Diana watched the image that was being displayed by the satellite of the Watchtower with rapt attention. As it turned out, it was the house of Nathan and Raven only lived there, at least when she wasn't in Jump City fighting crime. Some might think that she should apologize, but she was still not convinced.
Maybe he told the truth, but what if it was only his truth? He didn't have any magical binds or spells controlling him, but what if they were removed and the effect was still at play? The only thing that could truly convince her was a glimpse into his mind. From the moment he landed on earth until now. With that kind of insight, she could see whether his change was intrinsic.
Of course, the others had directly rejected that idea when she proposed it for their tests. Whether they were even able to read his mind if he resisted was disregarded. However, this kind of intrusion of his privacy was admittedly something unacceptable, but could she just let it go? They had thought about the future, how they wanted to live, how many kids they wanted... She couldn't let that go, especially if it might be him being manipulated.
If everything Raven did was just a disguise to earn their trust, then she needed to be the one to save Nathan. Obviously, the changes that the timeline saw weren't something she could just ignore...
It might be possible that they were just not meant to be in this timeline and she should just give it up. She was torn between the choices of accepting the seeming truth that reality presented to her or being true to herself and not giving up on her love and searching for evidence of something that might or might not be.
Maybe it was her womanly intuition, but Diana had a feeling that she might find nothing even if she searched for years...
The blinds of Nathan's house were drawn, which was why she couldn't see inside, but she still didn't change the display. As she was thinking about what to do, something was placed on the table in front of her.
A tub of ice cream? She glanced at Hawkgirl, who sat down next to her with a tub of her own, "I heard it was the custom of earth to eat an entire tub of ice cream if one had trouble in life."
Diana glanced at her for a moment before taking the ice cream with the spoon that was placed on top. "Thank you."
"No problem." The Thanagarian responded before she looked at the display. Diana pressed a button to change the view to a news outlet. Hawkgirl didn't comment on it and the women just continued to eat.
They sat there for a moment in silence before Diana frowned slightly. She pressed the button again and displayed Nathan's house again. Hawkgirl sat up a bit, seeing how focused Diana was. "Something wrong?" She asked the Amazonian, but Diana didn't have a suitable answer.
"I don't know, just my Observation Haki nudging me." Observation Haki was how Nathan had described her feeling when she had tried to learn ki sense from him. Ki sense wasn't something she could grasp and instead ended up with this kind of precognition or divination.
"Nathan is no longer at his house. Kara and... Raven are also gone." There was a replay of the scene at his house, but no one exited the house.
Hawkgirl frowned. "I heard that Raven girl could teleport. You think they knew we were watching them?" She asked, and Diana could only nod her head at that.
"Most likely." Although she had no evidence for this, she believed she was right. Why else would they choose to leave via teleportation? Something was fishy about this, something they didn't want them to know about. Without waiting, she left the Watchtower and headed for Nathan's house. Hawkgirl was just behind her.
She took almost no time to arrive. Androids popped out of the ground as soon as she closed in and blocked the way. Diana reacted instantly and wrapped an android with her lasso before guiding it to crash into another. They shot at her with an energy beam, but she easily blocked and redirected the shots with her bracelets.
Now that she thought about it, where did Nathan get these androids from? Another thing that she had to discuss with Batman. Hawkgirl followed her example and smashed them into pieces. Diana didn't hesitate to turn the door into splinters and quickly entered the house. She didn't know why, but she could feel that time was of the essence.
Suddenly, Flash connected with them over the comms. "Ehm, ladies, what are doing breaking into Nathan's home?"
"Searching for clues, they have suddenly teleported away. I suspect that something big is happening. Flash, use the Watchtower and try to find a match of their faces with satellite footage." Diana answered easily before continuing her search through the house.
"They have disappeared? Why is that suspicious? You sure they aren't just out for a-" Flash's comm was suddenly interrupted.
"We have a situation in San Francisco." Batman's growly voice sounded out before he called for some back-up.
Diana, however, didn't stop and instead accelerated her search while responding to the call for aid. "What happened?"
"I was trailing a lead with Martian Manhunter and we discovered signs of Nathan using a criminal organization to recreate Vandal Savage's time machine." Diana's body froze before she continued her search in the basement.
"Wait, what? Nathan wants to time travel??" Flash spoke out in shock, which was understandable since Nathan had told him on several occasions to never mess with the timeline. Not that Flash was at that speed yet, but it wouldn't be long until he would and as a precaution Nathan had emphasized the point to the scarlet speedster.
