Ugg I had such trouble writing this chapter and after I was so excited writing it. Well I hope it doesn't end up to confusing. I have one more chapter left and then it will be finished and on to my next story that I have been dying to write. It's just been screwing in my head screaming at me to finish this one so I can write it.
I just wanted to thank FlashBoy-fangirl for your review. I know probably wasn't mean to be funny but it made me laugh and I really needed that when I read it. Like I said school is kind of crushing me so a laugh makes me feel all better.
And of course thank you to everyone else that reviewed. When I saw all of them in just one day I was super ecstatic.
Anyway this chapter gets a little…bloody but it shouldn't be to bad
Chapter 7: The Heroes of Time
Time Catcher laughed as he stood over the slump form of Robin. Blood dripped under the teen and spread over the floor. Batman looked over and made a low growl in his throat as Superman punched Amazo in the face and its head spun backwards. Batman hit it more making it so the head had spun 360 degrees.
'Access Atom' he said and held his hand out to blow Superman away. Before it had the chance to charge up Superman's eyes turned red and fired his laser beams into the opening of its hand. The arm blew off and sparks raged around the android.
'Access…' before it got a chance to finish Superman took a deep breath and blew out strongly. He covered the android in crystal ice. Batman took the chance to kick it from behind and the entire machine crumbled to the ground. The two men watched it fall and then sharply turned their head to Ivo.
"Oh my…" Ivo said. "Retreat my pets," he said and ran for it. He got to the door before slamming into something and fell to the floor. When he looked up Wonder Woman was looking down at him with Flash and Green Arrow behind her both holding a monkey in their hands. Wonder Woman lifted the short man from the ground with the back of his shirt. "Monkey's protect your master," Professor Ivo shouted. Flash reached into the man's pockets as all the monkey's let the team go and raced to the three heroes.
Flash pulled out a small device from the professor and pressed a button. All of the robots green lights dimmed and fell to the floor with a thud. Wonder Woman punched Ivo in the gut and he fell to the ground unconscious. Everyone turned their attention to Time Catcher. The tuxedo man took a step back with his sword out.
"But I was told that I would be protected," Time Catcher shouted backing away as the heroes advanced on him. "The Light…they said that you couldn't defeat Amazo…"
"They lied," Batman said stalking up to the mad man and grabbed the sword with his bare hand and flung it across the floor. When Time Catcher looked back at Batman after seeing the sword hit the ground he was punched in the face and fell to the floor. Batman turned his attention to Robin who was already being held by Superman.
He walked over and kneeled to the ground where the crouching man of steel passed the boy into Batman's arms. Robin laid limp in the older man's arms his neck hanging back over the dark knight's arm.
"Robin," M'gann said not getting up from her spot as tears dripped down her face and hit the floor. Suddenly she disappeared and then reappeared like she was blinking in and out of existence.
"M'gann," Superboy shouted and ran to her. Suddenly her look shifted from her green human form to the white Martian that she really was as she kept blinking in and out. She looked down at herself and gasped.
"No…don't look at me…no," she cried and she disappeared completely before Superboy could rap his hands around her.
"Where did she go?" Superboy screamed.
"Rob…Robin is dead," Aqualad whispered. "She is most probably back on Mars since we no longer exist like this if he is dead. That is why Time Catcher was after him. We are going back to this timelines existence and soon no one will remember any of this," he said as he himself started to blink in and out like static. His hair became longer and the tattoos on his arms began to fade and disappear.
"No Aqualad," Artemis shouted holding her hand out as Wally looked away. Aqualad frown and looked at the girl. He held his fist up to his head and gave her a final Atlantian salute before disappearing altogether.
Superboy shouted as he looked down and his black shirt and jeans changed into his white one piece uniform with the red S across his chest.
"No," he cried. "I can't go back." He looked over at Superman with tears threatening to fall. The man of steel got up and walked over to the clone "I don't want to go back," Superboy pleaded and turned to Artemis. She wanted to comfort her comrade…her friend…but she didn't know how. He was going back to the make believe world that Cadmus had him in, in that small pod.
"I will find you," Superman said placing his arm on Superboy's shoulder and the clone closed his eyes. They both knew he wouldn't because soon neither of them would remember each other and Superboy would once again be in the hands of Cadmus. The teen then blink out of existence and Superman's hand dropped.
