Justice League: A little Normie
They all had their fun with the teasing and talking, but now it was time to tackle a more serious topic about the JL's situation. How were they going to go back home?
Luckily, Tom Turbine might have a solution to this problem, down in the basement of the Justice Guild. While it was great to meet another group of crime fighters, they had their own world to protect and people they cared for back home. It was only right of them as heroes to send them back safely. X, however, was very intrigued by this idea that Tom had in mind, thinking that if he could, maybe he could replicate it when he got back to Batman. But then he remembered that those only works if you're smart. Sad noise.
Still, smart or not, it was better than nothing, was what he thought. That was before Ray pulled him aside, something about wanting to see the gadgets in his utility belt. Mainly, his Batarangs. X at first rejected the request and promised that they'd hang later, but the squirt wasn't making it easy with that puppy eyes. "Look, kid. It's not– uh. Well you see. It's very important to me that I hear what Tom has to say."
"Why?" Ray pressed on, pouting his cute little heads off. X didn't know what to say in all honesty. Orby might start blaring the alarms again if he misspoke or babbled without thinking. While he was trying to find a way out of this awkward situation, Flash as always came to the rescue.
"Take it easy, bud. Don't panic." The speedster patted his back before leaning in close to his ear and muttered quietly, "I'll go with the others to see what's really going on and that idea big T has down in his basement. So you can stay with junior and the others here while we talk."
"The thing is, I wanted to hear it out, so I can give some ideas for when we go back. Batman hasn't gotten a clue on the whole dimension thing yet, and this might give us the start we need for it. And besides," he glanced back at the little Guildsman through his white lens. "I'm not, er, great with kids. The last one bursted out crying when I talked to him. I don't want that to happen here." X whispered back, using his hand to block the sounds from the kid below them. They don't need another fight after the first one. They needed to go home.
Flash heard what his pal said and tried to play if off cool. Even if he did feel disappointed that at some point, X had to return home. That was the deal in the first place. He shouldn't feel disappointed. He should feel happy. Like a friend should. The speedster shook his head to rid himself of anymore terrible thoughts, before returning back to their little conversation. He waved his hand down to dismiss the second argument and reassured X about his anxiety. "It'll be fine. Just follow along with whatever the kid wants and it'll be over before you know it. If you're worried about the world thing, I'll take notes for you. So relax, bud. You have me, don't you?" Flash grinned, nudging the protégé's side.
X chuckled and nodded, "Yeah, and I'm so glad I do, pal." He turned back to the little hypeboy, smiling widely, "Okay, squirt. I guess I can show you a thing or two I learned from my mentor."
Ray beamed brightly, jumping in joy when the fake brunet finally decided to show him his gears, kneeling down to the boy's height. All the while, X never noticed that Flash was frozen in place, and face a little too hot for comfort. It was just in time for Tom Turbine to come back up from the basement, calling for them to enter. Flash was the first to go in.
While the rest of his team had a small chat with Tom Turbine, X showed Ray some of the gears he used during missions, even letting the little guy hold the less pointy stuff. Right now, he was showcasing the three types of batarangs he got from Batman; the normal sharp Batarang, the explosive one, and the electro one. He placed them individually and very carefully on the table for Ray and the remaining JG members to see. "So, this is what I normally use during patrol. This one," he pointed to the first batarangs. "Is a saw-tooth batarang. This one is the explosive batarang. And this one is electro batarang. As you can tell, my mentor and I never really gave it an official name. But it's quite literal, so no touching, squirt." He warned the little runt when he was reaching out to tap on the saw-tooth batarang. Immediately, Ray retracted his hands with a pout, "My name's Ray!"
X only chuckled and ruffled his hair lightly. Catman then picked up the one Ray was about to touch, examining it carefully up close. The bat shaped boomerangs were very exquisite and self explanatory. Catman was quite impressed by this, "It's a well made weapon, I must admit. It's straightforward, easily to grasp and perfect for your type of suit. Don't want any cuts on while working, am I right?"
