Post by David on Jan 27, 2009 21:22:25 GMT -5
Alan Scott rode the blazing JLA Satellite Headquarters 22,300 miles down towards Earth, his willpower the only thing keeping it together. His left hand supported his right, and the emerald ring on his finger burned with a rare intensity. Through the shattered dome of the observation deck, he could see the bright blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean through the flames of re-entry.
“Hold on, Power Girl!” he yelled, gritting his teeth, the sweat pouring from his forehead. Outside, Power Girl was guiding the falling satellite by rapidly fading brute strength and an indomitable will of her own. She was scorched, her costume afire, and every muscle in her body screamed in agony.
Like a comet, the flaming Satellite hit the ocean, sending a waterspout miles into the air, and creating tidal waves that would have wiped out any coastal city in its path. As it was, the seismic consequences were felt thousands of miles away--- but Power Girl and Green Lantern had done it: they had managed to direct the impact far enough away from any inhabited cities.
Any inhabited surface cities, that is.
*My lord king, we’re under attack!*
The young page had rushed into the royal bedchamber, even as the regal-looking bearded blond man was strapping on a prosthetic harpoon appendage.
*Tell Vulko to put the city on alert, and have Koryak scramble the Stingrays.* The king growled, and clicked his weaponized hand decisively into place. *But no one makes a move until I give the order. This doesn’t escalate until I know what’s going on.*
On the bed, a still-beautiful, though middle-aged woman with bright red hair sat up, wiping the sleep from her eyes.
*Arthur, what is going on?*
Aquaman tied back his long silver-shot hair, and glanced at his wife of forty years, his heart still skipping a beat. They had been through much together--- more than most couples would ever face--- and she still had the ability to make his heart skip a beat. He gave her a smile, a softness in his eyes he revealed only to her.
*I’ll let you know as soon as I find out,* he winked and sprang for the open balcony, calling back to the page: *Tell Koryak he’ll have to catch up!*
The King of the Seven Seas shot from the tallest tower of the Palace, and swam out high over the city. Poseidonis had been shaken to its very core by the impact of something big very nearby. Tall, graceful minarets had toppled, cracks appeared in edifices a thousand years old, and chasms split the ocean floor. There were almost certainly casualties, but gods help whoever was responsible if even one Atlantean had died…
An enormous cloud of dust and debris was rising on the other side of the Atlan Ridge, near the ruins of old Tritonis. Had the surface dwellers launched another attack on the kingdom of Atlantis?
*Garth, ready the Arcanium warheads,* he sent to his most trusted friend, the former Aqualad and the current High Magister of the Council of Mages. *Just in case.*
*Say the word, lord king.* Came the calm, assured response.
Aquaman swam over the ridge of low mountains that had once divided the two chief cities of Atlantis, and peered into the cloud of sea-sand and dust, trying to see the impact zone. There was something big out there, hissing and steaming, making the water boil, though it was cooling rapidly. Was it a meteor? It wouldn’t have been the first time his paranoia about the intentions of the surface world had misled him…
But as he got closer, realization dawned upon him. This was no meteor. No, he recognized the wreckage before him. Knew it all too well…
*Neptune’s Beard!*
He kicked hard for the downed satellite, his gaze lingering on the faded JLA shield half-buried in the broken ocean floor.
The thing was still settling, bits and pieces of it still breaking off. In fact, the thing was falling apart before his eyes; it was like watching a beloved part of his past decay and die.
He alighted on a smashed portion of the satellite, stunned to see that there was movement coming from within. Someone had survived the crash! He swam to the exit point, and began pulling away twisted metal, clearing an opening.
Then he stopped abruptly. Whoever was coming out was limned in a glowing green aura--- an aura that Aquaman knew only too well. But this was impossible: they had seen him die…
*Hal…?*
The figure stumbled into view. It was definitely a Green Lantern, judging by the power ring and insignia--- but this was most assuredly not Hal Jordan. This man was yellow-haired, dressed in a cape with a flared collar, and wearing a purple domino mask. But much of that costume was torn, and the man was on the verge of collapse. Nor was he alone. He carried a woman--- one with grievous injuries and burns. If she was not already dead, she would be soon.