"Artemis," Kid Flash said and watched her begin to disappear in and out of reality. She didn't look scared just sad. She knew there was no way to stop it.
"I would say to come visit me in jail but soon we won't know each other," Artemis laughed as her uniformed turned into an orange juvie jumper and her hair was shorter and hung over her shoulders with a black head band.
"No…this can't be the end…" Wally cried holding her. "This is my entire fault. If I hadn't let Robin…"
Artemis placed her finger over Kid Flash's lips. "You talk too much," she laughed. "It would have happened either way. If Robin didn't at least try then we wouldn't have been able to make it to the machine before Time Catcher went back in time and changed everything all over again without us there to stop him. You did your best," she said. She reached up to kiss Wally's lips but faded before their lips touched.
Wally's face fell into his hands as he wept. It couldn't end like this. If he could just fix this somehow before everyone forgot. There had to be a way…there had to be a way…
"There has to be a way!" Wally shouted and stood up. He ran over to Superman and Batman as the other three heroes walked over as well with Ivo and Time Catcher in their arms.
"There is no other way," Time Catcher laughed in Green Arrows arms. "I won and you lost. You'll all forget in a few hours and I'll just slip away."
Wally ignored him and tried to not to look at Robin's body in Batman's arms. He turned to the machine and began typing on the computer.
"Kid what are you doing," Flash asked.
"We can change this…all of this. It's a freaking time machine for Pete's sake."
"We shouldn't mess with time," Wonder Woman said. "It's already ruined enough."
"I don't want to go that far back…just enough to stop Robin from getting killed," he said typing away. Time Catcher glared.
"That won't work," the man said said. "Whatever happens to someone over here it will happen over there. Robin is dead either way," he laughed. Wally knew he was right. They had already discussed this when Robin told them about the gash he had in his leg the day his parents fell; the same place where Time Catcher caught him.
Wally paused.
"Keep going," Batman said and Wally looked at him in surprise.
"Why…what's the point?" Kid Flash stated in defeat.
"Because when the team said Robin was hit it went completely through his leg. When Robin told us of when he woke up four years ago he said it was just a large gash. It became smaller. If you revers back in time just enough to stop Time Catcher from killing Robin we may be able to stop him from bleeding out," Batman stated.
Wally grinned. Batman was right, if he went back the injury might be smaller and he could save Robin. Kid Flash stuck out his tongue at Time Catcher and began typing on the keyboard again. Flash joined him to help figure out how to work the machine. Time Catcher tried to pry himself from Green Arrow but the hero wouldn't have it.
Batman looked down at Robin in his arms. He removed the mask and looked into Dick's blue eyes. He placed his gloved hand over them to close them in the boy's rest. He had never prayed before even when his parents died in front of him but right now in the back of his head he hoped that if there was some higher power up there that this would work.
Wally looked puzzled for a moment. He couldn't figure out the power supply for the machine. He pulled on a small latched to open the machine up and his eyes widen. Flash looked over and whistled.
"There must be at least a hundred pieces of sapphire in there," he said looking at the blue gems.
"I can't believe it works on this stuff," Wally said closing the panel back up.
"Well now we know why Poison Ivy was stealing them," Flash said looking at Batman. Batman nodded but kept his eyes on Robin. As the two continued to work everyone heard a thud by the front door. They turned to see Hawk man and Green Lantern at the door prepared to fight.
"We miss the fight?" the green guardian asked.
"Did you stop the robberies?" Wonder Woman asked after explaining what had happened.
"Yeah they kind of all scattered at the same time. They knew it was over." Hawk man said. Soon other heroes began to arrive when their battle finished as well and waited in the background if their help was needed.
"I think I got it," Kid Flash finally said. Wally looked around and spotted what he needed. A small black arrow with a red light on the end of it was sticking out of a compartment at the bottom of the time machine. He pulled it out and turned to Batman.
"This…this needs to be connected…to him. This will let you track him and allow you to appear near him when you go back," he said still unable to bring himself to really look at Robin. Batman took it from him and gently laid Robins body on the ground. He grabbed Robin's leg and lifted one of his pants legs up revealing the long scar on his leg. He didn't need to add an injury to another part of his body. He lifted the arrow and plunged it into the teen's leg and Wally looked away at the sound of it hitting the muscle.
