New Justice: Madness of the League
Disclaimer: As usual, based on the Arrowverse
Copyright: Millma Verse
Facebook: Fanfiction Millma Verse Page
Alt Facebook: Comic World
Facebook Group: The Millma Verse
Instagram: Millma Verse
An Unconscious Collection
Rae was cooking a massive breakfast when everyone walked into the kitchen.
"Given up trying to figure out how Adam became Ray?" Kara asked; to Kara, of course, Ray Palmer was always Ray Palmer, but she trusted her wife that this had changed for her. Plus, the multiverse seemed to have known their Ray Palmer used to be called Adam, too.
"And you're focused on something more important," Chris said with a smile at the food. "Great big breakfast before I move back into my apartment in Metropolis."
"You need help with your food problem," Rae chuckled at Chris's comment. "But I never give up," Rae put some oatmeal in front of Leona, who was in her highchair. The girl stopped playing her toys, dropping them to the floor, to grab the oatmeal. "Just need good fuel to continue. M.I.A. has made a list of suspects."
Courtney gave a laugh as she took some of the waffles Rae had made for herself while Chris and Kara kind of just shrugged it off.
"Are you really going to continue texting the multiverse?" Kara asked, grabbing waffles of her own and joining everyone to eat.
Rae seemed to have finished the last of her massive breakfast, giving Leona a waffle to go with her oatmeal as well and went to eat herself. "Why not? It's my only lead," Rae said as she ate her breakfast.
The minute she was done putting the last bit of food in her mouth though, a portal opened in the kitchen. Clarky, who had been eating his own food, gave a bark and jumped in without any second guesses.
"I guess your mother has other plans for you," Kara said.
"Good, she can tell me exactly who changed history on my world and why, instead," Rae said, using a napkin to wipe her face and summoning her Speed Force outfit. She put her helmet on her head and went into the portal; it closed behind her.
"Why didn't she think of asking the Speed Force like thirty text messages ago?" Courtney asked and Chris gave a shrug, the boy still had his mouth full of food.
"She was having too much fun texting the multiverse anyway," Kara said with a shrug. "And you really need to see someone about that eating thing," Kara laughed at her adopted son who pouted at Kara. "I am going to go see if Sam is up." Kara went to go check on her sister.
-New Justice-
In Gotham, Sara put an arm around Selina. The two were in a courtroom together with Sara being there for moral support.
To avoid a trial and get a lesser sentence, Beth Kane, who they knew now preferred to be called Alice, and Kate Kane, who went by Mad Hatter, had agreed to list all their crimes. Sara and Selina were here since they were already named victims of one of the Wonderland Gang's crimes – the attempted murder of Helen, which Sara had stopped.
"How long will this take do you think?" Selina asked.
"There's no law that says we have to be here," Sara said.
"I want to hear what they have to say," Selina said, knowing the two were going to give some background too on how exactly they ended up like they were. These were still Bruce's cousins, still relation to her daughter... she needed to know. "You can leave if you want."
"No. I'm moral support," Sara said with a smile as Beth and Kate were led into the room and they all stood as the judge came in.
"The two Ms. Kanes would like to make a statement I believe," the judge said after everyone was seated. The sisters were both in yellow jumpsuits, although somehow Beth still had her white wig on, while Kate was without makeup entirely. They looked almost normal today. "Please, explain how you ended up like… this," the judge asked the sisters.
"We fell down a rabbit hole," Kate stated, with a smirk.
"The truth, if you will," the judge sighed, knowing he was going to get some sort of response like that.
"Fine. So, it started with a car accident," Kate sighed now…
-New Justice-
Rae was very familiar with her Speed Force mother by this point, so the older version of Kara petting Clarky didn't surprise her. The park area the Speed Force made for her was familiar.
"Okay, so before you send me to Sneezy, Dopey, or whichever of the Seven Dwarfs you want to send me to this time, I need to know," Rae said, figuring this was going to have something to do with one of the Speed Force's siblings. "Why is Adam Cray now Ray Palmer?"
"I knew you were going to ask this – you've been obsessing over it all night," the Speed Force chuckled. "But for the record, no Barry or speedster did it," the Speed Force explained. "It was Trigon," Rae raised an eyebrow. "The demon who is the father of, and possessed, Raven Roth. He was preforming a spell that would change the world into what he wanted but Adam Cray was caught in that spell before Courtney and Nora stopped Trigon. Adam's history was erased by the spell, but when he was out of it, the universe reset him to a more normal identity from his alternates. I also think my sister had something to do with it…"
"Which one?" Rae asked.
"The Sphere of the Gods," Speed Force said.
"Aunt Sphere? Why would she care about Adam not being Ray?" Rae asked.
"Him, she doesn't care about, but his new daughter Addison, on the other hand, is a child of the Sphere. She made her by using the world change," the Speed Force said.
"And the fact I was in Faithfulness being tested during all this time…?" Rae asked.
"A precaution. Just in case the worst had happened. You are a Paragon. If Trigon had been successful and changed the entire history of your world with the spell – including you – the consequences for the entire multiverse could have been deadly. Putting you with my sister protected you from the spell entirely and would have allowed you to reset your world back to the way it was in the worst-case scenario – as you once did with the Flashpoint timeline," the Speed Force explained.
