Time travel, bitches! Wooo! YEAH! *Gunshots and fireworks* T-I-M-E T-R-A-V-E-L TIIIIIME TRAVEL, LET'S GO! YEEEEE!
These are going to be fun chapters to write, and I'll really enjoy writing this one and the next one. Especially the next one. I know I've said that a lot but trust me. Yukid999's left two reviews about the chapters being "nothing new" but the end of this chapter will definitely go off the rails.
So, I got back into Kingdom Hearts lately and hit the End of the World, but JESUS FUCKING CHRIST ANSEM MADE ME WANT TO DIE!
I have fought a number of bosses in my over a decade of gaming, but the first solo fight against Ansem in the first game? Oooh baby, OOOH BABY I have words for the designer of that fucking fight.
I'd continue my rant, but then we'd be here all day, so I'll end it there.
Triumphant Fun Fact 6: The fanfic Certain Illusions, written by AnnatazArataz, was one of the non-crossover inspirations for this story. Go check it out, it's great!
Well, that's all from me up here, on with the story!
The Once and Future Thing Part 1: Weird Western Tales
I sigh in annoyance as I lazily dodge the laser bolts.
The shooting stops and the smaller of the gun men scoffs. "Oh, Ah'm sorry, are we borin' ya?"
He's a humanoid alien the height of an average human male adult. He has gray skin and black hair that goes down to sideburns, with matching eyes and yellow sclera. He also has no nose and elf ears. He wears black boots with red pants and a red shirt, the neck area of the shirt being black. He has a yellow utility belt around his waist and wears a mainly black jacket with yellow sleeves and a yellow collar, as well as yellow gloves with a black strap along the back and a yellow trucker hat and atop that hat are gray goggles with green lenses.
"Honestly? Yeah, you kind of are," I reply.
Octagon Vreedle grumbles and looks up at his larger brother. "Ya hear that 'Boid? We're borin' the great Triumph, Bane of Vilgax and Annihilator of Aggregor."
Wait, Annihilator of Aggregor? Never heard that nickname before.
Rhomboid Vreedle pouts and looks like he's about to cry. "Wh-what? Aw man? Ah thought we were a threat. Hey, Triumph, remember when we were threats?"
Rhomboid's a large man, with heavily muscled arms and chest, while he has a belly. Like his brother he doesn't have a nose and his eyes are black with yellow sclera, his black hair also leading to sunburns. Across his arms and his chest, he has body hair. Far as I can tell he wears only red overalls and a yellow cap with matching goggles to his brother's atop his head. On his waist he has a black utility belt filled with a number of useful—and worthless—tools.
I arch a brow in confusion. "You were threats?"
Octagon scowls and aims his improvised gun at me. "Y-Yeah!"
Suddenly, a purple bolt whizzes through the air and shoots through his gun, pinning it to the floor. And before the two can react, a Canary Cry sends them flying back.
Looking behind me I see Black Canary and Huntress walk over, the latter with some cylindrical devices trailing behind her. "The bombs were duds," she reveals.
"Well, most of them," Black Canary corrects, much to Huntress' chagrin. "The actual bombs are being disposed of by the Seattle Police Department's bomb squad."
I give the two a nod before we turn our attention to the Vreedle Brothers. "Well, there goes your leverage," I say, palming my fist. "How's this gonna work? You give yourselves up or do we have to beat you down?"
"Ah ain't givin' up without a fight!" Rhomboid declares, hefting his giant nail gun he calls Hot Stuff.
Octagon smirks and pulls a detonator out of his pocket. "Well said, brother. Now, Ah know that if we fight you we'd stand no chance, but did yah know we had another bomb?"
"Where?" Black Canary demands.
"In our ship!" Octagon answers. "And did yah know that with the press o' this here button it'll come outta the sky screamin' like a Emetian Banshee and boom bigger than any o' the other bombs you've done collected."
"He's lying. Right?" Huntress asks me.
I grit my teeth behind my mask. "From my years of fighting these morons I know they lie about a lot of things, but causing explosions? Oh, they'd never lie about that."
Octagon smiles and bows his head slightly. "Now, this is what you might call a Brazilian standoff-"
"Mexican," I correct.
"What?" Octagon asks.
"Mexican. It's a Mexican standoff," I elaborate. "Besides, that doesn't really work in this context—a Mexican standoff usually happens when multiple parties are involved, and if one person makes a move that leaves him open to the others. No one wins."
Rhomboid gasps and his eyes twinkle in excitement. "There's a party!? Where!? Are we invited!? Oh, Octagon, can we go to the party!?"
I can feel the confusion from my two teammates before Huntress leans over to whisper in my right ear. "These guys are your enemies?"
I sigh. "Yeah. But even if they're stupid I still never underestimate them. The moment I do, they'll cause an explosion that'll take a large number of lives."
Huntress nods and hums in understanding before we focus on the brothers again.
Octagon sighs in annoyance and pinches the bridge of his nose. "No, 'Boid, there ain't no party. Triumph was just makin' an example."
"An example of what?" Rhomboid asks.
"Of a Mexican standoff!" Octagon shouts in annoyance.
Rhomboid blinks a few times before his eyes twinkle again. "Oh, are we getting' Mexican again!? Ah love them carnal acid fries."
"Carne asada," I correct.
"What?" The Vreedle Brothers ask.
