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Speed of Lyght	By : JLinz Category: DC Verse Cartoons > Justice League Views: 6137 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own DC Comics, Marvel, Justice League, Justice League Unlimited nor any of the characters from either series. I do not make any monetary value from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 15
- 16
- 17
Chapter Sixteen: Time After Time
After the ordeal with J’onn’s twin brother, everything seemed to go on as normal to an extent. Tabitha knew that the Martian was now more wary of letting her leave Watchtower, especially if she was going by herself. If Ma’alefa’ak was capable of finding her, there was no telling who else would be able to do her harm (although to be fair, he was an exact copy of J’onn minus telepathic powers). It only made the Martian even more overprotective of his girlfriend, to the point where he debated on stepping down as Monitor and letting her take over; after a few months, she had been trained well enough to do so. He had never thought extensively who would ever replace him as Monitor when the time approached; all he knew was that whoever it was would be someone he trusted with his own life. He slowly realized that in order for him to do that, he would have deep feelings for that person. It was starting to be more complex as being overprotective: J’onn J’onzz loved Tabitha Lyght.
She couldn’t blame him for being overprotective of her; the one time she decided to be completely alone, she was attacked. She had to admit that the experience was quite frightening however, there was something else that was bothering her. She couldn’t help replaying the day over in her head ever so often; Ma’alefa’ak proved to be a force to reckon with. But, she knew that she would’ve at least continued to fight back; she wondered why she couldn’t remember the exact detail that made her stop fighting.
She found herself yet again thinking about it as Shayera took a seat across from her in the cafeteria. Tabitha finally figured out who the seventh founding member was: Shayera Hol, better known as Hawkgirl. She also found out the reason why it had taken her so long to find out; no one wanted to speak about Shayera’s betrayal to the League: she was actually tricked into choosing loyalty to her own people, the Thangarians instead of the Justice League. J’onn had told her all about the invasion as well as how close Shayera and Diana were; the betrayal had hurt her the most. Shayera had resigned from the League on her own before any judgment was passed. A chance battle with the zombie Solomon Grundy brought her back into the League however the damage had been; it was a slow process for everyone to trust her fully again.
“Deep in thought?” the hawk woman asked with a slight smile on her face, her green eyes shining. Tabitha returned the smile and shrugged.
“Kinda; sorry…”
“It’s okay. I can… sit somewhere else…”
“No; you can sit here. Why would I want you to leave?”
“Haven’t you heard what I did…?”
“In the past. It just shows that you’ve got some human in you; we make mistakes all the damn time! Don’t matter if you’re a superhero or not. Only thing that matters is if you learn from ‘em. Figure that you’re not all that bad if they let you come back!” she said. She knew that it was Shayera’s choice to leave and possibly return however she also saw that the founding six almost always voted on major decisions; her returning was more likely voted on.
“I think J’onn’s rubbing off on you…” Shayera said with a slight laugh. It was enough to make Tabitha slightly blush; if there was anything she knew about her boyfriend, it was his mannerisms.
“W-Well… after training me for over…”
“And you may be able to fool everyone else but… you’re not fooling me…” she surprised Tabitha. She was about to argue with her until Shayera leaned towards her, “I’ve seen you two when you thought no one else was watching so there’s no denying it. I’m just wondering why you’re trying to keep it a secret.” she said lowly. Tabitha sighed and looked down at her food.
“… I… could care less if everyone knew; not like I’m ashamed of him…”
“Hmm… definitely no reason to be…” Shayera commented. Tabitha was about to nod in agreement but gave her a look.
“What’s that supposed to mean…?”
“One: he’s Martian Manhunter. Two… he’s Martian Manhunter!” she pointed out. It made both women giggle; she had a valid point, Tabitha thought. At the mention of his name, almost everyone knew who he was and what he was capable of; not too many people had been bold enough to cross him: Tabitha knew that she had nothing to be ashamed of on that end! He had incredibly attractive traits, both physically and mentally; any species of woman would have to be either blind or a lesbian to not even glance his way! And, to make matters better, he was an exceptional lover, Tabitha thought with a coy smile. The very thought made her cheeks immediately ache.
“A-Anyway… he don’t think anyone would be ready to accept our relationship just yet…”
“… Really? I think it’s… cute. But… if he wants to keep it quiet... then I’m pretty sure it’s for a good reason. Don’t worry; your secret’s safe with me!” she winked and Tabitha laughed. Shayera opened her mouth to say something else until she looked at who was walking towards the table. Tabitha noticed the mood change as Shayera gathered her tray and stood, “Well, thank you for letting me talk to you. We should do it, again.” she left.
“Wait…” Tabitha tried. She watched, still confused even as Bruce and John sat down at her table. John’s sigh made her turn back and look at the two men, “Okay… what the hell did you two do to her? She was obviously just fine until you two walked in!” she asked the two. Bruce shook his head but looked at her.
“You mean, you don’t know?”
“I know that she betrayed the League but was welcome back. Wait… were you two the ones who voted against her coming back…?” she asked lowly.
“Wow… you really don’t know. Shayera and John use…”
“It’s none of her concern.” John quickly snapped and started eating his food. She gave him a confused look for a moment until she realized that Bruce was snickering. Her eyes suddenly widened at John and she shot a look at Bruce.
“Hold up… they used to date? Shut up!!”
“Go ahead; I don’t think Earth heard you…” John narrowed his eyes at her.
“So, you’re just working your way through the League, huh? Am I next…?” she couldn’t contain her laughter any longer. John seethed as Bruce joined her. His green eyes glared at the lightning woman.
“It was a long time ago…”
“Not that long ago…” Bruce loudly mumbled, making the woman snicker. John took his attention away from Tabitha and looked at Bruce.
“Anyway; why are we always talking about my love life; let’s talk about yours for a change!”
“You put yours out in the open; easy conversation starter…” Bruce smirked. He knew that his comment was meant for John however he noticed that Tabitha flinched slightly.
“What’s going on between you and Diana?”[1] John coolly asked. It was enough to make Bruce’s expression change and make Tabitha eye him with a big smile.
“Yeah; I wanna hear about you and Diana!”
“There’s nothing there; she’s simply a respected colleague.”[2]
“Uh huh…” John responded, making Tabitha snort out a laugh. Bruce sighed.
“I don’t have time to pursue a relationship. My work, my job is too important to allow for any distractions…”
“Oh? A relationship is a distraction?” Tabitha tried, taking a sip from her cup. Bruce smirked at her. He knew that it definitely was; falling in love in general was a distraction in a whole. He saw what it did to his fellow League members, especially the two who he was sitting with at the moment.
While Tabitha waited for his answer, she slightly looked up and saw Diana approaching the table, almost right behind Bruce. Her smile widened.
“To some people, yes. Relationships and falling in love are distractions. But, it’s nothing against her. Diana is a remarkable woman. She’s a valued friend. She’s…… standing right behind me, isn’t she?”[3] he noticed that Tabitha was fighting really hard to keep her laughter in.
“Don’t let that stop you; keep digging!”[4] Diana told him seductively as John and Tabitha laughed. She sat down besides Tabitha and slightly laughed, “I don’t really want to know what you three were talking about!”
“Good!” Tabitha stuffed her mouth with French fries.
“Do you ever eat anything that’s healthy for you…?” John asked Tabitha. She gave him a look and made a show of chewing her fries, bringing more laughter to the table. Her childish act was abruptly interrupted by the sound of a weird alarm throughout the room.
“Intruder alert?” Bruce asked no one in particular. It prompted the four to leave the room and make their way to the bridge and control room. On their way there, they all noticed that someone was in the armory.
