Hellooooo, my spectacular viewers! I'd like to alert you if you do not already know of my metagene'd fanfiction here: s/8952431/1/Super-Confusing It's got Superboy fluff in it. Seriously. How can you resist?

With much love (and apologies)

See you at the bottom...if you make it that far.

No one was happier to hear Batman come through the zeta beam than Jerra.

"Do you have a mission for us?" The excited girl asked. "God, it's been forever."

Robin soon appeared at her side. "Batman?"

A smirk flickered on the man's scowl. "Team, meet in the debriefing area. You have a mission." The two present shared a gleeful look before darting off, unable to suppress their joy.

"This might be the hardest mission you have encountered yet," Batman swept the room with his cowl, looking each of them in the eye.

"Who are we after?" Kaldur asked.

"The Joker has escaped from Arkam Asylum again," Batman informed them. "This is strictly a scouting mission. You will locate the Joker then call base, and the justice League will handle it from there." He glared at Jerra and Dick. "You will not make contact with the Joker, and if he spots you, your main objective is to flee. Understood?"

"But he's not a meta-" The sentence died in Robin's throat. "Yes, sir."

Batman nodded. "Good luck.."

"Team, to Gotham."

Robin and Tempus seemed the most on edge than anyone, shortly followed by Artemis. Apparently, Gothamites didn't like trouble in their city. Which was ironic since there was so much of it.

"Let's check here," Robin suggested to Kaldur. "Joker's usually in the slums." Their leader nodded, and motioned for Miss Martian to lower the bioship.

"Team, we will split into teams and meet back here in three hours. If you spot him, you will alert the rest of us through the mind connection. Artemis and Kid Flash, you're a team. Miss Martian, Tempus, and Superboy. Robin and myself." They nodded. "Go."

"I'll check this block, Miss M check the block behind us, Supey, you look at the block to the right." Miss Martian flew off, scanning the area. Superboy leaped away. Jerra took a deep breath before racing towards a building, scaling it partially and running across the cement windowsills. She did a flip and landed on the shorter building with a roll. Tempus took a fighting stance, not allowing her guard down on her first mission back. In the distance, she saw a similar figure leap onto a rooftop twenty buildings down. She smirked at Robin.

Glancing down at the alleyway under her, she deemed it clear and began to run to the next spot. She was about to make a flying jump worthy of Batman's approval when a voice in her head forced her to skid to a stop.

"I've found him," Artemis said, disheveled. "East side near the mass apartment complex, need backup now! He's spotted us and he's chasing. He's set up bombs everywhere. We need to deactivate them!"

Kid Flash yelled in his head.

Artemis' scream was filled with dread. "Wally!"

The two's line went out.

"I lost them, out of range," Miss M explained. "Not dead."

"We hope," Conner added ever cheerfully.

Jerra ran.

Sometimes on missions Jerralin forgot she even had superpowers.

It was not one of those nights.

Running about twenty blocks a millisecond thanks to her time-warping, Tempus was the first to arrive on scene. She cut the warp abruptly, staring in shock at the villain in front of her. "Who's this?" The man grinned. "Are you new? I like new toys. I hope you play better than the other two."

She glanced at Wally and Artemis, who laid in a moaning pile. She grimanced. "My name's Tempus." She glared at him dangerously. "Deactivate the bombs and come quietly. And you will not get hurt."

Something flashed in his eyes. "I like getting hurt. Well, I like hurting people. It's all very fun."

The man was a lunatic. A real psychopath. Jerra wouldn't let him scare her, though. If he did, Artemis and Wally were toast, along with the rest of the explosive street.

She took a step closer.

"Uh uh uh," Joker said, waving a finger. "I'll hit the trigger and we'll all go." Jerra froze. Was he crazy enough to kill himself? Well, obviously.

Backup, Jerra mentally begged. I've got him, or vice versa. He's got Wally and Artemis. They're alive. Where's the League? Contact the League!

He just kept smiling. "Wanna know where I got these scars?" He asked curiously.

