2012-02-22

Disclaimer: The DC universe belongs to DC comics, Warner Brothers and anyone I forgot to mention. I’m just borrowing things for my own and possibly the enjoyment of others fans.

Notes: This is a time travel fic so while the prologue begins about ten years in the future of current DC canon. The bulk of the fic takes place during the Young Justice period shortly after Cassie was voted leader and the trouble involving Empress parents but before the attempt at a reality show. Also Tim in this future is using the Red Robin identity but both Cassie and Kon have changed identities. Cassie is Wonder Woman and Kon El is using the Nightwing identity. The reasons for why will be explained in story.

Cycles of Chaos:
Prologue

“Wonder woman watch out,” someone called and she dodged just in time as one of the zombie things lurched past her. She used a handy bit of concrete to smash it into a puddle of goo and turned to see if any of the others had managed to get close to the lunatic in armor that was summoning these things.

She wasn’t surprised to see that Red Robin had gotten quite close while Nightwing was doing his best to keep the lunatic focused on him. She hoped Conner would be okay he wasn’t invulnerable to magic and despite the fancy laser shooting armor a lot of what this new lunatic was throwing at them seemed to be firmly in the magic category.

Another quick glance around before diving back into the fray revealed that the three of them were the only ones still on their feet in fighting condition. She had never expected a brief stop over at the Outsiders HQ to see Kara would result in this. She heard a small explosion and focused on the villain’s armor smoking and sparking. She guessed Red Robin must have nailed him with one of the many explosive toys he carried.

She allowed herself to begin to relax as the zombie things melted it looked like the damage to his armor had left him powerless. She still kept a close eye on him as Nightwing and Red Robin began to move toward him to help take him into custody. She heard a moan behind her and turned to see Kara climbing out of the wreckage these battles always seemed to leave strewn everywhere.

She was glad to see that Kara looked all right since the usual rules of kryptonian invulnerability didn’t apply when magic was involved. A loud bang drew her attention back to the villain to see he had exploded into what looked like a semi translucent sphere of energy. She was disturbed to see Nightwing trapped as if in amber trying to fly Red Robin away from what she guessed had been the blast. “Everyone stay back; I’m going to try something,” she called to the others who were waking up and taking in the sight.

She carefully picked up a small rock and chucked it at the edge of the field and watched it sail through. Seeing that things that entered it didn’t seem to get stuck she quickly lassoed the two frozen inside it and tried to pull them out. She was shocked when they wouldn’t budge she was about to call Kara and the others for assistance when the strange dome of energy shot forward swallowing her. She couldn’t move at all once the strange globe of energy had swallowed her. She also felt a strange tingling sensation over her entire body. She was wracking her brain trying to think of a way out of this when things went from bad to worse. At the center of the dome a hole appeared and suddenly the dome was shrinking in on itself taking the three of them with it.

She felt a kind of surreal horror as she watched Tim and Kon disappearing into nothing. She hoped it was leading to somewhere and that she hadn’t just watched two of her friends die. As she found herself approaching the hole she felt arms wrap around her and pull back. She wanted to warn whoever was trying to save her not to do it but she still couldn’t talk. She wasn’t surprised when her attempted rescuer joined her in falling into nothingness.

She opened her eyes to find the sun shining in her face as she lay on what felt like asphalt. She heard excited voices talking and yelling as she opened her eyes and looked behind her to see Kara laying unconscious on the ground. She was happy to see that she appeared to be breathing. She was about to look for Tim and Kon when a hesitant voice spoke directly to her. “Cassie, is that you?”

It sounded like Greta but that was impossible so she turned to see who it could be and found herself staring at Secret and The Ray watching her warily. “Oh shit,” She said as the implications of Greta being Secret hit her. She glanced around quickly to find Conner and Tim sitting up shakily. “Guys, we have a problem.”

“Fuck,” Conner said when he looked past her and saw the increasing crowd of young justice members looking at them. She glanced back to see her younger self approaching cautiously. She had experience with traveling into her own future but never in traveling into her own past.

“Keep the details to a minimum we can’t risk changing history,” Tim said sounding a great deal like his former mentor. She thought about their future evil selves fading out of existence right in front of them and wondered if that was going to be their fate here and now.

To be continued...

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Disclaimer, Notes on prologue.

