16321/Titans 3023: Healing Time

Titans 3023: Healing Time
Date of Scene:	04 December 2023
Location:	A closed time-like loop, mostly.
Synopsis:	You need a degree in temporal engineering to understand this scene fully. Let's just say that there was a thing. A whole thing. And then it turned out to be a whole other thing in disguise. There were shenanigans upon shenanigans, and if you thought time travel doesn't suck, you were wrong. Everyone was confused, some people decided they didn't like their future selves and other people decided they turned out pretty well all things considered, then Vorpal hit someone over the head with a Flamingo and they all went home.
Cast of Characters:	Donna Troy, Terry O'Neil, Irie West, Jinx, Kian, Caitlin Fairchild, Wally West, Gar Logan, Rachel Roth
Tinyplot:	Titans 3023

---

Donna Troy has posed:
    "How?" Donna asks, swinging Troia's sword about, obviously impressed. The pair of Troias are chatting as they await the arrival of the team(s) for a final briefing.

    Troia grins at Donna. "Good, isn't it?" she says. "The core of the blade is a very advanced metamaterial. It has practically infinite rigidity, which is to say that the group velocity exceeds C. The material has a self-relative velocity-based density, so the mass increases according to the velocity relative to the point of leverage. Move the blade straight and it has perfect balance. Swing and it accelerated to the tip. The edge is a reality fracture, a zone of non-space separate from the universe, which gives it effectively infinite sharpness, and it cannot be blunted."

    "I want it," Donna says."

    Troia takes the sword from Donna, grinning a little. "One day it'll be yours," she says.

    In the background, an entire wall of the command area has become a window, looking out over a futuristic cityscape. The Titans of 3023 can recognize the shape of the East River, but nothing else about it looks like the Manhattan they know. Judging by the view, the ship seems to be moving very slowly down towards ground level, and there's an odd effect visible -- the city appears frozen and ghostlike, but as they get closer and closer to ground, so the city becomes more tangible, and things start to move slowly. There is a dome-shaped zone of absolute blackness taking up a space several city blocks across, and landed close to it, apparently the destination of the travel sphere, is a large yellow spaceship with an extremely familiar T symbol painted on it.

    When everyone has arrived, Troia starts the briefing with a warning. "First things first. A lot has been said and done here on board this ship which perhaps should not have been. However because this journey is -- or at least will be once people are back in the time from which they have departed -- a closed time-like curve, a temporal structure in which each of our personal world-lines returns in a loop, we should be safe from significant temporal disruption. As soon as we leave the travel-sphere, that ends."

    "What is taking place now is a temporal nexus. A point in space-time where the timestream can branch disruptively. Creating time-like curves through such a zone closes off temporal leakage, but unclosed temporal variance can cause serious changes. From this point, we need to do everything we can to avoid changing our pasts, or in the case of those of us from the past, our futures. We need to solve this issue as quickly and quietly as possible."

    "The dark area you can see below is the zone of temporal fracture. When we arrive at our destination, you'll be able to see that it is a zone where time is barely moving. Because we were there within the effect zone of the original cause of the fracture, we, and we alone of anyone in the universe, will be able to move normally in this zone. However the fracturing has allowed in some extra-universal chronovores which Caitlin has dubbed Langoliers. These creatures are extremely dangerous. Do not let them touch you. We from the present day will be tasked with dealing with them. You from 2023 should try your best to avoid them. Your task will be to move to the center of the bubble, capture the guy with the temporal disruptor device. Both need to be unharmed because to close the loop they need to be in the condition they left 2023 in, or close enough. Once you have done this, you'll activate the temporal resonance field device Caitlin has developed. That will shut down the bubble of frozen time, and eject the Langoliers. Then we return those of you from the past, along with the criminal, back to 2023, and the temporal feedback loop is closed forever. Any questions?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Langoliers? Trust Cait to use the name from the woooorst King movie ever..." The cheshire cat smirks and crosses his arms. "I donhave one question: touching. Do objects being held, like a flamingo mallet, count, or only body checks? Need ton know the laws of the... " He sigs, "Langoliers."

Irie West has posed:
    Irie had excused herself for a good fifteen minutes before wandering up to the command area to get ready for the upcoming... fight? Mission? She's a little unclear on exactly what it is that they're going to be doing.

    She looks guilty when Troia admonishes the group about the potentially paradox creating revelation that happened when they were aboard their ship. She can't help but feel a bit responsible for it. If she hadn't said anything maybe it could have been avoided. Maybe.

    She listens as the Titan lays out the plan, her lips pursing in thought. "Do we know if that temporal disruptor is still working? What would it even /do/ in a place where time has basically stopped? Can we disable it, or does it need to be working when we bring the guy back to our time?"

    She looks over to her father and wonders, "Gosh. What about the Speed Force? I know it plays around with relativity. Would it even /work/ here?"

Jinx has posed:
Jinx is distracted. She has a lot on her mind because of the strange interaction Kian and she had with future Lucky and future Kian. A quick glance at her team mates makes her realise she's not the only one. This isn't the right way to start a mission. Did the future Titans deliberately fuck with them??

How is she meant to achieve internal balance to do her magic properly with all of this going on. It's messing with her head. The promise of happiness and peace? Sorcerer supreme? Being able to pronounce Kian's name properly? That's too much for any one orphan cultist Londoner ex-supervillain to handle.

"They fucked with you too?," Jinx whispers to 2023 Caitlin. Apparently they're best friends in the future. How does that work? As far as Jinx is concerned Caitlin is an uptight princess who needs to remove the... swear jar from her *cough*. "I don't get it. They want us to fight but look at us - we're all distracted," she continues the whisper. Even Donna seems distracted.

Lucky is also watching the younger Titans. She wonders how much the Lord of Order knows what happened on that short trip. No doubt Raven would disapprove. "Just the body Cheshire," Lucky says with calmness oozing from her presence. Unlike Jinx, Lucky is supremely balanced internally. "If you find yourself fighting one, consider not fighting one and allowing us to deal with it for you."

But even for Lucky this is not a fight they are properly prepared for. The discord between the Titans and ex-Titans of 2023 leaves much to be desired. She would rather they could have brought the current team instead - but time freezing and such means it -has- to be them. It also -has- to be them from the past.

