Refugees in Skyrim

Going through the portal wasn't like just going through a door. It was more comparable to a whirlwind trip through a long hallway of swirling and dancing physical thoughts, colors and vague impressions. Reaching the end a slim film washes over them. It was comparable to being yanked out of water or perhaps jumping into it, similar to going from blasting cold to blistering heat but it was distinctly something else.

With his stomach rolling Dick, along with the others, fall out of the chaotic portal into a new world. It was a relief. For a few moments between the shifting realities he was seriously concerned. He couldn't see anything in the swirling mass but while inside he felt something, something looking at them, judging them. Expertly sweeping his hands over himself Dick finds, to his relief, only an extra bruise or two.

"Is everyone alright?" Dick asks.

Their landing wasn't exactly easy but it could have been worse. It could have been into a jagged bed of rocks instead of a wet snowdrift.

"We're fine." M'gann says helping Heather up from the ground. Her voice sounded a bit shaken. The young Batman was already on his feet.

"I probably should have wrapped my ribs before going through that." Jason says with a hiss.

They were on the side of a small mountain,surrounded by grey jagged stone covered in mounds of ice and snow. In the distance Dick could just see an old fashioned sawmill across a large lake at the base of the mountain. The entire area around the lake was forested. There were a couple large jagged boulders breaking the surface of the water forming small islands in the middle of the lake.

The peak of the mountain they were on was in back of them and in front of them in the distance they could just make out the lake surrounded by trees. Much of their view was blocked by a treeline from the lower slopes of the mountain.

They were surrounded by snow peaked mountains, a crisp cold air was blowing all around them.The singing of birds could be heard from the forested area near the water.
It was breathtakingly beautiful.

Dismissing it as unimportant, for the moment, Dick moves to his brother's side and gets him to sit on a nearby flat boulder. If someone saw them come through the portal they needed to be ready to met the possible threat.

"When we went through the portal was I the only one who felt like a..." the young Batman trails off clearly looking for the right words.

"...Like we were under a microscope? No." Bruce's alternate father growls out, not at all happy.

M'gann was shaking slightly, "I couldn't feel what it was. It felt like I was a fly looking up at a mountain. It was... it was just too big."

"There's nothing we can do about it. All we can do is keep an eye out for whoever or whatever they are and hope they're not a threat." Dick points out helping his brother out of his helmet, Kevlar plated shirt and jacket. Dick quickly sets and starts to wrap his brother's ribs with practiced ease.

"Not a bad place to land. Except for that sawmill on the other side of the lake we're pretty much out of view of anyone." Jason says with a wince.

It didn't take a genius to know that keeping a low profile was essential at this point.

The teen-aged Batman goes over to a solid looking stone and pulls out a wooden spoon sized black metal object. It had a claw type attachment on one end, the other end was sharp and pointed. It had multiple buttons along the length.

He doesn't hesitate and stabs the pointed end into the rock.

"What is that?" Dr. Wayne grunts indicating the unnamed object.

The teenager flips open a computer console on his forearm, "It's an advance survey probe. It's part of a kit the league from my time uses to scout alien worlds. There's a couple dozen of them per kit. When we were recruited for the fight Mr. Wayne provided the station with the kits. He sent thousands of them. He made sure that it was part of the standard supplies for everyone. At least one was put in each standard supply pack."

Red Hood snorts and looks at the eight backpacks on the ground next to the teen, the old man really overloaded the kid. It made sense considering how much he could carry with the suit, "So how many of these kits did he end up giving you?"

"At least eight." he states blandly, "Who knows what else he packed in the first two. I'm pretty sure he sent at least a couple dozen chores along with whatever is in them."

Nightwing nods at this, "What's are the functions of the probe?"

"It does pretty much everything. It gathers basic weather information, looks for signs of local wildlife, and keeps track of anything it finds. It scans for radio signals and records them. It's best feature is when you use many of them together." He shows them the display screen hovering over his arm. "If you put them every few miles in every direction they map the area and they create a solid communication network for everyone with a communicator."

Something on the computer screen flashes. The teen turns it back to himself and scans the incoming information. "And it's not working right..." he says with an annoyed huff.

Redhood snorts out a half laugh, "You actually expected something that useful to go our way without effort? That old man was right, you are green."

The teen rolls his eyes but doesn't reply to the taunt. He looks over the readings and types a couple commands. "An unknown energy source is interfering. The sensor part is working it's the communication part that's having the problems. With the signal deterioration rate I go more then a quarter mile from it and I won't be able to pick up it's signal. The normal range is more then ten miles per probe. I'll have to work on it some."

He takes out a small kit from his belt and opens the side panel. The others start shrugging off backpacks and putting them to a side.

Jason was just about to try to put on his Kevlar-lined shirt, when a spoon enters his sight, "What's this?" Miss Potter had a bottle that was in the shape of a human skeleton in her hand and a spoon of liquid held out to Jason in the other. He saw her messing with something in her trunk out of the corner of his eye a moment ago but he didn't think anything of it.