"Most likely. They already powering the machine. There is a high output of energy leaking out at our location." Batman sent his and Martian Manhunter's location. After Superman, Flash, Zatara, and Aquaman confirmed they would head there, Batman cut the connection.
"If what he said is true, we should leave as soon as possib-" Hawkgirl said as she rushed into the basement. She stopped as she looked at Diana pulling out a giant block of metal embedded into the ground, revealing a shaft deep into the ground.
They looked at each other and nodded before jumping down. With vigilance they entered the door, revealing a vast hall that resembled their former training area of the Watchtower. The familiar pressure induced by the high gravity clarified that this was where Nathan had trained.
Hawkgirl glanced around while Diana headed straight to another entrance to the side leading somewhere. Seeing that Diana was goal-driven, Hawkgirl chased after her.
A giant cold room, a bedroom, a healing chamber, a place with artifacts, and a prison right next to it. It seemed like Nathan was prepared to live down here. Diana and Hawkgirl demolished the security door before entering the hall with prison cells. They looked at the prisoners and found them to be sleeping.
"Who are they?" Hawkgirl asked as she tried to wake up a woman with green hair with no success.
"I am not sure, but they are gods." Diana answered as she easily sensed their divine presence. Just after she finished speaking, the asleep gods' eyes suddenly sprung open before they looked at the two heroines with vigilance. They quickly stood up before surrounding the two.
...
Hakai. Bruce had only heard that name from Nathan when he had thought about a hero name. Of course, besides the obvious Japanese origin meaning 'destruction', it was also a significant name for the Saiyan. A power that would allow for incomprehensible power if Nathan hadn't exaggerated back then.
Now the name popped up in a different timeline, in a timeline where Nathan was coincidentally captured by security cameras when he was stealthily heading to San Francisco, the city which Westmob had full control of.
A previously unknown bodyguard of Westmob with the name 'Hakai' was now running around. Not to mention the type of research Westmob did with the hired scientists was also easy to connect with Nathan's desire for his 'Hyperbolic Time Chamber'.
It wasn't difficult to see the connection when everything was laid out this way. Nathan had somehow convinced a mafia boss to go clean after it had united the entire city's underworld under their rule. Obviously, how they did that was also becoming reasonable, especially if one considered Nathan's skill set.
J'onn had mentioned his untapped potential and had trained him in the finer arts in his timeline, revealing how skilled the Saiyan could be with his psychic abilities. Even opposed to his ki abilities, it didn't pale at all.
Given the circumstances, Bruce had to come to the bitter conclusion that he used his skills to manipulate the entire underworld of San Francisco to help create his training equipment, but not all was lost. The modus operandi before Westmob had fallen in his timeline had now changed tremendously to be this successful.
They weren't the usual criminals that they used to be. Opposed to the several other gangs that were running around wreaking havoc, they could be seen to have a moral bottom line. It even went so far that they were able to establish themselves in the public, all legally, with minimal shady deals.
In fact, they operated even better than some companies, which wasn't that good if one considered LexCorp as the standard, but compared to the average, international company? It could be said to be a good example of how things should be. It even went so far that they helped the police by preventing criminals from acting out. Of course, something that Bruce had attributed to them wanting to remain in control, but the positive outcome couldn't be denied.
It was one of the reasons that this timeline's Batman had kept them at low priority since their actions were beneficial for the common man with them being highly connected in every level of class in society. The lack of evidence of criminal acts helped as well.
All this made Bruce hopeful that Nathan was still the Just Saiyan, he knew him as. Of course, he wouldn't let himself be blinded because of his past. Mind manipulating several gangsters to do good wasn't something Batman could let happen.
It was ironic that Nathan had always been so adverse against mind manipulation. He had been the most outspoken against it when some cases had given rise to the opportunity, and now he was using it to his advantage. It showed how far he was willing to go, but for what?
He banished these thoughts and focused on the men entering the meeting room. Just as everyone arrived, he waved his arm and dropped several small balls that released a gas that left the men coughing and running to the exit in a panic. The door had already been hacked to stay locked, and the alarm was disabled.
Even the bodyguard Titan was easily taken out by Martian Manhunter. Batman hoisted the boss of Westmob into the air before slamming him into the chair. He didn't even bother to interrogate him. If his guess was right, then there was nothing he could do to make him talk, but he didn't need to.
This was the reason J'onn was with him today, to find out if his guess was correct. J'onn just nodded when he looked at him and directly stood behind the possibly mind-manipulated subordinate of Nathan.