"Not particularly," Jerra cringed, but stood her ground.

"Aw," Joker deflated. "No one ever answers that question. Usually, they just let me keep going. To terrified by the way I'm about to carve them open, I guess." He cackled. "Do you like knives?"

"Of course," Jerra called back. "I also like spoons, and forks, but I'm not too keen on sporks. Never really got that concept." She was shaking, but thankfully the Joker was too far away to see.

He laughed. "You are fun!" He stepped closer. "I like you. What did you say your name was again?"

"Tempus," she replied. Keep him talking. Distraction. The League is coming, the League is coming, God, Batman better be on his freaking way...

"Well, Tempus, I think I've heard of you!" He smiled. "You've been working with the Boy Blunder, haven't you?"

"Yes," she replied. "Why? Met him?"

He laughed. "Oh, yes. Many times."

"Well, yay, we all seem to know each other." Jerra smiled. Maybe stooping down to the pure crazy would keep him entertained long enough to forget to pull the trigger...?

"I'm tired of this little game," he suddenly yawned.

What? Oh, God, no, no, please, just keep talking, don't remember the bombs, no, damn it...

"I think now's a good time to show you how my little game works," he held up a metal box.

"This is the trigger. I'm going to throw it at you. If you can catch it in under two seconds, the bombs won't go off. Yet," he added.

Jerra's face was one of horror behind the mask as the machine left his hand. She paused time and lunged for the stationary floating object. She grabbed it and put her finger over the detinator. Now she couldn't take it off, or they'd all die. Great. Just freaking great. Could she risk getting the other two? Her pause wouldn't last for long. He'd see them gone before she could tie him up. He might get mad and blow everything up.

She took the risk anyway.

"Well," The Joker blinked. "That's a neat party trick." Jerra was panting on her knees, clutching the detonator, shielding the two drugged teammates behind her. "Very interesting. Why don't we try that again?"

Jerra nearly screamed as he pulled out another detonator.

Who does that?

"Fetch!" He cakcled, throwing it in the air. Jerra sprang towards it, grabbing it with her right hand and rolling on the ground. She staggered to her feet and went back to her side. "You seem to have an ouchie, kiddo," the Joker pointed at his nose. Jerra glanced down and realized her nose was bleeding, bad. "Powers backfire, do they?" Joker tutted. "That's unfortunate. Bigshots like Superman never seem to have any side effects."

"I guess I'm just a more original hero, then," Jerra wiped her nose with her arm, which just smeared the blood all over her face. The Joker grinned wider.

"You seem to be out of hands, Tempus," he noted.

She eyed him, extremely concerned.

Uh, guys, the heck is taking you so long? Stop for McDonald's? NEED FREAKING BACKUP NOW, WHERE'S THE LEAGUE?

The Joker pulled out another freaking detonator, and Jerra did let a sob escape her lips.

"This is too fun, Tempus!" Joker released it to the air.

Jerra practically crawled to where it was in the air. She straggled to her feet, reached up, and held it back to back with another detonator. She could press both buttons at once with one hand. Let's hope he didn't have five. Jerra slumped on the ground in front of Kid Flash and Artemis. She began hacking up blood, curling in on herself. She'd never be able to pause time again. It's all slowmode from there.

God, no more detonators.

"Well, that wasn't what I had expected." Joker admitted. "I was kinda hoping you wouldn't get that one. You do look a bit ruff, though. Need a band aid?" Jerra glared at him. Were her ears bleeding, too? That's new.

"I can still take you, Joker, even with my hands full." She gave him a gruesomely bloody grin. "You're no match for me."

Joker looked bemused. "Well, seeing as all my gifts are on timers, too, and will go off in thirty seconds, I think I'll just leave you here to collect your thoughts." He raced down the street while Jerra stared at him in horror.

"No!" She shrieked.

Artemis opened an eye. "Tempus?"

"Hold these!" Jerra commanded, replacing her fingers with Artemis's on the detonators. "Don't let go!"

