Chapter 2 The Unexpected

Earth 92

Watch Tower II

May 14, 2015

M'gann M'orzz or as she was called on Earth Miss Martian sighed in relief. She had finally gotten relieved of monitor duty after an 8-hour shift by Mr. Terrific. While she understood why someone was needed to monitor the news and status of the world she wondered why the duty on the watchtower lasted so long, the metro tower shift was always better with shorter hours.

Though this was not the main thoughts running through M'gann's head. What was bugging her was the attitude that some of the League members over the last week had displayed. With their moods becoming increasingly gloomy for some reason that she was blatantly unaware of. She knew that she was still getting accustomed to Earth. Seeing as she had only been found by her Uncle and Superman 7 months ago in cryosleep in her escape pod that her father and mother had sent her away and tried to save someone of the Martian race in what she found out was almost 1000 Earth years ago.

Which was why she was heading toward her Uncle J'onn's room just like she always did when she had a question about human or Earth customs.

When M'gann arrived, she knocked on the door and only had to wait a few seconds before the door of the room opened to reveal her Uncle with a smile across his face.

From what she had learned about her Uncle over the last 7 months was that for over 500 years he believed he was the last Martian. That finding her, another Martian and her being his blood niece and his brother Ma'alefa'ak's daughter seemed to have brightened his mood immensely.

"M'gann what are you doing here?" J'onn asked as he let her in. She walked fully into the room before turning to her uncle.

"Uncle J'onn I have a few questions. Why is it that most of the League's moods have changed drastically this week? I started to notice a few like Black Canary, Power Girl, and The Question start to change on the first day of May, but it seems to have become contagious. Is this a human virus?" M'gann replied only for J'onn mood to dampen by her queries.

J'onn had forgotten to inform his niece about what had happened this week now over two years ago that had affected most of the League. While the death of their friend had changed many members in good ways it still had affected a select few in a bad way, with a single member still being affected. He sighed slightly as he gestured for his niece to take a seat who sat as J'onn turned to face her.

"M'gann have you finished your studies of human history, more importantly, the past 20 years?" John asked and received a nod from her before he continued. "2 years ago, on May 13 do you recall reading about the latest invasion by Apocalypse?"

"Yes, but I only skimmed the history of most of the wars. Seeing as Earth had survived, and I did not see the relevance of learning about the violence of humans. Why?" M'gann answered. J'onn responded,

"What you missed was while there were minimal civilian casualties, which was to be expected, there was a single League casualty. The first and the only casualty the League has experienced to date. Green Arrow died that day." J'onn responded and M'gann's eyes widened in realization as he continued. "This week for the League has been changed by his death. Most of the League mourn him during it. That is why you can feel such a change in the mood of the members." She nodded her head slowly in understanding. She then asked in a quiet voice,

"Uncle J'onn, if the Green Arrow died, then why isn't he celebrated? I remember reading about him and like all the heroes of Earth. But I didn't read anything about a funeral or an acknowledgment about his death." She asked in a quiet voice which J'onn sighed heavily from. He could understand the question, but the League had learned from their previous mistake. before responding,

"That would be an implemented League procedure, that while optional most members agreed to it. After the whole world believed Superman to have died, there was a backlash that came after. We implemented a plan of sorts in the original League which had then been given to the others when we expanded. That if you would prefer we would not publicly announce their death then we wouldn't. Seeing as when Superman's death was announced some of his most prominent villains began running amuck and made Metropolis their playground. Green Arrow had preferred that we not announce his death publicly so that the criminals would not come out of the woodwork thinking they could take Star City for themselves. It worked for about a year before the criminals of Star City seemed to have caught on that the Green Arrow had not been seen for a year and crime in Star City rose drastically. That is why Black Canary has tried taking over being that city's protector." J'onn answered and M'gann nodded her head again in understanding.

"So, how has your probationary time with the League been? I haven't gotten a chance to ask?" J'onn asked trying to change the subject which seemed to get a reaction from his niece as she crossed her arms in annoyance and huffed.

"It would have been so much better if I hadn't gotten Batman as the Founding member that is training me. Being a potential member, I had hoped to have been given someone else like Hawkgirl, Green Lantern, or you but Batman is so...so...so ugh." She replied aggravated which J'onn cracked a smile and softly chuckled at.

