Hey guys. I'm back. My cold has finally gotten better, and I can upload chapters on a more consistent basis. Thanks to DC Watchergirl for writing the sequence with Lois and her bridesmaids. I made some edits to the dialogue to fix continuity errors. In fact, I think I'll give her a co-writer's credit on the story's description. On another note, I feel that this is the moment of truth whether or not Second Chance will become M or remain T. What do you guys think? Anyways, here is Chapter 4.
Gotham, New Jersey; November 12, 2077 12:00 AM EST
Bruce sat again in his old chair in the Batcave, solemnly pondering what Clark had just told him.
It appeared that Miss Martian was the newest addition to the list of lost comrades.
While he did not know M'gann as well as perhaps he should have, Bruce was an indirect factor in her "evolution", so to speak.
It was sixty years ago, when he urged Clark to be a better mentor to Conner, and help him grow as a person.
Coincidentally, that growing as a person helped Conner spark his relationship with M'gann.
Okay, maybe that assessment of association was stretching it, but that didn't change the fact that Bruce saw all of the League, from the humblest janitor on the Watchtower to Superman himself, as the most precious of diamonds.
Not a single one of them was considered an expendable mook, and so the loss of countless heroes and employees affected him badly.
Bruce activated the computer and opened the file that was a memorial to all of those in the League who were deceased, listed in chronological order.
He scrolled down to the bottom of the document, where the name of Shayera Hol lay.
The Thanagarian exile had died three years ago in a Metropolis nursing home.
Despite her valor in fighting the invasions by both Darkseid and her own people, her slander-imposed image of a turncoat had never truly left the public consciousness, and as a result of her tarnished reputation, fewer than two hundred people had attended her funeral.
Even Roy Harper was able to gain forgiveness and atonement. His heists always resulted in a generous amount of money donated to facilities dedicated to helping victims of domestic abuse.
Bruce guessed that Shayera never being truly forgiven was because of xenophobia, which was just completely stupid.
Clicking next to the final line of the list, Bruce pressed the ENTER key and typed "Miss Martian (M'gann M'orzz/Megan Morse)" onto the new line.
He had finished the procedure when Terry entered the cave.
"So you heard the news too, huh?" Terry asked with false indifference.
Bruce's response was not spoken. It did not need to be spoken. Both men already knew the answer to that question.
Instead, Bruce saved the updated file, and closed it.
"Now, Clark truly is the last." Bruce mourned, talking not of the Kryptonian race, but of his family, which unofficially considered M'gann to be an in-law.
"Kind of fucked up how it came to be." Terry contemplated. "At least she's together with Conner now."
Terry turned his head to look for a USB drive.
"USBs are in the crate on the left table." Bruce pointed, knowing that his son intended to put a copy of the fates of the fallen on a USB to show to the past, so as to prevent their fates from ever happening.
"Thanks." Terry said, grabbing a zip drive.
Plugging it into the computer, Bruce decided to copy the computer's entire contents onto the USB, even those more embarrassing files from when he was more than half a century younger.
Despite the three terabytes of data requiring massive amounts of space, Bruce's zip drives were specially made to hold a thousand times that quantity of space.
Of course, even though it was essentially the prototype for the now destroyed Watchtower's supercomputer, it would still take a while to transfer the data onto the zip drive.
In the meantime, Bruce and Terry could work on setting the coordinates for sending the latter back in time.
They were using a time machine that the Justice League had collected from Vandal Savage in the past, where its primary flaw was that it couldn't send anyone to a time period where they already existed.
Fortunately, as Terry hadn't even been conceived in 2027, that flaw would do little to stand in the way of their goal.
Unfortunately, they had forgotten that the time machine required large amounts of power just to be active for a short time.
Fortunately again, Bruce remembered half an hour later, just before they could activate the machine.
"Damn!" Bruce swore. "We're going to have to siphon power from the city!"
"Bruce, the effects might be dangerous for Gotham." Terry warned. "People could die because of accidents."
"Then we'll use all nonessential power to power it, but you won't have more than a few seconds to enter, so you better be prepared to enter the portal immediately." Bruce stated.
Terry was somewhat surprised at how gruff Bruce was, but accepted it as him wanting to fix what went wrong.
Running towards the computer, Terry pulled out the USB, which had finished receiving all of Bruce's files.
"I've got the files, Bruce." Terry reported.
"Good. Now get ready. And may God help you, son." Bruce wished, knowing that one way or another, this reality would be coming to an end soon.
Both men shared a brief but intense stare as they knew about the possible consequences of what they were about to do.
Finally, Bruce activated the machine, and a portal opened.
Terry entered the portal immediately, without hesitation.
Smallville, Kansas; March 20, 2027 7:30 AM CDT
Bruce Wayne's private jet was now landing onto the thin landing strip that was just outside of Smallville.
In recognition of Bruce Wayne's generous donations to the town, and his friendship with her most recognized citizen, Smallville had given Bruce a dozen acres of land outside of town limits to serve as an estate in Kansas.
