The New Guardians
Season 1 Episode 1: The Gathering
Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to the DC comics property
Author's Note: Hello everyone, this is my first story and I'm happy to say that this is part of the Millmaverse. Please go and read CharmedMilliE and Captain Sigma work. I am happy to be a part of the wide multiverse they have created. They have many stories with many different takes so please go check them out! Now welcome to Earth 48 of the Millmaverse
Central Park, Metropolis
A man stands before a statue of four heroes known to the world as Superman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, and The Flash. The ones that sacrificed their lives to save the Earth from the war from Darkseid an evil ruler. He drifts off into his world staring at the many names covered around the base of the statue.
"I thought I would find you here Connor." Lois Lane states as she walks up to her adopted son. For a woman in her early forties she doesn't seem to have a speck of gray in her hair, but her eyes are full of sadness as she stares at her late husbands' part of the statue.
"Hey Ma." Connor responds back as he turns to look at her while also reaching out for her hand grasping it in his own. Both giving each other the strength they need in this time of darkness.
As they continue to stare at the names and the statues Lois turns to look at her son after what could only be described as hours as its late into the afternoon compared to the early morning it once was.
"He would be so proud of you. I'm proud of you." Saying this as she places her other hand on the side of his face rubbing his cheek.
"I don't deserve it. I don't deserve the title left to me. Jonathan did but I failed him like I failed dad." Connor responds back bowing his head with a frown.
Lois sadly smiles at her son as she raises his head. "Yes, you do deserve it. Jonathan and Clark would both say the same if they were here and sadly, they're not. Its up to us to live on in their names and cherish the memories we had with them. You are Superman now and this world needs you more than ever especially with the Justice League in its current state. This world needs you; it needs hope once again and you can give them that just like your father did. I'll be here with you every step of the way as I have always been."
"She's right you know. Ma is always right. Dad even said so on many occasions." The new arrival known as Karen Kent states as she makes her appearance known.
"Hey, sis." Connor smiles in response as he looks from his sister to his mother and with one deep breath he stares at the statue of his father once last time before taking off his glasses.
"Well, lets go let this world know it still has heroes looking after it." Connor says while looking at Karen who smiles in return. They both turn to their mother and hug her as best as they can without crushing her and before anyone could see what was going on both Superman and Supergirl were in the sky soaring over Metropolis.
Everyone in the city turns to the sky as they hear the familiar sonic boom and see two blue and red streaks soar over them. One by one they cheer and smile gaining the hope thought to be lost after the war from the planet known as Apokolips.
S.T.A.R Labs, Central City
"Any luck on finding out who the new speedster is patrolling around in Central?" Harrison Wells asks his workers in the central hub of the labs. Mainly where he and his fellow scientists helped the Flash understand his abilities and helped stop the meta humans they helped create.
"No, nothing and what pisses me off even more is that he's dressed like Barry!" Cisco Ramone shouts out as he throws everything off his workspace. Cisco was close friends to Barry and the death of his friend was hurting him just as hard when his brother died years back.
Everyone in the room stops what they're doing while staring at the man, but Harrison Wells give them all a glance and everyone except for the two men are left in the room.
"Mr. Ramone, Cisco, I miss him too. Everyone misses him and I understand your anger for I feel it as well. You need to keep yourself in control and have your emotions in check because if you don't, we may never find this new speedster. We need to stay in control." Harrison pauses as he places his hand on his most loyal employee, friend, son he never had. "Barry Allen was a great man and gave us the fighting chance we needed during the war and now that he's gone its up to us to fight for him and face these new threats. We have to face new threats in a world where Barry Allen is no longer in it and right now, we need you Cisco to help us find this new threat."
Cisco looks up at Harrison Wells with his eyes watered ready to flood and instead of letting the tears flow he looks at Harrison and nods his head as he begins to pick up his belongings, he thrown all over the floor.
Not so far away in a fellow neighborhood of Central City a house filled with three people also share a similar feeling of somber and sadness. Iris West and her son Wally West sit with John Stewart as he mourns for his brother in arms Hal Jordan, his fellow corpsmen.
"How's Carol taking this?" Iris asks her on and off again boyfriend.
"As well as any newly widowed mother would." John replies as he fells his lantern ring staring at it as if he's waiting for it to fly off his finger next and search for a replacement like Hal's did.
