Gotham, A Hundred Years from Now
Digging graves was never something Helena Kyle had gotten used to since Barbara and Damian had taken her in all those years ago. So many people had died in the line of fire with little to help them and the city so isolated, that makeshift graves or cremations became necessary. When they had walked out of the Waverider after it crashed into what was once the Gotham River, she had made her way to Arkham Island and found the irradiated skeletons of her brother and the Joker. She was now digging their graves and preparing to say a bit of the Rosary for their souls. "You're Catholic?" Rose Wilson asked her when she saw her praying as she held the beads tightly. "Yeah, Mom's family were really into that I heard," she answered a bit noncommittally, "My aunt was a nun, see. And my grandfather, my blood grandfather, was supposed to be a huge mob boss. So, you know, proud Italians. The Catholic thing was a big deal for my adopted parents too. I hear you knew these two before I did." Rose looked sullenly at the two corpses of people she had been teammates with.
"Yeah, I did. They were on the Titans with us. Tim was our leader for a bit. Really hot guy...kinda hard to imagine him being that clown. Damian and I really liked each other though. You would have liked him when he was younger. He was so serious it was hilarious. And somehow the most badass kid on the planet, while somehow being the least at the same time."
"Yeah, he always tried to be light-hearted around me. Smile more. Not that I saw him very often. I'll still miss him though."
"He's still alive back in our time, and not much younger than you."
"Do you really think we'll make it back to your time, Rose?"
"Probably not. But we've got to believe we're not stuck here for the rest of our lives."
"I suppose we do, don't we?"
On the Waverider, which seemed damaged beyond repair, Steel was working night and day to fix the engine and had been for the past month. The radiation they had all been exposed to was quickly relieved by the iodine Rip found in the medicinal cabinets. It was likely John Henry would have died from radiation poisoning if not for those. Ray had atomised himself to enter the wiring of the ship and reroute it. Ollie had gone hunting into the ruined city to try and find food, with the aid of Dinah Lance and John Constantine, while Mia Dearden went further afield with Bart Allen and Gar Logan. Conner and Kara remained in the medibay with Cassie and Zatanna trying to help them with physiotherapy while Raven performed spells on their mind to try and alleviate the trauma. They were given separate rooms to stay in as sometimes radiation poisoning resurfaced in Steel or John Constantine and they needed to stay in the medibay. Everyone left Bruce Wayne alone at this point except for Rip, Michael and sometimes Cassie who would bring him coffee and tell him his daughter wanted to talk to him. Bruce wouldn't even acknowledge her. By now he had grown a shaggy, black beard and his nails were long. Physically, he seemed fine although his muscle mass seemed not as up to scratch as normal because he was eating less. Rip and Michael constantly tried to convince him to come out and eat, while he would treat them with the same lack of acknowledgement as he would Cassie.
Once the burial of the Joker and Damian's preserved skeletons on Arkham Island was complete, it was decided to erect a similar memorial to Vixen and Firestorm. Ronnie Raymond and Jason Rusch had become a composite being with Martin Stein so it was hard to really compose a eulogy for them, but Beast Boy gave the mourning howl of a wolf for Mar'i. Her Anansi totem was found and taken by Constantine, who promised he would give it to Buddy Baker as he communed in his dreams with Vixen's soul. One evening, Constantine, Rip, Cassie, Dinah and Hal were all playing cards. "We're not making it out of here, are we?" Hal asked Rip, matter of factly. "Probably not," Rip told him. No one lost their temper. No one even bothered to correct him. Constantine just shrugged his shoulders and lit another cigarette with hellfire. No one was even mad at Rip or Michael anymore. They were as lost as the rest of them. Cassie and Conner had gotten to sharing a bed again, but he still slept most of the day and some mornings he woke up without even recognising her and screaming and calling for Raven. When that happened, she walked into Bruce's room and just stared at him blankly, almost understanding his pain.
One night, when this happened, Cassie actually decided to try and speak. "You heard what Dream said to me, didn't you? About how I need to be strong for you and be kind like Diana. I don't even really know you, Bruce, but I'm trying to do just that. That's why when my boyfriend had just woken up from a coma, I made sure you were alright going out there to meet Barbara. Even if I don't know how to help you, I'm going to try. I'm trying to help Conner at the minute and it's killing me. He's never going to be completely alright, but that's okay because I love him. Damn. This isn't something a seventeen-year-old girl should be thinking about, Wonder Girl or not. Committing to a man despite the fact he's lost a part of himself. That's like what people who are married for years do when one of them is paralysed, not teenagers. I'm sorry, I'm being selfish." She received a smile in reply to that. "That's the first time you've talked about yourself since you came here," Batman said. "And that's the first time you've talked in a month," she smirked. "I haven't had anything worthwhile to say," he shrugged his shoulders, "I told you once before not to take others' suffering on as your responsibility, Cassandra, even if you are a leader, or you'd end up like me. I can see that happening to you right now. Every time you come in here at night and just sit there, copying me. Tim once thought it wasn't healthy to copy me. Now he obsesses over it."
"You're his father. He loves you."
"He loves a lot of people. A lot of more stable people than me. Like Dick, Barbara, Stephanie, Conner, Bart…you."
"It's not the same, Bruce. You're his world. He was obsessed with you when he became Robin. Can't believe you didn't know he was on the spectrum when you first met him."
"Dick and Alfred figured it out quick enough. It's a shame his mother and father never saw the signs."
"Bruce, I'm sure that…that thing we saw. The Joker. I'm sure that whatever happened to Tim to make him that we can stop it. I believe in him."
"Just like he believed in me. I hope your faith in him doesn't break you, Cassandra. Now rest. Take the bed. You've had a long day and I've been sitting here doing nothing. I think I'll go to the bar for a minute. It's been a while since I left and everyone else is asleep."
"Ollie and Constantine are there, I think."
"Hmm. I suppose it'll be fine."
