To all you Comicbook Fans: Split Infinity

[Jason von Evil]

Rock on, it's getting good.

[Stravo]

This chapter has been sitting on my hard drive for well over two months waiting to be finished and in a burst of creativity, lo and behold a new chapter in my comic crossover.


Split Infinity
Issue # 6
Battle Lines



“I’ll take the big guy.” Superman said coolly as the Elders advanced.

“Which one, they’re all on the big side.” Batman replied sardonically.

“Take this battle seriously, these are Elders of the Universe, near gods in their own right.” Doctor Strange warned as he raised his arms and invoked a defensive spell that covered him in a pale pulsing blue glow.

“I take everything seriously.” Batman replied as he drew a batarang from his utility belt.

“Trust me, he really does.” Superman added.

“Enough talk! I welcome you to battle Kryptonian!” The Champion roared brazenly as he leapt from the asteroid he was floating on with the other Elders and crashed into Superman, driving his fists into the man of steel’s midsection.

Superman doubled over and exhaled sharply. The Champion, grinning madly, wrapped his arms under Superman’s and placed his hands behind Superman’s head and started pressing down in a suplex.

Strange tried to intervene but a gentle laugh distracted him. A golden skinned figure raced by Strange leaving a glittering trail in his wake.

“Doctor Strange, surely you don’t mean to do battle with us? I think it would be best if you simply left the field of battle.” The Runner commented with a sly smile.

Strange felt the effects on his mind almost immediately. He liked the Runner in spite of himself. The young man’s gentle smile elicited a smile from Strange in return.

“I don’t know how you are doing this but I will stop you.” Strange commented through his smile. It felt so odd as he called up an eldritch bolt and whipped it towards the running youth, to attack someone you liked.

The Runner laughed and it sounded like a light spring breeze as he literally ran circles around the eldritch bolt, then stopped, legs still moving in a blur and casually watched the bolt travel away. He turned his head and regarded Earth’s sorcerer supreme.

“You’ll have to do better than that, Doctor.” he chided.

Batman launched himself over the next elder as he landed in front of Batman with a cold grin on his face. Batman landed behind the elder and delivered a hammer kick to the base of the Elder’s back.

The Obliterator grunted and turned at his waist trying to reach out and grab Batman’s leg. the Dark Knight spun away and threw his batarang with as hard flick of his wrist. The Obliterator slapped the batarang away as he aimed his left arm mounted blaster and fired.

Batman rolled backwards avoiding the brunt of the blast.

“This is pathetic!” Obliterator snarled as he stalked after Batman. “My brothers get to do battle with a Kryptonian and Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme and I am stuck with you. A human dressed in some pathetic attempt to emulate a flying rodent.”

Batman spun hard, his kick connected with Obliterator’s chin with an audible click as the Obliterator’s teeth snapped together. Batman continued spinning with his other leg and connected with Obliterator’s midsection, doubling him over.

Batman landed gracefully and drove his fists, clasped together in an axe handle over Obliterator’s head. The Elder stumbled to his knees and grunted in pain.

Batman back flipped out of the Obliterator’s grasp and assumed a defensive posture.

“You were saying?” Batman asked sardonically.

Obliterator wiped a trickle of blood from his mouth as he glared at the Dark Knight.

“You will pay for that Batman.” Obliterator vowed.




Superman fought against the Champion’s grip. He flexed against the suplex grip that was squeezing his head down ward with irresistible pressure.

“I must say that I am disappointed, Kryptonian. Your people are supposed to be the pinnacle of physical might and here you are as helpless in my hands.” The Champion growled in Superman’s ear, disappointment clearly in his voice.

“I’m…sorry…to have…disappointed you.” Superman grunted as suddenly drove his head backward like a rocket into the Champion’s face. The Champion was stunned by the unexpected action and Superman broke the grip with a mighty effort, spinning around in place and kicking the Champion away from him.

The red haired blue skinned giant crashed into an asteroid floating opposite them, sinking into the rock.

Superman raced over the impact crater and his eyes flared up a bright crimson. The rock lips of the crater quickly hissed and melted into a molten cascade that poured down into the crater. Soon the carter was filled with pulsing magma and Superman inhaled sharply. He exhaled loudly over the magma, chilling the molten rock into hard packed rock.

