NOTHING
Any college readers care to PM me any do's and don't's? Please?
"I'm a time traveler," Trunks said, drawing everyone's attention just a little more.
Fire and Ice stared at each other wide-eyed but kept listening.
"So you're from the future?" Terra asked.
"Yes, but you're thinking of time as linear," Trunks said. "Time is an ever-changing set of frequencies of different dimensions created by probability-wave complexes. Neil DeGrasse Kaku and Albert Sagan have talked about it in their forms of string theory; Time, as Kaku and I understood it from my dimension, is an overlapping series of dimensions with set frequencies that change over time, each change presenting a frame in the fifth dimension of the fourth dimension which is understood as time. The differences between universes are shown through how wide the difference of frequencies matter vibrates between the two being compared are; the time machines I fly change the frequency of it and the person inside to the frequency of the new universe."
Beast Boy gave him a blank stare. He blinked.
"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but, actually, from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint - it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly... time-y wimey... stuff."
"Gotcha," Beast Boy said. "Go on."
"During a test run with limited amounts of isotope to power the main component of my machine, I had miscalculated the frequency of a test universe with abundant amounts of that isotope and ended up on an Earth farther back in technology. Of course, I couldn't land the ship without crashing it. I hit Antarctica and a man named Aang and his wife Katara took me in. It was them who taught me how to move air and water; when they figured out I could do both, they called me an Avatar. It was something along the lines of a world savior, but that's not important. Anyway, they sent me to an earthbender named Toph and a firebender named Zuko for the other two elements. Then I fought a lightning-bending dragon and learned his ability to move lightning. It was cool. It also contained the nuclear energy I needed for the ship, and here I am. Who knew dragon blood was nuclear?" Trunks laughed. "One of the techniques I learned was redirection of water and fire, using your body as a network for which it flows through then firing it back at another target. I applied that to electricity and turned what would have killed me into my best tool. Most of my newer techniques actually come from mistakes like that. Time travel is very specific."
"When did you do this?" Ice asked.
"I was eighteen then," Trunks said. "A few years ago."
"Oh, good," Fire said, looking him up and down. "Say, are you doing anything-"
"He's going to a meeting," Ice said, glaring at her friend.
Superman covered his mouth from laughter. "See, kids, this is what happens when someone with a dark, stormy past and an eccentric history talks to women."
"It doesn't work when Robin talks to Starfire," Beast Boy said.
"That's a different issue," Superman said, chuckling. "Ice."
Ice turned to face him. "Yes?"
"I have to get ready for work," Superman said. "I'll take Adam to the strongest prison in the galaxy to let him cool off while you go back to the base. I'll call Manhunter and tell him to beam you there."
"What about us?" Terra asked. "Adam destroyed our signaling devices."
"Where do you live?" Trunks asked.
"In Titans Tower in San Francisco," Terra said. "You can't miss it."
He grabbed the three teens around their waists. "Hold on and close your eyes."
"Why?" Beast Boy asked as Trunks spiked his golden aura. "Where are we-" He screamed as Trunks took off, moving at the speed of a charging rocket ship. He reached the bay within half an hour and landed on a small island just off the coast of the great Californian city. It was very early in the morning and warm; he walked up to the large, T-shaped building.
"Is here okay?" Trunks asked, setting them down. Beast Boy fell over.
"Hold on," he said, struggling to his feet. "I have to regain my land-legs."
Raven stumbled and caught onto Trunks, blushing into his blue eyes. "Just sit down a minute and let your body readjust," he said, helping Raven and Terra sit down. "I know the other three are home, so I'll just tell them you're here."
Trunks walked up to the set of glass double doors. "No!" the three teens shouted. Tear gas burst from the handles and bullets sprayed from the hinges. The three teens could no longer see the Saiyan from within the gas.
"Beast Boy!" Raven said.
