Bruce sat at the very top of the bleachers, his back pressed against the wall and a pair of earbuds doing their best to drown out the noise and idle chatter of hundreds of buzzy teenagers. He didn't recognize the song that was playing but he really didn't care. It could have been one of those boy bands that Barbara tended to listen to when she was training for it mattered. He'd managed to survive her listening to 'Bye Bye Bye' on repeat for 3 straight hours… he could survive anything modern music threw at him. The music was only serving as white noise to block out the annoying chatter of his… classmates.
Bruce's fingers flew over the buttons on his smartphone, quickly typing in commands before opening a second tab and imputing a few more notes. One of the first things he'd done, as soon as he had realized where he was and what had happened to him, was to begin making records of all the differences between the world he knew and the one he found himself in. It would be useful when he managed to get his new Batcomputer set up to already have some sort of base from which League could begin working out exactly how this new reality worked.
Some things appeared to have changed very little, with only minor tweaks. Clark was still a Kryptonian who had been sent to Earth. John had his ring. The Waynes were wealthy and considered one of the most giving families in the United States. The small tweaks to the world, namely that they all lived in Happy Harbor; Gotham and Smallville and Metropolis still existed, but none of the seven of them had ever been there.
Other things had been radically altered. His mother… Bruce swallowed as he thought about her, allowing himself to feel a sliver of emotion as he thought about the hug she'd given him before he'd left… was alive. Only his father had died in that alley, with his mother being paralyzed by Joe Chill's shot. Supergirl was Clark's little sister and they had a little brother, Connor. John had received his ring not from Hal duplicating it but from a dying alien. A check of some news sites proved that the world knew of Themiscyra but in this reality the Amazons were not separated from Man's World and, in fact, Diana's mother Hippolyta was the UN Ambassador of the island nation. Bruce hadn't had a chance to talk to Shayera or J'onn yet but he could tell that something had happened to Hawkgirl to render her wingless. He didn't know about Flash at all but he figured there must have been changes to his history as well.
Bruce paused, clicking on another tab. He didn't like using it, but considering the situation they were in, Bruce had made use of a popular entertainment wiki to help with his notes. This 'Tvtropes' was only confirming what he had feared.
Anarchy had altered their lives to make them fit the tropes of a teenager show/movie.
Each of them was easily fitting into different, stereotypical roles. Clark had been right when he said he was 'Archie' to Lois and Lana's 'Betty and Veronica', only this Archie also had elements of the heroic, polite football star that most teen girls swooned over. John was harder to peg down but from his readings Bruce wondered if Lantern wouldn't find himself in the 'Will Smith' role, considering he'd moved in with his uncle and his children. Shayera, dressed in a hoodie and clearly avoiding everyone she could, was the outcast girl with anger issues… a role she had already perfected back in their reality. Bruce himself was the quiet loner; though he got the feeling there was more to it than that.
As for Diana…
Bruce looked up from his phone, an eyebrow raised as he watched the Junior Varsity Cheerleading Squad go into the next part of their routine. Diana was right in the middle of it, forcing a smile as she shook her pom poms. She clearly hated every second of the routine but was smart enough to know that refusing to take part would only lead to questions none of them wanted to answer. Muscle memory and being a quick learner ensured that she didn't make any flubs and Bruce couldn't help but admire the way she moved. It was silly and stupid and childish but even he could admit that she was rather graceful.
The lights in the auditorium became muted and the other cheerleaders faded away, leaving Diana alone, dancing in the spotlight. The forced smile that had been on her lips disappeared and an absolutely sultry pout replaced it as she looked directly at Bruce. He swallowed, suddenly feeling rather hot, dimly noticing that the rest of the student body was gone, leaving him as the only viewer of Diana's little show. She dropped her pom poms, doing a little spin to let him catch a glimpse of her blue panties, before she began to slowly run her hands along the edge of her zip-up uniform. Diana threw her head back as she began to open it and Bruce watched, captivated, as millions of roses drifted out and swirled around him.
He blinked, suddenly realizing that something was VERY wrong.
"What's wrong Bruce? Never seen a half naked Amazon shoot rose pedals at you before?"