Of course, giving the newly engaged Clark Kent and Lois Lane the 2028 Porsche prototype that cost him 250 grand as a wedding gift didn't hurt either, and the Gotham billionaire was serving as Clark's best man at the wedding today.
Bruce exited out of the boarding ramp with Diana Prince and their luggage.
The private security contractors that Bruce had hired to protect Smallville greeted their arrival.
A handful of the League were undercover within the PSC, most notably Jason Todd, who was the ranking officer of the contractors.
In the event that Luthor, Darkseid, Brainiac, or any other villain tried to disrupt the wedding, Jason and his mercenaries would be there to tell them "fuck off, get out of here".
Director Inverse, after not getting on Bruce's nerves for a consecutive week, was invited to film the wedding in IMAX, the first time such an occasion ever happened, but unofficially, it was to monitor security to ensure the wedding would go off without a hitch. Bruce prayed D.I. would remember the real reason he was there, and not let his ego get in the way.
Supergirl, Superboy, and Miss Martian would be going as well,
Not all of the League would be attending, of course. Most of them were still on assignments across the world.
As for the Bat Family, Batgirl, Red Robin, and Spoiler were covering for Batman in Gotham, Alfred was helping Cassandra and Damian with their homework and Nightwing was supervising Wally on his last day of sauna duty, both to ensure that he didn't slack off by holding the "Shia Going Crazy" Marathon (which consisted of Transformers, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and Transformers: Dark of the Moon) or, more importantly, that he wouldn't be at the wedding and eat all of the wedding cake. It really would help save a fortune, and keep in mind that this was Bruce "I spent pocket change on the prototype of the next Porsche just to give Clark and Lois a wedding gift" Wayne. He never used the word "fortune" lightly.
"Bruce, the town is secure." Jason reported, walking besides his mentor.
"Excellent." Bruce complimented. "Station some guards inside and outside the church, but don't make their presence within too obvious."
"Yes sir." Jason nodded.
Jason ran back to the mercenaries to give them new orders.
"Surprised you're taking such strong measures to protect Clark." Diana commented.
"It's not about Clark. Most of Smallville could never come close to his power." Bruce stated. "I'm more worried about a massacre in Smallville."
Diana understood all too well about the dangers of what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object in a densely populated area.
"Come on. Let's unpack our things." Bruce said in a more lighthearted tone. "We've got a wedding to attend."
Diana was surprised but welcome at how Bruce was able to change mood that quickly.
Smallville, Kansas; March 20, 2027 10:30 AM CDT
"You ready?" Lucy asked.
"Pretty much, I'm still a bit nervous though," Lois said. "Lucy, thanks for being here. It means a lot to me."
"Hey, I wasn't about to miss my own sister's wedding," Lucy responded. "Besides, it's a good excuse to come see you. I've been meaning to for a while."
"You look lovely in your dress Lois," Diana said.
"Thank you Diana," Lois replied. "You all look lovely too."
"Thank you," Kara said. She then twirled around in her dress. Her dress was a dark blue ballroom gown just as the other bridesmaids' except hers had two finger length sleeves. Diana's was strapless, Megan's was a spaghetti strap, and Lucy's had one shoulder strap. "Are we allowed to keep these after this?"
"If you paid for it then yes," Lois said. "Why?"
"Sweet, Yannick is going to love this." Kara cheered. Lucy raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, Yannick's her boyfriend, I think." Megan explained. "I encouraged her to find love herself while we were shopping for dresses."
"Yannick, as in Yannick Falsenhardt, the three-year undefeated champion of eSports." Kara clarified, sighing in admiration.
A man then entered the room, his four stars on his uniform marking him as a general in the United States' military.
"Dad!" Lois exclaimed. He hugged her.
"Lois! You look so lovely," General Lane said. "My little girl's all grown up and getting married."
"Dad, stop," Lois responded, semi-sarcastically rubbing her eyes. "I'm gonna cry."
"So how are the guys, sir?" Megan asked him.
"Conner's great. Glad you asked," he told them. She blushed. He turned to Lois. "And the groom's a bit nervous."
"Dad, you didn't give him the 'you take care of my girl or else' speech, did you?" Lois asked.
"Well... maybe," he responded. "I might have also made it an order."
"Dad!" Lois exclaimed, as Lucy laughed.
Lois turned to Lucy. "Oh don't worry Lu. When it's your turn he'll do it to your man. Then it'll be MY turn to laugh. Count on it."
"I'm looking forward to it." Lucy promised.
Lois turned back to her father, saying "And for the record, Dad, we haven't done that. Clark was apparently too embarrassed to do so before marriage."
Sam chuckled, but he was glad that his little girl was with someone that would never take advantage of her.
Smallville, Kansas; March 20, 2027 11:45 AM CDT
Clark, Conner, and Bruce had put on their tuxedos, and were talking to pass the time waiting for the wedding to begin.
The groom was looking understandably nervous, considering how the bride's father, who was a general in the U.S. military, essentially gave him an order to never hurt his daughter.