*Help,* gasped the man, the ring telepathic projecting his thoughts underwater. *Help her---.*
Protectively cradling Power Girl in his arms, the weary Alan Scott collapsed to his knees before the stunned Aquaman.
Commissioner Bruce Wayne chewed on the end of his pipe and glared at the three garishly dressed figures behind the bars of the precinct cage.
“Do you want to run that by me one more time?” He asked, as if daring them. “Because that is about the most far-fetched story I think I’ve heard ever heard.”
The man in the silver helm, dressed like Wally, sighed but did not seem to lose his patience. The other two sat on the bench further back in the cell, the one in the cat suit looking bored, the one in the red, white and blue spandex looking indignant.
“We’re from a parallel world, much like this one, but different in many ways.” The man calling himself the Flash went on. “On my world, we have a Justice League, too, just like there is here--- only they haven’t been around as long as yours. In my world, my friends and I are members of the Justice Society, and we came here because we received a call for help from you.”
“Me?” Bruce snorted dubiously and crossed his arms over his chest. Behind him, a detective sniggered, and he barked an order for the officer to “take a hike.” These three weirdoes were skirting close to some highly sensitive information, and the commissioner didn’t want anyone overhearing.
“Well, yes, you--- in your other capacity,” the Flash hedged ruefully.
“My ‘other capacity’, huh?” Bruce nodded, patronizingly.
“And the rest of the JLA,” the Flash leaned in and whispered.
Bruce’s glare became harder. “Do you really expect me to believe---.”
“You’re right-handed, but you have a tendency to lead with your left, though you can fight either-handed.” The one in the cat-suit declared, standing up from his relaxed position and approaching the bars. “I wouldn’t exactly say you telegraph your moves, but you’ve trained your body to an almost predictable muscular misdirection--- at least to someone who knows you as well as I do; and I don’t know who taught you to fight here, but on our world, I taught you everything you know about the sweet science.” He stared squarely into the commissioner’s eyes, neither giving anything up to the other. “Do you want talk about that trick you taught me where you can dislocate your shoulder at will, because I still haven’t got the hang---.”
“O’Hara,” barked the commissioner, and a patrolman snapped to attention behind him. “Open this cage. I’m going to continue this interrogation in my office.”
“The Satellite down…?” Wayne leaned back in his chair, tapping the bulb of his pipe against his leg. “Well, that’s easy enough to check on. But all this other stuff… I’ll grant you, you seem to know things you shouldn’t--- but something isn’t adding up.”
“We’re on the same page there,” Wildcat grumbled.
“Are you saying that the JLA didn’t call for us?” Flash frowned.
“As far as I know, the JLA is offworld at the moment, but if you’re referring to my generation of the team, then most assuredly: no. We all went our separate ways a long time ago, and have rarely spoken since. Not since Hal and Barry…” The commissioner left it hanging, grimacing at the painful memory. “So you must be from that same alternate Earth as that Flash we met a few months back.”
“Yes,” Jay nodded. “And if that message we received didn’t come from you, then we were lured here for some reason, and already our team is weakened: Doctor Fate was waylaid during the transdimensional crossing, Captain Marvel was blasted into space while we were still in orbit, and Green Lantern and Power Girl went down with the Satellite. We need your help, Bruce. Something bad is going on here.”
Wayne sat up straight at Jay’s words, suddenly hyper-attentive. “Green Lantern? Hal Jordan is here…?”
Jay shook his head, alarmed at the commissioner’s sharp reaction. “No, our Green Lantern is Alan Scott. Their rings are similar, but Alan wields the power of a mystic cosmic energy called the Starheart, not an Oan power ring.”