Kian has posed:
    "And those of you who have future selves here," Future Kian says with a bit of a smirk, "you know that whatever happens here isn't disastrous.  For you, anyway.  And really, probably not for the rest of you either.  But you have got to go into this with your eyes open."
    He sighs heavily, and eyes his younger self, as well as Gar and Terry.  "This is chronologically complicated and difficult, but that's not a shock, I should imagine."
    Present Kian asks, sensibly enough, "Isn't time a particle like everything else?"
    Future Kian glares at his younger self, and says, "And just how much luck have you had controlling time?"
    The Kian of the present shuts the hell up, and slips behind his /tenar'yw/.
    "The important thing is to keep your wits about you and stay focused.  Just, please, do that.  And Kian--"  His younger self looks up sharply.  "--/pay attention/.  There are things you need to learn, even if they're uncomfortable."
    Present Kian swallows hard, and nods.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
"Just so you know, the King novels are still some of the most widely published pieces of literature in human history," Future Caitlin informs Terry with a dry amusement. Apparently her recollection of Terry a thousand years on is a fond one? "Them and the Mordabain Saga. But King was a bigger hit among the Kree," she explains. The towering redhead is wearing armor that is descended from Amazonian design asthetics, but significantly more advanced, integrating metamaterials, flexible alloys and reinforced exostructures. She's at the resonance device, carefully monitoring it as the temporal conjunctions begin to align with one another. "Abnormality is at five percent and rising fast. We've got just a few minutes," she informs the others.

Meanwhile, her younger self-- clad in her leather and steel, and wielding a heavy battle-maul, is conversing with Jinx. For once the redhead doesn't chastise the other girl for swearing in front of her, instead just watching the way Future Donna and Future Caitlin are very much not engaging with each other. It seems almost deliberate.

"Are you kidding me? I got the bombshell dropped on me that I'm Irie's mom. I win for weirdness," she informs Lucky. "And yeah, I think they're not showing all their cards."

"You know I can hear you, right?" Elder Caitlin says from a good thirty feet away, and gives her younger self a direct look.

Wally West has posed:
"How are you going in and out of the Speed Force like that?" Wally asks, a curiosity in his voice as he looks at his Future counterpart. "Well-" Future Flash starts. "It helps a lot to have an anchor. A focus for your speed to go to. The Speed Force is...a little bit of everything so it's good to have something to keep you grounded so you don't vanish. Figure that out and time becomes your best friend."

Wally just nods softly. "An anchor....that's kinda like what Irie was telling me." Future Wally just smiled at him, slapping him in the shoulder. "Don't worry kid, it'll all work out just fine."

Then it's time for the briefing.

Present Wally is dressed in red, Future Wally in white. Both oddly enough standing next to Irie as they listen to the briefing, but Present Wally smiles at Irie. "Honestly? No idea. But I'm guessing we can find out. No vanishing into the time stream again, alright? I'd be worried sick."

Meantume, Future Wally is focused. "None here. We let the kids handle it and we make it back home for dinner."

The younger versions just survive, even if none of their future versions live to see it. Present Wally looks at Lucky and just shakes his head. "Never gonna be used to that."

Gar Logan has posed:
Beast Boy cracks his knuckles, saying nothing about what topics may or may not have come up on the ship prior to this. There's one question so far. "Just to clarify," he begins as he looks down on the scene they're facing, "We're technically outside of time right now? Or am I just completely misunderstanding everything you just said?"

He sends Caitlin a frowning look before running a hand through his hair. "Oh, of /course/ she'd call them that. What a weird miniseries that was. Had a few good actors, though. And the Langoliers really chewed up the scenery."

Gar stands around for a moment with one of those expressions on his face like he's waiting for everyone to laugh, then he adds, "Please, someone, don't defenestrate me. We've got work to do. Don't get touched by the chompy ones, save the day without ruining everything, yadda yadda. Piece of cake, right."

And a double thumbs-up to go with a cheeky grin.

Donna Troy has posed:
    "Right," Troia tells Gar with a nod. "Inside this ship you are effectively outside time. Or more correctly, you will have been outside of time once you have returned to 2023. Which is not exactly accurate, but if you think about it that way, it's close enough."

    To Irie and the pair of Wallys: "We don't exactly know how the speedforce will act within that bubble. In theory it should still be accessible to you, but it's possible you'll find its power scaled down. If not, then be cautious about using it. Accessing it deeply enough to cause chroniton ripples would be dangerous. Avoid significantly relativistic velocities and we'll be fine."

    The view through the 'window' has settled. The ship has landed close to the large yellow ship bearing a Titans T logo on it, and everything outside now looks solid. There are people moving about outside -- at least those relatively close to the vessel. Just beyond the T-ship, the interface with the temporal distortion zone is visible, now as a dome of waving light, similar to heat haze. Beyond it nothing and nobody seems to be moving, though anyone watching for a little while will notice that there is in fact some very slow movement visible. There are vehicles and people clearly trapped in the middle of going about their daily lives visible beyond, but a disturbing number of the people look mummified. These are somewhere between being frozen in their standing and walking positions, and a state of collapse; a few are visibly half-way to falling apart in clouds of dust.

    The rectangular portal that had let people into Troia's ship at the start of this journey reappears, and the Titans start to exit the ship. Outside, they are greeted by a detachment of Amazons, who salute the future Caitlin. A large, obviously military force seems to be in attendance, but they are clearly here as backup. It's a group of future superheroes who are running things here, and most of them are wearing a Titans 'T' logo on their uniforms. There is no disguising the looks of curiosity and in some cases awe on the faces of these future members of the Titans on seeing so many of the original Titans of a thousand years previous.

    One of these future Titans approaches the team with backpack-mounted machine, which he hands to the younger Caitlin. "Have you been briefed on how to use this?" he asks. "If not, watch the light on the panel. When it turns green, you're close enough to all he resonant factors, and can engage the device. Do not under any circumstances engage it before the light turns green, we've only got one shot at this."

    The elder Titans aren't hanging about. Without more than perhaps a moment to wish their former selves luck, they step through the interface into the zone of temporal disturbance to engage the Langoliers.

    "Good luck in there," the future Titan engineer tells the younger Titans. "And please -- be quick. We haven't got long before this goes critical."

Rachel Roth has posed:
    Raven was never the type to thrust herself into the thick of a fight. Specific magics, sometimes, called for it- but she favored keeping her distance. As a result, the fact that the Raven from 3023 floats somewhat languidly into the melee is... Odd. Surprising, perhaps. Not even Troia has seen 'present' Raven engage in combat. She is aware that the current Doctor Fate wields considerable might- another millenia's worth of magical potency could account for that.

    So what can Raven /do?/ What is the power of a Lord of Order?

    Seemingly, for a moment, not much. When Raven arrives amongst the Langoliers, she is what appears to be a floating, luminescent cloak. It does not part in the front, and even the shadow of the hood seems... Empty. As if there is truly nothing there. Nothing left. The Langoliers attack, and Raven does not move. She is pierced, gravely, by them, their limbs ripping through her body as if she were paper. Yet... She does not fall. Instead, there is a single word:

    "No"

    With that utterance, the Langoliers that had deigned to touch her begin to crack and split. Their forms rattle violently, before they burst with white energy, and are simply gone. As if liquidous, the tattered remnants of Raven patch together and are whole once more. She drifts forward into the rabble of monstrosities. There are more flashes of light, as several beasts are summarily unmade.

    Raven's 'past' self, of course, is flitting alongside the Titans from 2023. Her limbs surge and swing, slinging bolts of decidedly /un/light at the creatures, which stagger and cry, but are merely unamused. One charges, and she throws her arms wide- letting out a grunt of effort. When her arms swing again, a pair of two-dimensional planes intersect with the monster, and it is rendered to pieces, in a gruesome fashion.

