Re: *Timelines Collide* -BFF's only-

THANAGAR: 2013

(10 years ago now like holy shit )

Without anyone noticing, Dex-Starr and storm creep into the lower levels of the Thanagarian Castle. They stop at a pillar a few metres away room of where Kendra Saunders is.

Storm gripped her fists. "There's Kendra...."

Dex-Starr said,"All right. Here's the deal, Crazy: You're gonna distract her and I'm gonna poke her with this thing," he held up a device," and extract the Reality Stone and get gone, lickety-split."

"Uh, sure, I'll be right back, okay? There's a wine cellar, that's just down there. Carter used to have this huge barrel of something called Aakonian ale. I'll see if the scullery has a couple of to-go cups..."

"Hey! Hey! Aren't you drunk enough already?!"

A door opens, both of them both try to hide. They saw ladies along with Shayera Thal (I'm going to pretend that that's Kendra's mother or Carter's anyway) walking. Storm sees Carter's mother and she smiled slightly.

"Who's the fancy broad?" Dex-Starr asked.

"That's Carter's Mother. She dies today..."

Dex-Starr looked at her. "Oh. That's today?"

"I-I can't do this. I can't do this. I shouldn't be here. I shouldn't have come.This was a bad idea," She whispered, wings folding in on herself.

"Come here." Dex-Starr stood in front of her.

"No, no, no. I think I'm having...I'm having a panic attack. I shouldn't be here...this is...this is a bad-"

"Come here. Right here." Then he slapped Storm right in her face. Normally, she would fry this little asshole but she was so distraught right then that she didn't even blink.


"You think you're the only one who lost people? What do you think we're doing here? I lost the only family I ever had. Wayne, Groot, D
Starfire, the chick with blue glasses all gone. Now, I get you miss his Mom. But she's gone. Really gone. And there are plenty of people who are only kinda gone. But you can help them. So is it too much to ask that you brush the crumbs outta your wings, make schmoopy talk to Pretty Pants, and when she's not looking, suck out the Infinity Stone and help me get my family back?"

Storm nodded. "Okay."

Then he asked," Are you crying?"

Storm shook her head. " No..."She started to cry again and nodded. " Yes."

"Get it together! You can do this. You can do this. All right?" Dex-Starr told her.

"You're right, " Storm said," I can. "

" Good."

" I can do this. I can do it, I can't do this.'' She ran away before he could spot her.

:"Alright, You big softie. She's alone. This is our shot." He turns back to where Storm was moments ago] Storm? Thor!
Storm?! Agghhh!!!"

Morag 2014

Rocket made sure the ship landed okay. "Alright. Bring it down low. Right on that line. That's it. Down, down,"

Artemis was waiting with Nightwing on the ground who kicked away some weird looking animal thing. "Hey, can we hurry it up?" Artemis asked.

"Guys, chop-chop. Come on. We're on a clock," Nightwing stated.

Cyborg walked off the ship to join Rocket since the others were leaving after they got dropped off. "All that, is really helpful...." Rocket said sarcastically. She hugged Dick second.

"Take care, okay?" Nightwing said, pulling back

"Yeah," Rocket promised. "Take that stone and come back. No messing around!" Rocket stated, meaning it.

"Hey. We got this. Let's get it done," Artemis said, walking over and putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder, since Raquel clearly seemed to be on edge.

"Yes, sir," Rocket nodded, trying to stay calm that this would work.

"See you back," Artemis said before she followed Nightwing to the ship. It would have been a lot easier of they just had the Bio-Ship.

"You guys watch each other's six," Rocket called after them, and Artemis and Nightwing both turned and smiled.

"Yeah," Artemis gave thumbs up before they headed off.


"The coordinates for Vormir are laid in. All they have to do is not fall out," Cyborg said after they left.

[In the Benatar, Artemis and Dick were enjoying the ride. What? It was pretty cool to travel in a spaceship like that. "It's a long way from Gotham," Artemis told him and Dick laughed.

"Okay, so, uhh... We just wait around for this Wayne kid to show up and then he leads us to the Power Stone, is that it?" Rocket asked Cyborg.

"Let's take cover. We're not the only ones in 2014 looking for the stones," Cyborg said, starting to walk off.

"Wait a minute, what are you talking about right now?" Rocket asked, following him. "Who else is looking for these stones?"

"Raven's father, Raven... and me," Cyborg said.

"And you? Where are you right now?" Rocket asked, surprised.

Currently, Raven and Cyborg, in 2014, were fighting some Korbinite soldiers.

Raven saw that Cyborg had gotten hit down during the fighting so she walked over and helped him up. " You're welcome."

"I didn't ask for your help," Cyborg glared her before smacking her hand away.

"And yet you always need it. get up. My father wants us back on the ship, " Raven said.

"Why?"

Raven just replied, " He's found an Infinity Stone."

" Where? Cyborg followed her.

" On a planet called Morag," She told him.


"His plan is finally in motion." Cyborg continue to follow her, having to because of the father box that Trigon gave him that took control of him forcing the poor man to do his bidding.

