Okay, so a lot of this chapter will take place in the YJ dimension. I am not a scientist so bear with me on explanations.
Chapter 11
In another dimension:
"Ted?" Wonder Woman had seen the man toiling away at his work. Since their failed attempt to send a batarang through to the other world, Blue Beetle had been looking nothing short of despondent. He'd failed.
"I'm working on it." Ted snapped. The man was beyond stressed. Everyone was breathing down his neck to get the machine finished. Didn't they understand that ripping a hole in the space time continuum too work?
'Of course they do. But look at what's at stake here.' He thought to himself. He'd seen the anger and sadness of Bruce's face and the complete devastation on Barry's. 'Gotta work harder. Gotta get them back here.'
"Don't strain yourself, Ted. If you're all tired out, we won't get anything done." Diana reminded him.
"Tell that to Bruce. They're counting on me to find the kids remember?" Ted rubbed his eyes wearily. It shouldn't have been that hard.
"At least try to rest yourself." Diana said gently. "Zatara is working as well. Do not stress."
Ted was about to respond when his computer made a whirring sound.
"Wha-oh my god! It's online! It made it through!" He cried excitedly.
"What? What's happened?" Superman had joined them.
"Diana, get the others. They have to see this!" Ted said. She looked confusedly to Superman but did as she was told.
"What's going on?" Flash zoomed to meet them, Batman and the others came racing towards them.
"The batarang! It didn't fail! Something must have reactivated it. It's transmitting again." Ted's fingers raced over the keys. "Now let's see if we can get that camera working right."
"You can get us a visual?" Flash asked.
"I'm gonna try." Ted did some maneuvering. Apparently, the journey hadn't caused nearly as much damage as he'd predicted. "And...there!" The screen blinked to life.
"Now let's pan the camera so we can get a full view..." He tapped the arrow keys on his laptop and watched as the camera turned. "When I sent it through, I locked it onto the transmitter in Robin's wrist consul. With any luck-well what do you know?"
"It's Robin! He's alive!" Superman rejoiced. The Boy Wonder was sitting on a bed reading a book. He looked rather content.
"Can you get his attention?" Batman inquired evenly. His heart was pounding harder than ever. They were so close.
"No. There's no audio. I can't flash him unless he looks this way." Ted chewed his lower lip. "I'll figure something out."
"At least we know he's all right. He looks healthy. No bruises." Hal commented. "I think it's safe to say the others are okay as well."
"We need to get to them. Ted, if you could send the batarang, do you think you could safely send a person?" Black Canary inquired.
"It would be difficult. We'd have some serious size constraints. A batarang is one thing but a person is completely different." Ted began. "It's smaller and less susceptible to damage. We'd need someone who could be equally as small. It's a virtual impossibility unless I can invent a shrink ray-"
"Or we could just ask a friend." J'onn advised.
YJ
"You want me to what?" Ray Palmer loved the sidekicks as much as the next Leaguer and sure, he'd been saddened to hear f their disappearance. Still, he didn't see what he could do about it. Apparently, the founders and Blue Beetle had figured it out for him.
"We need you to shrink down to a reasonable size and travel through a hole Blue Beetle made to another dimension." Hal explained bluntly.
"And it's safe?"
"Probably." Hal shrugged.
"What? That's not a definite answer! No, I won't do it."
Ray vehemently refused.
"Come own Ray. You're the only one who can do this. We need someone who can go through. You're our guy." Hal cajoled. "Think of the kids, how happy they'll be to see you. They need this."
"Really? Are you trying to guilt me into this? What if I die? Or get lost in that thing?"
"It's highly unlikely. We proved we could direct things. You won't get lost." Ted was prepping the machine. "I've prepared your suit for the journey." Ted handed him the fabric. "You need to go suit up. We have a limited power supply."
"This is insane."
"We've noticed." Batman said darkly.
"No one else can pull this off. We don't have the time to build another ray. You're the only one." Superman stared the man down.
"Fine, I'll go! You'd better be able to pull me back." Ray snapped.
"Uh…"
"What do you mean 'uh'?"
