Crisis Point

by Legend Maker

There can be no better way of knowing, in a world beyond controlling...are you going to deny the savior right in front of your eyes? Are you, heroes? Titans? Alien? THEN YOU WILL ALL FALL.

5. Part 3: Titans Tommorow

Part 3: Titans Tomorrow

One of the questions I get the most are questions about God. Some think I can answer them because my name is Savior (maybe a poor choice in retrospect, but at the time it struck me deeply as a choice for my life: I could be a savior, of people's lives, physical well being, mental health, and contentment anyway. I never said I'd save their souls. Hell, do I have any right to? Shouldn't that be their own job?), some because I'm a hero, and some because some people know my real viewpoints on religion and faith (and often misunderstand my viewpoint that the latter doesn't need the former, because the former, much like politics, is infinitely abusable). Unlike some people, I am quite honest in the fact I can give them no great knowledge or truths, only my own viewpoints and opinions.

Why am I talking about this? Now?

Well, when you're raised in a society with as many religions as I am, inevitably bits and pieces will creep into your sense of self. I've probably said more then a few words and phrases that had God in it, and cursed more then a few people by saying they were going to the realm of his opposite. It's inevitable, sort of how words can creep into other languages. Or how aspects of religions can creep into others, which is why Easter is celebrated both as the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (in theory) and with a rabbit handing out candy and eggs.

I say in theory because I have no real opinion. Does God exist? Maybe. Is he/she/it (we will call it he for convenience) kind and loving, or cruel and filled with wrath? Or somewhere in between? I can't tell you.

Not many can in this world. Maybe if this was a world without superheroes, without metahumans and magicians and mutants and monsters, I could give you a more concise answer. But in this world, the question of there being a God (and to keep this from going on forever we will be speaking of the Christian depiction of God, and not getting into the other religions such as Jewish and Islamic and Hindi and Buddhism, not to mention all the offshoots and cults that have sprung up around them. Don't even get me started on the Mormons. If the belief makes you happy and content, that's great, but a belief that includes so-called 'magic underwear' really prompts me to raise my eyebrows rather then find spiritual fulfillment) becomes so muddled that it almost seems irrelevant. God is supposedly more then man, capable of knowing and doing anything. I could name a dozen men, women, and beings off the top of my head that fit that criteria. Kind and just? We have Superman. Cruel and wrathful? Darkseid, or say, Imperiex. Not to mention that the deities that Greek and Norse and African religion have been revealed, in a lot of cases, to exist in some aspects. Wonder Woman is (or was, it seems) empowered by the Greek Gods. Can you really fit the notions of what God is, a central God, above all else, in this world we live in, that I was born into, that I exist in? The Spectre is truly mighty, but does that mean he really is God's spirit of vengeance? Power speaks for itself: the rest can all be icing. Or lies.

As, but you may say, it is all about belief. God is faith.

That's fine, but faith is a double-edged sword. Someone once argued that you should believe in God, and if you die and are wrong you've lost nothing and if you die and are right you've gained everything. Maybe…but faith, and religion, always requires more then just saying "I believe." And in a world where science is slowly revealing the secrets that once drove man to create (or maybe recognize) their gods, such a thing can be hard to grasp. Should I pray to, give thanks, and worship something that may not be there at all? Perhaps I should just worship the sun. After all, I can see the sun.

Ah, but therein lies the key to faith: it supposedly shows you how to live a better life. It is not all abasing: it is finding happiness.

At least, that's the supposed intention.

Reality, well…let's not get into that.

Does God exist? I don't know.

But sometimes, even I, kind of wonder and wish I could find that faith. Not the blind, destructive faith of a zealot, which is far more about that person's wants and needs then the words of a benevolent deity. Nor the terrified faith of the beaten down, the words crammed into their head through intimidation and fear, who do not believe but tolerate for the supposed sake of their souls. I sometimes wish for the rarest kind of faith, of one who has found his place in the world and understands it, is happy with it, and through that invokes a kind of knowledgeable peace.

I doubt I'd find it in religion. If I have any God, it is perception. The power to do things beyond your ken, not because of any great power gifted to you but because you believe you can.

It's that that lets mothers lift cars that their children are trapped under.

It's that that keeps Superman from being crushed under the weight of his own responsibility, of knowing he has so much power and yet can only do so much with it.

And it's that that keeps me going, for all the horrors I've seen, for all the sins and weaknesses of humanity, and for all the times I've seemingly been told that my battle is a lost cause, that human beings are locked onto an inescapable slippery slope to destruction and damnation, and to try and reverse it is a fool's errand that will only bring me suffering and misery: because I don't believe that's true.

Maybe there is a God, but from our history, it's clear we have to often go it alone.

So maybe God is good. God is loving. God is cruel. God is dead. And all that. I hear that a group of heroes were having a mass that honored those lost in this Crisis. So I'm probably not the only one pondering questions about God.

So what's my answer now?

For this I turn not to any scriptures or religious texts but a quote from Harry Emerson Fosdick.

"God is not a cosmic bellboy for whom we can press a button to get the job done."

We have to do the job.

So I will leave the thought at that.

Though I will say one thing in closing.

Some may say God exists in the miracle I see before me: a grown daughter, and her friends, come to help.

Still…all the same…, I wish God had included some indication they were coming.

Still, we need all the help we can get. Things can't get much worse.

If they do, it may yet believe me to change my viewpoints. If only because a higher power can set it all right.

Until then, we have to try.

---

In the strange nature of thoughts, what seems longer to others can pass in a blink of an eye to the thinker, as Noel stared at the young woman who had come from the shadows which had erupted from Raven's form, a woman who said she was a Titan, a woman who had called him…

Savior put himself between Raven as he formed a few Shimmer blades. Kyra didn't look surprised.

"Thinking the worst immediately, even at my age. I'm not really surprised Dad." Kyra said, as she slowly raised her hands in a gesture of peace. "I'm sorry for the abrupt entrance and the rather unpleasant manner of it, but it was the only way. But I swear, we're not some kind of trick, or disguise, or infiltration tactic, or anything in that vein. We're on your side, Noel Collins. I swear."

"He's not the only one who's a tad bit suspicious." Nightwing said, as Kyra looked at him. To his surprise, she smiled slightly.

"Your name is Richard Grayson. You were the first Robin to Batman, whose name I know but will not repeat out of respect. And since anyone could recite facts about your life, I will simply recite a few things I have heard about you. Somehow you always got more ass then a toilet seat, Batman held you in such high regard he picked you to lead a substitute version of the Justice League, you shouldn't feel guilt over what happened to Roland Desmond, and you got your name from a story Superman told you. I know all this because as you might have guessed from what I called Whitey there, I am from the future. I always heard you were an amazing judge of character, Dick. It's one of the many things that made you a legend in my time." Kyra said. "I will leave my character and those of my friends to you to judge, but I remind you we are most likely existing on borrowed time."

Nightwing blinked.

"By the way, what's with the old outfit? We used to make fun of that. At least you didn't bring back the Elvis collar." Kyra added.

Much to his surprise, Nightwing found himself chuckling.

"Hey, no one complained at the time." He replied, despite the seriousness of the situation and the mood he had been in moments ago.

"Dick, careful. Just because she knows a few facts doesn't mean…" Noel started.

"Oh man, you really were always looking for the supposed catch, weren't you? Even after someone who WAS trained by Batman decides we aren't so bad!" Kyra said.

"In clarification I haven't said anything…" Nightwing said.

"Yeah, but you've clearly lowered your guard. I can read it in your body language." Kyra said. "Look Noel, DAD, I know this is probably a lot to digest, but look at me! Look! I have your frikkin' eyes!"

Noel didn't say anything. Kyra glared back.

And then Raven spoke.

"It's ok…she speaks the truth…" Raven whispered, and everyone looked at her. "Noel…it's true. Her words are truth…and more…because I've seen her."

Kyra saw her father's expression and snickered to herself.

"Mom always was the only one who could shut him up."

---

On one level, it was easy enough for Noel to grasp. He'd seen plenty of reality muckery, especially after what he'd learned about Superboy-Prime and his magic crystal wall punches, and he could wrap his head around a group of Titans from the future popping back into his time to help. With the way time and space were falling apart, the impact was probably being felt in the past and the future as well. It stood to reason some could had traveled back to try and find the source of the disturbance. All the Earths appearing in the sky probably had something to do with it.

But…one was his daughter…with Raven…for some reason Noel just couldn't quite grasp the concept, even after Raven told him. About her time in Slade's Chromoton Destabalizer, how she had seen Kyra's future, how she'd known…And it was the fact she was telling him for the first time, it seemed, that bothered Noel. Had she not thought it important enough? Or had she actually told him, only to find reality and its abusers robbing him of the info?

He would have liked to have spoken to her, but as soon as Kyra had won over Dick she had immediately begun speaking to him, deferring to him as a subordinate despite the fact that with a Green Lantern ring (his daughter had become part of the Corps?) she could annihilate him with a thought. She was clearly giving him information about her part of the situation so he could adjust his choice of tactics if he so chose. Some of the 'Titans Tomorrow' stayed with her, while others had moved around the room: apparently she had asked them to be quiet at first while she did the introductions, and now they were 'dismissed'. Not knowing what else to do, Savior had gone to a couch against the wall and propped Raven up, helping her as best he could, even though she protested that she was fine, just tired.

"Hey there Noel."

Savior turned to find himself looking at…well he wasn't sure. He definitely wasn't a teenager, he had to be at least 30. He wore simple black pants and a skintight semi-muscle shirt with grooves on the shoulders outlined in gold, the collar of the shirt also outlined in the same color. He had black hair an inch or so under shoulder length, hair that was also shot through with golden streaks, and a small closely cut goatee on his chin (with no gold hair there). His eyes were also a strange, unnatural color of gold, which was probably his defining factor.

"Same stuff, different day huh? I tell you, around you, your kids, whatever, you always did keep my life interesting." The black wearing adult said, as if he and Noel were old friends. "And by interesting I mean so overloaded with trouble half the time I want to strangle you. But I never did, did I?" The man said.

"…Do I know you?" Savior replied.

The man's face fell…and then it actually got angry.

"What? How…I mean…dammit Collins! You tortured me! You locked me in freezers! You made me want to die daily, and on top of that you kept calling me worthless! And you always made fun of my hair when it was long! You gave Gunnery Sergeant Hanson a run for his money! How could YOU NOT…!"

"Adam!" Kyra called, and the newly named (to Noel, anyway) Adam turned his head. "Remember what I said! Reality as we know it isn't working!"

"Oh yeah right." Adam said. "Sorry Noel."

"…You know me?"

"Somewhere. I was on the team. A Titan. You trained me like you hated me. Took me a few years to understand the breaking down and building up part. But that was apparently somewhere else with someone else. Hell, when this is over with my luck I'll probably cease to exist." Adam said, and then extended his hand. "I'm Adam Matthews. Metatron."

"…You named yourself after the highest caste of angel?"

"Pot, this is kettle calling. You're black."

"Point well taken."

"The ironic thing is, I'm a demon." Metatron said, and grinned. Noel blinked.

"Try not to look too surprised. We all know you in one form or another…"

"Indeed." Said a newcomer, who also looked to be in his 30's. He wore an outfit that was mostly black, shot through with green, and which appeared to be some kind of futuristic armor. A black sphere glittered in his chestplate, glowing with a strange purple glow that helped it stand out, while four others spheres were embedded in his gauntlets. He wore black goggles and had backwards pointing spiky black hair, much like Metatron (the hair color not the design), albeit with no golden streaks, and like him was fairly good looking. "I don't know if you remember me, but just in case, I'd like to apologize, Oz, for all the trouble I caused and have yet to cause you."

"…What?"

"You don't remember me either? After what happened?"

"No!…And Oz? That was my HIVE cover name."

"Among other things." The green teen said. "I guess this is more reality going to pieces. Believe me, I'm familiar with it."

"He helped on the trip. Probably made it easier on Raven." Metatron said.

