Demiurge

chapter three

Tommy's POV

I was officially invited back on the team, with mixed feelings on my part. I mean, they wanted to kill my brother after one encounter with him! I was going to change their minds, I had to. For Billy's sake.

I was currently training with the other members of the team, sparring with Pietro to get our minds off our comatose friend when Batman walked in with Kaldur and Black Canary, standing patiently off to the side while we continued our sparring session.

We weren't using our powers this go around, so it made things a bit more interesting.

Pietro tried to land a punch on my stomach but I dove to the side, only to be met in the face with his foot. I went flying backwards, landing on my back as Pietro was declared the winner.

He helped me to my feet with a small smile. "You're a bit rusty, eh?"

"So it would seem." I shrugged, turning to the Justice Leaguers. "What is it this time? Any word on Billy?"

"Actually, yes. But we need to tell you as a whole team." Batman glared, gesturing for us to follow him to the mission room. Once we were all gathered around the holographic computer Batman pulled up a surveillance tape from the camera Dick had planted on the island. "This video is a bit disturbing, fair warning."

The video started playing, starting off with Billy meditating in the middle of a field at night. His eyes opened to reveal what looked like the night sky in each of his eyes looking straight ahead. A smirk fell onto his face as he raised his hands, pointing them in front of him. The air began to swirl a blueish black color as Billy's cape and hair flew back from the force of his magic.

Billy pulled his hand back towards his chest and the swirls grew bigger, stronger in power as Billy stood up, walking around what looked like a miniature galaxy. His smirk grew as he waved his hand, zooming in on a particular glowing orb. He plucked the orb out from the swirls in between his two fingers, observing it closely. With a chuckle, he squished it between his two fingers, turning to look up at the sky when the light faded between his fingers.

Sure enough, a visible star faded out in the blink of an eye, making Billy laugh even harder. Another laugh soon joined Billy's and Klarion appeared within view, slinging his arm over Billy's shoulder. "My, Demiurge, we are going to do wonderous things together." Billy nodded, the red mark on his forehead glowing as the two of them walked out of camera range.

Batman paused the video, looking up to see our reactions.

"How can anyone be that powerful to snuff out a star with his fingers?" Garfield cried out, pulling at the ends of his hair.

"I warned you all that the Demiurge would cause more harm than even Thanos." We all jumped, turning to see Zatanna standing there with her arms crossed. "But did you listen? No, instead you let him use the Infinity Gauntlet to rewrite time!"

"Never mind that for now, Z, how do we stop someone this powerful?" Dick sighed in annoyance. "How can he be this powerful?"

"I told you, the Demiurge can rewrite time and space without consequence, given the proper training. And it seems Billy has been given training, allowing him to reach his full potential. There is no telling what he can do." Zatanna sighed, walking fully into the room. "The only way to stop him is to get him away from Klarion long enough for either Wanda or myself to remove the spell Klarion has cast on him."

"How do we do that?"

"A big distraction and a lot of effort, I'm afraid."

All eyes turned to me and I groaned. "Fine, I guess I will be the distraction."

"Tommy, wh-"

"That's why you were looking at me, right? You want me to go back to Klarion and pretend to be his loyal servant again?" I scratched the side of my head, staring at the rest of my team.

"No, we were staring at you because he is your brother and you should have input on what the plan is. But that is actually not a half bad idea." Zatanna grinned, ignoring my whines. "So, when are we going to launch this plan into action?"

We all exchanged glances, nobody saying a word until Tim broke the silence. "How about ASAP? The longer Billy is in Klarion's control, the more damage he can do."

We all nodded, heading towards the bioship after getting approval from Kaldur and Batman.

Time to go save my brother.

Billy's POV

The amount of power flowing through my body was intoxicating. I had the universe at my fingertips, no, the multiverse was within my grasp!

I had recently discovered that their were other planes of existence through my partnership with Klarion and he was teaching me how to hone my powers enough so I was able to see into the multiverse, see the other universes and their happenings.

Which is what I was doing now, as I sat in my room at the Santa Prisca compound.

I summoned the power within me, getting ready to utter my spell. I was now powerful enough I did not have to do that idiotic repetition I did before Klarion helped me unlock my potential. "Show me all possible realities."

The air began to swirl blueish black once more as millions upon millions of realities began to swirl around me at an almost dizzying rate. I plucked one at random, deciding to watch a bit through the eyes of this realities self.

It would appear in this reality I was apart of a team of superheroes called the 'Young Avengers' and that the Scarlet Witch was my mother?

As if.

I swiped to the next reality, watching as this self was viciously murdered by a mugger on the street. How awful.

Swiping to the next one, something caught my eye as I was scrolling through this realities lifetime.

In this reality, I also aligned myself with Klarion against the Justice League and their team of youngsters when I lost my memory due to using the Infinity Gauntlet. But Klarion was controlling me through some sort of spell he had cast on me, something that made me his puppet.

I growled, having enough of reality surfing I swung my arm out and made the portals to the other realms disappear, stomping over to the mirror in my room. I glared into it, seething as I thought about being a pawn to someone like Klarion.

That is, until I saw the mark on my forehead that look eerily similar to the one from the alternate reality.

At that moment, I realized I had been watching my own reality and not some distant realm. But that would mean...I was a hero at some point. That I killed my team.

I gasped when I remembered what I just recently did to M'gann, what I almost did to Artemis.

I had become a monster.

But I could fix this, I can rewrite time, right?

As I was starting my spell, my forehead began to burn. I cried out, collapsing to the ground.

My vision faded to black just as the image of Klarion's smiling face filled my view.