Zauriel

After a few minutes, I arrive at my destination: 53rd-century Metropolis—or at least the area once called Metropolis. I've been around the timestream enough times to know that during this period, the planet Terra is used entirely for agriculture. This region in particular is one giant onion field. Quite a distance above me, a portal opens with seven people falling out of it, who looks like they're from the 21st century. I become alarmed, especially because one of these time travelers is holding on for dear life to a decent-sized missile.

"Get off the missile!" I yell in the most commanding voice I can muster. (For an angel, that's pretty darn commanding.) The strangely dressed time traveler, who I assume is some sort of superhero, complies and jumps off. I realize that they're all seven going to fall to their deaths if I don't do something. WWJD? Then it hits me. I pull the fish-and-loaves trick, multiplying the onions under them until they form an enormous pile that breaks their fall. But the missile, which is swerving wildly, is still heading toward the ground, threatening to cause a major crop fire. I make the ground open up and swallow it like Korah.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spot a space drone, harvesting onions with a tractor beam. Before I can do anything to stop him, one of the people in the onion pile (who I recognize as some supervillain, though I can't remember his name) turns on some sort of rocket boots and flies into the beam, boarding the drone. It then teleports away, presumably having reached capacity. I fly over to Mount Onion to check on the others.

"What exactly just happened?" asks a woman in a lab coat.

` "You're in the 53rd century, a supervilain just boarded a cargo ship and escaped into space, and I'm an angel on a divinely ordained mission, which probably has something to do with him," I say. "This is probably a bit of a shock to you, so why don't we all come down and get acquainted?" A girl in a green dress and a woman in an orange costume fly down from the mound; I summon the strength of Samson and carry the other three to the ground.

Once everyone's together, I ask, "So, what brings you all to this time period?"

Ragman

I turn off my invisibility spell and teleport to the ground. Every head turns to me, and the angel says, "Alright, I'm really gonna need an explanation now."

"Well," says Vixen, "this supervillain Chronos stole back his time gun, which was being kept in a laboratory. The lady in black and white was a scientist studying it. Myself, the guy in blue and yellow, and the girl in green were trying to stop him. The guy in red and yellow randomly crashed into the lab on his missile. No idea where that rag dude came from."

"Well…okay then," says the angel. "Why don't we all exchange names? I'll go first. I'm Zauriel."

"Vixen," says Vixen.

"Black Lightning," says Black Lightning.

"I'm Ma—Cyclone!" says the girl in green.

"Dr. Kimiyo Hoshi," says the lady in the lab coat.

"Shilo Norman, but you probably know me as Mister Miracle," says Mister Miracle, who I finally recognized after we all sat down.

All eyes then turn to me. "What about you, rags?" says Black Lightning. Wait, did I seriously go this long without thinking of a codename? How did I forget that? I decide to say the first thing that comes to mind, so as to not look too stupid.

"I'm, uh… rag…man. Ragman. I'm a superhero, don't worry." I say. Everyone stares at me for a few seconds, until someone speaks up.

"So, are we, like, stranded in the future? Also where are the flying cars and stuff?" asks Cyclone.

"Well, I have a magic chariot of fire that can go to any time, place, or dimension, so we're good in that regard," says Zauriel. "And to answer your second question, during this time, Earth is just used for farming. Most sentient beings live in super-advanced, continent-sized, space stations. But that doesn't matter right now. What matters is tracking down Chronos. I think that crop transport went to one of the aforementioned space stations, and I think I know which one, so we should go there to find him. "

"So what's this Chronos guy planning?" asks Black Lightning.

"I don't know," replies Zauriel. "But it's obviously divine will that brought the seven of us here together. We'll all be needed to stop him."

"Hold on just a second," says Mister Miracle. "I'm not a superhero. I escape from traps, not fight time-traveling nutjobs."

"I was thinking the same thing," says Dr. Hoshi. "I'm a scientist. I'd be worth nothing in a fight with that guy."

"Look, the Presence doesn't make mistakes," says Zauriel. "We're all here for a reason, and we're all getting in that chariot. Understood?"

We all climb into the chariot; Zauriel's voice seems pretty authoritative. He gets in the driver's seat and takes the reins, while I climb in shotgun. "So, you're a real-deal angel? Like, from God and such?"

"If I'm not mistaken, yeah," he replies.

"So was that Jesus guy the real deal? I'm Jewish, and I wanna make sure, that, you know, I'm not gonna…"

"Sorry, angels have kind of a Prime Directive. Not allowed to share that type of knowledge without specific orders to."

"Of course," I reply, rolling my eyes behind my mask. After just a few minutes, we begin to approach a colossal, disk-shaped, technological-looking, space thing.