Batman pressed the red button at the end and it began to blink. He lifted the child back up and all of the superheroes backed away from the machine. Wally looked at all of them in confusion.
"Good luck," Superman said. Wally's eyes widen and looked at Flash.
"Wait me?" he asked standing up quickly. "Why not one of you guys? You're the heroes."
"We can't go back," Batman said. "We are all fighting. If we get pulled away then someone innocent can get hurt. If I were to disappear while fighting Amazo then who is to say that he wouldn't kill Superman if I am not there to help."
"You're the only one who can do it," Superman said. Wally looked over at Flash again and his uncle gave him a smile.
"It was wrong of me to not give you a chance," the scarlet speedster said. "You are a hero Kid."
Wally smiled and nodded. He turned to the machine and pulled on the lever. He was engulfed in a blue light and the sounds of ticking surrounded him. He watched as the world outside the small bubble began to melt away and he was soon blinded by a white light.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Artemis pried a monkey off her head as her arms were dragged down. One of the monkeys was pulled off her head and she looked over to her savior.
"What are you doing here," she yelled as Kid Flash stood over her.
"Glad to see you too," Wally laughed grabbing another robot.
"You are just as much of an idiot as the other Kid Flash," Artemis looking over and saw Robin make a run for the machine. She grabbed her bow and an arrow from one of the monkey's and shot at the attacking ape which was aiming for Robin. He gave her a thumbs up and continued to run.
"Nice shot," Kid Flash said as grabbed another monkey and threw it towards the wall.
"You still haven't answered my question," Artemis said stabbing a robot. Wally looked over at Superman and Batman fight against Amazo and flinched as Batman was thrown into the floor. The rest of the team was having difficulty with their own battles and as he continued to scan the room he saw a shadow move behind Robin. He squinted and then widened his eyes as he saw the sword glint in the light.
He stopped fighting…he stopped moving and Artemis turned to him.
"What?" she asked panting and then looked over at where he was staring; Robin.
"We have to…" Wally started but in a blink of an eye he disappeared.
"KF," Artemis shouted in surprise and looked around. He just vanished in front of her eyes.
Time Catcher smiled as he moved in closer to the back of his targets back. Just a bit more and he wouldn't have to waste his precious sapphires to go back in time again. The child in front of him stiffened as he felt Time Catcher upon him but it was too late he had the little bird in his claws.
A sound of something tearing stopped the villain in his tracks and both he and Robin looked up to the other side of the machine. A blinding light blinded the two of them and when they looked back Kid Flash wobbly before him trying to keep himself from fainting. He reached out to the machine to support himself and he looked around in confusion. Kid Flash's hair was a mess, his eyes bloodshot and blood stains covered his lower part of his body from where he kneeled in Robin's blood as he looked the machine over; but he never looked as much as a courageous hero as in that moment.
"Kid Flash?" Robin asked in confusion. Wally looked up and stared wide eyed at Time Catcher who stood frozen.
"But…how," the man asked and Robin wiped his head around at the villains voice. Wally lunged over the machine and Robin making a grab for Time Catcher and brought the two of them to the ground. He sat up on top of the time villain and lifted his arm up. The man stared at him with wide as Wally began punching him in the face. He punched him over and over again until he felt someone grab his arm before he could bring his hand down one last time.
"Stop it," Robin shouted stopping Kid Flash. He then abruptly let go of Kid Flashes arm and clutched his chest. He fell to the ground and began to cough into his hands. He pulled his palm away and stared at the blood that was leaving his lips.
"Robin," Kid Flash shouted and let the villain go and helped Robin lay on the ground.
"What…what's happening…I don't….feel so well," Robin said weakly.
"You're going to be ok. Just hold on buddy," Wally said and looked up. Superman had just set Amazo on ice and batman kicked it making it shatter to the ground. As the monkey's and Ivo ran to the exist the bat looked over to Kid Flash in confusion and ran over to the two children.
"What happened," he asked sternly.
