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Parallels	By : sirensoundwave Category: DC Verse Cartoons > Young Justice Views: 3184 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Plot and anything you don't recognize, mine. Everything else (Young Justice or any characters licensed by DC) belongs to their respective creators/writers/artists. Just know I make no profit off of this and shut up about it...m'kay?

Chapter List
- 24
- 25
- 26
Here’s chapter 25.
Geek Alert:
I feel it is important to note Billy Baston and Captain Marvel are not the same person. Technically. He’s also a teen not a ten year old boy. It’s one of those things that varies depending on what multiverse you’re looking at as this character has be retconned over and over (don’t get me started on Elseworlds...). There are well over 52 ‘verses’ and many heroes exist in only one or two or have died in others though many verses are um...kinda not used much (I’m not sure how to explain it really. DC has been publishing since 1934 guys..). As far as I can tell, the version of Earth-16 used for YJ animated portrays him as a little boy who transforms into an adult version of HIMSELF, but only physically. His uncle Ebenezer actually gives a rat’s ass about him (Yay! Most of the time Billy’s a street kid) and the Marvel Family doesn’t exist. Though I wonder where his sister Mary is...
Also, I have had people ask me about Superboy’s powers. This chapter will answer some of those questions but for the main one ‘since when does he have any powers other than strength, durability, super senses, x-ray vision and leaping?’ Go yell at Greg Weisman and Brandon Vietti for their adaptation. It’s just the way they made him for the show and they kinda breezed over the explanation of his tactile telekinesis. A lot of people just think being a hybrid means he just has some of Superman’s powers. I don’t really have a problem with their version of YJ because it opens up new possibilities. Really there’s a LOT of crap wrong if you wanna stick to the original comic series (yes, there is a new one following the version on Cartoon Network) besides Superboy’ lack of powers (for example they pulled Artemis out of their ass by retooling a villain’; used the wrong version of Kid Flash, should be Impulse; wrong Robin, should be Red Robin; who realizes Mal Duncan in season 2 is supposed to be Herald/Vox?; etc). The only one so far I made up is his precognition and to be honest I’m not even sure about that. Despite my rants, I have not read every comic.
End Geek Alert.
The soundtrack is one of the few songs I love the original and cover of (both videos too; those puppets are uber creepy, Todd MacFarlane is a wicked artist and both are totally relevant today ;-P ). Genesis/Disturbed leads the way with Land of Confusion.
Chapter 25
Land of confusion
I won't be coming home tonight
My generation will put it right
We're not just making promises
That we know we'll never keep
There's too many men, too many people
Making too many problems
And there's not much love to go round
Can't you see this is a land of confusion?
Now, this is the world we live in
And these are the hands we're given
Use them and let's start trying
To make it a place worth fighting for
This is the world we live in
And these are the names we're given
Stand up and let's start showing
Just where our lives are going to
There hadn’t been a single event in three weeks. Twenty one fucking days. Needless to say, both sides were going a little stir crazy. One from not knowing what to expect. The other, for not doing anything at all.
“Father, what are we waiting for?” Shiva huffed. She, Kali and their newly born brother were in their father’s throne room glaring at him. Actually, Krishna was occupied by twirling his flute, not really paying attention. He didn’t mind the lull in activity. He was learning to control his powers and having fun. Enjoying the praise his father gave him when he made silly mortals his puppets, destroyed obstacles on purpose and created things with the songs he played. Or demonstrated that he had good control of his loyal servant. The one with the nice blue eyes.
“Patience daughter. Krishna is young with much to learn. As it stands now, he is in danger should he face the likes of Aurii or Gaia’s children so soon.” Vishnu chuckled.
“Eep!” That caught the boy’s attention and he nearly dropped the instrument. “I’m sorry...I’ll get strong faster! I promise!”
“Don’t worry. We’ll teach you little one.” Kali cooed, hugging him tight. Really, her sister was so impulsive. “You’re doing such a good job already.”
“That’s right, we won’t let anything happen to you.” Shiva smiled. “I’m just a little restless is all. You take all the time you need Krish.”
Lies.
Remember.
All lies.
Remember.
Krishna looked around, confused. Someone was whispering to him, but his family was right there...it wasn’t them. Very faintly but still there. Where was it coming from? These whispers had been happening since he first awoke. Before, they hadn’t really bothered him. Now it was becoming annoying.