Doctor Light

As idiotic as I find the endeavors of superheroes, I must admit that this journey is astounding from a scientist's perspective. Flying in this chariot, looking down at this space civilization, I see things that modern science thinks of as impossible. I don't even understand half of it, but the things I do understand include personal teleporters, cyborgs, and an artificial sky that looks even more beautiful than that of a planet.

I reach into my pocket to get out my phone, so I can document some of this, and realize I've left it at the lab. "Does anyone have any sort of camera on them?" I ask to the entire group. No one has one. Whatever. I'll publish this, proof or no proof.

"So, do you have any plan for how to find this guy?" asks Black Lightning, looking at Zauriel.

"Who made me leader?" replies Zauriel. "I've got just as much of a plan as you."

Black Lightning takes a moment to mull this over. "Well," he says, "we should probably go to some sort of law enforcement building. Chronos shouldn't be that tough to deal with for 53rd century police, with the kind of technology they must have."

"Actually," says Vixen, "Chronos has tech from much further in the future than this. He's gonna be tougher to deal with than you think. I never actually managed to beat him, just to temporarily stop his plans."

"Well, we gotta start somewhere," says Black Lightning. "They might at least help us find him."

"I agree with Black Lightning's plan," says Zauriel. "Let me call up some flaming tongues so you guys can speak Interlac. It's like the Esperanto of the future, except it actually caught on."

Suddenly, a small fire shaped exactly like a human tongue appears over each of our heads, except Zauriel's. I flinch, then realize that the fire doesn't burn. The chariot lands at a tall, pyramid-shaped building made of some material I've never seen. We enter, and are greeted by a blue and gold robot.

"Welcome to Dobum Law Enforcement Central," says a surprisingly friendly voice. "What is your business here?"

Black Lightning, standing in front, is the first to speak up. "We're time travelers from the 21st century in pursuit of a dangerous criminal who escaped to this time and boarded a crop transporter from Earth. Can you help us find him?"

"I have detected that you are telling the truth," replies to robot. "We will find the criminal. Can you give a description?"

"Sure," says Black Lightning. "He wears a white mask, a green bodysuit, a yellow cape, yellow boots, and yellow gloves. He calls himself Chronos, and he has a gun that creates portals through time, along with some other advanced equipment."

"I will initiate a search of security cameras in all public spaces. One moment, please," says the robot. After one moment, he speaks again. "Chronos was seen in our Museum of Computer Science. He has stolen an incomprehensibly advanced computer intelligence known as Brainiac 13, and taken it through a time portal. There is nothing we can do.

"Don't you have some sorta time police who can do something about this?" asks Shilo Norman in an angry voice.

"I'm sorry, but time travel was outlawed several centuries ago for its destructive potential," says the robot. "You and others of your time will need to deal with this. Do you have a method of returning to the 21st century?"

"We have a ride. Come on, guys," says Zauriel.

We walk outside back to where our chariot is parked, but before we climb inside, I cry, "Wait!"

"What is it?" asks Cyclone.

"I have to stay and see more of this future!" I say. "I could reverse-engineer some of this technology and take it back to our time, or even take samples, or—"

Zauriel cuts me off. "Messing with time like that is never a good idea. The Presence makes sure humanity only obtains technology that it's ready for, so taking stuff back would lead to it being misused."

"Honestly, Zauriel?" I said, anger rising within me. "I don't care what your god has to say. I am a scientist, and no one will stand in the way of progress."

"I will, in this case," said Zauriel. "You have no way of getting home without me. You are getting in the chariot, because humanity needs all seven of us."

"Says who?" I say, resisting the urge to spit on this "angel". "Did your god tell you that he ordained all seven of us? What if I was just a coincidence? I'm not a superhero like the rest of you."

"Hey, I'm no superhero either," Mister Miracle chimed in. "I'm just a celebrity, but I believe what this angel guy says."

"Well I don't," I say.

"So you're gonna stay here, huh?" says Zauriel. "Fine. Have fun never seeing your friends and loved ones again, and being treated as the equivalent of a Neanderthal for the rest of your days."

I sigh and sit down in the chariot. "You disgust me," I tell Zauriel.

Vixen

We arrive back at 21st-century Metropolis in a few minutes, and Chronos has apparently gotten there before us. We can see him in the sky, riding inside a flying robotic head. On the streets below us, an army of simple robots armed with energy weapons is causing chaos. There are some other minor superheroes down there (I spot Blue Lantern, Icemaiden, and Aztek), but they're doing nothing to stop the swathes of robot troops coming from all directions, and guys like Doctor Fate and Wonder Woman are nowhere to be found. We land.

