Darkseid looked disdainfully down at the Flash. "I understand you're supposed to be fast. Are you faster then this?"

With that Darkseid fired an Omega Beam at the Flash. As both the Flash and the Omega beam disappeared over the horizon, Darkseid summoned a boom tube and stepped in.

Barry Allen recognised the threat the instant Darkseid released the beams.

Racing around the city to avoid the potential of property damage the Flash targeted a mountain range in the distance he assumed were the Adirondacks and led the Omega Beams toward them.

He'd been briefed by Superman about the Omega Beams and unable to suppress his fear, ran faster then he ever had before.

Batman searched Gotham City diligently but found no sign of Bane. Feeling a sense of frustration he finally gave up and returned the Batcopter to the hanger and drove to Wayne Manor.

Driving back to the Batcave he admitted to himself that he probably should have gone there in the first place. Cursing himself for wasting time he scouted the Manor first. Sure enough a strange Porshe was parked in the drive outside the mansion.

Bane pulled up to the Wayne Manor mansion. Pulling out a Blackberry he punched in overide codes he kept programmed in and opened the gates to the manor grounds.

Despite or because of their history, Bane always kept tabs on the Batman and stayed on top of any developments Batman used to keep the likes of Bane out.

Bane had learned early that he was an effective hacker. He pulled up to the main entrance to the manor and got out.

Bane walked up to the manor entrance and knocked politely on the door.

"Go Away!" was what he heard over the intercom.

Responding, Bane said " I'm here on a peace mission with Batman! I would like to discuss an alliance! I have suffered a recent injury and I am only interested in working together with your master to resolve our common problem. I am hardly a threat as you can see."

With that, Bane held up his arms for display.

After several long minutes, Alfred opened the doors and invited Bane in, keeping a shotgun prominently aimed at Bane at all times.

Barry Allen ran ahead of the Omega Beams, keeping just ahead of the beams but slowly becoming appalled at the tenacity of the beams. How long would the beams stay on his heels?

Within instants, Barry reached the mountain range. No matter what he did, he couldn't seem to shake the beams. He raced on beyond the mountains.

The beams stayed on his tail. What was he going to do? He had tremendous stamina but even with that knowledge he was beginning to feel dismayed. Racing across country he saw something tremendous and clearly dangerous and deadly ahead.

Bane tried reasoning with Alfred. He told Alfred a truncated version of what he'd been through.

Alfred knew he had the skills to properly set Bane's arm but didn't try to volunteer the information. He wasn't going to do anything until he talked it out with Bruce. The only reason he let Bane in was because he'd worked with Batman in the past and had made it clear that he knew most of Batman's secrets.

Darkseid stepped out of the Boom tube.


Everything looked familiar but ----

Everything was still. He called for Desaad. No response. Desaad would never ignore him if he called, yet there was no response. Darkseid strode to a balcony. Peering out over the landscape, he could perceive no activity whatsoever.

Disturbed, he called for his lieutenants.

No response, none of his lackeys appeared.

Apokalips was meant to be foreboding and desolate, but this was an extreme even great Darkseid hadn't imagined.

No sign of Hunger Dogs or parademons. No Female furies, No assassins ala Kanto, no one.

What was this all about?

After some deliberation, he called for another boom tube and tried to travel to New Genesis. The Boom Tube dissolved before his eyes.

Cursing he tried to go to Metropolis. The Boom tube brought him to Earth but he saw nothing but wild, undeveloped land.

It was then that he observed the two moons and realised for the first time that something was really off and this wasn't the Earth he was expecting.

Frantically, Darkseid began summoning more boom tubes for other known locations. Each one he tried was useless except for the one he had created himself which took him to the Gotham City beach.

Appalled, Darkseid retreated to Apokolips to consider.

really nice juggling between characters,story's gathering momentum,really lookin forward every week to COSMIC RUMBLE!!!!!!

I had gotten a bit nervous that we weren't going to get an entry into the Rumble this week.

Delay caused by babysitting duties. Likely to happen next week as well.

Barry was appalled at what he was seeing. A tremendous lizardlike creature that was easily 50 feet tall was devastating the countryside. It's stance was similar to a T- Rex but it's head was similar to a gila monster if a gila monster had two spike like horns sprouting above it's eyes. The creature was much more thickly built then a T - Rex as well.

