Hey guys, this is a new chapter of my story Elseworlds! Good reading.

Chapter 4

Earth – 1; Gotham City

When the day came, Oliver, Barry, Kara and Thor ventured through the city streets. The four of them were dressed in simple clothes, while Thor had camouflaged his ax in the form of an umbrella, and Kara was wearing her glasses.

The more they walked, the more they discovered that Gotham was anything but a quiet town.

"If I remember right, the radio station was this way." said Oliver, when they walked down an alley.

"I'm surprised they put it in the bad part of town." said Barry.

"It's cute, this way of thinking that there is a quiet part," replied the Kryptonian.

"Kara's right, this city is very dangerous," commented Thor. "Whatever these dark forces look like, they affect the whole city."

Then an armored van passed near them. When the vehicle pulled over, armed men got out and apparently helped people out onto the street safely.

"Looks like the one percenters bring the good part with them." said Barry.

"This is why nobody talks about Gotham, okay? City might as well be dead."said Oliver.

"It looks like it always has been," Thor replied.

It was then that five unsympathetic men came towards the four superheroes. One of them spoke to them curtly:

"Sounds like you guys aren't from around here. Probably don't know, but Gotham tourism bureau collects a tax on out of towners, so phones, wallets, watches now."

Thor, who was not used to being threatened by a thug, only laughed in amusement.

"Are you serious, guys? Are you threatening us? I have a better offer for you, leave us alone and everything will be fine for everyone!" he threw them sarcastically.

The man sneered and stared at Thor, as if he was a jerk in front of him.

"Didn't you hear what I told you, fatty? Phones, wallets, watches, right now!"

The Asgardian started to get angry, ready to attack him. Then Oliver hastened to intervene.

"You know what, fellas? I... we don't want any trouble, so maybe we can just talk this out, okay?"

The rogue snickered again, and pulled out a gun and aimed at Oliver's head.

"Talk it out. Okay. I'll talk first."

He fired a shot, but Kara caught the ball in super-speed before it reached Oliver. Taking advantage of the element of surprise, Thor hastened to brandish his umbrella.

"Believe me, you shouldn't have done that!" he growled.

But before he could attack, Kara stopped him by taking the hand that held the umbrella.

"Stop it, don't do that!"she exclaimed.

Barry grabbed the bandit's weapon, and attacked the man fiercely. He struggled with his new reflexes, hit a few bandits, and nailed the man to the ground, threatening him with his weapon.

But before he could fire, several police sirens sounded.

Two patrol cars surrounded the group, then the police left with their weapons pointed at them.

"On the ground now! All of you, on the ground! Show me your hands!"

Everyone hastened to lower themselves to the ground, while Thor and Barry remained standing.

"These men wanted to attack us! We didn't do anything wrong!" protested the Asgardian, grumbling.

"I said all of you, on the ground!" barked the policeman.

"Thor, do what he tells you, it's better," insisted Kara, who was on the ground.

"Are you serious?"exclaimed Thor incredulous and angry.

"On the ground right away, obey!" insisted the policeman.

Despite himself, Thor ends up on the ground, with disdain. A police officer never ordered him to get down. It was a completely unrealistic situation. But hey, he knew that the existence of Thor of Asgard was not known on this Earth.

Barry was still standing with his foot on the man with his gun. When the policeman looked at him, he looked stunned.

"Oh crap! (He called the police radio.) I need SWAT at Nolan and Burton. Green Arrow sighted at Nolan and Burton."

"Uh... sir," Kara intervened on the ground. "We don't want any trouble."

"Tell that to Oliver Queen here!"growled the policeman, looking at Barry.

The young man was ready to fight against the police when Oliver called him:

"Oliver, stand down!"

The defeatist look, Barry finally released the rascal, and knelt on the ground, while the police handcuffed everyone, including Thor angry.

"You kidding me! Thor the God of Thunder handcuffed, a great first!" he grumbled in his beard.

In Avengers Earth, the police would have been mad to want to arrest Thor as a criminal.

But Oliver spoke to him in a low voice:

"Here, there is no Avengers, nobody heard talk of you, so keep low profile! If you attack them, we will have serious problems!"

"As if we didn't already have one," Thor replied angrily, while the police took him on board.

The four heroes were later locked in a cell at Gotham Police Station. Kara and Thor were seated on a bench, while Oliver and Barry were on another bench in front of them.