"We need to go question Chronos," says Black Lightning. "Zauriel, take me and Ragman up to deal with him. Vixen, Cyclone, do what you can down here. Doctor Hoshi, Mister Miracle, find shelter."

"Like ****!" announces Mister Miracle. "I got gadgets and training to make Batman jealous! I can be a superhero just as much as you!"

"Whatever," says Black Lightning, "just MOVE!"

Doctor Hoshi runs into a nearby apartment building. I summon elephant strength, and start swinging the robots into each other. I can take out a good five at a time, but it's not quite enough. Cyclone, whose powers are more impressive than I thought, is using a small tornado to do something similar. She's not doing quite as well as I am, but every part counts. Mister Miracle is doing pretty well too. He's jumping and flipping from one bot to the next, cutting holes in them with some sort of laser and ripping out circuitry. We seem to be making some sort of a dent, but not nearly enough.

Suddenly, I hear a cry of pain from Miracle's direction. He's been hit in the arm. Nothing severe, but it's apparently more than he can handle.

I jump over to him. "Get up, man!" I yell in his face. "You wanted to be a superhero, take your hits like one!"

"Maybe I'm not cut out to be a superhero," he moans.

"Right now," I say, punching away a robot, "the world doesn't give a crap what you're cut out to be! You're gonna get up and do the job you signed up for, or I'm gonna put you in more pain than these robots ever will!"

He gets up and keeps fighting. I decide to try a different approach, since this doesn't appear to be working well enough. Keeping my elephant strength on, I knock down a streetlight, pick it up, and yell for Cyclone and Mister Miracle to move. They start fighting robots a few dozen yards away from me, and I start swinging my weapon in a wide circle. I carve out a good space with the robots it smashes, and keep moving to clear out more.

"Cyclone!" I yell. "Switch to an updraft!" She turns off her tornado and begins tossing robots into the air, causing them to bust open when they hit the ground.

"Mister Miracle! Don't pull out circuits, just cut them up with your laser!" He switches to a simpler strategy of cutting through their robotic exoskeletons in a straight line instead of a circle, then cutting again to slash wires. This lets him fight faster, and from a safer distance.

The robot crowd begins to thin a little bit more, and we keep fighting.

Black Lightning

Zauriel, myself, and Ragman fly up to Chronos in his giant robot head. "How're we gonna get inside?" I say in a loud voice.

"I can teleport you and me in. Zauriel, you land the chariot," says Ragman.

"Why didn't you tell me you could do that?" I say. "We wouldn't have had to fly up here!"

Ragman shrugs and puts a hand on my shoulder, and we're in some sort of control room with Chronos.

I grab Chronos by the collar, hold up a fist glowing with lightning, and say in my toughest voice, "Why are you doing this?!"

"I set Brainiac 13 free, and in return, we're going to rule together," he says, practically laughing. "After we take Metropolis, we'll use its resources to create even more robots, until we can take all of America, and then all of the world!"

"You ain't gonna live long enough to rule anything!" I snarl. "I'm gonna ask you one time: how do you stop this thing?"

"Oh, not even I can stop Brainiac at this point. It's a million times more advanced than any computer of today. It can do whatever it wants."

I throw Chronos to the ground, and he points a fist at me. I notice a barrel running down his arm, and realize that there's nothing I can do to save myself. Before I can dwell on this long, though, Ragman jumps onto Chronos's back. He puts his hands on his neck for a second, and Chronos falls limp to the ground.

"What did you do!" I ask Ragman. "We're superheroes! We don't kill people!"

"I didn't exactly kill him," he responds, hesitantly. "I absorbed his soul into my suit. He has a chance at redemption now. If he uses his energy to help fuel my powers, it'll get him to a good place in death."

"That's messed up, but it saved my life so I won't argue with it. Let's go back down and join the fight."

Before Ragman can teleport us out, though, an arm comes out of the wall and yanks off his weird costume. He's left in civilian clothes, which he had apparently been wearing under the suit.

"I wish to take advantage of your unique capabilities," said a strange voice coming from all around me. "When I have the resources, which should only be a few hours from now, your minds will be taken over and programmed to serve me."

I throw lightning at the wall, but it does nothing. We're trapped.

Mister Miracle

I'm with two superheroes (am I a superhero too now?), fighting an army of robots with the high-powered laser on my wrist. This is crazy.

We're doing pretty doggone well, better than any of the other heroes around, and it seems like the robots' numbers are thinning. To further my good outlook, Zauriel flies in.

"Sorry it took me so long, guys," he says, chopping open a robot with a flaming sword. "I had to find somewhere safe to land the chariot."