J'onn frowned almost immediately when he entered the man's mind until the man convulsed. It took several minutes before J'onn released him with a stumble. "His mind is heavily protected. I couldn't get anything about the one who put these defenses inside his mind."
"Let's try the others." The fact that J'onn could not break through the mental defense already told a lot about the potential strength of the telepath, which narrowed the suspects by a lot. Fortunately, the others were easily read. Even though they had little information about the external bodyguard known as 'Hakai', they had other information.
Important were the locations of the labs for time and space. Without delaying it, they headed towards the labs to give it a thorough investigation. Bruce knew he had to act fast before they could cover everything up.
With Batman's jet, it didn't take them long until they arrived at the location. Their camouflage helped to not get seen by the guards. They quietly dropped into the restricted location and made their way inside the building. From there, they just have to 'question' several scientists and gather some evidence.
In the middle of their investigation, a sudden influx made Batman's sensors go wild. The origin being in the other lab's location. The energy was so strong that it affected the entire city's outage.
The two didn't speak and headed directly there at top speed. The location was a bit on the outskirts of the industrial area of the city. As they ran traversed through the city, Batman called Alfred to bring something to him. Fortunately, he had been prepared in this timeline as well. He only had to make some last-minute adjustments over the last few days to get it to an acceptable level. He had a hunch he would need it tonight.
Batman was determined to find out what was going on. Given the energy levels, he was prepared to call for backup at any moment.
...
It was a sleek design with a retractable helmet. It was quite futuristic and didn't impede with my movement, but it was a pain to put on. I glanced at Kara and Raven, who had changed into their suits. Although they had been quite insistent on joining the trip, I had initially disallowed them from coming with me. I wanted to go alone since it would reduce any changes that might happen during the trip.
Considering my skill set and the capability to camouflage myself with the suit, I could handle almost anything by myself without changing anything in the past. However, I changed my mind after thinking about the possibility that everything might change if I came back. Then I would rather have them with me than go alone and come back to a home that was unfamiliar to me.
Of course, Dr. Wakati had reassured me that no changes would be made with the timeline since I didn't want to change anything in the past and just obtain some data. Considering that the Justice League that had returned wasn't the same that had left after 'correcting the timeline', I had my concerns about mishaps.
Dr. Wakati explained some of his theories to me, but he tended to go into detail, which made me miss the point. However, from what I could gather, it was like this.
Theoretically, I would need another time machine in the past to connect with this machine in the current time to synchronize and stabilize any changes to the timeline, at least that was how Vandal Savage wanted to guarantee that his changes in the past remained changed and didn't create another timeline or was wiped away by time correcting itself.
It was also the reason the Justice League that had returned was the same Justice League that had left. As for their differences in experiences, Dr. Wakati wasn't sure and he would probably need to study this phenomenon a lot more to come to a conclusion. Time was strange, flexible, and apparently adaptable.
What all that entailed was a lifelong study, and I certainly would not wait this long. Since Vandal Savage's team had already made all the tests, I saw no need to run my own tests. Besides, the Justice League had returned alive as well, so I didn't worry too much.
After finishing preparing everything, we were ready to go back in time. We stood in front of the machine as the scientists were running around, making sure that everything was set in place, while the few guards that I controlled were just observing everything from the sides.
Dr. Wakati approached me as the preparation was being finished. "Remember, we can maintain the wormhole for 20 minutes and 17 seconds. Go in and out under that time, otherwise, you will be stuck there and without the wormhole anchoring the current timeline to the past, time will either erase you from existence or it will create a new timeline. The former is more likely as it would require less energy for the universe. Of course, that is assuming that time isn't sentient or..."
He went on muttering about theories on how time would prevent paradoxes from occurring. The only thing I needed to know was, come back in less than 20 minutes or die. It wasn't much time, and we had to be stealthy since it was best if no one noticed us being there. So, it was ideal to attract no attention at all.
I glanced at Raven, who was looking at Dr. Wakati with a frown on her face. It was known that Westmob had recruited him to work on temporal theories. I didn't expect that I would reveal my connections with Westmob to Raven this soon, but she probably had already her suspicion with all the equipment I had in my training hall.
Just as the room grew quiet and looked towards me in anticipation to get the command to activate it, I heard something slicing through the air. With my sharp senses, I easily detected from where it came from and I found it quickly sailing through the air.