Cycles of Chaos
Cycle one
Chapter One

Every time he thought life couldn’t get any weirder he was always proven wrong. They’d just got back from invading a country of super villains with the infant parents of a team mate. He thinks he should be given some slack for thinking that was the weirdest thing that would happen this week. The fact that just moments ago he, Robin and Cassie nearly passed out only to have future versions of themselves and Supergirl crash onto the tennis court.

He didn’t want to admit it but considering what happened the last time he met an adult version of himself he was kind of scared. The fact this one was also sporting a black outfit didn’t help matters. He wondered why the stylized red bird thing design instead of the S-shield but he wasn’t going to ask. He’d already seen the future Robin shoot down Bart’s multitude of questions about the future. As intimidating as Robin could be the future version came across as way too much like Batman to risk upsetting.

“I think she’s waking up,” the older version of Cassie said from where she was kneeling by Supergirl. He took a moment to appreciate how well Cassie and Supergirl grew up. He watched as the older versions crowded around their supergirl.

“Superwoman, are you okay?” His older self asked as she opened her eyes. The way he said it sounded a bit funny like he wasn’t used to calling her Superwoman when he was concerned about her. He wondered if his future self was involved with her after all he’d recently told her how attractive he found her now that she was more approachable.

“Nightwing,” She said sounding really happy to see him but he couldn’t get past what she called him. “I didn’t think I managed to pull Wonder woman and you two out of there.” She said and then frowned as she looked past him and saw the rest of them.

“You didn’t,” His older self who apparently was calling himself Nightwing said. “We got thrown into the past so keep the details to a minimum so we don’t change things.” He was still staring wondering how on earth he could have ended up with the Nightwing identity. A quick glance at Robin showed he was just as shocked or at least he thought he was it was hard to tell with Robin.

“Kon, we need to pay a visit to Metropolis and Gotham.” The older Robin said. He watched his older self frown at the other man. “The two of them will get involved sooner or later and it’s best we talk to the them directly.” The older Robin turned toward his younger self and said, “you can let Batman know we are coming.”

“Guess that means we’ll go see the big guy in Metropolis first,” His future self said. “Cassie you and Super woman stay here with our past selves.” He could tell several folks planned to object but before anyone good his future self was simply gone and the older Robin with him.

“Wow you’re a lot faster in the future,” Bart said cheerfully. “I’m going to race them to Metropolis,” his friend said and then was gone as well. He noticed the older Cassie had a fond look on her face as she was staring at where Impulse was.

“I have to make a call,” Robin said as he turned and headed back inside the hotel. He really didn’t envy Robin having to tell Batman that company was coming. He glanced around to see everyone other than Robin was standing around stupidly.

“I need to talk to Superwoman alone for a bit,” the older Cassie said breaking the uncomfortable silence. “We are going to fly a few hundred feet away.” He watched them take off and took a moment to admire their much more mature backsides.

“I wonder who I married,” Cassie said interrupting his rather inappropriate thoughts. “I mean the older me is wearing a wedding ring.” He hadn’t noticed a wedding ring and when he said as much Cassie had turned a dark glare on him. “You were too busy staring at my I mean her and Super woman’s chest to notice.”

He felt guilty for a moment but then shot back. “I did notice that the future me seemed really uncomfortable calling Super woman by a code name.” He leered suggestively as he went on. “I think we might be involved.”

“Or you could be married to Cassie,” Secret said when no one else spoke. “Your future self had on gloves so we couldn’t see his hand.” He really wished she hadn’t done that as now he was incredibly uncomfortable. He and Cassie had been dancing around the idea of hooking up for a while now and the idea that they could be married in the future hadn’t occurred to him. He could tell it occurred to Cassie though as she blushed quiet a bit before making excuses to go check on Robin.

____

They landed just outside Metropolis so he could call Clark on a pay phone to give him a heads up that they were coming while Tim sent Bart back to Young Justice. Having to face the past versions of Superman and Batman was already going to be awkward as hell anyway without including a hyperactive speedster.

He had to admit it brought back fond memories to see Bart show back up three or four times while he waited to be connected to Clark’s desk. “What’s this about a family emergency Connor?” He was asked as soon as Clark picked up. Of course he would forget that this was before Clark dumped him with Ma and Pa Kent.