The green eyed young woman gives him a pained smile, "It's called skelegrow. It's one of the rare potions I have left over after all the fighting. There isn't much need to regrow entire bones after the battle." she says in explanation, "I don't know how to heal bones but if they're set properly this will heal over the break in a few hours."

Jason reluctantly takes the spoon from her. The mixture was gritty and milky white, it reminded him heavily of mud. Taking a small sniff, he couldn't help but be reminded vaguely of vinegar and grass, "This tastes disgusting doesn't it?"

Miss Potter grimaces, "Best to just down it as fast a possible."

Jason didn't like trusting virtual strangers but she did fight in the battle. Everyone who fought deserved at least a little trust. A moment of disgust would be better then weeks of pain and trouble sleeping. Broken ribs were a pain.

Before he could think about it, he reaches up, pinches his nose and downs the full spoon of liquid. He quickly moves his hand from his nose to his mouth and fights down the boiling urge to expel his internal organs.

It takes a couple minutes but after winning the battle with his stomach he holds the empty spoon out to her with a scowl on his face. "That was the most disgusting thing I have ever put in my mouth and I used to live and eat off the streets... What was in that?"

She shrugs, "I don't know all the ingredients off the top of my head but.... I know there's armadillo bile, dragon liver, preserved rat flesh, oh and dandelions." she lists quietly giving him a small but pained smile.
"Funny." Jason says with a snort, clearly not believing her. He turns to put his armor back on, so he doesn't see her blink at the response and her sympathetic smile become outright amused.

Dick, who was watching the exchange, doesn't miss the slight amusement on the witch's face. 'Note to self: Only drink if death is the alternative.'

Turning back to the group, Dick couldn't help pausing. It didn't take a great detective to know that this wasn't going to be a walk in a park. Every single person in the party was a walking time bomb.
Miss Potter, was the sole survivor of her Earth. The group as a whole didn't have any counters for magic.. except for her. They didn't have anyone to turn to if she lost control of herself here. They'll have to keep an eye on her and be prepared to knock her out if she starts to lose control.

Miss Martian had the rest of 'Young Justice' team but she was going to be the only one of her kind on this planet. She lost all her family, most notably her mentor and species. How long will it take for her to come to terms with it? Will her friends be enough to pull her through? How will everyone's grieving effect her, especially with her telepathy? They may have to create a contingency plan to get her away from the group for her own mental health.

Thomas Wayne, another Earth's Batman, was alarming in his own way. The man was a clear alcoholic. The ease in which he finished that bottle, the lack of signs that he was in any way under the influence of anything. He was displaying clear signs of long term substance abuse. Along with the guns at his side, it painted a rather nasty picture. How long has he been an alcoholic? Did the guns mean he uses lethal force? What drove him to be Batman? Did Bruce die in crime alley instead? Has he been like this ever since?

All he dared to hope of the old man, was that he might be like Bruce when it comes to grief. Bruce tended to push people away... would Thomas Wayne do the same if Bruce died? Did he have anyone when his world ended?

It was a depressing thought but if he was alone maybe this disaster actually would help the man. Dick was certain that the two Bruces, would fight for the man.

Then there's the young Batman. He saw enough of his interaction with the boy 'Matt' to know he was very important to him. He had someone to fight for and he seemed stable at the moment... about as stable as himself at least. It was clear that he didn't have as much experience but he might be good for backup if a problem cropped up in the group. But him acting stable now didn't mean he wouldn't become a problem later when the reality of what happened hits him. How many people did he loose? Did he have family and friends beyond the boy 'Matt'?

And of course there was Jason. Jason had the family but his relationship with the family has always been rather chaotic. Jason just lost most of his friends, friends that went with him through thick and thin. He seemed to be trying to keep himself from thinking of it. Maybe he realized that out of the survivors he was luckier then most.

And then there was himself. Dick knew he was lucky. He had Bruce, Alfred, Babs, all his siblings. Yes he lost far too much but he was lucky to have his family. Out of everyone here he was perhaps the luckiest of them all.

It meant he had to be the stable one... the voice of reason, the one to keep them focused on mission. This was too important to mess up. It didn't mean that he couldn't break down at the wrong moment ...
"Put everything you can't immediately fight with over there." Dick points to a large outcropping of boulders. It was out of the way and it could hide most of what they brought.

The station had some standard supply bags for the scouting parties at the portals. Each one of them grabbed at least one. Most grabbed two. The younger Batman, not burdened with the medical supply chest and only two normal backpacks, was still able to pick up a massive amount of weight. He had a backpack on his back, front and managed to get the shoulder straps of an additional three for each arm on him. A total of eight bags of supplies from just him.

