"So three double cheese burgers? One plain and the other two regular. Three large fry. And three waters. Anything else? A voice asked through at a drive through intercom.
"Nope. That'll be it. " Batgirl said back.
"All right, ma'am that'll be twenty two fifty at your first window."
Barbara nodded and started walking towards said window not really paying attention to the flabbergasted people in the car behind her. After a while of fighting monster criminals as a crime fighting member of the Batman family, the looks of civilians just seemed to become of the environment. So much so that she didn't even register the man's beyond surprised expression behind the window as she handed a roll of cash. No, she only responded when the stare he never gave back the change.
"Uh. I'm kind of in a hurry." She said politely. The man behind the counter immediately returned to normal and handed her her change.
"Thanks." She said moving the final window.
"Ok, Ma'am here's your….meal." The woman at the second window said nearly dropping the bag into Batgirl's arms before seeing who it in fact was.
"Nice. Thank you." She said happy to finally smell some food and immediately cradled the bag in one hand and activated her grapple. Catapulting her into the sky and soon out of sight from anyone at the drive through.
"Ok, Huntress. I've got….." She started into her comm, swinging through the air only for the sounds of multiple gunshots interrupted her thinking.
"Yeah? Barb?" Huntress voice asked back.
"I've got a situation. A little diner called Irene's a few blocks off from the Subway." Batgirl said planting herself on a roof top just opposite of said diner. "I'll be a few minutes."
"Need help?" Tim asked
"Nah. None of the big gangs, probably just some punks. I won't be long." She ended the conversation with that and placed the bagged food on the rooftop before descending down to the street. She ducked behind a parked car to avoid being sighted from the windows. Looking through the glass she could make out three decently built thugs each wearing ski masks that hid everything but their eyes and mouth and waving around fire arms aimlessly at the crowd. One shot gun and the other two hand guns. Yeah, this was going to be easy. Before she could leap into action however, one such thug moved to a table and started wailing on some people there. Ok he was going to get the worst of it.
She was more right then she knew. That same thug then pointed the barrel of his gun straight at a young man's face. Not a second later, he collapsed. Before she could even wonder what had happened, the sitting man leapt up from his seat, grabbed the gun before it could hit the ground and fired off two shots towards two of the other robbers. One hit its mark, sending one of them to the ground with a loud yell while the other shattered some glass giving just enough time for the third man to duck behind the counter.
"Wallace, Frank, get them out of here." The young man ordered in a cold almost robotic tone that only further threw Batgirl for a loop. He couldn't have been much older than she was. He leapt into the air with grace giving her full proof that those quick reflexes hadn't been a trick and situated himself behind a knocked over table. Just then, she scolded herself for taking so long to get moving and leapt dashed towards the nearest window.
Itachi cursed his lack of chakra quietly. Using a genjutsu at in his weakened state was foolhardy but he couldn't take any chances. There were too many variable at play. Especially with their weapons. He quickly tried to eliminate the other two thugs with one but their design was strange. With his Sharingan activated, he did his best to study them quickly. It appeared to be an extremely modified design of a crossbow with completely different type of ammunition and effects. It fired an object much smaller than an arrow at an extremely high velocity and it required an aim that Itachi didn't have at the moment to maximize efficiency.
"You bastard! I'll…." The last thug's words were cut off as the glass of nearby window shattered. Itachi glanced towards the sound and what he saw made his eyes widen. A young red haired woman garbed in a dark suit with sparks of yellow on her chest and hands had charged through the wall with an energetic smile. She pulled out a weapon that looked different than the one he had and saw her a metallic rope shoot out and wrap around the weapon of he assailant. Batgirl ripped the shotgun out of the man's hands and not two seconds later dropkicked him into the wall almost smashing through it and falling to the ground unconscious. She gave a smirk at his direction before looking around to see if anyone else had been hurt. Most had done exactly what the stranger had ordered and soon enough there was police lights on the scene along with the comforting blare of an ambulance. She breathed a sigh of relief and then turned to the only other conscious occupant in the diner.
Itachi stood back up to greet the newcomer. He was a little bit taller than her but that wasn't saying much. She held herself like a warrior ready to fight yet seemed relaxed at the same time and her eyes seemed to shine with curiosity and energy. All in all she was an interesting figure at the least. Her thoughts were similar though they were more focused on the strange pattern and color of his eyes.
"Cape. Strange costume and colors. Mask. A vigilante warrior of some kind?" Deciding it would be best to give a good impression, he offered a greeting smile. "My thanks."
