groaned while slowly rising from the darkened dirt, a little wobbly but overall fine, as her vision began to take in the sights. "What. Happened?"
As she took in the hellish landscape around her, she tried to remember what exactly happened to her, but was drawing a blank, unaware of her 'trip', although she was sure of one tiny thing.
This was NOT Gotham, not even close to it.
"What is that?" one of the humans on the other side of the barbed wire asked in bewilderment.
"Looks like a bat."
"Maybe it's related to that weird circus guy with the cape? The one that fought the martians?"
"But why is it a chick?"
"Maybe she's a dame with good tastes?"
Cassandra turned to them and 'glared', spooking them in the process, before stretching her now stiff body, joints popping a little in the process.
"Hey!" called one of the men. "Are you alright?"
"Yes." she said while cracking her neck. "Where. Am. I?"
"Metropolis, or what's left of it."
"..." she looked confused at that while popping a joint in her left arm. "Seriously?"
"Well yeah!"
"...eh?" she cocked her head to the side, puzzled.
"Ya not that bright, an't ya?"
"I. Am. Smart." she frowned before taking her first foot step to the left, only to notice something off about her boot. "Eh?"
As she looked at her boot, she noticed a bit of reflective glass on the ground, from a front mirror possibly, and picked it up as she stared into its reflective surface.
Only to discover that her costume was completely different, for now she was wearing a black skin-tight leather suit with deep crimson lines dotting the sides and near the now deep red bat symbol, a black mask that covered the entire head sporting two pointed bat-like ears, blackened eyes with red lines going down the sides and thick red stitches surround the mouth, thick red bandages around her arms that hung down towards her black taloned boots, a large black ragged cape with smoke-like ends, white bump like grooves all along her body and on both sides of the cape that took the form of a bat-like skeleton, scalloped gloves consisting of three curved hooked fins sporting sharp dagger-like claws, and had a deep red utility belt sporting small black capsules on the sides around her waist.
Overall...this was a DRASTIC costume change from her Black Bat persona, or even her old Batgirl attire from long ago!
"Skeeee."
She stiffened before turning around and noticed something very odd, that being a group of short gray octopus-like creatures with numerous tentacles akin to snakes, sharp curved teeth that went inwards, black eyes, and riding atop gray circular four legged walkers with two thick three clawed tentacles coming out the sides, moving right towards her position.
"AH! Their back!"
"Run lady! Before they suck your blood out!"
"Skeeeeeee."
"Skeeeeeeeeeee."
The girl took a stance before she noticed that the octopus-like creatures' eyes were glowing red for some reason. 'What. Are. These. Things?'
As the creatures moved closer towards her, she instinctively ran towards one of them and kicked one in the face, breaking it's teeth in the process as it stumbled to the ground, as she dodged one of the tentacles and continued to evade the otherworldly beings' attempts at apprehending her.
POW!
CRACK!
SQUISH!
POW!
"SKEEEE!"
"Skeeee!"
The heroine kept on kicking and breaking teeth as the men and women behind the wire fence either cheered for her or just ignored her, although after a bit of time, they began to cheer for the strangely bat themed woman as well.
POW!
THUMP!
Cassandra jumped off the final creature's head and landed on her feet while looking at the now knocked out and extremely bruised group of cephalopod impostors, feeling like she just ran a marathon yet still had enough energy to keep on going for some reason. "What. Are. These. Things?"
"Martians!"
She turned to the fence and raised an 'eyebrow'. "Martians?"
"Ya, martians. And by golly, you just beat the living tar out of them like it was nothing." the man said, who was currently wearing a very torn up black business suit, with a smirk. "Are you with the circus freak? The one that can fly?"
"..." she scratched her head a little while not noticing that right behind her, was a familiar face charging out from a large domed building of blackened silver and right towards one of the creatures, who was charging towards her on it's walker.
BAM!
SWISH!
She stiffened and spun around, seeing the now dead 'martian' at her feet as in front of her was a very familiar face, that being Superman...but his appearance was off, for he was much younger than she expected as the diamond shaped border was replaced with a upside down triangle, the 'S' was stylized like a normal 'S' instead of it's normal kryptonian script, the 'S' symbol was a little smaller than normal and his costume was torn in a few places, revealing sports of blood that dripped down the costume like sap from a tree.
"Are you ok...miss?" he asked the heroine while looking her over.
"Superman?"
"Superman? No, the name's Clark Kent."
"..." 'What?'
"And I think you should run before the martians come back with reinforcements." he said before ripping the barbed wire and allowed the people to escape, making Cassandra 'frown'.
"I. Defeated. Them. On. My. Own." she frowned while moving towards the kryptonian. "What. Happened. Here? Where. Is. Justice. League?"
"Justice League? Never heard it."
Cassandra looked at him in surprise before hearing the distinct sound of air being boiled in the nearby dome and raced towards it.
"Wait stop! Don't go in there!" Superman yelled while running after her, although in Cassandra's eyes, he wasn't going at supersonic speeds or flying as he usually did.
As she went near the entrance way, Cassandra noticed that the martians were moving towards her, but their eyes were now blazing with heat as a red beam of heat shot towards her, only for the heroine to dodge quickly and jump over them as she kicked one in the face.
