Tales of the Multiverse
Chapter 1
Virus of the Demon Head
"Eighty seventh entry in the continuing reports of Hannah Dundee, Wasoon Ambassador to the City in the Sea. Much has changed within the past couple of weeks. Ever since Jack and I found that portal within the badlands, we've found ourselves within another world as we've informed you before. There is so much here that is here that was lost in our world since the Great Cataclysm. So many books…so many wonders. Plus, we've met so many heroes, and several others have found their way into this world as well." Hannah wrote in her clipboard. "Currently Jack has quickly grown accustomed to driving under actual city laws. You'd think he'd been driving them all his life. At the moment, we're within the city of Gotham, where a masked vigilante has residence. I know they are frowned upon but this one has helped us a few times," she continued. She wore a red shirt, a scarf, white form fitting pants with a black stripe going down the side, and two belts. One holding her pants and a second resting on the very side of her hips, which had two pouches. One was square shaped, the other sort of like a gun pouch. And she wore knee high brown leather boots, her hair was black and long, and her eyes blue.
Jack was in the driver's seat of his red Cadillac, his hair short and black, eyes brown as his shirt was green with a blue vest that had it's sleeves torn off, black pants with a red stripe down the sides, along with brown army styled boots. They just continued their ride through the streets of Gotham City as the sun gradually set, turning everything a bright orange and vibrant color. Currently in one of the many hotels a woman wearing a white dress and flats, with dark, pale green eyes and long dark brown hair that was almost raven black opened a pair of double doors to an apartment suite, stepping inside and promptly closed the doors behind herself and proceeded to rest her back against one of the doors, gazing into the room as she crossed her arms over her stomach, her eyes fell onto a woman with long blond hair and vibrant green eyes, who currently wore an elegant and modestly low cut blue dress and heels who was seated with her back to a balcony window with a table nearby that held her drink.
"Talia! What are you doing here?" the blond demanded.
"Good evening to you too, Selina Kyle. Or should I say Catwoman?" Talia retorted in a coy yet semi offended tone before continuing normally. "There is an artifact that is within the Gotham City Museum I wish for you to acquire for me. The Crystal Skull." Selina stared at Talia in silence for a few moments before she grasped her drink.
"I'm not for sale," she stated before she began to have her drink.
"Name your price," Talia offered, attempting to get on Selina's good side but instead received an intense glare from her eyes. Selina's eyes gazed menacingly into Talia's before the drink left her lips.
"I'm not for sale!" Selina snapped as she slammed her glass loudly onto the table. She let out a sigh of displeasure before looking at Talia again. "Too many deals have gone south to my liking to allow me to accept any more deals. Nothing personal Talia, but it's just professional ethos." she leaned back in her chair and with a swift motion crossed her legs elegantly as she rested one arm over the back of her chair, trying to compose herself since she had made her point.
"Very well then," Talia said with a sign before she turned around and opened the door, and glanced back at Selina. "My father won't be pleased." she exited the room and closed the door behind herself, and Selina listened to the steps outside, waiting for them to be gone.
"I could never steal that artifact for Talia," Selina commented before she turned her attention towards her dressing room, which her favorite cat, Isis walked out of, meowing at her, making her smile as she got up and walked towards the room, the sun gradually setting further and darker outside. "Not when it could in fact be mine," she smirked coyly as Isis went back into the room as she entered, and closed the door, the sound of her shoes being kicked off being heard from the other side. The sun eventually set, and continued into the late hours of the night, and the museum's lights were off. Within a few minutes a sleek dark figure landed nimbly upon the museum's roof ledge. This figure was in fact Catwoman, sporting a grey full body suit costume that flattered her slender yet athletic build. The mask part of her costume was fully attached to the costume and acted like a form fitting hood on her head, which sported two cat ears atop her head, and featured a black area around her eyes and forehead, but her eyes were left exposed, her vibrant green eyes still visible, along with her mouth and chin. On her arms she wore black leather gloves that went almost to her shoulders, and wore knee high leather boots that were specially designed to have flexible soles. And around her waist was a golden styled belt, composed of several round golden bits, acting as small storage compartments.
"Hmmm, being up close and on the roof, this museum really is a lot bigger than I thought. This is gonna be one big search," she commented to herself as she began to walk across the roof. There wasn't a whole lot of skylights on the roof, and the building was rather massive, containing millions of exhibits and rooms. She reached one of the skylights and peered down into it, seeing it let to one of the rooms that housed exhibits of various sizes, along with large display cases and some items were even hung from the ceiling. Below her even was a display case that was several feet tall and wide. With a quick flex of her fingers, small, yet sharp claws extended from her gloved fingertips. Placing these claws against the glass, she twisted her wrist and the claws cut the glass in a perfect circle, and with a gentle pull the glass popped out, gently gripped by her claw tips as she set it top of the roof next to her foot. Reaching inside she felt around for the latch on the inside with her fingertips, and upon feeling it gave it a quick flick, unlocking it and the window buckled a little from the pressure release.
Pulling her hand out she quickly gripped the latch and flipped the window open gently and silently as she raised one leg and stepped onto the very small ledge inside and repeated the process with her other leg before crouching down slowly and looked down for something she could grab onto. Spotting a roof support she pulled the window down enough that it was nearly closed but let it open enough that the lock wouldn't catch possibly, she then dove down and gripped the edge of the support, swinging to and fro a little before dropping down and landed softly onto the display case, it made a very low hollow sound and reverberated a little that the light shimmered faintly. Her eyes carefully looked abut the room, there were several items in the room, like jewels, statues, old weapons, Egyptian finds, that sort of thing, but her prize was elsewhere as she knew.
'I need to find some sort of clue as to where the Crystal Skull is located,' she thought to herself as she walked to the edge of the case and crouched down like a cat, the tips of her boots at the very edge of the case as her fingers gripped the ledge, looking around for any possible layout clues. 'After all, this museum is like a maze, some sort of map might be helpful.' she paused as she pondered a little, and then an idea came to mind. Elsewhere a guard was roaming around the main entrance area, having a look outside the front door on occasion as he passed by and patrolled around the front area, not really moving to the corners of the room away from the area, moving in a small circle. As he did this he wouldn't notice a shadow dart along the far walls of the room and dive behind the desk, and when his back was turned a gloved hand reached out and grabbed one of the maps from the counter. Carefully unfolding the map, Catwoman spread it across the floor and examining the room layouts, she held a finger over the map, and made sure not to actually touch the map so as not to wrinkle it as she started from the first room and looked for the room that housed the crystal skull. It took a few minutes but she found it was on the far northeast side of the museum. Taking the map and carefully folding it up into a small square shape she slipped it into her belt and took a quick peek to make sure it was clear for her to make her move, the guard was currently facing away from her and looking out the front door again so Catwoman made her move and slipped out through the door the way she came.
A few minutes went by as she used various display pieces to navigate and make her way to the display room where the Crystal Skull was, and soon found herself in a long narrow corridor. There were no guards, and no security cameras.
