Surprise posting! :D

I'll post on Saturday, too, like normal, but I thought that I wanted to post something extra today. Mostly because...it's my birthday! :D

Thanks to nicopop for the Favorite!

Shadescribe - Yup. That's because she's planning on going home to her own dimension, and the energy connected to it and its corner of the universe feels a lot better than the "Shattered Glass" dimension. And it is time that Maria went back to her own dimension!

And here's the chapter!

Chapter 36

Maria's POV

Our return to the base a mere day after we had left surprised Fowler and amazed everybody else who was on-base - most of the Cybertronians were out, so I knew that I was going to be able to surprise them later.

"How could you have managed to take care of that without being gone for longer?" Fowler asked - well, more like demanded - when we were all back in the hanger. "And who'd this guy? He looks like he came out of some comic book!"

"Around here?" I smirked. "He kind of is. But he's not going to be sticking around for long, so don't think that you're going to be able to get any secrets about his life out of him."

Miko's shoulders sagged in disappointment. "Aw, come on! I wanted to know what it was like!"

"What what was like?" Kid Flash raised an eyebrow.

"Being a superhero! Getting to work with Batman and knowing all the secret identities and -"

"Whoa, hang on!" KF held up his hands. "Just because I've got a secret identity doesn't mean I know everyone else's! And I'm not about to say anything to civilians, anyway."

"Phoo!"

"I didn't think that you were into the DC comics, Miko," Raf commented, looking at Miko curiously. "You and Liz like that anime stuff, right?"

"Well, yeah, of course, but I like some of the stuff here, too! Batman's awesome!"

"Of course he is," Matthew said as he came over, rolling his eyes. He looked over at Kid Flash. "Kid Flash, right? I'm Matthew - Maria's brother. I spent some time on your world a while back." He held out a hand, and KF shook it. "Nightwing gave me some close combat training for a while."

KF grinned. "Oh, yeah? And how was that?"

"Not fun. And that's an understatement."

KF laughed as I grinned. "Oh, yeah. I know how you feel about that."

"Yeah, I figured you would," Matthew replied dryly. "How long are you going to be sticking around?"

"Well, I expect that I'm going to drop dead at any moment from energy depletion because of the portal, so...probably a day?" I shrugged, then yawned. "If you guys want the full story of what happened, talk to Joshua or Wildfire. I'm gonna go sleep."

With that, I walked over to the entertainment center and collapsed onto the couch before conking out.

Change in POV

As soon as Maria was deaf to the world, Miko zeroed in on Joshua.

"Well? What'd you do? Did you find Maria's counterpart? Did you have one?"

"We tipped the scales for the sake of our allies, we did find and rescue Maria's counterpart, and there was no proof that I had a counterpart in that dimension's Cybertron," Joshua replied calmly. "Maria, Kid Flash, Maria's counterpart, a man we never got to meet who shrank a Cybertronian, and I were the only ones who were even remotely human on Cybertron."

"Shrank a Cybertronian?" Liz did a double-take. "How's that possible?"

"I'm not entirely sure." Joshua shrugged.

"Cybertron's atmosphere is poisonous to humans, though," Jack pointed out. "How could Kid Flash have survived that?"

"That Cybertron had oxygen," Kid Flash replied.

"Which is odd, considering that we don't need it to survive," Wildfire continued. She paused. "However, they did have Embers instead of Sparks over there. Those Cybertronians probably needed the oxygen."

"That makes sense," Jolt spoke up. "Fire needs oxygen to burn. If their Sparks are basically tongues of flame, then they're going to need it."

"Exactly," Joshua agreed. "Which is why Kid Flash was able to survive on Cybertron when it wouldn't have been possible in other areas."

"What's Cybertron's atmosphere like here?" Kid Flash frowned. "No oxygen, obviously, but what else?"

"You're interested in that kind of thing?" Jolt looked down at the teenage superhero in surprise.

"I'm a scientist; of course I'm gonna be interested!" KF grinned. "I may as well do something while I'm waiting for my ticket home to charge up." He motioned up to where Maria had gone.

Jolt's optics lit up. "Come over here; Joshua and I can go over the chemical compounds with you."

"Awesome!" KF grinned, then zipped over to the computer terminal that Jolt had motioned to, startling Ratchet in the process.

"By the Allspark!" the medic yelped. "What kind of human are you?!"

KF turned sharply at Ratchet's exclamation, eyes widening a little when he saw the red and white medic. "U-uh-"

"He's not a mad scientist here," Joshua spoke up from the floor. He jumped up, using the jets in his boots to boost himself up to the computer terminal. "This world and yours are different from the one you were at before, remember?"

KF relaxed. "Right, right. Sorry, it's just - instinct."

Ratchet snorted. "I'm not surprised." He eyed the teenager with a raised optic ridge. "How is it that a human is capable of running at speeds faster than most average vehicles? This shouldn't normally be possible."

KF grinned. "Not around here, obviously. Where I come from, it's another story."

While KF proceeded to launch into an explanation of his powers to Joshua, Jolt, and Ratchet, Miko and the other humans gathered a short distance away.

