With my husband playing Warcraft a lot lately, and myself having been out of that particular game for long enough that I’m starting to be tempted back in, I’ve been crossing over the original DCU-verse with Warcraft-verse in my head.
1. It starts off with Tim Drake reaching the end of his rope with his life and the way it’s been with really rough with his family, friends, his work as Red Robin, and his non-existent real life. He’s extremely frustrated.
2. Late one night, while investigating a strange new cult called the Burning Shadow that has been rising up within the world, Red Robin discovers a mysterious portal at the heart of their stronghold in Gotham City. Before he can report to anyone about it, he’s attacked by a demon. Red Robin is not at all prepared to hold his own against a demon and is mortally wounded. However, before the demon can land the final killing blow, a creature of light appears from the portal and strikes down the demon. Red Robin falls unconscious.
3. When Tim wakes up, he’s in a strange place. His wounds, amazingly, have been completely healed. Eventually, he is introduced to a human wizard named Khadgar. Khadgar tells Tim that he is in a city called Shattrath, in the remnants of a planet once called Draenor. From the old man, Tim learns what happened back in Gotham…
4. An evil demonic force called the Burning Legion has been seeking other worlds to invade. From a portal located in a region within the Outlands (the remnants of Draenor), the demons had created a doorway to Tim’s world and were sending scouts ahead of them to prepare for invasion. Forces fighting the Burning Legion, called the Sha’tar, were sent to intercept the demons and close the portal. Tim had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. The glowing creature who’d saved him had been one of a race called the Na’ru. That Na’ru was named Xi’ri. After seeing how badly Tim had been injured, Xi’ri brought the young man to Shattrath for healing. Unfortunately, for the sake of Tim’s world, the portal had to be destroyed almost immediately afterwards. For the time being, there is no way to send Tim home.
5. Tim is shocked and dismayed to learn that he’s been stranded on an alien world. He doesn’t know what to do. Khadgar suggests that he might feel better living among humans on his own homeworld of Azeroth until he gets his bearings. He sends Tim through a portal that takes him to the human city of Stormwind, with a message from Khadgar to the King requesting sanctuary for the young man.
6. Years are spent by Tim in Azeroth. Timeline-wise, Tim enters this world during the events of the “Wrath of the Lich King”. For the first year, Tim drifts aimlessly. He feels without a purpose, and while he does strive initially to seek a way back home through science or magic, once he realizes how hopeless an endeavor it is, he sinks into depression.
7. He eventually meets Tirion Fordring, the leader of the Argent Crusade during his wandering. Tim feels more at ease around Tirion’s commanding presence than anywhere else in Azeroth. He has an inner strength that reminds Tim of Bruce, but exudes a sense of light and hope that the Batman never did. Alternatively, Tirion sees echos of his own murdered son’s spirit and desire to do good for others within Tim. When Tirion offers to take Tim under his wing and train him in the ways of the Paladin, as a way to both fight evil and heal the sick and injured, Tim accepts.
8. Tim becomes an exceptional Paladin. It suits him exceptionally to have the ability to both fight evil forces and heal others. While, in the past, he had never been a religious person, practically an atheist at times, the concept of “The Holy Light” that powers many healers in Azeroth is something that he can embrace whole-heartedly, as it doesn’t rely on the worship of any deity. He also appreciates immensely the fact that he can do good work as a Paladin, and not have to hide his identity.
9. 5-10 years (?) after being stranded in Azeroth, shortly after the events of Shattering right before Cataclysm started, the Burning Legion manages to create another portal to Earth, this time from a location in Azeroth, not the Outlands. Due to the complexities of cleaving portals through time and space, only a few weeks have passed on Earth since Red Robin went “MIA”.
10. Tim’s family and friends had been frantically searching for him since he went missing when the first portal in Gotham City had been destroyed. When the new portal is discovered, Batman and Robin go to investigate it, but happen upon a conflict between the Legion and the Argent Crusade already in progress.
11. Batman and Robin both help the Crusaders defeat the demons, though Robin is hurt badly in the process. Tim, the Paladin leading the party, keeps his helmet drawn down hiding his face even as he heals Damian’s injuries, much to the boy’s amazement. Tim, though was initially thrilled at having finally found a portal leading back to Earth, was shocked and almost horrified to see that so little time had passed on his homeworld. He’d been gone for years, and clearly it hadn’t been that long if Damian was still 10-11 yrs old.
12. Still, when the other Crusaders try to set the charges to destroy the portal, Tim orders them not to, convincing them that they need to inform this world’s protectors of the danger of the Burning Legion, in case they (the Argent Crusade) cannot stop an invasion from happening. So, his voice distorted by his helm, Tim advises Bruce to collect a diplomatic part to come to the portal within three days’ time, while take that same time to secure the portal for their own use.
13. The diplomatic party from the Justice League is gathered and they are escorted through the portal to Azeroth and are eventually brought to the Argent Crusade base and Tirion Fordring. They are led by Tim, though he keeps his helmet on. Something about this Paladin makes Bruce and Damian suspicious, but nothing they can voice specifically.
14. After the initial meeting with Tirion, once they are guests in his home, does Bruce and Damian finally see Tim. Tirion recognizes Batman and Robin immediately, since Tim told him all about them when he was younger. The older Paladin arranges a reunion with the reluctant Tim. Bruce and Damian are both, understandably, shocked by the changes in Tim. However, Bruce is still very much relieved to see his missing son alive and well.
15. Once Tim is revealed to the others, it’s Tim who leads the others in a tour of Azeroth and Outlands to show his old friends and family exactly how big a threat the Burning Legion is to Earth.
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And that’s all I have. This plot bunny sprang to mind, and I had to write it. It’s not really a cohesive story. I’m not even sure if I’ll flesh it out into something more substantial later.
I think I’ll leave this just as a separate DCU/WoW!verse that others can possibly request short story prompts from.
In my head, as a Paladin, Tim wears a set of armor that resembles the Judgement Armor set in WoW.
He’s also traded using a bo staff for a sword and shield as his primary weapons. Tim’s strength comes from his healing, though. After all the loss he suffered in his life, learning how to heal was something he put most of his focus into during his training.
cross-posting to keep a copy of this on my writing journal.