"I don't need a sixth sense to know that there is trouble here," she commented to herself as she reached into her belt pulled out a pouched. Opening it, she cupped one of her hands and poured the contents of the pouch into it, revealing a very fine white powder. Taking care she held her hand back, turning it and raising it like she was going to pitch it like a baseball she then threw the powder through the air, making it spread into a very fine mist which spread and stayed in the area. What's more it revealed several red beams in the hallway. Examining further, she got down on the floor where she was laying flat and tried to see just how close to the floor some of the beams were. From this angle she saw there was in fact a separate laser area, while there were technically several going from the walls and sometimes to the ceiling, there were lasers that were parallel to the floor. "Well that adds a whole new level of difficulty. Not only do I need to worry about the beams in the air, I need to mind my steps even more. This is gonna be a challenge. Might need to think of an alternate escape route." she got back up to her feet and took a few steps forward and looked at the first few laser she could get through without need acrobatics first. The area in which the lasers were setup she could in fact take a few carefully placed steps out into the field. She eventually came to the first diagonal beam which she got around by doing quick leap and twist of her body over it and landed on one palm safely on the floor, bounced off and landed on both feet without setting off an alarm so far. As she gazed back towards where she came from briefly she did a double take, but saw nothing but a vacant hall.
"That's odd…I coulda swore I saw someone…" she commented but shook it off, carefully turning around she proceeded to walk and perform acrobatic leaps and turns through the laser field, finally reaching the other side with ease. Looking around the room she saw it was a little large, but at the opposite end across from her was the Crystal Skull, resting on a small bluish pillow under a glass covering it upon a tall display. The one wall to her left was blank while the other had a few windows on it. They were tall, wide, and obviously were laced with some kind of security device, otherwise she might have come in through those instead, provided she knew just where in the museum the Skull was kept. Catwoman approached the display case and prepped her claws with a quick flex of her fingers, and the golden, pointed claws extended from her glove's fingertips. She then reached for the case to plant her tools against it to make her cut, but she then heard someone behind her.
"I believe I shall take that, Catwoman," a young woman's voice spoke from behind, prompting Catwoman to turn around at the hip as she looked back, spotting an unusual looking young female. Her hair was a dark deep blue, but her skin was a pale light blue, and her ears were long and pointed, the tips pointing towards the sky as her eyes were a vibrant red, and had a faint glow in the dim lighting as her garb was composed of black pointed metal shoulder pads, dark blue cape, a dark blue one piece swimsuit styled top, with bits of armor applied throughout, and dark blue knee high boots with golden pieces around the tops, and while mostly hidden under the cape which elegantly draped around her body, she wore armlets that went from the wrists to her elbows. Her face was youthful, her figure slender and light, and she walked with a grace like that of royalty. Behind her though were two tall panes of glass, almost as tall as the hallway the woman came from but were on some kind of flotation devices that allowed them to hover, coupled with handles on one side of the panes which had allowed this young woman to carry them through the hall silently, and even reflect the laser beams without setting off the alarms as the beams weren't broken as they were simply redirected as Catwoman managed to quickly deduce.
"Judging by your appearance you aren't after this artifact for it's wealth factor I take," Catwoman commented to the woman, to which she smirked.
"You're not as foolish as I thought. But I must thank Talia for at least getting you involved this far. Even if it was mostly for yourself, I didn't have to put in much effort as I thought I needed to for this," the woman replied, prompting Catwoman to fully turn and face her down.
"Just what do you intend to do? Who are you? And what is this all about?" she asked. The woman's smile faded as her eyes narrowed, the glow in her eyes growing more intense.
"I am your race's successor," she replied as she raised up her right arm into the air, her cape moving behind her shoulder. "Now move aside." and with one firm swipe motion, a large blue hand composed of pure energy formed in the air and quickly smacked Catwoman aside before she could even look, making her scream and grunt as she hit the left wall and slid to the floor, dazed. The woman then proceeded towards the case as she drew something from under her cape, and a beam of light came out from it, like a sword's blade. Raising it up she pointed the tip at the case and pressed it against the glass, and with a quick circular motion she cut a small hole into the glass. Repeating the motion a few more times and making the motion wider, she made the hole bigger before the blade withdrew. Reaching her other hand into the case she grasped the skull and pulled it out delicately. Catwoman began to stir at this point, rubbing her head a little as she held herself up with one arm. The woman looked back at her as she went to a nearby window and simply stepped up onto the windowsill.
"Normally I'd have thought Talia would have tried to stop us by going to Batman. Little did we suspect she'd go to you. Regardless you made our job easier Catwoman, I suggest you enjoy your life while you can, it won't last much longer," she taunted as she made two quick diagonal swipes at the window with her energy sword, making a perfect X shape, and then made one last horizontal swipe along the top, allowing her to kick in the center and caused the four pieces of glass to go flying out and smash to pieces on the pavement. Catwoman got to her feet and began to run at the woman, but to Catwoman's shock, the woman sprung from the window and soared through the open air, constantly gaining height before coming down and landing upon a rooftop across the way. Catwoman stared in shock as the this inhuman feat, but then remembered this wasn't any mere human she was dealing with. Backing up she ran again and dove out the window, going across the street and managed to grasp onto a lamppost, spinning herself around once she flung herself upwards, spinning backwards a few times but managed to land perfectly on her feet onto the roof, and looked up in shock as the woman simply stood a few feet from her, not even running. Instead she simply smiled at her.
"Why aren't you even running from me?" Catwoman asked, a bit puzzled.
"Honestly, I wondered if you even deserved your title. The "Cat" part at least," the woman replied.
"What are you driving at?" Catwoman asked as she slowly reached back for a certain item in her belt.
"Because, in actuality, I'm part feline," the woman replied as she stepped forward. "It's in my DNA." Catwoman's eyes grew wide from this, but then grasped her net and drew it, quickly flinging it through the air as the hook claws made the net spread apart, but the woman sliced the net in two as she made a dash towards Catwoman, grasping her neck and held her over the ledge of the roof, Catwoman just now reacting and gasping for air as she tried to pry the woman's hand off, kicking a little, and the woman just simply smiled still.
"It's a pity you aren't on our side, because honestly, you're a bit too much like someone else I know," she stated before Catwoman felt a searing pain through her abdomen, she nearly let out a scream of pain but the woman released her neck and then spun around quickly, proceeding to raise her leg and slam it down upon Catwoman, plunging her downwards before she slammed into the roof of a car, denting it as it's windows broke from the pressure. The woman simply stared down at her handy work as a tall man, wearing all black clothing, in particular a pair of dark shades and a long coat walked over, his hair was short and blond neatly combed back. He looked down as well before looking at the woman.
"And here I thought you two were suddenly going to have some kind of kinship," he commented coyly. The woman simply glared at him while Catwoman's eyes slowly opened, although her vision blurry she could make out the two shapes, faintly hearing their voices.
"You should know very well, Albert, we have no place for "softies"," she said firmly as she turned around and walked across the rooftop. The man chuckled a little.
"Oh come now my dear, call me "Wesker". A first name basis is so informal, Neifirst," he retorted as he followed, Catwoman passing out of the sheer agony and gradual blood loss. Only a few minutes or so later passed before she could hear someone calling her, another woman's voice, one she didn't recognize.
"…y….t…..ey….al….at happened?" it asked. Catwoman couldn't open her eyes, but the names she heard played in her head, which in turn was what she began to speak.
"W…Wesker….Albert….Neifirst…" she spoke faintly.
