Suicide Slum, Metropolis

Sometimes hanging around with a teenager had its downsides, especially if you're not Bruce Wayne and have some obsession with moulding orphans to fight in your "war". For Jason Todd, despite the fact he cared for Scarlet, the main reason he found working with a teen hard was that he liked drinking a lot more than Bruce did. He couldn't just bring Scarlet to the bar and get blind drunk anymore. As much as he cared about the kid, he acknowledged in his heart of hearts that he foolishly took her on during his latest stint as the Red Hood simply because he wanted a Robin of his own. The kid had no experience except that that freak, Professor Pyg, had made her into one of his doll things. Still, she did come handy in a fight despite that apparent lack of training. Only he of their Dynamic Duo could appreciate the cold, refreshing taste of a Pabst Blue Ribbon though. As little as he cared about underage drinking, he didn't want the kid getting black out drunk, which someone her age probably would on a session with him. So, he'd left her at the motel to watch cartoons or whatever kids do these days.

"You wanting another one, pretty boy?" Jason looked up from his bottle to see that surly bartender staring down at him, face red, nose bulbous and pockmarks greeting the former Boy Wonder turned murderous vigilante as he raised his tipsy eyes to acknowledge the question. He nodded in assent, placed five bucks on the bar, and downed the next bottle with aplomb. The place was a bit of a dive to say the least. A lot of Metropolis Meteors memorabilia and biker imagery scattered the walls and some of the guys he had sussed as planning to mug him as soon as he left. Guys usually got cocky when they same him without his guns, handsome guy not even twenty yet coming into a dive bar and drinking illegally among a variety of older men usually made the adventurous sorts feel they'd found a target. In his own way, Jason wished them luck. Somehow, he didn't think anyone from the Daily Planet drank here unless they were looking for a story. He had only come to Metropolis to meet with Clark, see how he was doing. Clark was an upright man, and more square than Bruce, but unlike the Dark Knight, the Man of Tomorrow tended not to throw people he cared about behind bars when they came to him in peace.

Jason did feel bad about how things had turned out since his return from the grave. He had killed before his death, though Bruce had never known for sure, but far less than since his regenerative bath all those years ago. The bloodlust which came from a dip in the Lazarus Pit had diminished by now, but still it disturbed him to think of how many people weren't breathing because of him. However, Jason knew in his bones that many of the lives he had taken didn't deserve to breathe the same air as the people they hurt or killed themselves. That was something Bruce could never appreciate. Bruce's first experience of death had been his parents being gunned down in a random act of violence. Apart from that, his childhood had been relatively lacking in anything sanguine. Jason had grown up in the Narrows, his dad working as a hood for any one of Batman's two-bit enemies that would hire him. And when his dad had died working for Two-Face, he was sent to Ma Gunn, who was like a more twisted version of Fagin masquerading as Maria Montessori. Jason agreed that not every bad person deserved to die, his own father being Exhibit A of how not everyone who commits a crime is pure evil. But then there was that clown…With his painted smile who had just beaten him and beaten him until he was dead. How did Bruce not cut his damn throat? Jason knew why really. It's not that Bruce didn't want to kill the Joker, it's just he felt there was a slippery slope involved. Ah, what did he know? Goddamn rich boy…

"What's your poison, Jay?" Jason turned around to see a red headed man with one arm sitting beside him. The guy's hair was cropped a lot shorter than Jason's and he seemed to have an attitude that behooved years of experience in the field. There was no mistaking this old comrade. Roy Harper. Jason could have punched him in the face and run away, and a big part of him wanted to. Even if this former Titan had gone rogue of late, he was still a super, and could detain the Red Hood or attack him. But since he was giving Earth's premier superhero the benefit of the doubt by being in this city anyway, he guessed that Arsenal deserved it too. "PBR, Speedy. I hope you're on the lemonade." The two locked hands in a crushing embrace before releasing, as a sign of greeting between two heroes. "Whiskey, thanks. So, what brings Gotham's black sheep all the way to Metropolis? You know with Superman here it's gonna' be pretty hard for you to do any merc work unless you're packing some Kryptonite."

"I'm actually looking to talk to Clark. Snuck in to the Planet as a mailboy earlier. They say he's on vacation visiting his mom in Smallville, and I ain't assed driving all the way to fucking Kansas."

"So, you're just waiting for him to fly home?"

"Not exactly. While he's not here, city still needs protection, what with the Guardian being gone."

"The Boy Wonder moves to the bright city across the pond. Who'd've thought? So, what exactly do you want to see Supes for? If Bruce isn't talking to you, he's hardly gonna'."

"That's personal, Harper."

"Oh, I get it. Someone's copying his big brother, Dicky."

Jason was indeed emulating Dick, who when he had been fired by Bruce went first to Clark Kent to find a way to change himself and become a new hero, independent of Batman. Clark had suggested the mantle of Nightwing to Dick, based on an old Kryptonian folk tale he had learned in the Fortress. That and Clark's sage kindly way compared to Bruce's constant seriousness was something Dick needed at that time when the man who had taken him in had fired him. Jason had lost more than that now. Dick had been fired by Bruce but he still had the Titans. Friends like Wally and Donna who would be there for him no matter what. Jason's actions had alienated him from nearly every hero. Even Dick barely wanted to know about him now. A big part of Jason said "Screw 'em," but there was a nagging longing for acceptance by those who had care for him once on some level by the young man.

"Dunno' whatcha' mean, Speedy. I'm an only child. Anyway, what're you doing in this neck of the woods, huh? Last I heard you were running with Slade Wilson. And Ollie, well, it's not like any of the sanctimonious supers are friends with him anymore. What could you possibly want in Metropolis?"

"I'm meeting a contact here. For work. Told me to meet him here to talk business."

"So, Slade really led you down that kind of path, huh? No wonder you ain't on the JLA's Christmas card list, either."