Ever since they started adding more members after Darkseid's latest invasion they had instituted a new step to joining. Where potential members would have to spend some time training and going on patrol with a founding member. This was implemented for two reasons, the first was so that the member could get a feel for how the League operated. The second was so that a Founding member could get a feel of how the hero or heroine operated. He had heard the few potential members who had gotten Batman as their founding member complained about his demeanor during the training and patrol.

As J'onn was about to respond that you needed to just get used to Batman the alarm in the Watchtower went off. In less than a second both Martians phased right through the wall and made their way toward the monitor as fast as they could fly.

"Terrific what's the situation?" J'onn asked as they both arrived and shifted back to their regular density. They were the first to arrive with many other members behind them and some already near the teleporter ready to be sent.

"There seems to be some type of wormhole that has opened over Central City. It has not done anything yet, but Flash is already on-site with Power Girl and Superman en route. The wormhole is leaking some unknown energies that I am still trying to identify. I need you, M'gann, Rocket Red, and Captain Atom on the first teleporter to Central City." Mr. Terrific responded quickly not taking his eyes off the computer. J'onn nodded as he and M'gann flew down to the teleporter.

"Captain Atom, Rocket Red with me." J'onn yelled out before Captain Atom and Rocket Red were right behind them when they arrived. The four of them positioned themselves to be teleported when J'onn nodded to Terrific before they were teleported to Central City.

Central City

Kara had ended the call from Holt a second before she was shooting toward Central City. She and Clark arrived at around the same time as they both gazed toward the hole in the sky.

She had read about these in her studies when she was a little girl on Argos. But it was not acting like it should or at least how the theory stated a wormhole should be acting. It should be feeding on the Earth and trying to envelop it. Clark must have been having the same thought as he landed right next to her on the building she was on.

"This is not right. It should be sucking everything into it but it's not doing anything, it's not even expanding." Clark stated his observation and when he finished they both heard the familiar sound of a jet. They both looked off into the distance to see a US fighter jet heading right toward the wormhole. Clark raised his fingers to his ear to use his communicator.

"Terrific, what is the Air Force doing?" Clark asked slightly irritated.

"I've tried to raise them but have gotten no response. I am already trying to get Faraday on call, but he is not picking up either. I will give you more info when I get it. Terrific out." Terrific responded after a second before Clark let his hand drop to his side already knowing Kara heard and he would not have to reciprocate the information.

"Let's see what they are trying and be ready to clean it up if it goes badly." Clark said after he finally came to a decision before taking off into the air with Kara trailing behind him. They reached a safe distance from the wormhole as the jet came into view and they watched as it released a payload right at it.

As the two Kryptonians watched they were stunned when right before the rocket had reached the wormhole, there seemed to be an invisible force that began pushing out of the wormhole. The rocket itself was hit with so much force from the wormhole that the rocket exploded before it reached it.

"What was that?" Clark questioned what they just witnessed. Kara after watching the highly irregular wormhole began trying to remember all her studies on wormholes and black holes and all the theories around them. Finally, a piece of information came to mind.

"Wormholes are generally supposed to take in but that is just theory, what if what we are watching is the back end of one. Instead of absorbing it is pushing out. It's like the wormhole plans on dumping everything it took in from wherever it came from." Kara said.

"So, the wormhole could be dumping it is trash on our world, just great. Just another Thursday." Clark said with sarcasm laced in his response. Kara cracked a smirk at the joke. Even in times like these, her cousin would always try to lighten the mood. Kara took a glance at Central and saw a blur moving around the city which she knew was the Flash running back and forth from what she could tell picking up civilians and getting them to safety.

Before she could hypothesize more about what the wormhole could be doing something began to come out of it. Both the Kryptonians were able to see that it was a part of a building and it began plummeting toward the city.

"I got it." Clark said as it began to fall before he sped off to catch it. Kara looked toward the building as it was falling and used her X-Ray vision to check if there were any bystanders in the building. Thankfully there seemed to be no one inside.

After Clark had left Kara could make out more items, smaller falling out of the hole. As she used her enhanced vision she made out the items from cars to telephone poles, pieces of concrete, and parts of walls. She sped toward them, not planning on catching most of them. Kara began using her heat vision as she started melting all the small objects she could hit with before making her way to catch the larger ones.