POW!
CRASH!
Causing it to crash into the others as Cassandra noticed that her foot was throbbing in pain, but she couldn't see or feel anything broken, which didn't concern her as she took quick notice of a figure on the ground next to her.
That being a gray humanoid creature with sunken black eyes, a bald head, wearing a ripped green business suit and had several tentacles jutting out of it's mouth and back, who laid unmoving on the ground.
'What. The? Is. That...Luthor?' she thought in surprise, and a little satisfaction in her head, before noticing that something was floating over the body itself.
Which happened to be a tall semi muscular woman with pale grey skin, blackened eyes with thick zigzagging lines around the eye sockets, long gray tentacle like hair that went to her feet, sharp curved teeth that overlapped each other, a H cup chest and wide ass, wearing a tattered light green skirt that went to her knees, a torn white undershirt with a equally tattered green jacket that went to her elbows, ripped white gloves, circular turquoise earrings and broken green high heels, whose face was full of anger, rage, hate and arrogance as the jaw formed a twisted snarl.
"This...power...the power of aliens…" she muttered while looking at her hands, oblivious to Cassandra or the now shocked Superman's presence. "The power...of a god."
"Lois, fight it." Superman called out to the now named 'Lois'. "Don't let the martians-"
SISH!
BANG!
However, the laser beams from her eyes silenced the weakened kryptonian...permanently as 'Lois' cackled to herself.
"Yes, the power. It is absolutely magnificent! And those martians made it happen!" she cackled while Cassandra's mind thought of one thing.
Run!
'Lois' floated towards the glass dome above her as Cassandra's vision was flooded with images of human dissection and injection, all of them making her head throb in pain as the woman blasted the glass apart and flew into the sky before vanishing.
Cassandra, once the images stopped and she regained her bearings, ran out of the dome and saw a green blur flying across the sky, destroying several tripods and martians crawlers on the ground in the process, as several of the aliens' strange heat ray contraptions went flying in every direction, including-
WOOOSH!
BAM!
CRASH!
Right near her feet, as the impact sent her falling to the ground, relatively unharmed for some reason.
Sisssssle.
The smoke cleared as Cassandra noticed the metal around the sphere was melting to the ground and landed on the sole of her boots.
"..." 'What. Is. Going. On. Here!?' she thought while grabbing both sides of her head and mentally screaming in frustration and unholy bewilderment at the situation she was currently in.
{Bonding Process Activated.}
She 'blinked' as a strange voice entered her head and saw that the metal near her boots were moving up her body, making her freak out and tried to pull it off her legs, only for the metal to form over her entire body, turning the white bumps into a silvery coloration in the process.
{Nth Metal Established. Bleed Suit Operational.}
'Nth. Metal? What?' Cassandra though before seeing the green blur moving towards her direction, right at the barbed wire behind her. 'Shit!'
WOOOSH!
BOOM!
A shockwave of dust hit the area as it caused Cassandra to go flying towards a tower, making her impact the outer wall as Lois stood in the middle of a large impact crater, satisfied for some reason.
"All gone. They are all gone! Hahaha!" she cackled while Cassandra groaned and fell to her feet.
'Ow. That. Hurt...Somewhat.' she thought while not noticing that her hand glowed with a bright red energy.
{Establishing Portal. Now.}
ZOOP!
And cue a large red portal forming from under the girl's body as she was sucked right into it and the portal dissipated into nothingness.
"And now! The reign of Superwoman is here...no, Queen Lois! HAHAHAHAH!" laughed the insane hybrid as the screen turned red from a heat blast to the screen.
(Elsewhere)
-The Bleed-
Cassandra fell down and down into the red void of creation as she tried to comprehend her own situation a little more clearly, although all she recalled was her mission back in Gotham, which was staking and bringing down Two-Face's new crime organization from the shadows.
But as she did, she also felt like her mind was slowly breaking apart from a sudden burst of information entering her head, which caused her to gain a splitting headache in the process.
'Ow. Pain….ow.' She thought while shaking her head. 'Ok...If. I. Ever. Get. Out. Of. Here. I'm. Getting. Answers.'
ZOOP!
She looked down and saw a red portal forming right under her as she dove straight towards it, hoping to find out what was going on, and possibly how to get back home.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Original Earth/Timeline: Superman: War of the Worlds- a timeline where Superman battles the Martians in the year 1938, the world is invaded and nearly conquered as many pre-WWII era leaders are killed in the chaos. Superman dies but his efforts allow humanity to repel the invaders and is remembered as a hero.
Dark Multiverse Earth/Timeline: The Day the Queen Rises- In this timeline though, during the invasion and Superman's capture, the Martians were able to replicate his powers to make them immune to bacteria, allowing them to take over completely. However this also had an unintentional side effect on Luthor and Lois, who were captured as prisoners, they gained kryptonian abilities and martian abilities, but the change warped Lois' mind and she not only killed all the Martians but took over as the new ruler of earth to ensure 'peace' through tyranny.
Powers/Abilities/Knowledge gained: The Bleed Suit and Nth Metal (Martian technology).