Roy looked sadly at his own drink, mulling on the events of the last few months, since he emerged from a coma to find his daughter and adopted hometown were all gone. Roy had lost himself into the despair, done terrible things, and Ollie...Ollie had avenged his granddaughter's death and been all but cast out like a leper by the JLA. The Green Arrow himself brought low and made into an outlaw because he took the life of a mass murderer. There isn't anything just about that as far as Roy or Jason were concerned. Arsenal knocked his drink back in one quick gulp, and looked to Jason with a maudlin but accepting expression. "Yeah, I was with Deathstroke. He nearly got me a way to bring my daughter back. I fought long and hard to bring her back...sold my soul. And in the end, I told him not to bother. Lian's better off where she is. She's in a better place."

"Yeah...heard about the little one. Sorry, man. That's rough. But how can you not want her back? Was Slade bringing back a clone or using a Lazarus Pit or something? 'Cuz I've been through that shit and it's rough at first, but she'd still be your kid."

"It had no repercussions…"

"Well, then, why didn't you do it?"

"Because my life has turned to hell and she shouldn't be part of it."

"Listen, Roy, I'd love more than anything for my mom and dad to be alive. And failing that, for Bruce to still love me like he used to. Your daughter, whether she's in a better place than this cesspool of a world we got or not isn't going to care. Because you're not there!"

Roy grabbed Jason by the neck, anger swelling in his face. The veins on his forehead were electrified, as the younger man stared defiantly into his eyes. The two were more alike than either would admit at this moment. Two broken men cast aside by those they loved for their sins, and in Roy's case this wasn't the first time."And what do you know about it, Red Hood? Huh?," Arsenal asked defiantly, spit hitting Red Hood in the face at a projectile pace, "The way I hear it you've sent plenty of people to that "better place"."

"Yeah," Jason smirked cockily, "Just like you and your old man have been doing." The punch landed squarely in Jason's jaw from what appeared to be a metal arm Roy had been hiding in his shirt. "Oh, that's it, you're fucking dead, Todd!" The whole bar became nothing but a chaotic scene as the two vigilantes kept one-upping each other in battle. Jason cut under Roy's feet and Roy began throwing darts at Todd, several grazing his arms and one lodging itself in his left kneecap. Then the bikers, who had reserved themselves to cheering the two fighters got involved, when Red Hood stumbled from a punch to the gut, breaking the nose of a tall, surly man with the back of his head. The pandemonium which followed seemed to go in this sequence: A chair in Jason's back, then a broken bottle in Roy's hip, before the bikers started hitting one another with pool cues and chains. The barman pulled out a shotgun and was about to fire it when suddenly the door burst open and a shadowy figure in a barely washed trench coat entered. Rubbing his hands together, this same figure uttered something in a language unheard by most hominids since prehistory and every person in the bar except Jason and Roy was frozen. The two of them looked at one another in confusion, getting their bearings only to notice that their wounds had vanished altogether. The figure, smoking a cigarette, which masked a disheveled but good looking face of a man in early middle age, blue eyed and with dirty blonde hair approached.

"I'd rather not my potential clients were on fighting terms," the man spoke in a broad Liverpudlian accent, "Or in anything but good shape, for that matter. Mr. Harper, Mr. Todd. The name is John…" Jason stood up with recognition. "You're Constanteen!," he shouted, a little too excitedly for his normal candour. "Who?" Roy asked before the stranger could reply. "You know, John Constanteen," Jason said, with a look on his face as if Roy were born yesterday, "That magic detective limey who killed Zatanna's dad." The Scouse occultist didn't like this young yank's attitude one bit. "I moisturise," he spoke with an air of menace, "And it's Constantine, you illiterate yankee doodle. Rhymes with Woodbine. God, does Batman not teach you urchins how to read? You'd think with the money Brucie boy has he'd get you elecution lessons, and all." Roy sidled over to Constantine, while Jason looked a little bashful at being put down so eloquently yet somehow in manner even more uncouth than his own. "So, you're my contact?" was Arsenal's question.

"Indeed, I am kid. Your old man, Ollie, called me all the way from Star City about a little predicament an old mate of mine is in. Way he described what's going down, I figure I'm gonna' need backup. Heard you and the bodysnatcher, Jericho, had a little team thing going on. So, I thought wouldn't be bad to have the sons of Green Arrow and Deathstroke watching me back. If Todd wants to come along, he can, but I ain't paying extra."

"Hey, first off, dickwad, I can read! Second, I've got a kid with me too!"

"Can she fight?"

"Um…yeah."

"Then bring her along for God's sake, it never stopped your dad."

"He's not…he's not my dad…"

Jason could barely say it as Constantine walked out of the bar shouting "If you want your money, Harper, you and your boyfriend better come with me." The two vigilantes shrugged at each other, no longer bothered with even trying to correct him, and followed the older man out of the door. As they departed, the public house found itself restored to its state of pandemonium and the shotgun blast tore through the arm of a particularly large biker. Such chaos was atypical even for the Suicide Slum, and would be at least as close to headline news in tomorrow's Daily Planet as page eighteen.

Allen Residence, Central City

"Barry, have you got the places set?" Iris shouted up the stairs at her husband as he began straightening his tie in every different knot possible in a matter of seconds. This was one thing he hadn't really enjoyed since coming back from the grave. Dressing himself. At least in Heaven or the Speed Force or wherever he was he didn't need to change out of his old Flash suit. The house was eerily the same as he and Iris had left it even though it had been over a decade since he had thought her dead, and just about that since he was definitely dead. Apparently, the people of the world had been told the truth but thanks to Clark and the Miracle Machine everyone somehow forgot. Barry was tempted to do as Wally had once done and go public, but Iris and others had convinced him it was best that he go back to his job with the police and be the Flash on the side. Wally had all but retired with his children becoming such a priority, mainly focusing on helping out the Titans while Barry acclimatised to his resurrection. After Garth's death and Roy going rogue that team had disbanded, with the likes of Donna Troy and Dick Grayson joining the Justice League for a time.