Wayne relaxed a little, studying Jay carefully. “I don’t like this,” he pronounced succinctly. “I did my time as Batman. Almost thirty years. And I’ve spent the last ten as police commissioner. I’ve worked for decades to clean up Gotham City, sweeping the drug dealers, gangs and prostitutes off the streets. I’ve locked up psychopaths like the Scarecrow and Killer Croc, and thrown away the keys. At long last, I’ve restored law and order to a town the whole world almost gave up on. And one thing I’ve learned is that vigilantism breeds escalation: you bring a knife, they’ll bring a gun. You give them Batman, they’ll produce a Joker. That’s why I hung up my cowl. And that’s why I am going to find this new guy in the cape, and shut him down. There’s no place in Gotham for masked Mystery Men anymore. I don’t even allow the JLA in my city.”
“You mean to tell me there’s a guy out there in a batsuit, carrying on your legacy, and you don’t know who he is?” Commander Steel spoke up for the first time, his tone incredulous.
“I didn’t say I didn’t know who he is,” Wayne bit the words off one by one. “I’m the world’s greatest detective; I know exactly who he is.”
“Well, you sound a lot like our Batman back home, if a little more tempered by experience.” Jay said cautiously, but was interrupted by Wildcat.
“Except the Bruce Wayne I knew would never use a gun.”
Wayne’s jaw clenched. He reached into his shoulder holster and took out his service revolver, ejecting the clip and throwing both pieces on the desk in front of him. The clip was empty.
“I don’t load it. I’ve never even fired the damn thing. And maybe you should send your Batman to my Gotham, and I can show him how things are done.”
Before Jay could stop him, Wildcat spat “I can’t. He’s dead. Fighting for what he believed in. Saving his city.”
This seemed to stun the commissioner. He was speechless for a moment, and leaned back in his chair, a look of deep contemplation on his face. Finally, he said “That’s… that’s how I’d choose to go, too.” A façade seemed to have cracked a little. There was a vulnerability there that was not a moment ago. “It was always a possibility… On any given day…”
The commissioner fell silent, his thoughts far away.
Jay leaped into the interval with his earnest plea. “Commissioner--- Bruce!--- something sinister is going on here. Will you help us?”
He stared at the JSAers a moment, as if seeing them for the first time. Absent-mindedly, he tapped his pipe against his leg. Like the gun, he never used the pipe, either. It had been a gift from his predecessor, from Jim. It was as much a part of his uniform as his badge. As his cowl had once been.
Slowly, deliberately, Bruce Wayne nodded.
*******
She floated in the soothing, clear gel of a sterile medi-tank, connected to neural-dampeners and tubes that pumped into her plasma, medicines, oxygen and nutrients. All the hair on her body had been singed off, and her skin was a mass of angry red burns, cracked and oozing; in places, her flesh had been entirely seared away, baring muscle and bone.
*I don’t understand it,* Green Lantern stared up at her, as the Atlantean sorcerer-physicians worked the controls of the healing chamber, trying desperately just to save Power Girl’s life. *This shouldn’t have happened to her. She’s invulnerable. She should have been able to shrug off anything short of a nuclear explosion--- and probably that, too.*
Beside him, Aquaman laid a hand on Alan’s shoulder and asked *Is she Kryptonian?*
Alan shrugged. *The source of Karen’s powers are a mystery, even to her. I think she always felt time travel was involved; perhaps she’s a descendant of our Superman, but she’s never exhibited certain of his powers, like heat- and x-ray vision. Some type of clone, perhaps…?*
One of the doctors, an older, bearded man with a clam-shell insignia on a band around his brow, approached them. *Well, one thing is for certain, my lord king, she’s not human. Her body seems to be rejecting the plasma transfusions, and our magicks are having very little effect on her. We’re able to keep her alive, at least for a short while longer, but there is little else we can do for her. If it’s any comfort, she isn’t in any pain right now.*
Green Lantern looked stricken and Aquaman nodded to the doctor gratefully.
*I can’t believe this,* Alan put a hand to his face. *She’d only just joined the team--- she had been so proud to become a member of the Justice Society… There is so much good she could have done…* He turned to Aquaman, his eyes brimming. *I can’t let this happen. Power Girl can’t die.*
The King of the Seven Seas regarded him gravely, rubbing his bearded chin as if considering a course of action.