Shaking his head at the remembered image, Dick takes out his binoculars and starts scanning the distance. If anyone saw them come out of the portal... they most likely would be either heading this way or watching.

It was either late evening or early morning, so it was possible that the light from the portal was visible from far away. It was also probably the best time for the portal. At the first and last moments of day the light from the sun tended to reflect off of large surfaces like lakes and make odd lights shine in places it usually wouldn't.

Not seeing anyone he turns back to the others.

"Alright we should figure out a plan." Dick turns to Bruce's alternate father, "Are you staying with us Doctor or are you going off on your own?"

The man pauses in thought. This was an unknown world with unknown dangers. It was a clear risk to leave the group but he'd be alone and able to move faster. On the other hand staying with the group meant having to deal with these kids, some of them an alternate version of his son, cared for deeply... like a father would. "I'll stick with the group for now." he says gruffly, ignoring that ever existing hollow feeling in his chest that made itself known any time he thought of his long dead son. There were strength in numbers, better to be together.

Dick nods, he expected something like that, "If you break off from the group, I'd appreciate if you give us some warning. I don't want to send out a search party if you're not in trouble."

The doctor snorts at the request but doesn't object to it.

The teen aged Batman was still working on the advanced survey probe that he wanted to set up.

"Let's put that on the back burner for now. If there's a threat in the area we need to find it immediately." Nightwing states looking back at the area they landed in.

Miss Martian was hovering a foot above the ground, she lands next to the others, "I haven't seen many nature shows. What are we suppose to do first? I know our long term goals but we didn't really go over a plan..." she points out curiously.

"It be best if we start with basic wilderness survival," the older Batman points out, "Find a safe spot to set up a couple tents so we have somewhere to retreat if the weather gets bad, make a fire for warmth and cooking, then look for a water source, then find food..."

Nightwing nods, "We have food and water for right now. Shelter and a fire are the immediate priorities. We're not far up this mountain but over half of it is covered in snow. It's either in the winter seasons or we're in a naturally cooler climate." he knew he was thinking out loud but he didn't know everyone here yet. Better to point out the obvious now and figure out how good the others were at observation later.

"Fire isn't really an issue." Heather points out holding out her hand. There was a small flicker of flame hovering above her palm. "Dry wood is the issue."

Redhood looks over the stone ridge towards the edge of the lake. "There's some ruins down in the water. There's a lot of underbrush down there. We can set up the tents between that and the mill. We should be out of sight, even with a fire."

The younger Batman turns from the probe back to the group, "I think we should break up and do different jobs. Since I know how it works, I should work on getting the probe to operate right. It'll give us a radio signpost of where the portal will open again. If we have to leave the area in a hurry we might need it."

"Kid has a point," the doctor says to his alternate son's oldest. Nightwing was clearly the leader of the group. If someone else wanted to field all the issues involved in herding the group, he wasn't going to complain. If they weren't an idiot that was going to get them killed, why should he interfere. It was one less thing he'd have to worry about.

Nightwing glances up at the sky. It was getting dark. It wasn't dawn then... it was dusk. "Don't work on it for more then an hour." he warns the young Batman, after dark it would be best if they stayed together. He turns to the rest, "Next to those ruins will have to do for now. Let's go."

-------------------------------

Hours go by, the fire smoldered in the center of the camp. They only set up three of the tents. Nightwing and Redhood in one, the teen bat and the Doctor in another, and the final one for M'gann and Miss Potter.

It was agreed that at least half the group would stay awake at any given time. The other tents were packed away in the event they had to leave at a moment's notice.

They heated up a basic meal of some sort of canned stew right before the sun went down. Because of the unknown environment they didn't want a highly visible fire, so they let it die down to a pile of soft glowing embers.

They could hear animals in the underbrush. There were definitely wolves in the area. Howls echoed in the distance. More then one set of night vision goggles were watching the surrounding forest.
For the last few hours there wasn't any talk between any of them except for the basics to get their individual jobs done. They all were too tired...too burnt out from the battle.

"Two moons... I wish I knew their names..." Heather murmurs wistfully, looking up at the two looming spheres. They were so much bigger or closer than Earth's moon. Hermoine would be chattering a mile a minute about it. Heather could just imagine her debating with herself about the effects it would have on Herb growth or on moonstones. Heather couldn't stop her heart from squeezing painfully at the thought.

Miss Martian next to her was looking mindlessly down at the glowing embers. "They are beautiful." she agrees quietly, not bothering to look up.

"I wonder if the locals keep track of the star movements." Heather ponders softly.

"Ask sailors." the doctor says in his gruff voice. He was sitting across the way, resting his back against a tree, wrapped in his cape. "Some of the earliest astronomers were sailors. The locals don't seem very far in technology. They probably have to rely on people knowing it for navigation."

During the trek down the mountain they all saw some of the locals traveling on the road across the lake. They wore animal furs, leather armor, along with roughly weaved clothes. Many of them had blades or bows at their sides.