But during the whole debacle of Eobard Thawne's return just over a year ago not long after Barry's own, Wally's kids, particularly his daughter, had shown their courage in defending their family against such a threat. Whatever happened the legacy was intact, and the Flash Family would be going nowhere. Barry and Iris were hosting a big dinner today for all of the Allen-West family they could find. Barry's return had led to social occasions galore for the couple, but he felt bad that all their hobnobbing with the other heroes had led to them neglecting some of the rest of the family. Particularly their grandson, his namesake, Bart, who he had only really met upon being resurrected. That was some news to return to life to…your children are both dead and you have two grandchildren, one of them living a millennium in the future. Not exactly something to keep the spirits up. Still, the oddity of Barry Allen and his metahuman life had its perks. At least he thought all of these things in five seconds and was able to set the places right away as Iris had requested.

"Done, my lovely wife!" he slipped out as he zoomed to the kitchen and kissed Iris full on the lips. "Now, Barry, please! Our grandson's going to be here. And my father, don't forget him!" Barry had been reluctant to invite old Ira West, a man who had gone senile since Iris' original disappearance. Wally was the only one who visited his grandfather once a week before Iris had come back, but it was becoming less frequent now his kids had super speed and he had to rein them in. Not to mention Wally's father, Rudy, had been barely heard from since he left Wally's mother. With her sister being a further let-down, it left Iris to visit her father at least once a week. Thankfully, for her, the home had let him out for this family reunion. Iris thought her father should get to know his great-grandchildren. Not to mention she really wanted him to see Barry again, and let the world be normal. Barry had missed the last family picnic just before his mother's birthday, and upset Bart, the closest thing to a child they had, by making him think that Barry didn't care about him. Then, on the day of Barry's mother's birthday, things had seemed different. Barry just hugged Iris with a bear hug the next time he saw her and insisted they have dinner with Jai and Joan that night. The night after that Wally and Linda had been over. Now he was insisting on a West family reunion, with Iris' father in his dotage coming along. He probably would have gotten their granddaughter, Jenni, from Bart's time and Iris' birth parents if he could.

The first people at the door were the Garricks, of course. Even though they were well past seventy Jay and Joan had the energy of two people in their late fifties. "Jay, dear, did you remember the wine?" Jay raised his finger in realisation before returning almost in a flash of light with a bottle of rosette. "Why thank you, Jay," Iris said kindly as he handed it to her, "Umm, what vintage is it?" Jay pondered on that one. "Dunno', picked it up when me and Joan were in Belgium. Sped to the first Tuscan vineyard I could. Not sure if I skipped a time track." Trailing behind the Garricks was their ward of several years, Barry and Iris' grandson, Bart, who had been raised by the late Max Mercury before his own untimely demise, but it was decided that his honorary great-grandparents were best suited to taking care of him since. Even after Iris returned from the future and Barry's resurrection most deemed it right that he stay with Jay and Joan, who had provided him with the first real stability in his short life. Bart ran up to his grandmother and gave her a massive hug before acknowledging Barry who he begrudgingly nodded at.

Any melancholy Barry might have felt at this recent coldness he was feeling from his grandson, was alleviated by the fact that his nephew was at the door with his wife and children and grandfather in tow. Wally West, the Fastest Man Alive while Barry was gone for over a decade. Many people had come to accept Wally as the Flash more than Barry. In many ways, Barry felt sorry for Dick Grayson, not being able to move out of Bruce Wayne's shadow during the brief time he was Batman. But Wally had become a better Flash than his mentor. His uncle only outshone him in the minds of others because of his heroic sacrifice to save the multiverse. Remembering that, Barry suddenly had a bit of a shock to his system before instantly returning to his brave face as if nothing had happened. Wally's kids came in and hugged their uncle so tightly it almost hurt them. Ira laughed at the affection his great-grandchildren had for his son-in-law when they barely knew the man bar as their father's mentor and Aunt Iris' husband. Jai and Irey West. Named after two of the best people in Wally's life: Jay Garrick and his aunt, Iris. Wally's wife, Linda Park, was a beautiful woman of Korean descent who was more than a match for her hot-headed partner. She reminded Barry of Iris, the brilliant journalist who had married the forensic pathologist her nephew had first thought of as a complete bore, only made interesting by his connection to the Flash. Wally had been on teams with demi-goddesses like Donna Troy and when he was seventeen had been brainwashed into loving the daughter of a demon, but at the end of the day he settled with a woman who reminded him of his aunt. Another ace reporter who was more down to earth than anyone he had known in his life. And to make them even more like Barry and Iris, they had had twins. Except their twins were…anyway, Barry didn't want to think about that right now.

"It's so good to see you, Uncle Barry," Irey said with a smile that could melt butter in the mouth of the falsest adult on the planet. Jai and Irey hadn't seen Barry in a while since, like Bart, he had been ignoring them because of the family picnics he had been avoiding. Learning that Thawne had been responsible for his mother's death shook Barry quite heavily, and it had led him to focus more on his long dead parents than on the family he actually had. It was hard now too, because as he had told Bruce, he could remember that other life he had created growing up with his mother. It hurt him now since in a way time was stopping him from having his cake and eating it too. Either he could have had the world where he was a bachelor, his mother was alive, none of these people existed as they do now and the apocalypse was on the horizon because of war between Themyscira and Atlantis or he could have...this family. Barry realised now why he chose this reality, while looking into the face of his nephew's happy children. Even Jai seemed pleased to see him. The lad had been having it rough recently, since in the process of stopping Eobard Thawne after their grand uncle's resurrection, he severed his connection to the Speed Force. Jai still had super speed to some degree but was a turtle compared to his twin sister. Barry wanted to make sure this boy got as much love as needed these days.