He turned quickly and saw Strange in trouble, the Runner was spinning around him effortlessly dodging the sorcerer’s eldritch bolts. Superman raced over to help their companion and guide.

Strange centered himself, fighting against the growing urge to like this young man. He was such a sweet young boy, why would he want to hurt him? Strange shook his head and called upon the winds of Vishnu. The mystical wind picked up around him and caught the Runner as he completed another circuit and buffeted him, sweeping him off his feet and making him tumble away from the confused sorcerer.

Superman caught the Runner as he righted himself and tried to run against the wind pushing him away from Doctor Strange. He delivered a stiff right cross that snapped the Runner’s head to the side and stunned him.

“That’s two down.”

The asteroid behind him rumbled and suddenly exploded into a sea of stone and debris expanding outward. The Champion stood in the center of the blast finished flexing his muscles. He had a triumphant smile on his face.

“You have made me commit an error I rarely do, Kryptonian. You let me underestimate you. I assure you I will not make that mistake again!” The Champion roared happily as he braced himself against one of the free floating piece of debris and launched himself at Superman.

Superman simply flew upward out of the Champion’s path. The Champion sailed past him growling in annoyance.

“Will you fight like a true warrior or must I chase you down?” Champion snapped as he braced himself again and pushed off after Superman. Superman banked into the Champion and punched him with a haymaker in mid-flight. The Champion spun backwards into the void again.

“A true warrior uses all the abilities at his command Champion, I’d be foolish to give up this advantage.”

The Champion stopped himself from flying backwards by digging his left hand into a passing asteroid and slowing his passage. His fingers tore grooves into the stone itself as he grunted with effort and scrambled to his feet on the rock.

“Indeed, Superman, you have proven a challenge and that is the greatest compliment I can bestow on another.” The Champion noted with a feral grin, bouncing on the balls of his feet as if he could not restrain himself from entering battle.



Obliterator shoved both arms forward and fired a double blast at Batman. Batman cart wheeled between the two beams as they intersected behind him and exploded. The shockwave picked him off his feet and flung him forward like a rag doll.

Obliterator surged forward and punched Batman in his stomach, doubling the Dark Knight over and took a firm hold of Batman’s neck, holding him up with one hand. He eyed the dangling detective like a butcher examining a choice cut of beef.

“So, this is how it will end for you, human. You foolish little man, at least take with you the knowledge that you fought an Elder of the universe.” The Obliterator said coolly as he began to squeeze.

Batman struggled, one hand clawing at the Obliterator’s vise like grip of his throat, the other fumbling for his utility belt.

“Yes, that’s it put up a struggle. I never enjoy a hunt unless the prey puts up a struggle. Do not go to your death as a lamb to the slaughter.”

“Hardly.” Batman croaked hoarsely as his vision began to fade. His fingers found the canister he searched for on his utility belt. He clicked it open and stretched his fingers into the canister and pulled the capsule up into his palm.

The Obliterator looked into the Dark Knight’s eyes, waiting to see the life flee from them as the throat collapsed under his grip. Batman locked eyes with the Elder and brought his hand around and jammed the capsule into the Obliterator’s face, its contents spilling out into the Elder’s eyes.

The Obliterator howled and flung Batman away. He flipped end over end, tucked his legs in and landed in a crouch as he put one hand to his bruised throat as he watched the Obliterator. The Elder screamed and clutched at his eyes as the acid ate into them. Gruesome but effective, Batman noted with a grim nod.

“It seems my brothers, as usual, will be a grave disappointment even with the simplest of assignments.” The Grand Master sighed deeply as he removed a control pad from his belt.

Superman soared past a hurtling Champion who was forced to continue pursuing Superman by leaps and bounds from asteroid to asteroid. He approached the Grand Master. Meanwhile below, Doctor Strange landed beside Batman and watched the Obliterator howling in pain and writhing as he clutched his eyes.

“I am most impressed Batman. You have felled an Elder of the Universe alone, and you’re just a man.”