"Anarchy," Bruce growled, turning to find the titan-god sitting next to him, munching on an apple. The titan-god had his bare feet up, ankles crossed as he lounged.
"You know, having sexual fantasies is a perfectly natural thing and should not be anything to be ashamed of. Your body is changing and such feelings-"
"I am in no mood for your games."
The reality warper raised an eyebrow, tossing his apple into a basketball hoop. "What, you think this is me doing all this?" Bruce glared at him and Anarchy rolled his eyes. "Ok, so a lot of it is me but you, Dark Knight, supplied me with the paints to make this little piece of art! Oh, the naughty little thoughts you've had about the princess… you've done well to hide them, even from yourself, but in this reality and in this body you are going to find yourself struggling a bit to avoid them. Me personally, I'd do something about that. And I DON'T mean finding a boy named Terry and making him live in that cave of yours. Seriously, I'm chaos-incarnate and even I find it creepy." Anarchy stood up and stretched. "Well, I'd love to stick around and be glared at but I need to go… very busy with my day job."
"You have a day job?" Bruce asked, trying to milk the titan-god for more info.
"Hey, have to make money to buy these hats somehow!" Anarchy tipped his short brimmed fedora before walking away. Bruce's eyes suddenly burned and, the moment he rubbed them, he found reality reset back to normal.
Or, at least, this new normal he found himself in.
Bruce frowned and opened up the section he'd begun on their trickster adversary. Skimming to the end, he added 'Fan of pop culture'.
"Well, look at you are broody." Bruce quickly minimized the window and turned to glance at the teenager that had sat down beside her. Like him she was dressed all in black, though her clothing was decidedly more ripped and torn than his perfectly pressed slacks and black dress shirt. The many different rings she wore gleamed in the florescent light of the gym. Her hair was cut incredibly short and what length there was to it was rather shaggy and uneven. It looked good on her though, letting her look rough but sexy.
"Selina," Bruce said, trying to hide his shock and surprise at seeing his occasional foe/partner/whatever she was sitting beside him in a 15 year-old's body. Selina idly stretched out, her legs stretched and arms casually flung over her head.
"So you do remember me!" She said with a teasing smile. "And here I'd thought you'd forgotten me!" She playfully slapped his shoulder. "I saw you hanging out with your new friends... the gang and I don't have to worry about you abandoning us, right?"
"Of course not," Bruce said, suddenly worried what sort of 'gang' she was speaking of. Selina had no problem breaking the law in the old timeline and his gut was telling him the same was true in this reality. As for himself, the rules had been changed and he had no idea what his life might have been like up until he'd woken up several hours before. Was it possible that, with his mother alive, his drive for justice had been lessoned while his anger at the world remained? He always knew that he was in danger of falling into the darkness that he used as his weapon. It was always his worst fear that he would become the very thing he fought against, his mind finally breaking under all the pressure and pain.
"Well good!" Selina said with a grin. "I talked to Mr. Donaldson before school started and he hinted that we are going to be doing Phantom this year!"
"...what?"
Selina rolled her eyes. "I know you'd prefer us do something from Shakespeare but that can always wait for the Spring performance. Phantom will give me a chance to showcase my singing voice!" Selina threw out her left arm as she sang the last bit of the sentence.
Bruce, using all the skills he had developed from dating vapid socialites that wanted to talk his ear off about their latest purchase, nodded in all the right places as Selina gushed about the possibility of playing Christine Daaé, his eyes subtly drifting down to his phone. He opened up his calendar app and suppressed a groan as he saw several dates marked with 'Drama Club' for the next two weeks.
'Idiot,' he cursed himself. 'Anarchy is twisting everything around and is slotting us into different roles. Diana is a cheerleader and Clark was already approached about the tryouts for Junior Varsity football... of course he'd have me in drama club!' Bruce felt like smacking his forehead in annoyance and disgust; how could he have believed for even one second that he was part of a criminal gang?
"Harleen!" Selina called out, Bruce's head jerking up as he watched a blonde girl let out a squeal and run up the bleachers to hug Selina. She was followed by a redhead wearing a 'Save the Rainforest' t-shirt and a tall young man with the yin-yang symbol on shirt.
