Days of Future Past

Hey there, guys! Here's a new three-shot of me. As you probably guessed, this is a story about Future Kaz. Fun Fact: I intended this to be a long one-shot, but then I realized it probably was going to be too long, so I decided to split it in three parts. The next part can be expected here during the next week.

Enjoy!

-Writer207

January 12, 2040

As usual, I was hanging around at Mighty Med.

Please, don't get the wrong image of me.

Okay, that last thin might have sounded a little wrong, so let me explain. I don't want you to get the wrong image of me after reading that first phrase. Yes, I was hanging around at the secret superhero hospital, but not the way you think. A lot has changed. I wasn't exactly trying to save the people who save the people. This does not mean I finally got powers and became a hero. No, not at all. I'm still a Normo, but I started working together with the League of Heroes.

What am I saying? I'm an honorary member of the League of Heroes.

I'm certain you'd like to know how that happened, but I don't wanna talk about that right now. I can, however, tell you it has something to do with the fall of someone and the rise of me. If you have no clue what I'm talking about, I'm certain I'll bring up the topic a little further, so just keep on reading and you'll find out eventually.

Anyway, one of the doctors was treating me as I sat on a gurney. As soon as I became an honorary Leaguer, I quit my job at the hospital. Only now I know how big the consequences were of my departure. There is almost no staff left and Dr. Bridges runs this place now. Why? Because Horace was too stubborn to be taken in himself. If had done that, he would've still been here instead of dying of the Darkheart virus the Government released on us. Don't worry, I'm immune, but most people with powers are not. Also, not much heroes survived either. The Government is also out to brutally murder all villains and heroes it finds – except the Destroyer and his sidekick, Scowlface. Somehow, the Government likes those two. But not me! Not me!

Someone yelled my name. I turned my head – the wrong move to make right now. there's no feeling in my right arm and I accidentally hit part of the gurney with it. Yeah, when nothing's happening I can't feel anything, but when it gets hurt, I'll feel it! Thanks, logic! If you must know how that happened, I have two words for you: the Destroyer. Why'd he attack, you ask? Yeah, I know he normally doesn't attack directly (sometimes he does, though) but I might've been a little carried away when he had captured Skylar Storm. I wasn't thinking straight, but I did manage to free Skylar. Unlike me, she can heal herself. Oh, did I mention she regained her powers? I gave them back to her.

I stood up from the gurney and the doctor walked away when Titanio came walking to me. If he needed me, I wasn't gonna let him now. I limped closer to him and I saluted him with my left arm (because my right arm was hurt and I couldn't feel it anymore – I bet the pain will come back anytime soon). "Kazimieras Gordon, reporting for duties." I can see he doesn't appreciate the salute. Hey, Titanio's the leader, so he deserves a little respect. Yes, I'm still calling him Titanio. What did you expect me to call him, Henry? No, not Henry – he's given up that name when the new Government took over.

Also, Titanio is getting old. I know this has nothing to do with name-calling, but I just wanted to say that. He's gotten gray hair and… okay, he's just getting old.

"I have a mission for you." Titanio said. I suddenly wondered why he looked fitter than I felt? I'm supposed to be younger and fitter than him. but as soon as he realized he has a mission for me, I'm all ears. Normally, I have to sneak out of the safe hospital to the dangerous world outside in order to participate in a mission. I guess that's a bad way of going on missions.

"Sure, tell me." Has he heard about my heroic deeds of getting back Skylar Storm? I hope he has. I'm sure he'll promote me as leader of the League when I've finished that one given mission. Hey, Titanio's getting older and he trusts me more than anyone, so I'm a good choice for next leader.

"The Government's been a pain in the ass ever since they took over. And you know the Destroyer doesn't make it any easier for us. It's like he's hurting us more than the Government." He looked at me expectantly, but I had no clue what he meant. To me, it just sounded like he was summing up why we're having such a hard time surviving.

"Okay," I eventually said, "what are you trying to say?" Titanio wasn't surprised by my question. Hey, I can't help it that I don't get where this is going. It's almost like Titanio understands. I hoped he thought it was because that one blow to the head I received from the Destroyer a couple of years back. I always messed things up and had trouble understanding some things, like – and this is a silly example – how a blender worked. I sometimes still blamed that concussion, even I totally got over it. I hoped he now would blame the concussion as well.