"You kids are getting so big!," Barry grinned, "How old are you guys, now?" Linda slightly rolled her eyes in annoyance at the fact that because of time travel she and Wally now had two pre-teen children. "They'll be thirteen in a few weeks, Barry." Barry smiled to hide his pain in a display of love. "That's great. Thirteen! That's how old your dad was when I met him! He didn't like me much back then. Boring and stuffy. But you know who he loved, the Flash!" Iris was surprised to see her husband shower such affection on Wally's children all of a sudden when he had basically been avoiding the younger members of the family for a time now. Wally put his hand on his mentor's shoulder and said, "How wrong was I, Uncle Barry?" As the two old partners hugged, Barry began thinking even more about how fine a man Wally was.

Bart made a motion at Jai as if to say "Get a room" about the two of them and Jai snickered. Iris worried about those two boys. She knew Bart was an established hero at this point, but her grandson had been through a lot. Becoming an adult even more prematurely than he had become a teenager, dying violently at the hands of his evil clone and then coming back as a teenager again, yet he never seemed to talk about that brief period of adulthood. Joan looked disapprovingly at Bart when shew saw his immature action and he promptly stopped. For a seventeen-year-old who used to be a twenty-one-year-old, he could be frightfully immature. Wally's phone suddenly rang. "It's Dick. I better take this, haven't heard from him since Bruce settled back in Gotham. I'll only be a few minutes." Wally moved his head in the general direction of Bart and winked at his uncle, indicating that maybe grandfather should pay attention to grandson.

"So, Bart, how's school?" was all the Flash could think to ask. Bart looked at his grandfather a little confused. "Uh, it's fine," he shrugged, "Still kind of hard to adjust. Well, least I'm doing better than Conner. He's doing the SATs with nowhere near the experience of the rest of us." Barry grinned at the nonchalance of someone so young at the extraordinary. "Those Teen Titans doing good?," he added, trying to continue the conversation, "Funny to think that team's still going without Wally, Dick, Donna, Roy or Garth around." Linda butted in at that. "The League kept on without you, Mr. Founding Member."

"Touché," Barry smiled. Bart began uncomfortably addressing his grandfather's query. "Yeah, they're good. Except Tim. Haven't seen him in a while. He said he's got business back in Gotham. Damian didn't have any idea what he meant." Tim. That was a name Barry didn't really know. Then he remembered he was one of Bruce's old Robins. When Barry had last seen Bruce before his resurrection, Robin's name was Jason or something. Then when he came back Bruce was missing presumed dead. Dick was Batman and Bruce's son with a terrorist was Robin. To add insult to injury on that front, the kid had the same name as the child from the Omen. Yikes! "Well, I'm sure he'll be alright," he replied, "Am I hearing right that Slade Wilson's daughter is one of your number?" Bart looked slightly disapproving as his grandfather brought Rose up. "She is," he spoke defiantly, "And she's great. A little rough around the edges compared to the rest of us. But she hates her dad and everything he's done. No more than you must hate-" Bart saw Wally making a slicing motion on his neck before he could mention the elephant in the room.

"You mean how Cobalt Blue was my twin brother? Yeah, Wally mentioned. Which basically makes the man who killed your great-grandmother my great-great-great-great….grand nephew or something. Yeah, Bart, you don't have to be defensive about it. I was only going to ask how the girl was. Dick mentioned how her dad drugged her to make her loyal. Not nice. Try to accept concern from an elder next time, eh, sonny."

"Fine…Grandpa."

Barry didn't mean to talk to Bart like that. Like he was his grandfather. Of course, he was his grandfather. But he didn't want to be. He wanted Bart's father to be a child, younger than Bart. Not dead a thousand years in the future. Iris quickly paced toward her husband and grandson. "Dinner's ready, you guys. Wally, you coming?" Wally was still gabbing on the phone. "Dick, man, it would be my honour. Have you guys set a date? You haven't asked her! Well, get right on it, man. Strike while the iron is hot. Okay, cool. Alright, love ya, man, I gotta' go, Iris has got dinner ready." Barry looked to his nephew with warmth as he took a seat beside him and across from Linda. Barry was across from Iris, who was beside her father, a man currently regaling Bart with tales of how he had revolutionised the field of quantum physics. "Not like your grandfather, not at all, eh, boy? Not some police scientist. Pfah! Speaking of which, your grandma has a hot potato who looks a lot like him." Iris coughed. "Um, Dad, this is Barry, remember?"

"What, it can't be? Iris you've been a widow for eight years. Come to think of it, weren't you dead for a while as well?" Bart quickly interceded as the twisted knots of conversations that needed to be had but weren't became apparent to all bar his great-grandfather. "It's okay, Gramps. Uh, Linda, you were just saying how the kids were—"

"Kids? Why I thought our young Wallace would make an honest woman of you first, Linda?"

"We're married, Ira. You were at the wedding…"

Iris put her hand on her father's and said "Remember, Dad?" Barry saw how upset Wally was at seeing the state of his grandfather's mental deterioration, so he quickly changed the subject. "So, what did Dick want, Wally?" His former partner smirked then, knowing that because Barry was here, he'd be alright. "Oh, well it's a bit of a secret…and I don't want motormouth over there telling the entire superhero community." Bart blanched as his cousin indicated him with his fork. "Who me?," he grinned inanely in reply, "I am the model of discretion, I will have you know, Wallace West." Ira looked up. "Not from my experience of you, Barty boy." That got a laugh from everyone on the table, even Bart. "Oh, Gramps! You crack me up. So, Wally, Dick get Barbara pregnant or something?"

"No!"

"Well, with the look on your face it's something juicy! Dick got Black Canary pregnant? No, no, maybe Oracle left him for Black Canary! No, wait I've got it! Barbara left him for Bruce!"

"What the Hell, Bart!"

"Yeah...uh, sorry. Trying to get that image out of my brain now."

"I know you're only kidding but imagine if someone took you seriously. There are some sick assholes out there, and the wrong bastard will here you-" Linda glowered at her husband after coughing rather loudly. "Wally! Jai and Irey are here." The former Flash spluttered his food from his mouth. "Oh, sorry. Don't worry, kids. Barbara isn't going to have a baby. She and Dick would have to pray to the stork…" Irey laughed at her father for that. "Dad, we already know where babies come from. Mom's just telling you to stop fucking cussing!" Linda's face fell in her hands at the idea of her daughter swearing in front of her great-grandfather and the Garricks. Ira perked up his ear. "What did the little whippersnapper fucking say?" The table just kept on laughing. Barry stood up to go.

