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Bloodlines

Mount Justice; February 28th 2059; 10:10AM

There hadn't been any hope for so many long years, the Justice League was killed decades ago, no heroes were left standing, none of the public variety at least; however, if there was life there was at least a glimmer of hope and this glimmer was as dull as they come.

A single boy, around six-teen, tinkered with a machine in the center of clearing amongst massive chunks of rubble; what was once Mount Justice was now a crater in the center of a small island whereas it was separated by flood-waters the engulfed half of Happy Harbor. He tossed the wrench aside and wiped the sweat from his brow before standing and running a hand through his brunette-locks.

"Wish I could go along," a voice announced itself from behind as the boy turned to face it, an old man, nearly seventy-years old, he was bald and wore a collar around his neck. He was missing his arm and his left eye as well; his remaining arm had a large scar across his wrist, where one might have worn, a watch.

"Sorry, only seats one," they looked up where a thundering boom exploded above them in the clouds of ash that layered the planet and kept sun-light from naturally gleaming through. Soot routinely rained like snow at all times down around them due to the massive wars that had taken place only a few decades prior; the Vilgaxian forces fought for dominance over the planet with the only other competitor that had the numbers to challenge them. Explosions still occasionally rocked the planet from orbit as the two armadas constantly battled one another for the slightest edge.

…

Mount Justice; February 28th 2019; 10:10AM

"Decryption completed," the computer announced as Dick fiddled with a holo-screen, "Translation completed."

Beast Boy and Robin approached him and observed the holo-screen with alien writings filing across it, "is that the Krolotaen intel?" Robin asked.

"What Krolotaen intel?"

Dick focused in on the screen as he continued, "The data that M'gaan and J'ohn collected from the Krolotaen base on Malina Island before it went up in smoke."

"Ah, noted," Beast Boy announced with his finger up until Dick continued.

"Apparently," he paused as he shifted the data on the holo-screen, "The Krolotaen's were abducting humans to use as guinea pigs, they were hoping to find something," the data continued to shift on screen as Robin put a finger to his chin, "Something inside us…"

"What?"

Dick narrowed his eyes at the screen, "There's no English word for it… closest translation is," he paused a read it aloud, "meta-gene."

"What's a meta-gene?"

Beast Boy elbowed Robin playfully, "Never met-a-jean I didn't like."

Suddenly an alarm blared as the holo-screens dispersed, "Warning, unknown energy impulse detected."

They looked around scanning for the threat or energy that was being detected by the security system but, found nothing until an electrical surge filled the room; sparks flew and a bolt of lighting struck the top of the mountain outside. Nightwing and Robin deployed their staff and batons respectively awaiting the threat to fully manifest itself; from within the electricity dropped a small pod the size of a recliner, seemingly thrown together from spare parts, into the center of the cave.

They stood at the ready as steam exploded from a small chamber as it slowly opened, "Stand ready," Nightwing ordered as they watched crimson gloves grip the sides pulling out a humanoid figure.

He paused before dramatically springing out and swinging his arms into the air, "Ta-da!" a boy dressed in a friction-proof skin-tight white and red suit with goggles wrapped firmly around his eyes shouted and looked around at everything in sight.

"Intruder alert. Intruder alert."

Nightwing narrowed his eyes and commanded the security system, "Computer, lockdown cave," as he said this an echo of locks sounded through main-hall.

"Well," Beast Boy noted looking up to Nightwing, "I think we've found our unknown energy impulse…"

"Impulse? That's so crash! Catchy, dramatic, one-word," he hyperactively sped over at super-speeds beside Dick, Tim, and Garfield, "Just like Nightwing, Robin, and Beastboy; although that's two words… Blue Beetle is two words, is here too?"

He immediately took off without waiting for an answer into a corridor leading into the residence hall, "Never mind! Impulse can find that out for himself," he announced as he continued.

Nightwing pointed to the hall and looked down at Robin and Beast Boy, "You two, take him down, now!"

They nodded as Beast Boy morphed into a green-cheetah running ahead of Robin who stayed as close behind as he could; "Or crash," Nightwing muttered almost predicting this wouldn't end well.

