Going Back and Getting Back
Roy, Wally and Dick were hanging out at Cyborg's lab on the Watch Tower. There were no missions to go on at the moment and the rest of the Team were visiting family or friends. This left Robin, Kid Flash, and Speedy bored. The three of them used to hang out there when they were younger and since Roy had joined the Team, it was reminiscent of old times when they were just starting out as heroes.
Victor had told them he was working on a new teleporter. Robin was sure he was lying, but he was used to the League's secrets. He had his own secrets, so who was he to judge people who had been doing this longer than he had? The machine was a large circular ring of metal with wires sticking out of it all over the place. It was hooked up to a computer a few feet away. The thing started making noise, and it lit up for a few seconds. Cyborg backed away from his work. Yeah, there was no way that was a zeta tube.
"I have to get some parts," Cyborg said once the machine went quiet. "Don't touch anything," he ordered as he walked out of the lab.
Wally being Wally was instantly by the 'zeta tube', poking around the wires and looking at the computer. He knew more about the teleports the League used than people gave him credit for.
"Wally!" Roy snapped. "Get away from that." He wasn't going to get in trouble for Wally being a moron, but that's how things went. He was the oldest; he was supposed to be in charge and keep the others from getting hurt, but there seemed to be this unspoken agreement between Kid Flash and Robin to get in as much trouble as possible, then point the finger at Speedy when their guardians were standing in front of them expecting an explanation.
"I don't think this is a zeta tube," Wally said ignoring Roy, who had come over to physically pull Kid Flash away from Cyborg's project. Dick came too. He wanted to know what it was, since the odds of Batman telling him were low, which just made him that much more curious.
Suddenly the machine powered up again, only this time it was louder and brighter. They were blinded by the blue light flashing, and then the room was empty of the three heroes. Victor walked into his lab to find the machine winding down. He dropped the heavy box of metal and wires he'd left to get.
"Bats is going to kill me," Cyborg muttered to himself.
Dick fell out of the gateway created by the machine, landing on his feet. Roy and Wally weren't so lucky. They both ended up on their backs. Robin could honestly say he wasn't surprised at finding himself in a cool forest. They were overdue for a life or death experience anyway. The sun was disappearing behind the trees, and he could hear birds singing and bugs chirping. It was beautiful and calm with not another soul for miles. That peaceful feeling was interrupted seconds later.
"Bats going to kill us," Roy groaned loudly. He did not like being on the receiving end of his adopted uncle's anger. He got up and took in their surroundings. He could just make out lights from a house through the thick trees.
"Us? More like me," Wally said, brushing himself off. "I wonder where we're at." His mind had already jumped gears. He'd worry about Batman later.
Dick had been very quiet this whole time. He spoke up now. "The question should be, when are we?"
"What?" Roy asked, turning to look at Robin, who had taken his sunglasses off. He didn't like the sound of that at all.
"I was snooping around on Bruce's computer a while ago and found designs for a time machine," Dick explained. "He wasn't planning on changing the past or anything. It was going to be strictly for observing historical events."
"Dude, you can forget about Bats killing you. I'm going to do it myself," Roy half shouted. He started for Wally, who backed away.
"Is there any way the League can find us, or we can get back?" Wally asked quickly. Hopefully Speedy would be distracted from murdering him for the moment.
"We can't get back through this end, but the League should be able to find us easily. They'll have to finish the machine first. It records the date and place a person went to. The portal leaves a slight radiated signal that can be tracked, like Batman uses for marked bills to keep an eye on the mob," Dick answered. "It shouldn't be too long before they find us. While we're stuck here we need to make sure we don't do anything that could change the future. That shouldn't be too hard to avoid."
"What about the butterfly effect?" Roy asked. He didn't much like the idea of messing up the future just from being wherever it was they were.
"I don't think the three of us will cause any long-lasting damage just by being here. So long as we don't change any important historical situations, we should be good," Dick said.
"So, if someone's getting attacked by a bear, we can't do anything?" Wally asked.
"Why a bear?" Dick asked, laughing a little. This was just getting too ridiculous, but that was his life after all. One insane adventure after another. Who knew, this might turn out to be interesting, provided they all came through it alive and in one piece.
"I watched 'The Revenant' last night. Well?" Wally said. That had been one messed up bear. Aunt Iris had had nightmares because of it.
"Okay, so maybe we don't need to take it that far. I'm thinking more like causing the death of Abraham Lincoln. That would be a problem."
"Also, no super speed," Roy ordered.
"Great," Wally muttered. He hated having to wait for the others. They were so slow, but it probably wasn't a good idea to split up. He didn't want to be stuck in the past for any longer than necessary. Saying that in his head just sounded so weird, but it shouldn't have, considering the fact that he had super speed and was friends with an alien, the half clone of Superman, an Atlantean, two people who fought crime with bows and a ninja. At this point he didn't know why stuff even fazed him.
"Come on. Let's get to that house," Roy said. It was getting cold, and he had no desire to spend all night out in the woods.
When they reached the house, they found that it was a cabin. Dick thought it might be a trading post. It was right by a river, and there was a canoe pulled up on the shore. It was straight out of some of the books his mother had read to him when he was little. As the three of them got closer, a dog started barking loudly. The door was opened and the silhouette of a man with a rifle appeared in the light thrown out from inside the cabin.
"Who's out there?" the man demanded. "Come into the light."