A new surge of adrenaline hit Tempus as she roared, stopping time. She raced to all the blinking lights. Just get the ones on the buildings, the road can deal, save the people, deactivate the bombs... She was sobbing her fool head off before she even reached the first one.

It hurt.

But she could do it, she had to, she was strong, she would save these people...

She ripped out the explosive vials from each of the bombs slowly.

Eight seconds left on the clock.

Jerra had done some training with Dick whilst on their little "time out" and studied the various types of bombs. These were heavy duty. She should probably deactivate all of them. The ones on the roads would still collapse the buildings. Heck, one one them could topple this block... She had six more to go when the time warp stopped.

"No!" She shrieked, clawing her way to the next one.

Seconds past by as five seconds each to her, but it was still draining her power.

Five seconds, three more bombs...

She yanked out the vials, vision blacking out. One more, one second...!

She reached it in time to see the spark go off.

She threw her hand between the ignighter and the substance, pulling out the final vial and screaming in pain as the fire lapped at her bloodied and scratched palm.

She rolled, sobbing hysterically, clutching the vial as if her life depended on it, as the world around her went dark. She could hear the Batmobile riding up (Perfect timing as ever, Bruce.), Artemis yelling her name, the team racing forward as if something had surged them on.

Still, Jerralin passed out.

"Is she okay?"

"I don't know."

"You're doing everything you can, though, right?"

"Yes."

Jerra shrieked as she came back to the world. When her team shouted soothing words to her, trying to calm her down, and she fought the hysteria long enough to figure out where she was, at Mount Justice, the medical bay, she allowed tears to fall.

"Jerra, you went into shock," Red Tornado informed her. "You also sapped all the power you could from your body to slow time, and you shortly blacked out. You have minor cuts on your hands and a burn on your right arm." Jerra nodded, hands moving to hold the vial that wasn't there anymore.

"Everything's going to be okay, Jerra," Miss Martian smiled. "Relax. It's all over."

Jerra nodded her head painfully. Her vision whirled. "Whoa," she gasped.

"You do not have enough energy yet to function properly," Red Tornado continued. "I recommend sleep. We have already informed your grandfather you will be staying here for the next few days and of your condition."

"Grandpa," Jerra moaned. "God, he's probably worried sick. He's gonna kill me."

"He is just fine," Robin assured her. "Worried, yeah, but he loves you, so don't panic."

"Tell him sorry for me, please?" Jerra struggled to form the words.

They were about to protest, but Conner said, "Yeah, we will."

They all nodded and were ushered out by Red Tornado. Jerra couldn't find the energy to open her eyes, so she didn't fight the urge to pass out again. She remembered the feel of cold glucose being pumped into her arm from the IV drip, and how good it felt to have energy slowly melting back into her body.

Three days later, Jerra was up and moving. Her arms and hands were bandaged in stark white, crisp cloth, but they were healing. She'd called her grandfather the day before and told him she'd see him two days from then. Jerra wouldn't ever admit it to him, but she had a hard time sleeping in any other building than the one he was in. The mountain just wasn't the same with its silence than her noisy TV playing old MASH episodes as her grandfather laughed, even though he'd seen every episode ten times, at least.

Jerra sighed, sipping her water through a straw. She'd given up on picking things up with her hands, too. It looked ridiculous, but it didn't hurt, so Jerra didn't care.

They were all sitting around, just hanging out and being mildly carefree when the intercom sounded.

"Team, get to the zeta beams immediately. You will be transported to the Watchtower."

They shared a look before sprinting to the beams.

Wally and Jerra got there first.

When they arrived on the other side, Jerra asked, "What happened?" Batman waited for the entire team to pile in. He gave them a grave look. Jerra looked around to see quite a few Leaguers present. She felt Conner tense as Superman stepped forward.

"There seems to be a hostage situation," he began.

"So?" Conner demanded. "There are those types of situations every day."

"This one is...personally dangerous," Wonder Woman said carefully, making flitting eye contact with Jerra.

Jerra looked around wildly. "What happened?" She asked again.

