As it was a rather nice day out, James had decided to walk the few blocks to the comic shop instead of taking the bus. So when the space around him was violently ripped open and he was pulled into the void, he was less than prepared. One minute he was looking forward to seeing what new issues had come out, and the next he was surrounded by an ever suffocating darkness. A darkness that did not transmit the sounds of him screaming in sheer terror, nor did it feel as if his very heart was beating.

The intense darkness sapped away heat from his skin. Yet despite the intense cold he could not feel anything. He could not tell what was going on with his body other than a sense of eternal dread overwhelming him. His very skin could be freezing solid, but he could not tell in this agonizing void that stretched on for eternity. Thoughts became harder to think, like his very core was starting to fray. Perhaps James had gone mad he found himself switching between laughing and screaming though without sound he had no clue on what he was doing.

Whether he had been in the void for minutes or years, he noticed strange lights began to appear in the distance. For a long moment he thought he had truly gone insane and was hallucinating them. Yet as he came closer to them, he began feeling something. It felt like warmth, yet his body had already seemed to forget what it was and his brain struggled to decode what he was feeling. Through the lights he spotted some kind of strange string, when a mass of energy fell upon him and he knew terror once more.

As James passed screaming through the energy field he came to realize in his horror that he was passing through some sort of being. A being that seemed to examine him as he flew by and then with a tendril of energy touched James. His body erupted on fire, as if he was burning on the inside out. Exotic energies ripped his entire being apart bit by bit only to somehow pull more of himself out of nowhere. While this occurred, he slammed into the massive string and with a feeling of tearing he punched through a strange wall. He briefly spotted strange beings embedded within this wall before he found himself being pulled on by a massive force.

Different from the void, this new region was filled with light. Stars or galaxies he knew not which, flew past him as he was pulled. His very speed had to be beyond the speed of light as the universe was blurring around him. Faster and faster until he came to a sudden stop right above a blueish green world. Getting his bearings he took a look down and realized he was above Earth, the planet he had only seen in photographs before was laid out before him. Stunned by its beauty he didn’t realize that he was falling towards it until he realized that it was in fact growing larger.

When the first wisps of atmosphere began to caress him, he let out a keening wail of terror. As he began to tumble through the atmosphere, he felt like he would become dizzy. Yet by the time he reached the lower atmosphere he had finally managed to stabilize his falling and found himself falling towards a rather wooded area. Terror sprung up again in the pit of his stomach at his approaching imminent demise and he said a small prayer to god before he slammed hard into the middle of a small green field.

As he wasn’t going superfast at the point of landing, his body hit the ground and bounced with him grunting. He bounced several times before coming to stop, a little stunned that he was still alive. Somehow he had survived travelling through space and falling to earth. Or more likely he had a mental break and just wandered into the forest dreaming all that had happened. Still his body felt a strange tingling from whatever that energy thing did to him. Luckily he was uninjured as far as he could tell. Slowly he sat up wobbling on shaky legs and took a look around.

He found he was in a small field in the middle of some dark looking woods. While he had been panicking as he fell, he felt like he had seen a large city to the south. Patting his pockets, he realized that his smartphone was missing. In fact taking a look down at himself, he found that his clothing was ripped to shreds. He was practically nude, and alarmingly he was far more toned and muscular when he had woken up today. In fact he looked to be in the best shape of his entire life. Hell the six pack he had felt like solid rock under his hands.

After examining his transformed body and not sure what to make of it, he began to walk towards where he thought the city was. After a few steps, his barely held together shoes came apart leaving him having to walk barefoot through the rough forest. Even so he was surprised it didn’t bother him at all to walk like that. While he could feel every rock, he stepped on, it just didn’t hurt. So he was able to walk at a decent pace while lost in his own thoughts. Luckily despite the torn nature of his clothes and the loss of his smartphone, he still retained his wallet.

Taking it out, he opened it and made sure he still had his two hundred dollars within. He hadn’t carried his bank card with him, so hopefully this would be enough to help him get home. At least he had landed somewhere in the northeastern US. As he contemplated on several ways to get home, he came to a stop when he heard something quite loud. It was as if something very large was crushing something.

This sudden sound made him realize for a moment that his hearing felt a bit off. When he had landed the sounds of everything had been dull as if something was blocking his ears. Yet with loud sound, it was as if a dam burst and sounds swamped his hearing. Yet that loud crunching sound remained overpowering and he swept his head back and forth searching for whatever was making that nightmarish sound. At last he locked eyes with what was making it and found himself even more confused on what was happening.

