Bart and Wally both finished their hot chocolate, but the Chicken Whizees remained untouched, which showed how drastically the mood changed while Bart started to talk. Bart yawned, Wally looked at the clock and noticed that they spent the last couple of hours talking; it was now 10:30. Wally flashed to the closet with the extra blankets and pillows, and then flashed back to the couch. He saw that Bart was already fast asleep. Wally smiled and put the pillow down, moved his cousin, took his winter coat off of him, and covered him up with the thick dark blue blanket. Wally took one last look at his cousin, thought about everything that he had said about the future. He sighed and went to bed.
After the boys where sound asleep, Madison left and went down to the main level of the building. While she was checking on all of the children, Abigail and Jayson got back from looking for Damian and William, everyone, including CJ were sitting in the dining room around the small rectangle table. CJ spread out the papers he had earlier and showed everyone. He sat at one of the short sides of the table. The twins, Abigail and William, sat next to each other, like they always did. Ever since they were little they have been attached at the hip. Being fraternal twins, William and Abigail have a hard time being separated. The two fight, constantly though. They often have to be broken up by someone else, usually Madison or Jayson.
William had red hair just like his father, while Abigail had blonde hair. Both of their faces did look alike though, a perfect mixture between Artemis and Wally. They were both the same height, and their skin color was more on their mother's side than their father's. Their personalities, on the other hand, where very different. Abigail is more cautious and more on the 'sacredey cat' side, as her brother called it, even now when they were older, but her hesitation always caused her to think before acting and not get hurt in the middle of a fight. While William was more brave and quick to jump ahead, which was probably cause by the fact that he got Wally's powers.
They both are 26 but where kidnapped from one of their missions when they were 14, a couple days before their 15th birthday, and had been 'put on ice' for about five years. They escaped after being frozen, and the facility that they were in was damaged by the war going on around them. Both soon ended up in Central City where they found Bart, Jayson, and a few other survivors. Abigail managed to contact Madison, who was in Gotham City at the time, trying to get everything under control. William and Abigail had led the small group all the way to Gotham and eventually the twins got the whole story from Madison, of what happened when they were frozen.
The twin's cousin Jayson was sitting across the table from them, holding a spot for Madison to sit down. Jayson was raised by Roy and Jade, with their daughter Lain. His memories, from the day he was born to the age of thirteen, are just a blur. Having those thirteen years, just a blur, had troubled Jayson. Since, after a few fights with his sister, he started to think he might not be the son of Roy and Jade. After the Reach apocalypse, he started to hear rumors and actually started to get more info about his origin. They ranged from him either being a clone, a biological son of Roy and Jade, to even being the biological son of Lain.
Those where the most popular of all the ones he had read and heard. Now, Jayson had pushed past the fact that he doesn't know his origin and he feels that he gets farther away from the truth every time he tries to dig. Roy and Jade both took him in and raised him. So it didn't really matter to him, plus he had other things to worry about these days. Madison hadn't met Jayson until they were both in the testing facility for the metagene and had been best friends ever since.
Damian was sitting across from CJ, with his arms crossed and looking down at the table. He was looking more and more like his father, Bruce Wayne, every day. Before heroes where banned from earth, Damian was Robin and trained with his father. Damian is 27 and was eight when Madison was born. He was ten when he first went to his father, after been trained by the League of Assassins. When his father died of natural causes, Dick had taken the role of Batman and trained Damian. After CJ, Madison, and Derek where kidnapped, Dick had spent most of his time looking for them. Damian was there to keep him sane, most of the time, and he was one of the three people who witnessed Dick's death.