“Think we found our intruder…” Tabitha pointed out. There was a thin man in what appeared to be a jumpsuit stealing Bruce’s utility belt, “Hey; you couldn’t wait ‘til after lunch to steal, ya thief!!” her voice startled him. Instead of dropping everything and simply fleeing, he simply looked at the four and put on goggles as a portal opened in front of him.
“Oh…” Diana’s eyes widened.
“What the hell…” Tabitha voiced her opinion. Bruce narrowed his eyes at the intruder as he went through and immediately followed him, “H-Hey; wait!” Tabitha yelled after the two. She knew that they had to make a decision quick as the portal started to close. The three followed their colleague through the portal, catching up to Bruce. John used the power of his green ring to form a protective bubble around the four.
“What is this?” Diana asked.
“Time traveling…”
“Why am I surprised that it exists?” Tabitha mumbled to herself.
“I have no idea where we’ll end up. Let’s just be on our toes when we do land.” John continued. They stayed silent as they waited out the ride through the wormhole. Moments later, they finally landed in the middle of what seemed to be a desert. Tabitha looked around along with the others.
“The west?” she asked no one in particular. There was no way to tell what time era they were in until a group of masked men on horses approached them.
“… Looks like the old west…” Bruce confirmed.
“Well, would you look at them fancy clothes!” one of the men noticed, aiming his gun at the four.
“Don’t look now but… I think we’re getting robbed…” Diana smirked at Tabitha.
“Shut your mouth, woman!” another man’s remark made both women raise their eyebrows at him. He nodded to one of his accomplices, “Take care of the women, first!” he continued to bark.
“You’re gonna pay for telling her to shut up…” Tabitha smirked at the three men who dismounted their horses. She concentrated and threw out four thin streaks of lightning towards the guns, knocking them out of their hands. She charged up as the men looked at her and shook her head slowly as they tried to flee, “Don’t make me hit you…” she threatened.
“Well… that’ll be the last time they’ll underestimate a woman!” Diana thought aloud with a smile on her face. The other League members wasted no time in tying the would-be robbers. Bruce looked at their clothes.
“They’re right; we stick out with our outfits on.” he realized. He studied the four masked men, “Well… at least it’s four of them…” he noted. Tabitha switched glances from the robbers to Bruce.
“… We’re gonna take their clothes…?”
“We have no other choice. It’s not the most pleasurable idea but how else are we going to explore the town?” John stood by Bruce’s decision.
After taking the clothes and trying them on, the three founding members mounted their horses. Tabitha just looked at hers.
“Tabitha…?” Diana noticed.
“What’s the matter?” John asked. She slowly shook her head.
“I’ve… never ridden a horse before…” she admitted. Bruce smirked, getting off his horse and helping her mount hers.
“Don’t worry; it’s almost like riding a bike…” he assured, giving her the reins. She continued to look at her horse.
“… So… what if I told you I never rode a bike, either?” she asked seriously. The three members laughed.
“Impossible!” John laughed.
“You’re telling me that you can drive a car but can’t ride a bike?! Okay, okay…” Bruce gave in as Tabitha gave him a look, “I’ll ride beside you and we’ll go slow…” he decided. The four rode through the desert until they came upon a sign: Elkhorn. The four found a hitching post near the saloon. Tabitha lit up as she looked around.
“Oh! We should definitely hit up the saloon!”
“Why there?” Diana asked.
“Seriously?! You’ve never watched any westerns, have you?”
“Um, Tabitha…” Bruce tried.
“Everything always goes down at the saloon in the movies! The showdowns are agreed on in there…”
“I really don’t think it’s how it went in real life…” John tried to interrupt the woman.
“The bad guys always go in there… looking for information…” she eyed the men.
“We’re playing the bad guys, now?” Bruce smirked at her. She huffed but Diana nodded.
“It wouldn’t hurt to go in there first.” she shrugged and walked towards the saloon. The others followed suit and entered the building. A few pairs of eyes looked at the quartet for a moment but continued with whatever they were doing. John looked at Tabitha.
“Seen enough movies to know where to go from here…?” he lowly asked her. She smiled and nodded towards the bar.
“Bartenders know a lot…”
“Yes; let’s go ask him if he’s seen a time-traveling thief…” Bruce couldn’t help but to roll his eyes. Tabitha narrowed her eyes at him but her attention wandered towards one of the tables where a few men were gambling. Poker, she realized; had it not been for her best friend’s husband, she would have not known what they were playing.
She caught the game towards the end of the hand as one man called; another man sitting across from him smiled evilly and showed his hand: four kings with an ace. The other guy studied his hand and raised an eyebrow.
“Either you’re cheatin’ or we’ve been playing with a crooked deck…”[5] he smiled and showed off his four of a kind with aces. Tabitha quickly tapped Bruce on his arm, making him pay attention to the card game.
“Something ain’t right…” she whispered. Bruce studied both hands and slowly nodded. The caller’s aces had their symbols in the upper left and lower right corners while the other man’s ace was the opposite. The accused cheater stood up from the table and aimed his gun at the other man, “This won’t end well…” Tabitha murmured. She also noticed that the man standing wore a badge; he was the sheriff of the town.
“No one calls me a cheat! You’ll hang for that!”[6] the sheriff proclaimed. The other man raised his hands with a slight smirk.
“Now, wait a minute! Seems like a waste of a good sized pot; how ‘bout we split it and both walk away…?”[7] the card player asked. Bruce’s and Tabitha’s eyes widened as the sheriff’s pistol extended, exposing six extra barrels.
“How ‘bout I keep it all?”[8]
“… Sounds fair the way you explain it…”[9]
“Don’t think that gun’s from this period…”[10] Bruce noticed. Tabitha smirked slightly; the weapon wasn’t even from their century, she realized. The sheriff’s men immediately grabbed the man and the group left the saloon. Diana looked at the scene and then looked at the other League members.
“We have to help that man.”[11]
“I second that…” Tabitha backed Diana up.
“That’s not what we’re here for. Obviously, someone’s tampering with history; the stakes are much higher than the life of one card shark.”[12] Bruce stated calmly. Tabitha sighed at him.
“Information…” she almost sang out, “Did you not see that gun the sheriff had? He clearly has something to do with that weirdo thief!”
“It’s settled; we’ll break him out after sundown.”[13] Diana said. John snickered and looked at Bruce.
“Never argue with a woman…”[14]

They waited until sundown to approach the small jail. Talking to the bartender (and Bruce knew that Tabitha wouldn’t let him live it down because she was absolutely right), they learned that the cheating sheriff was Tobias Manning and the other gambler was Bartholomew Aloysius Lash, better known as Bat Lash. The only other thing that the bartender was willing to tell was that everything was normal in the town for the longest however something “changed” and Tobias was the new sheriff.
The four League members casually walked inside the jail. As a deputy got up from his seat, Tabitha flashed him a smile, placing her hand on his shoulder.
“Excuse me but…” she finished her sentence with a small jolt, knocking the man unconscious. They went to the back where the cells were and spotted Bat Lash and an older man in one of the cells. Tabitha pointed at the older man.
“Heey… it’s him; it’s the thief!” she realized. Bruce approached the cell and glared at the thief. It was the man that they chased through the portal however he seemed much older.
“Who are you? And, where’s my belt?” he almost growled, making the man smile nervously.
“And, what happened to you? We’ve only been here for, what, half a day? You look… older…” Tabitha noticed. The man scoffed.
“Do you realize what you’ve caused by going through the time portal with me? I’ve been stuck here for twenty-two years!” he explained. Tabitha gave him a confused look and shook her head.
“I’m not even gonna try to figure that one out; I’ll just take your word for it!” her words made the man scoff louder.
