Author: Cyclone
Feedback: Please be gentle.
Distribution: Gimme credit and a link.
Rating: Maybe a little harsh language, certainly some violence, but nothing worse than on BtVS.
Spoilers: Up to Chosen for BtVS and season two for Teen Titans, as well as season one of JLU.
Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to other people. I'm just borrowing them for a while.
Summary: The battle with Chronos takes three Titans to a future Gotham City to fight alongside the Justice League Unlimited.
Author's Note: Season finale time.
"Get the belt!" Robin cried. "Nothing else matters!" As he and Batman charged into the cell, Chronos activated his time belt again and dove into another time tunnel before they could catch him.
Robin felt heat across his back, and he turned. It was then that he recalled just what exactly powered a Tamaranian's starbolts.
Righteous fury.
And at the moment, Nightfire had that in spades.
"Take cover!"
For a few moments, the world burned green.
The two Terras were able to shield their fellow heroes from the worst of the explosion. The Jokerz were not so lucky, and Chucko took the brunt of the blast. Chucko's image flickered and faded. It was a hologram.
Batman recognized the robot that was revealed underneath, "Zeta?"
"Target acquired," the robot spoke in a monotone.
"Aw, slag."
Starbolts sent Zeta stumbling back a step, and then it charged toward Nightfire. A bolt of purple lightning struck Zeta, playing out harmlessly across its outer shell. Static cursed, then looked up as the building trembled again.
"We've gotta get out of here!" Static warned. "Building's comin' down!"
"Oops," Nightfire muttered as everyone scrambled to leave the building. "I guess Daddy was wrong. There is such a thing as overkill. Oof!" The Zeta unit had tackled her.
"Or not. Let me show you something Daddy once suggested I could do," Nightfire snarled. "He called it the Nova Flame."
"Robin!" Terra turned back to the Elkhorn jail. Robin hadn't quite made it out of the building before it exploded and collapsed.
"Look out!" Terra found herself tackled by... herself. The older Terra crumpled to the ground, the charred gash across her back and the severed rock pillar next to her standing mute testimony to what the Dee Dee twins' laser whips could do.
"No!"
The older Terra looked up and cracked a wry smile, "Hey... who else am I gonna die for?"
Terra's eyes glowed, and her hair rose as she turned to face the Dee Dee twins, but her concentration shattered as a buzzsaw grazed her arm. She backed away and turned to face Ghoul.
Woof charged and tackled Static, who recovered in mid-air, landing on his Static-Saucer and returning fire. Woof scampered away until the very ground started to destabilize, glowing white as it begin to dissolve from the temporal instability. Static cried out as the void dragged him in.
As Batman landed and put down Enid, three British redcoats appeared.
"It 'appened again!" one of them exclaimed.
Another pointed toward the battle, "Look out! Monsters!"
"Fire at will!" the third ordered.
Batman's eyes widened, and he shoved Enid out of the line of fire as they shot him with their Brown Bess muskets. They didn't do much damage, but they hurt, knocking him to the ground.
That was all it took. One of the Dee Dees lashed his arm with her laser whip. By now, there were four of them, and soon, the other three had his other three limbs pinned.
"Batman's not paying us any attention, Dee Dee."
"He should be punished, Dee Dee."
They pulled, and energy crackled through the Batsuit.
"Terry!" Bruce rose from his seat at the computer as he watched in horror. He lowered his head when the vitals flatlined. "Terry..."
Terra backed away and raised pillars and hurled small rocks, but she was having trouble concentrating as Ghoul pressed the assault. Suddenly, Warhawk dove down and tackled Ghoul.
Terra turned and barely managed to erect a stone barrier before Bonk's mallet hand smashed into it, shattering it.
The three redcoats continued pursuing Woof, and Enid did her best to avoid getting mixed up in the fight. A time tunnel opened next to her.
"How could you betray me, Enid?" Chronos asked, emerging from the time tunnel. "Everything I've done, I've done for you."
"Don't blame this on me," she scolded. "I just wanted you to assert yourself, not destroy the universe!"
Meanwhile, Warhawk had knocked out Ghoul and tossed him to the side. Unfortunately, a temporal rift chose that moment to occur, and the mammoth that appeared knocked him silly.
