Totally Brave and Bold

Chapter 3

Truedential Tower - Boston

Batman was in an office with a grey tiled floor and cubicles, fluorescent ceiling lights, and occasional large potted plants. It was night; no one was on this floor to be held hostage or put at risk. He pursued the villains in the unknown dimension at a steady pace, breathing deeply.

Owlman flung open a stairwell door and dashed in. Dr. Hate looked up, back down to Owlman, formed a large red ankh portal before him, and gestured to his partner.

"Thanks," Owlman said dryly, and slipped into the portal, followed by Hate.

The portal vanished right before Batman reached them, then reappeared high above with a flash. Batman extended his jetpack bat-like wings and flew after them, dodging a few blasts from the Doctor. They exited the stairwell and emerged on a floor with a circular indoor observation area, tall wall-length windows offering a stunning view of the city.

Batman flung a Batarang at the fleeing Owlman, but Doctor Hate blasted it off course. He teleported using an ankh, then reappeared behind Batman and fired off a blast. The energy struck Batman as he was preparing to dodge.

"Gaughh!" Batman yelled, then dropped to the floor on his hands and knees.

Hate, hands brimming with more energy than before, hovered outside of Batman's reach to join Owlman. Batman struggled to raise his head and focused his blurry vision, then looked on in surprise.

In the distance, behind the villains, three colorfully clad young women exited a stairwell door for what must have been the roof. The slim redhead in green quickly removed her hairband, touched the edge of it, and threw it like a boomerang.

Owlman spun around and dodged, as did Doctor Hate. Batman took to his feet and closed in on Owlman. Hate, hands still brimming with power, took aim at Batman.

The sound of something slicing through the air caused Hate to whip his head to the side. The hairband came flying back in a blur and smacked into his helmet with a resounding clang. It lodged itself securely so his eye holes were covered. The shock of the impact caused his blasts to shoot towards the floor near Owlman and Batman, who both narrowly avoided being hit.

"Got a ringer!" Sam exclaimed, and received simultaneous low fives from Alex and Clover, all cautiously watching the villains.

"What?" Owlman blurted out, eyes wide as he met their gazes. "There weren't supposed to be superheroes on this Earth!"

"This Earth?" replied Alex, with a frown. "Oh, the alternate dimension thing again," she said in frustration.

"And we're not superheroes," Clover explained with smile, index finger raised. "We're superspies."

"Thanks," said Batman to the spies. "The odds are in our favor now, Owlman," he growled at the villain as he and Alex advanced. Alex swung a side kick at Owlman, which he barely managed to backstep away from.

Sam and Clover dashed over to take down Doctor Hate before he could recover. Still holding the Oscillator, Owlman's free hand went to his belt. He threw down a capsule that filled the area with blinding white light.

Owlman's specially treated eye hole covers protected his vision from the light. Everyone else was forced to squint their eyes closed in discomfort as Owlman dashed to Hate, tapped a button on the Oscillator, and formed a new portal with it.

"I got what I came for. Say goodbye to all other Earths," Owlman taunted.

He looked down briefly to Hate, but noticed that the girls had pulled purple-framed shades from their backpacks. The trio donned them and dashed towards him, no longer bothered by the light. Owlman entered the portal, and it vanished. Hate struggled to remove the hairband lodged onto his helmet, but Batman connected a double fisted overhead blow to the back of his neck that put him down.

The spies looked to Batman questioningly. Satisfied with Hate being unconscious, he turned and looked to them.

"I'm Batman," the hero said to the superspies. "Doctor Hate," he said, gesturing to the floored villain. "Owlman," he continued, sweeping his arm to where the man had vanished. "They're evil counterparts of myself and a hero named Doctor Fate, but from another Earth."

"How many Earths are there?" Sam said, looking dumbfounded at an equally flustered Alex and Clover. They composed themselves and Sam waved politely to Batman. "Sorry. I'm Sam."

"Alex," the yellow-clad young woman added, who leaned forward and studied him curiously.

"Clover," the blonde announced with a pointed look, hand held towards the man.

"Pleased to meet you," he said to them, and gave Clover a handshake.

"We can't have Doctor Hate causing chaos here if there's no way to contain him," Batman mused.

Sam looked to the others and gestured with her palms raised. "Well, WOOHP can hold criminals in containment cells that nullify most powers, but I don't know about this guy."

"WOOHP is the World Organization for Human Protection. We work there, part-time," Clover added with a sly look to Batman.

Batman put a hand to his chin in thought for a moment. He then pulled a cylinder off his utility belt and depressed the button on top. The girls looked at Batman questioningly.

"I put out a call to a friend with the original Phase Oscillator."

A portal identical to Owlman's appeared, and a man similar in appearance to Batman walked through. He wore a black outfit without a cape, and had round, red eye holes in his full mask. He sported large gold shoulder pads, arm, and leg bands, and a gold three-pointed emblem on his chest.

"Thanks for stopping by. Can you drop him off to the authorities in your world?" Batman asked the newcomer with a gesture to Doctor Hate. "And I'm going to need the Phase Oscillator. Owlman's back, and he has his own. We're going to follow him."

The 'Futuristic' Batman merely nodded, handed over the device, then hefted the unconscious villain over his shoulder. He gave a wave to the girls and Batman, then walked back through the portal.

Batman looked over the device carefully, then pressed a few buttons. A black portal appeared, and he gestured to it.

"Time to study this Oscillator at the Batcave to try and track down our villain," Batman said.

The spies looked at the portal uneasily, then with resolution, and walked through, followed by Batman.

A/N: It took some patience to wait on posting this part til now. Let me know if you're up for two chapters a week or prefer weekly. All chapters (except the previous one) come with music at the top to match the chapter, if you so choose.

Thanks for your support!