    It would seem she is not playing around- and is fully vested in getting everyone where they need to be as swiftly as possible. Teleporting where she wishes within this field is not easy- and not swift. Still, she conjures up a maelstrom of her soul self, and starts the process of sending herself and the others meters forward. It isn't where they need to be yet, but it should be closer.

Jinx has posed:
Jinx stares at the large temporal anomaly they're about to enter. If only there was an option to run away. Not enough people consider running away as a good option. Perhaps they have too much hero in them. She watches as Rae and future Rae? enter in to the fray without hesitation.

Hesitation - fear and everything else that has happened. She can feel her alignment is way off. Her eyes close and she draws up her hands to begin the motions to balance herself. She pauses when there is the touch of a hand on her shoulder.

It's Lucky. She whispers to Jinx and gently repositions her younger self's arms. "Like this..." And guides her through rebalancing. Even this is a kind of cheat. Lucky learnt to do this properly the hard way because there was no mentor who could train her. Jinx can feel the more deliberate and precise motions working their magic within her.

After a moment or two of repeating the patterns Jinx realises Lucky had left her and she had been doing it herself. A small smile plays on her lips and she kicks up some dirt to run in with the rest of the team.

It does not take long for Jinx to sense she's being hunted by something. A thing. A Langolier as future Cait put it. A dozen Jinx spread out amongst the physical structures as she spies about for her would be predator.

As she spies it, her hands rise up and she claps to freeze it in place. But... it keeps moving. She once again hears Lucky as she appears beside Jinx. "We're in a temporal nexus paradox - that magic won't work here." In fact, the very attempt seems to have drawn in several dozen more of the time monsters; varying in size. Lucky throws back her white cloak as magical glyphs fill the air around her. Her fingers splay and rainbow light dances between them.

With a motion and a twirl the first of the Langoliers bursts with white rainbow like light. Its essence touches its neighbour and like a virus spreading from one to the other, they all rip apart in a wild howl of magic. "Move along youngin," Lucky says as more Langoliers begin to approach sensing a battle.

Jinx's mouth drops open. She has -never- seen magic like that before. "Wha... what?"

"I said move along."

"...R...Right." Lost for words, she stumbles back and rejoins the other Titans in their advance toward the time villain. The look on her face is like she's seen a ghost as she contemplates wtf she just saw her future self doing.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Vorpal treats things in stride surprisingly well. it shouldn't really be a surprise since everything that has happened to him has made him apt to accept the weird in stride. "Hey, since there's no future me, maybe this is where I die? Imagine that sad fate, being done in by a terrible Stephen King monster" he smirks ar Cait. "Let us try to keep that from happening?"

Out on the field, though, he runs into a problem when he finds his Rabbit Holes are too slow and not usable to evade incoming attacks. "Uum... I need a conveyance. Gar! I need a hoof up!" he calls out.

Kian has posed:
    Future Kian moves out without hesitation; Present Kian looks a little shocked at his future self, but follows, sensing his older self's confidence.
    He *has* a future self, so he can't get killed here, can he?  Probably better not to think about that.
    However, present day Kian hesitates when he sees his future self go into battle -- literally.
    For future Kian, there is no hesitation.  There's work to do and a reality to protect, and if the lady Kiare (and her avatar) are about anything, it's reality.  His /rhy'thar/ is not about temporal physics, but if these creatures have physical forms, well, they can be affected by the splitting of a few atoms here and there, and the channeling of charges.
    Present Kian watches in horror for a moment, unable to believe that's really himself in the future...
    ...and then he moves, following his older self's example, because he can sense from him the absolute *necessity* of it.
    His distaste for violence isn't much when stacked up against the survival of reality.  It's a hard lesson to learn, and only because he can see himself applying it.
    Neither Kian, not the older or the younger, takes any pleasure in what they're doing.  But they do it -- the future Kian efficiently and the younger hesitantly.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Future Caitlin is a general. Both commander of the armies of Themyscira and the oldest active Titan. While she encourages younger heroes to step up to the plate, to be commanders and leaders, she still intevenes from time to time when the stakes are so great that loss is unacceptable.

A perk of being a leader is delegation. She accepts the pack from the Titan with a nod, then looks over her shoulder at her younger self and thrusts the bag at her. "You caught all that, right?" she demands, and younger Caitlin can only boggle at the commanding presence her more mature self possesses. The younger woman clutches the bag to her chest like it's the only life preserver in the ocean.

This leaves the Elder Caitlin room to use both her hands, and she turns her palms skyward while walking into the fight. The language she murmurs in is not known to the younger Titans but it sounds as ancient as the universe itself. A pure, primal tongue from which all other language is derived. White light surrounds her. It flows around her in currents, long ribbons forming the shape of wings. From nowhere a helmet, a shield, and a highly ornate longspear appear in Caitlin's hands. She rings a war challenge with her spear against the shield's edge. One can *almost* hear an angelic chorus in the background noise as she radiates a light so pure it must be sacred in nature.

"No quarter!" Caitlin bellows, and launches into the air in full flight. A column of light explodes outward with each thrust of the spearhead, and when the Langoliers swarm her shield they are rebuffed with a crackling burst of sound not unlike the ringing of the Aegis bracers.

"Holy crap, I'm /awesome/," Caitlin whispers, staring up at her future self with wide eyes.

Wally West has posed:
"All we need to know." Both present and future Wally's tell Donna, before the Elder Titan looks at his younger self and Irie. "You two look after each other. If it helps? I'm rooting for you." He chuckles, reaching to tap his wrist and sleek goggles materialize out of electricity over his eyes.

"Go get the gold, hot shot." Is his last bit of luck to his younger self and estranged daughter before white lightning covers his entire body and he's /gone/. Far faster than even current day Wally can react to him leaving.

The Forever Hero charges against the End.

In moments, scores of Langoliers seem to practically burst as if something had struck them with energy far beyond the definition of the term 'fast'. Bolts of lightning just zoom across the battlefield, like twinkling stars in the night sky.

"Wow." Is all Wally can say before he's sliding his goggles from his hair.

"Titans, GO!"

Wally sounds off that old battle cry as he starts running, the aura producing blue electricity around him as he runs with his modern friends, taking care to play the greatest game of support possible, moving his allies out of incoming blows or guiding projectiles to their proper marks. "Come on slowpokes! We have a multiverse to save!" Wally is actually /laughing/ as he runs.

If this is it....what a way to go.

Gar Logan has posed:
There isn't much chance for pleasantries in the face of danger. There are things that need to be done first. Perhaps the opportunity for more will come afterward, unless they fail or are sent back to where they all belong immediately afterward. Time...will tell.

"Yeah, go get 'em!" Beast Boy encourages Vorpal, about to take a form that will make it easier for him to find a spot to fit in, only to squint at the Cheshire. "Dude, what's taking so long? Your rabbit holes don't usually need time to boot up."