"Wesker? Here?" the woman's voice asked in shock but Catwoman blacked out again. Things felt cold and distant for the longest time before eventually the sound of a constant beep slowly woke Catwoman up, her vision was blurry but in blinking a few times she saw she was in a cave, the sound of a pace maker was going as she felt something in her arm, a stiffness around her abdomen, and most of all, her mask was off. Taking a quick look around she saw she was on a medical bed as she saw a few others in the cave, everyone she recognized save for one person. There was a young girl sitting at a large computer, wearing a black body suit, similar to Catwoman's, only except the back of the mask had her long red hair coming out, and wore a small blue cape with a yellow inside, a yellow bat symbol across her chest, a yellow belt around her waist, yellow gloves, and yellow knee high boots, this was Batgirl. The others she saw were Jack and Hannah, along with some new faces but she still recognized them as well. One was a tall man with a reasonably muscular build, his costume was composed of a full body suit with pieces that matched together so well, it all looked like one suit. It was a red and blue suit, with black webbing decals all over the red portions, save for the spider symbol on his chest and the large red spider symbol on his back. And he had huge white eyes on the mask, this was Spider-Man. The other was a very young man, wearing light and dark blue armor, with a helmet that covered most of his head except his eyes, nose and mouth. His eyes were a dark blue, this was the Blue Bomber, or rather better known as Mega Man.
And lastly there was the one she didn't recognize, a young woman with short, dark brown hair, wearing a white jacket, a blue top, a black skirt which went to about quarter thigh with a white lower rim, and brown boots with a black strap just below the tops, secured with a silver buckle on each.
"So Wesker stole the skull?" Spider-Man as he stood with his arms crossed, looking at the woman.
"I don't think he did. If he had, I think he'd have killed Selina on the spot. Besides, he doesn't have any type of weapon that would make that round and clean of a hole," the woman replied.
"It must be that Neifirst character she mentioned. Too bad we don't have a description, I've looked through a ton of databanks, and I've found nothing on this Neifirst. He or she must be either off planet, or off world," Batgirl said as she typed away at the computer.
"Much like most of us, and this person is apparently de…" Mega Man trailed off once he noticed Selina was awake. "Sleeping beauty is up." which prompted everyone to turn in her direction.
"Sorry I'm not my best though…" Selina said in a weak tone.
"Hey, you got stabbed with some kind of plasma weapon. You're a bit lucky to be even still breathing," Spider-Man replied.
"Well…I do believe I owe you some gratitude but how did you even save me? Where are we?" Selina asked as they began to walk over.
"Jill found you, and well, we found the both of you and gave you a lift here," Jack replied.
"Plus we used a few medical techniques, along with some magic we borrowed from another world," Hannah replied. Selina then looked at the woman she now knew to be Jill.
"Then I owe you for finding me rather than the cops or a normal hospital," she commented.
"Hey, it's no problem," Jill replied as Batgirl swiveled the seat to look in their direction, arms resting on the arms of the chair.
"Well, in case you couldn't guess, but given the amount of pain and lightheadedness you probably have, well, you're in the Batcave," she stated. Selina's eyes grew wide a little from this bit of information.
"Then you guys know who Batman is?" she asked as she went to sit up but then winched in pain before sitting up further, prompting Mega Man to walk over and ease her back down.
"Hey, take it easy! Last thing you need to do is hurt yourself further," he stated. "But, I suppose it's better for you to know at this point given the circumstances."
"I don't think ol long ears is gonna agree with ya on that, he's a tad strict," Spider-Man interjected as he held up a finger.
"As true as that is, I think we can give Selina the benefit of the doubt. While unwittingly leading the enemy to the Crystal Skull, how long would it have been before the enemy went and tore apart the whole museum as a desperate measure?" Hannah asked. "Plus had she escaped, she might have been able to hide it from the enemy long enough for us to find her and negotiate for it. After all, if we do want to stop these enemies, we are going to need a fair bit of trust."
"Well…while I'm still not entirely sure what this is all about…I do believe I would have given you guys the artifact. I'm getting a sense that this Crystal Skull is actually rather dangerous," Selina stated honestly. "And I have a feeling even if I try to keep my nose out of it, something else will come along to get me involved in this. I can't really sit this one out."
"Is that really how you feel Selina?" a deep male voice asked from the shadows, and soon he stepped out, revealing Batman, wearing his black cowl and long cape, and his grey and black costume, with a symbol on his chest, depicting a bat with it's wings outstretched, a pale yellow pouch belt around his waist, a pair of gloves that went to his elbows, and knee high boots with a point in the front at the top. Everyone went silent as Mega Man backed away from where Selina was a little.
"I know we've had our ups and downs Batman, but honestly, I'm a bit tired of it. Criminals constantly trying to hire me only to stab me in the back," Selina replied, but then her once technically calm expression shifted to a very bitter glare at Batman. "But despite that, frankly I think I'm rather a bit more tired of you." Mega Man's eyes grew wide from this while Jack and Hannah seemed to exchange a slightly worried glance as Jill stepped back a little further towards Batgirl, whom at this point seemed to be nervous of where this might lead to before Mega Man put a back of one of his hands to the side of his mouth as he leaned closer to Spider-Man.
"I knew these two had a bit of a history, but it's startin to look more like a feud," he whispered.
"Let's hope things don't start flying, otherwise, hit the deck," Spider-Man whispered back. Batman then walked a bit closer to Selina to where they were able to look more easily eye to eye.
"Care to elaborate?" he asked, and Selina's disposition didn't seem to be changing much.
"I get you're on the right side of the law. And at first I thought we had something, but no. While sure, you did make it rather clear it wouldn't work unless one of us changed our ways, me. And I might have a long time ago, but oh, what did you do?" Selina asked before pointing her finger at him. "You treated me with far more scorn and bitterness than any of your other villains, and for what!? For stealing a few measly trinkets and pieces of jewelry? Not ONCE did you make it seem like working with you would seem worthwhile! You treated me like I was something worse than the Joker and he's killed millions of people! What makes him so special that you only give him a few bruises and black eyes and possibly a broken bone or two for his crimes and yet you treat me like I'm worse?!" she shouted loudly, making everyone cringe a bit except Batman. She then groaned as she clutched her wound a little, panting slowly as Mega Man came over to try and ease her down a little, Jill and Hannah began to approach as well to see if they could give a bit of medical treatment had she done something, but after a moment Selina put a hand on Mega Man's shoulder, looking at him briefly, and he got the message she wanted him to back off, and when he did both Hannah and Jill stopped.
"Despite what feelings we shared in the past…it's become apparent to me that those feelings only went one way now, and at this point I don't even care who's under that mask anymore. At this point what does it matter? I do know that it would have been impossible for you to come to my rescue before I got this wounded…but where were you while I was resting?" she continued. "So, if it'll mean less of them showing up at my door, and a whole lot less of you coming to hound my every single action, I see no reason in staying a thief any longer." all went silent after she finished, neither Selina nor Batman saying a word, as everyone else didn't even budge an inch to negate any possible sound. This went on for about a minute as the two stared at each other, but Selina eventually blinked and looked away.
"The one called Neifirst…is some kind of strange being, I dunno if any of you have seen anything like it but I sure haven't. Deep red eyes, pale blue skin, long pointed ears that point towards the sky, her hair and clothing a deep blue, she's obviously not human but is virtually human in body almost. But she has incredible intelligence and agility," she stated.
"Hmmm, doesn't seem like a Bio-Weapon…" Jill said as she pondered.
"She almost sounds like a dark elf, except with high tech gear," Spider-Man stated.
"But with technology far more advanced, or as advanced as Mega Man," Jack added.
"It could be one of two possibilities. She's either a dark elf from a future dimension, or she's from outer space," Mega Man guessed.
"Seems plausible. But unless we find her we won't know for sure," Batgirl stated.
"I know who she might be working for," Selina said as she looked back.
"Who?" Batman asked.