*There is perhaps one way…*
On the outskirts of Poseidonis, a small crowd had gathered to see off the king and his companion. Green Lantern floated in the water, a beam from his ring encasing the medi-tank that contained Power Girl, trailing behind him.
*My love, are you sure that this is safe? Visitors are no more welcomed there than here in Atlantis…*
Aquaman kissed Mera, and nodded to Vulko and Garth over her shoulder. No words needed to be spoken between the old friends, and Aquaman knew that all that he held dear could be in no better hands.
*I’ll be fine, my queen. It’s been a long time, but I think I, at least, would be welcomed. But just in case, I’ve sent for Sarin. If anything happens to me, our son will be---.*
Mera put a finger to his lips, unable to bear the end of that sentence. She kissed him goodbye, the salt of her tears mixing with the salt of the ocean. With a final wave and a cheer from his people, he swam off to join Green Lantern.
*Is it really that dangerous, where we’re going?* asked the Emerald Gladiator.
Aquaman cut though the water so fast, GL was hard-pressed to keep up, the medi-tank bobbing behind them.
*Maybe. The folk there have closed themselves off from the surface world, or Man’s World, as they call it. There was a war, a devastating horrible cataclysm many years ago, and no one’s been allowed on the Island since. But I know Queen Diana pretty well, and if we’re going to save your friend’s life, we’re going to need the Purple Healing Ray of the Amazons…*
Captain Marvel landed on the Rock of Eternity, mystified by its appearance above Earth Two, and grieving for the friends and comrades killed when the JLA Satellite exploded. Hot tears burned his eyes, and not even the Wisdom of Solomon was a comfort to him now.
The cavernous hall of the Wizard was cold, and none of the fires that usually warmed the hanging braziers were lit; the enormous statues of the Seven Deadly Enemies of Man leered at him from the shadows, whispering their profanities in his head.
The stone throne at the end of the hall was not empty. A shriveled up, bald old man, with a long straggly beard and a bald pate slumped in the seat, his eyes lit by the dying embers of the brazier next to the throne, the only source of light in the hall.
“Come closer, my Captain,” wheezed the old man, his voice thin as a reed. “Let me see you.”
Astonished by the wizard’s piteous condition, Cap strode forward. His great heart ached to see this kindly servant of justice in such dire straits; the wizard seemed near death.
Dashing tears from his squinted eyes, Cap’s voice was husky when he asked “Sir, what happened? Have you been attacked? Why have you followed me to Earth Two?”
“The Rock exists in all places and times. I need only command it to find you,” the wizard coughed with the exertion of speaking. “I need your help, my champion; I have come under attack by magical forces most powerful, ancient enemies from before time who have laid me waste. I fear I shall die…”
“No!” Cap declared fiercely. He had lost the JSA; he would not lose the wizard as well. “I’ll save you. I’ll fight them---!”
“You cannot save me by force of arms, my Captain,” wheezed the wizard. “There is only one hope for me now…”
“Tell me!”
“The power that I have granted onto you as my champion, I must have it back, if only for a little while!” Another coughing fit seized the feeble old man, and it seemed as if he was going to expire at that very moment. Cap took a step towards the old man, but was at a loss how to help him. “Hurry, my Captain!”
“But how?” cried Cap.
“Say… my… Name!”
“SHAZAM!”
The sound of thunder pealed throughout the cavern, rumbling like the echo of destiny.
Billy Batson stood, open-mouthed, amid a much-transformed scene. After he had spoken the magic word, a glamour fell away revealing a tableau that could have only sprung from the mind of Hieronymus Bosch. Fire pits gaped in the floor of the cavern, and red-skinned imps with forked tails cavorted over them. The statues of the Seven Deadly Enemies of Man blinked and stared at him, jeering and laughing. Behind the throne, suspended from rusted iron manacles was Dr. Fate, howling piteously as he was tormented by imps wielding cruel-looking instruments. And the wizard--- he stood bright-eyed and triumphant, his silvered hair shot with black, his form no longer frail and wasted but virile and hungry...