“Anyway! That, that, that… idiot took my belt and has been going into the future, bringing weapons and other things back to this time!”
“Must be talking about the sheriff… which would explain the gun…” Bruce commented.
“And, how that weasel took over the town. Ran the real sheriff off with all those fancy weapons. Took over this town and it’s been…”
“Hell in a hand basket?” Tabitha finished for Bat Lash. He gave her a smile and a tip of his hat.
“Couldn’t have said it any better, myself! Bat Lash.” he introduced himself, “Now… any of you know how to get us outta here?” he kept his smile. Tabitha smiled back and gave a show of cracking her knuckles. Before she could do anything, Diana grabbed the cell door and pulled it off with ease.
“You’re with us.”[15] she said to Bat Lash.
“… That’s a healthy gal…”[16] Lash mused.
“Yeah… a heroic moment stealing gal!” Tabitha yelled at Diana. Bruce approached the thief.
“You’re coming with us, too. Once we get my belt back, I’m throwing you back in here!”
“B-But… what about…” the thief tried. Tabitha grabbed him by the shirt and charged up, making sure that he saw the electrical currents flowing around her clenched fist.
“Let’s try this again; who are you…?”
“D-D-David. David Clinton.”
“Good, David Clinton! Now, you listen and you listen good! Number one: I don’t wanna hear a peep outta you! Number two: you’re using that belt and sending us back to where we belong. And, number three: fuck up on rules one or two and I’ll shock you back to your time period! We clear?”
“… C-C-Crystal…”
“I like her…” Lash raised his eyebrows at Tabitha. Diana smiled.
“And, that’s her calm!”
As the group was making their way out of the jail, they were ambushed by Tobias and his men. The Justice League members prepared to fight the group until a trio of men joined them. They learned that the trio was with Lash: Jonah Hex, El Diablo and Ohiyesa Smith, the former sheriff of Elkhorn. Seeing that they were outnumbered, the new sheriff gave an order to retreat, riding back to their ranch. The League members and their new allies gave chase on their horses and were told the full story of how Manning came into power: the “change” was when David Clinton suddenly appeared and was quickly ambushed by Tobias and his men.
“Gonna need to be careful; there are some of the strangest things down at that ranch…”[17] Smith tried to warn the League members. Tabitha held in her laughter as John looked at him.
“Don’t worry; we got a lot of experie…” he was about to say until they all heard a screech from above. Looking up, they saw a pterodactyl flying towards them, “I’m sorry… what were you saying…?”[18]
“This has got to be the weirdest shit I’ve ever seen…” Tabitha’s eyes were fixated on the prehistoric bird coming near them. Diana immediately grabbed it by its neck and flung it away from the others. As it landed, its neck snapped in half, exposing wires and circuits, “Huh… a machine… yep; weirdest shit I’ve ever seen!”
As the group neared the ranch, they were greeted by other bizarre futuristic weapons. The League members jumped off of their horses and started attacking the various robotic dinosaurs, androids and military tanks.
“We’ll take care of this; the rest of you go after Tobias!” John ordered but looked at Tabitha. She nodded at him, hiding her smile and charged up, making quick work of the weapons. Before long, John was using the power of his ring to clear up the mess of mangled and malfunctioning robots and joined the others who were closing in on Tobias and his men. Tobias drew his weapon on the six but Tabitha smiled and shook her head.
“Let’s even this out!” she said and sent a small streak of lightning towards him, shocking the gun out of his hand. Ohiyesa approached him and punched him in the face. Before his men could retaliate, Tabitha charged up yet again, “I’ve been dying to shock someone… you really gonna test me…?” she asked. Defeated, they let Lash’s men take them into custody.
“I’ll say that’s a job well done. Now… to our little thief…” Bruce mentioned. Tabitha turned and saw that David was running inside of the ranch.
“Aw, fuck!” she yelled as the four League members went after him. Inside, Bruce found his utility belt while David grabbed his own belt, quickly activating it. Tabitha was about to shock him until she saw another portal open and David going through it. Just like before, they gave chase with John forming the protective bubble around them. Tabitha sighed and shook her head, “My bad… that was… my fault…”
“It’s okay. You had to fight alongside with us.” Bruce tried to comfort her.
“When this is all over, we’re going to have a talk with J’onn about your lack of experience…” Diana looked forward.
“No… I’ve gotten used to it; it’s no biggie…”
“You’re actually fine with staying on Watchtower all the time?” John eyed her. She shrugged.
“I’m more useful there than anywhere else…” she left it at that. She knew that the two had a point; they actually wanted to see her in action more. However, they didn’t know that there was a deeper reason for her not going on major missions; a reason that always made her smile.
Moments later, the group reached their destination and looked around. Tabitha and Bruce looked around for a moment and then looked at each other.
“Are we… back in the present…?”
“This is Gotham but… something’s different…” Bruce told Tabitha. Before they could say anything else, a group of fiendish clown-like villains confronted them. The League members readied themselves to fight.
“Five against four… not good odds but I’ll take ‘em!” Tabitha smiled, letting electricity flow over her body.
“Look, Dee; she has lightning powers like that Martian man!” one of the females in the group noticed. Tabitha gave her a confused look.
“Wha…” she was about to wonder until she saw a black figure come out of the sky. Others appeared and she studied the four, “Whoa… um… Batman? Someone’s taken your style… and made it better!” she half-smiled at the all-black outfitted Batman. Unlike the man he was emulating, this Batman’s face was completely covered with the black mask, white slits in place for his eyes and mouth. His Batman symbol was red as well and instead of a cape, he donned red wings. The others that were with him came into clear view as they stood beside the League members: a man in steel armor whose wings resembled Shayera’s, a much older Virgil and a Martian. His attire was completely different: a dark blue bodysuit instead of the simple blue trunks. The red straps remained however his massive blue cape was replaced with a flowing dark blue hooded cloak; Tabitha knew who it was, “… J’onn…?” she wanted to make sure; there was something about him that was a bit off to her.
He stared at her for a moment, just as the hawk man did at John. He removed the hood and his eyes lit up while the hawk man gave John a surprised look.
“… Mom…?” the Martian asked. Diana, Bruce and John looked at Tabitha with widened eyes.
“‘Mom’?!?!” they all reacted. She, on the other hand was absolutely speechless, staring in disbelief.
“Dad?” the hawk man continued to look at John. All of the attention left Tabitha and went straight to the Green Lantern who in turn was just as shocked and speechless as the lightning woman.

“Save the family reunion for later; we have work to do!” the older Virgil said and the new additions focused their attention on the villains. The others followed suit, seeing that they had the advantage in numbers. Tabitha went after the two females in the group, throwing her lightning at them. She was amazed when they split into two, making it four against one. They all threw their whips at her, sending a powerful voltage throughout her body. She collapsed in pain.
“Aw; she’s no fun! Let’s go play with the cute Green Lantern!” one of them said and left Tabitha there.
“…… Ouch!” she replied weakly. She gathered her senses and got back into the fight. She was amazed to see that even though they had one more than the villains, they were getting overwhelmed. What amazed her even more was as she went over to help the new Batman, she saw that her “son” was throwing lightning at the clown group, “He… he has my powers…?” she asked no one in particular.
“Looks like the Jokerz have advancements; there’s no way we’ll be able to beat them right now. Retreat!” the all black Batman informed the others.
“I’ll hold them off a bit; go ahead!” John told them as he formed a huge maze around the Jokerz. The others ran around the corner but was attacked but yet another group. Virgil sighed heavily.
“Just what we needed; the Linz trio! Let’s make this quick, then…” he was about to attack the three. Tabitha stepped between the two groups.
