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SUPERBOY AND TRIAD: THE ODYSSEY.
CHAPTER 2: Chronopolis.
"Chronopolis? What exactly is that?" Asked Superboy, about half an hour ago he had found himself headed toward the 30th century, but instead was here. He was, however, reunited with the girl he had been going to see, a member of the Legion of Super-heroes called Triad.
"Chronopolis is a city that exists outside of time. Floating outside the normal stream of time. From here, we and anyone else can travel through the stream." Said Alex.
"What are we doing here? I was supposed to be...."
"Going to the 30th century, I know. You where headed to the 20th." Said Chronos. "To think, you were going back to see him, when he was going forward to see you. Talk about irony." He said with a smile.
"Yeah, real funny. We would have been trapped in time." Said Triad.
"Ah, true. 'Course the Linear men probably would have found you, or I myself might have had to do something. Nobody's trapped in time forever, I should know."
"We'll hear your life-story later, mind explaining why we ended up here?" Said Superboy, starting to lose his patience.
"Actually I'm not really sure. I assume it had to do with the fact that you were both using a version of the Time Masters Time engine to do so. You were both using the same one actually; the one Brainiac 5.1 used is the same one that the Guru made. Why you ended up here is anyone's guess." Said Chronos, with the same cheery smile he had before. "Hey! Here Houdini." He said to the cat that came running up to him instantly. "I can only assume that since you used them both at the same time, well in astro-physics terms anyway, that the backlash caused by it sent you two here."
"Well, can we get out of here?" Asked Triad.
"Yes, but first we have to check and see if you two's little jaunt did anything to the time-stream." Said Alex. "I guess you two can stay here until then, of course I don't think that either of you have a real "home" to go to right now?"
Superboy and Triad both looked at each other for a minute, both asking the same question with their eyes. Neither of them had the time to ask the questions though.
"Well, there's a section in the eastern wing that you can stay in. It's got some beds and all." Said Chronos. "You can stay there until we see if any damage was caused."
"Okay, I think the two of us have to talk anyway." Said Superboy; suddenly noticing Triad wasn't speaking Interlac.
"He's right."
"Okay, then, follow me." They followed Alex out of the room to the Eastern Wing.
We go from a place outside of time to a cage within it. He has been here for minutes, months, years, centuries, all of these. He was once master of the world, he had done what so many of his super-villain brethren had failed to do, conquered the world. He had stolen technology from the future and used it to trap all super-heroes on the moon, and then taking command of the entire Earth. But he had been defeated by the one group he thought was dealt with, the JLA. They had stolen his Time-cube, and chased him through time as he tried to kill them earlier in time, but they had defeated him, along with the help of a super-hero team from an alternate time.
Now here he was, trapped in this cage in time, created from his own time-cube. He was Epoch, the master of time. He had no idea of how long it had been since he had been trapped in here, he had all but abandoned hope that he could escape. But he had not counted on the idealistic nature of two young heroes. He felt a flash suddenly, and all of time around him began to go white, he felt faint suddenly, and gave in to the whiteness.
"Damn it." Said Walker Gabriel to himself. "Something did happen in the time- stream when they teleported."
"What?" Asked Alex.
"Something was fractured in the time-stream, I'm not sure what though." He said. "I'll have to go in for a closer look." He said, he went to the middle of the control room, and stood an concentrated.
"Be careful." Said Alex.
"Hey, it's me." He said, smiled and vanished.
"Triad.....Luornu......I......I don't....know what to say." Said Superboy as he sat down in front of her, They were sitting in the bedroom of the housed sized quarters Chronos and Alex had put them in. There was a living room with some of the most comfortable seats he'd ever sat in, and a TV that would go to any show in any time. 'Tourists would love this place.' he thought to himself. Triad had sat down and told him everything that had happened in the 30th century, Chuck's breaking things up, her feelings of estrangement from the rest of the Legion, how she had missed him.
"I...really don't know what to say." He repeated. He was not sure how to react to this, that she would leave her father, family and everyone she'd known for years, he had never met a girl who would do that for him! He felt like he really didn't deserve it.
"So....what's your story?" She asked. Superboy told her about how he felt he no longer had a place in the 20th century, his, once again, falling approval, how he felt estranged from Young Justice, and how he was just not into Cadmus's way of operating. He missed her, and admitted as much to her. He even said how he had not found another woman who could match up to her. She laughed a bit at this, but seemed to come down to listening again soon.
"I can't believe we did this." He said, a small chuckle breaking into his voice.