"I can't imagine living this far off the grid." The young Batman says, opening and closing a batarang absentmindedly.

"Bruce didn't make you do the wilderness training?" Nightwing asks curiously, looking back towards the group, lowering a pair of goggles.

The teen shrugs, "I think he was saving it for Summer or Spring break. I've only been doing this for six months. I never did have enough time for a lot of the stuff I needed to do... you know... like homework and sleep."

Redhood, who was using one of his big hunting knives to sharpen the end of a long straight branch, gives the teen a confused look and turns to Nightwing, "Hey Dickhead, any idea what he's talking about?"

Nightwing thinks about it for a moment but in the end just shrugs, "No idea, Little Wing, he's making it sound important though."

Redhood hums thoughtfully and strokes his chin, he took off his helmet hours ago, he only had on his mask, "... I think I remember Alfred mentioning it a time or two."

Nightwing makes an 'Ohh' sound, "Yeah you're right! I remember vaguely how it works but only in theory... I think I need a refresher course. It's been so long. I don't even know what it IS anymore.."

"What?" the young Batman asks not following at all.

Redhood turns to him and asks curiously, "What is this 'Sleep' thing you speak of?"

The young Bat snorts and tosses a nearby stick at the two as chuckles echo around the pile of glowing embers. The moment quickly quiets down but the air around the fire pit felt a slight bit lighter for it.

"Kid, you never did mention, did you repair that antenna?" The doctor asks the teen after awhile.

The younger Batman points at the computer panel on his forearm, "It's not exactly... never mind it's similar, so I guess you can call it that. I did what I could, I couldn't fix it completely but I did increase the range. Instead of a quarter of a mile, the signal can reach two miles now."

"Two miles is useful. Do you think you can increase the range any further?" Nightwing asks his voice slipping into his 'business' voice.

The young Bat shrugs, "It might be possible but I think I'd have to take it apart and mess with the wiring and circuit boards themselves. There's a serious chance of frying it that way. I'm nowhere as good as Bruce with this stuff. He'd probably be able to get the whole ten mile range and add a couple extra just for kicks."

The doctor grunts, "Then it be stupid to mess with them further. A mile and a half is usable for the current mission. Leave it to.." he pauses and swallows quietly, "..Bruce to fix. We can always work on it once everyone is here."

The others murmur or nod in agreement. Everyone pointedly ignore the pause.

"We're not going to get any sleep tonight are we?" Hood asks the others, a resigned note in his voice. Even exhausted after the battle they weren't showing any signs of actually getting any rest.

Nightwing shakes his head, "Since we're up, we should probably scout the area. Half of us work better in the dark anyways." he says pointing out the obvious.

"We should stay in pairs." Hood points out.

No one argues the point.

"How's the ribs?" Nightwing asks pointedly.

"Still hurting a bit. Inching like crazy though." Hood informs him.

"Okay, you and Miss Potter guard camp. No reason to strain you while you're still healing. M'gann and I will go East. Doctor you and the Kid okay with going West?"

The old man nods and stands up. "Stay within sight of the lake. No reason to risk getting lost."

-----------------------------

It was near dawn before everyone returned to camp.

"We need to find a more defensible location today." the doctor says without preamble.

The younger Batman was holding a large.. something in his arms. It was large and lumpy and there was no hint as to what it was. It was covered in some sort of paper thin tarp, another advanced item that was obviously drawn from his suit's endless supply of toys.

Setting his burden down the teenager draws back the tarp and shows the others the thing within.

It had eight legs covered in six inch spiked hairs, near foot long fangs, and eyes that even in death caused the most fearless of the group to recoil slightly. It was a spider, a spider that easily outweighed a human.

It was dead but even in death it felt very much like a threat.

Miss Potter was the first to react.

She quickly opens her basket and shifts though the contents. After a moment she draws out a pair of leather gloves that looked like it was made from some scaled creature and puts them on.

She kneels next to the thing and proceeds to exam it. She looks over it's thorax, it's legs, the fangs, the wound created by the precisely thrown batarang, she even draws out a silver knife and cuts it open to look at the creature's brain.

Drawing back from the thing she turns to the group, "Good news, it's not a Acromantula. Bad news it can probably grow just as large as one." seeing the blank looks thrown at her, she lets out a sigh and elaborates, "Acromantulas are sentient giant spiders. The brain of this spider is fortunately not developed enough to be that intelligent, so it's just an animal. Unfortunately this is a Juvenal, just recently hatched from what I can tell."

"How large can Acromantulas grow?" Nightwing asks all business.

Heather rakes a now glove free hand through her messy hair, "The largest I've seen was about the size of a small elephant but it's diet was restricted so it's possible that they can get larger."

The teen aged Batman groans at the news. Nightwing presses on, "Weaknesses? Do they actively hunt humans?" he didn't ask if they actually ate humans. Humans, being part of their diet wasn't in question.