"Carne asada is what they're called, not "carnal acid"," I elaborate. Again.
"Oh," Octagon nods. "Say, are you Mexican? You've corrected us twice about that kinda stuff."
I nod. "Yes, I am, but the stuff I corrected you on is common knowledge, you can be from the same ethnicity as Black Canary or Huntress and still know what I was talking about."
"Hm. Interesting," Octagon hums. His attention then returns to his brother. "But 'Boid, there ain't no party!"
"Then why'd you bring it up?" Rhomboid asks in a whining tone.
"It was an example!"
"Of what!?"
While the two argue, out of the corner of my eye I notice Huntress sneaking away to get a good angle against them. Normally I'd try to keep them distracted, but they do that enough that Canary and I won't need to do anything.
"But where's the party!?" Rhomboid shouts again.
"THERE IS NO PARTY!" Octagon shouts.
"THEN WHY'D YA BRING ONE UP!?" Rhomboid screams.
Black Canary leans over to me. "Wow, I wish they were my enemies, it'd be nice to fight some absolute morons every now and again."
I shrug. "Eh, you get sick of it pretty quick."
"That's enough!" Octagon shouts, silencing his brother. He takes a deep breath and focuses on us before he narrows his eyes and counts. "One…two… Weren't there three of yous?"
From a dark corner behind him, a crossbow bolt flies over and shoots through the hand holding the trigger, causing the... "smarter" of the Vreedle Brothers to drop it. I quickly leap over and catch it.
Black Canary jumps forward and kicks Rhomboid in the neck before glaring up at our teammate. "Dammit, Huntress! You could've caused their ship to crash!"
From her vantage point, Huntress glares down and points at Black Canary angrily. "Hey! I know what I'm doing! I've been at this for years, Canary!"
Nipping this in the bud. "Hey! Let's just take the Vreedles down, we can argue about this later!"
Octagon punches me in the side of the face before crying out in pain and holding his broken fingers. "AW! Doggone it! How Do Ah keep forgettin' about your toughness?"
"Great question," I reply before headbutting him and sending him flying over to the window of the building. "Okay, let's get these guys under arrest then we can le-"
Suddenly, their ship comes to a stop outside of the window and Black Canary and I raise our arms to block the headlights before our eyes widen and we jump behind some office desks. The windows are shattered as a hail of bullets flies in, letting the Vreedle Brothers hop into their waiting ship.
The three of us slowly walk to the edge of the window and watch as they fly away. Rhomboid laughs and waves. "Bye, Triumph! Bye, pretty ladies! Oh! And before Ah forget, that's a fake detonator!" He reaches under his hat and pulls out another detonator. "This here's the real one!"
He then presses the button.
Their ship shoots up into the sky at double its usual speed and quickly explodes, lighting up the night sky for a moment.
Huntress and Black Canary look up in shock.
"Goddamn idiot…" I whisper with a shake of my head. "Come on, mission's over, let's report this."
"Wh-" Black Canary looks between me and the sight of the explosion a few times. "Wait! They just died and you're gonna file a report!?"
Huntress shrugs. "What's the big deal, Canary? They were villains and we didn't kill them, they did that to themselves. Why should we care if they died 'cause they were stupid?"
"Besides, they aren't dead. At least, not really," I add.
The two stop their glaring match and look at me in confusion. "What?" They both ask.
"Yeah, they aren't dead," I repeat. "Their mother's a big deal crime boss and has a whole planet sized expired cloning kit. Any time these two die, they just get new bodies and most, if not all, of their memories. It's no big deal. Hell, I'm more than 99% sure I've never met the original Vreedle Brothers."
Huntress shrugs before slapping Black Canary's back. "Well, you hear that, birdie? Nothing to worry about!"
Oh, those two do not like each other.
With a sigh, I activate my radio and the three of us are teleported to the Watchtower shortly after.
Watchtower
I finally finish the report and sigh as I exit the room. Even when writing the report, the tension between the two was thick.
This won't end well.
"Wha-!?" I shout in surprise as a muscular arm wraps around my neck and begins to drag me through the hallway.
"Eric, hey! You hungry?" John asks, still dragging me along.
"Kind of," I say before getting out from under his arm.
"Good, me and Bruce were planning on getting something to eat in the cafeteria, come on," John invites me.
I look to see Bruce behind me, and he shrugs.
I know John, he's not gonna take "no" for an answer.
"All right, let's go eat."
After getting our food and having some quick conversations, I notice as Shayera enters the cafeteria.
With her entrance the conversations all around quiet down for a bit, but she ignores all the attention and goes to get her food, and the convos all continue.
With her return the League's been split in the middle, half of us welcome her back, and the other half still doesn't trust her. I'm in the former camp, I know she regrets what happened, and she did good against Grundy a week ago.
And then there's Diana, who's firmly against Shayera being on the team, and by having one of the founders against Shayera, many opinions are with Diana. Sisterhood is a very important part of Amazon culture, and Diana obviously won't forgive Shayera anytime soon.
"Diana's carrying a grudge," John comments.
I nod with a hum as I eat my food.
Bruce just shrugs before drinking some of his water. "She'll get over it."
"That's oddly optimistic coming from the Big Bad Bat," I say.
"Diana's an adult, she knows not to let this get in the way of the mission," Bruce replies.
"Whatever," I shrug before turning my attention to John. "What about you, Stewart? You carrying anything?"
