Encounter of the Universes

Summary: Darkseid's latest scheme tears open a hole to another universe where the JL encounter another universe with its own Justice League. One with a difference. It is populated by their children. X-over with my Superman Returns verse. Post Destroyer for JLU.

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters I use in this story.

Author's Note: I wanted a story to showcase the children I came up with for my Superboy story as heroes as well as a few others who I never got a chance to really showcase. Also my doing a crossover it gives me a chance to show how the varying JL members deal with the revelation of seeing their possible children. To discern people I will add the prefix JL & SR in front of names. JL for the JLU verse and SR for my Superman Returns verse.

The JLU universe.

It was inevitable. They all knew it. Every single member of the Justice League knew that one day he would return after he had vanished before.

Darkseid.

It started as it always starts. The sound of thunder filling the sky. The swirling vortexes as Boom Tubes open above the Earth and then legions of parademons descending upon the masses below.

The JL reacted as they always react and instantly swung into action in order to protect the people of Earth.

Superman, understandably, was the one who went to confront Darkseid who when he found him was hovering above some new device Superman had never seen before. That probably did not bode well.

"Welcome Kal-El," Darkseid greets him.

Superman floats there, arms across his chest, in his classic pose. "Why are you here Darkseid?"

"To use a human phrase I am here to give you a...'front row seat' to the end of everything." Darkseid could have done this anywhere in the universe but he wanted to do it here, on this wretched little planet, so that Superman could bear witness to his ultimate triumph.

Superman arches an eyebrow and scoffs. "I've heard that before," he says dismissively.

A cruel smile forms on Darkseid's face. "Yes but this time, thanks to Lex Luthor, I now possess the knowledge to finally enact the Anti-life equation."

Superman just knew that would come back to bite them. Damn Luthor.

The huge machine they are hovering above lights up and a beam of energy erupts from its top and shoots up into the sky where it seems to start ripping it apart. Wind picks up swirling all around them. "The end will now come by my hand," Darkseid announces. "All universes and dimensions are separated from each other by a void of nothingness. This device rips open a hole into this void and will continue to expand the rupture until the entire universe falls into the void and ceases to be. Then...finally I will have what I always wanted. A blank slate from which to rebuild the universe in my image. A perfect universe."

Superman's face remains unmoved. "Well now at least I know what I have to do don't I. Destroy your machine."

"Indeed you are correct Kal-El," Darkseid confirms for Superman. "That is all you have to do...once you get past me."

"You say that like it is a challenge. Have you forgotten our last encounter?"

"Humph. I see the time since our last encounter has made you arrogant Kryptonian. I see I will need to teach you a reminder of just who I am."

"Oh I know who you are Darkseid." Superman tenses ready to attack and his gaze hardens. "To use your words from last time; Lets go!"

The two mighty beings then fly at each other and the shock-waves from the impact of their first blows cause the ground below to shudder.

Up above them the rupture in the very fabric of the universe grows and deepens. So much so that it ends up tearing into another universe where it is spotted from another Watchtower with another Justice League. This Justice League is different in many ways. In this one many of the original heroes have retired and it is now populated by many of their offspring alongside other heroes who have emerged over the years.

The SR universe.

One who is still there is the last survivor of Mars, J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter. His species was blessed, or cursed depending on your point of view, with long life spans and it had been his honour and privilege to work aside so many great people and now in many cases their children. As soon as the tear was spotted the alarm sounded. One of the first people to arrive is Connor Kent, who goes by his Kryptonian name of Kon-El, and he is Superman's clone. He had only been about 15 physically when he was 'born' but that was 17 years ago now. Now he was fully matured and did look almost identical to Superman. He still did not where anything like Superman's costume though. Personally he was still happy to simply wear jeans and a black t-shirt with the famous S-shield on it in red as he had done when he was going around as Superboy.

"So what's happening J'onn?" Connor asks his friend.

J'onn brings up the image of the tear.

"Huh," Connor remarks. "That's new."

"It's a dimensional tear," J'onn informs him. Then suddenly the whole station shakes.

"What was that?" Connor asks.

"The tear is sending out powerful gravitational waves." J'onn's brow furrows deeply in worry. "And it's expanding."

Now other members of the JL enter. Natasha Irons aka Steel, niece of the original Steel, John Henry Irons, in a updated version of his armour. She was 21 now. Following her is whom may seem familiar; Batman but not the original. Bruce had finally succumbed to his advancing years and retired. Dick Grayson took it up for awhile until an injury forced him to retire also. Dick now dedicated his time to his wife and daughter. The mantle had been passed onto the Bruce's other ward, Tim Drake who was now in his mid 30s. He wore a high tech version of the famous batsuit with in-built weapons and rocket boots. It also enhanced his physical strength. The famous bat symbol was now red.

