disclaimer: I do not own Batman Beyond or Justice League Unlimited

Green Arrow watches the suddenly scrambling police with a raised brow. He shifted a bit and considers the group. He wasn't used to the feel of Gotham. No one in the league was really. Well except Batman and his own. It was like it had its own heartbeat that no one but it's citizens could hear. There was just something about the place. It was gray at its brightest and something lingered in the air. Something solemn, something dark and menacing. There was just something about the place that marked a person. All anyone in the league had to do was to talk to the city's self-proclaimed defender to know that, the same look was in the grim-faced officers moving about the place. From twenty year vet to the green-faced rookies directing nearby traffic, there was just something different about the place that a person could feel, "What's the situation? I can't read your minds." Arrow asks a nearby cop after a moment. The guy looked like someone to ask, he had the look of someone who has been part of the force for a while.

The vet pauses for a moment and blinks in the archer's direction. He expression morphs into confusion and answers, "Sorry, Batman usually doesn't need to be told of these type of situations. He's usually the one who informs us of problems." Giving the archer a considering look the older officer goes towards his patrol car and takes out an unused but what was clearly a very old map. "We just got a call about a break out at Arkham. Killer Croc, Poison Ivy, and Joker are unaccounted for. According to reports it's Harley Quinn that got them out. Croc and Ivy haven't been spotted but reports are coming in about Joker and Harley gassing some people near Victory Plaza. They've been dead for quite a few." The man helpfully points to various locations on the map.

"Shit!" Arrow says shortly and eloquently. He quickly presses the button on his ear piece, "Green Arrow to Watchtower!" a moment passes and nothing. "Shit!" he repeats.

The vet raises an eyebrow at Green Arrow, he was obviously used to the unemotional responses of Batman. "Joker is known for high jacking radio and TV broadcasts." he informs the Justice League member dryly.

"Yeah I remember that from the quick briefing we had a while back. I better get word to the tower about him figuring out the frequency. Knowing Batman though, those Brats he trained probably know already." He stops and looks towards the officer's cruiser at the sound it was admitting, "You still have a radio?"

The man nods, "Seems he's only interfering with you Justice League types right now."

"You mind doing me a favor and passing the word along to my people? Most likely most of them still believe the radios are working." Green Arrow asks already taking out his bow.

The police of Gotham weren't on the friendliest terms with vigilantes in spite of the giant bat signal the commissioner keeps. The officer pauses and gives him a considering look before replying, "Sure." he sighs heavily, giving in without a fight, experienced enough to know they would probably need the 'costumed' group eventually.

"I'm going to kill him." Mary McGinnis says shortly and seriously.

It didn't take long after their arrival at the cave for the working mother to wake. It took less time for the fragile control Matt had over his excitement to break and for the truth about where they were and what Terry was doing to spill out into the open.

Matt looks over at Mr. Wayne who was ignoring the two in favor of the results of the CT scan and back to his mother, "Umm Mom I know he's old and all but he was still.."

"I'm not talking about Mr. Wayne." She says abruptly. "Your brother and I are going to have a long talk when he gets back." Seeing the confused look on her youngest son's face she elaborates, "Mr. Wayne was clearly in retirement for years before your brother met him. I know your brother enough to know that he can be a very bad influence if he wants to be."

"Well that's a new way of looking at it." Max's amused voice sounds out from a nearby monitor. The girl was looking off camera at the various monitors, "Anyways Mr. Wayne a perimeter alarm just went off. It's indicating that someone near the north-end is trying to enter the city."

Mr. Wayne grunts, "It's expected. Probably someone from the Justice League. It'll take them awhile before they figure out how to get in."

"Oh cool! Is it Superman?" Matt exclaims, looking out of the small medical bay with unbridled anticipation. "Is he coming here?!"

Mr. Wayne looks away from the CT scan and toward Mrs. McGinnis, pointedly ignoring the boy's outburst "You have a concussion. It's not a bad one, you'll need to stay awake for a while." He turns and points his cane towards Matt effectively subduing the child's excitement, "You keep an eye on her and stay with her. There are too many things in the cave that you shouldn't be near." he turns to leave the two in favor of his computer.

"Wait Mr. Wayne!" Mrs. McGinnis calls out before he leaves the alcove.

He pauses and looks over his shoulder towards her, "I don't have time for a in-depth discussion about your son and his choices at the moment, Mrs. McGinnis." He says matter of factly, not a hint of emotion in his voice.

"That's not it. Though I believe we need to have one eventually," She states simply, "I would like to know what's going on."

Mr. Wayne turns back to her but stays silent waiting for her to continue.

"We wouldn't be here if the situation wasn't... wide-sweeping and serious. I would however like to have at least a rough idea of exactly what the situation IS." She finishes firmly.

"Actually she has a point. You haven't even told me what's exactly going on." Max says finally glancing towards the camera connected to the monitor of the medical alcove.

The old man grunts slightly, thinking it over for a moment he comes to a decision, "At seven twenty-nine local time, a distress signal was activated from a oversea's subsidiary of Star Labs. It was broadcast on the international network that was created for large-scale disasters. The Justice League answered. The disaster was not averted. There's evidence that they unfortunately did not survive the encounter with the then unknown anomaly."

He leans heavily on his cane, his face grim, "While this was happening, I acquired what information I could from sensors and satellites near the location to discover what the disaster was. It was a class-four black-hole. Low suction at the time but growing quickly."

"Terry was already within a few miles of it by this time and he discovered what I feared. The black-hole was not centered upon anything." Bruce practically growls, "There was no way of stopping it. I had Terry return to the cave and I enacted last resort safety protocols that I created over thirty years ago."