Bruce put on a bathrobe and gave Cassie his bed before heading out to the bar. "Fuck Bats, you look like death," Constantine said, pouring his friend some whiskey, not really acknowledging the enormity of his appearance fully. "Are you sure there's much of that left, John?" Ollie asked drunkenly, ignoring Bruce. "Enough for another month," was the forlorn reply, "Then we may go foraging in the supermarkets. Tell us, Bruce. Now that you deign us with your presence what you know of where we are." "Rip told me Hal said the spatial navigation system is completely kaput, so we can't travel through space, but that the time rotor is not beyond salvation. In other words, I know we're a century in the future, and therefore still in Gotham." "Yep, and your city didn't improve with age," Ollie said hitting Bruce on the shoulder, "Aw lighten up, man." "I can't, Ollie," he replied, not appearing even the slightest bit mad at such callous talk, "How would you like it if you came home and Roy had joined Merlyn or someone?" "Well, he's joined Thawne which is worse," Green Arrow butted in, "But yeah...this has got to be hard. I get it." "I'm here to begin moving on," Bruce inhaled deeply, I"'ve had a lot of time to think. The future is not set in stone. Dream said some of us would make it home, and I believe him. Do you?" Constantine just threw his hands in the air as if to say he had no idea before falling back on his chair.
On a hunt a week after Bruce's temporary awakening, Mia, Bart and Gar found a farm ten miles outside of Gotham. "Let's hope the fridge still works," Mia said as she nocked an arrow to prepare to take out any mutations or wild animals. They'd met a few of them and navigation was hard with the grass so long. Then Bart saw a figure emerge from the farmhouse and told her to lower her bow. It was some kind of man. A very old man with a long white beard carrying three bales of hay as if it were nothing. They then saw the farm had living animals and a teeming community of life. "People," Bart whispered to himself, "real, living people. I don't believe it." "Can't be," Gar shook his head, "Rip said the fallout from Gotham would have rendered this whole place uninhabitable for a hundred years." "Maybe it's only a recent settlement," Mia suggested. "No," Bart said thinking about it, "The infrastructure's too good. See, they've got a well and a greenhouse and everything. That can't have been set up overnight." Two men with guns then emerged from the tall grass and pointed them at Bart and Mia, not noticing Gar. "None of you move," a gruff voice spoke. "No one's moving," Bart said slowly getting on his hands and knees and putting his hands behind his back, indicating Mia should do the same while Gar turned into a squirrel and scurried away without them noticing he was even there. "What business do you have in the World of Tomorrow?" the same voice asked. "The World of Tomorrow?" Mia was incredulous at such a pretentious name. "Raiders probably," one of the guards said to the other, "This one's got a real primitive weapon. I hear they like to use those instead of guns sometimes."
"Look, can we just speak with whoever's in charge here and tell them what's up?" Mia asked sincerely. "On your feet then!" a guard shouted as they were frog marched to the farm. Closer up, without the grass restricting them they could see the place was indeed thriving, with a small school and children of all mix and match playing with one another. There must have been about eighty families in the area, with large fields of crops nearby. The tall grass was evidently uncut so as to deflect suspicion from them and to block the view of any raiders. Bart and Mia saw a green squirrel follow them, slowly but surely. They were brought into the farmhouse and saw the old man sitting there who had carried the hay. He had strong blue eyes which seemed familiar to both of them and his thinning hair had a slight curl on the front. "A century hasn't changed you all that much, has it, children?," the old man spoke with a warm familiarity, "At ease, men. Let me speak with these two alone."
"But, Brother, they might be raiders."
"It is alright, lads. Now go to your spouses. There's some acid rain incoming. You won't want to be outdoors for that. And neither will raiders. I'll be fine."
The two men nodded and exited while the old man poured a glass of fresh water for both of them. "Straight from our spring, it's healthy," he reassured them, "You know, it's amazing to see you both alive after everything I heard a hundred years ago." "Who are you?" Mia asked him. "You don't recognise me?" he asked, a bit perplexed, "Why would you, I suppose. I am over a hundred years old now. It's Superman. Clark Kent. At least I was Superman and Clark Kent. I'm just Brother Kal now." The revelation was stunning but made perfect sense. Beneath the long beard and white hair, he had Clark's bright blue Kryptonian eyes. As soon as the realisation was upon them all, Bart actually hugged him. "Oh my God, it's so good to see you," he shouted before releasing himself suddenly, "Wait a minute…what do you mean not Superman or Clark?" "Well, I gave up my powers a long time ago," Kal nodded, "Stupidly. Then I ended up in a coma for forty years after the Daily Planet was blown up by the Joker. Lost Lois before she had the kids thanks to that. I only managed to wake up because my powers slowly came back over time under hospital supervision. My medical bills were all paid for by the yearly pension still outcoming from a certain Fox family at the Wayne Foundation for me and my family, should I lose employment. By the time I recovered, the world was pretty much a mess. I have most of my powers back now, but seeing what the world had done without me, I decided to just try and find a community of my own. The Brotherhood of Krypton arose from that. They're gone now, but this is their legacy. Finding out what happened to Gotham inspired me to come out here and set up our commune. The World of Tomorrow."
"You gave up your powers?" Bart asked. "Yes, Eddie Thawne manipulated me," Kal apologetically admitted, "He did that to a lot of people. And in the end, he lost. Everyone lost. I'm just trying to tend the ashes from here on in." "That's terrible," Mia said, before likewise hugging the old man. "It's a hugging day for me, then!" Kal chuckled, resembling a very muscular Santa Claus in this jovial manner, "Dry your eyes, young ones. Now tell me how you came to be here." "We came on the Waverider," Bart began telling him, "Saved us from Deathstroke at Titans Tower." "He always swore he killed you, Kid Flash," Kal slightly shook his head. "He failed," was the certain reassurance he received, "Rip Hunter and Booster Gold rescued us. I was out for most of it, but from what I've gathered the mission's been a failure. Now, we're stuck here, with no hope of return."
"Well, it seems I must take you back to your ship. We shall talk to your friends and give them a new hope among our people. I owe it to all of them."