Next to enter is the 20 year old Green Arrow, Olivia Queen, daughter of the original Green Arrow and Black Canary. Even though she possessed her mother's meta-power of the Canary Cry she chose to follow in her father's footsteps. She liked to claim her proficiency with the bow surpassed her father's. She wore a green costume with tan leather up the sides and the centre where it was held together by leather straps. To protect her identity she wore a hooded cloak like the former Speedy, the now late Mia Dearden, did and instead of a mask she wore green shades which were extremely high-tech allowing night vision and a HUD on the inside of the lenses. It also has a built in modifier which electronically distorts her voice as a further way of protecting her identity.

Walking beside her was a 16 year old girl with jade green skin and hair and as a result she simply went by what is her real name; Jade. Her full name is Jade Troy-Rayner, daughter of Donna Troy, former Wonder Girl, and Kyle Rayner, the Green Lantern. She wasn't born with green skin but she did always have jade green eyes, hence her name. Her powers manifested a couple of years ago after being exposed to the Starheart, an object possessing power similar to that of the Great Central Power Battery on Oa. It latched onto her due to the mixture of the mystical nature of her mother's powers that lay dormant within her and the latent Green Lantern energies that were also present in her cells due to her father. The whole strange mixture left her with her mother's abilities to fly and her super-strength and the ability to project and manipulate energy constructs the same way her father did with his power ring. She wore a white and black costume with a green star on it over her heart. Being the daughter of an Amazon she inevitably wore two silver bracelets on her wrists.

Following on behind them is a young man with dark hair and blue eyes in his mid 20s, 25 to be exact, in tails and a top-hat. He is John Zatara, son of Zatanna and John Constantine. He goes simply by the name Zatara and like his mother he performs spells by speaking backwards.

Next is an extremely voluptuous, powerfully built woman with blond hair. She is Power Woman, Kara Zor-L, Superman's cousin from a parallel universe in her white bodysuit, blue boots and gloves and short red cape. When they found her 15 years ago she had only been 16 years old and she had originally went by Power Girl. She chose the name instead of, as some suggested, Supergirl because she had no wish to scrounge off her cousin's name or legacy but being she is now in her 30s she decided to change it from Girl to Woman.

Accompanying her are the 20 year old Supergirl and Superboy, Lara and Jonathan Kent. The first born twins of Superman and Wonder Woman and as twins they share many identical tastes including wearing similar uniforms. Unlike their parents they chose to wear small black masks over their eyes as the way to hide their identities. Both dressed in black skin-tight clothing and long black trench coats and on both of the shirts they are wearing in silver a mark all criminal recognise. It is the stylised S worn by their father. The crest of the House of El. The material their clothes are made of is literally not of this world. It is something from their father's homeworld he had gifted them when they chose to embark upon a crime-fighting career. Their appearance has also given some plenty of room for teasing. Green Arrow in particular referred to them as the 'Matrix twins'. Both also shared many characteristics of their parents. Lara possessed her mother's perfect hourglass figure and dark raven hair while Jon was built and indeed looked a lot like his father. Both possessed their father's abilities as his Kryptonian genes were the dominant ones in their DNA. Both possessed his cerulean blue eyes.

It was these that answered the alarm as many of what you would call the more senior members of the League were busy off-world on a mission for the Guardians working alongside the Green Lantern Corps fighting off a renewed threat from the Manhunters, the original robotic police force of the Guardians.

While all these heroes were filtering in J'onn had continued his analysis of the rupture. "It is being generated from outside our universe," he concludes. "And if it continues to grow at its current rate it will tear the planet apart within a day, perhaps 2 at most."

"So in that case how do we stop it?" Green Arrow asks.

J'onn activates the communicator. He is going to need to ask someone to come out of retirement for a day. The image of a greying, balding man pops up. "Ray. We need your help."

Ray Palmer, once known as the Atom, inputs the last commands into his trans-dimensional portal stick. He had invented it years ago and it was responsible for bringing Power Woman to this universe. Using the stick he would also be able to trace the tear to its source universe. He turns it on and what resembles a flash light flickers on and a portal open up in front of the collected group of heroes. The image in the portal clears and what they see is another Watchtower with another J'onn organising as he does here.

"The portal is open," Ray informs them all.

"I will go first," J'onn offers. "In that way I can quickly ascertain with my counterpart the situation and what kind of response if any will be necessary." J'onn then floats up and glides through the portal.

The JLU universe

J'onn suddenly senses the presence of another Martian mind. He turns quickly to be greeted by a doppelgänger and a telepathic exchange begins. The JLJ'onn projects scepticism to the SRJ'onn and relays the events of the Justice Lords to him. The SRJ'onn offers that the JLJ'onn return with him and see for himself that their universe is being damaged as well.

JLJ'onn turns to Mr Terrific standing next to him who too had noticed the doppelgänger appearance. J'onn quickly explains the situation to him.

