Into The Unknown

Possession, magical healing, science gone wrong

Except no, I'm writing what I want today and ya'll can deal with it
Holy Time Travel and Missing Your Shot Batman!

Sometimes it takes being sent a good eight years into the future to realiseyou should've asked your crush out by now

No one was entirely sure of how it had happened, just that it had and they all had to deal with the aftereffects now.

At least they didn't just get dumped together in a mound of heroes fresh out of their Christmas party, that would be infuriating. They did get stuck with their future selves, though, so one could weight the pros and cons how they wished.

Wally and Artemis found themselves sprawled on a living room carpet, a couch nearby and-

A dog licking their faces.

"ugh! Gross!" Wally spat, rubbing at his face once he'd pushed the pit bull off of him.

"hey!" Artemis hissed keeping it away from her before it could pick a new person to lick.

"Brucely, here boy!" came a voice and the dog turned and ran to the owner of the voice's legs, rolling over and waiting for pats and cuddles.

The two looked up from the do to the person.

And was that... Wally?

No. yes. What????

"uh," Wally said, the past Wally that was, "hi?"

Over in the corner there was a kitchen, leaning against a counter someone was eating chips and giggling... was that Artemis?

"there is probably a good explanation for this," Kid Flash said, standing.

"don't worry," future Wally said, holding up a phone, "Nightwing called, we've got the explanation already. A bunch of people have been showing up in the past hour."

"Nightwing?" Artemis asked.

Over in the kitchen future Artemis choked on a chip, "oh my god, how far back are you two from?"

"uh, 2011? And..." Kid Flash looked between the two, "wait, do you live together?"

"yes," future Wally said.

"aww, they're from before New Year's, cute," Artemis chuckled.

Wally helped Kid Flash and Artemis to their feet, "to answer your other question, Nightwing is the alias that Dick goes by nowadays."

"Dick?" Artemis frowned.

"Why?" Kid Flash frowned, "what was wrong with being Robin?"

"Robin's name is Dick?"

Future Artemis burst out laughing, Wally smirked.

"look, we'll take you to the watchtower, that's where everyone's headed," Wally said.

"the watchtower?" Artemis gaped.

"you guys have access?" Kid Flash grinned.

"yeah," Wally said, "just give us a few seconds, we were hoping not to end up with time travellers, we gotta get in uniform."

Robin woke up with a headache.

"take it slow," a voice said, and he cracked an eye open, "here, drink this."

The man handed him a glass of water. Robin took in his surroundings. It looked like a bunker, the standard run-of-the-mill hero base, full of computers and gear and all kinds of stuff, Robin saw a gym at the end of the room. The man was on the tall side, lean, dark hair, black gear and a blue bird symbol on his chest.

Robin took the glass but didn't drink from it, "who are you?"

The man smirked, "Nightwing."

"right, loving the non-answer," Robin said, "where am I, how did I get here, what do you want?"

Were was Wally? He'd been standing right next to him. his worry spiked, was Wally hurt?

Nightwing crossed his arms and leaned against the side of the gurney Robin was sitting on.

"you're in my base in Bludhaven, you appeared here suddenly, I'm not sure how yet, and I would say I'd like some answers on how you got here."

"not sure on that myself," Robin frowned.

"so, when are you from?"

"when?"

"it's 2019."

"what?"

"yeah, crazy, huh?" Nightwing drawled, "coulda sworn just yesterday I was rocking those shades."

Robin blinked, "what?"

"I'm guessing the Christmas party? 2011?" he said, gesturing to the civvies and the paper crown poking out of his jacket pocket.

"I..." Robin trailed, staring at the man in front of him. was it actually... no way, surely not, "yeah?"

Nightwing nodded, pointed to the water, "drink, there's some paracetamol dissolved in it."

He then turned away, picked up a phone form one of the desks and dialled.

"yeah, hey Walls, seems we got some freaky time travel shenanigans going on," he said.

Robin filtered out the sound of the conversation. Nightwing seemed to be warning others about the possibility of other time travellers, he was telling them to congregate at the watchtower. Why did he have the authority to make that call? Who was this guy?

"okay, ready to travel or still feeling a bit jetlagged?" he asked.

Robin looked at him, "let's get this straight," he said, sliding off the bed, "you're... me?"

Nightwing nodded, "essentially."

Robin looked up and down the strange uniform, "what happened?"

Nightwing rose an eyebrow, "ouch."

"it's a fair question."

"one that will have to wait," Nightwing said, "we can't be sure how fragile the timeline is, telling you too much could risk damaging things."

"great," Robin grumbled, "so we're headed to the watchtower."

"unless you've got a better idea."

Conner was having whiplash.

One moment they were at a Christmas party, he was awkwardly glancing at Superman, trying to figure out if he should talk to him. the next he was...

In Kansas? On a... farm?

He rubbed at his head, sitting up, he was looking at Superman. They were both in civvies- although Conner's civvies and uniform were the same- so wouldn't the operative name by Clark?

"where.. are we?" Clark looked around at their surroundings. They were on a wooden porch, the horizon rather sparse, cows in the distance, the night air crisp.

"this is my parent's house," Clark stood, looking around, "how did we..."

