Legion World Forums LEGION OUTPOST Bits o' Legionnaire Business The Last & First Days of the Time Trapper

A little backstory to this tale. I originally had planned to do a "Legion of Multiverse-Heroes" type series or story. You know, having a Legion made up of Legionnaires from various realities. I'm sure others have speculated on that concept before and I believe a few have even written it here! I confess to not reading anything by others, but thought to give it a shot.

Well, one thing I figured out very quickly is that I knew who my heroes were...but what was my story? What threat would necessitate pulling this Legion together? So I began to rationalize the how's and why's, and it largely involved characters I typically don't care for. They all seemed either iconic or appropriate in scope though, so I began to write with these "set-up characters."

Then a funny thing happened. I started to really hear the voices in my head of these set-up characters. What's more, I realized that the conflict I had created largely needed to continue to involve these characters and the Legionnaires would be, at best, secondary or unneeded. I continued to write as inspiration came, and while I did get my bits in with Legionnaires, I largely figured out that my story didn't need to be a series. I could quickly and easily wrap it up with the initial characters, and you know what? That's okay. That's more than okay; it was actually a surreal and great feeling to start a story and see how it would end.

Did I want to write a Legion serial with a Multiverse of Legionnaires? Sure! How neat. Am I no longer going to write such a series because I'm so satisfied by this done-in-one tale? Yes. I'll write other stories in the future and I have other ideas, but I'm shelving the Multiverse Legionnaires idea now. Instead, I tentatively but proudly present the nonsense below.

The usual disclaimers apply. I don't own any of these characters, nor am I their creator. This is my interpretation of how I feel that they and the laws of physics would behave, which I'm sure are all completely heretical. Hooray!

          52 parallel Earths, each linked by the white void. This was far fewer Earths than had existed previously, causing the Multiverse to seem less daunting to those who had been aware of its historical progression.

          This was/is/will be the tale of one such individual.

          Their body was wrapped in bandages, draped over with a flowing, rich purple robe. The Time Trapper floated through the void of the Multiverse. While most lifeforms would panic lost in such expanse, the Time Trapper seemed relaxed and right at home. Everywhere their gaze turned, the Time Trapper’s fantastic abilities allowed them to peer into the various Earths of the Multiverse. Some Trappers glanced through time; this one glanced through time and space.

          It was a Time Trapper without a home, without a set Earth. With that restriction lifted, it was free to explore the Multiverse’s rich history and learn from the victories and mistakes of its counterparts across the 52 Earths. This unique perspective allowed this Trapper to see what others couldn’t: all of these parallel Earths were birthed from the same event in the past, and all would reconvene at the same point: the end of time.

          The End of Time stood like a desecrated asteroid amidst a storm of winds and purple skies. All Time Trappers prior knew of its existence as nearly all Earths were beholden to the same fate. This was still true amongst the new Multiverse, the new 52, but with a harrowing twist. If all Earths began and ended at the same point, then all Time Trappers … reconvened at the same point.

          It was a place in the multiverse the drifting Time Trapper dared not go toward. It was the most dangerous territory in all of history, where 52 powerful Time Trappers occupied the same space. Surprisingly, the Earths were not threatened by the menace of 52 entropies teamed together. For sadly, all Time Trappers began life at one point as everyday sentience and never seemed to completely shake the pitfalls of their ancestors. Hubris was lost. They let out their rage, frustration, and fear at one another.

          The Time Trapper of New Earth changed all that. A denizen of Earth-Prime which was shunted into New Earth as a boy, this unique variable allowed Superboy-Prime to grow into a Time Trapper menace which could best its fellow Trappers. It had a multi-reality edge and a child-like rage, which allowed it to systematically destroy all other Time Trappers by venturing to the pasts of their individual Earths …and murdering them. This Time Trapper would have stood unopposed, had it not been for the Legions of Three Earths who gave the Time Trapper of New Earth a taste of its own medicine: they tricked Superboy-Prime into eliminating his own future self. With the Time Trapper of New Earth gone, the 52 Earths stood without a Time Trapper.

          The Time Trapper of the Multiverse was the exception, and feared it was so far removed from those Earths that remained that it would be best to wait out the Time Trapper conflict. After all, a Time Trapper had nothing but time. That venture paid off. Now, they were alone in the Multiverse unopposed, and repaid the universes in kind by leaving them to their own devices. The Time Trapper simply wanted to watch.

          Change was about the Multiverse – the Time Trapper could feel it in its soul. The End of Time, reduced to ash numerous times and restored due to the ramifications of its 52 denizens, was quiet. Multiple purple robes were affixed to stalagmites in tatters like effigies to fallen Time Trappers. The last Time Trapper watched over it, still not setting foot on the asteroid despite its vacancy.

          On its most recent visit, the Time Trapper was shocked to make a discovery they had prayed wouldn’t come to pass. A new Time Trapper wandered the End of Time, looking to the memorials in a puzzled manner. There was often a motto on the Earths that the universe would demand their always be a Time Trapper, with one taking the place of a fallen other in history typically. As of yet, no replacements had arrived for the 52 fallen Trappers. Was this to be the first, or was something else at play? Should all Time Trappers return, would they be doomed to repeat their folly?

          And so, for the first time in what felt like Earth life-times, the Time Trapper of the Multiverse decided to become more than a voyeur. They pulled across the white void and landed on the End of Time, presenting their self to the new Time Trapper.

          The new Time Trapper wandering the End of Time froze in place. Even with its back turned to the arriving Time Trapper of the Multiverse, it seemed well aware of the other’s presence.

          “Would you like to hear the story of this land? Learn from what has come before?” The Time Trapper of the Multiverse asked, foregoing introductions in its quest to sway this new Time Trapper toward a more righteous path than its predecessors.

          The new Time Trapper was still a moment, considering. Then they spoke. “You dare? You dare come to my land, wearing that visage? You, who are a relic of a lost universe?”

