Jump 380: Superman - The Animated Series

Jump #380: Superman - The Animated Series
>Seven of Wands (Valor), reversed: Quarrels, perplexity, and indecision at a crucial moment.
>Age: 27
>Location: Metropolis, 30th Century
>Identity: Drop-In
>Secret Identity: Hero
>Scenario: Lost in the 30th Century
>Drawbacks: (+1000) Nemesis(mandatory), No Good Deed Goes Unpunished, Bad Rep, Brave New Jumper
I feel like I'm going to have a bad time, and the dice have confirmed it.
>The Jumpers (1300)
Giving 700 points, so my companions can each have 1200 points themselves. "Kryptonians are hax!" they say. Now they can find out first hand.
>The Life of Bibbo (Free, Drop-In)
Never hurts to blend in a little better.
>Anti-Life Immunity (1000, Drop-In)
Yeah, Anti-Life is the complete opposite of what I embody. I'm not a fan of shackles in any format.
>Fine Control (800)
THIS IS INSANELY USEFUL. Yeah, I can't turn everything OFF, but I CAN keep it at any level I wish, short of being completely off.
>Kryptonian Physiology (0)
400 free points from being a Hero, and I get to join my companions in being a Kryptonian. This should be entertaining, Earth's Kryptonian population just increased by 450%.
>Radiation-Proof Suit (Free, Drop-In)
We don't like Green K. A lead suit sounds like a great idea to me.

And so, Injustice left in the dust, my companions and I arrived in yet another version of Metropolis.

"This is getting repetitive," I told them. "You know what I want? A normal time for once. No alternate Supermen, nobody playing with nukes, just a NORMAL time." So of course that is the point that we were all sucked through a black and white vortex, and after falling for a good thirty seconds, were deposited at the feet of an angry group of would-be future Justice Leaguers in the middle of a futuristic Metropolis street. And of course, weapons were already drawn and aimed at us.

I dusted myself off with a frown and cleared my throat, to adopt the appropriately gravelly tone. "Long ago, in a distant land, I, Crux, the shapesh-"

Ceci interrupted me by slapping the back of my head. "No. Bad Crux."

So, to make a long story short... apparently, we'd been pulled a thousand years ahead in time by the Legion of Superheroes, because they detected something fluctuating forward in time, and found that something went off the rails - investigation led to finding a number of people who appeared from nowhere, including a great many Kryptonians. Which, of course, was impossible unless we came from the Phantom Zone. Naturally, this meant that we were all villains, had to be stopped, were going to be thrown in for trial, yada, yada.

"But wait," Gaia interrupted, "We didn't come from the Phantom Zone but another world. Is that illegal?" Their answer, apparently, was a very wishy-washy 'yes'. Gaia bent the truth a bit and proposed, "Send us back in time so we can return to our world?" Their answer was an emphatic no. "But we've done nothing wrong, you can't just arrest us and lock us up forever." Except, supposedly, they could. "Despite that you intruded where your laws don't apply." Well, they apply retroactively, because cartoon shows don't have to make sense, apparently.

And then another vortex opened nearby, and spat out another nine individuals. Some I recognized - Chara, Sinestro, Vandal Savage, an artificial body that was unmistakably SHODAN, Gilgamesh - others I did not. But the figure in the middle of them I did recognize. Full-body black and red power armor, and he looked around at the heroes, and then at me. His helmet retracted.

"Oh fuck," I breathed, taking a step back as I looked at my own face.

Crimson eyes gazed into my own green ones as space around him started to warp and twist with gathering energy, the bystanding heroes' attention starting to go to him. "Hello, me. Goodbye, me."

Reflexive attempts to stop and slow time failed, and my eyes widened. "Case Black," I snapped, bringing both of my hands up to generate a shield, immediately backed by my companions. That use of magic, fortunately, was unaffected by whatever time shenanigans were employed, and his initial strike was absorbed and redirected. After that... well, the immediate reflex is to take the fight to the air, both for myself and my companions. And everyone in tow with my doppelganger followed. He stayed planetbound long enough to attack the Legionnaires before joining us as we rapidly left the planet's atmosphere.

The immediate repercussions of that was an alert sent out, the entirety of the Legion alerted to my (our) presence. Of course, that wasn't of much relevance to myself and my companions at the time - the Legion was pretty much on standby while we all had a running battle across the whole of the Solar System. A two year long running battle. I was rather shocked that we didn't kill any bystanders, quite honestly, but the collateral damage was immense. And that was WITH the interference of the Legion and pretty much every hero, glory hound, and bounty hunter that could have possibly been hired. Eventually... they just gave up and treated it as more of an unnatural disaster.

The only thing that swayed the fight to my favor was that my doppelganger had focused solely on himself, rather than on his companions as I often do. They focused on his companions, weakening them each in turn, slowly, subtly, before we all struck him as one. Sure, we couldn't freeze him in time or anything, but we COULD bind him in space. And at last, we did.

He flew out of the solar system faster than an immovable rod could cause bystanders to say "what the hell was that?!".

After that... most of what I did was running around trying to help repair the damage. There was constant trouble - the Legion was convinced that eventually we'd just destroy everything again, but had nothing concrete to hold them to that opinion - and we kicked in as well as anyone else to fight crime. Though they never gave us access to anything that could possibly let us travel in time. And we were constantly hounded by the local analogue of Batman, who was ready to pounce on us the instant we did so much as jaywalked.

>"You can't cross here."
"But you just did two minutes ago."
>"... prove it."
"You're such a dick."
>"Verbal assault? I'll see you in prison for this."
"Oh go away you pale imitation."

Oddly, our way back happened about eight years in. Brainiac attempted to travel back in time in order to assassinate a young Clark Kent. The Legion followed him, took care of him, and returned. They didn't notice that we'd tagged along with the help of magic - and stuck around after they'd left.

But we kept our heads down, way, WAY down. We didn't want a repeat visit from those pompous asses.