They heard laughter inside, a woman's voice.

"Clark, you were supposed to bring the chicken in from the car."

Conner stood, looking at the window into the house in confusion, he could see a dark haired woman inside.

"my bad, got distracted," Clark said and... it wasn't the Clark standing on the porch with him. a complete copy of the Kryptonian walked by the window, glasses on the bridge of his nose, he was reaching for something on a side table, "I'll grab it."

"no it's fine." Conner almost choked on surprise. That was his voice! Who... what?! "It's fine, I'll grab it, finish your turn on Monopoly before Lois starts winning."

A dramatic insulted gasp rang out, "Kon, how could you, I thought we were in an alliance!"

Conner looked at Clark, confused and wary, waiting for him to move so he could figure out how to handle this.

Too late, the two were far too frozen in confused shock. Someone came out the front door.

Conner took in the man's appearance quickly. Tall, dark hair, blue eyes, an exact copy of him. except this Conner wore jeans and a black T-shirt with a red flannel over the top, sleeves rolled to his elbows. Car keys were jangling, hanging from his hands.

His eyes landed on the two men on the porch, shock openly covering his face.

"Kon, dear, close the door," the voice of an elderly woman called out.

"I..." he did so by autopilot, standing outside and staring at the two, "what..."

Clark stepped forward, "I think we're having a bit of a time travel issue."

Future Conner looked him up and down, "that's one way to put it."

"Kon, who are you talking to?" it was the first woman, again, closer to the window now.

"don't worry, Lois," he said, "hey Clark, our work life's here."

"what?"

Future Clark was at the door, opening it and staring at the two people from the past, "wow."

Eventually the old woman they'd heard came over and fussed, berating the future Kryptonians playfully about leaving people out in the cold. She welcomed them in.

"oh great," the woman, Lois, sighed, getting up from the table where a monopoly game was spread, "we can't get one night."

"what, you don't want to find out the story behind the crazy time travel shenanigans?" Conner snickered, "what kind of journalist are you?"

"the one that's losing at monopoly because she was backstabbed."

"ease up, everyone," an old man said, he must be Mr. Kent, "we've got plenty of food to go round for our new guests till you two find out what to do about it."

"yes, maybe we'll have a few more guests, too, I'd love to see Wally and Artemis again, they haven't visited in so long," the old woman said, probably Mrs. Kent.

"Wally and Artemis are fine," future Conner said, "all considered they're probably dealing with something like this, too."

"yes, let's start with this; when are you two from?" Lois interrogated.

"uh, 2011," Clark said, "we were at a Christmas party, then woke up out front."

"no villains attacking? Weird device that caused it?" future Conner asked.

Conner frowned, shaking his head, "no, I can't remember anything."

"great, okay."

A phone rang, sitting on the table. Future Conner picked it up.

"you're dealing with time travel, priorities," Lois said.

Future Conner showed the screen to Lois, Conner could see a photo of a man, looking at something off screen and laughing, the caller ID read 'Dick Grayson', "it's Nightwing," he said, as if that was reason enough.

"then it's important," future Clark said.

He picked it up. As he did Clark asked, "who's Nightwing?" at the same time as Conner asked, "who's Dick Grayson?"

The two looked at each other, although Clark seemed a lot more shocked by Conner's question. Future Clark chuckled, "you've just answered your own questions."

"hey Dick," Future Conner said to the person on the other end of the call, "hang on a second, I'll put you on speaker." He did so, then said, "okay, go ahead."

"I'm guessing you're dealing with some unexpected guests?"

Conner gaped at the phone. The voice was... slightly different and distorted by the phone, but that was Robin's voice. He knew it was!

"you too, huh?"

"yeah, my thirteen year old self, you?"

"Clark and I," Conner explained, "2011, the Christmas party."

"matches everyone else then."

"who else is having this issue?" Clark asked.

"I just got off the phone with Bruce, M'Gann not long before that. Oliver and Dinah texted me."

"wow, your phone bill must be skyrocketing," Lois drawled.

"perks of being Bruce Wayne's ward?" Conner asked, smirking.

"something like that," He said, "look, get your new friends to the watchtower, we'll run some tests, make sure there's nothing dangerous about them being in this time, compare notes."

Conner nodded, "okay, we'll see you there."

Batman followed his future self to the watchtower, quietly wishing he was in his uniform. he was wearing a mask, sure, thanks to the importance of secrecy when it came to his and Dick's identity, but other than that he was wearing civvies. He didn't like being out of the suit while in the watchtower. He was Batman, not Bruce.

They zeta-ed in. Batman hadn't even had a chance to ask about who his future self had called, nor had he been able to ask about the person who was sitting in the kitchen raiding the cupboard for coffee.

They materialised in the watchtower finding four other people waiting for them. Miss Martian, Robin and two people from the future, one obviously the future M'Gann which suggested the other one was...

"what took you so long?" he asked, wearing a dark suit with a blue bird.

"had to make sure Tim didn't overdose of caffeine," Bruce said, "again."

He sighed, "I'm gonna have to have a chat with him again."

"who's Tim?" Robin asked.

"long story," the blue one said, "how much are we telling them?"