"You sure?" Mr Terrific asks him about going in the middle of this crisis. J'onn catches a glimpse of an image of Superman battling Darkseid and can see that it is not going so well. Darkseid seems even more powerful than before. Superman might even lose and then they will all be doomed. The legions of parademons were already almost more than they could cope with.

"I am sure," J'onn informs him before he then follows his counterpart back through the open portal.

The SR universe

The group of heroes get to meet two J'onns as they emerge from the portal.

"Is anyone else finding this strange or is it just me?" Connor asks.

"It is just you uncle Connor," Jon and Lara say together in stereo.

JLJ'onn moves to the monitoring womb where he examines the read-outs. It is true. Darkseid is ripping right into this universe as well.

"So can we get an explanation as to what is going on?" Power Woman asks.

JLJ'onn turns to face them. "Of course." He then summarises it for them.

"Darkseid," Batman mutters. "Should of known."

"If you are able to offer assistance then it would be appreciated," JLJ'onn mentions.

The whole station shakes as to an answer.

"Yeah. That won't be a problem," Connor says in return. "If that rupture isn't sealed it is going to rip the planet apart."

Jon and Lara share a look. Darkseid. That leaves one question. "Who is telling dad?"

A few minutes later Wonder Woman and a very annoyed looking Superman teleport aboard. They hadn't gone to fight the Manhunters for varying reasons. Others could handle it and their 9 year old daughter Lyta was at the age of undergoing a very important Amazon ritual that both he and Diana needed to attend as the parents. In fact so did Jon and Lara and they were going to teleport down today after their shift ended. Both Clark and Diana were happy to let them finish their shift first before attending. The preparation for the ceremony didn't strictly need them.

'Darkseid,' Clark angrily mutters in his head. It is always Darkseid. Either this universe's one or another and he is sick of it. Only last year they had had to fight off another one of Darkseid's invasion attempts which had ended up exposing his children's existence to the world and he had spent weeks after that trying to explain it and ease any worries people might have. A more extreme concern, as an example, being that he was breeding a super-powered army to take over the planet. Preposterous.

Diana too was not much happier. This was suppose to be a very important day for her daughter whom she had now had to leave in the care of her mother along with her youngest daughter Martha who was now 4. Hippolyta of course understood if the world was threatened that Diana had to go. Diana is going to take her frustrations out on someone so whoever it is better beware.

JLJ'onn takes in Superman and Wonder Woman. He had learned that in this universe those he knew were much older but Superman looked almost identical. He even wore the same costume as his counterpart. Diana too looked the same apart from the fact she wore a Grecian warrior skirt instead of the shorts her counterpart wore.

They all make their way to lab where the portal stick is. It is then Connor's communicator goes off. "Sorry," he apologises to everyone. "Go on. I'll catch up." He moves to a video screen in the corner while the others go on ahead of him. He switches it on and the image in front of him is the explanation of why he is here instead of hunting Manhunters across the galaxy. It is his beloved wife, another former Wonder Girl, Cassandra Sandsmark...well technically it was Cassandra Kent these days. "Hey Cassie," he greets her.

"Don't hey Cassie me Connor!" she snaps in reply making him cringe. "I know what you are up to."

"Cassie, honey, I thought we discussed that you would stop hacking into the League's communication system. You can't afford to get worked up in your condition," he says with deep loving concern. Her condition is plainly obvious to anyone who sees her. Cassie is very pregnant. In fact she is a week overdue.

Cassie's hands rest on her bump. "Connor if I've told you once I've told you a thousand times I'm pregnant. Not an invalid."

Connor shakes his head. He had lived through both Donna and Diana being pregnant and discovered that Amazons were not good mothers to be. They were stubborn, wilful, ill-tempered and tended towards the violent end of mood swings and Cassie was no different despite the fact technically she was a demi-god, not an amazon. "Cassie do you doubt that I love you?" he asks her.

"Well no," she admits.

"Alright then trust me in that I will be alright and that I will always come home to you."

"Ok," she reluctantly accepts. "But if I find out you fraternised with anyone in that other universe Connor not even my father will be able to protect you from me."

"Cassie you are cute when you are jealous but have no doubt that I love you."

"I love you too."

"I promise as soon as this is sorted out I'll be home." He kisses his finger tips and places them on the screen and Cassie returns the gesture. Connor then heads off through the portal after his friends.

The JLU universe

Upon arriving Connor finds Superman having a showdown with this universe's Batman. Oh goody. This should be a barrel of laughs.

Batman eyes the newest arrival who looks almost identical to Superman. "There are two of you?" he enquires of the Superman in the recognisable costume.

Clark turns his head to glimpse Connor before he turns it back to face Batman. "No that is Kon-El. My clone," he answers.

