Chapter 7: League of the Future

Ethan was somewhat confused at some point when he realized what happened since he went through that portal. He knew he was in the future no doubt, but he had no idea how many years. Could be twenty, could be thirty, or even forty years into the future. There was also Hal Jordan who was missing, therefore D'Void was no where to be seen either once Ethan was transported to the future in the portal that brought them here. That is when Ethan wondered about that bracelet D'Void had in his possession, that powerful item. The power of the Uni-Bracelet itself left Stormbolt wondering about its origin. Right now, he was being questioned by the Justice League of the future.

"Start talking. Who are you?" the hawkman in armor demanded, retracting the claw talons from his gauntlets

"The name's Stormbolt. You know who am I, right?" Ethan's hand burst with electricity. "I'm the man of thunder!" Ethan said seeing a few of them looking confused. "That worked better with the fans and kids." he muttered

"You are not Stormbolt. He is close enough to be in his fifties. Although..." the kid Green Lantern stared at the elemental hero. "You do seem to strike a strong resemblance. Are you a clone of Stormbolt?"

"What are you talking about? I'm not a clone." he replied. "I got the symbol, the goggles. What more do you want to prove I'm the genuine article?"

Stormbolt prepared for a mocking comment, but was grabbed by the neck by Barda. "Enough talking. Take off those ridicilous goggles, you outlasting shun out."

"Ridicilous, seriously? Thought they were cool, and I am not a shun out! Whatever that means." Stormbolt slowly concentrated to shift into a elemental form. "About the 'taking the goggles off' part? Yeah, that's going to be a big no seeing as how I have to keep my secret identity and all." he refused

"If you say who you say you are, then remove the goggles. If not, you are insulting a legendary superhero who is missing." the kid Green Lantern said in a wise tone for a ten or eleven year old kid

Ethan's eyes widened under his goggles. "Wait... missing? What are you talking about?" he asked confused

"Last chance, dreg." the Batman of the future warned. "Don't do something stupid."

"Dreg? I don't even know what that means." Stormbolt replied, shifting into a watery form as he dissolve and escape from his pursuer's grasp. "As fun as this conversation was, I really need to go." he said using wind currents around him to fly away

Stormbolt's pursuers were hot on his trail, trying his best to avoid whoever the people chasing him. He summoned duplicates of ice and water, sending them left and right for his pursuers to find him. 'Okay. I'm in the future and already I'm being chased by someone. For once, I like to not be-' his thought was cut off when the future Batman tackled him from above. "Hey, Batkid, get off. I'm not a flying taxi! Wait, do you have flying tax- What am I saying of course you do!" Stormbolt conjured a water net caught both of them, leaving the future Batman's mask to be removed

"Who are you? Batkid?" Stormbolt taunted moving the mask left and right with the twist of his hand. "Batman 2.0?"

the dark haired Batman looked to be in his late teens. "Hand over the mask, you dreg!" he growled covering his face

"Again, I have no idea what that means." Stormbolt said deadpanned until he felt a energtic surge that stunned as him and the future Batman fell

The teen Batman had dark hair and blue eyes, diving straight down toward Stormbolt. He grabbed his mask first, then gripped the elemental hero on his shoulders as he flew up using the thrusters on his boots. He laid the unconscious hero down and put on his Batman mask, now turning his attention to the unconscious and knocked out Stormbolt.

The future Batman touched his ear to flick his communicator. "You there, old man?"

"I read you, Mcginnis."

"What do you think? Is this guy Stormbolt or not?" Mcginnis the Batman of the future asked the original Dark Knight on his communicator

"I'm reading dna signature now. Take off his goggles so I can able to start a scan on his eyes. Sending the finger prints to your gloves. If I'm correct, his goggles should still have bio metrics."

"Time for the big reveal, then." Terry Mcginnis, the future Batman removed Stormbolt's goggles, to reveal his full face. "Are you seeing this, Bruce?" the Batman of the future asked as he opened Stormbolt's eyes to reveal his electric blue orbs slowly turned to grey eyes

"Obviously. The retinal scan completed the analysis."

"And?"

"It's definitely him. 100% match. Not a clone."

"Schway."

"Bring him to the Watchtower in Metropolis."

One hour ago...

Star Labs. New Bludhaven 8:00 p.m.

