Still don't own it. Actually: I did make up Tick and Tock... I don't know that much about the JL, so I made up villains. Hope you like them. If you don't, well.. sorry? Review!

CHAPTER 1 A day in the Life

The Flash walked into the meeting a little late. About two hours late. He slid into his seat as he got the respective responses to his tardiness:

Wonder Woman- Confused Frown

Hawk Girl- 'I'm going to kill you if you're late again' Frown

Superman- Disappointed I'll-get-over-it Frown

J'onn Jones - Same as when he's happy, sad, or sleeping Neutral Frown

Green Lantern- Hidden Smile Underneath A 'Why are you late?' Frown

Batman- Death Glare

"Sorry I'm late, guys," He began meekly. "Um... hot date." Batman's scowl deepened.

"Relationship won't work out," Flash continued, ignoring his black-clad teammate. "They-" John looked surprised, and hid a smile of approval for his young friend. "- Got into a little trouble over this scrap. Apparently they were robbing a bank and holding people hostage. Interestingly enough- way we met!" Superman raised an eyebrow while Hawk Girl smiled.

"Huh?"

"Had to appear for a testimony to lock some thugs in jail for taking a bank by siege." Flash replied, with an enthralling smile. He grinned. "Were hot, though." Finally understanding, Superman released a laugh. Batman, however, did not.

"And you neglected to tell us?"

"Well, you do recall me trying to tell you?" Flash replied. "Anyway, gotta get back to Central. I don't want them to get the death warrant, and seeing as how they, being bird brains, picked the lawyer who fathered one of their hostages...!" He rolled his eyes beneath his mask and left with a broad grin.


"Why'd he bother coming up here?" Diana muttered. Batman glanced up from his brooding. He had been wondering the same thing.

"I don't know." he snapped, an rare answer. "But I don't care. We have to get to work." This was a much more common saying. Diana sighed.

"Fine. Now, about these kids?"

"Tick and Tock."

"Bet Flash would be sad he missed out on this," John muttered. Batman sent him a glare.

"This is no joke." He snapped. Another common phrase, though usually directed at Flash, and not at the usually disciplined ex-marine corps officer. Green Lantern shrugged.

"So, why not?" He asked.

"They possess the ability to put things and people into a time warp." Batman replied, easily flowing into the speech he had mentally prepared. "They can't control where they send the person, or people, or things, as far as I know, but they can send them somewhere. Some people have been zapped and sent ahead two days, or weeks, and others sent back months, or days, or seconds." The other league members nodded with interest. "Some haven't come back at all." Superman cringed slightly, as Batman expected. The boy scout, as Flash dumbly called the man who could easily kill him with a flick of a finger, had seen death and great horrors, but he still seemed sensitive about them when they arose. Not naive, like Flash. Just... uncomfortable, as though the entire thought that there was evil in the world disorientated him. It did that to a lot of people, but, as the Man of Steel, Batman had always felt that he should be able to handle it. Like him. He held lots of things inside, more then any other league member could anticipate, except J'onn. He had seen more death then any other league member EVER would. John, as a marine, had seen death.

Diana had left her home and her mother, but she was immortal and seemingly insusceptible to death so far in her life. Superman's family had died, but days after his birth, and he had been raised by a caring farm couple. Hawk Girl seemed to be hiding things at times, but as far as he knew, she had known no death on Thanagar. Her parents, he knew, were alive and well. And Flash? Well, it seemed to Batman that that boy must have had the best childhood any person could. He was the cheeriest person Bruce knew, even in the worst of times. He didn't even bother a thorough sweeping of his past. His grin never wore away due to chagrin or anger. It gave way only certain times, and a person would always know they were in trouble if Flash's grin ceased to exist. Of course, his grin could also mean they already were and he was lightening the mood. And Batman?

"Batman?" Diana sounded concerned.

"I was thinking about Tick and Tock," Batman lied. "They send a person through the time warp by touching them,"

"So?" Superman demanded.

"They're teenagers." Batman explained. A knowing smile crossed John's face, then he quickly blushed.