"It will take too long to explain," Kid Flash said grabbing Time Catchers sword and used it to cut open Robin's uniform. Wally gulped at the large gash that was set upon Robin's chest and ripped some of Robin capes fabric to use as a tourniquet. As he applied pressure to the wound Robin hissed in pain.
M'gann, Aqualad, Superboy and Artemis ran up to them.
"Robin," M'gann cried sliding to the ground to help.
"How did you do that," Artemis asked. "You don't have your powers so how did you get over here so fast?"
"Look I'm from an hour in the future. Robin was killed and we lost you guys so I sent myself back."
"But he still has the injury from the other time line," Aqualad said understanding the severity of the situation.
"We need to stop the bleeding or you going into the past won't change anything," Batman stated.
"What happened?" Flash asked as he Wonder Woman, Superman, and Green Arrow came up to them with Ivo in his arms.
"Not now," everyone said at the same time. Once again all the super heroes began making their way into the power plant to help only coming in to late.
"Come on Robin stay with us," Artemis stated as Batman tried to suppress the bleeding on the quickly failing teen.
"This can't happen…not again," Wally said beginning to pace back and forth. How were they going to keep him alive? He was losing too much blood both from the wound on his chest and his leg. He could have Flash bring the teen to the hospital but the pressure from the running could just make it worst.
"Maybe I can go back in time again…the wound will be even less and he can…" Kid Flash started.
"No," Superman said sternly walking over the now unconscious Time Catcher. "We can't take the chance of you going back again."
"Why not," Wally asked pleadingly.
"Now that I've seen Time Catcher up close I know who he is. He used to be known as Doctor Maldo. A renowned physicist and geologist in Metropolis who studied the way certain minerals can actually reflect light in a way to travel through time."
"Yeah and…"
"So the reason why he is like this now is because traveling through time to many times will make you lose your mind. If you keep going back to save Robin you'll end up as insane as he is," Superman said.
Kid Flash was about to retort before the sound of an engine was heard outside breaking Wally's concentration and Black canary came running into the building.
"Kid Flash…Robin she said panting. "Why did you two leave?" she asked and then gasped at the sight before her.
"How did you get here?" Wally asked her quickly.
"I took your ship you guys left at the mountain. I can't take the Zeta Tubes just in case," she said placing her hand over he swollen stomach.
"That's great. We can get Robin to the nearest hospital now," he said happily to the group.
"I may be of some assistance," they all heard a low voice say and Wally turned back to see Martian Manhunter walk next to Black Canary.
"Uncle J'onn," M'gann said happily. The Martian looked at her in confusion and then to Batman.
"I had received your transmission and got here as soon as I could through the Zeta Tube," he said. "I was surprised to find my Bio Ship here which went missing a few days ago."
"We'll explain later," Artemis said quickly. "Just fix him," she said pointing to Robin impatiently. The Martian passed her and glimpsed at M'gann in suspicion before kneeling besides the teen.
"Can you do anything?" Superboy asked.
"I haven't studied human physiology in a long time," he said. He looked Robin over and then looked up at Superman. "Can you see what is damaged?" he asked the other alien. Superman used his x-ray vision and frowned.
"It's his left lung. It's collapsing around the injury."
"We need to cauterize the wound. I will need your help Superman," the green Martian stated as he held his hand up slightly turning his fingers into vine like shapes. Superman took a seat next to the alien. "This will be painful for him. You might want to hold him down," J'onn stated.
Batman and Wonder Woman held the teen down. The group looked away as J'onn stuck his vine like fingers into the teen's chest and Robin shouted in pain and began to struggle away from him.
"Hold on Robin," M'gann said quietly allowing Superboy to wrap his arms around her shoulders. J'onn pulled the injury apart so he was able to see inside and he soon reached the lungs.
"I need you to carefully use your laser vision to burn the tissue close," J'onn said to the man of steel and with a nod Superman's eyes turned red under a low power burned the tear in the lungs. Robin cried out as Batman struggled to keep him down. Finally Superman finished and with a groan Robin relaxed on the ground. Batman took a needle and thread from his utility belt and quickly began to stich Robin's chest up. Only when he finish did the team take a breath.
"He will live?" Aqualad asked.
"It is a temporary hold," J'onn stated. "He will still need real surgery. May I ask what I missed?" J'onn inquired looking at M'gann.