Impulse, as he dubbed himself, sped into the locker room before stopping in the shower room with eight shower-heads, four on each side, "Woah, home-style faucets, so retro," he quickly sped through turning them all on in less than a single second before speeding out just as Beast Boy sprinted in with his paws slipping on the wet-tile and careening into the wall where he was doused in shower-water.

Impulse made his way into the kitchen where his speed picked up a pile of napkins in his wind-trail, Robin entered shortly after watching Impulse speed towards him, he swung his taser-staff with all of his force but, the speedster effortlessly dodged under with a smile, "Limbo time!" he ran passed him with the napkins slapping him in the face on the way out.

Impulse made his way back into the main-hall looking back at his victory on the two rookie-heroes; as he ran he noticed metallic-marbles rolling across the floor towards him but, he easily ran on the wall across the ceiling and around the marbles with a smile, "hah, can't catch me that eas-" he was interrupted by Nightwing blindsiding him with a shoulder-tackle knocking him onto the ground with a loud groan. The vigilante quickly handcuffed his wrists and ankles together keeping him from running off again, "Now that, was crash."

Impulse scoffed as he caught his breath, "For you, maybe, me? I'm totally feeling the mode."

…

Tibet; February 28th 2019; 11:14PM

A temple built on the side of a mountain was secluded from the rest of the world, used as a smaller guarding faction for Ra's Al Ghul's most precious items, almost no one on Earth knew of it's exact location, except for a former League of Assassin's informant which was paid handsomely by Cheshire for the longitude and latitude for this sacred placed.

Five-hundred feet from the entrance, standing in the brittle snow, were two figures in coats with weapons strapped to their person, Red Arrow and Cheshire Cat focused in on the building's only blind-spot, "I still don't buy it, Jade, it's too easy…" he stated kneeling down and analyzing the building, "The good guys have been looking for the real Roy Harper for years and suddenly you come along and-"

Cheshire folded her arms, "I go where the good guys wont," she turned and glared at him from behind her mask, "And stop calling him the real Roy Harper; you may be his clone but, I need you to be real," she paused before continuing, "Our daughter needs you to be real."

Roy pulled his hood back and revealed a clean shave and his old buzz-cut before stepping around and pulling the cover of the pack on her back; he stared down at the cute sleeping face of a tiny ten-month-old baby, "You can't be the father Lian deserves until you get your original Roy guilt out of your system," he smiled down at his baby-girl before closing the pouch.

"So, let's get it done," she finished looking bat at him with piercing eyes, "Assuming your up for it?"

…

Mount Justice; February 28th 2019; 11:34AM

"You're a tourist… from the future?" Robin repeated Impulse's excuse in disbelief.

He shrugged with his hands behind his back, still cuffed, "Why are you so surprised? Half the meat at comi-con are from my era," Robin sighed and put a finger to his chin narrowing his eyes.

"Look, look, look, guys; we should all be friends, I'm really one of you, part of the whole heroic legacy theme," he smiled as Robin and Beast Boy glanced to one another, "My name is Bart Allen, ya know, grandson of Barry Allen, the Flash!"

Beast Boy gave a coy smile, "Noted, not believed but, noted."

"What's not to believe? I've obviously got Flash's speed, dashing good looks, frankly I can't wait to meet him… er, back when he was in his prime," Bart gave a nervous chuckle trying not to slip up and give out future information.

Nightwing approached with a glass of water, "Well, Bart, running all the way from the future must've worked up quite a thirst," he stepped forward and placed the water in his face allowing him to take a quick sip. Bart quickly realized what was going on and smiled.

"Ha, you're trying to get a DNA sample, you need my spit!" he snorted up a loogie and spat into the cup of water with a smile, "That's such a Dick Greyson thing to do."

Robin widened his eyes, "How did you-"

"See? I know stuff only a future-boy would know," he focused his attention on the other two, "Dick Greyson, Time Drake, and Garfield Logan."

Garfield raised a brow and looked up at his teammates, "Your name is Tim? And yours is Dick?"

"Oops!" Impulse cringed, "Spoilers; the secret identity thing is so retro, I mean, you can call me Impulse, or Bart, or Bart Allen, or Bart Impulse Allen, it's all crash."

