The Game Cafe in Marvel and DC

28 – Batman’s Second Visit

It's almost as if he didn't believe in my words, so...it was to be expected of him.

"Why...are those three here?" Batman asked.

"Ah, do you mean those lovely women over there? Specifically, Dr. Pamela Isley, Selina Kyle, and Dr. Harleen Quinzel?" I asked, showing I knew their true names, the same as him.

His glare hardened.

"So, Br̷̊̐͐̈́̇̓͋̿̄̓̿̈́̓̃͐͠ư̸̇̀͋̔͋̏̒͌̃́͆c̸̛̛̺̘̮̹̝̙̼̮̙̼̪̣̪̠̤̖̓̑̓̋̆̑̀̎̄̑̿̒̈́̇̔͒̒̊̈́͌͘͜ě̴͍͍̈́̀͐͛͗̑͑͑̂̇̓̾̑̆̃̊̃́́̐͛͘̕͠͠...are we going to just sit here in silence? Or would you like to see what I have to offer?" I asked, putting an emphasis on his true name.

A creepy grin formed on my 'face' as I watched the Bat tense, ready to fight.

"How?" He growled.

"How do you think? Don't tell me you already forgot, such a thing is not in your nature," I commented, a creepy smile forming on my 'face.'

"There exist...more of me?" He asked.

"Of course, there exist countless variants of yourself on a myriad of worlds, hell, there are even worlds in which you don't exist or you are a villain," I commented.

"Heh, I just remembered Batmetal, I wonder if that version of you exists somewhere out there," I chuckled thinking about the Batmetal series of songs.

"Bat...metal?" Bruce asked, confused.

"Just think of it as a version of you who is quite ridiculous and a musician," I told him the gist, shrugging my shoulders.

"What all 𝘥𝘰 you know?" Bruce asked, getting straight to the point.

"More than you can fathom, Bruce. If I were to tell you just a bit about what I knew, it would shatter your views on reality and existence."

Silence...

We both stared at one another for what felt like a few minutes before I decided to just break the silence.

"You want to check out the new stock of the Credit Store, or not?"

He continued to stand there in silence.

Shrugging, I opened the credit store and flipped the computer screen towards him so that he could see the new store items.

While Bruce didn't say anything, I did catch his eyes glancing over the new products, freezing on the items at the very top of the list.

"What...?" He muttered.

"Ah, are you wondering about the G.E.C.K? Or possibly the Conduit Gene Awakening Serum? If so, don't worry."

"Worry? You are offering items that could very well be turned into weapons for sale!" Batman growled.

"First off, if that's the excuse you are going to use, then you should realize 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 can be a weapon, and that whether its a tool for good or bad, is dependent on the user, secondly, no one is even near rich enough to afford the items, so quit your worrying," I explained, not wanting to get into an entire debate over the relatively simple items compared to what sort of bullshit the DC and Marvel universe comes up with on a regular basis.

Although I could tell he still thought they were too dangerous, I noticed he was staring quite intently at the GECK.

"Is this machine capable of terraforming planets? Or at least repairing a planet's damaged ecosystems?" Batman asked.

"Ah, are you asking for J'onn, The Martian Manhunter?" I asked, now wondering about our planetary neighbors next door.

He remained stoic, but replied, "Can it do it?"

"Sure, though it would need to be reprogrammed for the specific ecosystem you are after, as well as need the specific seeds," I commented with a shrug.

He glanced over to my customers, and asked, "And them?"

"Let the games deal with their urges, certainly better that Harley can get all the fun she needs or wants in a world with far too few people to cause problems too," I informed him, watching her slaughter her way through a horde in Project Zomboid.

"What is she doing?"

"Right now? Setting up traps against a horde of Zombies, and leading them into a narrow location where she can fight them without getting surrounded."

Seeing him raise an eyebrow, I continued, "She is in a world much like our own that's dealing with a Zombie Apocalypse, so relax, there isn't a single human within twenty miles of her, at least not one that's alive, that is."

"What's the state of that world?" Bruce asked, seemingly concerned.

"The planet? It'll be fine, Humanity on the other hand is more than likely going to go extinct, especially with humanity as scattered as it is, the Zombies certainly don't help, and with each passing day more die," I commented.

"Is there not some sort of resistance? People fighting back?" Bruce asked.

"No, it was too sudden, as I said, what's left of Humanity is scattered, you'd be lucky to find two people together, let alone a group of people that could actually fight back against the horde."

"And the other two?"

