Author's Note: Sorry about the delay. I've been super busy with essays and work 😰 This is a bit of a filler chapter but whatever, I hope you like it anyway 😂

"So let me get this straight. As the new generation of heroes grew, the crime rate started to drop exponentially. After a few years, every villain had been either locked up or killed. Then the younger heroes started fighting amongst themselves." Harper tapped her fingers against the armrest of her wheelchair with growing unease. She had exited the Atlas mech a while ago, and it now stood next to her in the small hangar. It was the only suit that Harper recognised. Apparently the others had been scrapped for Lara's projects. "All because they were bored? There has to be more to it than that..."

Lara fidgeted with her fingers and analysed the giant chassis for any scratches. "Th-They grew up with a lot of power, and no one to oppose them. 'Absolute power corrupts absolutely'. They...never learnt to appreciate their abilities and the impact they could have, only to exploit them. I suppose it could be a form of rebellion too. They were automatically associated with the legends of their parents. I'm sure it's not an easy thing to live up to."

Harper chewed on her bottom lip. She supposed that made sense...she had certainly believed more obscure concepts. They had grown up in a world in which, as soon as they were born, they were expected to follow in their parents' footsteps. When all crime was practically abolished, they had no other purpose in life...and so they used their abilities fight against one another; with the cities of Earth suffering as the battlefield. In some ways, they were victims of an ideal or expectation that was unreachable.

"Why isn't anyone stopping this...?" Harper asked in absolute disbelief that such young supers had been allowed to conduct themselves in that way for so long, and without any repercussions.

"They've tried." Lara brushed off a few remaining grains of dirt from the mech. "Some of them have anyway, but there's nothing they can do. The younger supers don't listen, and they'd escape from any prison they could try and lock them into. People are scared that incarcerating them might make things worse."

"I doubt that it could get much worse than this... How can the Justice League just let this continue?"

"W-Well..." Lara murmured, as if every word was a chore. "Most of the original JL members left after Superman's trial. The team never recovered from it. Without a leader the Justice League is in a state of limbo; disorganised and uncertain."

"So...if Superman came back then-"

"He won't. Dad's already tried. If he comes back he's going directly against the public's wishes, and without his wife or daughter he's lost any motivation to do so."

Harper frowned. "Then we'll just need to convince the others to rejoin the Justice League instead."

"W-Wait...'we'...th-there's no we!" Lara, finally starting to find some small degree of confidence, spoke up. "If I go with you mom's definitely going to notice..."

Harper smirked at the girl, cowering in the shadow of her mother, and made a mental note to try and raise her with a bit more backbone in her own world. "I don't want you to come with me."

Lara's brow furrowed.

"You seem capable enough to help me repair the Atlas though...and maybe reinforce the hull and structural frame, pressurise the interior, and add an oxygenator so I can survive the trip to Atlantis."

The younger girl let in a shaky gasp, then shook her head vigorously. "N-No, I can't-"

"Here I thought that you were actually going to give her a challenge." The low voice of Victor Stone punctured the air. Harper glanced over her shoulder as he sauntered towards them. "That's pretty simple stuff for someone like Lara."

He grinned at his daughter with such indescribable pride that it made Harper almost upset that she didn't know Lara well enough to feel it too.

"N-No, I can't...mom won't like it..." Lara shivered like a child, though she looked even older than Harper was right now. She supposed that people could be young in nature if they lead a sheltered life but it was still shocking to hear it from her future 'daughter'.

Victor's face fell into shadow. He looked as if he might debate her choice of calling that woman her mother, but before he could there was an almighty 'crash' from above them. Their eyes darted up in time to see Tarcis smashing a giant gravity hammer against the roof, and creating a big enough hole to jump into the room. Her solid black eyes immediately found Lara, and a smirk crawled across her face.

"Bs'jix isnak rruksld, gishnar?" She spoke in her alien tongue, but both Victor and Lara somehow seemed to understand.

"N-No... Not here..." Lara's voice shattered with anxiety as Tarcis wavered closer to her. "U-Uh... T-Trag narlun!"

Harper stared wide eyed at the girl's nervous attempt at speaking Bekkorian. It was hard enough learning another Earth language, let alone a completely alien one. Harper had to admit that she was impressed.

Tarcis looked like she had completely ignored Lara's half-hearted rejection, and instead pinned her against the wall and pressed their lips together. Victor's arm instantly reformed itself into a sonic cannon. "Fru'nik yernar gratn'r yarklaw datn'iq!"

It wasn't surprising that Victor knew this foreign language. He was basically a giant alien computer. Though Harper couldn't exactly understand what he had just said, his tone was more than enough to deduce that it was something like 'Get the fuck away from my daughter!'.

Tarcis didn't look even slightly bothered by Victor's threats, and instead played with a ringlet hanging next to Lara's ear defiantly. At this gesture, Lara turned a shade of red even darker than before, which Harper didn't believe was humanly possible until now. In all honesty, she was shocked that Lara had the courage to date such a spontaneous and direct alien warlord.