          The existing Time Trapper was taken aback. Even all of its omniscience had not prepared it for the forthcoming revelation, and the Trapper had now wished it had spent a little more time observing before making first contact. “You have recently come into existence, yet you know much already. How is that so?”

          Turning, the latest Time Trapper revealed their frame. The familiar purple robe hid not a bandaged body, but the energy-formed physique of a known threat.

          “The Infinite Man!” The Time Trapper was stunned for the first time in a long while. The Infinite Man survived the First Crisis and was from New Earth, a lowly professor whose body was bombarded with chronal particles which turned it into a being of pure time. The Infinite Man had bested a Time Trapper in the past, before the 52 Earths had coalesced into their current configuration, but was supposedly destroyed.

          “As you watched outside of space, I watched inside of time. All time. You have witnessed millennia, but I have experienced it. I have defeated a version of you in the distant past before, and I shall do so again,” the Infinite Man postured. “…and then, these timelines will be mine to route into a single, infinite whole.”

          Before the Time Trapper could retort, chronal energy surged about the Infinite Man. Humanoid specters materialized through the ripples of light, charging the Time Trapper. Though from the impressive scale of the Time Trapper and Infinite Man they may seem insignificant, the Time Trapper recognized the symbols some of these wraiths of light wore. One stood out in particular, charging straight at the Time Trapper’s face.

          An “S” symbol stood out on the specter’s chest. The Time Trapper wasn’t interested in seeing if the creature’s power matched that of the hero it was emulating. The Time Trapper surged with their own energy and back-stepped into a white fold in space, fleeing the End of Time and re-entering the void of the Multiverse. The Time Trapper quickly closed the portal behind them, but it was too late. The Superman-shaped wraith was able to follow through into the Multiverse.

          Could the Infinite Man and its other soldiers follow? That was a riddle the Time Trapper would focus on solving after this encounter. The Superman he faced packed a punch – the Time Trapper’s physical form felt it and recalled it well from similar encounters with Daxamites and Kryptonians across the Multiverse, let alone this Trapper’s original timeline. The nature of the blow meant this was more than a create of light – it had some type of physical shape to it. Could it be real? With the Infinite Man, did that indicate this was a hero pulled through time? A trick so often used by Darkseid, the Infinite Man, and other omnipotent conquerors before them?

          “I know not whence you came,” the Time Trapper’s body seemed to morph around the potential second blow like liquid, avoiding it completely. The Trapper reconstituted, gesturing a bandaged hand. “But I know how to free you from the corruption the Infinite Man is doing to your personal timeline.”

          With that, the Trapper’s hand glowed with a gesture both magical and weighted with energies from the timestream. Light bent around the Infinite Man’s servant and the colors slipped away, leaving the specter a physical young man in a very familiar blue and red outfit. It paid to be an observer sometimes – the Time Trapper would never have known to prepare for such an attack without first watching it be used in the war of the Time Trappers.

          “Not a Superman, but a Super…boy?” the Time Trapper reached out another palm, to catch Superboy as he floated back in recoil from the distortion effect. “Do not fear me, Superboy. I must discern from whence you came.”

          Now resting in the Time Trapper’s oversized palm, Superboy shook out his head and clutched it gingerly. “Where…where am I?” The absence of other noise and life was immediately evident to the boy with super-hearing, who glanced up and found what he thought was a familiar foe before him. His teeth clenched and his eyes flashed red. “TRAPPER!!!”

          A pair of white lights glowed from inside the shadows of the Time Trapper’s cloak, examining Superboy. The Boy of Steel flew off the hand at high speed, straight for the distracted Trapper’s face. The Time Trapper’s energy signature dampened as they attempted to avoid assault as best they could. “Clark! No!”

          The Time Trapper vanished from Superboy’s path, reappearing in similar yet smaller form kilometers away. In the white void though, it was still easy to spot the Time Trapper without super-senses. “Hear me, Clark Kent. For I am not who you think.”

          Superboy came at the Time Trapper like a rocket, losing no momentum as his course redirected. “Why should I believe you?!”

          “The Infinite Man took control of you. Somehow he was able to wrest you from time and simultaneously exert dominance on your persona,” the Time Trapper discerned. “One of those skills is new to him, the other is not. You may hold the key to learning more of what power he has acquired and how it came about.”

          “Don’t care!” Superboy flew through the Time Trapper with both fists forward, the robed figure vanishing at the last second and reappearing elsewhere.

          The Trapper was sliding through their personal timeline rather than teleporting through space, but that wasn’t a trick they were looking to reveal yet. “Superboy! You must cease this…”

          A blast of energy rippled through the void, striking Superboy in the back. With a shriek he doubled-over, his momentum carrying his unconscious body into a tumble through the white expanse. The Time Trapper blinked back into an enlarged state, grabbing Superboy in one hand. The Trapper turned to a point in the Multiverse, reaching his spare hand out as a fist. When he unclenched it, energy swirled and a smaller purple robed figure occupied it.

          “There was no need for that,” the Time Trapper insisted. “He wasn’t a threat.”

          “Yeah, you sure look like you had that one taken care of,” the latest robed figure sounded annoyed. “I didn’t kill him – I wouldn’t. I’m just here to help, like I always have been …and always will be.” The figure dropped their hood, revealing a feminine face beneath. An adult Lori Morning stood in the palm of the Time Trapper’s hand. “After all, we can’t keep shaking up that Time Trapper/Glorith tradition if you get killed, right?”

          The Time Trapper of the Multiverse, the sole Time Trapper remaining, steadied itself. Lori Morning of Earth-247, the dead universe this Trapper came from, was correct. “You and I will have our work cut out for ourselves, it would appear. Come, Lori. We have much to do.”

          “…nnh. Where…?” Superboy stirred, regaining consciousness. He felt a soft hand holding his and sat up to gain his bearings. The hand belonged to a woman with long, flowing blonde hair.