"Going to the museum wasn't my idea. Earlier yesterday, or rather last evening, Talia came to my apartment, wishing to hire me to get the Crystal Skull," Selina replied.
"Talia?" Mega Man asked with a raised eyebrow.
"As in, Talia al Ghul?" Spider-Man asked.
"Ra's…do you suppose he's…" Batgirl tried to say before Batman looked back.
"Hiring people who share his views. Going by what Jill Valentine has provided us on Wesker, he wants to reshape the world," Batman stated.
"And ol al ghouly wants to basically reset the entire planet, and both their plans involve whipping out millions of people on a global scale. Yeah I can see those two seeing eye to eye," Spider-Man interjected as he crossed his arms.
"They sound rather frightening," Hannah stated a little worriedly.
"They're both insane homicidal maniacs, what do you expect?" Mega Man asked with a shrug.
"That is the best I can offer you. Talia didn't seem to be on Ra's side, but I doubt that didn't stop him from trailing her, and in turn, trailing me," Selina said before she covered her eyes with one of her hands. "Even when I try and do things on my own I'm still used…"
"Don't worry. We'll take care of the rest from here," Batgirl tried to reassure her.
"But even if we do manage to stop this particular plan, I'm not sure if it'll be the end of it," Mega Man stated.
"The dimensional gateways. We have no idea how many of them are linked together, or how many there are," Batman said.
"And in turn how many enemies or allies we really do have. We're probably just scratching the surface," Jill stated.
"We should get going. We probably have a lot of ground to cover and we should get started as soon as possible. Who knows how much time we have until they probably use that skull for a super weapon?" Jack asked.
"The skull has energy properties?" Selina asked as she looked over.
"It's a mystical artifact. If harnessed right it could power a large laser weapon from what we learned from little test studies we've done on it's energy signature," Hannah replied.
"Officially we couldn't take it and stash it away, but now it's out in the open we can actually smash the thing without any real backlash," Spider-Man said as he and the others began to head off while Batgirl remained seated.
"I'll remain here. I'll see if I can locate any unusual energy fluxes along with any suspicious sightings and activity. Along with looking after Selina while she recovers," Batgirl stated.
"Right. I do have a friend I can call to try and give her a little more treatment to help get her back on her feet," Mega Man said as he, Jill and Spider-Man got into Jack's Cadillac while Batman climbed into the Bat-mobile and sped off, Jack and Hannah getting into the Cadillac and followed suit. The cave was filled with the rumble of the two vehicles as they traveled along until all went silent. Batgirl gazed off into those depths for a bit before looking at Selina, who was mostly looking off into space. Batgirl felt a little nervous about questioning her a little but swallowed.
"So…you hate Batman?" she asked, prompting Selina to look her way.
"Not really hate him but…I suppose I am a bit tired of how he does things," she replied.
"You honestly reminded me of Nightwing back when I last saw him as Robin back there," Batgirl stated.
"Did I now?"
"I was half expecting a punch."
"Think he'd have deserved it?"
"To an extent…I do have to admit, we kinda treated you a bit…badly. Although when we first worked together, I understood why you tried to kill Daggot back in that warehouse, but…we did kinda go overboard after that." Selina did smile a little before looking away.
"I do appreciate that, but it's not really you I want the apology from."
"Yeah…well…while he might not ever say the words…he'll probably make up for it with some kind of action…might take a bit though…" as the two conversed Jack had taken a different route when it presented itself after Batman drove off in his own direction, and Spider-Man eventually left via webswinging to the nearest building, leaving Mega Man alone in the back. He eventually pulled out a communicator and began to adjust the frequency a little until he had it set to what he wanted.
"Hello? Link?" he called.
"Mega, that you?" a young man's voice asked.
"I read ya," Mega Man replied.
"Whew, was afraid I wasn't going to be able to use this device properly. What's going on?"
"Well, we have someone injured at the Batcave, and we could use a bit of milk from Lone Lone Ranch. Do you have a few bottles of that still?"
"I sure do. It'll take a bit but I'll be there as soon as I can."
"Alright, over and out." and with that Mega Man turned off the communicator.
"How in the world would a simple bottle of milk help Selina out?" Hannah asked as she looked back at Mega Man.
"You'd be surprised, that stuff is really potent," he replied.
"I've had some and it work wonders," Jill added.
"We should probably try and bring a few bottles back with us at some point. It almost sounds like a wonder medicine," Jack commented.
"Tasty medicine," Mega Man added as he held up a finger.
"Well beverages aside, where should we even begin looking?" Jill asked.
"Well, given Gotham is a bit of a big city, we probably should try and fan out a bit," Jack replied.
"Good thing you happened to be mention game plans, as fanning out is probably in your guys best interest," Batgirl stated over the radio.
"Any particular patterns we should follow?" Spider-Man's voice asked.
"Spider-Man, you take the center most part of Gotham, I'll search the outer area of that," Batman's voice added.
"Then we'll search the outer most part of Gotham, near the forested areas," Jill stated towards the radio.
"Gotcha. Everyone, call in if ya find anything," Spider-Man said before radio silence resumed.
"Hmmmm, I wonder what outer areas we can investigate without too much of a hassle," Jill commented.
"I would imagine that they might be held up in a bit of an obscure location where activity is rather scarce. After all, I'd imagine they would have a pretty big hideout," Hannah replied.
"Hannah, you just gave me an idea. Hang on a sec," Batgirl said over the radio, obviously listening in briefly. Everyone listened intently as Jack drove through the streets carefully until Batgirl got back to them. "Alright, I think I found a place worth checking out for you guys in that area roughly. There is an large old train yard that hasn't been used in a number of years. It's a little ways outta town, and the tracks have been disconnected from the main line, so no trains go in that area. Even a large section of tunnels have been untouched officially for years. Enough time for a base of operations to be built around there without anyone really knowing. Not to mention given the route I think even the road is gone, save for an old dirt road possibly. I'll see if I can find other locations for the others to investigate," and with that they were given the directions and Jack followed them to the letter, as he drove through the city limits for a bit, till giving away to the countryside and deep woods before parking.
"We should continue on foot from here, don't want to alert anyone if there is anyone around the train yard," Jack stated as he climbed out.
"You know, I've read up a lot about trains, but I've never seen any up close. As a matter of fact we don't even have any train lines I don't think," Hannah commented as she got out as well.
"Given your world it'd be hard to maintain and safe. The tracks and the trains themselves would run the risk of being wrecked and damage from the dinosaurs almost constantly," Mega Man retorted.
"And thus giving Scharnhorst a reason to wipe them out. Bad idea," Jack added.
"I guess they just let the place go, given all the wildlife out here, the trees and bushes and such, it's essentially abandoned," Jill said as she walked away from the car a little, then took out her handgun, checking it over real quick to make sure it was in working order, all was in check.
"You aren't going to kill anyone are you?" Mega Man asked.
"Only if I have to. Although currently Wesker is a definite target," Jill replied. "Can I rely on you for help on that?" she looked in Mega Man's direction as she took the safety off.
"I…dunno if I really can but…I won't stop you by getting in your way," Mega Man replied.
"I understand," Jill said as they walked off into the wilderness. It was quiet save for a few birds chattering and other little animals scurrying about. Hannah put her hand against one of the trees as she looked around at the grass, plants and other things of interest.
"Something wrong?" Mega Man asked.
