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[center][b]CHAPTER 1:  Cold Blue Light[/b][/center]

Azumi turned her knife over itself, holding it backhanded before jamming it back into the sheath on her chestplate. Since the portal fiasco, she had taken a new form of armor for this cybernetic world. The majority of the armor was black, with interspersed circuitry of blue on her arms, chest, her lower legs, and the sides of the obscure helmet that covered down to just above her mouth on the front half of her face. She still had her sheath on her chest and the pistol at her waist.

On a thought, the helmet disassembled itself. The sides split in half horizontally as the central visor simply pulled back, all of them folding into the back of her collar. The young woman had a lot of work to do here in Space Paranoids' Dataspace.

Kilo Two walked to the massive keyboard, proceeding to type into it. She needed all the information she could get on her threats. Heartless, others. But above all she looked for one more thing, the holographic monitor switching from page to page, moving some aside and clicking through others.

She needed to find a trainer.

-

The sensation of being disassembled... reformed... It was something that Batman did not enjoy.  Instead, he thought of the actions that led to those sensations.  He had returned to Radiant Garden, having decided to finally learn what he could about recent events around these worlds.  Having entered into Ansem's Study, he made his way to the opened lab, that lab holding a computer console.  He began to type, trying to seek out this information that he required.  However, an alarm blared, a light emerged from behind him.  Turning, a beam struck him in the chest...

He touches where the beam hit, straight at the symbol on his chest, and found a oval-shaped extrusion, which glows with white light, as well as his symbol being changed and tucked inside of the oval.  Looking at his hands, he finds that the simple cloth gloves that he once had were changed, becoming gauntlet-like, the fins upon them still as solid as before.  His boots had become more firm, metallic.  White stripes traced along both sides of his chest, going down towards his torso, creating seams.  His belt too, had changed, it also taking on a white color, and his symbol stamped on the center.

Although he couldn't see it, his cape and cowl likewise changed.  The cape had white lines that coorelated with the tips, and his cowl had received covers over both the eyes and the mouth.  He knew very little of the rules of World Order, but he easily guessed that this world its own laws that changed his form.  However, that had to be put to the side for the moment.

He needed more information.

---

More and more she typed, trying to condense, to fit the files she needed together so she could take it on the outside. Shadows, Soldiers, and Emerald Blues. Bookmaster, Cannon Guns, and Surveillance Robots. Strafers, Devastators, and Magnum Loaders. Weaknesses, attack strategies, anything she could get. Okay, she had that.

The files on that so-called "Replica Data" could be held off for a short while as she continued her search. Maybe she could train with those?  Best to find someone who was from the outside.

Continuously she went on, grumbling. "Come on, come on... Gotta be something, gotta be someone here..."

Nothing. Nothing she could find yet. The woman gritted her teeth in impatience, and bashed her hand on the keyboard as she let out a shout of anger.

"Piece of crap! Someone's gotta be able to! There can't be [i]no-one[/i] on these damned worlds who has no superpowers!"

-

After his arrival and subsequent contemplations in the Pit Cell, Batman heads outwards, standing on a platform, it ascending up towards the Canyon.  Once he stepped foot on the Canyon, Strafers materialize, blocking the path upwards.  Reaching into his belt, he quickly removes a set of three Shock Batarangs.  They had the symbol of the Heartless, and circuit patterns.  Enemies based around electronic systems.  More than likely, an excess electrical current would overload them, causing potentially critical damage.  The three weapons are tossed, each striking a single Strafer.  The electrical current courses through them, causing damage... but not the critical damage he anticipated.  They begin to circle around him, as he takes count.  Three, four, five... six total.

The first strike is thrown by Strafer #1, which is deftly blocked and countered with a set of four strikes, knocking it silly.  Strafer #2 comes in, only to receive a block and counterstrike of it's own, this time another three strikes.  The thrid Strafer tries to strike, but is momentarily blinded by a dropped smoke bomb.  It is grabbed and thrown into Strafers #4 and #5.  Strafer #6 feels a yanking sensation as a white line pulls him towards this figure.

Batman pulls his grapple, drawing the Strafer towards him.  Grabbing it, he rolls backwards, sending the creature flying over the edge and into the abyss below.  He immediately follows up by leaping forward into the air, landing his knees into the face of Strafer #3, grabbing the heads of Strafers #4 and 5 and colliding them with one another.  He rolls backwards, hitting a mulekick on the rising Strafer #2.  He then finishes his assault as he leaps up, landing on top of Strafer #1, punching downwards onto its head.  The Heartless dissipate, as he stands up, cracking his knuckles.

Looking around, he sees the tall red structure ahead.  Grabbing a new grapple, having lost one when he threw the Heartless over the Canyon's edge, he fires at the structure, noting that the grapple-line's color had become white.  Hearing the distinct 'CLANK' of a successful attachment, he presses the trigger again, this time allowing himself to be pulled towards the structure.  The grapple recoiled, he presses a second trigger, releasing the grip and dropping in front of the door that led inside.

---

Almost immediately after her shout, she heard the "thunk" of something hitting the wall near the door into the Dataspace. Everything happened in an instant.

The corporal quietly analyzed the situation. Tron would not hit the wall, instead simply come in, probably warn her beforehand. K1-R4 wouldn't either, finding other ways to get information around them, and more concentrated on the portal. Whoever this was, it wasn't someone she was expecting, so she had to stay on guard.

