Legends Final
Chapter 41
"NO!" I shouted in alarm as I came back into the real world.
I panted violently as I fell to my knees, "Woah there… You're alright now." I hear as I looked up to Tom.
"Tom? Wait… What?" I blinked.
"Everyone is alright, look." He motioned to everyone heading our way.
"But I thought… You fell…"
"No, Tala. Come along. It's over." He said gently.
He guided me to Flash, I hugged him tightly and he went mother hen on me. Looking me over to make sure those baddies didn't touch me or hurt me.
"You dummy I was more worried about you being tied on the side of a FREAKING BLIMP!" I hissed at him.
"I know, I know! I'm sorry!" He smiled wearily.
I growled but hugged him tightly, the images still fresh in my mind.
"Just… Just hold me okay…" I say weakly.
Everyone looked at me worriedly, I felt my hands shake and my heart beating wildly.
"Woohoo! That was amazing! When Black Siren fell and Flash caught her, and then Catman knocked Sir Swami off the blimp! Gosh, that was the best battle yet!" Ray told me, in my panic I had missed the whole battle.
"Indeed. The city's in your debt Justice Guild." The Chief of Police told us.
"Just doing our job, Sergeant. Take them away!" Streak told him with a salute.
They did just that with all 3 villains in the small police car in nothing but cuffs…
That didn't settle right with me.
"Is it just me or are those two the only cops in this town?" Flashed asked as he rested his arm around my shoulders as I was still a little shaken.
I let that settle in my mind. They really were… Even when we first met them, it was JUST those same men… Sergeant and his Second in Command…
"Hey, you still with us kiddo?" Flash looked at me.
"Yeah, sorry… I just need Shotzey…" I say weakly.
"Right… Let's get you to him then." He quickly lifted me up in his arms and I leaned into his hold.
"Here, Shotzey." I say.
He perked up quickly and ran to me as Flash set me down quickly.
I sat on the ground and hugged him tightly, he only whined and gently licked at my cheeks. He could feel how shaken I was now.
"Then, at the last second, Green Guardsman flies in and –" Ray continued and made a loud explosion noise.
"Tala." I hear.
I looked to see Hawkgirl and Lantern sitting at the table. And they looked… Alarmingly calm…
"Come on boy…" I tell Shotzey as I walked up to Hawkgirl's side.
Gently, she used her wing to pull me as close as possible.
"What's wrong?" I asked softly.
"Just… Stay close kiddo…" She replied, eyes never leaving the Justice Guild in front of us.
"Some friends, it's a good thing the Justice Guild was around to save me." Flash said to try and cut the tension in the air.
Ray, suddenly not so happy anymore, looked rather… Afraid… He even backed away from the table as Lantern's eyes were stone serious.
"They're not the Justice Guild." Lantern said coldly.
I looked at him a little surprised, mostly because he was so adamant that Hawkgirl and I were wrong about the grave stones on the hill. But then again, we told the truth. She must have taken him to the stones.
"I'm sorry what?" Flash blinked.
"You heard me. They are NOT the Justice Guild." Lantern stood up slowly.
"How can you say that?" Ray asked, he almost looked down right offended.
"This is a serious accusation, young man." Streak walked up to us rather sternly.
"Explain yourself." He ordered.
"No. You explain this." Lantern dropped a dirty, old newspaper on the table.
JGA KILLED IN BATTLE
The picture on the front was a giant mushroom cloud… Like the one from my nightmares…
It all clicked at last, GREAT TIMING BRAIN…
This wasn't REAL… This world at least… It was already gone. This was just a comic book story made up in a realistic illusion! The guild was dead… Someone… Someone used their memory to just make up this whole world in hopes to cling to the past!
Everyone stared at the paper in just, well disbelief! For some reason my eyes wandered to little Ray, his eyes were widening and his fists were clenched tightly. He quickly shouted at Lantern with anger in his voice, "It's a hoax! Some kind of sick joke!"
Lantern looked upset, but said simply, "It's no joke. The real Streak, Green Guardsman, Tom Turbine-" He closed his eyes.
"They're all dead. I've seen their graves."
I stepped away from Hawkgirl and slowly walked toward Ray, I felt my golden bracelet tingle and slowly change shape, snaking up my arm and taking a new form.
"He can't be serious… Can he?" Siren looked at Catman worriedly.
"I don't know. It sounds fantastic, but-" Streak was interrupted by the phone ringing loudly, catching everyone off guard… Well, everyone but me.