Batman smirked and glanced over at Strange.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing, Doctor. Now, let’s go help Superman.”

“Help Superman? He looks as if he has things well in hand.” Strange noted as he looked up to see Superman floating before the Grand Master.

Batman shook his head.

“That’s what has me worried. Besides, this is precisely the time for things to go wrong.” Batman replied.

“I don’t know who you are but frankly, you’re brothers have been defeated and you are standing between us and our goal.” Superman said stonily floating over the white haired thin man.

“Kryptonian, I am not one of your pathetic Earther villains that you can simply overwhelm with brute force. I am the Grand Master, I was born to play and win any game, and strategy is my strong suit so you can imagine that facing a brute like you is almost laughable.” The Grand Master replied haughtily and pressed a stud on his control pad.

Superman felt his stomach drop into his shoes and he suddenly crashed to the ground on the large flat asteroid where the Grandmaster stood.

“You will find it quite impossible to fly now, Kryptonian. The local gravity field has been increased to several hundred times of your Earth’s gravity.”

Superman took a deep breath and got onto his feet, but felt slow almost sluggish.

“If you think this is enough to stop me you sorely underestimated me.” Superman replied stoically and he took a step forward.

The Grand Master smiled and shook his head ruefully.

“Foolish really, did you think I did not know the upper limits of your strength and endurance?” He spoke as Superman approached walking carefully one step at a time against the pull of hundreds of gravities. “Much to your credit my technology lacks the ability to actually surpass your god like attributes, but it suffices to even the odds a little.”

“Even the odds for what?” Superman snapped, and then stopped short as he saw a shadow looming over him. “Oh hell.” He muttered as he started to turn too late as the Champion landed on him like a pile driver, sending him crashing into the ground.

“So, at last we can meet on the fields of battle as it was meant to be.” Champion laughed as he delivered a crushing haymaker to Superman’s face, snapping his head to the side and took a firm grip of Superman’s waist and whipped him around off his feet and drove him head first into the ground.

“Brother, here, I have a gravity nullifier for you to wear. Finish him unencumbered.” Grand master offered, hand extended.

Champion wiped his mouth and eyed the device for a moment. He slapped it out of the Grand Master’s hands.

“I am going to teach this Kryptonian that I do not need any advantages to defeat him.” The Champion declared proudly and pulled Superman’s head up by the hair.

“What say you Kryptonian, are you learning yet?” Champion asked.

Superman turned his head and looked into the Champion’s face.

“I’m a slow learner.” He replied and his eyes flashed crimson.

The Champion was blasted by the concentrated heat vision and fell back, hair on fire covering his face with his wide muscular arms. Superman struggled to his feet and followed through with a stiff right cross that snapped the Champion’s head around and an uppercut that Catapulted the Champion off his feet backwards.

He advanced on the stunned Champion.

Grand Master shook his head.

“This is becoming so predictable.” Grand Master muttered.

“Then let us bring an end to that.” Strange said loudly as he and Batman landed softly behind him.

The Grand Master slowly turned his head to regard them with a calculating eye.

“I wonder, with my gravity field on, you really should be reduced to nothing but a liquid mass at this point so I assume this has to do with your sorcery, Doctor Strange.”

“Indeed it does.” Strange replied with a nod as the sounds of battle, grunts and impacts that sounded like baseball bats against sides of beef, echoed around them on the asteroid.

“Let’s finish this now.” Batman said and prepared his batarang. The Grand master crossed his arms and waited patiently, behind him the Champion roared and charged, Superman charging at him as well. They collided like charging bulls and each one fell backwards.

“Batman wai—“ Strange started to warn him but the Dark Knight launched his batarang at the Grand Master’s head. The batarang sprang from his hand and as it passed the pale green aura around both men, the batarang stopped short as if it had been slapped out of the air and crashed to the ground with an audible crack.

“Damn.” Batman muttered.

“The aura only protects us within its bounds, outside the aura—”

“I get the picture.” Batman snapped.

“Now, we seem to be at an impasse. My brother has all but neutralized your most powerful ally.” Behind him Champion picked Superman up by the throat and cocked back his fist and delivered a blow that sent Superman hurtling backwards and almost off the asteroid when he landed with a bone jarring impact. “And you cannot attack me outside of your aura. So. What ever do we do?” The Grand Master asked.