"Oh you have no idea. My first day of training with it was so bad, we had to disinfect all of the batarangs so I wouldn't catch any disease later. It was that terrible." X laughed at that piece of great memory. They couldn't believe how reckless he was with the sharp blades, and he himself kept thinking of them as guns, so that was a fun day of training.
"Why didn't you wear gloves?" Black Siren wondered, the others nodding to her questions in their seats.
"Oh, that." X scratched his head sheepishly, "I have this weird method of learning. I have to get used to the feeling with my barehands first. If not, then we won't get anything done. Especially with aiming. It's a bit unorthodox, stupid even, but very efficient. And no, don't ever do what I do, Ray. I'm a terrible role model." He reminded the squirt again when he saw that familiar look on his face, extremely similar to a certain speedster when he's causing trouble. Ray whined in his chair, not happy about a lot of things that the dark hero denied him of. It was unfair.
X knew what the kid was thinking with that pout on his face, and decided to give the little runt something that he can use. He took out his grappling hook from his space, not bothering to hide it since Catman already saw it, so what was even the point in hiding it? "Here, squirt. Don't say I didn't give you anything." He handed Ray the gadget, who was too caught up by that display of magic earlier. Then he hear a collective gasps from the JG and a 'Ah ha!' from Catman who stood up from his chair abruptly.
Okay, maybe that was a terrible idea.
"How did you do that?! That was amazing!" Ray beamed excitedly, his eyes had weird sparkles on.
"I told you I saw that Stradivarius disappear into thin air! I wasn't lying!" Catman exclaimed smugly, accompanied by a smirk on his face when he tugged onto Green Guardsman, who was just as surprised as everyone else.
"Okay, maybe you were right, but you can't blame us for not believing you." Green Guardsman answered as he was shook roughly by his comrade.
"How did you do that, son? You're not really Swami's apprentice, are you?" Streak inquired, more concerned than impressed about this hidden ability of his.
X noticed his sudden sharp expression and immediately held his palms up to defend himself, verbally. "I'm not with this Swani guy. I work under Batman and the Justice League. What you saw was something I inherited from a benefactor. Sadly, he most likely passed away now."
"Yeah, I never really got to meet him. He just sorta disappeared one day. All I know is that it was something he left behind for me as a gift. Never really got too much details on the guy or anything. He just kinda gave me all his stuff." X shrugged, being completely sincere with his half baked answers.
"That's rough, son. Your benefactor must have been a great person. Hopefully, he's in a better place now." Streak prayed solemnly with an apologetic expression. They all did, now that they realized they might've been too nosy into the other's business.
"Sorry I tossed you to that wall earlier, kid." Catman apologized, his eyes a bit downcast like everyone on the table, even the little runt.
As much as he loved this whole pity party thing going on, it has got to stop. This isn't his style at all. "Guys, guys! It's fine. Like I said, I don't really know the guy. It's no big deal! And I'm sure he's in a much better place than that hellhole I call Earth, so don't beat yourselves up on it. It's really okay." X appealed to their guilty conscience, motioning with his hands to let bygones be bygones. And it worked a bit in the end. The atmosphere became less depressing as time ticks by and disappeared completely when Ray shot the grappling hook he gave him earlier, nearly falling back. It was aimed towards the completely off guard Catman and Black Siren, who managed to dodge it last minute.
Okay, that was a terrible idea too.
"S-Sorry! Hand slipped!" Ray hurriedly pressed the trigger to pull the hook back, not knowing about the momentum that followed. Before he could slam back to the floor board, X held the chair from behind to steady the kid. "Lesson no.1, don't pull random triggers, squirt. And no.2," He grabbed the gun from the kid's hand, aiming it toward the other side of the room where a candle stick was. "Always have a clear target." And shot it without hesitation.
It landed perfectly on the item before retracting the lines back to its original position, delivering the candle holder with it. "Also, be extra careful with the recoil. Those things are rough for a runt like you." He put the item on the table, pretending to not notice the puffed cheeks and glare.