Robin looked up at his senior, "Is it possible he might be telling the truth?"

Beast Boy frowned and stepped up putting a finger in Bart's face, "Tell us something we don't know yet! When do I become leader of the team? When do I join the Justice League? When do I get my own reality series?"

Impulse shrugged, "Sorry, BB, was never the best history student, besides, cant risk messing with the time-stream, do that and we'll all be feeling the mode."

Beast Boy crossed his arms, "And the mode would be… bad?"

"Doesn't get any worse! Always better to crash the mode."

"Uh, noted?"

"Recognized Malcom Dunkin A10."

Bart chuckled, "Oh, that sounds like a door opening somewhere, that would be my que!" He quickly vibrated his hands and legs through the cuffs and sped off passed them towards the vehicle entrance where Mal was on his motorcycle slowly riding in.

"Hi Mal, bye Mal!"

Impulse dashed off into the woods at a thousand miles an hour, a casual jog for him, while Beast Boy nodded at Robin, "Don't worry, the Paragon Falcon is the fastest bird in the world, he won't get away!" he transformed and flew away over Mal's head and into the sky.

"Doesn't stand a chance, does he?"

"Nope," Nightwing approached a holo-screen and pulled up a tracking beacon, "That's why I put a tracker on him."

Robin smiled with impression, "How? any tracker would fall off at his speed."

"No, it won't… because he drank it," Nightwing observed the holo-map as Impulse jumped from city to city in minutes.

"Subcutaneous micro-tracker in the water, nice!"

Nightwing zoomed in on his trajectory, "He's headed right for Central City," he immediately pulled his phone out and started a three-way call.

"Hey guys, I could use your help…"

…

Central City; Febraruy 28th 2019; 12:45PM

"Happy Anniversary!" Barry and Iris West-Allen announced to their longtime friends and border-line parents who were celebrating a wedding anniversary which, after being recently married for little over two years now, Barry and Iris found especially important.

"Barry! You and Iris never forget!" Jay Garrick, former Flash and founding member of the Justice Society, thanked who he considered the son he never had.

"Are you kidding me, Jay? Iris and I idolize you two," he hung his coat on the rack by the door and turned to the long banner that read their names and 'happy anniversary', "Seventy years of marriage is quite the achievement!"

"The achievement is how Joan's put up with me for this long," he bent down and gave his wife a kiss on the cheek.

Barry was about to close the door when his phone rang, "Just a sec," he picked it up and answered, "Hello? What kind of 'impulse?' Another speedster? He says he's my what!?"

Just then a rush of wind and figure slowing down from the sound-barrier rushed in and threw his hands up, "Your grandson!" he announced with glee looking around at the family.

They all glanced at him with odd expressions as he chuckled, "Haha! Bart Allen aka Impulse and I'm your grandson, from the future! Pretty crash, huh?" he sped over and quickly gave Barry a back breaking hug, "I always dreamed of doing this," he backed away and cleared his throat, "I mean when you were young and I didn't have to worry about snapping you in two, hehe."

He used his speed to approach Iris, "hey, grandma! Love you too!"

He rushed over to Jay Garrick this time and punched him playfully in the chest, "You must be Jay Garrick! Legend of legends, also honorary great-grand-parents!" He quickly gave him a hug that lifted him off his feet.

"Uh… Barry, something you wanna tell us?"

Barry approached from behind with a confused glare, "What? No! This kid is not my grandson from any-when, heck! Iris and I don't even have kids!"

Iris chuckled and approached putting her hands on his shoulder, "Actually, Barry, I'm pregnant…"

Barry nearly choked on air, "W-What?"

She cleared her throat and continued, "I found out this morning; I was going to wait to tell you tonight but…"

They all looked at Impulse who sheepishly smiled and sped forward speaking into Iris' stomach-area, "Hi Dad, Hi Aunt Dawn!"

"We're having twins?" Both Barry and Iris announced at once with equally shocked voices.

"Oops! Spoilers…"

"Careful kid!" They looked towards the open door where Wally West entered with XLR8 just behind him, exploding in a flash of emerald light to reveal Ben Tennyson.