"What, with Shayera?" John smiles and laughs a little. "It's been a long time since we were together; we've decided to give each other our space for a while."
Bruce and I share a skeptical glance before we turn it to John.
"Uh-huh," we both say.
"I'm very happy," John tries to convince us.
"Riiight…" I say. I then slowly reach out and sip my soda, keeping my eyes on him.
"Besides, I'm with Mari, so it's not like I can do anything about that," John says. He picks at his food for a few moments before pointing his fork at me. "What about you? How're things with Zatanna?"
Normally I would've had a small smile on my face, but not this time, instead I have a little frown. "Things are going good. At least I hope."
Bruce stops eating and focuses on me, his eyes narrowing. "What does that mean?"
"Well, she's been avoiding me lately and I don't know why," I answer with a sigh. "Hasn't been active as much lately as well. At all, really," I then notice Bruce looking at me and shake my head. "No. No way. You aren't hitting me with the big brother routine."
John laughs and answers when I turn my glare on him. "Must be a pain to be on the other side of that, huh?"
"The hell do you mean?" I ask with narrowed eyes.
"Uh, Victorious and Superboy? It's all over the rumor mill," John answers.
Rumor mill? The hell's on this rumor mill? Hm, I'll have to start an investigation later. But I shake my head. "Nope, that's never been true. I always gave him shit for some fun. Besides, they're going on a date tomorrow."
John hums with narrowed eyes before nodding. "Okay, okay. Well, enough about our love lives and those adjacent to ours; what's going on between you and Diana?"
Bruce's eyes narrow just a little. "There's nothing going on between us."
This time, John and I share a skeptical glance before turning our attention to the Dark Knight. "Uh-huh."
"I don't have time to pursue a relationship," Bruce tries to explain. "My work is too important. Diana's a remarkable woman, she's a trusted friend, she's…" He trails off at mine and John's looks. "Standing right behind me, isn't she?"
With a smile, Diana snakes her arm around Bruce's shoulders and leans her face close to his. "Don't let that stop you. Keep digging."
The alarm begins to blare. "Intruder alert! Dormitory deck. Intruder alert! Dormitory deck," the four of us get up and quickly run over and seeing who's going to deal with the threat the other heroes all sit down but stay prepared to help at any moment.
As we run, I look to Bruce. "Saved by the bell, huh?"
He just hums in response.
The four of us quickly arrive to the deck in question and I quickly transform into my Gimlinopithecus form, Shocksquatch.
I become a large, yeti-like creature. The fur from my wrists down and shins down, and from my neck up are black, with some white fur trimming those parts. Most of my body's covered by yellow fur and I have gray fingers and toes. On the sides of my wrists and head are silver bolts and atop my head is a three-pronged headpiece that looks like lightning bolts. I wear black shorts with an orange and white belt, the Omnitrix crest as the buckle.
The door opens, and inside we see a thin man wearing a blue bodysuit, goggles, and a silver belt around his waist. In one hand he has one of Batman's utility belts that he's trying to steal.
"Drop the belt, eh?" I order, lightning arcing along my arms.
"Y-you weren't supposed to see me!" The man screeches.
"Pretty easy to see you, man," John replies, his ring aimed and ready to fire.
The man presses a button on his belt, and a white portal appears in front of him that he jumps inside of. Diana and I share a glance before we shrug and follow after him. We swirl around in the portal before John corrals us in a bubble.
The light gets really bright at the end of the tunnel, so we shield our eyes.
Elkhorn, Oklahoma
Time travelling asshole!
My eyes dart open and I quickly sit up as the memories of these adventures come to mind.
Goddamn no spine having ass time travelling bitch.
I stand up and look around to see mesas, dust, and tumbleweeds.
With a sigh, I tap the crest and transform back to normal. "Well, goddamn."
"Everyone okay?" John asks.
"I think my retinas got burned by that tunnel," I groan.
"Now you know what it's like for us when you transform," Diana laughs.
"Am I really a walking flashbang?" I whisper.
"Yes," John quickly answers. "Yes, you are."
Diana chuckles a little before looking around at our location in confusion. "Where are we?"
Before any of us could answer, I can hear four guns getting cocked. Turning around we see four men on horseback aiming their pistols at us.
"Where? I think the real question is when." Bruce says.
Professor Paradox, now would be a great time to make your debut.
The men hop off their horses and approach us, one of them to one of us.
"I have to confess," one begins. "Yer about the most colorfully-attired folk I've ever bushwhacked. You circus-folk?"
"Not exactly," Diana answers, keeping her eyes on her target.
The lead bandit shrugs. "I don't care what ya are, so long as ya pay the toll."
"A toll, lovely," I sigh.
"Welcome to Elkhorn, Oklahoma, folks," the man greets with a tip of his hat. "This here's Tobias Manning territory," he then holds his hand out, expecting his toll.
"You want tribute? Money?" Diana asks incredulously.
"Well, I ain't particular," the man's eyes drift to the Lasso of Truth. "That fancy gold chain will do just fine," then he cups her chin in his hand and I close my eyes with a smirk. "Unless there's somethin' else you wanna give me?"
This is gonna be fun.
Diana grabs the man's wrist tightly and twists it. After he cries out in pain for a few moments she then aims and throws him a distance away. The person keeping an eye on me aims his gun at her, but I disarm him and slam the butt of the gun into his face, knocking him out.