"It's just…these trees are so different from the trees back home. I'd swear while tall, these trees are barely half the size of the ones where we come from," Hannah replied. "Not to mention, a lot of the plant life here is just…well, it's not so dense."
"Well, in all honesty most of your planet is now almost like a giant tropical jungle given the climate there. As a matter of fact…" Mega Man paused as he looked between Hannah and Jack.
"As a matter of fact what?" Jack asked with a raised eyebrow.
"As a matter of fact you two look a lot less tan than when we first met," Mega Man replied, prompting Jack and Hannah to look at each other in surprise. Although it was subtle at first, they did realize their skin was a fair bit lighter now, almost like Jill's. They all continued through the forest after that until they finally reached the old train yard, and as Batgirl said it was rather big. Everyone entered it and looked around, old rusted locomotives were here along with several freight cars, passenger cars, and a few buildings. Hannah went over to a set of tracks and knelt down by them, running her hand along the cold metal.
"Hmmm, these are much like some of the old tracks we've found here and there in old tunnels. Much like the ones that had those old cargo vessels with those plagues," she commented.
"You found old plagues in train cars?" Jill asked.
"Sadly twice, Hannah's tribe was nearly wiped out, and the city in the sea was in a big risk. Thankfully we found the needed medicine before it got out of hand both times," Jack replied as Hannah got up and they resumed wandering, Jill went over to a platform and climbed atop of it, Mega Man following suit while Jack and Hannah went along the tracks and trains.
"This place feels eerie…" Hannah commented.
"I think most old places do that. Plus there is the fact we're looking for some pretty dangerous criminals," Mega Man replied.
"Speaking of which, should we find them, we probably should locate their actual hiding place and call for backup," Jill said as she approached a storage building. Testing the door it came open a little as it was a sliding door but it quickly became stuck.
"Oh great it's jammed," she said.
"Just a sec," Mega Man said as he came over, getting in front of Jill he put his hands against the side of the door itself and began to push as she pulled. Jack saw what they were doing and began head over to help while Hannah was hurrying on ahead, not catching what he was doing. The door began to slide open a bit but when Jack got hold once in position and pulled as well the door came open a little quicker although it was a bit of a slow pace, even with the three of them. Hannah had gone on a ways ahead a little, but then quickly ducked behind a few nearby crates, and saw a lone coated figure heading into a tunnel ahead.
"Guys, I think we found the right place. Stay quiet and stick behind me," she said before she waited, and then followed after the figure after it went into the darkness of the tunnel, having the full intention of trailing it. In the meantime the trio got the door open and stepped inside, finding it was mostly empty, but was hard to see since it was so dark.
"Hmm, I think we can scratch this place off the list unless we find a hidden door," Jill commented as she began to walk in, Mega Man right behind her.
"Did you bring a light Hannah?" Jack asked as he followed briefly, but then stopped as he turned around. "Hannah?"
"Where'd she go?" Mega Man asked as he stopped and looked back.
"I thought she was behind me," Jack replied before Jill froze at a creaking sound below her feet, looking down she saw the wooden floor beneath her beginning to crack as it creaked and groaned.
"Uh oh…" she gulped before she plunged straight down screaming, the hole quickly spreading, taking Mega Man and Jack down with her. Meanwhile Hannah was walking swiftly yet silently at a good distance behind the coated figure, but quickly ducked behind a nearby rock formation as the figure began to look her way, but didn't see her and resumed.
"We seem to be doing good so far guys, it shouldn't be too much longer until we find the hideout," she whispered, but then noticed a bit of silence. "Guys?" she then looked back and then covered her mouth in shock when she realized no one was with her, only a long blackness of a tunnel behind her.
'Oh no! Now I've gone and done it! Jack and the others must have been focused on something else and didn't notice me leave!' she realized in horror to herself. 'I can't really go back, I gotta keep going until I locate where the hideout is. Maybe I can then find a device to contact the bat cave and send out a homing beacon.' and with that she resumed tailing the figure by swiftly yet silently stepping out from behind the rock formation. She tailed the figure down a few different tunnel ways, finding they went in pretty deep. The tunnels while dim did have some light sources, telling her the place still had power and likely functioned to the group's needs. The figure continued walking and she kept her distance until she saw they were heading for a wall in the distance, which appeared to have a set of double doors on it. She saw the figure walk past a large rock before a set of tracks coming from a tunnel on the left wall, and when it got closer to the doors she quickened her pace a little, reaching the rock and quickly ducked behind it, peering over it lightly. From here she saw some lights above the door, and a couple lights to the left of the door. The figure went over to it and reached over, pressing one of the lit buttons, causing a brighter light to come on above the door and slowly move across above it.
"It's an elevator…" she realized to herself before there was a ding sound from the door as then after a few moments the doors opened, and the figure vanished inside. She remained hidden until the doors closed and the lights began to move across the top.
"Alright, it's clear," she commented before quickly climbing up the rock and gracefully hoisted herself over the top, clearing it and landed on the other side. However she felt a sudden tightness around her right foot, making her look down. "Huh?" to her confusion she saw her foot had landed within a cross junction on the tracks.
"Oh...that scared me for a moment," she commented before she looked towards the elevator, it continued to count down as she began to head for it, but her right foot wouldn't budge, barely moving as her leg went taught and trembled. "What?" looking back down she tried moving her foot again, seeing how her foot barely even moved as she began raising and turning her leg in a couple directions, each time she grunted as her leg quivered and shook from the tension.
"Oh no my foot...it won't move!" she gasped before she bent over slightly and grasped her right thigh, tugging up on it a few times, groaning as she'd tug for a couple seconds before easing up, and then would tug again, but her shoulders simply tensed as her foot shook and trembled faintly, but never really moved within the tight space. "Oh my gosh...I'm actually stuck!" she realized before a ding from the elevator got her attention. Looking over she saw it reached the bottom, but only after a few seconds it began moving again. To her horror she knew that could only mean someone was coming up.
"I gotta get off this track or else I'm in big trouble!" she exclaimed as she leaned back, tugging and pulling with all her might, gasping and groaning in between or as she pulled. "UNNNGG! But...I just...can't get my foot to budge!" she watched her foot as her leg would shake vibrate from her struggling, but she couldn't get her toes, or even her heel to raise from the track as the elevator continued to rise, approaching the top floor, her floor. She felt a bead of cold sweat run down her face as her heart raced while she began to hyperventilate a bit in fear and terror, giving quick and sharp desperate tugs on her leg to get it out of the track, whimpering faintly as she knew she was going to get caught if she didn't escape from this situation, until she heard the elevator ding again. With one last desperate pull she mustered all the strength she could in her body as her arms and legs shook tremendously from the sheer force she was exerting, in a last ditch effort to get her foot out from the tracks but her strength ebbed away, as she panted and gasped, and watched in horror as the elevator doors open. She saw two men step out, one was a tall thin man dressed in green clothing, essentially a business suite with a lush cape. He had a unique set of hair, pointed at the top with two points out to the sides slightly, and with touch of white on the sides and what she could only describe as side beards on his face. The man next to him was much bigger than he was in every sense of the word, and was bald while wearing somewhat Arabian clothing.
"I must commend you long lady for having the audacity to tail one of us here. You might have succeeded if it weren't for our cameras stationed throughout the tunnel," the man in green said, having a form of elegance yet firmness in his voice.
"You…must be Ra's al Ghul…" Hannah said as she stood upright, she had to admit she was rather scared, and it probably showed on her face.
