Previously, in case you're just joining us... Mercury was traveling to the year 2099 A.D. from 1999 A.D. along with the rest of the Young Justice League Avengers-Next, when he became lost in the cold-space outside of the time stream.

Meanwhile... Moon-Bat has assessed that a prisoner just escaped from the Sea of Tranquillity Asylum for the Criminally Insane in the year 2099 A.D. The computer tells her it was the temporal anarchist Professor Kang.

And... The NoWhere-Men arrive on the Moon in the year 2099 via direct transport from Morituri Mountain in Canada to the Judgment League Avengers Lunar Museum, only they wind up smack-dab in the middle of the afore-mentioned Asylum instead!

**********

Moon-Bat heads straight for the nearest Magnevator tube and pries the doors open. Diving directly into the void, she counts to seven and slings a tethered moonarang at the bulkhead. Her fall is abruptly cut short as the moonarang blade embeds itself in the carbonium-shielded wall and she pulls herself up. With 2.4 seconds left before the magnelift platform arrives in response to the tube breach on the maintenance level, she opens the door and enters Level THX.

On the other end of the complex, Ted Reilly and Johnny Carter, a.k.a. the Scarlet Scarab and Golden Torch, a.k.a. Neuron and Stick, assess their situation. They should have just made a smooth transport from D.O.M.E.’s headquarters in Canada to the former watchtower of the Judgment League Avengers on the Moon. They arrived amid an apparent red alert, the flashing lights and sirens gave away as much information. But the lack of a receiving T-Pad indicates they have missed their mark somehow. Ted suggests that recent changes in the time stream have caused another shift in reality, replacing the future Johnny grew up in for another reality.

Carter is more prone to accept what he sees at face value. "Wherever we are, it's still on the Moon. Artificial gravity never feels exactly like the real thing. It's possible the transport unit in the Watchtower was dismantled since the last time I was here."

"I guess it's also possible they changed the name of the Lunar Museum to 'Sea of Tranquillity Asylum for the Criminally Insane' during your month's absence, but I'm putting... aw, now what?" Ted's question is prompted by the sudden lack of light and noise. All alarms are silent, and the only sound he hears is his and John's breathing. "This would be one of those bad times to light up, eh?"

He recognizes the sound of John Carter smacking himself in the forehead. "Well, can you do anything about this?"

"I'm not risking a flame-on and becoming a target for whatever sort of security measures this place has. If we can't see them, they can't see us!"

Ted wishes he'd kept Apollo's visor; it had infrared capabilities. If only they had some kind of sixth sense to guide them through dangerous situations like this. Then again...

"John... I mean Stick; don't all you elementals have heightened perception respective to your powers? You should be able to use some kind of heat vision."

"Sure, just like all you insect-based heroes can stick to walls. My powers were specifically engineered by D.O.M.E. for planetary defense."

"No, really! Try looking for heat sources. You might be able to sense hot spots. I imagine you radiate more heat than me, so see if you can 'see' your own hand or something."

John Carter sighs. The way Ted's logic works, he's more likely to be right about this than anything involving actual knowledge. May as well give it a try. He concentrates, and...

"There it is! I can see my hand!"

"Great, now keep quiet about it. Focus on different patterns, try to make out details."

"This is really cool! You're tracing your fingers on that placard. I can even see signs of where you touched the wall."

"This is better than I expected! See if you can read the letters on the plaque after I touch them."

John follows Ted's advice, making out the faint outline of "DETENTION LEVEL THX: Cells 1130 - 1138"

"Not much help, really. But at least I can tell there's nobody else in the corridor with us."

"Not yet, at least. Have to expect some kind of response to an intruder alarm. Any chance you can see what's in these holding cells?"

"They all have energy fields surrounding the doors. I think these are PNZ-Protectors. The Legion of Galactic Guardians has one they use every now and then." John can tell Ted is just staring in his direction, so he clarifies. "PNZ -- Phantom-Negative Zone. Tesseracts that open into tiny pockets of the Zone were being experimented with for holding criminals with dimension-warping capabilities."

"So a PNZ Protector would stabilize the barrier between the Zone and reality, to keep the tesseract from folding in on itself from the influx of mass that normal atmosphere would cause. Gotcha."

John has no idea if Ted's theory makes sense or not. Last he heard, tesseracts were theoretical concepts that existed only on paper. So he opts to ignore it and move on. "There's a billet over the door. Let me just give it a rub and... Ooh, this one has Halloween Mask in it. Yeah, he's a bad one. I think he partly exists in the Dream Dimension or something. Fought the JLX of my time once or twice. A real nut-case"

"And here's another piece of info for you," Ted calls out while checking a sensor panel beneath the PNZ Protector controls. "There are no life-signs inside. The Mask has flown the coop." They make their way down the hall slowly, examining each cell the pass. General Immortus, Lord Nimrod, Strydus, War Monarch, etc. Quite a who's who of time travelers. Neuron continues the search until... "Check this one out, we have active life support inside!"