"Don't remind me…" Rae groaned, thinking of her Flashpoint for a moment before giving a nod, not sure what else to say to this revelation. "Thank you… I suppose. Now, which of the Seven Dwarfs is causing trouble."
"I have told you I do not like you using that term for my siblings," the Speed Force frowned at Rae.
"And I love it, so I won't stop," Rae smirked. The Speed Force rolled her eyes at this.
"Okay. Well, my brother, the Collective Unconsciousness," the Speed Force said. "Well… most of the time he is a brother. He does tend to sometimes want to use a female face so would be my sister too."
"The one you sent that time travel device to?" Rae asked and the Speed Force gave a nod. "Well, what is Dopey doing?"
"Dopey…" the Speed Force sighed at the name. "Well, he has something he needs you to do and this something could cause a lot of trouble in the multiverse if you don't do it right," the Speed Force explained, making Rae raise an eyebrow. "I will let him explain. Take Clarky with you this time, as you might need the backup." Rae went to lift her dog to run him to the in-between place. "Oh, and Rae, if you insist on continuing with this Seven Dwarf comparison, I think Doc is more appropriate for Collective Unconsciousness," she was smirking as she said this.
"Okay," Rae muttered, a little unsure but then started to run.
-New Justice-
In a Gotham courtroom, the explanation as to what had happened to Kate and Beth was surprising – even to Sara. She knew that Bruce thought he'd lost his cousins in a car crash, when the Joker smashed a bus into the back of his cousin's mom's car and sent it tumbling off a bridge and into a ravine below.
This was all true, as miraculously, the two sisters had survived but their mom had perished in the accident; but they had been rescued by a madman called August Cartwright and locked away in his house to become forced friends with his only son, Jonathan Cartwright – the true identity of Mouse, it seemed.
In their isolation from the outside world, and forced to do unspeakable deeds for Cartwright, the two sisters had withdrawn into the Alice in Wonderland book and formed these new identities for each other: Mad Hatter and Alice.
One of those insane deeds August had forced the sisters to do, was to make faces for Jonathan, who had been badly scarred due to a previous attack by August himself. Beth had proved most effective in reshaping real skin, and using household ingredients to make sure those faces survived without a connection to a blood supply.
But as they had grown up, the two sister and Jonathan escaped from August, headed into the wider world under their new, twisted personas and had formed their own gang, the Wonderland Gang, to serve them, before eventually finding themselves in Gotham and with the unique challenge of Kate and Beth reclaiming their old lives, wanting to use the Wayne fortune to expand their Wonderland Gang ideals, to change the world.
Their story was unique, and it was terrible, but it still didn't raise reasonable doubt to the crimes they had committed, and it had been an open-and-shut case on getting the pair sentenced to life in Arkham Asylum, where the judge claimed they could get the "help" they so desperately needed. Not that Arkham was exactly the place for that help, but no one was to argue this sentence.
But that wasn't all for the trial, as the assets Kate and Beth had a claim to had been lost to them now and had to be redistributed to new owners. Interestingly, that was easy for the judge to deal with as he was happy enough to assign all the Kane sister's wealth back to the original occupier: the Wayne family. With Mary Hamilton getting back some of her own inheritance from the murder of her mother and step-father.
All in all, it proved a very successful procedure, with the best yet to come as Sara and Selina came back to Wayne manor to a surprisingly excited Tommy. They had barely been able to tell him what had happened in court before he interrupted them.
"We got it!" Tommy said as Sara and Selina headed to the living area to decompress.
"Got what?" Sara asked her husband as Selina went to kiss Helen. Tommy and Alfred had agreed to watch the kids while they were gone, and all were in the living area anyway.
"The Crows," Tommy said, making the two pause. "Well technically the Justice League owns them like the League owns my museum, but we bought it."
"How?" Selina asked.
"Well when Alice and Kate were convicted, the company was in ruins easy enough for someone with the power and money of the Justice League to pick up…" Tommy said.
"No, I meant how did you get the Flash to agree to that," Selina said, and Sara gave a laugh. As leader of the Justice League, a giant purchase such as the Crows had to be okayed by one of the three leaders, and as Sara hadn't heard of this until now that was down to Kara or Rae and buying a security company didn't seem like something either would agree to.
"There was a very reasonable argument I had Laurel make for me several days ago," Tommy said, and Sara had to give a smirk; Laurel convincing Rae made sense. "But Rae did say she didn't want this to be a money pit. If we can't make it the Crows are making money again, she will shut it down."
"Well, let's get into our outfits and to the Crows main headquarters," Sara said heading for the Batcave, knowing full well the last time she was in the Crows HQ had been to take down the Wonderland Gang entirely.
-New Justice-
Reaching the in-between place, Rae had to put Clarky down.
"I think we need to lessen the amount of food you eat," Rae said to the dog. "It's feels like you're getting heavier…" Clarky gave a growl at that, and Rae had to laugh and pet the boy on the head. "Collective Unconsciousness. Let's see what is in store for us this time..."