"You need to stop the Destroyer." Almost immediately, a smile appeared on my face. Yes! Yes, oh finally I could destroy the Destroyer and that I'm given the order to do so! Man, this has to be the best day of my life! Not to mention I haven't exactly smiled in a while.

"I thought you'd never ask," I replied, sounding very enthusiast, "Okay, where's the weapons vault? I need a big gun and some explosives." Somehow, Titanio could not appreciate my comment. Why? They couldn't have found anyone else this enthusiastic.

"I don't mean you get to go right away!" He yelled. He normally didn't yell. I guess I just irritated him with my newfound joy. Yeah, people don't have much joy these days and sometimes I thought of my job with the League as a curse rather than a gift, seeing how much I got hurt and I rarely won any battles.

"Then what did you mean?" I dared to ask. Titanio sighed in frustration. I could almost hear him think how giving me that mission was a bad idea.

"You're going to the past to stop him from every becoming a villain." Okay, that makes much more sense. If the Destroyer never became the Destroyer, we'd probably have less to worry about and then not so many people died because of him. Yet, something still bothered him.

"I still get to use a big gun, right?" Titanio never lets me play with the weapons he invented or bought from his good friend, Donald Davenport. He says that I'm too inexperienced. But I am too inexperienced because he does not want me to gain any experience by keeping me in this darned hospital.

"Before you get a gun, you first need to understand what your mission is." I nodded. Yeah, sure, why not? I'd do everything to get a gun and take care of the Destroyer.

"Okay, I'll understand," I sat back down on the old gurney, "Explain, then; what's this all about?" I was all ears. Maybe there really was some value in the old man's words. But for now, all I heard was just mission talk and thus boring. I did try my best to pay attention, though – not saying I really succeeded in doing so.

"I figured out a way to travel back in time," Titanio explained, "I'm going to use it on you. First of all, you need to try and prevent the Destroyer becoming the man he is today. So you need to stop Oliver Pyne from becoming a villain. Do you understand?" Yeah, sure, I understand: I had to make sure the Destroyer did not become the Destroyer. Easy. Piece of cake. And again, something bothered me.

"Do I have to call him like that?" I asked, "The name 'Destroyer' kinda grew on me." That, and Oliver Pyne was dead to me. He died when he took on the alter ego of the Destroyer. He decided to be evil while I was left for dead by him. he tried to kill me several times, but he never really could succeed. And right now, I never want to call him 'Oliver' again, because he does not deserve that name.

Does that make sense? I think it does.

"Fine." Titanio said, "Also, it might be better if you inform him of his future actions. Take the canoe example. I'm sending you to the exact same day as he supposedly became evil – that's to say, the thing he does that day will trigger the events of him becoming evil. If you tell him about everything he's done, he'll definitely turn away from the evil path." I nodded. Okay, sounds good to me. Preventing is better than killing anyway, but I recently thought it would be just better to kill him.

"Great! You have my word," I immediately said – I wanted to help take down the Destroyer, "One more thing: if he does that one thing he's not supposed to do, what do I do then?"

"Simple. You send him into a black hole with the black hole generator gun." I liked that part better. Part of me wished he'd try to do those things and part of me didn't. But the part that wanted to get rid of him was bigger than the one showing compassion with the young Destroyer. Besides, I'm gonna get a gun!

"So I do get a gun!" Titanio looked at him again, irritated.

"Kaz, please!" I grinned. Hey, I couldn't help it – I finally was getting something to shoot with, and it was a black hole generator gun of all guns!

"I'm sorry." I apologized, "I'm just so excited about getting a gun." Titanio looked away for a moment, and I'm certain he rolled his eyes. I have no idea why he doesn't want me to see him roll his eyes.

"Right," he eventually said, "What I'm worried most about is that you will have to eliminate him if he does turn evil. Do you think you can handle killing your best friend?" Was he serious? I hoped not. Or was he just that oblivious to notice I only snuck out when I was sure the Destroyer was near in the hope of taking him down. I still don't know why I wanted to take him down and couldn't accept anyone else fighting him.

