Barbara instantly assumed a fighting stance, ready for anything. She may not have much experience with instant teleportation but she recognized it well enough. The scenery around her had completely shifted. Instead of the grimy streets of Gotham, she was now surrounded by an arid desert with sparse, spiky plants and a few cacti. She frowned, looking for any threat but so far saw nothing. She hesitantly relaxed but still kept her guard up. For all she knew, she could be seeing a very powerful illusion right now.
She went to check what she had on hand when she yelped, staring in shock at what she was wearing. Instead of the blue jacket and white blouse, she was now in full Batgirl uniform. She reached for her head and felt the cowl there too. She hadn't even felt it on, hadn't even noticed. But that could only mean that whoever was behind this knew that Barbara Gordon was Batgirl.
She instantly thought of her brother, but that was impossible. She had seen him die. Granted, he had died before but this time she just knew he was dead. Besides, she didn't think he had the capacity to do something of this magnitude. Her next thought was the Joker, but last she checked her father was still hunting him. But maybe that was just what he wanted them all to think.
There weren't that many others who knew who she was. She couldn't dwell on it right now. She crouched down and picked up some sand, rubbing it between her fingers. Felt real enough. She scanned the horizon but just saw more desert as far as she could see.
Barbara quickly went through what she had on her. About a dozen batarangs of various purposes, several flash grenades, her Batrope, her collapsible bo staff, her lockpick, bola, mini-binoculars, first-aid kit, and a flashlight. Not a bad haul, but she definitely didn't remember stocking her suit last time. Whoever was responsible for bringing her here, they had clearly prepared her for a fight. That didn't bode well.
"Alright," she said to herself. "Next step is to try and find out who's behind this. But since I don't know how long that will take, and since I'm stuck in the desert, should probably try and find a water source first." She looked down at the plants around her. The cacti she knew contained water, but that could lead to more problems down the line considering its high concentration of acidity. But the other plants around here, they needed a viable source of water. And since she couldn't spot any nearby oasis, that could only mean groundwater.
"Great," she muttered. "I have to dig for my water." Still, she knew what she was looking for and where it would be. That was something. She scanned the horizon again but still only saw endless desert. No discernible features stood out to give her some sort of destination. All she could do was pick a direction and start walking. And that was a terrible plan.
She decided to head to her right. There was a couple more desert plants growing in that direction so hopefully that meant it led somewhere, thought she wouldn't hedge any bets on it. As she started walking, she already found herself wiping her forehead as sweat trickled down it. She glanced up at the sun, seeing it was directly above her now. Great, that meant she had several hours of this glaring heat before it would start to go down. At least she knew where to find water.
As Barbara walked, she started to think more about who could be behind this and kept coming to one conclusion. Ra's al Ghul. Mysterious abduction, stranded in a desert, and wearing her full Batgirl costume. Yeah, he was the only one that made sense. Him or his daughter Talia. She hadn't heard from either in a while and neither had Bruce. Probably made the time ripe for a comeback.
That was just great. Both were some of the biggest threats the Bat Family had ever gone up against, supreme fighters on their own with an army of assassins at their beck and call. She sighed and took another look around, still seeing nothing of real interest except for some sand dunes appearing. No sign of where Khadym, the city both demons called home. She didn't know what their plan was but she doubted it was just about her. No doubt the other members of the family were around. She just hoped she found them soon. She did not want to tackle either al Ghul or any of their minions alone.
At least the dunes was a destination. Maybe if she stood up on one she could find some sort of landmark to help her navigate, or better yet someone else out there. So that's where she headed. As she did, she mentally began to list everything she knew about the al Ghuls and what it would take to beat them. She knew with access to the Lazarus pits they never really stayed dead. And while that meant that they kept coming back for more, it also meant that Barbara didn't have to hold back when fighting them.
She also knew that Talia was Damian's mother, which created some obvious tension there. She couldn't imagine having someone like that as a mother. Then again, she had a serial killer for a brother. She sighed as she thought about it. Damian was going through too much right now with the death of Alfred and his recent lethal tactics in taking down criminals. She hoped he wasn't involved with this. She didn't know if it would do him good or just make things worse for him right now.
