Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“I still can’t believe this year’s dig is right outside my hometown!” Tommy enthused to the excavation supervisor working in the same trench as him.

“Going to pop over and see your family on the weekends?” Rebecca Little was a doctoral student in her late twenties that worked with her alma mater, MIT, as a summer field school supervisor. She always enjoyed getting to meet the new bright-eyed and bushy-tailed freshmen and sophomores as they got introduced to field work. Before they got nearer to thirty and crouching over in a trench working a small hand-pick to pop up a piece of rock or hardened clay made them grumpy instead of excited.

She was only a few years off from this stuff making her very grumpy.

“I guess? The Olivers travel a lot now that I am away from home, but with me letting them know I’d be around they rescheduled their Italy trip so we could get together for a few weekends in July at the end of the season. But I do have my brother, David, and great-uncle Sam back on the Racheria near Friant.”

That surprised Rebecca, “You’re…Western Mono Tribe?”

Tommy winced, “Kind of? My parents died when they took me out to Angel Grove with them while they were looking for new jobs. I ran away into the city and eventually the Olivers found me, and because I was so young I didn’t really know anything about where I was from that could be used to get me back so they adopted me. It was only last year that David finally found me because Angel Grove put ‘Orphan gets full ride to MIT’ in the local paper with my face on it, and apparently I look a lot like our dad.”

“That’s…honestly I’ve watched less complicated stories in telenovellas. I’m glad you found each other!”

The undergrad laughed at that, “Yeah, so now the Table Mountain Rancheria has thirty-five registered members instead of thirty-four!”

“That low? I…wow.”

This was about how Tommy was used to discussions of his Indigenous heritage going, so he tried to power through the awkwardness with academic data, a tactic that only worked with other academics of course.

“There was some heavy hybridization and cultural fusion with the Yokuts so some people consider us more Yokut from what David tells me. We use the Yokut version of band names and things like that? We lost a lot of our more concrete history unfortunately. I’ve been trying to learn the Nim language, reclaim my heritage and everything but…it’s weird. The Olivers are English and Italian and the most recent immigrant for them to American society was in like 1921 or something. Growing up I related more cultural to Superman than Black Condor and took karate and kung fu classes because I dreamed of being like Mr. Terrific, and I don’t know how to really…reconcile that.”

The supervisor wiped some sweat away from her brow, “Well…I don’t know how to tell you to relate to your rediscovered heritage, Tommy. But you seem like a good kid with your heart in the right place, so I’m sure you’ll figure it out. You’ve got the brain for the Mr. Terrific bit, at least.”

The friendly teasing at the end got Tommy to laugh and lighten up a little, “Yeah, him and witnessing that time Ultra-Humanite went Jurassic Park all over Jump City just up the coast and Superman and Animal Man teamed up are how I kinda got into the whole geobiology and earth sciences thing.”

“You were there for that? Closest I’ve been to the Justice League is seeing a red blur we were pretty sure was the Flash a few years ago when I was in DC for a conference!”

“Oh yeah it was crazy! I hit a velociraptor with a tree branch before one of the dinosaurs Animal Man must have gained control of came and saved me. Let me tell you, seeing a brachiosaur stretch its neck over a fence, pick up a raptor with its mouth, and then just FLING it over a building was probably the wildest thing I’ve ever seen!”

Before she could respond her walkie went off, “Hey Beck, you got Tommy there right?”

She picked it up and answered, “Yeah, need him for something Doctor Mercer? Over.”

“Oh…right…radio protocol. Anyways send the kid over to the mine with us, we need someone with his build to crack a rock. The engineers set up pretty great supports so we’re fully moved into section C and it’s a gold mine. Ov-well no not a gold mine because they were digging nickel and iron but anyways that’s not the point. Over.”

Both paleontologists shook their heads in amusement at the head coordinator of their excavation, Dr. Mercer was extremely intelligent, had an incredible eye for detail, and had a major tendency to go off on tangents and ramble a little.

“Well, you heard the man, they need a big strong strapping lad who used to want to be a superhero over in section C!”
Tommy groaned and put a hand to his face, “You’re not going to let me forget that are you?”

“Nope!” She popped the end of the word to exaggerate it.

“Fine fine. But don’t find anything cool while I’m gone!”

“Please! These outer trenches have been boring as Hell, the mine’s where the good stuff is! Go find something cool for them!”

It wasn’t too far for Tommy to make his way up into the mine. He swapped his wide-brimmed hat, meant to keep him a little protected from the sun, out for a safety helmet, head lamp included, and made his way inside. They had some lighting set up in sections A and B, but C didn’t have any wiring yet. Just the support repairs.

