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They're Us

Chapter 25

My King

His side burned as he spun out of the way of a raging creature. His bloodshot eyes tracked its movement as it turned once again to face him. He didn't know how long he had fought, how many creatures he had killed. He didn't know how many injuries he had, though he could feel each and every one of them.

He didn't know how much longer he could last.

The roar of the crowds became a distant distraction, an unimportant factor in his battle with life and death.

Duck, spin, block out the pain . . . jump, kick, slash, move back, dodge . . . ignore the shifting of broken ribs . . .

A wet cough splattered his lips with red that slowly drifted through the water in streams. Blinking his eyes he focused on his latest opponent, a crab of some sort. It clacked its only remaining claw loudly . . . the other was a few meters away, clearly sliced off at the base.

Maybe it was because of his focus that he didn't notice it at first.

Maybe he just wanted it all to end.

Maybe he had finally lost hope of being rescued . . .

The cheering stopped, falling into silence. The crab paused, clacking nervously at the sudden change in the atmosphere, and its worn down opponent took the opportunity to lean on a half broken spear that he'd picked up, mind to hazy to realize what was going on and the crab to far away to strike at.

"The alarms have sounded!" someone shouted and he blinked slowly, mind sinking closer to oblivion the longer he stood still.

"Assemble the guards! Protect the base!"

Running, screaming, chaos.

He leaned a little heavier on the spear and turned his head slightly, eyes still on the crab, uncomprehending.

The crab on the other hand, seemed to have decided that enough was enough and it darted sideways, toward the hole that it had come from and began to pound on the door that closed it off from its dark shelter. Still, he didn't move.

It was the shattering of glass that finally shook him out of the haze.

"Wha-" he licked his lips as his voice cracked and looked up, truly seeing for the first time in hours.

A battle raged around him, fowl creatures fighting against their Atlantian counterparts. His mind sharpened and he turned suddenly, looking for a familiar face . . .

There.

"My King . . ." he whispered in hushed awe, "you came."

The gold armored king swayed a sort distance away on the arena floor, fighting against two of Manta's guards at once. He didn't see the third until it was too late.

"No!" Kaldur shouted, lunging forward and taking the blast that was aimed at his King's back just as said King finished off his two opponents and turned in surprise. Warm arms caught the young man as he fell, a burn accompanying the many wounds on his already failing body. His vision faded rabidly and he felt himself being put on the ground gently.

A moment later a face became visible, full of shock and surprise. Kaldur smiled.

"My King," he coughed, "I am glade . . . you are safe . . ." and then he closed his eyes.

As the fighting came to a stop around them, the Atlantians beating Manta's army back, Aquaman couldn't help but stare down at the young man in his arms . . . the boy who had just saved him.

The boy who looked like he might die at any moment, and the one who he'd assumed was their enemy.

"Medic!" the King's voice echoed over the soldiers.

He hoped that he wasn't too late.

0~o~0

Superman closed his eyes as he sped through the atmosphere. As soon as the Watchtower had come back online he'd headed back to Earth. For three days his city had been left unprotected by anyone, and he wasn't looking forward to seeing what it looked like now.

He could just imagine it. Burning buildings, chaos in the streets, Lois snooping around and getting in trouble without him there to save her . . . No. Best not to think about it.

Regardless, Superman sped up slightly, becoming a blue and red blur through the sky.

He broke through the protective atmosphere and ignored the heat as he slowed down slightly to take a good look at everything. From so far above his city was tiny . . . and he couldn't see any pillars of smoke.

Closer . . . closer . . . still no destruction . . .

Superman frowned, worried. He'd at least expected . . . something. More than half of the superhero population was stranded in space. Shouldn't there be at least a little more crime? He became lost in thought as he continued to move toward his city at tremendous speeds until –

Crash!

Superman stumbled, or at least what could be considered a stumble while flying, and instinctively grabbed whatever had hit him. As his arms closed around it he realized that it was familiar, a little too familiar. The object felt distinctly . . . human.

He glanced down and then froze as he looked into identical blue eyes. Superman felt his breath stop.

It was the boy from the watchtower. His alternate self had just flown into him.

Superman's hands tightened around the boy arms as he took in the others face more closely. They had the same blue eyes, black hair, and chin, but the other's skin was just slightly darker.

The sudden pressure seemed to have broken the boy out of his surprise because Superman felt himself suddenly being shoved backwards, breaking his hold as the boy shouted, "Let go of me!"

"What-" Superman started, bewildered, and then cut himself off for the second time that day, his eyes wide.

The boy had two giant . . . wings . . . strapped to his back. He wasn't flying under his own power.

They stared at each other for a few seconds, measuring the other, and then the boy suddenly turned and took off. Superman started, again, and shoot forward after him.

"Wait!" he shouted, "I just want to talk to you!"

The mechanical wings were slower than Superman and he began to catch up. Just as he was about to snatch the boy up again the wings retreated and the boy dove into freefall, dropping right onto . . .

Lex Luthor's office building?

And . . . was that Lex Luthor . . . glaring at him?