There was a pause, "Umm... Mr. Wayne, you said that it was probably the Justice League trying to get through the barrier?" Matt says in a small subdued voice.

Bruce nods in acknowledgement of the intelligent question, "The emergency system I created sent the city over 40 years into the past." he states bluntly. "The Justice League is going to interfere with something as large as this."

"So I'm actually going to see how you worked in your prime? Okay, two of you that's going to take some getting used to. Please tell me this doesn't mean twice the work..." Terry's voice comes out of the panel in front of Max.

The retired Batman glares at the monitor that was showing Max. The teen winces slightly and gives him a sheepish look, "Sorry Mr. Wayne, he convinced me to let him listen in. He wanted to know what was going on too."

"Mr. Wayne I was under the impression that time travel wasn't possible on such a large-scale.. Are paradoxes not going to be a concern?" Mrs. McGinnis asks with a clear note of worry and awkwardness in her voice.

Mr. Wayne turns back to Terry's mother giving her a considering look. She was taking in the whole situation much better than an ordinary citizen would, "It won't be a problem. Normal time travel is instantaneous from one point to another. This is because normal time travel requires actually moving along the time-stream. The process that's being used on Gotham effectively takes the entire containment area out of alignment of the time-steam into a buffering area between dimensions then reinserts it into the timeline. This basically severs everyone's dependence upon past events for our existence. It also prevents the possibility of paradoxes. Anymore questions before I get back to work?" He waits a moment giving the group time to think. He nods after a moment clearly believing the questioning session over. He goes to the door and as he reaches it pauses for a moment in thought. He looks over his shoulder and addresses Mary McGinnis, "Your talk with Terry will have to wait until the current situation is stable, I believe it won't be stable till sometime next week. He'll be returning in a couple of hours for rest before tonight's riots. Let. Him. Sleep." He says allowing no argument as he exits the alcove.

"Err don't worry about him." the two look over toward's Max's monitor at the sound of Terry's voice, "That's how he actually is. The sweet old man thing is nothing but an act. He must like you two. He didn't threaten you with the containment cell..."

"Test forty-seven failure." Batman says in an unwavering monotone.

"Adjusting calibration." Atom replies tiredly. He adjusts a long series of dials then flips a switch for a moment. A small jolt of electricity sparks onto a small lightning rod attached to one of the most boring machines Flash has ever seen.

Charts were displayed on a monitor attached to the thing. To a casual observer it wouldn't make any sense. Atom however nods.

"Forty-eight is ready for testing." Atom calls out.

Batman flips a series of switches. A flash of electricity bolts out of a series of rods pointing at the barrier.

The barrier doesn't react.

"Oh come ON!" Flash complains from his spot near the javelin.

Six hours of waiting seemed to be too much for the speedster. He did every little bit of running that they possibly needed, informing the League members in Gotham of the situation, equipment runs to old storage warehouses, running to sensors around the dome to make sure they were in working order, a quick run to get Chinese... from China. There was even now a large flattened area of the rocky base camp from the Flash's pacing.

"Test forty-eight, failure." Batman says to Atom promptly the doctor set up the next calibration sequence for the next test.

Atom doesn't bother telling them that he was setting up the next test as Batman turns towards the Flash and glares at the speedster.

Flash in an uncharacteristic bout of determination doesn't flinch, "Bats, this is taking too long."

"We've been over this." Batman says evenly.

"Yeah and you're wrong!" Flash says with determination.

"Super-girl is injured in the medical bay." the dark knight says shortly.

"Yeah and I told you she was hit by one of the bolts of energy running along that thing." the red clad man points towards the dome, emphasizing his point.

"You are not near invincible like she is. It hurt her, it'll kill you." Batman retorts.

"I'm faster than her and Superman, I can dodge." any casual observer could say the two were evenly matched at the moment.

"You also said that you weren't sure if you're fast enough to get through."

"Yeah and I don't care, this needs to be done." he says his gaze determined as his eyes flickers towards the city he can see through the energy field.

"You're going to try no matter what I say." It wasn't a question. Batman narrows his eyes at the speedster. Something must have shown on Flashes face because a moment later the Dark knight sighs heavily and walks towards a group of crates. Opening one, his dips his gloved hand into its depths and pulls out something.

Trusting Batman with his life is one thing, trusting Batman to stand aside while he took a big (and to the dark knight, unnecessary) risk was quite another. Not believing for a moment that Batman would just let him have his way, Flash readies himself to spring out-of-the-way of any type of trap Gotham's Protector would likely spring on him.

Flash couldn't help the blink of surprise as a first-aid kit in backpack form was thrust into his hands along with a smaller pouch of what he knew was his stash of emergency high Carb nutrition bars. "...there's a special transceiver inside the first-aid kit. I have it at the right frequency to the corresponding transceiver out here. It's very strong so it may be intercepted by other parties."

"Uhhh.. thanks Bats." Flash says.

"We'll continue to try to find a way through the containment field." Batman pauses giving him a measuring glance, "Don't Die." he orders, as if his say so would make a difference.

Author's Note: I've sat on this chapter for quite a bit... the word flow just doesn't feel right to me. I kept coming back to it to 'fix' it. Well anyways this is as good as it's going to get as far as I'm concerned. If anyone who usually reads 'Retrospect' is checking this out well... I'm bound to get bored with Reg comic book stuff eventually. Not much to read in that section. So basically don't write me off. I'm just not interested in writing in the anime section at the moment. Maybe later.