The Multiversers: Hypertime

[twylight]

Star City glowed in the night, it’s many lit windows casting light into the dark alley way’s, yet it wasn’t so bright as it seemed.

Shuffling came from down near the docks, as crates were unloaded.
“Hurry man before..”

A ‘twang’ quickly followed by a ‘thump’ sang out in the night air as a black arrow hit the side of a crate, narrowly missing a bent over man.

“What the…” He stood and took out his gun, only to have it snatched away from him with another well placed arrow. He turned looking at his gun dangling from the crate, the arrow through its trigger hole.

The group of men around him glanced nervously at the surrounding rooftops.
“Is it…?”

A slew of arrows burst from the opposite direction, pinning two men to the crates.
Their exclamations loud until the man shushed them.
“What the H…OFH”

A black figure landed among them, kicking them on decent, they reeled back as she stood in their midst.

The man recuperated and lunged at the black clad figure, She dodged lithely and kicked him in the stomach, bringing her fist up and punching him in the jaw sending him to the ground, spinning she took out two men in one kick as they approached her from the rear. She crouched down, black nocks and fletching of the arrows, protruding past her head from the quiver in which they were nested snuggly in. Her black recurve bow was crossed across her body and two escrima dangled from her black belt.

She glanced around taking in everyone’s location. The two in front, down with one kick, one to the side, simple combo drop kick and the ones to the rear…she smiled, a left hook should do.

She started, roundhouse kicking the men in the front, leveling the man to the side with a combo she swung around just as the guy behind her gained.

“AH!”

Mia’s eyes widened as the man was seemingly invisibly jolted to the side away from her. She straightened up and glanced down, a boxing glove arrow lay on the ground beside the now unconscious man. Scooping it up she looked up at the rooftops, spying a silhouette.

Her lip twisted in either a smile or a grimace as she took a small communications device from her belt.

“ SCPD? Black Canary, Dock 25A, Unknown cargo, suspects are contained.” She waited for confirmation before she walked off into the alley, looking over her shoulder to make sure the men were still down before she pulled herself up onto a nearby fire escape and made her way for the roof.

She spied the silhouette moving away from her over the rooftops.

“Want it that way huh?” She muttered as she took off over the rooftops after the figure, the trick arrow grasped firmly in her hand.
She stopped on the roof of a large fancy Hotel in Star City, the roofs dropping off to reveal a large chasm of pavement below. Car’s racing up and down the street. She glanced around at the seemingly empty rooftop, knowing that the person was here. She’d just have to…

She felt movement behind her and swung around, bringing her leg up in a round house kick, bashing it into a steady strong arm block. She recoiled and straightened, recognizing the block.

“Connor.” She said as the figure stepped from the shadows. His dish water hair longer than its normal buzz cut and his costume tones of brown without a vestige of any green. His firm handsome face was straight.

“I assume this is yours?” Mia held up the boxing glove arrow in her slender hand, before tossing it at him.

“What do you need? Or did you just come to talk?” Mia asked, moving to the side of the roof.

“Would it shock you to much to know that I came to talk?” Connor asked, placing his foot on the roofs edge and resting his elbow on his knee.

“More than a little. What do you want?” Mia asked handing him the arrow.

“Just figured I’d check up on the family.”

He snagged an arrow from her quiver in passing, balencing it on his finger.


“Black Canary…Why not Black Arrow? Didn’t want to live in Ollie’s shadow anymore? Be stuck in his life?” Connor asked.

“You sound like Tim and Dick and vaguely like Roy.” Mia cuts grabbing the arrow from him.

“Hey, I’m not the one still here.”

“No, you’re just the one who disappeared thinking he had the last word.” Mia looks down over the side of the building at the people below.
“You made very clear your intentions when you stormed out of the League meeting 6 months ago.”

Connor goes quiet and looks over the side.

“How is everyone. Frankly I’m amazed that Ollie can keep up with Dinah and Diana.” He asked trying to quell the argument they both knew was coming.

“He manages.”

Connor shook his head.
“Yeah, a 50 something man with a 30ish wife and 3 year old daughter, regular millionaire lifestyle. Hasn’t been chasing any strange skirts around has he? Dinah’s keep him close to home, tending to his needs?”

