Post by lawrenceliberty on Jun 9, 2017 18:21:39 GMT
STF: Time War!
By lawrenceliberty
Prologue
The Lord of Time prided himself on living up to his lofty title. He felt that his combination of advanced technology, keen mind, and experience with every aspect of time travel truly made him capable of handling every crisis. Thus, it was ironic when he found himself caught off guard by a sudden and devastating attack!
His heavily fortified Time Citadel was assaulted by attackers with an array of weapons that more than matched his own defenses. Of course, he was sick and feeble now and his best days were apparently behind him. He left the defense of his base to a golden robotic being known as Cosmo. A beautiful woman with long purple hair knelt by his side. Olanda was a faithful daughter and she remained loyal to her father in his moment of peril.
She held his hand and tried to offer some encouragement even as their home fell to the invaders!
“Every time one soldier falls, another materializes out of the time stream!” she thought.
Cosmo loomed over them both. He was not merely a machine. He seemed to possess human feelings and he would defend his master to the bitter end if a Lord of Time could truly meet an end.
A crash shook the Citadel and the army surged inside. The invaders could truly be called a faceless mass since each one rippled in and out of sync with the present moment. Their own leader had drawn them from every era of time and he didn’t really value them for individuality as much as for their sheer numbers.
The Time Master approached the robot and waved one hand dismissively. Cosmo shuddered and then he broke apart like so much scrap metal.
“Instantaneous obsolescence!” said the Time Master.
He gloated as he looked down on the wizened form of the once mighty Lord of Time.
“You have lost! I have triumphed over every other claimant to the throne of time itself. I shall be kind and end your existence now!” he shouted.
As Olanda was swept aside by cascades of energy, her father began to fade away!
She screamed and dived for his body. In a blinding flash of light, the woman and the ancient Lord of Time were gone!
A sultry platinum blonde woman approached and placed both hands on the shoulders of the Time Master.
“Have you killed them?” she purred.
Time Master laughed and said, “I have removed the old tyrant from time itself and as far his dutiful daughter, we shall track her down soon enough!”
The blonde stared at him for a second with a look of complete loathing but she caressed him and laughed as if she adored him. In truth she had manipulated him and many like him for some time now. She had her own plans and she prayed they would still come to fruition.
1
Booster Gold was pacing restlessly in a lab in rural Vermont. The Corporate Crusader was not as shallow as he appeared to be. Still, he was easily bored and he had an athlete’s desire for physical action at times. He looked over at where his friend Dr. Rip Hunter was studying a complex array of monitors over a computer.
“Do you get cable on any of those?” quipped Booster.
Rip smiled briefly and said, “Actually, these screens allow me to view various alternate timelines. What I’ve discovered is unsettling to say the least.”
Booster nodded and said, “You decided to devote all your time to research and made me your timestream fix it man! I know all that and I think it has been working out. I’ve done some good and Superwoman and I have become a pretty effective team on occasion too. The world knows me as a super hero and businessman while only a few people realize that I’m also a defender of time itself! What’s so unsettling about that?”
Rip Hunter was a tall, broad shouldered blond man. He was a brilliant scientist and had earned his nickname of the Time Master by performing countless heroic acts throughout history along with his wife Bonnie and two other close friends.
He hesitated for a moment as if he was searching for the right words.
“Booster, you’ve been doing superb work but surely you’ve noticed the increase in attempts at time manipulation by various criminals or would be tyrants. I have also noticed that some possible timelines depicting various futures have literally been excised from time. They simply no longer exist even as remotely possible futures. I think someone has been severing these timelines in a mad attempt to make it easier to consolidate conquest of all timelines!” he said.
Booster said, “What happens if a possible future is removed? Aren’t there more futures than anyone other than you could count? Aren’t new ones made every time anyone makes a decision? Like in one timeline I have pizza tonight. In another I send out for Chinese food.”