“Look Clark it’s Kon El and we are having a time travel problem at the moment,” he said hoping Clark would just go with it. “Tim and I are flying into Metropolis and we need you to meet us to take a trip to see Bruce.”

“All right, I’ll meet you over the Planet.” Clark said cautiously. He hung up the phone and headed out of the booth to see Tim shooing Bart off yet again. “Just go back to the hotel Bart you know Batman won’t like you following us all the way there.” He said joining Tim, the mention of the bat word sent Bart off. “How long do you think before he comes back?”

“Let’s go,” Tim said all business as usual during a crisis. “We need to get to Metropolis as soon as possible.” He stepped forward and pulled Tim into his arms before taking off. He didn’t need to hold onto Tim anymore his TK field was strong enough to support the other man without it but he enjoyed holding him.

In a few seconds they were over Metropolis where Superman was waiting hoovering above the Daily Planet like a figure out of myth. “Here we are,” He said letting Tim go but keeping him supported in his field. “Sorry about the trouble Clark,” he said softly extending his hand toward Superman.

“Nice costume,” Clark said shaking his hand and glancing over at Tim who somehow managed to look completely at ease despite floating hundreds of stories in the air with no control over his own fate.

“It is a long story that we can’t really share because of time paradoxes,” He said suppressing the urge to laugh at Clark’s continuing to stare at Tim floating. “I’ve been at this for more than a decade now Clark I’m a lot better at the TK thing now.”

“We need to get to Gotham,” Tim said after a moment. “My younger counterpart should have finished calling him by now so we will be expected.” He couldn’t help but smile at the thought of dropping in unexpected on Batman. It was going to be one of the highlights of this trip if they ever got home.

“Follow me,” Clark said and took off. He matched Clark’s speed easily and raised an eyebrow at him. “I’m not sure how fast you can go now so I was trying to let you keep up.” He knew Clark was trying to be considerate but he wasn’t the kid Clark knew anymore.

“Go as fast as you want I can keep up,” He said glancing over at Tim who looked indifferent but after years of being together he knew the other man was hiding a small smile somewhere down in that Bat mask of his.

He made a point to always stay even with Clark as he was curious how fast Clark would go. The answer it turned out was very fast as Clark seemed to be trying to gage exactly how fast he could go. He was actually pretty sure by the end of it that he was in the same ball park as this Clark power wise. Sure his time’s Superman was still ahead of him thanks to an additional ten years of solar absorption but he was pleased at how close he seemed to be to this one at least in speed. “You’re a lot faster,” Clark said. “Any other powers and abilities I should know about.”

“It is best that we don’t share too much information about the future,” Tim said speaking up. “That means no showing off Connor,” Tim said and then frowned. He hadn’t expected Tim to make that mistake so he was honestly surprised. Tim should have called him Kon and now he was beating himself up over screwing up. “We’re here,” Tim said recovering pointing toward one of the entrances to the Batcave that was accessible from the air.

As soon as they touched down inside it he extended his TK Field to it’s limits tracing every contour of the cave’s walls and the insides of the various compartments. Like he expected the safe was empty which meant that the Bat had the kryptonite on him. “Don’t antagonize him,” Tim said from behind him. “We both know what he’s got on him.”

They arrived in the main section fo the cave where Batman was waiting for them along with Alfred who had a tray of tea. “Hey Alfred,” he said ignoring the glare Batman shot him. “Hey Bruce,” he said knowing Tim was going to kill him later but he couldn’t help it poking the past Batman was fun.

“So you are Nightwing now,” He said and then looking past him to Tim who had pulled his cowl off to reveal his actual face. “Is Dick okay with him using the name?” He resisted pointing out how insulting the question was since Batman seemed to be assuming that he’d use the name without Dick’s okay.

“Dick is fine with it,” Tim said and then fixed Batman with his own version of the Bat glare. “We need to avoid as many details as possible to prevent ourselves from fading out of existence.” Tim was actually lecturing Batman it was wonderful. “We need you to contact Rip Hunter, Wave Rider, Metron and anyone else who can help get us back home.”

“I’m afraid no one can get you back home,” A voice said and he looked up to see Metron sitting in his Mobious chair above them. “Your presence here is a true anomaly we could journey into the future but it would not be your future merely the future your world replaced.”

“What do you mean their world replaced,” Batman asked glancing between them and Metron with a wary look on his face. He didn’t like the way Batman’s hand was subtly twitching toward a compartment on his belt.