"We're getting a transmission from the Joker. He asked to speak to his 'new friends,'" Batman said, monotone despite everything. Jerra paled. She did her best to look brave, and put a cocky grin on her face painfully.

"Let's talk, then." Artemis smiled fakely, grabbing Wally's nodded, and the team followed him to a giant screen.

"Hello, kiddies!" The Joker laughed, waving. "Oh, I'm glad to see you three are up and, well, not ashes!"

Artemis and Wally scowled. Wally put himself between his girlfriend and the monitor, only to be pushed aside. "What is it, Joker?" Wally asked with anger.

"I just wanted to say hi." He smirked. "Hi."

Batman stood patiently in the background.

"We've been informed you have hostages for some reason?" Robin commented.

"Oh, yes, Rob," Joker grinned. "In fact, I've been doing some research on you kids, and I have a very special friend here." He went off camera for a second, then dragged someone very special back on camera.

"Put him down now and turn yourself in, "Jerra snapped.

"Why?" Joker grinned. "Don't you want to see who's under this little hood?" Jerra stared at the screen impatiently. The Joker gave her the most evil grin yet. "Look closely." Jerra did. Her eyes trailed the old polo shirt and then noted the man's hands, which were tugging on the rope that kept the sack over his head. On his hand, his left one, was an old wedding band.

Jerra nearly fainted. All the color drained from her face, and Joker could tell before any of the heroes knew.

That was Grandpa's wedding ring.

Jerra screamed, "No!"

The Joker ripped off the hood as he pulled out a gun. "Play with you soon, kids."

Jerra's grandfather saw the computer screen and managed the word, "Jerralin-"

Before the shot went through his chest and the screen blacked out.

"GRANDPA!" Jerra threw her hand out with the bloodcurdling cry, but the image disappeared. She stood in shock, mouth wide open, tears streaming from her face.

Even Batman couldn't hide his horror entirely. Robin was soon beside Jerra, holding her against his knees gave out, and he gently placed her on the floor. She sobbed heartbrokenly at the blank, static-filled screen in front of her.

Megan and Artemis were crying as they walked through the old house.

"Thanks," Jerra sniffled, acting brave as she watched them carry out boxes.

Zatanna from the League had offered to help her pack up her things to move into the cave, with a sympathetic, knowing look. Jerra supposed she knew somewhat how it felt to get your heart ripped out and family members taken away.

"You're taking this extremely well," Robin commented, not sure what to do.

"It's not exactly the first time," Jerra said blandly.

Robin stared at the carpet with her.

"How did he know?" Jerra sniffled.

"The Joker is a maniac. He does things to people. Who knows, Jerra?"

Jerra gave him a pathetic look. "He died because of me."

"He died because the Joker put a bullet through his chest."

"Because he wanted to get to me."

Dick wrapped his arms around her. "Since I'm never going to beat you at an argument, you've got us. You'll be all right."

Jerra nodded, not really responding. "He died because I'm a hero." Her eyes pooled over with tears again. "I'm so sick and tired of being sick and tired."

Robin cracked a smile. "Aren't we all?"

Jerra played with his hoodie bitterly. "Is it bad I'm glad I at least got to see him?"

Robin gave her a wary look.

"Every time a family member was taken from me, I was unprepared. I saw it happen," She looked away. "I know he's gone. I know how. I know it was for me. Is it bad?"

"If it gives you some peace of mind-"

"I'm never going to have peace of mind, Dick. My mind is in pieces."

Dick waited a moment before grabbing her wrist loosely. He lead her out of the ghost of a home she once had, with boxes floating out to a "car" that was actually the bioship. He knew how it felt to see your loved ones die in front of you. He'd help her get through it.

Gah, did this hurt to write. SORRYSORRYSORRY I PROMISE THE NEXT ONE WILL BE FLUFFY (for how could it not?)

Don't kill me. You can kill me with words! Comment, you mass of feelings you!

-Auri the Awesome (who is not feeling the aster for this chapter, sobs incoherently at my own stupid writing)