Head to tail, the creature probably reached a length of 70 feet and was clearly astoundingly powerful.

As Barry moved closer he saw a band of (adventurers?) moving in to attempt to engage the creature. The point man looked like he might be Sir Galahad as he readied for a charge on his warhorse. Both man and horse were impressively armored. He saw another dressed like he might be Merlin making gestures as if he might be conjuring a spell. Another looked like Friar Tuck and seemed to be in prayer. A fourth was dressed in leather armor and was cocking a long bow and aiming at the creature. A fifth also in leather skulked behind the wizard appearing to be biding his time.

Barry saw that the huge lizard would clearly be too much for the ragtag team that challenged it and saw a solution to both their problems.

Moving in next to the monstrous lizard thing, he made sure that the creature was directly in the path of the Omega beams. Split second timing insured that the Beams struck the huge lizard, freeing Barry of Darkseid's threat.

Since Aquaman was alone in Atlantis, he used his telepathic powers to order several varieties of sharks to patrol Atlantis' perimeter while he rested for the night.

Aware that Bane knew all about who he really was, Batman hurried to make sure that Alfred was in no danger. He rushed to the parlor.

He found an unperturbed Bane relaxing in a divan while Alfred kept a shotgun trained squarely on the man.

"Master Bruce! This "gentleman" wishes to have some words with you."

"Thank you Alfred. You may put the gun away." correctly inferring that Bane had no aggressive intentions.

After engaging in a form of banter that was aimed at testing the other's intellectual prowess and realizing that neither had an edge, they compared notes. Batman mildly berated Bane for his attempt on Aquaman and it soon became clear that the two were on the same page about what to do about Gotham City.

Batman knew that he was going to need Bane at a hundred percent so he came clean about a secret he had that only Alfred, Dick and Tim knew .

Batman's career came with tremendous risks and during an adventure with Superman early on, he'd brought home a special tank similar in appearance to a sensory deprivation tank that actually healed bone fractures and tissue damage.

This device helped salvage his career as vigilante. He got in so many fights it was inevitable that he'd recieve injuries and it prevented scars that otherwise would have given away that Bruce Wayne was Batman. It was also the reason he was able to recover completely from the broken back Bane had given him.

Batman's plan was for Bane to mobilize the available Gotham citizens and arm them so that they'd be able to defend Gotham City against the threats Batman had seen outside the city.

He had no choice but to heal Bane's broken arms in order to have him in optimum condition foir any threats.

Batman needed to be free to try to help them all return to their own world.

It was a tall order but it needed to be done.

Darkseid stalked his palace. Never had he encountered such a bizarre situation.

Who could have the power to wrest him from his throne, deposit him on a beachfront on Earth or an Earth, and abandon him without even a single confrontation?

Furthermore, why were his attempts to leave Apokolips so limited, and where were his subjects? How could the population of a planet as vast as Apokolips disappear?

There was something very strange; even for him, going on. How could Gotham City be on a planet with two moons? Why wasn't Metropolis also there? Was this some bizarre scheme by Brainiac?

He was riddled with questions. He decided to bring the Flash before him to answer them. His Omega Beams should have struck Superman's teammate and the mortal fool would be at his mercy when he brought him back. No doubt that pathetic fool was key to this.

Darkseid fired his beams to the center of a pavilion in order to bring the Flash back cowering before him.

Astonishingly, he was faced with a towering lizard that immediately began laying waste to the pavilion.

Darkseid was dumbfounded.

Barry Allen slowed to a reasonable speed that enabled him to observe without being observed.

The band of adventurers were astonished at the abrupt disappearance of their formidable adversary.

Barry decided not to let them know he was there and let them bask in their palpable relief.

Barry thought about his next step. He'd just been teleported against his will to the Gotham City beach along the Atlantic coast in what should be New Jersey. But as he fled the Omega Beams and shot beyond the city limits he saw nothing of the surrounding towns and cities that he should have.

Now that he's had time to breathe, he also notices the two moons in the sky, out in broad daylight. Something was way off.

He decided to return to the beach he was transported to, in order to try to get to the bottom of this.