Being stranded in the middle of a field, with no idea where in the world it was located, wasn't a particularly positive experience. Especially without the use of her legs, and no sign of civilisation anywhere. There were no rural farms off into the distance, nor were there highways with signs detailing the nearest town. There was only a sea of green as far as the eye could see; grass and small sunflowers swaying in the light breeze.
Harper has the very unsavoury thought that she might be stuck there for a while, but much to her great fortune (or misfortune) the sound of crunching boots and heavy footsteps punctured the air. Harper immediately searched for the origin of such a sound, spotting a group of soldiers marching towards her. They were draped in plain brown uniforms and sported a patch of the foreign flag for Bialya on their shoulders; Harper could tell by the black and yellow stripes. A sickening feeling started swirling in her stomach. Bialya wasn't the sort of place that she wanted to be...it was a country under the guise of being a paradise, but beneath the surface it was complete chaos.
After The Queen Bee became ruler of Bialya she seemingly transformed the country overnight. What was once a violent, pock-marked ghetto became a veritable paradise resort. The Queen Bee opened Bialya's doors to commerce. She instituted free food programs, twenty-four hour free medical care for its citizenry, cultural exchange benefits and a 100% employment rate...but that was all to mask its totalitarian government. The Queen Bee also restricted the amount of information her citizens about the outside world, and their own country's focus on military training. She also developed an implant that electronically increased a person's endomorphin levels whenever they were present in Bialya. Leaving the country, however, caused the stimulus to cease, creating what was in effect withdrawal pains. Residents were literally addicted to living in Bialya. So this so called 'paradise' was actually a nation bereft of their freedom.
When the soldiers finally reached her position they stared deadpan from beneath their steel helmets. One of them stepped forward, likely the leader of this small squadron, and spoke...but not in any language that Harper could understand. Bialya was located in the Middle East, somewhere between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and so it was safe to assume that they were speaking either Persian or Arabic. It didn't really matter either way. Harper didn't know any languages apart from English and a very loose understanding of Russian and Chinese from her time in the military.
"Ah... I can't understand you..." Harper muttered, knowing very well that the problem was probably mutual. "English?"
The man yelled again, apparently furious with Harper's untranslated reply. The men behind him pointed their weapons towards her, fingers itching on the trigger. The leader commanded something of Harper, though she wasn't certain exactly what he wanted until he kicked his steel cap boot into her leg. She was grateful that she couldn't feel it.
"Oh...uh...can't walk?" She said in a questioning tone. She was almost certain that they couldn't understand her now, and she had no idea how to explain it to them without words. She pointed towards her legs then shook her head, and when this still didn't seem to get the point across, she reached into her pocket for her lighter. She rolled up the edge of the pants on her right leg and flicked the lighter until a small flame started to burn. She held this flame to the skin of her ankle. As she held it in place the smell of burning flesh filled their senses. The area turned pink, then red, then black. She moved the lighter away, now with a third-degree burn on her ankle, and tucked her lighter away. "See? I can't feel it."
She gestured towards the burn. This time she was almost positive that they would understand...but they didn't. The soldiers all stared at her with wide, horrified eyes...as if they were staring at a woman half-way to insanity. They looked seconds away from shooting her until, at last, someone broke away from the group. A medic. He grabbed one of the guns and poked Harper's leg with it. It jostled, but only barely. The medic's expression twisted into realisation at the lack of muscle reaction.
He turned and spoke to the rest of his squad. Harper could only hope that he was explaining the situation. Regardless, they didn't appear too pleased to hear his medical diagnosis. The commander made a gesture and the soldiers lowered their weapons...but he unsheathes a pistol from its holder and pointed it directly at Harper's head. She was no longer a threat. Just a wounded animal about to be killed...
Harper couldn't help but notice the irony of this situation. She had survived a time jump, a battle with reckless metahumans, and yet another journey through time...only to be killed in the middle of nowhere by a swift bullet to the head. Fear didn't hit her as hard as the hilarity did. Truly, it would be a subpar way to die after everything she had been through. Perhaps that was what made it so perfect.