"1 of 6. " Raven side glance at him.

"How do you human say it? That it's a start?"

"Cyborg, if he gets all of them..."

Trigon, (2014) arrives, honking badass double-bladed sword in tow and healthy coating blood of his armour.

"Ronan's located the Power Stone. I'm dispatching you to his ship," Trigon told the two.

Raven said, "  He won't like that."

" His alternative is death, " he wiped his double-bladed sword,"Ronan's obsession clouds his judgement."

Cyborg said,?
"We will not fail you, master."

Raven rolled her eyes before having a slightly sympathetic look towards the half-man half robot.

Trigon said, "No, you won't."

"I swear, we will make them suffer," Cyborg said, head low.
But then he suddenly bent over in pain, and a flash of what seems like future memories start popping up and being displayed. And after a second, Raven asked, " Who was that?"

Cyborg, the real cyborg, said, " don't know...My head is splitting...I don't know..."

Raven looked to her father, worried about her friend. " His synaptic drive was probably damaged in battle."

Trigon walked towards Cyborg and brings his blade to his throat. " Shhh... " He pointed at Cyborg,"bring him to my ship. "

New York 2012

Stephanie was flying around the Fantastic Four Tower, seeing their past self's about to apprehend a criminal known as "the Wizard." Yeah, real original name for a magic user. "Got to hustle, Kal. Things look like they're just about wrapped up here," Stephanie told Aqualad through her com, that was fireproof for obvious reasons.

"Got it. I'm approaching the elevator now," Aqualad said, wearing his old suit.

"If it's all the same to you... I'll have that drink now," The Wizard, who worked for the Light, said.

"All right, get him on his feet. We can all stand around posing up a storm later. By the way, feel free to clean up," Steph, from 2012 said, gesturing with her hands. She did not want to have her Aunt and Uncle on her for ruining the tower, which she supposed was already too late.

Stephanie from the present entered the building and flamed off, making sure not to be noticed before sneaking up along a wall with Bumblebee behind her, who was shrunken down. She looked around the corner and tried not to think about how weird it was seeing her younger self, all of their younger selves. Robin looked so small! "Uh, remind me to tell Dick that dropping the cape was the best thing he could've done, because that did nothing for his ass."

"Focus Stephanie," Aqualad told her, not believing she thought of that.

"It's ridiculous," Steph laughed a little.

"She's right, dropping the cape was definitely the right choice," Bumblebee agreed. Everyone knew that Dick had a great ass. It was sort of like his signum.

"So, who gets the magic wand?" Robin asked, joking a little because he thought it was funny since it was like a magic staff or whatever.

"A.R.G.U.S team's coming to secure it," young Stephanie said before a bunch of guys walked in.

"We can take that off your hands," A guy from A.R.G.U.S said.

"By all means. Careful with that thing," Robin said, handing it over.

"Unless you want your mind erased. And not in a fun way," Artemis muttered.

"We promise to be careful," The guy promised.

Bumblebee frowned before she looked at Steph since she wasn't exactly in the team at this point in time. "Who are these guys?"

"They are A.R.G.U.S... Well, actually they work for the Light. But, we didn't know that yet," Steph told her. How would they know they actually worked for the Light?

"Seriously, you didn't?" Bumblebee was surprised. "I mean...they look like bad guys!" She stated.

Stephanie was a bit annoyed because she didn't need it thrown in her face. "You're small, but you're talking loud..."

"On my way down to coordinate search and rescue," Young Aqualad said as he walked by.

"On my way down to coordinate search and rescue," The Wizard mocked, having an illusion of looking like Aqualad before transforming back. "I mean, honestly! How do you think you'll be-"

"Mih gag!" Zatanna performed a spell to wrap a band around his mouth.

"All right, you're up, Bee," Present Steph said, seeing the case where they put the Tessaract. "There's our stone."

"Alright, I'm going in." Bumble Bee said before flying over into young Stephanie's hair and down to her collar.

Stephanie scratched her neck before they all walked over to the elevator before Superboy walked over, still in rage mode somewhat. "Move!" He said, seeing the elevator was full.

"Whoa!" Zatanna held her hands up.

"Whoa, whoa. Hey, Attitude? What do you think? Maximum occupancy has been reached." Steph told the clone.

"You can take the stairs?" Zatanna said.

"Yeah," Steph agreed before seeing Superboy draw his fist. "Stop! Stop!" The elevator doors closed, leaving a big dent in the door where the elevator was before it left.

"Take the stairs…" Superboy growled, walking there. "Why do I gotta take the stairs when you're the ones who can fly…"

"All right, Kal. I got our scepter in the elevator just passing the 80th floor," Present Steph told Aqualad via coms.

"On it. Head to the lobby," Aqualad told them.

"Alright. I'll see you there," Stephanie nodded.



In another elevator the "A.R.G.U.S agents" were heading down with the scepter, very pleased that they now had their hands on the scepter and would bring that to the Light. However, the Elevator stopped on s level they didn't expect and Aqualad walked inside.

