Universe 3576: New York

The bright sun promised a beautiful weekend ahead. The darkened room in Karen Starr's apartment made no such promises. It was 8.30am, and she had been awake since the moment the clock had struck 12 midnight. Out of all the days in the year, she had dreaded this one. Not for the first time, she reminded herself to stand up and move on.

Not for the first time, she remembered that she had lost the foundation for her to stand on, and that there was no way she could get them back.

She shook her head, and mentally slapped herself. She hadn't lost her foundation completely. Her head turned to look at the picture on her bedside table, and she smiled as she looked at the face of a golden-haired girl smiling back at her, the girl's face a copy of her own.

It was her daughter's birthday. Her daughter was 18.

20 minutes later, Karen had finished dressing. From a hidden compartment in her cupboard, she took out a simple silver necklace. The necklace's chain held two items of utmost importance to her, a wedding ring and a circular locket. Opening the locket as she always did, Karen Starr gazed at the pictures adorning both sides of the locket. She never knew if her daughter, a room away, followed a similar ritual each morning with her own locket necklace.

A young man beamed out at her, his infectious smile strong yet gentle. The picture had faded over the years, but age had not been able to obscure the man's piercing grey eyes. When she had met the man she would one day marry, Karen's eyes had been drawn to his. The young man had been cocky, and seemed to find pleasure in making dramatic entrances, but his eyes had told a different story. There was quiet strength in those eyes, a confidence borne of accepting pain and moving forward. Karen Starr hadn't liked the young man very much when they first met, but she had trusted him immediately. Her love for him had come in time.

The young girl in the picture opposite had her father's eyes. She had been a quiet child, never giving much trouble, but her eyes had promised of great things to come. The same quiet, confident nonchalance in her father, but tempered by kindness.

She slid out the picture of the baby boy behind the picture of her husband. He was a handsome boy, and he had his father's cheeky smile. If his older sister was a picture of potential and his twin sister an example of joy, the boy was curiosity personified. The first thing he had crawled towards was a picture book, and Karen had spent many a lazy afternoon reading with him.

Karen Starr's gaze lingered on the pictures, before a voice broke through the morning quiet.

"Mom? Mom, are you up yet? I made breakfast, and it's gonna get cold!"

The locket was closed; the necklace worn, and the ring slipped onto her finger, a comfortable and familiar presence. She went out of the room and joined her daughter for breakfast. But before she joined Ashley for breakfast, she sneaked one final peek at the pictures of the young girl and her baby brother in the locket.

It was her children's birthday.

Her daughter was 21. Her son was 18.

Universe 1566: Mithril HQ

Mithril Commander Keith Van Fanell raced down the stairs down to Tech Division, accidentally barrelling over a few of his officers, all of whom were shocked to see the normally composed Commander so flustered. He reached the Special Projects branch, and sprinted to the room at the furthest end of the corridor, his fingers flying over the security console as he typed out the password as fast as he could. He didn't wait for the door to open completely, immediately sprinting over to the room's current occupants.

"You're absolutely certain it's completed? The pathway has been repaired?" he asked the nearest one.

Charlie Jackson, Co-Head of Mithril's Tech Division smiled reassuringly at his brother-in-law. "We did it, Van. The pathway's repaired. C'mere and take a look."

He led the Commander into the next room. The tiny room was empty, save for a standard Mithril warp portal arc, still deactivated.

"It's not -"

"It's not another false alarm, Van, you have our word on this. There're a lot of kinks to work out, and the link is still a bit patchy, but there's no doubt about this. We think we have a working pathway into Universe 3576 again."

Van Fanell just stared at the arc for a full five minutes again before speaking. "Get Lieutenant-Commander Jamie Fanell and Lieutenant Alex Fanell here, please. As well as the other division heads."

Universe 3576: New York

Ashley's birthday party was being held at the old JSA headquarters, and the festivities had already been moved to the courtyard outside. Surrounded by her Teen Titans teammates, the shy birthday girl appeared flustered by the attention. Karen, tired out from the organizing and planning of the event earlier, had taken the time to enjoy a cup of tea by herself, a short distance away, when she was joined by two others. She grinned, raising her cup to them.