They were all upset that they were forced to stay in the cell. Especially Thor who was not used to being in prison.

Oliver went to the gate to address an officer woman who was in his office across from the cell.

"Um, excuse me, Officer. Were you able to get in touch with Laurel Lance at the Star City D.A.'s office or…"

"Yeah. She said, uh, "I think a night in jail would do them some good."" replied the woman amused.

But none of the detainees were delighted. Thor saw his anger amplified.

"That's great! We really needed that! Now we are wasting our time staying here, when we could get out of this cell!"

"Thor," Kara intervened in a low voice wanting to appease him. "Me too, I don't like it as much as you do. But using our powers in plain sight is not a good idea, believe me!"

"I really regret that the Avengers don't exist here," added the Asgardian.

"Yes well, we aren't the Avengers, Thor," replied Barry harshly.

"I'm sure that it wasn't Tony or Steve who would have found themselves in jail!"Thor retorted with sarcasm.

"Sorry, Big Lebowski, but I'm neither Stark nor Cap," replied Barry, annoyed.

"Stop it, Barry, what were you thinking?"Oliver exclaimed in a low voice, but angry.

"That you were about to get yourself shot. You're welcome."retorted the speedster who had become an archer.

"I was deescalating the situation, you know, like, uh…"

"Like I would? Guess what, man. I handled it exactly how you would!"

"Here we go again, they start fighting again like two silly kids!"muttered Thor with a theatrical gesture. "We will stay there for a year with these two!"

"Shut up, Thor!"replied Barry and Oliver at the same time in a low voice.

Kara intervened in her turn, frustrated and exasperated:

"Okay. You guys, maybe taking on each other's personalities worked for AMAZO, but… (She spoke to Oliver.) but you were not gonna talk your way out of getting mugged. (She turned to Barry.) And you escalated the situation way too fast."

"And what would you have done?"replied Barry to his Kryptonian friend.

"What I would have done is superspeed us right out of there. All they would have seen is a gust of wind."replied the Girl of Steel.

"And you, Thor, what would you have done?"replied Barry.

"I would have knocked them out with Stormbreaker!"replied Thor, indifferently.

Barry and Oliver looked at the Asgardian with mocking looks.

"To go unnoticed, you're not very subtle," replied Oliver.

"I am the God of Thunder and the strongest Avenger, nothing can resist me!"

"No kidding!"

Kara rolled her eyes, exasperated and stared at Thor severely.

"Oh not again! Thor, you're not the strongest Avenger! Stop with that!" she exclaimed.

"I mean, hindsight is 20/20, but we'll follow your lead both of you next time," Oliver said sarcastically.

"Because there will really be a next time when someone threatens superheroes with a gun."Kara replied.

"If I had known, I would have stayed with the Guardians of the Galaxy," retorted the God of Thunder.

"Guess what? Nobody asked you to come, Thor! It was you who wanted to accompany us!" grumbled Barry.

"I'm with you because a dark force is moving while we are wasting our time being locked up in this stupid cell. If a disaster is about to happen, I want to be there to keep it from happening, not fail like Thanos did," Thor explained.

"And how did the strongest of the Avengers lose the first time against a Mad Titan?"replied Oliver, still with sarcasm.

Before Thor could reply, the officer came to the cell gate with the key. She opened the door for them and announced:

"Good news. Somebody posted your bail."

"Who?"said Kara, intrigued.

"Guess someone wanted to make you guys their headache instead of mine." continued the police.

Kara, Barry Thor and Oliver immediately left the cell. The God of Thunder took advantage of this to take back his umbrella.

"You know, it's not raining right now, dude," said the officer.

"You never know," replied Thor quickly, embarrassed.

"We'll show ourselves out." said Oliver.

Our four heroes returned to the outside of the police station, to be greeted by a man standing in front of a large limousine. He invited them to go inside.

"I'm guessing this belongs to whoever bailed us out." Barry assumed.

"I really think we've had enough distractions for one night." Kara replied.

"Yeah. I agree with my friend. We appreciate the early release, whatever, but we're really fine on our own." added Oliver.

"I'm afraid my employer insist," replied the man in the limousine, revealing a holster with a weapon on his body.

"And you said it wouldn't happen again."Barry said to Kara sarcastically.

"Tell me, is it a custom on your Earth, guys, to have you threatened with a gun every time you land in a city?"muttered Thor exasperated again.