He ducked under a beam and after about ten minutes of walking alongside an old cart track was turning his head lamp on. A few after that he saw more spots of light in the distance and was soon meeting up with the doctor and his best friend, their computational EAP specialist, Hayley Ziktor.

“Dr. Mercer? Hayley? You guys needed me?” He called out as he got closer.

“Ah!” Dr. Mercer’s voice called out from just ahead, “Perfect timing, Mr. Oliver! Miss Ziktor has been working our new GPR device from Star Labs and we believe some fossilized remains are about four feet deep over here. If you could get a couple of strikes in with the hammer and then leverage out what’s left with the pickaxe we can switch to the smaller tools from there!”

Looking at Hayley and raising an eyebrow she just shrugged back at him as if to say, “Well what can you do?” and pointed him to the sledgehammer.

Archaeology and geological studies were the two scientific areas where your undergrads typically were in a lot better shape than your average academic. Of course once they stopped doing the dirty field work that usually swiftly changed. Dr. Mercer wasn’t out of shape necessarily, but Tommy definitely had about twenty pounds of muscle that the good doctor did not. Definitely a delegate the physical work kind of guy.

Though his eight year old son, Trent, was kind of a scrawny kid so it could just be genetic.

The thought merely ran through Tommy’s head slightly as he leaned down to pick up the hammer.

“You sure it’s in there deep enough that I’m not going to disturb anything with three hits?”

“Yes, yes, perfectly safe. It’s a sledgehammer not a jackhammer or dynamite.”

Shrugging Tommy took a crack at the wall. The rock splintered but didn’t shatter or collapse so he felt more confident.

“Yeah that feels fine, okay Hayley take another step back I’m going to really lean into this second one.”

Rolling her eyes the auburn haired undergraduate took an extra step and a half back. “Boys…” she muttered under her breath.

Really leaning into the next strike, Tommy pivoted and swung the hammer like he was going for a homerun.

CRACK!

A massive explosion of rock and dust fired out from the wall and all three stumbled back further.

“What in the blazes?!” The doctor yelled out as pieces of the wall tumbled and crumbled to the floor of the tunnel.

“Ziktor, I thought you said it wasn’t hollow?”

“It wasn’t! It just must have been softer stone behind the outer layer unlike the rest of the mine!”

Tommy coughed and waved away the dust, bending forward to look at a gleam his helmet lamp had caught.

“What…” he whispered to himself as he picked up a strange brass, not quite golden, circle with a dusty emerald embedded.

And then he saw what else had come out of the wall with it.

“Ah!” He stumbled backwards, away from the pile of whitish bones that had come out of the wall with the gem.

“A-ha! Eureka! I wonder what kind of…” Dr. Mercer trailed off when he saw what adorned the top of the pile of bones. “Blast it…now we have to call in an archaeologist.”

Tommy was about to respond when he suddenly felt slightly dizzy and nauseous and leaned back on the far wall of the tunnel to catch his breath.

Through the haze he barely heard Hayley’s own response, “Doctor…” she said, shining an extra flashlight down on the bones, “Those are definitely fully fossilized, and that’s not a human skull. I think we need a xenobiologist, too.”

“Oh…oh no…do you conclude Mr. Ol-Mr. Oliver! Are you quite okay lad?” Tommy saw Doctor Mercer’s face hovering in front of his vision.

“Damnations, I think it’s inhalation of that dust, call our medic will you, Miss Ziktor? Stay with him until they get here, I’ll step out to call in the other specialists we need.”

Tommy passed out right about there.

And woke up back in his childhood bedroom all the way in Angel Grove.

“Wha, what?” He put a hand up to his head and…actually felt kind of great. “This is weird…” He said out loud as he pushed the covers off and looked around.

It was definitely his childhood room. Well he had had a key to the house on his keyring for weekend use and it was only thirty minutes into the city from the mine. It wouldn’t have been too weird if he was just dehydrated and exhausted from dust inhalation for Hayley to have gotten him back here he supposed.

Looking around some more he noticed nothing had really changed, his mother had always been a bit sappy and nostalgic so it wasn’t a surprise that his JSA, Animal Man, Justice League, and Bruce Lee posters were all still on the walls.

What was out of place however, was the brass and emerald disc from the mine sitting right atop his nightstand.

“How did you get here?” He pondered.

Chapter Text

Deciding he should figure out what had gone on while he’d been passed out, he couldn’t imagine it had been less than a day as he was feeling pretty hungry, Tommy reached out to grab his phone. He hadn’t upgraded to a full smart phone like the LexPhones being put out by LexCorps, when working in the field you need something sturdy and reliable.

And his B2100 was pretty sturdy and reliable, took hits almost like a Nokia.