Wally standing next to a door frame stares at them both before looking at a picture framed in the living room of him and the recently deceased Flash. It was a regular signing that Flash would do at the Flash museum filled with both Flash's stories and trophies from villains and heroes they teamed up with. Wally and his mom stood in line for two hours and The Flash made those two hours' worth it with his simple advice and gift to Wally that he truly needed after learning about his biological father and what he has done. "Every second is a gift Wally. I have a feeling you'll make that gift count. Come back here tomorrow, I think I'll have something you might just like." He did, The Flash gave him a watch that was a replica of his own saying 'every second is a gift' on the back of it. It was simple but it was everything to Wally and hearing about his hero's death broke him just as much as everybody in the city of Central.
"Every second is a gift." Wally hears himself mumble out to which catches the attention of his mother and the only man who has been like a father to him whenever he's around. He says it again more strongly this time. "The Flash said something like that to me once, it was what I needed to hear back then, and I feel like you do too. From what you told of me of Hal he lived that motto well. He didn't waste a second and lived his life to the best of his abilities and saved the world while at it, if you ask me instead of sitting there you should go out there and make Hal proud and not waste a second either. Which I think I'm going to do as well. There are still people out there that doesn't have a home and still need help." Wally says and he sees the appreciative look his mom is giving, and he gives a smile in return as he pats John on the shoulder while kissing his mother on the check while walking out the door.
"Bright kid." John mumbles out while getting off the couch and his body glows green as his uniform appears on himself. Green chest piece with green boots and gauntlets. John looks at Iris that he has given her many times and she smiles in return kissing him softly as he walks out and flies into the sky with her watching.
In a secret base hidden in the middle of Gotham City, Dick Grayson stares at the many screens on display with different heroes on each one and some about new heroes rising from the destruction Apokolips left in its wake.
"Looking at more of them caped crusaders to join you and punch all the bad guy or are you going to come back to bed?" Harley Quinn asks as she wraps herself around the Batman in his chair.
Dick barely gives her a glance as he continues to look at the screens in thought. "After the war Darkseid brought upon us, we had to rebuild, rebirth cities and nations after the destruction it brought to us. After a year of doing so the streets of Gotham are too quiet barely a sign of any of our old foes. Even the Jokerster, the son of Joker has gone quiet. Something is happening, something big and the Justice League needs to be reformed to stop it. There are so many heroes now since the 70s and with all these heroes popping up, its only a matter of time before everyone else makes their move."
"So uptight and thinking so negatively makes a gal wonder what she's doing here. However, I see your point. Good ole Mistah J" the name of her former lover comes off coldly like a viper wanting to strike "if he's in hiding and not causing any chaos then it is time to worry. He always wants to outdo his father so there's no telling what he's got planned up his ass. So, who's going to be on this new hit squad of yours? You ain't got a Superman or Wonder Woman no more."
"We may not have a Wonder Woman or Superman, but we have their next of kin. Donna Troy, the sister to Diana is currently living of her to her fallen Amazons name. Connor Kent the son of Superman and brother to Supergirl has also taken the mantle of his parent. Then of course there is the previous members of the League such as Martain Manhunter, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Aquaman, and of course Powergirl. I believe with these people we can be ready, but we need more members, we need to expand, we were stretched thin with just the nine of us. We need more heroes behind us and who better to start with than with those we trust." Dick responds while giving Harley a meaningful look at the end.
"Hold up bat brain. I'm not League material. Sure, I can be the occasional booty call to you but you're asking me to become something I'm not. You and I both know I've done terrible things, things I'm not proud of. I'm a terrible person." Before Harley could continue Grayson places his hand on the side of her and gives her that charming smile.
"I know exactly the kind of person you are Harley and I will need someone I trust to help keep the League in check while also giving us the wild element we desperately need. You've grown so much since then when you used to be with the Jokester. You're no longer that person and the world is ready to see that as well as meet the new Harley Quinn. You're already wearing the bat symbol on your jacket. Who better than the Batman to let people know you've gone straight?" Dick responds while Harley continues to stare at him with widen eyes.
"Okay, fine. On one condition!" Harley shouts out holding up her finger. Dick raises his eyebrow telling her to go on.