Inside a secure military facility, alarms blared aloud both in and out of the facility. The silver metal walls filled with state-of-the-art cameras of the future, and slate grey covered floors had few stood out as gattling lasers. They fired at their target, leaving none of its blasts to inflict damage on the figure. Men in futuristic military holding their laser rifles, ready to open fire on the intruder as the blast doors bust open hurtling to a few of the bodyguards. The intruder was a seven feet tall man that looked a demonic and scaly green skin with horns on his forehead, sides of his jaws, and chin. His apparrel a dark sleeveless suit with a harness at the center of his chest, red gauntlets and red armored boots.

"Archdemon, stand down!"

Said villain known as Archdemon smiled deviously. "I think not." he sneered throwing a cylinder device as it produced a sonic doom that sent the security team flying back to a wall, slipping into unconsciousness. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have something to collect."

Archdemon ripped out the blast door that the security team were protecting, kicking it aside as a evil grin formed on his face at what was in front of him. A fiery solar serpent trapped in a impentrable force field, hissing violently as Archdemon walked toward the console and shattered it with his fist. The demon-looking villain laughed deviously at his short triumph in his prize. At the top of the broken blast door, a sign stood up inside the facility. The sign read: superhuman level protocol.

Holding cell area. Justice League watchtower, Metropolis 9:16 p.m.

Stormbolt was laid unconscious on a bed, in a holding cell to the watchtower of the future Justice League. A door hissed open as Ethan's eyes slowly opened up, seeing a couple of old but familiar old men. One of them had black hair and greying on the side, wearing a black bodysuit with a futuristic S symbol. The other looked way older, wearing a futuristic business suit and holding a cane. Ethan squinted his eyes closely at the two older men, his eyes slowly going wide. It was the older version of Superman and Batman. Well, way older version of Bruce Wayne to be exact.

"Are you Ethan Louis?" the older Superman asked

Ethan sighed exasperated. "You obvious know who I am." he then smirked all of a sudden staring at Superman and Batman. "Wait a minute... you're Clark Kent. And... you must be Bruce Wayne. You two look old." he glanced at the elder Batman. "You especially." the cell force field opened out, with a cane to hit Ethan in the head. "OW! Why did you do that for?"

"To stop you from quipping." Older Bruce Wayne stared down at the thunderbolt emblem on Stormbolt's chest

"Alright, alright. You're definitely Batman, even got the same grumpy attitude. Gentlemen, you have caught my attention along with my curiosity. Do you get it? That's from the western movie..." a long silence was held in the cell. "Okay, then." Ethan stood up from his bed and walked over to the older Batman and Superman. "What's this about?"

"A few days we received data of a timestream portal opening." Bruce stated. "That's when your old foe D'Void came through the wormhole. Hal narrived the next hour before him, but with his encounter against D'Void he remains in med bay."

This caught Ethan's attention with a serious look on his face. "Hal will live though, right?" he asked

"He's recovering, but it'll take a while for him to be awake." Superman explained. "A couple days later another wormhole arrived. We didn't know it was you at the time since it you brought 40 years in the future."

Ethan's eyes went wide and blinked. "40 years? I was sent 40 years into the future?" both Superman and Batman nodded their hands in a yes. "Damn. I just have one other question..." he glanced at Batman, then back at Stormbolt. "Is there a tour available?"

Ethan could not believe he was in the future, most of all stare in awe at the futuristic technology that revealed in the Watchtower in Metropolis. It was truly a sight to see, also a masterpiece of advanced technology. He could see an impressive view of the futuristic city of Metropolis, which left him breathtaking at the site of the whole city. He followed the older Superman and Batman into a room were he noticed the future Justice League, along with three more people. One of them was a dark skin girl in her teens, wearing a suit with red torso and arms. A red mask with yellow lenses covering her entire except her nose and mouth, showing the same features of the Flash wore. A flash symbol on her chest and black leggings and yellow boots. The other was a red furred human male with black loose hair and yellow animalistic eyes. He wore a black short sleeve bodysuit and bare footed. The last was a long white haired woman, with a tiara on her head like a bun in a purple tunic and black heel boots. Her bright blues eyes stood in attention, with oval elf-like ears standing out of her as she had a belt on her waist with red charms which had magicial writtings.

"You know Mr. Miracle and his wife Barda, including Shazam." Superman gesture his hand the rest of the future Justice League. "This is Warhawk, Aquagirl, Micron, Kai-Ro, and Flash. We have two new members who helped us with a suitation from Cobra. Meet Ocelot and the soceress Nemera."