Kal then flew Bart and Mia back to the Waverider and introduced himself to all of the heroes there. Gar remained as an animal following them, having a feeling that if it was Superman, he would have realised who he was by now. He didn't change back until after Kal's conversation with Rip. So many were taken aback by his revelations. The team collectively accepted to head to the World of Tomorrow, which seemed much safer and happier than where they were. Kal brought the Waverider with them when Bruce Wayne wouldn't leave its confines initially. The open spaces and free air made things a lot easier for everyone. Six months passed there. Rip, Michael and Bruce began living in a house together, with them swearing they'd help alleviate his mind once he left the Waverider after two months. After four months, he began helping on the farms. Cassie, Conner and Kara all moved into Brother Kal's farmhouse. Conner and Kara's minds recovered quickly in this new environment with a more hopeful attitude among their peers. Cassie became a schoolteacher. Kal and Conner got to playing baseball of an evening as Kal tried to re-educate his son on being faster than a speeding bullet. "That's okay, Conner," was the paternal reassurance he received, "You need to crawl before you can run. You've made such progress. It's great to see you walking again."
"Yeah, but come on, Dad. I'm useless."
"No, you're not. You're a fine young man with a family who love you. That's never useless. Dad, eh? Huh. Time was Lois always called us brothers. Is it because I'm so old?"
"A bit. And…you are my Dad. I mean you've been helping me this whole time it feels like I'm back on the farm with Pa. I'm…sorry about Lois."
"Nothing could be done, Kon. Don't dwell on it. It does warm my heart to see you and Cassie so happy though. After everyone I've lost over the past century…it's good to have you back and contented, even if you're not in ship shape."
"Thanks, Dad."
Zatanna and Constantine shared a home with Ollie and Dinah at this point with both parties reigniting the spark of romance. "I feel so alone these days, do you ever feel that way?" Constantine asked the witch, one day. "Yes," she nodded, "But we all care about you…I like you. I always have. Despite your many failings." "Well, I always thought you were hot," he glibly said, trying to act like he didn't care. "You don't have to pretend to be a boor around me, John," Zat reminded him, "That is unless you want to stay feeling alone." "You don't want me anywhere near you 'luv," he shook his head, "Not after your Dad." "That was a mistake, John," she took his hand, "Forgive yourself a little...and maybe be honest with people about how you feel." "I get you too, I suppose," he added, trying to appear nonchalant, "And I like you. Now can we give this a go? Seems we're stuck in Little House on the Prairie for all eternity. I'd rather spend it with one of the less boring ones as a lover, thanks."
Ollie and Dinah finally decided to have the talk they'd been itching to have for a while. "You were right to leave me, you know that," Ollie said holding her hand one night on their couch after a few beers in the communal bar, "I failed our family. I let Lian die. And I killed out of shame for my own failure. I failed us again, like I did after...after Fyers. I lost it and I shot that man in the head." "Ollie…killing was never good for you, I know that," Dinah spoke lovingly and with affection, "I should have stood by you when we lost Lian. You did terrible things and I couldn't forgive you...but goddamn it, I still loved you. You were being a fool…but you'll always be my fool. You were the first boyfriend I had who had the courtesy to buy ear plugs for when we were making love. If my years with you have taught me anything, it's that through all our ups and downs we always get back together. It's just maybe a superhero's life is too hectic for two of them to be married. I might be generalising but that was always true with us." "This place is nice though," Ollie said, "It's not like in our time. There aren't any villains. I'm sure there's still bad people but no one here seems that way. Everyone cares for one another. If someone like the Joker were to appear here, he'd be cared for and healed. No one's dying of poverty and everyone gets a fair share of food and water."
"Marxism in action. Your dream, eh?"
"Yeah, it is, Dinah. I don't need to be Green Arrow here and you don't need to be Black Canary. We can try it again. Make it work."
"Don't you want to see Connor and Roy and Lian again?"
"Of course. But look on the bright side. We have Mia here. I will miss them, but like Bruce is going to have to, we should accept our fate. And we should count ourselves lucky we've got each other. Dinah Lance, my pretty bird, will you marry me…again?"
"Of course, my beautiful Robin Hood. I've been waiting ages for you to ask me again."
One day not long after Ollie and Dinah set these plans, Bruce was working the farm. His job was usually pulling a few crops and placing them in a sack. He tended to do this at dawn to avoid working with the others, but this morning Brother Kal had intentionally woken up with him. "Bruce, we haven't spoken at all since you came here," the older version of his friend said to him. "I heard everything I needed to hear from Cassandra," Bruce didn't even make eye contact, "You disappoint me, Clark." "How on Earth is this disappointing to you?" the former Superman was stunned, "I'm rebuilding the Earth bit by bit in a peaceful environment." Bruce put his sack down and looked Clark in the face. "It's not this place," he shook his head, "I'm actually proud of your little communist dream at the end of the world. This place is free of crime and full of people who love one another. No, what I'm disappointed about is that Superman allowed the world to end to begin with."
"Did he? I was afraid, Bruce. You weren't there when Titans Tower fell. When everyone told us Power Girl had done it. I was going to be a father, I—"
"Save it, Clark. I've not believed in many things in my life. Only three, really. Family, justice and you. All of them have been shaken. All of them have proven imperfect. But I believed in Superman, and the idea that he could make the world a better place. And you have…but not the way I imagined it. You stopped believing in Superman and the world burned, Clark. If you can do that, the most hopeful and kind-hearted man I know…then nothing is true."
"Cassie told me about what you saw just before you came here. About how Tim was the Joker. I'm sorry you had to see that, Bruce."
"I thought Jason was the most disappointing."
"You shouldn't think of your children that way."
"What do you know about child—Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't think."
"I know nothing about kids, Bruce, you're right. I thought I would never have them. But these people I found years ago, and their children and grandchildren…They're my family. And now I have Kon and Kara back. That's amazing. And maybe I'll get a baby cousin if Kara finds a nice partner here, or grandchildren if Cassie and Conner decide to have some kids in a few years. I never would have thought happiness could happen to me again, but I'm being proven wrong about that every day. And so, will you, old friend. You have a daughter now. Go to her. Be her father. She's been staying with Mia, Gar and Rachel for a while now. I think she needs you."