Rae opened the correct door and Clarky went running in. Rae took a breath before she followed, very glad as she walked in and didn't feel her connection to the Speed Force disappear. The Collective Unconsciousness knew she was coming and had prepared to make her comfortable.
Around her, the room looked like some type of control room of a ship. There were objects all around and one she recognized: the power source that had caused a time loop effect on her world.
"Don't touch," a voice called, and a man came out from behind the console. He was young, pale, and had brown floppy hair. He was wearing a checkered suit and a bowtie. "But you know all about that one, right, niece?"
"Uncle," Rae said. "What's with the bow tie?" Clarky was looking up at him as well.
"Bowties are cool," the Collective Unconsciousness said and Rae blinked. "Oh, let me guess, you know him looking like this…." the body changed. Now he was still a white man with brown hair, but he was slightly older, the hair was pointed out and he was wearing a different type of suit, he looked more smart, too.
"Louis Lane?" Rae asked, seeing the similarity to her Lois's brother.
"No," the Collective Unconsciousness pouted, and switched back to the other face. "The Doctor. From Doctor Who...? I decided to use his –or sometimes her – face when talking to you or others."
"Oh, now I get why mother Speed Force said to call you Doc," Rae said knowing of the show but never having watched it. "I believe you needed something?"
"Yes, yes," Collective Unconsciousness said, moving around the console. "You see, unlike my siblings I have continued making things that hold my power, like the Water Totem," Rae gave a nod, not knowing where this was going. "And well… you see, I kind of accidentally… threw four objects out into the multiverse. Total accident, but I need you to get them back before they ruin anything. I would, but I am afraid if I try to grab them, I could set them off. You, on the other hand, should be able to bring them back unharmed."
"Ruin anything?" Rae asked, wanting a full picture.
"Well, you see those four were still being made and are not exactly stable. The severity of what they can do would be different depending on the object," the Collective Unconsciousness explained. "You really should get my Sword in the Stone back first."
"Sword in the Stone?" Rae asked and Clarky gave a bark.
"I figured like King Arthur I could have whoever pulled the Sword from the Stone be worthy of its power – of my powers. It's the most powerful of the four. It's barely holding together outside of me. If it blows up, well, if the world it's on is lucky it will be a new Grand Canyon. If not so lucky well… mass extinction event," the Collective Unconsciousness said.
"What world?" Rae asked.
"I believe you call them Splitsville," the Collective Unconsciousness said.
"Little Rae," Rae mumbled, suddenly worried for her younger alternative. "Well, open the portal, please," the Collective Unconsciousness opened a portal and Rae and Clarky were fast through it. "Good luck niece!"
-New Justice-
Arriving on Splitsville, Rae wasn't surprised to find herself in the presence of her younger self, who was with her Barry.
"Hey, Big Me, what are you doing here?" Little Rae said, not surprised to see her older alternative.
"Whoa, she really is older," Barry commented; both he and this Rae were younger than the average Rae and Barry of the multiverse. If Rae remembered correctly Barry on this world was a police detective too as well as a speedster hero.
"Long story short, I need to find a Sword in the Stone…" Rae began, but paused at the look shared between the two. "What…?"
"Come with us," Little Rae smirked, nodding to Barry as she sped off, her Barry and New Justice Rae following; Rae recognizing where they were going as they ended up in Florida and Disney World – specifically, the Magic Kingdom Park. They stopped in front of a surprised group of guests to the park, who were trying to pull the sword from the stone.
"There we go," Barry said. "It appeared randomly overnight."
"Why do I always end up at Disney with multiverse people?" Little Rae asked, making eyes turn to her. "Last time was that Spirit of Halloween Park."
"Karry Universe Amelia?" Rae asked, and Little Rae gave a nod.
"So, what's the big deal with the sword?" Little Rae asked as the group trying to pull the sword from the stone left and Disney Cast Members kept their distance now, curious about the three speedsters.
"It's a Seven Forces creation," Rae said, receiving frowns from the two. "The Seven Forces of the Universes… sort of a big deal. But our uncle, the Collective Unconsciousness made it and accidentally sent it out. Apparently, it's unstable and will blow up."
"They can't level Disney!" Barry said, horror on his face as he said it.
"Bigger than that," Rae said. "Apparently if this blows up, it could cause an extinction level event."
"Is there smoke coming from the sword?" Little Rae asked, noticing it seemed to be steaming now.
"Yeah, I don't think we have long," Rae said, seeing the look on the two heroes faces. Then the stone started to glow. "Yeah, not long at all."
"Alright everyone, back away. Let's get this thing back where it belongs," Little Rae called out as people were getting curious. Barry put his hand on the sword but screamed out. The glove of his outfit melted, and his hand suddenly blistered with the heat, which itself healed almost instantly thanks to the Speed Force.
"Jetstream, back away and get the public away," Little Rae called out, and Barry gave a nod. The sword had clearly just gotten very dangerous.
"Um…." Rae said, putting her own hand on it cautiously, but it seemed the Speed Force fabric was providing some protections simple science hadn't.
"How do we get this out?" Little Rae asked.
"We need to run it," Rae said. "But it's too heavy. Flash Pup."