          “Superboy, take a deep breath. I know how overwhelming this place can be if it’s your first time,” Lori Morning tried to assure the boy floating in the white void beside her. She could see the surprise in Superboy’s face, though he didn’t lash out at her like he did the Time Trapper. “My name is … Lori,” Lori revealed, opting to not use the Glorith alias in case it had a negative connotation with this Superboy. “And despite the purple robes, I promise you – the Time Trapper and I are here to help.”

          Superboy’s eyebrows shot up. “The Trapper! Where is he?”

          “He’s here. All around us, but he isn’t making himself visible right now. He has a lot to think about,” Lori confided. “You were being controlled by the Infinite Man. He must have plucked you out of time to use you as one of his warriors. Do you remember that?”

          “No, I’m … I’m sorry, I don’t remember that. I just remember being back home, and then all of a sudden I’m in this sea of white with the Time Trapper. I’m not sure why he kidnapped me, but…” Superboy recollected.

          “No. Stop right there,” Lori insisted, not wanting this young Superman to get his story wrong so soon. “I know how other Time Trappers are. I’ve heard stories and even interacted with a few, barely escaping with my life. Those terrible Time Trappers though? They’re gone. The Infinite Man has somehow seen to it that once a Time Trapper has been destroyed, entropy doesn’t replace them with another like has traditionally been the case. He’s the one that plucked you and enslaved you.”

          Superboy floated, uncomfortable. Not only did this sensation not feel precisely like flying which he was accustomed to, but this strange story was unsettling. He really didn’t want to think of the threat of one Time Trapper, let alone multiple ones. “…who are you? Why do you wear the robes of a Time Trapper?”

          Lori had a chuckle at that, glancing away and pushing a long bang behind her ear. “I’m the Trapper’s apprentice, as it were. One day I’m likely to be a Time Trapper due to my unique background, and The Time Trapper is helping me cultivate that. When time travel took place on Earth-247, my adopted Earth, they traveled in both time and space to other realities. As I ascended over my history and acquired my power, that left me with a unique perspective and edge. See, I’m not originally from the Earth that I became apprentice over. Things work out a little different with that variable … sometimes for the best, sometimes for the worst. It drove some mad, but for me? I had some clarity, and I didn’t want the stigma of being a Time Trapper. I was something else. Something else else more.”

          Superboy stared at her blankly.

          “When my reality was threatened, by a punch of all things, I capitalized on plans I had set in motion to spare both myself and some old friends of mine – a team of heroes from different worlds that I believed would have what it took to stave off what was coming and protect my Earth,” Lori recalled.

          “The Legion,” Superboy realized.

          “The Legion of Super-Heroes,” Lori nodded. “Though I was able to assist in sparing them from the destruction of our Earth, we weren’t able to enact a plan to save it. They were plucked away by a mystic spell and transported to a different Earth, leaving the new Time Trapper and I and unable to spare my Earth’s destruction.”

          Superboy considered Lori’s story. “Wait, so if you were the Time Trapper … where did this new one come from? Did you find a replacement or…”

          “Entropy dictates a Time Trapper is needed. When I sought to change my path and became more involved with my Earth, it’s like the forces of the universe saw to create another Time Trapper to stabilize things,” Lori snickered. “The forces of nature botched that attempt, though. The newest Time Trapper was like me, with a clarity and disposition that didn’t match the Trapper of other Earths. Together, we sought to be a force for balance and good in our timelines while other Time Trappers sought to rule them.

          “I’ve lived a long life and learned a lot in the expanse of time, but that’s nothing compared to the Trapper. He’s older than I am, and smarter to boot. The things he can do, I don’t think many other Trappers ever could,” Lori admitted. She paused for a moment. “If there were other Trappers.”

          Superboy nodded, “The Infinite Man. He destroyed the other Time Trappers, right?”

          “No Time Trapper has ever defeated the Infinite Man, just succeeding in trapping him in a loop of time or stalling him.” Lori smiled. “I’m aiming to change that. The Time Trapper and I both are, and we could really use your help.”

          “The Time Trapper,” Superboy considered. “Who is he?”
The white void rippled with energy, and a purple robe rose stories above Glorith and Superboy. “A revelation for another day, perhaps. There’s work to be done, Superboy, and Lori is right. We need you.”

          “If you can’t beat the Infinite Man on your own, what chance do I have?” Superboy asked, flying upward and landing in the open palm of the Trapper. It was nice to feel solid matter beneath his feet again, though Superboy didn’t dare betray that joy.

          “The Infinite Man is able to pull an army from throughout time to aid him,” the Time Trapper revealed. “Which means, we’ll need an army of our own.”

          Lori materialized next to Superboy, gripping him on the shoulder. “No, we’ll need a LEGION of our own.”

          “So we’re gathering a Legion of Super-Heroes? What’s the plan – an army of Superboys and Supergirls? Or should we go pull my Legion? They’ll definitely help in the fight against…” Superboy began to ask to the assembled Time Trapper and his assistant, Glorith/Lori Morning.

          “Your Legion may not be a safe bet,” the Time Trapper admitted. “You see, Superboy. You are a bit of an anomaly. You too come from an Earth that no longer exists – at least, not the way it once was.”

          Superboy looked shocked. “My Earth?! Wait, my friends? My family? What happened to…”

          “They’re alive and well in your timeline in one form or another. Your Time Trapper, defeated at the hands of the Infinite Man, was a clever one. When a great crisis first threatened the multiverse, your Time Trapper created a pocket dimension to protect you and your timeline. The Infinite Man we face originated from the same reality. Due to that, we believe that is why your Earth continues to live in some form. Though it has had some soft adjustments to it over the millennia, that is the one timeline that seems to consistently make it through every crisis the Multiverse faces,” the Time Trapper revealed, recounting the original Earth-1 reality that this Superboy called home.

          “It’s likely that your Legion may already be pawns of the Infinite Man, who hopefully is only able to draw from his own timeline. We don’t need his potential army growing by 52 Earths,” Lori chimed in.