Rip said, “You have the right idea in a sense but the danger of this situation is found in the possibility that this person might actually manage to dominate every possible future.”
Booster said, “Okay, so point me in his direction and I’ll shut him down!”
At that moment a beautiful woman appeared within the lab. She had long purple hair and wore a colorful outfit that consisted of a brief blue outfit that left her legs and one arm bare. She wore a red helmet that left most of her hair visible and did not conceal her lovely but worried features.
“I am Olanda the Harbinger of a crisis in time! I have come to ask for your help! I need you to safeguard the only hope all of time has!” she said in a rather breathless tone.
Rip said, “You aren’t the woman who previously wore that costume but then I realize that the crisis you speak of is different from the one she tried to stop!”
At that moment a small metallic sphere with flashing sensors flew up and spoke in the emotionless tone of a robot or machine.
“Booster, this woman radiates a chronal energy unlike any I have yet encountered! It is as if she is both here and yet not here!” he said.
Booster said, “Don’t mind Skeets. He’s my sidekick and he gets a bit overwhelmed at times!”
Rip said, “Here and not here. Are you able to exist in multiple times simultaneously?”
She said, “I have… sisters… who are even now engaged in missions of their own! We have much in common and this may be what the droid is detecting!”
Rip said, “The Crisis you speak of consists of the severing of various timelines with a deliberate intent!”
She said, “You truly deserve the reputation you have throughout history! I need you to help me defeat the so-called Time Master. He once called himself T Y Master when he battled Wonder Woman!”
Booster said, “Time Master? Sounds like you could bring a case of infringement of a heroic title against the guy!”
Harbinger said, “I need you to help me find a way by which he may be defeated once and for all! Most of all, I need your protection!”
Booster said, “I don’t kill. I’ll stop him but I won’t take his life. My fans would hate it if I turned all grim and gritty on them!”
Harbringer said, “You try to conceal your true heroic nature with insipid banter but those of us who study time know of your real valor!”
Rip said, “I’ve battled more than one evil time traveler. We will protect you!”
The purple haired beauty smiled mysteriously and said, Your legend has always been…special to me… I am weary from my own travels and I need a defender!”
Booster said, “All kidding aside, you can count on us!
Skeets said, “Booster, my circuits detect another arrival from the timestream!”
Rip said, “Yes, my own devices confirm as much!”
Olanda said, “My father became known as the Lord of Time. In some timelines he was a hero while in others his actions could be seen as being arbitrary or even cruel at least if only viewed from one time. His enemy wants to rule all of time as I said!”
Booster stepped in front of the woman and adjusted his goggles!
“Oh yeah! It looks like we have company and we should probably have taken in the welcome rug!” he said.
“Welcome mat!” said Skeets.
At that moment a tall figure in a purple costume appeared in the lab. He loomed over the others and his physique was made even more striking by the fact that he had four arms!
He raised his head and bellowed, “I am Moka! Prepare to die so my era shall live!”
He charged at Booster Gold who activated his force field. The hulking invader slammed all four fists against the shield but it withstood his blows.
“Four arms? That is so retro!” he said as he dropped the field and tackled the bigger man.
He pummeled him for a few moments and then frowned as he fell backward beneath Moka’s renewed assault!
“He appears to be a robot!” said Skeets.
Booster nodded and said, “Well, I hope they never decide to mass produce him! One is bad enough!”
He generated a blast of energy that struck the robot with shattering concussive force.
Moka swayed backward and then collapsed.
Booster said, “Do you recognize him?”
Olanda said, “He comes from an alternate future in which Superman did not arrive on Earth until the year 2000. He opposed Superman but was unsuccessful!”
Rip Hunter suddenly returned and said, “I was confident you could deal with him. I was trying to lock on to his point of origin so we could track him back to his point of origin!”
Olanda said, “As I said, he came from one possible future of many. I fear my father’s enemy the Time Master has countless such eras from which to produce his murderous agents!”
