Blackbird Lost: Cracked Mirrors

This is Act III of Blackbird Lost, a Thomas Grayson storyline from December 2014. Unlike the previous two acts, Act III has only three parts. The final act was never fully resolved with the Twitlongers but the SL directly leads into an eighteen-year-old Thomas Grayson arriving at Embri Tiber's hospital room and saving her from Harrison.

Act III takes place at an undetermined time in Earth-3, where the inhabitants are darker versions of their Prime Earth counterparts. The criminals that Thomas recognizes end up being his allies while his enemies in Act III are evil versions of his friends.

Part 1
Prologue “I was nine-years-old when a man in blue and green appeared in my home. When I tried to fight him, I fell through a time portal and ended up, not only hundreds of years in the past, but also on the distant planet of Ryut: ground zero for the Manhunter massacre.”

“I survived for five years with the help of a Kryptonian named Silas. We constructed a boom tube device to escape Ryut and even that time period, but before we could both leave, Silas was killed by the machines.”

“I lost my left arm but got off Ryut. The unstable device propelled me too far into the future and I ended up in a parallel universe, a century from now. That future was overrun by OMAC biomachines. With a new robotic arm, that time’s Justice League and I spent three years fighting to keep Earth alive until I was suddenly teleported off that world.”

“I spent nine years away from home. This is the lost year. This is Year Nine.”

Now Seventeen-year-old Thomas James Grayson stared at the man. They had shaken off their pursuers and are catching their breath in an alleyway.

“What did you say your name was?” Thomas asks again, thinking his ears deceived him the first time.

“Gabe Tiber,” the dark-haired man repeats.

Thomas takes a step back. No, that can’t be right. Thomas finds himself slightly shaking his head. No, Gabe Tiber is Embri’s adoptive brother. And he’s /dead/.

Back in early October of the year Thomas left, Embri’s brother, Gabe, had arrived in Gotham. There had been something wrong with him. Gabe had been rude to the point of nasty and had tried to perverse Embri’s healing ability to control Gotham’s criminal underworld, or at least gain wealth. When Embri had intelligently refused, Gabe had tried to murder his sister. In self-defense, Embri, had sliced Gabe’s throat.

And now, here in Gotham, stands someone claiming to be Gabe Tiber. It had been eight years for Thomas since he had seen Gabe, but Thomas’ near-photographic memory is conflicting with what he thinks should be impossible.

“Come on, we should get to the others,” “Gabe” says, standing straight.

“Others?”

“Yes, I’ll explain soon. Follow me.” The other man appears to have noticed Thomas’ air of suspicion. “Look, if I wanted to hurt you or something, I would have done it already. Now hurry up. Those men will be here soon.”

Thomas relents; the man is right. As he follows, Thomas frowns. This Gotham isn’t the one he’s used to.

Had his eight years been long enough for his home to change this much? Buildings were not as tall, streets he expected were simply not there. He figures they must be somewhere near the center of the city, which means –

“No.” Thomas stops his hurried pace, causing “Gabe” to also stop and look over his shoulder.

Wayne Tower. The iconic building that Thomas had frequently visited once upon a time was gone. In its place was a black and red, foreboding colossus of a skyscraper. It’s taller than any other building, with sharp angles and an unexplainable air of fear. Even from the ground, a block away, Thomas can make out deadly armaments at the corners.

“What /is/ that?” Thomas asks, transfixed by the sight. “Why does it look like a war fortress?”

“Because that’s what is. Now move it,” Gabe firmly orders pulling Thomas along.

"What happened to Wayne Tower?"

"What? No one in Gotham has called it that for years. Not since..."

Trail offs. Never a good sign. "Since what?"

"Since The Controller" is the very helpful reply.

"A new criminal? What happened to Batman?"

Gabe Tiber gives him a blank stare. "Who?"

Part 2
"What do you mean? Don't you know who Batman is?" Thomas Grayson asks. They're in Gotham. How can someone not have heard of Batman?

"Sorry. never heard of him." Gabe says as he leads Thomas through a serious of twists and turns. There's not trace of joking.

"What's going on?" Thomas asks, but receives no answer as a spotlight illuminates the area around them.

"FREEZE!"

"They found us," Gabe says unnecessarily. He draws a small handgun as rapid footsteps approach.