"And you're one of those outsiders," Ra's retorted as he walked over, and soon stood before her. "Hannah Dundee if I'm not mistaken." needless to say his gaze made Hannah lean back a little.
"I…take it you've heard about me from one of your newest comrades?" Hannah asked.
"I'd have found out eventually. But the question is, did you really come here alone?" Ra's asked back. Hannah leaned back a little further but kept her mouth shut. "Very well. Ubu, let's take her to the others. They might have some ideas for her." he then went to the elevator while Ubu got behind Hannah, putting his arms around her waist while pinning her arms to her sides, and effortlessly hoisted her up, her foot and boot popping free of the tracks as he then carried her into the elevator as she hung a tad limp in his arms, having used up her strength to try and get free before. It was a quiet ride down until they reached bottom when the doors opened, revealing a massive complex before her, far more advanced than any of the labs she's seen in her world, even the one which housed the digging robots. After being carried out Hannah spotted a man she do doubt figured was Wesker, but then she saw the blue skinned woman, whom she was then able to confirm as Neifirst since Selina was able to give a pretty good description.
"You were a bit lax Wesker. Had it not been for my special security cameras, this woman would have been able to slip in with relative ease," Neifirst stated as she walked over to Hannah, still being held in Ubu's arms as her feet dangled above the floor by a few inches. "So you're the Ambassador. We get to finally meet in person." she eyed Hannah as she spoke, taking a few mental notes.
"Seems everyone seems to know me despite being a stranger here," Hannah commented.
"I've gone through a bit of work to try and gather information on the various worlds and their occupants for some time. You and that Old Blood Mechanic have built up a bit of a reputation where you come from," Neifirst retorted. "Speaking of which, where is he?"
"She refuses to say if she came alone or not. Although I have my suspicions, I know the detective isn't here yet," Ra's replied.
"Shall I crush the answers out of her master?" Ubu asked, making Hannah gasp as she felt his grip already tightening.
"No, I have a better idea," Wesker replied, making Ubu ease up, while Hannah looked at him a bit warily as he approached, soon putting a hand to her chin. "Currently the Uroboros project has been a little less than productive, so far even with your help and Neifirst's technology to enable "safe" testing, we still haven't been able to produce fruitful results."
"So what are you saying?" Neifirst asked as she crossed her arms while eyeing Wesker.
"What I'm saying is, perhaps this little flower holds the key," Wesker replied as he turned Hannah's head faintly in a few directions. In her mind if she wasn't so scared stiff she'd be trembling.
"All we need is a sample of her blood. Neifirst had thought to procure a bit of Catwoman's blood prior and has already run some tests on it herself. No real luck. But perhaps miss Dundee might hold the key after all," Ra's commented.
"I'll take her to one of the holding cells," Neifirst stated as she walked over, making Wesker back off as she took hold of Hannan's lower arm before Ubu released her, prompting Neifirst to put another arm around her as she walked her off, Wesker following.
"So what of the progress of the plants?" Wesker asked as he looked back towards Ra's.
"Ivy has assured us that we'll have more than enough to use once you have Uroboros perfected," Ra's replied.
'Hm, rewriting the planet on a global slaughtering scale, such narrow minded views. Attempting to rule with but a handful of followers and sheer raw power?' Neifirst thought to herself as they went, and while Hannah felt her strength returning she knew she had no chance against any of them. Meanwhile in a deep dark hole, Mega Man, Jill and Jack came too after their fall, trying to figure out where they had ended up. Mega Man got to his feet while Jack had to push some junk off of himself while Jill rolled onto her side a little and looked around, mostly dirt walls were around them.
"Well, not the best landing I ever had really," Mega Man commented.
"Is this a mining tunnel?" Jack asked.
"No…just a deep pit," Jill replied as she tried to crawl away from the wall a little but noticed her left foot seemed to be caught in a pile of rubble slightly.
"Well, climbing up is probably out, and heading down is probably a bad idea," Mega Man commented before he looked after at Jill as he heard her grunting a little as she struggled to move her leg, as her entire leg would quiver as she tried to pull out.
"Well…whichever way we go…is…probably better than just sitting put down here!" Jill retorted before her foot slipped free, causing the rubble pile to shift and collapse, revealing a metal wall on the other side.
"Is that a door?" Jack asked a little surprised as Jill sat up while Mega Man went over to investigate.
"No but…" Mega Man paused as he gave the wall a few knocks, it bowed and made a hollow banging noise. "It's rather hollow…I think this is the wall of an air vent."
"This far down? Say…do you suppose…" Jill looked at the other two.
"I think we found our hidden base," Jack stated as Mega Man gripped the wall, sinking his fingers into the metal and began to rip it off.
"And if Hannah's had any luck, she's probably found her way down to where this vent is connected to," Mega Man stated before he took a look inside, it wasn't a far drop to where they would land on a flat portion of the vent, so he went down, Jill following with Jack behind her. It was a little narrow but they were able to begin crawling through the vent, coming across a few vent covers they were able to look through, and soon spotted a woman with red-ish hair, wearing a white coat along with green gloves and boots.
"I think that's Poison Ivy," Mega Man whispered as Ivy went about several beakers and plants, doing various adjustments tweaks.
"What's she doing here then?" Jack asked.
"Obviously they needed a plant expert, I think those are some of the plants used to create the viruses from my world," Jill replied.
"And given her mutated planet work, she's just about at home here," Mega Man commented before they continued on, taking a few turns before they heard footsteps below, and in looking through another set of grating they saw Hannah being walked off by Neifirst and Wesker.
"It's that woman Selina described," Jack realized as Jill drew her gun.
"Jill? What are you do…" Mega Man didn't get to finish as a shot rang out from her gun, piercing through the grating and quickly struck Wesker in the chest, making him grunt as he stumbled back, prompting Neifirst to quickly grip Hannah tighter as she jumped towards a door which slid open, allowing them to dive through and slide across the floor before Jill fired another shot, hitting Wesker again as he wasn't sure where the shots were coming from until he looked up to see a flash from above just as another shot got him in the shoulder, making him growl until he quickly jumped upwards, grasping and peeling off the section of vent below Jill in an instant, making her yell when gravity took hold and made her fall through before she felt Wesker grasp her ankle and fling her across the hall, making her slam against the far wall with a low grunt as she bounced off and thudded against the floor. Groaning in pain she tried to stand up as Wesker made his approach, but her entire body felt wobbly from the blow.
"Well well, it's been awhile hasn't it Jill?" Wesker asked.
"N…not nearly long enough Wesker…" Jill replied as she tried to get to her feet but would stumble to her knees when she tried to get higher.
"Hmmm, perhaps with you here, I might not need the Ambassador after all," Wesker commented before he grunted from a blow of large blue energy that dispersed when it struck him in the back, almost making him fall to one knee before stopping himself, making him look back to see Mega Man aiming his buster at him.
"Turns out killing you won't be that much of a problem. You're essentially qualified as a B.O.W.," Mega Man stated.
"Then by all means, try," Wesker taunted as he quickly turned and charged towards Mega Man rapidly who threw a punch a second before he got close enough to try and hit him as he arrived, but Wesker weaved to the side and struck Mega Man in the stomach, making he sail backwards a little before he managed to land on his feet which grinded along the ground a little before stopping completely.
'Augh…this guy almost hits like a train!' he thought as Wesker made his approach again, this time raising his arm to try and smash Mega Man into the ground but suddenly two white strands came from behind him, one hitting the back of his fist while the other connected with his wrist, pulling both arms taught behind him.