Before she knew it she was joined by other members of the League as they all were shooting the objects out of the sky like target practice or catching them out of the sky. She took a chance glance toward Clark as she saw him already depositing the building he had caught which was the upper half of a building that had fallen out the wormhole on the outskirts of Central City and was already making his way back.

After another 10 minutes of either shooting or catching the objects falling out of the sky. All the member's communicators went off.

"The energy seems to be dispelling. The wormhole is losing its juice. It seems to be closing in on itself." Terrific said and when he had finished his sentence they all saw the wormhole begin to shrink slowly. But before it fully disappeared both Kryptonians could make out two small objects falling through the wormhole before it fully dissipated. Using their enhanced vision, they both could make out that they were silhouettes of men.

"Power girl, get the one on the left I got the one on the right." Clark yelled and Kara without a response shot to intercept the person plummeting toward his death. When she reached the man, she plucked him out of the sky and she took a second to check him over for wounds only to be too shocked by who she held. In her shock, Kara was unable to keep ahold of the man and accidently let go of him and he continued to plummet toward his death.

Kara could vaguely hear Clark yell at her as she tried to process who she had just caught as tears began to form at the edges of her eyes. She was finally broken out of her daze by Clark as he positioned himself right next to her with the other man in his grasps and had an aggravated expression on his face.

"Kara, what was that? You just dropped him! Thankfully, Miss Martian was there to catch him. What has gotten into…" Clark said trying to reprimand her only for the rest of the reprimand to die on his tongue as Clark finally saw that Kara was crying.

"Kara, what's wrong?" Clark questioned extremely confused but before she could respond M'gann floated right up to them with the man in her arms and Kara's attention seemed to drift right to the man.

"This man seems to have some blood loss and a puncture wound through his stomach, so we need to get him to the hospital right away." M'gann said and when she finished Clark followed where Kara was looking which caused his mouth to hang open at seeing the person.

"Oliver?" Clark questioned with a slight stutter. So much confusion came over M'gann as she was about to question how Superman knew the name of the man before he handed the person he was holding to Kara and took the now named Oliver out of her hands and raised his right hand to his communicator fast.

"Terrific, Kara, and I need teleportation back to the watchtower. Now." Clark commanded out which had M'gann confused. She at this point was not understanding the significance of the man but before she could question the two Kryptonians were instantly transported back to the watchtower.

"What was that about?" M'gann asked to no one in particle as she was left floating by herself.

Watchtower II

As soon as they materialized Superman was flying as fast as he could toward the medical bay. Leaving every member in confusion as they all turned their attention toward Power Girl as she just stood there holding an unconscious man. After a few moments of what many could tell was Kara finding her bearings, she took off after her cousin.

Mr. Terrific's interest had been peaked. He had only ever seen Superman fly that fast in the Watchtower once. Which was after he had brought Batman up to the med bay after Batman had taken care of the nuke lined with kryptonite that had been sent to take out him and Doomsday on San Baquero. So, he accessed the cameras to the med bay where Terrific guessed Superman went considering the condition of the other injured man Kara was carrying. But when he pulled up the feeds he had to do a double-take at the person he saw on the operating table. Oliver Queen. He blinked a few times before his brain finally registered what he was seeing.

That was impossible. Oliver Queen died 2 years ago during the 3rd Apocalyptic invasion. He then swiftly changed the feeds back to normal. While he knew he should investigate what he just saw, he thought best to keep it to himself. Something this big would most likely get around in less than a day and it did not need to be spread if it was not Oliver. It could just be a new shapeshifter and something this big would be announced by the Founders after they figured out what just fell out of that wormhole.

Med bay

Clark was pacing back and forth as Kara was sitting down still slightly unnerved at the sudden appearance of Oliver. He looked so the same except he had a lot more facial hair. After a few minutes, Clark regained his composure and changed his communicator's frequency to the special frequency only seven Leaguers had.

"Founders meeting in 30 minutes. It's an emergency." Clark said before taking the communicator out of his ear and he turned to Kara. "Kara I am going to a Founder's meeting about this." As he gestured toward the med bay where the two new patients were being worked on. "Keep this to yourself. Do not tell anyone, especially Dinah. Do you understand?" Her expression hardened for a second about keeping this from Dinah before it softened, and she nodded not trusting her voice. Clark sent one last glance toward the Med Bay before he began making his way toward the meeting room.