“Hold up! Linz…” she looked at the three dressed in black. Their faces weren’t covered, giving her a way to actually study the three, “… trips?!” she gave them a half smile. It was them alright, she knew for a fact. Solonia now looked like an even mixture of the professor and her husband while the boys… men, were mirror images of each other; there was no way to tell A.C. from Jamil but they both looked like their mother.
“… Miss Tabitha…?” Solonia mused. One of the young men approached her slowly, studying her face.
“It is her but she’s… younger…”
“Miss Tabitha!” she knew that it was Jamil when he immediately hugged her.
“Okay… what the hell is going on here?”
“We don’t have time for this!” the new Batman actually growled, “Let’s just take them prisoner and get out of here!”
The group took refuge at an old high school, Hamilton Hill High, where Virgil took the liberty of removing the black jumpsuits off the Lindsey triplets and handcuffed them to three chairs.
“Did you have to make us naked…?” Jamil asked. Tabitha wanted to snicker; his attitude hadn’t changed a bit.
“One, you’re not naked. Two, shut up before you get electrocuted!” the new Batman threatened. Someone approaching made Tabitha swing around and start charging up. When she saw that it was an old man, cane and all, she immediately stopped and looked at him. Her eyes widened.
“Holy… shit… Bruce?!” she switched glances between the young and old Bruce. The older one stared at her and a slow smile finally appeared.
“Tabitha…” he studied the others for a moment and approached his younger self. The younger Bruce could do nothing but look at him in awe, making the old man chuckle a bit, “Surprised to see me?”[19]
“A little. I’m more surprised I lived so long!”[20] the younger Bruce smirked. As Tabitha debated on who to talk to first, John approached the hawk man.
“You called me dad… who are you?”
“Obviously your son…” Tabitha mumbled, causing snickers from the women. John glared at her.
“I don’t think you’re in any authority to joke right about now…” he glanced at the Martian and then looked back at his own son.
“Rex Stewart, better known as Warhawk.”
“Who’s your mother?”
“Really?! You have no idea who his mom is?!” Tabitha couldn’t help herself, motioning at Rex’s retractable wings.
“I would say the same to you but I think it’s very obvious who his father is…” John nodded towards the Martian. Tabitha became flustered as the Martian approached her.
“What are you doing here?” his voice was a bit lighter than J’onn’s but she knew that he could very well change that as needed… just like his father.
“We followed a time-traveling thief here; David Clinton.” younger Bruce explained for Tabitha.
“Oh, you mean Lord Chronos. It makes sense, now. If you haven’t noticed, everything is jacked up around here because of him.” Virgil informed them.
“How far in the future have we traveled?” Diana asked. The older Bruce walked up to Tabitha and examined her.
“How long have you been in the League?” he asked her. She slightly shrugged.
“A couple of years…”
“Then, you’ve traveled about fifty years, give or take a year.” he told her. She stared at Virgil in shock.
“You’re looking damn good for a sixty year old, then! You all do…” she eyed the Lindsey triplets.
“The miracle of modern medicine; sixty-five is the new thirty.”[21] Virgil acknowledged. He turned to face the group, “Unfortunately… this is all that’s left of the Justice League. Warhawk, Terry; the new Batman and Martian Lyght.” he formally introduced.
“Wait… what do you mean, ‘this is all that’s left’? You saying…” it actually saddened Tabitha at the thought. Rex slowly nodded.
“When Lord Chronos took over, he launched a full-scale attack on the Justice League. There wasn’t anything anyone could do about it. A handful simply… left… but it was a very small handful that survived.”
“And those three didn’t help matters much…” Virgil piped in, pointing to the Lindsey triplets. Tabitha swung around and eyed them in half disgust/half amusement.
“What?! But… they don’t even have powers!” she noted. Virgil threw one of the jumpsuits to her.
“Technology’s changed a lot in fifty years, too. With enough money, you can buy super powers…” Solonia explained as Tabitha examined the suit. Very unnoticeable, there were wires running throughout the entire suit. Tabitha had a feeling that it was capable of giving the wearer any power they desired. Slightly angered, she approached the three.
“Why would you do this? Where’s your mom and dad? Do they know what you’ve been doing?!” she scolded. A.C. shot an evil look towards the remaining Justice League members.
“Ask them what happened to our parents!” he spat out. She looked at the others with a confused look.
“What…? What happened to…”
“They killed them! And, no one did a damn thing to stop it! Why should we ‘play nice’ to them when they took the most important people in our lives?!” Jamil angrily yelled out. Tears formed in her eyes as Tabitha continued to eye the future members.
“N-No. Tell me you didn’t…” she tried. Her son approached her and laid a gentle hand on her shoulder.
“They’re not willing to listen to us, especially not after the incident. The Justice League didn’t kill Aunt Doc and Uncle Albert…” a part of her wanted to giggle at his words.
“Don’t call them that; you have no fucking right to call them ‘aunt’ and ‘uncle’!! Everyone had a hand in it; even that damn uncle of ours!!” Jamil raged.
“Tell me that he was one of the handful that…”
“Unfortunately; the coward left after everything went down…” Solonia huffed.
“… Take me to him…”
“Tabitha, we don’t have time for…” the younger Bruce tried.
“You guys do what you need to do; this is kinda important…” she freed the triplets and looked at them, “Take me to see Ramil.”
“I’m going with you, then.” her son volunteered. She looked up at him, the spitting image of his father except without the protruding beetle brow and the eyes; he had her whiskey brown eyes.
“Okay. I got some questions for you, too. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” she looked at the original Justice League members. She put her attention back to her son, “Pretty sure you can do Lightning Cloud…”
“Of course.” he assured as he grabbed the Lindsey men. Tabitha grabbed Solonia and the five left via Lightning Cloud. Within seconds, they were in the old Financial District, which almost laid in ruins. Tabitha shook her head at the sight of it all.
“Don’t let the looks fool you; it’s actually the safest place in Gotham, now.” A.C. explained. The five walked along the street, the Lindsey triplets leading the way. Tabitha looked up at her son.
“… What’s your name?”
“T’ony J’onzz. I only use Lyght as my alias.” he told her. It was almost enough to make her stop walking.
“… I named you…”
“Yes; I was told after an old friend of yours. Father never minded it; he was satisfied that you gave him children.”
“C-Children…? As in plural…? As in… I have more kids?!?!” she stopped dead in her tracks. T’ony laughed slightly.
“Only my sister.” he smiled down at her, “I take it that you came from a time in the past where father and you are not together?”
“We… just started dating…” she looked back at her son and suddenly smiled, “You look so much like J’onn…”
“On the contrary. It’s my sister that favors father the most. While I can shape shift to look exactly like him, she doesn’t have to so much…”
“I just bet! So… you two can do everything that he can…”
“Just about.” he answered. She didn’t know what else to say or even think. When she realized this, her eyes widened and she shot him a look.
“Seeing that I’m still your mother, whether I’m from the past or not, don’t you dare go through my mind!” she warned. It made the Martian laugh and look down at her.
“I won’t! It felt really good hearing that once more…” he smiled sadly. She took notice and looked straight ahead.
“This ain’t messing up any time space continuum thingy, is it?”
“No. Time travel is so fluent now. The only thing that disrupts it is bringing artifacts back from the past or future that don’t belong here… like Lord Chronos is doing.”
“Things that alter the time line…”
“Exactly.” T’ony agreed. The five stopped in front of a familiar building.
“Hey… this is my old apartment building. Is this where Ramil and Ashley live?”
“Yeah. They’ve lived here for as long as we can remember…” Jamil trailed off. As they went inside, Tabitha took a deep breath. Sure enough, they stopped in front of her actual old apartment. After T’ony knocked on the door, a much older Ramil opened it. His hair was still kept short however it was fully grey along with his facial hair. His once lean frame was almost frail. His eyes immediately glistened when they fell on the triplets but then widened as he looked at Tabitha.