The military man's finger shifted against the trigger, and there was a loud click then a 'bang'. Harper closed her eyes instinctively...but nothing happened. No pain. No loss of consciousness. No nothing. When she dared to peek from beneath her scrunched eyelids she was almost blinded by dazzling silver metal beaming under the sun. Harper let her gaze wander upward, and saw that this metallic leg belonged to a cyborg - Victor.
The bullet had bounced off his plating and ricocheted just past the group of soldiers. He looked furious. That was only confirmed when he growled something to the group that Harper still couldn't understand. Something that made them stumble back in uncertainty.
In an instant, Victor's armour started to click and shift, morphing until a dozen weapons appeared from beneath the metal; one on each hand, two on his back, two smaller models on his shoulders, three on his right leg, two on the left, and a giant energy-based one in his abdomen. The commander trembled at the sight, barked an order at the top of his lungs, then the squadron scrambled out of sight.
The weapons swiftly disappeared back beneath Victor's armour so seamlessly that it baffled Harper even to this day. "Wow. You're like Inspector Gadget with all that shit on y-"
Victor fell to his knees and wrapped his arms around her. They were cold and almost painful but Harper decided not to mention that to him. He had grown a slight beard since she'd last seen him, and his eye was red with exhaustion. This made her believe that she hadn't returned to the exact moment she had left...
"...How long has it been?"
Victor didn't bother questioning the reason behind this sudden enquiry. He simply answered in a low, tired voice "Two years."
Harper wished that this news had shocked her, but she knew all too well that time was a flimsy concept. It would have been nearly impossible to send her back to the exact day and place without help from someone like Doctor Fate. "That would explain the new look."
Despite her quipping, Victor only held her tighter; like she was the only thing keeping him from being dragged through the soil and into the depths of hell. "I...searched...for so long. I couldn't get to you...Fate wouldn't let me."
This time Harper finally discarded the joking facade. She could hear the pain in his voice. It was real and raw and agonising to listen to. "You mean Doctor Fate? He wouldn't let you? Why?"
"He said that meddling through universes and time is often a harbinger of chaos...but that sometimes it's ordained."
"You're saying that me winding up in that place wasn't just a freak accident?" Harper said in utter disbelief. "It was always meant to happen?"
There was no reply but she didn't need one. It was all becoming very obvious to her now. No one from that supposed 'future' remembered her suddenly disappearing for two years, and so it must never have happened...well, for them at least. That meant that it wasn't their future at all. It was an alternate universe, or perhaps even a particular path that their future could have taken if she had never vanished. Doctor Fate left her there to ensure that their reality continued steering in the right direction...she just hoped that this alternate future was better than the one she saw.
With these thoughts reeling in her mind, Harper tried to distract herself with other matters. "How did you find me?"
"I have your vitals and general DNA make-up saved to my memory." Victor answered bluntly, picking her up in his arms and opening a boom tube. "I just had to scan the world for someone that matched it. That's how I discovered that you were no longer on our earth...but I still rigged it to inform me if you ever returned."
He stepped through the portal, trying his best to remain composed; though Harper could see the relief that he felt after finding her. She blinked as the Watchtower sped into view. "And did I miss anything?"
Victor fell quiet for only a few seconds before responding "Yeah. A lot."
"Like?" Harper insisted.
"An alien invasion."
Harper's face twisted into surprise. That was exactly what was happening before she left the other earth. She could, only now that her mind was entirely awake, recall the loud banging and screaming consuming the streets as she was rushed through the Hall of Justice. She had to wonder if it was the same invasion, by the same species, and for the same reasons...just with an earlier timeframe. Harper, again, decided not to bother Victor with this knowledge. "Well, now I'm glad I wasn't here. Anything else?"
As if the world was answering her question, two figures walked into frame. The Watchtower wasn't ever bustling with life, but it always had a handful of people within its walls. This time it just happened to be the completely defective duo of Superman and Reaper. They were discussing something...the queen of Atlantis had a son, oddly named Kasalus, who had just shown signs of inheriting his father's gift; communicating with sea life.
Booster Gold stuck his head out from one of the many training rooms located within the vicinity and scoffed at the sight. "Is it really appropriate bringing your gossip in here?"
Clark looked as if he might reply with something civil but before they could Silvia jumped in "Is it really appropriate bringing your face in here?"
Harper shook her head incredulously. Regardless of everything she had missed, nothing had really changed...