Batman's eyebrows rise almost imperceivable under his cowl. Supergirl had been cloned in this universe but not Superman. He was also not entirely happy about what was going on. After the Justice Lords he was understandably suspicious and also all these heroes were so different to the ones he knew.

Clark shakes his head. "Look...Bruce. We can spend all day with you not trusting us and let two universes get torn apart or you give us the benefit of the doubt and we stop Darkseid. The choice is yours."

Batman's eyes narrow to slits. "You are definitely Clark Kent aren't you."

Clark smiles that goofy one of his. "Raised amongst the wheat fields of Kansas by Jonathan and Martha Kent if you want to know."

Bruce will admit the situation is dire. "Alright," he says. "Lets team them up."

Clark moves up to the teleporter. "Send me to Darkseid. I'll take care of him."

Mr Terrific activates it and Clark vanishes. Diana steps forward. "I'll help my counterpart," she offers. "And that will placate Bruce since she can keep an eye on me," she smartly adds.

"Wonder Woman is in Metropolis," Mr Terrific points out. "They are really over-whelmed there," he feels the need to mention.

"We'll go!" Jon and Lara say at the same time as they join their mother on the teleporter. As they vanish Bruce knows the obvious. They are Superman's children. The eyes give it away. He hasn't quite worked out who the mother is yet due to the masks they wear as it covers up some of their features. It, of course, can wait until after the crisis is over.

"New York is next," Mr Terrific lists as where they need back up. "Supergirl is there on her own." Kara had returned from the future after she and Brainiac 5 had broken up and was actually living in New York these days.

"I'll go," Power Woman offers as she steps forward.

"Another would be useful," Mr Terrific asks for.

Connor steps forward. "I'll go. Someone has to keep Kara out of trouble."

"Hey!" Power Woman protests.

Mr Terrific looks up. "Wait a second. You're Kara?" he asks with surprise at how different she looks from Supergirl.

Power Woman frowns. "Of course I am. What other cousin of Superman do you know?"

Batman cuts off the conversation. "Just port them. Now!"

Connor and Kara vanish. Green Arrow steps forward. "So where is this universe's Green Arrow?" she asks. "And does he need help?" Olivia couldn't help but let her curiosity get the better of her and also she thinks it would be great to see her parents in their prime.

Batman looks at her curiously. Her voice is electronically distorted which he must admit is a good way of disguising one's identity. "Mr Terrific. Send her to Star City."

Olivia grins manically. This is going to be so much fun she thinks to herself as she steps up on the teleporter and then vanishes too.

Batman turns to who is left. Two girls. One in armour similar to Steel and another with green skin. Another Batman and a young man who strongly reminds him of Zatanna.

"Tasha?" Mr Terrific suddenly asks as he finally figures out who her face mask resembles. Of course the Natasha he knows is only 7 years old.

"Hey uncle Mike," Natasha says in greeting him. The League was like a giant family so they were all aunts and uncles and cousins of a sort.

"Does your armour work like his?" Batman asks.

"Basically and from what I can see here add about 20 years of technological advancements."

"We sent Steel to London," Mr Terrific informs Batman.

"Send her there too," Bruce decides. After all in many ways what difference does it make. It isn't like they are seeing the actual future. They are from a parallel universe.

As Steel vanishes Bruce turns his attention to Jade. "What can you do?"

Jade smiles and hold her hand out palm up and creates a green miniature imitation of Batman. "Anything a Green Lantern can with the added bonus that I'm naturally superstrong." Bruce eyes the amazon bracelets on her wrists which means she must be an excellent fighter. All Amazons were. "China," Bruce decides for her destination.

"Who are you and what can you do?" Bruce asks the young man in the top hat.

"The name is Zatara and well I can do this; NAMTAB TROPELET"

Suddenly Bruce finds himself on the other side of the room. He scowls as he makes his way back over. "Don't do that!" he tells off the young man backing it up with his most fearsome glare which has no effect. Zatara simply smiles at him in that same exasperating way Zee does.

"Send him to help Zatanna in Europe," Bruce orders.

Zatara smiles at that. His mother's face is going to be priceless when they get back and he tells her this story. He steps on to the teleporter and allows it to do the work instead of him doing it himself.

That leaves the two Batmans to eye each other up.

"I'll spare you working it out Bruce," the SR one decides and pulls his cowl off.

Bruce takes a moment to recognise the feature of the older version of the person he knows. "Tim."

"Surprised?"

Bruce says nothing.

"We all have to retire sometime Bruce," Tim tells him.

"Set it to Gotham," Batman instructs Mr Terrific.

Tim smiles slightly as he pulls his mask back on and steps up on the teleporter next to his mentor and the two of them vanish in the beam of light.

Now with them all sent away the real battle begins.

Author's Note: In creating my Jade I took many elements of the version of Jade from the comics and applied to them to Donna and Kyle's daughter.