Bruce and Clark embraced warmly at that. "Ah, Kent, what did I ever do without you?" the Batman cried "I don't know, Bruce," was the laughing reply, "That answer eludes me to this day." That night, Bruce went to Garfield Logan and Rachel Roth's house, and had his first direct conversation with Helena in a long time. "You know I loved your mother, don't you?" he asked, "And I would have been the father you deserved had I been given half a chance." "I know," Helena replied, "and I'm sorry you had to see that happen to your son. I'm sure if he hadn't seen what he'd seen he'd have made a great brother." "You mean Damian?" he asked with curiosity. "No," she shook her head, "Tim." Father and daughter embraced after that and things began to become more and more normal for Bruce Wayne than they had ever been in his life. Helena became his life. He started following everyone else's example. He forgot about the past. Forgot about the foolish notion that they might prepare the Waverider and get home. Forgot everything Dream had told him.
Bart Allen had regained full control of his legs and was now one with the Speed Force again. Which was great and made him the perfect scout for potential attacks. He didn't care he wasn't travelling great lengths to do so. He just kept pushing the boat out and out on his own terms. He visited Conner and Cassie every day that he could. One day, he was having dinner at theirs while Kal was out with Kara. "So, how's the recovery going, Conner?" he asked. "Fine," Superboy said, "All thanks to this amazing demi-goddess by my side." He kissed Cassie on the head. She was wearing far more ordinary clothes than normal, a shirt and jeans without a hint of Amazon iconography as per usual. As was Conner, who no longer wore the House of El symbol on his black t-shirt and instead had a farmer's overalls a bit like Pa Kent. Bart himself was just wearing an old t-shirt one of the weavers in the village had made which said 'Hansen' to his chagrin. Kon had asked them to make it for his birthday.
"Being a scout must be fun," Cassie said. "It's alright when you get used to it," Bart shrugged, "There's very few raiders out there, but the way Kal and some of the security guys put it, there were a lot more in the early days." Bart then pulled out a Zippo lighter emblazoned with the symbol of the Omega Sanction. Darkseid's symbol. "Seems some of them were tied to Intergang and the Religion of Crime," he noted as he placed the article on the table. Conner picked up the lighter and looked at it skeptically. "You don't think they're still around," was the honest question that came from his mouth. Bart scoffed in reply. "No way. This is what Cheem gave me. Said his grandpa got one during the migration to Gotham after he shot a raider. It sounds like a really different world to what we're seeing. Like things only got worse after what happened to Gotham. Cheem's dad talked about growing up with the sky always red and fires burning from every direction. Said something about raiders eating babies and kidnapping families in the night. It was only when Brother Kal found them all with his people from Metropolis that things calmed down. Now it's like the people are okay."
"This is paradise," Conner said to himself, "It's just a shame it took so much suffering to bring it about." "Isn't that what history always was?" Cassie asked, "Suffering." "You sound like Bruce," Conner chuckled in a friendly and disarming manner. "Oh, don't talk about Mr Daddy Dearest like that anymore," Bart piped in. "It's funny isn't it," Conner laughed before settling himself down, "This place is a world that doesn't need us. After all we just went through. We're finally somewhere where we don't have to be superheroes. I thought someone like Bruce would go mad doing that. Now…he's a doting father. It's almost like he's gotten over seeing what happened to Tim." They all bowed their heads slightly sadly. "We'll never forget him," Cassie held her boyfriend's hand tightly saying that. "Shame your last memory of him isn't as pleasant as ours," Conner said, kissing her on the forehead. "So anyway," Cassie said, immediately changing the subject when she felt tears coming and looked Bart in the eye, "How's Rose taking all of this?"
"Alright, really. She's joined the guard now too. Said farm work's 'fucking boring'."
"You guys...you know?" Conner asked candidly which earned him a smack on the arm from his girlfriend. "Conner!" she hissed under her breath, "Please!" "We're um, thinking of getting together properly, yeah," Bart said as he coughed slightly, "I just think she misses home more than I do. The way I see it, I know we're not going to see anyone again, like Tim or my grandparents or hell, even my Dad and Aunt Dawn." "But we know they don't make it," Cassie said solemnly bowing her head, "That world I saw…we failed. The best thing we can call do now is start over. It's not going to be easy for any of us but I learned a long time ago you can't grieve forever. I'm glad the two of you are here, more than I can tell either of you. Mia and Kara too. But we're all going to miss Tim. And we just have to try and make up for the fact he's not here by remembering him as he was, not what he became because we weren't there for him." Bart walked over and entered into a group hug with his two friends who were crying quite fiercely now.
On the Waverider, Michael Carter brought two cups of coffee down to the engine room. "John, Ray," he said, cupping his eyes in hand in impatience, "you're never going to get this fixed." "Oh no?" John Henry said as suddenly lights lit all around them, "Six months while you and the others were eating corn with Grandpa Superman and we did it." Ray then jumped out of a ventilation shaft, regrowing himself in order to give Michael a big hug. "It's working?" Michael asked. Ray nodded. "Hal, get down here!" Ray shouted as Hal joined them. "You got it running then?" the test pilot asked, eager to get back to work. "Well, the engine's fixed as are all the life support systems," Steel remarked, taking his helmet off. "And I managed to purge all the radiation," Ray added. His hair was actually noticeably greyed. "Sorry, John Henry and I were five years in the Microverse there," he informed the befuddled Hal and Michael, "It was hell, but we can take this baby home."