"Aqualad, I thought you were coordinating search and rescue?" One of the agents said.

"Change of plans." Kaldur simply said and he knew what was about to go down. "Rumlow, I just got a call from Amanda Waller. I'm gonna be running point on the scepter."

"Sir? I don't understand," Rumlow said.

"We got word there may be an attempt to steal it," Kaldur said, looking at him.

"Sorry, Aqualad. I can't give you the scepter," Rumlow said.

"I'm gonna have to call the Director-" The other agent started until Kaldur spoke again. "That's okay. Trust me," he leaned in to whisper in his ear. "Everyone shall see the Light." Everyone in the elevator was quite shocked at this, however they did know that Kaldur was the son of Black Manta, which is why present Kaldur managed to walk out of the elevator with the scepter in its case, a small smile at the corner of his lips.


Meanwhile Superboy was hating the never ending stairs. "So many stairs!"


At the same time the rest of the Team had made it down to the lobby, and present Steph was now in a guard disguise to be able to watch from a distance, but still close enough to make sure they got it. "Thumbelina, do you copy?" Steph asked Bumblebee through the coms, clearly nicknaming her. "I've got eyes on the prize. It's go-time." She said. They did have one shot at this.

"Bombs away." Bee said, going inside her clothes. "Is... is that Dove body spray?

"Yeah, I had a can just for emergencies," Steph said, embarrassed because that was a NOT a brand she'd normally use. "Relax. Can we focus, please?" She asked.

"Alright, I'm taking position." Bumblebee shrunk down even more so that she would not be noticeable. Ugh, did she have to wear such a tight outfit? And yes, she did go down between the boobs because that had the most air.


"May I ask you where you're going?" Lex Luthor said, meeting them in the hallway. No one liked him or really entrusted him with anything.

"To lunch and then Belle Reve. I'm sorry, you are?" Miss Martian asked since she was fairly new to Earth.

"Lex Luthor. He's the man who gets away with everything," Steph gave him a fake smile.

Lex smiled. The youths were always this charming, weren't they? "My friends call me Mr. Secretary. I'm gonna have to ask you to turn that prisoner over to me," he said.

"The Wizard will be answering to Amanda Waller herself," Miss Martian stated.

"Oh, he's gonna answer to all of us. And I'm gonna need that case, that's been A.R.G.U.S property for over 70 years," Lex said. "Hand over the case, Storm."

Present Stephanie, who was watching the whole thing, breathed in. "All right, move it, Tinkerbell. Things are getting dicey up here. Let's go!"

"I'm not gonna argue who's got the higher authority here, all right?" Steph from 2012 held the case away, thinking that Amanda Waller, even if she didn't really like her either should have that case.

"You promise me you won't die?" Bumblebee asked Steph, unsure on this as she sparked her hands up.

"You're only giving me a mild cardiac arrest," Steph said, as if it was no big deal.

"That doesn't sound mild…" Bumblebee muttered.

"I need the case." Lex repeated, starting to get annoyed.

"I know you got a lotta shit going on. I'm just saying-" Steph said.

"Okay. That's it. Give me the case," Lex said.

Present Steph was getting more stressed by the minute that they were gonna miss their shot. "Do it, Karen!"

"Get your hands off!" Young Steph moved the case away from when Lex tried to grab it.

"Window's closing. Zap me!" Present Steph stated.

Bumblebee gathered enough power, her small hands containing a lot of charge. "Here goes!" She said before she pushed both her hands against her chest, zapping her with an electric shock, probably the biggest she ever zapped someone with.

Steph from 2012 suddenly gasped and held her chest as she fell to the floor, having trouble breathing.

"Storm?" Lex was surprised by the sudden attack. Pain to her chest?

"Steph!" Miss Martian got worried and was by her friends side.

"Look, she's convulsing. Give her air! Medic!" Lex Luthor called, since we'll, cameras were in them.

Steph watched the whole thing and looked around, calling. "MEDIC! You guys, some help!" What? She didn't want to die.

"Storm, your chest? Cardiac arrest?" Lex tried to help her, because that would make him look good.

As the case got kicked to the side Steph, in disguise grabbed it and started walking away. "Good job. Meet me in the alley. I'm gonna grab a quick slice," Present Stephanie said until an angry clone pushed the door open after coming down from all the stairs, knocking her off her feet. The case opened and the Tesseract slid over to the Wizards feet.

"I HATE STAIRS!!!!" Superboy growled. And while everyone was distracted by various events the Wizard gabbed the Tessaract himself and teleported out of there.


"You'll be fine, Steph. Stay with us!" Miss Martian was panicking until Kid Flash ran over after she alerted him via the telepathic link. "I'll try something, okay? I have no idea if it's gonna work," He then ran around in circles, trying to charge up enough electricity in his body before he skid to stop and pushed his hands against Stephanie's chest, sending an electric shock through her body, causing her heart to jumpstart back to it's regular rhythm again. "YES!"