Mia’s hand shot out to slap him and Connor caught it easily.
“Don’t speak of Dinah that way.” She hissed through her teeth.

“I wasn’t referring to Dinah, anything she does she does is better than the other choice, more power to her. I was commenting on Ollie’s selfish indulgences. You should know that.”

“You’re more like Ollie than you care to admit.” Mia pulled her hand back and nodding to the trick arrows in his quiver.

“I am nothing, like my father.” Connor snapped.
“He might be able to stand steady in front Darkseid, or face off a Mob boss, but when it comes to the family, he shies away like a scared colt. Look at every problem that’s come his way, Roy, me, the only reason he didn’t desert you is because you’re a female.”

Mia spun on him, her voice low.
“Look, maybe we don’t wear bright primary colored costumes like the Superman Family, and we don’t have golden chest plates like Wonder Woman’s clan, our teeth don’t gleam white when we smiled and we wear masks. But that doesn’t make us anything less, we have more than they do. We’re human they aren’t.
Ollie might not have Wonder Woman’s diplomacy, or Superman’s aptitude for seeing things in black and white. But he’s human and as one he handles things like a human, not with some almighty higher morals. Stop looking at the downside of things and stop hating him because he hasn’t raised a poster-child family like Superman and Wonder Woman have.”

“Heh…you sound like him.” He said bitterly.

“Someone has too.”

Silence filled the air before Connor reached his hand out and tugged on her black hood.

“Still wearing the little hoodie?”

Mia brushed his hand away.
“It works. I wasn’t able to redo my whole wardrobe to suit your costume preferences.” She snapped.

Connor took it in stride.

“So, you have Dinah’s old name. What’s that leave for Diana?”

“She will get it when she gets older, if she wants.”

“Mother/daughter tradition.”

Mia kept her gaze on the bright car lights as they zoomed by on the road beneath them.

“You had your fathers name once.” She said softly.

“I need my own name.”

Mia shook her head.
“Just like Tim. What is it with you guys and names?” She asked turning to look at him.

Connor met her gaze.
“We’re men, we have to own something, we have to ‘own’ our names.”

“At least you’re smart enough to realize that.”

“Well, meditation helps.”

Mia raised her eyebrow, causing her mask to shift with the movement.
“To bad it only helps with that.”

Connor sighed and looked down.
“Mia…”
He brought his head up and looked over the city, allowing Mia to see his profile, dark against the glow in the sky from the city lights.
“Someday…” He looked back at her. “Maybe someday.”

Mia looked up at him studying his eyes.

“Make it soon. Diana deserves to know you and Lian misses you.”

“Is that all?” He asks, shifting his position so that his face is closer to her own.

Mia continues to meet his gaze.

“We all miss you.” She said as he leaned closer.

 

[Batman]

This is nuts. Insanity. Yet someone's gotta do it, I guess.

The Lantern, Batman, and J'onn arrive at the old LexCorp Towers. The entire building is destroyed, due to an attack set in motion by The Joker, years ago. The Lantern thinks of The Joker 'clone' He fought back in Star City.

How times have changed, apparentally...

The Lantern turns to his comrades, who stand infront of it. The Martian's eyes glow.

"Anything, J'onn?"

J'onn's eyes stop glowing. He looks at the building with no apparent emotion in his eyes. The Lantern and The Batman watch as he finally speaks, after what seems like hours of silence, in trying to find Luthor.

"He is here. I can sense his evil within the confines."

"Well, that damn near settles that, then."

The Lantern turns to the door, as the ring on his finger begins to glow. He arches his fist, as the ring shoots out a ray, blasting the door into dust. The three enter. But only The Lantern looks around him, as The Batman and The Martian continue, onward. The Lantern sees many great industrial leaders pictured in dust filled frames. All of them dead, thanks to Lex Luthor.

I shouldn't have volunteered for this. I know what Clark's gonna have to do. And I don't want any part of it. Why the hell did I have to come?!

The truth of the matter was... No one else was going to. Not even his wife, The Catwoman, wanted to see what The Batman was going to have to be forced to do. Oliver, however, knew that someone else had to bear witness. And J'onn could barely handle taking this in himself... despite his lack of physical emotion.