"I'm just going to take a leak, guys." They all dismissed him easily. He picked up a nearby phone book and began looking for something. Bart and Wally reminding him he had had a brother adopted by the Thawnes earlier had gotten him thinking, what if there was another Thawne out there? Maybe a child of Malcolm's? Barry knew it was wrong to change the future, but this person was his niece or nephew and it wouldn't hurt to maybe let some selflessness into that family. Maybe then Eobard might not come true. Let's see, Tennyson, Thaw, Thawne! Eddie Thawne! Barry jotted the number on his hand and proceeded to head back to the table as Jay began regaling the family with a tale of him and Alan Scott fighting the Ultra-Humanite decades ago.

Amnesty Bay

The radio never damned worked in this place. This is why Mera always hated staying on the mainland. Too much going on, and not enough interesting people like the Justice League to talk to. The beautiful, crimson-haired former queen sat elegantly in the lighthouse she and her husband called home, fiddling with the radio in an effort to try and make some form of communication with the outside world. Arthur had planned to stay here for the next two years to train a boy Mera had saved from her own people many years ago, but now that boy was headed for Titans Tower, while Arthur and Lorena had left her here to wait for a potential guest. Someone who had given him coordinates in the ocean and specs on the weapons they had taken from her sister's Death Squad during their last adventure. Mera suspected a trap and so she had tried to radio the League for the last few days. No trouble. She would go, except Arthur said it was vital she stay at the lighthouse. Then a knock came to the door. In walked an old man with a beard. He was carrying a sack of seashells. "Well, ain't you a beauty, love? My Arthur doesn't half pick 'em." Mera reached for her trident below the table, about to skewer this interloper. "What do you mean, your Arthur? The only Arthur I know of is the surface name of my husband. Orin, the rightful King of Atlantis."

"Yeah, well, I found him more than forty year back and I calls him Arthur. Capisce! I reckons you do too. He doesn't look like an Orin. Too blonde. 'Dem Atlanteans can't be liking blondes, now can they?"

"Tell me who you are old man, before I dispatch you to Poseidon…who it seems you have just come from." Mera was not inaccurate in that description. The man was sopping wet and looked as if he'd been drowned. "Me, I'm Tom Curry, in't I. Arthur's father. Well, not by blood or nothing, then again I'm surprised I gots any of that in my veins, I've been under so long." It was at this point that Mera lost her patience. "You talk no sense, old man. Arthur's surface father has been dead for decades. And he'd be a much older man, than you." He smiled. "Didn't think a pretty girl like you, would pay an old buffer like me compliments. The fact is, though, ma'am, I am Tom Curry. And I have a message for my boy. Where is he?" Mera pursed her lips, refusing to dignify the stranger with a response, and his calm demeanour was replaced with one of indignation. "Well, all I can say is Mr. Edward Thawne has brought me back for Arthur. You can tell him that."

"Get out of here, old man!" Tom shambled his way out the door, disgusted at the rudeness of his daughter-in-law. Mera sat down and rested her head in her hands. "Arthur, what in the name of Poseidon are you doing? What madness is going on around here."

Mid-Atlantic Ridge

"Marco!" Arthur was not in the mood for the games of Lorena Marquez. As much as he loved the girl from Sub Diego like a daughter, his search for his country was not going to stop him. He had received a message from one named E.T. concerning weapons of Atlantean make and telling him to leave Mera behind. He felt it was a trap to even consider what this fool was suggesting but knew in his heart of hearts that if there was a chance his people lived, then he must go to them. He couldn't risk losing Mera having just returned from the grave himself, so he adhered to the demands, but still, a companion of similar abilities would be needed for any battle. Jackson would be alright with the Titans. He felt Lorena would make good backup here. The beautiful, tanned Latina teen wasn't impressed with her mentor at the moment however. "I said Marco!"

"Lorena, you can see where I am! Do you not know any other aquatic games?"

"Well, since we're scouring the ocean searching for something, I don't think water polo is exactly feasible. How about "I Spy"?"

"Fine! I spy with my little eye something beginning with A and G."

"Aquagirl?!"

"Warmer."

"Uh…"

"Come on, you know it."

"Oh! Annoying Girl! Hey!"

Arthur scoffed as Lorena flew up to him and swatted him playfully. He did enjoy the company of young people again. Lorena had been a good friend to him while he was exiled and had helped him through some dark times after his son, Koryak died in the destruction of Atlantis, as he had her when she lost her own family in the sinking of Sub Diego which keyed into a mutating gene within her, allowing her to become an Atlantean. Her parents and kid brothers weren't as lucky. Apart from Mera, or Garth if he were still with them, he would rather have no one else by his side as he tried to find his home. "Your turn, Lorena."

"Fine, I spy with my little eye, something beginning with M."

"Mackerel?"

"Nope, colder."

"Mermaids?"

"Warmer."

"Mermen."

"Ding ding ding! Specifically, mermen with guns."

"Wait, wh-"

Arthur felt the full force of a rifle's butt strike him in the face as they were surrounded by several troopers, all of them with fins, bedecked in dark amour and silver, horned helmets. The rifles were indeed of Atlantean design, just like the weapons they'd recovered after battling Black Manta and Siren's Death Squad recently. They were merpeople, tails protruding from their torso where legs would have been for most humans and Atlanteans. "Commander Vulko, sir," a leading soldier, evidently their commander, missing his right eye, spoke into his earpiece, "We've captured two interlopers in royal territory. A middle aged…" A look of revulsion came upon the man's face before he could utter the next word, "...blonde male…and a teenage girl. They seem familiar, sir." Arthur roused himself slightly recognising the name that had just been addressed by his present captor. "Vulko?"