          The Time Trapper nodded. “The Legion of our Earth, Earth-247, still exists in the Multiverse. We will recruit them for our cause.”

          “This place is vast, and I don’t see or hear anyone else out there,” Superboy analyzed with his abilities. “How do we find them?”

          Glorith had a chuckle. “The Time Trapper is real good at transportation across great distances. I wouldn’t worry about that part. He can handle that, and you may somehow help be the key to figuring out Infinite Man’s connection to his army and how to exploit it. You’ve faced him before.”

          “Though we are without measure of time, so is the Infinite Man. We shouldn’t delay our plans further, for fear of the damage he may cause,” the Time Trapper asserted. He waved his free hand, creating a portal to another end of the Multiverse. “Come, Legion of Super-Heroes. The Multiverse is in great peril and there is need of you.”

          Superboy and Lori watched from the Trapper’s palm, waiting for something to happen. Within moments, the silhouettes of multiple figures began to travel through the portal and to the Time Trapper. They were far away, but were coming up quick. Superboy squinted, using his super-vision to see them up close. “…wait.”

          The Time Trapper had the same realization with his omniscient senses, as the Legion of Earth-247 successfully made it to their region of the Multiverse. “No! Impossible, how could I not have sensed this?!”

          The Legion of Super-Heroes of Earth-247 were flying to the Time Trapper as he desired, but not like this. Their colorful costumes and dispositions were replaced by thick black shadows in the shape of the Legionnaires. They had been possessed and were now part of the Infinite Man’s army. Glorith and Superboy took flight from the Time Trapper, and he gestured at the approaching army.

          “I must free them as I freed Superboy,” the Time Trapper built his energy to project, but was interrupted. The shadowy revenants of Andromeda and M’onel hit the Time Trapper with a one-two punch that he couldn’t see coming. The Time Trapper shrank down to avoid being the usual large target, but found Ultra Boy waiting to deliver another blow. The Trapper shifted its body to lessen the blow, but then was frozen in one of Kid Quantum II’s stasis fields.

          “They’re too coordinated. It’s Dreamer,” Lori announced to Superboy. “Or Dream Girl, whatever she is to you. They must have used her precognition to strategize a…” Lori suddenly fell with great force into the Multiverse, Star Boy at the cause. Legionnaires descended upon her, as they did Superboy and the Time Trapper.

          Superboy braved lightning bolts and fusion blasts, righting his course to go after Glorith. “Lori!” Ever the super-hero, Superboy still had to go after the damsel in distress even if it wasn’t strategically sound. His speed was trumped when he suddenly found himself in a dark, harrowing world. A graveyard of bones and flight rings were littered at his hovering feet. “Wait! What? Where…?”

          The hesitation was all it took. Sensor’s illusion distracted Superboy long enough for the possessed Saturn Girl to strike, and together the mentalists rendered the Boy of Steel unconscious. He floated off into the white void, asleep, as the possessed Legion resumed their primary assault on the Time Trapper.

          Glorith maintained the appearance of an ordinary woman, but she had become so much more. She grew to a larger size, negating the localized effect of Star Boy’s gravity field on her. The Time Trapper had been taken by surprise, which used to be impossible. Without a home timeline of their own though, their all-sight wasn’t foolproof. The larger Multiverse was much harder to keep an eye on every second of its rich history. Lori unleashed energy blasts, downing stray Legionnaires left and right.

          “Sorry, old friends. Believe me, it was a lot of lifetimes ago. Maybe that’s why I don’t feel too guilty,” Lori rambled. She ensured Sensor and Saturn Girl were taken out, and then blasted an approaching Karate Kid and Triad out of the sky. Apparition phased through a blast of pure energy, so Lori switched frequencies and materialized an Apparition from seconds into the future in front of her. Tinya ran into her own counterpart and the timeline adjusted, leaving only one Tinya, but an unconscious one.

          Apparition was a distraction, blinding Glorith’s foresight. M’Onel and Andromeda turned on her with the Time Trapper frozen still in a stasis field. Chameleon turned into a serpentine shape and choked her neck. Live Wire and Spark shorted out the gauntlet she wore to help launch offensive measures.

          She could feel bones break and skin melt off from attacks faster than she could utilize her own chronal acceleration or reversion abilities to reconstitute herself. She attempted her best anyway, but she was only holding off the Legionnaires and making little progress in getting to the Time Trapper. A few more fell, but even the success at blasting away Andromeda was minimal as Ultra Boy and Wildfire took her place at breaking and punching Glorith’s body.

          The appeal of the Legion’s strength in numbers was never lost on Lori, especially now having to face them in force for the first time in her life. Their numbers had always been much smaller when she was the Time Trapper, and she had the home court advantage each time to boot.

          Those memories began to buckle out from under Lori’s mind though, and she felt an intense throbbing in her head. Had Saturn Girl or Sensor recovered? Lori doubled over and let out a scream. The pressure that was building in her head was so foreign, pain she hadn’t felt since she was an ordinary woman. She choked on her own cries as she lost consciousness from the pain.

          Sadly, that was not the last thing Lori Morning lost as Violet continued ruthlessly to grow inside her head, protected by Brainiac 5’s force field.

          Kid Quantum II was, as her name implied, a young woman with a quantum manipulation power that could affect time and space. Her only shortcoming with that power was that she was a human and barely alive two decades to master such power.

          The Time Trapper had stellar lifetimes.

          The purple-hued, crystalline energy which held the Time Trapper in place suddenly turned a navy blue and exploded in a shockwave that pummeled Legionnaires about the void. The Trapper was free, and enraged. The Time Trapper remembered a time before knowing Lori Morning and a time after knowing Lori Morning, but crossing that threshold with that foresight was no comfort. His Glorith was dead, at the hands of the very children the Time Trapper had tried to cultivate.

