(Apologies for how long it took me to work on this chapter. Things… Came up)
Arkham Asylum, Mr Freeze hears the crackling of dark energy and the screams of dying guards, before he sees his cell opening up and he goes to investigate
Mr. Freeze: My cell is open. What's going on?
as he goes out of the heated cell, he sees Humpty Dumpty (Voiced by Mike Pollock) out as well
Humpty Dumpty: Broken in. Can't be put back together again.
He then sees a familiar yet disturbingly different silloette
BWL: Victor Fries… You will be free as long as you promise to play with me.
Mr. Freeze: Mein gott… What are you?
BWL pulls out a card
BLW: Take this card and I will give you the power to create whatever you desire.
Freeze takes the card as his power slowly upgrades
Mr. Freeze: Who invites Mr. Freeze? Are you Batman? Or are you Joker?
BWL: I am something more, from down. Down, down among the gnashing teeth. A place colder and darker then your frigid heart
In the Snow Lake, Nightwing and co. with King as well as his Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV6, John and his Ancient Gear Soldier, Kojin and his Seiyaryu, and Nico with his Photon Saber Tiger, are fighting a Frost Golem
Nightwing: It seems like I'm not the only one who looked a little suprise to step into a barren frigged wasteland populated by Frost Golems where a major U.S. metropolis used to be. It's been three days since a mountain appeared in Gotham City and Batman told me about the existence of a Dark Mutiverse. Now I'm stuck fighting alongside Damien Wayne, the latest to inherit the mantle of Robin. Killer Croc, the monstrous wrestler turned part time hero. Harley Quinn, the Joker's paramour, Green Arrow, the Emerald Archer, and a quartet of nerds calling themselves the "Sperg Crew" It's been two damn days since he asked me and the Batfamily to distract the JLA os he could retrieve a secret weapon, then went radio silent. One day since I came to Gotham to find it transformed into chaos by batman's worse villains.
As Nightwing tries to rapell it down, the giant slams its fist down, knocking the first robin to the deck
Nightwing: Not how I would have chosen to spend a long weekend, honestly. Ice and tights do not mix. Good thing I stopped by the Batcave and picked up this thermal armor Bruce had made for me. It's his version of an ugly sweater. He just wants me to stay warm.
Nightwing tugs with all his might
Nightwing: HHNNNN. This way. Get that thing moving this way!
Harley: to King What's he goin' on about
King: Dunno.
Croc smirks, meanwhile
Croc: Hnn… The sun puts it at 5:15. I get what you're doing, kid! It's rush hour in Gotham and the automated el train runs in rain or snow
Croc roars and drop kicks the Frost Golem
John: I get it too. Ancient Gear Soldier, Rapid Fire Flurry!
The clockpunk monster fires off blasts of energy, providing support fire to Croc, before John and the reptillian monster double drop kicks the monster in front of the elevated tracks, and has its head shattered by the El Train, ripping it in half
Harley: Yay, he rolled a natural twenty!
GA: I'm… Going to pretend I didn't get that reference.
Croc: Ya can take the kid outta Gotham, but ya can't take the Batman out of the kid.
Damien walks up, understandably pissed
Damien: Nightwing, THIS is what you meant when you said you had to "Take care of something"? How DARE you search for my father without me! We could've found Batman by now if you hadn't left me behind with this would-be nanny and these pathetic excuses for super-criminals… Nightwing?
Nightwing feel his head wound open up, blood pouring down it
Damien: Your head… The Wound you received…
Nightwing: From Deathwing with Simon Hurt's Black Blade. It reappeared after we left the Justice League in the amazon. It's what drew me here toward the mountain. And it's been getting worse the longer I follow that.
They see one of Mister Terriffic's T-Spheres, which hovers up and flies off
Damien: What is it?
Nightwing: I was chasing it when my chilly buddy and I ran into you guys. Whatever it is, it knows something we don't.
GA: What if it's leading us into a trap?
Nightwing: Worse then a frozen city populated by monsters?
GA: Touche. It'll be good to have an adult around, Nightwing.
Kojin: What are you… HEY!
Nightwing and GA shake hands
Nightwing: Thanks for keeping an eye on Robin.
Damien: WHAT?! You're taking his side against your own family? If everyone is going to ally themselves against me, I'd be better off with the Teen Titans.
