Chapter 67: Let's Do the Time Warp Again

Disclaimer: All things Supergirl/Superman and Legion of Superheroes belong to DC. No infringement is intended.

Kara knew something was up the moment Clark came in the door that evening. First of all, he looked guilty. It wasn't often that her son did something he shouldn't have, he was a good boy for the most part, but when he did, he always had that look on his face. After so many years, she would recognize it in her sleep. He had done something that he knew she would disapprove of and was trying to hide it.

Also, his hair was different from this morning. Longer, if but a bit. She probably wouldn't have noticed if not for her enhanced vision and the fact that powered-up Kryptonians couldn't exactly go to a normal hairdresser. A haircut meant a trip to the Fortress in the Arctic and Kara always kept track of when it was due.

And finally, there was a golden ring on his finger. A ring Kara knew only too well.

Snatching her son's hand in her own at super speed before he knew she was even there, she held it up with the golden ring directly between their faces. The engraved letter L shimmered in the light.

"Clark Joseph Kent! Want to explain to me how you have gotten your hand on a membership ring from the Legion of Superheroes?"

Clark gulped.

Nine hours earlier

"So what is this big surprise you wanted to show me?" Clark asked.

"Just wait and see," Wally replied, grinning broadly. "It wouldn't be much of a surprise if I told you ahead of time, would it?" He checked his wristwatch again, for what had to be the fifth time in the last two minutes.

"Okay, we're almost there. Now, I want you to use your X-Ray vision and look through the wall of that warehouse over there!"

Clark frowned, not sure what the point was, but did as he was told. Focusing his eyes, the stonewall of the building began to fade and he looked inside. Apart from some empty boxes and assorted junk, the warehouse only contained a single thing: a large, very solid-looking treadmill.

"You built it?" Clark asked, excited. He and Wally had gone over the possible designs of a treadmill that could handle Wally's speed for some time now, but he hadn't known that Wally was actually building it.

"Yeah, and that's not all of it. Just keep watching!"

Clark did and a moment later, he gasped as he saw someone enter the building. It was Wally. He double-checked to make sure that Wally hadn't just zipped over there at super speed, but he was still standing right beside him, grinning. There were definitely two Wallys right now.

"What the...?"

"Keep watching, it'll become clear!"

It took just a few more seconds before Clark understood what was going on. Wally, the one in the warehouse, was climbing the treadmill and began to run. Only a second later he was nothing but an indistinct shape, lightning arcing around him. Another second later there was a burst of light and then he was gone, no trace of him anywhere.

Clark turned to the Wally standing beside him. "Did you just…?"

"Oh yeah," he replied, pumping his fist. "I travelled through time, Kal! Fifteen minutes into the past, to be exact. Just long enough to give you a call and get you here so you could see it."

Clark (gently) slapped Wally on the back. "Congratulations, man! I knew you were going to figure it out!" Given that his mom had already encountered an older, time-travelling Flash, it hadn't taken that much faith, of course. He wondered if now was the time to tell Wally about it, but ultimately decided against it. How had mom put it? No one should know too much about one's own future. Besides, there was still that looming threat of her punting Wally into orbit for stranding her in the past. He sure that she just meant it as a jest... well, mostly sure.

"I've only done very small jumps so far," Wally told him as they walked towards the now empty warehouse and the still-smoking treadmill. "The Flash from the other world told me to be very careful, especially when travelling to the past. Even tiny, seemingly inconsequential things can totally mess up the timeline."

Kal nodded. His mom had basically said the same thing when she had told him about her journey to Krypton and the future. Time was not immutable, it seemed.

"In the other direction, if I travel too far into the future," Wally continued, "I don't really have a way of going back right now. No guarantee that the treadmill would still be here decades or centuries from now. So until I figure out how to do it without the treadmill ..."

Something clicked in Clark's mind. It was probably kind of a foolish idea, but he did know of a specific era in the future where friends of his mother lived. Friends who had access to time travel technology and would be able to get them back home if all else failed.

"Ever thought of visiting the scenic 30th century, Flash?" he asked.