"If it isn't the former Boy Wonders. Care to join me, guys?"

Dick Grayson and Tim Drake, respectively Nightwing and Red Robin, grinned in return as they joined her on the park bench. "Don't you guys ever get tired of calling us Boy Wonders?"

She raised her eyebrows. "You'd rather I call you Man Wonders?"

The two men winced. "You may have a point there," Tim said as he took a seat beside Karen, nodding gratefully at the cup of tea that she passed him. "The birthday party seems to be a success, despite the initial hiccups."

She chuckled. "Oh, there were hiccups alright. It really isn't easy hiding a present from someone who has x-ray vision."

"Yeah that's what Conner and Cassie say every time they hold a party for their kid. So what're you planning for their birthday?"

" 'Their'? You mean 'her'. We're talking about Ashley, aren't we? I already planned a celebration, Dick. It's happening right now. And it's a success. Tim said so," replied Karen, frowning.

Tim reached out, placing his hand on hers. "Karen. He's asking what you're planning for their birthday."

His eyes were locked on the chain of her necklace. She met his eyes, glancing from him to Dick, and smiled sadly, shrugging a shoulder. "I saved two cupcakes in the refrigerator. At the end of the day, I was going to light two candles, make a wish for them. It's what I've been doing for the past 17 years. That, and throwing out two uneaten birthday cupcakes."

"Every year?"

"Twice every year. Can't forget her father's birthday, can I?" she answered, bitterness starting to seep in as memories started flooding back.

"Karen – "

"It's not Van's fault, I know that, Dick. And you don't need to worry about me or Ashley either; we're both fine. I'm ok now."

"You didn't move on, did you?"

She shook her head as she pulled out the locket from under her shirt, opening it. "No, and I won't. Whatever happened in the past, whatever will happen in the future, I still love Van with all my heart, no matter what. It's always been him; there's never been anyone else."

She smiled gently at Van's picture in the locket. "It's more a case of acceptance, I suppose."

She looked up at the brothers. "None of us knew what was going to happen on that day, none of us could have prevented it from happening. But we make the best of what we have. I raised Ashley; she knows that I'll always be there for her. And as for Jamie and Alex, I know that Van's taking good care of them. And Van… Van's got the others with him. It's not like they're growing up in a broken family. I know that, wherever they are, they've grown into the children that I'll always be proud of, just like Ashley. I just wish…"

She broke off, a single tear rolling down her cheek.

"I miss them, guys. I miss Van. I miss Jamie. I miss Alex. I miss them so much."

"I don't. I hate them. But if you miss them so much, I'll send them to meet you. Once you're dead, that is."

Universe 1566: Mithril HQ

Lieutenant-Commander Jamie Fanell, head of Mithril's Preventer metahuman unit and the successor to her father Van, easily side-stepped a junior officer's lunch tray as she navigated the lunch crowd. Her younger brother Alex, a Preventer combat medic in Mithril's Medical Division, walked closely behind her. The two young agents had been having lunch with their cousins when the urgent summons had come. Their cousins had just been perplexed as them, by all accounts the Commander had given the Preventers the weekend off. But they had understood as the two siblings took their leave, mumbling a hasty excuse. If the Commander called, you went.

Jamie's hand reached out to the locket necklace her father had given her for her fifth birthday. It had become a habit for her to reach for it every time she was nervous, an impulse reason that she did not need to understand. The pictures of her mother and baby sister always calmed her down. Alex did not have a locket like hers, but he kept the same pictures of his mother and twin sister in his wallet, and his hand was now jammed in his pocket. No doubt he was fidgeting with it.

"Jammy! Alex!"

Jamie looked up to see her cousin Nora running towards her, flustered. She hurriedly closed the locket. "Uncle Van called you to report to him, right?"