She shook that off for now, decided to deal with it if it came up. For now, she would list all the strengths and weaknesses she knew of the two immortal warriors. Unfortunately, she could count on one hand the number of times she had personally gone against either one of them. Didn't make her feel too ecstatic for this encounter. Of course, there was the chance this was something else entirely. In which case, she really had no idea what to expect.
Barbara kept walking, wondering about all the possibilities behind this and how she could prepare for them, as she approached the dunes, a couple of them looming over her. She was so focused that it took her a second to notice it. She stopped for a second, trying to make sense of what she was feeling. It was like a strange thrumming sensation inside her…almost like it was coming from her blood. It felt like it was being drawn out of her.
As she stopped, she then noticed the sand at her feet. It was moving. But there was no wind. She was instantly on alert, fingers carefully holding several batarangs to throw at a second's notice. She looked carefully at the sand and then saw it wasn't moving all at once. It was every few seconds. She watched as it shifted again, then stilled, and then shifted again. She got down on her hands and knees and then placed her head against the sand, listening. And as the sand shifted, she heard it. A thump echoing through the ground. An impact tremor.
If she had to take a guess, it was from footprints.
Barbara looked up. The dunes around her were pretty tall but she was able to see over a few of them. And something that made these kinds of tremors would have to be pretty big so she should be able to see it.
Unless it was large enough that it could still be out of sight but make these kinds of tremors. Yeah, that was a comforting thought.
Or, other idea, it was beneath her. Even more comforting.
Barbara quickly climbed up the nearest sand dune, making sure not to do it too fast and to keep her body low to the ground so as to make sure she wasn't visible to anyone or anything looking her way. She reached the top and lay flat, scanning the surrounding area to see if she could spot anything. At first glance, she didn't see anything, just an increase of dunes on one side and a flat expanse of sand on the other. There was, however, one sand dune that stretched out for at least several miles, basically covering most of the horizon. Whatever was making those sounds had to be beyond that and it was only a short walk away.
Normally, heading toward the thing causing tremors would be a bad idea. And it still was. But Barbara took risks all the time. And she needed to know what this was. Maybe it would provide a clue for her as to what this all was and what had happened to her. So she started walking. But she only managed a few steps when, as she was scanning the large sand dune, she spotted something strange. In her line of work, Barbara always had to stay sharp and keep her eyes peeled for everything so she didn't miss anything which was why she managed to see what she did. There was one spot near the top of the dune where the sand was shifting strangely. If she hadn't already been on guard, she would have likely missed it.
She narrowed her eyes. Now that she focused in on it, she saw other things. For one, the formation of the sand there as opposed to elsewhere was off. It was like it was giving off the appearance that it looked like part of the sand dune, but the dimensions of it were wrong. As Barbara moved closer she could see that the area was actually sticking out of the dune. The sand was just moving in such a way to make it look like it was normal. Which meant that someone was controlling it. Which meant it was hiding something important.
Barbara pulled out several batarangs and held them at the ready, cautiously approaching the dune. Since she couldn't go at it from above, she had to sneak around the side as much as she could, ducking around the smaller sand dunes while keeping her eyes and ears peeled for the slightest hint of danger. But there was nothing. She made her way to the area. As she did, she felt that strange pull inside her getting stronger, as if her blood was swirling around. The sand at her feet was now shaking more and she could almost hear the pounding causing it, definitely sounding like footsteps. Whatever was causing that had to be connected somehow to the strange sand dune.
She crouched behind the last sand dune, seeing the area dead ahead. She looked down at her clothes and grimaced. Not the best choice when sneaking up on someone in the desert. The dark blue stood out against the beige sand around her. She was tempted to wait until dark but judging from the sun's position that was still hours away. She didn't know if she could afford to wait that long.
Readying all her tools, Barbara prepared to sneak up on the area when she felt something at her feet. Glancing down, she felt her blood go cold as the sand beneath her rose up like water, causing her to sink. Her first thought was that she had stumbled into some quicksand. But despite the name, no quicksand ever moved that fast. No, this was something else. She scrambled for her grappling gun even though she had no idea what she would grapple to when the sand rose up like a wave and completely smothered her beneath the earth. She struggled but the sand held fast, pinning her arms to her side like hands. Some of it formed a gag around her mouth preventing her from speaking. She twisted and turned but it had no effect. Then she felt her whole body shift, the sand moving her somewhere. She decided to wait and see where it was taking her. She would only waste energy struggling.