"Oh, hiya kitty!" Harleen Quinzel said with a giggle. "Brucie!"
"Hello... Harleen," Bruce managed to say as the former... future... might never be... Harley Quinn gave him a big hug and a sloppy kiss on the cheek.
"Harleen, stop that," Pamela Isley said, rolling her eyes. "You know it makes Bruce uncomfortable when you do that."
"He didn't mine kissing me last Spring!" Harleen declared.
Harvey Dent chuckled. "That's because you two were playing Romeo and Juliet. Wouldn't be much of a play if you two just waved to each other."
Harleen giggled. "Yeah, that would have been silly!" She plunked herself down on the seat right below Selina, rocking back and forth happily. "Sorry, Brucie."
"It's... ok," Bruce said, willing himself to act normal... even as he felt, for the first time ever, the urge to flip the hell out. The mere thought that he had kissed the same lips as the Joker…
"Settle down, everyone, settle down!" A silvery blonde-haried woman called out from where she stood in the center of the gymnasium.
"Is it just me or does the new school secretary look like the chick who played Luna Lovegood?" Harvey whispered as the secretary introduced Principal Longfellow.
"Thank you, Miss Granger," Longfellow said.
Harvey made a face while Pamela laughed so hard she nearly fell off her chair.
Longfellow fit his name well. He was tall, well over six feet, with short brown hair and a face so lean one might have cut their hands on his cheekbones. He adjusted a pair of wireframe glasses and looked at the student body, a smile gracing his lips. "I know you want to get going, so I will only be a few minutes. Believe or not I was once young as well!" He chuckled, though most of the teens only laughed out of politeness. More of them were just shifting, wanting to get the assembly over with so they could leave. "I just want to say a few words today about the new school year. Every year I look out upon my students, from the ones that are starting here to those that will be leaving soon, and take a moment to consider the raw potential there is in this room. Yes, yes, I know you hear that all the time, people telling you that you can be anything you want, but that's not what I am getting at."
The principal looked down for a moment, the right corner of his mouth quirking up just a touch. Bruce could sense that for Longfellow this wasn't just glad-handing; he truly believed in every word he said. "Right now… you are starting out new again. Yes, you had good times and bad times last year or the year before, and you had great times. That's life. But those times are over and you find yourself now on a new adventure… a new life, as it were. For those that didn't have things go exactly as they wished, I say that this is the time to change, to make things better. For those that did well… I ask you not to rest on what you were but focus on what you could become.
"We all change." His eyes swept across the student body and it felt to all of them as if, for just a moment, he was looking only at them. "When you think about it, we are all different people, all through our lives. And that's ok, that's good, you gotta keep moving." He paused, smiling softly. "Just so long as you remember all the people that you used to be. I don't know about you but I plan to do just that. I…will forget one line of this. Not one day...I swear. I will always remember when the this man," he tapped his chest with his index finger and Bruce was surprised to see that Longfellow actually seemed rather emotional, "was me.
"And with that, have a great school year… and you are dismissed!"
The students all cheered and leapt up, making a beeline for the door. Bruce quickly made promises to meet up with his 'friends' before catching Clark's eyes from across the bleachers and giving him a slight nod.
It was time for them to talk.
~JL~JL~JL~
"I really hope we don't get in trouble for ditching," Wally said as he and Shayera waited for Clark, Bruce, Diana and John to show up. They were back at the picnic table that they'd sat at before school, far enough away from prying eyes but not so far as to make anyone question why they were there if someone stumbled upon them.
"Wally, calm down," Shayera said with a sigh, plucking her earbuds out and turning off her Ipod. Listening to music had been the only way she'd gotten through the teeth-grindingly bad day. She was surprised to find how much her teenage self's taste in music matched her own. True, much of it was from bands she'd never heard of but at least none of it was the pop music crap that The Question listened to all the time. She'd walked in one time to find him boxing to 'Bye Bye Bye'… that song was a curse from Apokolips, she just knew it. "You are wearing a trench in the grass."
Wally looked down and grimaced, sitting down across from his friend. "Sorry… just have some bad memories when it comes to ditching in high school."
"I'd have thought you would ditch all the time," Shayera commented.