And that’s why he was surprised when, as he picked it up, he somehow accidentally crushed it into a crumbled up pile of plastic and microchips.

“Oh shit!” Tommy yelped out in surprise, dropping the destroyed pieces of his phone and accidentally sending himself ass over tea kettle backwards and off his bed with a thump.

“Tommy? Don’t get up!” He heard some more grumbling following that statement as Hayley rushed up the stairs.

He shakily got to his feet, a little scared of whatever had happened to his phone.

Putting his hand on the nightstand to help turned out to be a problem as well, as he instead put his palm straight through the top of it and into the drawer.

Which is the scene that Hayley walked into of course.

“Oh my God, Tommy what happened?”

“I…I don’t know I just woke up and things started breaking! I crushed my phone earlier, too!” He slowly and carefully pulled his hand out of the nightstand.

“And why did you bring that thing with me?” He said, pointing at the disc.

“Uh…Tommy I have never seen that thing before in my life.”

For a moment Tommy’s brain needed to reboot as he processed that information.

“So…it just followed me here from the mines? An inanimate object?”

“Wait, did you find that in the wall? With the skeleton?” Hayley was not liking where this was going.
“Yes…why?”

“Because it was weird enough that that xenobiologist the doctor called actually called in a member of the Justice League!”

Tommy gaped at her, “A superhero? For a funky skeleton?”

“Well when there’s a sixty-five million year old fossilized alien skeleton in a mine that doesn’t have the skeletal features of any known alien species you apparently call in an expert and the expert was a Green Lantern!”

“Oh shit…and this thing was with it. And I passed out after touching it. And now I break things?”

“Tommy…I think a funky space rock just gave you superpowers and is following you around like a lost pet.”

He brought his hands up and rubbed his face. “Do…do you think I can shoot energy or do any other cool stuff?”

A stuffed dinosaur from when he was a kid that his mom had placed in the room as extra decoration while he was gone bounced off of his head.

“So what are we going to do with this?”

“Yeah…good question. Should I…talk to that Green Lantern?”

When he brought his hands down Hayley was frowning at him.

“No, you shouldn’t.” His face obviously showed he didn’t get what she was saying, “We should. I’m not letting you go into that alone. That would be insane. Besides…” She grinned at him, “Why wouldn’t I use any excuse to see one of those rings up close? They are so cool!”

He laughed, “Well then, moral support it is! I think I could definitely use that.”

He looked around and then sighed, “Umm…do you think you could call the Doctor to set that up? Tell him something is weird with me and we need that Green Lantern to come check me out or something? I kind of crushed my phone.”

“That old Samsung finally ate it, huh? Yeah I can call him for you. You really needed a new one anyways. That thing was like three years old or something! Get a LexPhone like the rest of us!” She muttered as she pulled her phone out and pulled up her contact number for the doctor, popping out of the room, “Go take a shower while I do this call and I’ll order us a pizza too, you’ve been out like a day and a half!”

It was about forty-five minutes later as they were working their way through their second medium pizza, the place had had a two two-topping medium deal going on, that there was a knock on the door.

“I’ll get it, you stay sitting down. I’m still worried about whatever weird shit is going on with you!” Hayley grumbled at Tommy as she got up and went to answer it.

“Oh, okay! Yes, right this way.” Was the response he heard from Hayley at the door, he hadn’t heard what whoever had knocked had said to prompt it.

“Uh, okay so Tommy, these two guys are both named John and say they’re here representing the Justice League.”

Tommy tilted his head to the side as two rather tall African-American men walked in. One was dressed in Air Force blues and the other was wearing a casual blazer and coat. The military man was more robust.

“Yes, that is a bit confusing I would imagine,” The more casual one said with a smile, “Though…and do not be alarmed, you are about to find out why mine might be spelled differently.”

And with that the man’s skin rippled and he transformed into the very recognizable form of the Martian Manhunter.

“Oh wow!” Both college students reacted out loud.

“There’s a reason why we are considered the alien specialists,” The other man said, before a previously innocuous ring on his finger flared green and he was covered with a skin tight suit and light green aura. He was a Green Lantern.

“Yes! Oh my God those rings are so cool can you tell us how the-no wait not the time. Sorry.” Hayley clammed up in minor embarrassment at her outburst.

The men in the room all chuckled before they got back to business.

“So…young Thomas Oliver. We were informed that you came into contact with a possible artifact from near the remains? And that there have been…changes?”

Tommy nodded and pulled the disc out of his pocket. “Yeah…this fell to the ground next to me and when I picked it up in the dust I got dizzy and passed out. Then I woke up…able to break things. We haven’t checked anything else.”

“Are you comfortable with us doing a non-painful scan for alien energies and influences?”

