FBI: Chapter 72/73

Chapter 72: The Legendary Team

After deciding Jack Bright's fate and implementing strict surveillance and containment protocols, Dante dismissed the rest of the team.

Although Wanda and Pietro had officially joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation a month ago, they were in such rough shape at the time that Dante had them move straight into his home.

Ada took it upon herself to give the two curious little troublemakers and Jack Bright a full tour of FBI Headquarters.

Even at night, the Federal Bureau of Investigation's departments remained fully operational.

Thor was still painfully out of touch with Midgard culture, so Hela and Loki decided to drag him off to sample the local cuisine… naturally, all charged to Dante's government card.

Everyone dispersed, leaving only Harley Quinn unusually quiet beside Dante.

"What's up, Harley?" Dante asked as they stepped into the elevator. "You're way too quiet today. This is very un-Harley Quinn behavior."

"Oh, my Pudding~ Even a dazzling little maniac like me has those few days a month when the madness wears thin and I start craving a normal life…"

Dante mentally translated that sentence.

Oh.

Her period.

He hit the button for B5—the Federal Bureau of Investigation's special prison for superpowered offenders.

As the elevator descended, Dante stood silently beside Harley Quinn.

Just as the doors were about to close, Harley suddenly launched herself at Dante and started biting him.

The floor display ticked down: 1… B1… B2… B3… B4… B5.

Ding—

The doors opened.

Dante calmly wiped the lipstick off his right cheek and peeled Harley off him.

Turns out it wasn't her period.

She was just insanely pent-up.

Ever since Harley had shifted her affections from Joker to Dante, this was the first time they'd been apart for over twenty-four hours.

That barrage of kisses had even startled Dante a bit.

Not that it didn't feel good.

Sure, Harley's sanity was… negotiable. But her face? Absolutely killer.

And she moved like lightning—when she pounced just now, Dante immediately felt the insane flexibility in her body.

"Woohoo~ Pudding energy replenished!"

"You've replenished alright. Tomorrow, Internal Affairs is gonna file a full misconduct report straight to Fury's desk!"

"Oooh, scared, are you?"

"Scared of who?" Dante raised his brow.

"Then… since no one's watching… just one last kiss… Mmph!"

Dante finally gave in to Harley's temptation and pressed her up against the wall.

Lips locked.

Sure, he was a virgin—but not an idiot.

When meat was literally at his mouth, he didn't hesitate.

He kind of… missed her too.

But then—

"Bloody hell, you FBI people roll like this? Is it too late for me to apply?"

"Shut it, you magical bastard. Someone like you in the FBI? Only if the whole Bureau had their brains eaten by zombies."

"Hmmm… So kissing can work like that. Good material for later."

Three voices, all deeply sarcastic.

Constantine. Captain Cold. Heat Wave.

Dante and Harley Quinn had been too caught up in each other to notice that their, uh, audience was located just a few meters from the elevator.

The three inmates casually threw jabs at them.

But neither Dante nor Harley flinched. Thick skin, both of them.

Instead, they turned and silently stared down the peanut gallery.

Eventually, even Constantine and the other two realized something was off—and shut up.

"Everyone calmed down now?" Dante tilted his head. "Do you three not fully grasp your situation yet?"

"You don't think I locked you up here just for fun, do you?"

"Uh… I mean, even the FBI has to follow basic law, right…" Snart muttered.

"To hell with basic law, Snart." Dante strolled to his cell door, grinning. "From today on, all superpowered and special-skilled criminals will be detained directly by the FBI. And trust me—I've got the clearance to make it stick."

He chuckled to himself, remembering the absolute genius who once thought it was a good idea to keep supercriminals in regular prisons.

Before the trio could react, Dante suddenly spun around.

"Who's there? Come out. Now."

Silence.

Not just the prisoners—even Harley looked thrown off.

But Dante didn't waver. He pointed toward the far corner of the holding area and said coldly:

"I'll only count to three. All six of you in that corner—get out. Don't make me say it again."

The corner looked empty.

But then—

"Hi! Dante! Don't go White Lantern on us! Don't banish us to the Dark Dimension!"

"Idiot! He's not White Lantern right now! And he's not Sorcerer Supreme either!"

"Crap, did that just mess up the timeline?!"

"The timeline isn't that fragile, but could you not run your mouth?"

"Okay, okay, you win, Professor Stein. Happy now?"

The light and shadows in the corner warped, and a group of odd-looking individuals slowly emerged into view.

Leading the group was a stunning blonde woman with an athletic build, clad in a sleek, form-fitting white combat suit.

"Long time no see, Dante."

"…Uh, who are you? And how the hell did you get into FBI HQ?"

"My bad—we always forget you're not the you we know yet," the blonde said apologetically. "I'm a Level Five Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Codename: White Canary. Real name: Sara Lance. I'm part of the FBI's special unit—'The Legendary Team.'"

"The Legendary Team?"

Dante's eyes widened.

What the hell?

Since when did the Legends become an official FBI unit?

This had to be some kind of sick joke.

"The FBI doesn't have a team like that," Harley muttered with a frown. "I mean, I'm crazy, not stupid. Don't lie to me."

Sara Lance shook her head.

"Of course the current FBI doesn't have us. That's because we're from the future."

"And the reason we traveled back to this point in time to meet you—here, in the Bureau—is because you, in the future, gave us this mission."

"Acting Director of the United States General Bureau… Agent Dante Alighieri."