Steph then started breathing again, not sure what she missed. "That worked a treat," she said. Whatever they did. "That was so crazy!"

"I had no idea if that was gonna work," Kid Flash admitted, but so relieved it did.

"The case?" Steph them remember.

"The case. It's, uhh... Where's the case?" Miss Martian looked around before she also noticed the villain being gone along with the case. "Where's the Wizard!?"

"That wasn't supposed to happen, was it?" Bumblebee asked after flying off to a present Steph who was knocked off her feet.

Steph realised they fucked up. "Oh, we blew it."


On a walkway several floors up Kaldur was trying to come in after hearing noise on the coms. "Steph, what is going on? Tell me you found that cube," he said before he looked up and stopped, seeing his younger self. "Oh, Neptune's beard…" he decided to take a quote from Lagaan.

"I have eyes on the Wizard. 14th floor." Aqualad reported through the mental link.

Present Aqualad put the case down. "I know what you're thinking. I'm not the Wizard. And I don't wanna hurt you." He stated.

Young Aqualad got out his water bearers and engaged in battle. "I can do this all day." The Atlantean stated.

Kaldur stood up and sighed. "Yeah, I know…." This was not going to be easy. As the two fought the scepter fell down a few levels and soon the two followed. A necklace that Kaldur wore that he got from Tula once fell out of his collar.

"Where did you get that?" You Aqualad asked, recognising it. As the two fought young Kaldur got older Kaldur in a chokehold.

Kaldur knew he had to play dirty to get out of this one. "Tula…. Is…. Dead," he choked out.

That caused young Aqualad to let down his guard, shocked by the statement. "What?" With an opening Kaldur from the present then threw the knockout punch and he grabbed the scepter. "Apologies for that." He told his knocked out self.



Back at the rooftop Jaime Reyes was trying to reason with Doctor Fate to allow him to get the time stone. "Please! Please!"

"I can't help you, Jaime. If I give up the Time Stone to help your Reality, I'm dooming my own," He stated.

"With all due respect, I'm not sure the science really supports that," Jaime stated, remembering what Reed had said.

Dr. Fate then used his powers to project some sort of magic timeline. "The Infinity Stones create what you experience as the flow of time. Remove one stone and that flow splits," he explained. "Now, this may benefit your reality, but my new one…not so much. In this new branched Reality, without our chief weapon against the forces of darkness, our world will be overrun. Millions will suffer. So, tell me, can your science prevent all that?"

Jaime was starting to get annoyed. No wonder no one liked Dr. Fate. "No, but we can erase it. Because once we are done with the stones, we can return each one to its own timeline at the moment it was taken. So, chronologically, in that reality, it never left." He showed on Dr. Fates illusion how they would do it.

Dr. Fate was not convinced however. "But you are leaving out the most important part. In order to return the stones, you have to survive." He stated.

"We will!" Jaime stated. "I will. I promise."

"I can't risk this Reality on a promise," Dr. Fate stated. "It's my duty as a Lord of Order to protect the Time Stone."

"Then, why the hell did our Dr. Fate give it away!?" Jaime asked.

Dr. Fate then stopped. "What did you say?"

"Our Fate, he gave it away. He gave it to Trigon!" Jaime stated.

"Willingly?"

"Yes!" Jaime expressed.

Dr Fate was confused. "...Why?"

"I have no idea? Maybe he made a mistake!" Jaime was so tired of this.

Dr. Fate then used is powers to activate the scarab again, who crawled back onto Jaime's back. He then revealed the Time Stone out of the cross. "Nabu do not make mistakes."

"So you must have done it for a reason," Jaime, activating back into his Blue Beetle suit said.

"I fear you are correct," He said, handing him the stone.

"Thank you," Blue Beetle said.

"I'm counting on you. We all are," Dr. Fate said

In 2014, Trigon was with Raven, Cyborg and one of the demons.

Trigon ordered the demon,"Run diagnostics. Show me his memory file."

"Sire, the file appears entangled. It was a memory, but not hers. There's another consciousness sharing his network...another Cyborg," The demon told him.

Trigon said, "Impossible."

"This duplicate carries a time stamp... from nine years in the future."

"Where is this other Cyborg?" Trigon asked his lackey.

The demon replied, "In our solar system. On Morag."

" Can you access him?"

"Yes. The two are linked."

" Search the duplicate's memories for Infinity Stones," Trigon ordered.

A memory of the meeting with all the Team started playing. They watch them until Trigon ordered the demon to freeze the image.

"Terrans." Raven recognized all of them. Well, most of them anyway.

"The Justice League. Unruly wretches. What's that reflection? Amplify this," Trigon ordered.

Ravens gaze went from her friend that was in front of her to the one in the reflection. " I don't understand. "

Trigon said,"No. The same Cyborg. From two different times. Set course for Morag. Scan the duplicate's memories. I want to see everything."

Now back in the present, or, well in 2013, Shayera said to her ladies and waiting,"My ladies, I'll see you after. Go on."

Storm tried not to get caught behind a large post, but gets shocked when She saw Shayera behind her.