Stunned by the betrayal, Billy backed away from the wicked old man looming closer to him, hardly able to believe the evidence of his eyes.
“You did this?” he asked, shaking his head, his lip curling. “You lured us to Earth Two?
“Oh, that was someone else’s idea, someone who wanted the Justice Society,” the wizard told him as he advanced slowly forward, backing Billy towards a gaping chasm of magma and brimstone. “And of course, I dealt with this… amateur.” He swept a gnarled hand back towards Dr. Fate. “And I made you believe your comrades had been killed. Because all I wanted, Billy Batson, was you.”
Billy narrowed his eyes, his fists clenching. “You’re not the wizard.”
“Oh, I assure you I am indeed the wizard Shazam… Just not the one you think I am.” The old man chortled humorlessly. “You see, in my universe, I kept the divine powers, never bestowing them upon a champion. For millennia, I did good, keeping at bay the great evils that lurk just outside the ken of man, but thirsting for his blood. I fought my crusade for four thousand years, against ravening powers of supreme depravity!” Spittle flew from his mouth and his eyes took on a feverish glint. From the statues of the Seven Deadly Enemies came hollow stone laughter. Billy’s heels teetered on the edge of the pit, and he had to struggle a moment for balance. The wizard towered over him, in a fit of passion. “But it never ends! They only come back stronger, more devious… There is no victory over them! I am filled with all this might, yet it avails me nothing. It has made me mad.” He glowered down upon Billy, his hands raised into two trembling claws.
“Power corrupts,” Billy whispered, amazed and saddened. He shook his head. “You never should have kept it.”
“Whelp!” The wizard swiped at him, which Billy avoided by ducking and dancing away from the edge of the chasm. The wizard turned on him with a snarl. “Don’t you think I know that? Don’t you think I’ve learned something in all my years…?”
But Billy had heard all he needed to. “All you’ve learned is regret, not remorse. I’m taking my friend and we’re leaving. SHAZAM!”
The thunderbolt struck again, shaking the very foundations of the Rock of Eternity, and in place of young Billy Batson was Captain Marvel. The wizard laughed maniacally. The red in Cap’s uniform had darkened to the color of old, clotted blood, and the gold accents became dull, reflecting no light.
“What--- what’s happening to me…?” the World’s Mightiest Mortal examined his hands as if they were different, then covered his ears as if to block out voices in his head.
The wizard could barely contain his triumph. “The endowments of your gods cannot touch you here, fool. I control the thunderbolt in this universe, it is my puissance that fills you now, my power that compels you!”
Cap looked appalled, going to his knees, trying to fend off the overwhelming compulsion that was subtly infiltrating every part of him.
The dark wizard stood over him, sneering at his struggle. “You have become the instrument of my will. The thunder and lightning with which I shall scourge the Earth, so that it might be a fit throne for one who has spent an eternity defending it.” Captain Marvel lifted his head, the color draining from his eyes, leaving only blank white. “Rise my dark champion. Rise, my Captain! Rise and conquer!” hissed the wizard.
“Hold on, Power Girl!” he yelled, gritting his teeth, the sweat pouring from his forehead. Outside, Power Girl was guiding the falling satellite by rapidly fading brute strength and an indomitable will of her own. She was scorched, her costume afire, and every muscle in her body screamed in agony.
Like a comet, the flaming Satellite hit the ocean, sending a waterspout miles into the air, and creating tidal waves that would have wiped out any coastal city in its path. As it was, the seismic consequences were felt thousands of miles away--- but Power Girl and Green Lantern had done it: they had managed to direct the impact far enough away from any inhabited cities.
Any inhabited surface cities, that is.
*******
*My lord king, we’re under attack!*
The young page had rushed into the royal bedchamber, even as the regal-looking bearded blond man was strapping on a prosthetic harpoon appendage.