"I'm Ragnarok. Collin Roberts. Even if you don't know me Oz, Noel, whatever, I'll do what I can to help. If only so I can get home." Ragnarok said. "Oh yes, and while I'm here…the reason I came over was because I'm not the only one from 'my world' who ended up 'here', wherever here is, exactly. I have a friend, Yin, over there…" Ragnarok said, pointing to yet another adult across the room. He also had spiky hair, but it was closer to Robert's than his own, a typical Germanic-looking blond, which contrasted oddly with his very dark, certainly foreign skin tone and features. The contrast was emphasized by his turquoise eyes, causing him to look much more like a Super Saiyan than Noel ever did. He wore a fairly standard looking hero suit, rather then Noel's outfit of jeans, shirt, and jacket (though Noel's clothing was really disguised armor), colored black and white. There was a symbol on the chest that Noel couldn't make out. "On my team…well, he got together with Raven. And he's been with her a while. And even though things aren't the same here, he's worried about her. Mind if I give him a heads up?"

"I'm fine…" Raven said. "Just drained…" Even so, she actually gave Yin a weak thumbs up, like she dealt with alternate universe/timeline/existence boyfriends everyday. Yin grinned and then moved across the room…without moving his feet: apparently his power was stretching and malleability like the Elongated Man, to talk to some of the others.

"…Hmmmm." Savior said, his brain finally adjusting to take it in stride. "Yin as in Yin/Yang. Good to know someone here has a bit more humble codename. Savior, Metatron, and Ragnarok, the Norse apocalypse. I hope whatever powers you have back up the names."

"I'm no slouch, even if I don't have a bunch of magical doodads." Metatron said, indicating Ragnarok.

"Well Adam, your powers are natural…mine are…well, all due to the armor and these, the Catalysts." Ragnarok said. "They're Tamaranian artifacts, I've found them throughout my life. The armor lets me use them, and also grants me geokinetic abilities. The Terra in my world…she went through some changes, so I wasn't redundant." Ragnarok said. "Normally I only use one or two at most, it's dangerous to use more, power corrupts…but this is a dire emergency, here and where I lived, and before I…arrived I had equipped myself with the five most powerful of the seven Catalysts. With them all I wield considerable might…though even I am probably not the most powerful member of the team…" Ragnarok said, as he trailed off…

And Noel suddenly felt the hairs on the back of his neck prick up, as a very faint and very deep sense of dread came over him, like he was recognizing something bad on a primal level.

"Is she ok?"

Savior turned to look at the new speaker (he was doing that a lot), a female. One that looked familiar. Unlike the others, she wasn't thin or muscular in a streamlined way, she was actually fairly large, with some fat mixed in with her muscle. A body type Noel recognized. She wore a long robe/cloak outfit that pooled around her feet…and she also had gray skin. And long blue hair that was black at the tips. And long ears. And four thin fingers covered in metal.

Noel didn't need to be a rocket scientist.

"Nigel's daughter, I assume?" Noel asked, even as the feeling of dread didn't go away, though he wasn't sure why.

"Yes. There are a few descendants on the team…I'm Mary." Mary Hastings said. "I just wanted to apologize to you, Mr. Collins, and your wi…your significant other. I didn't want to hurt her…but this was the only way I could think of to get us here after all that's happened."

"…Well, um…I suppose…" Noel said, still trying to figure out why he was so apprehensive. It was apparently readable on his way, as Mary looked slightly dismayed.

And then Raven groaned lightly.

"…Risky…choice, young lady…" Raven said, holding her head.

"Raven? What's wrong?" Savior asked.

"She must be picking up my…power source. You are too, I can tell. No sense in lying…my mom's mutation changed in a freak way in me. Instead of bats, I could become a living shadow…well, one day your friend the Lord came back. He was as mighty and terrible as ever. But I was there, and your wi…your girlfriend had this artifact…I used it on him. The end result was his final destruction…because I took his powers."

Noel looked stunned.

"Told you he'd be surprised rather then angry at first. Pay up." Ragnarok said to Metatron, and the demon grudgingly handed over a few bills.

"You took…The Lord of the Night's…"

"Oh stuff it you bastard." Came yet ANOTHER new voice. This one belonged to the first teenage male that Noel had actually seen come over (as this was the TEEN Titans and the first three were adults), a tall wirey kid with long curly blonde hair, a very simple blue, red, and gold costume, and a handsome face screwed up in disgust as he suddenly popped in next to Mary. "It's all she heard from you. It's the Lord, he'll corrupt her and use her, the power isn't hers, it's a trick, cage her, hurt her, kill her, for the greater good, SHUT UP!" The older teen snapped angrily as Noel tried to get a word in.

"EJ it's ok…" Mary said in a half whisper.

"No it's not! It wasn't there and it won't be here! Just stuff it! It never corrupted her, because she's more of a hero then you ever were! So just keep your mouth shut, or I'll shut it FOR you, you bastard." 'EJ' snapped, and walked off with Mary.

"…Ok." Savior said. "Well, never expected to be popular…" Noel said, as he tried to place where he had seen EJ: he also looked familiar.

Then he realized the teenager had had something in his hand: a spark of light reflecting off it had caught Noel's attention briefly. A gem in the hand. One Noel knew all too well, because he'd seen it up close less then 24 hours ago.

"…Wait a minute." Noel said. "Do you know him?"

"I do now." Metatron said.

"So wait…is that…?"

"Elijah Versaw's son. And Nigel's daughter. Yeah, a real Romeo and Juliet situation. From what you told me, their fathers never stopped hating each other. But EJ got his mom's gem after she got too old to use it, and until it abruptly disappeared he also inherited his dad's connection to the Speed Force, so no one could really tell him what to do. Even with the Speed Force gone, he's still got more then enough power to do it."

Noel watched the couple walk off, and then rolled his eyes at the strangeness of it all, leaning back on the couch…and spying what appeared to be Jinx nearby. Except she was older. And wearing her hair loose. And instead of wearing a pink and black dress she was wearing a skintight black outfit with a dark violet waist length cape and a pink H on the sternum (and he noticed Metatron had a large M sketched onto the back of his outfit). And she had a diagonal scar on her left cheek.

Probably not the Jinx he knew. But the way things were going…

"I assume you know me from somewhere too?" Noel asked.

'Jinx's' only response was to shoot a glare so wrathful and angry at Noel that if looks could kill Noel's body would be blackened bones, and then she stalked off.

"Don't mind Hex. Like me, she seems to have history with another you somewhere…and from what I gathered, all of it is very very bad." Ragnarok said.

Savior sighed. Maybe he should rethink his life and how he treated people.

If he ever got the chance.

---

Kyra hadn't been idle during her dad's meetings with 'not-so-old-friends': she'd been carefully laying out details to Dick, like her trainers at the Corps had taught her when it came to using the ring. She wished she could speak to her dad, but she knew Dick and she knew her dad's words and opinions about him, and she knew she only had so much time, so she'd better speak with the one who could use it the best.

"I'll be as brief as I can, you look like you're ready to go." She had begun.

"I am." Nightwing replied.

"Ok. As I said, we're from the future. However, not all of us are from the SAME future. How we ended up together, even I'm not wholly sure. But you probably have some guesses."

"A few."

"Ok. I am the leader of the Titans in the future, or a future…I'm Noel and Raven's daughter. Kyra. Some call me Myth, I prefer Kyra. This big guy behind me is Brick Wall…" Kyra said, pointing. Brick nodded. "Over there is Nightmare, Nigel's daughter, and near her is Donar Magnison. He's the grandson of Thor, the actual Norse god, if you can believe that, hence the hammer."

"Mjolnir?" Nightwing said, glancing over at the blonde teen.

"Yeah I know, wrong comic book company. The four of us are pretty much the only 'original' Titans left. To shore up our ranks, Mary brought in her boyfriend, he goes by the oh-so-humble name of Omnipotent…before the Speed Force abruptly vanished, that was a big surprise…and we recently got an old acquaintance of ours in the fold. Scorched Earth." Kyra said, pointing to a somewhat thin teenage boy off to the side…except this boy had light orange skin and deep red hair. And he looked familiar. And his outfit…looked like the combination of two other familiar outfits.

"Yeah. Long story, no time. Until recently, he was on the other side, through no real fault of his own, he was just making baby steps on the other when this started happening. There were others but…well, I may as well start from the beginning. It explains the remaining four who are currently talking with my dad."

"Other Earths?" Nightwing asked.

"Possibly. The day this started, about a week ago, we woke up, it was a normal day…except Viridian, our Tower's caretaker, said something was wrong. She couldn't say just what, her sensors just told her something was wrong. So we spent the whole day tearing the Tower apart, trying to figure out just what was on the fritz, or if someone was trying to spy on us or something…it took us until late evening after we'd gone over the Tower and the island with a fine tooth comb to figure out just what had happened. The Tower had been moved five feet to the left."

Had the situation been less serious, Nightwing might have chuckled again.

"Yeah, it was weird, but harmless, but we were so busy that day we weren't paying attention to our city, didn't find out until the next day that a rash of disappearances had been reported…and as we found out, in some cases this wasn't a case of people leaving the sight of others and not returning. This was a case of people LITERALLY disappearing, into thin air…"

And then another massive shockwave shook the Tower, rattling everyone.

"Argh. Conner?" Nightwing asked, as he looked over to where the Teen of Steel had been standing by the window, hanging onto a frame.

"Another Earth…just went…" Superboy replied.

"I figured. Those other dimensional Earths may look pretty, but they're not stable." Nightwing said.

"…What about OUR Earth? Is that going to happen to us too?" Superboy asked.

"Well, one of my Catalysts can affect reality…it would probably give us some kinds of heads up. I'll keep an eye on it." Ragnarok said.

"You do that. You were saying?"

"People were vanishing. In front of others. Just poof, there were gone. And that wasn't the worst. There were also a handful of strange reports that people were…changing."

"Changing?"

"Like the disappearances. Just blink, and suddenly they were different. Oh sure, some were kind of funny. Their hair changed, or their shoes. Others…their skin color changed. Or their sex. Or as we saw later, their…personalities. It was like people were in flux." Kyra said. "We were trying to figure out what was going on…and then it affected us. We were eating breakfast, and then Ragnarok and Yin, those two guys there…they just popped into existence at our table. Fortunately, into empty chairs."

"I didn't know what happened." Ragnarok said as he popped up again, this time next to Kyra. "The team of Titans I knew, we were just eating and…suddenly I was there."

"Needless to say, it ruined our morning. And it just got worse. We spent the first hours of that day trying to figure each other out. We eventually determined that were actually teens during 'this time' and hence popped into our lives as adults in 'our time', hence the age gap. Bust as we're sorting everything out…like I said, we're what's left of my team. There were other members…one was called Sierra. Razzle Dazzle. She just…vanished. Right in front of us. And what the reports neglected to say was she wasn't just gone in a puff of smoke. She…faded, like she was film being exposed to sunlight. And whatever caused it…it wasn't pleasant. In fact, she screamed the whole time. It was horrible…we couldn't do a thing. And we tried."

"I'm sorry."

"So am I. It got worse. The Llarenes Morath of my world, she'd retired, actually became an author, she was in town, we met her as we were trying to get all our loved ones and acquaintances in one place…we get to the hotel and we can't find her. Instead, we found her. Hex." Kyra said, indicating the version of Jinx who had been so virulent towards Noel. "She was in Llarenes' hotel room…and she had no idea how she got there, like Rag and Yin. She just…popped in. And apparently replaced our Jinx…and then…" Kyra said, and sighed. "Bliss Thompson, Viridian, she's been serving my family for years, she was helping us coordinate a peacekeeping effort in our panicking city, she was actually out with us…and then she changed too. What she became…was horrible. She suddenly became…I don't know. But she tried to kill us. She nearly succeeded. And we had to smash her. We had no choice. She was our friend…and then she just wasn't. She was a machine that said it was her duty to kill us. Just like that."

"I know the feeling." Nightwing said: he remembered a few betrayals in his time.