"What are you doing?" She asked, looking at her quizzically.
Storm was cut off guard so she screamed, making the other woman scream.

"Oh God! "

"You're better off leaving the sneaking to your brother," Shayera told her.

"Oh, Yeah, I was simply just going for a walk, and uh..." Storm tried to hide her little belly she had.

Shayera eyed her," What are you wearing?"

"I always wear this. This is one of my favorites, does wonders for the wings, " Storm lied through her teeth.

Shayera laid a hand on Storm's face, and storm tried not to cry from how familiar and from how much she missed that touch.
"What's wrong with your eye?"

"Oh, my eye. That's... you remember when Gazzy was trying out those new bombs? And, and one of them accidentally shot off into my eye? " Storm asked, hating to lie.

Shayera said, " You're not the Storm I know at all, are you?"

"Of, of course it's me, " Storm said, tears starting to sting her eyes.

"The future hasn't been kind to you, has it?"

Storm quickly said, " I didn't say I'm from the future."

"I was raised by witches, girl. I see with more than eyes, and you know that," Shayera told her.

Storm tried terribly to hold back her tears, but they still won. They always did. "I am totally, totally from the future," She whispered, not able to make a sound louder because her voice would break.

Shayera only smiled slightly. " Yes, you are."

Storm said, " I really need to talk to you."

"We can talk," Shayera said before the two hugged

As the two started to talk, Dex-Starr had a snuck into Kendra's room and extracted the aether.

"His head was over there... His body over there... What was the point? I was too late. I was just standing there. Some idiot with an axe," Storm sniffled out.

"You're no idiot. You're here aren't you? Seeking counsel from the wisest person in Thanagar" Shayera said, putting some hair behind her ear.

"I guess, yeah..."

"Idiot? No. A failure? Absolutely," Shayera said, making Storm give her a look.

" That's a little bit harsh."

" You do know what that makes you? Just like everyone else," Shayera pointed out.

" I'm not supposed to be like everyone else, am I?" Her older sister, Max, was supposed to be the best of them. But now she's...

Shayera said it to her, "Everyone fails at who they are supposed to be, Storm. The measure of a person, of a hero, is how well they succeed at being who they are."

Storm gave her a smile. " I really missed you... Mom." Storm had never really called her that, not out loud anyway. It always felt too personal.

That was when they saw Dex-Starr running away from some Thanagarian soldiers. " Storm! I I got it!"

A Thanagarian soldier yelled, " Get that rabbit!"

Storm quickly turned to Shayera. "Shayera, I have to tell you something."

"No, sweetheart. You don't. You're here to repair your future, not mine."

"B-But But this is about your future."

"It's none of my business," Shayera said.

Dex-Starr said," Hey. You must be Mom. I got the thing. Come on, we got to move."

Storm looked at Shayera. "I wish we had more time."

" No, this was a gift. And you're going to be the woman you're meant to be."

" I love you, Mom," Storm told her.

"I love you. And try to make some better life choices."

"Come on, we got to go," Dex-Starr said.

Storm just stared at Shayera as the woman whispered her goodbyes.

"Three... two..."

Storm gassed. "No, wait!" She held at her hand.

Dex-Starr asked Shayera, "What am I looking at?"

Shayera rolled her eyes playfully. " Oh, it just took a second. "

The magic Hammer, molnir, suddenly came into storms hand. She grinned.?"Hell yeah! Still worthy! "

Dex-Starr grumbled out,"Oh, boy."

Storm smiled at Shayera. "Bye Mom. "

"Goodbye. "

(See, I don't see Damien as the singing type or doing the things that Quill is doing haha lol )

Back on Morag, back in 2014, Damien, in the past, was pretty much angrily showing off his ninjas girls and blasting everything in sight.

" So he's an angry little fella? ". Rocket asked as they were hiding.

Cyborg replied with, " yep, pretty much. "

That was when Rocket proceeded to knock Damien out, and Cyborg took whatever tool that he was using.

"What's that?" Rocket asked.

"The tool of a thief. Or " assassin ", if you want to put it like that, " Cyborg replied before he used it to open up the little chamber where the power stone was when Rocket stopped him.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa...This is the part where spikes come out with skeletons on the end and everything..."

"Dude, this isn't some Indiana Jones bullshit," Cyborg told her, giving her a look that said " really? "

"Uh, excuse me, when you break into a place called the temple of the Power Stone, There's gonna be a bunch of booby traps–"

Cyborg just let out a very long sigh before he walked in.

"Okay. All right. Go ahead."

Cyborgfor forced his hand inside the force field protecting The Orb while it melts away the exterior plating on her arm. She successfully retrieves The Orb and hands it to Rocket all the while Rhodey watched the whole thing happened.

" I wasn't always like this," Cyborg told her, having a feeling that she had questions.

Rocket replied with, "Me either. But we work with what we got, right?"

They both just looked at each other before rocket said, "Sync up." Three.. two.. one...

But she's the only one who disappears while Cyborg is left behind unable to move, then he riddled with pain on her head. He falls to the ground.