"I can't believe that there's a superhero in here! Right now!" Miko let out a quiet squeal of excitement.

"It's pretty unbelievable that Maria managed to find him," Matthew agreed, grinning. "I mean, she thought he was alive, but I didn't think he'd end up on that Cybertron, of all places."

"Wait - you mean Maria knew that Kid Flash was out there somewhere?" Liz looked at her brother in surprise. "Since when?"

"Probably since the end of the Young Justice series." Matthew rubbed the back of his head. "You guys remember the last episode, right?"

Morgen snorted. "I remember. Maria was complaining about that ending for days."

"She definitely didn't like the ending all that much," Kate agreed. "I liked the bittersweet ending, to be honest, but I guess that didn't work for everyone."

"You watch cartoons?" Miko asked in surprise.

"I like the animation," Kate replied honestly. "Is that a problem?"

Miko shook her head. "No, it's just - I didn't think adults would be interested in that kind of thing."

"Well, I like to draw, so I like to see what other people's styles are."

Miko's eyes widened in understanding. "Oh."

"What does this have to do with the kid who can run around like he's on a sugar high?" Fowler jabbed a thumb back at the computer terminal.

Kate turned to look at Fowler. "In the last episode of the series, Kid Flash pushed himself to the point that he was vaporized by an energy blast. Everyone on his team thought that he was dead, and one of the other speedsters took on his name as a way of keeping the Kid Flash legacy going. Maria thought that he had been sucked into a realm referred to as the Speed Force, but I'm not entirely sure what that is."

"It's an alternate dimension that the Flashes in the DC comics have access to," Matthew explained quickly. "I remember reading about this when Maria came home with those comic books before she first World Jumped - they have to be going at a certain speed in order to be able to access it, and sometimes, when they break out or pass by it, they can end up in entirely different dimensions. She thought that was what had happened to Kid Flash over there."

Fowler whistled. "Pretty good deduction skills for a teenager. And this was before she was a Reploid?"

"Yup. Maria's been pretty sharp when it comes to her fiction." Morgen looked amused. "Maybe she knew somewhere that she was going to need to know that stuff sometime."

"That is so cool," Miko breathed with an amazed expression.

"No kidding," Raf agreed.

"So, you guys are all into different kinds of fiction stuff like that?" Jack's eyebrows rose. "Since you guys were sucked into TVs, Mr. and Mrs. Carlsdale, I would have thought you would have avoided them."

"Avoid them?" Morgen laughed. "Sure, I was nervous every time that I sat down in front of the TV, but I loved traveling to those different worlds so much!"

"All those people, places, flora and fauna..." Kate closed her eyes and breathed in, a peaceful look on her face. "They were incredible. I don't think that I'm ever going to forget what I was able to see." She opened her eyes again. "That all stopped, though, after we met Wildfire and the others for the first time. I can't help but wonder if us marrying and having our children was the cause of it."

"So, you're saying that this whole World Jumper thing stops as soon as you're able to settle down and start a family," Fowler noted, frowning. "What would happen if someone like Maria isn't able to settle down like you two can?"

Morgen and Kate exchanged looks, then shrugged.

"We haven't heard of anyone being in that sort of situation," Kate admitted.

"Joshua mentioned this already - World Jumpers from other worlds don't run into each other." Morgen paused. "Well, there might be a few times where that might be wrong, but I don't think very many people can say that they've met a fellow World Jumper from another universe in their lifetime."

"Wait - are you saying you've met another World Jumper?" Collin asked, looking up at Morgen and Kate in surprise. "Are we gonna see them in the videos you bright from home? The ones we haven't seen?"

Morgen and Kate looked at each other at the question, while the others looked interested.

"What kinds of people have you met?" Nurse Darby asked, speaking up for the first time since Maria had returned. "Are they from all walks of life?"

"You could say that," Morgen replied. "Everyone we've met...they're a well-mixed group. Teenagers, scientists, freedom fighters, runaway experiments...the list goes on from there."

"Experiments?" Fowler repeated, startled.

"The Hulk's an experiment - in a way," Jack spoke up. "Do you guys mean people who have managed to get away from mad scientists or something?"

Kate and Morgen nodded. Fowler looked uneasy.

"Still, those kinds of people can be dangerous," Fowler said. "How young were you to end up with people like that?"

Morgen and Kate chuckled.

"Young," Morgen replied.

"And, maybe, a little reckless," Kate added, playfully nudging her husband.

This got a loud laugh from Morgen. "You got that right!"

Time Break/Change in POV (Maria)

By the time I woke up, it was late in the afternoon and I could hear people talking and laughing - even the occasional, rumbling chuckle from one of the Autobots.

I sat up, yawning and keeping one eye closed as I checked my energy levels. "Oh, good, I've got some strength back." I pushed myself off the couch and stood up, stretching as I raised my voice. "So, what are you all laughing about?"

"Wally was telling us about a prank Dick pulled!" Miko replied cheerily, grinning from ear to ear.

"I still can't believe that he would do things like that," Matthew said as I came down. "I mean, leaving a prank virus in Luthor's computers? I wouldn't have the guts to do something like that."