Change of plans. As his assistance is sought, he gives the feline a crooked grin. "Oh, I've got just the thing. You know I wasn't gonna pass on learning about the animals on Themyscira." What's he talking about? A kanga?

Well, no. Vorpal's suggestion results in Beast Boy taking on an equine form...with wings. "It's not American Pride," the airline in the Langoliers miniseries, "but I'm guessing this will do," the green pegasus says, wings fanning out. "I am /so/ majestic right now. Let's do this." To the sky they go.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Future Donna does not fight the way present Donna does. There's a sword, but there's no lasso. She's faster, significantly faster, than her 2023 self. She moves around fluidly, weaving around the group of younger Titans at a distance that varies from very close to a few hundred feat away, with no real time between. Arriving at each location she cuts methodically through Langoliers, her sword slicing easily through them and leaving whispy trails of white behind its path. Those close but not immediately in sword range, she dispatches with beams of golden light from the palm of her hand, that vaporize anything they touch.

    Present day Donna by contrast relies on her lasso. From time to time a smaller Langolier gets through the guard of the elder Titans, and Donna is quick to catch them in her lasso, swing, and hurl them into the distance. Each time she does so, a surge of white light passes down the length of the lasso, causing her to wince when it reaches her hands. She's visibly tiring. "When do I get energy bolts?" she wonders with perhaps a hint of jealousy towards her future self. "I want energy bolts."

    The journey is tough, but would probably be impossible if not for the power being brought to bear by the future Titans. It's very obvious to those of 2023 that their future selves are universally far more potent than they are. No wonder they have survived a thousand years. For the younger Wally and Irie, their speed helps them easily avoid the Langoliers, and they can blaze a trail for the others that is relatively free of the Langoliers. Gar and Vorpal flying overhead find that the Langoliers are not entirely bound by gravity, but swiftly-moving green wings keep them away from the heart of danger. Slowly but surely the team closes in on the heart of the distortion zone.

    "He's got to be close!" Future Troia calls out. "Find him, secure him, and start up the resonator!"

Jinx has posed:
Jinx hurries along as the future Titans seem to be waging a war on time monsters all by themselves. It's a wonder to see them all slicing and dicing them with ease. She keeps seeing Lucky disappear and reappear in the air before unleashing another wave of beautiful magic.

It's hard not to be distracted by them. But Troia's voice calls out and it cuts through the confusion. This is like an escort mission - except the 2023 Titans are the escort. For Jinx she has been sparing with her magic since her first attempt failed.

But now she spies a grouping of Langoliers who seem to be in a search pattern. She motions to her team mates and points. "I think he's hiding over here..." Pink magic flows up her arms and her eyes begin to glow. Her hands rise and a crackle of energy leaps between her finger tips. She points them out and blasts one of the little Langoliers.

Raised eyebrows. She smiles, "Hey Troia.." she says to her 2023 Donna, turns to her and that whip and holds out her hands. A pulse of magic whips about the length, "How's about some lightning blasts instead."

Lucky phase shifts across to perch upon a building top as she looks down over the time mess. She shuts her eyes and looks past the moment, in to the multiversal pathways leading to this place.

"They're almost here," she murmurs to herself knowing full well 3023 Caitlin will have heard it and know what she's alluding to. With that, her eyes turn to Troia. She knows. She suspects Troia knows she knows. And yet Lucky isn't doing a thing to intervene. "The nexus point is converging."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
The Cheshire cat is not a pushover- but his most powerful tool is, in fact, the rabbit holes. Failing that, he's got the chaos wave... but goodness knows what it would do HERE of all places. So his magical constructs it is, to try to keep the monsters from getting close to them. "Keep flying, Silver!" he tells Gar, summoning a rain of glowing anvils to try to minimize the aerial threat, "Take that, Lavaliers! Gar, keep your eyes out... if you see The Guy, feel free to drop me on him. I can try and land on him..."

Kian has posed:
    "Gravity and time are not my department!" Future Kian snaps, "I'm doing the best I can!  If you have a problem, take it up with my Lady Kiare!"
    Present Kian looks absolutely shocked at his older self's casual near-blasphemy, but snaps out of it quickly, diverting a Langolier on the tail of Gar and Terry with a loud and sharp */bang/*.
    "Don't block them, *stop* them!" the older Kian says, doing exactly that to the offending chaser, again to younger Kian's startlement.  "And Lucky... I mean Jinx just called for lightning -- go lend her a hand, I know you can bring that!"
    Younger Kian veers off to assist Jinx, and relieved of having to keep an eye on his younger self, Future Kian *really* dives into the fray, demonstrating exactly what kind of damage the control over nuclear forces /means/.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
"Uh, hello? Flying?" Caitlin retorts to Donna. "I'm glad it finally comes online for me but I hope it doesn't take ten centuries to get airborne." She and Donna make their usual powerhouse team up; Donna wrangling and making fast, slashing attacks while setting up for the second half of the maneuver for Caitlin to batter them with the heavy two-handed maul in her hands.

"Were we /ever/ that green?" the older Titan asks of the others. "I don't remember needing this much handholding." It's easier to joke about that sort of thing than the reality of this fight. One of the Langoliers swoops down towards Lucky and Caitlin twists and hurls her spear in mid-air. It blasts another column of holy white light through the target and then an instant later, retuns to her hands. Caitlin lands and gives Lucky's shoulder a reassuring squeeze-- and flashes a sad smile down at her. A moment later Caitlin is airborne again, while her younger counterpart focuses her attention on the box and activating it when the moment is right. "Hey, it's-- green, the thing is green!" she shouts upwards.

"Why are you telling me this?" her elder counterpart snaps down. "Get it activated so you can get home!"

Caitlin the younger starts activating the equipment and closes the gap with the hapless time-travelling fool to make sure she has a completely lock on him.

Wally West has posed:
"You know-!"

PUNCH!

"In another time and day-"

KICK!

"I think we could all be pals!"

It's tough work, but the Titans are pushing forward! Wally's moving forward, clearing out smaller Langoliers and scouting ahead simultaneously.

"Where is this guy?!" Wally calls out to nobody in particular until- "GOTCHA! GAR! I got our guy!" And he literally points him out. "Irie, get Gar, I'll highlight him!"

"HURRY UP!" Calls the Elder West as he carves through the larger Langoliers. "We. are. running. Out. Of. Time!"

He zooms past Cait. "If it helps, they're not nearly as depressed! But if I remember-" BOOM! "Mental health was a big deal!"

"DON! Make a hole!"

Gar Logan has posed:
The pegarsus proves to be a difficult target for the bitey little things. "Actually, they're..oh, nevermind. We need to stay focused. I think I see him down there." Beast Boy air-gallops around - it looks about right with the wings added in - as he angles closer to descend toward their target, aided by the callout. "You stun him, then I'll make sure he stays put."