I felt the bracelet continue to twist up my arm and slowly start to take a new shape, something about Ray was making me uneasy and made me want to protect my friends… But he's just a child… Younger- No… No he wasn't younger than me, maybe once… But he's no child any more…
"Hello?" Streak answered the phone in the blink of an eye.
I hear faint sounds of explosions and a building breaking down on the other end. How convenient… Trouble right as we faced them with some unsettling news…
I kept my eyes trained on Ray, he looked at me just as wearily, he knew I was focused on him only. He surely remembered that I wasn't exactly powerless.
"On our way Sergeant! There's trouble down town!" He hung up and turned to his team.
All of the Guild started for the front door, totally just baring the discussion at hand!
Lantern refused to let this conversation end like this, he used his ring to block the door quickly.
"We're not done here." He glared at all of them darkly.
I watched Ray's eyes narrow quickly, almost saying 'How dare you'.
"But Seaboard city needs us!" Streak shouted alarmed.
"Haven't you noticed that nothing here makes sense? Library books with blank pages, ice cream trucks that never stop." Lantern cut him off quickly.
"Danger that spring up whenever someone gets too close to the truth." Hawkgirl said quickly connecting the dots like I had just a moment ago.
"What truth?" Guardsman asked us quickly.
"It's all an illusion." I say at last.
They all looked at me, my golden bracelet no longer wrapped around my wrist, rather slithering all around my arm like a snake ready to strike anyone around me.
I looked at the Guild, eyes filled with sorrow but as well rage.
"It's an old memory of a world long gone… My father was heartbroken when the comics ended… 40 years ago, the same time this paper was made… Something is making this world hold tightly to it's past, holding on to something just… Gone…" I say seriously.
They all looked unsettled with the look on my face, but was I wrong? It was just all too… connected together…
"They're right… Every time we get one step closer to figuring it out… something JUST SO happens to pop up? It's all too comic book like." I say walking to the front of the table, to look down at the paper Lantern had thrown down. The title stared back at me, and the memories of this world's past ate at me… What I saw… What someone had lived through…
"Truth is… I know what killed everyone… I saw it… The bomb falling… I was there when Tom tried to stop it, but he wasn't strong enough to stop the bomb from falling… Then there was Guardsman… Trying to save as many people as possible from the blast… I saw him… HE-"
I clenched my fists and closed my eyes tightly.
"HE died saving someone… I saw it from someone's memory… When it all ended…" I say weakly.
I felt the room grow cold, then I felt something start to vibrate in the room, it was faint… I knew rage when I felt it… The whole room was shaking slightly.
"If what you say is all true… Who or what is creating this illusion?" Tom looked at me unsettled at the sound of my wavering voice.
"Ray." I looked at J'onn and he instantly felt what I did.
"I suggest you ask Ray." He looked at the boy quickly.
Everyone turned to him, stunned at the accusation. "Ray?" Streak blinked at him.
"Wh-why would I know anything?" Ray backed away from J'onn quickly. The distance he tried to keep between them didn't surprise me, J'onn would be able to find all mental secrets he had.
The golden snake on my arm quickly wrapped around him and held him tightly at my command.
"What? WAIT!" He shouted in fear as I held him in place, J'onn walked up to him quickly and rest his hands on his shoulders.
"Because you are the source." He looked down at the boy, almost apologetically.
His eyes glowed and connected to Ray's, his eyes went from baby blue to orange like J'onn, he shouted in rage and slowly I felt him shifting under my bracelet's hold.
Everyone was horrified at the figure that was not standing where Ray was, he was… Well mutated… I remember now… All of it… Oh Ray… He was there… Turned by the radiation of the bomb all those years ago, using his new powers to relive the past.
I clenched my jaw as I tried to keep my hold on him with my bracelet's power.
"Tell them the truth Ray… It's over…" I say sternly.
"YOU RUINED IT… YOU RUINED EVERYTHING! BOTH OF YOU…" He hissed at us with his red eyes trained on J'onn and he looked back at me with utter HATE.
Before I could react, his massive forehead stared to glow, he shot me in the chest with a yellow ray, throwing me back against the wall behind Lantern and Hawkgirl.
I gasped, losing all focus on the golden shape holding him, it all flew right back at me and latched on to me, quickly making a brace on my spine, checking over for anything that could have broken.