A white motorcycle zooms to the head of the soldiers. Brown hair and a etched snarl makes Thomas do a double take.

"Cragen?" The man doesn't respond to Thomas' voice. The cop must not have recognized Thomas. But it's strange, how can eight years pass and Cragen looks like he's hardly aged. "Cragen, it's me, Thomas."

"Stay right there!" Mark Cragen orders, raising a rifle. "You!" He aims the muzzle at Gabe. "Gabe Tiber, you are wanted for insurrection against the Controller. Put the gun away.”

Cragen’s working for some villain? Thomas steps forward. “Cragen! Mark, it’s me. Thomas Grayson! I know it’s been a –“

The sound of the rifle going off precedes a burst of pain in Thomas’ leg. Thomas falls back but is held upright by Gabe.

“That was a warning shot. Now surrender,” Cragen orders coldly. Thomas is still trying to get over the fact that Cragen, his friend, shot him. Even though it would be hard to recognize him, Cragen wouldn’t just shoot him, would he?

“What is going on?”

“That’s it,” Cragen signals for the group of armed men to close in. “The Controller will deal with you personally.”

“Blam,” a new voice rings out, followed by a real gunshot signals the end of one of the closest grunts. A small parcel drops in the bulk of the soldiers before erupting in a red blast. “Boom.”

A figure in white drops down from a fire escape, turning to Thomas and Gabe. A black target sign is printed on the figure’s mask.

“Ono?” Thomas asks, spiraling deeper into confusion. Why was Onomatopoeia wearing white?

Two new arrivals bring some guy who looks half-shark and… “Uncle Jay?”

The Red Hood lands on his feet, guns taking out five soldiers in four seconds. A small portal opens up and the girl in the hoodie steps out, teleporting all of the soldiers, except Cragen, out of the alley. Jason aligns his gun with the cop but Thomas lunges forward, yelling, “No!”

The bullet misses Cragen’s heart and pierces his shoulder instead. “The hell?” Jay shouts as the sound of helicopters draw near.

“We need to go now,” the girl in the hoodie announces, opening a portal. “Let’s go.”

“We’ll talk about this later,” Red Hood growls, grabbing Thomas and half-drags him to the portal. The Grayson can feel blood start dripping down his leg. His armor must have been damaged in the portal that brought him here. But where is ‘here’? Is he truly back home?

Part 3
The room is much bigger on the inside. It's a warehouse, filled with assorted tech and weapons. People. One man has just stood up and glanced at the new arrival.

Thomas' mouth drops. "Black Mask, Mr Roman?"

The /silver/ skull-shaped mask glints from the light. "Just The Mask."

“We need a med kit!” Gabe calls out as Thomas is placed into a chair. “Leg wound. Single shot.”

“Clunk.” The Ono dressed in white drops a first aid kit next to them.

“Stop. Stop!” Thomas shouts, holding up his hands. “What. Is. Going. On?”

He thought he is back in Gotham, his home. But then Ono is dressed in white, saving people. Roman Sionis has a silver mask. Mark Cragen shot Thomas in the leg. And Gabe Tiber, Embri’s dead brother, is tending to his wound.

“You spared a commander that we should have offed,” Red Hood, who Thomas assumes is Jason Todd, informs in a disapproving voice.

“What? Cragen is a cop,” Thomas says weakly. His mind is a mess. Partially due to interdimensional travel and also the bullet wound in his leg, but mostly because of what is happening. Then it hits him. He’s seen this many a times on TV and in books.

“I’m in a parallel dimension….” Not a bad guess, given what he’s gone through these past eight years. “A reverse world?” That would explain the opposites. Cragen must be one of the bad guys, and people like Ono and Roman must be the heroes of this world. “I think.”

“Yes, we got you from another world,” hoodie girl says, rolling her eyes as she removes her hood. Thomas barely recognizes her without her make-up. “Alice? Let me guess…White Alice?”

“What?” The girl scowls. “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. “It’s just Alice.”

Thomas glances around the room, at the people who are familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. This might be Gotham, but it isn’t /his/ Gotham. Thomas Grayson is not home.

Additional Notes

 * Gabe Tiber was the mentally insane brother of Embri Tiber. Embri killed him in self-defense when Gabe attempted to murder her.