"Don't mention it. You ok?" She asked studying the raggedy man before her. It wasn't just the garbage clothes that gave her such an impression either. Despite his quick reflexes, he just seemed so tired. Like he'd just woken up.
"I'm adequate." He replied trying his best to be reassuring.
"Well don't try to be the hero too often." She scolded. "It can end making things worse."
"I wasn't my intention I assure you. I merely wished to protect my…acquaintances." He finished instead of friends. He had only after all just met them.
"I know. And for what it's worth, you're calm under pressure." She said looking back to the one who had just seemed to drop over. Judging by his breathing, he was still alive but his eyes appeared glazed over. Like he was under some kind of spell. "What happened to him?"
"He's currently experiencing the pain of being trapped inside a house fire. " Itachi said simply. "It should be over in a few moments."
Batgirl's widened eyes told Itachi that she didn't seem too fond of his technique but both of them turned their heads at the sound of a supposedly unconscious man groaning. Itachi quickly tore his gaze back to him and raised the gun pointing straight at he downed would be robber. Just as he fired, The gun was kicked out of his hands and into the ground.
"What the hell was that?!" Batgirl yelled.
"He's still alive." Itachi replied confused by the action. "You did mean to kill him."
"NO!" She yelled. "I don't kill people!"
"Batgirl! Get out of the way!" A police man ordered entering the restaurant in time to see the action and raising his own firearm.
"Just wait a second, this guy he….." Batgirl began to explain only to hear fast moving footsteps moving away from her. She groaned as the man she was about to defend, ran out the door and away from the police. "Look, I'll handle him. You just make sure these guys stay down." Batgirl ordered before taking off after Itachi. "Hey! Stop!" She called out to the man who had already gained a considerable distance from her.
"Jeez he's fast." She admitted only to be confused yet again as he leaped into the air at a height that wasn't supposed to be possible for a regular guy. And even weirder still, he wasn't aiming for a rooftop. He impacted on the side of a building a building and….started running along the outside of it horizontally. "Ok. New Meta. That's nice." She sighed before firing up her grapple yet again and swinging after him. Right past her bag of now cold burgers.
She followed him for close seven minutes. Constantly calling out for him to stop but to no response. Finally the pair slowed and it was here, she noticed that Itachi had actually been following something in the streets below. The pair had stopped on a rooftop overlooking Gotham General hospital and as she walked ran up beside him, she saw a pair of medics rush out of a now parked ambulance with a person strapped to a gurney along with what looked like three homeless people swiftly following them. She then looked over to the man standing beside her and was stunned at all the emotions were visible in his now onyx colored eyes. Regret seeming to be the most prominent.
"An acquaintance of yours?"
"Yes. A woman named Janice." Itachi replied. "Paul seems to be ok, but she looked hurt."
"You can see really well can't you? Was that what the red eyes did?" She asked.
"Amongst other things." He said swiftly. Annoyed by the lack of elaboration she decided to try another route.
"Look, uh I don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm Batgirl." She said extending a hand towards him. He finally turned his gaze away from the hospital and onto her. He somehow looked just as intimidating now as he had with the red eyes.
"Itachi Uchiha." He said, hoping that no one in this land would recognize the name as she shook her hand.
"Itachi…." Batgirl said with a nod. "Look, back at the diner. Were you really going to kill that man?"
"Yes." He replied simply. "I assumed you had meant to, so when he started moving…. I meant no offense."
"Look, I'm not offended by it, but you can't just murder people. Didn't your parents teach you that?"
"They taught me how."
The line successfully disturbed her. She almost felt the need to vomit at the thought. Fighting back that feeling, she spoke again.
"We'll get back to that. The guy at the diner who fell over. You said he was experiencing a house fire, how?"
Itachi chose his words carefully. "It was an illusionary technique. As I said, it isn't permanent. He'll be awake soon if he isn't already."
Illusionary technique? This guy just raised more questions than he did answers. Batgirl sighed. "Where are you from, Itachi?"
He looked like he was about to reply when a familiar voice began to shout into her ear.
"Batgirl, Batman needs us at the Port. Apparently Two face and Penguin are going at it." Tim's voice said.
"And bring the burgers." Huntress voice added on. Batgirl sighed
"Look, I'll be there in a second." She said before focusing back on Itachi. Or she would've if not for the fact that he had vanished. She dashed all over the roof and in all directions to try and see where he had went. Nothing. It was like he was never there at all.