The time seemed to crawl at a fraction of its normal speed as I looked at the spinning batarang hitting the contraption holding the plutonium, making it disfunction. Some sparks flew out and the display on the monitor showed an error message of a missing energy source.
"Great." I growled as I looked at the shadow from which the trajectory of the batarang originated from. Batman knew he had been discovered and wordlessly came out of his hiding spot behind a beam above our heads before dropping into the middle of the room.
He was standing between us and the time machine. His suit looked vastly different from before. It looked somewhat familiar to the armor of the live-action movie Batman v Superman, though it was a bit sleeker and there were blue glowing lines running across its frame. It seemed to pulsate with energy.
A circle in the middle of his belt shone red, and it wasn't difficult for me to guess that this suit could do more than just block my ki senses. The guards that I had looked at just a moment ago were inexplicably knocked out cold.
"Stop this, Nathan." He grunted and I could hear that he hoped I would drop it, but of course he wouldn't count on the possibility of me surrendering just when I was about to reach my goal.
I tore off the mask that was meant to disguise me and looked around, ignoring Batmans plead. There was no point in disguising myself when he had revealed it to everyone present. "I don't think so." My mind telepathically reached to the prison under my house and I awakened the new gods.
I had already brought them under my control and had been waiting for the right opportunity to introduce them to society. Well, it was now or never. Let them be a distraction.
"You know what happened to us. The consequences aren't something you can control."
I didn't answer in exchange for telepathically connecting with Kara and Raven.
Batman hadn't waited after seeing my silence and had sprinted at me with surprising speed. I raised my hand to stop him, but my telekinetic force felt like it was entering an endless hole. The force I used couldn't be underestimated.
The space distorted as a vast amount of psychic energy tried to influence Batman, but alas, it was in vain. It was only making his suit glow stronger. Just as he reached me, he punched out. The pulsating blue light lit up fiercely and seemed to accelerate his punch tremendously.
I took on a stable stance and raised my hand to check his punch while slipping into Ikari. His fist connected with my palm. My green-tinted aura around me was whirled up under the tremendous force the hit contained. The force his suit allowed him to generate wasn't something I expected, but it wasn't enough.
Another punch followed, which I blocked effortlessly as well. Batman changed his grip and interlocked his hands with mine before his suit started making noises.
Without waiting for him to do anything, I kicked him right at the solar plexus. He slid over the ground before coming to a stop before he hit the time machine. I filed the feeling that my ki was absorbed into his palms and that the glow of his suit increased into the back of my mind.
I had to change our location immediately or else my plans would delay once again and with the Justice League, making my life difficult, I wouldn't be sure if I could ever complete the time machine other than now.
I raised my arm and ripped out the ground on which he stood, raised it into the ceiling and beyond. Batman on top of the cement platform crashed into the ceiling. Even though I couldn't affect him directly, I could still affect the surroundings. Good to know.
I glanced at the frightened scientists. "Get everything ready to go and then just start it immediately."
Telepathically, I told Kara and Raven to protect the time machine and instantly head back into the wormhole if it appeared, while I kept Batman and the rest of the Justice League at bay. It was obvious that they would come soon or had already arrived.
Kara and Raven should be fine with two or three members of the Justice League. I could distract the rest. They knew what they had to do. Without further delays, I headed out and found Batman flying next to Superman and Green Lantern. A red blur arrived shortly after and Zatara was chanting on a rooftop of another warehouse with Aquaman protecting him. I wasn't sure what the magician would conjure up, and I had no intention of finding out.
"Nathan, you have to stop this. It isn't something that you should do and you know it too." Superman argued, but I didn't listen to his words. From the bottom up, my aura changed from the green tint to a dazzling golden. I wasn't sure where Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman or Hawkgirl were, but as long as I could delay the rest, victory was mine.
A round barrier surrounded my body before smaller spheres all over my barrier emerged. The several ki spheres separated from my barrier before shooting out, heading in different directions as I guided them nimbly through the air.
Aquaman sliced through one ki blast with his trident, but had to back away when several more headed at him. Zatara had to fly out of the way, while Flash dodged it quickly. I whipped at the three with a telekinetic whip, trying to catch them in their trajectory.
Superman crossed his arms and tanked the attack, causing an explosion to light up the sky. Batman, on the other hand, raised his hands and caught the ki sphere. The sphere was sucked into his palms and his suit seemed to thrum with power, confirming what I had felt a moment ago. Green Lantern created a shield and blocked the attack.
