^ Veran Curry ^

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"We finally did it, mom. We hit Krypton. Well...Jess wouldn't appreciate me calling it that, but she's not here so I don't really care. It was awesome. Jess, Di, and Zorr killed some New Gods. New Gods. It was crazy. I'm starting to think we actually could do this. You know...save the planet." Veran muttered quietly as he sat on the rough, volcanic ashen ground, running his palm against its rough texture.

He continued "Damian won't be happy about it. Hell, he won't be happy that I'm here talking to you. He's turning into a grumpy old man."

The entire chamber that he was inside was created of this same charcoal-coloured stone. It looked as if it had been covered in molten lava, then cooled off. Veran got to his feet. "I shouldn't keep you any longer. Your followers are probably coming up the steps right now." He chuckled.

Veran approached the throne and laid a hand onto the person that sat upon it.

Suddenly, the main doors opened and a sea of alien refugees poured in. Veran instantly pulled his hand away and took a few steps back.

One of the lead beings, draped in a hood adorned with various trinkets and scraps to denote their status as high priest, said with a husky voice "It is good to see you again, traveller. You are becoming very diligent in your worship. It is the only path to salvation, as you must already know."

"Yeah...whatever. Just...protect her, alright?" Veran said as he hovered around the crowd and approached the entrance.

The high priest then conducted the other pilgrims in a prayer. "This day, yet another day after each of our worlds ended, we pledge to you, Charred Goddess! All was swept away by the great flames, all but you and your servants, thus we give ourselves onto thee!" He yelled.

Veran grimaced as he peered over his shoulder, then kept walking out.

This Charred Goddess had become worshipped as a deity once alien foreigners were brought to Earth in the millions to work the slave camps. A few escapees discovered the ruins of a city in the Great Canyon, a formation that none of them knew once covered over 70% the planet's surface in H20; liquid water. In this city were the only bodies on Earth not reduced to ash and swept away. This was taken as a sign by many of the spiritual, and this place became known as the Temple of the Charred.

In the main Citadel of this kingdom was a throne room which was now used as a holy place for sermons. The main icon of their dedication was one of these burned, blackened, and melted skeletal corpses. The only difference was that this one sat on the throne, signifying some kind of higher place in society. Within the clutches of her belly, there could be seen the small form of an unborn child, now moulded into her very body. This queen became the promise of salvation for many alien slaves.

Veran knew this place. It wasn't a stupid temple, and that person was no Goddess. This was the ruin of Atlantis. And the Charred Goddess was his mother...preserved by the boiling ocean that turned into scalding steam so quickly that everyone beneath it was boiled into crisp remains in seconds. He hated what these beings were doing. But he couldn't bring himself to dismantle their one source of hope...so he let them do what they wanted. He let them treat his mother's remains as a religious icon in the hopes that one day, he'd be able to lay her to rest properly...if these people no longer needed that kind of reassurance.

It took him hours to return to the Tamaranean Flats, formerly known as the Arctic Circle. It was a massive pit now, with no water or ice to fill it out. It was named as such since it was where most Tamaranean prisoners of war were taken when Earth was first turned into a slave world. The species has since been completely wiped out by Kalibak who was fed up with their constant rebellions.

Veran had been using a repurposed flight harness from Apokolips to get around. Without water, he was limited to jumping long distances and that tended to take a very long time if you needed to go halfway around the world. He landed the vehicle outside a cave entrance, as unassuming as any other on the planet. He took one last glance around the immediate area, seeing nothing but red dirt, melted shipwrecks, and the massive bones of long dead whales, before stepping into the cave.

He didn't need any source of light; his Atlantean physiology meant that he was engineered to live in the deep ocean, and one of the traits he possessed was the ability to see in the dark. Veran blinked several times as he allowed his eyes to adjust, and by then he could see as if the tunnel was lit by the sun. What followed was half an hour of walking through pitch-black tunnels. Anyone who didn't know where they were going would've gotten lost, and that was kind of the idea.