“… Ta-Tabitha? Is that really you…?”
“Ramil…” she smiled. She wasn’t expecting a hug but he gave her one anyway. The move told her everything that she didn’t want to know; she was dead.
“You brought the triplets with you. How… are you here?”
“Long story…” she fought tears.
“Come in, come in! Ashley; we have company!” Ramil called behind him. As the five went inside the apartment, they were greeted by Ashley who came from the kitchen. Her once dark brown hair was fully grey however still had its length. She looked at the five in their living room and immediately covered her mouth.
“Tabitha? Triplets? Oh…” she couldn’t contain her tears as she rushed over and hugged the four, holding on tightly to Tabitha. She finally released her and set her moist eyes on T’ony, “Oh, my. T’ony J’onzz. I haven’t seen you since you were little!”
“It’s nice to see you two, again. I would visit more often but under the current circumstances…”
“We understand.” Ramil confirmed. He looked at everyone as he sat down, “It’s really nice to see you guys…” he eyed the triplets. Solonia huffed but a warning glare from Tabitha made her simply turn her head. Tabitha simply looked at the elderly couple.
“So, um, back to that long story; I was pretty much warped from my present to now. We were chasing Dav… Lord Chronos…”
“Oh… him. Figured he had something to do with this.” Ashley slowly sat down. Her wrinkled hands carefully made the hot tea from the teapot pour into her cup.
“We don’t have much time but my mother wanted to know what happened to Aunt…” T’ony glanced over at the triplets, “… to Jamila and Albert.”
“They pretty much said that the Justice League killed them; that they had a hand in it. Tell me that ain’t true…” Tabitha pried. The two looked at Tabitha strangely.
“How far in the past are you from…?” Ramil asked.
“Fifty years… give or take.”
“Oh… so the civil war hasn’t happened yet.”
“Civil?” Tabitha switched glances from Ramil to Ashley, “As in…”
“Between the Justice League. It divided the entire nation, actually. There was a huge argument between J’onn and Clark; no one really knew what it was about. But, it was made public and quite a few people took advantage of that.” Ashley started.
“People who agreed with J’onn joined him and another league was formed.”
“Did you two…?”
“Yes. We didn’t know what the argument was about but… for you to have asked us personally to join… we couldn’t say no. One of the people who took advantage of this was Amanda Waller.” Ramil continued. Tabitha gave the two a confused look, “You haven’t met her yet in your time period?” he slightly widened his eyes. She slowly shook her head, “Just be cautious of her when you do. Anyway; she sponsored the Justice League of America and made J’onn the leader…”
“Just in case Superman went rogue…” T’ony finished for him. Tabitha looked at him and raised an eyebrow.
“… J’onn can match up to Clark?!”
“And then some. And if he couldn’t… Waller made sure that she had convinced the people on Earth that he could.” Ashley finished. Tabitha looked down at her hands.
“You said several people; who were the others?”
“Only one other: Ares, the god of war. He saw the distrust between the two and convinced someone on the Justice League to unleash his robot of war against everyone. It was called the Annihilator. It had been kept locked up for years on Watchtower. We didn’t know that he had a hand in this at the time; we blamed the Justice League and we attacked them. The fighting… went out into the streets… getting the civilians involved.”
“The Annihilator was activated by rage, hate and war. No one knew this except for J’onn, Diana and two others. When it came to life… that was when J’onn’s eyes were opened. He tried to calm everyone down, to get the civilians out of harm’s way… but everything had turned chaotic by then…” Ashley slowly explained. Everyone listened closely and Tabitha wondered what it had to do with her best friend and her husband. When she finally realized it, she put her head in her hands and fought tears.
“No… doc and Albert were there…”
“We had heard J’onn’s orders and started trying to help calm everyone down. By the time I found them, Albert was… dead…” a couple of tears made their way down Ramil’s cheek. He looked over at the triplets, “It was no one’s fault, really; he had been trampled to death. But your mother… she couldn’t be reasoned with. She went on a rampage; against the Justice League, against… us… before we could do anything to calm her down… the Annihilator got a hold of her…” his words were shaky. Ashley grabbed his hand and looked at everyone.
“There wasn’t anything anyone could do; attacking meant the robot would only rage more. By the time anyone would’ve reacted… she was already dead; it happened that quickly.” she finished explaining. The triplets who were reluctant at first were now looking at the couple, all three clearly shaken.
“We… always thought that it was blatant. That… the Justice League just… stood there and watched them die, not doing nothing…” A.C. choked out. Ramil slowly shook his head.
“No matter if it was the Justice League or JLA… they would never do anything like that. You three… actually believed that of all people, we wouldn’t have done anything if we could’ve? … I would’ve given my life for my sister to stay alive…”
“… So would I… why didn’t I…?” Tabitha wiped at her tears.
“You were pregnant; J’onn was not having you out in the field.” Ashley explained. She nodded solemnly. She turned to her son and saw that he was on his communicator; she wondered how old he was when the civil war had broken out… or if she was pregnant with him when it happened. He looked at her with a dry smile.
“I’m sorry, mom; we have to go…” it felt weird for her to hear someone call her that, let alone someone who was nearly a copy of J’onn, “The team has found something out. We have to cut this short.” he stood.
“If you don’t mind… we want to stay here for a while…” Jamil said almost lowly. Tabitha looked at the three and smiled, along with Ramil and Ashley.
“We don’t mind. I can start cooking, now.” Ashley said, getting up. Tabitha and T’ony hugged everyone and left. Leaving the building, she took in everything that she learned and realized that there were still a few things that she wanted answers to. Seeing that it wasn’t going to hurt the time space continuum, she looked at her son.
“I take it that… me and J’onn are dead…” she quietly asked. T’ony stopped walking and looked at her.
“… Yes. Father was one of the first killed during Lord Chronos’ initial attack.”
“… When did I die…?”
“… Last week…” it saddened both of them. Tabitha sighed and tried not to fully think about it. She badly wanted to think about other things. Her mind went to how the small group encountered the future League members… and what her son was capable of.
“T’ony… you have my powers. How…?” she decided to ask. He smiled a little.
“… I was born with them…” he left it at that. Once the two exited the building, they both noticed the change of scenery around them. There were buildings that she knew that had no business being there… the Eiffel Tower being one of them. Looking more closely, they also saw a white wave of energy taking over the night sky in the distance.
“Whoa… what the hell…”
“This isn’t good. Let’s go…”

The older Bruce looked at the younger Bruce, almost studying him as he made calculations on the computer.
“Has she already started dating J’onn?” he asked lowly. Younger Bruce nodded as the elder shook his head, “You should’ve told her how you felt a long time ago…”
“I take it we still have feelings for her.” younger Bruce commented. They both looked as Tabitha and her son appeared, talking to Virgil, John and Diana. The elderly man smiled as he watched her.
“Some things are harder to let go than others. Letting go of Batman or Tabitha? I’d chose Batman every single time…” he continued to look at her as they all made their way towards the two. Virgil looked at Tabitha and T’ony.
“We found out some things while you were away. Chronos is making things very unstable around here.”
“We saw. There was a white energy covering the sky when we left.” T’ony informed.
“That isn’t good. We’ve got to stop him from going back and forth through time; convince him to go back to his time period.”
“How do we do that though? We got no idea where he is…” Tabitha pointed out.
“His goons, the Jokerz would know.” Rex said.
“Okay… how is this gonna work? It was eight against five… seven…” Tabitha remembered that the female twins split into two, “and we still were about to get whooped!”