Beast Boy started to change, wincing in pain as his skeleton and muscles restructured into that of a condor with a twenty foot wingspan. Beast Boy let out a screech and flapped his great wings, clearing the area of gas. One hundred bullets sat lined in a row in front of the door, some still hot and steaming. Three more scouters sat in front of the bullets with a small note that read, "for your friends, from the Saiyan." Trunks had vanished, much to the three teens' amazement.
Beast Boy morphed back into a human. "That dude is kickass!"
"He's also super hot," Terra blushed. Raven put her hood up as she blushed even more.
Trunks appeared next to Fire and Ice again in the snow. "San Francisco still has the best weather."
The two girls jumped. "Oh! You're back. Are you ready to go?" Ice said.
"Yes," Trunks said. "I think I've had enough of the cold."
"Amen to that," Fire said.
The trio saw the halo form around them and they vanished, reappearing in the surveillance room. "Well done, all of you," Manhunter said. "Defeating Adam with a hostage crisis, even with Superman's help, isn't an easy task. I believe a pay bonus is in order."
The girls grinned.
"But it is up to Superman, if he defeated Black Adam," Manhunter said, smirking at Trunks.
Their smiles vanished.
"Make sure to check the board for any other missions," Manhunter said, "but you can relax for a while. Trunks, be ready for your next mission at any moment."
Trunks bowed appropriately. "I will. Thank you." He turned to the girls. "Thank you for taking me along. I now know what I have to do if I'm going to defeat what I sent here."
"What is that?" Ice asked.
"Get in shape," Trunks said, making Fire laugh.
"You're kidding," Fire said.
"Meet me in the training room after my meeting if you want," Trunks said. "What happened with Adam will not happen again." He walked out of the room.
Green Arrow smiled and walked up to him. "Hey, buddy! I was just-"
Trunks hopped off the side of the railing, landing on the residential hall floor. "We'll talk later, okay? Sorry, but I'm in a hurry!"
"Maybe I wanted to talk," Oliver grumbled, walking into the surveillance room.
Trunks ran down the residential halls, passing Vixen and Captain Atom as they ran the other way toward another mission. "Whoa! What happened to you?" Atom asked, seeing the Super Saiyan Two beaten, cut, bruised, stabbed, and scorched. "You're still blonde!"
"I fought Black Adam," Trunks said. "It wasn't very pretty."
"We saw it on the news," Vixen said. "Superman save you and broke Adam's jaw. It looks like Ice froze him too. You need to stop biting off more than you can chew."
"Superman has quite a different story," Trunks said, fazing out and appearing behind them in a dash, "but I must go." He ran into his room and quickly took off his armor. He looked at the holes left in it and cursed Adam under his breath. He powered down to his normal form and groaned in pain as all the injuries, especially the stab wounds in his arm, caught up with him. He took a quick shower and went into his closet, into the bags from the clothing store he went to with his team and dressed up in his suit and tie. He swept his long hair out of his face and combed it straight. He looked at the bruise on his cheek, watching it slowly fade away. "That stings," he said, cursing Adam again. He grabbed his capsule, his scouter, his wallet, and ran out of the room.
He fazed out, appearing in the surveillance room. Power Girl stood in the room in a red business suit that gave her an hourglass appearance with black high heels and a pearl necklace. The white shirt under her red jacket tried its hardest to suppress her magnificent bust, but did little. "It's about time you got here," she said, wiping a strand of her hair out of her face. She tried not to stare. "We have to get going."
"What are you talking about?" Trunks said, trying not to stare either. He was unsure whether she still hated him or not, but she was still strikingly beautiful along with Diana compared to the other drop-dead gorgeous members of the League. The women in this world outclassed the ones on his; the first girl he'd met made his jaw drop, and then he had met Diana and Karen. Diana's maturity and Power Girl's spunk reminded him of his mother, something that he loved and feared, along with their bodies that made him drool, a weakness that he had to work on. He hadn't been here long, but he was already torn.
"I'm your business associate," she said. Her eyes narrowed. "We also need to talk about your recent exploits."
Trunks knew this was coming. "Well, thank you for helping me with this."