However Vorpal tries to handle this after being dropped off at a low enough altitude, the next time Beast Boy is seen is in the form of slithering into the alley as an anaconda. "Oh, ssssweet, there you are, ssssilly man!" Curling quickly around the hapless guy, he looks a lot like he's smiling. "You've made thissss sssso botherssssome for everyone. We're gonna need you to come with ussss to make it right again."

As his tongue flickers out he adds, "In casssse you were wondering, I can talk without ssssounding like thissss, but everybody expectssss ssssnakes to hissssss sssso I didn't want to dissssssappoint them." In a louder voice, "Target ssssecured! Let'ssss do thissss!"

Irie West has posed:
    Irie watches future mom clad herself in luminous wings, and summon a spear and shield. "Wow," she breathes and turns to present day Caitlin. "Cait. You're already awesome. But //that// is just awesomer!"

    And then the Langoliers come and the clock starts ticking. So to speak. She takes off lightning quick, easily dodging the time devourers. "I'm gonna scoot ahead and scout!"

    The thing about accessing the speedforce when time is nearly stopped is that it's like holding a fistful of sand. Sure you can grab some, but much of it leaks out and you're left with less than you want. Still, even a handful is enough for her to rocket forward.

Rachel Roth has posed:
    A Lord of Order is a deific being. Charged with enforcing true order on all of existence, when one acts directly, it is... A sight. If you can live through it, that is. The only issue is /motivating/ one. It tends to be the most orderly option to go ahead and do nothing. They are, in essence, entirely neutral. Despots and tyrants may be horrible and unconscionable, but they are at least agents of order, restricting chaos under an iron heel.

    Today, however, of all days, a Lord of Order is motivated to act. Raven has been slowly pushing forward, her very touch, her very whim, causing Langoliers to erupt in light, expunged from reality as naught but ash. The further forward she goes, the more swarm around her. Yet, she is doing nothing but passively combatting those that make the mistake of thinking that her power can dwindle with use.

    Eventually, she reaches the center of the mob, having carved a swath through them, in a metaphorical sense. Then, the device is activated. The Langoliers are sent into a frenzy, and they pounce. Their aggression is unconscionable. The rage, the fury, and the hatred that has sprung up from the Titans' very presence. It is chaotic. It cannot be allowed.

    "AGENTS OF CHAOS. YOU MUST BE PURGED. So Fate DEMANDS!"

    Suddenly, the cloak opens at the front. Two arms clad in long, white gloves emerge from the parting cape, and the visage of Raven, unchanged over a thousand years, is visible within once more. From her back emerges a great, white bird, and its wings extend to a span that must be miles, paradoxically contained within this realm. It unleashes a horrible noise, and then... There is light. It spreads like a bomb, surging in a hemisphere along the ground, and consuming all in its path. For hundreds of feet, this eruption of pure magical power extends- and when it dissipates, the Langoliers are no more. There is not even ash to mark their passing.

    Raven is here. Finally, truly, here.

    The Raven from the 'past', one that still has a millenia to cope with the idea of becoming so deeply disaffected as to become a Lord of Order, is doing her best not to pay attention. Spoilers can be great motivators- but she's not having any of that. Best not to think about it at all, and there's no good in comparing notes.

    None of the Titans are harmed. "Go! Now!" she calls, taking to the air and moving towards their destination with every bit of haste she can muster. There's no telling how long the window will last, or if there will be another.

Donna Troy has posed:
    As soon as Caitlin activates the resonator device, things start to change. The people who were previously almost totally frozen start to move a little more quickly. They're still well below normal speed, but time seems to be picking up again, and accelerating back towards a normal pace. The shimmering that surrounds the edges of the bubble starts to fade.

    And the Langoliers, sensing the reversal of the process that allowed them access to this universe full of lovely, tasty time, go wild.

    Future Raven does not go wild. Future Raven goes full Lord of Law, and the White Light of Order vaporizes a huge number of onrushing Langoliers. It's not all over yet though, as more and more are still appearing from wherever it is they come from - but there's a distance now, space to operate. And the resonator continues its work.

    The city is speeding up. People are actually taking steps. Some are starting to look very slowly around in confusion. The next wave of Langoliers, ignoring their food, keeps onrushing -- but they are getting thinner, more transparent, by the second. Before the first one reaches the Titans, it has faded into nothing.

    Caitlin's resonator makes a chirping noise, and a synthesized voice -- is that really the voice of Wendy, the Titans Tower computer personality, still around a thousand years later? -- announces <<Chroniton activity stabilized. Distortion field has collapsed.>>

    "Good work everyone," Future Troia announces. She drops down out of the sky next to Snake Gar and his prisoner. "Now all that it will take to return everything to normal is sending you all, along with this guy and his device, back to 2023, safe and in one piece." She takes the device from the Time Heist crook's unresisting fingers and studies it for a moment, then smiles at Gar. "Except...."

    Troia crushes the device, and thrusts her sword straight through the Time Heist Guy's heart.

    "That's not going to happen."

Jinx has posed:
Lucky chuckles at Caitlin's question, "Oh so green. Sooo green." She catches that sad look from Caitlin and glances away quickly. There's history there and a future for Caitlin without her oldest friend. But Lucky has her sights set on something bigger than them.

As she watches Troia kill she feels her heart sink. She knew it was coming and did not like it one bit but it had to happen. Because without it the consequences would not be revealed. And without the consequences there could be no freedom for Caitlin's future - and the rest of the universe.

Orange doorways, dozens of them, open up around them and stepping through them are high tech troops brandishing futuristic weapons - weapons futuristic even to 3023. Through the center one steps Kang the Conquerer - or more specifically Rama-Tut. With his red skin and green head dress he surveys the situation.

One of his agents who brandishes the letters TVA on his shoulder is carrying a device that he sets down. The other beside him draws out his temppad and connects to the reset device. They are efficient and seem unconcerned with the array of power on display here.

Rama-Tut looks at the people coming back to full speed and the sword stuck through a man held by Troia, a Titan. He laughs. "You are children playing with a power you do not understand."

His eyes glow and he starts to look at some of the innocent people near by, his vision sweeping past them. Each one, suddenly, is blocked by a white cloaked individual with pink hair; the hood falling back. Each one holds out her hand and 'catches' the beam of energy in her palm.

Lucky stands in the way of Kang and the look of confusion on his face is brief. He turns to the real Lucky, somehow knowing, and activates all his null energy upon her.

Lucky holds out both hands and begins to walk towards him as the energy hits. The strange null energy crackles just before her hands. A force field appears around Kang and Lucky steps through it. Enraged Rama-Tut demands, "How?!"

The battle with the null energy has been stripping away Lucky's powers. Her pink hair lengthens in to long and white, her body hunches over. She looks old.. old and worn out. But that twinkle in her eye remains. "Aha.. you're not the first Kang I've Killed."

A blade pushes out from behind him, another Lucky is there holding the magical item - it is of classical greek design with magical runes upon it. Energy from his technomagical suit begins to pulse through the dagger and in to the old crone that is Lucky.