"Well, you're not Dick," Kid Flash replied cheerily. "You definitely don't look like a computer whiz like he is, unlike Joshua." He nodded to the blue-armored Reploid.

Joshua raised an eyebrow. "Well, Matthew definitely isn't someone who can work through computer code."

Matthew grunted. "I can use the stuff, but I just can't stand staring at a screen like that for very long."

I snorted. "Yeah." I looked over at KF. "You ready to head back?"

"What, now?" KF blinked in surprise.

"Well, we want to get you back to your home world, and I'm sure that there are a lot of people who are going to want to know that you're okay." I winked. "I'm sure that one particular archer-girl is going to want to let you know just how she feels about you sacrificing yourself like that."

KF winced at my statement, and I gained something of a wolfish grin.

"Yeah, I should probably should get back there," KF admitted. "You good to go?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Matthew, do you want to come with and say hi to Nightwing?"

Matthew snorted. "No way. You can tell him I say hi, though."

I smirked. "Sure." I rubbed my hands together. "Okay, you guys. You might want to step back."

As soon as I got a proper amount of room, I focused and opened a portal straight to the world I had been at before I had known about Wildfire's existence.

I looked over at KF, then motioned for him to follow me. He gave me a smirk in response before he and I walked through the portal...

...and stepped into the exact same hanger that we had been in a moment ago. Only, the cast of characters who were in the hanger were a little bit different.

"Hiya!" I called, waving a hand as KF and I stepped out of the portal. "I won't be sticking around for long - I just came to drop off someone I know you've been looking for."

My grin widened when I saw the shocked looks on the faces of the humans present. Batman may try to deny it, but like it or not, I did see the Dark Knight's eyes widen.

"Wally!" A red-and-yellow blur slammed into KF, causing him to look down in surprise. "I knew you would be coming back, but I didn't think that it'd be so soon! This is so crash!"

"Bart?" KF asked in surprise. "What are you doing wearing my costume?"

Bart backed out of the hug he had caught KF in, the wide grin that was on his face fading. "Well, someone had to take up the mantle when you...well, y'know."

"Oh. Yeah..." KF looked over at me. "You know, you could have warned me about that."

"We did, remember? When Joshua, Wildfire, and I were filling you in on what happened around here?" I shot a certain Dark Knight a look. "But, considering you're here, I'm guessing the original base got blasted to pieces by something."

"It was." Nightwing caught my attention, stepping forward. I saw a certain Japanese exchange student dancing around giddily behind him while Jack and Raf stared at me with wide-eyed expressions of shock. "Megatron managed to get his hands on something that Optimus called the Omega Lock and erected a base not far from here. We only just arrived here to start prepping their new base."

"Really? Then you're not all that far behind us. Huh." I scratched my head in thought.

"Can you warn us about what's coming?" Bart looked at me with a curious, almost eager expression.

"That would be spoiling things, wouldn't it?" I replied with a wink.

"Flare-Up."

I looked up when I heard Batman's growling tone. Wally shot me a look, then zipped over to where his old girlfriend happened to be standing off to one side - Tigress, if I'm remembering right.

Knowing that Batman wasn't going to let me get away without saying something, I let out a sigh and thought for a moment. "You might be going on a bone hunt soon. The Decepticons picked up a scientist named Shockwave - he's got one optic for his entire face, but my team doesn't call him Cyclops - we call him Frankenstein, because of what he could do with those bones. Did you see the metal dragon that was causing the Autobots trouble?"

"Yes," Aqualad spoke up. "Quite the formidable creature."

"But Ratchet took care of him!" Miko called. "He sent Puff straight to the Arctic!"

"I wouldn't be so sure that he's going to stay there." I paused when the proud look on Miko's face faltered a bit. "The creature is called a Predacon - basically, they're predator Cybertronians that turn into beasts. Shockwave sent a contingent of them here in the prehistoric era, and their bones are still lying around somewhere. Keep them from Shockwave's claws, or else you're going to be facing an army of who knows what kind of monsters. We're in the middle of the hunt right now back at home, so I can't tell you yet how it's going to play out."

Batman gave a small nod in response. Then a thought occurred to me.

"You know, my world has this place on military ground," I commented. "How different is it here?"

"Wayne Industries has been publicly backing the Justice League and the Autobots for some time now," Nightwing replied. "Ever since Brainiac was disabled, in fact. You missed the uproar Mr. Wayne caused when he announced that."

I could tell from the dry smirk on Nightwing's face that I really missed something big.

I snickered. "I wish I had been there, but my world has issues of its own to solve. I'll see if I can stop by later, if you need anymore help, but I need to get back to my own place."

Batman gave another small nod, and Wally gave me a thumbs-up.

"You go show those morons who's boss!" Wally grinned.

I grinned back and gave a nod. "You know it!"

With that, I turned and walked back through the portal. As I left, I could distinctly hear a loud slap and a yelp from Wally, and I knew that Tigress was definitely making her feelings known to the speedster.

I chuckled, glad that the two of them could get back together, and feeling as though all was right with my world.

Nothing all that much happening here, but it's still important - we had to get Wally home, you know. ;)

Saturday, we'll get right back to the TF:P episodes. I'll see you then! :D