"They're vulnerable around the joints, the underbelly and eyes. Their exoskeleton is also magic resistant, not that it matters to you lot. Acromantulas are smart enough to stay clear of human settlements and only hunt those that infringe on their territory, but this isn't an Acromantula. Your guess is as good as mine. They probably act more like normal spiders."

"Do they spit?" the doctor asks grimly.

The witch blinks, her eyes going wide, "I've never seen an Acromantula spit before, I'm guessing this spider did then.."

A venom spitting giant spider... because it being the size of a small house wasn't enough of a worry?

"Hopefully these are cannibalistic like the small spiders from Earth. It would naturally cut down on their numbers." Nightwing says with a sigh, "Anyways, on the other side of the lake we found something pretty bad as well." he takes out a digital camera and shows the others.

It was an image of a statue. The statue was of a man slaying a giant serpent. The part Nightwing wanted the group to see was at the foot of the statue. It was a murder scene. There were half a dozen bodies and clear burn marks made without a definable source.

After everyone gets a good look at the picture, Nightwing clicks through the images and shows them another.

The second image showed a man but he didn't look exactly human. He had golden yellowish skin, unnaturally pointed ears and instead of wearing rough cotton or leather he was wearing an almost modern made robe. Like the others, he was dead.

"According to the burn and foot patterns, this guy killed the others. There isn't any signs as to what he killed them with, so I'm tentatively classifying him a meta-human. I don't know if he looks different because he's a meta or if he looks different because he's a possible different species."

"Magic can make those marks." the doctor growls out. He had enough experience with Amazon war animals that had magic and the very rare Atlantian who used fire, to know that much. "How did he die?"

"Simple knife wound to the chest. The one near him did it before he collapsed from his burns." he shows another image. The other man's sternum wasn't completely intact anymore, whatever caused the burn caused blunt trauma and burned to the bone. The dead man's chest wasn't round anymore, it was curved just slightly inwards. There was a bloody knife inches from his blood soaked hand.

"We found this in the killer's pocket." M'gann says holding out a piece of parchment.

Being the closest one, Hood takes the missive and opens it to find what seemed to be a letter. The words and even the Alphabet was completely foreign. He shakes his head, "I almost expected it to be in English."

Nightwing snorts, "It's not a surprise. We're used to aliens knowing English. On Earth, they knew about us far before we knew about them. We're the aliens now... it's our turn to learn the local's language."

"Yeah, but how? We're suppose to stay undercover as long as possible. A group of foreigners in costumed themed Kevlar armor isn't exactly subtle. We could record the locals speaking to each other but learning the language that way could take years." Hood reminds them.

The doctor turns to M'gann, "You can read minds." he states the fact pointedly, he must have read up or encountered someone like her before "Can you copy the language from a local and transfer it to one of us?"

The young Martian girl winces but nods, "To a point. If I try to do something like that quickly, I could cause brain-damage to the person I'm taking the language from or the person I'm transferring the language to. Martians traditionally just spend a lot of time with the person they're learning a language from. It takes far more time but it allows the brain time to adjust and there is minimal chance of causing damage. It can take up to a few weeks to complete."

Hood chuckles and looks over at Nightwing, "You know what this means don't you?"

Nightwing sighs, "You enjoy the questionable parts of our jobs far too much."

"True." Hood confirms with another chuckle.

"Wait..." the young Batman cuts in, ".. you're not going to do what I think you're going to do?"

"Oh you mean kidnapping an innocent civilian? Having our friendly neighborhood alien girl get fresh with his grey-matter... Yeah, what of it?" Hood says with a sinister grin.

"I know just being a vigilante means breaking the law but that's..." the teen aged Batman pauses looking for the right words, ".. wrong. It's like seriously wrong."

Hood snorts at the less then elegant description, "... and that's the reason the old man on the station called you green."

Nightwing turns to the young Batman, "We've only explored a small part of this world and we've already found two major possible problems. We need to know what the locals know, as soon as possible."

The young Batman goes to say something else but pauses as Miss Potter places a hand on his shoulder, "We'll make it up to whoever it is. Our lives and the ones we left behind, hinge on knowing about the locals. This is one of those times when doing something clearly wrong is unavoidable."

The teenager lets out a weary sigh but nods.

Nightwing turn to the group at large, "Okay, lets make a plan."

--------------------
He had no idea why he was going along with this flight of fancy.

First of all he hated fishing. His father wanted him to be a fisherman, just like him, so his entire childhood was filled with lessons on lures and how to repair nets, sailor knots and how to take care of one's boat.

There was nothing he hated more then staring into a fish's gaping soulless little beady eyes other then perhaps having to remove their countless little ribs.

"I hate fish." he grumbles, putting his hook in the water.

He watches the little beasts glide and flit through the water. It was almost like flying. It looked so peaceful. To be taken from such a place of utter bliss must be horrifying.