1,000 years in the future

"So, this is the future then?" Wally asked, looking around.

The experience of actually travelling through time had been... interesting, Clark had to admit. Getting onto that treadmill with Wally, who somehow managed to create a backdraft that took Clark along when he began hitting speeds even a full-powered Kryptonian couldn't match. Then time and space had begun to warp around them in strange, disorienting ways and a moment later, they had been elsewhere. Or elsewhen, rather.

They were standing in what had once been a spaceport, Clark figured. Right now, though, it was little more than a field of debris. The ground was torn up, numerous space ships had been smashed into pieces, and smoke from still-burning fires darkened the sky.

As luck would have it, Clark and Wally had arrived right in the middle of a pitched battle between two groups of super beings. It had only taken a second or two to figure out which ones were the bad guys, of course. The fact that one of them had been in the process of squashing a flying bus full of civilians had been a dead giveaway. So the two time travelers had intervened.

"The Fatal Five are in custody," a redheaded teenager in a lightning-themed costume spoke into his ring. "The Science Police can stand down."

"What did he say?" Wally asked.

"Oh, they're speaking Interlac," Clark told him. "Interstellar trading language. Mom made me learn it when I was 13."

The lightning-guy and another Legionnaire, one dressed in a white and pink costume, now turned towards Clark and Wally. The lightning-guy smelled strongly of ozone, electricity still crackling around his hands. The other guy was dark-haired and made Clark's senses go haywire a bit. Magnetic fields bent unnaturally around him.

"Thank you for your assistance," the redhead said. "That's a mighty famous costume you are wearing there," he pointed at Clark.

Clark shrugged. "My mother gave it to me. Kara-El says hi, by the way. I figure you are Lightning Lad and Cosmic Boy?"

"Kara?" Lightning Lad asked, his demeanor softening. "Then you are... Kal-El? Superman?"

Clark grinned, opening his mouth to enthusiastically agree, but someone else was faster.

"Garth, Rokk, you won't believe this!" a female voice came over the ring on Lightning Lad's finger. "She is back!"

"Imra? What are you talking about? Who is back?"

"Supergirl! She has just appeared over Metropolis!"

"Supergirl?" Clark asked. "Kona is here?"

"Kona?" Cosmic Boy asked. "You mean Superwoman II?"

"What?"

"I wish you people would remember that I don't speak this Inter-language thing," Flash muttered.

Ten minutes later Clark, Wally and Lightning Lad were hovering over the skyline of Metropolis, as far away from Legion HQ as they could go without the building vanishing behind the curvature of the Earth. Clark's super vision was focused on it, or rather at two flying people quickly approaching the structure. One was Saturn Girl, he assumed. Beautiful blonde girl in a pink costume, or so Lightning Lad (call me Garth!) had described her. And the other was definitely not his sister. It was his mom.

"The last time she was here was when we took her to the future to protect her from Mordru," Lightning Lad explained. "She stayed with us for several months until the Time Institute had repaired their time spheres. She was still a teenager then."

Wally fiddled with the ring on his finger, which not only allowed him to fly, but also translated the language for him. "Teenage Superwoman was a member of a 30th century super team? Cool! Eh… you're sure she can't see us over here?"

"Mom told me about that," Clark said. "And about this, too. If I'm right, that Superwoman over there is my mom from three years ago. Well, three years ago from my point of reference, that is." He groaned. "Time travel sure causes headaches."

Of course if that was really his mother from three years ago, and given that she had never once mentioned meeting him in the future when she told him about her trip, he figured that he should do his best to remain unseen. Sanctity of the timeline and all that. It wasn't because he was sure she would be furious with him. No way!

"How did Superwoman end up travelling through time anyway?" Wally asked, still glancing in the general direction of Legion HQ. Clark would have chuckled, Wally being borderline terrified of his mom was a source of amusement for him, but right now he had other things on his mind.

"She... eh," Clark began, searching for the words. "She, well, it was an accident, kind of. Long story."

"If she is from your past," Garth said, "we should make sure you don't meet up with her. We should get you back to the past as soon as possible. Your past, I mean." He paused. "Why did you travel to the future in the first place? On what kind of mission are you?"