Once he was free, he turned to J'onn and attacked him mentally, throwing him back just as he had done me. Shotzey started barking madly and he stood over me as I was slumped against the wall, I was trying to move, but I was still stunned in place.
The whole building suddenly shook violently and a giant, red, claw ate through the ceiling and a monster robot glared down at us with sharp teeth. Lantern ran to me and shielded me from the debris falling around me.
"Hang on Tala…" He pulled my arm over his shoulder and used his ring to cover us and move us from danger.
"Are you-"
"I'm fine..." I pushed him away and stood up on my own.
"That's it… I officially want to go home…" Flash said looking at the monster above us.
Shotzey growled darkly, fur on end and teeth flashing at the danger.
I quickly went to J'onn and sat him up.
"J'onn…" I say.
"Tala… Are you-"
"Don't worry about me… We got bigger issues…" I glared up.
"Justice Guild, ATTACK!" Streak shouted, pointing up at the robot.
"No! Wait!" Lantern tried to stop them, it was an illusion created by Ray, but as all comic heroes would… They took off after to fight the monster now attacking their base.
"DON'T!" I shouted as my friends started for the robot too.
"Tala's right! He's the real menace!" Lantern pulled everyone back to Ray, standing like a rat that was cornered by the cat, ready to strike at the slightest hint of aggression.
I stood up and my remaining golden bracelet made a staff as tall as I was, I held it ready to fight.
"It's over Ray… You have to let it go… Your heroes died trying to save those who are left, they can't move on if you keep making them live in the past." I say.
"What do you know? It was over before and I changed that!"
"Trust me Ray… I know a lot more than you think…" I glared at him darkly.
"Shotzey, Pass auf!" I ordered.
Shotzey quickly stood between my legs and growled darkly at Ray. Ray looked at us hesitantly as I held up the staff.
"It ends here… Time to wake up…" I say to him.
"NO! THIS IS MY WORLD! I CONTROL EVERYTHING!" He roared at me and tried to use his mind powers to throw us back again.
"SHOTZEY, PLATZ!" I ordered him.
He quickly laid down and I crouched over him and let the wave of power barely miss me by flying right over us.
"Back off!" Flash ran at Ray.
"Flash, NO!" I screamed at him.
Ray used his powers to make the floor liquid and it swallowed him up to his neck, I had to reach out for him and pull him back up before he was sucked down to suffocate.
Hawkgirl flew up, avoiding the floor, ready to strike him. She charged up her mace and started her attack on Ray, who was ready for her strike…
He threw a large chair at her, hitting her dead in the chest, making her fall back to where she was standing before.
Lantern used his ring to fire at Ray, but he quickly made a dome shield over himself to avoid the blasts. I watched as he started to slowly float toward Lantern, preparing for a powerful attack.
"RAY!" I screamed at him, trying to make him stop before he hurt anyone else.
"THIS IS MY WORLD! I DECIDE WHO WINS AND WHO LOSES!" He raised his arms and the building shook harshly again.
"Ray! That's enough! Stop this!" I cried out as the wood floor grew hard again around Flash's neck.
"Tala, Run! Get out of here!" Flash looked at me with fear.
"No! I'm not going anywhere!" I stood up.
"Shotzey, pass auf Flash!" I ordered him.
He ran to Flash and stood next to him, I stood up and ran to Lantern, my legs were still a little shaky, but I wasn't going to let is stop me! I tackled him out of the was a rubble nearly fell on him.
He groaned and sat up as I was in a defensive position in front of him, Ray started his way toward me.
"You get it don't you… I know you're not from their world… You have a whole different world… Don't you like it with them? Don't you want to stay with them?" Ray hissed.
"I love them… I do… But like you said…I'm not from their world, I have my own family in my world, they miss me. Just like I miss them!" I ran at him and raised my staff to hit him, he raised his arm and made a barrier to protect himself.
"But you like their world so much better! The heroes save people! No one has to die… Not like your father-"
I felt rage shoot through me and the mention of my father, "SHUT. UP!" I raised my staff again and I broke the barrier and hit him in the face.
"Don't you ever use my father to justify this… I don't know how I got here, but I would never use his death as an excuse to hide from my reality!" I felt tears prick at my eyes.
"Then you will join all your father…" He raised his arm to try and use his powers on me, but J'onn appeared behind him and he phased his hands to go through Ray's head and attack him mentally.
At first, I thought J'onn got him, but Ray knew how to fight him back… He made a mental electric shot and used it against J'onn. He started screaming in pain as he tried to keep ahold on Ray. In a blinding light, he shot J'onn back, leaving him on the ground and his head acutally SMOKING!
