2021 & 2022 Daily Jump Challenge RP (2024)

Jump #3: Justice League Unlimited
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The first thing I did when I appeared in the new jump was try to speak.

"Can I... hallelujah!" I shouted with joy. As I relaxed and began imagining talking to people for the first time in about twenty years, I noticed myself melting into a puddle. A moment of mild panic saw me reforming, as well as noticing that my red "shirt" barely deserved the name. I was showing off more cleavage than most stars at the Oscars. Seriously, I could see my own navel. At least I didn't have breasts to go with it.

As soon as I thought that, my chest began swelling. I punched my chest before anything more could happen (thankfully, they deflated), then took a deep breath and sought that inner tranquility I had supposedly developed. With a creeping dread, I looked around. Good news: no one was watching me. Bad news: I was in an alleyway, the buildings all possessed Art Deco architecture, and it was a cloudy night.

"I am in Gotham, aren't I?" No kidding, as soon as I said that, a swarm of bats flew by. I had a mild flashback to all of the Zubat swarms I dealt with in Sinnoh, but no, these were just normal bats. In the middle of a major metropolitan area. "Yeah, that's Gotham."

"Yes sir, it is," a voice rang out from above. A small, golden drone descended from one of the gargoyles overhead. "An excellent observation, one which you have made at least four times in the last half-hour. As I mentioned each of those times, I'd be happy to take you somewhere else if you prefer. Perhaps the pits of Apokolips? The smell couldn't be any worse."

"And what did I say before?" I said, trying to buy some time to think. This was the first time where it was implied that I had a history before my insertion. Before, Drop-In was nearly literal.

"The first time, it was, 'The great Eel O'Brian has an important mission here, Skoots.' Most recently, you threatened to rename me to Alfred if I didn't stop bothering you," the droid responded.

"Does that mean you want to be named Alfred?" I asked absent-mindedly. I recognized that name. That was Plastic Man's name, and come to think of it, I was in Plastic Man's typical costume. With his typical powers. I didn't know whether to be thrilled or mildly terrified. Earth-One, Two, whatever… none of them were the safest of places, even if Plastic Man was sometimes one of the most powerful non-cosmic heroes in some versions of the DC Universe.

"It wouldn't be any worse than Skoots," the droid said, hovering up and down in the air as though it was doing a full body shrug.

"Wait," I said, letting out a deep breath. I was really out-of-practice when it came to talking to people and that apparently extended to droids that could pass the Turing Test. This one seemed to have more... personality than Skeets did in most of his incarnations. "If you don't like your name, then you can change it. What do you want to be called?"

Skoots froze in the air, then gleefully said, "Steve!"

"Ok. I mean, that is a name. A surprisingly normal name. Ok." This was going to be my world now for the next ten years. I hoped that this was one of the more sane universes, but my hopes were rapidly dwindling.

* * * * *

Whatever reason Eel O'Brian had for coming to Gotham, it was lost on me. Steve's reason tagging along with me was easier to guess. He resembled Skeets, who was Booster Gold's companion, which meant his appearance here was due to me. Despite expectations, I didn't come across a random mugging, robbery, or supervillain plot.

The next day's news of an alien invasion gave me a better sense of when I was. The conspicuous absence of any mention of the Justice League, but scattered references to Superman, Batman, and the Flash, meant that I had arrived as the League was forming. The appearance of the invaders was even more promising. I recognized them as the "alien tripod" invaders from the Justice League continuity.

So far as I knew, the invaders attacked Metropolis, but not Gotham, since Batman would have focused on defending his home city first. But that also meant that Batman wasn't there to deal with his rogues' gallery acting up in his absence. Naturally, some of them decided to take advantage of the chaos and add their own spin on it. Steve monitored the police bands, alerting me to sightings of Two-Face, Mr. Freeze, and Bane. Bane was the closest of them, so I made my way over to a stereotypical Gotham warehouse. After I made sure Steve would wait outside, I made my way in.

For all that Bane was "the Man Who Broke the Bat", he was totally unprepared for a shapeshifter capable of unplugging his Venom tubes before he realized that he wasn't alone. Without that boost, he had to rely solely on his hand-to-hand skills against an adept of Thousand Hand Divine Fist. I tried to minimize his pain. By the time he dropped and I had rigged up something to restrain him, I spotted someone else watching me from the shadows. Before I could say anything, he or she disappeared back outside. Almost certainly one of the Bat-Family, but no telling which one.

Steve was much more help than I would have realized. I still lacked super-speed, but with him directing me and the strong body from before, I could get to hotspots before the Gotham police arrived. I spent almost the entire day and night fighting, as bad as any of the time spent in China. In the end, I sneaked into an unoccupied hotel room and had Steve make a note to repay them for "borrowing" it.

When I woke up, Steve was emitting little electronic snoring noises while a man in black stood over me.

"Batman, I can explain."

* * * * *

"Patrick 'Eel' O'Brian. Conman. Petty thief. Martial artist?" he growled. "Robin witnessed your actions yesterday. Care to explain?"