"Flash Dog," Little Rae called out and the two dogs came, having followed the pair from when Rae had arrived on the world. "Is it safe for them?"
"I hope so," Rae said, hating to put her dog in danger but it was the only way they were going to lift. "Lift the sword…" both Clarky and Daniel put their mouths around the hilt of the sword and manage to lift it – their Kryptonian powers likely protecting them from being burnt. Rae put both hands on the sword, putting Speed Force energy into it. The Speed Force energy seeming to calm the reaction the same way using a stable Totem had calmed an unstable Totem on her world.
"Need a hand?" Little Rae asked, putting her own two hands protected by her Speed Force outfit on the Stone and doing the same; the energy going through the Stone, to the Sword, and to the two dogs.
"We need to run," Rae said. "Will pick up speed together. What did you call him?" Rae nodded to Barry.
"Jetstream," Little Rae said.
"Jetstream!" Rae called, to Barry who turned. "Follow behind us. Throw in as much of your own Speed Force energy into us as you can. Hopefully it will be enough to give us enough speed we can get us, the sword, and the dogs into the in-between place. We don't have long. We got to run now."
"Got it," Barry said, and followed the two Raes as they ran. Barry threw his own energy at the two of them as long as he could until the two were too fast that he couldn't keep up.
The two Raes ran fast, taking in the extra energy from Barry until they broke the fold of the multiverse and luckily crashed pass the Speed Force into the in-between place. The two dogs letting go at this and moaning a bit.
"The door for collective unconsciousness," Rae panted, pointing and Little Rae got up from where she fell and opened the door.
The Sword and the Stone was still glowing and still looked ready to blow, and Rae had no idea what would happen if it did here. "Clarky, Daniel, I need you both to push this through the door," Rae felt sorry for the two, but they gave an obedient bark and both pushed it with their heads. One more giant pushed and it flew through the door.
"Meow," Rae heard and jumped as she saw Little Rae's cat.
"What?!" Rae asked.
"Oh, in my shadow," Little Rae said, and Rae gave a laugh as she went to check on her dog. He had burns on his mouth and head, but overall wasn't that badly injured. Spending some time in the yellow sun would heal him – the same for Daniel.
Rae opened the door for the Speed Force.
"Go, she'll send you both to Kara and you can get healed on my Earth," Rae informed the two dogs, and neither argued as they went through. "You can go too, Little Rae. I need to continue tracking down our Uncle's missing objects."
"You clearly need a hand," Little Rae smirked, petting Sha're. "Fun last adventure before I go back to school?"
"Sure," Rae said, and closed the door to the Speed Force. "Come on," she stated, the two walking through the still-open door to the Collective Unconsciousness.
The human figure of the Collective Unconsciousness was circling the Sword and the Stone, which no longer looked like it was going to blow up.
"Yes, yes, you're back safely and I think I know how to fix you so you can go to the multiverse…" the Collective Unconsciousness was mumbling.
"Do you want us to leave you alone?" Little Rae asked, and the figure turned around.
"Oh, no, no," the Collective Unconsciousness said. "I still need you and it seems I got two Raes for the price of one." Sha're gave a meow. "Oh, and a very special Shadow Cat… interesting. That could come in useful. Remember that, New Justice Rae," the Collective Unconsciousness winked but then straightened his bowtie as Rae raised an eyebrow. "Okay, so the next of my collection I need you to get back is based on Doctor Who's Sonic Screwdriver. It's stable enough it won't blow up, but once activated the sonic scream it causes will kill anyone in a two-block radius."
"Kind of less from an extinction level event," Rae said.
"But still pretty dangerous…" Little Rae pointed out.
"Well, I would have put this lower on the list but because of where it is, I fear it will be activated soon. Go to your fellow Paragon, the Paragon of Humanity. It is there you will find my sonic," the Collective Unconsciousness said opening a portal.
"Which one is Humanity again?" Little Rae asked seeming nervous as she asked it but Big Rae didn't pick up the nervousness of her younger self.
"Oh yeah, you're the one who read the book that decoded her," Rae said. "Beautiful Kayla." Little Rae paused at this, but Big Rae didn't notice as she went through the portal.
"I know," the Collective Unconsciousness nodded to Little Rae. "Be careful what you say about the Paragon of Humanity."
"Yeah…" Little Rae sighed, following her other world self through the portal now.
-New Justice-
When they exited the portal, the two Raes were clearly on a studio set. Big Rae saw Kayla in what must have been her outfit for Doctor Who. Luckily, she saw Daphne and Zari with Marley, Ruby, and the baby Danielle not far off. She put a finger over her mouth, indicating for her younger self to be quiet. Rae then turned invisible, and her younger self followed, turning her cat invisible with her.
The two went over to Daphne and Rae put a hand on her shoulder. Daphne jumped, startled.
"It's New Justice Rae," Rae whispered so only Daphne and the kids could hear.
"And Splitsville," Little Rae added.
"Can you get Kayla for me?" Rae asked.
"Are you invisible?" Daphne asked, looking around.
"Yes," Rae whispered turning her hand visible for a moment. "Speedster power."