Strange’s eyes narrowed on the Elder.

“This is not your idea is it? Someone has told you to bind him here.” Strange said softly.

The Grandmaster made a mock clapping motion.

“Excellent, Doctor Strange, I am most impressed by your strategic acumen. But I am afraid that you are still missing pieces of the puzzle.”

Superman caught the Champion’s left hook and twisted his arm to fling him over his shoulder.

“Now is not the time to discuss this Grand Master. You know what is at stake here.”

“Indeed I do, but you are approaching this from a narrow vision. You do not see all the possibilities.”

“There are no other possibilities save madness.” Doctor Strange replied sternly.

“Then there is no reasoning with you, Strange.” The Grand Master replied coldly and pressed another stud on his control pad. The floor around him slid away in four squared and quad mounted cannons swung up from under the surface and began firing bright emerald beams at the duo facing the Elder.

Strange threw up his hands in a warding gesture and the beams impacted against a glowing crimson crystal like shield. It was slowly shattering under the assault as shards spilled off at the edges of the shield.

“I cannot hold these beams back forever.” Strange commented to Batman.

“If I leave this aura I’d be jello in less than a second. We need a third option.”

“And Superman?”

Batman glanced over sharply in time to see the Champion block one of Superman’s punches and deliver a roundhouse kick that sent Superman crashing to the ground.

“He’s going to be busy for awhile.” He looked around and saw the Obliterator still screaming on the asteroid below them. A slow grim smile spread on his face as he saw the massive weapons pack and cannons attached to the stricken elder.

“Do you have enough energy to teleport the Obliterator into our aura?”

“Whatever for?” Strange asked incredulously as sweat began to bead his brow.

“A surprise.”

Strange glanced over at Batman. He had never worked with the man before, never really fought by his side but something told him to trust him. He divided his attention, calling upon the eldritch forces at his command and summoned the elder to their side.

The Obliterator suddenly appeared in a blast of light. The elder could feel the sudden change in location.

“Where are you human! I will crush you for this!” Obliterator snarled.

“Promises, promises.” Batman muttered as he checked the weapons pack and made a quick guess as to what the power core was, reached out and cranked it up to full. The backpack began to pulse loudly.

“What are you doing?!” The Obliterator snapped, concern in his voice now, his head switching around quickly trying to see through his ruined eyes.

“Making sure you don’t bother anyone for a long time.” Batman replied and slapped a wad of thermite on an exposed cable by the core and switching on the detonator.

“Strange send him into the guns!” Batman shouted.

Strange understood now and his respect for the cowled hero grew immeasurably. As the crystal shield cracked and began to come apart the Obliterator vanished in another swirling ball of light and reappeared among the cluster of guns.

Batman mashed down on the detonator and the Obliterator’s weapons pack exploded in a titanic white blast that covered the asteroid. Strange and Batman landed hard on their backs as the crimson crystal shield shattered completely.

The green aura flickered as Strange’s concentration faltered and Batman half expected his lungs to immediately collapse under the irresistible gravitic forces at work on this asteroid. Nothing happened.

He looked up quickly and saw that the Grand Master was stunned on the ground, trying to fumble for his control pad blasted from his hand by the concussive wave. His eyed widened in horror as the control pad was crushed by the impact of the Champion as he crashed on top of it, driven by a series of haymakers delivered by Superman who now floated over the stunned Champion and Grand Master.

“Looks like the Grand Master’s gravity trick was knocked out by the blast.” Batman noted.

“A fortuitous turn of events for us.” Strange added as he wiped debris off his cloak and called up a quick set of pale blue manacles that covered the Grand Master’s hands and feet.

“To think all that planning, ruined by the lumbering dolt and his weapons.” Grand Master hissed.

Champion groggily stood up and wiped the blood from his mouth.

“I the best fighter in the universe bested.” The Champion stammered.

“There’s a first time for everything.” Superman replied with a smile, but it hid the pain he was feeling. He had not received a beating like that in a long time.

