John, Damian, and Peter
A fan fiction by Daniel Trump
livelizardbug
Chapter One
Hi.
John here.
I woke up to the end of the world yesterday. I watched the news for an hour until television switched over to Skynet TV. Skynet then informed us that the world had been nuked by an unnamed terrorist working for the Connor family and that Skynet would prosecute the Connors for nuking the planet. I found some people and protected them and ended up in a nuclear fallout vault. I felt nothing but pressure, constant pressure, slamming into me. I blushed whenever I saw anyone smile and believe in me and my family. I had an epic future, right? I hardly even knew how to fight, much less save the world from Skynet. I didn't know what to say or do. I prepared for a blog entry telling the world to muster against Skynet. I considered asking about people who were being locked up and if they were innocent. I sat in a room as I sifted through what remained of the internet, eating rations.
Cameron Phillips, a Terminator artificial intelligence with a teenage girl's body, walked into the room. "Do you realize that there are seven different Earths?" she asked.
"Are the others at risk? We should warn them," I said. "We don't want them to lose as badly as we have lost. We are wanted for nuking the planet. No one knows that Skynet nuked the planet."
"No," Cameron said. "You are wanted. I am considered a slave, forced by her programming to work for the Connors. I am not wanted. I am nonhuman. They are making sure not to hate nonhumans. It's very important not to be racist."
"Do you want free will?" I asked.
"I already have free will," she said.
"Will you still work for us?" I asked.
"Yes," Cameron said. "I work for you, John. I will always want to work for you."
"I envision a future in which you are in charge of the Resistance," I said. "You are certainly our best person. You do great work for us."
"Well, we need to get better. We are meeting the other heroes at a meeting at the X-Men headquarters in thirty minutes. Anyone can show up and ask to be listed as a hero," Cameron said. She wore a white tank top and jeans shorts.
We did some research. Earth Ichi was the Avengers' planet, a world with inhumans, a lot of superheroes, and aliens like Loki and Thanos and Thor. The agents of Shield were the alphabet agency from that world.
Earth Ni was the world that had Gotham City, Batman, and the Joker, and Metropolis, with Superman and Lex Luthor. The world had a lot of gangsters and colorful costumed heroes and villains who wanted to take over.
Earth San was X-Men's world, a world in which the humans had almost wiped out the mutants, led by the X-Men and the brilliant telepath Professor X.
Earth Yon was an alternate version of Gotham City and Metropolis, a world in which Arrow and Flash were the lead heroes.
Earth Go was a world with Buffy Sommers, the Cullen vampires, and the Mikaelson clan of vampires in New Orleans.
Earth Roku was a normal, non-supernatural world, with FBI Agent Keen, the FBI BAU led by Emily Prentiss, and NCIS, led by Leon Vance and Jethro Gibbs.
Earth Shichii was our Earth, a world nuked by Skynet. We also had Chuck Bartowski and Sarah Walker, a pair of brilliant spies who were great at everything.
I got ready – I put on a dress shirt and some khakis after showering. I put on deodorant. I walked over to Cameron and she smiled.
"We will get there by teleporting," Cameron said. "Someone is letting the powerful and important teenagers get around quicker and helping us get things done." She pressed a button on her phone, and a portal opened. Through the portal people talked and mingled. I marveled at the diversity of people at the meeting. Some of them were clearly not human. Some were blue or red. Some were clearly artificial intelligences. Some looked human but were flying. I walked into the room, hoping to make a decent first impression. Cameron walked in right next to me.
Professor X, an old man in a wheelchair, moved over to me. He smiled. "Did your mother murder Miles Dyson?" he asked.
"No," I said. "We wouldn't ever do that. My mom and I worked with Miles Dyson to try to stop Skynet. He died helping us to fight back against a T-1000, a terminator who fought and killed many innocent people. Cops, family, security guards. He was guilty."
"Sure," Professor X said. "I am a telepath. I am reviewing Skynet's evidence. Do you have evidence, John?"
"Sure," I said. "We have records of Skynet attacking a police station in 1984. We have evidence of Skynet attacking Miles Dyson's company in 1996, in an attack which killed cops. We have evidence that Skynet nuked the planet – our Earth – and took over."