Madison took her spot next to Jayson. Being the daughter of Dick Grayson, the first Robin, the adopted son of Bruce Wayne, and the legendary Nightwing, she has felt the pressure of living up to the expectations set by her father and had taken it with ease. Her past, along with Derek's is even a bigger mystery than anyone from the 'bat clan'. CJ and Jayson are the only two who knows more about the Grayson kids than their parents, names and superhero names. CJ and, seven year old, Madison first met on a mission (one she wasn't supposed to go on) with her father as Nightwing, Damian as Batman, and Superboy, AKA Conner, she was the one to find CJ but he wasn't grown to the age sixteen like Conner, he was only grown to the age of four. Conner took CJ home and raised him. CJ grew fast and in two short years, he looked, talked, and had the brain waves of a nine year old. He followed Madison's growth rate ever since.
When Madison and CJ where thirteen, they were both kidnapped, along with Derek, who was eight, and put in a Reach test facility where they had met Jayson. They broke out after six months, Jayson went to Star City to see if he could find anyone, and managed to find Roy and Jade, while CJ, Madison, and Derek headed to Gotham. It didn't take Madison long to figure out what had happened when they where gone. She found Damian, alone in the Wayne Manor and talked to him before she left; Madison, Derek and CJ left Gotham and started to travel around the world and hid. During that time, CJ wasn't paralyzed from the waist down. Both Derek and CJ were kept in the dark of what had happened. Derek was eight and doesn't have much memory of what happened.
Madison looked at the papers carefully and recognized them. They were covered with complicated mathematical problems and vague sketches, "My blueprints," said Madison, "Where did these come from?" she asked picking up one of the blue sheets of paper, with long, complicated mathematically equations on it and no drawings on it. Damian looked over to Madison, "I got them from Blue Beetle's collection. They were of top priority and was going to be the next thing the so-called 'scientists' where going to work on." Madison sighed and put the paper down, "He's not going to figure it out, neither are the scientist he has working for him. These aren't two plus two equations. They have imaginary numbers, radicals-" CJ cut her off, "It isn't him figuring it out. It's his plans with a time machine that I'm worried about." Everyone nodded their heads.
Upstairs Derek and Bart had snuck out of their rooms and headed to the part of the building where they could hear what the six teens where talking about. The boys where stopped by two girls. Both with blond hair, but one girl was almost see through while the other was not. "Move out of the way, Cissie," whispered Bart. Derek nodded, "You too, Secret." The two girls rolled their eyes. The girl that was almost see through became solid once more, "What did I say about calling me Secret?" she asked, "I've finally learned to speak so call me by my real name, Greta." The two boys shrugged, the other girl, Cissie, finally spoke, "You two are spying again," she said a bit loud. Everyone, even Greta shushed her. "C'mon," said Bart, "All six of them are keeping a secret and I want to know what it is!"
The two girls thought for a moment, "Fine," said Cissie, "But you got to tell us what it is after you are done." Greta and Cissie went to their room. "Goodnight Secret and Arrowette" said the boys together. The girls turned around and spat back together, "Goodnight Impulse and Robin." Greta went through the wall without a problem and Cissie went through the door and closed it quietly. When the boys managed to get to the room with the vent leading down into the dining room where the six teens sat, they laid low and listened carefully.
"I don't know," said Madison, "Why and where in the time line would Beetle want to go? He has full control over this era and the next." William spoke up, "Maybe he is trying to get control over an earlier time. That way he can control longer." Madison nodded her head as if saying 'good point'. CJ looked to Madison, "Didn't you say that you made a prototype of the time machine?" he asked. Madison nodded, "Yeah. It was when Dad was still alive. We worked on it in the basement," she let out a little laugh, "Mom was so mad when she saw the mess that he and I made." Jayson leaned forward, "What happened to it?" he asked, "Because if it wasn't destroyed, can't Beetle just fix it. That way he just has to figure out the part of the blue prints that needs to be fix and not the whole thing." Damian shook his head, "No. That machine was distorted with the explosion." Damian looked at Madison who sunk in her chair a bit.