“Now you will tell us what you had planned for him.” Strange ordered tersely.

“Never.” The Grand Master vowed.

“We can do this easy or we can do this the hard way.” Batman threatened.

“You should know Strange that a strategist always leaves himself a way out.” The Grand Master stated with a mysterious smile. Before any of them could act a golden figure raced past them like the wind, trailing golden light and snatched up the Grand Master and the Champion and vanished into the void beyond with an airy laugh.

“Damn!” Batman pounded his fist into his open palm.

“What about him?” Superman pointed to the Obliterator, charred and bloody, slumped over the remains of the Grand Master’s weapons array.

“I don’t think he will be talking anytime soon.” Batman replied giving the mauled Elder a kick to check for vitality. The Elder did not move.

“His kind does not die easily. He will recover, but my business is with their prisoner.” Strange said as he floated up above the asteroid towards the floating sphere beyond the field of battle.

Batman cleared his throat and Strange made a brief motion, allowing Batman to follow him up. Superman took a moment to check the fallen Elder’s vitals then wrapped him in the melted remains of the gun barrels before following them up.

“You talked about someone, a prisoner, who was he?” Batman asked.

“You will see.” Strange promised as they cleared the top of the rocky sphere to find the prisoner chained with enormous links of woven darkness. He moved sluggishly as if in deep sleep and having a nightmare. His emerald cloak was laid about him, his white pale body was shriveled and desiccated.

“Is that?!” Superman exclaimed.

“I should have known.” Batman added.

“He is from your frame of reference, but in any he is a being of pure power. He is the Spectre.” Strange answered them as he landed by the chained entity.

“Spectre, it is I Steven Strange Sorcerer Supreme of Earth.”

“Is that you, my friend? Fate?” The Spectre spoke and his voice was like someone speaking out from a deep grave.

“No, it is Doctor Strange. Unfortunately I believe that Doctor Fate is the problem.” Strange answered.

The Spectre opened a single eye and it was as if all stars everywhere were collected in his single orb as he regarded each of the would be liberators. He said nothing for a moment but his eye focused on Doctor Strange.

“You I do not know. But I have a sensation that we have met before, perhaps in passing, perhaps in the mere breadth of realities coming loose. There have been many paths I have walked.”

“Indeed. Now, we must free you of your bondage. There are many things that have happened and you will be needed to set things right, for if my suspicions are true, someone has split the infinite.”

The Spectre shook his head slowly and it was as if a mountain had shrugged its shoulders.

“No, Sorcerer. You have not the skill nor the power to open these bonds. They were carefully forged from the very stuff of entropy, the very darkness that laid upon the void before the One spoke the words of power that set this creation in motion.”

Strange stared in wonder at the dark links, each one nebulous like a dream yet solid as a mountainside. Enigmatic things whispered from within each chain link, mad things, murderous things, secret things.

“If these chains can bind the Spectre and awe or resident sorcerer this is bad news for you and I.” Batman whispered to Superman. The Man of Steel could only watch in wonder.

“What must I do?” Strange asked.

“There is only one place that can contain the key to these chains. I must ask you to walk the infernal paths into Hell itself.”

“THE hell.” Batman interjected.

“Will you do it Strange?” The Spectre pressed.

Doctor Strange steepled his fingers under his chin and took a deep breath as he quickly weighed his options.

“With these circumstances and what’s at stake, I do not see that we have a choice.” Strange sighed softly and eyed Superman and Batman.

“This will not be easy, for any of us. I did not expect this so I cannot ask you to go any further.”

“No.” Superman replied without hesitation. “We signed on to help save our worlds and that is precisely what we’re going to do.”

“They’re not talking about a figurative hell, Superman, this is the real deal.” Batman cautioned.

“Is the Dark Knight of Gotham afraid?” Superman chided. Batman frowned.

“I’m not a child if you think that will get a rise out of me.” He replied then looked at Strange. “I don’t ever stop what I don’t finish.”

“Very well.” Strange replied sadly.

[2000AD]

First post.
I may have missed this bit but how could Batman survive in space? Was it one of Dr. Stranges tricks?

[Ghost Rider]

Cool, wondered where this one ran off to.