"We couldn't fix the spatial navigators though. The time rotor's fine," John Henry pointed out. "We're just gonna' end up just outside Gotham a hundred years ago. Should be okay." "Except we've no fuel," Hal remarked. Michael nodded in agreement. "The fuel for a time machine is hard to come by. Zeiton-7. It can be mined on a few worlds, but nowhere on Earth. Our best bet is heading to Metropolis and scavenging some New Gods tech." "Well then, let's do that," Ray said, "I just spent five years trying to get this thing working, we can spare another week or so heading across the river. Which is dry, I'm guessing?" Ray's eyes landed on Hal's, who just shook his head and stormed off angrily. "Hal, what the hell?" Steel shouted up at him, "Don't walk away from me, Jordan." Michael held Steel back. "Listen John, there's very little chance there's anything there. The New Gods haven't lived for over a century and from what I know of Thawne an even better bet is heading to DC. That's where he kept his Mother Boxes. I'm not willing to go on that kind of expedition considering we know nothing about this era. We don't know what of North America is even above water anymore. And it might be for nothing."
"We've got to take that chance, Michael. I've got a niece at home who needs me. I can't just stay here and wait for the end."
"Nor me. My godson needs me as well back in Ivy Town. I took a chance to travel in time because I trusted you, Booster. You can't let us down like this."
"I'm not letting anyone down here. We've failed. It happens. Now everyone else is getting on with their lives. Go to DC if you want, see if I care. And if you come back through some miracle with Zeiton-7 bully for you."
Ray and John Henry did leave the village the next morning. They got maps from Brother Kal to the DEO and a safe route marked through what was left of the landmass. They were told it would take three months to get there by foot. Provided safely by their comrades with enough supplies they prepared to leave. And Hal Jordan was going to go with them until he had a talk with Oliver Queen. "Hal, what are you doing?" he said to his best friend as he saw him packing a bag with food and other essentials. "I'm going with Ray and Steel to find the DEO and get that Boom Tube fuel so we can get home," was the prepared and taciturn reply. "Hal, no," Green Arrow's disgruntlement flared, "You can't do it." "Ollie, there's nothing for me here," the test pilot shook his head, "And if you want to see Roy or Lian again you should really be coming with us."
"Hal, Dinah and I are getting remarried."
"You can do that back home!"
"We're never going back home! Do you think even Ray or Irons has the tech to successfully harness that stuff the way the New Gods do. Rip and Michael think it's stupid. You should too."
"I want to go home, Ollie. I have a life back home. I want to be with the woman I love."
"Carol and you aren't exactly Troilus and Cressida, you know that, Hal. You can settle down here and make a life. Plenty of attractive women who love the whole "I was one of the old superheroes" thing living around here."
"Ollie, this isn't our home. This is a future we should never have allowed to exist. I don't think this is going to work, but I have to try."
"Hal, I love you! You're my best friend in the whole world, you hear me? And I want you to be my best man. Come live with me and Dinah and Constantine and Zat. Don't focus on this pipe dream."
"Dream told me I'd only become Parallax if I stopped trying to be heroic."
"Dream was wrong about a lot of things. He said we'd make it home."
"No, he said some of us would. Vixen and Firestorm are dead, he obviously meant them...at least."
"You're not going to abandon us then, are you?"
"I…No. No, you're right. I can't just leave you guys. We're all we have left. Hell, if hotheads like Kid Flash and Superboy can move on, then why can't I? Oliver Queen, it would be my honour to be your best man."
"Thanks, Hal."
On patrol one night alone, Bart and Rose were busy hunting deer for the village in the nearby forest. "World of Tomorrow, my ass," Ravager said, following tracks and using her sword to cut through the clearing, "Nothing happens there. It's like living with the Amish." "Hardly, we've got clean water," Bart interjected, "And power. That's something." "Yeah, but what does actually occur over there?" she asked pointedly, "Zilch. And it may seem perfect but I know that can't last." Bart stopped in his tracks. "Why not?" he asked, worrying she might know something he didn't. "Because there's no such thing as paradise, Bart," he shook his head, "There's always a serpent in the garden." "Only serpent I can see is everyone else from back home not being here with us," Bart replied solemnly, "That's our punishment. We all get to live happy lives when the people we loved died in agony during a stinking apocalypse."
"I know. Sorry. You know I don't believe those idiots thinking we can get back. But I could strike out and fight raiders or something out here. Something exciting."
"Rose, your whole life has been defined by violence. By something you had no control over. You used to fight against that, but then your dad got his claws into you. Made you the new Ravager. You're just on edge because for the first time in a long while you're not fighting something. You're living like the rest of us. Day in, day out. It's hard for all of us to do it too, you know. Do you think I don't want to fight the Rogues again back home? Or that Cassie doesn't want to face some monstrous beast from the Underworld with her Amazon sisters again. We know that Helena might be making him happy but Bruce can't be content unless he's pulverising some good for nothing murderer."
They came to a clearing and saw a deer nestling by a pool, Rose loosed a bolt from her crossbow instantly at it, killing the animal. Swimming across, she got her Bowie knife out and began skinning the thing. Bart then sped across the water to her and put his hand on her shoulder. "Rose, talk to me," Kid Flash said calmly and with concern, "What's really upsetting you?" "Alright, I'm lying," she cried, "I just want to fight someone because that helped me drown out all the things I was missing in my life. Like good parents. Or a family. Not having it isn't helping me drown out the fact we've lost so many people. I never got to properly grieve for Amy or Zachary. None of us did. Now we know Tim's dead too. And everyone else. I just can't take it." Bart wrapped his arms around her in a hug. "Hey, Rose," he whispered, showing the genuine care he had for her, "Come here. We were here before months ago, you and me. Grieving and not being able to explain it. Just know that there are people here who love you. Conner and Cassie have missed you, they want you to go see them. I don't like only seeing you when we're out hunting either." Rose laid a massive kiss on Bart then. "I'm glad I finally got to do that without feeling guilty. And that I got to do it sober."
They began kissing more passionately and she fell on top of him. "I hope you're less of a prude than your boy, Tim," she said as Bart reciprocated the kiss and she began undressing herself. "Maybe you'll start wearing civvies again soon, gorgeous?" he said noting how she was still in full gear as the Ravager. "Don't push your luck, Freckles," she said between passionate kisses. And so, the relationship between Rose Wilson and Bart Allen properly began with them undressing by a lakeside with a dead deer lying nearby. And they say romance is dead.