Clark and Wally looked at each other. "Uh, well...," Clark began.

"It was an experiment... yes," Wally replied. "See, I just figured out that I can travel through time with my powers and..."

"You're the Flash," Garth interrupted him. "Chronarch Sinius told us about you!"

Where the redheaded Legionnaire had looked rather awed upon figuring out who Clark was, he looked decidedly less impressed with Wally.

"Eh, do I want to know?" Wally asked.

"Probably not," Clark told him. "Time stuff!"

Thankfully Garth Ranzz aka Lightning Lad was a fairly easy-going guy once he warmed up a little. Clark and Wally ended up confessing that they were basically just out on an adventure and while he did remind them that time travel was not something to be taken lightly, he ended up seeing the fun in it.

With Legion HQ being off-limits to them for the time being due to Superwoman's presence, Garth took them on a tour around Metropolis, which covered the better part of eastern North America in this time. Clark and Wally marveled at the futuristic architecture, the exotic mix of building styles from a dozen and more worlds, and the sheer amount of people present.

Of course, for Wally West the grandest experience of the tour was learning that there was actually a Flash Museum in the district that had once been Keystone City.

"I am THAT famous in the future?" he gushed. "Wow!"

"Don't let it get to your head," Garth told him. "There are museums for most of the major superheroes of the last millennium. Superwoman's is by far the biggest."

"Figures. Hey, think we can find out what superhero name Zatanna ends up using?" Wally asked jokingly.

Clark snorted. Their magical friend's inability to find a codename she liked for their adventures with the Teen Titans was a source of constant amusement to the other three team members. So far, the girl had tried and discarded Lady Magic, Enchantress, and Wizard Woman. Kona still called her Magic Girl, mostly to rile the other girl up.

"You said that you are using a kind of treadmill to travel through time, right?" Garth asked as they flew over the Flash Museum. "I think they have that on display in the museum, too."

"Really?" Flash asked, flabbergasted. "Someone preserved that thing for a thousand years?"

"Maybe you'll build a better one further down the line," Clark speculated.

"Hey, that means we don't need those time bubbles you told me about. I can get us home with the treadmill."

Garth gave him a speculative glance. "That would actually be preferable. The Time Institute likes the Legion for all the help we gave them with the likes of Mordru and the Infinity Man, but they keep reminding us how hideously expensive using the Time Spheres is every single time."

"Think the thing will still work after all this time?" Clark asked.

"Let's give it a try," Wally said and made to fly down to the museum, only for Garth to stop him.

"Hold it, Flash! There are way too many things in there about your future; you are not going inside! I'll ask the museum curator whether we can loan it out for a bit."

Thankfully, the curator of the Flash Museum, an elderly man called Gardner Fox, was all but salivating at the chance to meet the hero his museum was dedicated to. Ten minutes later the treadmill was standing outside the building.

"Okay, that's not the original one then," Wally said, inspecting it. "It looks far sturdier. And I have no idea what metal this is even made from."

Clark could not figure it out, either, to be honest. While the design was recognizable as the same one he and Wally had come up with, it was clearly far more refined and probably a hundred times tougher, too. The metal it was made from even resisted his X-Ray vision.

"According to what little documentation we have," Fox told him, "this treadmill was built in the 22nd century by... well... someone you probably haven't met yet. It should still work, though."

"Well, the mechanism itself isn't that complicated," Clark agreed. "I'm not seeing any damage, so..."

"You said your mom only stayed in the future for a day or so, right?" Wally interrupted him.

"Uh, yeah, I think so. Why do you...?"

"Well, we will just have to test this thing, won't we?" Wally said, jumping onto the treadmill. "Pick you up in about 24 hours, Kal!"

"Wait, what? Flash!"

However, the Flash was already running, turning into a blur, and a moment later he vanished in a crackle of lightning. Clark could just stare.

"Impulsive fellow, isn't he?" Garth said.

"You have no idea!"

"That is just so like the Flash," Fox chuckled, having the time of his life.