"If I catch any of them, I'm releasing them," he grumbles, "I don't like the taste of fish." he didn't want his companion to think that he was sympathetic towards the little beasts. He had a reputation to uphold.

He ignores the fond amusement coming from his constant companion and concentrates on the almost instinctual actions his late father instilled in him.

Why his friend wanted him to fish he had no idea but he never steered him wrong before.

It didn't take any effort to humor him and put away his robes and put on some basic leathers. He wasn't going to fish in his normal clothes, that was for sure. Last thing he needed was for his normal clothes to smell like the little beasts.

Hours go by and in spite of his declaration to free them, when he actually manages to catch one of the things, he cleans them and hangs their little carcasses on his self made hjell or a fish flake as they were known in common terms.

For the last hour or so he felt like he was being watched. But there was absolutely no reason for someone to be watching him. Who would watch a fisherman going about his day? It was common knowledge that fishermen had next to no money. There were even some common jokes about it.

He wasn't a fisherman by trade but there was nothing about him physically that showed him as anything else. Even if someone knew he wasn't a fisherman all he had on him was a handful of septims and a spare fur for when the weather turns foul.

He could definitely feel amusement coming from his companion.

"You're not going to tell me anything are you?" it wasn't really a question, he knew the bastard was enjoying watching him squirm.

The bone hook he was currently fiddling with suddenly slips. Instinctively he goes to catch it but ends up cursing as his wild grab causes the sharp point into the flesh of his thumb.

He growls at his companion's quiet chuckles. He knew better then to curse him, even silently, he always gets his revenge.

"Not funny." he says with a pout.

After a sliver of healing magic he goes back to fishing.

Leaning back on the log behind hm, he couldn't help but bask in the sheer peacefulness of his surroundings. Distant birds singing, the sun shining and reflecting the crystal clear water, sounds of the distant lumber mill turning in the rushing water of a nearby river. It was all beautiful.

Falkreath was so filled with life, ironic that it was known for it's countless deaths.

"You feel right at home huh?" he murmurs. His companion didn't answer, but he really didn't need to.

Hours go by and the silent watcher continues to observe him.

"You're not going to give me a hint are you?" his companion hums in amusement but gives in nudging him.

Following the direction he turns.

There was a girl stepping out into the clearing from the edge of the woods. She had red hair, pale skin and was about mid-teens. She was dressed in a normal work frock with apron. She looked completely normal but he could tell there was something off about her. He couldn't quite place it.

"Hail and well met good-lady. Out enjoying the wilds?"

It wasn't exactly a smart thing to do with all the wolves and bears about, especially without some basic leathers, but it wasn't his place to tell others how to live every moment of their lives.

The girl smiles at his friendly tone but doesn't say anything.

She tilts her head curiously and narrows her eyes at him. It wasn't a way that meant she was suspicious of him but in a way that it looked like she was somehow concentrating at him?

"If you're wondering if I'm one of the local fishermen, then no, I'm not. A friend recommended I go fishing, stress you know. I've had a rather stressful time lately."

The girl wasn't blinking and he just realized what was bothering him about her. She was spotlessly clean.

From the lowest beggar to the highest Jarl, everyone had a bit of dirt on them usually. The cold prevented a lot of bathing. It just wasn't healthy to dunk yourself in water regularly in the constant fridged North. They were also a bit of ways from a bathtub. How did she end up here, in the middle of the woods without a spot on her?

It wasn't just her pristine hands and unbroken nails that stood out but it was her unnaturally white apron and unscuffed boots.

The white of the apron was almost paler then milk!!

"You're the interesting 'thing' he wanted me to see right?" the girl just blinks at him in confusion. Oh good, she CAN blink. He was starting to wonder..

He could practically feel his companion bounce at the sight of the girl.

The girl steps forward and hesitantly says something.... It was complete gibberish.

"I'm sorry, what?" perhaps he misheard her?

The girl says something else but it's not words, well at least any words he knew. He wasn't imagining it, she was speaking some sort of gibberish.

"Have you been given Sheogorath's kiss girl?" she seemed to be a kind girl, if she was insane it would be a shame.

The girl suddenly looks to the side away from him and says something. There wasn't anyone there. She turns back to him and gives him an apologetic grimace, her eyes shift behind him.

Turning out of instinct, Florentius Baenius had just enough time to send an annoyed curse at his lord and constant companion Arkay, before a dark gloved fist connects and everything goes dark.

--------------------------------

Breaking the news to the unexpected refugees was not easy. There were a few people without family to lose but for the most part everyone of the newcomers broke down into tears. About a dozen went into complete hysterics and had to be sedated.

"I'm afraid that the next portals that open to the evacuation worlds are the last. There isn't enough energy to even bring back the scout teams." Atom informs Oracle, "Even worse this group is going to have to be the next one through. The larger groups are going to have to go first because of the draw on life support."