“We’ll have to separate them; get the weakest one to talk…”[22] the younger Bruce said. Terry looked at him in curiosity.
“Get the weakest one to talk? Is he serious?!”[23]
“Knowing him like we do, that would be a yes!” Diana smiled.
“Sometimes the old ways are best.”[24] younger Bruce shrugged.
“It’s not going to work, whatever you’re thinking about. You don’t know your way around here. Things have changed.”[25] Terry told him. The younger Bruce looked at the older Bruce.
“Are criminals still superstitious and cowardly…?”[26]
“Yep.”[27]
“Good enough for me…”[28]
“So, what’s the plan? How we gonna find the weakest link?”
“We’ll need… your son’s help for that. You have all the powers your dad had?” younger Bruce looked at T’ony.
“Almost…”
“Shape shifting?”
“Most definitely.” T’ony smiled. Tabitha looked at the two and suddenly widened her eyes.
“No… I don’t want him involved in this.”
“Tabitha…”
“Mom; I can take care of myself!” T’ony slightly rolled his eyes, “You really are my mother!” he sighed out, gaining slight laughter from the others. John put his hand on Tabitha’s shoulder.
“You, um… you do realize that he’s J’onn’s son as well… right?” he smirked. She blushed and smiled a little.
“S-Sorry…”
“Okay; well, the timeline is degrading rapidly; there’s no telling what will happen or how much time we actually have left.” Virgil cleared his throat and looked at T’ony, “You know what to do?”
“Pose as a rogue, find the snitch out the group…” he nodded and was about to leave until Tabitha grabbed him by his arms. He huffed, “Mom! Stop it; I’ll be fine!” he narrowed his eyes at her, apparently embarrassed. She reluctantly let go and slightly smiled.
“J-Just wanted to tell you good luck…”
“Martians don’t need luck; we have skills…” he retaliated, making her raise her eyebrows. He turned to look at her as he was leaving, “That’s what you always told me…”
“… Oh…” she smiled. Suddenly he approached her and gave her a huge hug and left. She turned to look at the others, “W-What?!”
“Motherly instinct?” Terry asked. Her cheeks ached at his words; she had never expected that she would end up a mother… to two children… fathered by none other than Martian Manhunter, himself!
“You do know that you have a lot of explaining to do when this is over!” Diana winked at her. Before she could open her mouth, the Amazon disappeared into thin air.
“Oh; what… the hell just happened?! Diana!!”
“No… it’s a time shift. We need to hurry…” younger Bruce realized.
After receiving word from T’ony, the group found themselves on top of an abandoned building, waiting on one of the Jokerz to appear. Tabitha crouched behind an air duct, knees pulled up to her chest, going over everything that happened to her. John joined her.
“Seriously… anything you want to say about all this?”
“… Not really… no. There’s nothing really to say. Well… I’m shocked as all hell!” she slowly shook her head, fighting off her blush. He studied his own son and smirked.
“That makes the two of us…”
“Company!” younger Bruce lowly hissed. The group jumped out of their hiding spots and were facing two of the villains from the Jokerz group; Ghoul and Bonk.
“Looks like we hit the jackpot, Bonk!” Ghoul smiled.
“Wow… guess the plan didn’t work…” Terry shot a look at the younger Bruce. Bonk started to approach the members and smiled.
“Actually… it did…” he mentioned and immediately transformed into T’ony. He looked towards Ghoul who tried to escape but threw a warning stream of lightning towards him, stopping him dead in his tracks. As he stumbled over his own feet, the younger Bruce approached him, grabbed him by the leg and dangled him over the ledge of the building.
“If you don’t tell us what we need to know, I’ll drop you…”[29] he actually threatened, causing Tabitha to widen her eyes.
“Whoa… think I like this Bruce…” she smirked. The elder one shook his head and approached the two.
“I can’t believe I was ever that green. Step aside; this is how you interrogate someone!”[30] he mentioned, throwing Ghoul away from the ledge. He raised his cane above his head, getting ready to strike.
“Okay, okay! W-What do you want to know?”
“Everything about Lord Chronos.”
“H-He can travel through time, backwards and forwards! He has this belt that lets him do it! He brings stuff back with him; that’s how we were able to kill off the majority of the League! He says that… he’s a wanted man so he hardly stays here in this time period. And, that’s everything I really know!”[31]
“Everything?”[32] younger Bruce eyed him. Ghoul shook slightly in fear.
“… I wet the bed until I was fourteen!”[33]
“Losing my patience…”[34] older Bruce raised his cane once more.
“You know, I can’t keep my friend held back much longer if you don’t start giving us some useful information…”[35] younger Bruce threatened.
“Huh! Batman playing ‘good cop’?”[36]
“Tell me about it! Where’s the popcorn when you need it?!” Tabitha said to Virgil.
“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait… uh… I know where he’s got his wife prisoner at…?” Ghoul tried. Tabitha eyed the three.
“That weirdo has a wife?!”
“… Maybe she didn’t have a choice…?” Rex asked, producing a snicker from the lightning woman.
“She’s in the pyramid; you can’t miss it! Enid Clinton!”
The group walked inside the Egyptian pyramid and were immediately greeted by robotic guards. Tabitha held her hands out, stopping the others from attacking.
“No; ain’t no one taking this from me: I got this…” she cracked her fingers and immediately shocked them. One went crashing through a tomb door.
“Showoff…” Virgil mumbled.
“If we come across some mummies, then I’ll let you handle ‘em; let me shine for a moment!” she eyed him with a hint of a smile. The members went through the destroyed door and saw a woman dressed as an Egyptian goddess. She was lying in bed, watching TV and eating snacks. Before they could approach her, John immediately transformed into someone else, a Caucasian man with dark blond hair. The group immediately looked at him.
“Umm…” Tabitha slightly raised her hand. He turned to look at the group.
“What?”
“… John?” Virgil tried.
“Hal Jordan. Another time shift. I’m up to speed; carry on…”[37]
“You know what… maybe I don’t wanna go on anymore missions…”
“This is just proof of how much the timeline is being altered. Because of these time shifts, any one of us could cease to exist or transform into someone else.” younger Bruce explained.
“Wait; so you’re telling me that when Diana disappeared… she was erased from history? Period?!” Tabitha asked.
“A possibility. Either she never existed or she never left Themyscira…”
“Yeah… we need to hurry this up! Enid Clinton…” Tabitha approached the woman. She looked up at the group and slightly nodded.
“Where is your husband?” Hal Jordan asked her. She huffed slightly.
“Now that you got rid of those guards, I can show you exactly where he is; he sleeps in the same place every night!” she got up from the bed.
“This could be a trap…” Tabitha eyed her. T’ony laid a gentle hand on his mother’s shoulder and stared at Enid. He shook his head.
“She’s telling the truth.” he nodded. Tabitha looked up at him and smirked.
“You really are your father’s son…”
The group was led to a roman coliseum where inside was the Elkhorn jail. As Hal scanned the building with the power of his green ring, he immediately turned back into John.
“Would you make up your mind?!”[38] Terry threw his hands up.
“No traps detected…” John assured.
“Okay. This is the last thing I’m gonna question in this weird ass place: why in the hell would he sleep in a jail cell; the same one he was in for twenty years?!” Tabitha questioned. Enid huffed and started to go inside.
“A loser with a kingdom is still a loser!”[39]
“Lady, I’m not gonna pretend to understand the meaning behind that but… oh, fuck it; it does make sense!” Tabitha said. Just when the group was going to apprehend Lord Chronos, his wife shook him awoke. Tabitha widened her eyes and threw her hands up in amusement, “Why?! Why would you do that and make things complicated?!”