"Everyone just try and absorb what he's said so far as best you can, and you," Ben approached and put a finger in Bart's face, "Stop talking, the more you say the more you put this entire time-line in jeopardy."

"Wally? Ben? What're you guys…" Barry started as the former speedster interrupted.

"Nightwing called us, thought we might be of some help dealing with…" they all turned back to Bart who sped forward hugging Wally tightly, "this mess."

"You're Wally West! My first cousin, once removed!"

Wally pried himself away, "Operative word being: removed."

Suddenly, a cell phone in the room begun ringing as Iris pulled it out of her pocket, "Don't answer that!" they all stared suspiciously as the ring continued, "I mean, why ruin this family reunion!"

"It's my boss at GBS," he pressed answer and spoke into the phone, "What's up, Pete?" she widened her eyes after listening for a few seconds, "They're evacuating downtown! A new super-villain is calling for blood, the Flash's blood."

Barry stepped into the center of the room and pressed down on his ring where a friction-proof suit popped out; he used his super-speed to put it on in a tornado of crimson appearing as the Flash, "Let the League handle this guy, I mean, how often does a relative from the future show up at your door?"

Flash dismissed the idea immediately and placed his hands-on Bart's shoulders, "Listen I… I'll deal with you later, I'll be back in a flash!" He dashed off with a trail of orange lightning in his wake.

Bart cringed and nervously chuckled, "Wow, back in a flash, huh? Does he say that often?"

Everyone in the room aside from Ben groaned in unison, "Too often."

Wally gave Ben a glance before turning back to Bart, "You're going, aren't you?"

"Doy," he responded before taking off out the door after his grandfather.

…

Downtown Central City; February 28th 2019; 1:17PM

Flash approached the destruction just as a middle-aged woman was about to be crushed by a flying car, he swooped in and moved her out of danger, pointing her to the nearest shelter and turning back to analyze the situation. A single man stood at the epicenter of the destruction wearing a black suit with a crimson helmet, emitting waves of chaotic and destructive energy, one after another.

He sped forward moving in to disarm him when the enemy saw him coming, he fired pulses of energy at the ground, sending rubble into the air but, Flash just sped up to several thousand times the speed of sound, leaping from one chunk of asphalt to the next to gain enough high-ground to come down with an aerial assault. His plan would have worked had he not been deflected by one of the villains consistently chaotic pulses which wafted off of him in waves.

He was sent back at mach two until something even faster spun on the ground below him creating an updraft strong enough to break his fall, "Nice trick," Flash commended Impulse as he put his hands on his hips and helped his grandfather up.

"Thanks! Dad taught it to me and he learned it, or will learn it, from you," they turned back to the enemy approaching them slowly.

"Flash!" He aimed both of his fists up at them and fired off sporadic beams of energy, "Prepare to meet your doom!"

They both effortlessly dodged each beam attack while talking, "What kind of meat is this guy?" they moved to the right, and then left, and right again as he was nowhere near close to hitting them, "He's never gonna hit us with those…"

"No but, it's a stand-off," they analyzed his energy pulses that were unconsciously generating off of him, "He's generating cascading energy waves, each wave starts before the last one dissipates, there are no gaps at any speed," they dodged backwards putting distance between them and him.

They dodged behind an abandoned truck and knelt down, "We can't get clos- wait a minute, I told you not to come!" the car exploded and they were a hundred feet away in less than half a second.

"I wanted to see you beat the bad guy, in person, in your prime!"

Flash gave him an odd look before focusing on running again.

…

Tibet; February 28th 2019; 12:24AM

The temple was silent, the nights were usually long and boring but, the guardians were patient and disciplined so they spent all night without lowering their vigilance once; one guardian stood in armor with a single bladed-staff atop a bell-tower ready to sound the alarm should anything suspicious occur so, this would obviously be the first person to incapacitate.

As the guard turned to look over the edge of his tower, an arrow shot from out of view, hitting the brick with almost no sound, allowing Red Arrow and Cheshire Cat to zipline in and roll to a halt. Cheshire came from behind and put the man in a choke hold both preparing him for unconsciousness and cutting off his vocal-cords keeping him from screaming. Roy grabbed his weapon and snapped it in two, tossing it aside; they opened a hatch and discarded their coats, keeping Lian in a pouch on her back, and sliding down a ladder leading deeper into the temple.

