Here is another attempt at an epilogue. And while I really enjoyed this one, I knew it would require more than one chapter to finish the story up from this point. But I'm glad to have the opportunity to share it with you, nonetheless. When you imagine some of what they might have been doing while visiting with Old Oily months later, picture this . . . (Of course, in this version there is more snow on in the area of Ramon's cabin than in the final product. Read ahead and see for yourself.)

SPOILER ALERT! *This is a version of the epilogue and will contain spoilers to the story. If you plan to read "Derailment" in the future, do that BEFORE you check out this deleted scene.*

Derailment - "Conquering the Mountain" (version 2 of the epilogue)

Warning . . . Rated: K+ (just because - okay, one, little word)


"These things are stupid," Conner picked himself up out of the snow. He wiped his face with one hand as he inadvertently crushed his snowboard in the other.

M'gann made a face. "Conner, now you don't have board."

"I don't need one," he insisted.

"How will you keep up with the others, then?" she asked.

At that point, Wally lost his balance on the same pile of snow that sent Conner tumbling. He came to a sliding stop almost at the couple's feet.

Conner looked at the sprawled speedster and the back up to his girlfriend. "Somehow, I don't think that is going to be a problem," he drawled sarcastically.

"Watch out! Down in front," Robin's voice yelled out.

Conner landed on the dazed Wally, drawing an oomph out of him as M'gann floated out of the way just in time. Robin hit the bump at high speed and sailed over their heads. He completed a flip before landed perfectly and continuing on down the slope with a whoop. Kaldur was right behind him, clearing the area and coming down gracefully.

"Has Kaldur snowboarded often before?" M'gann asked.

Wally spit out a face full of snow and answered. "Not before today. Of course, he took to it immediately. He said it felt much like surfing to him."

Conner snorted. "It's not like surfing."

"So, you've been surfing, big guy?" Wally asked him.

"Well, no . . ." he admitted, "but how hard can it be?"

"Depends on if you want to remain upright or not," Wally muttered. At their looks, he shrugged from his prone position. "Hard."

"What's hard?" Roy asked as he and Artemis swooshed to a stop by the three. They had traditional skis on and neither looked the worse for wear.

"Surfing," Conner volunteered.

"Maybe that's why you crashed and burned there, buddy," Roy smirked. "This is skiing, not surfing."

"Are you okay, Wally?" Artemis asked. She struggled to control her expression. It was more than obvious that she wanted to laugh.

"You need to bend your knees and then extend out with your whole body when taking a jump," Roy offered unhelpfully.

Wally snorted derisively as he climbed to his feet. "I do much better when the soles of my boots are in contact with the ground." He glanced at the blonde, blushing slightly, damn his fair complexion. "I'll survive," he assured her.

Roy held a hand over his eyes as he looked in the direction Robin and Kaldur disappeared in. "Those two are nuts! Rob's only been back in action for a month. At the rate he's going, he'll be in traction by the day's end . . . And he'll take Kaldur with him."

Artemis laughed. "Are you kidding? Those two look like they've been born to do this."

Conner finished breaking his board into kindling. "Well, that explains it, then."

They others looked at him and Conner shrugged. "Must be the reason I've been face-planting every five feet. I was never 'born'."

He smirked at their expressions. The others still didn't know how to take his jokes, even after almost five months. Conner used to get angry at references to his origins but since Clark had finally taken an interest in him and Conner's new outlook on life, his attitude had improved. Not that he still didn't get frustrated and angry on occasion; one look at the pile of splinters that had been his snowboard was proof that he was still the irritable Superboy they all knew and loved but he was way more mellow than before.

"I guess you're done snowboarding?" Artemis asked, gesturing at the aforementioned splinters. "The day's still young. What are you going to do now? Go back to the cabin?"

Conner squinted in the direction opposite the cabin. While the team was taking advantage of the fun to be had when Mother Nature wasn't out to kill them, Ramón was out checking on his wolves. "I think I'll join Old Oily and see if he needs any help."

"You want some company?" M'gann asked him, but she already knew the answer.

"That's okay," Conner assured her. "I doubt Ramón would appreciate a bunch of us scaring his wolves away."

Artemis snorted. "Hardly. Those wolves aren't as easy to scare as all of that. Trust me!"

"Trust us," Roy corrected. "Those wolves aren't shy at all. At least with spring around the corner, even up here, it should be easier now for them to find prey."

"I suppose Wolf could accompany you," M'gann suggested.

The enormous white wolf had joined them on their trip and had been following the team as they barreled down the mountain on their snowboards and skis. Ramón had been taken at once by the beast and amazed at its intelligence. It fascinated him that science had the means of increasing an animal's cognitive ability like that. Cecil hadn't nearly been as thrilled.

The little fox took pains to avoid the wolf in its space. If it came out of hiding at all, it was to cuddle with Robin but it looked longingly at the clone. Conner had to put Wolf outside in order to coax the fox to come to him.