Before him sitting on its hind legs was a small squirrel who was chewing on some kind of nut and was looking at him. Despite the diminutive size of the squirrel, it was as if he was standing right next to a construction site. Alarmed he took a step backwards which scarred the squirrel who ran away. As it dashed through the forest, it sounded as if a freight train passed right in front of James. Then the full weight of the sounds crashed into him and his headache. Clutching his ears in an attempt to block out all the sound, he suddenly found everything was now back to normal at least so it appeared.

Taking a deep breath he muttered “What the hell is going on?”

Unfortunately, he failed to receive any answer, so after cautiously looking around he continued walking through the forest. As he did so he found the moment he focused, the sound seemed to amplify. In fact if he focused hard enough, he was shocked to be able to hear the movement of an ant along a tree branch. Starting to really freak out he stopped his testing of this strange new ability and stumbled through some bushes onto the side of a road. Putting aside his growing unease for the moment he looked up and down the road trying to determine which way to head.

As he was considering what to do, from down the road came a small green truck. Not expecting much given his state of clothing, he stuck out his thumb. Surprisingly the truck slowed down and pulled over. Moving towards the passenger window, he spotted the gardening implements in the bed and assumed the driver was some sort of landscaper. Rolling down the passenger window, the driver gave him a long look and said “You alright there son? Looks like you were attacked by a bear.”

The man looked to be in his sixties and before James spoke a cover story popped up in his head. “No bear I’m afraid, just some trees. I was sky-diving, but I came down hard in the woods. Unfortunately the trees cut up my clothes and I had to ditch my parachute. Would it be possible if you could give me a lift to the city?”

“Sure, I can do that. With the city the way it is, best to do a good deed now and then. Gotta keep the hope up even if it’s a shithole.” The door lock popped open, and James got in and took a seat on the rather beat up seat. The old man held out his hand and James took it. “Names Paul.”

“Well thanks for stopping Paul. My name is James.”

The man nodded and then pulled the truck back onto the road. “I thought most of the lands out this way were private. As in not suitable places to jump out over especially with all the forests.”

Laughing, James said “Well I guess I was a bit too eager and jumped too early. By the time I realized my mistake, I got hit with a nasty crosswind that drove me to the woods. I’m just lucky I didn’t get hurt besides my clothes and losing my shoes.”

How he was able to come up with these lies on the spot, he didn’t know. He had never been a good liar, yet the words came out like he was speaking the truth. Somehow his very thoughts felt clearer and more importantly faster. However he was doing it, it was necessary. First if he told the truth, everyone would have assumed he was crazy. God forbid they did believe him, getting locked up in a secret government facility did not appeal to him at all. No, he just wanted to get back home and figure out what the hell was happening to him.

“Well you are lucky to have landed in the old Crowne Family lands. Any more to the north and you would have landed within the Cobblepot lands. They like keeping big mean dogs as a security loose. Last time I did work there one of them straight up bit my leg. Probably would have gotten some good bites in on you. Speaking of clothes, I think I have some extra clothes in the back that should fit yeah. Usually carry a spare set just in case I get too dirty. My lady back home doesn’t like me walking in caked in dirt.”

“Really? That would help out a lot. I’ll pay you back for them.” James reached in the back and pulled out an old work shirt and a pair of khakis. After struggling to get them on, he was decent, though the clothes were a bit tight on his now muscular frame.

“Don’t worry about it. Those clothes were old and bound for the donation pile anyway. Plus you need it more than I. So where do you need to be dropped off at?”

“A gas station should be fine. They should still have a phone booth I could use to get in contact with my friends. I lost my smartphone when I landed so I just need to make a call to let them know where I am and that I am okay.”

Paul nodded thoughtfully and said “I would offer you the use of mine, but the damn thing ran out of juice for the second time today. The phone no longer charges up right ever since last week’s incident with that Livewire gal. Blew a damn transformer near my home, and now none of my electronics work right. Tried to make coffee yesterday, but the damn thing burnt it.”

“Right.” James said a bit confused about what had occurred.

“Ah there’s the city limits. There is a gas station not too far from there. Bet your friends are scared about what happened to you.”

James glanced ahead and did a double take of a large sign over the road denoting they were now entering Gotham City.