"I'm not a runt! I'm still growing, meanie!"
"Prove me wrong then. How about a little test run? Your turn again, squirt." He dropped the gun back to the kid, who gave a huff and looked determined to win. "I will!" Before marching back with the candle holder to place it back as a target. Ray held the gun with both hands, not wanting another fall and the smug look again. His heroes were all watching from the sidelines, smiling amicably at the scene.
Ray did everything else the same as X before shooting it when he was sure he aimed right. That was a rookie mistake. He didn't prepare himself enough for the recoil. Though he didn't fall back to the floor, he did teeter, which ultimately made his shot miss by a mile. "Ah... I missed." Ray whimpered, his hands lowered down. He was terrible at this, he didn't even learn his lesson.
Amidst his sulking, he saw a hand approaching the grappling hook in his hand, feeling even worse because he thought that X was gonna take it back now. However, it wasn't like his expectation at all. The taller male pressed the trigger to pull the ropes back before holding Ray's hands to guide him. "It's only your second try. Don't beat yourself up so much. Remember, practice," They pointed the gun back to the candle, it was Ray's choice to shoot. The kid glanced nervously at him, who smiled calmly back. It was enough to give him a boost of confidence, so with a scared look, he shot it again. This time, X helped him with the momentum and it accurately captured the item on the fireplace. "... Makes perfect." The hook returned to its holder, and once again, delivered it back to them. "See what we did there? It wasn't so bad, squirt." X ruffled his head again while Ray had an awestruck face at the successfully blast. "Wanna try it out some more?"
"Again!" Ray bursted out, back to usual self already. All he needed was to get used to the recoil, then it'll be a cinch.
"Want some more targets, kids?" Green Guardsman offered his assistant, his ring began to glow light green and projected more household items for him. Ray nodded rapidly and with X's help, they had a blast playing with his grappling hook, laughing and shouting mixed in. It was a nice change of pace for once.
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In the basement under the Justice Guild, Tom Turbine was busying himself on his chalkboard as he wrote down a few things to make it easier for the JL members to understand. As he did, he began his talk along the way. "I have a theory on how you came to be here. As an expert in nuclear physics, I have long hypothesized that there are an infinite number of parallel dimensions, each containing its own planet Earth." He drew lines on the board with different patterns to symbolize the various worlds out there. "Each Earth occupies the same location in space but vibrates at a different speed. Flash," He called out to the speedster who was jotting down everything he said with his pen and a paper. All of which were given to him by Tom Turbine.
"Huh?" Flash glanced up while his hands were still writing. Not missing any details just like he promised.
"The energy blast you absorbed caused you to match the vibration rate of our world."
"So he created a tear in the dimensional barriers which brought us here." J'onn concluded, pinning his gaze on the dumbstruck speedster. So did GL and Hawkgirl.
"Hey, it was an accident, okay?" Flash defended himself, feeling like he was ganged up right now. If only he didn't make X stay up there. He wouldn't poke him like this.
"But this still doesn't explain the Justice Guild comics I read when I was a kid." GL continued to press on, walking closer to TT and the board.
"Perhaps, the creators of those comics had a subconscious link to this Earth." J'onn theorized, "What they thought was merely imagination was a psychic memory of the Justice Guild's real exploits."
"I couldn't have put it better myself." TT smiled with his hands on his waist, completely in agreement to J'onn theory.
"Fascinating. But how do we get back to our world?" Hawkgirl inquired, you can hear slight impatience in the tone of her voice.
TT paused for a second before walking passed them over to the large machine behind them that was covered by a cloth. He ripped it off to reveal an enormous circle contraption, almost like a portal. Flash immediately began drawing a small sketch of the machine for later. "I've been tinkering with a prototype transdimensional gateway."
"Cool. How does it work?" Flash asked eagerly, but in the end, he felt disappointed at their own terrible luck.