Finally, Veran emerged in a large cave formation that was lit by primitive oil lamps that were systemically fixed around the area. All about this cave were dozens upon dozens of improvised structures made of scrap metal and garbage. Littered around these shacks were beings of varied race and origin. This was what Veran and his friends fought for; the former slaves of Apokolips. With every mine they liberated, there would be hundreds of people with nowhere to go. Anyone who desired it would be taken here, to the last city on Earth.

The Atlantean slowly trudged through the camp, eyes lancing from one refugee to the next. He recognised that there were a large population that was uneasy, afraid...and they were undoubtedly the newest additions to the colony, those freed from Krypton. Veran simply passed them by on his way to the Fortress.

At the end of this cave formation, sitting on a rock, was a black orb the size of a basketball. On its face was a lens that glowed dimly. Veran set his hand on the orb, and it chirped in acknowledgement. The lens brightened, and a portal popped out of thin air to Veran's left. He stepped into the blinding light. The sensation was undesirable, but it didn't really matter. If you had a secret base that was tucked away in an alternate dimension, would you really complain about it?

Veran materialised in the entrance room of the Fortress, shaking off the disorientation.

"Where have you been?" A low, gravelly voice pressed.

When Veran's eyes refocused, he saw an unwelcome figure. Damian Wayne was tall, lean, and in incredible shape. He was built like a martial artist, with strength, agility and speed in mind more than anything else. The man wore clothes much like Veran's, dirty post-war rags, rather than a uniform. Veran scoffed "Out. Why does it matter?"

He tried to brush passed Damian and stroll into the next room, but the son of Batman stepped in front of him. "Considering what you just did, it matters a lot. Parademon traffic has spiked to an all-time high. You could've led them right to us."

"What are you gonna do? Give us a lecture?"

Damian grimaced. "Where's Zorr?"

Veran shrugged, then shouldered through Damian, causing him to stagger backwards. "He's your little brother, not mine. I don't keep track of his whereabouts." He quipped, knowing full well that the former Robin often expressed nothing but disdain for his half-sibling. 

Everyone was sitting around in the living room in complete silence. Jess was in the kitchen, which was connected to the same room as the living space, chopping some synthetic vegetables up on a board. Raizo was sitting on the kitchen counter, watching Jess' expert farmgirl cooking skills in action. Dionysus stood in the far corner of the room, looking fairly triumphant all things considered. Tarcis and Lara were both seated on the couch, the former looking incredibly terrified.

"Sheesh. Real party going on in here." Veran joked as he entered the room.

Raizo glanced over his shoulder and said "Some of us don't need to hear the sound of our own voices every five seconds."

Dionysus cocked his head. "Where were you? You vanished on us."

"Relax, Di. He's here now." Raizo scalded.

"That's not the point." Lara muttered. "You can't just come and go without telling us. That's how you get us all killed, fishboy."

Veran chuckled smugly. "Real creative. Haven't heard that one before. Maybe smoke less and your brain won't be so shrivelled."

"Fucking hilarious." Lara snapped.

Dionysus sighed like a dragon billowing embers from its nostrils. The sound itself was enough to tell everyone to cut it out. He then asked "So where's Zorr?"

"Don't know, but Damian's waiting for him. He's going to give us all another stern talking to." Jess answered. "That's why I'm making everyone some beef bougnuignon." She said cheerfully.

Tarcis shrunk into the sofa, black eyes glimmering. "Oh no. I-I like your cooking but I don't like Damian when he's angry."

"So where does Zorr go then, huh?" Veran snapped.

Raizo promptly answered with "What's left of the moon to meditate. Good decision, no air means no distracting sounds."

Veran dropped himself into the couch next to Tarcis, who was much calmer than she was on the field but dreading the coming lecture from Damian. Veran smiled weakly at her and said "What's happening, Frosty?"