Lies.
Remember.
All lies!
Remember!
“Father, I hear something. Like someone is trying to talk to me. It used to be very soft but now...” He shook his head trying to clear it. Yet, the murmurs grew a bit louder and were making his head ache. It sounded like a bunch of people talking all at once. He wanted it to go away. On instinct, he brought the flute to his lips and began to play. A fast, jaunty tune.
Li...
Re....er...
Al....
....
Smiling when finished, he pulled his flowing locks into a high ponytail then tucked the instrument in his sash. He did not see how truly concerned his sisters were, something was hurting their little brother. The child missed his father’s satisfied smirk as well.
/He can silence those annoying voices trying to call him back to his former self on his own. Heh, heh... I’m so proud. Once he has had sufficient exposure to the power I’ve siphoned from that sparkle-headed twit, they will no longer be a problem. Then my anchor to this world will be cemented. And my strongest mage yet will become whole. Those mortals weren’t totally worthless./
Part of the Light’s mission had been to find him suitable children to forge into soldiers using Starro Tech. Superboy and Match were supposed to be the generals of that army. Luthor had no idea the power hidden within his own blood, or how much of a boost it would receive from Superman’s. Idiot.
Somehow though, Castor had sabotaged them both rendering one useful but literally falling apart and allowing the other to develop a mind of his own. His nephew’s efforts had caused Superboy to become useless to him but Match was salvaged. He had merely required a master that could stabilize him. One native to this world.
The other task was to find one to convert into his third mage, which they utterly failed at. Not that they knew it. Still it was no excuse for their failure. The only instruction he had given was to find a child with strong magical potential. A task only ‘Klarion’ was fit to complete and we see how well that worked out. His precious girls proved to be the only ones he could count on. And because of that, he had to reward them. A sweet new sibling to fawn over, and teach the joy of crushing one’s enemies beneath his bare heel.
Despite his ruthless ambition, the man resembling the Prince from Mortal Kombat* truly loved his offspring. He’d chosen this realm not only for Gaia’s sickening laissez faire approach to ruling but because one of her sons had wronged his poor Shiva when she was mortal. All because she wanted to be stronger. He broke her heart, twisting her into the angry, hate filled witch she was now. He had to pay for that. Pollux was their target at the Watchtower, Castor being there was an unforeseen event. Damn the temporal distortion created when they crossed over.**
Vishnu planned to take away everything that little bastard loved before crushing the life out of him himself. Gaia, Pollux, Sagittarius, that golden eyed tramp. All would suffer for his sins. He looked forward to their misery.
*I am bum...bum...bum...a line break!*
The world at large was still on high alert. The Logans had fled to a remote area of Quarac to escape the fighting, much to Megan’s relief. Public attitudes were not improved by the no comment issued every time the media tried to ask the JLA what was going on. There were talks of military preparations from a lot of nations just in case the League couldn’t defend them. Or turned out to be the cause.
For those three weeks, the League had argued over the reliability of the Zodiac Knights. Jordan, Booster, Hawkwoman and Hawkman (upon awakening), continued to oppose associating with them. The mentors of the children and Wonder Woman were at least open to their help. Red Tornado, Mister Terrific, Blue Beetle, Zatara and Stewart (despite most of them nearly dying) were on the fence...but really wanted everyone to shut up. Billy’s uncle had been told the truth and the poor man just broke down. He wasn’t ignorant of the danger he faced as a part time hero but had always believed those powers would protect his nephew.
The Zodiac Knights themselves had chosen to stay away from them. Mostly. Flash still saw his nephew often and there was no way Green Arrow was going to give up on his relationship with Virgo...or Sagittarius. Rarely were any of the Mages in hero attire; something that had caused a bit of a stink with the Rogues wondering where their ‘Baby Flash’ had gone. ‘Roy Harper’ was released from St. Helena’s amid a media frenzy.
It was also very obvious Castor and Gabriel only cared about the mortal heroes because they mattered to the ones they loved. Lady Gaia was focusing all her attention on maintaining the universe now that her boys were actively interfering with it.
It bothered Batman that he had to share his son with one of his greatest enemies just because she happened to be his mother from a millennia ago. She screwed up, it was his turn. Get over it. Though he had backed off some. Why? Bruce and his new maid, Ilsa Melepay***, got into an argument about what was best for Richard that resulted in a stressed boy wonder shattering every piece of glass within the foyer with a pulse of energy just to get them to stop. A nonplussed Alfred dusted shards from his uniform then declared “This I one mess I don’t believe I am able to repair.” and exited the room to check on dinner. Leaving the three of them to blink dumbly at his calm demeanor.