"Unfortunately, I haven't been able to harness a suitable energy source to power it." TT had to tell them the bad news on their plan with this missing piece. The otherworldly team was left downcast.
"I guess you're going to be stuck with us for awhile." Hawkgirl added before walking back up now that that was established. They were officially stuck here.
"Don't worry, friend. I will toil day and night until—"
Ray's loud voice interrupted TT midway, followed a small pop from the gun upon trigger. This time, he was able to use it without X's help and it grabbed the glowing bottle from Green Guardsman, pulling it back to its holder. "I did it, X! My first catch! And I did it without help!" The little ball of sunshine jumped in joy, showing the dark suited hero his catch.
X was impressed by it, so was the others. It was about fifteen minutes after their practice run, and the kid managed to nab one already. He definitely had potential. "Atta boy, squirt. Told you all you needed was practice. Good job." X praised, rubbing his head once more. Ray smiled widely, and snuggled into the opened palm, enjoying all the praises.
X promptly let go when he saw the others now finished with their talk, and told Ray to keep working more before walking over to his team. "So how was it? Any idea on going back?"
"Well, there's good news and then there's bad news." Flash started, handing him the paper he wrote on. X gave it a quick run through before thanking him and putting it in his space, "Good news, please."
"So, big T has something for us to use to get back."
"It doesn't have a power source."
"We're stuck here." Hawkgirl simplified, ripping the sugarcoats off and bringing the real problem they were facing.
"Well, that sucks. So now what?"
Streak perked up before they could talk more, offering a little distraction from their predicament. "Why not some coffee and dessert? Black Siren?" He turned back to her, and she got up quickly. "Got it, chief."
She was at the doorway when she turned back, "Hawkgirl?" Black Siren called to the only other lady on the team. Of course, she wasn't willing after the cookies. "I am not getting dessert." She grumbled loud enough for her team to hear. X didn't want this to end badly, so he volunteered, "If it's all the same, I'll—"
The doorbell rang, stopping him halfway through and attracting all their attentions to it. "Saved by the bell." GL couldn't help smiling in relief. Flash and X sighed out loud, thanking heaven for that save. J'onn was somewhat glad that there was a feud between their teams. And Hawkgirl huffed with her arms crossed.
"So much for not being great with kids, huh?" Flash whispered quietly for both of them, except for J'onn, who heard it with his super hearing. He gave X a little nudge, gesturing his grappling hook in Ray's hand.
"I was being honest, I swear. Ray's the first kid to not cry or run when he saw me. Most likely because I saved his butt before." X gave his own reasoning about the little runt's being the odd ones out, though Flash had to disagree.
"Well, I don't see the kid sticking to me, so maybe the whole bad with kids thing was probably just you, bud. Anyway, great job."
"Same to you. Thanks for the paper, Flash."
"No prob." The two went back to paying attention to the visitors who turned out to be the two officers from before. "Sergeant O'Shaughnessy, to what do we owe this honor?" Streak gave his signature smile at them.
Sergeant O'Shaughnessy had his hat off as he talked with their city's speedster, his coworker behind him. "Sorry to drop by unannounced, but we received this letter at the precinct. I rushed it over here as fast as I could. Not as fast as yourself, of course." The officer smiled weirdly at Streak from where X was standing as he handed an envelope to him. Maybe he was overthinking it though since no one else seemed to notice. He hoped that was it.
Streak took the letter and joked back to the officer. "For someone without superhuman speed, you did just fine, sergeant. Thanks." He placed his hand on his shoulder, smiling warmly as the two took their leaves. Streak shut the door softly after and returned back in.
"Jeepers. What does it say?" Ray asked, using really outdated slangs again. Even if X wanted to cringe, he can't. Maybe the slang age here didn't progress yet. He couldn't judge.
"To the Justice Guild: prepare for our most fiendish plot of all. A crime spree based on the four elements of the ancient world: fire, water, wind and earth. Catch us if you can. Dastardly yours, the Injustice Guild." Streak finished reading the warning letter? From this 'injustice guild'.
