Light Hawk, Dark Knight *Batman and any associated characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics, part of Warner Bros., part of Time Warner. **Tenchi Universe and all associated characters are trademark and copyright AIC * Pioneer LDC. I know I did not create these characters, I am simply not that brilliant. This work was not done for profit, only for fun and to see whether or not I possess any writing talent at all. Note: Two slashes will surround a character's thoughts, a solid line indicates a scene or setting change. Yet Another Note: If you didn't read part one, then please do so, it'll make me feel better. What's that? No, you should be able to understand the story okay without having read part one (its not like there was much of a story involved anyway). "Part 2 - Conflict and Explanations" As the Batman turned to face the group, his made a quick mental reference and analysis on each individual. \\The one up front, holding a wooden sword just like the older man's. He's young but looks determined, especially since the old man is apparently his grandfather. Something a little off about him, too.// \\Next closest is a young girl who's hovering above ground. Appearance odd. extraterrestrial perhaps? Have to be on guard. She also looks ready for a fight.// \\A few feet back and to the right, two young women in some type of uniform. Security? One with teal hair aiming some sort of firearm but can't hide some nervousness. The other, blonde one seems frightened, probably not much of a threat.// \\And at the rear a young girl with purple hair, appears nervous. Not armed, but that doesn't indicate a non-threat. On either side of her, a cylindrical wooden unit, each with a glowing eye. They appear to be protecting her.// There was something a bit "off" about all of them, in fact, but Batman could not yet hypothesize what it might be. He probably would not have the time to, either. "Hey, I said you should explain why you hurt my grandfather, and you'd better make it quick!" said Tenchi. Batman understood Japanese perfectly well, but did not yet make any reply. Tenchi was about to open his mouth again when Batman cut him off. "I think you should be answering my questions first, especially if you came from that house over there" said the Batman. The sound of his voice intimidated Tenchi slightly, as well as the others, but he did not back down. Tenchi again went to speak, but was again interrupted, though by a different source this time. "Stand back, Tenchi darling," said Ryoko. Batman noticed peripherally that the young woman standing at the rear of the group became annoyed at this. "Let me take care of this freak," continued Ryoko as she hovered forward and pushed Tenchi aside. "He might have been able to beat your grandfather but I bet I can give him more than he can handle." "Well, okay Ryoko, if you're sure," said Tenchi, deciding to check on his grandfather once the opportunity presented itself, but also ready to back Ryoko up if necessary. Batman shifted into his fighting stance. Part of him regretted not coming to a more diplomatic solution, but a larger part wanted knew he might need to make a display of force if he wanted to make these people talk. Then, suddenly, the hovering girl, whose name sounded like Ryoko, disappeared. The Batman tensed, immediately recognizing that she was a teleporter. \\Looks like this just got even more interesting//, he thought, attempting to ready himself for a surprise attack. He knew where the attack was coming from just as it happened, but did not have enough time to block or dodge. He was hit with a kick to the side of the head, the force of the blow knocking him a few feet away. His training allowed him to roll with blow in order to lessen the impact, but he could already feel the blood in his mouth. \\Someone her size shouldn't be able to put that much power into a kick, must have enhanced strength as well//, thought Batman, \\great.// She teleported again, but this time he was more prepared. She went for a punch this time, but he caught her arm and pulled her in, delivering four quick chops to different pressure points. She did not go down as he expected, but stumbled back a bit. "Aw, what's the matter, didn't get the result you expected," she taunted, seeing the hint of surprise on his face, "well I'm through playing around." Batman's eyes narrowed as Ryoko formed her energy-sword. \\Energy manipulation as well//, he thought, \\have to hope the others are not all this powerful.// Ryoko lunged through the air at Batman, who only dodged at the last second in order to try to throw her off. She recovered quickly, though, and took a broad horizontal slash at him. The Batman backflipped up and over the strike, landed on his hands, and did two more backflips before coming to a halt several feet back. "Hey, not bad," complimented Ryoko at the Batman's agility. As he reached into his belt for something, the energy-sword disappeared. Instead, a round ball of energy appeared between her hands. \\No good//, thought the Batman, \\have to get to a less open area.