"Please, make yourselves at home." The speedster took the lead, as the others all sat at a round table, "Let us introduce ourselves. Justice Guild, roll call!"
"Catman!"
Batman looked like he was about to swallow a lemon.
It looked like a fusion between him and Cat-woman, and that was a horrible thought.
"Black Siren!"
"Green Guardsman!"
"Tom Turbine!" The guy who controlled electricity.
"And the Streak." The speedster finished.
Hal looked over at the others, wondering if anyone else was ready to burst into laughter at the speedster's name.
No?
Just him?
"It's nice to meet you." Superman took the lead position, "We are Flash, Green Lantern, Batman, Wonder Woman, J'onn J'onzz, Hawk Girl and I am Superman."
From the way Catman was looking at Batman, maybe there was a Bat-woman in this world?
The young boy that Flash had saved then entered the room, with Streak rising to meet him.
"And this is our official Justice Guild, Junior member, Ray Thompson."
"When I grow up, I'm going to be a crime fighter!"
"Just so long as you remember to eat right and stay in school!"
It was like they were living in a bad comic book cartoon.
Judging by the way Barry was barely containing his smirk, he wasn't the only one who was thinking that.
Before any of them could say anything, there was a groan from behind them, as J'onn fell forwards, Diana and Hawk Girl rushing to catch him.
"J'onn, what's wrong?"
J'onn pouted for a moment, forcing the words out as best he could, "Just a sudden… bout of dizziness. So strange."
"Nothing a cold, tall glass of milk won't cure!" The Streak beamed.
"I even have some freshly baked cookies!" The Black Siren reached out to pull at Diana and Hawkgirl's arms, "Let's let the Alphas talk."
"Excuse me?" Diana raised an eyebrow, "I am an Alpha."
"An Alpha… female?"
It was like they'd never heard of one before.
"Yes." Diana frowned, "An Alpha. There is no reason we can't all talk together, even if I were an omega. My omega Steve is one of the strongest people I know."
They all looked over at each other again.
"Steve... a male omega?"
Again, like they didn't have any?
Yes, male omegas were rare but to not even exist?
"Can we just have a moment?" Superman asked the other team, as the Justice League all moved to the corner of the room to speak privately.
"It's like I was saying to Hal earlier!" Barry hissed, "It's like we've gone back in time!"
Superman sighed, "Where men are Alphas and women are omegas…. We need answers."
"So, you are expecting us to just play along with all this?"
Superman chuckled, "I don't think either of you can play at being fifties housewives… or comic book characters."
"That's where I've heard the names before!" Hal clicked his fingers, "They're comic book characters, the Justice Guild are comic book characters!"
Barry frowned, "Oh yeah… I think my Uncle had the entire collection; it was huge!."
"My uncle too." Hal nodded, "I used to go to his house everyday after school and we'd spend all afternoon reading comic books until I was picked up."
"So… we've been transported into a comic book world?" Diana frowned, "With these… old fashioned views on gender?"
"That was how they were written." Hal shrugged, "It's only recently that comic books have started including LGBTQ relationships. Back then, the idea of Alpha females and Male Omegas was… wrong." He then shrugged, "I don't think I would have taken being the Green Lantern so easily without those comics. They taught me about being a hero, corny as it sounds."
"Let's just play along until we know exactly what's going on." Batman grunted, "And how to get back."
…..
"I have a theory of have you came to be here." Tom Turbo scribbled a few notes onto the blackboard, "As an expert in Nuclear Physics, I have long hypothesised that there are an infinite number of alternate worlds, each containing its own planet earth. Each Earth occupies the same space but vibrates at a different rate." He turned to Flash, "Flash, the energy blast you absorbed caused you to match the vibration rate of our Earth."
"So, he created a tear in the dimensional barriers that brought us here."
Barry didn't hear any of this, face buried in his eyes as he imagined what Iris was going to say about this.
It was worse that time travel, that's for sure.
"It was an accident." He tried not to whine, "How was I meant to know this would happen?!"
"We know Barry, and we promise we'll keep it from Iris." Hal smirked for a moment, before turning serious again, "This still doesn't explain the Justice Guild comics we read as kids."
"Perhaps…" J'onn began slowly, "… the creators of those comics had a subconscious link to this Earth. What they thought was imagination, was actually a psychic memory to the actual exploits of the Justice Guild."
"I couldn't have put it better myself." Tom beamed.
Hawkgirl rolled her eyes, "Fascinating, but how do we get back to our world?"
"Agreed." Diana sighed, "I don't know about Superman, but the separation from my omega is causing my heart some considerable pain."
"Bond separation." Superman nodded, "It's… unpleasant to say the least."
Gesturing for them to follow him, Tom headed over to the other side of the room, removing the dust sheet off a strange circular device, "I've been tinkering with a trans-dimensional gateway."
"Cool, how does it work?"
"Unfortunately, I've not found a suitable power source for it."
It was hard to hide the disappointment at these words.
"Looks like you're stuck with us." Batman muttered.
"Don't fret." Tom gave them a reassuring smile as they headed back to the main council room, "I will toil night and day to find a way to send you home to your loved ones."
"In the meantime." The Streak clapped his hands together, "How about coffee and dessert? Black Siren?"
Like a good little omega girl, Black Siren headed towards the kitchen, turning to look back at Hawkgirl and Diana... who didn't move a muscle.
Thankfully, before either of them had to say something particularly harsh, the doorbell started to ring.
"Saved by the bell." Batman muttered, as the Streak rushed to answer it, opening it up to reveal two beaming police officers.
"Sergeant O'Shaughnessy! To what do we owe this pleasure?"
"Sorry to drop by unannounced, but we received this letter down at the precinct, so I rushed it over here as fast as I could…. Not as fast as yourself, of course!"
"Well, for someone without superhuman speed, you did just fine Sergeant. Thank you."
The officers bowed as the Streak closed the door and headed back to the group, opening up the letter.
"Jeepers! What does it say?!" Ray was practically bouncing up and down.
"Dear Justice Guild, prepare for our most fiendish plot yet! A crime spree based on the four elements of the Ancient World. Fire, air, water, and earth. Catch us if you can, dastardly yours, the Injustice Guild!"
Hawkgirl frowned, "What kind of bad guys tip the authorities off?"
"The worst kind." The Green Guardsman sighed, "I doubt there's enough good between them to care for a wounded puppy."
"Justice League. We're going to need your help."
"You can count on us!"
"We don't have time for a ceremony…" Ray handed the Streak a box with seven rings inside, "… but consider yourselves honorary members of the Justice Guild."
"Oh my god." Barry put the ring on, "You used to be able to order these, remember?"
"Yeah, I had one!" Hal chuckled, "I think it ended up breaking after a week."
"Ah, comic book goodies. They never last."
"We'll have to split into teams if we have any chance of defeating the Injustice Guild."
Batman tensed visibly as Black Siren looked over at him.
"I think we should go with whoever's on our right." She smirked, which thankfully went unnoticed as Ray piped up.
"Can I go! Can i?!"
"I would hesitate to put the boy in harm's way."
Catman though, didn't seem to agree with J'onn, patting Ray on the back with a beaming grin.
"Sure, thing little buddy!"
J'onn locked gaze with Superman, who shrugged.
He didn't know why either.
"I'll stay here to work on the trans dimensional gate." Tom reported, "Getting you all home is of equal importance."
"Thank you."
The sooner they got home, the better.