"Wha…" he growled in annoyance and discomfort before Spider-Man quickly plowed into his back with a firm double kick, exclaiming the word "Tag!" a second before the kick sent Wesker flying across the room as Spider-Man flipped backwards into the air and landed before Mega Man.
"You always have a good sense of timing. But how did you find us so fast?" Mega Man asked as Spider-Ma helped him up.
"Batgirl noticed your feed essentially went dead when you guys came here, so I hitched a ride on the Batmobile, and well it wasn't hard to find the hole," Spider-Man replied. "I'll try and hold off ol here, you go and help the others sabatoge the operation here." he quickly ushered Mega Man past himself as he walked down the hall to where Wesker went. Mega Man didn't object as he ran over to where Jill was and helped her get to her feet.
"Looks like we owe you and you arachnid friend…again," Jill commented.
"Let's save that till after we get out of here. We have a little plant operation to stop. I got a feeling Batman already went with Jack to try and get Hannah back," Mega Man commented as he took Jill through a door to his left. Spider-Man simply walked down the hallway as Wesker also approached in a similar fashion.
"I can already tell you aren't like the others, but do you have to wear such clothing?" Wesker asked.
"Yeah, well, it's not like your clothing's not exactly compensating for something either," Spider-Man retorted before they were a few mere inches away from each other, which prompted Spider-Man to throw the first punch which Wesker grabbed by the forearm, quickly followed by his other arm grasping Spider-Man's neck.
"You seem to have a bit of a wise cracking mouth I see," Wesker commented.
"You know how the saying goes…" Spider-Man choked a little. "It's a thankless job, but somebody's gotta do it." and with a quick tilt of his wrist of the arm in Wesker's hold, and a pose of the fingers Spider-Man shot webbing right into Wesker's face, getting him around the mouth and nose area, prompting Wesker to let him go in shock at the sudden lack of air, which felt him open to a punch to the gut from Spider-Man's other arm, quickly followed by a uppercut to the jaw from the other. Wesker attempted to retaliate with a sweep kick which Spider-Man jumped over, followed by a backhanded swing which Spider-Man leaned under as Wesker used his other hand to rip the webbing off, and then throw a fast punch which Spider-Man deflected and quickly followed up with his own punch. The two kept on exchanging failed counters on each other few a few moments until Spider-Man ducked under one as he drew back his fist and let it fly while Wesker was still throwing the previous punch, nailing him right in the face as it broke his glasses while he stumbled back, revealing his strange yellow eyes as they glared at Spider-Man.
"I think you should get that looked at buddy," Spider-Man commented as he pointed at him, but then quickly jumped back as Wesker slammed his foot down, attempting to smash his skull with his heel but missed. Meanwhile Jack and Batman ran down a few corridors, looking in a few doors for any sign of Hannah and Neifirst until they found Hannah laying on the ground ahead of them.
"Hannah!" Jack exclaimed as they ran over to her before he kneeled down and lifted her up a little, prompting her to hold her head. "What happened?"
"Ohhh my head! Neifirst was leading down these corridors until she just clubbed me in the back of the head! I don't know where she went after that…" Hannah replied as Batman took a look down a few of the corridors but didn't see any specific markings or indicators to tell him what she might have been heading for.
"You get her out of here, I'll try and find Neifirst," Batman said but he only took a few steps before another spoke.
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that detective," Ra's spoke, prompting the three of them looking in Ra's direction, seeing Ubu was with him.
"Why are you working with these people Ra's? I thought you only had those who shared your beliefs and goals," Batman stated.
"Indeed I do detective, but as you are no doubt aware, these three all share a common bond. Albert Wesker wishes to purge the world of it's evil as much as I do, while Pamela Isely wishes to restore nature as it was before on this planet, and Neifirst wishes to create a new utopia. Needless to say, we all managed to see eye to eye on the matter," Ra's replied with a fair bit of confidence in his voice, which Batman was able to tell was no bluff given how assured he was. But before anyone could proceed there was a loud metal bang and thud from one of the hallways, prompting Batman, Jack and Hannah to look over to see Spider-Man flying backwards through the air right towards them, making them duck as he flew over them but he managed to stick his landing by firmly stamping his feet onto the ground, although he almost did fall over backwards.
"Hmmm, looks like almost everyone is here except for two. It doesn't really matter, Neifirst should have her fun as well after all," Wesker said as he slowly approached them.
"And here I thought he was scary already…" Hannah said as Jack helped her to her feet and began to walk away as she looked at his eyes. Batman got between them as he drew a batarang and held it at the ready. "Come now Dark Knight, do you really believe that those toys can work on one such as myself?"
"Why not? Every other means seem to work at some point," Batman replied as he slowly eased back with the others. In the hallway across from the Ra's, Mega Man and Jill quickly entered but went unseen as they saw Wesker slowly coming into view. Jill didn't hesitate, raising her gun she aimed it towards Wesker and let out a shot, and it hit it's mark, making him grab the wound as he looked towards her, although it was only for a brief second before Batman struck him in the head with a hard right hook.
"Infidel!" Ubu exclaimed as he began to charge at them, but Spider-Man jumped around the corner as Batman ducked an attack from Wesker.
"Awe, chill out, "Abu"," Spider-Man retorted as he quickly put the two web shooters together and shot out a ball of webbing which struck Ubu upside the head with a firm smack. As Batman jumped back to avoid another attack from Wesker, Mega Man tackled him from the side, spun through the air slightly, prompting Spider-Man to quickly fall flat on his stomach as Mega Man landed he tossed Wesker right into Ubu, knocking them both clean over.
"Seems your new abilities aren't all that effective against more than one target in narrow spaces, Wesker," Jill stated as she regrouped with the others. "It's over." however despite them having apparently won this little bout, Spider-Man's spider-sense began to go off, and in looking down the hallway Mega Man and Jill came from he saw large pointed plants coming their way.
"Ambush!" he exclaimed as he jumped into the hallway Jack and Batman had come from, and proceeded to tackle Batman into the hallway Jack and Hannah had already found safety in as Mega Man quickly grabbed Jill and dove into the same hallway as the plants zoomed past, Ubu scrambling to get away as Wesker stood up and looked at the points as they stopped a few mere inches from his face.
"That, was a bit close for comfort," Mega Man said.
"You guys alright?" Hannah asked.
"No worse for wear but…" Jill paused as Mega Man helped her to her feet, but they looked back as they saw the plants recede as vines began to reach out for them.
"Not good!" Spider-Man exclaimed while Batman threw one batarang which managed to slice a few vines. No one needed to sound the retreat as everyone ran down the corridor, only having to round a few corners until they came to an open door which led into a massive room, which had an unusual hum to it.
"Where's that coming from?" Jack asked.
"There!" Batman replied as he pointed, which drew their attention to a large device, which everyone could agree upon calling a doomsday weapon, which was in the form of a large laser cannon, and in one of the open sections was the Crystal Skull, glowing as it seemed to be powering the weapon.
"Well they certainly didn't waste any time putting it to use," Mega Man said as he approached the weapon, the others not too far behind, but a few little thunks from a nearby vent alerted him to a vine which sprung from it and attempted to pierce his head, but he managed to lean back just enough to avoid it before it quickly withdrew, Ivy then stepping into the open.
"It has been awhile Batman," she said before looking at everyone. "I must say, it'll be a pleasure to rip you all apart myself rather than waiting for us to finish the project."