Central City

J'onn and Flash were both talking with authorities when they both heard over the founder's frequency.

"Founder's meeting, 30 minutes. It's an emergency."

Detroit

"Founder's meeting, 30 minutes. It's an emergency." John sighed as he heard over the communicator Superman request the meeting and from the tone of his voice it sounded important. Thankfully, it gave him and Shayera some time to get ready. Especially with the predicament, he was in. John looked down to the bawling baby who he was trying to get quiet. He sighed in defeat. John had been trying to calm his crying son while his wife was in the shower and he unfortunately was having no luck at all as the baby continued to bawl in his arms.

"Not only did you get your mother's eyes, but you got her shriek as well. Just perfect." John mumbled to himself and as if summoning her Shayera walked out of the bathroom fully clothed and drying off her hair.

"I heard that!" Shayera said in a light growl glaring daggers at John. She walked to him and snatched their son, Rex Stewart out of her John's arms. Her tone than flipped like a coin from an aggressive predator growl to a motherly coo.

"How is my little boy? Did you miss mommy?" Shayera cooed to Rex and the loud sobs ceased instantly replaced by a smile and a gurgle.

"Now I see what you get from your father, you keep making noise until you get my attention, don't you? Don't you?" Shayera asked in a mischievous voice which got Rex to clap and laugh in agreement.

"Hey!" John responded slightly laughing which had Shayera flash John a smirk. Though John's smirk left him replaced with a serious look.

"Clark called a founders meeting, we got 30 minutes and from his tone, it sounded important." John said in a serious tone with all playfulness forgotten. Shayera lost her playful expression as she nodded before she began walking to put Rex back in his crib when a thought came to mind.

"You called the nanny yet?" Shayera asked which caused John to scratch the back of his head slightly with a small apologetic smile. Shayera shook her head amusingly as she set their son back in his crib and went to call the nanny.

Gotham City

The Gothamites were all still getting used to the sight of the 'power couple' of Gotham. Even if that couple had been dating for a year now. Most of the high-class citizens believed that it was another one of Gotham's still number one bachelor's flings that he had throughout the years and many of the man's ex's thought that it was not going to last and that he was not a man of commitment.

But they had been proven wrong and The eyes of everyone always seemed to linger on them anywhere they went which was no different in the current restaurant that Bruce Wayne and Diana of Themyscira were happily eating at.

This was the first time they had gotten to spend time alone together in a little under a month with League work, Wayne industries, and the latest increase in cases in Gotham. This had been the first month since they began dating that had been interrupted by the job. But thankfully they both were able to pull a few strings so that they could spend the next few days together.

They both were enjoying the food and were in the middle of a conversation when they both heard the call over their communicator.

"Founder's meeting, 30 minutes. It's an emergency." Bruce had to suppress a groan from the call. While he was able to suppress a reaction, Diana's eye began to twitch in anger. Bruce realized that she was about to react, so he leaned over and kissed her cheek.

"Calm down Princess, don't make a scene." Bruce whispered and thankfully it seems to barely cool her anger. After seeing her regain control of her emotions Bruce raised his hand.

"Waiter, check please." Bruce announced.

30 minutes later

Diana was not a happy woman right now. She had finally gotten a couple of days off League duties and was finally getting to spend some time with Bruce only to be interrupted by Clark. They were going to need to find a better way for them to spend time together Diana reasoned because this month had proved that the job got in the way. She was angry and everyone in the Watchtower could see that and were keeping their distance as she walked next to Bruce.

Bruce as usual could not be read by anyone but he was slightly interested in the upcoming meeting. Especially since Diana had tried to get clarification while they were driving back to the manor from the restaurant they were at from Clark. Only for him to have disconnected or taken out his communicator. He knew Clark was not suicidal enough to interrupt Diana's few days she got off so they could spend time together. But from the tone of Clark's voice, it sounded serious.

When they both arrived and walked into the room they found that they were last to arrive with the rest of the five other founders already sitting around it. Diana's anger though seemed to dissipate as she saw the serious look that Superman had on his face. That expression only meant something bad.

After the two took their respective seats the rest of the members turned their full attention to Clark as he merely sat there seemingly contemplating something.