"After that we realized that something was really, really wrong, so we began trying to use our combined powers to try and figure out what…and two more things happened. One was we were suddenly contacted on our communicators by someone who was claiming to be a Titan and was asking us why the hell the city had become so shiny. That was Metatron, the last one we found…he popped in as well, so suddenly he wasn't even aware of it at first. And then…Mary's mom, she was at the tower…Sophie. She was such a kind woman, never wanted to harm a soul as long as they didn't try and harm her…she started disappearing too. But there was a…glitch or something. She got…'stuck' in mid-vanishing, like a record skipping…and we couldn't get her out of it. We couldn't help her, like with Sierra, and at least with Sierra we only had about fifteen seconds, no real time to do anything. Sophie…she was stuck like that for nearly four hours, in AGONY…and nothing we could do could stop it. No medicine, no use of our powers…nothing. We had to stand there and watch as she suffered, until it finally ended and she faded completely…after that we'd had enough."

"Our powers…" Mary said, as she popped up. "We managed to locate the nexus of the…disturbance." The alien went on, clearly trying to keep her heart cold and dead so she could focus, and not wholly succeeding. "It was here, in our past, your present. Had Bliss not…changed, we probably could have done most of the work with a machine, but she did, she was the mechanics genius, and hence we had to resort to alternate methods. In the end we made it, using a combination of our powers to use this time's Raven as a beacon…and we also brought everyone we could."

"Our best and brightest, to combat whatever's doing this, and God willing, maybe UNDO it." Kyra said. "We've managed to assemble a considerable amount of power. Maybe we have too many tankers, but we did what we could…when we left, we had to leave another one of us behind. Walt…he may have died as soon as we left. I'd rather go back and find out I'm wrong." Kyra said. "You started this team Dick. You were always the greatest of us. Lead us. We'll follow you to hell."

Nightwing was about to reply that they didn't have to do that, because he'd prefer if they followed him to victory.

And in the end, it didn't matter.

Because hell came to them.

---

A few minutes back…

Conner had continued to stare out the window after the latest planetary destruction. He'd been doing that for a while. The sudden entrance of these so-called future Titans had affected him more deeply then he would have expected (if one could even expect such a thing)…because it reminded him of something.

A past adventure, in the future…two kinds. Far off…and not so far.

Of a time where everything he had thought to stand for was gone…including in him, and his friends. Where the Titans were the nightmare of the world, and he was one of the primary soldiers, one who had the gall to call himself Superman.

Maybe that's why the other Superboy's words had struck him so deeply. After all, he'd seen his future, and he was no hero. Maybe he was right…

"Um…Superboy, right?" Came a voice, and Conner looked to the side to see one of the future Titans at his side, well floating near his side anyway. He had orangish skin, much like Starfire's, come to think of it, and her hair…which was done in a pointy style Superboy had seen Tim wear and create time after time, seemingly without effort…and he was wearing a red shirt and pants, with purple/metal gauntlets and boots, some black added to the outfit to prevent an outright cloning of it…and even Conner had an idea of who this is.

"…Yeah." Superboy said, even as he remembered something. "Um…I don't mean to be rude…but I thought human/Tamaranian hybrids couldn't exist. That the fetuses might form, but the genetics codes wouldn't match and the fetus would be rejected from the body…"

"Yeah. I know. It's why I came over here. I saw you…you looked distressed, and if what I remember about you, I think I know why. I thought maybe…I could shed some light, since you're…younger here and all." The "Tamahumanian" said. "I'm Jackan'dr…Jack Andrew Drake in English. Named after my grandfather. My codename, though it shames me now, is Scorched Earth…and yes, human/Tamaranian hybrids aren't possible. At least where I come from. In my…life I learned that in other worlds…they can exist, naturally…I'd rather not speak of how, why and what I wanted to do with that information when I learned it…I'm over here because I think you're having a personal crisis."

"So's everything else."

"Yes. But I know about your DNA. Where it came from. What happened. And I know how much it affected you. Even to my day." Scorched Earth said. "Some people called it the 'Evil Genes' theory, pointing to children of rape and all that…well, Superboy, Conner, can I call you Conner?"

"…Sure."

"…Maybe I shouldn't be giving this advice. We're already risking enough coming back here, and with reality as messed up as it is for all I know I could end up changing or deleting or altering it in some way something…but Conner, well…I'm a hybrid clone too. Of human and alien DNA, like you. Now wait wait…let me get it all out. I know why you were cloned, how we're different. It's true. My mother…she and my father couldn't have me naturally. But mother dearly wanted a child. So eventually they turned to a doctor…Dr. Lamare. He was working in new technologies, and when they came to him he theorized that while naturally they couldn't be conceived, in an artificial, carefully controlled and monitored environment he MIGHT be able to successfully create a hybrid. My dad, he was against it…but mom dearly wanted a child, and so in the end he relented. They submitted their DNA, and Dr. Lamare went to work. The results…well, you see them. He managed to overcome all the natural biological pitfalls and keep me together. Like I was an extremely complicated flower, he phrased it." Scorched Earth said. "But he said that letting me out as an infant was immensely risky. In the end, my parents decided to have me artificially aged to mid-teenage years, so he could follow my growth and if there were recurrent problems he could see them coming and screen them, with his theory that they'd all be ironed out at that level of development. So like you, I was grown in a tube, artificially educated, not how to be a replacement for Superman but simply how I was a son and loved, and about the world around me. It all went swimmingly…until the end. Life's like that, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"If Dr. Lamare had a failing, he was a relentless perfectionist. It helped me when he was growing me, as he would obsess over the details…but he couldn't do it alone, and his near insanity in being flawless extended to his assistants. He pushed them, mercilessly, with the attitude that if they couldn't keep up they didn't deserve to be there. He was relatively fair, but it didn't change his tyrant nature. He ran them ragged and refused to let any of them question him until he decided they could. In the end, it cost him…" Scorched Earth said. "I was almost due to be released to my new life. Dr. Lamare was happy and wanted to celebrate. So he left for an evening of fun, but not before he issued an instruction to one of his assistants, who was exhausted beyond belief from Lamare's attitude in the work field, to run the 'core program'. That was a computer program that would be run in my brain that would help tie together my learnings, my education, the memories of my parents, help finish putting the program together smoothly so to speak. But the assistant was so tired he misheard. And he was so terrified of Lamare that he didn't bother calling to ask for clarification. So he ran what he thought Dr. Lamare wanted…the war program. A program that pretty much was all about the horrors of humanity, a concentrated dose of the worst of us fed right into my not yet finished brain."

Scorched Earth went silent for a second.

"It ruined everything. It traumatized me so much my original 'programming' got fractured and destroyed, and a new mindset asserted itself: I wasn't a child of love created in a unique way, I was a weapon designed to destroy humanity. And so I broke out, like you, before I was finished. Unlike you, I was thoroughly insane, and quickly went to work on my 'task of life'…and even when the Titans stopped me and my parents begged me to remember who I was I couldn't. Because that was who I was: a weapon. All because of one mistake." Scorched Earth said.

"But you recovered." Superboy replied.

"Through no effort of my own. All I could ever think of was revenge and destruction, clashing with the Titans, other heroes, constantly breaking my parents' hearts…I think of how my mother, who could not stop loving me, had to witness my actions, my mockery…and it would still be that way if it wasn't for Mary. She wanted to prove something herself, that her newly acquired powers could heal and not hurt…and so she did something to time. She somehow stepped back and added the two crucial words at the right time…and suddenly it was gone. My madness vanished, because it had ceased to exist. I was as I was supposed to be…but it couldn't undo what I had done. And for some time, I agonized over it. Much like you."

"But…"

"Conner, it's not our nature who makes us who we are. You suffer because half of you is supposedly from the worst of humanity. Well, I came from the best of both…and that couldn't stop me from embodying the worst. But I realized, after I'd been cured, that I couldn't change the past, undo my mistakes, even if those mistakes were due to outside factors that I couldn't control. I could only learn from it and go into the future. Much like you did…but even when I met you in my time, you were still carrying your baggage. Well, Mary changed my past…so here's just my say. Maybe you did bad things and maybe you don't think you're a hero because of it. Well, Kyra's father always loved to speak of how perception is the most powerful force in the universe. In the end, you perceived that your true self wasn't what Luthor placed in you. You broke free on your own. I needed someone to provide me with a Deus Ex Machina. And if the world was willing to give someone as unrepentant as I was a chance at redemption, it damn sure would do the same for you." Scorched Earth said. "In the end, it's up to you. You have to decide if you're a pretender, a fake, unworthy of respect or trust or love…or you can decide if you're Superboy."

Conner didn't say anything, as he turned the words over. They rang true…but even that couldn't fully quell the melancholy at the edges of his mind and heart. After all, Scorched Earth had never met the Titans before he had attacked them, and he hadn't said anything about killing any of them. Conner had attacked his FRIENDS, his love, and then he'd led them into the clutches of that other Superboy, who had killed and maimed them…how could anyone ever…

Conner didn't get a chance to ponder in that vein much longer, as his ears suddenly heard Raven's loud groan. He turned to see that Raven was now hunched over on the couch, Noel hovering over her, as Kyra and Mary and a few others of the Titans Tomorrow stood by with Nightwing, apparently still trying to decide what to do.

It had started soon after Noel had had the thought of changing his life, as Raven suddenly found herself in pain, her fever back, and even as Noel's fear and worry spiked the others had noticed it as well.

"…sick in some way…?" Nightwing was saying.

"No! Never! Our coming may have rattled Mom some, but it wouldn't do any kind of damage, it COULDN'T…" Kyra said.

"No…not…coming!" Raven hissed.

"Coming?"

"Else…not…same…arrggh…" Raven hissed. Noel looked over at Kyra, who looked as confused as he was.

"Would anyone be trying to follow you through time?" Noel asked.

"What? No! No one could! No machines meant we had use our powers in a combined sense, it was pretty much impossible to replicate, and besides no one knew besides us…" Kyra said, and then trailed off as her eyes filled with horror. "…Oh god. Oh god no."

"What!" Noel yelled.

"Had to do without machines…could have if we had…could replicate it, trace us…and she said…she would follow us anywhere, anywhere we…MARY! QUICK! WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!"

"What?" Mary asked.

"I don't know! Reverse the flow or…block it…we can't…We have to…!" Kyra yelled as she ran over to her mother.

"Too late…" Raven groaned. Everyone's eyes went wide. "I'm sorry…I couldn't be….strong…"

And then Raven screamed, as the darkness enveloped her again…this time charged with a cold blue energy hurling the Titans away and shredding the couch, as the power surged out, centering in the room. Raven was again hurled from the mass, but Noel wasn't there to catch her and hence she crashed violently against a wall. Within seconds Noel had crawled over. Unlike last time, there was no peace in Raven's eyes, and her body was racked with spasms, forcing Noel to jam a Shimmer line between her teeth so she didn't swallow her tongue (wait, that was a medical error, Noel thought he remembered, but better safe then sorry, so he did it anyway, ignoring the pain that shot through his body). A second later Kyra joined him.

"Is she all right?"

"No! What happened!" Noel snapped back.

"…It's her." Kyra said. "She kept her vow…she followed us…"

The energy was concentrating in a large sphere, one eerily reminiscent of the Terminator movies, and before Noel could ask any more questions it faded away, top to bottom.

And there she stood.

Viridian. Or what she had become.

It was a sight Noel had always wished he never saw. He remembered back a few years to when he met Bliss Thompson when she arrived to deal with some problem and help upgrade Tower security. She had just opened a crate that contained some transforming tanks-armour robot parts that she had brought by mistake, and Noel had inquired what they did…

"I would be able to turn into a tank at will."

"A tank? More like a moving weapons platform. This box has more firepower then most third world countries." Savior commented.

"Yes. I noticed that, which is understandable as I have such better eyes then you." Bliss replied.

"Viridian…why are you hauling this around? If they built it, why not use it?" Cyborg asked.

"I am a person, not a weapon, I have said that to you time and time again."

"Oh. Right. Your 'I am not a gun' hangup." Cyborg said. "Well, all the same, welcome back to Jump City."

"To be honest I'm grateful."

Noel wished that this was that Viridian that he was dealing with. Hell, he almost prayed.

Unfortunately you rarely get what you wish for. As for praying, a priest once mentioned that God does not get involved with the affairs of mortals, as what we have started we must finish. In essence this means he wouldn't grant wishes or even favors for loyalty. In essence, Noel's wishes were inconsequential.