The tension had even begun to wear on Manhunter mentally, who spent more and more time on Earth as John Johns. The only thing they could agree on was that for the time being, the ‘kids’ needed to be taken off of active duty. There were still routine cases but wonky emotions and powers weren’t going to cut it on the battlefield. Not when so much was at stake. So when they called them to the Watchtower...
The Knights sat off to the side, blissfully ignoring the hateful stares leveled at them by some. It gave a lot of the adults the heebie-jeebies that Sylphine continued to present herself as a small child and prefered to sit on her soulmate’s lap regardless of the form he took. And she knew it. At present, he was an adult, chained to the adult form of Wally. Sagittarius sat scowling next to Virgo and Epsilon. Gabriel was asleep. Pisces played with a watery mirror where she sat.
“As much as it pains us to do so, we believe it might be best for you all to take a break from hero duties until this is sorted out.” Aquaman had drawn the short straw apparently.
The silence that followed was full of tension. After a few minutes of trading glances, the one who spoke up was Aqualad. Like a true leader, he stepped forward and took a stance that clearly said 'I will not back down'.
“With all due respect my king, you have a snowball’s chance in hell of that happening.” The Atlantean spoke. The expression on the League’s faces was worthy of a photo for posterity.
“You guys are doing it again, not trusting us. This time, you can’t blame Dr. Fate.” Zatanna frowned. “ You forget about us for nearly a month now this? How long do you intend to tell us to sit in the corner while the adults work it out?”
“Kids-” Hal began.
“We are not kids dammit!” Superboy yelled, and the table infront of the adults lurched forward, starling them. He closed his eyes and breathed in and out slowly before continuing. “You had your meeting and we had ours. We are done being afraid of our abilities. And we are done being afraid of what you’d think of them.” That last sentence was spoken lower than the others but still heard.
“You guys are so focused on keeping us safe, you’re not seeing that we aren’t fragile. The weirdness that’s been going on with all of us was going to happen at some point. Maybe when we got old and grey, maybe in a few years. All the Mages did was speed up the timeframe to make sure we could survive this threat,” Rocket said. “We accept the same risks to do the same job as any other hero.”
“The future Superboy and I saw is horrible but it doesn’t have to happen.” Miss Martian took her boyfriend’s hand. Eyebrows went up.
“I was right then.” Superman sighed. “You knew about how I felt under Fate’s direction. You saw something in the future that made you avoid me like you did didn’t you?”
Everyone was looking at the two Kryptonians. The Young Justice team was concerned it might be too soon for Connor to face those emotions, the adults were just confused by the exchange. They understood the children’s abilities had changed but this much?
“Y-yeah. Some stuff from my dream didn’t happen, but the important stuff did. I knew you were only offering to train me so you could make sure I didn’t go berserk or something. I got to know Ms. Lane, I even moved to Metropolis and lived with the two of you. Then Sagittarius told her about your motives and she broke off your engagement because of me. It’s why I changed my KSK avatar from basically a younger version of you...” He paused. The words felt like stones in his throat, threatening to choke him. Spell or not, the feelings his Kryptonian father showed when he was first liberated from Cadmus were real, not caused my Fate’s meddling. The Sorcerer Supreme had merely reinforced them.
But he had to face this. Being afraid of this moment did nothing but compound his troubles since his powers began to expand. With a gentle, encouraging squeeze from Megan’s hand in his, he looked straight at the man he was originally designed to destroy. And told everyone what only the two of them knew.
“...to a younger version of Ultraman. At first I didn’t think it meant anything. Dreams are just your subconscious messing with you right? Then, the guy from my dream turns out to be real and I - I was so fucking angry, I wanted to hurt you anyway I could. Your greatest fear is becoming him, so I did. Just to spite you and wasted the city I had built to mirror Metropolis just like he wanted to.”
“That’s not a power Supes has. So where did it come from?” Flash puzzled.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Pisces asked. She was reclined in a chair, her mirror spun around like a top flicking droplets of water around. It paused with an image of Lex Luthor in it for all to see. “The boy does have two fathers.”