Rip said, “I have the feeling you have a plan in mind! You didn’t just come here for protection. Since you clearly know about Superman for example, you could have easily found more powerful guardians!”
Olanda said, “The Justice League of America is being watched by the Time Master. The members are being monitored by his agents. I could not safely approach them but my sisters are attempting something a bit like an appeal to those heroes. I am hopeful that they may find other defenders just as I have come to you!”
Rip Hunter said, “I know of the Lord of Time and the Time Master as villains but I am willing to trust you since my travels have shown me that people may certainly change over time!”
He said, “I can secure our base for a limited time but I’ll need to remain here to do so with some help from Skeets! That might enable you to depart without being detected by his own devices!”
Skeets said, “I shall do whatever is needed Professor Hunter!”
Booster said, “Okay, so why don’t you and I take the fight directly to the Time Master! I doubt he’d expect you to do that!”
Olanda said, “I agree. If I can reach my father’s citadel without being detected I may be able to bring about the defeat of the Time Master!”
2
Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman were sitting around a table in the satellite HQ of the Justice League of America. Nearby, the Elongated Man sat in front of a computer and performed monitor duty.
“It looks like some of the others are busy with different missions. The weird thing that sets my mystery sniffing nose to twitching is that all of their cases involve time travel or time displacement. It doesn’t take a Miss Marple to realize that something is rotten in the time stream!” he said.
Batman said, “You’re right, Ralph. Green Lantern and I had a run in with the Time Commander recently. He was more capable than he’d ever been in the past and had an alluring female companion who escaped when we defeated him!”
Superman said, “And from what you told me the woman matched the description of a woman who pretended to work for Xotar but actually seemed to delighted when Booster Gold and I defeated him!”
Batman said, “Booster Gold? Isn’t he nothing more than an egotistical glory hound?”
Superman said, “He surprised me by how much of a hero he really is. Superwoman and he have become good friends. I like him as well!”
Nubia said, “Superman, you like everyone! Still, if you vouch for him then I shall try to give him the benefit of the doubt.”
She added, “Donna, Cassie, and I also had a battle with the Time Master not long ago. I see a pattern as well! Time manipulation seems to be rampant. The Time Master actually stole my island and my subjects. Even Amazon scientist Dr. Althea has failed to find Marzal since it became lost in time and space!”
Elongated Man stretched his neck across the room and said, “A while back Wally had a battle with Professor Zoom as well. It was the case in which he first met Barry’s daughter Deena! She and Zoom came from the future!”
At that moment Elongated Man blinked rapidly and stared around an empty room.
He yawned and returned to monitor duty and shrugged in surprise.
“I must be cracking up. For a minute there I thought I was not alone up here but I’ve been on my own for over an hour at least!” he thought.
Elongated Man did not realize that Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman had all been teleported through time to the citadel the Time Master had usurped from its original owner the Lord of Time.
“Your friend will never know you have been taken. I altered time to achieve that precise result. As far as he knows he has been alone and you three were never there!”
Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman blinked as well as they realized they were now in the futuristic domain of the mocking Time Master. Wonder Woman had recorded details about her encounter with the purple robed villain in the JLA database.
She scowled with displeasure as she recognized her foe.
“You’ll regret bring us here! This will be our final encounter!” she said as she raced forward.
The Time Master smiled coldly and waved his hand in an almost casual gesture.
“Really? I agree it shall be our final meeting since I shall put an end to you and all of your heroic ilk!” he said.
Nubia gasped in shock as her costume changed abruptly and she found herself wearing a solid white jumpsuit with matching boots. Her magic lasso, tiara, bracelets, and costume were all gone.
“You want to be Wonder Woman? Well, I’ve made you Wonder Woman or at least I’ve altered your timeline so that you are now powerless as your sister once was during a time when all of Paradise Island was lost to her!” he said with a laugh.