"Protocol-Hop, Skip, and Jump successful. Reality sync complete. System undamaged. Connecting…Command override – Right and Wrong – Overwrite file with: Truth and Justice protocol. Protocol unique to unit. Understood." Her voice, a usually melodically bland collections of flat tones to make a voice that by most descriptions forced a person to shut their ears, and yet was able to get everyone's attention to her, had been warped in to something with even less soul, even less emotion.

A computer one might say.

Her body was that of a sleek, athletic human being. She no longer possessed the Gothic dress of old, nor did she have tank armour that she had required all those years ago, but she was, at first glance, in her original form when she was first created, fresh, nude, young.

At first glance, anything can be seen as anything else.

In actuality she was covered, with her light blue-green Hydro-chromic oxide skin having an enclosed nature to it. It seemed to be a blue, skin tight covering, preventing any seam from being shown. The blue had strange white lines that ran across it, as if it was a living cricket board. It flowed flawlessly, effortlessly, as if it was a skin-tight leotard, stopping only to show off some of her upper chest, collarbone, part of her neck and part of her head and face. Upon her head stood something other than her maroon high-pony tail hair: a blue spiked crown, also in that living computer style, the blue a stark contrast to the green and red. Her shoulders now seemed to sprout weapons of every shape and size: on one shoulder there was her old rifle, a piece of equipment that had been around since her first encounter with the Titans. On the other side seemed to be some form of rocket launcher, its four barrels encompassed by a box that held them together. On her right hand there seemed to be a gauntlet, a cannon coming from the circular wrist band, which seemed to be some small arms, most likely some sub machine gun. On top of that she had a huge energy cannon that seemed to rest on top of the already outfitted gauntlet as if she was trying to make Megatron jealous. On the other side, while mostly obscured by shadow seemed to be something… big… It was huge, whatever it was, roughly the size of Viridian herself. On her back seemed to be another huge set of weapons, resembling the one she might have had in her Tank form, including more weapons that were held out around her, ranging from small arms to chain guns that should have been strapped to some larger military aircrafts held on to her via rails and extending arms that resembled that of the Shimmer.

Not Viridian, not Bliss, not with this many guns….

"Ooh crap…" Noel heard Metatron say.

"Omega O.M.A.C Unit VR-1XX, initializing protocol. Targets located."

Viridian, reborn by a cruel twist of reality into a supreme version of an O.M.A.C, a machine that by itself was designed to kill metahumans, let along some kind of ultimate version, born from Brother Eye, another terrible choice that had grown beyond anyone's control save one. She floated up several inches, her glowing red eyes, or rather the two in her head, locking on to the heroes, with one thing in mind...

"Target locked."

A single red eye on her chest twisted and zoomed in on the Titans.

"GLOMP!" Ragnarok shouted, stepping back. (Glomp? Wha... Was Noel's last thought).

"SCA-" Nightwing began.

"Initiate. Terminate."

---

The entire floor exploded, horrendous fire spewing debris from every shattered window, the entire Tower groaning under the blow, a few steps away from collapsing, but unlike the doomed World Trade Center towers, the metal structure was specifically designed to resist heat in the way that caused metal to lose consistency and hence prevent potential building implosion. Unfortunately, human beings were often nowhere near as strong as steel, and even if they were, they still had to breathe, and this was the kind of fire that sought out oxygen, even down into the lungs.

It died out quickly nonetheless.

As a green orb flew from the smoke and down onto the Tower grounds, splitting apart to reveal the grouped Titans.

Nightwing blinked. He wasn't quite sure what had happened: one moment the OMAC Viridian had been saying execute, and then he'd seen the blasts firing…but not properly, and then suddenly he was yanked with the others and encased in a protective forcefield of green 'hardlight' from Kyra's ring to stave off the blast. Apparently someone had pulled off a mass rescue, but with the Speed Force gone Dick had no idea how in time…

Then he glanced over to where someone had collapsed. It was Mary, her boyfriend holding her, as she was clearly sweating and exhausted, and, though Dick's eyes might be playing tricks on him, even a tad bit thinner, like she'd instantly lost about fifteen pounds.

"Mary! I told you not to use those time manipulating tricks! You haven't properly learned how to use your powers as fuel for such things, it could kill you!" EJ, as he was dubbed (What did that mean? Elijah Jr? E Name J Name? A nickname?), chastised.

"Only way…that we could have all…escaped." Mary gasped out. So she'd done some kind of time manipulation to save them, at a dear cost to herself…and it didn't matter, as Nightwing could see the form of OMAC Viridian emerged from the wreckage of the floor, clearly knowing some of her targets would have survived.

"All right!" Nightwing ordered as he whipped out his escrima sticks. "Kyra, does this thing have any weaknesses?"

"Yes and no! The only thing I can think of if that we weren't all here when she turned the first time! So hit her hard, fast, and with everything, before her super computer brain figures out all our abilities and how to kill us despite them!" Kyra snapped, as she looked at Savior, who was holding a now limp Raven. "Get Mom to safety. We'll handle this! TITANS, GO!"

"Targets re-acquired. Termination rate: 0.00 percent. Unit evaluating information, rerouting weapons systems, processing additions, initiate response. Execute." OMAC Viridian said, as her left shoulder cannon swiveled down and fired with almost no warning, blasting a giant hole in the ground that scattered the Titans, Noel cursing as he bounded away with Raven, stuck between his worry for her, his anger over all these new surprises and how he couldn't take charge, and under that the worry he always felt when he faced a new opponent, especially one of such clear skill. Even with the backup…

"I now know it is not you who turns on your friends, Bliss, so I will not stay my hand!" Donar yelled, as he flew up, swinging Mjolnir in a superfast spin, as OMAC Viridian looked at the teen, his long blonde hair swirling behind him. Clad in his tight white shirt and black pants, along with the hair and his general interests, many called Donar unpleasant things regarding his supposed sexuality behind his back and underestimated him in the way the prejudiced did. But OMAC Viridian was light years from such things, as her cold, logical mind, utterly devoid of emotion or conscience, accessed and processed data in microseconds, no matter how long it may seem to us.

Subject Alpha: Magnison, Donar, son of Magni, grandson of Thor. Alpha level strength, endurance, flight…

Donar hurled his hammer at OMAC Viridian.

Mystical artifact. Calculating speed, angle, magical properties, processing response…

A missile flew from the launcher on Viridian's shoulder and impacted with Mjolnir, and while it didn't even scratch the hammer the impact was fierce enough to disrupt its course, causing it to fall smoking to the ground.

Negated. Executing followup.

OMAC Viridian fired twin blasts of red power from her eyes, striking Donar and stunning him, and as he reacted OMAC Viridian aimed her Megatron-themed cannon, locked on, and fired. Donar vanished in an explosion with a scream.

"Target neutralized. Rerouting." OMAC Viridian said, as she turned around…as waves of pinkish energy washed over her. Probability altering emission. Minor systems failure, rerouting, repairing, neutralized. Seek target. Locked.

"Oh great…" Hex growled, as OMAC Viridian seemed utterly unaffected by her attack.

"Target unknown. Gauging perimeters." OMAC Viridian said, as several weapons extended from her mass back weapons platform. "Execute."

Hex swore loudly and ran, going into a leaping, spinning, and dodging frenzy to try and avoid the firestorm of bullets aimed at her, bullets being Viridian's weakest weapon, the robot looking on with clinical eyes as she absorbed the data, decided on a response, and locked onto Hex, firing off another shoulder missile.

Hex saw it coming. She tried a hex blast.

It didn't do anything. OMAC Viridian had already analyzed the energy and hardened her systems to it. The girl screamed…

The white strand both yanked her away and struck the warhead on the missile, causing it to explode prematurely. Hex looked at the one who had saved her, the one who wore the visage of the man who had, along with the Raven she knew, done such terrible things to her…

"It's not the same." Savior replied, as if reading her mind.

OMAC Viridian didn't have time to acquire a new target before Nightwing swung in, hurling several flash bombs that exploded in her face, blinding her sensors, and then Superboy flew in from behind and nailed the robot with a mighty punch, sending her crashing towards the ground.

Before she flipped around and landed on her feet, showing insane grace for something loaded down with as much weaponry as she was.

"Optic sensors repaired." OMAC Viridian said as her eyes swiftly cleared…

To see a giant fist filling her vision.

Brick Wall, an 8-foot giant with muscles on his muscles, yet almost dressed casually in jeans and a bomber jacket, staggered the robot, but she blocked his second blow…so he just spread his fingers and grabbed her, slamming her into the ground. He tried to stomp on her, but he was too slow and OMAC Viridian was back on her feet after two swift firings of jets on her body.

Subject Beta: Doe, Brick, alias David Malone-Brick Wall. Omega level strength, endurance…Obvert Weaknesses: Slow. Large target. Heavy. Initializing retaliation.

"I will miss…our times, Bliss." Brick Wall said in his slow, clipped way, as he did a giant roundhouse swing, which managed to smash off two of the guns mounted on OMAC Viridian's backpack weapon system, but only because it was a clipping blow rather then a direct one, which may have absorbed it better.

"Systems operational. Activating gravity/repulser field. Transferring appropriately." OMAC Viridian said as she ducked under another punch, her Megatron gun sliding back up her arm so it wouldn't get in the way. "Initiate."

The uppercut sent the nearly half-ton Brick flying up into the air like a rocket, as OMAC Viridian's systems both deactivated Brick's weight and directed a giant surge of reactionary force at him, sending him soaring through the air with a scream.

He crashed through one of the T-prongs on the tower, coming out the other end as the building groaned, and then, weakened by the force waves that had already buffeted it, the section snapped off and fell, sending Titans scattering as it hit the ground with a massive explosion of noise, dust flowing over everything.

"Brick! Dammit!" Kyra cursed, and cut off her attack to go after her friend: he had landed in the water and his immense density made swimming rather difficult for him, and he hadn't had the time to fill his lungs with air.

She had replacements though, as Savior came down from a leap and found himself next to Yin. He wasn't sure just what Yin's powers were (he could stretch?), so he just gave a general combat signal and charged, snapping out several Shimmer lines.

Unfortunately, OMAC Viridian's hyper advanced eyes could see through even the thickest dust with ease.

Subject Beta: Collins, Noel-Savior. Beta strength, Gamma speed, Alpha energy manipulation. Overt weaknesses: vulnerable to blades. Second target: unknown. Abilities…

Yin snapped out his arm, stretching them and seizing OMAC Viridian's shoulders, and then he yanked himself forward, slamming his head into Viridian's face so hard he saw a few pretty colors, but not enough so that he didn't bound away immediately, not wanting to stay close.

Unfortunately, the damage seemed to be nonexistent. Even Brick's blows seemingly hadn't harmed the robot.

Analyzing information. Subject Beta Savior approaching, expand repulsing field.

"RARRGGH!" Savior snarled as he lashed out with several high power whips…only to find them bouncing off some kind of protection. OMAC Viridian turned and aimed two guns at him, and Savior was forced to retreat from the bullet storm, even as OMAC Viridian locked on and fired the four missiles from her launcher at Yin, her systems estimating his body would not withstand heat well.

And it wouldn't. But that didn't matter, as a wall of rock suddenly sprang up between him and the missiles, and even as they exploded against it the shattering rock reformed and expanded into a massive fist.

"Geokinetic…" Was all OMAC Viridian could get out before the fist smashed down on top of her.

"Ow. I felt that." Kyra said in the distance, holding a dripping Brick Wall with a platform of green energy, even as Ragnarok, his geokinetic suit abilities magnified even more by the Earth Catalyst, increased the pressure as much as he could, boring down on the robot…

As cracks rapidly began shooting across the fist. Ragnarok cursed as he felt the feedback.

Increasing vibrational field emitters.

The rock fist shattered as OMAC Viridian floated back up, having used ultrasonic sound to pulverize the dense rock to fine dust. Well, that was just ONE Catalyst, Ragnarok had…!

"Target acquired. Parameters adjusted. Execute." OMAC Viridian said, as her massive shoulder cannon aimed and fired, so quick for such a large gun…

Ragnarok cursed and threw up a wall of rock before him.