"Flash would have something to say about that," Superman laughed.


Superman and Batman sped down the road, side by side; Batman in the batmobile, and Superman in the air slightly above, surveying the damage.

"Tock's been here."

"And Tick?" Batman's icy reply.

"Out of sight." Superman replied. "The damage is leading from Gotham to the north..." Tick and Tock were fraternal twins gifted with an extraordinary ability: time travel. However, they could not teleport themselves, or each other. Tick and Tock were a little like Hawk and Dove, when one thought about it. Both could only use their powers when their sibling was within sight (though Hawk and Dove had to hear each other) and they couldn't when their sibling was incapacitated. So, though they were a handful together, they could be beaten if only one was knocked unconscious. Then they were simply kids with a grudge. A big grudge. Tick and Tick, real names James and Lily, had been in accident when they were kids after being involved in a study at a secret lab. Batman or Superman, they felt, should have saved them. Now they blamed the League. They were in horrible pain for two years, and accidentally sent their loved ones to an unknown time period. After this, all they had were each other. No matter how often they hugged each other, or touched each other, or talked to each other, they could not harm each other. They were impervious to the effects of their time-travel touch, so to speak.

Now, they were no longer seven-year-olds scared out of their wits. Now they were teenagers with incredible powers and a grudge. They had been nicknamed Tick and Tock cruelly, and to keep their rage, they kept the names. They had become slightly mad because they could not touch anyone without sending them to the past or to the far away future, and their insane anger was bestowed upon the Justice League.

Batman had researched their past, and followed them here, and he knew their weaknesses. Superman was extra muscle. Flash and John had business in their own cities, Hawk Girl and Diana were investigating a distress call in Asia, and Jo'hn was on monitoring duty. To Batman's chagrin, he himself had Bruce Wayne business to attend to, but had chosen Tick and Tock instead. After all, in a fight between his two personalities, Batman, with his glowering stare and his intimidation, would always win.

"Up ahead," Superman sounded content. "I see them."

"Both of them?" Batman questioned.


"Tock." Superman replied, sounding cautious now. Tock, Lily, had spotted them and turned. Despite the situation, the fourteen-year-old look pretty. Her long black hair hung to her hips. Her lips, rosy, were twisted in a snarl, then contorted into a smile. And a smile on a super villain, young or old, is never good. She was slender, for anything she touched directly was sent into another time. In order to eat, she had to be cautious. Once inside her, it seemed the powers did no longer take effect. She put one hand to her hip, then lifted the other in a wave.

"Now you show up," She said in a mockingly smooth voice. "You're about ten minutes late for some lady and her brat." She smiled again, her dirty teeth shining.

"You're about eight years late." A new voice corrected. It was deeper then hers, but equally smooth, and equally strange. Superman turned his head to see the young man, as did Batman.

He wore what his sister wore: a strange material found in the lab where the accident was. The only material that wouldn't immediately disappear into another time. They had worn the same stretchy clothes for eight years.

Superman stared at the young boy behind him. Bags hung beneath his eyes, and wrinkles covered his face from his incessant grin. Not unlike Flash's, Superman thought, except for this boy's eyes. His eyes were dark and glaring- Boring into Supermans'. His face was thin and his manner cold. His voice was like his sisters'; fueled by rage and control. They had to control things a lot; anything they touched with their own hands went away. Their gloves were off, literally, though, as they were on a rampage, running through Gotham, killing those who didn't deserve it by sending them to random times. If it wasn't for that, Superman would have pitied these kids. He still did, but he also hated them.

"Stop it, James." He warned. "You know what I can do."

"You didn't do it when we needed you, though, did you?" The accusing, controlled voice replied. "When these people needed you." His face fell into the grin. "You're always a little late. How about a second chance?" Tock laughed from behind him, a wild laugh that lost her her control. Superman twisted to face her. Her face fell calm again.

"We got you pegged," She informed him. "You know who we are, and we know who you are." She smiled deeply. "We're happy, and we want to make you happy, too." Batman glared at her through the window pane of his plane.

