Chapter 12: Bleak Future
Bangkok, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern ran through the portal, landing in a world unfamiliar to them. It resembles the streets of Gotham, though much older.
"We've been expecting you." Said a teenaged voice. A group of villains stepped toward them. The group consisted of pair of orange haired girls wearing white face paint, a blond teenaged boy wearing a pumpkin T-shirt and a large black hat, a robust man wearing a smiling clown mask- and his lower half was replaced with a large ball that kept him upright somehow, a hyena with metal legs, a tall man with gray skin wearing red and black, and finally an average sized man wearing a black cloak with a large black hat.
The group sauntered toward them, but a last of purple electricity cut them off. "Bet you weren't expecting us." Responded the one who blasted the lightning. He was an aging man, with a golden lightning bolt on his chest. That man was once known as Static. Behind him two more people came down, the one being a man wearing silver armor with a pair of large wings, and the other being a man in a Batsuit, with a red bat plastered on his chest.
"Static? What's happening?" Green Lantern asked.
"D-Dad?" Asked Warhawk- the man in armor with wings.
"We need to get out of here." Ordered Batman Beyond*, the man with the red bat symbol on his chest.
"Leaving so soon?" Asked Ghoul, the pumpkin guy. "You didn't even take any party favors!" He hurled a plastic Halloween pumpkin up into the air. It exploded, sending lots of small yellow sparks falling down towards the heroes.
The sparks melted anything they touched, so Green Lantern lifted a shield to protect them. Quickly the sparks tore through the shield, forcing the heroes to scatter in order to avoid them.
The man in black quickly engaged with Bangkok, throwing lots of punches at the hero. Bangkok managed to dodge every one.
"Drake warned me of you."
"Who the hell is Drake? And who the hell are you?"
"The name's Nightmare. And you're going to die." He threw off his hat, revealing short black hair, and a pair of light blue eyes. He flexed his arms, and he shuddered. His eyes then turned to a venomous green color, and he hurled another series of punches at Bangkok, this time they were far too fast for him to block or dodge, so he was forced to tank most of them- right up until he jumped backward.
Nightmare advanced, and kicked Bangkok in the side, knocking him to the ground. Nightmare then kicked downward at him, but Bangkok rolled to the side, and got to his feet. Nightmare advanced again, but Bangkok punched him hard in the stomach before he could start another flurry.
"What the... hell?" Nightmare asked.
"This Drake dude you mentioned... he must've neglected to mention that the more you injure me, the more powerful my blows become."
Nightmare then smiled, and grabbed Bangkok by the throat. "Guess that mean's I'll have to kill you before you can get any more powerful." The boy thrashed and struggled against his grip, to no avail. He punched and kicked the man, but his grip just kept getting tighter. His lunges weren't getting the oxygen he needed. He was going to die soon, if no one helped him.
"Bangkok!" Yelled Wonder Woman- who seemed to be the only one to notice he was being choked out. But she was wrapped up in her own battle, unable to aid the young hero.
Is this... how it ends? Am I gonna die? Bangkok thought. It can't be... I can't just die here...
Suddenly a bullet silently zipped between the two. Nightmare's smile faded, and his grip loosened. Bangkok quickly pushed away, and he looked for the shooter. Was he shooting at me or was he shooting at Nightmare?
There stood a man in a long grey hair, wearing a black leather jacket. He held a pistol in his right hand. His face looked relatively similar to what it did before, but now he had a scar running across his right cheek.
"Tevazio!" Growled Nightmare.
He aimed the gun at the cloaked man.
"Don't kill him!" Bangkok yelled.
"You always were a pussy when it came to killing people. Which ultimately lead to your demise."
Suddenly, a large maze formed. Warhawk lifted Bangkok into the air by his armpits, and Wonder Woman carried Tevazio away. Green Lantern fromed a maze to keep the group occupied.
"Where are we headed? The Watchtower?" Wonder Woman asked.
"Not exactly." Beyond responded.
Soon, they were in their safe house, an old high school with graffiti covering the walls.
"Good to see somethings haven't changed." Bangkok mused.
"I thought you left the team?" Asked Warhawk to Tevazio, who turned away from him.
"I'm not a member of this team. I'm just here to help because of Bangkok."
"This is Justice League Headquarters?" Batman asked, skeptically.
"For now." Static said, turning a large computer on. "We're all that's left of the league."
"You've traveled about fifty years into your future." Beyond told them.
"Last time I saw you, you were too young to drive." Lantern said to Static. "You look good for a man your age."
"The miracles of modern medicine. Sixty five is the new thirty."