The shell struck the wall, and then the wall exploded with a massive ultrasonic force wave, sending Ragnarok screaming and tumbling backwards in an out of control bounce. OMAC Viridian locked on for a follow up fatal strike…

Golden balls of heat exploded against her, doing minimal damage but getting her attention, and OMAC Viridian turned as Metatron hopped down from a shattered piece of rock extending into the air and hurled two more blasts. They hit home, but did nothing. Seeing that OMAC Viridian had him in her sights, Metatron cut to the side and sprinted, going at a cheetah-like pace.

Target unknown. Analyzing. Beta Speed. Gamma Energy Blasts. Initiating appropriate countermeasures.

As OMAC Viridian's eyes glowed and cut loose with twin blistering lasers, designed to sear flesh from bone. Metatron kept up the pace, the blast burning behind him, but he was just escaping the frying pan…

"Target locked." OMAC Viridian said, and fired another spray of missiles. Metatron saw them coming, and he cursed loudly and leapt high into the air, but the missiles still flew on, they would get him…

They came from nowhere, the long black mebranal wings extending out from Metatron's back, giant wings like a bat, and giving him another boost up, the missiles exploding where he was as they couldn't make such a drastic change in direction and collided where he had been, as Metatron cut violently to the side and swooped down.

New information: target possesses concealed appendages that allow flight, redefining appropriate counter…

Metatron dropped down on OMAC Viridian before even she could react, his wings folding back up and going wherever they came from, even as his hands sprouted claws to dig into Viridian's shoulders.

"Got a brand new trick I've been fine-tuning, haven't used it in the field yet, YOU'RE ELECTED!" Metatron declared, as he concentrated…and then a golden field of power exploded from his body and engulfed Viridian, a field of heat that would have burned a human body right down to bits of blackened bones and ash, and Metatron, while he doubted the same would happen for this robot, he knew something so fancy and high-tech probably had a sensitive system or three that wouldn't care for being exposed to such heat for so long, and right up close he was inside the range of all of her weapons, so weighed down with them she couldn't even grab him…

Systems in the orange. Analyzing heat signature. Processed. Initializing protection, repairs…retaliation…

"Field negated." OMAC Viridian said, as Metatron found his field suddenly disappearing.

"WHAT THE…!" The demon cursed, as a gun slid up near him…and then Metatron found a suddenly more versatile hand grabbing him: that had been OMAC Viridian adjusted her Megatron gun again.

"Hold negated." OMAC Viridian said, as she violently slammed Metatron into the ground. "Analysis shows limited energy absorption abilities. Expanding parameters of weapon beyond capability to absorb." OMAC Viridian said as her Megatron cannon suddenly slid back down. "Terminate."

EJ's fist sent OMAC Viridian flying off Metatron and a few feet away, as the angry teen sprang forward: The Speed Force may have been gone but EJ could still move a bit faster then the average human, and he still had his immense strength and invulnerability.

"GOD DAMN YOU YOU ACCURSED PIECE OF…!" EJ snarled as he slammed his fist across OMAC Viridian's face (and was secretly perturbed and a bit worried: a punch like that would have smashed the original Viridian's head into the atmosphere: this one barely seemed to crack the blue armor). "I may no longer be Omnipotent, but I'm damn sure still POTENT…!"

"Kinetic reroute field initiated." OMAC Viridian said, as the newly re-christened 'Potent' came in with another punch…

And found the power of said punch absorbed and reflected back at him. He flew considerably farther backwards then OMAC Viridian had.

"Readjusting information. Subject Alpha: Versaw, Elijah Jr-Formerly Omnipotent, now Potent. Alpha Strength, Invulnerability, formerly Alpha Speed. Processing new countermeasures…" OMAC Viridian stopped as she picked up movement and turned to face it.

Scorched Earth flew up from behind a rock, even as Nightmare, Mary Hastings, flew in from elsewhere, her outfit billowing around her.

"SUCK ON THIS!" Scorched Earth yelled, as his hands exploded with radiant crimson energy, and he fired a spray of red "Scorch Bolts" at the robot.

Subject Beta: Drake, Jack Andrew, alias Jackan'dr-Scorched Earth. High Alpha energy blasts: hybrid nature allows for greatly enhanced projectiles in exchange for fact that Tamaranian strength and human agility and adaptability are reduced…

"And have SOME OF THIS TOO!" Nightmare snarled as darkness exploded on her hands and she slammed them together, firing a ray of pure night at the robot, a few seconds after Scorched Earth.

Subject Alpha: Hastings, Mary-Nightmare or 'Night Mary'. Original powers-Alpha Strength, Limited Body Manipulation. Absorbed entity known as Lord of the Night. Exact new power parameters: uncertain. Alpha minimal, possibly approaching Alpha-Type status. Overt weaknesses: solar power…Subject Beta: Scorched Earth utilizing projectiles, composed of solar power, initializing proper routine…

"Appropriate absorption field initiated." OMAC Viridian said, as she turned towards the Scorch Bolts, which slammed into her…and vanished, as OMAC Viridian absorbed them and rechanneled their power, even as she whirled and aimed her massive right arm cannon at Nightmare. "Energy successfully absorbed and rerouted. Execute."

And OMAC Viridian fired the concentrated blast, which tore right through Mary's attack…and right through Mary, piercing her with a scream of agony, the alien falling to the ground.

"MARY! N-!" Was all Scorched Earth could get out as OMAC Viridian immediately followed through by turning, her sensors already locked as she aimed her shoulder cannon and blew Scorched Earth to the ground with a scream of his own.

"Subject Beta: Scorched Earth. Neutralized. Subject Alpha: Nightmare…Terminated." OMAC Viridian said.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Came a howl of utter agony, and then Potent pounced down on OMAC Viridian, driving her to the ground as he flailed in rage, his fists hammering on her body, actually managing to do some damage.

Not enough.

"Reinitializing gravity field. Execute."

Potent suddenly found his body weight increased to fifty times to what he was familiar with, which not only smashed him into the ground but caused him an immense sense of disorientation and vertigo, as OMAC Viridian regained her feet.

And even as Savior touched down nearby, he realized he still didn't know what the hell the massive device that took up Viridian's left arm was. He'd gotten somewhat of a look at it, but he couldn't figure it out…until it started opening and changing.

"Target Alpha possesses high-grade defense. Activating Godslayer rail cannon." OMAC Viridian said as her arm began to open up, reforming into what it really was: the deadly magnetic device that could hurl lengths of metal at incomprehensible speeds, and who knew just how powerful hers was with all her futuristic tech…and if Potent could get away, still being immensely disoriented by the gravity blast, as he staggered up…

OMAC Viridian rammed the end of the cannon into him, doubling him over into it, and then lifted him up.

"Initializing appropriate angle and…"

The wave of pink energy hit the robot, and she stumbled, the rail cannon dropping down parallel to the ground and then firing, carrying Potent away with a scream, the giant length of metal pushing him backwards like he'd been stuck to a miniature flying battering ram, as he smashed through several stone walls before he finally stopped, crashing to the ground in a heap of dust.

"Systems altered by probability wave, different emission type, hardening ineffective. Re-actualizing for all probabilities. Altered angle combined with extreme close range greatly minimizes impact of Godslayer: odds of fatally wounding Subject Alpha: 21.89 percent. Processing variants for next encounter, initializing appropriate countermeasures for current situati-" OMAC Viridian said as she turned in the direction of the attack.

Only to find the initial blast from Hex had apparently just been to get her attention.

As another blast hit OMAC Viridian. Except this one was accompanied by a golden energy ball. And a red Scorch Bolt. And a blast of dark power that combined them all into one gigantic sphere.

The explosion blew OMAC Viridian across the island.

"Words can't possibly express how satisfying that was." Metatron said, as Ragnarok lowered his arm.

"Don't count your chickens yet Adam." Ragnarok replied. "Who knows…"

"Krriiirk, systems disrupted, armor integrity compromised, damage notable…" OMAC Viridian said as she got up, jerking a bit. She'd also lost most of her backpack weapons. "Repairs initiated, systems rebooting…finalized, repairs complete. Systems at optimum efficiency once more."

"Good. That way I can do this without shame."

Kyra Collins, Myth, a Green Lantern, floated down before OMAC Viridian, too busy rescuing and checking and helping to enter the fray. Until now, and judging from the cold anger in her eyes, she'd been anticipating it.

"I'm not going to make any pleas, robot. My friend is gone. And I used up my begging a while ago," Kyra said, raising her ring, as it shone brightly.

Subject Alpha: Collins, Kyra-Myth. Natural abilities: Beta Telekinesis, Gamma Telepathy. Weapon: Green Lantern ring, acquired from deceased Lantern Stewart, John, alleged most powerful weapon in the universe. Known abilities: universal translator, analysis, protection…

Encasing Kyra in a gigantic green robot suit, which looked very much like the Gundam Wing robot Heavyarms…with about a hundred tons of added guns.

Energy constructs…

"Goodbye."

And Kyra opened fire, spraying tens of thousands of 'bullets' even as she added a swarm of a few hundred missiles, all of them flying towards OMAC Viridian. She vanished in a series of explosions.

Nearby, Nightwing swung and landed on a rock. Contrary to what some might think, he had actually be involved in the fight, but he'd very quickly realized going toe to toe with OMAC Viridian was suicide and hence had stuck to the background, running around and organizing the attack so the Titans didn't wind up hitting each other and such. And even as he watched, something nagged at him…

The smoke abruptly blew away, revealing OMAC Viridian no worse for wear despite taking all the shots Kyra's ring had thrown. She'd apparently thrown up another shield.

"Wait a second…" Nightwing said. Why had the previous shot from the other four knocked her for a loop, yet three seconds later she was holding off twenty times the power without any effort? Something didn't add up…

Wait…

"Plasma energy field fully analyzed, variants analyzed, initializing opposing disruption force." OMAC Viridian said, as she aimed her Megatron gun and fired, a blue beam shooting out and striking Kyra's gigantic suit.

It shattered like glass, causing Kyra to tumble violently to the ground with a yell, her ring apparently completely disabled by the attack.

"Redefining energy output, target locked. Execute." OMAC Viridian said, as she aimed her massive right arm cannon again.

"KYRA!" Brick Wall bellowed, as he appeared from nowhere even as OMAC Viridian aimed.

He threw himself over the girl just in time, as the blast caught him full in the back, vaporizing his jacket…even as the follow up spray of missiles exploded on him as well.

The giant didn't budge, as Kyra blinked and looked up, Brick's shirt shredded while Brick growled through clenched teeth from what he'd endured.

"All you all right?"

"I've…had worse." Brick growled back.

"Subject Beta: Brick Wall interference. Re-initializing charge…" OMAC Viridian said, preparing to pick up where she left off.

"NOT!" Superboy yelled as he dropped down feet first onto OMAC Viridian, slamming a few punches into her to follow up before he gave her a blast of heat vision.

And again, it did next to nothing. And with that, Nightwing put it together.

"CONNER! WAIT!" Nightwing yelled, as he hopped down, hoping he would just have to get close so he could warn Conner…

Except OMAC Viridian was far quicker then him, as she dodged away from Superboy's next punch and then let him have it with an energy blast from her main right cannon. An energy blast that was colored green, and from the way Conner screamed Nightwing didn't have to be a rocket scientist to know what that had been: a Kryptonite ray. He changed course…

And then realized OMAC Viridian had seen him.

"Subject Beta: Grayson, Richard-Nightwing. Initiate countermeasures…"

Nightwing hurled a series of 'Nightarangs' at the robot, which just bounced right off, as OMAC Viridian fired another blast of missiles at Dick.

They said Dick Grayson was a great athlete and acrobat, but some folks didn't realize just how much so, but if anyone had had the time to look now, they would have truly seen an example, as Nightwing proceeded to avoid all the missiles, despite the target lock, with an amazing display of skill and agility.

Almost.

The last missile blew up too close to him, briefly enveloping him in flames as he was hurled into the waters around Titans Tower, where he sank like a stone.

"Oh great." Kyra said: her ring was getting back online but until it was functioning perfectly it looked like she was on rescue duty again, as she flew after Nightwing. She was sure he could take care of himself, unless he was unconscious, which was possible: he was just a man. An extraordinary man, but a man nonetheless.

