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It was 1962, or at least it was supposed to be 1962. Johnny Storm had to push down his panic as he stared at the dirty newspaper he had found on the road. The paper read, ‘Gotham Gazette’, but Johnny did not even take the moment to think where in the world Gotham was. The year was 2025, more than 60 years in the future.
Johnny slid his back down the wall to sit on the concrete as his world started to crash, again. He didn’t even get to his prom yet. The teen took a moment to breathe. He placed the paper on the ground and leaned his head against the brick. He needed a moment to process what had happened.
Just a few hours prior, he was parading around. He had finished his home classwork and was convincing his older sister to let him go to the homecoming dance at his old high school. That was rudely interrupted by another one of Dr.Doom’s plans. To which his family fought fantastically, taking out all the Doom Bots. One bot seemed to turn away, and like the amazing brother that he was, he chased after it. Doom Bots don’t flee, so this one was up to something. Next thing he knows, he sees the actual Dr.Doom. Before he could have another chance to slow down or stop, a colorful light passed over him, and then he was eating concrete with the side of sewage.
He counted to ten before he opened his eyes. He knew that he was somewhere else… 63 years in the future, and somewhere called Gotham. What kind of name was that? He looked through the paper once again. More information made itself known, the first was that a place called Arkham had a breakout, a Killer Croc was arrested by a Bat-Man, and that he was in New Jersey. Because, of course, he was in Jersey.
Now was not the time to focus on the annoying facts. This Bat-Man seemed to be the current-day hero of this area. It was not much, but better than nothing. Johnny will be back home in time for homecoming. He was not going to miss out on all the staples of high school because of Dr.Doom.
Johnny got up and immediately walked around the corner to the nearby alley. He planned to climb up and fly from the roof, but Jersey had other plans. He immediately walked into two larger men in ragged clothing. “Not another move, kid,” one of the men said with a deep accent, “We only want what you got in ya pockets.” he opened his coat to show the gun underneath, “Y’should know better than wearing a fancy costume like that ‘round here.” The man beside him started to laugh and flashed his own weapon.
Johnny only gave them an unimpressed look and gestured to his outfit. It looked cheap, standard blue, and kind of uncomfortable, but the asbestos fabric was the only thing that never burned when he used his powers. Sort of, currently it has some burn holes from points where he burned too hot. The most important thing was, “I don’t have pockets,” he said and patted his sides for proof. Pockets mean carrying things, things that he forgets about, and that burn.
“Then hand over ya phone!” Guy number two yelled. He had his gun out now and waved it around dangerously.
“A… phone? I don’t have pockets, so why would I have a phone? How would I even carry that around?!” Johnny was now confused, trying to imagine someone carrying around a large rotary phone.
“You carry it in your hands, duh,” said a bright voice above them. All three of them looked up, but Johnny didn’t even get to see who it was before the man dropped down on the two muggers. Johnny watched in awe as the athletic man jumped onto one guy’s shoulder to push him down on the concrete, doing a quick handstand to spin kick the other guy into the wall before doing a flip to stand upright while posing. Johnny couldn’t help himself. He clapped his hands, and the man bowed dramatically. “Thank you, thank you! Now, Kid, what are you doing out so late, and dressed like that?” the man said and pointed to Johnny’s outfit.
Johnny paused for a second as everything changed gears from performance to business, “OH, right! Are you the hero of this time?” Johnny looked up at him. The man nodded and opened his mouth to say something, yet the teen beat him to it. “Great! I’m Johnny Storm! The Human Torch! One of the first four superheroes of Earth! I’m from 1962, and need to get back as soon as possible to stop the Doom Invasion that’s probably going out. Seeing that this is New Jersey and not New Latveria, I must have gotten home. So you seem like to best one to go to. And-”
His words were stopped when a gloved hand was placed on his face, “Slow down there, kid. We paused for a moment.” He said, and when Johnny nodded, the hand was removed. “Great. So we can clear some information here. Firstly, I am Nightwing, vigilante of Bludhaven and Gotham. Secondly, I think you are more than just time-travelled. I never heard of the Human Torch before, but I think the first superhero might be the original Flash… or… would it technically be Wonder Woman… It’s kind of muddy… Perhaps the Bullet Family…”
“What… No. The Fantastic Four are the original heroes after the Cosmic rays gave us powers in our first journey to space in 1961.” Johnny tried to correct. In reality, he was still in denial about possibly being lost from not just his time, but potentially his entire universe.
“That certainly doesn’t sound right… Hold on. What’s up, O?” Nightwing held up a finger and leaned his head to the side as if he was listening to something. “Yeah, I think I found the meteorite. It’s a kid. Hey, Kid.”