Roy prepared an arrow on his quiver as they skulked down a corridor until Cheshire put her hand up telling him to be still; two guards passed them completely unaware of their presence as they snuck behind them and made there way into yet another hallway where they came face to face with two guards holding spears identical to the one in the tower.

They readied themselves as Roy kept his arrow aimed at the ground and Cheshire put her hands up in surrender; they approached them and put their spears close to their throats just as Roy fired an arrow at their feet distracting him long enough to bash his bow into the guard closest's nose, snapping his spear and placing him in a choke hold all in one motion whereas the other guard moved to take Roy, Cheshire came from behind and put him in the same hold putting them both to sleep.

Lian peeked out of her pouch and noticed the excitement going on outside, the fighting stimulated her and she let out a single, cheerful giggle. It echoed through the silent temple, through every hall, through every room, and every tower. Within ten seconds both Roy and Jade were surrounded by two dozen identical guards with spears, "I told you we should have left her with your sister."

…

Downtown Central City; February 28th 2019; 1:21PM

The CCPD had arrived on the scene in large SWAT trucks but, they kept their distance as Wally in his Kid Flash armor and Fasttrack approached the scene, "Pull your men back, captain, we'll take it from here."

The captain of the team currently deployed scoffed, "I'm here to do my job, Speedy."

Impulse and Flash arrived a second later as Bart gave his two-cents, "Nope, your thinking of the other guy, although; the history books are pretty vague on the why."

"Ben, you aren't going to use one of those mix-match creatures?" Wally asked as he referred to Fasttrack currently being in his normal form.

Fasttrack took a glance over at the villain with his energy waves, "Frankly, my speedster-aliens are faster when their DNA isn't diluted; I'll stick to just normal aliens for the time being."

Wally chuckled, "Didn't know you could still do that."

"Let's, please, try to stay focused?" Flash announced, "Captain, the best way to keep the city safe is to keep the citizens at a safe distance, you handle that…"

"And we handle Neutron, right?" Impulse finished as they all gave him a glance.

"Right, wait, how did you know his name?"

Impulse scratched his neck and threw his hands up, "Heard him shout it, like, 'I am Neutron all of you will die,' anyways, what's the plan?"

Flash smiled, "Remember that trick you caught me with earlier?"

"Sure, I remember, I was there, so were you, good times."

"We do it again, on a bigger scale, you, me Kid Flash, Fasttrack," they begun speaking at super-speeds where even Ben and Wally had trouble listening, "Around-the-perimeter-of-the-explosive-wave."

"The-funnel-draws-him-upwards!" Impulse responded speaking even faster than him.

"Funnel-him-up-and-out-of-the-city, piece-of-cake."

The Captain raised his brow and looked over to Fasttrack and Kid Flash, "You guys getting any of this?"

Fasttrack looked at them and back to him, "Every fifth word, maybe? Flash, Flash!"

"Oh, sorry guys, are you in?"

Wally scoffed, "In what? I heard something about funnel cake?"

Impulse smiled and winked, "Just follow our lead, kids," he and Flash zipped off towards Neutron at the speed of lightening leaving Fasttrack and Kid Flash to scoff and speed after them several times slower. They approached the cascading energy waves and circled around them at impressive speeds, creating an updraft of intense winds that followed them; Wally ran at mach ten, Fasttrack at around seventy times the speed of sound, while Flash and Impulse flew passed them both at several hundred times sound-speed.

Wally scoffed at the other three speedsters running passed him over and over, "Ugh, fine, lap me; I'm used to it!" he then saw even Ben lapping him several times before pushing himself, "Aw, come on!"

The wind funnel flew up and took Neutron with him as his energy waves were pulled up into the sky as well; "No! This interference will not stand!" His cascading waves became more frequent and faster than before, his own body generating more power than ever before as a crimson light exploded beneath the suit. He went critical and the energy exploded outward with the force of a small hydrogen bomb, the force exploded outward as Fasttrack, Impulse, and Flash were guaranteed to make it out but, Kid Flash was falling behind severely. Fasttrack and Flash grabbed him by the arms and sped faster away as Kid Flash groaned in embarrassment, "This is so humiliating!" Buildings were torn apart and the street was ripped up from the ground behind them as it slowly began dissipating.