"it could mess with the time line," Bruce said.

"then again," Batman offered, "you're about to deal with the rest of the team, in my experience they don't do well with having information kept form them."

"yeah I can second that," he said with a wince.

"uh," M'Gann piped in, "sorry, I didn't ask sooner, but, uh, you didn't introduce yourself."

"Nightwing," he said.

"you lead the team?" Batman asked.

To Nightwing's credit, he didn't look surprised that batman had guessed as much, "for a while now, yeah."

"what happened to Kaldur?" M'Gann asked.

The zeta beams lit up.

"I became otherwise preoccupied."

Kaldur and his past self strode in, the tubes announcing him droning in the background. He was taller, maybe broader in the shoulders, wearing a new uniform closer to what Aquaman wore.

"hey fearless leader," Miss Martian grinned, "where's senior?" senior? Was Kaldur now Aquaman? And... fearless leader? If Nightwing was running the team then...

Was Kaldur head of the Justice League?

Quite the promotion.

"Atlantis, I called him, he doesn't have a time traveling friend."

"Aquaman wasn't present," Batman said, "not yet, if I remember correctly."

"who else was?" Kaldur asked.

"uh, Wally and Artemis," M'Gann said, "plus Flash and Green Arrow. Black Canary, Conner and Superman."

"already called Kon, he and Clark are on their way," Nightwing said, "and Dinah's with Oliver, similar situation."

"then everyone's accounted for, just not here yet," Bruce said.

Robin did not like the future so far. For one, he and Bruce clearly weren't on the best of terms.

It wasn't obvious, heck, most people probably couldn't tell. He barely could. But his future self was clearly not anywhere near as close. Bruce seemed just like usual, and Nightwing appeared to be attempting to keep up the act.

But Dick could tell.

He said something, half way through a conversation with Kaldur. Batman offered support of his argument, nothing unusual. Dick wouldn't think twice on it. but as soon as Kaldur wasn't looking Nightwing shot Batman the smallest side-ways glare, a clear meaning of 'I don't need your help'.

People slowly began filtering in, Conner and Clark appearing in civvies alongside their past counterparts.

"Conner!" M'Gann beamed, flying over and embracing him. his future self walked right by, paying no heed. Dick almost took a double take at seeing Conner in something other than his usual cargo shorts and super S shirt.

"who are we waiting on?" he asked.

"Wally and Artemis," Nightwing answered, "shouldn't be much longer."

"arriving together?" M'Gann asked, "you sure that's a good idea? They may bite each other's heads off."

The future members of the team looked at each other.

Then burst into laughter.

M'Gann pretended to wipe away a tear, Kaldur and Nightwing shared a look of utter disbelief.

Barry gasped, leaning in, "you guys reckon Wally will do the dramatic ring-show-off while you guys gasp and take photos?"

Wait... were Wally and Artemis... a couple?

Dick looked at his older self, laughing with his team mates. As soon as the eyes were off him Dick caught the slightest traces of hurt, a small wince.

Yeah. They were a couple. Dick wanted to leave right then and there.

The zeta tubes lit up.

Flash 27

Green Arrow 28

Guest

And out walked Wally, in a modified version of the flash suit that left his hair visible, and Artemis, in the Green Arrow suit. Their past versions hot on their heels.

"hey, hey!" Wally greeted.

M'Gann grinned, put on a fake voice and posed as she turned to Artemis, "hey girl, hey."

Artemis snorted and enveloped her in a hug. Wally walked up and hugged Nightwing as well, accepted Kaldur's shoulder clasp and grinned at Conner.

"Rob!" Kid Flash grinned, Dick happily reciprocated the hug, but his mind was on what Barry said about a ring.

"now that everyone's here."

They turned to the voice. It was a scientist, clipboard in hand, "we're going to run some tests, make sure the time traveling hasn't caused any issues."

"hey, I'm feeling at the top of my game," Kid Flash said, "I feel good enough to lap zoom."

"yep, that's gonna happen," Wally said leaning closer to Artemis and swinging an arm around her shoulder. The scientist guided the time travellers out, the leaguers moving first. Before the teens could follow, future M'Gann gasped.

"we almost forgot, show us, come on!" she giggled and stood beside Wally, "did Artemis get down on one knee and everything?"

"oh, yeah," said the blonde in question, "I took him out for dinner and everything. He cried. It was great."

Wally made a face of insult, "hey."

"wow, Wally and Artemis not at each other's throats," M'Gann said, "never thought I'd see the day."

Dick would've joked, should've joked, it'd keep his cover. But he couldn't. he glanced at his future self, laughing with his friends and keeping up the façade. But he knew himself.

He'd barely managed to get past grappling with being gay in the first place, let alone having feelings for his best friend. So sue him, he hadn't come clean to said best friend about either things yet, but could you blame him for being worried?

But he supposed he never stopped being worried and the chance slipped away, because here was the man he'd fallen for, all grown up, and in love with someone else. engaged to someone else.

And he had to pretend to be happy for them.

He followed Batman out, not looking back at the people of the future. He couldn't. Wally tried to make a joke with him but he didn't react.

He didn't like the future very much.