He followed Karen to her car, a stylish black Audi. With wings. And rocket thrusters. As all good super vehicles should have. Trunks opened Karen's door for her. She looked him up and down before entering the car. Trunks got into the other side and the European rocket car burst out of the parking lot. "Superman has been telling me things about you," she said with a tinge of bitterness.
"Like what?" Trunks asked.
"Like how you beat Black Adam by yourself, or how you beat Cheetah by yourself," she said. "You know what I want. Don't hold back this time."
"You have your record," Trunks said.
"Throwing me the match wasn't fair," Power Girl said, "wouldn't you agree? Although well-intended it can hurt one's pride."
"Pride can be a dangerous thing," Trunks said.
"But it's mine," she hissed.
Trunks reluctantly nodded. "When do you want to go?"
"As soon as this business is finished," she said, "we'll fight in the gym. Same setting, same gloves, same challenges."
"What happens when you win?" Trunks asked.
"I keep what I deserve," she said.
"And what if you lose?"
"Then I didn't deserve it in the first place."
They hit the Los Angeles freeway and sat quietly for three hours in early morning traffic. The sun had finally risen above the skyline by around noon and Trunks was astonished. "Wow," he said, seeing the sun shadowing the glinting, terrifying structures of man Trunks only knew as another place to hide. The buildings here weren't the humble, broken giants, but strong, sturdy titans that towered above mortals with a steel fist.
"What?" Karen said, chuckling when she glanced over at him. "You look like you've never seen a skyline before. You were in one of the biggest cities a while ago."
"I remember seeing Los Angeles when I was a child," Trunks said, "but it was never like-"
"What's up with that?" Karen asked with a laugh. "You talk all the time about Earth all the time as if it was post apocalyptic; like you're from some other dimension."
"I am," Trunks said quickly. "I'm here by accident and intend to return home once I find what I released here… although that has proven to be more of a task than I thought."
Karen scoffed. "You're kidding, right?"
"Do I sound like I'm joking?" Trunks said with a hint of venom.
"Alright, alright, calm down," Power Girl said, "but I have to see some proof. Tell me about your Earth."
"Approximately 15 years from now, Doctor Gero will have perfected his Android project," Trunks said, beginning his origin story.
Ninety minutes later, they had reached a fifteen story hotel and conference building in the heart of the city. "But how can you prove the existence of other universes if we cannot observe the strings directly? Or even test it?" Karen asked, interrupting the Saiyan once again.
"If you use a TEM microscope if you see the waves outside the valence shells then you're too far out!" Trunks said. "But let me finish!"
Karen rolled her eyes. "We're here."
They both stepped out of the car and Karen locked it in the parking lot. They walked into the neat, modern foyer to a hotel and past the welcome desk, heading into a crowded elevator with other men and women in suits. "It seems like we weren't the only ones to decide to go here."
"What else obvious can you point out?" a businesswoman snickered from the back of the elevator.
"You wear heels because you're only five three and self-conscious about your height because you equate that with power," Trunks said without even looking back, cutting the snickering. Karen grinned. She covered her mouth with her hand to let out a small laugh. The doors opened to a glass floor, glass walls and ceiling with shiny circular tables with small plants in the corners of the room. A bar sat at the back of the room with three cups of coffee cooling off. Kimiyo wearing a white business suit and a tall, muscular fair-skinned man with blue eyes and short, black hair wearing a black suit just like Trunks' stared at them as they entered the room.
"Doctor Hoshi," Karen said, shaking her hand. Trunks pulled out Karen's seat and sat in the one next to hers. Karen gave Trunks another strange look and sat down.
"Mister…" Hoshi gestured to Trunks.
"Kusao," Trunks said, smiling a little bit. "Mister Takeshi Kusao."
"Meet Mister Bruce Wayne," Kimiyo said. Trunks looked at Mister Wayne up and down. Trunks recognized him from somewhere but he couldn't put his finger on it.