Early on the next day it was time for his mom to return to the past. Clark watched from afar as she and Imra went to the Time Institute. Curiosity got the better of him and with a burst of super speed, he entered the building, quickly ducking behind a lead-lined wall. For a moment he thought his mom was looking directly at him, but she gave no indication that she had seen him.

Focusing on his super hearing, he listened as she debated with Saturn Girl on whether to keep her memories this time around. He remembered her telling him that she had asked Saturn Girl to block her memories from her first trip here, back when she had still been a teenager herself. Once more Clark was amazed at the strength and fortitude of his mom. He was not sure he could have dealt with an experience like this without the foreknowledge he had, never mind deciding to have his own memories blocked in order to preserve the timeline.

Finally, the time sphere faded from view, taking his mom's past self back to her own present day. Garth, who had accompanied Saturn Girl and his mom to the Institute, waited for a second, then motioned for him that it was safe to emerge.

"She's gone, you can come out now!"

Clark stepped out from behind the wall.

"I was sure she had spotted me that one time!"

"Relax, Superboy! Your mom won't ground you for staying out 1,000 years past curfew!"

Clark frowned. "I hope you are right! You've never seen her in full angry-mom-mode!"

Garth laughed, slapping him on the shoulder. "Well then, just in case, you should make the most of your remaining time here. When was the Flash supposed to pick you up again?"

Present Day

"A few hours later Flash returned, having jumped forward 24 hours in time to check the treadmill," Clark explained. "We stayed for another few days, got made into honorary members of the Legion for helping with the Fatal Five, and then took the treadmill back home."

"So, let me summarize," Kara said, still regarding Clark with the kind of stare that mothers all over the universe had perfected in order to make their offspring feel as small and miserable as possible.

"On the same day that the Flash figures out his time travel powers," she began, "you thought it was a great idea to travel ONE THOUSAND YEARS into the future. Not a day for starters, not a week, no, ONE THOUSAND YEARS!"

"Well, …" Clark began.

"I am not finished!" she cut him off. "And this brilliant idea came about because you remembered me telling you about the Legion of Superheroes. People you have never met, whom you only know through a few anecdotes I told you, and with only a rather general idea of where and when they live, is that correct?"

"Yes, but..." Clark started anew.

"And when you, against all odds, managed to land in the more or less correct time and space, you thought it would be a great idea to stay for a bit, despite the danger of a paradox with a younger me being there as well. Never mind the Flash doing another time jump forward while leaving you behind."

"Well, that was more Wally and..."

"Wally West will be hearing about this from me, you better believe it! And so will Garth Ranzz, the next time we meet! Rao, Clark! When I spotted you in the 30the century..."

"Wait, what?" he interrupted her. "You saw me?"

She scoffed. "Silly boy, of course I saw you! I've been waiting for you to catch up with that for years!"

"Then... if you already knew I would travel to the Legion's time, then why...?"

She breathed in deeply, visibly attempting to remain calm. "Because, Clark Joseph Kent, when I saw you back there, I figured that you had travelled to the future with my permission and knowledge. Maybe because I had taken you there myself as part of some mission or other. Or maybe because the Legion had come to take you for some weird, historical reason. Not because you and your buddy Wally were out on a JOYRIDE THROUGH TIME!"

"But mom..."

"You have said enough, mister," she cut him off again. "You are grounded for the next month and once we're done here, I'll be heading over to Keystone City to talk with Wally West. And his mother, too."

"Mom, no!" Clark pleaded, all to no avail.

Listening in with her super hearing, Kona could not help but smile as mom continued to berate Clark and threaten bodily harm to one Wally West. At the same time, though, she was a bit sad. It figured that she was the only member of the family that did not get to travel through time and visit the Legion of Superheroes in the far future. That was so unfair.

Two years from now (and 1,000 years in the future)

There was a tremendous flash of light and for a moment the very fabric of space-time seemed to wobble and warp, almost like the surface of a lake when a pebble was thrown in. Instead of going in, though, the pebble emerged from out of the water of space-time, appearing in a time and place where it had no business being.