          Priorities were made clear, with no time to be gentle. The Time Trapper fired an energy blast which hit Kid Quantum and several other Legionnaires, which devolved their timelines and left them unconscious in states from before they were possessed. That secured his freedom. Now, it was time to free or disperse the Legionnaires in question. One by one the Time Trapper came at them, concentrated blasts of mysticism freeing them from the Infinite Man’s spell just as had been done to Superboy before them. Soon, the white void lay decorated with colorful, but unconscious Legionnaires as they were restored to their former glory.

          The Time Trapper hovered next to the corpse of Glorith, blood floating about. With a wave of the Trapper’s hand, the area inverted and a restored Glorith floated in place of the corpse. The Trapper grew in size and allowed the woman to rest in the palm of his hand. “Rise, Glorith. Find your energies renewed.”

          Her eyes fluttered open and Lori Morning looked into the familiar face of the Time Trapper. “…I recognize that energy signature. I was killed again, wasn’t I?”

          “Enjoy the moment. We both know one day, a separation will occur that will prevent that trick from working,” the Time Trapper reminded her. “Now, where is…” A flicker of light caught the Time Trapper’s eye, and he noticed that the original rift he had created that allowed the Legion of Earth-247 to traverse the Multiverse was still open. “That’s peculiar.”

          The Trapper vanished, rematerializing at the edge of the spatial opening to investigate. Glorith floated after. The Trapper scratched at his own shrouded face. “I cannot close it with ease. Something else else is fighting it,” the Trapped noted. The white hued energy signature representing the Multiverse was suddenly replaced, succumbing to a rainbow symphony of color. Chronal energy.

          “Trapper!” Glorith yelled.

          A giant, almost metallic soft-blue hand reached through. The Infinite Man had hijacked the portal, bending time easily now that the Time Trapper had done the hard part of bending space for him. “Come, Trapper.”

          The Time Trapper was pulled into the rift, sucking in the immediate space and most of the unconscious Legionnaires with it. In a flash of light, the portal closed. Glorith found herself floating alone amongst the white void again, joined only by the unconscious body of Superboy in the distance and three of the 247 Legionnaires that had been first blasted by the Time Trapper.

          “No,” Glorith whispered, hair falling before her lowered face.

          The Multiverse, as viewed from the outside, had always been eerily silent. Lori Morning had gotten used to it long ago. Now though, with the Time Trapper completely out of reach, the place became as opposing as it had been the first time she had left the Earth-247 reality and journeyed out.

          “We’ll get him back,” Superboy assured her, having regained consciousness. Together they stared off into space at nothing in particular, adhering to old social conventions that clearly their gaze must fall upon –something- even if nothing existed.

          “The Time Trapper is better than me, at everything. If he falls to the Infinite Man, I don’t really have a lot of hope for you and me,” Glorith admitted.

          Superboy shook his head. “I refuse to give up hope. You shouldn’t, either. You have to have a wide range of powers yourself, to have been the Time Trapper. What can you do? Maybe we could form a plan.”

          “Nothing that could surpass the Infinite Man. He can bend time and summon just like I or the Trapper could. Our only edge was the Trapper’s control over space as well,” Glorith admitted. “Like when he brought over the…Legion…”

          Glorith turned, looking at the still unconscious bodies of the three Legionnaires left behind. “…of course!” She drifted toward them with Superboy right after her. “The Legionnaires have traversed the Multiverse a few times. My gauntlet may be able to harness enough power off of them to open a portal of our own!”

          “Sounds like a plan, but … will it hurt them? Will they be okay?” Superboy glanced down at the three teenagers.

          Kid Quantum II, with a full head of hair and Legion belt buckle replaced with the letter “Q,” hovered closest. “Her timeline has reverted her to a period before she was a Legionnaire, but she was still imbued with her quantum ability.” Star Boy was next, looking almost unchanged from the attack. “Star Boy is stronger after some Khund training. Still powerful, but more unreliable.” The last body floated by. “Element…? No, no. This is even better. Live Wire, before his body was restored. Back when he was trapped in the Progenitor’s body. This is more than enough power to help enact Plan B.”

          Superboy was startled by Glorith’s confidence. “Plan B? First I’m hearing of it! What’ll we do?”

          “We traverse the Multiverse and assemble a Legion powerful enough to take down the Infinite Man once and for all,” Glorith smiled, eyes burning purple. She pulled out Star Boy’s Omnicom, activating a recording of the Legions of dozens of Earths as they took on the Superboy-Prime Time Trapper at the End of Time. “And I know just the nexus point in history to pull from.”

          “Why don’t we just pull an entire Legion?” Superboy asked.

          “And risk what happened with the Earth-247 Legion? Pulling one at a time is less shell shock and lets me make sure the Legionnaire hasn’t been corrupted by the Infinite Man. I’ve got to precisely extract them out of the timestream and into the Multiverse,” Lori explained. “I’m good, but not that good. Now, c’mon. We’re starting with him.”

          Superboy followed Lori’s point, “Cosmic Man?” He stared at a visibly aged Cosmic Boy in a trench coat, and noticed that in all the footage he didn’t seem to really be doing much in battle. He wasn’t leading the charge or using his powers like the Rokk Krinn that Superboy knew. “He doesn’t look like he’s doing much.”

          “He can’t, he’s depowered. From a former timeline, now accessible to us again thanks to that battle at the End of Time,” Lori readied her gauntlet. She began to draw energy out of Kid Quantum II. “Superboy, you’ll have to make the play. Do it fast. You’ll be back in a timeline, meaning the Infinite Man could be waiting.”

          “Wait. Why are we getting a depowered Cosmic Boy?” Superboy had to ask. The practicality of the move was lost on him.

          Glorith sighed. “Cosmic Boy is the heart of the Legion, and we’re going to need a lot of heart to bring these Legionnaires together and have them work as a team. This Cos has experience and nothing to lose but the Legion, and that’s what we need.” Her gauntlet burned white, and a portal began to open. “Go! Go!”