Tommy nodded an affirmative almost before the sentence was complete. He wanted to make sure he wouldn’t mutate into a bug or something.

“Alright…let’s see here. Ring, run a full spectrum scan for non-terrestrial energies. Appraise us of any immediate or future danger to Thomas’s health that may be involved.” He held up his fist and the ring flared brightlight and a beam shot out and covered Tommy with a ticklish green aura for a few moments.

Then the aura spread and seemed to focus in on the disc.

“Non-terrestrial energies detected. Minor active mutagenic field detected. Enhancement not metamorphosis focused. Metaphysical artifact bonding detected, similar to that of a Green Lantern and their ring. Detected energy is being run through the database, analysis will continue in the background. Enhancement seems purely beneficial. Steadily improving strength, agility, and perception enhancements. Some type of mental enhancement as well based on focus of energies around certain neuron pathways, assumption is reaction time focused. Background database search complete: energy source: Transdimensional Colorospectral Morphosis Grid Energy. Last actively detected sixty-five million four-hundred and eighty-three thousand seven-hundred and fifty-five years ago at the conclusion of the War of Righteousness between the Eltarian Protectorate and the demonic warlord Destrovor the Dark Specter which resulted in the mutual destruction of both. This energy typically comes with increased physical and combat capabilities as well as an ability to manifest armor and weapons.”

Both Johns stared at the ring in surprise.

“That’s…a lot.” Tommy weakly stated, in shock himself.

“The good news is it’s not anything that’s going to hurt you, just make you a badass apparently.” Hayley attempted to shine some positivity onto the situation.

“Ring…give me a summary of the Eltarrans.” The Green Lantern eventually said, trying to glean more information for the group.

“Eltar was home to the Eltarians,” The ring was completely monotone with its correction of his pronunciation, “A world of guardians and technosorcerors who gained their powers from a field of energy underlying reality they called the Morphing Grid and worshiped beings known as Emissaries who apparently spoke the will of some gods or beings who lived within this Grid. They were not expansionist by nature, however they shared their galactic neighborhood with the Grand Monarch of the Alliance of Evil, Destrovor the Dark Specter. His penchant for genocide and enslavement of less powerful planets led to Eltar expanding their influence to protect their neighbors, eventually forming a protectorate that governed seven hundred and forty-two worlds at its height. Approximately sixty-five million years ago total war broke out between the two empires. Dark Specter was sealed back into his own Hell dimension rather early on, however the splinter factions of his Alliance eventually fought to mutual destruction with Eltar. With a final offensive by Lord Zedd the Baron of Blood glassing their home planet and the Supreme Protector Zordon abandoning his post to hunt down Dark Specter’s final generals. It is presumed he died in combat with Lady Vile, Rita Repulsa as both were last seen entering this section of the galaxy, and then never seen again. It can be presumed that the Eltarian remains we found in the mine were Zordon.”

“That’s…heavy…” Tommy replied.

The Martian Manhunter nodded along, “My people are ancient, but sixty-five million years is further back than our records go. Even the Guardians must only have this knowledge second or third hand as they were not operating in this galaxy until later than that.”

“Records are sourced to a Liaran sage, Lerigot, one of the last living beings who remembered that war. Shortly after his five millionth life day in the first century of Lantern Corps expansion to this sector.”

“Proactive, thank you ring.”

“I’m sorry, did it just say that that guy lived to be five MILLION?” Tommy asked in shock.

“There are a few species who due to either technological, mystical, or genetic enhancements are unable to die of old age, only other methods.”

“You learn something new every day…” Hayley muttered.

“So, young Thomas. The question now, is what do you wish to do with this? The ring said the artifact is bonded to you, that means we likely cannot break the bond without great danger.” The Martian stated.

“Oh…oh wow. I mean I always wanted to be a superhero when I was younger, but I think first thing would be to make this power safe and control it, right? And I’d kind of like to finish college first too. Keep my options open, yeah?”

“Hmm…I think the League could arrange for some training equipment to be delivered here and to your school gym so that you could safely practice with these new abilities. Nothing that seems out of place. Just a treadmill that can handle faster speeds, a power rack with some secret heavier settings, things like that. And…here, take our cards, they have the League number and the extensions for our voicemails. We like to make sure we’re available for people who have things like this happen to them.”

“Does this happen a lot?”

“More than you’d think but less than would cause major problems thankfully.”

Tommy nodded, “Alright, well…thank you both! This has been…weird. Uh…I don’t know if I can go back to the dig before I can control this. I accidentally smushed some pizza just a few minutes ago.”

“The dig is post-poned for at least a week with the alien stuff, so there’s time.” Hayley assured him.

“Okay…well, I guess I better figure this out.”