DK-Verse: Batcave?: On the Road Again (and Again)

[bat-daughter.livejournal.com]

Great.  One moment she was in the Nexus--having previously been in a Gotham more than three hundred years in her future--the next she's in the Batcave.  Only... it's definitely not her Batcave.  Some of the souvenirs were off, for one thing.  And, well, she just had a sense about this kind of thing.

Truth be told, the more she examined it, the greater the differences became.  No giant penny, no mechanical dinosaur, no old Robin and Catwoman costumes stored in glass cases, no Batmobile--at least not that she recognized...

She was definitely far from home.

Comments

[random_xtras]

The Cave itself was vastly different... one huge echoing cavern with a raised area that blinked with lights to one side and a ceiling lost in uncertainty. The sound of running water came from one side, and the smell of water was also strong.

The area she stood in was largely dark, studded with large stalactites.

One of which suddenly moved. The next thing Helena knew there was a huge, hideous toothy face within inches of hers.

[bat-daughter.livejournal.com]

Crossbow... Crossbow... Dammit, you don't have that. You got some batarangs but not another one of those made-up...

"I don't suppose you'd believe this is all some kind of mistake?"

[random_xtras]

He frowned down at her in concern. "You're lost?"

[bat-daughter.livejournal.com]

"Sort of. This makes the third alternate world I've bounced through recently."

[random_xtras]

Lon shook his head slowly. "You're not. This is Coruscant. But I know where and when you're from, now, and it's actually you who are from the future."

[bat-daughter.livejournal.com]

"You mean I'm on another planet...?!"

[random_xtras]

"Do you know how you got here?" asked the catwoman with kindly concern, her stubby fingers pressing Helena's gently.

Lon looked longingly at the caf pot, though he tried to hide it. Then he brightened and went to the Nightwing for the cream, sugar, and extra clean mugs.

[bat-daughter.livejournal.com]

"Tried getting home from a Nexus," she replied. "Though this is the third alternate universe I've been bounced to."

[random_xtras]

"But... if Dad was a young woman... how was Mom old there?"

[bat-daughter.livejournal.com]

"It involved time and reality travel, near I as I could gather," she replied. "I'm really not sure I followed all of it."

[random_xtras]

Pru gave her a quick smile, then returned her attention to the water. "What did you mean about the fashion?"

[bat-daughter.livejournal.com]

"Damnedest thing, really. From what I was and what Brenda said, being rail-thin, and I'm talking really unhealthy here, had become popular. With clothing designed in a way that would make people like me feel fat."

[random_xtras]

"Do you like fish?" She started toward the fire, Ace once more lumbering in her wake.

[bat-daughter.livejournal.com]

"Sure," she replied, following along.

[random_xtras]

"Very well." She pulled a leg off one of the fish. "Help yourself."

[bat-daughter.livejournal.com]

The food was strange, but as she tried some more of it, Helena had to admit, it was good. "Good stuff," she said.

[random_xtras]

Pru only smiled. "Or a 'comic book'?"

[bat-daughter.livejournal.com]

"Point taken."

[random_xtras]

The Nightwing rose vertically, so swiftly as to startle unsuspecting stomachs.

Lon studied the screens, his face intent and calm. Pru looked half asleep.

[bat-daughter.livejournal.com]

Helena's occasionally traveled by means of being carried by Power Girl, who herself traveled in 1/8th of a mile leaps. This was nothing.

[random_xtras]

"How does that work?" Lon frowned at her reflection in the screen.

[bat-daughter.livejournal.com]

"Earth's pretty much divided up into countries, which have their own heads of state and governing bodies."

[random_xtras]

"Indeed." She gave a disapproving look to the man who floated overhead in a glob of green light, a smirk on his scruffy looking face, then went and hugged the petite young lady with the long dark hair as Lon released her.

[bat-daughter.livejournal.com]

Helena looked between the two and gave a friendly wave. "Ah... hi?"

[random_xtras]

Pru squeezed her shoulder gently. "We shall be seeing his son at the end of the night. But we must be going now."

"Right." Leia looked up, then crouched slightly and was gone with a swish of air.

[bat-daughter.livejournal.com]

Helena watched with just a hint of jealousy. "That's a good trick she's got there."

She nodded. "But you're right. Let's go."

[random_xtras]

Pru turned and scaled the side of the Nightwing to sit and watch her with all the patience of a mother cat, letting Oracle know that she and her guest would be a few moments later in their meeting with Huntress.

[bat-daughter.livejournal.com]

Helena is, no matter what else, a Batman's daughter. It doesn't take her long at all to get the hang of things. "All set, I think."

[random_xtras]

Pru's hand gently squeezed her shoulder as the older woman gave a passing man a steely look that promised dire consequences should Helena be troubled. She no longer looked like the calm, gentle mother that she'd seemed in the Cave and by the Nightwing. She was a night creature now; a feral fury who would do what was necessary to carry out her goal.

The man, a massive human with a shaven head, lowered his eyes and sidled past meekly.

[bat-daughter.livejournal.com]

Helena sighed. "I can do scary in short bursts, but dang... You've got it as an art form."

[random_xtras]

Huntress bellowed in Huttish, and a server hurried over with something pink, which he handed to Helena before scurrying off.

[bat-daughter.livejournal.com]

It was a Shirley Temple, of all things. "...Weird. Didn't know you got these on other planets."

[random_xtras]

They passed through darksome alleys, largely unseen by their denizens though a few looked around and pulled shabby jackets closer or sank deeper into the dark as though to avoid detection.

The place they were headed for was in a residential complex, a moldering ruin with broken out windows and little to differentiate between the habited and uninhabited rooms. Pru climbed the wall and slipped through one of these gaping portals, then waited for Helena.

[bat-daughter.livejournal.com]

Helena followed easily, with the stealth and agility that comes from long practice.

[random_xtras]

Another person flew out, but she too was unconscious, and then silence fell inside the room.

[bat-daughter.livejournal.com]

Helena tensed, ready for more. Silence did not necessarily mean the bad guys were all finished.

[random_xtras]

He nearly managed to evade the spin kick, but his partner's stunned stumble into his path knocked him off course as well, and he fell to one knee with a curse.

[bat-daughter.livejournal.com]

Helena struck out, this time with an uppercut as he fell. Fighting dirty? Maybe, but like Wildcat always said, "Sometime's fighting dirty's what gets you home."

[random_xtras]

The giant being barely staggered, only laughing again and lashing out with one armored leg to knock the young woman against the wall.

[bat-daughter.livejournal.com]

She wasn't able to get out of the way in time and gets hit full on, slamming against the wall painfully.

[random_xtras]

He said the name of the thing, then added, "It lets me see your bone and internal structure."

[bat-daughter.livejournal.com]

"...good trick."

[random_xtras]

"Other than the smell, no, not really. Do you want it?" Leia's dark eyes looked at her affectionately.

[bat-daughter.livejournal.com]

"Better than... waiting God knows how long to heal the slow way."

[random_xtras]

"Oh, Tora." Pru stooped down to comfort the child, who leaned against her and looked at Helena fearfully. "I was coming back. I told you."

[bat-daughter.livejournal.com]

Helena managed a smile. "Don't worry, kid. I'm safe."

[random_xtras]

"Really?" Big eyes looked up at her, managing to be terribly cute despite belonging to a giant baby slug.

[bat-daughter.livejournal.com]

"Really."