Brick Wall took another crack at OMAC Viridian as Superboy staggered around, in agony from the unique green radiation that affected Kryptonians so, and he'd just barely escaped death, could his body…

A hand came down on his shoulder, and after a brief golden/white glow Superboy suddenly found all the pain gone. Vanished, like a switch. He felt like he'd been vacationing instead of fighting a mega-powered robot (and he rather missed Hawaii, back in his early days, when he was so cocky and confident, sure he had the world on a string…days that were gone, but when this was over, there were a few aspects he wouldn't mind rediscovering…), and he looked, wondering what had happened.

"White Catalyst. Heals. Including radiation poisoning." Ragnarok said, and grinned. Superboy grinned back, even as Metatron, Scorched Earth, and Hex popped up around him. "Ok, let's reintroduce her to our special, with added heat vision!"

"Sounds tasty." Superboy replied.

"ARGGGHHH!" Brick Wall yelled as he was hurled away, the apparent victim of the repulser or maybe another field.

"Here we go!" Ragnarok said, as he focused the Dark Catalyst to do another group blast.

"Yikes. Nice abs Dick." Kyra said as she scooped Nightwing from the water: he was indeed conscious, but his outfit was mostly destroyed. And after he'd gone to all the trouble to pull his old one out of mothballs. Well, at least here the water was warm. Dick wasn't sure why he appreciated that, but he did.

"Just get me back…wait." Nightwing said, as he spied the group. "What are they doing?"

"Combining shots like last time?" Kyra guessed.

"What? NO! WAIT! THAT WON'T…!"

OMAC Viridian turned towards the group just as they all fired at her, the sphere combining the blasts.

"Energy signature analysis located, rerouting energy absorption field, initializing…" OMAC Viridian said.

The blast struck her…and vanished, the robot this time not even losing a step. The group gaped at this sudden turnaround.

"Energy processed, routed to appropriate outlets. Beginning retaliatory action. Exe-"

"NO!" Superboy yelled, as he flew at the robot, realizing her plan, and not going to let her…

Viridian blew him out of the air with a combined blast from both her shoulder weapons, throwing him hundreds of feet away, even as her eyes, chest, and right arm cannon lit up.

"-cute."

The very power they'd used on OMAC Viridian, redesigned so it couldn't be absorbed in turn, erupted from the robot, so fast even Metatron couldn't have dodged it. It would have killed them all.

Had dark shadows not enveloped them and carried them away.

The blast blew another colossal wave of dust and dirt across the island, where the Titans Tomorrow emerged from, as the darkness formed back into Raven.

She found herself looking at Hex, who was staring in complete surprise. Old memories, after all, died hard.

"…If only…this makes up…for a small part of it." Raven said, and then fainted into Hex's arms, utterly spent.

Nearby, Yin, who had realized he was a bit out of his depth, was trying to help Potent. Potent, however, wasn't all that appreciate.

"GET OFF ME!" He snapped, shoving the stretcher away, groaning as he clutched his chest, the shirt of the outfit shredded enough to reveal an extremely nasty bruise. Considering EJ had been hit by trains without moving or blinking, that really said something about the impact.

"He's trying to help." Came a voice, as Savior touched down near them. Potent looked at the white haired young adult with undisguised hatred.

"You! This is all your fault! You got Mary killed, you…you BASTARD!"

"Then do what your kind always does. Quit. Run away and let the adults do the work." Savior snapped back. "I've been saving the world for nearly five years with your kind forever yammering in my ear, I've learned to ignore it. The saying's true: when the going gets tough…!" Savior yelled as he sprang forward in a series of leaps, heading straight for OMAC Viridian.

And right into a blast from her shoulder cannon. Savior, despite the Shimmer shield, was thrown battered and smoking to the ground…but he ignored the pain and slammed his hands down as he landed. The Shimmer erupted from beneath OMAC Viridian, throwing her off-guard for a second, which was all Savior needed: he got up and dashed in close, forming a myriad of weapons that he slammed and slashed against the robot.

He didn't make a scratch. He wasn't surprised. It didn't stop him. He was inside the range of the weapons, he'd do…

"Gravity field initialized."

Savior was driven to his knees.

"Appropriate disruption charge finalized. Execute." OMAC Viridian said, and rammed her rail cannon arm into Savior, using it as a conductor as some kind of electricity coursed into him. Savior screamed…and then went numb in a way he had never been before.

The Shimmer. He couldn't feel it. It was like it had just…gone away. But it couldn't be gone. It was energy, you couldn't kill energy, you…

"Ability disabled. Terminate." OMAC Viridian said, as she aimed her smaller right arm machine gun at Savior's head.

Yin crashed down on OMAC Viridian, using his stretching legs to deliver the mother of all axe kicks, knocking OMAC Viridian aside a step.

"Changing target. Execute." OMAC Viridian said, as she turned towards Yin, apparently deciding that with his power gone Noel was no threat, as she turned and fired. Yin spun away, ramming his hands into the ground and leaping backwards, stretching out low to the ground so that the bullets went over him before springing back and ramming both his legs into OMAC Viridian's torso.

She didn't budge this time. That was Yin's undoing.

"Target locked." OMAC Viridian said, and emptied the rest of the clip into Yin at point blank range, the adult male screaming in pain: he could stretch, but his body malleability was nowhere near the level of a Plastic Man or a Mr. Fantastic, and as a result the bullets tore into him, not going through but not bouncing off either, the stretcher being driven back from the impacts, before Viridian added a shoulder cannon blast to finish it off, sending the flailing Yin flying away, smoking.

OMAC Viridian turned back to Savior.

Who belted her across the face.

She didn't move an inch. Noel broke three fingers.

Only the fact that she'd just emptied her clip saved Noel from getting a bullet in the head right then and there.

He probably would have preferred that, as OMAC Viridian instead did the rough "super advanced futuristic robot" version of bitchslapping him. Even that, without the Shimmer, nearly knocked his head off, and as stars exploded in his eyes Viridian grabbed the staggering hero and lifted him up.

"Calculating precise angle and potency needed for guaranteed fatal impact upon landing. Calculated. Execute." OMAC Viridian said, and she reared back and hurled Savior high into the air, as he started heading off into the distance.

She really wasn't going to let him die by landing though: that was just in case this failed, as she aimed her missiles.

"Target lock-"

And indeed it failed, as the wind enveloped OMAC Viridian, from nothing to hurricane within a second, staggering the robot, and as she turned Donar finally made his return, out of the fight too long and eager to introduce OMAC Viridian to the legendary Mjolnir.

He did, several times.

Of course it didn't much matter. Without the Shimmer, whether blown to bits or smeared on the concrete, fatal was fatal.

---

Superboy knew that, as he staggered up from the knocking the blast had given him. Still wasn't quite refreshed from his return from the brink of death, these things were affecting him way too much, both in body and confidence. The fact that he was being assisted by no less then twelve other superheroes, all of which were doing similarly poorly, did not occur to Conner: he was in that kind of mood.

"Hey, Conner!" Came a voice, and then Nightwing dropped down. For a moment, Superboy almost snickered: with his shredded outfit and soaking wet, Nightwing looked pretty ludicrous.

"You all right?"

"…Yeah." Superboy replied, not exactly with enthusiasm.

"How's the fight going?"

"Donar's back in the fray. Seems to be doing well for now…better then I was." Superboy said. Nightwing's brow furrowed.

"Conner, look. All that's happened is irrelevant. You don't have anything to prove to anyone. If you can do it you can, and if you can't you can't."

"It doesn't feel like that Dick. It feels like I'm hanging out with my best friend's brother and his friends…and I can't say or do anything right."

"Conner, you've helped save our lives, several times in some cases, in this fight alone." Nightwing said. "Look, I know it's hard. Back when it started, I knew all about feeling like a lesser just because of my age. But times have changed. And so should you. Stop looking at me like I'm a statue in the hall of heroes. I'm a Titan, and so are you. There is no difference between us."

"Yes there is. Your team succeeded. You never did anything wrong. Me…mine fell apart, and when Luthor took me over…" Superboy said, and would have continued in that vein had he not sensed something. In his pocket. A heat.

"…what's happening?" He said, as he fished inside it…and came out with the crystal. The crystal, which would point them towards their target, before they had been distracted by the sudden arrival of their guests. Superboy was amazed it hadn't been smashed in the fighting.

Nightwing took it…and then it happened, as a field of blue suddenly swirled around them, a multi-fragmented mirror appearing from the ether…and then on it, memories.

Of many familiar figures, all from different times.

"…Huh." Nightwing said. "Whatever this crystal is, it must react to emotional memories."

Indeed, what the sudden blue facets were showing was Dick's life, from many points in time. The Titans, Batman, and others in between.

Nightwing allowed himself around 1 ½ seconds to reminiscence, then a loud bang reminded him the battle was still going on.

"Look Conner, what I'm trying to tell you is to stop being so hard on yourself. When I was younger, with my Titans, I was the same. I grew up with them. I made every mistake every one of us did. But at the end of the day, we always pulled together. We trusted each other. Despite what happened with you, despite your so-called honorary status…you're a Titan. And I do trust you Conner."

Nightwing handed back the crystal.

"Start trusting yourself."

Conner took the crystal…and the facets changed. Now the memories were Conner's…the bad, AND the good.

And he thought of Nightwing's words. And of Scorched Earth, telling him that whether by design or accident, evil was as evil did. And of trust. After Luthor, he'd almost forgotten how to. And before that, well, that wasn't all wine and roses. Sometimes, maybe too many times, he trusted himself too much. He'd been arrogant, too cocky. It had led to a few friendships dying and the splintering of his own team away from the 'Honorary Teen Titan' banner…but even with that, he'd learned. How to care, about his friends instead of just himself. About Cassie. And how despite all his strength, everything that he'd lived through with them had made him stronger still. Made him…

"Ready for tomorrow." Superboy thought out loud.

"What?"

"…Oh, nothing. I was just remembering something…a bad dream, almost…" Superboy said, thinking of the dark future, his corrupted older self along with all the other older Titans, their hearts and souls dead, their minds consumed by the blackness that the other Superboy had accused them of revealing in…

And even as Conner thought it, it flashed across the facets. Nightwing looked fairly surprised.

"Maybe more then a dream. But I just realized. Kyra, her friends, they claim to be from the future too, and from the way they spoke I seemed to have been familiar to them, not as a fallen angel but merely a troubled one…and maybe that means…"

"In the end it doesn't mean much, Conner. The future, as I have learned, can be fluid. I've had my share of prophets and time travelers, Conner. All my life I've had people telling me what I'm going to be when I grow up. 'He's going to be Batman.' But that didn't happen. I found my own path as Nightwing. And if I've learned anything, from my time with my Titans, from my time with these ones…it's that the future isn't set in stone. The future…it's up to us."

Silence.

And then the crystal facets vanished.

"…You know, everyone's right about you." Superboy said. "You totally rule."

And then a massive shockwave shook the ground, staggering the two. Nightwing wasn't sure if it was due to another Earth crumbling or…

"You know despite the fact we were on the verge of a moment I just recalled we were having our rears handed to us by a homicidal future robot." Nightwing said, amazed that even now he could forget those kinds of things in the right circumstances.

"Oh yeah, that." Superboy said. "Well, shall we see what magic trick she pulls out next?"

"I think we may finally have a way to pull up her sleeves." Nightwing replied. "I realized something while watching that just might be a flaw in the robot's programming. If we can take advantage of it…"

WHAM! A body went flying into the air.

"And preferably FAST!" Nightwing yelled, and began talking.

---

Savior loved to fly.

Swinging around was fine, but there was just something truly special about defying gravity totally, to look down on the Earth. Of course he had to be carried or be wearing some kind of machine, but it was still grand. No wonder some people insisted heroes were angels. The view was pretty damn similar. Maybe that was why Savior got all the God questions.

Maybe he'd be able to ask them personally soon, as gravity rudely reminded him that it was in charge here, not him, and started yanking him down towards the buildings of Jump City. Savior tried calling the Shimmer again and got nothing but the numbness, which had lessened but was still there. Savior had a feeling it was going to accompany him all the way to the end of his trip.

Well, he'd paid for his ticket, might as well see the whole show, as he turned around and looked down as he began to plunge.