"You're planning on starting a family tonight, huh?" Bruce asked, somewhat amused at Clark's chastity before marriage.
"Um, yeah." Clark answered, somewhat embarrassed at Bruce's question.
"I understand, you being raised right after all." Bruce snarked. "I wasn't, and look what happened to me: Rachel died, and I had a son with Talia. I won't say anything about how Conner was raised, but I'm pretty sure 'being raised right' doesn't mean shaking the Watchtower with Megan for the past eight years."
"We turned on the artificial gravity!" Conner shouted, frustrated at how Bruce would never let that one go.
"If nothing else, you humiliated Wally." Bruce complimented, referring to the time where Conner and Megan first made love and how Wally was believed to humiliate himself having sex with Artemis concurrently.
"Fair point, actually." Conner conceded. "Even if it did turn out it was fake."
"Nightwing's babysitting him, last day working on sauna cleaning." Bruce reiterated. "If he were down here, he'd eat all of the cake."
"And that's the real reason he's not here right now." Clark surmised. "Even if he wasn't on sauna duty, he'd still be stuck on the Watchtower. Whatever he did up there wouldn't interfere with the wedding."
The church bells started ringing all of a sudden, letting all three men know that it was time.
"Well, here you go, Boy Scout." Bruce said. "Time for the next step in evolution."
Smallville, Kansas; March 20, 2027 12:00 PM CDT
The wedding was going underway. General Sam Lane had taken his oldest daughter down the aisle, where Lois Lane's new husband was waiting.
The priest was Father Daniel Leone, who had helped Clark out as a younger man.
Bruce Wayne and Lucy Lane were at opposite ends of the center of the sanctuary, as Father Leone officiated for Clark and Lois.
D.I. was recording the wedding live, of course, in IMAX.
Bruce was outwardly very cheerful, but he had all security personnel given a communicator that would be channeled throughout all operators, D.I. and Bruce himself.
If he needed to communicate with them while Lois and Clark were exchanging vows, he would speak subvocally at a high enough level for them to hear, but also quiet enough so the audience wouldn't be on edge.
As Father Leone asked if Lois was prepared to take Clark as her husband, a panicked voice rang in Bruce's ear.
"Bruce!" D.I. called by communicator. "I'm detecting an anomaly in the center of the sanctuary!"
"Everybody, get down!" Bruce yelled suddenly.
Nobody knew what he was talking about, but they did so immediately.
A portal appeared in the center of the sanctuary where a figure that was entirely covered in black and red fell out of, then the portal disappeared.
"What the actual fuck, man?!" D.I. shouted in frustration. "You just ruined my fucking shot!"
"Son of a bitch!" The black wearing figure shouted, upon getting up.
Before the pastor could reprimand him for swearing, Jason and a few security officers ran into the church to tranquilize the black wearing figure.
"I'm sorry for the commotion, everybody." Bruce apologized. "We might have to postpone the wedding for the time being, Clark."
"Might have to spend another five million, Bruce." Clark teased.
"I'm serious." Bruce whispered in a way that would render the lips unreadable. "The League needs to talk about this intruder."
"Apologies, Mr. Wayne." Jason said. "We should have detected this intruder. It is our failing. What should we do with him?"
"Nothing, yet." Bruce answered, curious over the vaguely familiar man. "Clark, I'm getting some déjà vu here."
Was it from the time where he, Diana, and John took a time traveling adventure to the future, an adventure that only he and John remembered?
"Ladies and gentlemen, we apologize for your wasted time today, but rest assure, we will finish this ceremony in the future." Bruce announced.
The various attendees began to depart in disappointment, as Lois began to talk with Clark about the situation.
"Clark, I know your other job can get in the way, but please be careful." Lois asked. "I'd hate to have to marry a pile of ashes."
Clark chuckled at the morbid joke.
"Jason, keep our friend secure until the Justice League can take care of him." Bruce requested, knowing that they would meet again on the Watchtower.
Jason nodded, and left the church, taking the stranger with him.
Watchtower, Orbit; March 20, 2027 12:30
Wally was still working hard, scrubbing the floors of the sauna, under Nightwing's supervision.
Just a few more hours, and he would be home free.
Nightwing did promise that they would play video games later tonight.
Wally suddenly heard his communicator ring, in addition to Dick's.
They both received messages regarding a new prisoner that was heading their way.
"Well, today's about to get interesting, dude." Wally predicted.
"Yeah, well, I still got to supervise you." Dick chuckled. "Nothing personal. Bruce just didn't want you to eat all the wedding cake."
"Fair enough." Wally conceded, as he continued scrubbing.
Well, that was quite an entrance made by Terry. Stay tuned next week as Batman and Green Arrow begin interrogation of their latest prisoner. (No, it's not going to be a good cop/bad cop situation where Bruce is being an abusive parent to Terry.)
And if you're reading this, Yannick, yes, I hope you become an eSports champion. (For those of you who don't know, Yannick is my friend at school.)