In the innermost circle of Gotham, Beast Boy, now an octopus, is fending off ax-crazy civilians
Beast Boy: We'd have been better off with Damian. At least you know when he's going to be a jerk, which is always
Raven is clutching her head
Raven: I can feel their terror and confusion, Beast Boy. And… It's getting worse
Starfire: Raven's right. Judge less and prevent more injuries.
Beast Boy: I can't tell who's a looter and who's a lootee anymore!
Beast Boy them sees a whole bunch of rioters charging in
Beast Boy: Don't look now, but a whole bunch of them are about to terrify and confuse us to death!
Aqualad: As the newest member here, I'll ask. What the hell do we do?!
They then see a giant monsterous demon, plasma blasts, and beams of light and they gun it, as the titans see the rest of the Sperg Crew, Yong, Josh, GB, Rikion, Ben, Josh F. and Chris, as well as their allies alongside Deadshot (Voiced by Matthew Mercer), Enchantress (Voiced by Brandy Kopp), Captain Boomerang (voiced by Greg Ellis), El Diablo (voiced by Yuri Lowenthal)
Deadshot: You can say a lot about super-villians, but at least we don't send fuckin' kids to do our jobs for us.
Cpt. Boomerang: Nice work, Enchantress. They'd run faster if their pants weren't so full of shit.
The quartet just look at the anti-heroes, Beast Boy turning back to normal
Raven: I can feel eyes from the darkness.
Starfire: Of that I have little doubt. That's Deadshot, Captian Boomerang, Enchantress and El Diablo and the rest of the Sperg Crew and their comrades.
Aqualad: I'm ready to rumble if you guys are, I think.
Deadshot: Put it away, you little monsters. We're not here to fight it out with the Justice League Jr. Fan Club. We're all good guys here.
Meanwhile, the Dark Damien is looking from the shadows alongside an evil version of (voiced by Ryan Drummond). However, back in the Frozen Lake, Green Arrow is marking a tree with an arrow, much to Kojin's annoyance
Kojin: Marking your way with an arrow again? That's old-fashioned and unoriginal. Like you.
Nightwing: When I was cut by Dr. Hurt's dark metal, it showed me terrible things.
GA: You got a better idea, Shinigami? In case you haven't noticed, the farther along we go, the less anything inveted after the middle ages works. I hope you and your buddies saved your high scores.
King: Hmph. Of course we did.
John: Nightwing, we still got eyes on the ball?
Nightwing: I thought it had poisoned my blood, transmuted it somehow, like some ancient alchemy. But now, I have a pit in my stomach. Like when you suddenly remember that you left the stove on. Becuase this isn't my first rodeo with mysterious metals. Years ago, Batman discovered Electrum in one of my teeth. Traces in my blood. Latent, Waiting for a trigger. The Owls put it there. My whole life, they'd secretly prepared me to be a weapon. A talon. After I took down their network, I thought I was free of them, but what if I'm not
Croc, meanwhile, is coming down with a cold
Harley: IT's just hangin' ten and Nightwing is still bleedin' all over his prettyboy face.
Nightwing: IT's like it wants us to see something here, in Newhouse park.
Croc growls, feeling more under the weather
Harley: You okay, Crocky? You sound like my grandma's cat. You got a scale ball or somethin'?
Crock: It's so… c-c-c-c-c-cold. I'm not feelin' so good..
Croc unleashes the mother of all sneezes, sending the snow flying in all directions, showing a statue of the Court of Owls
Croc: Guh… Cold blood, man.
King: Quinn, look.
Harley sees where King is pointing and sees a statue of the Owl
Harley: Oooh, Court of Owls
John: I thought Batman removed all of these from Gotham.
King: He did, dude. This is a first, even for me.
GA: Why would a defunct secret society suddenly make a reapperance right when everything when to hell?
A massive ice pillar erupts from underneith Arrow and he dodges, before knocking an arrow, as John gets out his Karambits, King, his broadsword, Harley, her mallet, Robin, his sword, and Nightwing, his escrima sticks
Mr Freeze: Yes, Hell, as described by Dante, with its multiple rings. Each one is guarded by a devil
They hear rumbling and see Frost Golems, which they roar at our motley crew
GA: We got company.
John: Big, ugly company.