"Hey, Supes, what's the emergency that you need to call a founders meeting? I mean that thing in Central didn't cause much damage, so no need for a meeting." Wally said breaking the silence. Clark took a second before he started to press a few buttons on the table to bring up the feeds of the med bay.

"No damage was indeed done to Central, but what you didn't see Wally was what happened right before the wormhole. Two men fell out of it. J'onn can attest to it but the reason why I called this meeting was because of the identity of one of the men." As Clark had finished bringing up the med bay feeds for the rest of the founders to see. And their reactions were not that surprising. All their eyes were widened in realization and Clark could hear all their reactions clearly.

"By the Gods."

"No way."

"What the hell!"

"Impossible."

"It can't be."

"How?"

"It's impossible. It can't be Oliver we all saw his dead body on the operating table. It must be a clone or a doppelgänger from a parallel universe. It's not like we have not dealt with them before." Bruce said breaking the silence that had befallen the Founders.

"I agree with Bruce, this Oliver must be a clone or from a parallel universe." John said. The rest seemed to nod their heads in agreement, still not taking their eyes off the screen.

"How the hell did they even get here?" Bruce asked turning to Clark.

"We are still trying to figure that out. Both the men that are in the med bay just fell out of the wormhole before it dissipated. I have Mister Terrific trying to identify how the wormhole occurred." Clark answered.

"Another man? Have we identified him?" Diana asked with a raised eyebrow. Clark nodded as he changed the screen to two DNA tests. One verifying the man they had was Oliver Queen or a clone and another DNA test of the other man. Clark brought up the DNA sample to the screen.

"A DNA match came back but for a boy who died in a car accident with his family over a decade and a half ago by the name of Ronald Raymond. Which only gives more credit to the theory that they both are from another universe. We have also been able to confirm he is a metahuman, an unstable one that we are trying to stabilize as we speak. I called in Ray Palmer to try and help with stabilizing him." Clark said and went silence as he allowed the rest of the League to process it.

"So, the real question is what do we do with them?" Shayera said breaking the silence.

"What do you mean Shay, we are going to help them, right?" Wally asked in confusion. J'onn shook his head.

"The last two times we have tried to help people from other universes it turned out bad. First with our opposites of the Justice Lords and second when the good Lex Luthor came and brought the Crime Syndicate with him. Which required us to go and stop them in their world which in turn almost caused the end of the multiverse. So, no Wally, the real question is still should we help them?" J'onn stated. That seemed to damper Wally's mood.

"Before we do anything I recommend that we have J'onn read their minds before we make a decision." Bruce suggested and Wally was about to protest how wrong that is to do but was beaten by Clark

"I agree with you, Bruce." Clark said which got expressions of surprise even from Bruce. "The last two times our universe had visitors I have been overly trusting both times. Even when it came from a Lex Luthor from another dimension because I have always believed that everyone, even the evilest of men and women, can change and be good. Both times Bruce has wanted to be cautious about it and both times it came back to bite us that we hadn't. I believe we should attack the problem with caution so that this might not end up in another catastrophe."

"Then let us vote." J'onn said after Clark finished.

"I am for the reading of their minds." Clark said.

"Agreed." Shayera said after Clark who was followed by Bruce, J'onn, John, and Diana as they cast the same vote. A moment of silence occurred before the 6 founders turned their heads toward Wally. John shook his head.

"Come on Wally we already have a majority, just cast your vote." John said. Before Wally sighed in defeat.

"Look I see where you guys are coming from and I might not like it, but it is probably for the best, so I guess I'll agree to it." Wally said and with the final vote cast Clark turned to J'onn.

"If you wouldn't mind J'onn it would be best to get this done as quickly as possible." Clark asked. J'onn's expression did not change as he nodded his head

"I shall be back as fast as I can." J'onn responded before he phased through the ground toward the med bay.

Med Bay

J'onn arrived inside the med bay where the two new patients were recuperating from their respective injuries and operations. He saw both doctor Palmer and Thorne both looking over their respective patients. Palmer turned to him with a raised eye for a second before going back to his work. Thorne though was looking at Oliver with sorrow written all over his face.