Another night, Bruce Wayne took Helena Kyle out to see the stars. "My mother used to take me stargazing when we went on camping trips during the summer," Bruce smiled, "I know I've said this before but you do look just like her. And your own mother, of course." Helena did indeed resemble Martha in that her hair was more brown than black and her skin was paler than her mother's, but still very tanned. Her green, catlike eyes couldn't be mistaken as that of anyone but Selina Kyle's though. "Did you love her, Dad?" she asked, not taking her eyes off the stars. "My mother?" he laughed. "No, mine," Helena clarified, now making eye contact with her father. Bruce cleared his throat. "Yes," he candidly answered, "Madly. Like no other woman, and I've loved plenty of women." "Like Damian's mother?" she asked both for an answer and to elicit a reaction. "That was infinitely more complicated a romance than the one I had with Selina," he smiled, "At least Selina's father didn't force me to fight him in the desert for her love." Helena was much quieter now. "Is everything okay?" her father asked, putting a hand on hers. "Nothing just…you loved a woman who ended my world," tears were falling down her cheeks now, "We all know she ruled the world after Thawne fell, we weren't idiots. And she made Hurt launch the nuclear strike on Gotham. I know it was pretty much dead anyway, but because of her…my home is gone."
Bruce embraced his daughter to him and smelt her hair which reminded him so much of his late mother. "You can't blame Damian for her," he whispered, "No more than anyone can judge you on your mother being a jewel thief." "I'm not blaming Damian," Helena corrected him with slightly angered impatience, "I loved him, even if he wasn't exactly Mr Nice Guy. He and Barbara were the only family I had, and they basically hated each other. But they always put that aside for my sake. Like I was just one big avatar of everything they'd lost." "You're more than that, you're their sister," her father reminded her, "Someone very wise told me a while back that my children should be the focus of what I do and not my parents. I think they were absolutely right. When I saw Tim was the Joker, I realised I had failed to live up to that before I even had a chance. It's taken me a while to discern that you are that second chance for me, Helena." Helena kissed her father on the cheek and they both lay down on the grass. "So, have you been to that star before?" she asked pointing at random into the sky. "Let me see," he squinted, "I think that's Vega. No, but Dick was, with his girlfriend at the time…"
At the wedding of Dinah Lance and Oliver Queen, with Hal Jordan as best man and Zatanna Zatara as maid of honour, a large celebration was held, the largest in the village for many years. The bride and groom were so happy to finally be man and wife again while everyone else was even more happy to see them that way and to get drunk afterwards. Constantine and Zatanna sat with Bruce and Helena and laughed for hours. "I'm surprised you haven't cut tail and run yet, Bats, like the last wedding we were at," the occultist snickered, "Also, is that alcohol? I have been a good influence on you it seems." Bruce laughed along with him, and Zatanna was pleasantly surprised to see that not only was Bruce successfully recovering from his grief, but he was now a happier man than when he had lived in their native time. Michael Carter sat alone outside the dance hall with a solitary ale in his hand. His son moved down to join him when he saw the state his father was in.
"Wedding's in there, Dad. Don't you want to dance? You used to love dancing."
"We failed, son. I don't see much reason to dance."
"We didn't fail, Dad. We could never have won in the first place. Thawne lost. I know we couldn't change things, but hey, Mum, Bonnie and Jonas are all in a better place now. You know it."
"Do I?"
"Even if they're not…we are. These people we dragged through time have been through hell, and like us they got stranded here thinking they failed in what they set out to do. Now look at them all, so happy. Even mopes like Bruce Wayne and Rose Wilson are happy. We've got a brave new world we can all thrive in. All thanks to Brother Kal."
"Brother Kal. Pfft. An old man who lied to us. A con artist. This isn't the World of Tomorrow. It's a well-run modern farm stagnating from everyone being so happy under him. Do you seriously think humanity will advance to our level from this?"
"Maybe it's for the better if they don't. We handled time travel irresponsibly and so did Thawne. And we'd be irresponsible to go back now and try and end the death and destruction we've seen."
"You heard what Dream said. Because of Thawne, Death is dying."
"And Thawne was beaten."
"At what cost?"
"A very high one. I agree with you, too high. But we can't change that, Dad. We've got to go on. I'm still here and you are too. I'm not letting you stay miserable forever. Now come inside. If you can't dance with your kid at a wedding, when can you dance with them?"
As Michael and Ted headed to the dance floor, Conner and Cassie sat down at a table exhausted from their current dance. "It's good to see Dinah and Ollie happy again like this," she said. "Yeah," Conner replied through a few heavy breaths. He was still trying to recover his old Kryptonian physique and not quite getting there. Cassie had to laugh a little at how exhausted he was, but she knew it was mean. "You're not the boy I fell in love with," she quipped. "Oh no," he smirked, "I don't think it's fair to call me much of a boy anymore." "No, you're a man, now, Kon," she said, looking into his eyes with love, "I'm glad we came here. You finally got to be normal again. I know we'll never see our mothers again or Tim, but it's good to have such a happy life after everything that just happened." He drew her closer to him and kissed her on the head. "We should do that you know," he said looking at Ollie and Dinah. "What, get married?" she asked, shocked at the statement. "Yeah, why not," he shrugged his shoulders, "We're young. We've been through the worst of it and we don't have to have the thing for another few years. Just get engaged for now, eh?" "Are you proposing to me?" Cassie was incredulous.
"Well, there's not many engagement rings around here and Steel has left so I'll have to see if I'm any good at smithing if you want me to get down on one knee. But yeah, I'd like that. Like you said, we've only got each other now and we've got to make the most of that. Make this town a little bit more exciting by adding a bit of each other to it."
"You're hoping for some Krypto-Amazon baby, aren't you?"
"Thought never crossed my mind. Though now you mention it, a couple of boys and girls to run around after wouldn't hurt. We might have to move out of Kal's, but it'll be nice to get some space too."