"Okay," Daphne said, not questioning it and handing Dani over to Zari who gave a nod. "Stay here with invisible Aunt Rae."
"We're going to be in Doctor Who," Ruby said, looking at the direction she had seen the hand. "Mama Kayla managed to get us all in."
"It's a small scene," Zari added, rocking Danielle. "Well, besides Dani here who gets to play her mom's character in flashback." Dani gave a clap of her hands as if she understood.
Daphne came back with Kayla now, who seemed confused.
"Erm, come on a bit over here," Daphne said, and they all walked towards the back of the set to where the dressing rooms were. No one was there right now.
The two Raes turned visible again.
"Really? I told you no one changed your timeline," Kayla groaned, figuring that was what this was about.
"She contacted you about that too?" Little Rae said.
"I contacted everyone," Big Rae pointed out. "And not what this is about. The Collective Unconsciousness sent us."
"One of the Speed Force's siblings?" Kayla asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, he accidentally sent some weapons he created out into the multiverse, and they aren't ready yet. He wants us to collect them before they do untold damage," Big Rae said.
"One is here. It's apparently based on the Doctor's sonic screwdriver?" Little Rae stated, not quite meeting Kayla's eye at this.
Kayla paused for a moment, though.
"You're joking right?" Kayla asked and the two shook their heads. "Come here…" Kayla sighed, opening a door. "Prop room. This container holds the sonic screwdrivers." Kayla opened the container. "They have several for Tom's new one. They still have copies of Jodie, Capaldi's, Smith's, and Tennant's screwdriver, just in case. And they made some based on Classic Who, once again, just in case and probably for the 60th Anniversary Specials. My point being, there are a lot of them."
"Yeah, no kidding," Big Rae said. "Let's test them all..." Rae looked at her younger counterpart, who frowned. "If it's like the Sword in the Stone, it would be hot to touch," Little Rae gave a nod at this, and the two went through every sonic in that container, just in case. None of them reacted to touch or did anything out of the ordinary.
"Not even a minute and you tested them all," Daphne said, having followed them in and surprised at the speed of the speedsters.
"Kayla Kent!" A voice called out.
"I'm needed," Kayla said, moving out and back into the studio. "Sorry..." The two Raes went back with Daphne and the kids, unsure now.
"You know, he really does look like the Devil," Big Rae said, looking at Tom Ellis on the set and Marley pulled on her arm. "Yes?" Marley signed to Rae without speaking.
"Do you know sign language?" Little Rae asked.
"Yeah," Rae said, before Daphne or the other kids could comment. "She's saying Tom Ellis took one before…" Rae paused. "One of… sonic? Oh, crap," Tom and Kayla had already gotten into their scene with some new villain and Tom had a sonic in his hand.
Before either speedster could do something, he pushed a button on it and then a loud noise came out of it. Kayla and Krypto, being Kryptonian, were the first ones down – their hearing better, but it was a moment before everyone, but Marley was on their knees, holding their ears but the sound seems to get worst.
Rae signed to Marley with one hand to get the sonic. Marley turned and ran over to where Tom had placed it, it still vibrating without him touching it as he clutched at his own ears and picked it up. The vibration from the sound was starting to get to her too, but not as badly as those who could hear. Marley asked Rae what to do with it. Rae signed back to give it to the cat.
Marley obeyed, putting the sonic near Sha're who tossed it with her paw at Little Rae's shadow. The sonic disappeared into the shadow and the noise went away. People started to get up, some with blood coming out of their ears.
"What…?" Little Rae asked.
"It's in your shadow," Rae said. "We run and it will follow us into the Collective Unconsciousness like Sha're did before,"
Without a shadow in the Forces, Sha're had been forced to pop out but had been unharmed by it, after all.
"We better run now," Little Rae said, and Big Rae gave a nod.
"Thank you," Big Rae said, and signed to Marley and the two ran.
-New Justice-
As the two ran into the in-between place the sonic came out of Little Rae's shadow and the noise started again. Rae opened the door to the collective unconsciousness and Little Rae tossed it in quickly.
"Good job," Big Rae said.
"What? I'm having a hard time hearing," Little Rae said and Sha're meowed.
"That will go away for us," Big Rae said, giving Sha're a pet; the cat didn't seem to be hurt with no blood coming out of ears or anything – maybe her shadow powers protected her a bit or healed her, or maybe there was something more to this cat than she knew. "Let's give him another second before we go in…" she indicated the door to the Collective Unconsciousness, knowing he'd want some alone time with his invention before telling them where to go to next.
The two waited another minute or two before walking through the door.
The Collective Unconsciousness was holding the sonic now, playing with it and had a smile on his face.
"Nice work using the deaf girl," the Collective Unconsciousness said, finally putting the sonic down on a display case. "I suppose next up is the Knowledge Cap."
"A Knowledge Cap?" Little Rae asked.
"You put it on and know all the information the universe has to offer; be able to solve any problem you know," the Collective Unconsciousness explained. "I thought it would be able to help many heroes in the world, but there is a drawback."
"It melts the brain?" Rae asked.
"Good guess," the Collective Unconsciousness said.
"More like logical thinking. Too much knowledge, your brain goes into overload, bye-bye brain," Rae said.