"Damian's going to yell at us, i-isn't he?"

"Yeah. Probably."

Tarcis' eyes watered. "But...I t-thought we did a good job?"

"We did. You especially."

"R-Really...?"

Veran shrugged and put an arm onto the back of the sofa. "Yeah, sure." He said nonchalantly. "We won, right?" The half-Bekkorian beamed at Veran, who grabbed the tv remote and put some old cartoons on.

Jess was in the middle of popping the synthetically grown ingredients into the oven when Raizo plucked her knife up from the chopping board. He twirled it within his fingers as Jess asked "Do you know where Veran goes to all the time?"

"No."

"Even if you did, would you tell me?" Jess teased, slamming shut the oven and dialling in the knobs.

Raizo cocked his head. "Yeah. Of course."

The woman moved over to the counter and leant onto it. She watched the speedster as the kitchen knife spun about in his hand. After noticing Jess' eyes on him, Raizo fumbled.

The blade slipped from his fingers and was about to land with its cutting edge against Raizo's forearm. It would've happened in the blink of an eye, but to Jess it all transpired slowly. She snapped forward with blinding speed, plucking the knife out of the air by its tip. Raizo's eyes widened. Jess wasn't sure if it was because he mucked up, or because Jess saved him from a potential cut.

She arched an eyebrow. "Looks like you need a little more practice."

Raizo, face beginning to flush red, snatched the utensil and shook his head so that his long hair obscured most of his face.

As time went on, and still Zorr was nowhere to be seen, the group remained inside the Fortress in accordance with Damian's wishes. After Jess' beef bourguignon was done, considering that most people that it was cooked to feed were endowed with superhuman speed, it seemed to take no time at all for most of it to be eaten up. The only two who were still eating when everyone else was done were Tarcis and Lara.Veran, despite being done with his food, was still buried in the couch with them.

Tarcis nervously slurped her meal out of the bowl without using any pieces of cutlery. There weren't many times when Tarcis wasn't a stammering mess, and most of those instances were when she was eating. The anxiety in her demeanour was gone and instead she was sighing and moaning in approval of her meal. Veran stared at her pleased face with a look of mild disgust.

Lara, who loudly chewed with her mouth open, was blankly gazing over at Veran. "Hey. You got a problem?" She said.

The human-Atlantean hybrid blinked rapidly in confusion."No, Lara. She's just gross."

"Say that again, dipshit."

Despite the oddly hostile exchange occurring on either side of her, Tarcis was not about to have her attention seized by anything but her food.

"You call Raizo a grovelling suck-up when Jess is around, what do you call this?" Veran mused, anticipating Lara's response.

Lara, still chewing with her mouth open in a casual way, wrapped an arm around Tarcis' shoulders. "Me making sure my girlfriend isn't being stared at, you dickhead."

Veran pushed to his feet, grinning in disbelief. "Wow, you're using those pre-war terms now? Cool, you guys gonna go on a 'date' to the fire pits and maybe stop by the mass graves on the way there? Why do you even bother with those antiquities?"

Lara's trademark blank stare made it look like she was ready to leap forward and strangle someone with her bare hands. However, the ironic thing was that she wasn't a physically violent person. She kind of just had that vibe about her.

"I thought stopping by mass graves was your thing."

Veran's facetious smirk dropped instantly. He stepped in front of Lara, casting a shadow over her as she had one arm around Tarcis and the other hand holding her bowl of food. He growled lowly "...How the hell do you know?"

Lara droned "Secret." She winked, not putting much effort into the gesture at all. The young man's fingers rolled into fists and shook in his anger.

"Soft spot?" Lara remarked.

Without a trademark wisecrack, Veran stormed off as Jess, Raizo, and Dionysus watched at their seats on the kitchen bench, playing a game of Uno. "Zeus' beard...do you ever stop being a hateful witch?" Dionysus muttered with a glare in Lara's direction.