"This future is not yours to conquer," she rasps in her old voice and cackles a little playfully. Kang twitches and looks down at the dagger tip pushing out of his chest. His shield collapses, his technology shuts off, his eyes stop glowing as he drops to his knees.

There is one last moment where he draws in a breath and grabs defiantly at the blade to push it out of him - but it is too late; the daggers have done their work and stolen the power from him. He flops forward on to the ground. Dead.

Lucky drops to a knee. She is glowing all over. This was too much energy for an old sorceress like her. She knew it would be. She knew Rae couldn't take it because it was not orderly. There was no one else to do it but her. She smiles out at all the faces before her as the glow brightens and then she simple is... gone.

Jinx watches all of this happen so quickly. Troia murdering their prisoner. Kang the Conquerer dressed like an Egyptian appear. Lucky sacrificing herself to stop one of time's greatest villains. A shudder run down her spine. She just watched herself die. Die doing something damn heroic but still die. Die using the weapon that made her in the first place.

She has no words. Here she was thinking no one could experience a more mind blowing reality shift than finding out your a mother and here she is, her brain unable to comprehend all that she just witnessed. "Uhh..." it is a sound of a plea for sanity, for things to make sense. The tears flow down her cheeks freely.

Jinx has posed:
And then more orange doorways begin to open. The people that emerge look less like conquerers and more like nerds. But they too are armed. One of them the future Titans know very well - Mobius. It is clear, the moment they arrive, that Kang's conquerers and Mobius's TVA are here to fight. For they have been fighting an endless war across realities and time and this nexus point is merely their latest battle ground.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Troia pre-emptively holds her hand out to her younger self, casting a gravitic ray that holds her in place. Much more gentle than when she'd done it to stop Donna attacking Elder Troia on board the ship earlier, but enough to stop her younger self interfering.

    "Nothing is what it seems!" Troia calls out. "But everyone is dead unless we stop that Reset Device going off! Wallys and Irie... one of you grab the controller that man is holding!" She points to one of the two agents of Kang's TVA who had set up the strange device. "The other get to the bomb and punch in the deactivation code, 777AC9DF#3!"

    The TVA agent she's pointing at looks deeply startled to hear the activation code he had just entered spoken aloud by someone who should have no way to know it.

Irie West has posed:
    Irie just //stops//. Stops and stares at Troia who outright murders the guy they were supposed to bring home with him. "Wha...?" She narrows her eyes at the Titan. "You... you never intended to send us back home at all!" she accuses with a point of the finger. "Do you think that sending us back would erase you or something? Multiple timelines can exist! I'm living proof!"

    And then Kang shows up with an army in tow. "Wait. Who are these people. Who is this guy? I'm so confu--" She cuts off when Lucky splits off and straight up murders //this// guy, and then the TVA shows up! "What the heck is even going //on//?!?"

    And then Troia is barking orders at her. "Are you insa--" and she stops herself looking at where the elder woman is pointing. That sure as heck looks like a bomb and that sure as heck looks like a detonator. "On it!"

    Summoning the Speed Force again, she rockets out towards the guy holding the detonator. Now that there is time actually flowing, the Speed Force comes more handily, sheathing herself in the crackling yellow energy that allows her to move at incredible speeds.

    She gets to the guy holding the detonator and she just phases her hand through his, grabs the device, and phase //it// through his hands so when she skids to a halt back with the rest of her friends she's holding it up. "Yoink!"

Wally West has posed:
"Haha! We got him!"

Wally modern drifts to a stop followed soon after by Future Wally. "Good work team. Now all we have to do is-"

Jaws drop as Troia crushes the device in her hand and kills he poor soul who started all of this in the first place.

"What did you do?!" Modern Wally cries out in horror and rage, but before he can do anything, there's bigger fish to fry. Orange doorways open as Kang the Conqueror arrives (or Rama-Tut). "What the-" Wally exclaims before the warnings come. They are not ready. They can't weather this storm.

A bomb?

BOMB!

Wally gasps. He has to trust Irie to do what she needs to. It takes less than a heartbeat as Wally runs forward, his eyes alight with focus and determination as he charges towards the bomb. As soon as it's seemingly set, Wally is shoving a man out of the way before he can strike back - or tries to - and works on punching the code.

"In!"

Wally proclaims in victory. Did it work? Does it work? He looks quickly. "Thats my girl!" Wally calls to Irie in pride.

Kian has posed:
    Future Kian is about to say something sharp to Troia, but events overtake being annoyed over the unnecessary murder of the idiot that started all this... and then he locks eyes with his younger self as he already knows what Present Kian was thinking, and cuts that off at once.
    Present Kian blinks twice, trying -- and for the most part, failing -- to comprehend what's going on.
    And future Kian braces himself in case he needs to do something about the Reset Device.  Probably not, but better safe than sorry.
    And present Kian lands behind Jinx, putting a supportive hand on her shoulder and keeping his mind to himself.

Gar Logan has posed:
"Hey, what are you--?" The garnaconda quickly unfurls from the poor guy as Troia's sword comes out, comes close, and cuts deep for the kill.

Beast Boy reverts to normal and just as he's starting to blurt, "What the hell is going on?" it all gets a lot more hectic with the portals, the others entering the area, Raven going uber-powerful, the Kians acting in ways that speak to their levels of experience and attitude, Jinx /also/ going uber-powerful...

He places himself closer to Vorpal, as much to protect and keep him close as anything else, looking around for /their/ Kian as well. "Someone set up us the bomb? You have no chance to survive make your time! All your base are belong to us!" Gar shouts, trying to cope with this in ways few others dare: quoting Zero Wing, and possibly just confusing the hell out of those on the other side. "I don't like this," he continues under his breath, eyes wide.

Rachel Roth has posed:
    While the Titans of thepast do as they should, Raven has begun to focus her attention on something. Specifically, the Raven of the future is focused on... Something, and nothing. The Langoliers' regrouping does not seem to be of great interest. Instead, the grand bird that is her soul-self collapses in upon her. She is gone.

    After a spare moment, she reappears next to Troia. Her hood remains up, but it is clear that the Lord of Order has remained physically manifested. "This is your handiwork." she begins, "A single thread. Small changes. You are not merely trying to save it all... But you have attempted to make changes. You want to end their interference."

    Then, a silence. "And there is something else. A regret. You want to repair." Repair what? "It is not guaranteed. The paths we have all walked are not certain with this thread. You may not get what you want."

    Her eyes glow. Manifesting from nothing, there is a barrier; the conflict between two Authorities is now kept to itself. For a moment, it likely seemed to Troia as if Raven was about to stop whatever it is she has noticed.

    "We will see if we are meant to be."

Donna Troy has posed:
"I said everything is not what it seems," Future Troia repeats herself to Future Raven. She bows her head a little. "Not my plan. My uncle's. And..." she looks across to where the corpse of Rama-Tut lies, surrounded by the forces of two different TVAs, fighting. A look of intense sadness crosses her face for just a moment before she turns back to Raven. "Hers too, though she did not realize the extent of it. This changes our future. It frees us from dealing with them in future. But maybe... maybe it gives us another chance, too. Different decisions. I know that's what Lucky was hoping. We... will see."