“Johnny…”
“Did you crash from the sky in a burning blaze?” The vigilante asked, and Johnny nodded with arms crossed. “Yeah, it was the kid. Alternate universe situation, most likely, with some time dilation. Unsure if magic or tech.” Nightwing paused to look at Johnny, hoping to get an answer, but only got a shrug. “Unsure… Yeah, I’m bringing him back to the cave. I have to get to my bike, then we can ride in. And have the first aid ready, just in case.” Another pause as the vigilante looked the teen up and down, “And have agent A prepare a room and some food… He doesn’t match the entire MO, but I have a feeling…. Alright, Nightwing out.”
“Uhhh, what was all that?” Johnny asked, and Nightwing smirked. He pulled the teen to him and quickly grappled them to the rooftop. “HEY!” He yelled. He pushed himself away the moment his legs touched the roof gravel. “Don’t do that! I can fly! I don’t need to be grabbed!”
Nightwing held his hands up, but kept that same smile, “My bad, I just thought you would appreciate being away from potential listeners. As for everything else, I work with Batman and his team. We plan to take you to our base. Most certainly, the plan will be to take you there, then get you to the watch tower to be dropped out and become a league problem. But I have a feeling that you are a teen hero with no parents and in need of guidance.”
“... I don’t need guidance.”
“Oh, B won’t last long.” Nightwing chuckled, “So, if you can fly, can you get me to my bike?”
“I can do you one better, just point in the direction of the base entrance.”
“We can head in with the back entrance. It’s a bit of a walk underground, but it’s not far from here.”
“Just point, man.” Johnny rolled his eyes before setting himself on fire. His legs lifted from the ground, and he made his usual pose with his calves in the shape of a 4.
“OH! I get it now, Human Torch!” Nightwing grinned with his fist in the palm of his hand. Johnny chuckled and unlit his arms to pick up the vigilante. “Oh, convenient. Still kinda hot though.”
“Please, we’ll be there before you get second-degree burns, just point.”
Nightwing pointed, and Johnny started to fly as fast as he could with a passenger, “Only second degree, huh?”
“You try controlling your body temperature all the time! It’s harder to stay normal than it is to just burn.”
“I’ll be sure to note that down.”
They flew for only a minute before they reached a back entrance. Such is defined by a cliffside waterfall that Johnny was not paying attention to before flying straight through and immediately being extinguished. He fell to the ground with Nightwing and rolled on the floor. Johnny groaned as the water on him turned to quick steam, and he was soon set on fire again.
“So… water a weakness for you?”
“Not… Not necessarily…” Johnny grumbled and got back up and turned off the flame in the cave, “I can’t burn through it if I focus, but I can’t burn without oxygen. It’s… complicated, and I haven’t tested all of it. I’ve only had my powers for less than a year.”
Nightwing pursed his lips and nodded. He took the lead and let the kid follow before they reached another hidden entrance that he opened. This led them to a large room filled with tech Johnny had never seen before. “Whoa… Reed would love this…” He immediately took off with his legs on fire to see the displays, shock and wonder at the significantly cooler outfits, and a dinosaur, and “Is that a spaceship in the shape of a bat?!”
“It’s the bat-shuttle. It’s mostly decommissioned.” Said a new voice, another teen, a little older than him with a red and black outfit, “Red Robin. You must be the one we’ve heard about.”
Johnny landed on the platform and extinguished himself, “Johnny Storm.”
“We know!” A high-pitched voice at the chair in front of the giant flat colored screens. A small child in red, yellow, and green sat on the large chair with a metal… board thing in his hands.
“That’s Robin,” Red Robin introduced the kid and pointed to each other in the cave, “Spoiler and Batgirl are on the training mats, Red Hood is still patrolling, Signal is asleep, and Batman is-”
“Right here.” A dark and deep voice said from behind the new teen. And no, if anyone asks, he was not scared, not at all. He was just surprised at how silent the big giant was to sneak up on him. In fact, he was so surprised, he lit up in flames and flew about ten feet in the air to get away. The others in the cave all chuckled.
Johnny could feel himself heat up even more and had to force himself to calm down before landing to turning off the flame, “I… Uh… Hello… Batman.” He did a fake cough to hide the awkward interaction taking place. “I am here to ask for help with”
“To get you back to your universe, yes, I know. I have some people coming in tomorrow to check on you and create a plan for getting you home. As for now, we have some replacement clothes and a guest room. Agent A will take care of the asbestos fabric before you leave the showers. We hope you can prevent yourself from burning down one bedroom for a night. If you stay ends up being longer, we will make arrangements then. Food will be ready soon. What can you tell us about yourself that may help us find your home or help you?” The dark knight spoke a lot, who looks like they make brooding a competitive sport.
“Well, I don’t know if it will help, but it all started when my parents died in a car crash when I was five.” Johnny started to talk about his origin, as he has done for every televised interview.
Yet it was rudely interrupted by the sounds of loud groaning and an excited, “New Brother!”