"Well, in theory portal would only stay open for a few seconds on the other side. Either I'd have to re-stabilize it on our end, or find another way to hold it open. I haven't gotten that far yet. But with another set of eyes and an audio connection, we might be better suited to figure this out." Ted rubbed the back of his head.
"So I'm just supposed to trust that you're smart enough to figure all of this out?" Ray's eyebrow twitched.
"Well, you're pretty brilliant yourself so, two heads are better that one." Ted clapped him on the shoulder. "Now seriously, suit up. We've got to get going.
YJ
"Okay, you ready Ray?" ted stood behind the controls of his machine. Ray stood in the center of what appeared to be a giant metal spider. In the center, there rods connected to what appeared to be a ray gun. Ray pulled his goggles over his head and braced himself. "Don't worry, in theory, it shouldn't hurt." Ted shouted over the whirring of the device.
'Yeah, in theory.' Ray thought. He could see the white light growing at the tip of the ray.
"So, you're a bit harder to aim. I tried focusing on Robin's computer again but there's no telling where you might end up. You have a tracker so you should be able to find him!"
Ray gave him a thumbs up.
"You're good, step through." Ray took a deep breath and stepped into the light.
YJ
"He's gone." Diana said in awe.
"Ted, is he online?" superman asked hurriedly.
"Hold on, he's still going through the vortex. Wait just a few more seconds and…there!"
"Ray?"
"…Yeah…here…can…hear me…?"
"Yeah, hold on. Let me clear up the static." Ted said. He cued up the video and adjusted the audio.
"Hello, anyone there?" Ray said frantically.
"Yeah! You're golden! Do you have the joystick I sent with you?"
"Yeah."
"Pan the camera." The League waited with baited breath for the full 360 degree view.
"That's Metropolis! You sent him to Metropolis!" Superman demanded.
"What? No! That's not possible. I set the coordinates exactly the same as before." Ted pulled his hair.
"Blue Beetle tells the truth. I can no longer feel Atom. He is much like the children, vanished." J'onn chimed in.
"But that's the Daily Planet. I know where I work, J'onn." Argued Superman.
"Hey guys wait, I see something." Ray's voice came through.
"What? Pan the camera." Ted commanded.
"Holy cow! It's Superman!"
"What?"
"Not you! Him!" Ray pointed the camera to the sky and sure enough, there was Superman.
"What the…" Ted typed on his laptop. "This is amazing! It's a parallel dimension! It must be virtually identical to ours." He said in awe.
"Identical. So what you're saying is, there's a version of all of us there?" Diana was in shock.
"Possibly. Theoretical physicists believe that there are a bunch of different dimensions, each with subtle to drastic differences between them. This could be a world without sidekicks." Ted attempted to explain. "Atom, try to flag Superman down!" he called.
"Working on it. I think he sees me. Wait a sec, he's not alone!"
"Who's with him?"
"It think it's Superboy!"
YJ
In the other dimension:
"So I've never taken you out on patrol before?" Superman asked in awe.
"Never."
"I can't believe that, you're great! I need someone who can back me up and Kara's off doing her own thing..." Clark trailed off and landed on the rooftop of the Daily Planet. He waited a few moments for the young hero to appear next to him. They'd been working on Superboy's flight but so far, he could only sustain flight for a few seconds. It was still enough to make Superboy almost giddy...not that he would show it.
"Sorry, I'm having trouble keeping up." Superboy apologized once he landed.
"No, you did well. We'll work some more and before you know it, you'll be flying like a pro!" Clark laughed. Conner tried to supress his smile but couldn't.
"What's up kid? You look perplexed." Clark asked.
"I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel." Conner admitted. It was a thought he'd been trying to get off his chest for a while.
"Feel? What's that mean?" Clark asked carefully. This was the first time Conner had even begun to open up with him.
"I feel guilty."
"Guilty? What is there to feel guilty about?" Clark pushed.
"My friends...they're miserable. They all want to get home so bad and I...I don't want to go back." Conner looked miserable. "I keep praying that no one is looking for us so I can stay here forever. It's nicer..."
"Okay. That's not something you should feel guilty about. You feel how you feel. I personally enjoy having you here with me. It's nice having a little back up. It's nice having someone to talk to who understands and if you want to stay with me, I won't protest. But you shouldn't feel as if you've done something wrong because you want to stay here. You're a fantastic kid." Clark smiled at him. "And the look on Luthor's face when we took him down? Priceless! He couldn't believe there were two of us."