"Yes well, it's on the world known as Canary Earth," the Collective Unconsciousness said. "I will send you to your alternate. She might have an idea on where it is." With that, the portal opened.
"Um… Canary?" Big Rae asked.
"Let me guess, you accused them of changing your timeline too?" Little Rae asked.
"Yes, only unlike every other world I accused I had never met them first. Wonder how we will respond to that…" Big Rae mused as her younger self laughed and left, with the two speedsters and one cat going through the portal.
-New Justice-
Back on New Justice's Gotham, Sara and Tommy walked into the Crows headquarters to see employees packing boxes. It was a skeletal staff, given most had been replaced by the Wonderland Gang, after all.
"What's going on here?" Sara called out; they were both in their outfits and the employees of the Crows turned to them.
"Kate and Beth are arrested, Jacob is dead. Mary Hamilton doesn't want to know this place. The Crows are dead," it was Sophie coming out of the main office.
"No, it's not. It's just under new ownership," Tommy said, confusing them. "The Justice League has bought the Crows." Everyone paused, clearly shocked.
"What does this mean?" One employee asked.
"It means you're back in business," Sara said. "The Justice League will float some money into the Crows to get it back up and running, but we want this to be profitable business. Sophie, you're getting a promotion. You will oversee the everyday business and get security jobs set up. The first order is hiring back everyone Alice and Kate fired, if you can – and hiring new people. We want retired military, FBI, police officers."
"Understood," Sophie said, smirking at the prospect.
"If you need a Justice League hand on any of your jobs, you know how to contact us," Tommy said to Sophie. "But we also want a team ready to come out on a moment's notice, day, or night, if we call – so to help keep civilians away from battles. If this works out nicely, the Flash might agree to expand to other cities."
"On the other hand, if you become a money drain on the Justice League, she will shut this down," Sara warned. "So, get working. Make this profitable for everyone."
"Can we advertise on being owned by the Justice League?" Sophie said.
"Go crazy," Tommy said, knowing that would help promote the Crows to what they wanted, but the two decided to take that moment to leave.
-New Justice-
The Rae's portal opened in an empty club. Sha're gave a meow and a head popped out from behind the bar.
"Hi!" The familiar face of Rae's own alternate spoke. "Oh wow, I never met an alternate me before. One did text me last night." Little Rae pointed at Big Rae at that. "Oh, you're New Justice."
"Not here about time traveling," Bug Rae said to her Canary alternate, raising her hands quickly.
"Good, why do you have a younger twin?" Canary Rae asked.
"Our Splitsville alternate. Never really did figure out why she's so much younger than the rest of us," Rae shrugged, putting an arm around her younger self. It was a mystery after all since Splitsville was in the same year as them.
"Rae," a small voice called and out from a back room came Kori, otherwise known as Star on Karry Universe. Rae smiled at the alternate of the girl; she went to Themyscira as often as she could to spend time with Kori and bring her back to visit her sister in jail. "Um…."
"Kori, go back in and finish your summer reading," Canary Rae said. "If you want a snack, you can grab some from the fridge in there," that must have been what she was asking for because she gave a smile and went back inside. "So, when Karry visits things usually get interesting."
"I'm good friends with Karry too," Big Rae said, wanting to try not to get an instance dislike between alternates like what usually happened with her when they were the same age. "Look, we'll be out of your hair as fast as possible, but we were sent by a sibling of the Speed Force," Canary Rae pointed at a bar stool and the two sat down; Sha're jumped to the counter, Canary Rae giving a smile and petting the cat.
"A coke for you," Canary Rae said to her Splitsville alternate, filling a glass with ice and a coke. "And if you're anything like me, you'd like a Screwdriver."
"I don't really drink, but I'll try it," Rae said as Canary Rae made two of the drinks. Rae admitting it wasn't bad when she tried it. "Not bad."
"Can I try?" Splitsville Rae said.
"Ah," Canary Rae said pushing her hand away. "The club might be closed at the moment, but serving any alcohol to a minor can get our liquor license removed." Splitsville Rae, pouted but nodded. "So, what are you here for?"
"Well, the Collective Unconsciousness, the Speed Force's brother, has accidentally released objects he'd made out into the multiverse. They are unstable and he has asked us to find them and bring them back before they cause damage," Big Rae said, letting her counterpart listen. "One is here. It's called a Knowledge Cap. If someone puts it on it will destroy their brain."
"He said you might know where it is," Little Rae added.
Canary Rae paused for a moment, seeming to be thinking and then shrugged.
"I haven't seen any cap around here," Canary Rae said, continuing drinking her drink. "But you are welcome to look around."
At that moment a cellphone on the bar ran and Canary Rae grabbed it, looking at the caller I.D., and then answered it, putting it on speaker. "Hey Frankie," Canary Rae said.
"Are you alone?" Frankie asked.
"Only me, myself, and I," Canary Rae joked, and Little Rae gave out a laugh that caused soda to come up her nose. Rae gave a smile and a chuckle before taking a sip of the drink Canary Rae gave her.
"Well, um… did I tell you Winn and I gave your brother a job," Frankie said.