Woof looked down at Warhawk, who had landed at his feet, and raised a claw... only to be smashed in the chest by a rock the size of his head. "You okay?" Raven asked.
"I'll live."
"Chronos!" Robin called as he finally pulled himself free of the wreckage.
"You are good," Chronos said. He looked at Enid, "Isn't he good?"
"Look at what you've done!" Robin said. "Look up!"
He did, and he saw the whiteness of non-existence spreading across the sky.
"Pretty..." Chronos muttered.
Nightfire blasted out of the wreckage and landed next to Robin. Terra joined them. "You small-minded, self-serving idiot!" Nightfire snarled. "Do you have any idea what you've done? You caused all this!"
"Right," Chronos said, seeming to focus on the situation. "You're right. This calls for another approach." He kissed Enid on the cheek and created a time tunnel. "You'll love me next time!" he called as he dove in.
Nightfire, Terra, and Robin dove in after him.
"Where does he think he's going?" Robin asked. "There's nothing left!"
"Not quite," Nightfire said. "The beginning of time. Something Daddy told me about. If anyone were to witness it, he'd awaken something that'll destroy reality itself."
At the far end of the time tunnel, they could see the first few moments of time, going backwards as the giant hand began to close.
"He's doing a fine job without any help," Terra snapped.
Robin aimed his grappler and fired.
"No!" Chronos cried as it latched onto his wrist. Robin pulled him back toward the trio and slid the disc he'd programmed into the time belt.
"Uploading now!"
"Hurry up!" Nightfire snarled as she gritted her teeth, holding onto the other three. "Can't... slow... down..."
Reality stopped.
Beast Boy rose from the breakfast table he shared with Robin and Terra. "I'm gonna head outside," he said.
Terra looked around and leaned over to Robin, asking hesitantly, "Did that... actually happen?"
"I think so," Robin said, looking around curiously.
"Then we won... right?"
"Morning," Nighthawk greeting them as he joined them for breakfast.
"Morning," Robin replied.
"You okay, Terra?" Nighthawk asked, nodding at the gash in her arm. "Looks pretty bad."
"Uh, I'm fine," Terra said, covering the wound with her other hand. "Thanks," she smiled at him. At his puzzled look, she added, "For caring."
"Hey, you're one of us now," he said with a shrug, as if that explained it all. In retrospect, maybe it did.
After a moment, Robin asked him, "You don't remember going on a mission with us today, do you?"
Xander blinked, "Mission? What mission?" And why does that line sound familiar?
"Nevermind," Robin waved it off.
"So, we're the only two who remember?" Terra whispered to Robin.
"Apparently," Robin nodded. He looked up as the door opened again, and as Starfire entered the room, he smiled and leaned back, "But you know what? That might not be so bad."
"Well, what about Chronos?" Terra asked.
"I reprogrammed the belt to make sure Chronos would never come to exist," Robin replied.
"You worthless, good for nothing, wretched waste of space!" Enid Clinton roared. "You invent a time machine and can't think of anything useful to do with it?"
"I can think of one thing," her husband, David, pulled the hood of his chronosuit over his head.
Flash.
"You worthless, good for nothing, wretched waste of space!" Enid Clinton roared. "You invent a time machine and can't think of anything useful to do with it?"
"I can think of one thing," her husband, David, pulled the hood of his chronosuit over his head.
Flash.
"You worthless, good for nothing, wretched waste of space!" Enid Clinton roared. "You invent a time machine and can't think of anything useful to do with it?"
"I can think of one thing," her husband, David, pulled the hood of his chronosuit over his head.
Flash.
"Did it work?" The voice sounded female. Anxious. Nightfire also thought it sounded vaguely familiar.
"We got someone," another voice said. Nightfire shot to her feet and dropped into a fighting stance. She kept her hands free of starbolts -- no reason to expose herself.
She found herself facing several people. People she recognized.
"Hey, it's all right," the redhead said soothingly. "We're not gonna hurt you."
Nightfire stared at her, slack-jawed.
"Auntie Will?"
Author's Postscript:
And thus ends the extended first season of The Nighthawk Chronicles.