          Superboy was gone and back in the blink of an eye, the Rokk Krinn of the Glorithverse nestled against his shoulder. Glorith closed the portal quickly, turning to face this startled Rokk. Knowing the universe he was from, she would have to choose her words carefully. As soon as he saw her face, it could be all over.

          “We’re sorry for pulling you out like that, Rokk, but Superboy and I need your help to save history,” Lori implored the elder Rokk Krinn, who was still getting his bearings.

          At the sight of Lori, he jumped back and his fists were clenched. “Glorith?!”

          The Boy of Steel had to chuckle at that. “Does anyone in any timeline like you two?”

          “…and who are you supposed to be?” Rokk glanced at Superboy, mystified.

          Kal-el was taken aback. “…wait, what?”

          Imra Ardeen, Saturn Girl, strained her telepathy as she summoned more and more Legionnaires from amongst the Multiverse to swarm the Time Trapper. Superboy-Prime may win in the past, but she wasn’t about to let him win in the future as the Time Trapper. She was flanked in a sea of Legionnaires, many she didn’t even recognize. She was so distracted she didn’t notice a hand on her shoulder. It was…Superboy?!

          “Sorry for this, Saturn Girl! But we need to be fast!” At super speed, Superboy flew with Saturn Girl upward and through a portal into the white void of the Multiverse. Reality fluttered around them, and the visage of the Infinite Man could be seen in the skyline to the surprise of the legion of Legionnaires. Before he could reach out for Superboy, the portal closed and the Saturn Girl of New Earth was safely alongside Glorith, Superboy, and Glorithverse Rokk Krinn in the Multiverse.

          “Superboy?! What’s going on?” Saturn Girl pulled the Kryptonian in a hug, relieved to see him though startled by his age. “Did Superboy-Prime do something to you?”

          “Finally, someone recognizes me!” Superboy was practically beaming. “I’m not the Superboy or Superman you’re thinking of, Imra. Though we did grow up together! I guess I still have a bit more growing to do and…”

          Saturn Girl turned to the assembled group. “Cos? A female Time Trapper?”

          “She’s so calm. I would have freaked out,” Superboy noticed.

          “That’s Imra for you,” Rokk Krinn smiled. “This is a woman who even Darkseid respects.” He reached out to the younger Saturn Girl and pulled her into a hug. She may not be the Imra he knew and loved, but if what Glorith said was true she was the closest possible counterpart. “I’m glad you’re here.”

          It was a reflex of her situation to reach into the surface of his mind, seeing what had befallen this Rokk Krinn in his life. Instantly, Saturn Girl understood why she was brought here and the terrible history that had befallen Rokk and his Legion. “Oh, Rokk…Venado Bay…I’m so sorry…”

          “It’s … in the past, Imra. We need to focus on the future. The Infinite Man, he’s become too powerful,” Rokk Krinn revealed.

          “It’s my fault, as well as that of the other conspirators,” Saturn Girl admitted. “We knew it was a gamble to defeat the Time Trapper and while it did the job, we suspected there could be ramifications. Now that fall-out is here. How can I help?”

          Glorith presented herself. “You know the trick you were using at the End of Time to summon multiple Legions? Well, let’s see if it works as well here, outside of space. The Infinite Man is onto us now, he saw us salvage you. Now though, we may have the right ingredients to bring Legionnaires to us directly without having to enter back into linear space ourselves.”

          “Who’s next?” Superboy asked.

          “We have our three founders. We’re going to let them choose,” Glorith turned toward Rokk Krinn and Saturn Girl. They both looked concerned, when a new voice suddenly let out a yawn and spoke up.

          Live Wire of Earth-247 had regained consciousness. “Hey, what’s going on?” His vision focused, spotting the counterparts of Rokk and Imra: grown-up counterparts. “Whoa! How long was I asleep for?!”

           “The Infinite Man has been bested before, mystically,” Saturn Girl recalled, the mismatched Legion founders standing before Glorith and a scrying window of energy she created for them to glimpse into the Multiverse.

           “I know plenty of mystics where I’m from,” Rokk suggested. “I’ll pool some together.”

           “We’ll need some muscle and firepower too, yeah? A few Daxamites, a few Kryptonians…” Live Wire went with the obvious; he wanted to make sure they had a team no foe would dare challenge.

           “Not the ones you’re thinking of perhaps,” Glorith interjected, “But I do know of a few contenders amongst the Multiverse who would work better with a team.”

           Saturn Girl considered. “Quieter powers shouldn’t be overlooked, either. They could be crucial. One of which will come in very handy for gathering up forces and bringing them to speed.”

           “We need a Triplicate Girl,” Superboy agreed.

           “You mean a Triad,” Live Wire snickered, well aware of the differing codenames the Legion used but wanting to rile the others up a bit. “And if we’re going in chronological order, why not get an App…uh, a Tinya, too?”

           Glorith spun her hands, and the viewing sphere split into two units. Each displayed a different Legionnaire. “If I may make some recommendations… the Luornu Durgo of New Earth is able to create an army of duplicates. The Tinya Wazzo of Earth-Prime doesn’t just become intangible, but actually phases in and out of this dimension. That capability may be a crucial difference.”

           “We’ll recruit both,” Rokk agreed.

          The Legion of Multiverse-Heroes was growing swiftly, each new arrival circumventing the Infinite Man’s clutches and passing a screening by Glorith. Kid Quantum II and Star Boy of Earth-247 had reawakened finally, their slumber delayed as Glorith had to leech their energies partially for her portals. Now, they both voluntarily assisted in helping Glorith pull Legionnaires from the Multiverse. Superboy began to debrief Duplicate Girl on their situation, so Luornu could get new arrivals up to speed. The founders stayed by Glorith’s side, alongside Phantom Girl, and continued considering candidates and monitoring the timelines for the Infinite Man’s presence.