The remaining two take aim and shoot at me, but Diana quickly gets in front of me and blocks the bullets with her bracelets.
"These are the biggest, slowest bullets I've ever seen," she comments, bored.
Seeing the futility in their actions, the two run away and the four of us watch.
"You're letting them go?" Bruce asks.
Diana shakes her head. "Oh, no way," she pulls out her Lasso and catches the two with it. She drags them over and then knocks them out while Bruce and John bring the horses over.
"I was afraid of this," Bruce says as he pulls a newspaper from a saddle. "The Elkhorn Gazette; it's either an amazing forgery or it's less than a month old."
"So?" Diana asks, waiting for him to say more.
Bruce gives her the paper and John and I look over her shoulders to get a good look. "Look at the date," Bruce says. "June 1879."
John groans. "Have I mentioned how much I hate time travel?"
I back up and fold my arms as I lean on a horse. "And no Paradox to come along and whisk us back to when we belong," I whisper.
"Can Chronos take us back?" Diana asks.
I shake my head. "No. I mean, I could, but I don't know how to do it safely. I've never practiced with that power, never saw a reason to. But after today it's training time for the tinman."
Diana then sighs. "Then if we don't find our time travelling sneak-thief, we're stuck here."
"I don't know about you guys, but I'd rather not live in anytime before the Civil Rights Movement," John says with a frown. "Let's head to the nearest town, see if we can find him."
Bruce then looks down at his suit. "We can't go anywhere dressed like this."
"No," Diana agrees, looking at the four knocked out men sitting in front of us. "We can't."
In the show it seemed like the Leaguers swapped clothes with cowboys who coincidentally happened to wear the same size clothes as them. That was a lie.
I'm wearing a black jacket with black pants and a white shirt on the inside with black boots with spurs on the back. I'd never tell the Titans or Esmeralda, but I played with the spurs for a few minutes before I noticed a smirking Diana watching me.
She wears blue pants with a white shirt and hat and a brown jacket and matching-colored boots.
Bruce wears a long black coat and hat, while everything else is gray.
John just changes his Green Lantern uniform to look like a cowboy outfit.
It took some time (and some magic, which I'm quickly running out of) but I managed to shift the clothes to match our sizes and become as comfortable as possible, though for some of us I guess it wasn't as comfortable as I'd hoped.
"These shoes are killing me," Diana complains.
"Di, you, and all the girls on the team, fight crime in high heels," I point out.
She pins me down with a look. "High heels that fit!"
"Everyone should probably take one of these," John says as he hands out holsters and pistols. "We probably won't be bothered if people see we're armed."
As soon as I get my revolver, I go all Revolver Ocelot and twirl and toss it around before tossing it into the air, I then lean to the side and catch it in my holster. I'm pretty good.
Bruce denies the gun, and John sighs a little in annoyance. "You know your empty holsters aren't going to scare anyone. You sure you don't want one?"
Bruce taps his utility belt with a finger. "Positive," he then hops on the black horse, because of course. "Let's ride!"
The others hop on their horses and follow after, leaving me with a gray horse with a black mane.
I can work with this. I hop on the horse and follow after.
After about an hour of riding we finally hit the nearby town, and with no idea where to look we enter the saloon. While cliché, it seems like the best place to get started. We enter and get some glances as we slink off to a table in the corner. Attention then returns to a table in the center where a card game is being played.
"My Pappy always said faint of heart never filled a flush," one of the players comments. He has a flower in his brown vest and a gray hat.
The other man grunts. "It ain't your pappy's money," he then puts his cards down and sighs. "I fold."
"That leaves you and me," a man with a thin mustache and a brown coat says. "What're you holding, Mister Lash?"
"It'll cost you another five-hundred to find out," Lash says with a smirk, pushing a pile of chips forward.
The other man smiles and pushes his own chips forward and lays his cards on the table. "Call; four kings and an ace."
Lash rubs his chin and hums. "Well now, that's a might perplexing," he puts his cards down. "Seeing as how I've got four aces and a king," he begins to pull the chips to him, but the other man gets up angrily, the chair falling over.
"Well, I've got the gun," the man says and pulls out a strange, seven-barreled weapon.
Bruce and I share a glance before returning our attention to the confrontation.
Lash puts his hands up in surrender before a small pistol appears in his open palm. "Whole lotta that goin' around, it seems," the two men stare each other down before Lash continues to speak. "Seem like a waste of a good-sized pot; how 'bout we split it, and both walk away?"
The barrels of the other man's gun extends out into spider-like limbs and surround Lash. "How 'bout I take it all?"
Lash's eyes widen a little, but he keeps his cool. "Sounds fair the way you explain it," he says as he puts his gun down.
"That technology's from the future!" Diana hisses.
"Yeah, I've seen SixSix and SevenSeven use a variation of that pistol," I whisper back.
"Wait," Bruce whispers, putting an arm on Diana's wrist to stop her from doing anything rash. "We don't know how things work here yet," Diana and I share a glance before sitting back down.
Two men grab Lash by the arms while the other man's gun goes back to normal. "Hang 'im at dawn."
"Don't I get a trial?" Lash demands.
"Sure," the man leans in close and smirks. "You're guilty. My town, my rules."
"Wait a minute!" Lash cries out as he gets dragged off. "Can't we talk about this? How 'bout another hand? Double or nothing!" But it didn't matter, he was getting dragged off.