They all came to a controlled stop aside from Kid Flash who stumbled forward, barely catching his balance, glancing back to see the towering mushroom cloud; Impulse took on a serious glare and approached the direction of the blast as Barry put a hand on his shoulder, "Where do you think you're going?"

Bart quickly put a perfect smile on, "Just wanted a closer look, I mean, Neutron totally felt the mode, he's gone, what can it hurt?"

Wally approached and lowered his goggles down over his eyes, scanning ground-zero through different spectrums, "He's not so much feeling modes as he is putting his body back together from scratch…" he watched as glowing bone formed in the smoke followed by muscle and skin.

Fasttrack sighed, "I hate when the bad-guy regenerates."

"I think that get-up he was wearing before was some sort of containment suit," he focused in with his goggles and got a better look, "Without it he's even less stable; looks to me like he's gonna blow again."

Fasttrack stepped up next to Wally and crossed his arms, "Probably bigger than before, too."

"Wally, let me see those," Flash demanded as Kid Flash handed the goggles over, slipping them on he zoomed in on Neutron's energy aura and saw something only an intensely fast set of senses could see. He witnessed the energy cascading off of him in slower increments, allowing for split second intervals between each pulse, "There are fluctuations now between his energy waves!"

"I didn't see that!" Kid narrowed his eyes, almost in jealousy, as his senses had dulled over the last three years.

"You don't have the Allen family eyes," Impulse explained as Wally turned his glare towards him, almost growling.

"Don't make me hurt you…"

Flash lowered his goggles as Fasttrack stepped closer to hear his analysis, "Each fluctuation only lasts about a microsecond but, at near light speed I can swoop in, grab Neutron, and haul him to the desert where he cant hurt anyone else," As he heard this, Bart's eyes narrowed into a solemn stare, as if remembering something or noticing something he was old but, only connected the dots now. Fasttrack noticed this and tilted his head, something wasn't right with this kid.

"That sounds kinda…"

Flash shoved the goggles back in Wally's hands as speed-force lightning cackled around his arms and legs, "You three stay put, I'll be back in a flash!" He zipped away as his perception changed, everything around him slowed down and his body sped up to ninety-eight percent the speed of light, he dodged around craters and leapt over rubble suspended in mid-air. It was strange to be moving at this speed and see anyone, even another speedster, approaching from his side but, there he was… Bart Allen sprinted beside him.

The wave out in front of them dissipated slowly and the next was yet to form as Bart saluted toward his grand-father with a nervous smile; Barry looked back up and noticed energy in Neutron beginning to already grow, just then Bart tripped over a slab of rubble and caused them to topple over, landing one on top of the other in a heap. The speed-force being the only cosmic force allowing them to survive a fall at that speed without careening out of the continent.

Time approached its normal velocity as Barry and Bart looked up to see Neutron's energy seconds from going nuclear again; there wasn't enough time to stand and run away, they were doomed to be vaporized. At the last second, a crimson glowing figure with heat radiating off of it swooped in at the same speeds they approached with and grabbed them both, taking off towards safety before the explosion even went off.

When they were settled a quarter-mile away, they looked up to notice a new creature had saved them; it was XLR8 only his skin was completely layered by a glowing orange radiation with yellow outlines surging across his body leading to a Biomnitrix symbol on his chest.

Ben had clearly accessed his second Omnitrix to utilize the Biomnitrix system and fuse XLR8 with NRG whose true form was pure radiation; Wally approached Impulse with anger as he stepped up being a whole two feet taller, "You realize you almost got him killed right?"

"Sorry, I-"

XLRG stepped in between them to avoid any physical altercations, "Actually," he stated as he turned to Wally, "He saved him…"

Flash nodded and put a hand on Wally's shoulder, "Neutron's overload accelerated, even at my top speed? I never would have made it to the desert in time."

"Is he just going to regenerate again?" Wally asked as XLRG turned back to the smoking mushroom cloud.

"If he does, I'm not completely sure we can-" they turned and looked around, "Hey, where's the kid?"