Back on the sanctuary the 2nd, Cyborg is being scanned in synch with hisfuture self. A memory is played, coming from future Cyborg 's head.
But something stuck out.

"What did you do to them?" Raven glared at her father, pure hate in her eyes.

" Nothing. Yet. They're not trying to stop something I'm going to do in our time. They're trying to undo something I've already done in theirs," Trigon replied.

Raven said, "The stones..."

"I found them all. I won. Tipped the cosmic scales to balance." He turned to Raven and caressed her cheek, then she knelt to him.

A demon said to him, "This is your future.*

"It's my destiny," Trigon said.

The demon resumed the memory, in which cyborg said that, " Trigon is many things. But he is not a liar."

Trigon, in the memory, said to him, " Thank you, Victor. Perhaps I treated you to harshly..."

But that was when Storm took her ax and chopped his head off, causing Raven and the others to stand up, shocked at what they saw.

"And that, is destiny fulfilled," Is all that Trigon had to say on that matter.

" Sire, your captive ....* The demon said before he telepathically wrapped a chain around Cyborg's neck.

2014 Cyborg said, " No!"

"He ...is a traitor."

"That's not me. It's not. I could never... I would never betray you. Never," he told Trigon.

Trigon, the (2014) releases the chain around Nebula (2014) neck and holds his head in his palm." I know. And you'll have the chance to prove it.

Trigon (2014) makes sure Cyborg cannot travel back to 2023. Nebula is stuck in 2014.

"No! He knows!" Cyborg quickly ran to the ship to be on the comms to let them know that they knew. "Artemis! Artemis, dick, come in! Trigon! Trigon knows! He...." When Cyborg looked up, he saw that it was trigon's ship overhead. " Shit!"

New York, 2012

"Kal," Steph said, sitting in a broken car and holding her head when Kaldur dropped down from a building. "Sorry, buddy. We got a problem," she admitted.

"Huh, yeah, we do!" Karen stated, thinking Steph was being awfully chill about this.

Kaldur sighed, and you could tell that he was disappointed. "Well, what are we gonna do now?"

"You know what? Give me a break, Kaldur. I just got hit in the head by Superboy," Steph stated.

"You said that we had one shot. This– this was our shot! We shot it! It's shot! Six stones or nothing. Six stones or nothing–" Karen started, clearly in panic mode.

"You're repeating yourself, you know that? You're repeating yourself." Steph stated.

"You're repeating yourself. You're repeating yourself. You know– No." Karen shook her head.

"Come on," Steph rolled her eyes.

"You never wanted a time heist, you weren't on board with the time heist–" Karen started.

"I dropped the ball," Steph admitted.

"You ruined the time heist!" Karen stated.

"Is that what I did?" Steph asked. Sure, if it wasn't for her they'd never be here.

"Yeah!" Karen said.

Kaldur then asked, because he was tired of hearing the two argue. "Are there any other options with the Tesseract?"

"No, no, no! There's no other options. There's no do-overs. We're not going anywhere else. We have one particle left, each! That's it, alright? We use that– Bye, bye. You're not going home," Karen stated, slamming the back car door shut.

"Yeah, well if we don't try, then no one else is going home, either," Kaldur said.

Steph was just thinking about Kaldur's question until she realised something. "I got it," she said, getting out of the car. "There's another way. To retake the Tesseract and acquire new particles. We'll stroll down memory lane. Military installation, Garden State," Steph said.

"When were they both there?" Kaldur asked her.

Steph thought about it, rubbing her head. "They were there at a– I have a vaguely exact idea."

Kaldur sighed. "How vague?" He asked her.

"What are you talking about? Where are we going?" Karen asked, not following.

"I know for a fact they were there–" Stephanie said.

"Who's they? What are we doing!?" Karen asked, clearly being cut out of the conversion.

"-And I know how I know," Steph said. She was sure about this.

"Guys, what's up? What is it?" Karen asked, trying to get someone to answer what the plan was.

"Well, it looks like we're improvising," Kaldur told Karen, hoping Steph was right about this. Not like they had many options anyway.

"Great," Steph was glad he believed her.

"Right. What are we improvising?" Karen asked.

"Karen, get this back to the compound," Kaldur said, walking over and handing her the staff.

"Suit up," Steph said, turning to Kaldur.

"What's in New Jersey?" Karen asked.

"0-4, uhh.. 0-7" Steph started giving the dates to Kaldur as they both pressed them in.

"Excuse me...?" Karen asked.

"1-9-9-4," Steph said.

Kaldur looked at Steph. "Are you sure?"

"Kal. Kaldur. Aqualad, hey? Sorry. Kaldur'Ahm," Karen finally got their atatnetion. "Look, if you do this, and this doesn't work, you're not coming back," Karen stated.

Steph gave her somewhat of a glare. "Thanks for the pep talk, pissant!" She then turned to Kaldur. "Do you trust me?"

"I do," Kaldur nodded.

"Your call," Steph said.