"I think we know how things work here now," John comments.
"We have to help that man!" Diana exclaims strongly.
"That's not what we're here for," Bruce says. "Someone's tampering with history; the stakes are much bigger than the life of one card shark."
The two stare each other down for a few moments before Diana gets up… "Then it's settled; we'll break him out after sundown."
As she walks away, I smirk at Bruce.
"What?" He asks.
"Oh, you know, just really refreshing to see someone else's girlfriend absolutely wrap them around their finger," I comment with a smirk. John chuckles and Bruce sighs in defeat.
It's now night, and the four of us are staking out the prison Lash is currently held in. As the four of us look we notice as two guards waiting at the doors, a third having entered a few minutes ago.
"So, what's the plan?" John asks.
"Eric, get in and find Lash, take out the guard inside as well. The three of us can deal with the two guards out here," Bruce orders.
I nod before backing off and I jump down into an alley. I dial through the Omnitrix and become Silencio. I then crawl back up the building, give the three a nod, before leaping from our building over to the prison.
I land silently on the roof and run over and crawl along the back of the building and find an open window. I enter the building and crawl along the roof, avoiding detection before I eventually see Lash, the guard, and a third man.
From my spot on the roof, I swing down and wrap my legs around the guard's neck and begin to choke him out. He struggles for a few moments before falling limp. I then drop down and face Lash, who jumps back in surprise.
"Uh…you here to help me?" He asks in confusion.
I nod before slapping the crest and transforming back to normal in a flash of orange light. "Yeah, me and my friends are here to-"
"How'd ya do that?" Lash interrupts.
I smirk and shrug. "Who knows?"
"Got ya," Lash nods with his own smirk.
One of the outside guards gets sent flying in and slides to a stop at my legs, the other three then come in. "I'll get the door," John offers, his ring making a key. But instead, Diana rips the door off its hinges. "…Or you could do that."
"I'd get out of town if I were you," Bruce advises as Diana hands Lash his gun and holster.
"I'd like to, but my Pappy always said, "a man who sticks his head in sand makes a pretty good target". I've got business to conclude before I leave," he twirls his gun and re-holsters it before holding his hand out to Diana. "Bartholomew Aloysius Lash. Friends call me Bat; Bat Lash."
Diana shakes his hand while John introduces us. "I'm John. The lady's Diana, the orange boy's Eric, and the scowling one's…"
"Bruce," he finishes while folding his arms.
"We're lawmen," John continues. "Looking to bring a criminal to justice."
"Maybe you've seen him? He's got this belt lets him do some crazy things. We think the guy who put you here might work for him," I interrogate.
"Not exactly."
Ah, now he speaks.
We turn around to see the man of the hour in a cell, his suit gone and instead wearing rags.
John blinks in surprise as he recognizes him. "You're-"
"David Clinton," the man answers. "Inventor of the chrono-suit, at your disposal."
A mass in the bed next to him snores loudly, and we all wince at the sound.
David sighs. "Oh, how I've fallen…"
"You tried to steal Batman's utility belt," Diana states.
"And you chased me," David counters. "But time-tunnels are somewhat counter-intuitive. Even though you were only seconds behind me, I arrived nearly six months before you did."
"Where's your-" The snoring interrupts Bruce. "Where's-" The person snores again. "Wh-" More snoring.
"OY! SHUT UP!" I shout at the person sleeping.
"DON'T YOU TALK TO MY BROTHER LIKE THAT!" Another voice shouts.
A third person steps out of the shadows and my eyes widen in surprise as I see who it is.
"Oh, god no…"
It's Octagon Vreedle.
And that means the snoring mass is Rhomboid.
Goddammit.
"Now, listen here, partne-" I shut him up by grabbing the front of his shirt and slam him into the bars, knocking him out.
"Okay, continue," I tell Bruce.
"Where's your time-travel device?" Bruce asks.
"Now there's a story," David hangs his head. "As soon as I got here, I was robbed."
I let out a laugh and fold my arms. "Poetic justice. Let me guess, Tobias Manning?"
David sighs and begins to pace. "Yes, it was him. He took my suit and used it to take over this town. He keeps taking trips to the future and coming back with stolen technology. He keeps me here to teach him how to use the stuff that he can't work out for himself."
"Which I'd suspect is most of it. What with him being so mule-stupid and all," Lash comments.
"It's been horrible in here," David laments. "Humiliating! Stuck with…" He looks at the unconscious Vreedle Brothers. "Them. I-I just want to go home; I'll gladly accept my punishment if you help me get back."
"How did Tobias take over a whole town with a time machine?" John asks.
"With future tech, of course," David states as if it were obvious, which it kind of was, I'll admit.
Hell, if you went back to Colonial America with current technology, you'd be able to take on anyone.
"Like his surveillance cameras," Bruce says, pointing to one camera currently aimed at us. "We need to go. Now."
I hop up and tear the camera off the wall. "Don't know if someone was watching, but can't exactly let this stay now, can we?"
Diana nods before ripping open the door to David's and the Vreedle Brothers' cell. "You're with us."
"Now that's a healthy gal," Lash comments.
Due to the sounds of the bars getting torn off, the two alien morons begin to wake up.
"Huh? What's goin' on…?" Rhomboid asks as he slowly wakes up.