"Only did it once or twice… then Uncle Barry found out." Wally grimaced at the memory. "He handled that the same way he handled all the other times I acted out."
Shayera took Wally's hand, upset to see her friend so hurt. It was sometimes easy to forget that, for all his goofiness, Wally hid away a lot of pain and suffering. It was rare for him to open up but Shayera would be ready when he did. "Did… did he beat you?"
"What?" Wally said incredulously. "No!"
"Oh," Shayera said, embarrassed. "I just thought…"
"My uncle did something much, much worse."
"What… what did he do?"
"He sat me down… and made us talk about our feelings."
The Thanagarian woman just stared at the speedster for a moment before leaning over the table and smacking him.
"What did Wally do now?" John asked as he and Clark walked up to them.
"He was being an idiot," Shayera grunted, glaring at the red-head.
"We didn't see you all day, Shayera," Clark said. He rubbed the back of his neck. "How…"
"I want to talk about my wings only once," she grumped, "so let's wait till everyone is here before we begin."
"And we are all here," Diana said as she joined them, Bruce only two steps behind. "Now then-"
"What… are you wearing?" Shayera asked, trembling slightly. Diana opened her mouth to respond, only to be cut off by Shayera burst into laughter. The Amazon crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at her teammate as Shayera threw back her head and cackled like mad. The others just stood there, fighting their own mirth or backing away in case Shayera and Diana came to blows.
"Are you done?" Diana asked after a minute.
"Yeah… yeah I… nope!" Shayera laid her head against the picnic table and wrapped her arms around her face in an attempt to muffle her laughter.
"So… this is who the world will end," Wally whimpered, watching as a vein just above Diana's right eye pulsed, her jaw clenched so tight he thought she'd shatter her own teeth. "I always hoped I'd die in the middle of a catfight but now…"
The Amazon merely watched for a few more seconds before flashing a devious smirk. "At least I have the body to fill this uniform out."
The male members of the team could literally hear a record scratch fill the air. Clark actually looked around to see if Anarchy had done it but apparently even the titan-god wanted no part of the brewing fight. Shayera's laughter stopped dead and she lifted up her head, her hood making her glowering face even darker and more ominous-looking. She stood up, fists balled up tight. "What did you say?" She said coldly.
"Ladies, listen," Clark said. "We all have hormones and teenage bodies… its making us feel and do things we normally wouldn't… so maybe you should-"
"SHUT IT!" Diana and Shayera both roared.
"…okay," Clark said, backing away meekly. Mama Kent hadn't raised a fool.
The two teens stared each other down, eyes narrowed and lips twitching, readying themselves for a fight. Wally licked his lips nervously and John suddenly had the feeling that he was in 'Showdown at the OK Corral'.
"…your ass is fat," Shayera finally said. "Looks like Anarchy was right about that."
"You look like a boy… a malnourished boy," Diana countered.
"That's it!" Shayera screamed. Her backpack split apart and two Nth metal wings burst out, flapping once before she rose in the air. The wings were built to resemble her original organic wings… but with several improves. Shayera held out her hands and two 'feathers' fell free, her hands grasping the hilts at the end before she pointed her new swords right at her opponent. Diana, for her part, fell into a fighting stance, two daggers retrieved from her own backpack, ready to take on her now winged foe.
Whizzzt! Whizzt!
Diana and Shayera leapt back in shock as two batarangs flew at them, missing their noses by centimeters.
"Sit," Bruce said darkly, pointing at the bench. Diana and Shayera both looked like they were ready to argue but seeing the look on Bruce's face they quickly nodded.
"Spoil sport," Shayera muttered.
"Grump," Diana whispered. She glanced at Shayera and the two instantly began to giggle.
"What… what the hell just happened?" Wally asked.
"Teenagers," Bruce said, retrieving his batarangs. "Quick to anger, quick to laughter."
"And now we've joined their ranks," John said, sitting down next to Diana. "We need to watch what we say and how we act… lest we forget that we're actually adults."
"Hey!" Wally complained. "I'll have you know I was never an adult! Child at heart, forever young!"
"We noticed," Diana stated with a smile.
Clark walked up to Bruce, who was retrieving his batarangs. "You backed down," Bruce said calmly.