She didn't have to wait long. Less than a minute later, she felt her body moving up, the sand breaking across her face to air. The sand around her mouth held fast though, as did it around her arms and legs, keeping her tied up. She was able to get a look at her surroundings and saw that the sand had formed some sort of dome around her except for some holes in one wall. Next to it were two individuals. One was a red-haired girl wearing a dark full body suit made of light stretchy fabric that seemed to cling to her skin. The other looked like a girl as well but it was hard to tell as they were wearing what Barbara recognized as a sheema that covered their whole body as well as their face, leaving only their eyes open, a brilliant blue that almost looked like fire. Two pistols were strapped to her sides. Judging from the second person's posture and hand gestures, they were the ones controlling the sand.
Barbara was about to drop some smoke pellets when the figure in the sheema leaned forward. "I am going to release you," they said in a whisper and Barbara recognized a girl's voice. "But you need to promise not to make any noise. Ok? Please."
Barbara frowned, unsure of what was happening, but nodded her head in response. The girl nodded and the sand holding Barbara receded, freeing her. She slowly got to her hands and knees, facing the two. "What is going on?" she asked, matching the girl's whisper.
The girl gestured to the wall with the holes in it and Barbara moved to it, looking through one of the holes. As soon as she did, she felt a clutch of fear in her heart as she saw the answer to the question of what could be big enough to cause tremors like that.
The answer was obviously a giant.
The other half of the sand dune dropped away into a cliff about 150 feet tall, the desert continuing to expand below it. And right beneath Barbara was a giant at least 30 feet tall wearing what looked like gladiatorial armor with dragon-like legs and weird green hair that Barbara could swear she saw moving on its own. But the worst part was that as soon as she laid eyes on him, her body began to shake even more. The very air seemed to vibrate around the giant's body and Barbara felt her blood thrumming with it. She now realized what it was, the iron being pulled towards it as if this creature was so large and powerful that it generated its own gravitational field. She had never heard of anything like this and she had checked the Justice League databases. She would have expected Superman, Wonder Woman, or the Green Lantern Corps to have come across something like this but no. Whatever it was, it was completely new. And that scared her even more.
"What is that?" she muttered.
"We don't know," the girl in the sheema said. "A giant, obviously. But I've never heard of anything like it."
"I can't believe this is happening," the other girl said, shaking her head in disbelief. "This doesn't make any sense. Giants aren't real."
"Well that thing looks pretty real to me," Barbara told her sharply. If they were going to survive this, they couldn't deal with attitudes like that. She had been thrust into so many impossible situations over the years and that she kind of just went with it at this point, accepting this was her reality. This time was no different. And this girl had to get with the program or she wouldn't last long.
"I'm Barbara, by the way," she said.
"Amani," the girl with the sheema replied.
"Ember," the other girl said.
"So how did you two end up here?" Barbara asked, not taking her eyes off the giant.
She sensed a little hesitation from the two before Amani answered. "We don't know," she said. "One second, I was just walking down the street in Izman, the next I'm in the middle of the desert somewhere."
"Same, though I had just finished a meeting and was returning to my office," Ember explained. "I then transformed to get a better view bu-"
"Wait," Barbara interrupted, turning to face the girl. "Transformed? What does that mean?"
"I'm a dragon," Ember replied simply. So simply in fact that it took a second for Barbara to register it in her mind.
"Oh," she finally said, bobbing her head a little. "Well, that's…neat."
"Thank you," Ember replied. "I flew around a little but didn't really see anything. Just more desert. That was, until I spotted what I thought was a sandstorm but was actually Amani."
"I can control sand. The desert, really," Amani explained when Barbara looked questioningly at her.
"Right," Barbara nodded, having already realized she had had some sort of power when she grabbed Barbara before.
"We decided to join forces and were exploring when we spotted big guy down there and hunkered down here to watch him," Ember continued.
"Why not just fly away?" Barbara asked.
"We wanted to wait and see if he was the one behind this or just another victim of it," Amani explained. "So far, we have nothing. He just keeps walking around, not really doing anything. He seems as confused as we are."