"At least that will probably be better than the jail," Kara replied.

The car dropped them off right outside the huge Wayne Enterprises building owned by billionaire Bruce Wayne.

As soon as our heroes got out of the car, the vehicle left, leaving them in front of the entrance to the building.

"Bruce Wayne got us out of jail?"Kara exclaimed incredulously.

"Who is Bruce Wayne? A friend of yours?"asked Thor.

"No, a billionaire philanthropist and former owner of Wayne Enterprises," replied Oliver.

"Doesn't sound like him," Kara continued skeptically.

"No, it wasn't," continued the archer become speedster. "Wayne left Gotham three years ago."

"What? To go where?" asked Kara.

"No one knows," replied Oliver, looking lost.

"If it wasn't him, then who brought us out of jail and why bring us to this building?"Thor asked, looking at the skyscraper at Wayne Enterprises.

"There's only one way to find out," said Oliver, pointing them out.

The four heroes then entered the entrance hall of Wayne Enterprises. At least what looked like an entrance hall. The walls were strewn with graffiti, and nature seemed to reclaim its rights inside the walls of the building. Obviously, the building had been abandoned for a long time.

"Apparently after he left, Bruce's board of directors went to town with a bunch of aggressive get-rich-quick deals." Oliver explained.

"Yeah, but an abandoned building didn't bail us out, right?" said Barry, dumbfounded.

"It looks like someone has taken up the reins," Thor pointed out, looking around.

Then he saw a figure above the hall. A young woman with short hair with tattoos on her arms watched our heroes from a balcony. Oliver, Barry and Kara saw it too.

"Whoa. That is definitely not Bruce Wayne." replied Kara.

"Oliver Queen?" said the young woman.

Oliver motioned to Barry, knowing that the young woman was mistaking Barry for him. Barry hastened to answer.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm Oliver Queen. Yeah. And you are?"

"The rain on your parade. If you're visiting Gotham to compare grappling hooks with Batman, you are out of luck. No one's seen him in years."

Barry looked at Oliver with a happy look.

"Batman's real!"

"Myth!"grumbled Oliver.

The mysterious woman left the balcony and went down the stairs to join our heroes.

"I would never compare myself to a total badass like Batman." Barry said proudly.

"What Allen… uh, sorry, I mean… Queen… what Queen is trying to say is… why get us out of jail, and… who are you?" Thor asked, looking at the woman curiously.

"Gotham has enough problems without a guy in green leather showing off his arrows to everyone, so the faster you find what you're looking for, the faster you can get the hell out of my city." explained the mysterious awkward woman.

"Uh, but, what... what should we call you... Rain, Ms. Parade?" said Kara amused.

"Kane. Kate Kane," replied the woman.

"Well, Kate Kane, we aren't trying to take root in this city. We are looking for two people. Once we find them, we will leave here right away," explained Thor wanting to be nice to the cold woman.

This response seemed to satisfy Kate. Immediately she led them to an elevator.

Once at the top of the Wayne Enterprises building, Oliver showed the young woman the drawing of the two men he had drawn at Star Labs in Central City.

As Barry left to contact Vesper Fairchild, Kate looked at the drawing carefully, then returned to Oliver, Kara and Thor.

"You guys try facial recognition? One of Bruce's R&D guys still works in the building. I can give this to him."

"Uh, we did try it," said Oliver. "So thank you, but no luck. Besides, I'd think if Wayne's R&D's in the same shape as this building, it's not gonna really do us any good."

Kate kept her mischievous smile while returning the drawing.

"Suit yourself."

"Seems strange, doesn't it, that Bruce Wayne and Batman disappeared from Gotham around the same time."Kara pointed out.

"Yeah, it's a very strange coincidence," Thor said, looking at Kate with frowns.

"Well, when Batman left, the city went to different kinds of hell," said Kate. "Which for Gotham is really saying something. Took a toll on Bruce."

"And is that why he left?"asked the Asgardian. "But why would Batman disappear leaving his city in chaos? It is not any sense."

"If only I knew," replied Kate, sighing.

"You work for Wayne, but you don't know why he left?" asked Oliver.

"Who said I work for him?"replied Kate with a sly smile on her lips.

"You seem like you want to take care of his business," Thor pointed out to him. "But I think it's much deeper than just a professional relationship. You are related to Bruce Wayne in another way."

"Bravo, you are very observant,"congratulated Kate.

Then came Barry. They all turned to him.