"Yeah," Clark admitted. "Normally wouldn't have done that…"
"The longer we spend in these bodies, the harder it will be to fight what are becoming our natural urges."
"Like when we were kids thanks to Morgan Le Fay's spell."
Bruce grimaced slightly at that. "Yes."
"So," Clark said, glancing over at the rest of the team as they chatted, any disagreement between them having faded away for the moment, "new batarangs?"
"I had a free period and made use of the metal shop."
"You made batarangs in Metal Shop?" Clark asked, a single eyebrow raised.
"No," Bruce said, pulling up the sleeves of his dressshirt… to reveal two metal bracers. He snapped the small batarangs into them. He gave Clark one of his 'I am smarter and better than you and we both know it' smiles. "They were just one of the few things I made today."
"…I wrote a poem about a butterfly," Clark said weakly as they walked back over to the group. Waiting for Bruce to sit down, Clark stood at the end of table and looked at the assembled group. They all turned to him and Clark Kent, Kal-El, Superman, the Man of Steel, the Man of Tomorrow… just stared back.
"So… this is really weird," Wally finally said.
"Yes," Clark commented, glad someone had broken the tension. "We are in uncharted territory. There is no Watchtower, no Javelins, no support. I did a check of the Internet an hour ago… and on this world there is no mention of any heroes; not just the ones we know of but not even new ones to replace us. No mention of any supervillains either. It appears, for all intents and purposes, Anarchy's actions have completely, for lack of a better word, rebooted everything." Clark shook his head. "I don't even have my suit."
Wally nodded. "I have speed, sure, but no suit either. You have no idea how much that is going to suck!" When the others looked at him he glowered. "Unlike Clark, I don't project a biofield around my uniform. I run fast in sneakers and they fall apart after the fifth mile."
Diana grimaced. "The only uniform I had was this one… though calling it such seems like an insult. Worse, without my bracelets or lasso… I have not received my divine gifts."
"Didn't you steal all that last time?" John asked.
"Yes, and I was hoping not to do it again. I would prefer to receive them all with honor."
"You may have to," Bruce stated. "We can't be left powerless… not with Anarchy still running around."
"You've seen him?" John asked.
Wally and Shayera nodded. "He popped by while we were coming to school. Made some comment about tormenting cavemen… called us 'dumb dumb'." Shayera's brow furrowed. "Not quite sure-"
"The Flintstones," Clark stated. He paused, lips pursed. "Do you think he was joking… or is he really the Great Gazoo?"
Diana was, for once, thankful that she had spent so much time allowing Wally to teach her about pop culture. Otherwise the conversation would have flown right over her head. "For a 10th Dimensional being reality and fantasy are the same thing. To Anarchy we are just as real as The Flintstones."
"He is a fan of popular culture though," Bruce said, taking out his smartphone and pulling up the notes he'd made on Anarchy. "I looked up some of the comments he made when we first battled him."
"By that you mean when we got our rears handed to us?" Wally asked.
Bruce didn't dignify that comment with an answer, choosing instead to continue with his current train of thought. "The first form he shapeshifted into resembled the character of Chaos from the Disney cartoon Aladdin." Bruce held up the phone, showing a screenshot of a blue winged cat chatting with Princess Jasmine.
Clark frowned. "So either Anarchy was referencing to that…"
"Or he really was Chaos," Diana stated. "What about his second form? It looked like a dragon mixed with a chimera."
"A character from the show 'My Little Pony' known as Discord," Bruce said. "Anarchy, Discord and Chaos all share similar reality-altering powers and do not act as stereotypical villains. As much as I would rather not believe it… it looks likely that Anarchy was telling the truth and he really was all those beings."
John frowned at that. "You want me to believe that the guy that tore apart all of reality… who rewrote history and basically has the entire universe at his beck and call… was part of a show designed to sell little toy horses with brushable hair to girls?"
Shayera shook her head. "Well, the first generation might have been like that but the fourth generation is much better. The stories are more interesting, the characters are awesome and the writers really know how to do fan…service…" Seeing the looks the others were giving her, Shayera looked down and mumbled. "I… I mean I… might have…watched a few… nevermind."