// Anticipating the long-range attack that was coming, Batman gradually backed towards the forest. "Ryoko, wait-," called Tenchi, from over near his grandfather's unconscious but still living form, before she cut him off. "This'll be over in a second, don't worry handsome," she said. Ryoko unleashed a plasma blast in the Batman's direction. He made no overt attempt to dodge the blast. Instead he brought up his cape to block their view as much as possible and twisted his body to the side as the blast passed within its darkness, while simultaneously jumping backwards into the forest and letting out a false cry of pain. He came to a rest behind some shrubs. "Ha, I got him!" exclaimed Ryoko proudly. "I'm not so sure you did," added Kiyone. "Oh ye of little faith," retorted Ryoko, "let me go drag the carcass out of the woods if that's what it'll take." She hovered over to the woods and went to the first line of shrubbery. "Wait, Ryoko!" exclaimed Tenchi, trying to catch up. "Gee I guess I blasted him harder than I thought," said Ryoko, not finding Batman where she thought he had landed. She drifted farther back into the woods, the others could just barely see her. They could, however hear her cry of surprise as a hand reached out from behind a tree and grabbed her. After a muffled sound of struggle, they heard nothing more. "Ryoko!" called Tenchi, entering the forest. Kiyone pulled him back. "I think we should try and stick together, Tenchi, we can't let him surprise us." He nodded and backed up next to her, holding his bokken at the ready as Kiyone readied her blaster. "Mihoshi, are you coming or not!" she called to her partner. "Well... okay," replied Mihoshi nervously, "but I'm scared." Unknown to them, Batman had slipped up into the trees and was now above them. "Say, Tenchi, do you smell something," said Kiyone, "its faint but it smells like some sort of gas." Tenchi suddenly noticed the shadows of the trees seem to get larger, but even his reflexes were not fast enough. Nor were Kiyone's. Batman landed behind and between them, grabbed each of their heads, and brought them together with enough for to knock them out. They both crumpled. \\Two more down,// he thought while turning and drawing a batarang to disarm the other armed individual. Seeing the towering figure turn towards her, Mihoshi's eyes went wide with fear. She immediately dropped all courage she may have summed up, turned and ran away screaming. Batman mentally shook his head at the sight, then reached for his tangle-line. Meanwhile, Ayeka decided to help out, despite the fact that Tenchi had asked not to get involved unless things got serious. She thought that they had indeed gotten serious enough for her to do something. "Azaka, Kamidake," she said to the two guardians, "go contain our enemy." The guardians began moving towards Batman, their capture force-field activating. Batman let the tangle line fly, aiming low. He wished he could have wrapped the woman's arms, but she was waving them around, gun still in her hand, frantically as she ran. The line wrapped around Mihoshi's legs several times, causing her to fall forward. That was when things went downhill for the Dark Knight. When Mihoshi fell, her blaster went off. The shot was headed directly for Ayeka. \\No!// thought Batman. He started in her direction, drawing his grapnel to fire at her in an attempt to knock her away from the gun-blast. The guardians, who had almost reached him, also began to move back towards the princess, though that knew they would not reach her in time. Batman stopped suddenly when he saw the shot bounce off what appeared to thin air just a moment before it would have hit Ayeka. He saw a blue shimmer around the girl as the shot was reflected. \\Some type of force field,// he thought, following the new path of the projectile. It was now headed for the two guardians, who were just a few feet to the Batman's left and ahead of him. He thought it was going to pass between them, but instead it again was reflected by thin air, right in Batman's direction. The guardians hadn't yet dropped their own field. \\No time,// he thought. He managed to contort his body so that it would strike him in the shoulder, mentally preparing himself for the damage. Instead of tearing a hole through his shoulder as he expected, Batman felt energy coursing through his body. Unfortunately for the Batman, Mihoshi had set her blaster on heavy stun. The energy that coursed through would have knocked out a rhinoceros. He went down, first on one knee, then pitched over onto his back. The last thing he saw before fading into unconsciousness was a strange red-haired girl looking down at him with her hand under her chin, as though she was pondering something. Then everything went black. "I wouldn't get too close, Washu-chan," warned Ayeka as she looked down at Batman's unconscious form, "we don't know what sort of being that is, it may be some sort of evil spirit of the forest." Washu had arrived just as the battle was ending. "That's odd, he seems to be a normal human being to me," replied Washu. "How do you know that?" questioned the princess. Washu pointed at the blood running down the corner of the Batman's mouth. "Usually, evil spirits don't bleed like that." Washu pulled her control panel out of subspace and typed in commands. A high- tech device resembling a gurney