"Well, Ivy is currently in Fallout, the same world Diana played, while Selina is playing Infamous 1," I informed him, also letting him know I knew Wonder Woman's name too.

"What is Ivy doing in Fallout?"

"Seeing what the consequences of Humanity's stupidity are to the world, as well as searching for the G.E.C.Ks scattered through the world, I'd guess," I shrugged.

"And infamous?"

"A modern world with a type of metahumans," I explained.

Our conversation went back in forth until a minute was left till close.

"While it's been a lovely conversation bats, I'm afraid I'll have to end it here," I commented,  before snapping my fingers and pausing the games, saving the players' progress and forcing them back to reality.

"What the hell?" Harley cursed, jumping out of her chair.

The other two women had similar reactions, while Kyle just sighed in disappointment and left without a fuss.

"What happened?" Selina asked, confused.

"The store is closing, if you wish to continue, then you'll need to come back tomorrow," I informed them, easily noticing their disappointment as well as surprise when they finally noticed the Bat hiding away in the corner.

"Heya, Bats! What are you doing here?" Harley asked, before trying to tackle Bruce with a hug, only for her to run into the wall when he moved out of the way.

"You know why I am here, Harley," Bats replied, stoic.

"Oh come on! We haven't even done anything!" Harley whined.

"It's not you three that I am here for," Batman informed them, staring straight at me.

I smiled and waved.

"Now that you are all awake, its time you leave, 'S̵̨̠̞̩̳͖̜̪̭̦͈̯̺͛͐ͅè̴̛̍͑̓͑r̶̡̛̙͖̟̹̯̥̜̭̟̩̮̭͚̫̫͈̍̀̆̓́́̉̾͘͜͜v̶́̂̃͘͝a̷͊̍͛̈́n̴̡̧̡̩͚̯͖̦̜͉̠͈͔̦͚̤̮̼͓͚̤̺̻͕͓̜̼͔͊̽̈́̋̊͛̃̂t̷̓͑̓s ̴̄̓͐̂̑͠͝o̴̢̨̨̢̖͙̯̰͓̻̪̠͈͉͎̔̓͋͗̽̐̊̓̿̈́̾́́͌͋͊̀̔̔͌̎͗͆̕̚̚͘f̷̆̀͘ Tḣ̷̟̙̲̌̌̐̒̔̄̒̈́͂̎̓̓ͅe̶ V̴̯͕̰̣͈̪͍̜̮̳͍̹̺̝̥̲͖̱̟̐͗͒̌͛̑̉̽̐͜͜͠͝oi̴d̷̙̬̺̭͔͙͍̰̦͉̠̙̤̭͇̮̬͈̭͊̇̏͐̓̓'," I cast.

With a wave of my hands, the very air cracked and once again revealed the void.

However, this time it was different.

Ropes of pure black 'ink' flowed into the room, and a clawed pitch-black hand reached through.

Then another, and another.

Countless hands and tentacles reached through the portal, and whatever was hidden on the other side, slowly pulled itself into our reality.

Constantly shifting masses of inky flesh crawled through the portal, forming indescribable shapes and forms as they screeched and roared from finally entering reality.

Maws, eyes, teeth, spikes, their forms were ever-shifting, even making me dizzy just looking at them.

"Escort my guests out of the building, would you?" I kindly asked the Servants, who did as they were told.

"As much as I was enjoying our conversations Bats, It's time for me to close the store, and for you all to leave, feel free to come back tomorrow during store hours, have a wonderful night!" I told them, wishing them farewell.

With Kyle long gone, it left just the trio and Batman, who the Servants immediately grabbed onto with their limbs, tentacles, and whatever other body parts they formed and slowly dragged them out.

They each reacted differently to their...escorts.

Batman, fought tooth and nail to try to escape from the Servant's grasp, but his mortal strength was futile to its Eldritch physique.

Posion Ivy seemed to freeze, like a deer caught in headlights, and was easily removed from the store.

Selina was screaming and kicking, clearly not liking her particular escort.

And...then there was, of course, Harley, who somehow ended up with the most...'tentically' of all of the Servants, and was moaning in pleasure as the Servant's tentacles wrapped around her body and squeezed.

Getting that particular thought out of my head, I had a feeling I'd be seeing Harley around closing time again in the future...

Well, at least that show of power should hopefully be spread out among their acquaintances, probably saving me some trouble from their more...rowdy acquaintances who'd likely try to steal from me, bully me, or straight-up kill me.

Either way, I'd say it was an eventful day.