"And the Watchtower?" Batman asked.
"It's gone." Beyond responded. "We lost a lot of good people that day." He glanced over to Bangkok, but said nothing.
"Superman? J'onn? All the others?" Wonder Woman questioned.
"Even Fabiola and Supergirl?" Bangkok gripped his jacket, putting his hand right over his heart- as if trying to keep it from breaking.
"Yeah." Warhawk said, taking off his helmet. "You too." He eyed Green Lantern, who looked down at his feet.
"And the Batcave?" Batman asked.
"This is all we have left now." Said a new comer. An old hunched over man with a cane. "Deal with it."
Batman walked over to him.
"Surprised to see me?" Asked the old man, smiling.
"A little. I'm more surprised that I lived that long."
"Is that... Batman?" Bangkok asked.
"Oh yeah." Beyond responded, smiling.
The group began to talk to each other, but Bangkok fixed his gaze on Tevazio. "So you left the League?"
"Yeah. Right after you died."
"How- no, I don't want to know."
He nodded. "And I wouldn't tell you if you did."
"Where were you when the Watchtower was destroyed?"
"Same place as you. We were on a mission with Fabiola on Earth. The two were killed later on by Drake." His eyes widened for a moment. "Shit."
"Who the hell is Drake?"
"You'll meet her soon enough." He said. "If you haven't meet her yet, yet you know Kara, Fabiola, and I, then you should encounter her fairly soon."
"We still don't know much about him. Obviously he's a time-traveling warlord; he's littered the streets with buildings he's stolen from other time periods."
"He's not a warlord. At least, he wasn't at first. When we chased him to the Old West, all he was stealing was historical trinkets."
"He's causing severe damage to the space time continuum. The degradation is increasing exponentially." Wayne said.
"I've found something." Batman said, quickly typing on the computer. "When we were in the Old West, I got a good look at this timebelt." He pulled a small disk from the computer. "I've written a program that should disable it."
"If we can get close enough to upload it."
"If we can get our hands on the belt, maybe we could-" Suddenly Wonder Woman was starting to fade, and she disappeared before she finished her thought.
"Dianna!" Batman said.
"She... never left the island." Wayne mumbled.
"Or she was never born." Batman responded grimly.
"Time is running out." Beyond pointed out, seeing the sky was beginning to turn into an unhealthy white color on Wayne's monitor. "We need to find Clinton."
"How? He could be anywhere." Static said.
"Sometimes the old ways are best." Batman began to walk away.
"It's not gonna work. You don't know your way around the city anymore."
"Are criminals still superstitious and cowardly?"
"Yep." Responded Wayne.
"Good enough for me." Batman then left.
Tevazio shook his head. "We better start doing something." He looked at the young hero. "Don't get yourself killed." He walked after Batman, but he went in a different direction than him.
Later, the group went out to patrol, and they found Ghoul about to attack Batman- so Static shocked him.
"Oh terrific." He mumbled, trying to get to his feet.
"You've got some information we need, Ghoul."
"You won't find me the talkative short." Ghoul growled.
Batman grabbed his shoulder, and dragged him across the rooftop, and then hung him over the edge, by his ankle. He screamed as his hat fell down to the ground.
"Where is Chronos?" Batman asked. "My arm's getting tired."
"I can't believe I was ever that green." Wayne said, grabbing Ghoul by the chest and hurling him across the rooftop. "This is how you interrogate someone." He gripped his cane like a battle axe, and crept toward the fallen teenage.r
Soon, Ghoul sang like a choir boy. "And we've got nine thousand Jokerz working for about two hundred smaller groups. I don't know where Clinton is. He contacts us. He spends every night in a different one of those old buildings. There's no way you'd know ahead of time where he'd be." He looked up, terrified at the old man. "And that's everything I know!"
"Everything?"
His voice rose up. "I wet my bed until I was fourteen."
"That's gross, man." Bangkok said, kneeling in front of him. "Besides that. You need to give us something that we can work with, or the old guy will bust your skull with his cane."
"I don't know anymore!"
"You better start racking your brain, dude. He'll kill you, man."
"Wait! I know where his wife is!"
They deployed Batman Beyond, Warhawk, and Green Lantern to find his wife- with Ghoul's aid in telling them where to look.
They came back, and then took them to where Enid, David's wife, to where she said to look. They went to the Colosseum, and in the center there was the jail that Bangkok went to, where he meet Batlash and David.
"Huh. Guess the man missed sleeping in a prison." Bangkok mumbled. "Prison changes a man."
Lantern searched the room for traps with his ring. "I sense nothing."