"I like Applejack," Clark said just low enough so only Shayera could hear. The two aliens shared a secret smile with each other.
"The point," Bruce said, pocketing his phone, "is that while this world might not be our own we are here now. We have no way of knowing if we can return to our old reality… and even if we can, none of us want to leave this one unprotected. Anarchy is still a threat and there will be others soon."
"What do you mean?" Wally asked.
"Aresia is here," Diana said with a scowl. "And apparently we are 'friends' in this reality."
Bruce grimaced. "I met Poison Ivy, Catwoman, Harley Quinn and Two-Face. They are normal teens here but the possibility of them becoming our enemies exists."
"As does the possibility of us saving them from that fate," Clark said. "Remember, Anarchy called this a second chance. We can't assume anything here."
Bruce noded. "Which is why we need to be prepared. I am already working on reassembling my suit-"
Clark held up a hand. "We can discuss that in a moment. Right now we have something more important to consider."
"And that is?" Shayera asked.
"That one of us is still missing."
Diana's eyes went wide. "By Hera… J'onn!"
"We completely forgot about him!" Wally exclaimed. "How could we do that?"
"The trauma of what we've been through is an excuse… a thin one but one none the less." Clark considered his next words carefully. "If J'onn were on Earth, he would have contacted us by now. That means…" He looked skyward before looking at John. "I hate to ask, but is there any way you can fly to Mars and retrieve him?"
John grimaced in annoyance, looking down at his ring. "That will be a problem." When the others stared at him John clicked his teeth together. "Because of my age my ring is set in 'parental mode'. That limits what I can do… and leaving Earth is the first limit."
"We have to do something though," Diana said firmly. "We can't just leave J'onn up there all alone."
Bruce shook his head. "I'm not convinced he is alone."
"Uh, yeah, he is," Wally state. "Remember... last green Martian. That's kinda his thing."
"It was his thing," Bruce pointed out. "But this world is completely different. It is entirely possible that the green Martians were never wiped out in this timeline and J'onn is on Mars with his entire race."
Clark nodded in agreement. "Bruce is right. I grew up an only child; now Kara is my younger sister and we have a little brother I've never met. Anarchy altered my history and he could have done the same for Mars."
"But this is a bit different," Shayera argued. "So far all Anarchy has done is alter our histories and de-age us. Kara already existed and maybe this new little brother always did too; you just hadn't met him before we got zapped. Its not like Anarchy's brought people back from the dead-"
"My mother is alive."
The rest of the team stared at Bruce in utter shock.
"My god," John whispered.
"By Hera, Bruce, why didn't you tell us?!"
Bruce remained as stoic as ever. "Because it isn't an issue."
"Isn't... isn't an issue?!" Diana screeched. "Your mother is alive, Bruce! How can that not matter to you?"
Bruce fought to keep his composure. "You have no idea how much it matters to me... but at this moment it is not an issue. What we need to focus on is reforming the league and determining if there is a way to return to our own reality."
"If... if we want to return," Wally said quietly. When the others looked at him he quickly threw up his hands. "Hey, I'm just saying! It's not like we are trapped in another dimension or on another planet. This is Earth and we are who we are... all Anarchy did was... reboot us. We don't want to plow ahead trying to return things back to the way they were if there is a chance this reality might be better."
Bruce, remembering a young, untainted and uncorrupted Harleen, found himself nodding. "Wally brings up a good point. We need to only see if there is a chance... then we can determine if we seize it."
Shayera slapped her fist into her open palm. "Make sure that it is our choice and not Anarchy's."
"Exactly," Clark said. "So it seems like we have several tasks before us. First and foremost, we need to blend in. We can't do anything if they are tossing us into psych wards."
"I'd like to see them try," Diana muttered.
"To do that, we need to learn about ourselves and figure out how radically different this world is from the one we knew."
"Well, I have an Uncle Robert I didn't have before," John said. "And two cousins."
"Virgil and Sharon, right?" Bruce asked. When John nodded, Bruce leaned forward. "Is their last name Hawkins?"
"Yeah, it...oh... oh man."
"What?" Wally asked. "What did I miss?"
"Virgil Hawkins," Shayera said. "Aka Static."
Wally snorted. "Static is your little cousin. Oh come on GL, you have to admit that his funny!"