"Hmm," Barbara nodded. So, she didn't think this was Ra's al Ghul or his daughter anymore. Clearly whoever was behind this wasn't targeting the Bat-Family. But then who? A metahuman with control over sand, an apparent dragon-girl, and a giant. And then her. What did all four have in common? It didn't make sense. She didn't have enough pieces yet.
"Why are you dressed like that?" Ember asked curiously, looking at Barbara's outfit.
"It's my Batgirl costume," she replied. "I wear it to fight crime and protect my identity. But I wasn't wearing it when I was taken here. Someone put it on me."
Amani raised an eyebrow. "That's disturbing."
"Right," Barbara agreed. "I think it means that whoever brought us here wanted me to be in my, basically, combat uniform. Which means-"
"They want us to fight," Ember finished, realization dawning on her. "This is an arena. And we're the gladiators."
Barbara nodded while Amani frowned. "I don't know what gladiators are but I get your meaning," she said. "But then, why us specifically?"
"Maybe it was random?"
"No," Barbara shook her head. "Then they wouldn't have given me my costume. They knew exactly who they were picking. But is it just to fight? Or is there something else going on here?"
Ember looked like she was about to say something when Amani straightened up suddenly. "Someone else is approaching."
"How do you know that?"
"Vibrations in the sand. I'm sending out my power to feel for anything like it. It's how we found you," she told Barbara. "Whoever it is, they're approaching fast."
"Where?" Barbara asked, looking around the dome of sand.
"Here." A small hole appeared in the right wall and Barbara instantly looked out of it. But she didn't see any figure emerging, but a sandstorm heading right for them. She backed away fast right before it hit, Amani closing the hole again to stop more sand from flying in.
"Can't you stop this?" Barbara asked.
"No," Amani whispered back and Barbara could hear the strain in her voice. "This is…this is like nothing I've experienced. I've gone up against other powers like mine before, but this is…incredible. It's like some sort of force pushing me back."
Barbara gulped a little. She was about to suggest that they hunker down until this passed when she felt it. The pull of her blood from the giant faded slightly, taken over by this new sensation. Fear, more than she'd known, seemed to penetrate her body. And a coldness spread everywhere. From the others' expressions, she knew they felt it too. There was something out there, something dark.
"What is that?" Ember muttered under her breath.
"I don't know," Barbara replied, voice barely above a whisper. She had felt similar sensations when confronting people like the Joker or worse, but that was herself creating it. Even when she fought Scarecrow, she knew it was chemically created fear, not real. This…this was nothing like that. It was like whoever was out there's very presence exuded it, naturally creating this aura around them.
And then she heard it. Soft at first, but growing louder with each second.
"What is that?" Amani asked but Barbara held a finger to her lips, shaking her head. She didn't know why but she knew that they had to be dead quiet right now as the sound got louder. Because she knew what it was. It was breathing.
HHAAAWW-PPEERRR…HHAAAWW-PPEERRR…HHAAAWW-PPEERRR
Hope you enjoyed the latest installment. I promise that that's the last arrival chapter. Next part we're going back to Spider-Man's adventure and continue on from there. Things are going to start picking up the pace now. I also hope you like the characters I'm bringing in. And now, explanations:
Batgirl: I started planning this out before I read the Infinite Frontier comics (for those who don't know, that's DC's latest relaunch of their comic series) so Batgirl comes in before the Nightwing or Batgirls or even Batman series. The events of those comics haven't happened to her yet. (Btw, Leslie Grace's costume looks amazing. So excited for that movie. Batgirl is one of my favorite DC characters).
Amani: she's a character from the great book series, Rebel of the Sands, and is the daughter of a Djinn, imbued with the power to control the desert itself which is pretty cool. She's also really handy with her guns. I highly recommend the books.
Ember: another book character from the series Talon which is about a hidden society of dragons in the human world bent on world domination and Ember is a character trying to break free of that society and make her own way. Again, definitely recommend the series.
The giant is Polybotes from Heroes of Olympus. For those who don't know, he's basically the anti-Poseidon and fought Percy a few times. He has fire-breathing snakes as hair.
As for the final character, well I'm not going to spoil who they are but if you can't guess then you're in for a treat when they make their full debut.
I really hope you're all enjoying this series and I cannot wait to share what's coming up next cause there are so many new characters and plots coming your way. Please leave a review if you can and stay healthy out there.