Chapter Six: Setting Up Stories
Disclaimer: all characters are property of their respective owners.
Spoilers: big spoilers for X-Men: Evolution season 1 episode "Rogue Recruit". Big spoilers for CW's The Flash season 1 and Thor
Author Note: this version of Rogue and other X-Men related characters are from the X-Men Evolution cartoon, although with elements taken from the comics. Flash-related characters comes from CW's The Flash. Other Marvel, DC and Wildstorm character that may appear are drawn from several sources.
A/N 2: I would appreciate feedback on the story, on how could be improved, or things that I have gotten wrong.
A/N 3: I would like to thank my beta Jediknight.
A/N 4: A bit late, but I just forgot that I hadn't posted the final chapter.
Topeka, Kansas
While Rogue retrieved her backpack from the dumpster, neither her nor Clark noticed a trio of teens observing them from the roof of a nearby building.
"Brainy's aim is getting better, we arrived within a few days and only a few hundred klicks of our target this time." one of them commented, a blond guy with a blue and white shirt decorated with lightning motifs.
"Yeah, and now the great decision, we wait or risk another jump?" the only girl of the trio, a short-haired blonde with a red and white shirt, with a ringed planet symbol on it, said, "Rokk, Garth, what do you think?"
"I think we should wait, Imra. The Sphere can cloak and travel under its own power, and we can use those days to contact him." Rokk, the leader of the trio, a black-haired teen, slightly older than the other two, and dressed in black except for a purple band on his shoulders, said, "What's your opinion?."
"I agree." Garth said.
"So do I. Brainy may disagree, but he isn't here, right?" Imra said, "Besides, that would give us time to do some historical research. What we have about the pre-Great Disaster era is spotty at best."
"Yeah, okay." Garth said with a handwave, "By the way, that girl is one of the X-Men, right?"
"Not yet, if memory serves." Imra answered, "And yes, I would like to meet my ancestors too."
"I don't." Rokk said, "Braalians have enough bad reputation in the United Planets without reminding them of what Magneto did."
The coast of Greenland. Close to the Arctic Circle
Irene smiled, as her powers warned her that Rogue has made contact with the Starchild, and with that the worst of the possible futures had been averted Unfortunately, time resists change and some possibilities remained open that were almost as bad. That is why she was here, to redirect somebody's search elsewhere.
She left the sleigh and its driver behind, not that he had wanted to get nearer, as she followed the sounds of heavy machinery excavating on the ice. She stopped when she reached the fence that surrounded the whole hollow where the machines were excavating. Although she couldn't see it, she knew that he had started to unearth a vehicle that crashed here decades ago. Before she had even managed to touch the fence, she felt it, even through the layers of clothes she was wearing, the displacement of the air caused by the moving of the magnetic field that meant he was there.
"Hello, Erik." she said at the man standing on thin air before her.
"Irene, what brings you here?" Magneto said, "Have you decided to join my Acolytes, despite what you said a couple days ago?"
"My answer is the same than then, Erik." Irene said, shaking her head, "I only came to warn you that the wreck you have located is not what you are looking for... And that you have attracted SHIELD attention with your excavation."
"Why would SHIELD...?" Magneto started to say, and then he realized how wrong had been, "It's HYDRA's ultimate weapon, the Valkyrie."
"Exactly. The alien derelict is somewhere else, and it won't be discovered by you in any future that I can see." Irene said. "I'm sorry, Erik, but that's the truth."
"But the Vakyrie may still contain the Tesseract..." Magneto said, thinking back to what he knew of HYDRA, "And with it..."
"No, it's not. It fell to the sea during the fight between Captain America and Red Skull." Irene said, shaking her head, and letting Magneto come to his own conclusions about the fate of the First Avenger, "SHIELD found it, though it has been inert since." 'Though not for long, if my visions are right.'
Magneto didn't answer immediately. Irene could almost see him in her mind's eye, his shoulders slumping when he realized that most of his plans had vanished in smoke. 'Now, if it was so easy for him to abandon his other plans...'
"Very well, Irene. Do you need a lift?"
"No, I have a sleigh waiting for me behind that rock." she said, shaking her head, "I suggest you hurry, SHIELD will be here in less than an hour."
Friends of Humanity HQ. The next day
Trent looked down as Trask and Creed left the briefing room, leaving only the white haired man behind. Creed had given him a savage dressing down, while Trask had icily informed him he was confined to HQ until further notice.
"You know, they are right, you goofed up." the man said, stepping into the light, allowing him a good look at him. He hadn't noticed before he had a goatee, or that he had golden eyes.
"Tell me something that I don't know." Trent said, "I should have told Martin or Garrison to call Jefferson through the payphone, while trying to keep my distance from the mutie bitch."
"Pretty much. But I'm not here to talk about your failure." the other man said, "It's about the a... about who stopped you."
"What about him? Just another freak, birds of a feather and all that jazz." Trent said with a shrug, although he was interested, he had been about to say something else, but he had stopped himself.
"Do you know that we have already a dossier on him?" the other man said.
"I had no idea," Trent answered.
"Yes, not providing you with the info was an oversight." he said, "Come with me and I'll tell you what we have."