Nubia swung at him but her now human strength could not dent his own force field. In fact she staggered backward and collapsed at his feet as an electrical discharge from the field stunned her.
Superman flew forward to protect her but another movement from the Time Master changed the Man of Steel as well.
He crashed to the floor and found himself unable to move.
“I’ve altered your own timeline as well. You are now living your life in a possible timeline in which you lost your powers and found yourself a helpless invalid reduced to begging on the streets of a Metropolis that no longer needed you.”
Superman struggled to rise but he only managed to get to his feet for a moment before a bolt from the Time Master stunned him as well.
The Time Master turned to see Batman inching toward one of the massive computers that lined the walls of the citadel.
“You are sneaky but what good are your legendary skills if you lack the mind to use them!” he said with a sneer.
Batman changed into a hulking brute in a tattered costume that barely covered his now abnormally bulky body.
“Bat Hulk! Isn’t that what they called you when you were transformed into this rampaging beast!” he said.
The monstrous Batman roared in reply and charged at him only to fall beneath a barrage of bolts.
A sultry woman emerged from another room and surveyed the scene as the Time Master stood over his fallen foes.
“What of the other members of the Justice League? Won’t they challenge your rule as well?” she asked.
He smiled at her and said, “I shall triumph over them as well should they survive the current time related threats that occupy them. In any case I used several devices to study the probable outcome of any attack on me by the Justice League. They showed me that my only possible defeat would come at the hands of these three and I have dealt with them easily. As for the Lord of Time’s daughter, I shall find her and eliminate any loose ends as surely as I destroyed her aged father!”
The woman frowned for a moment as she thought, “I can only pray Olanda and our other sisters find the help we need to beat this tyrant and restore our poor father!”
3
The Time Master had manipulated events throughout history and eliminated countless possible timelines in an effort to secure all power for himself. However, even he had missed a few beings who might pose a threat to his planned conquest of eternity. The Harbinger materialized in one such timeline in front of what appeared to be the White House of that particular alternate history. She phased out of sync with time to elude the secret service and she swiftly confronted a serious looking black man who sat inside the Oval Office. 'President Calvin Ellis, you are needed to stop a terrible threat to time itself. Perhaps, I should be more specific. I need you as Superman not as the leader of this timeline's America!"
To his credit President Ellis immediately replied, "I'll do anything I can to help! Tell me more!"
Olanda smiled and hoped her other sisters were as successful in their own missions!
4
Olanda’s other sisters had also been dispatched through time to recruit various allies and soon, if such a term could be used for time travel, an odd assembly stood together on a barren wasteland at the end of time.
Superman (Ellis) watched the others with interest. The tallest man wore a blue and gray costume with a scalloped cape and cowl. If he was at all disoriented by his own ordeal he did not show it.
“I’m the Batman of the year 3051. I can see you are a being with powers like those of Superman!” he said.
Superman (Ellis) nodded and said, "I have some Kryptonian heritage. You seem to know a lot about Superman or at least the Superman from your past!"
A beautiful blonde woman in a red, white, and blue costume spoke up in a stentorian tone of voice.
“I believe we have been chosen for a reason! I would not readily leave my own time behind lest I felt it was the will of the gods!” she said.
The regal beauty waited impatiently and then said, “I am Queen Hippolyta the Wonder Woman!”
Queen Hippolyta frowned as she recalled the first Wonder Woman. Her beloved daughter Princess Diana had been the original Amazon champion of their Olympian gods and goddess; however, she had died in the cosmic Crisis. The gods had ordered Queen Hippolyta to assume her child’s heroic role in order to make up for the fact that she herself had been reluctant to involve her sisters in the battle at the time of cosmic upheaval. She had succeeded in every way but nothing she did as Wonder Woman helped her ease her own sense of guilt and loss.
The three almost identical Harbringers led the trio to the huge citadel that so dominated the bleak landscape.