Dick, Wally and Roy slowly walked into the light. Dick was glad they were in civvies. Their uniforms would have made things worse. It was bad enough as it was. They stuck out like sore thumbs.
"I'm Dick Johnson," Dick said. "This is Wally Allen and Roy Green."
"There anyone else out there?" the man asked, sharply.
"No, just us," Roy answered.
"Come on in." The man's demeanor changed from defensive to welcoming in a second.
They shuffled in out of the cold. There were two men besides the man who'd met them at the door and a woman.
"I'm James Newman. This is my wife, Blue Corn. What are you all doing out in the woods this time of night? Don't you know the Shawnee are raiding settlements up and down the river?" the man questioned shortly. He was the picture of a frontiersman.
"We got separated from our families," Roy explained. "We were headed west. Where are we?"
"Near Copperhead*," Newman said.
Dick almost hit Wally over the head. Copperhead was a settlement in Ohio before it became a state. "What's the date?"
"September 8th 1756," one of the other men answered. "You picked a fine time to be out here, right in the middle of Indian Summer." The sarcasm and mockery in the man's voice was annoyed and impossible to mistake as anything else.
"Where are you from?" Blue Corn asked, eager to change the subject. This was not a topic she wanted talked about in her home.
"I'm from New York," Roy answered.
"Jamestown," Wally said. It was the first city that popped into his head that he was sure had been founded before 1756.
"Gotham," Dick said shortly. Gotham City had been established in 1635. It was just as bad then as it was in Dick's time.
They talked a while longer. The subject of their odd clothes was broached, but Robin managed to steer the conversation away from that and onto safe territory. Blue Corn and James offered to let them spend the night in the barn, which they accepted.
"Thank you," Roy said as James showed them out to the barn. "Dick."
Dick stepped forward and handed Newman a few nuggets of gold. Wally once jokingly told Dick that his and Batman's utility belts were bottomless pits that were filled with everything a paranoid Bat could think of. It seemed to be true sometimes, considering the random things Robin was seen pulling out of it.
"Where did you kids come by this?" James asked in surprise.
"My guardian," Dick said curtly. He hoped Newman wasn't the kind of person that would try to murder them in their sleep, hoping to find more gold. It would be unfortunate for him if he was. "That should be enough to pay for clothes, food and a place to sleep." Their clothes were too conspicuous to keep.
James nodded and disappeared back into the cabin. He returned a few minutes later with deerskin breeches, shirts and moccasins for the three of them. They would hold up better than homespun cloth, and that's what was needed in this rough land.
"Blue Corn made these," James said, giving the clothes to Wally. He and his wife saw more people throughout the year than most, but he'd never seen kids like the ones in his barn. He got the impression they weren't being completely honest, but it was their business, not his and he had no right to ask.
"Thank you," Wally said. He wondered if their being there had already altered things. It shouldn't have according to Robin, and he was almost never wrong, right?
James went back to his cabin and the three of them quickly changed into the deerskin.
"What are we going to do with these?" Wally said, looking at his jeans, t-shirt, and sneakers. They had to be gotten rid of, and he didn't think it would be a good idea to burn them.
"Bury them," Roy ordered. All traces of the future had to be hidden. They would decay over time and shouldn't be discovered if they were buried near a structure. It wasn't likely anyone would be digging by a wall.
Dick, Wally, and Roy waited until the candles were snuffed out in the cabin, and the fire on the shore was reduced to glowing embers before they crept out of the barn. They buried anything they had with them that would look out of place which was just about everything they had. Dick was reluctant to give up his utility belt, but that was probably the most suspicious thing they had.
"Can't I keep a few of my batarangs and some smoke pellets?" Robin half begged. He'd been trained never to go anywhere unprepared for a fight, and besides what was the harm in four or five batarangs and a couple smoke pellets. He wasn't going to mention the batarangs were laced with explosives. This was a dangerous time after all, and it wasn't like he was going to carry a rifle.
"Fine, but don't let anyone see them," Roy allowed grudgingly. If he had had his bow he wouldn't be quick to give it up. Their gear was part of who they were. It was ingrained in both he and Robin not to surrender their weapons. That's how they protected themselves and each other.
They went back to the barn and made beds in the hay loft. Somewhere in the woods they heard an owl calling. It was strange how peaceful Dick felt. They were as far from home as one could get, yet he wasn't scared. No Joker, no mob, and no one trying to kill him. There was war and murder of course, but it didn't seem as if that could reach him here. Most people were just trying to survive and make a life for themselves and their children out of this wilderness.
"What's worse; the fact we're in this situation or that we're handling it like it's normal?" Wally asked. His voice seemed to resonate in the dark barn. He still couldn't believe they were in 1756. Leave it to the League to build a time machine. Whose idea had that been anyway?
"I think we left 'normal' back there a while ago," Roy said, in a cynical tone.
"It's just how life goes. You can either get on with life or life will get on without you," Dick said. He'd learned that after his parents were killed, so he enjoyed every second he got with his new family. Life was too short to be wasted, especially when it was taken into account that one never knew when a loved one might be taken.
Wally huffed. "I forgot I was talking to Doom and Gloom. You too should lighten up. This could be a lot worse after all."
Another owl went calling through the trees. Yes, it could be worse. They would realize how true that was soon.
*Copperhead was established 1785, but I couldn't find any settlements in the area and time period.
Thanks for reading. :) It may be a while before I get the next chapter up, but I will finish this story.