"Okay," Trent said, following the other man through the door.
"He is somewhat of an urban legend, the 'Kansas Superboy', they call him." the other man said, "He started to act around five years ago, or so, saving people, getting kittens down from trees, the usual."
"I sense a 'but' incoming." Trent said.
"And you'll be right. His actions are centered on a small town called Smallville." the other man continued.
"Why does that name sound familiar?" Trent asked.
"A meteor storm almost eighteen years ago wrecked parts of the town and the county." the other man informed him, "And apparently the meteorites carried a mutagenic substance..."
He explained to him how exposition to the meteorites gave powers to some people in some circumstances, how the Superboy had stopped a lot of them and how SHIELD had been trying to dispose of the mutagenic mineral for years.
"That's why our people have to act very carefully in that town." the man said, stopping before a vault-like door, with a number keypad on it,
"I suppose that this is my cue to go back to my quarters." Trent said, knowing that the area beyond the door was restricted.
"Actually, I want to make you an offer," He said, keying the code to open the door, "Our ultimate weapon to deal with those... things lies beyond this door. If you step inside, you will be a part of this project, under my direct command in the special projects section."
"Are you kidding me?" Trent said, with a smirk, "Of course I'm in."
"Good." the man said with a matching smirk in his face, "In that case, I'm Sebastion Gilberti, though the people of the project are calling me Bastion."
"Thank you, Bastion." Trent said as he stepped inside the door, and saw the giant robotic shapes being assembled inside.
"Welcome to Project Sentinel, Mr. Trent."
Somewhere in the Midwest
If he could still breathe, Adrian would had done so in relief when he got the news that Rogue had arrived to Smallville with Kal-El, through his hacking of traffic cameras. Thawne's and Allen's careless temporal bungling promised to be one of his greatest headaches in the next few years, as this incident showed. At least Garrick would prove to be an stabilizing influence in the young speedster.
The Wizard had gotten out of his metaphorical hair, given that the time when he'll have to pass his powers to a new Champion approached. And with it, the return of the Wizard's former pupil.
But that was still some time from now. He quickly checked on his earlier self, still blissfully unaware of his true nature, and then on his old friends, who had started to gather... and in fact, they were going to recruit Priscilla right now. He quickly checked his databanks, and he would have frowned if he had still a face. It was a bit earlier than he remembered, although well within the margins of acceptable butterflies.
He dug a bit further in the data stream, nonetheless, and his worry deepened a bit more, IO had moved against her earlier for no discernible reason. He would have to do an analysis in depth of the causes, in case there was another time traveler around he didn't notice, but before that, he did a quick check of other places and saw that things were mostly still on their rails, though Lynch and his combat gynoid sidekick seemed to have vanished from the face of the Earth.
Interesting... he had almost missed it, but apparently the Legion had made an appearance. By their apparent youth and the group composition, it was very early in their career, so they were probably after Kal-El. He would keep an eye on them, just in case, although they tended to be more careful in their time travels than the Flash family. Now, what were the Doctor and Jenny doing right now?
Central City. Ma Hunkle's Bed and Breakfast Inn
Ma tsked as she surveyed the damage. The storm had been unusually strong for this time of the year, even before the particle accelerator exploded. As such, the damage to the place had been substantial. She was starting to put things order, aided by her family, when the phone rang.
"Ma Hunkle's Inn. We're currently closed, but if..." she started to say the usual spiel that she had been repeating since she came to the Inn to any call.
"Abigail?" a voice that she knew quite well interrupted her.
"Rex!" she exclaimed delighted in hearing from her old friend, "How are you? And Wendy and Rick?"
"I'm fine, and so are they, but listen, do you have Ted Grant's contact info?."
"Yes, I have it, but why me? Johnny Chambers was the one with the Society rolodex." Ma said.
"Apparently it got torn out during one of their... discussions." Rex said.
"Oh." she said. Libby and Johnny's relationship had always been tempestuous, and she was not really surprised that some things would have broken in one of their fights. Their divorce, a couple of years ago, hadn't come out as a surprise, being the third time that it had happened. "Okay, let me search in my agenda." She finally said, starting to rummage in her handbag for the small booklet where she kept the phone numbers, "What's so urgent, by the way?"
"Not by phone. But, are you free two weeks from now?" Rex said.
"I think so." she said, producing the booklet, "Hang on, I have the number."
"One moment," Rex said, probably to grab a pen, "Go ahead." The sound of a pen against paper could be heard while Ma gave him the number, "Thanks, Abigail. Al will be there in a couple days to explain things in person."
Smallville, Kansas
A lone biker stopped just before the "Welcome to Smallville" sign and looked at it, and specifically to the two smaller signs after it: "Meteor capital of the Midwest" and "Home of the Superboy". He shook his head, and was about to start the bike again when he sniffed the air lazily, and looked around startled.
"What the fucking Hell?" Logan said, his claws slipping out in reflex. When nothing got out to attack him, and his brain had time to process that the smell he had caught was a few days old, he relaxed slightly, "Things got a lot more complicated, if some of those... things are around here."
He took a deep breath, started the bike again and rode to town.
TO BE CONTINUED IN "KIDS OF TOMORROW"