Now it made the JL paused for a second after hearing it. They all had the same question in their minds and Hawkgirl did the honor of voicing it out, "What kind of criminals tip off the authorities?"
"The worst kind." Green Guardsman answered and gave them a serious look, "I doubt there's enough good between the four of them to care for a wounded puppy."
"Justice league," Streak called out to the otherworlders, who all had perplexed expressions on because of the rather strange criminal problem. "We need your help."
GL was quick to respond, stepping forward as their representative. "You can count on us."
Streak smiled and turned back to their junior Guildsman. "Ray, the decoder rings." He ordered. The JG youngest member immediately understood and ran over to the bookshelf, presumably to bring out these rings Streak asked for. He pulled a book out midway, activating a secret compartment hidden behind the shelf. Inside, it had a box resting on a short column.
Ray bought it out and delivered it back to Streak, taking the lid off first. "We don't have time induct you with a ceremony, but consider yourselves honorary members of the Justice Guild." Streak took the box from Ray to reveal them the five rings inside. It had blue, red and white with stars like the American flag and the abbreviation of their team's name; JGA.
GL reached in first, gasping in awe at the sight of it. "I don't believe it." He smiled nostalgically, "You could order rings like these off the back of the old comic books."
"Nice plastic." Flash praised, putting it on his middle finger.
X took the ring last and had to say something about it, "Is it okay if I put it in my belt? I can't wear rings." Better to get it out there than not.
"Why can't you wear it, X?" Ray asked, tilting his little head at him.
"Simple." He clenched his right hand to pop his short talons out. "I can't use my knuckles if I have it on, squirt. Especially when it might break mid battle."
"Wow! You didn't show me this before! That's so cool!" Ray beamed brightly, going over to him to see it closer. X kneeled down to his height and held out his retracted hand for him to touch, which Ray did without any hesitation. Flash was giving the kid the stinkeye seeing how casual they were together with his pal letting the runt touch him all over. (He didn't)
"In that case, sure. Go for it." Streak nodded as well, watching X took his hand back from Ray and put the ring in his second to last pouch before continuing. "We should split into teams if we're to have any hope of defeating the Injustice Guild."
An idea popped up in Flash's mind, and he draped his arm on X's shoulder. "Since it's like that, X and I will team up then. Like the usual." He grinned widely when the brunet raised a brow at him before breaking into a smile, not objecting to it. "All right. Like 'usual' then."
"Mind if I join, boys?" Black Siren requested with a hand on her waist.
Before X could say anything, Flash nodded instantly to her with a flirty look. "Of course not! We don't mind at all." Well, not that he had anything else to say.
"Can I join? Can I? Can I?" Ray begged Streak.
J'onn and X wanted to object the young child from this possibly dangerous mission, but Catman agreed to his request without hesitation. "Sure thing, little buddy."
Well, if he says so. Not like they could reject it now.
Catman and Ray quickly left through the door, followed by J'onn and Flash's team. Once outside, X quickly summoned his BatBike out from his space, earning a round of whistle and claps from his team.
"That never gets old." Flash commented, to which Black Siren wholeheartedly agreed. "You said it, Flash."
"Guys, please." X begged them to stop the teasing, feeling embarrassed under the spotlight. "Let's get a move on, or we'll be late."
Flash perked up at the reminder and began a small round of stretching. "So, Black Siren. Would you rather go piggyback or—....." He stopped mid sentence when he saw their lady friend already sitting on X's bike, hugging him tight from behind. Now that wasn't fair, he dug his own grave again!
The 'brunet' was checking his baby for anything out of the ordinary before giving it his seal of approval. "Alright, all good to go. Ready when you are, Flash. Siren?"
"Let's go then. Come on, ya goof!" He hollered back to Flash, not seeing the pout on his face as he turned on the accelerator and darted out of the guild. Flash momentarily forgot his anger when the faint smoke reached his nose, "H-Hey! Wait up!" He yelled and rushed after them.