"Yeah, it's almost funny when you think about it..." She said, starting to laugh softly as well. Finally they both found themselves laughing. It was an unusual situation, all they could do was laugh at the moment. They finally stopped, and Superboy just looked at her for a moment. Finally he surprised her by pulling her forward and kissing her. She was surprised for a moment, but then closed her eyes and returned it. They stood like that for awhile, Superboy had to admit to himself he hadn't felt this good in awhile, same for Triad. For a moment at least, everything in life was perfect.
Walker Gabriel stood in time, looking over the vast field of light that stood in front of him. He could see it was a form of prison, he, in fact, knew what it was, it was a prison used to hold the JLA villain called the Time Master. The Linear men had allowed them to place it here, knowing that the Time Master couldn't be held anyplace else, but there was a fracture in it, you could clearly see it. Walker looked inside the prison to see it was empty.
"Great, this is just great!" He said to himself. There was only one way to explain it. It was created from the original Time Engine, Epoch used to power his time-cube. Since Superboy and Triad had used a copy of the engine it must have somehow ripped the cage open, it was probably what sent them to Chronopolis as well. He would need to have a talk with those kids when he got back. Walker slapped his head suddenly and grumbled to himself.
"Great, I'm starting to act like my father." He shook his head and disappeared.
"I still can't believe this! Talk about coincidence said Superboy as he and Triad looked through Chronopolis.
"I was scared when I first got here, but it really is amazing." She said.
"Yeah, I've been to a lot of places, but never a city outside of time." Said Superboy.
"You think that Chronos guy will find something wrong with the time-stream?"
"Maybe. Alex told me that their job is to make sure certain points and actions in time occur, that must be some kinda job!" Said Superboy.
"Hey you two." Came a voice from behind them. The turned to see Alex walking up them. "Walker got back, he wants to talk with you two."
Superboy and Triad both gulped at the same time, and followed Alex to the control room.
"Well I hope you two are happy. Thanks to your reckless use of time traveling, a major supervillain I loose somewhere in time. Okay I'll explain. A few months ago the JLA of Superboy's time where forced to chase an enemy of theirs through time, he called himself Epoch, the Time Master. He managed to steal technology from the future and temporarily conquer Earth, he was defeated though and placed in a cage made from his own time engine. You two used a copy of the Engine to travel through time, and it ended up rupturing the cage Epoch was placed in. He's escaped and is somewhere in time now."
"Our little escapade did it? What can we do?" Asked Triad.
"Well, Epoch was one of those types who just wanted to rule the world, so it's likely he'll try to build up his arsenal of future weaponry again. Of course his very existence in the past or future endangers time. You two started this, so you're going to help finish it, got me?!" Said a rather irritated Chronos.
"Okay, okay, don't get angry." Said Superboy as he put up his hands in a shielding gesture.
"Don't get upset with them Walker, they didn't know." Said Alex as she put a hand on her partner's shoulder.
"You're right, I'm sorry." Said Chronos as he put a claming hand to his forehead. "Despite this, you two are going to help return him to his prison."
"Sure, Just tell us what to do." Said Triad.
"Well, first I need to check for where he might strike first. As I said before, he's bound to try to rebuild his power, and that means weaponry from what we would consider the future. I think I know what places he'll go to, so we'll send you two to check on one of them while we go watch another."
"It's just the four of us?"
"Yep."
"Alright, then let's get going." Said Superboy.
"You see this?" Said Chronos, as he pointed to a door that was decorated in an ancient English "Royalty" look to it. "This door will lead you to the place, a weapons depot in the 547th century. Here wear these." He handed them a pair of armbands. "These are a little thing I stole the design for from the Linear Men. These time bands will allow you to step between nano-seconds. Even the technology of the future won't be able to see you or detect you." These will also allow you to travel through time, and are pre-programmed to return you here once you're finished. Just press that button there."
"Okay, let's get this show on the road." Said Superboy.
"You guys aren't wearing the bands though?" Asked Triad.
"Oh we don't have to. Walker and me can go through time by force of will." Said Alex.
"Well, me and Alex are going through another door, you two will go through this one. We'll see you later." With this Walker and Alex left, leaving Superboy and Triad to speak with each other.
"Well, you ready?" He asked.
"Ready as I'll ever be." She took his hand as he opened the door, revealing a vortex inside it.
"Here we go." With this Superboy and Triad stepped into the door way and into the time vortex.
END OF CHAPTER TWO.
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