Profetens Apenbering by Gorgoroth starts playing as, through the snow, they see a pair of glowing red eyes
Mr. Freeze: And at the bottom of the universe is a lake of ice
They see Mr .Freeze in nothing but a kilt and armored cups, his hand engulfed in ice, and armed with a massive sword made of ice
Mr. Freeze: I am Freeze. I was chosen to guard this realm. All that enters here turns cold, becomes brittle and breaks!
King: Well, Freeze, you'll find that we're a hard bunch to freeze!
King charges and clashes with him sword to sword, King skillfully dodging strikes and parrying, before Freeze switches for a pair of icy kitana and disarms King, before kicking the Essex based sperg to the snow and lunging at him with both blades poised high
Mr. Freeze: A frozen tomb awaits!
King rolls out of the way, and kicks Freeze in the hamstring of his outside leg, forcing him to a knee, before rolling over his back, as John summons Cannon Soldier and Vampire Lord to go after the Frost Giants, while he then scales up one and decapitates them
Freeze: Tsk… I will not fall to a pair of Spergs.
King: Hate to bloody break it to you, but you're screwin' with the wrong two spergs…
Back in the outermost circle, Kojin and co. are conversing with the Suicide Squead
Enchantress: Your beast is wonderful. What's his name?
Raven: Goliath is not mine. But do me a favor and back off, elder goth. That means you too, four eyes.
Ben: Excuse me? I'll have you know that I'm the grandson of a Titan, the son of the Elder Goddess, Cetrion and the god of all Pasta Monsters.
Raven: My dad's the devil, your point?
Ben backs off
Ben: … Got me there.
Kojin: Fine, we're on the same page, Deadshot, but we Spergs don't assoicate with criminals and mercenaries.
Deadshot: And I don't usually hang out with grade-schoolers and short bus kids.
GB: You reallly wanna be punished, don't you?
Deadshot: Lady, I'm not into that stuff, okay?
GB: Your loss, Lawton.
Deadshot: However, Quinn and Croc are missing and-
Josh: Guys…?
BB: What's wrong, Josh, you forgot to feed that archer again?
Josh: No. Do you hear… Chattering? They're saying "Crow"
And sure enough, as For Whom the Bells Toll by Metalica starts playing, they see an army of Crows
Josh: Right, Sperg Crew, let's get to work!
Josh (Firecracker): You got it!
Josh transforms into his Tyrant Alien form, and swings his tail at several Crows, sending the little demons flying as Josh unsheathes his Lightsworn Sabre at lightning speeds, before sheathing his blade, causing the demonic mooks of the Batman Who Laughs to fall to pieces
Josh G: Josh, no matter how much I see that form, I can never get used to it.
Josh F.: I get that a LOT.
In another part, GB is swinging her plasma whips around, cutting down Robins, as well as imps and the occasional Mancubus with the grace of a gymnast, before kicking one of the demons in the mush with her stiletto, crushing its throat, before kicking another one down and stomping on its chest, grinding her heel into its torso so that Kojin can summon out Cyberdark Keel, who stabs the demon with its wings
Kojin: Damn, GB, if I'd known you'd be a freak like that, I'd signed your application forum for ya.
GB: Focus on crowd control, Kojin, before I grind your torso into dust.
Kojin squeaks, and nods, scared of her sadism
Kojin: Y-Yes ma'am.
Nico, meanwhile, is unleashing various magic attacks at several Possessed and Barons of Hell
Nico: Damn… Guess I'll have to break out the heavy artillery 'ginst these demon… Demons.
Nico summons Midnight Blue
Nico: Itoryoudan… Zantetsuken!
Nico vanishes and reappears behind the demons, who slowly slump over, limbs and heads falling off and artieral bloodspray turning the streets a dark crimson as he walks away from the carnage he just created
Starfire: Titans, together!
Deadshot: Shoot these damn things!
They unleash a barrage of energy and bullets as Beast Boy turns into a bear and roars, swatting their heads appart
BB: This is my worse nightmare! An army of Robins.
They look up and see a dark version of Robin and Exe
MCP!Exe: Indeed, Garfield Logan. The name of the dark is Robin.
Dark Damien: And he dwells within all of you.
Back with our heroes in the Lake of ice, Nightwing and co are fighting a losing battle
Nightwing: The metal showed me a rolling cauldron of failed worlds, and in each of those worlds, a version of me who made the wrong choice, who was broken by loss, who went down the wrong path, who was alone.