"How'd it go with Vesper?"asked Kara.

"She hung up on me. Apparently, I did sleep with her." replied the young man, joining his friends.

They all looked at Oliver, who made him innocent.

"Okay. The building is under renovation, so this is the best place for you guys to work out of." explained Kate, moving away from them, before adding: "Oh, and the, uh, Wi-Fi password's "Alfred"."

"So if this Vesper's not gonna help us, we are still at a standstill to find our two men," replied Thor, once the young woman has moved away.

"No, we're not. I lifted this off of a computer at the precinct." Oliver explained, showing them a computer hard drive. "It should have the entire GCPD database."

"You stole data from the police?"exclaimed Barry.

"No, no. The Flash did it,"Oliver replied with his innocent air.

Kara and Thor laughed, while Barry looked sullen.

"Stop, it's not funny!"he grumbled.

Later, Oliver was looking up all the police data on a computer. Barry and Kara admired him for his computer skills.

"You really know your way with a computer." Kara replied.

"Well, when I was first starting out, I had to hold my own before Felicity showed up." explained the archer who became supersonic. "Got him."

An image of one of the men in the design appeared on the computer screen.

"John Deegan," he announced.

Kara read the data on the individual.

"Oh. Illegal experimentation, torture. Hmm. Seems like he was conducting experiments on his own patients' brains."

"Sounds like a real charmer.," said Barry.

"He fits the kind of crazy people who live in Gotham," Thor added.

"Well, he was acquitted. All the charges were dropped on technicalities." Oliver continued.

"So where can we find him now?"asked Kara.

"No known address," replied Oliver.

"What about employment?"asked Barry.

"He was fired. Suspended by the medical board for two years, but that was… 5 years ago," their friend continued in front of the screen.

"So we don't know where to find it," Thor replied. "All we know is that he lives in Gotham. Someone must know where he is."

Kara began to move away from the three men.

"Where you going?"asked Oliver.

"I'm gonna put on my work clothes and do an X-ray flyby of the city." replied the Kryptonian.

"I don't think Miss Kate would be too thrilled with us running around her city." Barry said.

"Well, unless she has some kryptonite stashed somewhere, I'm really not worried." replied Kara.

In the Wayne Enterprises compound, Kate watched her visitors from a screen that was filming the heroes on the roof of the building, when she saw Kara crossing the corridor.

"Heh, you lost?"she asked the young woman with the glasses.

"No. No. Um, just needed to clear my head for a sec." said Kara as she entered the office. "Actually, you know what? I'm sorry about the third degree earlier. I guess the name Bruce Wayne carries a certain notoriety."

"I know, Bruce Wayne's my cousin," Kate replied proud of herself.

"Your cousin? That makes a lot of sense!"exclaimed the Kryptonian.

Kate got up from her desk and joined Kara.

"Actually, I'm in the process of turning this building into a real estate development firm, so this is me hijacking his office."

"My cousin's actually friends with Bruce." Kara continued. "Um, well, frenemies."

Kara thought back to her life on her Earth. Her double life between Kara Danvers and Supergirl and an idea came to her mind.

"Do you ever wonder if trying to keep his private life from the public eye just got to be too much for him and he broke?"

Kate crossed her arms while looking at the desk.

"Heh. Sitting at that desk, staring out that window, watching this city that we grew up in rot at its core, you find a way to not break. Bruce didn't leave Gotham without a fight."

"You know, I got to say, all the corporate billionaires I know wear Versace and have 500 fewer tattoos." said Kara.

"Hmm. Those are the ones that you can see." replied Kate mischievously.

Then came Thor who entered the office.

"Ah, Kate Kane, I was looking for you… sorry to come and interrupt you,"stammered the Asgardian.

"What can I still do for you?"Kate asked, sitting back down behind her desk.

"I said to myself that since you seem to know your city well, you wouldn't happen to know a John Deegan, would you?"

"I would actually," replied Kate, shaking her head. "He is a doctor at Arkham Asylum."

"Ah, we have to go tell the others," Kara replied, leaving the office. "Thank you for your help and for the chat."

Thor followed suit, and took one last look at the young woman with the tattoos.

"Thanks for your help, Kate!"

Later, Kate Kane went down to a dark basement that only she knew. Once in her secret spot, she headed for her bat outfit. It was time for Batwoman to step in and watch her new visitors closely.

Thank you for reading and reviewing.