“They have fallen threw a hole in greater hypertime,” Metron said with an almost hungry expression. “Such events are rare and can only be reversed from the higher plane.” he glanced around at Clark, Tim, Batman and Alfred all looked as confused as he felt which was saying something.

“Think of Greater hypertime as a stacked structure with layers of hypertime within it,” Metron said obviously having some difficulty putting his understanding of the concept into terms they could understand. “It is possible with a great deal of power to pull an object up or send it down to a lower level.” Metron paused only briefly. “However, it is impossible to move from a lower level to a higher level with any means available to us on this level.”

“Why are they from a higher level,” Clark asked while he shared a glance with Tim. He was sure that Tim had got there ahead of him but he had a couple of ideas for what could have caused it. He noticed Batman watching them and tried to mimic how confused he used to look. He could instantly tell Batman wasn’t buying it.

“At some future point the nature of reality will be altered and a new past, present and future will be created,” Metron said. “Our existence is confined to the hypertime that encompasses everything that happened before that moment.” He looked almost thrilled. “If we journey into the future it will be our future from before that event not the world they come from.” He looked at the two of them. “Feel free to say as much as you want about your world we are no danger to you.”

“What about them,” Batman asked, “Are they a danger to our world.” He glanced up at Metron to see him checking something with his chair. He didn’t like the look on the new god’s face and he wondered how bad the news was going to be.

“Yes,” Metron said with a curious expression. “But only because this section of the time line has recently undergone massive temperoral instability their presence will aggravate it and most likely causing shock waves that will cause massive alterations in the time line.”

“Is there anyway to prevent this?” Tim asked speaking to Metron for the first time. He knew what Tim was thinking that if they couldn’t get home they could at least minimize the damage to this time and place.

“No, the energy that brought you here is currently preventing them but that energy is fading at different rates for all four of you soon the tremors will start,” Metron looked around. “In fact by my calculations the first of you will begin to affect reality in approximately two minutes so I will be journeying to that location to observe the effects and refine my data.”

“Wait,” Superman called but Metron was already gone. He watched as Superman turned back toward them to speak but suddenly he heard a small gasp from Tim which meant Tim had figured something out.

“Kon it’s Kara,” Tim said with a horrified look. “She only grabbed Cassie at the last second there’s no way she absorbed as much of that energy as we did.” That was all Tim had to say he shot forward and grabbed him. He flew pouring on the speed careful to Cloak Tim in his TK Field to keep from harming him as he pushed himself to his maximum speed.

Even though it took less than a second to the distance from Gotham City to the hotel it felt like it took forever because he was worried about his cousin. He slowed and landed letting Tim go and immediately grabbed her. “Are you okay Kara,” He asked.

“I’m fine Kon but what happened to not using my name,” Kara said giving him a curious expression. She then looked past him and smiled. “Kal and Bruce are coming,” She said. He glanced back to see Superman landing holding an irate looking Batman.

“You really have gotten faster,” Clark said giving him a once over. “Your not our Supergirl,” He said as soon as he set eyes on Kara. He should have known Clark would notice right away that Kara wasn’t the Supergirl he knew.

He was debating how to begin explaining to Clark who Kara was when she suddenly convulsed and a small point of light appeared on her shoulder. “Kara,” Cassie yelled moving forward but before she could reach her a ball of light shout out of her shoulder and hit Anita. There was a bright flash and then suddenly Anita was replaced by a guy who looked a lot like her.

“What the hell, Anita just turned into a guy,” His younger self yelled out suddenly. He glanced around quickly and saw that only his, Tim’s and Cassie’s younger self were reacting everyone else including Superman and Batman looked confused.

“Who is Anita,” Greta asked looking around. He watched as his younger self did a good impression of a fish for a few seconds before pointing at the man. “That’s Adam, why would you call him Anita.”

“This truly fascinating,” Metron said appearing in the midst of the chaos. “It appears that your three younger counterparts are also being given some protection by your presence and that they will also remember the original time line.”

To Be continued...

REVIEW HERE

2012-02-22

[Teen Titans fic] Cycles of Chaos Prologue

[Teen Titans Fic] Cycles of Chaos Cycle One Chapter One

[Teen Titans Fic] Cycles of Chaos Master Post