"Come on, let's go before they wake up," I say, pushing Lash and John ahead of me.
"You don't like those two now, do you?" Lash asks.
"Trust me, if you knew them like I do you wouldn't like them either," I reply.
Suddenly, a veritable wall of gunfire comes screaming towards us, thankfully John reacts fast enough and raises a shield, blocking them. "I've got their positions. I'm gonna take them down."
"Don't hurt anyone, we could accidentally change history," Diana warns.
I point a thumb at the destroyed camera I left in the corner. "I think we're a little too late for that, Di."
Bruce and I then look back as the guard inside slowly gets up and reaches for his gun.
I don't even give him the chance, I just dash over and stomp his face, the back of his head hitting the wall and knocking him out. I groan in disgust as some of his blood gets on the sole of my boot. Oh, wait, these aren't my boots! Heh, sucks for the cowboy I took 'em from.
The gunfire outside began to lessen.
"Something's happening out there," John says.
"Somethin's happenin' all right," a happy Lash says with a big smile. "The cavalry's here!"
After a few more minutes of gunshots, everything falls silent. We all glance at each other before I shrug and head outside, the others following after me. A few feet from us we see a trio of men putting their guns away.
One's a Native American man who looks the most normal of the three. The second's a Hispanic man who wears black and red, with a red mask over his eyes and a whip at his side. And the most visually striking of them is a large man wearing a gray shirt and wide-brimmed hat that partially covered a large, distorted eye and a torn mouth.
"Who are you people?" John asks.
"Sheriff Ohiyesa Smith," the Native American introduces himself.
"El Diablo," the black-clad man answers with a Spanish accent. "Ever at the service of justice."
And the last man folds his arms. "Jonah Hex. Don't have a lot of time for jawin' in these parts, there's an abundance of bad men who need settin' straight," Hex loads a pair of shells into his shotgun. He then looks us up and down. "If you all are workin' for Tobias, there's gonna be difficulty."
"Easy, Jonah," Lash says, standing between us and them. "They're with me. They helped me out of a spot while I was here incognito tryin' to find out more about Tobias."
"What have you learned?" Smith asks.
"Among other moral failings, the man cheats at poker," Lash shrugged.
"Heh, I coulda told ya that," Hex said before spitting to the side.
I cough into my fist and catch everyone's attention. "Hey, yeah, name's Eric Mercer. Mind telling me and my friends here what the hell's going on?"
Smith nods before stepping forward. "I've lived in Elkhorn since the war, and I've been sheriff most of that time. This here's a mining town, booming too. Folks sometimes get a might rowdy on payday, but still, it's a good place to live. There's never been any mischief I couldn't handle; that is, until about six months ago. Tobias Manning's always been trouble; I've run him out of town before. Well, he came back, and this time he had, I don't know, magic powers."
El Diablo snorts. "There's no such thing as magic, my friend. It was some sort of trickery."
I chuckle quietly and fold my arms. "(You'd be surprised…)"
I notice El Diablo glance at me and I just shrug.
"Well, he tricked me near to death!" Smith continues angrily. "Then he beat me good and ran me out of town like a stray dog. He took over the town and runs it like his own personal kingdom. He treats the townspeople like slaves; that's unacceptable to me."
"The sheriff went looking for men to help take Tobias down and he found us," Diablo adds.
"What's yer stake in this?" Hex asks.
"We're lawmen, too," John says.
"From back East?" Hex asks.
"Sure," Bruce lies.
"We came here to bring this man to justice," Diana explains, pointing at David. "Indirectly, he's the source of your trouble too."
"Tobias stole a dangerous weapon from him," I add. "We've got the same ultimate goal, so let's work together."
"I ain't about to turn down help," Smith says.
"So, what's the plan?" John asks.
"Plan?" Hex snorts. "We put him in the ground."
"Excuse me?"
Son of a bitch.
Turning around, we all look as the Vreedle Brothers march up towards us, Octagon aiming a gun at me.
"Now, who the hell said you could talk to my brother like that, knock me out, and walk away? Now, on account of my name, I can't let that stand," Octagon says before coming to a stop right in front of me. "Apologize, partner."
"You know these people?" Hex asks me.
I sigh in defeat. "Sadly, yes."
"We don't have time for this," Bruce mutters. He then grabs Octagon's arm and twists it before throwing him to the ground. "Diana, take out the big one!"
Immediately, Diana uppercuts Rhomboid, and knocks him out.
"Gracias," I mutter.
"Well, with that dealt with, let's ride!" Lash says before him and his friends hop on their horses and ride off.
The four of us (and David) share a glance before we get on our horses and follow after them.
After a while, El Diablo slows down a little and rides next to me. "(So, where are you from?)"
"(My Mama was born in Guadalajara but lived in Cancun since she was ten. My Papa's from Ireland and I was born here,)" I answer.
Diablo hums with a nod. "(I'm from Chihuahua, lived there for most of my life. Might go to Guadalajara one day…)"
"(I'd recommend it. It's a nice place to be,)" I advise him.
Diablo nods, but before he can reply, Smith speaks up. "We're getting close. I wanna warn you, there's some downright unusual activity going on hereabouts; don't let it throw you."
"Don't worry," John says. "We've got plenty of experience dealing with…the…unusual…" He trails off as robotic pterodactyls take to the sky with shooting riders on their backs. "I'm sorry, you were saying?"