"How are the supplies?" Batman asks gruffly. He had someone else take his place at the station's controls.

"We made sure to get everyone's measurements when checkups were done." before they broke the news, "The Earth supplying us is almost finished gathering what your group needs. It should only take about thirty more minutes. We should have another portal open about five minutes after that."

The scout team has been on the planet for about an hour and fifteen minutes, the station's time. Not only were they going to bring far more people then what they expected but they were also going to cut off the scout team's expected time for the mission.

"Commissioner.... err Ma'am?" it was one of the officers that came through the portal. He looked young, probably a rookie and he was talking to Oracle..?

Oracle for her part blinks at the title but gives the man a bemused smile, "It's Oracle actually, I'm en charge of logistics for our group. Is there a problem officer?"

"Millar, Officer Noah Millar Ma'am. I was wondering what were we suppose to do with the prisoners?" It was a good question. Technically there was no city or country. Every law connected to those places were negated. There was no court to try them. They had no right to hold any one. Of coarse that also meant there wasn't any law AGAINST holding them anyways.

Batman cuts in, "Who are they and what are they accused of?"

The young officer starts a bit, not expecting to be addressed by 'Batman'. He looks towards Oracle uncertainly, looking towards her for permission.

Oracle snorts at the look but nods at the man to go ahead.

"There's six people. One is just a guy who was caught shoplifting food." it was clear that the officer believed this one deserved to be let go. "One had a warrant out on him for fraud. He was pulled over in a traffic stop. Another was being brought in for Murder. He hasn't had a trial though. The last three are the most serious problem, I think." he grimaces slightly.

"I'm sure we can handle them, what's the issue?" Oracle assures him.

"They're Jokers. A guy that goes by Ghoul and a set of twins, the Dee Dees."

"Part of Joker's gang?"

The officer scratches the back of his head, his face twisted in an uncertain grimace, "Sort of, Joker's been gone for decades except for a short surfacing. We don't know if he was a imposter or not. We also don't know if he had any hand in the gang's founding other then as a inspiration. I think they're just a street gang with a theme now."

There's a snort from nearby, it's one of the older officers. "Millar, they're anything but just a themed gang. They're animals that should be put down instead of coddled."

Oracle looks to the other officer, taking note of the man's general attitude towards the three, "Anymore information?"

"Those three weren't just being arrested they were being transferred to the Arkham institute. If you want to know more I suggest you talk to Old man Wayne. Considering where the portal was his protege has gone up against them more then a few times."

Mr. Wayne had his rigged portal set up in the Batcave itself. Some of the officers, while there, took the opportunity to grab and take obvious weapons. Many were either thinking of taking them in as evidence or to take them to help with whatever emergency they were to encounter.

The added supplies was actually an unexpected boon.

Red Robin who was half listening to the conversation looks up from the data pad he was working on, he grimaces at the look on Batman's face, "I'll go and get a report from him." he hands the data pad to Oracle and hurries off.

Batman turns to Oracle, "Find someone with the abilities to read minds. We need to know if the man accused of murder actually did the crime." he turns back to the officer, "There isn't a reason to keep the shoplifter and the man who committed fraud confined. When it's time to go through the portal we're going to need every set of hands. Those crimes mean next to nothing now."

Red Robin who was already across the room questioning the elder Bruce Wayne suddenly turns and hurries back, "Yeah the officer is right those three are going to be a problem... The one known as Ghoul is a chemistry prodigy. After decades of being lost, he managed to recreate Joker's 'Smile-X' gas. The twins have pretty good team work but get this... they're the granddaughters of one Harleen Quinzel, grand-father unknown. All three are pretty notorious."

"So were taking three Supervillians with us." Oracle concludes.

Red Robin shakes his head, "Mr. Wayne said they mostly do low level stuff or work for someone doing city-wide heists or threats. Sounds like muscle to me."

"They still have the potential." Batmans points out grimly. Since they, like everyone else from the futuristic Gotham, went through the portal in the Batcave, there was no keeping a secret identity. The three were a threat to his children, even if they were a minor one.

"Speaking of Supervillians, are we bringing that group along?" Oracle asks pointedly. "No-one's letting them go with them and we might need some added muscle."

"Wait there's Supervillians here?!?" One of the officers was close enough to hear the last bit. Quite a few others were looking at them now.

Oracle sighs and explains, "Task force X, otherwise known as the Suicide Squad. They're a government black opts group that was commissioned to take out major threats. We had a version of them on our Earth. Basically the government forces Supervillians to do things they were unwilling to own up too."

"Each member has an explosive implanted in their skull." Red Robin informs the officer, "If they disobey an order they're immediately killed. They also work to have their sentences reduced. It's why so many Supervillians seem to get out of jail so quickly."

"That's so.." the female officer, one a black and white uniform, seemed to be at a loss for words.

"Barbaric." one of the other people listening in finishes for her.