"Hi!" Bruce said with a grin and a soft voice, loosely shaking Trunks' hand. "I want to see what you've been working on; it sounds cool!"
"You'll see it soon enough," Karen said, "right now we need to develop a presentation."
"I have it covered," Trunks said.
"When did you have time to think of that?" Kimiyo asked.
"He could just be improvising," Karen said.
"It should last roughly seven minutes," Trunks said. "I'll need to get into the building a bit early though to get things for the presentation."
"What are you presenting?" Mister Wayne asked.
Trunks placed a green scouter and his capsule onto the table. Kimiyo pointed to the scouter. "Don't you have a red one-"
"Never you mind which one I have," Trunks said quickly.
"But you didn't buy green glass-"
"Just let it happen," Trunks said faster. "Anyway, my primary item is the Capsule."
"What does it do?" Mister Wayne asked.
"It allows for the storage of any item, any weight, by removing the empty space between atoms that make up what is being taken in," Trunks said. "Inside the Capsule, the item is weightless. You can fit a house with everything inside of it in your pocket."
Mister Wayne snorted. "Doubt it, man."
Trunks stood up and pointed the end of the Capsule at his chair. He clicked the pin once, pressed the interface on the side several times as he entered the pin, and clicked it a second time with much more force than before, opening a small hole in the bottom. In an instant, the chair was gone. He showed the interface with the grid of items inside the Capsule to Mister Wayne and clicked the pin once. "Touch the chair icon."
Bruce touched it and a number grid with a flashing message at the top saying "enter PIN" appeared. Trunks entered a series of numbers then hit "enter." Trunks pressed down on the pin and the small hole opened again, spitting Trunks' chair back to where it was. He sat down again. "What if someone uses your invention to, I don't know, take in a city?" Karen asked.
"There's a height limit of fifty feet; the Capsule will not take in any moving objects, nor a long list of organisms I compiled when coding for restrictions. Swaying buildings and pets won't be despaced. In fact, if humans or pets are within range of the Capsule's projection and suction radius, the Capsule will not take anything in or move anything out."
"Good," Karen said. "Imagine the headlines on that one: Purple-Haired Pretty Boy Swallows Chicago."
"I am not a 'pretty boy,'" Trunks said calmly with a hint of aggravation.
"What is the goal of selling this?" Kimiyo asked.
"To deliver ease in moving and transporting items without financially hindering the consumer," Trunks said. "It's that simple."
"Let's move on to the next item," Bruce said. "I bet your competitors will have much more questions to ask."
Trunks put the green scouter on his face. "This is a scouter. It acts as a multi-channel communicator, GPS, tracking device, a phone, and fitness watcher through the power level system. And it's on the side of your head. I'll get into the negative externalities people will try to make up once I'm presenting."
"We'll address them now," Karen said. "What do you mean by tracking device?"
"It picks up on heat signals given off by organic bodies," Trunks said. "Then in pins the body's exact location. This could be used in emergency situations such as finding people in a fire or tracking down criminals and in situations like lifeguarding or hunting; I do not intend this technology to be used in the Armed Forces unless they can keep the technology between allies. If any of my technology falls into the wrong hands, the misusers will receive a personal visit."
"Leave that end part out," Karen said.
"I wasn't going to put it in," Trunks said.
"Put what in?" Bruce asked.
"Don't fool around like that," Kimiyo said. "This is different than what you are used to doing; what you are about to do will require the most cutthroat of actions. This is not something to be taken lightly."
"Although, it's not like he's not going to sell with me backing him up," Karen said.
"You'll need to be on your top game if you expect to out-sell the other entrepreneurs," Mister Wayne said, "you have my company's support, Mister Kusao, but with a few of the businessmen showing up, you will really have to be the best to be considered."
"So then you know the others?" Hoshi said.
"I know one," Bruce said, "but he generally keeps three or four other satellite sellers around."
"Oh boy," Karen groaned, taking a deep sigh.
"Who?" Trunks asked. Mister Wayne grimaced at the Saiyan.
"Lex Luthor."