Bart had sped away when no one was watching, he approached the massive crater which had only gotten deeper since the first explosion; Neutron had formed veins, bones, and muscle but, before he could finish regenerating, Bart pulled out a blue sphere from his skin-tight suit, the size of a berry, and tossed into the regenerating mass of energy. His body continued to form just as it had before only now it was free of any nuclear energy, no abnormalities what-so-ever; Bart simply looked down on him with a distasteful glare.

Flash, XLRG, and Kid Flash zipped in behind him seconds later as the man opened his eyes and stared at his hands, "Is that…?"

"Yea, might wanna get him a blanket or something," Impulse noted as Flash zipped away and returned with a green cloth throwing it over the man's back.

"W-Whats happening to me?"

"We're not sure, son."

Wally lowered his goggles and scanned the man thoroughly, "But, it looks like it's over now, his body temp is reading normal human now."

"What did happen?" XLRG asked as he slapped the dial on his chest and transformed back into his human form; Bart turned for a moment with casual smile, clearly hiding something behind it.

"No idea, guess ol' Neutron just ran out of juice…"

"Whose Neutron?" the man said with a questioning glare, still not understanding a thing about the situation.

…

Tibet; February 28th 2019; 12:49AM

The temple corridors were littered with dozens of unconscious or dead guards, snapped weapons, and broken armor shattered all about; Cheshire held one of the last men by the throat up against the wall before snapping his neck with a single motion and tossing him aside. Red Arrow was in a stand-off with the last man, finally firing an arrow into his foot where he shouted in pain, springing forward and drop-kicking the man in the chest sending him back into the vault doors they were obviously protecting. He slid down unconscious and toppled over as Roy huffed and watched Jade check on their baby who was still in the pouch around her neck, the child giggled as she lazily scanned the corridor of bodies.

"Should I be concerned with the obvious delight our child takes in the ultra-violence?" Roy lowered his bow and turned to his wife who shrugged in response.

"It runs in the family…"

He sighed, "Great, well," he turned to the crimson-velvet vault doors, "These are the doors they didn't want us anywhere near so…" He raised his bow, pulled back an arrow, and fired an explosive at the lock which shattered allowing the doors to creek open.

They stepped inside slowly and looked around, it was about sixty degrees colder in the room than outside and in the center were only two canisters, releasing a slow drift of cryogenic-mist; they approached and Cheshire allowed Roy time to stare at them.

She reached out with one hand and cradled Lian with the other, pressing a key that unlocked the canister on the right with a massive rush of steam, from inside a body came flopping out into Roy's arms. It was an identical man, perhaps very slightly younger, with short ginger hair and a missing right arm, bandaged at the stub.

Lian giggled, "Dos daddas!"

Cheshire tilted her head at the second canister, "What do we have here?"

Roy couldn't take his eyes off the original, "No time, Jade, we have to move."

She reached her hand out and wiped the frost from the canister glass and widened her eyes at what she saw frozen within, "Are you sure about that?"

Roy raised his brow and looked up, astonished, he quickly narrowed his eyes and glared, "No… I know someone who's going to want to see this."

They opened the canister as a tan boy, around eleven years old, flopped out just the same as Roy, wearing a tight black shirt with a white stripe down the middle and baggy pants, what caught their eyes the most was the glowing green light emanating from the thick black-grey wrist watch attached to his right arm.

…

Mount Justice; February 28th 2019; 7:34PM

"Impulse's DNA matches up with both Iris and you, Barry," Nightwing turned from the holo-screen that displayed his DNA sequence which he got from the glass he spat in earlier that day, looking towards the time-machine which sat in the center of the holo-ring, "And this thing is giving off both zeta and chronotron radiation."

Wally folded his arms with a sigh, "Which is what you'd hypothetically find radiating off of a time-machine."

Barry smiled and put his hand on his grandson's shoulder, "Which means you're exactly who you say you are."

"Ha," he shouted and turned to face Flash, "Told ya, anyways, it's been crash but, the future awaits! I gotta run!" His stale joke immediately caused Wally, Ben, and Barry to cringe simultaneously as Bart laughed hysterically, "See what I did there? With the run?"