"Gods, we have had too much to drink. imagine our son or daughter."
"Yeah. Little Tim Kent, the blonde-haired Hera worshipper with an S shield and his sister, Helena fighting oppression with laser vision and lassoes of truth. The Super Wonder Kids!"
"Haha. Would you really call a boy, Tim?"
"Well…I thought you'd approve."
"I was going to say the same thing. But I don't think little Timothy should come along for a while yet, Mr Kent."
"Agreed. But still…is it a yes?"
"Of course, it is…fiancé."
The two of them kissed lovingly as Mia Dearden began playing darts with Kara Zor-El and Helena Kyle in a back room. "How's the farm boy anyway, Mia?" Supergirl asked knowingly. "I don't know what you're talking about, Kara," Speedy laughed, before rubbing the younger girl's hair playfully, "Anyway, why aren't you giving little Helena grief about her love life?" That got a laugh from the Huntress. "Love life?" she snorted, "My dad never lets me out of his sight. He thinks he hasn't got me like I'm some sort of newborn." "Yeah, but you wouldn't have that any other way," Kara reminded her. "No, of course not," Helena knowingly smiled at her Kryptonian friend. "You still trying to learn some powers, Kara?" Mia asked. "Trying and failing, a bit like Kon," she shrugged sadly, missing the dart board once again, "Still, it's not like I need them. I've got a life here now. In a peaceful place."
Mia dug Kara in the arm then and laughed a little. "Speaking of farm boys," the archer snickered, "Bart tells me you and Cheem have a little thing going on." "Well, I never kiss and tell," Supergirl tried to appear modest. Then Cheem walked up to Kara with two beers in his hand. "Hey, babe," he said in that characteristic accent of the village which sounded more Kansas than Clark's, "Aw nice, darts." He kissed Kara quickly after handing her a beer and began playing with Mia instead of his girlfriend. "Bit dim for you, isn't he?" Helena whispered to Kara. "Oh, he's fine really," she said, noncommittally, "Sweet. Everyone here is just so…sweet. They don't care who we are or where we came from. Your dad's right, this place is like…we're all finally equal. True equality. Even though Kal and some of us have powers it's as if people just love that. Our diversity is celebrated genuinely without making anyone feel down because we're better than them or vice versa. I'm so proud of Kal for building this place. My cousin finally made the perfect world Uncle Jor thought he would. Shame it was after so much death." Across at another table, Bart and Rose sat together happily with her lying towards his torso while he had her arms around her waist. They were both observing and appreciating how happy everyone else in the room was. "Still think there's a serpent here, Rose?" Kid Flash asked after a few too many drinks, "No," she smiled, holding his arm a little tighter, "There couldn't be."
That night, Kara finally asked her cousin a question she'd been meaning to ask. She ended up stumbling into his room and saw him crying before a picture of Lois. "Kara?" Kal asked, befuddled, "What is it?" "I'm sorry, Kal," she stumbled over her words, "I didn't…" "No, it's fine," he dried his eyes and came over to her, placing his hands on his cousin's shoulders, "There are no secrets here. I'm sorry if I've upset you." "You haven't, don't worry," she smiled a little, "I just came to ask you whether the Fortress is still there. Up in the North Pole." "It is," Kal said glibly, "But I haven't visited in a long, long time." "Can we go?" she asked. "Just you and I," he queried, "Or with Kon?" "I'd like to go with just you for a bit, Kal," she said a little sadly, "I think we should see your father." "Of course, Kara," her cousin said, leading her out of the house.
Taking his cousin to the North Pole, Kal flew into the skies holding her as he had once held others like Lois who needed his aid to fly across great distances. Kara looked down on the world below. She saw cities looking as desolate as Gotham had and very few settlements as they passed over the north through Canada and to the Arctic Circle. The Arctic seemed larger now, with less human pollution to devastate it. Entering the Fortress, she noticed how disused the place had become, but as soon as they entered it a large face appeared before them in the crystals. That of her uncle, Jor-El. "Kal, Kara," came his sonorous voice, "It has been too long I have slept it seems. My son, you have grown old. Far too old." "I had a long sleep like you, Father," Kal nodded, "One I regret." "I see," was his father's solemn answer, "And Kara? You seem happy. Much happier than I have ever seen you or my son since you came here from Krypton."
"I am, Uncle. We're living happily and safe and simply in the World of Tomorrow your little boy has built. He truly is your son. A visionary who has redefined his world."
"Good. It does me good to hear my niece speak so happily of my son's accomplishments."
Their conversation went on into the night and Kara, for the first time in a while, felt at home. Even more so than she had on Earth before Power Girl attacked Titans Tower. A few weeks after this visit, Bruce Wayne sat up all night reading a book in his living room, when he suddenly felt cold and heard a creaking behind him. "What is it?" he shouted, his vigilance having not left him despite these months of comfort, "Who's there?" "I am something even you cannot comprehend, Mr Wayne," a voice said, as Bruce suddenly turned and saw a man in a wheelchair playing with a Rubik's cube. He couldn't see the man's face through a hoodie he was wearing. "Who are you?" Batman asked, grabbing a poker from the nearby fireplace, "How did you—" "I am here to warn you of impending doom, Bruce Wayne," the voice, authoritative, divine and somehow familiar spoke back, "The Fifth World is being born through Brother Kal's vision. Sadly, your presence here has perverted that."
"Perverted? What do you mean?"
"Your friends' expedition to Washington will bring death and destruction here. You will have to escape this place soon. You must. I am sorry to say, you will not escape without some of your number dying. But you will gain new allies."
"New allies, what do you mean? Tell me who you are."
"I am something beyond. Goodbye, Mr Wayne. Look after your daughter."