"Lily." His voice was cold with none of the warmth Clark had feigned. "You are Lily." She laughed.

"Hardly. Lily was a six-year-old the government abused. Lily was a happy go-getter. Lily, in short, is dead!"

"I thought you said you were happy." The girl's face changed into anger. She lost control often, Superman realized.

"We are." The brother's voice again. "We're so happy, Bruce." Superman felt his heart beat faster, and noticed his partner's face remain emotionless. "And you could be, too." He smiled. "We mastered it a little better, Bruce." His voice sounded pleading. "We know what time we send people to, now. We know. Go ahead and do it. Save them." Tick turned to Superman.

"And Clark," he continued, not missing a beat. "Or Kal-el, whichever you think is the real you. You could save it- your planet. You real home. And you could leave me and Tock, because we're happy." He smiled. "And you aren't." Superman sighed.

"You aren't either, James."

"Tick!" The boy shouted. Superman realized that, though Tock let her emotions show more, Tick's display of his own were much more dramatic. In short, it seemed Tock had more control in all. Sort of. "I'm not James- James is dead like your parents are!" Superman couldn't tell if he meant Bruce's or his own. "James died when they went away!" He continued in a flurry of emotion. "James went back with them- back to whatever godforsaken time they got sent to!" Superman stared.

"I went too," Lily reminded her brother. Then she smiled creepily."And they can too." Comforted, Tick nodded.

"You can be happy," Tick murmured to the two heroes. "WE can make you happy. You can go back. Superman- you can help Krypton. Batman- You can help your folks. You guys don't have to live like this."

"If we didn't, who'd stop you?" Batman demanded quietly. Tick smiled.

"Well.." Superman noticed that Tock wasn't next to her brother anymore.

"Hugs for the man of steel!"


Batman gaped with fear as he realized the situation- Superman was going back. Way back.


"God- where are we?" Batman opened his eyes. Superman stood a few feet away from him.

"I messed up." The man of steel said quietly. Batman leapt to his feet to find himself- well- not quite where he had been. The situation flooded back into his mind: Tick and Tock- Tock jumping onto Superman- the entire ship around him going... somewhere, even though he didn't- Tick and Tock laughing about him as he fell unconscious- Tick grabbed his shoulders-

"Where are we?" Batman repeated. Superman shrugged and sighed.

"I don't know. I just woke up a second ago, and tried to figure it out." The haze around Batman cleared itself into an alley. "Gotham?" Superman ventured. Batman shrugged.

"A little clean to be my city- a little clean to be any city." Superman nodded.

"What year do you think it is?" A car rolled by on the road, and Batman nodded to it.

"At least eighties." Superman nodded in agreement, and laughed,

"Think we'll fit in?" Batman replied with a smirk. He noticed a newspaper in the dirt and grime of the alley floor.

"1993." He said offhandedly.

"Guess we won't anymore." Superman said with a dejected sigh.

"We could say we were retrogressing."

"Not exactly a lie,"

"Not exactly true," Batman nodded as Superman laughed briefly.

"Why did they send us here?"

Batman replied with a shrug. "I don't know." He finally admitted. Superman nodded.

"Guess we should find out where we are."

"Guess we should get into clothes that don't make us look like... actually, I don't know what they'd make us look like. We already exist here, so...?" Superman shrugged and chuckled.

"Right," He ran, the immediately returned with two suits.

"Pay for them?" Batman asked with raised eyebrows. Superman shrugged.

"I will." Batman shrugged, then began to pull the pants over his tights. He took off the cape and stuffed it into his pocket, and then draped the large shirt over himself. He pulled off his gloves and cowl, then eyed Superman.

"Well?" The man of steel whirred quickly in a circle, and a replica of Clark Kent (Without the glasses) emerged. "Fair enough."

"So... Where." The newspaper had the name ripped off and the article was wet and soggy, so they left it. They began to wander through the city. Finally they came upon a newspaper stand.

Central City Climax

"So, the Climax." Batman noted. "Central City."

"Wish Flash was here," Superman sighed dejectedly. "He knows this city."