The pebble in question being a teenage girl with a very famous symbol on her chest.

"I'm through," Kona Kara-El spoke into her headset. "Let me check the space-time coordinates!" She poked at the device on her wrist. "Anytime you're ready, super wrist-watch! Oh, okay. It worked; I'm in the right time and place."

She looked around, searching the unfamiliar vista of stars for reference points. She had arrived at the very edge of what was – in this particular era – the area of space known as the United Planets. Thousands of inhabited worlds were behind her, enjoying an age of peace and prosperity unmatched in human history. Before her, though, was the darkness of uncharted space.

"Okay," Kona muttered to herself. "Let's hope Dawn Star's reports were accurate. Otherwise this is going to be a really, really boring mission here."

Kona simply hung in space, waiting, for what seemed like an eternity, but was in actuality barely a minute. Then, right before her eyes, the fabric of space-time was wrenched open once again. Instead of a single flash of light, though, there was a tremendous shockwave spreading outward from a growing circle of radiance. No, not a circle, more like the open end of a tube. Kona knew, had this phenomenon taken place somewhere with an atmosphere, she would have heard a tremendous boom.

"Right on schedule," she spoke into her headset. "The Boom Tube is opening. And wow, it's the biggest I have ever seen. You could fit the Watch Tower in there."

Focusing her thoughts, she prepared for what was to come. She would only have a single shot at this and would need to move really fast. Well, not as fast as she had moved a minute ago when she had travelled through time, but still, really fast.

"Come on, don't keep me waiting," she muttered, her entire body vibrating with tension.

Finally, the first shapes began to emerge from the Boom Tube. Huge machines appeared, vast engines of destruction, the result of a technology so advanced it might as well be called magic. Swarms of smaller ships and flying creatures, huge battle wagons, and things whose purpose Kona could not even guess at. And right there, at the very front of the emerging armada, was the ship she had been waiting for. Activating her super visor, she zoomed in on the windows of the bridge and saw a huge figure standing there.

"Target sighted," she reported. "Moving in!"

A moment later Kona was nothing but a blur, moving so fast that the stars around her turned into smears of light. Everything seemed to slow down as her senses dialed up to match her speed, the world around her going into slow motion. She shot towards the emerging fleet, aiming right at the lead ship and the figure on its bridge. Holding her fists out in front of her, she focused all her telekinetic power, preparing to unleash it in a single burst.

Kona smashed right through the outer hull without slowing down, the combination of her impact and her telekinesis vaporizing the armored plates before her with ease. The few people – using the term loosely – assembled on the ship's bridge were only beginning to react when she was already halfway through. The leading figure still had its arm raised, its hand clutching a rectangular object.

A heartbeat later Kona was back outside, speeding away from the still-emerging fleet of ships, her price clutched safely in her hands.

"Supergirl reporting in," Kona spoke into her headset, even as she accelerated. "One Mother Box acquired! Heading to rendezvous coordinates for the next time jump!"

End Chapter 67

Author's Note: So now we have caught up with the Superboy who was briefly seen in chapter 32. Of course the Flash has only just begun to travel through time and still has a certain predestined meeting with a younger Superwoman in his own personal future, but we are not quite there yet. Hope you enjoyed our newest romp through time, as well as the first little teaser for what will be the biggest, most epic Adventures of a Super Family story arc yet, starting in roughly 30 chapters, give or take.

If the name Gardner Fox sounds familiar, it's the name of one of the few guys who stand shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Fox created the original Flash, Hawkman, Doctor Fate, Zatanna and the original Sandman, as well as the Justice Society of America and the Justice League. He also introduced the multiverse into DC Comics by writing "Flash of Two Worlds" and wrote most of the Silver Age adventures of Adam Strange. All in all he wrote roughtly 1,500 stories for DC Comics. So yeah, he deserves a mention.

Also, I finally managed to watch Zack Snyder's Justice League. While it's still far from perfect, it's by far the best of the DC Snyder movies and far, far, far better than that hot mess Joss Whedon delivered back in 2017. Definitely worth watching for DC fans.

Up Next: a visit to Paradise Island.