"Eric, Diana, take care of them!" Bruce barks.
Diana nods and flies off of her horse. I pat the side of my horse's head before dialing through the Omnitrix and transform into Astrodactyl and fly after her.
"What the-!?" Lash exclaims in surprise.
"You get the one on the left, I've got the one on the right!" Diana shouts.
She flies over to her target, blocking the shots with her bracelets before kicking her legs into the pterodactyl's chest and tears off its wings.
I dodge the attacks from my enemy and activate my energy whip. I then wrap it around the pterodactyl's neck and pull hard and tear off its head. I then spin the head around and hit both robotic dinosaurs.
Both riders jump off of their destroyed mounts and fly away with jetpacks.
Diana tilts her head in confusion. "Why would they need robot dinosaurs if they had jetpacks?" We watch as the men land and ride off on their horses.
I fly over and rest an arm around her shoulders as we watch them ride off. "If I had robot dinosaurs and jetpacks, I'd use 'em both. *SQUAWK*"
Diana just rolls her eyes before landing next to her horse. "Of course you would, Eric."
We eventually reach Tobias' camp, and take cover behind some rocks. Smith peeks over the rock to survey the defenses but doesn't get much time. Robot guards dressed up like cowboys, dozens of them, run out and fire their automatic weapons.
"Now would be a good time for that flyin' lizard-man!" Lash shouts over the gunfire to me.
"I've got a better idea!" I shout back while I dial through and find the form I'm looking for. After slamming the dial down, I become my Cerebrocrustacean form, Brainstorm.
I'm a crab-like creature with a red-orange shell, with parts of my shell being black at the elbows, shoulders, legs, claws, and bottom of the shell for my head. I have a few spikes down the sides of my face and on my head, as well as a large mouth that doesn't move most of the time. I've got six legs and two claws, as well as orange eyes. I wear a black and silver belt with the Omnitrix crest on it.
"You're…seafood?" Lash asks.
"No, my temporary compatriot, I am Brainstorm, a Cerebrocrustacean from Encephalounus IV!" I correct him.
Lash blinks in confusion for a few seconds. "…where?"
I sigh. "Never mind…"
I step out of cover and wince as some laser bolts hit my shell. "Oh, how…droll," the shell of my cranium snaps open and I fire bolts of electricity that deactivates a number of my opponents.
"OH! WHAT THE HELL!?" I hear one of the natives of this time period shout in disgust.
"Don't question it," John Stewart says as he flies above and fires upon the robot guards.
During my onslaught, the others finally charge in, easily destroying any opponent in their path. But eventually, Tobias' lieutenants enter the fray, all with something that should not be in this time period.
One is currently using a velociraptor as a mount, another commandeers a tank, and three were piloting mech suits.
It mattered little; they were easily defeated.
All that is left is Tobias Manning himself.
"Tobias!" Smith roars.
Seeing that everything has come to a calm, I close my cranium.
"If it isn't "Pow-wow" Smith," the two of us look to see Tobias come out of a shed. "Wasn't expecting to see your sorry hide again."
"I've told you about calling me that," Smith growls. "It ain't gonna happen again."
"No," Tobias agrees as the barrels of his gun extend out again. "I expect this is gonna be the last time. Go for your gun, chief, so I can ventilate ya proper. Maybe that giant lobster next to you while I'm at it."
I bristle at his words, and the spikes upon my face extend out in response to my anger. "I'll have you know I am a Cerebrocrustacean!"
Behind us, the others stood.
"Seven guns-" I begin.
"-Seven of us," Bruce finishes and draws a batarang. "Nobody miss."
A moment later, a batarang, two bullets, an energy ring blast, a whip, bladed tiara, and a bolt of lightning reduce Tobias' less than stellar weapon into scrap.
"My guns!" Tobias shouts in outrage.
"You and me, partner. Right now," Smith says.
Instead, Tobias smirks. "Another day, lawman," he runs back into the shed and then comes flying out with a robotic pegasus.
"Damn, I can't catch him in the air!" Smith rages.
"Worry not my friend, I can deal with this," I assure him before tapping the dial. I then transform into my Biosovortian form, Magnestar. Fusion between Magneto and Lodestar. I'm proud of this name.
I'm a humanoid alien with a mainly dark brown body with a golden-yellow upside-down Y on my chest, legs from the thighs down, and arms from the elbows down, which end in pincers, there are also two bars just above my yellow legs and arms. My shoulders are also two large yellow spikes, with my metal skull-like head floating in the middle of them. My chin has lines going down, making it look like Thanos, and I have a golden-yellow crest like Jetray's with an orange aura around my head. The Omnitrix crest is in the center of my chest.
I reach up and feel the magnetic connection between myself and the pegasus, I then pull it down slowly. If I could, I'd smirk at the surprised sound Tobias lets out. He tries to increase the pegasus'…horsepower? Yeah, horsepower and I just increase my magnetic power and pull him down harder.
Eventually, he hits the ground hard, and as soon as the dust cloud clears, Smith quickly moves in and tackles Tobias aside, the two then get locked into their fight.
"So, we gonna go and help or…?" I ask.
El Diablo shakes his head as he puts his whip away. "No need, Smith can easily deal with Tobias now that the pendejo doesn't have his weapons."
Sure enough, Smith is beating the shit out of Tobias.