“You three must do battle with the Time Master and free his captives! He thinks he has secured his victory but he did not realize that our father planned ahead and made certain there were counterparts for any hero that might play a role in the defeat of the Time Master. While he has taken captive a Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, we have plucked you three from your proper eras to wage war upon him!”
Wonder Woman raised a gleaming sword and said, “Then let us use the speed of Mercury himself to bring this victory to fruition!”
They charged toward the weird citadel and engaged a legion of armored warriors in combat!
They relied on their proven powers or advanced gadgets and they triumphed at first even as sheer numbers began to slow them down.
Batman (Brane Taylor) could not help but think about his young nephew Ricky and wonder if he would ever return to his own time and join his sidekick once more.
“I was just ripped out of my proper time. Robin must be worried sick about me!” he mused as he dropped a gas pellet and stunned a row of warriors as they approached him.
Wonder Woman fought through hoards of attackers and showed no sign of being tired. She was a magnificent warrior queen in every sense of the phrase.
Supeman (Ellis) combined his super speed and strength in an effective assault on the legions and also wondered about the other heroes of his timeline like Vixen and Steel.
The Time Master smiled in pleasure as he looked at his captives. He had placed Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman within clear tubes that kept them in stasis in their original forms.
“I have restored them to their true natures since it is only fitting that their proper histories converge here to end in total slaughter at my hands!” he said.
Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman could not move but they are awake and they watched and listened helplessly as the mad villain bragged to his female aide.
At that moment Superman (Ellis), Wonder Woman (Hippolyta), and Batman (Brane Taylor) broke into the citadel and confronted the Time Master.
He frowned in surprise since he had neglected to monitor his legions beyond the stark base. He had devoted all his time to his captives since he truly thought they were the only beings who could hope to beat him.
“What foolishness is this? Counterparts? Alternate timeline doubles? This is a poor attempt to bring me down. I suspect the Lord of Time’s daughter is behind this!” he hissed.
He said, “I can alter each of your own timelines as I did with the others! This won’t take long at all since I have all the time in the world!” he said.
He raised his hands only to grunt with pain as his aide struck him from behind.
He fell to the floor and then miraculously he rose again and looked down at his own still body.
“Foolish girl! I admit you duped me. I did not realize that you were yet another child of the Time Master’s since your appearance had been distorted enough by his own infernal technology but now I see you as you really are! You and your sisters seduced and betrayed all the others who aspired to your father’s throne but you won’t fool me for a moment longer! I was never truly here. You merely killed one alternate double. My true body…my original form… was safely hidden from you a few moments out of sync with time!” he shouted.
As the platinum blonde beauty known as Olanda Tertia tried to flee, the Time Master laughed and then tried to remove her from existence. He failed as her father’s protective devices secured her for the moment.
Wonder Woman brought her own blade down on his arm but once more he remained safely beyond her reach in his own pocket of time and space.
Superman (Ellis) vibrated at super speed as Wonder Woman whirled her own vibrating lasso but none of them could manage to reach the right combination of frequencies to touch him! He was a grinning, mocking apparition that remained just out of reach!
5
Meanwhile, Booster Gold and the original Olanda had surged through the timestream toward the futuristic realm of the citadel at the end of time.
They stopped abruptly as a weird blob-like creature appeared in their path amidst the swirling colors and shifting images that comprised the time stream. The creature swelled up in size and blocked their progress completely.
Booster frowned as he watched the creature ooze across their field of vision.
“What is that thing?” he said.
Olanda said, “It is a time beast. It lives within the time stream and preys on travelers! There is no way to stop it. It resist any mental or physical attack because it lacks any true nervous system or brain! It also can’t be destroyed! It feeds on chronal energy!”
Booster grabbed the young woman and flew away from the creature but it followed them relentlessly.