Batman stood up with Robin in his arms and handed him to Superman. "I'll explain it later. Right now we need to send the team back."
"But won't they…you know…go crazy," Wally asked. "This will be the second time they are going through the machine."
"We are willing to take that chance," Aqualad said looking back to his team to see them nod in agreement.
"Hey guys we have another problem," Flash said and everyone turned. He had opened the hatch to the machine and Wally frowned at the sight. "It runs on Sapphires."
"Yeah and there were a lot more sapphires in there before I went through time," Wally said.
"What does that mean," M'gann asked.
"It means that if there is enough power in here to take you back into time…you're not going to have enough to come back."
"So…we are going to be stuck four years in the past?" Superboy asked.
"That's dangerous. We might accidently change something," Aqualad said.
"We're just going to have to figure it out when we get there, right now we need to get the machine to the Bio ship so we can take it with us," Artemis said. Captain Marvel grabbed the machine and heaved it over his shoulders and took it to the ship in the front of the power plant. Once in the ship Wally changed the coordinate to four years in the past where the time shift had changed. He pulled out one of the small tracking devices and walked out of the ship where everyone stood.
Artemis spotted the arrow and frowned. The group knew exactly where that needed to go. Kid Flash handed it to Aqualad who walked over to Batman. The man took it and Aqualad explained that it need to go into Robin to track him. Batman turned to Robin and held the arrow up.
Artemis looked down not wanting to see it go through Robin again when she heard Batman growl in pain. The archer looked up in surprise and saw that instead of Robin the dark knight had ran the device through his own arm.
"What?" she asked.
"You need…someone to…track…" Batman stated in pain. "Track me and it will be the same thing. He doesn't need to be hurt anymore," he said as his blood dripped to the ground.
Aqualad nodded and thanked the man. He, M'gann and Superboy went into the Bio Ship and the Martain started the ship up. Artemis squeezed Robins hand and the teen weakly squeezed it back.
"Stay strong…we are going to fix this I promise," she said and Robin nodded in Superman's hold. She turned to Wally and wiped some dust off his yellow clad shoulder. "I know you might not think that you're not a hero unless you have your powers but you are. What you did was brave so don't let anyone tell you otherwise," she said.
Wally nodded and Artemis ran to the ship. Before the hatched even closed the ship took off and everyone looked through the window to see the heroes shrink as they rose into the clouds.
"Are you all ready?" Aqualad asked.
"Not really," Artemis said holding herself tightly.
"Well ready or not," Superboy said pulling the lever down. The entire ship was surrounded by the blue light and the group fainted with the bright light.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Artemis groaned and realized she was on the floor. Sitting up Aqualad was already helping Superboy up and M'gann was holding her head in pain in the pilot seat.
"Did we make it?" Superboy asked. Artemis looked down and instead of the clean air of Metropolis she looked down at the smog ridden city of Gotham. She never thought she would be so happy to see the city again.
"Well we got the right city," she said. M'gann brought the ship down and scanned the tops of the city.
"So we just need to go to Arkham Asylum and stop Time Catcher from realizing the Joker.
"Too late," Superboy said seeing the Joker and two of his henchmen flee a bank with jewels and cash in their hands.
"We're too late…the Joker already escaped," M'gann said sadly.
"We can still make it," Artemis said. "We just need to get the Batman to leave the Joker to us so he can go to the circus." Artemis turned to the sullen faces of her teammates. "Ok it sounded better in my head."
M'gann still took the ship and had it land a little bit before the Joker and all four of the heroes jumped out. Joker stopped in his tracks and pulled out a gun.
"Oh new kiddies to play with. Good I was getting bored with just the bat," he said but before he could pull the trigger a batarang hit the gun swiping it from his arm. Everyone looked up and saw Batman jump down in his older uniform that had a yellow edge around the bat symbol.
"Batman how nice of you to join us…and here I thought you were showing up to the party," Joker said pulling what looked like a party popper from his jacket. Artemis aimed her bow and shot an arrow that pierced the toy and it exploded in front of the clown causing him to cough.
"Batman," Aqualad yelled and the dark knight looked over at the group skeptically. "I do not have time to explain but you need to leave the Joker to us. You are needed at the circus," the Atlantian stated. Batman looked at him in confusion.