rolled out of a subspace portal nearby. Mechanical arms picked up the Batman's unconscious form and placed him on the device. She tapped more buttons, and the "gurney" entered another subspace portal. "And just what are you going to do?" asked Ayeka. "I'm just going to run a few... tests," said Washu, a sly grin appearing on her face as she stepped into her own portal. Ayeka stood there for a moment, then she and the guardians went about checking on the others. They freed Mihoshi from the tangle-line, and picked up the unconscious forms of Tenchi, Kiyone, and Katsuhito. They found Ryoko lying unconscious behind a tree about ten yards into the forest, and brought them all inside the house. ________________________________________________________________________________ _________________ The Batman awoke in what appeared to be some sort of scientific laboratory, but he could not even begin to guess at what most of the equipment that he saw was. He was pinned vertically against some sort of slab of metal, with locks over his wrists and ankles. The same red-haired girl was peering at him with interest. "Who are you?" he asked, noticing that his mask was all the clothing she had left on him. She laughed. "What, you've never heard of the Great Washu, the Greatest Scientific Genius in the Universe!" Two small dolls appeared, one over each of her shoulders, and affirmed her claims. "Sorry, can't say I've heard of you," he replied seriously. "Tough guy, huh," she said, "well we'll see how tough you are in a minute." She turned and walked over to a table. On it was a large syringe. "Yes, we'll see all right," she snickered, and filled the syringe with a strange green chemical. She turned back to Batman. "I promise this'll only sting a little, now for the chem-," she stopped. There was no one on the examining block anymore. She dropped the syringe. Her eyes went wide and darted around nervously. She quickly looked over at the table where she had put the Batman's suit and equipment. They were gone as well. Slowly, she started backing up. \\I wish I didn't have so much stuff laying around in here//, she thought, \\too many places to hide//. She was still stepping backwards, and about to pull out her control panel in order to make a security scan of the lab, when she bumped into something behind her. It didn't feel like one of her machines that she had backed into. Slowly, Washu turned her head. Behind her stood a dark form with two white slits like eyes near the top. She yelped in surprise. Batman leaned forward slightly. "Now do you feel like answering my questions?" he said in a rasping tone. "S-sure," she replied, then quickly regained her composure. She hadn't expected any trouble from a mortal, despite the fact that he had caused her friends so much trouble. She had no idea how he had escaped the bonds, but decided, for now, to use less forceful measures with their visitor. "I'll answer your questions if it'll make you happy," she said, pointing at him and smiling. From what she had already discovered about him, he was not a naturally hostile person. "Alright," said Batman flatly, not smiling. "By the way, that's a nice effect you're pulling off with the costume and everything, really spooky," said Washu. "You don't seem scared," replied Batman. Washu then said, "hey, when you've been around for twenty thousand years you don't scare as easily." "Twenty thousand-," began Batman, before stopping himself. "Never mind," he continued, "you already told me who you are, how about telling me where this is?" he said, looking around at the large room. He didn't think that a room this large could fit into the house he had seen earlier, unless they were underground. Washu proceeded to inform the Batman about her lab. He seemed interested, but not at all surprised. "So this lab is in another dimension, but connected to the house," he said curiously. "Yep," she replied, "but you don't seem very impressed." "I've... had experience with other dimensions before, in fact I believe I am in a different dimension, or plane of existence, and I don't just mean your laboratory, than the one I am supposed to be in," he said. "Hmmm," said Washu, "you seem pretty smart for a guy who dresses up like some kind of bat." "Even so, I probably could not guess at what half of the equipment you have here does," he said, indicating the many different machines, consoles, and other miscellaneous items in the lab. "Flattery will get you nowhere," she said, smirking. "Fine, but do you think that perhaps you could use one your devices to transport me back to my home dimension?" asked Batman. "I have a city, and a world, to protect," he stated seriously. "My, such honor and duty," replied Washu, "I'll see what I can do... but, it will take time to find your dimension's distinct signature, Batman." "How did you-," he began, but then decided how she might have found out his name. "Yeah, I scanned your brainwaves alright," said Washu, "I know all about you, and how you got here." She chuckled. Batman looked slightly perturbed, but regained his composure. "You went through a dimensional portal, but I got the feeling it might have been a trap," she continued. "That's what I was thinking, I was on the