"Wistful thinking doesn't do anything but take up time." Batman snapped. "Let's go." Superman followed the very pissed off Bruce Wayne. Suddenly, in the middle of a street, a drunkard stumbled into view. He looked familiar.

"I don't care about 'im!" He slurred. A woman walked into view, looking distressed and familiar as well. Dammit, Batman thought to himself. He knew these people, didn't he?

"He's your son!" She shouted at him.

"You're a whore!" The man accused. "He could be anyone's!"

"I've been loyal to you for seven years!" She shouted. A mark on her face seemed to agree with her.

"You went to the cops!"

"It ain't legal what you do, Rudy, and I was weak!" She said pleadingly. "I'll tell them I wanted attention; that I was lying. Baby- I won't do it again!" The man paused, then drunkenly hit her.

"Better not!" he told her. She cowered then nodded.

"You know I love you?"

"Bitch." He muttered. He entered a house, and she followed at his feet like a lost puppy. "Where is he?" The man demanded. He looked at her. "Huh?!" She shrugged.

"He was home before."

"Damn it!" He shouted. "I come home; a good, loyal husband who stays with his chicken shit wife, and my damn kid ain't home!" He turned to the street. "Wallace!" He shouted. Batman tensed. That wasn't the familiarity, was it? That the pictures of Wally, Flash, were close to those of these people. "Kid!" The man repeated. He cursed under his breath.

"What is it, Bruce?" Superman asked. He had noticed his anxiety.

"It's just a hunch." Batman replied darkly. "Wallace is the-" alias of the flash... he tried to make he words leave his mouth. Not until I'm sure, he decided.

"...Is the?" Superman asked. Batman shrugged him off.

"Never mind." He walked briskly around the corner they'd been looking around during the fight and down the street. He passed his house. HIS house? It was pretty crappy... You don't know, he told himself. As they walked, they wondered about James and Lily; Tick and Tock.

"Why'd they send us here?" Superman repeated. Bruce shrugged again, equally perturbed. "If they understood how to send people to a year pre-chosen, why didn't they send us to the Jurassic period and be done with us?" Confusing Batman's silence with interest, Superman continued. Bruce was actually wondering if there was a way to get back to their own time, and there was only one that made sense, but, then again, it didn't. Time Travel was a concept that even the Dark Knight had problems understanding. "They sent us both here, and we were touched by different kids. Me, Lily, you James, so this year must be special."

"This year?" Batman asked quietly. Superman turned to him.

"Why else would they send us here?"

"You assume it's this year," Batman replied quietly. "It's pretty cold though, and I think that it must be in late December,"

"So?"

"New years is coming soon," Batman explained impatiently.

"And?"

"They were born next year." He replied. "In January."

"So you think...?" Superman's face went pale."You think they wanted us to kill them."

"They weren't happy." Batman replied quietly. "And if we kill them, we'd be saving everyone they killed." Superman stared at him.

"You honestly think-"

"I don't know." Batman snapped back. Superman sighed, then nodded.

"Why'd they send us a month before they were born?" He asked a few minutes later. Batman shrugged.

"I told you." Superman looked up.

"I don't know," Batman repeated impatiently. Superman nodded, embarrassed.

"Oh." There was a moment of silence. "So, how do we get home?"

"I don't have a time machine in my belt, if that's what you mean." Batman replied with a scowl.

"So, you don't know?" Superman asked. Batman turned to silence him with a glare.

"I think I've made that clear." Superman paused.

"What if we didn't."

"Mmm?"

"What if we didn't go back, even if we found out how? There were so many-" Superman paused. "So many things I could have stopped; things I should have stopped that I didn't, because I was too busy with mediocre bank robberies," Batman turned turned to the man before him, who was dressed like any other man in the area.

"I will not mess with history."


There was a coldness in his voice Clark didn't hear very often. A coldness he didn't like.

"Ever." The man finished, his blue eyes fierce and sharp.

"Okay." The man nodded briskly, and continued in his walk. Superman shrugged and followed. He wondered vaguely whether he would, if he had the choice.