"Pipe down, ya' golden haired barnacle!" Another rifle butt descended into his gut this time, from a larger, more brutish looking soldier to the one who had spoken with a man that bore the same name as his late vizier. He and Lorena were both pinned down and seemed to be surrounded by about five of these mermen. They had no tridents to compliment their guns…Odd choice in the Atlantic for a merperson. "Physical description, sir?" the commander continued, "He's a blonde, probably some wastrel of the depths who survived exposure. I understand that was an order, sir, I just...Very well, sir. He carries a large trident, with an orange scaled suit with green gloves. But what does...Oh, I see sir." The look in the commander's eyes seemed to be one of both awe and dread. "More than just another survivor, sir, by my reckoning...Absolutely, sir. We'll escort the rogue Prince Orin to the palace immediately." Two larger soldiers grabbed Aquaman before he could reach for his Trident while the burly one who had struck him held Lorena tightly, despite her protestations, both physical and audible. Arthur looked the commander in the eyes with defiance.

"Release me at once, man! I am your king! And how can you be talking to a dead man?"

"What are you babbling out, surface lover?"

"You called that man on your comm device, Vulko. That is impossible. Nuidis Vulko is dead!

"Well, of course he is. His nephew, Attalus Vulko is Commander of the Kingsguard of New Atlantis. You have the honour of addressing his second-in-command, exile, Murk Uildall. And you are wanted by the crown, Prince Orin. Commander Vulko has instructed us to bring you directly to His Majesty for questioning."

"What king? I am the one and only king of the Seven Seas! I am Orin, son of Queen Atlanna!"

"King Orm has declared you a wanted man, sir," Murk replied, "We need to find all the members of the royal family we can, he tells us." Arthur's stomach lurched. "Did you say Orm?" he trembled, his lip shaking just a little. "That's right sir," was the jocular reply from Murk, "Your brother has been waiting a long time for your return to our people." Orm Marius. Ocean Master. Arthur hadn't expected everything to be good news upon rising from the grave, but this was one of the worst possible scenarios he could have imagined His vile half-brother had built a New Atlantis in the two years since the city's destruction by the Spectre. And out here on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Was he this E.T. they'd been looking for? But what surprised him more was why Orm didn't want to execute him. "What does he want?"

"Want?" Murk scoffed a little, his missing eye becoming apparent beneath his horned helmet, "What more can family want of one another? He needs his brother to stand by his side, of course." That was the last thing Arthur had expected to hear. Orm had been many things in their years of conflict, but never one to offer an olive branch or talk of peace. "He wants me to help him," he asked incredulously, the disbelief clear on his face, "For what purpose?"

"To deliver us from war."

"War with whom?"

"The Amazons of Paradise Island."

Central City, 2520

Michael Jon Carter enjoyed being retired. It came with a lot of luxuries one tended not to afford when being a college football star or a time travelling wannabe superhero. It had been over thirty years since his foolish young self had run off back in time to become Booster Gold. Funny how things turned out. Back then, he was a kid who couldn't quit the fact he wasn't famous anymore. Now he was a father and a grandfather, who didn't desire being famous whatsoever. After all those years of turmoil in the 21st century, he had decided to come home with the money made from his Planet Krypton business, and soon caught the eye of a young model named Mary Thawne. Mary was strikingly beautiful to say the least; her hair was cascading raven with an aquiline nose that accentuated her round, comely face and yellow eyes. Her Ungaran maternal heritage caused the eye colour and her skin to be slightly redder than the complexion of a white human. With an interest in the 20th and 21st centuries and her telling him Booster Gold was her favourite of the "Legends" as she called the heroes of old, both of them had become instantly smitten with one another.

Michael saw he had married well, as the Thawnes were wealthy and part of the political elite in his time, though for some reason, Mary's grandfather never discussed his first marriage or his sons by it, and the former Booster Gold could guess the reason for that when he learned from Mary that one of her uncles had been named Eobard. The thought rarely came to dwell on his mind, however. Michael and Mary were married and had a son after a couple of years together, whom they named Ted after his best friend in the past. That kid was far more professional than his old man would ever be. When Ted Carter went back in time, he never used his real name, and didn't need corporate sponsors to show off. He just protected the time stream. Rip Hunter had saved the future while his father had clowned around the timestream in his day, not a care in the world. Rip, as Ted like to call himself, would suggest otherwise. Ted defended his father's legacy from any calumny as best he could, but Michael knew he could have been a better hero. But, then again, some people really loved him then too, including his son's namesake. The trips into the past were becoming less frequent for his son, as he had gotten married not long ago to a woman from the 20th century by the name of Bonnie Baxter seven years ago. They had a son named Jonas nine months later, who was the apple of his grandfather's eye to this day. He resembled Michael in many ways with a cheeky winning smile, but had the yellow eyes of his grandmother, Mary and the scraggly brown hair of his father. Ted had said he'd be coming home soon from a quiet mission and would be home today, and as ever unless he was needed for a mission, Michael didn't know where or when. But Mary and Michael would put on such a nice spread for the homecoming, and with Bonnie having remained to spend more time with Jonas on this occasion, Ted couldn't help but turn up on the appointed date and time. All Michael Jon Carter could think as he sat admiring Jonas playing with toys in the front room of his home was that life had turned out exceptionally well for him, against all odds. Exceptionally well indeed. That was when he heard the sound of his front doorbell.