I hovered in the air to prevent Flash from reaching me easily, while I continued to spam these ki attacks at them. The frequency with which I created these casual attacks from the peak of my power was too high for them to do anything besides dodge.
I had planned this type kind of approach in case I was besieged by several combatants, especially those that were weaker than I. The ki attacks I would project at them were enough to trouble each of them, while still giving me enough spare strength to target some of them.
Even though their strength had already far exceeded that of their animated counterparts, they were still struggling to keep afloat against my attacks. The only one that had some spare room was Superman, but that was quickly circumvented by giving him some extra attention. Honestly, that they were only slightly injured by my attacks was already a feed that few in this universe could pride themselves with.
Each and any casual attack of mine was enough to erase the entire planet from this solar system. The only reason it didn't was because I contained the power to a small range. I would just have to continue my output this way and I would slowly whittle them away.
Batman was the only one that was able to get close. I hadn't continued to attack him besides the occasional rock I threw at him telekinetically. Something he could easily swat away, but I wasn't stupid enough to feed him with more power by using my ki. Instead, I met him in close combat.
I dispelled the barrier as he got close enough to punch it. He attacked with a palm strike, making me swerve underneath it and give him a liver shot before distancing myself again at his attempt to grab me. I directly continued to spam my attacks at the others while watching Batman.
The liver shot wasn't light and his armor cracked where I hit him. Some energy lines that were running through that section leaked blue liquid from the cracks. I wasn't sure what his armor was made of, but it was durable.
"Listen carefully, we are not trying to change anything. There won't be any changes if we act according to my plan. The situation will only get worse if you meddle with our plan." I explained, and it seemed to have some effect on them as they looked at each other, unsure.
"Your words can not be trusted." Batman grunted and since he found me here and identified me easily, I knew he had some insights of what I had been getting up to for the time I was on earth. Just as he finished speaking, he threw out a blue glowing net that spread to a dozen meters, trying to catch me.
"Really?" I dodged easily and mocked just before I heard something slice through the air. A turn of my head revealed a sword cutting at me. There wasn't much I could do besides block the attack of Wonder Woman's sword.
The sword deflected off of my raised forearm. Just when I thought I had dispelled the ambush, a mace landed squarely on my chest, sending me flying to the ground. My back hit several brick walls as I was sent flying through some warehouses in the area.
My momentum only killed after I exited a warehouse and hit the side of a truck in an otherwise empty parking lot, indenting the truck with my body. Nth metal hurt like a son of a bitch.
After dropping to the ground, Flash suddenly appeared in front of me. "Sorry. Nothing personal." He said before beating the ever-living shit out of me. A whirlwind of fists landed on my face until I grabbed his wrists and slammed him into the truck.
Just when I wanted to headbutt him, my temple was hit by a mace that appeared out of a magical portal. My ki surged as I resisted the attack. The impact created a sonic boom that dispersed the energy outwards, making Flash and the van airborne until he was caught by Green Lantern.
I yanked at Hawkgirl's mace while driving a foot into her stomach, making her spit out in agony.
The other members of the Justice League surrounded me and I felt dizzy, while my ki seemed to leak out of my body, being sucked away somewhere else. I forcefully trapped my ki inside my body.
The immense power of the Super Saiyan transformation wasn't easily contained, but it was better than being sucked dry. Something that appeared to be Zatara's doing if his constant chanting was any indicator.
"You know that time isn't something one can easily mess with." Flash said as they saw I was more energetic than they probably hoped for.
"Nathan, listen to us! You have to stop, now. You can't go back in time... We cannot and we will not allow it." Wonder Woman said as she raised poised herself with her shield and sword.
"Bet." I bent my legs before pushing myself off the ground with full force. The speed I accelerated to turned me into a golden line piercing through space. I threw the mace at Wonder Woman, who promptly blocked it with her shield, creating a massive shock wave that ripped the concrete floor of the parking lot open.
I slammed Superman out of the way before piercing through several brick walls, leaving the rest of the league to eat my dust. The walls separating me from my goal were practically a nonissue as I burst through them with a worrying speed.
I entered the lab again in a straight line and headed to the time machine that was activated just a moment before. Martian Manhunter was slammed into the wall by Raven's tentacle. The world seemed to have stopped. The scattered papers in the air frozen, expressions unchanging.
The only sign that time wasn't stopped was the lightning generated by the energy generator seen through the transparent window. I ignored all of this and just grabbed Raven and Kara at their collars and shot into the wormhole, while leaving behind a clone.