“I can see it doesn’t get tired either. That’s natural since it must be immune to aging or fatigue. If we can’t fight it why don’t we hide from it? I can use the device Rip built into my costume to shunt us out of the timestream into a null time zone. That thing can’t feed on anything there since there literally is not time in such a place. Rip used one such zone to romance his wife or so he said!”explained Booster.
The vanished in a flash of light and then floated through a white void to emerge on the sandy shores of the Citadel itself.
“You did it!” cried Olanda.
She led Booster into the base through a small portal that enabled them to avoid the fallen soldiers that the heroes had beaten. As they emerged within her home, Olanda saw the captive heroes and their counterparts.
“Can you occupy him? My father has a machine here that may help us triumph!” she whispered.
Booster smiled and said, “Don’t worry. I like the spotlight. Just ask anybody!”
He flew away from her and frowned as he saw the “replacement” JLA fail to make contact with the Time Master.
Wonder Woman (Queen Hippolyta) raced over and smashed the containment tubes that held the original Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. As the freed heroes slowly emerged from the stasis that had held them, Booster swooped down and tackled the Time Master.
He adjusted the controls in his costume and shifted himself and the shocked Time Master directly back into the timestream itself.
The Time Master struggled and said, “Who are you? How were you able to touch me?”
Booster Gold smiled and said, “It was easy to lock on to your precise time signature once you became solid enough to threaten those captives of yourself. Even though you instantly shifted to another time setting at random once I had a lock on your chronal energy pattern you couldn’t escape!”
The Time Master fought back but Booster Gold was stronger and he was still shocked by the hero’s sudden appearance and ability to counter his protective field.
“You can’t hold me for long!” he shouted.
Booster said, “I don’t need to since I can take you to jail easily enough if you get rid of all your time travel technology!”
The Time Master laughed bitterly. “Are you dense? I will never divest myself of my weaponry.”
Booster shrugged and said, “It is your choice but I sure wouldn’t want to be givng off all that stolen chronal energy when a predator who feeds on the stuff is coming after me!”
He gestured to where the gelatinous monster who had threatened to swallow him when he and Olanda had been chased through the timestream now loomed over them!
The Time Master screamed and ripped free from Booster Gold’s grip even as the monster covered him and glowed brightly before disappearing into the timestream like a shark submerging beneath the waters of an ocean.
Booster dived after him but there was no longer any path to follow. The creature was gone along with its victim.
“I was just bluffing. I thought he’d be reasonable enough to give up before that thing ate him! I’ve got to save him! Maybe, Rip can help me find him in time!” he thought.
Suddenly, he found himself back in the Time Citadel where thee heroes greeted him warmly as a startling newcomer emerged from the rear of the compound with Olanda Prime and her sisters all by his side.
He was a young and muscular man in a red and gold costume. He smiled knowingly at the startled group and said, ‘I am the Lord of Time. I owe you all my thanks and I owe you an explanation!”
Superman said, “We saw and heard a lot of what happened but we do have questions.”
Olanda whispered, “Do not blame yourself, Booster. The Time Master brought about his own destruction by refusing to surrender his stolen chronal energy. The time beast claimed him and there is no way to track them or save the villain from his own lust for power!”
Booster nodded and said nothing. He did blame himself.
The Lord of Time said, “My parents were legendary heroes who mastered time travel. I was conceived in a zone of null time. This gave me a natural affinity for time travel but unlike my heroic ancestors I became jaded and used my abilities for conquest. After my earliest encounter with the Justice League of America…or at least after the earliest conflict they retained any memory of… I was injured by a lab accident. I never fully recovered in body or mind. I fought them again and again and almost froze all of time because of a faulty computer I had designed. I realized I was not in control of myself. I retreated to the end of time and used cloning technology to create several sons and my beloved daughter Olanda. The sons turned against me so I eliminated them from time. I also secretly began to plan a way to reform and to remove all villains who might try to use time travel against the innocent. I allowed myself to be seen as frail and helpless and allowed others to use me in their own schemes. I also cloned additional daughters and sent them out to become allies to the other so-called Time Lords. They secretly schemed against these dolts and used them to eliminate one another. Finally, only the Time Master remained. I allowed him to steal chronal energy and slay me but what he did not know was that just as my daughters were in truth genetically altered clones of myself, so could I be reborn through alterations in cloning!”