The three made their way to a broken down elevator shaft. The Batman turned to The Lantern, and said nothing. Just the mere stare he gave him said it all. Stepping forward, The Lantern used his ring to create glowing green stairs, all the way down the shaft. While it wasn't nessacary, considering they could all fly, It would provide proper lighting.

That, and it would, of course, stall The Batman's humanity... Before he would have to break a long held promise. The Lantern dreaded what was to come, as they made their way to the bottom floor.

Before The Lantern could break open the door infront of them, leading to the very bottom floor of the building, The Batman stood forward, and... angrily, smashed the door off of it's hinges. This showing of raw power and anger sent a chill down Ollie's spine... But, they continued.

Finally, they reached a large, very much recently used generating room. Ollie wanted to puke, the minute he caught sight of the 'in-development' clones lined in tanks around the room. At the top, stood Luthor, looking down on them. He was covered in armor... As if he were... expecting them.

"Ah... Yes. I assumed you'd be here, sooner or later. Please, make yourselves at home. Shall I offer you a drink, perhaps? Or should we just despense of the pleasantries and get right down to the part where I enslave the Earth?"

The Batman said nothing, looking up at his enemy. J'onn and The Lantern seemed nothing more as backlighting to these two, when they confronted eachother. Luthor smiled, evilly.

"You have gone far enough, Luthor. We are here to finish it, once and for all."

"What the big guy said."

"Finish it? Oh, yes. I know. Infact, that's the entire purpose behind this... scheme, of things. To put an end."

The Batman finally spoke, levitating upwards.

"J'onn. Lantern. Destroy the clones. Smash the tanks, incernate the lab... Do whatever you have to. Just get rid of them. They should've never existed in the first place."

The Lantern's ring glowed.

"Works for me."

Insanity. That's with this is. It's like we're in some kind of Frankenstein movie. Luthor's lost it.

The Batman looked at Luthor, rising to his level.

"And you... You're mine."

Luthor smirked, activating his jet boots.

"I wouldn't have it any other way, Clark. You've been... a worthy advasary. But I'm afraid your time has come."

And then... It began. The battle that would shake the earth itself... Not literally, but inevitably.

Today, The battle of the ultimate good and evil would commence. And The Lantern would bear witness.

 

[Batman]

The gods themselves would tremble at the battle going on above The Lantern's head, as He shot glowing arrows through the clone's tanks. Above them was the battle between the symbolic equivlant of Good... The Batman, and the symbolic equivlant of evil... Lex "Looney-Bin" Luthor, as Ollie preferred to think of him as.

Alright. This has officially gone from an ole' trashed up piece of crap for an office, to a goddamned war-zone. When, exactly, did I become apart of this?

When you were seeking enlightenment with the League.

...

Damn it, J'onn. Don't do that.

The Arrow Lantern fires three at a half developed clone of The Joker. The arrow pierces it's already deformed smile. Behind the two heroes, glass could be heard shattering. Ollie and J'onn looked back, to see more of the clones, breaking free.

"...Oh, well that's just dandier."

Above them, Batman and Lex Luthor furthered their collision. Luthor punched Batman, sending him into one of the machines, on the floor they were hovering near. The Lantern held his bow up, hesitant. Luthor had to be stopped... and as Clark had said... "By any means nessacary". However, he was cut off when one of the clones of Black Adam kicked him, knocking him down.

The Lantern looked up, as the Adam's foot was coming down for a second blow. The Lantern's ring immediatley sprang to life, creating a protective bubble around Ollie, protecting him from the Adam's kick. Then, the bubble formed spikes, penatrating the Adam's foot, making him scream in pain. Ollie then leaped up, with his ring blazing with energy, before slamming the Adam with an uppercut so fierce, it literally knocked the clone's still fragile head off.

The Lantern then looked up, and called to the two titans battling above them.

"Hey, think you two could hurry up and beat Luthor's brains out!? We could use the manpower down here, Bats!"

The Lantern then flinched as he was responded with somewhat of a sonic boom, from above.

"...Guess not."

Above them, The Batman and Lex Luthor were already reaching a critical point in their long overdue final stand. Batman punched Luthor, sending him into a wall. Hovering, Batman's eyes started to glow red.

"Your evil has come to an end, Luthor. Save yourself the trouble of delaying the inevitable."