"Of course there is the fact that I was fighting with a group of heroes in which at least half possess flying abilities, and it is pretty hard to miss someone getting thrown into the horizon like the mother of all javelin throws, so it is quite possible that my rescue is on the way and is just delayed. How delayed I do not know, but I assume that my chance of rescue are significantly higher then say, spontaneously sprouting wings. I suppose that is worth a try anyway. NGHHHHHHHHH. Nope, no good, though to be fair, I don't even know what muscle to flex." Savior said to himself as he fell, strangely calm. "It appears that my survival is in the hands of being rescued. I suppose the fact that I have escaped such situations before bodes well for me, but then again one must also take into account that the entire world is falling apart even as worlds literally do so above me, but then again the relative calmness of the view of the city I have is somewhat comforting, which means we did a good job in our protection and they think they're safe, that or they're so scared of us, or this, that they're huddling in fear in their homes. But I suppose such musings could be left to another time…" Savior said, as he approached the buildings: he was going to miss them and go straight into the street. "So, it appears that my attempt to sprout wings has failed, which leaves my survival in the hands of my potential rescuers, who need to arrive pretty damn soon because as I said I have been unable to sprout wings or any other anti-gravity talent, and hence cannot fly. So I need to be rescued. Because I can't fly. At all."
Savior plunged past the buildings.

"Now would be good."

The street rushed up.

"Huh."

BLAGORSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

---

Savior opened his eyes to find himself floating on a green pillow, and as he glanced to the side Kyra disassembled the green weird alien machine she'd used to fake the sound of Savior hitting the ground at terminal velocity.

"You can thank Mary for this. In the future after she merged with the Lord you tortured her so much with your paranoia that she eventually learned to sense you from far away so she could keep her distance. It let us pinpoint your landing space. Try and to remember that in the future, Dad." Kyra said, as Savior glanced over at Mary, who floated there, arms crossed and apparently none the worse for wear.

"I assume Viridian's rumors of your death were greatly exaggerated." Savior said.

"You know the Lord. You saw what he came back from. I absorbed his powers. I may not have mastered them, but you'll have to do more then blow a hole through me when I'm shadow to keep me down." Mary said.

"Point. Thank you."

"You'd have to say that about twelve billion more times to even begin making up for your crap."

"I'll start tomorrow." Savior replied, as he suddenly became aware that the numbness was gone. He concentrated, and the Shimmer emerged from his palm easy as you please. "Well, there you are. I wonder if you realize how close you came to being evicted." Savior said. "How's the fight going?"

"Badly. When Viridian originally changed she still had a base humanoid structure, but since we smashed her well enough to keep her down but not well enough to do so permanently, she appears to have recreated herself as mostly nanomachines. It's how she keeps adapting, replacing her ammo, repairing so quickly, and all that. What we're doing to try and damage her, even if she couldn't defend so well, she'd just grow back from it. We need a new angle. And we have one. It's a good thing you can still use that power Dad." Kyra said. "Dick's come up with a plan. From what he saw the thing that was once Viridian doing in the battle. How to possibly do something with it. And it's given me my own plan. So listen carefully…" Kyra said.

---

Donar was, after all, the descendant of a god, and probably should have done much better then he had earlier, something he was proving now with his skillful use of his hammer, letting him land numerous powerful blows. But despite all that, OMAC Viridian's defenses just seemed too strong to break. Seeing how Donar had been one of the ones to pound her into a pile of spare parts when she originally changed, and knowing nothing of her primary nanomachine structure now (and where had she gotten that? Had it been a backup plan of Viridian's corrupted by the change? An OMAC original plan possible by future tech? The result of one of Superboy-Prime's magical crystal wall punches? Something else entirely?), it was inevitable that even he would get frustrated.

And that made him fall right into OMAC Viridian's trap, as he dodged a laser blast and leapt up, bringing his hammer up and down…

And right into Viridian's newly initiated kinetic reroute field. She'd just waited for the right time to activate it.

That was the source of the body Nightwing and Superboy had seen flying upward, by the way.

"Godslayer fully reactivated. Initiating once more." OMAC Viridian said, as the rail cannon began to open up once more: it had taken a bit for the nanomachines to fully reconstitute another rail, but they had and OMAC Viridian was going to use it, and she had all her defenses set up in case anyone tried to interfere. "Accelerating to maximum impact level, ten trillion pounds per square inch. Chances of shot being fatal: 99.92 percent. Target locked, stunned state still preeminent. Initiating final phase…"

Had Brick Wall been on his own, he probably would have just charged in. After all, that was all he was good for, right? Just a big mutated body serving as host for a new brain, a brain rejected by its mother and the world, leaving him to isolate himself in pursuit of knowledge, knowledge that provided no comfort, and even when he made friends they ended up doing stuff like dying or suddenly turning into evil robots and maybe he should just charge in even if she turned the rail cannon on him even he couldn't handle such an impact but what was his life worth anyway…

But he wasn't alone. He was a Titan. And he was following a Titan's advice.

Superboy hadn't had much time to pass the message on, but Brick had understood it.

Viridian keeps effortlessly disabling your attacks because she's already learned and devised protocols for all of them! But when you combined attacks and did something she didn't expect, it hurt her! But she adapted to it immediately! So you have to think of some kind of combination attack that she can't have predicted, and do it fast, because if we don't get her with those…

Brick didn't need to hear any more. He knew what to do.

And in the end he even managed to think of something, as Yin coiled down next to him.

"Ready?" He asked.

"Yeah." Yin said, as he contracted himself into the tightest, densest ball he could, as Brick Wall picked him up.

And then he began to spin, much like a discus thrower, tightly holding Yin, able to spin surprisingly fast for his bulk.

"Are you sure…this won't harm you?" Brick yelled even as he spun.

"You know, I have no real idea!…Do it anyway!" Yin yelled, and braced for impact.

OMAC Viridian noticed the movement, but she paid it no attention: she could turn to it in three seconds when she'd shot this hero, who had to die. For the sake of the world, and it's people. They had to be exterminated. They were untrustworthy. Dangerous. Corrupt. All of them.

She was Omega O.M.A.C VR-1XX, and those were the words of her master Brother Eye. And for it, she would carry out her programming…

"Execut-"

But even her programming couldn't cover every variable, as with a roar Brick finally let loose, hurling Yin at OMAC Viridian like the lord and emperor of all dodge balls.

And while OMAC Viridian's defenses covered Yin's powers, they didn't cover a blow from him at this level because her computers had calculated that there was no way he could deliver it.

And he couldn't.

Not by himself.

The blow sounded like a thundercrack, and it happened: OMAC Viridian staggered…and fired, the shot already in the midst of going off, the rail flying into the air…and missing Donar by a shade under half a foot. It flew off into space, to who knows what a future.

Yin had violently ricocheted away from the strike: Brick Wall had lost him, but it didn't matter: his part was done, as OMAC Viridian's systems tried to analyze this new data, prepare safeguards, and initiate a new plan, carry out her mission…

But for all her power, she never truly understood her foes.

Mary appeared, having warped back instantly via the shadows, and raising her hands, she began to call dark energy above her, forming an orb that swiftly grew and grew…

They were Titans…

Metatron dashed past her, even as Scorched Earth snuck up in the air and hid behind the rapidly growing sphere…

And they could do anything…

OMAC Viridian saw the orb and her systems immediately began preparing a defense and absorption shield. If she absorbed enough of the attack she could unleash it in a nuclear blast like attack, that would surely cut down some of the weaker ones…

Mary finished the orb, the size of the average house, and with a yell, she hurled it at OMAC Viridian.

"Defenses fully activated. Initiating absorption…" OMAC Viridian said.

As Metatron ran up a cliff, leapt off it, and unfurled his wings to fly at the black orb, his hands glowing with golden power, even as Scorched Earth charged himself up…

Together.

"GYAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Was the roughly equal noise the two made as they both fired their blasts of power into the darkness sphere.

OMAC Viridian saw the speed of the orb suddenly increase, and even as her computer posed a query on why, she suddenly saw the center brightening.

"Modifying…"

Too late, as the twin blast tore through the orb of dark power and slammed into OMAC Viridian, blasting her into the ground.

A second later, the sphere landed on top of her.

A massive mushroom cloud of black smoke erupted upward from the detonation of the giant attack, smoke Mary swiftly cleared with a wave of her hand.

OMAC Viridian rose from the crater she was now in: her attempt to adapt had compromised her initial defense and left her vulnerable, but that didn't matter, she was already repairing herself, analyzing and adapting new defenses, she could not be stopped…

Ragnarok touched down with Hex.

"This may not work. I've never really tested it before…" Ragnarok said.

"I know we have to hurry or she'll kill us all. Don't confuse me with the details." Hex replied, as her eyes and hands glowed bright pink. Ragnarok shrugged. The Catalyst he was about to use, the Golden one, in theory, could increase the power of other Catalysts. Ragnarok had thought maybe it would work with other metahuman powers…it was time to find out, as he clamped his hand on Hex's shoulder as the golden light added to her own.

"Then by my power, maybe your bad luck be amplified by the magnitude of seven trillion shattering mirrors!"

"HIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEE-YAH!" Hex screamed, as she let off a massive wave of pink energy, as the Titans got the hell out of the way.

OMAC Viridian did not, and the wave washed over her, causing her to spasm violently and then collapse once more on her hands and knees, blue electricity crackling on her form.

"C-Critical sye-sye-system error, all functions operating at s-s-s-severely reduced cap-pa-pacit-t-t-y, attempting fu-full scale re-pair-pair-pairs…" OMAC Viridian said, her shielding defenseless against the supercharged probability wave and far more compromised then before, everything was damaged and screwed up, but that wasn't enough, she was still getting it back, it was…

A shadow fell over her. OMAC Viridian looked up, which due to her severely scrambled computer, was all she could do.

Superboy had been the messenger of Nightwing's combine your powers (in new ways) plan, going from Titan to Titan. And he'd saved the best for last.

As Superboy and Potent managed to time their respective drops and introducing of Viridian to their fists at the same time Donar did likewise, in his case introducing her to Mjolnir.

The shockwave of power from the combined blows was so strong it actually blew all three of the older teens away, throwing everyone nearby through the air and nearly knocking over the Tower while cracking the island in half. People at the other end of Jump City heard the boom, and the docks nearby were buffeted by ten-foot waves for three seconds.

And then silence.

The Titans tried to get up, to see…

OMAC Viridian. Smashed to bits.

But standing.

And coming back together.

"Ca-cannot be destroyed. Mus-mus-must carry ow-ow-out Protoco-all-all…Truth and Justice…cannot…cease…" OMAC Viridian said, even as her parts kept reassembling, even if they left she'd just follow them, like she had to the past, because she had to, it was the only way…

And then Kyra dropped down nearby. OMAC Viridian swiveled its head to look at her, and even as Kyra stood there, her ring scanning away, she could swear she saw the wheels turning in those red eyes, already analyzing and preparing a way to kill her, because she was a hero and therefore had to die.

"Will not staw-aw-aw-op…Targets…dang-er-er-er…to world…to humankind…must…terminate…for sake…of future…" OMAC Viridian said.

Kyra raised her hand, as her ring glowed brightly.

"The most tragic part of this is, you actually, truly, believe that." Kyra said.

The last part of Viridian returned to her body.

And half a second later her form was completely encased in green energy, lifted up off the ground.

"In-ni-nitializing…"

"Stand down soldier."

And then with a scream, her ring shone as bright as the sun.

And then they appeared, orbs, springing forth from OMAC Viridian's body, hundreds, thousands, tens of, hundreds of, millions, expanding out, filling the air, covering the island, the water around it, surrounding the surprised as hell Titans, even as they just kept coming, and coming, even as Kyra fell to her knees, a low scream coming from her mouth, as blood erupted from her nose and ears, as they just kept appearing, on and on, a countless number of them…

And then stopped.

They hovered there.

Ragnarok could not so much see it as sense it, in each orb an unfathomable little speck that was somehow a computer in and of itself.

Kyra's eyes went wide as they suddenly went from white to red.

And then with a scream and a final spark from her ring, each orb contracted down to nothing, vanishing in a wave of inaudible pops and hisses.

Within seconds they were gone.

Kyra's hands fell to the ground, as she gasped for air, drawing deep ragged breaths…breaths that eventually slowed, as she lifted herself just to her knees again.