"Oh it's on!" I shifted the staff to the Amazon sword Diana trained me with.
"HAAAA!" I ran at him and tried to strike him.
Without hesitation, he caught me midair with his powers and threw me right at Lantern, who was trying to aim his ring at Ray again. I hit Lantern roughly and we both went down.
I hissed as I tried to steady myself, I crawled off Lantern and tried to reach for my sword before it vanished back to my wrist.
"Oh, no. We're far from done!" Ray lifted me up with his powers and started to crush me from the inside.
I gasped and cried out as I felt my body burn with pain, it was like all my nerves were turning on and screaming from pain. I cried real tears as the pain got to the point I felt blood drip from my nose.
"You won't ruin my world! I won't let you! YOU LOSE!" He shouted at me.
I continued to scream in agony.
Shotzey was barking like mad, he wanted save me, but I gave him an order to protect Flash. He started to howl pitifully as I screamed even louder as I felt like my bones were about to become mush in my own body.
As I was going to black out from pain, I was released as Ray was stuck… By Streak!
I fell to the ground, Lantern caught me quickly and held me as I tried to regain control of my limbs, the pain was ever so slowly dying off.
"What… What…" I looked at Lantern confused.
"The Guild saved you…" He said looking to the team fighting back Ray.
"Oh no…" I looked at him and watched as they attacked their very creator.
I watched in pain as they fought valiantly, they knew even though if they defeat him… They would vanish… They accepted this, and they fought back.
Tears weld in my eyes as they kept holding him back from us.
"Lantern! Stop them! They'll-" I tried to get up, but he held me back and we could only watch as they gave one final attack on Ray all at once.
It was too much for him, he couldn't control them anymore and it was burning him up! His power faded around us, the bright and color world we once saw, melted into piles of ash and rubble of it's past.
Ray fell to the ground it was over for him, I looked to the members of the Justice Guild, they smiled at us sadly. They knew what was to become of them now…
"No…" I cried weakly.
"Let Justice Prevail!" They raised their hands in the air one final time before a light slowly engulfed them, then they vanished.
I shook in Lantern's arms and started crying, he could only hold me close as our shared heroes died once again.
Lantern helped me stand, my Bracelet melted down to my wrist again, any damage done was fixed and I longer needed the brace it created.
"They're gone…" I whispered.
"Yeah…" Lantern held up his hand with the decoder ring on, it slowly turned to dust…
I couldn't bring myself to look at my own hand, it hurt too much to even watch his vanish.
"Ugh… What happened?" I hear Flash.
I ran to him and tackled him with a hug. "OW! Tala!" He shouted alarmed, but when he saw my tear stained cheeks, he just held me tightly.
Shotzey dropped his command and licked at my cheeks feverishly, he really hated to see me so sad.
"He couldn't maintain the illusion. The strain as too great for him." J'onn said, getting all our attention.
"But… How did he get like that?" Hawkgirl helped Flash and I to our feet.
"The bomb…" I say.
"Yes, the nuclear war mutated his DNA, giving him the psychic ability to mold this world to his choosing." J'onn looked at the downed boy.
"So, he chose to recreate it with the heroes he worshipped as a child?" Flash blinked as he rubbed my back.
"Who could blame him?" Lantern said weakly.
"Yeah…" I whispered and rubbed Shotzey's head.
Shotzey suddenly turned and barked out loudly, "What is it boy?" I asked him.
"You hear that?" Flashed turned around.
An old Ice Cream truck rolled it's way to us, with people behind it! Real people!
"No way…" I breathed.
"You're all real?" Lantern asked the Ice Cream man.
He hesitantly pulled off his hat and looked at us with wide eyes, "It's like…Waking from a dream…"
"I'm sorry… We destroyed your world." Lantern tells them.
"No… No, we did that. Years ago." The man bowed his head slightly, everyone behind him did as well.
"But now, all that's left is this nightmare." Lantern looked at the wasteland that was once Seaboard City.
"No, being stuck in an ice cream truck for 40 years, that IS a nightmare. Compared to that, rebuilding our world will be a piece of cake." He smiled kindly at us and held up a brick, studying it, planning how to fix this world already.
The Chief of Police walked up to Lantern and shook his hand, a smile on his face.
"Thank you, for giving us back our future." He tells us.
Everyone behind him agreed and thanked us as well. 40 years was a long time to live in the past.