(To be continued.)

Chapter 73: Messed Timeline

Dante admitted it—he was genuinely dumbfounded.

But not because of their identities. Sure, a couple of faces were unfamiliar, but he immediately recognized Sara Lance.

So, he guessed it instantly: the Legendary Team.

No, what really threw him was where the Legendary Team came from.

As Sara Lance explained, Dante gradually pieced it all together.

Apparently, he—the future him—created the Legendary Team. Recruited talents from different points in the timeline.

Sara Lance, White Canary—Oliver Queen's ex's sister. Presumed dead in a shipwreck, rescued by the League of Assassins, trained as one of their own.

Martin Stein—top nuclear physicist, inventor of the Firestorm Matrix.

Jefferson Jackson—mechanic of the Waverider. The two could merge into Firestorm.

And then Ray Palmer. The Atom himself.

Those were the usual suspects.

The other two? Total blanks to Dante… until Sara introduced them.

First up: the loudmouth from earlier who wouldn't shut up—"Stark." Full name: Howard Stark.

Tony Stark's dad.

Apparently, they snatched him up while he was being hunted by the Winter Soldier. The invisibility rig that used optical distortion? That was his invention.

Then came the silent one—the woman who interrupted Sara and spoke up herself:

"Dante, my name is Fongji Wu."

"Hmmn!?"

It didn't click immediately.

Fongji Wu… wasn't that the White Phoenix?

And the most powerful Iron Fist in recorded history.

But the shock only lasted a second.

This Fongji Wu clearly only had the Dragon Power of the Iron Fist.

Made sense. If she had become the White Phoenix, she'd probably be off-world by now.

"Let me get this straight. I'm the acting director in your timeline? Where's Director Fury?"

"I really can't say too much. Just know that Director Fury is alive and well. But after you officially announced the formation of the Legendary Team and defined its mission… you vanished."

Dante nodded. Made sense to respect the timeline. People who mess with time usually get messed up by time.

Unless he ever goes full Ion Man and learns to rewrite time himself.

"So, I asked you to come back to this moment and recruit new members?"

"That's right. You said there would only be three prisoners in the Bureau's superpower containment wing during this period—and that all three were perfect candidates to join the Waverider."

Dante turned to look at the trio still sitting in stunned silence inside the prison.

To be fair… they were core members of the original Legends.

Still, the recruitment style? Kinda messed up.

Who the hell forms a heroic time-travel team by raiding their own prison?

Then again, the Legends always did have that "temporal labor reform" energy.

Honestly, it wasn't a bad idea. Otherwise, these three would just sit here burning government rations.

Might as well let them contribute to protecting the timeline.

"If it was my future self's decision, then take them."

"…You just believe that?" Sara blinked.

"Why wouldn't he?" Harley Quinn cut in, shrugging as she gestured at Dante. "That sounds exactly like something this guy would do."

Outside the prison, Dante and Sara quickly finalized the handover.

Constantine, Captain Cold, and Heat Wave—now officially conscripted into time patrol.

As they were preparing to leave, Sara suddenly remembered something.

"Oh right, Dante—go to the training room on the twelfth floor. There's someone waiting for you."

"Huh?"

"This person requested to meet you in this timeline—and you agreed."

"Isn't that gonna cause timeline distortion?"

"The timeline is sturdier than you think… You taught me that, Teacher."

"…Teacher? You call me Teacher?"

"Well… I only call you that, but… you were the closest thing to a father figure I had."

"…Does everyone in the FBI just copy-paste that line?"

Dante waved her off, sending his future protégé-slash-time daughter on her way, but couldn't help muttering.

He distinctly remembered Fury saying that line.

And if nothing went wrong, Coulson would probably say something similar to Skye in the future.

So this was his legacy, huh?

One emotional line.

Passed down across three generations of the FBI.

From past to future. From agent to agent.

Truly… beautiful.

"Wow, she said you're her dad."

"So this is time travel! So cool!"

"Cool, my ass. Most of the time, you'll be stuck on standby inside the time buffer zone. Picture this—an endless green void, cosmic spatial distortion, no day or night…"

"Okay, so basically Arkham. No windows there either. No time. No sanity. Who cares! Let's go, let's go—didn't your daughter say someone unexpected is waiting in the training room?" Harley squealed, leaping onto Dante's back and pinching his butt, "Giddy up, cowboy! Destination: training room!"

Dante didn't have the heart to toss her off, so he just carried this unhinged woman into the elevator.

He had a feeling Internal Affairs was going to file an even longer report about him tomorrow.

When they reached the twelfth floor, he finally dropped Harley.

He straightened his collar and checked to make sure the lipstick bite marks weren't showing.

Then he pushed open the training room doors.

Inside, a massive sandbag was being pummeled with relentless force—each strike fast, fierce, and way beyond normal human limits.

Brown hair whipped with each movement. Jeans, plain white shirt, but under the simplicity—a solid, battle-hardened physique.

BANG.

The person-height sandbag flew off the chain from a final punch, bursting open as sand exploded across the floor.

Dante and Harley stepped in.

The woman noticed them right away—but didn't seem surprised. She casually walked over, grabbing a leather satchel from against the wall.

It looked like… a shield?

As she approached, Dante realized—she was just about his height.

"Your future self told me… if I ever completed my mission and didn't know where to go, I could come to this timeline."

"Let me introduce myself."

"My name is Peggy Carter."

"You can also call me… Captain Carter."

(To be continued.)