Stick passes his hand over the nameplate. "Professor Kang. The Time Conqueror?? This is the guy that killed Mr. Elastic!"

"No, this is a different Kang. Professor Kang, real name Eobard Thawne, came from the 27th Century, traveled to the 20th to challenge my era's speedsters. He's the one that took out the Flash and Scarlet Witch. Once created a paradox just for the chance to take on all three Speed Demons at the same time. This guy is pure danger!"

"How is it you can remember details about obscure villains you've never met, yet you consistently forget where you put the keys to the van?"

"I just want to make sure you know who we're dealing with. Cause we may need to set him free. If he's the only one that didn't escape or disappear, he may hold the key to what happened."

"Now I know you're daft. You want to free the only psycho who didn't get away on his own? What if he heads straight into your past? Could you live with it if you sent him on the trip to kill the Flash?"

"That already happened in my timeline. If it's suppose to happen now for him, I could destroy my own history by preventing it." Ted doesn't say so, but he's made an extensive study of temporal physics and the various people who have breached the veils of time. John should realize it takes more than a passing interest to be able to rewire chrono-spatial circuitry built into a time buoy from 2099 and work it into the chassis of a 1967 VW van.

"But you're not too concerned about destroying my history, eh? What exactly happens to me if we change things so Kang never killed Mr. Elastic?"

"I have a feeling Kang could be the clue to unraveling this mystery! It's either him or we trust the Asylum staff to believe we had nothing to do with the inmate breakouts. So unless you know another way out of here we've got no other option but to use the Professor."

Reluctantly, Stick agrees and stages himself outside the door, ready to throw up a wall of flame as soon as Neuron deactivates the barrier. It takes a few seconds to figure out how to use the control grid; it's not quite as user-friendly as the Museum computers were. But once he gets it...

Dontanybodymoveivegotyousurroundedputyourhandsintheair! The rush of noise is as furious as the swirling wind that accompanies it. Neuron and Stick are both thrown off their feet by the mini-tornado that has erupted from the cell. When the wind dies down a bit the pint-sized speedster is still moving so fast that he appears to be literally all around them, as can be seen thanks to the light emanating from the cell. Mercury doesn't take the time to identify his would-be assailants, he simply takes the opportunity to disarm them and tie their shoestrings together.

Well, that was his plan. "Why don't supervillains wear boots with laces?" Mercury asks, at once both frustrated and bored. Then he remembers the weapons he confiscated. "A Super-Soaker and a Snoopy Doo PEZ dispenser? You two aren't very good at this, are you?"

Ted's face explodes in rage! "So that's where my PEZ went! You had it the whole time and just let me tear the theater up looking for it!"

Pietro Allen looks questionably at the costumed duo before him. "Aren't you suppose to fight with the hero, not with yourselves? How about making it a little challenging!" Thoughts of sitting on the sidelines watching these two slug it out depress him.

"Get frosty, speed freak. We're the good guys. I'm the Gol...," John suddenly realizes that they could be monitored right now, "Stick, and this is Neuron. We're from 1999 like you."

"Well technically Stick is from 2099, and you hail from the 30th Century, most recently anyway. I think you were actually born in..." Ted notices that Mercury and John are both giving him the same 'enough is enough' stare. "Right. Like he said, we're the good guys."

"I believe it. You're too unorganized to be criminal masterminds. But what are you doing in the here and now?" The image of his own teammates, the Young Justice League Avengers-Next, flickers through Mercury's mind as he tries to recall how he got into his own predicament. Sidetracked by the recollection he starts talking it out, without waiting for Ted or John to respond to his question. "We were trying to help Chuck get home when I crossed the streams I started to moon-walk..." A light suddenly clicks on in his head and he disappears for an instant. "They're gone all of the cells are empty! I can't believe I let him do that!"

Ted looks turns to John as he snatches up the PEZ dispenser from the floor. "Kind of reminds me of Kid Speed back in the Teen Warriors."

"Funny, I was thinking how he reminds me of you. You two having a contest for the title of Attention Deficit Disorder poster boy?"

Mercury, who never realized they weren't listening to him anymore, suddenly cries out, "Kang! We have to get back to 1999! He's going to try to undo the fabric of time!"