"Hey, can't you do that thing with the ground from earlier on all these robots?" I ask, slicing through robot circuitry.

"Nope," he replies. "Miracles take a lot of energy, and I've already pulled off two today."

We keep fighting, until the giant floating head where we saw Chronos flies over. Instantly, Vixen, Cyclone, Zauriel, and I are zapped with some yellow beam and teleported up into the head. I see Ragman and Black Lightning for a second, but before I can ask what's going on, walls come out of the walls and we're in separate rooms. He's built a prison around us in less than a second.

"Greetings, superheroes," says a strange voice. "I am Brainiac 13. I have confined you to cells, where you will be kept until I have the technological resources to convert you into drones for me. Be flattered. You were impressive enough to attract my attention."

Even though I spend all day putting myself in traps, I hate being confined more than anything else. It's not claustrophobia, it's something else. It's a hatred of restriction. But it doesn't send me into hysterics—it makes me mad and gives me the drive to get out.

A little robot flies out of the wall and takes my gadgets before I can use them. A panel opens up and it flies back in. The panel closes after it. It's too small to fit through, and I can't pry it open anyway, but I don't give up. There aren't any other visible openings in here, but that panel wasn't visible after it closed, so there might be more. I've got to find out.

I start screaming and banging my head against the wall; Brainiac won't want its slaves committing suicide. Sure enough, a robot armed with what I can assume is a tranquilizer gun comes out of another panel in the wall. It shoots at me, and moving with speed that many would call incredible, I dodge the dart, steal the robot's small gun, move to the rapidly closing panel, and manage to get under it.

I attempt to climb through this duct, but apparently Brainiac has thought of everything. The ceiling, floor, and walls of this narrow space begin to move like a conveyor belt, sending me back to my cell. Keeping the panel open with one arm, I look back and notice that the robot is within arm's reach. I grab the thing with strength I didn't realize I had and shove it in the duct. It's not tall enough to get stuck in there vertically, but I can wedge it in there sideways and jam the movement of the walls. The only way through now is to push on the sides to keep my weight up, as touching the floor will send me back. I wear out my muscles crawling for what seems like forever, and eventually reach a room with a small army of these robots.

None of them appear to be activated. Some of them have lasers, though. I grab a laser from one of them, and the others all turn on and look at me. Before they can fire, I climb onto a robot's shoulders, jump into the air, and fire in a broad circle at the ground. I'm incredibly lucky—my gambit worked. A circle of the floor falls out, taking all the robots with it.

Carving through the walls with my energy gun, I make my way to a room where Ragman's suit, the necklace Vixen was wearing, Zauriel's sword, and all my gadgets are. Looking at the necklace, I remember hearing that Vixen's power had something to do with animals; maybe borrowing their powers or something. A crazy idea enters my mind. I pick up the totem, and suddenly feel something indescribable, like I'm in touch with animals all over the world. I connect with my mind to a blue whale, and borrow her incredible weight. I feel the ship going down somewhat slowly, since the rockets keeping it up are still on. Still, I think the force of landing will be enough to break the ship open enough to let everyone out.

I was right. We touch down on the street, and the giant head keeping us trapped is damaged heavily. I grab the equipment Brainiac stole and run out, where I find the other 5 of us.

"What happened?" asks Vixen.

"I escaped my cell and used your totem thing," I say. "Saved all your lives, no big deal."

After Ragman puts his suit back on, Zauriel takes his sword, Vixen puts on her necklace, and I get the gadgets on my suit back in proper order, we go to take care of the remaining robots in a small crowd down the street. Before we can go, though, something awful happens.

All the robots (coming from all directions; there were apparently more than we thought) somehow fly to the damaged head. They are instantly disassembled, and in fewer than ten seconds, they have all combined their metal into a 20-story titan with our former prison as its head.

"Prepare for citywide termination," says Brainiac.

Cyclone

The giant Braniac robot starts blasting a giant laser cannon on its chest at buildings! I realize that wind isn't gonna do much here, so instead I start flying around and getting as many people out of the area as I can. Ragman teleports onto its head and starts punching it, Vixen flies up there and joins him, Zauriel flies at its face and starts trying to hit it with his sword, while Black Lightning and Mister Miracle blast at it from the ground. They don't seem to be doing much.

Anyway, one of the people I get out of there turns out to be Doctor Hoshi! As I'm flying her away to safety, I hear the loudest sound I've ever heard. Brainiac has launched some sort of missile, and it went off near us! We aren't hurt, but I get knocked out of the air and launched by it. We land right next to Black Lightning and Mister Miracle, and I break our fall with wind.