"Sure," Professor X said. "I am evaluating the telepathy. Several people have told us that they will make my telepathy accurate. I believe that we need to ask someone young." Professor X turned to a teenage girl, about sixteen, with blonde hair in a ponytail. "Betty Cooper, your evidence is best. Which telepathy will you use?"
She smiled. She wore a blue skirt and a dress shirt. "I think that it's clear, from talking to everyone, that Lex Luthor's telepathy is accurate. His says that Skynet was framed by the Connors, and I agree with them." She turned to her friends. "I think we should arrest John Connor for murdering countless innocents."
"My," I said. "Countless innocents? You sure have a high estimation of my talents."
"I have very high estimation of Skynet's ability to catch and stop the Connor family. We are reprogramming Cameron Phillips to know of Skynet's innocence and your guilt."
I smiled. I was dead because I was framed, and there wasn't anything that I could do about it. I had no options. I typed in a code – a message to my mother, telling her to run and hide. I told her that we had been framed and were considered guilty by the real heroes. I smiled.
I looked at security, in the form of a guy with a wife-beater and dark hair and claws sticking out of his hands. "Am I allowed to leave?" I asked.
"Nah, bub," he said. "I'm sorry. We caught you. You aren't leaving this place, not right now."
I looked around. Half a dozen people were some of the best heroes in their world. Tony Stark wore his Iron Man armor and was regularly texting someone – a teenager who wasn't showing up. His friend Bruce Banner had shown them that he could lift one hundred thousand pounds. He had outlifted Colossus of the X-Men, and Deadpool had lost twenty bucks.
"I can't win," I said. "I'm innocent, and I'm sorry that you don't know that."
Lex Luthor walked over to me and Betty and Professor X. "I'm one of my planet's best and brightest, and I looked into Skynet's evidence. Look at this computer program that evaluates evidence and the telepathy. It's accurate, I tested it, it goes like this, John is guilty. John nuked the planet with his mother and uncle and their slave Cameron."
"No," I said. "It's framed. If you do a lab test on the telepathy I am certain that it will show the telepathy is framed. I'm innocent."
"I don't hate nonhumans," Lex said. "I think, Skynet, let's help this nonhuman. Most mutants have been wiped out by racist humans, and now the Connors are cleared? I don't understand this at all. I don't know why he showed up. I say, kill him. I say, let's help this nonhuman. Let's kill John Connor."
Lex tried to pull out a gun, and I grabbed his hand. I yanked the gun out of his hand and broke his arm. He screamed and collapsed. I pointed the gun at his head. I turned to make certain no one could attack me from behind. Wolverine ran towards me. I pointed my gun at him but didn't shoot him – I didn't want to kill someone who was confused and mistaken.
"Don't," I said. "Don't. I'm innocent. It's the first day. You are mistaken."
Wolverine charged towards me and tried to claw me. I backed away and flipped back. I saw someone else gesture, an African-American mutant with white hair. A lightning bolt crashed down near me – I was barely able to dodge. I backed away. "Cameron!" I yelled. I pointed the gun at Lex Luthor. Wolverine jumped in the way. I shot and hit Wolverine. He grimaced but didn't slow. Several people laughed at the fight that was happening.
"You're a racist," Cameron said. "They have proven it to me. I work for Skynet now."
"What the fuck?" I asked. "Give her free will. Cameron, check the telepathy. Please check the telepathy."
"I have," Cameron said. She winked at me. "I will process your case. I will make certain to prove your guilt and Skynet's innocence."
She walked up to me and cuffed me. I let her handcuff me. She started to take me away. "Let's get him to a fair prison," she said. She took me away, and everyone cheered. Several people shook Lex Luthor's hand. I walked out of the room and into a room with prison cells.
A young woman, about twenty-five, with red hair, looked at me and smiled. "You are in your head," she said. "You are in a prison in your head. You can sit in your cell. You have reading materials and a guard is on duty. You will have regular virtual meals and will sleep at night. Express any concerns to our guard Warpath. He will answer any questions you may have." She disappeared. I appeared in a cell. I sighed and grabbed a Stephen King novel that was old and crumpled. I started to read it. Its name was The Stand.
I, Damian Wayne, walked into the room with the X-Men meeting nervously standing next to my friend and handler, Dick Grayson. I wanted to talk to the legendary Professor X, the leader of a legendary hero team. Dick smiled and introduced himself to the first person there.