"Here we go," Kaldur said and they then both pressed their time travel watches.


New Jersey, 1994

The two had both changed clothes in order to blend in more since no one here knew who they were.

",Okay, so imagine you're A.R.G.U.S, running a quasi-fascistic intelligence organisation. Where do you hide it?” Stephanie asked, looking around.

“In plain sight,” Kaldur said, seeing two men walk inside a building where an elevator lead down to the real deal. Steph and Kaldur both got in the elevator before parting ways so that they could each retrieve once piece of the two.

Steph went down to one of the labs in the faculty, having a pretty good guess where the Tesseract could be because she’d been in Reeds labs enough to know where he stored important things.

She smiled when she found a metal container. He flamed a single flame out from her fingers and used it to melt the bar locks. Extending the fire to cover her hand she grabbed the Tesseract when the container opened and grinned. "Gotcha. Back in the game." That's when she heard a familiar voice and she quickly got the cube in her case before flaming her hand off. SHIT!

"Reed, you in there? Reed?" Johnny Storm walked down to the lab, seeing some chick attempt to sneak away. What was she doing in Reed's lab? "Hey! Door's this way, lady," he said, getting her attention.

Fuck. "Oh yeah…” Stephanie turned, trying to not look as taken as she was by seeing her father walk over to her. Her father was a lot younger than when she last saw him. Probably in his late 20's, well if she did her math right he was 29. But he was there, and he was alive!

"I'm looking for Dr. Richards. Have you seen him?" Johnny asked the woman, who seemed somewhat lost. But he was still skeptic.

"Yeah, no, Dr. Rich– I haven't seen…which-"  Steph was definitely not as cool as she should be for meeting her dead father as she awkwardly bumped into a chair as she walked over. "Pardon me…"

Johnny then stopped, just getting a feeling. "Do I know you?" He asked.

"No,... I'm a– a visitor from MIT," Steph said, grabbing her badge and holding it out. It was easy to fake that since well, Reed Richards worked there.

"Huh. MIT," Johnny nodded. That explained why she was in Reed's lab. She probably knew who him. He then asked with a small playful smile. "Got a name?"

"Uh- Susan…" Steph borrowed her aunt's name since that was the first thing she could think of.

Johnny scoffed. "Well, that'll be easy to remember," he said, since that was his sister's name.

Steph realised she needed a last name too. C’mon… come up with something… "Susan… West," she said, borrowing Wally’s last name.

"Well, I'm Johnny Storm, but if you wanna call me torch, I won't mind, " Johnny held out his hand. If he'd met this chick 3 years earlier then he'd probably be asking for her number instead, because she was hot. That's also why he had to brag a little about being the human torch. Chicks digged that.

Steph smiled awkwardly as she accidentally grabbed just his finger.

Johnny chuckled a little under his breath. "Okay,.. a little too early for that..." He could tell that she didn't appreciate his little sex hint of a joke. "I'm just kidding," he chuckled, holding his hands up. Well, 3 years ago he wouldn't have been.

"Yeah..." Steph chuckled a little awkwardly. Oh my god... Did dad just- Her brain instinctly went vomit in her head. She grabbed the chair behind her to stop herself from making any face.

"You look a little green around the gills there, West," Johnny said.

"I'm fine. Just,... Long hours," Steph excused herself, shaking her head. Snap out of it! She then smiled at him. All she wanted to do was throw herself in his arms and tell him how much she missed him. Tell him the truth of who she was and why she was really there. But she couldn't.

"Wanna get some air?" Johnny asked before waving his hand in front of her face to get her to zone back. "Hello, West?" It was easier to call her by her last name that calling her Sue.

"Y-Yeah. That would be great," Steph nodded.

"That way," Johnny pointed with his thumb over his shoulder.

“Okay…,” Steph started walking, totally forgetting…

“Need your briefcase?” Johnny asked, grabbing it for her and holding it out with a smile. Steph only smiled a little and grabbed it before she walked, really needing to shake it off.

“You're not a killjoy, are ya, West?” Johnny asked, following her and maybe checking out her ass. What? She had barley laughed at his jokes. He hoped she wasn't as boring as Reed. We're all scientists that?

Meanwhile, a younger Ray Palmer in his laboratory. He was adjusting the top secret suit that would cause him to go very small and very big. The young man was only 24, but was probably even smarter than Reed Richards himself.

Kaldur had found a phone in the complex and dialed up the number for his lab. " Hello. Dr. Palmer?"

"That would be the number that you called. Yes."

"This is Captain Kal from shipping. We have a package for you," Kaldur said, watching the young scientist from across the hallway.

"Oh, great! Bring it up," Ray said with a giddy grin.

"Well, that's the thing, sir. We can't...." Kaldur hated lying, but it was for the good of the world.

Ray laughed a little nervously, "I-I I'm confused. I thought that was your job?"

" Well, it's just– Sir, the box is glowing and, to be honest, some of our mail guys aren't feeling that great."

Ray went still. "They didn't open it, did they?"