Smith easily dodges a few punches before getting Tobias in the liver before following up with an uppercut that sends the bandit stumbling back. Once Tobias recovers, he pulls a knife out, but Smith just disarms him and stabs the knife into Tobias' hand and then kicks him in the face, knocking him out.
Smith then takes off the chrono belt and turns around and shows it to us. "This what you're looking for?"
After a short rest, the group gathers up around the tech we managed to gather (I had to transform into XLR8 to get the tech not in the area) and John creates a bubble around them and then tosses them up towards the sun.
"Near as my ring can tell, that's everything that shouldn't be here," John tells us.
"Shoot," Lash says, kicking a rock away. "And here I was wanting one of them fancy ray-guns."
"Ain't dependable," Jonah warns. "They jam."
"You guys won't tell anyone, yeah?" I ask El Diablo.
He nods. "Who would believe us?"
"Point," I agree. I then look to see Bruce and David working on the belt a distance away and walk over to them. "Need any help? I've got a ton of forms that could get this done like that," I say with a snap of my fingers.
"No need," David says before returning his attention to the belt. "Oh, you forgot to reset the compensator," he reaches for the belt.
I have a bad feeling about this.
"Here, let me…" He presses a button and Bruce and I are sent flying back by an explosion of a wave of energy.
Dammit! I knew we shouldn't have trusted him!
David then opens a time tunnel just as Bruce and I got up with Diana and John's help. "Or maybe I'm lying!"
Laughing maniacally, he jumps into the tunnel, and not even waiting, the four of us follow after him.
All right, when are we going next?
Gotham, 16 Years From Present Day
The portal opens and the four of us land unsteadily on our feet. Also somehow in our suits.
I shake my head to get rid of the headache from using Brainstorm's powers. I always get a little headache after opening my head as-
"Great Hera…" I hear Diana whisper.
I look up and step back in surprise as I notice our location.
It's Gotham, that Wayne Enterprises tower tells us enough. But Gotham's destroyed.
Buildings are destroyed, cars in varying states are all over the place, flames still rage, and there are some bodies here and there, ranging from skeletons to recently dead.
"Wh-what the hell happened?" John whispers in shock as we look around.
A sound catches my attention, and I look up to see a small flock of Parademons flying towards us.
They're large green creatures with circular red lenses over their eyes and golden armor, omegas can be seen on their shoulders and they all have a variation of weapons, from spears, to swords, to axes.
"Darkseid…" I growl before pointing at the approaching flock.
As we all get ready to fight, a silver blur flies through the flock and sends them all flying about.
"What?" I blink in surprise.
A few Parademons are then hit with batarangs and then explode. And another group's hit with birdarangs, also exploding, leaving only three left.
"For Darkseid!" One of the Parademons shouts as he aims a cannon at us.
"Pots eht nonnac!" The cannon just pauses powering up. "Edolpxe!" The cannon explodes, killing the last three Parademons.
We all stand down as four people surround us.
The first, is a muscular young man wearing mainly silver armor. His boots are silver with red trim, he has black pants and a silver and red battle-skirt. The abdomen of his suit is black, with red bars on the sides and a bird head in the center of his chest. His chest armor is silver, with silver shoulder pads and silver gauntlets that end in claws, his muscular arms easily seen. He has black wings with silver armor along the skeleton. He also wears a silver helmet that make his eyes look red and hawk-like.
The next is someone that looks like Robin.
Most of his suit's black. He has black boots with green trim and black pants with a silver utility belt with a red buckle. The abdomen of his top is black, while the chest and shoulders are red. His sleeves and gloves are black, and his gloves also have green trim, and he has wing-like capes along his arms that are black on the outside and yellow on the inside. He also has a cowl that covers everything except for his hair and below his nose.
The third's another Batman.
He wears a mainly gray trench coat, with a black bat from the chest up that also covers the shoulders and a high collar. His cowl is also a little damaged. Honestly, the trench coat is the only thing that differentiates this Batman from ours.
But the last guy catches my attention the most.
He's about Esmeralda's age, maybe a little older. He has black hair and green eyes and a skin tone like Zatanna's. He wears a black suit with a white dress shirt, but what's around his neck doesn't match the rest of his clothes.
It's my goggles.
"Dad?" Both him and the Thanagarian whisper in shock.
John and I share a glance before looking at the two of them.
It's gonna be one of those days.
Huh, that's not Neo-Gotham from Batman Beyond, no, that's Gotham in nearly two decades from now!
That's right, we ain't going to Batman Beyond, we're hitting Justice League Dark: Apokolips War! Fuck yeah, you thought I was going left, when I went right! Keepin' you on your toes!
I guess I should warn you, since Apokolips War was a really bloody movie, the next chapter's gonna be a lot more violent—you saw a little bit of that at the end of this one.
And also, sonny boy's here. Excited to write the next chapter, partially because there'll be some little changes in this timeline compared to the main one, and some cameos next chapter, one in particular that I'm really excited to show you.
But hey, with this chapter it's now been a year and three days since this story was uploaded! Thank you, all of you for being there, either from the beginning, or joining from today. Next chapter will be the end of season one of Triumphant and I'll have some news to share about the story's future.
Seriously, thank you for the past year, and here's to years to come!
Well, that's all from me. If you have any questions or want to leave a constructive review you know where to leave 'em! Remember to stay awesome and see you next time you beautiful people!
