Batman: A Knight in the Multiverse

Batman pushed against the ground. With great effort, he rose to his feet. He felt weakened. There was a ringing in his ears, and it was taking his vision a moment to return from the whiteout it had experienced, he staggered forwards, gauntleted hands meeting a solid concrete wall.

Stagg Industries had been about to switch on a newly operational particle accelerator. Bane and his henchmen had crashed the party, hoping to make off with priceless scientific equipment and resources. Batman expected the Santa Priscan intended to use them to refine his Venom-creating process. Of course, he had been prepared for their heist, springing his trap mere minutes after the crew showed up.

What he had not been prepared for was the sudden and ahead of schedule activation of the particle accelerator. The entire building had shook, then there was a blinding flash of light, and here they were.

Batman blinked his eyes once more, and could see well enough to just about make out his surroundings. He was in a multi-tier parking garage, as opposed to the laboratory he had been at the time of the accelerator's activation. Spatial displacement? Could make sense, given some of Stagg's research Oracle had been able to pilfer.

"Alfred. Alfred, come in." Batman said, attempting to work his communicator. There was nothing but an ominous creaking buzz that suggested his tech had been knocked out.

Feeling his way along the wall, Batman stopped when he got to an opening in the concrete of the parking structure. He squinted out at the city skyline, intending to gauge his location in the city. That was when the gravity of the situation truly sank in.

Batman knew every skyscraper in Gotham, every street layout. The city was his hunting ground, and he had it memorised.

He recognised nothing in front of him.

The buildings were all wrong, their designs sleeker and more modern than the slowly decaying husks of yesteryear he was accustomed to. Several of them dripped with neon signage, an ad for a debate with "Mayor Dent" here, Japanese kanji trailing down a smaller building there.

"I may not be in Gotham anymore..." Batman theorised. "My Gotham, at least."

Just as he was considering his next move, the Dark Knight Detective heard footfalls from below.

"We've got a read on Batman! Move to intercept!" Came a voice from what he estimated was three floors below. Moving into the parking structure, Batman drew close to the edge, and stared down.

He could see a crew of armed and armoured henchmen moving up, their gear and miniature Venom pumps similar to what Bane's forces had been sporting earlier, only... it all seemed more advanced, somehow.

Getting low, Batman began an equipment check. The sensors in his cowl were out, fried when the particle accelerator went up. The Remote Electrical Charge and other gadgets also seemed to be out of commission. Not an encouraging thought with armed men closing on his position, he thought.

Still, he had been in worse spots.