ic Worlds Enough and Time (IC)

[Avenger Assembled]

Mark was swept away by the kiss, as he always was when Edge was in the mood. He was also confident enough, particularly after watching everyone kick the Tiger's butt so thoroughly, that he wasn't more than a little put off by her comment to her counterpart afterwards. After a moment's hesitation, he shot a nod to his own Midnight. Hey, he IS pretty badass! And I'm the one going home with her tonight, I can afford to be a little secure. He took out the handcuffs that he always carried in costume, just in case he might have to fight a real bad guy, and for only the fourth time ever securely snapped them on the Tiger's wrists. "That was great, you guys," he said to his own team as much as the other one, even including the other Midnight. "We make an awesome team," he added, making sure to say that to his girl most of all. Maybe the other heroes were just artifacts of the Imageria, but they were all right.

Hey, Erin can see why someone would be interested in me. That's all right, thought Edge contentedly. "Saved two worlds AND busted two of the biggest bad guys on the planet. Both our planets, from the sound of things. Not a bad meeting between two worlds." He grinned, walking up to his colleague and clapping him on the back. "So, what did this loser mean about a master, anyway?" he asked the other Mark. "Sounded pretty ominous..." As the two Marks discussed al-Khayal and 9/11, Sage reached down into Overshadow's mind and found:

"..."

Pulling the helmet off all the way, she found the blonde, blue-eyed man underneath looking slackjawed and still, his eyes closed and tongue lolling. The apparent imposter wearing the armor of the dead supervillain wasn't just out, he was gone. Across the room, the man of Time was speaking:

I AM THE GUARDIAN OF THE CLOCK. I WAS...LURED FROM THIS PLACE, WITH MY CHILDREN, AND MY HOME WAS TAKEN FROM ME BY THOSE TWO YOU FOUGHT. FEAR NOT, CHILD, he added towards Sage, THAT ONE'S MIND HAS FLED ELSEWHERE. HE WILL FIND THAT HIS JOURNEY THROUGH TIME WILL BE A FAR HARDER TRIP THAN HE EXPECTED.

[April]

--Merde.--

That single word whispered in the minds of those present carried with it a sense of the telepaths profound anger, frustration and disappointment. Still crouched over the false Overshadow, Sage balled up a gloved fist and punched the floor. She barely noticed the pain.

--I can't find what I want, what I need. I can't even rip it out. The bastard blanked his mind.--

[Avenger Assembled]

The teens eventually had to part ways. Whether they were in the Imageria or the center of the multiverse's timestream, they couldn't just hang around, even if the company was interesting. Mark was intrigued by a universe where he was dating Erin, especially such a pretty version of her, but there was something a little...odd about his double. The other Mark seemed so, well, normal; he was looking forward to a steady job with the Freedom League when he graduated, happy with his relationship with Erin, and worried about his mom and his own absent father. He seemed like a normal kid, with normal problems, and Mark found himself oddly envious. He told himself it was just because of the new supers there, a bright and shining new history that the kids of that Young Freedom were writing themselves. But if he was really honest with himself, that wasn't it. _He really is happy._ Maybe he'd find the same thing where he was going.

Mark stood alongside Erin as they headed back to their transport site, joining her in pinning down the still-unconscious Tiger. That time guardian thing had sent Totentanz back home before they could tell them otherwise, and disposed of the armored man who was evidently the other universe's version of the Tiger. He and his double had talked at length about the multiverse, and he wasn't at all sure how much of it he believed. But he'd taken it all down, and he and the others would discuss it at length. The best news had been that their League was all right; the Time Guardian had intercepted the Freedom League before agents of al-Khayal could destroy them, and now that he was safely back he could return them from whence they'd come. Looking at Erin, looking at their prisoner, it looked like everything was going to be all right. "Thank you!" he said to the other team as they headed for their machine. "We come from very different places, and we're very different," he said, shooting a look at his other self, and at the other Erin, "but it's good to know that wherever we go, and however we see ourselves..." He looked at his own Midnight, and said, "We're _all_ heroes. I love you," he added to his Wander, just before she pressed the button for their trip home.

A few days later:

The Hague

The Tiger awoke in darkness to find a black and red figure standing over him, eyes glowing with the power of a god. "Master! Master, I knew you'd come for me!" He threw himself at the feet of the Divine One, only to be hurled back against the concrete wall of his cell hard enough to crack it.

"I would hardly forget 'you', al-Khayal. You, the insect whose buzzing overturned a 'century' of planning. You, who have deprived me of 'two' worlds thanks to your ineptitude! Your 'name' is already a cruel jest, your world, trash unworthy of my 'power. The age of alignment is ending. It will be a 'thousand' years before I can again address my followers in this place!"

"Master, please!" The Tiger fell to his knees, a pleading look on his shadowed face. "Master, please, let me stand by your side in Paradise, and I-"

"...yes." His master smiled, and suddenly, the Tiger felt fear down to his bones. "Yes, I shall let you stand by my 'side', as a lesson to others who seek my favor. You will be my finest 'example'!" And with that, both vanished from the Earth.

The Tiger soon regretted his master's mercy. But not for long.