"You go back to bed." She says crossing her arms as if she just laid out a new law. Dick Grayson can't help himself to chuckle in response and nods to her request. This will be tomorrow's problem to fix. Tomorrow will be the rebirth of the Justice League, only god knows what transpires from here on.
One year ago, on the planet Apokolips
A man in red stands in a what could only be described as a throne room filled to the brim with weaponry and trophies and at the end of the hall is what he came for, what he is here for. Walking down the hall exhausted and injured from the war that is happening back down on the mainland.
"Cisco…I've found it. Tell the other Leaguers, tell them we're about to get the break we need." Barry Allen the man in red, the Scarlet Speedster tells his partner who has helped be the hero he needed to be.
All he gets is static as a response, but he hears the faint voice in the background. Once up close to the device he realizes how big it truly is, bigger than the Wayne mansion he's been to on so many occasions. Barry stares at the raw purple energy in the clear glass surrounding the circular device in the middle. Walking over to the control panel and seeing its ready to blow his world, his home, his people straight to hell in less than ten minutes he knows what he needs to do.
"Cisco…Oracle..anyone…" Barry pleads and hopes for any kind of response but still receives static from the other end.
"I hope you guys can hear me, god I hope you can, the device is right in front of me and I can't stop it. Not manually. However, with the energy its putting out or rather leaking out is unstable and the only thing keeping that raw energy together is the containment it's in but if I were to have it transfer somewhere else" he pauses knowing what he must say next "into someone else, and cause a reaction with my own raw energy it'll blow the thing to hell with the surrounding area up to thirty miles from what I can gather. With this being his home, I see no problem in causing some destruction. Just know, with this weapon gone, we'll have hope again. We will have a fighting chance and I just wish I would be able to see it. This is The Flash, making his last report. Leaguer I.D 1985. It has been an honor." Barry removes his hand from his earpiece and lets out one shaky breath as he walks up to the glass placing his hand against it.
One foot in front of the other and he begins to speed off, running with more strength in each push. His speeding gaining, his breath even, his eyes full of determination and with only one goal in mind. The purple energy begins to spike and strike against the red and yellow with lightning trailing behind him. He screams in pain but continues to run without a fault in his step. His suit beginning to glow, his body color changing from its light tan to a glowing light purple. Tears running down his face along with his sweat, a trail of blood running down his nose and he screams in agony. His body feels on fire from the inside, but he doesn't stop. The weapon begins to spark in flames and shake as if there's an earthquake but its due to the man running around it. Barry's running so fast he feels like he's traveling through time as he sees his beautiful mother kiss him on the head, his father being arrested with his mother dead in the living room, visiting his father in prison, meeting his first girlfriend, getting his science degrees, getting his CSI job at the Central City Police Department, meeting Oliver Queen, getting struck by lightning, becoming the Flash, meeting the heroes he grew up with and the ones he's read stories about, all the fights he had to endure, and then the invasion from a planet that already tried to invade long ago. Everything leading up to this moment.
With one final push the device crumbles and begins to shine brighter starting to bring the building down and Barry Allen watches as his body begins to fade out of existence and yet he has a smile on his face as he has faith in his fellow friends. The building shines a bright white as it begins to crumble and then a bright explosion happens rocking the surrounding area to the point even those fighting far away can hear and see the explosion.
In the middle of a city beyond the time of the present-day technology and science a massive wave quakes the city and the citizens scream in terror not understanding what's happening and then a massive breach opens releasing a red blur with lightning trailing behind it. Shooting out like a rocket and causing the ground beneath it to split from its path it soon stops in the middle of another city filled with all kinds of aliens and people alike staring at the person in red who came out of nowhere. Looking around lost and frightened from the unfamiliar landscape he falls to ground unconscious as the heroes of this time land before him.
"Don't worry the Legion is here!" Nura Nal known as Dreamer to the people part of the Legion of Superheroes shouts out as she turns her attention to the man on the ground as her fellow Legionnaires trail behind her. They all stare down at the man with the red suit and yellow lightning bolt on his chest.
Next time on New Guardians:
With the world adjusting and the heroes separated Dick Grayson travels across the globe recruiting those to join the Justice League. Who is the new speedster in Central City?!