"Yes, I'm afraid they did. You better get down here," Kaldur said, smirking somewhat mischiefously because it was actually kind of funny.

Ray quickly dashed out of his office, frantic. "Excuse me! Out of the way!"

As soon as the doctor was out of his office, Kaldur went inside and found some of the Palmer particles and grabbed what he needed before stuffing them into his pocket of his pants then leaving, making sure his hat was down. Piece of cake.

"So, flowers and Nocco. You got a big date tonight?" Steph asked her father as they walked into the elevator. She knew her father never was one for buying flowers or doing romantic stuff unless he had a reason to do it.

"My fiance's expecting. And, uh– Too much time in the air," Johnny said, since it was public information who the Fantastic Four was.

Steph felt a rush of an odd feeling when he said that since she knew that that was her. "Congratulations," she said, anyway.

"Thanks," Johnny said before handing her the flowers and drink for now. "Hold this, will you?"

“Yeah, sure,” Steph grabbed the flowers and can of Nocco before she asked. “How far along is she?”

Johnny really had no idea so he just gestured belly size with his hand. “I don't know– Uh– She's at the point where she can't stand the sound of my chewing. I guess I'll be eating dinner in the pantry again.” He joked.

Steph had to smile at that before she felt the need to tell him, even if he didn’t know. Well, her father always wanted to become a grandfather after all. “I have a little girl.”

“A girl would be nice. Less of a chance she'd turn out exactly like me,” Johnny said as he adjusted his tie. He hated wearing suits, but it was date night.

Steph was a little surprised he said that. “What'd be so awful about that?” She asked.

“Let's just say that the greater good has rarely outweighed… my own self-interests,” Johnny admitted. He was well aware that he was a self-centred person with a big ego.

" And you've never seen these two people before?" A short official lady had been talking to two security guards about how she felt that something was way off about the two that she saw in the elevator.

"No, I've got an eye for this. The two of them looked fishy," She told them.

"Can you describe them?" One asked.

" Well, one of them had a hippie beard."

" Hippie?" He looked at her. " Like Bee Gees or Mungo Jerry?

"Definitely Mungo Jerry," She answered.

One of the security officers spoke into his mic, " Yeah, this is Chesler. I need every available MPs on sub-level 6. We have a potential breach."

Kaldur into a room. Feeling safe, he suddenly saw a picture of his mother Then he was surprised to see his biological father - The Black Manta.

“So, where are you at with names?” Stephanie asked, just thinking it was nice to talk to her father again.

“Well, if it's a boy, my fiancé likes Elmonzo,” Johnny said, and you could tell that he hated the name as he was having a similar facial expression as Steph did when she heard the name.

“Huh. Well, let’s hope it’s a girl then,” Steph said, blessing life that she wasn't born a boy.

Johnny stopped once they got outside to where Ben was picking him up. “Let me ask you a question. When your kid was born,.. were you nervous?”

“Wildly, yeah,” Stephanie nodded. Well, that was an understatement.

Guess that was a stupid question to ask to a lady...
“Did you feel qualified? Like you had any idea how to successfully operate that thing?” Johnny asked, since he was nervous as hell. He’d sort of panicked when his fiancé had told him that she was pregnant. He never thought he'd become a dad to someone.

“I literally pieced it together as I went along," Steph admitted. She didn't exactly see herself as parent material either, but if her dad could do it… "I thought about what my Dad did, and–” Steph started before she saw Kaldur give her the signal that he was done.

“My old man, he never met a problem he couldn't solve with a bottle of beer," Johnny said, since his father started drinking a lot after his and Sue's mother died after being in a car accident when they were kids.

Steph tried to keep a neutral face. She kinda knew what he was talking about, even if her father disliked talking about her grandfather. "I thought my dad was tough on me. And now, looking back, I just remember the good stuff, you know. He did drop the odd pearl," Stephanie said. Her father wasn't perfect, like no father was. But he was good enough for her.

"Yeah? Like what?" Johnny asked her.

"No amount of money ever bought a second of time," she said, quoting her father, remembering he'd said that once.

Johnny nodded. He kinda liked that quote. "Smart guy."

"He did his best," Stephanie smiled a little.

Johnny then looked at her with a smile. "Let me tell you. That kid's not even here yet, and there's nothing I wouldn't do for her," he said before holding his hand out to be professional. "Good to meet you, West,"

"Yeah, Johnny-" Steph shook his hand. "Everything's gonna be all right. Thank you…" She couldn't stop herself from hugging him tightly before she realised how weird that was. She cleared her throat and pulled back. "...for everything you've done for this country." She then walked away to meet up with Kaldur before she could blow her cover.

"Hey Ben, have I dated that girl before?" Johnny asked as he sat down in the car.

Ben sighed and rolled his eyes. “You’ve dated a lot of women, Johnny." Besides, wasn't he engaged? You'd think he'd stop thinking about girls.

“Seems very familiar…" Johnny said, trying to think if he'd met her before. He then shrugged. "Nice ass," Johnny commented before putting his seatbelt on.