"Isn't that impossible? He'd erase himself, thus preventing the unraveling." John wishes he had someone just a little more normal to talk to. Like maybe Bat-Thing. The idea that paradoxi make sense to him warns him that he's spending way too much time with Ted.

"Not when you can step outside of time. Ever hear of Cold Space? It's a place where time has no meaning and you can go anywhere or when that you want!"

"Like Jean-Luc Skywalker did in Trek Wars: The Phantom Generation!"

Before bug-boy has a chance to get out, John speaks up. "I can't see heat sources anymore! Is anyone else losing their powers?"

Mercury begins a short sprint and trips over his own feet. His nose crinkles as he sniffs the air. "Gas!"

"I don't smell anything." Ted isn't aware of any loss of strength or agility, but also isn't quite so willing to push it after Mercury's crash landing.

"You wouldn't," a touch, yet feminine voice calls out from shadows. "Allen didn't smell it so much as he felt the vapors when he vibrated his nostrils at high speed. Don't worry, it's not lethal. In twenty-four hours, you'll have complete mobility back. Mercury should be up and running in eight."

**********

Amalgamations:

The NoWhere-Men, Neuron & Stick -- Created by Crazy Ivan & Donavon Scott

Scarlet Scarab [Blue Beetle II / Scarlet Spider] -- Created by Crazy Ivan

Golden Torch [Booster Gold, Fire Lad/ Human Torch 2099] -- Created by Crazy Ivan

Moon-Bat 2099 [Batman ONE MILLION / Moon Knight 2099] -- Created by Crazy Ivan

Halloween Mask [Halloween Jack / Mask] -- Created by Crazy Ivan

Professor Kang [Professor Zoom / Kang]

Vengeance, Eobard Thawne [Reverse Flash / Vengeance]

Mercury [Impulse / Quicksilver]

Sea of Tranquillity Asylum for the Criminally Insane -- Created by Crazy Ivan

General Immortus [General Immortus / Immortus]

Flash & Scarlet Witch [Flash elements / Quicksilver & Scarlet Witch]

Young Justice League Avengers-Next [Young Justice / Avengers-Next] -- Created by Omegabeast

Judgment League Avengers [Justice League of America / Avengers]

Department Of Metamutant Enforcement (D.O.M.E.) [Dome / Department H] -- Created by Crazy Ivan

Legion of Fantastic Substitutes (a.k.a. the Substitute Four) [Legion of Substitute Heroes / Fantastic Four 2099, Project Morituri elements] -- Created by Crazy Ivan

Brick Boy [Blok / Thing 2099] -- Created by Crazy Ivan

Mister Elastic [Elastic-Lad / Mr. Fantastic 2099] -- Created by Crazy Ivan

Infectious Woman [Infectious Lass / Invisible Girl (Woman) 2099] -- Created by Crazy Ivan

Spider-Girl [Spider-Girl (of Work Force / Spider-Girl (of MC2)] -- Created by Crazy Ivan

Legion of Galactic Guardians 2099 [Legion of SuperHeroes / Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel 2099 elements]

Young Heroes For Hire [Young Heroes In Love / Heroes For Hire] -- Created by Crazy Ivan

PowerDrive [Harddrive / Power Man (Luke Cage)] -- Created by Crazy Ivan

Off-Fist [Off-Ramp / Iron Fist] -- Created by Crazy Ivan

Oracle [Oracle / Oracle Industries] -- Created by Crazy Ivan

Captain Cardinal [Captain Kentucky (owned by Don Rosa) / The Masked Cardinal (owned by Jim Wampler)] -- Created by Crazy Ivan

Crimson Cricket [Superman Red / Hornet, Scarlet Spider] -- Created by Crazy Ivan

Chronos-Tut the Time Pharaoh, a.k.a. Kang the Time Conqueror [Chronos / Rama-Tut / Richard Nixon / Time Trapper / Kang]

Spider-Boy [Superboy / Spider-Man]

Apollo [Ray / Cyclops]

Black Tom Savage [Vandal Savage / Black Tom Cassidy]

Shaggynaut [Shaggy Man / Juggernaut]

THX-1138 - Let me know when you find out.

All characters owned by Amalgam Comics, and are property of Marvel & DC Comics, except as noted above. This fan fiction is created for non-profit, entertainment purposes, and is an original intellectual property of Crazy Ivan (although I do use the term 'intellectual' pretty loosely). Captain Kentucky owned & created by Don Rosa. The Masked Cardinal owned & created by Jim Wampler. You're still on your own for THX-1138 (shouldn't be too hard to figure out, though).

Ron Schablotski [email protected]

 

There Came A Time When The Old Gods... Changed!

-- THORION AND THE NEW ASGODS #1

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