           “We’re doing well enough so far as a braintrust, but we need actual brain power,” Rokk Krinn pointed out.

           Saturn Girl nodded. “We should have selected a Brainiac 5 initially. The question becomes which to choose from? I trust mine with my life, though he may be too close to this dilemma with the Infinite Man.”

           Phantom Girl laughed. “Honestly, I don’t think mine would work well with everyone. He almost prides himself on it.”

           “Mine too. Well, mine used to,” Live Wire considered. “I guess my Brainy is okay?”

           “If I may…” Glorith began.

           Live Wire made a face, “You do that a lot. Why are you having us talk this out if you’re going to trump us with Legionnaires in mind?”

           Glorith scowled at Live Wire in return. “Garth, and you’re my Garth so I’m going to call you Garth…”

           “Wait, what?”

           “Lori Morning,” Glorith pointed at herself. “Stop interrupting.”

           Live Wire’s jaw went slack as she continued.

           “This discussion and consideration is allowing the three of you to learn to work together. Also, just because there’s a version of a Legionnaire that would represent our need best doesn’t mean they’re the only one we can take.” Glorith switched viewpoints in her projections again. “Brainiac 417 of Justice Legion A possesses the humility to work with the group and a knowledge that exceeds his ancestors’. His teammate, Implicate Girl, possesses the planet Cargg within her mind and is able to call upon the people’s skills at will.”

           “Furthering the brain trust, pulling Lyle Norg from back when he was alive may be best. Dream Girl, at least on my world, is also an impressive scientist,” Saturn Girl noted.

           “That’s the brain, as for the brawn … Laurel Gand and her counterpart, Andromeda, would make great additions from my reality. That woman has a fire and if we can take more than one version, I say we do it,” Rokk Krinn added.

           Live Wire was feeling left out. “If we can go into the past, then how about …uh…Monstress? No! M’onel!”

          The Time Trapper of the Multiverse slumped to the ground of the End of Time, purple robe kicking up a wake of decay and ash off the barren rock. “You toy with me…keep me alive…”

          The Infinite Man stood atop the Time Trapper. “I see every now, as they are and may be. I see what your Legionnaires have planned and await their arrival to humiliate and kill you. They will perish, and then you will perish.”

          “Seeing all is different than being able to act,” the Time Trapper spat to the ground, betraying its physical existence. “And at the End of Time, there is no further to see. I have been surprised here before, as will…”

          “As will I?!” Infinite Man challenged, kicking at the Time Trapper’s gut and then assailing the robed wonder with chronal particle energy. “That will not happen. Even now, I mount my defense.”

          The ground shook as chronal portals began to open all across the End of Time. Figures from all eras began to ascend from the energy sources, from ancient swordsmen to futuristic space adventurers. Dozens upon dozens materialized and their varied appearances faded toward a black silhouette as the Infinite Man took control of them. “My own Legion of servants shall venture into the timestream.”

          A second wave of portals opened overhead, with the dozens of servants floating or flying toward them. The Infinite Man reached for the Trapper’s head and held it to the ground. “They will journey to the past and corrupt the timeline. They will kill who dares to challenge me before they ever entertain the thought.”

          “No! No!” The Time Trapper reached a hand out, a shockwave of his own chronal energy ripping out. The Infinite Man’s visage fluctuated like a malfunctioning screen, betraying his past timeline before righting itself. The Time Trapper began to fire upon the servants, knocking them from the sky or diverting their path to their intended portal.

          The Infinite Man, righted back into its proper point in time, attacked the Time Trapper physically from behind and continued with a bevy of blows. “I did not see that coming. But, then again, nor do you see the outcome here! You are more helpless than I.”

          The Time Trapper paused, demeanor softening. “Do I not? You don’t see it, do you? You don’t feel it. They’ve come for you, upstart.”

          Glancing above, the Infinite Man saw an energy pool of color swirling. The Legion of Multiverse-Heroes poured out, and the thought could barely register until Daxamites and Kryptonians began pounding into him as the first wave of offense. The Legion had taken advantage of the Infinite Man’s distraction attending to the Time Trapper and used it to their advantage! Energy wielders came next, striking just as the second volley of strongmen and strongwomen accosted the chronal deity. Perception and thoughts became muddled and the Infinite Man righted time as he felt it start to slow around him by a Legionnaire’s machinations. Gravity increased in a place where there should be next to none and light glowed across the sky the likes of which the End of Time hadn’t seen in millennia.

          Above the battlefield, perspiration dripped down the mask of Sensor Girl, garbed in her Magic Wars outfit. She was expending her power to the fullest, masking those with her on every sensory spectrum imaginable. A serpentine Sensor hovered beside her. Layer upon layer of deception was planned for this operation, and it worked.

          Saturn Girl was behind Sensor Girl, keeping their minds shielded. But for how long? Now was the time to strike before they were discovered. “White Witch, are you ready?”

          Mysa Nal, the White Witch, floated cross-legged above the battlefield. “I have finished my preparations. I’ve done this before, and I shall do this again.” She held out her hands in specific configurations, energy glowing about her. “With my spell of dissimilarity, I will extract the chronal energy from the Infinite Man once more.”

          “Doesn’t matter how powerful he’s become since the last time I did this,” joined in Jewel, another Mysa Nal who was floating above the battlefield and assisting. She turned to Dragonmage next to her, encouraging him. “We’re Legion. We’ll succeed.”

          The Black Witch was righted with them. “Shh, focus!”

          As energy cascaded around them, the distraction pushed Sensor Girl’s strain too far. Her powers began to flutter, but it was too late for the Infinite Man to do much about it. Saturn Girl caught Jeckie and flew out of the line of fire, as giant rainbows of energy began to rise off the Infinite Man and his champions. It arched toward the mystics, as if they were temporal vacuum cleaners.

