Crossover Earth '98
Infinite Reflections Jay Shaffstall
Captain Infinity floated motionless in the air over the Denny's. He had just seen Cassandra Netherland enter, and knew that in a short while Avalon would join her.
Infinity wasn't worried about being seen; he had spoken to Cassandra some time after this, and she didn't mention having seen him before. Him being seen would constitute a change in the timeline, and that was something that he was powerless to do. Cassandra, though, was something else.
She seemed to be a walking ripple of changes. Every life she touched changed to some small degree. The homeless man in Detroit was the largest change, but there were many others. She touched their lives in small ways, but definitely changed them. In fact, it seemed that her presence in this world caused changes that she didn't intend...just last month, he'd had to warn Blur about a terrorist bombing at the Los Angeles airport. It was an incident she should have already been stopping, but somehow, the ripples of change placed her at some other point in the city.
So far the shape of the world to come hadn't changed. Before Cassandra's arrival, Infinity didn't think the future could be changed. The timestream always worked to prevent his changes, however small. Now, though, perhaps through Cassandra he could prevent the coming disaster that would change his life. It would be her biggest change yet, and he didn't know if the timestream would accept that.
But he had to try...
Farther above Infinity, another man floated motionless in the air. He was dressed much the same as his younger self, but his thoughts were much darker. He also didn't worry about being seen, because he didn't remember seeing himself at this point in time, and, as always, he was powerless to change anything.
He knew that even with Cassandra's help, he would be unable to alter the turning point of his life. That had been the best lever her could find to avert the coming cataclysm, and he had failed. His only hope now lay in the group of heroes that Cassandra planned on gathering.
Perhaps through sheer force and Cassandra's unique status as both in and out of this world, they could alter what was to come. Infinity prayed that they could, otherwise the cataclysm might wipe out all of time. Or not...he really didn't know what would happen, only that it would change the very structure of spacetime in this universe. He couldn't take the chance that such an event would destroy the universe. If only he could travel beyond the event, to see what was beyond it. If only he knew more.
Infinity suppressed an urge to look above him to see if yet another figure floated motionless in the air.