"S'up?" Stormbolt said putting his hand in the air for a second as he shook Kai-Ro's, the young Green Lantern's hand

"S'up? What does that mean?" the lady Flash of the future inquired. "Is that a slur from the 2000s?"

"It means What's up." Ocelot stated. "My old man use to say that back in his days when he was young."

Aqualgirl stood her hand out as Stormbolt shook it. "Hello, I am Mareena. I am Arthur Curry's daughter."

Ethan blinked in surprise. "You're Aquaman's daughter? As in the daughter of the king of Atlantis?" he asked seeing Aquagirl nod her head yes. "Is your old man still the same Arthur I know taking care of things in Atlantis?"

"Yes, he is still the ruler of Atlantis." she answered

"Long time, Shazam." Shazam gave Stormbolt a high five. "I thought you'd be older by now. Still the same Billy Batson I know?"

Shazam chuckled at Stormbolt's question. "You know it. I like for you to meet my girlfriend, Danica. She's the Flash of the future."

"Hi. I heard a lot about you from my parents." she said in a shy tone seeing a hero 40 years in the past.

"So you're the future Flash, huh?" Stormbolt extended his hand as Flash shook it. "It's always good to see a Flash, except for a particular one in yellow instead of red."

"Thanks." she said in gratitude. "Wally says hi by the way."

Stormbolt showed a surprised look on his face. "Wally? How...?" he asked starting to trail off suddenly

"I have him along with the other Flashes in my head." Danica explained. "It pretty much feels like being in a car, just with three people as backseat drivers."

"What about Barry Allen? Is he in there too?" Ethan asked

"No. He's still in Central City." future Flash stated

"I'm Micron." said person introduced himself before shaking Stombolt's hand. "I heard a lot about you in the League archives."

"Nice to meet you." Ethan glanced at Warhawk over Micron's shoulder. "And you must be Warhawk. Hmm." he said staring straight at Warhawk with a curious look

"What is it?" he inquired crossing his arms

"Are you Hawkgirl's kid by any chance?" Ethan asked as he saw the surprised and nearly shocked expression on Warhawk's face. "Let's just say Batman isn't the only detective around here."

"I'm her son." Warhawk replied

"And also..." Ethan's eyes suddenly went wide. "Your Stewart's kid too?! Oh, man. I had no idea John and-"

"Ethan." Bruce said sternly and serious as usual

Ethan put his hands up in mock surrender. "What? What did I do this time?" he then turned his attention to the future Batman. "I know Barda and Mr. Miracle, but not you. So, this is the Batman of the future. Batman 2.0."

"There's no way you're Stormbolt. The guy's a living legend." future Batman said, not believing Stormbolt was the real legend. "I met the guy before and his son too. Even his sister who's-"

"Are you dissing the threads? Wait... did you say living legend? And I have a son?" the surprise in Ethan's voice stood out upon the discovery. "Did you also mention my sister Izzy, too?"

"Hello." Nemera greeted in a bow, quickly changing the subject. "It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Nemera."

"So this is Stormbolt, huh? The great Man of Thunder?" Ocelot grunted, shaking Stormbolt's hand roughly. "I never would have thought I would you in your prime. Didn't imagine you starting in twenty years old like I was told."

"Uh... thanks, I guess." Stormbolt said back, unsure on how to take the comment. "You wouldn't happen to know someone name Red Crosshairs, would you?"

Ocelot sighed. "No. He was one of the people that trained me in hand-to-hand combat when I was kid. Besides him it was Ally Warney and Gauntlet. Why are you asking?" he asked annoyed

"It's just- did you say Ally and-" Ethan was cut off when he and the League heard an alarm blaring. "What's going on?"

Elder Bruce Wayne walked over to the main terminal and pulled out a display. The display show someone in a black bodysuit wearing a facemask that had a thunderbolt logo having fireballs hurtled at him. Stormbolt realized this hero must be either his son or sucessor. He could not get a good look at the face, but Stombolt caught a glimpse of the assilant that was attacking the Stormbolt of this future. All he could see was a humaniod with green scaly skin, demonic looking horns on his chin and forehead, red harness suit along with gauntlets and boots. It was none other than Archdemon, who suddenly harness the power of fire which surprised the future Justice League except for Bruce Wayne.

"Archdemon." older Bruce glanced at Ethan. "Your old foe. He's attacking Downtown metropolis where this present Stormbolt is."

"Then let's go and take him down." Stormbolt declared, only for old Bruce to stop him to a halt as he gripped his shoulder

"You're staying here."