          The Infinite Man stumbled, attention fully on the draining effect he was experiencing. Punches from Lar Gands and electricity from Garth Ranzzes were of no consequence now, as the situation became clear to the omnipotent being. These motes were a distraction. He would not let his energy be taken without a fight. Space around him began to glow, as he channeled what was left of his power outside of his physical body, prepping a fatal strike on all involved.

          “What’s he…” Superboy began to ask, as the dark sky of dead space around them suddenly ignited into a shifting rainbow of visuals. Then, that light fluttered and collapsed into a white void. The light was blinding, enveloping the figures around the Infinite Man. Legionnaire after Legionnaire, as well as Infinite soldier after Infinite soldier, vanished. As the light show faded back to the lifeless sky of the end of time, all on the battlefield were gone.

          “No…” the Time Trapper clutched his side, standing to his feet. Superboy and the others had been shunted back to their own time. The released chronal energy had been like an electrical surge so overwhelming to reality that it reset time itself, placing those displaced right back to where they had come from. Glorith, the Time Trapper, and the Infinite Man were all that remained. He had forced a stalemate!

          The Trapper looked to the sky. He had been wrong – some remained. The White Witches were locked in some bubble of swirling chronal energy that looked like it could explode at any second. “Too much! He gave it to them all at once, they’ll…!”

          Glorith dove at the bubble that entrapped the Mysa Nals. She had been inspired by the Legion and its heroism her whole, unnaturally long life. The action came instinctually, without any thought or order from the Time Trapper. Glorith entered the bubble with pulsing white hands. The mystics began to fluctuate in the same white pulsation and then vanished, Glorith spiriting them back to their own timelines before they could be killed. Glorith now stood alone within the mass of chronal energy as it buckled.
“Glorith…!”

          “Trapper…R.J., I…”

          The sky ignited as it had moments before when the Legionnaires were dispersed. This time though, it carried a heat and weight the other effect hadn’t. The Time Trapper, once known as R.J. Brande of Earth-247, was knocked to the ground, except no solid earth ever hit his back. All he could see in the vast expanse of fiery white that enveloped him was the silhouette of the Infinite Man. It turned and looked the Time Trapper in the eye, pupils burning and visible even when nothing else was.

          As the Time Trapper fell and the Infinite Man’s form grew further away, the Time Trapper looked to his sides. There, reality was visible once again. The Time Trapper had fallen out of the End of Time, or perhaps it no longer existed, and was now careening through the timestreams. Dozens of strands of colorful images and historical significance danced around the Time Trapper, each representing a timeline in the Multiverse that was now being enveloped. Would they be safe? Were they being erased?

          The Time Trapper’s panic waned over the minutes, then days, then years that he fell. It was all relative to the Trapper after all of his existence and passed by quickly. As his calm returned, his strength grew, and over time he realized that his placement in reality had fully been thrown into question. The burning white void wasn’t impacting the timelines – it was impacting him. The Time Trapper was the one on fire – fire of the very fabric of time. He was now so much more than a physical form, a parameter he had held onto for far longer than necessary in order to never lose his humanity.

          He thought of Earth in the 30th century. He thought of Mars in the 20th century. He thought of what was before him as the timelines eventually ran out, back to their beginning, and the Time Trapper witnessed the beautiful universe of space and light he was falling toward. As it grew closer, some of the light began to shift. He realized that the universe he was falling into was enveloped by a hand, which was now closing into a fist around him. Just as time began, it was ending … or was it in reverse?

          The fist closed around the Time Trapper and the universe, and everything finally went dark. The white light was drowned out. After lifetimes of falling through history, the Time Trapper felt a faint sense of closure.

          Then out of nowhere, he felt his back hit something. It was the last thing the Time Trapper ever felt. With a “big bang,” the fist uncurled and the timestream … the universe … was born again. The last Time Trapper of existence ceased to exist, matter joining the explosion as time restarted.

          It restarted at a FLASHPOINT…

          While the 52 timelines started anew, one thing was constant in this new universe as it was in the old: there was a beginning of time and there was an end of time. The End of Time stood as it had before, a lifeless husk of rock drifting in a sky of space devoid of other stars. One humanoid was hunched over on its surface, naked and so far removed from the chronal changes. Jaxon Rugarth stared down at his hands and was perplexed by his predicament.

          “…where…where…?” he sat up, panicked and looking over his situation.

          A figure of grand dimension stood behind Jaxon, draped in a purple robe. Lori Morning stared off into space, realizing what had happened. The Infinite Man had his wish – he killed the last Time Trapper, but it was at a cost. He may have won the right to continue to exist, but no longer as the Infinite Man. His timeline had been reset as well, back to his original human form. There was no longer a creature of entropy – save for her. The woman who had taken the brunt of the spell of dissimilarity and found herself spared for reasons she couldn’t fully grasp.

          Tightening the bandages on her hand, she reached for the hood of her robe and pulled it up, obscuring her face. “Jaxon Rugarth, I welcome you … to the End of Time.”

          Lori would never forget the look of panic on Jaxon’s face when he locked eyes with her. She had seen a lot of historic things in her long life, but for some reason that moment entertained her and would now always stand out in her memory. It took him a long time to stammer out a question. “W-w-who are y-y-you?”

          “I am as I’ve always been, I just didn’t realize it,” Lori began. The words came with ease, as if she had done this before. Was this what it felt like to be him? Was this what it felt like to be… “…the Time Trapper.”

I skimmed through this, haven't finished it yet, but I am liking the idea. Also liked the part where the Legionnaires are discussing which other Legionnaires they should bring in!

Thanks, IB. I was so excited to have a finished work to post that I failed to realize it's probably easier to read in pieces.

An intriguing collection of Trappers.

And you are spot-on in replicating the strange dual nature of Time in the DC Universe.

Thanks, Klar.

As a fan it's always fun to try and collect your "no prize" and mine was to link the fluid history of the Trappers more tightly to the myriad of reboots and finally solve who the Trapper of Earth-247 was. Was it the adult Lori? Was it not? Would it really matter in five months? Etc.