“Seems as though stealth is not a quality of hers…” T’ony pointed out. As soon as Lord Chronos opened his eyes, he opened up a portal, letting the Jokerz appear.
“We have to get to him before everything is destroyed!” the younger Bruce said.
“Wait; what was the plan?” Tabitha asked. He pulled out a small disc.
“Downloading this into his belt…”
“Alright; not gonna ask for the details… we’ll handle the Jokerz…” she made the decision. He grabbed her hand, remembering what his older self told him.
“Tabitha… be careful…”
“No worries; I got my son to back me up! You just install that disc! Come on, Martian Lyght; I see some twins with our names on ‘em!”
“Just like old times…” T’ony slightly smiled, putting on his hood.
“No… I got those two; you take care of the others.” Terry said and immediately approached Dee Dee, the twins with the electric whips. Tabitha and Tony went after Bonk while Virgil and Rex went after Ghoul and Woof. As John and Bruce tried to contain Lord Chronos, the other battles spread to outside the jail cell. Virgil looked at T’ony and Tabitha.
“If we combine our powers, I think we can wipe them all out!” he called over to them.
“Sounds like a plan to me!” Tabitha smiled. Before they could join him, a time rift opened beside Virgil and sucked him inside. Tabitha looked on in fear.
“Virgil; no!!”
“This is bad. Time is degrading faster. We can do this; don’t lose focus, mom!” T’ony said and went after Ghoul.
“I won’t…son…” she smiled and threw lightning along with him, aiming towards Bonk. The two Jokerz tried to rally together to defeat the two however with a quick nod to each other, they did a simultaneous Lighting Cloud, landing behind the backs of Ghoul and Bonk. The two charged up with all of their might, placed their hands on their backs and released all of their power, sending the two Jokerz flying across the other side of the coliseum, “Nice!”
“I learned from the best…” he winked at her. He looked over and saw that the Dee Dee twins split into four, “Let’s help Terry out…”
“Yeah… I owe them a taste of their own medicine…” she looked over with an evil grin. The two were about to make their way over until another time rift opened, bringing a wooly mammoth and French revolutionary soldiers into the arena, “Not gonna question it, not gonna question it…” she mumbled. The soldiers looked around at their surroundings confusedly but decided to aim their muskets towards Terry. T’ony and Tabitha pushed the soldiers out of the way, their weapons firing into the air. It was enough to distract Terry for a moment, long enough for the Dee Dee quartet to corner him and hit him with their whips. Before anyone could come to his rescue, the electrical currents coursed through all four whips, electrocuting Terry to death.
“No…” T’ony half whispered; his mother had nearly frozen in place. He suddenly saw that the wooly mammoth was charging towards her; he grabbed her and did a quick Lightning Cloud out of harm’s way. It continued its stampede however towards Rex.
“Watch out!” Tabitha finally found her voice. Before she could get him out of the way, the mammoth was emerged by a green bubble and carried away from the battles. Tabitha looked towards John who sighed for relief. Looking up, he saw the white energy wave that T’ony and Tabitha had seen on the outskirts of town; it was closing in on the coliseum. He looked towards Lord Chronos.
“Don’t you see what you’ve done? Can’t you see that this isn’t normal? Look up and see for yourself; time is unraveling!” he tried to argue. Lord Chronos finally looked up and saw the white wave which was closing in on them at a steady rate and sighed.
“If you don’t use that belt of yours to stop this, there’ll be nothing for you to take over!” Tabitha had joined John and Bruce. Lord Chronos thought about her words and finally nodded.
“You’re right. I’m the only one who has the power to stop this… to fix this…”
“Yes!” Bruce agreed.
“That means… it’s all up to me. If I can… if I can go back to the beginning of time… why, I can undo it all… and become a god!”
“Wait… what?! I don’t think… he understood what we were really trying to say! You fucking loony toon; that’s not what we meant!!” Tabitha yelled at him. He went over to his wife, kissed her and opened up a portal. The three present League members prepared to follow him yet again, with Tabitha grabbing her son’s hand. When he didn’t move, she looked back at him, “What are you doing? Let’s go before the portal closes…”
“No. I can’t. This is my time era; I can’t go back with you.”
“But…”
“Mom… it’ll be okay. If you stop him, don’t worry; I’ll be around. I love you, mom. Now, go!” he said and pushed her inside the portal with Bruce and John. As John enclosed the bubble around the three, Tabitha looked back and watched as the portal closed. John looked at her and nodded.
“He’s right. Once we stop him, the timeline will return to normal for them.” he tried to comfort her. She sighed and reluctantly turned around, nodding a little. Lord Chronos was right in front of them and soon they saw what looked like a hand at the end of the warp tunnel.
“Um… what the hell is that…?”
“The Dawn of Time. The Green Lanterns have a legend: no one can see the beginning of time. It’s a universal law.”[40] John explained. Bruce slightly smirked.
“Hmph; write him a ticket!”[41]
“If he reaches that… he could change everything ever known. We gotta catch up to him; can’t you make this go faster?”
“What do you think I’m doing?” John grunted as he pushed the power of his ring, “Almost there…” he saw that they were finally within arm’s length of Lord Chronos. Using his other arm, John reached out for him and pulled him inside the bubble. Bruce quickly inserted the disc into his belt.
“No! What are you doing?! You said I was the only one who can fix this!!”
“Sorry…” Tabitha said as he started to disappear. Once he was gone, she sighed but saw that they were having another problem, “Um, John… you can slow down now…”
“I’m… trying…” he grunted out. With all of his might, he tried to slow down as they drew closer and closer to the giant hand swirling with cosmic energy. She knew that they wouldn’t be able to stop and closed her eyes, bracing herself for whatever was going to happen to the three. There was a moment of complete silence and then she heard noises. When she opened her eyes, she saw that… she was in the cafeteria. John and Bruce were sitting down in front of her with their trays just as they were before they all heard the intruder alarm. All three blinked at each other, slightly taking in their surroundings.
“Do… you two remember a time traveling mission…?” John tried. Tabitha slowly nodded.
“… Yeah…”
“It’s like… we never left…” Bruce noticed. Tabitha saw Diana approaching the table with her tray and she smiled at the three.
“Tabitha! Glad you’re here; I have a re… ooh, what happened to your head, John?” she asked, examining a scar on the top of his head. He gave her a strange look but ran his fingers across it, wincing slightly; he must have gotten it during the last battle, he realized.
Tabitha cocked her head towards Diana and wondered why she didn’t remember the time traveling trip. She then realized that Diana had disappeared before they had a chance to confront David Clinton. She remembered what Bruce had said and wondered if her disappearing altered the fact that she was even with them throughout the entire “mission”.
Tabitha put on a sheepish smile.
“That was my bad; me and John were training…” she covered. The two men eyed her strangely as Diana shrugged.
“Don’t let her catch you off guard next time!” she continued to smile. Before Diana could sit down, someone grabbed her attention from across the way, “I’ll be back to talk to you shortly, Tabitha…” she said and made her way across the cafeteria. Bruce leaned towards Tabitha.
“Why did you lie to her?”
“She don’t remember it; probably none of it. I don’t know how much time traveling you guys do but I had a feeling that she wouldn’t have taken it too seriously…”
“She’s right. It’s probably best if we just kept this amongst each other, then.” John agreed.
“It makes me wonder, though; what if that wacko comes back?” Tabitha asked. Bruce slightly smiled.
“You don’t have to worry about that. The program I downloaded will keep him stuck in a loop if he tries to use the belt again!” the idea made the three laugh. Bruce looked at Tabitha and reflected on what they had just went through. Going by that future, it looked as though the lightning woman and the Martian were meant to be; or at least they would have a child together, “I think that there are other things that we have to worry about… well, at least the two of you do…” he decided to say it. Tabitha lightly blushed as the two men had their eyes on her.