"Doctor Thorne." J'onn said trying to get the doctor's attention but after a moment received no response he called the man again. "Doctor Thorne." Again, no response. Seeing no response at all J'onn called the man out one last time. "Matthew Thorne." The doctor finally broke out of his trance as he turned to see J'onn.

"I am sorry did you say something Mr. Manhunter?" The doctor asked.

"I trying to get your attention, you seemed lost in thought Doctor." J'onn stated his observation. The doctor nodded his head slightly before turning his head back toward Oliver.

"You know when Superman brought in this patient I first stared at the body in horror. It brought back some horrible memories. Of the time that I had failed to save someone that wore the same face. Someone who deserved to not die. For most doctors, the patients that we lose, we never forget their faces. But for me, you must know who I was before I was hired to be up here." Thorne's faced twisted in a sneer as he spoke the name. "The Crime Doctor. A doctor who ran an illegal medical center for criminals. I used to not care if I saved them. They were scum. But after losing my license I needed a way to support myself and being a doctor had always been my calling. But when I got out of prison and was offered this job by Mr. Wayne I thought I could finally do some good with my talent. And I did for a long time. There had been a couple of close calls since I had joined like when I operated on The Question after he had been tortured by Cadmus and Amanda Waller. But I had saved them all until Black Canary brought me in Green Arrow so bloody with so many wounds and fractures. I tried my hardest to save him but in the end, the blood loss and damage done to his body was too much. A hero who had saved thousands of lives could not get the same reciprocated back to him. So, when this patient was brought in I thought history was repeating itself. That I was going to lose and fail him again." The doctor said quietly before taking a second to run a hand through his hair as he looked at his patient and released a sigh of relief with small smile gracing his face.

"Thankfully, it wasn't as bad of an injury as the previous Mr. Queen had. Not even close. All he had was a puncture in his stomach, thankfully missing all the major arteries. He'll live." Thorne said before he walked to a clipboard and picked it up.

"This Mr. Queen has a lot more wounds though. 26 percent of his body is covered in scar tissue, second degree burns on his back and arms, the X-rays show at least 12 fractures that never properly healed. The only League member that has more scars than Mr. Queen is Batman with 45 percent scar tissue. But Batman's scars have been accumulated over at least 20 years while Mr. Queen's oldest is only 8 years. There also seems to be some inconsistencies with his blood. There seems to be some type of serum in his blood system. My guess it's been there a while, maybe two years, three years max." Thorne stated as J'onn waited until the doctor finished and took the information in stride and nodded before walking up to the doctor and put his hand on his shoulder. The action got the doctor to look up at him.

"No one in the League blames you for the death of Green Arrow. You tried your hardest to save him, but his injuries were too severe. Do not keep blaming yourself." J'onn said and the man nodded his head slightly before putting the clipboard back and walking over to sit down in a chair across from Oliver's bed.

J'onn looked at Oliver in front of him and saw what he had originally seen on the feeds. A man that looked exactly like the friend they lost. He shifted his focus to Palmer and Ronald. He planned to go into Oliver's mind last.

"What have you found?" J'onn asked after walking to stand next to Palmer.

"It's all really interesting. When new metas with powers are found. This metas power was quite unstable until I was able to fix the device that he found holding onto." Palmer answer before gesturing toward the device that was now on his chest. "An interesting piece of technology, a quantum splicer. I do not know what it is used for. I can't even take a guess after I got the readout of his powers. They are nuclear-based like Captain Atoms. But to what extent I do not know. But a quantum splicer is usually used for the separating or combining of particles not to be used on people, but the splicer seems to have been able to stabilize him for now. So, I don't know what will happen. Thankfully, he is stable but how long it will last I am not sure." J'onn nodded his head after hearing the explanation.

"Doctor Palmer and Doctor Thorne I am about to telepathically read both men's minds to see if they mean any trouble. I wish to not be disturbed." J'onn said and the two doctors glance to the Martian after the announcement before they both took their leave. J'onn used his telekinesis to levitate a chair to sit on as he placed his hands on the head of Ronald Raymond before his eyes lit up and he entered the man's mind.

Author's Note: Forgot to say that I was replacing Mia with William. Preferred the character, mostly because she got some better writing than William did, not his fault but tough. Also, anyone want to take a wild guess what universe they just found themselves in. Next Chapter already halfway finished.

Updated 11/7/20