"Indeed. I must say it's a shame they won't be seeing it when Uroboros is unleashed, but we can't have to ruining things now can we?" Wesker asked as he and the others came up from behind.
"Where has Neifirst been in all of this?" Ra's asked as he noticed she was absent for the duration of the fight, and most of all was absent here. This put the heroes a bit on edge, but then there was a loud horrific shriek that came from the lab area, prompting the villains to look in surprise.
"The plants are dying?" Jack asked, which made Ivy glare at them.
"You killed them!" she exclaimed.
"Stow your anger Ivy, these heroes are innocent of the "murder" of planet life," Neifirst's voice spoke.
"Well, I sure wasn't expecting internal sabotage," Spider-Man whispered.
"What is the meaning of this Neifirst?" Ra's demanded, and Neifirst stepped out from behind the weapon.
"You really are an old fool Ra's. All of you are. You truly believed I was one of you. Of course, how could you not believe?" she asked with a cold smile as she eyed everyone.
"So, what did you hope to gain from destroying what's here?" Wesker asked as Ra's began to move about the edge of the room.
"Satisfaction, that what I hope to create won't be threatened by your mere petty ideals. You were all so gullible it's pathetic!" Neifirst replied with a chuckle.
"You of all people should know that betrayal comes at a price my dear," Ra's stated as he drew a sword and pointed it at her, but Neifirst simply drew her own energy sword and held it towards him casually.
"And you should know when you're finally outmatched old man. Hmhmhehahaha…" Neifirst laughed darkly. "I was once like you, wishing to turn the planet against every single human being possible. Only except it was with the pure intent of murder on a grand scale. You're plan was no different than my own, dear al Ghul. You claim to want to restore the planet to it's former glory, but, is that really what you want? Or, do you simply want to murder every single person on earth, just so you can live at "peace" finally?" there was a brief silence before she laughed manically, then proceeded to thrust her sword towards Ra's face, but due to the distance she didn't even come close to hitting him but that wasn't the point as her demeanor changed to downright furious.
"Only an absolute fool would punish the innocent along with the guilty. I was once such a fool, and I don't intend to repeat my mistakes," she stated as she backed towards the crystal skull slowly.
"Then what is it you truly hope to accomplish with your goals?" Batman asked. This prompted her eyes to look in the heroes' direction as a bit of a sinister smirk spread across her lips.
"I intend to make my empire, my "dynasty" myself, my way. And those who may still bear any thoughts of trying to stop me, now know that I am a force not to be trifled with!" Neifirst replied before she quickly spun on one of her toes with her other leg raised, like an elegant dancer as her hair and cape whirled, her energy blade moving to accommodate her spin and speed before she firmly slashed it as she put her raised leg down firmly, the blade going into the machine and the crystal skull, which split into two before suddenly bursting into dust fragments. Things suddenly went dark in the complex while everything seemed to be powering down, everyone looking around in shock from this.
"Oh boy, a whole complex going dark is never a good sign," Mega Man commented before Neifirst began to chuckle darkly.
"Farewell, I'm sure we'll meet again, if you so dare," she said before she laughed again as she wrapped her cape around herself and seemed to outright vanish, her laughing echoing throughout until a siren began to blare, as flashing red lights came on.
"Not another self destruct…" Jill groaned.
"Good grief! Well, she's obviously going to be hard to figure," Mega Man said as all the villains began to flee through various doorways.
"Gone already?" Jack asked.
"Well, they're fast, aren't they?" Hannah asked before a doorway opened nearby their location.
"That must be a emergency exit, come on," Jill said as she ran into the room, and the others quickly followed behind her. They entered the escape passage and it was a long staircase going up, and not wasting a second everyone ran up the stairs as fast as possible, and needless to say they were actually a bit concerned given the fact that there wasn't a mention of how long they had to escape and for all they knew it was only a few short minutes. After about a minute of running through they could see the exit but it was also when they actually heard a female computer voice beginning to count down from twenty seconds.
"Oh many this is gonna be close!" Mega Man stated as they were beginning to get tired, the timer reach around fifteen and they were just a few more steps to the door, and around eleven they made it through the door, and thankfully no one had tripped along the way. They were outside and as they continued to run they heard the timer continue to count down until it said zero, and upon that instant they felt a vibration beneath the ground, making a few of them stumble briefly before suddenly a large burst of flame came out of the doorway, and the gust of wind it sent out sent then flying a ways before they skidded across the ground. When they looked back they saw the flames die down as the tunnel area itself collapsed.
"Well…that was a successful mission…I think," Hannah said.
"Somewhat, but it only leaves more questions really. This Neifirst is obviously a player here," Spider-Man commented.
"Batman? Are you guys alright?" Batgirl's voice came from a device in Batman's belt, which he then pulled out.
"We're fine. We stopped the operation," Batman replied.
"Whew, that's a relief," Batgirl said.
"Only thing is things got a little more complicated," Batman stated.
"How did I know you were going to say that?" Batgirl asked in annoyance.
"Currently it seems as though this Neifirst isn't on anyone's side but her own. It's a bit strange though, but it's obvious she's very clever, she even had Ra's fooled," Batman replied.
"Now that sounds dangerous. So what do we do now?" Batgirl asked.
"Not much for the time being. We'll be heading back," Batman replied. Once he cut the transmission Batgirl turned back to Selina.
"Bit of a mess huh?" Selina asked, Batgirl sighing in response.
"More or less," she replied.
"So the woman who stabbed me really on her own?"
"Apparently. She knows how to play others to her own benefit from the sound of it."
"In a way like I was…only she does it a lot better."
"I…guess so." before the two continued they heard a door open, particularly from the direction of the stairs that lead up out of the bat cave.
"Special delivery!" a young man's voice called.
"Come on down Link," Batgirl replied, and after a few moments a young man that to Selina's eyes could be described as a genuine elf, normal pointed ears, short blond hair, blue eyes, wore an interesting green hat that hung down to his back a little, had a sword and shield on his back, wore a green tunic with a white shirt under that, white pants, brown gloves and gauntlets, and a sturdy looking pair of boots along with a few pouches on his belt. He actually looked a bit handsome to her.
"Sorry I'm late," Link replied as he pulled out a bottle from his belt, which had a label on it with it's contents clearly being milk. "It was a bit tough to get over here discretely." he walked over to Selina, popping off the wooden cork and handed her the bottle, which she stared at for a moment.
"And this is supposed to help me feel better?" she asked as she looked at Link.
"I know, seems silly for a grown adult to be having a bottle of milk, but it's actually really good, trust me," Link replied with a reassuring smile.
"Not like I have anything to lose," Selina commented honestly and with that began to drink the bottle's contents. It only took two sips for her to realize that the milk was actually very tasty, and really refreshing, making her drink the whole bottle before setting it down with a sigh.
"That is good. Say…" she paused while she blinked a little, the pain she felt was gone. "I actually feel a whole lot better!"
"Should she try and get up?" Batgirl asked.
"Positive," Link replied. Selina then removed the blanket from her person and draped her legs over the side in a swift motion, and didn't even feel a bit of pain. She got up from the bed and quickly did a few frontal flips and hand stands across the way before stopping, not feeling an ounce of restriction or agony, she was healed.
"Well, this just confirms it," Selina said before she went and hugged Link, which startled him a little but Batgirl just smiled before Selina parted.
"I'm definitely on your side," Selina stated.
"No tricks?" Batgirl asked.
"No tricks," Selina replied. The both of them could tell she was being sincere, if it weren't for them, she might not even be here.
Chapter End