"We promise we are on your side but if you don't get to the circus something even worse than the Joker will happen," Artemis stated. The Joker got up and began to run. Batman turned to him ignoring the teens and was about to go after him. M'gann growled and held her hand up and the Joker lifted from the ground in surprise. She looked at Batman with glowing eyes.
"Please go to the circus…in your civilian identity…to umm…stay undercover…," she said. "If you don't millions will die."
Batman's eyes widen. "Is that a threat," he said pulling out a batarang."
"No," Superboy said. "It's a promise." Batman looked at the teens shirt and saw the 'S' symbol.
Batman gave them one of his famous glares but began to back away slowly. "Well here is my threat. If he isn't back in Arkham Asylum by tomorrow morning or if I see you did any kind of damage I will find you and bring you in."
"Yes sir," M'gann squeaked. Batman took his grappling gun out but kept his eyes on the teens. He held it out and let it carry him away. M'gann through Joker into the wall as Aqualad created a tornado of water collecting one of the goons and Artemis caught the other in her net arrow. Joker bot back up with blood dripping down his nose.
"That's…not…funny," he said in anger and charged the teens. He pulled out a deck of cards and threw them at M'gann but Superboy stood in between the two and the cards bounced off doing nothing but tearing his shirt. Joker growled and made a jump for a fire escape to get away. Artemis shot an arrow that knocked him off and Aqualad created a large puddle of water that caught the Joker before hitting the ground. The clown was out cold.
M'gann fell to her knees in exhaustion.
"You just lied to Batman," Artemis said almost in disbelief to herself and collapsed her bow.
"And it worked," Aqualad said in just as much of a surprise.
"I think I might throw up," M'gann said. She could face hundreds of villains but Batman was still the only one who could make her so scared just by bluffing to him.
"Let's just get these guys to Arkham before Batman eats us for dinner," Artemis said.
After handing the clown and the henchmen to the police at the asylum M'gann was in the air once again.
"What do we do now," she asked. Aqualad went to the small machine and opened the latch. There were nothing but a few blue sparkles left at the bottom of the machine.
"Well we aren't going back home that's for sure," Superboy said seeing the empty machine.
"Look the circus," M'gann said pointing to the large tent sticking our between the buildings. Putting the Bio ship in camouflage mode they hovered over the circus area that was covered in blinking lights of red and blue.
"The cops are there…it must have happened," Artemis said sadly.
"There," Superboy said pointing to covered bodies in white sheets and soaked in blood on top of stretchers. M'gann covered her mouth to stifle her sobs as nine year old Dick Grayson walked out of the tent led by Commissioner Gordon. He was covered in a blanket that covered his red and black acrobat uniform and he continued to walk straight with dead unseeing eyes.
"Where's Bruce?" said impatiently looking for the billionaire. She spotted him coming out of the tent with the reporter Vicky Vale hanging off his arm. She didn't know that they two knew each other but she recognized the woman from the television. She tried to pull Bruce towards one of the officers so she could get the next big scoop but he continued to watch the child be put in the back of a police car.
"So we fixed it?" M'gann asked.
"We still don't know if he will still take him in. He might become too pre-occupied with trying to figure out who we were," Aqualad said watching everything unfold.
"So we might have ruined the stupid timeline anyway; great," Superboy frowned. Only time would tell if everything was fixed.
Review kindly please xD
And once again my little rant but as always you can skip it if you want it just makes me feel better to get it off my chest since none of my friends really watch it with me:
So the new episode of season 2 wasn't a total flop but I hate how I was tricked. It said it starts off right where it let off so even though I saw the pic of Nightwing (Super-hot by the way)I thought I would still get the team. Let me say right now that having a five second clip of them talking at the table where it let off and then say 5 YEARS LATER doesn't not mean it takes place right after. I also really want to know where the hell my Spitfire is. I don't want to learn I invested a year of my life to a couple that isn't even going to show up in the second season. And even though I am not the biggest fan of M'gann and Supeboy, M'gann and Lagoon boy is just…just no. I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED IN THOSE LAST FIVE YEARS! And I know need to learn who everyone is and I suck at keeping track at so many people.
I will continue to watch it though and I will force myself to like it.