Ethan was taken aback. "What? What do you mean I'm staying here?" he inquired crossing his arms. "I mean, the guy's attacking Stormbolt. This one."

"The one from the future. Not from the past." Bruce explained. "The League can handle it from here."

"I'm going, and that's end of-"

"Nemara."

Said sorcessoress ensnared Stormbolt in a spellbind that trapped inside the Watchtower while she and the future Justice League, except for future Bruce Wayne

"What the- what did she just do?"

"I had her spellbind you inside the Watchtower." Bruce Wayne explained. "You're staying here until we find a way to sent you back."

"Why? I can help the League with this guy if I've fought him before."

"But you haven't." Bruce countered sternly. "Not yet. The league can handle him. This is different."

"Different how?"

"Archdemon charging head-on is not his style. He would do it with an audience whenever you and him fought each other."

"Just so crowds would see him fight against his nemesis. Me." stormbolt looked to Bruce with a serious look after realization. "Warn the League. I have a feeling that Archdemon wouldn't risk this head-on assault on future Stormbolt just to get their attention."

Bruce dialed in the league to respond, but was met with a jamming signal.

"Damn." he swore. "I can't reach them. Jamming signal is interfering with their communications."

"Then that means..."

"They already fell for the trap."

Downtown, Metropolis 9:43 p.m.

The future Stormbolt and Justice League were at a quick disadvantage. At first things were going smoothly. Aid Stormbolt of the future, deal with Archdemon and sent back to a prison called Burdon Bay. But what they did not count on was a kryponite laser Archdemon got a hold of and blasted Superman which put him out of comission. Now, it was the Justice League Beyond and the future Stormbolt to deal with Archdemon. His body was bathe in pyrokinetic flames fuelled him greatly as he threw fiery bolts of energy, leaving Kai-Ro the young Green Lantern to cover the league in a protective shield. Archdemon leaped forward breaking Kai-Ro's shield through a fiery smash, then smashed his foot into the young Green Lantern's chest which made him gasp in pain. Archdemon sent his sights on future Stormbolt as his fists slammed to the ground, trying to crush the future elemental and Batman with his own bare hands. Batman jumped back, only for Archdemon to slam both of them down on their backs until Barda in her New Genesis armor swatted the demonic looking villain in the head with her mega rod that left him staggering back.

Warhawk flew in a dash tackling Archdemon from behind, building to building covered in full metal armor while Archdemon was still in flames. Archdemon grabbed Warhawk by the neck and waist, crashing his knee to the half-thanagarian's back as he shouted in pain. The fiery powered villain stared at Shazam coming toward as Archdemon, chanting mystical words in latin.

"Shazam!" Shazam himself was turned back to a teenage Billy Batson. "What? What did you do to me?"

"I moved you out of the chess board." Archdemon said, menacingly as he threw a searing fireball toward Batson until Danica got her boyfriend out of the way

Unfornately for Shazam and Flash, both of them were sent flying away. Barda and Mr. Miracle came to aid to hold back Archdemon with Ocelot hurtling Archdemon's face to a wall. He slammed Ocelot to a wall using his back and tossed him at Mr. Miracle and sent Barda flying away with a strong punch. Aqua girl came forward, jabbing left and right using her atlantean strength. Archdemon gripped her neck violently as flames began to engulf his body. His grip of her was released by Nemara as her and the future Batman, Terry Mcginnis were the two remaining members in the fight. The future Stormbolt caught Mareena in his arms bridal style before sending Archdemon flying with a mega bolt, which surprisingly dampened a jamming beacon.

Terry flicked his communicator. "We could use some back-up here."

"mcginnis, it's a trap. Archdemon is leading-"

Batman back flipped away from a searing bolt of fire. "We know. It's just me and Nemara. I don't know how long Stormbolt can hold him. Call in some help."

"I'm sending in Hal. He's on his way."

"You're talking about sending him too, aren't you?"

"You know me too well, Mcginnis."

Then suddenly, a arc bolt stunned Archdemon while a green hard-light construct of a bus rammed him toward a construction site. Mcginnis and Nemara turned around to look behind them and saw Hal Jordan hovering in the air. Beside him, was the original Man of Thunder himself but transformed into his elemental. The future Stormbolt looked up and noticed both of them as he removed his facemask to show widened eyes.

"Did someone call for some help?" Ethan said as his eyes cracked with electricity