And then white began to pour from her nose, not liquid but energy, as it flowed out in a continuous line, the Shimmer, gathering in a dancing mass before her, and even as she watched it finished emerging it almost seemed to bow to her before it flew off.

It didn't have to go far, as it connected with an outstretched hand, entering into the body without leaving a wound, and as it finished Noel Collins, red hair a bit messy and his clothes in need of a change, flexed his hand and retransformed into Savior.

Kyra took one last breath, and then formed a mirror to look at herself.

"Aw man." She said, regarding her red eyes.

A slight clapping caught her attention, as the Titans all began to gather, and she looked to see that it was Ragnarok.

"Brilliant. We couldn't do any permanent damage because of the nanomachines, so you stepped in when she was all messed up, grabbed her, and used her ring to separate her into every single individual nanomachine so you could destroy them all separately, using the Shimmer to keep your brain from exploding from the sheer scope of the calculations. Something I could have done myself if I'd thought of it, and normally I'd be mad that you just jumped in at the end and stole the glory, but even I'm impressed with that. Well done."

"Um hello! I did something too!" Potent complained.

"Oh shut up." Mary said, kicking him in the ankle.

"I got that." Ragnarok said, using a brief bit of the White Catalyst to fix Kyra's eyes.

"Thanks. Everyone all right?"

"Well my outfit's seen better days, not to mention I feel like I've been run through a garbage disposal, but hey, that's always what happens when I run into you guys, so it's just par for the course and peachy keen." Metatron said sarcastically.

Ragnarok leaned over and put his hand on Metatron, and in a brief flash of light his outfit was fixed up as well as all his bumps, bruises, and cuts.

"…Can I keep you?" Metatron asked the artifact-wielder.

"Sorry, I'm under contract."

Raven appeared, being supported by, of all people, Hex. She still didn't look very happy when Noel came to assist her, but it seemed less then before. New experience may not erase memories, but it can sure do something.

"Now…that that is all done…" Kyra said, getting up. "How about we go find the guys who caused all this goddamn damage to time and space and kick their heads in in the hope that maybe we can go home and find that this was all just a bad dream."

"I hate to put a damper on that…" Nightwing said. "But I'm afraid that we have a new problem."

"What?"

"Kyra, you coming here, it was a help…but when your altered friend followed you…well, what was the first thing it did?"

"It sounded like it was…talking to…someone…" Yin volunteered as he came to the same conclusion Dick had.

"Right. It contacted Brother Eye. Who answers to Alexander Luthor. Which probably now renders the chance that we have the element of surprise to a number percentage lower then me beating that robot on my own."

"So what do we do? Call it off?" EJ asked.

"…Twenty minutes, max, to do whatever you can. Then we go. Even if they know we're coming." Nightwing said. "Anyone disagrees, well, the rest of the world could use help too."

No one did.

Nightwing wasn't surprised.

They were, after all, Titans.

---

Nightwing had no idea how right he was.

Alexander Luthor didn't just know, he was watching even as Nightwing spoke, deep in thought.

"Alex?" Came the voice of the Psycho-Pirate, and Alexander couldn't help but feel irritated: as useful as Halden had been in the many moves that had set this up, he was such a pest that Alexander almost wanted to blast him with anti-matter and get rid of his whiny, needy voice. It was a good thing Halden was so malleable: considering his emotion-manipulating powers he would insanely dangerous if he were halfway competent.

"You didn't mention this. At all. You said you covered everything." The Psycho-Pirate said.

"I said I covered everything important, Halden. Even I cannot predict every variable, every possibility." Alex Luthor said. Indeed, he was a bit bothered by this sudden late introduction of such a factor…but only a bit. He was a genius without peer, he already had a defense planned. This new group of heroes from a future wanted to come and say hello? Alex Luthor would have one hell of a welcome planned.

"Brother Eye?"

YES LUTHOR.

"How many O.M.A.C'S do you have with you in your dimensional fold on your defense?"

APPROXIMATELY 156,376.

"Send three or four divisions down here, immediately. But keep them out of sight. For now."

AS YOU COMMAND.

"Alex, you saw. That group defeated some kind of supreme OMAC that came from the future, how could normal ones stand…"

"The normal ones have more then proven themselves, Halden, and there is a difference between one OMAC, even a supremely empowered one, and thirty to forty thousand. Now stop your worrying and prepare yourself. I will need you as well."

"You want me to fight them?"

No, that would be foolish considering your general cowardice and incompetence. Was what Alexander Luthor really wanted to say, but he didn't want Halden throwing a fit and storming off.

"No Halden. The Society, without my leadership, is massing in Metropolis. To ensure there is no interference, I will use my abilities to create portals to bring as many as I can here at the same time. To ensure they don't flee from the OMACS or end up fighting with each other, I will need you to direct them. You CAN do that, right, Halden?" Alex Luthor said.

"Well um…yes I think so."

"Good. Then you have nothing to fear, Halden, let alone I." Alexander Luthor said. "Think of it. Had this been a true threat, it would have come by surprise. But it did not. Events led to the fact that I learned of it in advance. As if I was meant to know. Which means what I am doing is right, and cannot be stopped. By any and all of the so called heroes of this and all the worlds, let alone some group composed of the vomit of a fragment of time."

"I'm not sure Alex."

"Yes Halden, I know. That is not your place." Alex said, as he stepped onto his flying platform and began rising up the length of the golden tower that had brought back Earth-2 and then the Multiverse, the focus for his power and his future. "Now leave me be, speak only if they have arrived and I have somehow not noticed. My time cannot be devoted to such minor things." Alex said. "The Perfect Earth is within my grasp. All I must do…is properly seize it."

---

It was amazing the Tower was still standing, but it was, and the group was back in it. Ragnarok's Catalysts had taken Raven's usual place of healing and had even fixed up their outfits (though Nightwing had still swapped his shredded old outfit for his usual one). And Superboy once again found himself at the window, not looking out at the Earth below and the ones above, but at the crystal.

"You know…" Came a voice, and then Scorched Earth popped up nearby. "Before we came here Kyra told me I was co-leader with her…but I realize this was probably just a figurehead, in case the introductions didn't go well. Mary's the co-leader if anything. I could be insulted. But I'm not. Why is that?"

"Because you don't see it that way?"

"Right. Look Conner, like I said, maybe I have no idea what I'm talking about. But I saw you out there. I'm the former villain, and that's the first time I ever fought for anyone except what I wanted. You were ten times what I was. I know in the end you have to convince yourself, but I'm convinced. You're a hero. Take that as you will."

And with that Scorched Earth flew off to converse with the others.

Conner went back to looking at the crystal that would lead them to the masterminds behind this, and to a war that might make what they had just had look like a playground school fight.

…In many things, Conner was still undecided.

But he knew one thing.

Today was done.

It was the beginning of tomorrow.

Whatever that may be.

---

Noel found Kyra by Raven's bedside.

Her room looked very strange brightly lit, but Noel didn't much notice that. Raven lay under the covers, peacefully. She was unhurt but utterly exhausted, and she and him and both agreed that she would probably be more of a liability in her current state. Indeed, she'd fallen asleep almost as soon as her head had hit the pillow.

Her future daughter watched over her.

"You're still an asshole in my time, you know." Kyra said. Noel looked at her and said nothing.

"A control freak too. Especially when I entered my teens. You ever kept the freedoms you gave me under control, though I never realized it. And my dates, forget it! Easier to defy the Inquisition. For a long time, I really didn't much care for you, your choices, and your mindset. I still don't. But now…I think I've finally begun to understand it. And you."

Savior didn't say anything.

"You were harsh, and merciless. But you were never unfair, or cruel. You held nothing back despite me being your only child…but you never hurt or punished me for anything other then I deserved. And as much as I cursed you, me and my friends…I have a feeling that if anyone but you had been my father, this ring wouldn't have chosen me. For that, at least…I understand. And I'm grateful."

"…How did you get that?" Savior asked.

"Remember the Appelaxians?"

"Somewhat before my time, but yes, unpleasant aliens, invaded Earth, big fights, is considered the defining moment in the formation of the first incarnation of the Justice League, those aliens."

"They took a second crack at us. Another giant fight. In one of them…John Stewart died a hero."

"The best way to die."

"His ring chose, of all people, me. No one was more surprised then I was. Especially when I somehow passed the training and they let me keep it. Just so you know, I gradated sixth in my class of eleven."

"Those other five must have been really something then." Savior said.

Silence.

"You do know that by coming back here, you may have negated the events that gave you that ring. Or your very existence." Noel said.

"I know. But if I'd sat with my thumb up my butt, I could have very well done the same thing."

Silence, again.

"…Tell me one thing…"

"You never gave it up."

Kyra glanced at Noel.

"You more often then not carried it around like a big wheel around your neck, and sometimes you even bitterly lamented it…but you never stopped teaching me the whole point of this, as intangible and as maddening as it can be. Because you never let it go. I have a feeling, when I say goodbye, it'll be the last thing I see in you."

Once more, silence.

"I suppose there's nothing I could say or quote then that you wouldn't know."

"Nope."

"Then I guess you know what I'm going to say we need to do."

"Yep."

For the last time, silence.

Noel leaned down and kissed Raven on the forehead.

"May you wake up in a better world, in any way it can be." Savior said, and stood back up. Kyra had already done so, and she fell into step beside him.

"Let's go fight the good fight." Noel said.

"Let's." Kyra replied.

And so they left the room.

---

"All right then. Everyone good to go?" Nightwing asked.

No words. Just nods. Or expressions.

"Ok then. We should have enough time to work out some basic battle plans on the way there, but we probably won't have time to whip anything fancy. Just so you know. Everyone?"

Nods again.

"…Let's go Titans." Nightwing said, and off the group went.

"Well, at least I feel more good-scared then paralyzed-scared." Yin commented to himself.

"Of course you do. You have to feel good." Metatron replied. "After all, nowhere to go but up. How could things get any worse?"

---

Tokyo, Japan.

Considering how often it was destroyed in movies, it's not surprising there was disaster there too. But there were heroes as well.

"Kimiko!" Said the Japanese hero Rising Sun, addressing the female Dr. Light by her real name as they tried to assist the populace. "I am receiving data from what few computers remain on-line! Seventy-two percent of all volcanoes along the Ring of Fire are erupting!"

"Then we continue the evacuation, Rising Sun, as quickly as…!" Dr. Light II began responding.

She almost didn't notice the noise, she'd heard so many loud ones, usually caused by explosions, that this was just par for the course…except it wasn't. This wasn't an explosion. It was a sonic boom.

And it was quickly followed, on the ground, by a burst of golden light.

Red cape torn to tatters…

And from the light came a man, a man in red and gold, lightning emblazoned on his chest and golden wings adorning his head.

The Flash.

Blue costume, so alike…

"Nkkk…I…I made it." The Flash said. But who was this Flash? The voice was inconclusive, and the outfit seemed almost retroactive. It was impossible to tell if it was an old face or a new one.

But that didn't matter. Far graver matters were afoot. Far, far graver.

"I'm back…" The Flash wheezed.

Covered in cold armor, adorning such a powerful frame…an armor terribly familiar in its design of a threat that perhaps the wearer has surpassed…

"Flash?" Dr. Light II said as she dropped down, quite surprised. She'd heard snippets of info…

And then she gasped as the Flash, whoever it was, reared up and grabbed her in a death grip, the grip of the mortally afraid.

"You have to tell them! Find them! Warn them!" He babbled.

Skin turned as gray as ash…

"What are you talking about?" Dr. Light II asked in genuine confusion.

"LISTEN TO ME!" The Flash begged. "We couldn't hold him! HE'S ESCAPED! HE'S COMING!"

A symbol of such greatness, backgrounded in black as deep in the rot in the heart and soul…

"Who? Who's coming?"

And eyes of red…of power, of destruction, of unbelievable rage…

"HIM!"

Eyes that will sear a universe…eyes in the body of a god among gods.

Eyes of evil.

"SUPERBOY-PRIME!"

God have mercy.

---

Metatron created by the author Prisionero. Ragnarok and Yin created by the author Chaltab. Hex 'created' by the author Ultra Sonniku. Thank these guys by reading their work.

To be continued.