trail of... an enemy when I was transported here." "Right, odd name that guy has, sounded like an older Earth dialect," said Washu. "That's not important," replied Batman. "Hmph," she said, "but anyway, you ended up somewhere near here when you came through, and tracked some strange energy signatures to my friend's house. Your equipment's pretty nice for native Earth technology." Batman raised an eyebrow. She continued, "I guess you know, now, what the source of those signatures was; some of my... associates have a hard time not using their, as you would call it, `superhuman' powers." "I see," said Batman. "However, you do know how important it is that I get back to my dimension," said Batman, "there's no telling what the individual I was after will attempt to do in my absence. By the way, how much time passed while I was out?" "Just a couple of hours, its about eleven o'clock Earth time," she replied, "and I'll get working on getting you home, but I do have other projects I'm working on." Batman gave her a look. "Just kidding, sheesh, you are a real hardcase," she said. "In the meantime, why don't I introduce you to everybody." "Everybody?" said Batman. "Yeah, you know, the people you roughed up earlier," answered Washu. "You might say that we're a. family of sorts, try not to laugh," she continued. "That's not really necessary..." said Batman. "Huh, that's right, you're kind of antisocial aren't you?" "Well that's too bad," she continued, "because I already sent a telepathic message to one of them to bring everybody down here to meet you." \\Great//, thought Batman, sarcastically. As if on cue, a door opened at one end of the room where there did not even really appear to be a wall, and all the people Batman had encountered earlier, as well as a couple more, walked in. "Hey everybody, I'd like you to meet the legendary Batman," said Washu. Batman glanced at her, then looked back at the group. "I believe you've already sort of met most of them, Bru-, whoops I guess you don't want me to broadcast that do you?" "No, if you don't mind," said Batman, now knowing what he had suspected - that Washu had discovered who he was behind the mask. Or was it the other way around? "Okay," said Washu, "as I was saying, I think there was a slight misunderstanding among both parties. I've checked him out, heh-heh, and he's not hostile people. In fact, he's a bonafide hero/crimefighter/vigilante, albeit from another dimension." "Another dimension?!" said the blonde-haired woman that had inadvertently put Batman down earlier. "Yes, dim-bulb, I said another dimension," replied Washu, then to Batman, "just try to ignore her as best you can." She continued on, "he used a device to track energy signatures that led him to us." She looked at two people, the young woman with whom Batman had battled earlier and the purple- haired girl who had used a force field, in particular. "I wonder who could have been emitting those signatures," she said sarcastically. They both looked slightly embarrassed. "Look, er - Batman," said the young man at the front of the group, "we're sorry we attacked you. We didn't know who, or what, you were. By the way, my name's Tenchi Masaki, let me introduce everyone to you." First he moved to the older man Batman had fought in the forest. "This is my grandfather, Katsuhito Masaki." Katsuhito spoke up, "I should apologize as well, I did in a way initiate the whole thing." Batman replied, "I understand you were merely concerned for your family, and I don't blame you for your actions. I admit that I was a bit. frustrated as a result of being unwillingly placed here. I should have attempted to explain myself first. You recovered well?" Apologies were not an easy thing for Batman. "Yes," said Katsuhito, "by the way, what fighting style was that you were using? I can't say I've ever seen it before." Tenchi interrupted, "c'mon grandpa, you can have this discussion later, I've got to introduce everyone else." Katsuhito stepped back, "fine, Tenchi." Tenchi next moved to the young girl with cyan-colored hair whom Batman had fought with. She appeared to be attempting to stare a hole in Batman, he returned the favor. Tenchi saw this and began nervously, "this is the former space-pirate Ryoko, I, uh, guess you two already... never mind," he stopped abruptly and decided to move on to the next person. He motioned towards the young woman with the teal-colored hair who Batman had taken for some sort of security personnel. "This is Kiyone, a detective with the Galaxy Police," said Tenchi. "Galaxy Police?" Batman said. "That's right," said Kiyone, "so, are vigilantes legal in your dimension, because they aren't in this one." Batman's eyes narrowed at her. "Ah heh, Kiyone's just joking... right?" said Tenchi, looking at the GP detective. "They aren't legal," said Batman suddenly, "but I do work fairly closely with the police of my dimension." Kiyone merely said, "hmph." Tenchi went next to the "dim-bulb", whose profession Batman had made the same guess at. "This is Mihoshi, also a Galaxy Police detective," said Tenchi. Mihoshi giggled and waved happily. Batman wondered briefly what kind of standards this "Galaxy Police" had for its detectives. "Hi," said Mihoshi, "sorry about shooting you." Batman grunted, and thought, \\lucky shot, or was it?