Luthor smirked, underneath his armored suit.

"Inevitable? Oh, you don't know the half of it. Tell me, Mr. Kent... They say you're faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. And yet...All it takes a simple rock to bring down a man with such feats. Why is that?"

Batman paused. He knew what Luthor was talking about. It was grave reminder of their years worth of history. Ollie was practically speechless, viewing all of this as he smashed an arrow through the temple of a Solomon Grundy clone.

Hot damn. I'm witnessing the story of the century. This is definatley going down in the history books.

Luthor smiled again, as if he were looking right through the cowl on Batman's face.

"I'll tell you why. Because in the end... Everyone has their downfall. There's always going to be that one, unexpected moment that will catch you off guard, and destroy you in a single blow. The moment where you meet your defeat, for the final stand. Well, Clark Kent... Batman..."

And then, Luthor pulled something out from a part of his suit, and held it up. A green glow illuminated from Lex Luthor's hand, before he opened it, revealing...

...Oh god.

He's got Kryptonite. He's got a piece of goddamned KRYPTONITE!?!?!

Batman's eyes widened as the feeling came over him, and he began floating downwards, in pain. He grasped onto a ledge, still feeling it's effects. Weakly, He looked up at Luthor.

"But... But HOW?"

"Kryptonite was never truly extinct. You see... There was always a missing nugget. And I happened to have the money and power to buy it. I've been waiting a LONG time for this, Clark... Longer than you can ever imagine..."

And then, Luthor attacked. Hitting Batman various times across the face with the kryptonite, Luthor took Batman by the cape, and smashed him into the nearest wall. Batman, bleeding for the mouth, could only grunt as he was met by a devastatingly gruesome punch, sending his head crashing back into the wall. Luthor then grabbed him by the neck, and peeled the Batman's mask back, revealing the beaten and battered face of Clark Kent. Luthor leaned in close.

"Gotcha."

And that was Lex Luthor's final word, as a glowing arrow pierced through his chest. The room... the world seemed to stop, as Luthor's eyes widened, aswell as Clark's, as they both looked down, to see Ollie, clenching the ring-made bow in his hand. Even He couldn't fully grasp what he had done.

The kryptonite fell to the ground, as did it's holder, crashing into one of the empty tanks. Luthor's arm went up, for a moment, but eventually fell, motionless.

Oh... Oh my god, Did I...?
...

I DID.

Oh god... I... I killed him.

The Lantern looked at the corpse, in disbelief, as Clark floated down, beside him. The Lantern looked at him, not sure of what to say. What COULD he say? A silence filled the room, as Clark reached back, and pulled the cowl back over his face. Then, looking over at Luthor, He sneered.

"It needed to be done."

"...I... I can't... Did it really?"

Batman looked away.

"More than anything in the world."

 

[twylight]

A black figure slipped into the alley way and sank into the black shadows of the night.

Mia made her way into the secret room under the Queen’s Mansion. She tossed her arrow and quiver onto a table and pulled off her ‘hoodie’ as Connor had so aptly called it. She studied it for a moment, holding it pinched between her thumb and index finger she dropped it into the trash can.

Not like she really cared about what Connor said…Mia sighed and hugged herself. It was best just to forget about to night. She made her way hurridly upstairs and to her room through the silent and dark house.
Mia slipped into her room and shut the door quietly behind her before making her way to her private bathroom and turning the shower on. Peeling her clothes off she slipped into the shower and allowed the water to run down her back and through her blonde hair. 25 minutes later she stepped out of the steamy bathroom, her lithe frame wearing boxing shorts and a tank top. She seated herself at her desk and unlocked her file cabinet, flipping through files before finding the one she wanted. Mia placed it on the desk and leans back, twirling her hair into a bun as she studies it’s contents.

“How’d it go tonight?”

Mia leaned back and hung her head over the back of her chair, staring at the woman in her doorway who appeared upside down to her. Mia sat forward and spun around looking at the woman right side up.

“It went well. Broke up that small gang that was operating by the docks.” She said looking at Dinah as she stood in the doorway. Her still athletic form softened by her post pregnancy curves. She was wearing simple pajamas without a robe, her long black hair fell on her shoulders in waves.