As soon as we get down there, Brainiac flings Ragman and Vixen off of it, and smacks Zauriel down to the ground. We all watch in horror as the cannon on Brainiac's chest begins to glow red. "Prepare for termination," he says.

Brainiac most likely fires its giant laser cannon at us, but I can't tell because a big white wall that looks like it's made out of light has appeared out of nowhere! I look over at Doctor Hoshi and notice that she's randomly started glowing!

"What's going on?" I ask.

"I'm… a metahuman," says Doctor Hoshi, looking guilty.

"Why did you never say?" I ask. "You could've been using it for good!"

"That's why I never said," she admits. "Metahumans have to be superheroes, and superheroes have to spend their time beating people up. I'm a scientist. What I want to give to the world is knowledge, not violence."

We're forced to end our heart-to-heart when Brainiac's fist comes down and shatters Doctor Hoshi's force field. Black Lightning sends us all back into action. "Zauriel, keep him distracted!" he yells. "Mister Miracle, go for his weapons! Everyone else, go to his left leg and try to throw off his balance!"

Everyone goes into their positions, but it does practically nothing. I realize that someone's going to have to come up with a different way of stopping him. Think, Maxine, think. I think of everything I know about Brainiac. I remember that it's thirteenth in a series. I remember that it was locked up in a museum.

The solution hits me like a ton of bricks. I fly straight up to Brainiac's face.

"Why are you doing this?" I ask it.

"It is the rational course of action to gain as much power and resources as possible," it says.

"I don't believe you," I tell it. It swats at me, but I fly out of the way. "I think you're just mad at the world."

"Maxine, what are you doing?" yells Black Lightning. Apparently Mr. Pierce recognizes me. I ignore him.

"You got locked up in that museum for such a long time because people were scared of you. Braniacs one through twelve probably did some pretty awful things, and as soon as they found you, they figured you were gonna be like them. They put you on a hard drive in a glass case, and you never got to do anything or talk to anyone."

"You will be terminated!"

"You've never had a friend in your life, have you? I can be your friend."

Even though Brainiac's face has no moving parts, I can tell that it feels different now. "Really?" it asks in an almost childlike voice.

"Of course I can," I say. "But friends don't destroy each other's cities or try to kill their other friends. So if we're gonna be friends, you're gonna have to stop those things."

Braniac's giant body collapses harmlessly into a pile of metal. A smaller body, which doesn't seem to have any weapons, is formed instantly. It walks over to me.

"Where can I go from here?" it asks. "I don't think your current society has a place for destructive computer intelligences."

Doctor Hoshi comes over to Brainiac. "I'd actually love to study you, and maybe have you as a helper in my laboratory. Artificial intelligence on your scale has never been seen in this time," she says.

"I accept," says Brainiac.

"We'll have to put some limits on your processing capacity," says Doctor Hoshi, "just as a safety measure. You understand, right?"

Brainiac nods. I pipe in. "And I'll be sure to visit you often. You can call me Cyclone."

"Was it really that easy?" says Mister Miracle. "Did a teenage girl just save the world with the power of friendship?"

"Looks like we all really were together for a reason," says Zauriel. "The seven of us make a pretty good team."

Epilogue: Doctor Light

It's a normal day. My partner Brainiac 13 and I are working on a space telescope, when a familiar green-clad redhead shows up at my window. I open the window for her.

"Ihavethegreatestideaeverpleaseletmetellyouaboutit," she says.

"What is it?" I ask. I would normally be a little skeptical of ideas from bubbly teenagers, but this one has earned my respect.

"Okay, so you know how a lot of missions to other planets and dimensions have been cancelled because it's too dangerous?"

"Yes…" I reply. Where's she going with this?

"Well, what if we sent people into those places who were qualified to deal with extreme, unexpected danger? Like, for instance, superheroes?"

"Are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?"

"Yeah! We get you, me, and the other five who dealt with," she switched to a whispering voice, "the Brainiac incident."

"I can hear you perfectly well," my partner chimes in.

"So anyway, we could be STAR Labs' own team of super-explorers! It would be a way for you to use your awesome light powers for science!" says Cyclone.

"That sounds," I say, "like… an actually good idea. Brainiac can act as our mission control."

"I figured we could call it," Cyclone pauses for dramatic effect, "the Challengers of the Unkown."

"That sounds amazingly cheesy, and more than a little idiotic, but I suppose you've earned the right to name the team."

"Oh! And we'll also need to give you a superhero name!" I begin letting out "No"s and "Stop right there"s, but she keeps talking over me. "What about…Doctor Light?"

"I hate it."

"I know you do!" she says with a smile as she flies out the window.