Bleeding Multiverse

Chapter Seven: Memories

Bialyan Desert-September 4th, 00:16

I staggered awake, utterly confused. Why was I in a desert when I should be in the Sanctum Santorum for my weekly training? There were no deserts near Kamar-Taj! Where was I? I quickly activated my holographic map only to find "Iraq?! What the hell am I doing in Iraq?!" I was just about to call SHIELD when I noticed several major problems. First, the date was off by about 20 years. Second, the Iraqi flag was one that never appeared in Iraq's history. Third, Syria was labeled as Qurac, and Iraq was labeled as Bialya. Wait … had I traveled to a DC universe? But I hadn't even figured out how to do it … how much time have I lost, and how?

Then I heard a voice asking "Who are you? Do you know where we are?"

I turned to face the speaker, only to freeze in shock. The boy was dressed in a simple black t-shirt and jeans, was built like a football jock, and had the most unique blue eyes I had ever seen. There was no question as to who he was. "My name is Tony, Tony Richards, and we're in Bialya, which means we're not safe right now. Come on, it looks like there's a cave up there, we can spend the night there and figure things out in the morning." Fortunately, Superboy agreed and we quickly fell asleep.

Bialyan Desert-September 4, 12:26

We woke up about 9:30, and after explaining what I thought had happened, I asked Superboy to stand guard while I delved into my mindscape to try and figure things out. By now I had found a few fragmented memories. Some dealt with Superboy and a few others, but there were a few where I saw Nightwing, and one where I was making a deal with Riddler. "Superboy, could you come in here real quick?"

"What do you want, Tony?"

"I'm sorry, but I need to mind meld with you. I'm hoping it will help with our memory loss." Reluctantly, he agreed, and together I managed to piece together a few complete memories, including my arrival on Earth-16, Superboy's rescue, and our mission to the Tower of Fate. I also realized that we had lost about three months' worth of memoires.

"We need to find the others," Connor announced. "Can you do that?"

"They're all probably on foot, but that won't make finding them easy. Fortunately, Robin placed a GPS locator with our spare gear and weapons, we'll just meet with them there. They're sure to show up eventually."

I was proven right as that night, Robin arrived only for him to be ambushed by Bialyans. Kon and I were quick to join the fight, with Kon taking bullets for Rob while I blasted any I could with my repulsors, and then the others joined in as well, with Wally stealing weapons, M'gann knocking soldiers down and Artemis tying them up with a bola-arrow. Wait a second … "Where's Aqualad?"

"Who's Aqualad?" Artemis demanded. "In fact, who are all of you?"

I ignored her. "M'gann, we need to link our minds and piece together the last three months." The rest of the team hesitated, especially Artemis. "Listen, it's the only way we'll get our memories back and understand what happened! I know you're hesitant, but we need to do what's necessary if we're to have any hope of surviving this and going home." With that, everyone agreed, no matter how reluctant they were (looking at you, Artemis.) Soon, we had remembered everything, partly due to my memories of watching this mission and we set off looking for Kaldur.

Sure enough, we found him just as the episode showed we would: dehydrated and hallucinating. "M'gann, take him to the bioship, Kon and I have another job to do. I'd ask for others, but I know Artemis is running low on arrows and Wally is running on fumes, while you're going to need Robin to avoid the Bialyans. Come back for us if we're not back in an hour."

"Tony, you're going to need me if you're going up against Psimon," M'gann argued. "We both know I'm far more powerful of a psychic than you are, and your memories showed him almost beating me."

I just smiled and said, "Trust me." With that, Kon and I made for the base, and sure enough, they were still 'testing' the Sphere. "Okay, Kon, I need you to take out the guards and free the Sphere, I'll deal with Psimon."

"Are you sure?" he asked, but I was already flying away. To be honest, I wasn't as sure as I acted about whether I could take him or not. I mean, I've battled a few telepaths before, but I've never been able to consistently beat them. I'm just hoping that Psimon is mostly a brute-strength telepath than one used to strategy. My mental shield certainly hadn't helped much against him, all it did was buy us three months of memories that we wouldn't have had without it.