Olanda said, “I used my father’s cloning technology when you brought me back here Booster. Just as I was a chromosome manipulated clone of my father so did I make a new male clone of myself in his image. I used the science here to give the clone an adult form and all the knowledge my father possessed. He was born and aged in seconds. Thus, my father lives again and is stronger and younger than ever before!’
The Lord of Time grinned and said, “I owe my daughters my love and thanks. I also owe you all my help. I may now send Queen Hippolyta back to her timeline with my appreciation for her help!”
The blonde Amazon vanished.
“May she find some peace!” he said.
He turned to Calvin Ellis and said, "You have my thanks. I return you to your proper timeline as well. You will have a very rewarding career in both your identities!"
Ellis vanished as well.
Batman (Brane Taylor) said, “You are hesitating. Can you send me back home too?”
The Lord of Time said, “Yes but not alone. After the Time Master plucked you from your era, your young partner searched the globe for you before finally coming to the 1980s. I shall send you back home along with your Robin! You and he may be reunited there!”
Brane smiled broadly and as a boy in a red and green costume appeared! He smiled with pleasure for a second before the heroes both returned to their proper era.
Wonder Woman said, “What of Marzal? Can you find the island the Time Master took from me?”
He said, “It will emerge in the far future where it will have its own champion! Your people will be safe with him. You have new subjects on Mars and you have much to do with your husband!”
He said, “I knew the Time Master would learn three of you could stop him so I made sure three counterparts could be brought here to occupy him while another hero truly defeated him and secured all of time!”
He gestured to Booster Gold who shrugged and said, “I did my best but I should have been able to save the Time Master too. I regret failing like that!”
The Time Master said, “I will return you to your proper era but I assure you that I shall not be a threat to you again. I plan to depart with my daughters to become a better man and perhaps to honor my heroic ancestors!’
Olanda kissed Booster and said, “We shall not forget you!”
They vanished and Booster, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman found themselves on the JLA satellite.
Superman turned to Booster Gold and said, “Booster, we saw most of what happened on those monitors. You saved us all. I may be acting prematurely but how would you like to join the Justice League?”
Booster smiled and then recalled how Rip Hunter had recruited him to safeguard time in secret and to merely present a public image as a hero for hire to fool any enemy with access to time changing technology.
“They can’t stop your work if they don’t know about it. Let the world see you as just a glib egomaniac!” Rip had cautioned him with words to that effect.
Booster wanted to join the famous team but he shook his head and merely said, “How much do you pay? My people can be in touch with your people! We can do lunch!’
Nubia scowled and turned away in disgust.
Superman said, “We know you are a real hero. Join us. Superwoman has hinted a bit about your other work. Being in the JLA won’t place that at risk.”
Batman extended his hand and said, “I was wrong about you. I’d also like to see you in the League. All of us have our own private missions at times but being part of a team could be good for you.”
Booster shook hands with Batman and said, “Thank you! Maybe, I spoke too soon.”
Later, within the empty Citadel at the end of time a humanoid figure appeared from thin air.
He wore a purple and blue armored costume and his helmet revealed the features of the older and more sinister Lord of Time the JLA had first fought years before.
“Excellent. While in this timeline my heroic counterpart went off to live a quiet family life, in my own alternate timeline, I merely adopted the role of the Time Tyrant and plagued the heroes of Angor. Now, with all my rivals eliminated it is the perfect time to plan a way to rule all of time from this base!” he said with a loud laugh.
He placed a blue metal mask across his face and began to survey his Citadel. It was a very good time to be the new Lord of Time!
The End