The group walked in, and they found him sleeping. He woke, and summoned the Jokerz. They were short two members- Ghoul, and the man with the ball. This time, however, Nightmare wore a might Dia de los Muertos mask, and he had a chipped up black sword in his hand.
Bangkok's stomach churned. "Is that-"
"Yes." Tevazio growled. "Fabiola's gear."
Bangkok looked the alien in the eye. "Give me your gun, Tevazio. I'm putting this guy down myself."
Tevazio handed him the pistol. "It's got two shots left."
Bangkok nodded. "I'll give you another by the end of this fight."
Nightmare advanced, slashing at Bangkok, who blocked the attack with the gun, and then kicked at the inside of his leg. Nightmare dodged the attack, and stabbed at him. Bangkok spun around, dodged the attack, and aimed the gun at Nightmare's head. The villian quickly ducked, and switched sword hands, and elbowed Bangkok in the ribs.
Bangkok pistol whipped him in the back of the head with the gun, and grabbed him by the shoulder- pushing the pistol into his eye-socket. But before he could pull the trigger, the villain ducked and began to move monstrously fast. Nightmare then flurried his stabs and slashes at the hero, who managed to keep most of them at bay, besides the one stab that landed in the right side of his stomach.
He grunted, as Nightmare pulled the blade free. The stab only made it an inch in, but it still hurt and bleed a lot. The swordsman lifted the blade above his head, and slashed down at him. But before the blade could hit him, and small one handed-axe on a chain went flying, and collided with the sword, knocking his swing off- giving Bangkok enough time to dodge.
Tevazio swung the axe back to his hand, and he hurled it at him again. Nightmare dodged and slashed at Bangkok's head. Bangkok then used the stab wound, and any previous wounds that hadn't fully healed, and he put all of his power into his legs. He shot forward, and he slammed the gun into Nightmare's face once again, this time completely breaking the mask. He pulled the trigger, and Nightmare transformed into a bullet for Tevazio's gun.
Bangkok roared loudly, and he punched the ground. Tevazio took back his gun. "Come on, we need to join back up with the rest of them."
Bangkok handed him his gun, and he grabbed Fabiola's sword. He roared and charged after Clinton, who was yelling at his wife. His eyes widened when he saw Bangkok charging at him. He created another rift in time, and he leapt through it. "Lantern!" He shouted, as he ran through. He began to bounce around, just like the last time- but he was right on his heels. He slashed him across the shoulder, causing his flying pattern to become sporadic.
Lantern and Batman came soon, and John formed a ball around them.
"What the hell else does he want?" Bangkok growled.
"The beginning of time." Lantern said.
"He can reset everything. Make himself into a God!"
"Only if he gets there first." Lantern said, speeding up the ball. Bangkok and Batman reached out for him, and they pulled him in. It was that time when Bangkok dropped Fabiola's sword. He reached for it, but it was already too late. The sword was gone.
Batman uploaded the file to Clinton's belt.
"Make it fast, Having some trouble with the brakes!" Lantern cried.
Just then, the three were sitting a table in the lunch room.
"What... the hell?" Bangkok mumbled. "That wasn't just an acid trip or something?"
"That really happened..." Stewart responded, seeming trying to reassure himself as much as Bangkok.
"I think so." Batman responded.
Just then, Wonder Woman walked over. "That's a nasty cut you've got there." She gestured to her forehead. John realized he had a scrap on his head.
"You don't remember going on a mission with us today, do you?" Batman asked.
"I just got here." She eyed Bangkok's clothing, who realized he was still in his Wild West garb. "What are you wearing?"
He shrugged. "Thought being a cowboy would be cool."
Batman leaned toward the two. "The timeline has been restored to equilibrium. The three of us are the only ones who remember what happened.
"What did you do to Clinton's belt?"
"I made it so he'd never be able to travel time."
Bangkok turned, and he saw Fabiola walking by. "See ya guys later!" He took off after her. "Hey, Fabiola!" He called.
She spun toward him. "Yeah?"
He paused, realizing he didn't actually have anything to say. "We should do a mission again some time soon! We haven't done anything interesting in a while!"
She nodded. "Sure. I'll get Supergirl and Tevazio and we can get a mission from J'onn."
Notes: *For this episode, I'll call Terry "Beyond" or "Batman Beyond" original Bruce Wayne "Batman", and future Bruce Wayne "Wayne" to keep from confusion.
Thanks for reading this story, it's greatly appreciated! It would be very nice of you guys to throw down a review with your thoughts, or if you PM me if you're more comfortable with that.