Conner finally alowed himself to smile back. "I wish you could meet Wolf, and Sphere too. You'd like them."
"Maybe once we do get everything figured out, I can meet them. If you're still here during the weekend, I want to take you up to the Fortress." Clark offered.
Conner could barely contain his excitement.
"You really want to? The other Superman won't even talk to me." He said.
"Well, I'm not him. I think it's something you deserve to see." Clark stretched. "Let's go around one more time and call it a day, okay?" Conner nodded.
Superboy was ready to take the leap off the side of the building when he heard someone calling his name.
"Do you hear that?" he asked the Man of Steel.
"Hear what?"
"Someone is calling my name. My real name." Conner turned towards the sound. "I recognize the voice but I can't place it."
"Then let's check it out."
Y
Atom had been calling for the young hero for a while. Maybe his hearing wasn't as good as Clark's was.
"Stop shouting and go get him yourself." Batman growled through his com.
"I'm sorry I can't leap tall buildings in a single bound. Oh wait, they're coming towards me now." Ray waved his arm.
"Atom? How do you know Superboy?" Superman landed in front of him, Superboy appearing a few seconds later. Ray blinked rapidly for a moment. The man looked exactly like Clark. If he didn't know better, he would have assumed he was talking to the real Superman.
"Um…Superboy?"
"Yes."
"Tell him who we are!" Ted's voice hissed in his ear.
"Um, I don't know if you're aware of this but you're in a seperate dimension." Atom informed him. Superboy's eyes widened.
"You're from our world." He stated. It wasn't a question.
"Yes! So you do know. Okay, so I've got the League on a link up. Maybe if we can-"
"I should contact the team." Conner's shoulders had drooped. He looked so disapointed.
"They aren't here? I assumed you all would have stayed together." Conner bristled looking ready to defend himself when Superman pulled him back.
"Don't blame him, I suggested it. We didn't know how long they would be here and I thought it best for them to get used to this evnviroment." Clark explained. Atom's eyes flickered between the two of them.
'Uh oh, we may have a completely different problem. What if they don't want to leave?' He thought to himself.
Conner tried his hardest to hold in his sadness. He'd been on top of the world only a few moments ago and then...it was gone.
Clark noticed the sudden change in his demeanor. "Don't worry Conner, my offer still stands." He said quietly. "I won't go back on my word." Conner nodded solemly.
"Perhaps we could go to the Watch Tower? Blue Beetle can explain better than I." Atom suggested. Conner clenched his fist angrily. No way did he want to go back to that prison.
"Of course, I'll call J'onn." Clark shot another glance at the young clone. "Why don't you go ahead and call your team? I can handle this." Conner just nodded and turned to walk away.
"What's wrong? Black Canary wants to know." Atom asked.
"He was just starting to get used to this place." 'To me...' Clark kept that last part to himself. God, why did evrything have to be so complicated?
YJ
When Barry had called Wally downstairs, he had expected the worst. The boy had been avoiding him at all cost. They were stepping around each other like neither existed much to Iris's dismay.
"Why do we have to go to the Watch Tower again?" Wally asked quietly once Barry had finally pinned him down.
"Don't know. Clark called and said it was important. So we're going." Barry replied shortly. He had hoped that he and Wally would find their way to some wort of truce but so far they were trapped in an impasse.
"Do I need to suit up?"
"Only if you want to."
"Okay. I'm good."
"We're heading out now." Wally nodded and followed the man. When they were finally beamed onto the Watch Tower, Wally was so happy to see his friends. He'd missed the comfort.
"Guys!" He shouted joyfully.
"Wally, come here! You have to see this." Miss Martian beckoned to him with a grin.
Wally raced to be by her side.
"What? What's going on?" He asked.
"Wally!"
"Uncle B?"
End Chapter
I haven't really done many cliffhangers in this story so I think we were due for one. It's come to my attention that we have several newcomers to this story! Welcome! I hope you're enjoying things. If you have any questions, review or PM me. PS, Kansas City Art Institute accepted my graphic design portfolio! So excited!