     As she speaks, a metallic orb about the size of a grapefruit appears out of nowhere beside her. It splits open and a rent appears in space, from which steps a tall human-shaped being made of silver light. He is dragging along the Time Heist guy, who's look of confusion turns to horror when he sees what appears to be his own corpse on the floor beside him. The silver figure pushes Time Heist Guy towards Troia, and hands her what appears to be the self same device Troia had crushed moments earlier. "SO IT IS ACHIEVED," he says. Troia nods her head.

    The silvery figure looks at Irie, tilts his head a moment, then opens his hand and teleports the controller she had stolen from the TVA into his outstretched hand. "THANK YOU," he says to her, and presses the button.

    The Temporal Reset Bomb goes off.

    The Titans find themselves in a street in Manhattan, in /their/ Manhattan. They are closing in on the figure of the 'Freeze-Framer', as Vorpal had named him. They have him surrounded, and he's just bailed out from a getaway car, bank notes spilling from his duffle bag. Kian is flying down towards him, Donna crashes down onto the hood of the car to help keep him surrounded.

    This has happened before. Just a second or two later, he had pressed the button, and started all of this. His finger is visibly moving towards the control on his belt, but something is different now. He is frozen. All of Manhattan around them is frozen, only the Titans are free to move.

    MY APOLOGIES TO YOU ALL, the silvery figure says, stepping out of the shadows. "WE USED YOU. YET WE ALSO FREED YOU."

    "Predestination paradox," the voice of future Troia adds. She steps from the portal of her ship into the street, close to where her present self stands on the hood of the car. "We laid a trap. My uncle fetched the time heist guy from the past, brought him into the future, and created a separated continuous loop in his personal world-line. The version I stabbed was the looped version. The version in his main timeline was kept out of the timestream in a travel sphere. That meant that until he was returned to the time stream, the timeline was collapsing, which brought the TVA in. Their Reset Device sent everyone back to where they came from, except that only you actually closed your loop by doing so. They will keep returning to that point in time, keep battling each other. In our timeline, at least."

    Future Troia looks long and hard at Caitlin. "Irie came back to you. She did not come back to the version of you who lived alongside me. Do you understand? Your future -- the one you all saw -- is tied off. You can find it, or you can find another future. You are no longer bound by it."

Jinx has posed:
Jinx appreciates that Kian came to her side. This was not something she ever expected to have to deal with. Seeing your own death like that. Comprehending how living 1,000 years could even be possible? She slumps her shoulders a little - and then she finds herself back moments before it all began.

Her eyes fall upon Kronos. Her future self was part of this little play? She frowns and looks around at the Titans feeling very concerned by all of this. But the first thing on her mind is to walk right over to time heist guy and take that dang device off his wrist.

"I don't understand what just happened and.. and.. I'm kinda freakin' out right now but ... no there is no but. I've got nothing. This is beyond bat shit crazy. My mind is spinning."

Kian has posed:
    Future Kian does not interrupt present day Kian with Jinx.  His younger self has his priorities in order, and is handling the important things.  Instead, he flits over to Vorpal and Gar.
    He doesn't *dare* hug them.  There's no way he could prevent mental contact.
    Instead, he bows low, formally, wingtips almost touching the ground.  "Thank you both.  For everything you have done, and everything you will do."
    Rejoining his own contemporaries, he remarks, "You *are* all welcome to drop by for drinks.  I'd like to see you when we don't have to save all of reality."
    Present-day Kian looks up at his older self, and nods once, then goes back to seeing to Jinx.  Whatever passed between them remains between them.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Kian supports Jinx on one side. And on the other side, a heavy but gentle hand rests on Jinx's shoulders. Caitlin looks nervous and uncertain; she's quite sure there's some joke being played and from the expression on her face, she suspects the younger Titans were the butt of it. But she can sense that Jinx is feeling overwhelmed, and the best she can do is offer silent but unwavering support.

Future Caitlin is staring at the spot where her friend gave up her literal ghost. Her raiments of battle and weapons are gone, and the nimbus of holy light around her fades away. Irie is therefore able to catch Caitlin by surprise, and the redhead reflexively hugs Irie close, wrapping her arms around her shoulder with a maternal sort of protectiveness. Tears glimmer at the corner of her eyes but Future Caitlin seems less shocked by Lucky's disappearance than one might expect.

Sleeves and secrets seems to be a disturbingly common theme among the Future Titans.

Future Caitlin walks Irie over to her younger self and gently releases her shoulders. "I don't have any right to ask you to do this," she admits, "but please... watch out for Irie. Take care of her."

Younger Caitlin looks a little startled, but manages an awkward nod at the plaintive request. How would one even say 'no' to that? "O-of course," she stammers. "...Hey, I just noticed that ring," she says, looking down at Caitlin's bare hands. "That's my ring! I mean, that's the one Chara gave me," she points out.

The future Caitlin glances down at the ring on her right hand and smiles fondly. "You should ask Donna about that tradition sometime," she advises her younger self with a wry amusement.

Fortunately Future Caitlin turns to face Irie, holding her shoulders at arm's length and giving them a reassuring squeeze. "I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you," she apologizes. "It breaks my heart to see you go. Just... knowing you're having a full and happy life, that is enough for me," she promises Irie.

"Oh, and-- here," she says, and hands over a little holographic projector of Jai and his family. "So you've got something to remember him by."

Irie West has posed:
    "Uh. Thanks?" Irie says to the silvery figure who takes the detonator in her hands, and then sets it off. "Wha-- what?" She looks utterly baffled by Troia's explanation. "Who are the TVA? I--" She huffs in frustration and gives up with a shrug. "Okay. I'm not going to think about this too hard. It was bad enough when I went back in time, worrying about how to avoid a predestination paradox."

    "We can keep the device from him, right?" she asks, pointing the device that Jinx swiped off the Freeze Framer. "We do that, he doesn't get rocketed to the Future, we can all go home and I can hug my mom and dad and worry about my Writing homework, right?"

    She realizes what she says and looks guiltily at Future-Caitlin. She rushes over to her and gives her a big hug, muttering, "Hug you, first. I wish I could spend more time with you. You deserve it but--" she shakes her head. They both know that that can't happen. "I'm glad to have spent the time I did with you."

Wally West has posed:
Future Wally is just standing there.

What does he do?

What does...any of this actually mean? Unbound by the predetermined paradox? No longer forced to follow a set path? Oje that lead them all there? They were back in Manhattan.

Modern Manhattan.

"I guess that's it then." Future Wally stands there in a daze, His eyes forward as he slowly looks at Irie, a sadness in his eyes. "Well...if the future isn't set anymore...I don't know if I'll see you, kid, but...I hope I do again. It'd mean the world to me." Tears are filling his eyes. He watches the mother and daughter embrace. He lowers his eyes for a minute, and he looks at his younger self.