Abigail looked at her, "OMG!" she practically shouted, "It isn't destroyed!" Madison let out an uneasy laugh, "Well, you are half right." Abigail leaned back into her chair as William said what was on everyone's mind, "What do you mean 'half right'?" Madison leaned on her elbows, "Well," she started, "After dad was ki-" she cleared her throat, "I mean died, I didn't destroy it like I should have. It's still in our basement. It's damaged but not fully destroyed," she said quietly. All of the teens groaned. The two fourteen year olds backed up from the vent. "You hear that?" asked Derek excitedly. Bart nodded, "Yeah. A way to go back in time," he said thinking. Then Derek spoke, "Well, we could go back in time and stop Beetle from going on mode. Then everything will be crash!" he said quietly but with lots of excitement in his voice. Bart and Derek stood in silence for a little bit, then Bart said, "Yeah. But shouldn't someone else like, Maddi or Jay, or someone else do it?"
Derek thought for a moment, "They should," he paused, "But CJ can't do it for, obvious, reasons," Bart nodded, "Okay, so how about Maddi? Jay? The twins? Damian?" Derek sighed, "Maddi doesn't want to leave me alone, Jay will stay at Maddi's side, Abbie gets too scared, Will acts before he thinks, and Damian, well, we don't really know what side he is on." Bart nodded, "You're right. But Maddi isn't going to let you go so easily," Derek sent a knowing smile toward him. Bart shook his head, "No. No. No. I'm not doing it." Derek rolled his eyes, "C'mon. I'll fix it and then you can use it," he said. Bart looked at Derek and then nodded, "You do have a point," said Bart. Both boys paused and then Bart said, "Okay! Let's do it!"
"Boys! Bed!" yelled Madison from down stairs. The two boys ran to their room and quickly laid in bed. Bart rolled over and looked down from the top of the bunk bed, "How are we even going to find the time machine?" he asked. Derek looked up from the side of the bed, "Well," he started, "Maddi said 'it was still in the basement'. So that means it has to be around here somewhere. All we have to do is find the last home that Mom, Dad, and Maddi lived in, before I was born." Bart looked a bit confused, "Okay," said Bart, "Do you even know where that is?" Derek shrugged, "I don't know. But I know where we can find out. Wayne Manor." Bart shook his head, "But that's on the other side of-" Foots steps in the hall made the boys jump and quickly pretend they were sleeping. After five minutes Derek said, "Between you and I, we can get over their without Beetle or the cops knowing," he paused and then added, "As long as we take the sewers." Bart and Derek both let out quiet laughs and they both fell asleep.
Bart jumped awake with a scream. Wally was by Bart's side in seconds. He saw that his cousin's face was stained with tears. Bart leaned on Wally as he finished crying, Wally awkwardly patted the little fourteen-year-olds back. "Uh, don't worry, um, Bart. It was only a bad dream," he said, saying what his mother used to say to him. Bart frantically shook his head, "That's the problem," he choked out, "It was the night that Beetle caught me and-" Wally didn't know what to say next and said the next thing that made sense to him, "What-How did Beetle catch you? And who is the 'and'?" Bart pushed away from the older speedster and looked up at him, "Well, my best friend Derek-"
"Grayson?" interrupted Wally. Bart nodded, "we over head the older heroes talking about a time machine, and its whereabouts. We both knew that the others wouldn't go, and it seemed like the only option to fix the future." Bart took a deep shaky breath. Wally was now sitting across from Bart on the couch, "We only had a night to plan it. We were afraid if we waited, even for twenty-four hours, Maddi," he paused, "or the others" he added as a side note, "might find out and we wouldn't be able to have this chance." Bart looked to the ground, "So we headed to Wayne Manor, where we thought we would find a way to get to the Grayson's house." Wally looked at Bart, "By the tone in your voice I take it you didn't find the Grayson's house?" he asked. Bart shook his head and looked up, "No we didn't, but we did find something, but not what we planned to find at Wayne Manor…"
This chapter was the only one I meant to change. But ended up going through the whole story. Anyway, I am much happier with this chapter now! And I promise to not go and change the story again...