Dinah smiled gently, “What about Connor?”

Mia raised her eyebrow.
“How did you know?”

Dinah gave a soft laugh, careful to keep it low for the baby and Ollie, whom Mia assumed was in bed.

“Mia, just because I’m not ‘in’ the business doesn’t mean I’m not in the business. I still have my contacts and friends.” She said sitting down on the bed crossing her arms under her now ample breasts. Mia looked a little jealously at them, reminding herself that Dinah got them after nine months of what practically constituted torture for an extremely active woman.

Mia lowered her voice.
“So you know where he’s been all this time?”

Dinah’s hesitation was all she needed to solidify her accusation.
“Where?”

Dinah sighed.
“He’s been in Gotham.” she said softly.

Mia pushed down her own slight frustration.
“Does Ollie know?”

Dinah shook her head, her black locks brushing against her cream skin.
“Not that I know of, and if he has any indication he hasn’t let on.” Dinah paused as Mia looked away, feelings of betrayal rising in her chest.
“Mia, I didn’t tell you because Connor asked that I not.”

Mia spun her face towards Dinah. Her still damp blonde hair plastering it’s self to her in curls.
“Why?” She hissed “You knew?”

Dinah stood up.
“Mia, you know me and you know my ethics. If you’re upset you need to take it up with Connor for asking me to keep it to myself.”

Mia looked down and Dinah placed her hand on Mia’s blonde head stroking it before turning.

“Good night Mia. I love you.”

Mia looked up as Dinah closed the door behind her.

“’Night mom.”

 

[Byrd Man]

Space...The Final Frontier, Or so humans think.

I once lived on that little red planet know as Mars and was what they called "A Manhunter" My job was to round up the evil Green Martians and throw them into a prison known as the phantom zone. My life was good, I had two beautiful children and a lovely wife. Then one day I dissapeared from homeworld and came to this hard rock known as Earth. A scientist meddled with a teleporter and took me away from my beloved home, Fate played a sick joke on me by making the scientist die of a heart attack as soon as he saw me. That was 1952 and the year now is 2001. In the almost fifty years since my arrival I have helped out many people as a detective named "John Jones" and even a few in my true martian form. I grew depressed as the millienium drew to it's end when a Martian probe discovered what I had feared for almost a century, Mars' was silent and dead.I soon abandoned all traces of my humanity and showed my true form. My name is J'onn J'onzz and I'm the Martian Manhunter, Mars' last survivor.

I hear them cry out suddenly.

"Help! Someone!"

"Were trapped up here!"

A quick mental scan and I know what's happening. A fire broke out in an apartment and a young woman and man are trapped on the third floor. I sling down my pack of Oreo's and take off out of my apartment and into the sky. I reach the buring building and phase through the walls and fire and appear before the frigthened couple.

"Don't worry, Your safe now."

The flinch at my reptilian apperance but they still grab my hand as we fly and phase through the walls and outside to the clean, crip air. I gently let them down on the groud and they look at me as I fly upwards.

"Wait? We never said thank you."

"And you'll never have to."

I fly off into the bright blue sky and even manage a smile.

 

[LibrarianThorne]

"I don't care if heaven itself has to get moved for that story, Lang! None of the major networks has picked it up yet, hell, all we've got is a blip on the AP. If this is right, Lex III is going to have to close up shop, and I expect it to be right."

A blue jacket hung on the back of a large chair as the man who sat in it barked into the phone.

"What do you mean, there's no trace of the fraud in the SEC banks? Well, then that takes care of the easy part. You know this paper's been trying to take down that robber baron bastard for years, and I'll be damned if some megabytes are going to save that smug waste of space. You've got your assignment, Lana, and don't think you got this job just because I knew your aunt. You're going to be a hell of an investigative reporter some day, and if you get this story, that day could be tomorrow." He closed the cell phone with a decided click and looked up into the lined face of his wife for twenty six years, Lois Lane.