Conner shook his head. "No. Ramón said that Wolf was far too alpha to bring around his pack. It would disrupt the nature of the pack and as a result do the same to his study. I'll leave him here with you guys. There are still mountain lions in the area and Ramón said that the bears are leaving their dens."

Artemis shivered. "Good idea. As big as Wolf is, even and mountain lion and a bear would think twice before attacking us."

Roy frowned down the slope. "Why don't you send him on down to watch out for Robin and Kaldur? There are three of us here and M'gann's powers are sufficient to deal with any animals that might mess with us."

Conner turned his gaze down the mountainside. His X-ray vision was improving but he could only get a fuzzy image of their teammates as they celebrated their run at the bottom of the slope. Not enough to tell whether or not any danger was approaching, however.

"Wolf," Conner called to him. The white wolf trotted over happily. He was enjoying the freedom of the wilderness. "Find Robin and Kaldur. Watch over them out here, okay?"

Roy marveled again at the oddity of a wolf nodding in understanding to a human request as Conner's pet . . . friend, whatever the beast was to him.

Wolf turned and loped down the hill without hesitation. Kaldur was stronger than a human with faster reflexes but no one wanted to test his ability to wrestle a bear or a cougar after what Roy and Robin had gone through. The two would be safer for having Wolf's superior senses to alert them and Artie was right in that an animal that size would be intimidating to the other wildlife in the area.

"Meet you back at the cabin in a couple of hours, then?" Artemis asked Conner.

"Right. See you then," Conner waved at them and headed in the direction he knew the biologist to be.


Robin raced down the mountain with Kaldur on his tail.

"Hold up, Robin! Where are you going?" Kaldur called to him. "It is a long way back to the others."

Robin cut sharply to the left, right in Kaldur's path. The Atlantian swerved hard to avoid the younger boy only to be presented with a number of thick, heavy pines. He dropped immediately to stop himself from crashing into them, the thick snow cushioning his fall and providing a break. He skidding to a halt only a few feet from snow-covered boughs.

Kaldur twisted around to see Robin disappearing over the ridge. The boy had glanced over his shoulder, checking on him but not slowing. If Kaldur had not known better, he would have thought that Robin had cut him off purposely. It seemed uncharacteristically rude, not something he would expect from his young friend.

He was just climbing to his feet when Wolf appeared. The large beast bounded over and nosed the Atlantian affectionately.

"I am fine, Wolf," Kaldur said to him. "Thank you. Are the others coming?"

Wolf swung his head back and forth. His unnaturally intelligent yellow eyes met the pale green ones.

"Headed back to the cabin, are they?" Kaldur concluded.

Superboy's pet acknowledged with a bark.

"We have been out all day. I grow tired myself," he admitted. "But first I need to look for Robin. Will you join me?"

Wolf answered by bounding down in the direction that the boy had previously taken. Kaldur followed on his snowboard but at a much slower pace than he had been traveling.


He knew it was here. He had been here before after all, just five months earlier. He had had nightmares about it every night after he had gone home and the painkillers had been reduced enough that he could dream again. It, more than anything out here, had nearly destroyed him. Robin had very nearly ended that last night.

Falling . . . Why did it have to be falling? He had beat that demon early on right after his parents had died; Bruce had helped him through it. His parents had loved heights and falling had simply been a part of the business. Nets were always used in practice until the routine had become more than routine but second nature. They didn't have to think about it; they just did it. That net never came down until it was perfect and even then, only during the shows.

But his dreams wouldn't stop unless he conquered this one last challenge. Robin saw the valley outstretched in front of him as the route he took down the mountain ended at the thousand-foot high cliff. This was the reason Rob had cut Kaldur off. The Atlantian didn't know this drop off was here but Robin did.

"Robin!" Kaldur's voice came from behind him. "Stop!"

His friend must have noticed the cliff. Instead of stopping, however, Robin bent his knees and went faster. His hand hovering over his belt in preparation. Seconds later, the boy jetted out over oblivion. His board fell away and Robin spread his wings and flew.

Okay, it was better called falling . . . with style but as he looked out at the whitewater of the river snaking below and the way the valley slipped between the two mountains ahead of him; a lush, verdant color of green already as Spring arrived there months ahead of the upper reaches of the slope. Glorious . . . and deadly.

Deadly, that is, if one didn't wear a safety net or, as in his case, wings!

Robin hit the buckle and the pack on his back spread out into a full-sized hand glider. It lacked the normal bar used in most gliders but had two hand bars on either side of him to grasp and use to steer the glider on its course. He caught the updraft and spiraled upwards with a yell of triumph! Then, arching his back, Robin made a loop and started back down, angling his flight to skim above the clifftop. He laughed as he buzzed over Kaldur and Wolf's heads.

This was better than swinging, he thought. The freedom was amazing.


REACTIONS?

I so wanted this to be included as I think you can see but to press on and add another chapter or two onto this would place the story in danger of becoming anticlimactic. Still, you can enjoy it here . . . ;D

Don't forget to tell me what you think!