Simultaneously, she drew her blue-lined pistol, taking it in both hands as she turned, aiming directly at the door. Her helmet re-formed, and she simply stared at the wall before her, glaring through her mirrored visor at whoever was intruding. She was in no mood to chat.

---

Batman gazes at the door.  There was no discernable handle or mark of any kind to notate any manual control.  However, there were seams that split the door.  They were probably automatically triggered when someone was close enough.  He stands in front of the door as it opens up, revealing a masked and armored figure with features that would suggest a slight feminine form.  However, any thought of her figure is put to the side as he notices the gun being held in both of her hands.  He reaches for his belt, removing just a standard bararang and holding it in place.  He had two potential points to go after: the hand or the barrel.  However, before revealing his move, he gives an ultimatum first.

"Drop the weapon."

His opponent did not seem to want to do so. The mouth curled into a scowl, finger tightening on the trigger.

"Don't see a reason." So it was a female. Maybe in her early twenties, accent hard to tell from her equipment, but sounding professional. "You give me a reason to trust the man who looks like he walked out of a graphic novel, I'll maybe consider it. Good luck with that before I--"

She looked down at his hand, seeing it moving back to get...something. "Whatever's in your hand, drop it! Or I'll drill you right between the e--"

Batman moves his arm, revealing the Batarang.  Opening his hand, he drops it.  It is during that move that he rushes forwards, twirling his cape over them as a distraction.  He reaches for the gun, gripping it.  Spinning, he elbows his opponent once in the gut before adding in a rising backfist, as a means to disarm  and potentially stun her.

She was unable to react in time, to drop her weapon and use her own close quarters combat. The suppressed Automag was wrenched from her hand. A hit to the gut doubling her over, one to the helmet sending her sprawling backwards, hitting the back of her head on the computer behind her. She was coughing, feeling her abdomen to see if anything was broken. Nothing yet. She looked up at the Caped Crusader, that scowl still there, but said nothing more, seeming to be looking for a way out of this. Maybe if she could trust this guy she could find a way to undergo training, but it was uncertain currently. Therefore, she would say nothing at all.

Batman turns around looks at his opponent, before looking down at the gun in his hands.  He may hate guns, but he knows how they work.  He removes the clip and pulls back the slide, ejecting the single round that was chambered.  Satisfied, he tosses it to the side.  Looking back at her, the piece that covered his mouth retracts, reveaing it.  He touches his elbow a bit, realizing a tender feeling in it.  The armor that she had was impressive, considering how few nerve endings the elbow had.  He walks towards her, stopping a few feet in front of her.  "Impressive armor."

Still she said nothing, just looking to the parts of her gun. She needed that. Sure, she needed close quarters help, but she also relied on her gun for long range. She would still wait for a time to get it back, but glared up at him, not retracting her helmet once more. She felt what she did, though maybe an overreaction, was self-defense.

"There was no reason to pull your gun on me."  Batman kneels down in front of her, his voice even and controlled.  "All I came here to do is find information.  Not to start a fight."  He holds a hand out towards her, an empty hand.  "I can understand if you don't believe me.  All I ask is that you listen."

There was a pause as she considered his hand. She knew he could probably use her grabbing it to his advantage, so, rather than taking, she leaned back against the computer, using it to stand as she got her breath back completely, albeit with some pain on her forehead and in her gut. "Do you know the name Rikka? Or Dani?" She wasn't going to ask if he was allied with them, as he could easily lie in that case.

"The names aren't familiar."  Batman retracts his hand back into his cape and stands once more, stepping back, his eyes never leaving her form.  "Why does that matter?"

She seemed to analyze his words, the tone and posture. Seeing no lie, she still didn't retract the helmet. "I just need to kill them. Nothing important," she said.

There was a pause of a few moments as she seemed to look him over in his entirety. Finally, she spoke. "The basic form looks familiar, like something out of a comic book..." she mumbled, seeming to get a basic grasp of who he was on some level. Finally she spoke to him again. "Corporal Ian."

A solider.  That would explain the weaponry and armor.  However, even though she was a soldier, he couldn't condone the idea of killing anyone.  That was one of his ground rules.  Inflicting pain, he could accept.  But never murder any person.  If he wanted to do anything with regards to her, he had to make that distinction as clear as possible.

"I'm Batman."

She just paused there, wondering. The soldier just watched him, looking him over. Again silence. Finally, she asked. "I need someone to help me train. Close combat. Could you help?"

Batman crosses his arms as he looks her over.  Her tone was serious enough.  "Do you know what entails learning from me?  Nothing easy.  There will be pain, physical and psychological.  And I will not accept a half-hearted effort.  You must be 100 percent dedicated, or you will end up regretting it."  His arms uncross.  "Do you understand?"

She nods, her helmet unfolding to reveal her face, brown eyes and short hair colored orange.  "I'm an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper.  We thrive under pressure.  And if I do complain, you have full authority to ramp up the difficulty on me."  She walks over to her AutoMag, picking it up.  Turning, she grabs the ammo clip and re-inserts it.  "However, I do have to tell you, I will not dress in something like that. Understand?"  She points at his costume, before holstering her weapon.

Batman smirks.  "Well, then.  Let's get started."

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