Time seemed to start moving again as Bruce shook his head and checked the pulse on his temple. That must have been a dream, the rational part of his mind said. No, that wasn't a dream, the voice of Batman solemnly replied as he sat down and began reading once more. Things continued to pass quietly and people began to believe John Henry Irons and Ray Palmer had indeed perished once six months had passed since their departure. There was a small memorial service conducted by Brother Kal and afterwards Bruce got talking to Conner, Cassie and Bart. "I here you and Conner are planning on marrying," he told the couple, "Good. It will be nice to see some more happiness from our lot, won't it." "It will," Cassie said giving Bruce a peck on the cheek. "Tim would have loved to have been there," Bruce smiled a little through the first tear he'd cried in a while, "Of course, Helena and I would be happy to attend." Cassie then blushed a little as she looked up into Bruce's eyes again and said, "Kon and I, you're family to us now, Bruce." "To all of us," Bart nodded, "We've all been through a lot together..." "And we'd be honoured to have you be part of any new family's life," Conner concluded. Bruce then started crying even more, but immediately took a deep inhalation of breath. "Thank you all," he said, "It would mean so much to me to...to have that time. I owe it not just to you...but to your families to be there for you and any kids you might have." Cassie rubbed his arm.
"Well, we'd like to think Tim would have done the same. We'll all miss him, but we've got each other...we've got home."
That same night, Bart went out on patrol further than he'd normally gone. He had let his beard grow a bit at this point and looked very different. More mature. Rose said she liked the beard anyway, and of course, with the length of Brother Kal's Dumbledore beard, it was definitely a fashionable thing to have at the World of Tomorrow, not that Bart was known for his dedicated following of fashion. Kid Flash then spotted a fire in the distance and went to investigate. "Hello, anyone over there?" he asked, in as friendly a manner as he could, "My name's Bart." He went over to the campfire and saw there was no one to be found. Nothing living anyway. There seemed to be raiders with their throats cut hanging from the trees. "Aw shit," he shook his head, "Looks like Rose finally got that excitement she was looking for." Then a hand grabbed his ankle and he freaked, only to see it was a young boy in his teens. With long blonde hair and wearing only a pair of blue boxer shorts with a pistol in his free hand. The boy was spluttering for water or some other sustenance. "Must…escape…Gods…are…coming…kill…us…all." Bart then heard a roaring in the distance. He picked up the kid and raced back to the village.
Kid Flash immediately rang the alarm bell, and Bruce, Kal and Zatanna were the first people to respond. Bringing him into the dance hall, Bruce began stitching the young boy up. He'd been hurt very badly, by some sort of animal. The claw marks indicated some kind of tiger had struck him. "I found him with a bunch of dead raiders," Bart hastily informed them, "They had similar enough cuts but they seemed more precise. Like whatever attacked them went for the head." Brother Kal shook his head in worry. "There hasn't been a predatory animal in these parts for forty years, Bart," he mused, his hand on his mouth, "This will require a redoubling of the watch. Take any able-bodied man you can and arm them sufficiently to head into the woods." Bart sped off to do just that. The young boy was still babbling about gods at this point. Bruce then turned him on his back, only to reverse himself in fear of what he had just seen. "Clark, I think you need to see this."
Burned on the boy's back was the Omega symbol. "Intergang," Kal said angrily, "I knew they had just gone to ground all those years ago." "The boy must be some kind of slave, I'm guessing," the detective surmised, "He and the raiders were probably trying to escape. It would have been helpful if Bart had brought their corpses with him." Kal then turned the boy around and put his hand soothingly on the lad to wipe the sweat from his brow. "Easy there, guy," he said with that signature kindness of his, "What happened to you? What did this? Where were you?" "Command D bunker," was the reply that left the boy's parched lips, "My name…Kamandi. Last boy in bunker. They found us in Washington. Killed my family." "Who did?" Kal asked. "Intergang," Kamandi responded, "But not human. None of them were human. My grandfather he…had his heart taken out and put back in again with their magic. He became someone else. He marked that on my back. Made me a slave. Then two men come looking for parts. They make them slaves too. They follow men's trail here. Say they want more slaves. I escaped with some men. We wanted to warn you all. To get out of here and run. But they sent the tiger after us. He left me for dead. The gods are angry with me."
"What gods?" Kal asked. "Isn't it obvious, Clark," Bruce solemnly remarked, "We have to get everyone out of here, quickly." Then suddenly the dance hall was racked by an explosion as outside stood a tank, primed and ready to fire. "Clark, get out of here!" Bruce shouted "But I can.." Kal began before his friend interrupted him harshly, "Get Helena and anyone else out of here. You're old now, Clark. You may be fast, but I can take it. I'll get Ollie, Dinah and Constantine to help me." The tank fired another ballistic at Bruce's house. "Save the people here!" Batman shouted, before burying pleading eyes into the former Superman's, "We'll hold them off. Save my daughter, please." Kal nodded and flitted away to the house to rescue Helena. Rip and Michael jumped outside with their laser guns primed and began firing at men all around them. Suddenly, a large tiger jumped on them and an old woman's voice barked commands from within the tank. "Resistance is useless, mortals," the voice was harsh, dictatorial and very, very familiar, "Soon you will give in to our will." Then the tiger scraped Bruce on the back and pinned him to the ground. "Ha, little fleshling," the feline beast somehow spoke, "You will make a fine slave. That fervour in your eyes. Desaad will burn that out of you."
"Kalibak…never a pleasure."
"Ah, if it isn't my father's last pet. Oh, this will be wonderful."
The forces of Intergang swept through the village killing people indiscriminately and grabbing as many children as they could. Bart got Rose, Conner and Cassie out of there when he saw Kal taking children to safety. Hal, Ollie and Dinah were likewise captured, as was Zatanna. Kara was at Cheem's house when she saw an Intergang member burst in and shoot him in the head right in front of her before she herself was dragged off. She kept kicking and screaming in defiance as she and Mia were brought before the old woman and the sycophantic looking man leering over them and brought to their knees. "Well, well, well," Granny Goodness addressed her new captives, "So many brave heroes of old for us today. So many new slaves to rebuild the Fourth World with. New pets for Granny. Welcome back to Earth, heroes. Or should I say…New Apokolips!"