Nightwing: The owl statue! Hit it
Crock: Ya hear this kid? He thinks he's the boss now! Hmph
Croc turns the statue away and a door opens to a crypt
Damien: Nightwing is correct. The owls guard the nest from their Shadow Perch. Whatever freeze wants, the owl is guarding over it.
King: So whatever Freeze wants, the owl is guarding it. Gotcha
.
GA: We'll be putting our backs against a wall, man! Hope your other autists have planned a helluva escape for the others
John: Knowing Benny, he has. Just trust me
Back outside the outermost circrle, the Teen Titans and the Suicide Squad out outmatched and outnumbered until Ben lands down
Ben: Okay, you freaks, ready to tangle with a demigod?
One demon roars
Ben: ZRUAKA!
Ben unleashes a massive earthen knuckle that sends some demons and crows flying, before creating two blood swords, and slowing time down, before using them to create a glyph
Ben: KENITOA!
An explosoin of blood sends the rest of them flying, as Ben dusts his hands
Ben: Okay, I should take the rest of you to Shang Tsung's island.
BB: Dude, that was AWESOME!
Ben chuckles sheepishly as he rubs his head, before opening an sand portal to said island
Josh G: There's our ticket outta here.
They gun it with the Titans and the squad, as John, King, Nico and co. land in a strange crypt as GA just sighs and roles his eyes
King: I've met my fare share of other super lot lately. If there's one thing they'll say about you if we make it out of this shiteshow alive, it's that you earned that, Nightwing
Nico: C'mon, let's demon go, guys.
they land in armory
Damien: Nightwing, where did you lead us?
Nightwing: The armory.
King: What… What is it?
HQ: I'll tell ya what it is, Mistah K...It's the bar mitzvah of my murder dreams
Nightwing: When Batman told me that he'd been prepared to be a doorway for Barbatos to come to our world. I told him what I have seen. He said what he always says. To let him worry about what's in the dark. But what if Dr. Hurt knew something even he didn't? What if this was the Owls' plan all along? If Bruce is the doorway, what if I'm the weapon?
Olie picks up an arrow
GA: The Arrow. Just like the ones I found when I was last in Gotham. What is this place?
Nightwing: It's metal. The metal. The kind Robin and I encountered. That's somehow connected to Barbatos the demon. The owls have been holding it. Preparing. Now we're the only ones left to fight.
Damien: Fight? What fight?! We wonder blind and dumb, when we should be looking for Batman!
Damien punches his brother hard in the face, causing him to stagger back
Damien: The Teen Titans question whether I can be trusted! Green Arrow believes I'm nothing more then a child playing dress up! And YOU believe you know best, like ALWAYS! You never doubt! What is WRONG with you?!
Nightwing dodges another punch and slams the little toolshed down
Nightwing: I don't always know what's best, but I do know that we've been here before. You and me, searching for Batman. Wherever he is, we'll find him like we did before… Like family.
Nightwing breaks down into sobs, before Croc puts a hand on his shoulder
KC: Aw. Hey, I miss my Auntie Flowers, too. Now that we're all done sobbin', seems like it'd be a real shame to let all this go to waste.
Outside, Freeze points his sword, ready to finish the fight
Freeze: Open the earth for me, my giants! I claim this realm and everything in it!
They roar, and as I Bring The Darkness starts playing, the armored ragtag band walk out, John looking more like Jon Snow, as Green Arrow fires off two arrows at a frost giant, dropping it, everyone, in badass gear, is tearing through the giants
Nightwing: When the mountain rose up in Gotham, I could feel its gravitational pull from Bludhaven
GA: We all look hot, so let's warm Freeze up
Nightwing: I could feel its poison pouring into the sky
Mr Freeze: Nein! The court's armory belongs to me.
He fires off a blast of ice from his off hand, hitting King and Killer Crock dead on and freezing them solid
Mr Freeze: I will pick the pieces off of your brittle corpses.
Freeze spins his sword around before John lashes at his hamstring
Nightwing: So when Bruce vanished after we fought the Justice League and their autistic allies, I knew I had to come here. To save the city I once called home from the darkness
Nightwing melts them free of their prision
Nightwing: Are you ready, Dr. Quinzel
Harley gets ready for… Something
Harley: Gimme a second longer with the view, would ya?
Nightwing: HARLEY!
The former Arkham intern rolls her eyes, sighing
Harley: Okay, fine.