“No way. Lex isn’t, wasn’t a meta.” Hal said. Talks had stalemated, but he still didn’t trust the Mages. Especially not one that operated as a villain to maintain her disguise.
“No. But not all born metas are the children of metas. It’s a gene and like all genes they may or may not be passed from parent to child.” Mr. Terrific nodded. “Conner’s human biology still carried the potential. I’m pretty sure Luthor thought any ability his ‘son’ would develop would be the direct result of Superman’s genetic influence, not his own.”
“That’s what we wished to speak to you about. We’ve gone over it and reached a conclusion. Sagittarius, you attacked in the manner that you did because despite your intentions, you knew that there was an off chance our growing powers could have injured or killed you if activated correct?” Aqualad asked.
“Bingo.” Sagittarius nodded.
“I’m lost...” Wonder Woman conceded.
“It’s got to do with Conner’s vision. In it, I threw this at Vishnu. And it burned him enough to cause him pain.” Artemis held out her hand and a spear of energy formed in it. This naturally caused a commotion. With a thought, it morphed into a slender arrow she balanced on her middle finger. “Don’t you guys wonder what we’ve been doing all this time?”
Connor lifted a few feet off the ground followed by Kaldur, tattoos and eyes ablaze. Raquel teleported to sit on the table in front of Icon, causing him to jump. The same wings made of black energy fanned out behind Robin. Zatanna conjured a dragon of deep violet energy holding her dagger like a wand. Three more Megans appeared, all in different outfits waving at the stunned group before one shifted into a male version of her.
“Whoa, since when can they do that?!” Booster exclaimed. He hadn’t really spent anytime with what he considered ‘The Bat’s Pet Project’ but he knew all of their skills. Either someone left some things out or...had they really been paying so little attention?
Um, yes.
“We have the ability to harm Chaos Mages. It’s why when I spaced out, I managed to disable Nabu who’s almost powerful enough to be one. We are different than you all, for various reasons but we are.” Robin avoided Batman’s questioning gaze, wrapping his wings around himself. If he looked at his adopted father, he knew he’d lose his nerve. “Zatanna, Kaldur and I have parents who were or are sorcerers. Raquel’s near death experience bonded alien tech and DNA to her and it might have activated a metagene, not real sure. Being so close brought out the hidden potential in Connor and Megan. Artemis has always been rather strong willed, her ability lets her manifest it I think. The invaders don’t know we exist.”
“At least not as a force to be reckoned with. That was the secondary purpose of the power swap wasn’t it? To cloak the children’s potential from the enemy.” Manhunter turned to the Mages who either smiled or shrugged indifferently.
“You’re right J’onn. We all have the ability to look into the future but to be honest, we haven’t the faintest idea what’s going to happen next. It’s a side effect of having Chaos Mages that weren’t born here show up. We only saw up to about when Tari worked his magic at the cave.” Pollux sighed.
“All we can do is help Young Justice learn to control these powers and hope for the best.” Virgo added.
So, now what?
Almost a full year ago, they hadn’t the slightest idea that anything other than the actions of others and their dedication to being defenders of justice affected their world. That they were merely training the next generation of heroes. That delusion shattered the day that future generation decided being treated like second raters wasn’t gonna cut it; that they would be heard. Followed by what could only be described as a nightmare. That had now turned into a surreal dream.
Except the members of Young Justice were wide awake. And forcibly shaking their out of touch predecessors from of their own illusions.
*I am bum...bum...bum...a line break!*
Wow, monsters love their kids too. Who knew? Seems like ‘Klarion’ is a master at stirring up trouble even when he’s not trying. We now know why Vishnu chose this universe. So, what do you guys think? I may reference the time skip but not each day of it in the future. This is already way longer than I planned. Stay tuned! Sirensoundwave out.
* Figured a few more people would get that reference over the religious one.
** If you haven’t read ‘The Road To Hell’, Sylphine screwed with the Observant’s (and by proxy Clockwork/Ebedi’s) ability to see the time stream properly when she showed up in the DP universe. It prevented her from properly seeing into the future without expending a tremendous amount of power as well. Four non-native Mages and one Guardian are having the same effect in the YJ world. Which is why Connor’s visions are so important. But remember, he has an evil twin wrapped around Krishna’s little finger...
*** The letters in Pamela Isley rearranged.
- 24
- 25
- 26
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Parallels