"Yeah, do you know anything about it? Did Uncle Charlie or Aunt Lisa tell you anything about it?"

Nora shook her head. Her mother Lisa Fanell-Jackson was Commander Fanell's younger sister, and Co-Head of Mithril's Tech Division, along with Nora's father Charlie Jackson. "Nothing specific, but remember the classified project that I discovered hacking their personal files last year?"

"It's related?" asked Alex.

"I'm sure of it," Nora replied confidently as she matched her stride with the two. "The project's been at the top of their personal to-do lists for the last 17 years, and they'd given it security to match. Not that it helped."

"I thought I told you to be careful," Jamie said, worry furrowing her brow.

"Please. You're looking at the next Tech Div Head, a simple encryption like that wasn't a problem to me. In any case, I couldn't get anything specific, but the project's centred on warp portal tech. If I'd discovered this new clue much earlier, maybe I might have had a few ideas as to what this project involves. Right now, I'm just as clueless as you."

"But you think it's something to do with warp portal tech?" asked Alex. He shared a brief glance with his sister before looking back at Nora incredulously. "Dad wants to show Jamie and me a warp portal?"

Nora shrugged. "Something like that, yeah. Hey, I'm just telling you what I think it is."

"Doesn't matter, I guess," Jamie replied as she and Alex turned a corner and stopped. Behind the door were their father and the other Mithril division heads, doubtless with information for them. "We'll know soon enough. Thanks Nora." With that, the two continued walking, leaving Nora behind.

"Maybe it's your present?" called Nora. "It is your birthday after all, you two!"

"Yeah, maybe it leads to the universe where I got all the teddy bears!" Jamie shouted back, grinning as she and Alex entered the room.

Universe 3576: New York (Old JSA HQ)

"Please don't make any sudden moves, Mrs Fanell. The two of you as well, Misters Grayson and Drake."

"How did you - ?"

"Sneak up on you? Know your proper last name? Make your daughter an unknowing hostage?" replied the voice, silken with menace. The visitor's voice was calm as he spoke, but there was no hiding the vein of barely-hidden hatred in it. "Ah ah ah, no sudden moves, I said. There is currently a sniper rifle aimed at your daughter's head, loaded with kryptonite bullets. And if that doesn't work, well, I'm sure I can find a way to end her life before I end yours."

"You're bluffing. The kid's a half-Kryptonian, with access to all the standard powers; trained in their use since young. She'll hear the gunshot, be able to dodge it while pushing anybody else out of the way, and locate the shooter's position in the space of one second."

"Ah, Mr Timothy Drake. It looks like you still use that big brain of yours. One of the keenest analytical minds of your universe, peak physical fitness, and the Keeper of an elemental Gate as well. It's no wonder you were one of the few non-Fanell agents who commanded grudging respect within the Legion."

Tim chuckled in derision. "Save it and tell us what you're here for. Tell us what the Chaos Legion is here for."

"You've heard of us."

"Don't give me the whole you've-never-heard-of-us routine. I know the Chaos Legion. Karen as well. We fought your people before. Nothing special. Fought you as well, 17 years ago. Yeah, I remember your voice. Gave you that nice scar on your right cheek. The last three explosive throwing stars I had on me at that moment, and all for you," continued Tim, enjoying the silent hatred building up in the air. "Hope it hurt."

There was an angry hiss of recognition from Karen as she finally recognised the voice. "You're that Warlock. 17 years ago. You're the one who attacked us. The one who broke up my family. You…you tore me away from my husband and children."

The Warlock's calm silky voice betrayed no trace of emotion whatsoever. "Yes, and on this very date; the birthday of your older daughter, as well as that of your twins. No doubt you're filled with rage. No doubt you're employing the full spectrum of your vision abilities to find me."