"I know you all will recover. You're all strong people." I say forcing a smile.
"So, what now? How do we get home?" Flash asked everyone.
Right… There was still that…
"What about that machine Tom was working on? You think it's still there?" I looked at Lantern.
He rubbed his chin, "Let's find out. It might be our best bet now…" He nodded.
Flash lifted me up and J'onn grabbed up Shotzey, we all started our way to the old Guild base.
"Tom Turbine said, he had been working on the transdimensional gateway… The only thing he couldn't figure out was how to power it." Lantern said as we crawled into the basement and looked for the giant machine.
"There!" Hawkgirl said.
It was no longer pretty, it was old and rusted now… It didn't look very stable, like… At all…
"Okay, so… How do we get this old rust bucket to work… We don't have a power source." Flash rubbed his gloved hand over the metal and revealed 40 years of dust. Talk about gross.
"We actually might…" Lantern used his ring to try and power up the machine.
I held my breath as it sputtered loudly and slowly started to glow with life, it was still sputtering, trying to hold on for dear life.
"I don't know… How long… I can hold it! GO!" Lantern grunted as he used all his power to keep the machine powered up.
One by one, the team ran through the portal, I order Shotzey through first. He bound right in and I turned to jump myself… But I felt a graze on my back… A soft touch… Familiar…
I turned back to the opening we came through and I saw a figure standing in the light.
"TALA! GO! What are you waiting for?!" I heard Lantern shout at me.
"Guardsman?" I squinted my eyes at the figure, he slowly pulled off his mask. Before I saw burn marks all over his face… Now?
"Daddy?" I covered my mouth and I started to cry.
"I'm proud of ya baby girl…" He said softly.
I reached out to him, but as I did, I saw another figure run by me and run into the Guardsman- no… My dad's arms… It was a girl… In a poodle skirt and a high pony tail, tied with a bow.
He hugged him and smiled widely, she looked back at me, and I saw my face.
"TALA!"
I couldn't move, in this world… He really was a hero… My hero…
I gasped as Lantern tackled me through the portal and the figures I saw vanished from sight.
"I saw my dad…" I say after a moment.
Everyone turned to me in shock, I had been quite for nearly an hour, still shocked by the last image of that world.
"My dad… He was the Guardsman… I mean… I was… Looking through his daughters eyes the whole time… She was there when he died… And in the end… They were just happy to be reunited after all of it…" I said weakly.
"I… That doesn't make any sense does it?" I closed my eyes tiredly.
"Not to us… But it means something to you kid…" Lantern sat next to me and I just leaned on him. Like your father, in your world, he gave his life for people… For a better future for you and your family…" He tells me.
"In my world, my father was just an officer…" I say weakly.
"Yes, but that made him YOUR hero… A real hero…" He said.
"They weren't real…" I hissed.
"But they gave their lives for us… That feels real to me Tala…" Hawkgirl said gently.
I closed my eyes and let them just… Be there…
"I think… I think I should tell you guys something… About you and my world…" I say weakly.
"Tala… Are you-"
"I think it's safe now J'onn… After this… I think it will be safe to explain now…" I looked at him tiredly.
I took a deep breath, and slowly I started to tell them the truth… About who they were to me in my world…
Truth is this episode ending made me cry. I don't know if it made any of you wonderful readers cry, but I did typing it all up. Not like bawling cry, just like an emotional tear up cry.
Okay! Drying up my own tears! While I'm waiting for my surgery, I do plan on working on a BUNCH of chapters this week! I've fallen behind BAD so I wanna try and make up for the time I was gone and the future time I will be gone when I go back to working! Since I work from home you'd think I would have all the time on my own computer to work, NOPE! They gave me a company computer to work from, and they can watch my screen at any time! So, no working on my stories during hours even if I'm not busy!
But that's okay, like I said! I plan to get some serious chapter work done!
Now let me get back into some habits before I forget…
-Clears throat-
I only own Tala, her family and the idea to make this story! Justice League does not belong to me! If it did I wouldn't be so broke!
If you see any mistakes let me know and I will fix them as soon as possible! OR if you just wanna comment that you like the story, you can do that too! I love hearing from you wonderful readers!
Yal stay healthy out there! Wash your hands and wear your masks where you are asked to please and thank you!
Peace out!
~*~Katie Gibbs~*~
P.S. . was a big help in looking up some of the commands dogs are trained in! Give it a look and check it out!