Terra II part 86

Things were relatively peaceful through Christmas and into New Years Eve.  On the 28th, there was a poor soul who's latent powers manifested on the spot.  Redwing quietly brought him in, and  they sent him to the New York team, who in turn sent him on to the Justice League.  They didn't trust Checkmate with any new metahuman, of course.

The Justice League. They all knew the stories, of course, from their pre-Chaos history.  They still wondered about it sometimes.

Tara wasn't wondering about it now, though.  Right at the moment Gar was snuggled in her arms, asleep.  Despite Donna's best intentions, the New Years' Eve celebrations had indeed gotten somewhat rowdy.  Nothing like what Metallik would have done, of course; but Tara was quietly pleased.  

She could barely see him in the dark room, but she stroked his face tenderly, smiling.  He shifted and muttered in his sleep.  It was several hours before dawn....she wasn't exactly sure when.  Sometime after 3, was all she was sure of.

She wasn't often awake at these times; but when she was, she found it extrodrinarily peaceful She'd talked with Dagon about it once, and he agreed.  Something so peaceful....to know people were there yet to have peace and quiet all the same....civilization at rest.....

She kissed Gar softly on the forehead and drifted back to sleep.

--

She had a strange dream; a dream of herself wearing some skin-tight black outfit with weird traceries of light, and Gar was red instead of green.  They were in some cold, wintry place, with other people in costumes similar to her own.  There was some kind of argument, and then she and Gar left the others behind.

The dream was strange, and amusing in its' way, but when Tara woke a few hours later, she was glad it was not reality.

She told Gar about it, and he related a similar dream, where they had looked the same way they had in Tara's, but he hadn't seen the dream from inside his own head.  Instead, he had seen himself and Tara facing someone else, who had  gloved hands up in an effort to placate them.  Gar said in his dream, Tara had said something about everyone being an enemy.

They both agreed that while these dreams were interesting, they made no sense.  Their own lives were strange enough.

--

Not long after breakfast, the team had gathered  in the basement for training.   Tara, Gar, and Charlie were in favor of patrol.  Dagon was too, but not until dark.  He couldn't always be night shift anymore, though; not now that they were free of Chaos once and for all.  Sometimes Tara was still amazed by that thought.

Carrie was in favor of whatever training wanted.  Miri remained silent.  Tara was starting to really worry about her.

"There will be plenty of time for patrol," Donna said, sharing a long-suffering look with Gar.  Tara got the impression this was a discussion they'd had many times before.  "And Dagon is right; it's better to do it when the whole team is together.  Not that you should always be active at night; you're not Batman, after all."  A series of chuckles at that, and she smiled and went on.  "But unit cohesion is important."

"Meaning no disrespect," Charlie said, "But we've been fighting as a unit for a while."

Donna was not offended.  "In a much different environment.  Now you're heroes, not freedom fighters."

"And Donna is very different from Battalion," Gar pointed out, to another round of laughter.

"So for now," Donna resumed, "We'll drill down here.  We need to remember that--"

A sound inerrupted them.  A most unusual sound.  A rising and falling roar.  Everyone stood up.  Just as the sound was beginning fo fade, the intruder alarms kicked in; whatever this was, it had gotten through their defenses like it wasn't even there.

"So much for the upgrades after Judge and Jury attacked,"  Gar groused.

"It must be something a lot more dangerous than them," Tara answered.

They arrived in the foyer....and stopped cold.  

A blue box stood there.  It was a darker shade than the walls, and slightly worn.  It had glass windows three quarters of the way up, and two simple but well carved doors, with a legal notice stamped on some sort of metal plate on one of the doors.

"What the--" Tara began.

"No wait," Donna said.  "I think I may know what this is about.  Jon, can you access the old JSA files?"

*Accessing.....no way, you think it's him?"

"I do," Donna agreed.

"Who?" Tara and Carrie chorused.

One of the doors on the blue box opened and a man stepped out.  He was short, with dark hair creeping out from under a pale hat.  He wore a cream colored coat and a paisley scarf with a matching tie.  His suit--seemingly made from raw silk--was about half a size too big for him.

"Ahh, good, the Team Titans.  Exactly who I was hoping to find.  Your own experience with time travel will prove useful."  He spoke with a rich Scottish accent.

"So it is you," Donna said.  "There are old historical files..."

"Ah yes, the Justice Society.  I remember them."  The little man's face fell.  "Of course, I looked different then."

*Cross referencing UNIT files now...yep, I recognize this profile,* Jon said.

"Who are you?"  Tara asked.

The little man smiled.  "I'm the Doctor."