Steve "woke" and flew over. "Is this him? I mean, is it you? The Batman? The original?" Great. Apparently, Steve was a fan-droid.

"I don't think we need to bring that up, Steve," I said. "Especially that last part."

"Oh, I'm not supposed to tell Batman about the ime-tay avel-tray, right?"

"...Steve, I'm pretty sure Batman speaks pig Latin."

"...oops?" Steve said. I sighed.

"Batman, this is Steve, a droid from the 25th​ century. Steve, this is Batman, the Dark Knight of Gotham. Batman, it seems like you already know me, but I'm from an alternate timeline and yes, I learned kung fu there. Would you like to continue this conversation somewhere else?" I asked, looking around the room while keeping one eye on him at all times. He was not going to pull a disappear-in-front-of-me trick if I could help it.

"Hmmph," he grunted. "I believe you, which makes me suspicious." He paused for a moment and I let him think. He turned to Steve, "Will interacting with you affect the timeline or are you already a part of the historical record?"

"Yes!" Steve said gleefully. "The second one, I mean!"

"Does that mean you already knew you were going to be called Steve?" I interjected.

"Ok, so possibly minor changes to the timeline," Steve said. I put my hand over my face and rubbed it, the face flexing with my hand. I still had to get used to that. "But I guarantee that I won't result in divergent timelines. It's part of my programming!"

"At this rate, we're going to make Booster Gold look competent," I said. "Look, Batman. I want to help. I know that you've got plenty on your plate with the Justice League forming. Give me – give us – a chance. Gotham, Central City, Fawcett City, wherever you need us. I can't get from place to place that quickly, but…"

Steve cut me off. "Oh, I can help with that." With a loud roar, a Boom Tube opened a few feet away from us. Batman and I both swiveled to look at him. I don't know how he managed to wilt, but somehow, he did it.

"Where does that go?" "How did you do that?" Batman and I spoke over each other. Steve let the Tube close.

"That was a Boom Tube, Steve," I said. "New Gods technology, not 25th​ century. Explain."

"No, we have to move," Batman said. "You're both coming with me."

* * * * *

The conversation which followed later was as awkward as one would imagine. Sadly, I didn't get to see the Bat-Cave. I chuckled inwardly as Batman made use of a Wayne Enterprises office building to continue his interrogation. Steve filled us in on his upgrade, an integrated Mother Box, and Batman satisfied himself as to my good intentions. I demonstrated the range of my shapechanging abilities, becoming a duplicate of him, of Robin, and of his utility belt. Sadly, I retained Plastic Man's challenges with changing color. I couldn't get a good read on what he was thinking, but he told me that he would be in touch.

I shouldn't have been surprised when he contacted me with an offer. The Justice League was public, but Batman always preferred to work from the shadows. Apparently, my appearance and words led him down a path that some of his counterparts also chose to take: the creation of a covert team to work the problems that the Justice League couldn't easily punch away. Batman was the leader, with Robin (a young Dick Grayson), Orphan, and the Signal as the other members. I was apparently taking the place of Metamorpho, who was still Rex Mason (and I had to figure out whether that was something I should try to prevent). Cassandra Cain and Duke Thomas were extremely young, but my greater concern was that they didn't appear in that continuity. Apparently, this one wasn't exactly like what I remembered. Butterflies, maybe? After I agreed (and Steve, too), the last recruit was Freight Train.

Batman let Dick lead the team when he was unavailable, which grew more and more frequent as the League and Gotham demanded more of his time. We picked up another heavy-hitter, Jaime Reyes, after his Scarab cyber-symbiote bonded with him. After Dakota City's Big Bang, the final member of the team, Virgil Hawkins, joined us. I got plenty of practice with my kung fu and began learning the other styles. I was having trouble with One Yang Finger (though Duke had a surprising affinity for it), but got started with each of the others. As part of my studies, I began teaching the other members, especially those with metahuman powers so that they had something to fall back on. For whatever reason, there were a lot of things which could drain metahuman powers in this world and it didn't pay to become defenseless in their absence. Freight Train picked up One Thousand Hand Divine Fist, Virgil gained some understanding of Buddha's Palm, Dick adapted some of the moves from Eight Trigrams Hexagon Staff to his escrima sticks, and Cassandra learned all of them. The only reason I could still defeat her was the combination of my shapeshifting and a decade's headstart in training. That girl was scary.

For the next three years, I worked solely with the Outsiders, until the Justice League expanded its roster. Dick, going by Nightwing now, and I joined the public-facing side because it would have looked suspicious otherwise, but we spent most of our time on the Black Ops. Steve was our tech guy, transport, and self-appointed morale officer. I eventually revealed my telekinetic and mental communication capabilities to the team. Amazingly, Batman never chided me for keeping secrets. I suppose it would have been hypocritical of him. I had played matchmaker for him and Diana, and before I left the jump, Bruce Wayne was publicly "Mr. Wonder Woman" and no longer Gotham's most eligible bachelor.

My new nomination is Saint Young Men.