One of the civilians from the bus steps forward, she had a young child asleep in her arms, "They helped save a lot of people today, didn't they?"

The entire group was listening in now or whispering to each other. A few them were still out of it from being sedated but most were looking at the terminal where the discussion began.

Oracle turns and gives the group a calculating look, "There isn't any way of telling how many lives were saved today. Hundreds of Earths were saved and in turn their galaxies. Just one of those dimensions could have had uncountable trillions of lives."

The group takes that fact in, many of them looking grim, one of the officers, this one in a suit and badge on his waist steps forward, a determined air about him, "They deserve a second chance then. They deserve more then a second chance."

Another officer leaning on the wall snorts, "Are you listening to yourself? These are SUPERVILLIANS. They didn't do any of that willingly and if they did, it was probably to save their own skins. Just send them to another dimension."

"Maybe, but you can argue that people donate to charities for the tax break. It doesn't lessen the value of what they do." the officer in the suit points out. "When someone does something right, they should get the benefits from it."

"As much as they and we may want them to be sent to their own little slice of the multiverse, they have to be sent with one of the existing groups." Oracle informs them. "The station's power is limited now."

Red Robin picks up a data pad and decides to humor the group, "The squad includes: Harley Quinn, Killer Crock, Deadshot and his daughter. She is a civilian ten year old kid. She's completely innocent. He brought her here to save her." he scans downwards, "Captain Cold, Captain Boomerang, and Heatwave are in it." Red lets out a breath, "They also have Katana. She keeps control of the group while they're in the field. Their other field commander, a Rick Flag, died during the fight. He saved the group. They do have another small group hooked up with them. They're from one of the far off dimensions. It's a three man group, someone named Spider-man, another vigilante named Daredevil, and two civilian friends."

"Half of them are Flash rogues. Don't they have a no kill rule?" a civilian man asks.

"Mostly." Kid Flash with an almost nostalgic smile.

"Harley Quinn, Killer Crock and Deadshot all have been beaten by Batman before." One of the officers point out.

"And we have three different people who are Batman in the group." Artemis points out.

Red Robin snorts, "Five actually."

"Five?!?"

"Him," he points to the Batman that was reading a screen next to Oracle, "Mr. Wayne in the cuffs, though he's retired. The Batman from the future time. Another Batman whose a lot older and Nightwing who took up the mantle for a time."

"Hey Rob, if they had a free for all, who do you think would win?" Kid Flash asks thoughtfully.

"Batman." he says with his little troll grin (Artemis named it).

Oracle sighs and turns to Batman, "So what are we doing?" she asks pointedly.

Batman keeps reading for a few moments but straightens and turns to the group, "Aqualad, I want your group to gather some volunteers. We need them to unhook terminals thirteen through twenty-one. The station has cut off power to them to conserve energy. We're salvaging them. Be aware that each terminal weighs two tons. Have them moved to the portal room. When the portal is opened we'll toss them through first. You have fifteen minutes to do this." he turns to the detective that stepped forward to defend the task force. "If you want task force X to join us, I suggest you do a vote now. If more then a third say no, we're not going to ask them."

"Sir, the personal supplies are ready," Alfred says stepping away from a wall that had stacks of backpacks from floor to ceiling.

Batman nods in acknowledgement and turns back to the group, "Do what you need to do quickly. We're leaving in twenty."

---------------------------

Twenty minutes later and the disconnected terminals were being tossed through the swirling vortex that would take them to the other world. They were alien tech, they would survive the bumpy trip. Everyone from the group, including those that had been sedated were lined up with supplies strapped to their backs and front. The detective who took a vote managed to convince everyone except three people. The squad agreed to come.

Batman asked for the trigger for the implanted explosives and immediately broke it in half upon receiving it. His only verbal response to them was a quick, "Don't eat anyone." to Killer Croc.

"Oh Batsey!" Harley grins as she slings her arm around the shoulder of the elderly Bruce Wayne. He happened to still be restrained, "Oh, how our roles have changed." she wipes a imaginary tear from the corner of her eye and giggles. "I'm so PROUD of you. You grew up SO well." she snickers.

Max who was next to him, couldn't help letting out a snort at his situation.

"What do you want Harley?" The elderly man asks woodenly.

"Why I've been assigned a mission from the big man himself. I'm to help you two through the portal!" she says gleefully. "Don't worry I'll treat it like helping a little old lady across the street!"

Max turns to him, "Wait, he wouldn't do that would he?!?" Quinn's type of help wasn't going to kill them but she was very likely to make it torture for them.

Bruce was glaring in the direction of his counterpart, who was pointedly ignoring them. "He would."

Mr. Wayne was going to pretty much get away with risking the station. It was clear that this was the other Batman's revenge.

"Oh look, it's time for us to jump through! Let's go!" Harley calls gleefully as she drags her assigned charges into the other world.