John groaned. "How did I not see that sooner?!"
Clark shook his head. "We're getting off track. So there are things that are similar and there are things that are radically different." He glanced at Bruce but his brooding friend didn't say a word. "Now, the second thing we need to focus on is getting together our costumes and uniforms so we can actually find out some answers without blowing our cover. I'm going to get a hold of the Command Crystal from my rocket so I can get my costume."
"If you make something keep it small and mobile," Bruce said. "I have an idea for your fortress so it won't do us any good if you've already set it down and have it fully formed." He undid his shirt sleeve and showed them the metal bracer he was wearing. "I've been working on replicating bits of my costume and I've already put in an express order for the rest of the pieces I'll need."
"Thank god for trust funds, huh?" Wally joked.
Bruce merely nodded. "I also put in an order some heat-resistant cloth, Wally. It should already be at your house by the time you get there."
"How do you know where I... never mind, forgot who I was talking to."
John held up his ring. "I'm all set."
Shayera smiled. "My 'mother' mentioned some battle gear when I grabbed my flight harness. I should be able to get something put together."
"That just leaves me," Diana said. She was already mentally preparing herself to talk to her mother and feel her out about her training and try and determine just how much, or how little, Diana in this timeline had been put through. The state of her room and some of the texts she'd found on her overly pink phone did not give her high hopes. Apparently she was more concerned with boys and shopping in this reality than learning how to use a sword. "And J'onn."
"We'll do our best to try and reach J'onn but for the moment there is little we can do about that," Clark said. "I think that we should all meet here before school tomorrow so we can come up with a more concrete plan on how to go about our investigation."
"Sounds like a plan to me," John said, standing up and grabbing his backpack. "And with that, I need to get home... and do homework."
"Ugh," Wally complained. "I thought I was done with homework when I got out of college."
"At least you have experience with it," Diana complained. "We amazons never saw the need for any of this 'work at home'. If you did not learn your lessons for your next class you receiving a punch to the solar plex for your trouble."
"I think I'd rather face down my old drill sergeant than read the first chapter of our American History textbook," Shayera said, pulling her hood up once more and joining Wally as they walked back towards the road.
Clark and Bruce were the last two to leave, the two standing side by side as their team mates ambled off. "Bruce, I know your head must be all over the place, finding out about your mom. You've done a great job keeping a level head... better than the rest of us I think. But you don't have to put on a brave face for us. It is ok to be happy... you know that right? I mean, you've been given something almost no one ever gets. None of us would blame you if you wanted to take some time to enjoy it and you've already disappeared, haven't you?" Clark looked to his right and confirmed that Bruce was long gone. "Even in an alternate reality you are able to sneak away..." he muttered as he grabbed his bag and superspeeded home.
~JL~JL~JL~
Author's Note: Ok, so admission time… yes, there is a tiny, little piece of myself in Anarchy. Hard for there not to be, as I tend to put pieces of myself in all the characters. My writing style is I act out the parts when I can, get them to feel right. For example, when Anarchy first appeared, I actually walked around while 'Little Drops of Poison' played, a fedora on my head and my feet bare, figuring out how he would sway and walk. Later on, in a fight scene I just began writing, I played Wonder Woman and mimed how she would attack her opponent. That is how I write.
So, I can say this to you all… it is so fun to torture Bruce. He just asks for it! Its just so much fun! I get into the role of Anarchy and suddenly its like Christmas and there are these presents and I honestly don't know which one to open when it comes to messing with Bruce.
Principal Longfellow's speech including the 11th Doctor's Farewell speech. I realized when I was writing it that the speech just fit so well with what the Leaguers are going through so I tweaked it to no longer be a goodbye speech by a speech about new starts.
Now, one final note: Yes, the league will be getting different costumes. They will, for the most part, resemble their costumes from the show but there will be new goodies and add-ons to help them out. Since this is a rebooted world they get new suits. So far the first we've seen is Shayera's. I think I mentioned before that really, Shayera gets the low-end of the stick when it comes to gear… just a mace and a mask. Her new wings will be able to create weapons and can shield her from attacks.
If you have suggestions for add ons for the characters, leave a review!