She shatters the ice, as Croc, Nightwing and John charge
John: CHARGE!
Nightwing: To be there for my friends so they weren't alone. And to stop them from going down the unlit path. Becuase it's only going to get worse from here.
Freeze fires an ice wave, from his swrod and charges at the First Robin
Freeze: He gave me the power! And I desire a frozen, silent land!
King summons Summoned Skull
King: Man, Gotham does do freakshow weirdos better than anybody. Dark Lightning!
Summoned Skull fires off a blast of electricity that hits all the frost giants and blinds Freeze
Nightwing: Now! The sword! Hit the sword!
John: Robin, King, NOW!
Robin: I know the plan! Don't boss me around!
Nightwing: In the armory, I told Damien I had faith we'd find Batman like we always do. I lied. The truth is, I'm having visions again. Of failure. Of unlit paths. But they're not visions of me. And they're not of some distant world.
Using Simon Hurt's blade, Damien slashes the sword out of of Freeze's hands, sending it into the air, only for King to drop kick it into Freeze's leg, and shatter it
Damien: I am Robin! I am the heir to the Bat.
King: Yeah, and you're a bloody menace. Though I suppose that comes in handy sometimes.
Damien keeps whaling on Freeze, only for Nightwing to restrain him
Nightwing: Robin! Stop! STOP! It's over! It's over…
John picks up another card
King: What is it, dude?
John: Another card-
A T-Sphere ganks it
John: What the hell?
King sighs and looks over at the group, ready to head back to the island
King: We're playing someone's sodding game, running their bloody maze, and they've got the advantage that they can see it from above.
Nightwing clutches his head, screaming in pain as a sand portal opens
King: Nightwing? You okay?
Nightwing: Like a drumbeat in my head, one name keeps repeating… Barbatos. Visions… The Darkness… Calling…
Nightwing: Guh… Trust me, King. IT's not above anything.
They head back to the island with a wounded nightwing in tow, and GB starts tending to him, before looking at her
Nightwing: Y'know… Bruce always had this little joke he used to say when he'd leave and put me in charge.
GB: Oh? And what's this "joke" of his?
Nightwing: He'd always say… clears throat, so he can do his best Batman impression "Keep the lights on until I get back" This time, he left that last part off.
GB can't help but chuckle at the bat's sense of humor as Kojin rolls his eyes, meanwhlie, underneath the island, Deadshot is looking around, his eye glowing in the dimly lit cavern, when he stumbles upon Goro's Lair
Deadshot: What the hell…
Shang Tsung walks out from the shadows, looking at Lawton
Shang Tsung: I trust you are enjoying my island, Mr Lawton?
Deadshot: If this were a vacation, I'd say yes. Now then, where am I… Wait, that kid… He sent me here.
Shang Tsung: Yes, the spawn of the Crimson King and Cetrion, wasn't he?
Deadshot: Hmph. Get to the god damned point as to who that is.
Shang Tsung: Out of all my champions, Floyd Lawton, I miss Goro most. You're lucky he's dead. He would have eaten you for daring to enter his lair uninvited.
An ice sphere then appears and Floyd shoots it with fire bullets
Sub-Zero (Voiced by Steve Blum): I would not expect we would meet again, Deadshot
Deadshot: Heh, right back atcha, pal. Say. You wouldn't happen to see a crazy former intern and a walking handbag around here, did you?
Sub-Zero: I have not seen Waylon Jones or Harleen Quinzell in this island. However, the path forward is long, hard and uncertain, and the light is dwindling. Right now, we need all the help we can get
Deadshot: Yeesh, first you compare me to some cowboy and then you say some creepy crap like that? You must not get out much, do you?
The two go their seperate ways, and once Nightwing is 100%m Kronika sends him back into the fray, in Challenger's Mountain, however, Beo walks with the Dark Damien
Beo: Speak, little bird. What did you find out?
Dark Damien: Those damnable spergs have defeated Freeze.
Beo: My oh my… That's not how we wanted the game to go, now is it?
Samuel: Hehehehe… We must deal them a new hand of cards then. One packed with Jokers.
Demon versions of Starfire, Deadshot, El Diablo, Enchantress, Captain Boomerang, Beast Boy and Aqualad walk out, corrupted and twisted and devolved to their darkest insticnts by the dark god's magic alongside the Batman Who Laugh's joker toxin, as all 3 share a haunting laugh