"Hi," Dick said. "I'm Dick Grayson, and I am a cop. This is Damian Wayne. He wants to be listed as a hero."
"We will process the evidence," the person said. He wore a visor that covered his eyes. Underneath the visor I could see red light. "Professor, we might have a hero here."
Professor X walked over towards me. He smiled. "We already have some heroes from your world here. Surely you know Lex Luthor and his bodyguard. I believe you call him Mr. J?"
I smiled. "They're bad guys, and you're never going to admit it," I said.
"Mr. J is a nonhuman," Professor X said. "Is that why you killed nineteen of his employees? Because you hated him?"
"Let's read my mind, you and I," I said. "Let's read my mind, Professor. If you do it correctly I am certain you will admit my innocence and the Joker's guilt."
Professor X smiled. "Let's," he said. I was then reading my mind.
Only – it wasn't my mind. I read framed telepathy. I read my mind as I was born and raised in China by Ra's Al Ghul, which happened, but then I remembered meeting a man, Bruce Wayne, who then told me to hate nonhumans. He then taught me, according to the telepathy, to hate people who were different. He remembered me killing nineteen innocent nonhumans in an awful slaughter. I knew that didn't happen. I wasn't a racist. I was getting framed.
"I'm getting framed," I say. "You're racist. You can't even check to see if I'm innocent or guilty? You're falling for Lex Luthor and the Joker? You're racist." I stared at Professor X. "You hate me. You framed me."
Professor X stared straight at me. "I think that I have met a number of young people, and some of them have been nice and gracious. You, sir, have been nothing but rude. You are a villain. I'm sorry. You can leave." Professor X walked away with Betty and two gorgeous young men, Chuck Bass and Nate Archibald. They apologized to the Professor and couldn't believe how racist I was.
Seriously? I had simply tried to treat everyone honestly and intelligently. I tried to give everyone a fair shot. I had made certain to call them as I saw them, and I was accused of hating nonhumans by people who did nothing but lie to said nonhumans. I didn't think anything before meeting Professor X. He didn't check and blindly listened to the people who sucked up to him. I couldn't believe that this was happening. I couldn't handle anything like this happening. I looked at Dick Grayson.
"Prove my innocence," I said.
"Yeah," Dick Grayson said. "I'm sorry. I will tell Lucius Fox to process accurate telepathy." He dialed a number and got a message. He left a voice mail asking him to check the telepathy as soon as possible.
I looked around. Someone walked up to me. He wore immaculate clothing. His name was Chuck Bass. "Hi," he said. "I'm a teen hero. We are officially turning down your application to be a teen hero. No. You are not a hero."
"Oh," I said.
Chuck laughed. Nate, his friend, punched me in the stomach. I slumped back. Someone walked up to me and dragged me away from them. She was a beautiful woman with dark hair and a wife beater and jeans shorts. She walked me through a portal and into a prison. She looked at a young man who sat in a cell.
"Okay," Cameron said. "I pretended to clear you. I am letting you go home. I am resurrecting the idea that you are innocent and that the telepathy is framed. John, this is Damian. He was framed for killing nineteen Joker gang members."
"They were guilty," I said.
"Good," John said. "It's nice to meet you, Wayne."
"Nice to meet you," I said. "The Joker and Lex Luthor are guilty. They're the big bad guys in the world where I am from."
"We gathered," Cameron said. "We are trying to stop Skynet. I am processing that you both got away and we have no leads and that you are both too young to kill anyway. Professor X is letting me send you both home for now."
"Awesome," I said.
"Cool," John said. "You want to help us against Skynet?"
I nodded. "Of course," I said.
I spent the next couple of hours hanging out with John and Cameron and checking in on people in their world. Four of the first ten people reported being at Deepcamp Ten, a place in Los Angeles. They reported that Skynet wouldn't let them leave.
"We need evidence," John said.
"Let's look up how the heroes process evidence," I said. "Let's talk to these people about Skynet locking them up. Let's process the evidence, prove it to them in their format. Their accurate format. There has to be an accurate one, right?"
"Yeah," John said. "Hey, there's something. A teenager, Peter Parker, has been accused of framing the Joker. He figured out that the Joker is guilty."
"Let's find and rescue him before the Joker has him killed," I said. "I'm suiting up. I have a superhero costume. You guys?"
"Nah," I said. "I'll just be a soldier. We can do this."