"You're getting crotchety in your old age. I coudl hear you all the way down the hall, and just how many of us LL girls do you know?" she mused as she handed in a stack of papers. He glanced down, a quick super speed scan revealing it to be an expose on more P&G waste dumping in the Mississippi river.
"Plenty, but these eyes just have room for one," he said with a wink and a grin. They embraced each other as sunlight filtered in through the window blinds. A quick kiss and then Lois sat across from him as he proofread her report. "You've got the proof to back this up?"
"When have I ever not had the proof, Clark?"
"Point."
"Thirty six hundred gallons of industrial sludge into one of the country's premier rivers. President Stewart will have to act."
"I still miss Clinton, truth to be told."

A teenager burst into the room, a nine hundred dollar digital camera dangling around his neck. His black hair was cropped short, and his eyes shone with a youthful vigor. "ChiefImeanmisterKentImeanClarkdidyouhearaboutthetroubledownatthe-"
"Whoa, whoa Tim. Calm down, son, take a breath, and speak slowly. What trouble?"
The boy took a few deep gasps of air. "Trouble. Docks. Professor Mechano and a six hundred foot kill bot. Young Justice is there."
"Do you have the pictures?" asked Clark Kent, editor in chief of the Daily Planet as he stood up and put his suit coat on. The boy nodded. "Good. Go with Lois down to the docks and get ready for more. Those kids are going to need some help."

Lois acted on the unspoken word of her husband, grabbing the young Tim Drake by the arm and walking quickly out of the room. Grabbing a small sign from a desk drawer, he affixed the piece of cardboard to the glass frame. 'Out to lunch.'

Not as troublesome as those phone booths used to be, certainly, mused the editor. He stood motionless for just a second, but then in a blur of red and blue the chief of the Daily Planet became something new, a sight that warmed the hearts of people the world over. A cape of bright red fluttered, adjusting to the movement. Bright red boots stood on the green carpet of the room. "Always have so much trouble with the hair," mused Superman as he tugged down his signature spitcurl. His hair was still black at the top, but a ring of gray surrounded the sides and back of his head. He threw open the large window his office provided, and then a red and blue streak shot out of the office of the Daily Planet.

The New York City docks were a mass of chaos as a six hundred foot tall metal monstrosity barged its way through. Eighteen limbs thrashed about and a giant red laser flashed through the city, incinerating metal and stone in a flash. As the last red glare faded, a blur of red and white replaced it. "SuperboyI'vegotalltheworkersoutoftheareawhatnext?"

Flying alongside the blur was a teenager in a black leather jacket, with circular sunglasses failing to mask the boy's blue eyes as he looked up. "I dunno, Kid Flash. This is my first kill bot." Underneath the leather jacket was a simple blue t-shirt with the world famous S-sheild of the legendary Superman. The pair stopped as a bundle of yellow, green, and red landed next to them, unfolding into the shape of Robin, the Boy Wonder of nearby Gotham City.
"You've got to watch the History Channel more, Superboy. They just had a special Kill Bots of World War II week last week." A giant metal leg, like a spider's, swung out at the three young heroes. Kid Flash and Robin ducked out of the way, but Superboy's attempted dodge only led him into the attack, knocking him up into the sky.
"So Jason, do you have any idea what to do?"
Robin flashed a smile at Bart Allen, the Kid Flash. "Sure I do. This thing's got to have a pilot, and Mechano's never been one for originality. This thing looks like an upgunned version of Iron Cross's last big bot, which means the cockpit should be somewhere in the thing's stomach."

"Don't you boys have somewhere better to be? It is a school day, after all." The two teens turned around and gasped. Floating in front of them, carrying their teammate Superboy in one hand, was a genuine legend of the superhero world. Superman.
"Come on, dad! It's just a kill bot. We can handle it."
"Yes, and you'll conviently miss fourth period calculus in the bargain," said Superman, sternly.
"That may have been a factor in the equation," said Superboy, almost to himself. Robin spoke up, respect in his voice. "Sir, I know how this looks, but Young Justice is around for something like th-"

There was a blur of blue and red, and Superman and the three teenagers vanished only a millisecond before the ground they were on was struck by the red laser beam, a hole of fire burning its way through the ground.

"-is." Robin looked around momentarily, finding himself five hundred feet away from where he was.
"I don't underestimate your skill, boys. It's your dedication to the job that worries me. This isn't an easy line of work to get involved in," said Superman. He sighed, and let his son free. Superboy floated to the ground, a sheepish grin splitting his face. "But the world could always use some heroes to look up to. Show me what you've got."