Sure enough, as soon as I arrived in the tent, Psimon recognized me as a fellow telepath and attacked. I instantly countered with a magical shield, only for him to blast it apart. So, experienced in mental battles, are we? Well so is Psimon. He then conjured copies of himself to attack me from multiple directions. I countered with a shield before descending to the ground to limit his attack vectors. Fortunately, this was my mind we were fighting in, and I had already prepared the perfect counterattack, one that none could stand up to. I smiled and summoned my great weapon, one that no telepath had ever stood up to before, no matter their power. When the signal started, Psimon stopped his attack and demanded What is this? Why is this music playing?

This is how I fight a telepathic battle, Psimon, I answered with a smirk. Then, added to the music was a steady shaking of the ground, the pounding of footsteps, and a roar that none who had ever heard it would mistake for anything else. Behold, the Avatar of Destruction, the Alpha Titan, the King of the Monsters: Godzilla! With that, Godzilla fired his atomic breath at Psimon, blasting him away as he BARELY managed to put a shield up in time.

So, you've learned how to use constructs to defend yourself? Well Psimon knows that technique as well. Behold Psimon's ultimate creation: the Emperor of Chaos, God of the Sky! Come forth the Golden Demise: King Ghidorah! With his call, three black holes appeared in the sky, with lightning bolts striking from the singularities. Then the three heads of what is truly the most dangerous monster ever created appeared. I absolutely panicked, because this was the most dangerous version of Godzilla's most dangerous foe, and Psimon was definitely proving he knew the creature, as it was able to attack and damage Godzilla while my kaiju could do nothing to defend himself. Now, if I could just remember how to make Ghidorah be affected by things on this plane! It took me too long to create Godzilla Earth for me to be able to afford losing him.

The problem with that was that the section of the movie was extremely metaphysical and symbolic. Then I remembered the solution: because that Ghidorah was a being from another dimension, it needed eyes that were bound to both itself and our universe. Immediately, I started attacking the duplicates of Psimon, looking for the one with the eye. Luckily, creating things like Ghidorah and Godzilla required a lot of concentration, especially in the beginning when you had little practice. While I had trained with Professors Xavier and Jean Grey to maximize my ability to use such constructs, I was sure Psimon had rarely used such tactics, which meant all his power was being used to maintain and control Ghidorah while I could still fight! I grinned; this was why I used constructs in a mental battle, because now I could take Psimon down with ease. Finally, with one Psimon left, I conjured my favorite fictional weapon and cut off his head. That should take him out of commission for a few months! With Psimon taken care of, I returned to the physical plane and found Kon had scared off all the scientists and freed the sphere, which had still bonded with him. "Can we keep it?" he asked, sounding just like a kid who'd found a stray kitten or puppy. Between the sound of his voice, his pleading blue eyes, and my knowledge of what had happened, I couldn't say no and we rejoined the others before heading home.

Mount Justice-September 5, 9:16

Upon our return, all our mentors were waiting, but with them was someone surprising: my father, Superman. Flash was quick to explain that they had become worried when we didn't return on schedule and gathered in the mountain in order to wait for our return and monitor the bioship. I looked at Superman, only for him to gesture towards a side room. Curious, I decided to follow him and when we arrived, he sat down. "Superboy, I have an apology to make. I have mistreated you, and I can only hope that it's not too late for me to make it up to you."

I was completely shocked, because I never expected Superman to apologize for anything. "Why are you apologizing?"

"For the way I've been treating you. I want to explain, and maybe have a chance for us to start anew … if you aren't opposed, that is?"

"I'd like that, if your explanation is good enough." So, Superman explained: much to my shock, I was not the first clone of Superman that Cadmus had created. The first was called Match, and while he was a pure clone, because of the primitive nature of the human genetic work and the complexity of the Kryptonian genome, Match had serious mental problems. Match attacked Superman, and he was forced to put Match into cryostasis. Because he met Match, Superman feared that I would turn out like him, and kept his distance. "Why did you change your mind then?" I asked.

"Well, to be honest, I don't think I would have for a few more months if it wasn't for Shade. When he mentioned that you hadn't shown any signs of the problems that Match had, I decided to check for myself. I was still going over the reports when I heard that you were overdue. I nearly panicked when I heard that, and I was halfway here before I stopped and realized what that meant."