"Well that figures." She said with a sigh before deciding to worry about it later and immediately took off towards the distress call, disappearing into the snowy city. Just then across the street from her Itachi came into view from behind the giant pine tree that was strapped to the top of Gotham General. Did he understand why it was there? No but he reminded himself that he was the stranger here so he had no right to complain. He then leapt down onto the street below landing as silently as was humanly possible and walking into the hospital.
As the night drugged on and the snow continued to fall at an almost constant rate, a man closed the blinds of his shop window with a heavy sigh. He never had liked the snow and had even more contempt for the time of year that currently held dominion over it. Still though, wasn't a lot he could do about it. He locked the door behind him and shut off all the crimson and green lights that had been strung up as well as the traditional ones and made his way upstairs to his home. Once inside he once again locked the door and marched over to the computer.
His eyes dashed all over the screen as he scrolled through any new articles of crime that had happened in the city. As usual many of them blended together in a stream uselessness. Car jacking epidemic. Bank robbed. Muggings low from last month. Nothing of even remote interest to the man. He sighed and was about ready to close out the window when a new article appeared. A Diner held up.
It didn't sound that unusual but he continued reading through it nevertheless. In a strange turn, it seemed a vagabond had helped one of the Bat family. There was a video attacked at the bottom of the article.
"Can you describe the rescuer besides Batgirl?" The voice of Vickie Vale asked a presumably to one of the people who had been in the diner.
"He just seemed rather plain looking honestly. Young, twenties, some long hair, just a poor homeless guy, until you saw the eyes."
The man's attention grew astronomically as he waited for the victim to continue.
"His eyes were really wired. All blood red with dark spots on his pupils. Honestly he looked more like a bad guy than a good guy."
The man paused the video and leaned back against his wooden chair. It was probably a coincidence. This world had been so populated with abnormalities that the odds for it actually being what he was hoping for were slim to none. And yet, what if it was?
What if someone else had finally appeared in this new world? The thought was too comforting to simply discount. The man ran his thin fingers through his bright red hair and narrowed his gaze. If there was the slightest chance that it was actually him, he needed to start searching. He stood back up and grabbed a tan trench coat hanging against the wall. He then opened a window that led out to a fire escape. Closing it behind him just as a strong wind smacked against his body. He paid it no mind however and quickly leapt down onto the snow covered cement below. He sighed at the ground he would have to cover, but didn't hesitate.
If this was truly a familiar face, maybe he would finally manage to get some answers on how he got here.
Superman smiled as the sight of his fully packed suit case. He was finally ready to get out of the city for the year and head back to Smallville. Ready to enjoy a nice calm Christmas with his parents and J'onn if he decided to pop up for the holidays. He looked back out to his apartment balcony as the snow continued to rain down, illuminated only by a nearby steep light and a small string of Christmas lights. just in time for his comm to go off.
"What's up?" He asked.
"You heading out yet?" Wonder Woman asked him from the pilot's seat of her Javelin as she flew through the blizzard.
"First thing tomorrow." Clark replied closing the blinds to his apartment balcony. "What about you? Going back to Themyscera?"
"Not this year. I'm actually spending the holidays with Bruce." Diana
"Well. That's some progress." Clark said smiling. "How'd you accomplish that?"
"Alfred." Diana's responded. "He seems really worried about Bruce not wanting to be home when the Titans show up in a few days."
"Yeah, I got that vibe too." Superman nodded in agreement. "So nothing's happening?"
"Nothing out of the ordinary." Diana replied. "There was an earthquake in the Pacific Islands, but Flash and some other League members have that covered. Though, Aquaman did say there had been trouble in Atlantis earlier today."
"Think we should investigate?" Clark asked.
"You know how he is." Diana answer back annoyed at the King of Atlantis' ever condescending tone. "Likes to keep his city to himself."
"Yeah. Kind of like another person we know." Clark finished. "I'll talk to you later Diana."
"Night Superman." Diana said before phasing out. With that out of the way. Superman collapsed onto his bed drifted into his sleep. Or rather tried to anyway. Despite this being what was supposed to be his favorite and most calming time of the year, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. As if something was coming or worse already here. He hated those types of feelings. Not because they stopped him from sleeping, but because they were almost always right.
A/N: Tada! And so it begins. I hope things aren't moving in too slow a pace for you guys. I like to take my time to build up to these things. I'd also like to thank everyone for the feedback so far. I'm glad you're all enjoying the story. As usual I humbly ask for you to leave your thoughts in the form of a reviews, flames, follows, or favorites. And I hope to see you all next time.