"Don't worry, dear, I'll get it," Mary shouted from upstairs before he could react. He could hear her descending down to the door using her own legs, and he started quietly laughing at their shared eccentric assertions of independence, which in this instance manifested as not using some form of hovering device to move about the home. "Hell-oh" he heard concernedly from the door, in what was clearly his wife's voice, "Listen, you're not welcome here, I-" Something splashed and Michael could feel a slight damp on his hair. "It's those damn kids with water hoses again, isn't it, Mary?," he grumbled as he ran his hand through the liquid on his head, "Aw, and they put ketchup in it. That'll never—"

The man who was once, but now no longer, Booster Gold, was dumbfounded to see his wife's body lying prostrate before him upon arising from the chair, head removed from her body and blood everywhere. The red liquid on his hair, was not ketchup as he had suspected. It was her blood. The blood of the woman he loved. He looked to the doorway to see who had killed his wife and saw a man with crimson eyes in a yellow jumpsuit with blonde hair look at him. The symbol of the Flash seemed to be reversed on his torso. The man giggled. "Well, when your niece isn't going to let you in because you haven't gotten…ahead in life like them, what are you going to do?," was the malodorous question presented to Michael by the murdered as he cackled. He knew now who this man was. Only one person his wife would recognise and refuse entry would decapitate her and use such awful puns while doing so. Reaching surreptititously for his blaster, he could hear footsteps coming down the stairs. "Michael, Mary, who's that? Everything okay?" It was Bonnie, and furtively Michael glanced behind him to see Jonas wasn't even paying attention, not noticing his grandmother's silent decapitation or his grandfather's words with the intruder yet. Michael could contain himself no longer. He may have lost his wife but he wasn't going to let this man take his daughter-in-law and grandchild either. "Goddess damn you, Eobard Thawne," he muttered through gritted teeth. "How do you know who I—Oh, never mind." Eobard sucker punched him with super speed naturally too quickly for the former hero to grab his blaster, knocking Michael out. As consciousness faded, all he could hear were screams as the murderer zoomed upstairs…

He awoke to see his son cradling the dead bodies of his wife and child, and weeping. The younger man looked distinctly different, wearing a black trenchcoat with his hair gelled more and a thicker beard. Evidently, the last trip into the Time Vortex had been longer for him than it had been for then. Both father and son knew that intimately. Michael gathered himself and walked over to the weeping figure, placing his hand on his offspring's shoulder. "Ted…son, I'm sorry," he mumbled with genuine contrition, "He killed your mother. I couldn't stop him…" Rip stood and lunged at his father, though Michael was able to hold him back. "How dare you make this about Mum!" Ted screamed, his eyes bloodshot and wild while he pummeled his father's chest ineffectually," I've lost everything, Dad, everything!" Michael just held his child to him all the while, until eventually his head came to lay in the bosom of his parent, tears staining Michael's sweater. "It's okay…it's okay," he said kissing his adult child affectionately on the head, "You're right...but I've lost them too, son. Did you know this was going to happen?" Rip cried quietly into his father's chest. "Yes," he answered surprisingly, muffled by his own distress and his mouth being on another man's torso, "I came as quickly as I could. History's been changed. The Waverider records changed to say that for some reason, before Eobard Thawne left to fight Barry Allen in the past…he came here and killed his niece and her family. There's no mention of us, though. Dad, time has changed…Look at Earth in the late 20th century...your old home." He handed a device to his father which he recognised as one of his son's timey-wimey readers or whatever he called them. A blip seemed to occur at some point between the years 1985 and 2000. "But that's the time…I was on Earth," he asked perplexedly, "Are you trying to blame me for this?"

"No, read it…it says…it says, so many things change. I narrowed it down to shortly after the Black Lanterns rising. A few things happen, by the order is blurry. Superman disappears then…Gotham is destroyed by the League of Assassins…stuff we know didn't happen. But look at the name of this preacher who appears out of nowhere…" Static appeared on the device as Rip Hunter adjust the screen, and the face of the preacher emerged subsequently with the initials, E.T. underneath, as a bedraggled, blonde man with a beard appeared on the screen. "E.T.?," Michael mused, biting his lip and rubbing his free hand into his chin, "As in…Eobard Thawne? But Ted, what does this have to do…"

"I'm not sure, Dad. All I know is that I was too late to save Mum and...Bonnie and Jonas. But we've got to act fast, because..." Ted looked to the floor in fear and then indicated a nearby window. "Take a look outside." Michael moved to the window and saw that one by one buildings were beginning to transform from edifices of brightness and human glory and achievement to decayed ruins of skyscrapers beneath a sky blazing crimson, slowly but surely. "The timeline," he muttered, almost to himself, "It's falling apart. The house must be protected by your tech...or because we're time travel paradoxes anyway." "It's been touch and go for a while," Ted mused, "Things occurred on their world a few years ago beyond my control...somehow I managed to anchor us in Hypertime, but things...larger than I or the old Time Masters were used to made real change happen, but we handled the fallout. This time the damage is too catastrophic. This time the Legends lost their war with evil so our time is no more. Time is dying because of Eobard Thawne and we can't do anything to stop it destroying our home. Just run…"

"But why hasn't he killed us."

"Because he wants us to try and stop him."

"And we're not, because?"

"Because it's irresponsible. You're around in that time, doing God knows what. And even if we do change things, you'll come back with them. The you and I standing here now as our timeline dies will be paradoxes...just like him. We can't do this, Dad!"

"We've still got to take that chance, Ted! Your wife and child and your mother are dead because of him. I never met the man when I was in the 20th century, how come he's not dead?"

"Well, he was…"

"Then we need to make sure he still is. Get me to that new Waverider of yours, now! And if we can't stop him then…I think I know the people who we might need for a trip through time."

"Is Batman one of them?"

"Maybe…"

"Okay, it might work then."

"'Atta boy! Come on then…for them!"

Star City

Green Arrow wiped his brow of sweat with the back of his right arm, exhausted from the trek he was currently on. It had been a day since he'd been tracking that Barry Allen doppelganger and the blue alien, but they seemed to vanish before he could do any more. As things stood now, Oliver Queen was still waiting on John Constantine, and more importantly on some backup. All he had managed to rope in was Mia Dearden: Speedy. Someone he trusted with his life. To be fair to her, Ollie didn't think anyone could say that about Constantine. And to be fair to him, Mia wasn't exactly an expert in the occult, which everything about this situation seemed to point towards. Still, Oliver always strove to do his best by Mia, especially knowing how much he'd failed Roy. "Ollie, I came all the way here from Titans Tower," Mia grumbled at the old man she owed her life to, " You said something about Swamp Thing in trouble and needing help." Ollie had his bow notched as they approached a clearing in the forest. This was where he had been tracking some kind of scavenger to for the past few hours. "What are we looking for?" Ollie pointed right into the clearing as he could see their quarry only a few yards ahead.