“So… you and J’onn are…”
“N-No…we’re not. I was just… overwhelmed that of all people fate would put me with… it would be… him…” she felt her cheeks ache at the thought. She had never thought about how long term their relationship would be; she was just taking things one day at a time, “A-Anyway… that don’t mean nothing…”
“Really? You’re saying that what we witnessed wasn’t real?” Bruce tried to hide his smirk. She shrugged.
“Not saying that. I’m just saying that the future can be changed. John and Shayera ain’t together no more but they had a son, too, right?” she was glad to have switched the pressure back to him. He stiffened slightly at her words, looking as Shayera put her tray away and walked out of the cafeteria.
“So, neither one of you will say anything to them?”
“… Tabitha has a point. Besides… I don’t think it would change anything…” John realized.

She couldn’t help reliving the secret mission over and over again. She had hoped that everything was back to normal for that time era. However, what did it mean, she wondered. If David Clinton was stuck in a time loop in his own era that meant the Justice League members were still alive. But, did it mean that the civil dispute wouldn’t happen? Would Albert and Jamila Lindsey still meet their untimely deaths that day? She didn’t want to think about that; she had put her focus on what was really important: her son… their son… their children.
According to that future, the Martian and the lightning woman had formed a family. She thought about what she had told the men; that the future could be changed. Did she really want that? Did she want to alter the fact that she would become Mrs. J’onzz and have two Martian children with him? She couldn’t allow herself to think that far ahead and made the decision that if it happened… it just happened.
Another thing that slightly puzzled her; T’ony J’onzz’s abilities. He possessed her lightning ability, saying that he was born with it. When she thought about it, she knew exactly what that meant; according to that timeline… she was never cured. She had accepted the fact and passed the gene on to her children, or at least to her son; it made her slightly irritated that she hadn’t gotten more details about her daughter. Tabitha knew that her window of opportunity may had already closed as far as getting cured however she was coasting on the hope that the mutant strand was still in the process of trying to merge. It made her realize that there was one person she most definitely needed to talk to.
Jamila was surprised to see Tabitha and Bruce standing on her porch as she opened the door. She gave them a huge smile, moving so that the two could go inside.
“Tabs, Mr. Wayne! This is a definite… surprise; okay, what’s with the looks?” she immediately noticed the mood change when she closed the door. They both received her hugs regardless, “Something wrong?”
“Doc… has that mutant strand already fused with me?” Tabitha had decided that the only way was to blurt out the question. The professor let out a slight gasp but shot a look at Bruce.
“You told her? I thought I had asked you two to let me tell her!” she started to scold. When she saw that her best friend also shot a look at him, she knew that she had said a bit too much.
“Wait… you already knew…?” she tried to control her anger. Bruce sighed.
“Might as well get all of this out in the open” Dr. Lindsey was supposed to tell you when we found out. I know she can tell you why it took her so long but… I don’t think any of us would’ve predicted that we would go on that mission before she could…” he tried to explain. Her hands slightly clenched, Tabitha looked down at the hardwood floor that made up the hallway.
“You said… ‘we’… and you said ‘two’… who else kn…” she closed her eyes tightly when she put two and two together, “J’onn. J’onn… knew… and none of you wanted to tell me…?” she opened her eyes and glared at the two.
“How could we? I didn’t have the heart to…”
“Oh; so, the plan was to just say ‘fuck it’ and let me keep hoping for a cure?! ‘Don’t worry about it; she wants her powers, now’!!”
“Tabs, you know it wasn’t like that!” Jamila tried. Tabitha stormed into the kitchen and slumped down into a chair, trying her best to calm down. She couldn’t believe that the three that she had trusted the most would keep this from her.
“When? When did it fuse? Was it when I got to Watchtower…?” she tried to control her breathing. Jamila bit her lip and looked over at Bruce, who gave her a solemn look. She put her attention back to her best friend.
“… No. T-There was a reason… why Dr. Castillo’s antidote didn’t work…” she reluctantly told her, tears threatening to run down to her cheeks. Tabitha stopped breathing and slowly looked up at the professor.
“Back… back in… New York…? You mean to tell me that…” she started back to breathing, trying not to show her own tears, “So… that’s that, huh? No cure for me…” she almost whispered.
“I’m so sorry, Tabitha! You weren’t supposed to use your powers; it sped up the process! I didn’t find out until you went to Watchtower for your treatments…” Jamila’s voice quivered.
“Why… why didn’t you just fucking tell me, then…? I would’ve at least known…” Tabitha ran her shaky hands through her hair. Jamila let out a sob.
“I’m so sorry! I… was gonna tell you… I just… didn’t know how…” she cried. Tabitha pulled at her hair slightly but immediately got up. She hugged her best friend.
“Would you stop it with the waterworks?!”
“This is all my fault!!”
“It’s not… and you know that. Look… it’s over with. What’s done is done. Bridge over the water…”
“… That’s water under the bridge…” she sniffed. Tabitha narrowed her eyes at the woman and suddenly yanked on one of her dreads, “Ow! Bitch!” her sudden outburst put a small smile on Tabitha’s face.
“That’s for keeping shit from me… and correcting me all the damn time! I’m still pissed at you…” Tabitha glanced towards Bruce, “And you… and I’ll have a talk with that damn Martian later! Just… stop treating me like some damn teenager! I’m grown… and I can take bad news! I kinda figured I was stuck, anyway…”
“Works out for the best?” Bruce asked. Tabitha thought about it for a moment. If it wasn’t for her powers, she would have never been able to weld or make things indestructible. She wouldn’t have met Peter and became his sidekick. She wouldn’t have met Bruce and became his sidekick! And furthermore… she would have never went aboard Watchtower and met J’onn.
“I guess it does…” she realized. The front door suddenly opening drew everyone’s attention. Jamila wiped at her eyes as rapid footsteps and sounds of book bags dropping on the floor were heard.
“We’re home!!” Solonia yelled. Jamil ran into the kitchen and his smile widened.
“Miss Tabitha!!” he yelled and immediately hugged her. On cue, the other two Lindsey children ran in and did the same. It made Tabitha smile even more and hug them back, thinking back to when she had seen them in the future. That thought made her heart begin to race slightly.
“Hey, guys! How’s school?”
“We got all As; even A.C.!” Solonia beamed, waving a paper in her face. She laughed when the boys did the same even though A.C. slightly glared at his sister.
“That is so awesome! Tell you what; let me talk to your mom for a minute and if it’s okay with her, I’ll treat you guys to something special…”
“Yeah!”
“Cool!”
“Are we gonna go meet Superman?!”
“Pick up those book bags and straighten your rooms; we’ll think about it…” Jamila took their report cards as the three bolted out of the kitchen. Tabitha looked at her best friend and immediately hugged her again, “W-What…? I stopped crying…”
“Doc, promise me one thing…” she made the decision that she had to tell her something; even if it meant tampering with a future timeline that was supposedly set in stone, “If a civil war breaks out between the Justice League… promise to stay in the house…”
“… What…?” Jamila wanted to look at her. Bruce gave her a confused look as well but Tabitha hugged her tighter.
“Promise that you and Albert stay with the kids…”
“Tabs… I don’t understand…”
“Just… promise me! Please…” her voice cracked as a tear forced its way out. She reluctantly hugged her friend back.
“Alright… I promise…”

[1]-[18] Dialogue taken from Justice League Unlimited episode: The Once and Future Thing Part 1

[19]-[41] Dialogue taken from Justice League Unlimited episode: The Once and Future Thing Part II
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