Who is just...at a loss for words.

"Youge got this Wally. Just keep being yourself. Stop worrying about everything, like cause and effect. You're sharp. It'll turn out alright."

Wally just gulps and wipes his eyes. "O-okay...I won't pretend to understand any of it...but I'll try." He looks at Caitlin of 3023. "I always will. She's pretty great." He...doesn't ask about any rings. That's too hard a topic right now. He does however look at Kian. "If I live that long...that'd be great."

Gar Logan has posed:
More things happen that don't make a lick of sense to Beast Boy, who watches all of this with a frown while trying to follow along. "I'm..not going to pretend I understood any of that," he says, still more quietly than not, "but..yay, us."

And while the older Kian approaches to share a few words with the ones he hadn't seen in so, so long, Gar smiles at the bow and does something Future Kian also hadn't felt in so, so long: he turns to his Akiar form and just shares a moment of mental support, no words to add, followed by a similar position with the wingtips low. They know who will live longer, and who won't. "You, uh, take care of yourself, you hear? We'll make sure to give you a lot of good memories."

He pointedly avoids anything specific with the scene they've been returned to, going back to his usual self afterward. For the Titans from the future, he gives them a sly look. "Soooo, I'm sure there are stories passed down about me. About us. Anyone want an autograph or two? A picture? I'm sure I'm famous enough a thousand years from now that an authentic Beast Boy autograph could make you all filthy rich. To the moon!"

When he needs to deal with something that's too much for him to process, sometimes he just...doesn't deal with it at all. Not immediately. He does look toward Jinx with detectable worry, however.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
The Cheshire cat narrows his eyes. He has questions, but those are secondary to the fact that he -and his friends- have been used. It doesn't matter how noble the goals may have been. "Great. I got used, and I didn't even get a dinner and a movie out of the deal." Sourpuss? Well, this puss is sour indeed. But his expression softens at the interaction between Gar and Kian(2). There and then, a seed is planted in his mind. "Don't worry, old bird," he says softly. "I'll find a way to get us to become immortal." Is he jesting? He's got to be kidding, right? The universe is not ready for an immortal Vorpal.

Raven would also see to it that it never comes to pass.

"... whatever happens, though, you know we loved you. That's important," he says quietly.

Rachel Roth has posed:
    Raven, clad in white, appears not from the portal, but beside Troia. It is, oddly, a... Comforting thing. She has always been able to go where she pleased. When she pleased, in any meaning of the phrase.

    She looks to her younger self. "Your path..." she begins, before the 'past' Raven raises her hand. "Is one I'm going to walk." "And you will make mistakes." "I know." "Do not be afraid to make them. You have a chance that I did not."

    With that said, the white Raven, the future Lord of Order, disappears. After a moment, Raven looks at where future-her used to be. "I suppose that's what I do to people. It makes sense it had to happen to me at some point."

Donna Troy has posed:
    "I mean," present Donna says to present Raven. "I can't think of anyone else who'd be able to do that to you, so from that perspective maybe this has all been worth it, just to see you on the receiving end for once." She gives Raven a wink, but quickly grows more serious. "I wanted to ask her about... you know who. But it didn't seem like a good idea."

    Donna hops down from the car hood and takes a few steps towards her future self. "So that's it?" Donna demands. "Sucks to be you and goodbye? Well I suppose we should thank you for the opportunity to not become you, because all of you future versions of us seem to be kinda asses."

    Future Troia gives a small shake of her head to present Donna. "You didn't see us at our best," she says. "This was even more stressful for us as it has been for you. We've had a thousand years of old wounds to open."

    "Was this entire thing a set up?"

    "No. This happened. My uncle simply took advantage of a bad situation to make it better. Make no mistake, if we had not stopped this from happening, it would have collapsed all of time. Or the TVA -- the Time Variance Authority -- would have interfered, as they always interfere. You'll learn all about that. Instead we tricked them into becoming part of a timelike loop that they couldn't close, because the origin point for them was within the loop. We were all outside the loop when it started so the Reset Bomb returned us to a point outside the loop, but it returned them to a point still within the loop. That means that for us, the TVA will no longer be able to interfere. And if you are glad of the opportunity to be something other than we are..." her eyes find Jinx. "Then thank Lucky for that. Her manipulations lead to sufficient divergence at the nexus that you are no longer bound to /our/ future. Donna, you are young and foolish... but you were right about Lucky. Jinx. You were right to trust her. She will repay you all for the faith you give to her. Look after her, all of you."

    "And you'll lose touch with her. And you and Caitlin can't even pretend to be friends any more. And I can't even figure what has happened between you and Raven. If you think I'm going to become you, you are sorely mistaken -- even if you do have a cool sword. We are not that dumb."

    "We will see," Future Troia says. "We must all go now. As soon as we have gone, the loop will close. Destroy the box, arrest the bad guy and lock him away somewhere he will never have a chance to make another, because he doesn't understand how dangerous the device he made is."

    The silvery figure, Kronos, vanishes. Troia urges the rest of the future Titans back on board her ship, looking back at Gar as she does so. "Really Gar, we have so many of your autographs at the tower, they're not worth a cent. Some time around 2030 after /that/ movie happens, you autograph everything that moves slower than your pen. It's quite tragic really, but you do get over it eventually." She nods to Vorpal, and then tilts her head towards the 'Freeze-Framer'. "Be ready," she says. "Don't give him a moment to press that button."

    She turns to enter into the Travel Sphere, walking alongside Future Caitlin. As the portal closes on the last of the future Titans to take them back to 3023 she says,"Something for you to consider, Caitlin. Irie is here now. But she's also in a closed loop, where the same day can dawn twice. Think about it."

    Time starts up again.

Gar Logan has posed:
Beast Boy reacts to Troia's valuation of his autographs with mock indignity. "No way. Tell me you at least have a statue of me by then and you got my best side." To show what he means, he poses with one arm up to flex like a pro wrestler, while also showing off his rear end. Before he can even ask 'Which movie?' or get an answer, she and the others depart, leaving the current Titans alone in the time they belong in, the future ones returned to theirs.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Too many questions I can't ask. Too many people I can't talk to for fear of uncovering something." The Cheshire cat looks at the future Titans. It was rathe cruel, really, dangling them in front of his curiosity with a 'do not ask' label on them.

Vorpal doesn't waste any time. Because they have been traipsing through time, and he's tired of time travel. He's tired of a many great deal of things, but there is something that he never gets tired of. And that's what's about to happen next.

The Rabbit Hole opening and the Cheshire Cat leaping through it with a combination of his that natural grace and hard-won agility. The flamingo mallet that materializes in his hands like a glowing weapon of divine madness and justice, following the arc of his arms as he brings it down towards the intended target.

"A VERY merry unbirthday to YOU, you piece of-"

*BONK*

He's not going to lie- he feels a great deal of satisfaction from this.