• January 03, 2018 •

The Young Justice couldn't believe that they had found Mon-El once again. Seven months had passed since they had last seen him but it seemed as if a lot of time had passed for Mon.

He had a rough stubble and looked shabbier than they recalled and the scars he adorned had increased. It was all pointing to the fact that in the seven months he had been away from them, he had gone through a lot.

Kara was with the woman they had rescued from the power cell and only when her condition stabilized did she leave her side. She did not know who the woman was but she had sensed that Mon cared for her a lot.

The way he had plunged his hand into the burning hot glass and had done all in his power to save her indicated that she mattered a lot to him.

Tim had been assisting in the med bay and had run genetic reports on both the survivors aside from Mon. He was surprised to find out that the woman was Saturnian while the other alien-looking creature was in fact a Coluan, a humanoid with advanced tech abilities.

"Looks like Monnie finally succeeded in forming intergalactic relations," Tim mumbled, looking up from the screen that showed the results, "and now we've got a walking supercomputer among us along with our living solar panel."

"What are you doing?" Kara asked as she was about to go and check on Mon as well.

"Nothing out of procedure," he replied, "just checking who our guests are."

She shook her head as she stepped closer, "when will you stop decoding genetic information without people's consent?"

"Hush, the way you put it seems like a crime," he shrugged, "I'm just being cautious. We should be aware of who we are dealing with."

"They are Mon's friends, they are not here to harm us."

He nodded, "I know. I am not doubting them." He turned the screen towards her, "by the way, our assumptions got flipped. Our assumed alien is actually a Coluan and the one we thought was human is a Saturnian."

"Oh."

Kara knew about Coluans as there had been a considerable amount of the species working in Krypton as well.

"Two more to add to my list of potential alien invaders," Tim mumbled again before Kara smacked his head lightly, "hey, stop doing that."

"Stop referring to us as invaders then."

"Geez, it's only a hypothesis," he remarked, rubbing his head and checking to see if he had been bruised or not.

"But an insulting one. And stop overreacting, I didn't smack you that hard."

"You're a Kryptonian while I am a malnourished human. Even a light smack from you would end me," he replied then added as an afterthought, "not that I would object to it, y'know. In fact, go ahead and grant my long-held wi..."

"Shut up," she interrupted him before he could resume his suicidal talk.

However, their conversation was interrupted as the glass door was knocked and they looked up to see Mon standing outside. His hand was properly bandaged and the rest of his injuries had been treated as well.

"May I come in?" He asked, a bit hesitantly because even though just a few months had passed for the Young Justice, years had lapsed for him and it would take some time for him to adjust to them all over again.

"Of course," Tim smiled, "no need to ask, just step right in."

Mon pushed open the door and stepped in though his eyes trailed off to the corner where the beds were placed and Imra was there, still unconscious.

"How is she?" He asked, edging closer to the bed but keeping a safe distance between them. It was almost as if he was anxious that even the slightest disturbance would hurt Imra.

"She has gotten stable," Kara answered his question, "and hopefully, she will gain consciousness soon."

"Right... Thank you." He had turned to look at her and she saw his fatigued blue eyes shine with that same gratitude and admiration that she recalled from earlier.

She looked away, recalling how things had been somewhat awkward between them but a lot of time had passed since then and she did not want to dwell on it. "So... Who is she?"

"Her name is Imra Ardeen," he told her softly and she noticed that the worry in his tone had faded to that of relief upon hearing that she would wake up soon, "she's my wife."

"Your wife?" Tim who had not been paying the least attention to the rest of their conversation sat up alert upon hearing that from him, "and you're telling us now? Where's the wedding invite?"

Mon's lips twitched into a smile. Of course, Tim was the same as ever, abrupt and overly excited at the most inconvenient timing.

"Congrats," Kara spoke up, "though I feel like the timing is a bit off for this."

He shook his head, "no, she'll be okay soon. I want you guys to meet her."

"So you got married," Tim repeated and he had left the computer then, "just how long has passed for you since you left Earth?"

Mon thought for a while, counting off the time as he knew it then spoke up, "seven years."

"Seven fucking years!?!?!?"

"Shut up, Tim, you're being unnecessarily loud," Kara rebuked him, craning her neck over to see if the noise had disturned Imra or not.

"Let me handle all of Tim's questions," Mon had stepped closer to the boy, placing an arm around his shoulders, "but outside because at this rate, you will disturb Imra and Brainiac."

"Oh, so his name is Brainiac? Suits him, I was gonna dub him Supercomputer otherwise."

"Tim!" Kara rebuked him but Mon chuckled at that remark.

Timothy Drake was incorrigible, he thought. "Come out now, I know you have a lot of questions but you'll keep shouting if you stay here."

Mon took Tim out but turned to glance back at Kara. He felt as if there was a lot the two had to clear up between them as well.

But Kara gave him a friendly smile and a reassuring nod, letting him know that he should talk to Tim first while she would stay with Imra.

Mon nodded back and followed Tim out. The second they were out of the med bay, Tim bombarded him with the first question, or rather the first blizzard of questions, "how the hell could you get married without having any of us as your best man? How dare you? We were not even invited! Where did you have the wedding? Saturn?"

After such a long time, Mon laughed. He had missed all of them so much and even though he had gotten too occupied with his duties in the past seven years, as he was finally back with them, he was realizing how much he had missed their company.

Especially the way they all got somewhat dysfunctional, just like Tim was behaving with him at the moment.

But in all fairness, Tim was always dysfunctional, no matter what time or day it would be.

"To be honest, it was a very private affair and not many people were invited," he answered his questions one by one, "and we didn't have the wedding on Saturn, it took place on Earth. But still, I couldn't invite you guys even if I wanted to."

"And why's that?"

"Because the Earth I crash-landed on after leaving you guys was Earth Prime, a millennia into the future."

Tim had read about theories on multiple parallel planets as well as galaxies so hearing that from Mon shut him up for a short while as he processed the information.

His blue eyes got wide in shock and astonishment as he asked, "you went to 3017?"

"Exactly."

And just as soon as his face had morphed into shock, it switched into an excited look in a split second, "that's sick, man, the number of things you can teach me about the future... You are definitely not getting any sleep tonight. At least not until you tell me about all the scientific advancements that have happened in the future."

"Tim, are you sure you want to..."

"This is a golden opportunity!" He was almost jumping from excitement, "take a rest now if you want to but I am not letting you go until I squeeze as much info about the future from you as it's possible."

Mon chuckled as he looked at Tim who seemed no different than when he was in his hyperactive caffeine overdose modes. He patted his head affectionately, "alright kid, I will tell you."

"Who you calling kid?" Tim crossed his arms as if offended but the gleam in his eyes showed that he was merely jesting.

"I'm centuries older than you, get it?"

"And you're from the future which at the same time makes me one of the ancestors," he reasoned, "all things aside, the first thing I am going to ask you is about that power cell we retrieved. So that if in case we get stuck with another similar situation, I won't have to ask What's a power cell? ever again. It hurts my dignity to not know about anything technology related, be it from the future or not."

***