Victor bared his teeth at the pale woman, and started warming up his canon to fire...probably not at her, just beside her head in an attempt to scare her away. Harper knew that this wouldn't work, and so she placed her hand on Victor's shoulder and guided the weapon downward.

"We'll give you guys some privacy." Harper said much too casually for Victor's liking.

"What? No we won't!" Victor roared, panicked by the mere thought of leaving them alone together.

"Vic, she's like 26...she's old enough to make her own decisions." Harper insisted, deciding to ignore the look of disapproval that fell over his face. "Besides, she's going to help me with my suit when I get back, aren't you?"

Lara gulped. "I-I never said I'd-"

"Good. We have a deal. Come on, Victor."

The cyborg glared at Tarcis angrily, but followed Harper out of the room regardless of his personal hesitance. Perhaps there was a part of him that wished for Harper's less rigid approach to parenting. He always felt so lost. Raising a girl in this world, and one with such a timid nature, wasn't easy. He never knew how to deal with it, especially after Harper left. He couldn't deny that he was somewhat relieved to have someone take control of the situation for once...but he still couldn't help but disagree with her choice.

"She just destroyed part of this building, and you're going to leave Lara with her?"

Harper smirked. "Didn't look like she had any intention of hurting her."

"That's not the point. She's a bad influence. There aren't many kids from this circle that haven't started fighting each other out of sheer boredom. Lara's one of the only ones. I don't want her getting involved."

"That shouldn't be your main concern." Harper said just as bluntly as she always used to. "These kids are just victims of circumstance. They grew up in a world that praised them for their powers, and so they never learnt how to be normal when the crime rate finally dropped. It's not too late to teach them, but we're not the people to do it. At least, not alone."

"You're serious about bringing the Justice League back?" Victor asked in a tone that already sounded defeated. "This isn't your world. It's not your problem."

"Well no one else is doing anything. I'm not gonna sit around and watch this happen."

"People have already tried, I have too. Countless times. They won't come back without Clark and he's made it painfully clear that he's not getting involved anymore."

Harper frowned. "Trying again can't hurt. I want to leave here knowing that I at least tried to fix things."

Victor's gaze softened, and now he stared at Harper like she was a streak of sunlight that had pushed through the decay of his world. It was strange to see her as this visage of light, though, because in the past he so often associated her with the harshness of the dark. "Then I'm coming with you."

Harper tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and smiled. She had expected this response, but was relieved by hearing it all the same. It would certainly help to have someone from that time period there to fill her in. "I wouldn't have expected anything less from you, but is there anything I should know before we prepare for Atlantis?"

The faintest hint of a smirk could be seen ghosting across Victor's lips, though he tried helplessly to hide it. "Not really. Arthur and Camille are still the rulers, and their son Veran is Ocean Master."

Harper nodded. She could recall Veran's ragged features from her first few moments in this era. She hoped that small piece of familiarity would provide her with some small degree of comfort once they arrived in Atlantis...but she highly doubted it.

"He doesn't come to the surface very often. Got involved in one of those childish battles once though, and was punished pretty severely for it."

"Like how?"

"I heard his parents locked him in Refojuner, an Atlantean prison. One of the worst. He wasn't given any special treatment, and was only released when they felt he had served sufficient time for the damage that he caused...which was a lot." Victor explained with some degree of admiration in his voice.

"This 'Camille' sounds pretty cold to throw her own son in jail." Harper murmured. She had never heard of this woman...so perhaps she was yet to appear in her own timeline.

"She's actually a lot like Clark; kind, strong, but a little naive. She struggled to fit into the role of queen, but has committed herself fully to the task. Locking Veran up was the right move. It taught him the consequences of misusing his power, a lesson he'll need if he ever takes the throne. They did it out of love and duty. I wish more of the Justice League had kept such a close watch on their kids" Victor looked as if he felt almost bad for saying such a thing about his previous team members, but he swiftly refocused his attention back onto the subject. "Anyway he doesn't delve into surface matters anymore. Arthur and Camille never leave Atlantis. After Clark's trial went sour they cut themselves off from our world, and declared that their people didn't feel welcome on land anymore."

"...Oh great. Should be easy to convince them to come back then." Harper said sarcastically. "Maybe we should focus more on Veran. He could convince his parents to rejoin...right?"

"Veran's a good kid but he holds no sway in Atlantis. Not until he inherits the crown..."

Harper sighed. This entire place was a disaster. The Justice League were gone, and their children were ripping cities apart. At first she thought it would be an easy task to reunite them all towards a common goal, but now she saw that this was much more complicated than she had originally suspected. It all stemmed from Clark's trial, and she had to wonder what exactly was said and done to warrant such a tidal wave of calamity to wash over this world...