"I have no brother," Canary Rae said, now frowning. "If you're talking about the person who I unfortunately had to share the womb of a Wicked Witch with, then no."
"Wow, harsh," Little Rae said, and Big Rae gave her a slight push.
"Like you're on better terms with your twin," Rae whispered to her, and Little Rae gave a nod; she wasn't on the greatest terms with Rory or her mother, but her grandparents had started to be better towards her.
"Well, um…. Yes him. He seemed he wanted to get out from underneath your mom and become a new man. We decided to help him," Frankie said.
"Frankie, I really don't care who you hire for a toy company," Canary Rae said.
"The thing is something is wrong with him," Frankie said.
"Is he wearing anything on his head," Big Rae spoke up, obviously not causing Frankie confusion at the same voice as his Rae.
It seemed Frankie didn't notice any difference anyway because he just replied: "Yes, actually, he is. A toy replica of Rowena Ravenclaw's Lost Diadem. We can't get it off him," Frankie said.
"We'll be right there," Rae said and reached over to push the end button on Canary Rae's phone. She drank the last of her drink. "You got to show us the way."
"Um… sure, Mon?" Canary Rae called the last word louder and a door to a back room that must have been storage room opened and a Mon-El stuck his head out.
"Hey," Mon stated, pausing at seeing the three Rae.
"I'm going out for a bit. Kori is in the office, reading," Canary Rae stated.
"Sure," Mon said, blinking for a moment and then went back to what he was doing, deciding not to question the three identical speedsters.
"Was he back there this whole time?" Little Rae asked, but Canary Rae had run to get her outfit on and then ran off. Big Rae ran after her and Little Rae followed.
…
"You weren't kidding when you said 'me, myself, and I'," Frankie mused as the three arrived at a building named 'Schott Enterprises'. "Come on, we put him in our office. Winn is back there..." the three Rae's followed Frankie to a large office; Rae had to blink. It was the size of Cat Grant's office at CatCo.
Winn was sitting near a couch and the familiar face of Roland Garrick was lying on the couch, Big Rae remembered when the original Monitor had taken her and a bunch of Barrys to give them a warning – a Roland Garrick had turned up there too. She also knew the one from Hero a bit and kind of liked him.
This Roland had a Diadem on his head, a sort of tiara with gems.
"The Sword in the Stone, Doctor Who's sonic, and now Harry Potter... I think the Collective Unconsciousness has a thing for Britain," Little Rae mumbled.
"He chose two faces of Doctor Who too," Big Rae responded.
"We can't get it off him," Winn was saying.
"Why did he put it on?" Canary Rae asked.
"It's his job. He tests experimental toys for dangers. The thing is, we aren't even making a replica of Rowena Ravenclaw's Lost Diadem. Should possibly see if I could make a deal for that," Winn mumbled the last line more to himself.
"That isn't a replica," Big Rae sighed. "It's not plastic. Actual, gold and gems… or at least what a Force of the Universes can make." Rae wondered for a moment if Collective Unconsciousness got the gems from the Sphere of the Gods, like the Totems were. She had enough of them, judging by her experience with the Sphere. Big Rae put her hand on the Diadem – it was hot to the touch. "The power's coming off it is foreign to me. Like what it felt like when I was holding the Death Totem. This is definitely the Knowledge Cap we're looking for."
"What exactly does it do?" Canary Rae asked.
"Well, it's meant to make the person wearing it incredibly smart, but it will really overload his brain and melt it," Little Rae said as Rae tried herself to get it off Roe.
"We're going to need to bring him with us," Rae said, going to lift him. "Oh, you're heavier than Clarky…" Rae had carried people this size before, but to pick up the speed to get not only into the Speed Force and beyond would be difficult with so much dead weight. "One of you, grab his feet."
Canary Rae and Little Rae looked at each other before Canary Rae stepped forward. "If he dies, the woman I unfortunately have to call mother will be furious," Canary Rae said, picking up his feet.
"Little Rae, run in front of us. With you leading the way, it should make it easier for us to follow you into the in-between place and where is Sha're?" Rae asked and Sha're jumped out of her own shadow at that, Big Rae grabbing her cat. "She can't just put him in a shadow can she?"
"Too big for her," Little Rae said, shaking her head. "She can't take people into my shadow… or wherever it is she goes." Big Rae thought that would be the answer.
"Okay, back to plan A. Run," Big Rae said, and the three Raes ran out of the room, leaving Frankie and Winn alone.
"That was weird," Winn stated.
"You get used to it," Frankie sighed, worried for Roland.
…
Once they broke into the in-between place, Little Rae opened the door and Big Rae and Canary Rae continued to hold Roe as they walked inside.
"There it is!" the Collective Unconsciousness said, going over to them and easily taking the cap off Roe's head. "Very faulty... Probably should destroy this."
"What about him?" Canary Rae asked as they put Roe down; Roe still didn't move, even though the Diadem was off his head.
"A lot of damage was done to him…" the Collective Unconsciousness mused, glancing at the man. "He might be brain dead."
"You're a powerful Force of the Universe! You can't fix him?" Little Rae asked, taken aback.