"Former best friend, Titanio," I pointed out, "He killed thousands. He used a dead Normo as canoe! He kidnapped Skylar Storm to give her the Darkheart virus! He's a monster and must be stopped." Darkheart is something tricky. It takes over some people's minds. And those who can resist the Darkheart's mind control, soon die afterwards. Well, that happens to 99 per cent of the people affected. Not me, because I'm immune. I already said that, didn't I? Knowing the Destroyer uses it, is no surprise. After all, he's working together with the Government, as far as I knew.

Titanio stared at me with a weird look in his eyes. I knew that look: he thought I was either crazy, or a madman. Or both, considering the way he looked at me.

"And now I'm worried you will just try to eliminate him and won't try to keep him off the evil path." The only thing I could do was to shrug.

"I'm a Leaguer. I'll perform my duties, I'll follow your orders. I promise I won't try kill him until he started to become a villain." Promises were made to be kept, especially when you're an honorary Leaguer. Not keeping a promise or oath resulted in being kicked out of the League or death, depending on the kind of promise or oath. Titanio nodded, clearly impressed by my devotion to the task at hand. I was wondering when I was getting my worm hole generator gun. Those are definitely awesome!

"Great. Now I know I can trust you, there are three things I need to give to you. I hope you're not afraid of needles." He grabbed a syringe, but I didn't notice it until I said the following:

"No, but the Destroyer is. Oh, maybe we can scare him by sending Needle Woman to him! He was always scared of her!" What? I'm not obsessed with taking him down. I'd just sleep better knowing he's not breathing anymore. Titanio didn't look amused.

"I meant that I'm going to inject you with this. Give me your arm." I extended my arm and without any warning he placed the syringe with whatever it contained in my arm. I exclaimed something, but I don't remember. All I did remember that I suddenly felt twenty years youngers! No, not correct: this is the best I've felt in my entire life; I've never felt fitter.

"Wow, I feel great!" I exclaimed, throwing my arms in the air. Then I realized I could move my right arm. "I can feel my arm! That's awesome! What was that?" don't blame me for being enthusiastic. I just wanted more of that.

"It's given you a big temporary boost," Titanio explained, "It'll stop working after twelve hours. It rids your body of any diseases and heals your bones." I barely listened to what he said, but I did catch the effects did not last forever. Such a pity. Wait… if it healed my bones, did that mean I could run again? I turned around and ran one round through the lobby. I could barely hide my joy when I stopped in front of Titanio.

"I can run again! this is the best day of my life!" Not being able to run because I limp (limped!) heavily always ticked me off, but now I could run again. This was great!

"The effects wear off after twelve hours. You'll just go back to limping because you've been limping for the past twelve years." Titanio said. I liked that part less, but it was better to run now than to wait for me to heal completely.

"And this is also for you." He handed me the worm hole generator gun and a round silver metal thing. I studied it closely.

"What is it? Can it levitate?" I don't know why I asked that question, but I did it anyway. It was good to know.

"No. This will show you when something's changed here. it also tells you when Oliver starts to become evil and what follows of him being evil. You should probably keep in mind that these events might differ from the ones you grew up with because of your presence."

"Fine, cool." Man, running was so great! I didn't really listen to Titanio blabbering about it, but it was interesting… I guess… "So, er, how do I get to the past? And what if I want to come back here?"

"Don't worry about that. I've got that part handled. When you see a blue beam, that's your ride back. It'll automatically bring you back when the Destroyer does not exist here anymore. Also, use the black hole generator wisely. If you fire it at the wrong object – or person – you can't make it undone." Yeah, yeah, consequences when you don't use it properly, I get it. When did I get to go to the past and try and take down the Destroyer?

"Fine. Oh, do I get to stand in a pose?" Hey, if you gotta go to the past, you needed to look cool.

"If you want to," Yes, Titanio accepted my offer! "Just stand still and I'll activate the time travel device. Good luck, Kaz." Those were the last words he said. I looked at him before I struck a pose. My eyes locked with his. I could see he put too much trust in me. I nodded at him.

"I won't fail. I promise." I looked away from him and a blue beam surrounded me. I started to disappear and before I knew it, I was at the Mighty Med of twenty-five years in the past. I was back. When I looked at my right, I saw them.

I recognized the younger me.

I saw the Destroyer – no, excuse me, Oliver.

I had trouble not pulling the gun and shooting the Destroyer right away.