// Next Tenchi went to the girl with the purple hair, who was standing with a small blue-haired girl by her leg, and the two wooden robots just behind her. "This is Ayeka, she's a princess from the planet Jurai, the most powerful planet in the universe," said Tenchi. She nodded towards Batman and smiled. "And this here is her little sister Sasami, also a princess," he said, getting down on one knee next to the girl, who had a furry creature seated on her head that looked like a species of cat which Batman had never seen before. Sasami was almost hiding behind her sister's leg. "Come on, now, Sasami, don't be scared," said Tenchi. "Pleased to make your acquaintance," Batman said, almost (but not quite of course) smiling. Sasami relaxed a little and smiled herself. "Me too," she said gladly. Tenchi pointed to the creature on her head, "and this is Ryo-Ohki the cabbit." The animal made a sound like a meow and its large ears popped up briefly. "One of your projects," Batman said to Washu. "You got it, a true masterpiece is that Ryo-Ohki" she replied. Ryo-Ohki meowed again at the sound of her name. Tenchi was now indicating the robots. "This is Azaka," he said, pointing to the one with the blue markings, "and Kamidake," indicating the other which had red markings. "They are the princess' personal guardians." The two guardians dipped forward slightly as though bowing. "And last but definitely not least is my dad, Noboyuki Masaki," said Tenchi, indicating a middle-aged man with spectacles. "You're welcome to stay here for now if you like, we already have lots of houseguests anyway," said Noboyuki. "Thank you for the offer, but I'll be heading back to my own world as soon as possible," replied Batman, "I believe that the individual responsible for sending me here is planning something." "Is it a super-villain?" asked Mihoshi. "More of a terrorist, actually," said Batman, slightly curious as to why she had asked such a question. "Well I just thought it might be a super-villain," Mihoshi began rambling, oblivious to the fact that everyone was staring at her, "because you look like a superhero like from a comic book or something and that's who they usually-," she was interrupted by Kiyone. "Will you be quiet!" she yelled. "Sorry," said Mihoshi sheepishly. "I would like to apologize to anyone I may have frightened or harmed," Batman spoke up, "as I said, I was not thinking as clearly as normal. I was, and still am for the large part, highly concerned about what could be going on in my world while I am in this one. There are other... `superheroes' in my world, but I can't be certain that they will be able to stop the individual I was after, whose plots normally involve eradicating the majority of human life on Earth in order to fulfill his own vision of how the world should be." Several pairs of eyes widened at that. Batman turned to Washu, "I don't mean to rush you, miss, but the sooner I can get back the better." She looked up at him. "Alright, I think I can locate your dimension based on the brainwave scans I made. It should take no more than two hours. And I like to be called `Little Washu' if you don't mind." Several of the others groaned. "Thank you, Little Washu," said Batman sincerely, "is there any way that I can help you?" She thought for a second, then said, "no, you can just wait around until then." Tenchi spoke up, "hey, why don't you come see our house, its pretty neat. My dad designed it." Noboyuki looked proud. "Fine," said Batman. \\Only an hour, I can think about how I'm going to catch up with Society of Shadows while I wait//, he thought. The group began to move towards the door through which they had entered. Batman began to follow, when Washu called out to him. "Hey, watch yourself in there. Remember those energy signatures you followed," she said. Batman looked towards Washu, but she was already getting to work. He shrugged, and continued on. Coming up in Part Three: In the next Part, we'll find out that things don't go quite as planned, as a certain bounty hunter attacks and a certain klutz sets back Washu's progress at getting Batman back to his world. But, what if he doesn't have to? Was his ending up in Tenchi's world an attempt to get rid of him so the villain (can you guess who, I dropped a few hints but non-Bat fans probably won't know) he was tracking can enact an evil plan in his absence, or is a larger plot unfolding? Wow. I originally was thinking that this whole thing would wrap up in three parts, but I'm looking at a possible five or six-parter on my hands now as the story just keeps getting bigger in my mind. The "version" of Batman being used here is the animated one. Fans of the Batman comic might know that they "wussified" him a bit in the cartoon, but not as much as they did Superman at least. It probably would not have made too big of a difference anyway. Since Tenchi Universe (unlike Batman) seems to have a somewhat definite chronological continuity, this story would be taking place somewhere between episodes 13 and 14 (assuming much time passed between them at all). Again, send comments and praise/hate mail to mcw2879@students.ssu.edu.