"Maybe, but why should I? He unlike other versions of him, he is not my nephew. He's not even on good terms with my niece," the Collective Unconsciousness said giving a nod to Canary Rae. "Why should I fix him?"
"Because it's your mess," Big Rae pointed out. "You did this; you have to fix it," the Collective Unconsciousness pulled a face at this. "Don't make me have to go to my mother about this. I don't think she would be very happy if she has to fix her little brother's mess," Big Rae added.
"She rejected him," the Collective Unconsciousness pointed out. "Why would she care?"
"Because I am her favorite child and I care," Big Rae said. Canary Rae kept her mouth shut at this.
"Good point," the Collective Unconsciousness mused. "Fine, fine… I'll see what I can do to fix him."
"Maybe he will be your child," Big Rae said as Roe suddenly floated away from them and put on a bed – which itself appeared out of nowhere.
"Well, the Allen/Garrick line is the best, and one of my sisters did claim a Rae for her own, but if I was going to take a child from Canary I would choose Barry, not him. Not sure why my sister hasn't claimed Barry yet," the Collective Unconsciousness mused.
"Do you do this often?" Canary Rae asked Big Rae, who seemed to understand everything while she, herself, was lost.
"More than I care to admit," Big Rae said. "But now, I believe we have one more to track down?"
"Oh yeah… yes, and triple the Raes now," the Collective Unconsciousness said. "This last one is on home field for you." The Collective Unconsciousness was looking at Rae at this.
"My world?" Rae asked. "You leave the one on my home world for last?"
"Yes," the Collective Unconsciousness smirked. "It's also based on Doctor Who. A Fob Watch. It's been holding together better than the others, but it will explode and take out the building it's in. If it's opened, it will take out the entire block. I will send you to your Mon-El's antique shop. It landed in there."
"Seriously?" Big Rae sighed at that.
The portal opened, and Big Rae was first through. Sha're jumped in behind her with Little Rae and Canary Rae following.
-New Justice-
On New Justice, Mon was in his office and raised an eyebrow as the portal opened.
"Three of you?" Mon asked as Rae came out with her two alternates. He recognized one must be either the Little or Mini Rae that his Rae liked, being younger, but the other was a similar age to his Rae. Someone unknown to Mon.
"Fob Watch, where is it?" Mon knew it was his Rae from the outfit and the direct order.
"Fob Watch? Um… oh yeah, I found it this morning. I gave it to Mona to clean," Mon said and paused as Rae's outfit disappeared. Rae shrinking her helmet and putting it and her googles in her pocket.
She ran out into the shop floor, seeing Mona with the Fob Watch. She was about to open it and Rae ran grabbing the watch from Mona's hand before she could.
"Don't," Rae said, shocking the poor woman.
"What?" Mona asked.
"Turns out that belongs to her," Mon said coming in. "I forgot she left it for me to look at."
"Yeah, it was my fathers. Sentimental – and very delicate. Opening it could break it," Rae said, smirking to Mon at the quick story. "I'm just going to take this home now…" Rae saw her two alternates went invisible and gave them a nod. She opened the door, letting the two go out before she followed, the two turning visible once on the street with no one in sight.
"Nice job there," Canary Rae said. "Can I go home now?"
"Yes, Home Base will send you home," Rae said.
"I'll show her," Little Rae said. "Then go check on Daniel," Little Rae was petting Sha're as she said it.
"I'll take this to our uncle," Rae said, summoning her outfit again and running back to the Collective Unconsciousness.
-New Justice-
Running back to the in-between place, Rae moved straight through the door to the Collective Unconsciousness.
"The last one," Rae said, walking in and handing it to the man, who grinned.
"Thank you," the Collective Unconsciousness said taking the Fob Watch. "I can see why my sister likes her children so much. I won't forget you did this for me. When you need me, I'll be waiting."
"Sure, thing… Uncle Doc," Rae said, raising an eyebrow at the wording. Why would she need the Collective Unconsciousness in the future?
"Hehe. I do love being called that too," the Collective Unconsciousness said as a portal opened. "Back home for you, niece."
"Thanks," Rae said, going through the portal.
…
Rae came out of the portal into her home to Leona jumping at her, Rae taking her daughter happily.
"Little Rae is cooking," Kara said. "Daniel and Clarky are still healing up. They will be fine. Little Rae told me some of what happened."
"Ah good," Rae said, going to take a seat putting Leona on her lap.
"I'm curious," Courtney said. "Did the Speed Force tell you who changed history?" Little Rae looked up at that.
"Oh yeah, it was a demon named Trigon with a spell Adam got stuck in," Rae said. "By the way, good job stopping the spell from changing all of reality," Courtney gave a blink as Rae stood up. "I better go apologize to the multiverse now…"
With that, Rae ran out with Leona in her arms as her younger self laughed.
Post Chapter Note: And there you have it. Man, this got long. Hope you liked the Collective Unconsciousness and all his various objects, plus giving him the possibility of a child in Canary Roe. Also, the backstory of Kate and Beth here and the possible future of the Crows. Honestly, a security company working for the League isn't a bad idea, all things considered.
Please REVIEW.
Karry Master OUT!