There, the alien and "Barry" were deep in conversation as they walked along. The doppelganger wore a white robe as though he were some form of messianic figure. "It feels so good to stretch my powers of life," the blonde man smirked as he closed his eyes and stretched his neck backwards so his face was directed to the sky when he opened them, "It's as though the most infinitesimal things are at my fingertips. The beating of a heart, the breath that enters an orifice...Do they come with temporal manipulation?" The blue alien gave an unnatural smile. "I wouldn't have thought that beyond your grasp regardless. But you seem confident. The Entity has put up no resistance as it suggested?"

"No, she seems to want me to hold her. To care for her. To use her powers as they were intended. The source of life. What do they call it in this time? Gaia? No, this isn't her. Something more primitive and dull. Mother Nature, that's it! Mother Nature, hmm. How trite. Still, whatever his or her name may or may not be, their power is mine. Now, onto the Fab Five...So, you're telling me that we need their children to be...older than they should be?"

"Indeed. The x-factor in most of their DNA won't have activated otherwise."

"Well, then they'll need to have lived all that time though. It might be hard to sell a six year old being twelve to even the most bereft of grieving parents, but the seeds will handle that as you said. And with the temporal element we can send the kiddies off somewhere to grow, somewhere without Mommy and Daddy where they won't be too traumatised...I'll think of where later. Not to mention we'll need that alien messiah you mentioned. What was his name?"

"I would rather not say, and you should not be so frank in your speech, my friend. There may be eavesdroppers."

"Oh, don't be so paranoid. No? Okay, back to the business at hand. Infiltration then? That, I can do."

Ollie felt like he had only heard less than half of the discussion as the blue alien flew away from the doppelganger without answering his question. "One of them's getting away, Ollie!" Mia shouted. She notched her own arrow into place and fired directly at the blonde man who grabbed it in his hand with super speed. "For God's sake!" Ollie shouted in annoyance, " Way to give us away there, kid. Still at least now we know he's more like Barry than we thought."

"I am everything and yet nothing like Barry Allen, Mr Queen," the doppelganger said even from the distance of several yards registering what they were saying, "You and your ward can come out of hiding, I shall not harm you. In fact, I hand myself willingly over to your custody." The man placed his hands behind his head and smiled as he got on his knees as if to solidify his surrender in their eyes. Ollie and Mia emerged from behind the trees. Green Arrow approached him with bow notched and had Speedy search the man. He smiled all the while in compliance. Mia finished her thorough search and looked to Ollie in confusion. "It would help if I knew what I was looking for," was the indignant reply. "Where is it?" Ollie asked aggressively, moving his bow and arrow closer to the man's face, "What did you take from Alec?"

"Oh, I'm afraid Krona has that," the man said in a manner that was so kindly it felt malevolent, "I can see by the look in your eyes, that you know of whom I speak. He's the one who brought me back you see. He needed to find the Entity and we were both in a sort of limbo." Neither Ollie nor Mia could really fathom what this fellow was saying. So, Mia responded the best way either of them could. By pressing her arrow directly into his face, even closer than Ollie had gotten. "Speak English, asshole," she said through gritted teeth, paradoxically becoming the badder cop compared to her mentor looking intently at his appearance, "And Ollie has got a point…you do look like the Allens."

"I'm afraid even at this range, Mia Dearden, you couldn't hope to strike me down. But I appreciate you taking me seriously enough to do it. Though, really I mean neither of you any harm whatsoever."

Mia looked at Ollie with confusion. "How the hell do you know my name!" she shouted at him though her eyes remained on Green Arrow. "Knowledge is a treasure that must be obtained through trial," was the esoteric response from the man who phased both heroes with every silkily intoned word he spoke. Ollie shook his head to remove himself from the bamboozlement he was currently undergoing. "Look, it's obvious you're the Reverse-Flash," he growled at his foe, "Wally told me all about your little plastic surgery number. You look just like Barry Allen, and Barry wouldn't attack Swamp Thing."

"It's as good a guess, as any. Maybe I am Eobard Thawne, Oliver Queen. Maybe I'm Hunter Zolomon or John Fox or God knows how many speedsters you've never even met. I don't really know anymore. I can't remember anything before I discovered life, and that was only yesterday. But I know that I am dangerous, and am glad you've found me. I would like you to bring me directly to the Justice League Watchtower."

"Fat fucking chance. I'm calling Hal and he's taking you to Oa. Only a Sciencell can hold you, Thawne. And it's the least you deserve. Might draw that friend of yours out as well…"

"Oliver Queen, you do not want to hurt me."

"I'll kill you if I have to."

"No, you won't, Oliver. You still can't wash the blood of Prometheus off your hands, can you? And you taught your young charge here not to kill, so she won't fire her arrow either. But there's a better reason than squeamishness why neither of you will draw any blood from this form."

"And why's that?" Ollie asked, shaken by the accurate assessment of his enemy. Breathing in deeply, his eyes seemed to enter the back of his head an an exhalation occurred. Both archers tensed themselves, awaiting an attack but none came by the time he returned to normal. Green Arrow, even on the wildest days of the League, felt he had never been more intimidated or scared by the outlandish as he did now. The man he assumed was Thawne nodded to their direct left. In that direction was a preteen girl down by the lake who seemed to be running towards them. "Grandpa!" was the cry of happiness that issued forth from the girl with dark hair, green eyes and a face with some East Asian features, "Aunt Mia!" Mia lowered her bow in utter shock, fell on her knees and embraced the child as she ran into her arms. Ollie was similarly dumbfounded. This was impossible. Gaping, he turned to his quarry in disbelief. "How the hell did you do this?"

"I did nothing. The Entity did. She is your reward, Oliver Queen. She is the child who should have lived. She is Lian Harper."