"What does it mean?" I asked, hoping against hope.

"That no matter how you came into this world, or how long you have in it, you are family, and I should start treating you as such … if you're willing, that is?"

I couldn't help but smile as I said, "I'd like that, Superman."

"My name is Clark Kent, or Kal-El, not Superman," he said with a smile. "Kal will do when we're suited up, but in private call me Clark."

"I'm Conner Kent or Kon-El."

Clark raised an eyebrow at that and asked, "Who gave you those names?"

"Tony, or Torch, he joined us during the Mr. Twister incident."

Clark had a curious look in his face at my answer. "Did he now? Interesting."

Hall of Justice-Sept 8, 14:16

The League was curious, as this was the first time that Roy had asked to meet with us since Independence Day. While we had been keeping an eye on him, this was the first time he sought us out. "We have a problem," Roy started, which instantly put us on edge. "Lex Luthor knows who most of us are, he told me so himself."

"How noble of you, Mr Harper, but I don't think your rent will pay itself. Why not take my money, at least enough to hold onto your apartment for a few more months?"

"How do you know that name?!"

"I know the identities of most of the League, Mr Harper, but I prefer to keep my relationships with the League on a professional level. For example, if Green Arrow attacks one of my side businesses, that doesn't keep me from making a perfectly legal deal with Oliver Queen. Secret identities are there for a reason after all, and I can respect that. Ask Superman if you don't believe me. I've known who he is for years and I've never done a thing against his other persona. What's more, he knows that I know."

"He's telling the truth," Superman said. "He's known who I am for years and never done a thing against me in my civilian life. Lex is actually very civil most of the time and made a deal with me."

"What kind of deal?" Batman demanded.

"So long as I don't use anything I learned as Superman in my articles, Clark Kent is left alone by the villains. I will talk to him though and make sure he won't reveal any of your identities."

"You do what you wish, Kal," I responded. "But I will ensure that he actually keeps them a secret or wipe them from his mind along with anyone else he told."

"Do what you must," Batman responded. "However, this time you must keep your actions within the limits of what the rest of the League deem acceptable. Otherwise you will be censured." I just smirked, doubting the League could do anything that would really harm me without harming themselves.

Robinson Park, Gotham-Sept 11, 10:29

Well, my plans to change this world's potential future were coming together. I was now beyond my knowledge of this Earth and left only with the potential knowledge from the many alternate Earths I knew of. Right now, I was waiting on Selina to arrange a meeting between myself and another of Gotham's rogues. It was far from the first time I had dealt with them, Cobblepot had only just last night arranged my meeting with Selina by rapidly spreading a rumor that I had a golden image of Bast that I was going to sell. That rumor allowed me to talk to Selina, which had led to this one at the Forum of the Twelve Caesars.

"Hey, what gives? Who are you?" the deranged voice asked.

I smiled. "Hello Harley, it's good to meet you." Then I noticed something, something that the comics and shows had hinted at, but never confirmed. I now had confirmation of what we had all suspected. I brushed my hand against the bruise on her cheek and asked, "He did this to you, didn't he?"

"What do you want, Torch?" she demanded. "Are you here to make fun of me? Say that I should have known what I was getting into with Mistah J and that I deserve this? That I should be locked up?"

"No one deserves to be abused, Harley," I answered with a sad smile. "And while I think you need the kind of help you once offered others, I think that because of how you let Joker treat you, nothing else. If anything, once you are free of the Joker, you are probably the freest person alive because you do what you want to do regardless of what others think of you. Harley, if you can help me, I swear to you that I will free you of the Joker, no matter what it takes or how long it takes."

She hesitated, but finally asked "What do you want?" I simply smiled as I explained what I needed from her, and why. "Okay, I hope you know what you're doin', or Mistah J is going to hunt you down."

A/N: Okay, I know that Lex is OBSESSED with defeating Superman in most media. However, in this case I'm portraying him as the genius businessman he is most of the time rather than classic supervillain. Oh, he's still obsessed with defeating Superman, but he respects Clark Kent as a reporter, thus the deal I mentioned. Besides, I want to give Kon something at least CLOSE to a healthy relationship with both of his parents, something you almost never see in fanfics as most authors seem to think he has to pick one or the other.