Superman slowed to a stop, blinking several times to try and compute what he saw. Luthor crossed his arms, glare intensifying. The boy crouched warily behind the criminal, a flicker of something unreadable in his eyes.

"Luthor," Superman began, "What-"

"You have some nerve coming here," Luthor drawled, face hard.

A pause. Superman opened and closed his mouth several times in incomprehension.

"Really, it's clear for anyone to see. Conner is scared of you, Mr. Hero. I don't know what you did to him before he came into my care but let me tell you," Luthor's eyes darkened, "I will not tolerate you hurting my son."

"I didn't-" Superman tried again to say but was cut off.

"I don't care if you view him as an abomination, a freak of nature, or a mistake. You had your chance with him. You failed. Leave Conner alone, before I make you."

Superman floated for a moment in stunned silence, his face slack.

What in the world is going on?

Wait . . . did Luthor just say son!

"You have five seconds to comply. Leave." Luthor growled.

Brain unable to hand anymore Superman simply nodded and flew in the other direction, heading toward Gotham.

Maybe Batman knew more about this, and Superman was sure that he should be back in Gotham by now, at least.

0~o~0

Securing a room turned out to be easy enough. All they had to do was walk into a room, let everyone see their uniforms, and suddenly the place became vacant. Like magic, really. Or luck.

Roy didn't trust either of those, but he liked the easy room.

"So let me get this straight," Roy rubbed his forehead and closed his eyes, "After I was forcefully teleported to another world – which I'm still having a hard time believing, by the way – Batman figured out where we were, built a machine that mimicked the device only with a back button, and sent you through to rescue us?"

"Yes . . ." Zatanna hesitantly replied, watching Roy carefully. "You're . . . taking this better than I expected."

Considering that Batman almost came through instead of Zatanna, ready to tear down his enemies in righteous fury . . . yah, he was handling this much better than expected.

"Yah," Roy let out a hollow laugh, "Taking it, still trying to understand it."

He paused. His eyes widening.

"Oh . . ."

"What?"

"I called Batman a fraud. The Batman."

"WHAT!" Zatanna suddenly yelped, backing away from him. "No . . . you didn't, you couldn't . . ."

"Yes," Roy groaned, dropping his head into his hands, "I did."

"We are in Gotham." Zatanna realized, her voice monotone.

"I know. I'm-" Roy froze, "We're in Gotham."

Zatanna grabbed his arm in a crushing grip. "Let's leave. Now."

"Agreed."

"siloporteM ot us ekaT!" Zatanna shouted, and they both disappeared in a flash of light.

Less then a second later there was a second flash of light and an older man in a magicians outfit stumbled out of it, cursing softly. He looked around and scowled as he realized that the room lacked his targets.

"Just wait." He growled, "When I find you . . . you are so dead."

He stormed out of the room, eyes searching for his wayward daughter. In the corner a cowardly criminal whimpered, wishing dearly that he'd left Gotham when the Exodus first started. First the Bat, then the Joker-Kid-Bat, and now . . . well, lets just say that he preferred the Bat, and only the Bat.

Hah! Listen to him! Weeks ago it would have been suicide to say that you preferred the Bat over any other Heroes . . . but that was a few weeks ago.

Another whimper left his lips.

Maybe they still had room in that cargo ship that was supposed to leave today.

0~o~0

And . . . that's all for today.

I am going to try and write more in the next few weeks to try and finish this story. I know that it's been over a month but all I can say is . . . I've been updating my other stories. Normally, I update once a month, if I'm lucky. Last month I loaded three chapters. Three. For three different stories. I'd say that's a pretty big accomplishment for me.

Anyway, I'm also going to answer questions from reviews for the last chapter.

1) Concerning the Bomb . . . who's to say that there isn't one? (Spoiler Alert!)

2) Batman assumes Roy is the leader . . . lets see. He's the oldest. Several of his moves resemble Robin's who got his tricks from Batman. He looks like a Red version of Green Arrow. He shut down the entire watchtower right under the Heroes noses. He escaped not just once but twice. Why wouldn't Batman assume him to be the leader?

3) Joker with come back in, don't worry. I enjoy traumatizing my characters a little too much, but we're not quite ready for that drama yet! *grins evilly* I'll give you a clue: Batman has to make it back to earth first.

4) I'm sorry that I have to leave Fanfiction too, but I also view this as an opportunity. For the last several years I've been writing based on someone else's works of art. It's like . . . painting a painting of a painting. I'm ready to try something new, and I've already got a few original ideas. Who knows, you might end up reading one of my Novels some time in the future (under a different name, of course) and not even know it!

6) Story ideas . . . how would you feel if I posted a 'story' that had all of my notes/chapters for each of my ideas listed by category and name? I would probably put it under Xovers if I did, though, and that way everyone could just go in and look at it to see if they want to adopt it.

All story ideas are now posted to my Profile. Please refer to it if you want to look for any.

Review? Questions? Concerns?

Let me know what you think!

(Updated: 3/20/2017)