Screams rent the peaceful sky, of bystanders attacked. The irregular bass rhythm of explosions from a distance away followed, and the superheroes stopped the celebration. Dark pools of energy appeared all around them from nowhere, and the sound of inhuman beings slowly rising from these portals ensued. There was a shockwave of unseen dark energy, throwing the heroes and the party guests back, catching them off-guard. Ashley Fanell landed on her mother, and both stared in horror as a black portal appeared in the air and a cloaked man walked through it, topless under the opened cloak, his body heavily scarred and disfigured, his hooded face even more so.

"Find me then. Find the last person who you shall see in death. Look upon your Reaper, and know that I will make your deaths very painful."

Universe 1566: Mithril HQ (Tech Division Room 0)

Jamie Fanell stared at the nondescript warp portal arc in front of her for a long time, her arms crossed. She sneaked a glance. Alex had snagged a chair from the far corner and had straddled it casually beside her, his arms resting on the backrest. She was sure her face mirrored his confused stare. To her left, a distance away, stood her father, along with her uncles and aunt, all deep in conversation. The conversation finished, Van and his younger sister Lisa Fanell walked over to the two while their uncles Charlie and Ken started up the connection to whichever universe the arc was linked to.

"So what do you think of your birthday present?" asked Lisa.

"…I didn't think Nora was going to be absolutely on the money on this, to be honest. I really didn't think a warp portal arc was my present. Not that I don't appreciate it; it's just…strange."

She looked behind her at her father, his hand on her shoulder. He smiled. "The arc isn't your birthday present. The pathway link to the universe on the other side, the warp portal itself; that's your birthday present." He gestured to her to take a seat.

"This was always going to be a present for you two once it was ready, Jamie. If not this year, then next year. If not your birthday, then the very next day. But I kept this a secret from you, your cousins, even most of Mithril. The only ones who knew of this were your grandparents, my siblings and the previous Seals. And even then, I swore them to secrecy. To make sure the both of you never knew about this project," he told her gently.

"Why?"

"Because I didn't want to give you two false hope, Alex. I was scared of what would happen if this whole endeavour was nothing more than a hopeless failure, how it would affect you. But I had to do it. I was tired of seeing you two cry to sleep for two whole years. I was tired of waking up to an empty bed, of seeing an empty cot. I was tired of seeing both of you without a mother, of myself without the woman I love beside me. So we went ahead. We did all we could, repaired the connection and tried to jumpstart it again. And finally, finally…we did it."

Jamie Fanell, the stoic leader of Mithril's Preventer unit, a young woman so usually composed and steadfast, so calm and steady in battle, could not understand why she was trembling so badly. She could not understand why she was suddenly so terrified of that nondescript warp portal arc in front of her, no inkling why she wanted to leap through it and run away from it at the same time. Her trembling hand went for the locket. She opened it. A young woman smiled at her, the age of the photograph doing nothing to fade the love for her daughter that beamed out from her eyes. She had never been able been to stop staring at her mother's face, even more when Karen had been smiling. 17 years ago, while helping her father wrap up her birthday presents for the twins, a 4-year old Jamie had told her father just that. He had just laughed, ruffled her hair affectionately, and told his daughter, out of his wife's earshot, that he knew exactly how she felt.

Alex was looking at the other photograph, the one where both he and his twin sister Ashley had been caught in one of their many laughs when the picture was taken, about two months before their first birthday. Having been separated from his mother and sister at the age of one, he didn't remember their faces much. But he remembered his mother's smile. He remembered his sister's laugh. She had always been laughing, always been full of life. In the years since, whenever he had laughed at a joke or something funny he hoped that Ashley was laughing at the same time.

Jamie's hands were still trembling. For the first time in her life, the locket couldn't calm her down. She looked at her father, her vision blurring from the tears starting to roll down her cheeks. "Mom…Ashley…they're there? Through that portal? I…I…we can go see them? We can be together again?"

Alex looked steadily at his father as Jamie asked the question, coming to stand beside her.

Their father only hugged them hard, smiling as a tear rolled down his own cheek. His siblings stood by, beaming widely. He nodded. "Yeah. We're gonna go see your mom and Ashley."

"Jamie…Alex…Happy Birthday."