Bart stepped towards his vehicle and placed his hand on the open hatch as Barry stepped forward, "Bart, thanks for coming and, I look forward to meeting you again for the first time and watching you grow up…" he placed his hands on his grandson's shoulders with a smile.

"That…will be crash," he gave his grandfather a sincere smile before wrapping his arms around his abdomen and embracing him, knowing he'd changed the timeline for the better, "So long!" he announced sliding into the time-machine and shutting the door.

They all waited in silence, expecting some Terminator-esque phenomenon of lights and energy but, it never came as they all gave unsure confused glances to each other until Beast Boy spoke up, "Maybe he's traveling forward one second at a time?"

Suddenly, the hatch was kicked open in frustration as Impulse stepped out, "Its not working!" he stepped out with anger and kicked the side of it letting out a loud bang, "The whole thing is fried!"

Barry tilted his head, "Can you fix it?"

Bart scoffed at him and turned back to the machine, "I'm a tourist! Not a chronal-expert! Look at me, I'm trapped in the stupid past!" he dragged his hands down his face in exhaustion as he looked down to his feet, "Ugh, I'm so moded…"

Ben narrowed his eyes in suspicion, "What a coincidence…" he muttered under his breath looking closely at the machine and Bart himself as he examined it. He was distracted from his thoughts by a phone call, he pulled out his cell phone and furrowed his brow at the caller I.D, "Hello?" he answered as he heard talking on the other end, "Hey, Roy… it's nice to hear from-" he stopped in his tracks as Nightwing stepped forwards.

"Excuse me?" he continued to listen but repeated his question to make sure he heard correctly, "You found what?"

…

A single boy, around six-teen, tinkered with a machine in the center of clearing amongst massive chunks of rubble; what was once Mount Justice was now a crater in the center of a small island whereas it was separated by flood-waters the engulfed half of Happy Harbor. He tossed the wrench aside and wiped the sweat from his brow before standing and running a hand through his brunette-locks.

"Wish I could go along," a voice announced itself from behind as the boy turned to face it, an old man, nearly seventy-years old, he was bald and wore a collar around his neck. He was missing his arm and his left eye as well; his remaining arm had a large scar across his wrist, where one might have worn a watch.

"Sorry, only seats one," they looked up where a thundering boom exploded above them in the clouds of ash that layered the planet and kept sun-light from naturally gleaming through. Soot routinely rained like snow at all times down around them due to the massive wars that had taken place only a few decades prior; the Vilgaxian forces fought for dominance over the planet with the only other competitor that had the numbers to challenge them. Explosions still occasionally rocked the planet from orbit as the two armadas constantly battled one another for the slightest edge.

"You understand the trip to the past will fry the machine's circuitry, this… this is a one-way ticket," he stepped closer as Bart Allen stood up and motioned to their surroundings.

"Does this look like a future worth returning to?"

He sighed and cracked his neck, "Welp, I better get in character, Ben Ten Thousand…" he sped off at super-speed as the man now identified as Ben closed his one eye.

"Please, don't call me that, I'm not that person anymore," motioned down and rubbed his wrist, feeling out the long scar that ran down his forearm where an Omnitrix once sat, "Curing Neutron and saving Flash's life, that should be enough to set the world on the right track," he pulled from his tattered cloak a small blue orb the size of a berry and placed it in the newly dressed up Impulse's hand, "But, that's not all that needs to be done."

Bart nodded and tucked away the orb, lowering his goggles over his eyes, "I know, Benjamin, big mission, lots to do…" He immediately stepped over to the machine behind them and sat inside, as the blue electricity surged around it, exploding with light and whisking him through the time stream, he was gone.

Suddenly, Ben looked around noticed changes, almost instantaneously; his eye was no longer missing, his clothes were of normal attire and his collar was gone but… the sky was dark and the thundering didn't stop even for a second, soot rained down from the skies normally and he still stood in the center of the crater that was once his home.

"No… No, no, no!" he looked to his wrist and found the same long scar running down his forearm, "It was all supposed to change at once, the time stream," he fell to his knees gripping the black snow, "It was all supposed to change… at once…"

…

Boom! One of the most interesting chapters yet… other than next chapter of course.

Stay tuned for, Depths.