Lara ignored the demi-God's insult with a weak smirk, instead sending her eyes to Tarcis whose joyful moans and lip-licking did nothing to stifle the human's attraction to her. "Fuck, you're so hot right now."

Suddenly, with that one sentence, Tarcis was dropped off cloud nine. She swallowed her mouthful of food, sheepishly huddled her shoulders into her body and turned pink in the face. "L-Lara...! They're r-right behind us...!" She whispered.

"That's never bothered me, baby."

Jess squawked "Lara, ew. I can hear you."

"Maybe it's an invitation." Lara flirted.

Like a roar of thunder, Dionysus' booming laughs of approval echoed through the Fortress as he clapped his hands together. He then raised his hands in submission "Ha! Now that's something I'd like to see! Please, don't be shy. Pretend Raizoand I aren't here."

Raizo, who was much less outspoken then Dionysus, simply widened his eyes in both shock, excitement at the idea, and embarrassment. His eyes met Dionysus', and he instantly knew what the speedster was thinking. Jess laid her arms onto the counter and buried her face in them. Her voice was muffled as she said "...Oh...my...god..."

Tarcis, finally done with her meal, set her bowl down beside her and glanced around like a confused meerkat. "Can I have seconds?" She asked politely.

"Sorry T, all out. Got some yoghurt in the fridge." Jess answered, taking the first chance to move on from the awkward moment that preceded.

Suddenly, there was a shift in the very fabric of space itself. The power in the living room flickered, and a gigantic 'bang' erupted through the entire structure.

Tarcis fell off the couch and frantically scrambled behind it to hide from whatever was the cause of the ruckus, Lara leapt to her feet with fire in her eyes, Jess and Dionysus stood at the ready, and Raizo gripped his trusty sword in hand within a microsecond of the occurrence.

Instead of an unfamiliar face, they saw a very much recognised one. Zorr stood by a large capsule that, had the room any smaller, it would have torn the walls apart. Most of them stared at this weird object in absolute confusion, but Lara had immediately hurried in its direction to examine it.

Two seconds was all it took before she muttered in astonishment "Is this what I think it is...?"

"Yes." Was Zorr's blunt reply.

Unfortunately, none of this made it any clearer to the others in the room. Jess, who was just about to win the game of Uno with a plethora of draw 4's before Zorr's return, threw the cards back onto the table and said "Mind telling the rest of us what the hell that thing is?"

"It's a giant bubble." Veran quipped. "What else is there to know?"

"Actually, fuckface," Lara started to correct, seemingly ignoring his sarcasm in her amazement. "It's a Time Sphere...an actual fucking Time Sphere. Where the fuck did you get this?"

The eyes of everyone in that room swiftly turned back to Zorrincredulously. Despite his discovery, the man's expression was unreadable. They waited for a further explanation, but never received one from the son of Batman. Instead, Tarcisspoke from behind the couch "S-So is it like a...time machine?"

At the attention she received from shattering the silence, Tarcis huddled even further behind the long and rather large piece of furniture. She was barely visible by the end of it.

"In idiot terms, yes." Lara replied lowly. "You didn't answer my question, asshole. Where did you find this?"

Zorr, as emotionlessly as always, said "Apokolips."

Dionysus inhaled sharply. "By Olympus...you went there by yourself?! Everyone in this room is under strict orders to remain on Earth, Zorr! That includes you, too! That was the stupidest thing you've ever done!"

From his spot on the lounge, Veran had risen to his feet. His eyes were set on the spherical device, and for the first time in a while, his expression turned serious. The images of his mother's burnt remains had haunted him so thoroughly in childhood that he was now used to it. He had forgotten what she looked like. In his mind, she had always been a corpse left to dry in the blazing sun...but now he was presented with an opportunity to change that. To see his mother again...to change her fate.

"Do none of you realise what this means?" He suddenly interrupted, just in time to prevent Dionysus from pulling out a long-winded rant. "We could go back...we could fix everything!"