*Tell Vulko to put the city on alert, and have Koryak scramble the Stingrays.* The king growled, and clicked his weaponized hand decisively into place. *But no one makes a move until I give the order. This doesn’t escalate until I know what’s going on.*
On the bed, a still-beautiful, though middle-aged woman with bright red hair sat up, wiping the sleep from her eyes.
*Arthur, what is going on?*
Aquaman tied back his long silver-shot hair, and glanced at his wife of forty years, his heart still skipping a beat. They had been through much together--- more than most couples would ever face--- and she still had the ability to make his heart skip a beat. He gave her a smile, a softness in his eyes he revealed only to her.
*I’ll let you know as soon as I find out,* he winked and sprang for the open balcony, calling back to the page: *Tell Koryak he’ll have to catch up!*
The King of the Seven Seas shot from the tallest tower of the Palace, and swam out high over the city. Poseidonis had been shaken to its very core by the impact of something big very nearby. Tall, graceful minarets had toppled, cracks appeared in edifices a thousand years old, and chasms split the ocean floor. There were almost certainly casualties, but gods help whoever was responsible if even one Atlantean had died…
An enormous cloud of dust and debris was rising on the other side of the Atlan Ridge, near the ruins of old Tritonis. Had the surface dwellers launched another attack on the kingdom of Atlantis?
*Garth, ready the Arcanium warheads,* he sent to his most trusted friend, the former Aqualad and the current High Magister of the Council of Mages. *Just in case.*
*Say the word, lord king.* Came the calm, assured response.
Aquaman swam over the ridge of low mountains that had once divided the two chief cities of Atlantis, and peered into the cloud of sea-sand and dust, trying to see the impact zone. There was something big out there, hissing and steaming, making the water boil, though it was cooling rapidly. Was it a meteor? It wouldn’t have been the first time his paranoia about the intentions of the surface world had misled him…
But as he got closer, realization dawned upon him. This was no meteor. No, he recognized the wreckage before him. Knew it all too well…
*Neptune’s Beard!*
He kicked hard for the downed satellite, his gaze lingering on the faded JLA shield half-buried in the broken ocean floor.
The thing was still settling, bits and pieces of it still breaking off. In fact, the thing was falling apart before his eyes; it was like watching a beloved part of his past decay and die.
He alighted on a smashed portion of the satellite, stunned to see that there was movement coming from within. Someone had survived the crash! He swam to the exit point, and began pulling away twisted metal, clearing an opening.
Then he stopped abruptly. Whoever was coming out was limned in a glowing green aura--- an aura that Aquaman knew only too well. But this was impossible: they had seen him die…
*Hal…?*
The figure stumbled into view. It was definitely a Green Lantern, judging by the power ring and insignia--- but this was most assuredly not Hal Jordan. This man was yellow-haired, dressed in a cape with a flared collar, and wearing a purple domino mask. But much of that costume was torn, and the man was on the verge of collapse. Nor was he alone. He carried a woman--- one with grievous injuries and burns. If she was not already dead, she would be soon.
*Help,* gasped the man, the ring telepathic projecting his thoughts underwater. *Help her---.*
Protectively cradling Power Girl in his arms, the weary Alan Scott collapsed to his knees before the stunned Aquaman.
Justice Society of America
Issue #8: “Crisis on Two Earths, Part Two!”
Written by David Charlton
Cover by Alex Vasquez
Interior Art by Jamie Rimmer
Edited by David Charlton
JSA Roll Call!
Captain Marvel (Billy Batson):With one magic word, the World’s Mightiest Mortal battles the enemies of man with the power of Shazam! New Chairman of the JSA!
Green Lantern (Alan Scott): Dark things cannot stand the light of the original Emerald Gladiator!
Flash (Jay Garrick): The emotional core of the team, this original super-speedster is proud to mentor the next generation of heroes!
Wildcat (Ted Grant): The champ with nine lives, always ready to deliver the knockout punch to crime!
Sandman (Wesley Dodds): Donning a gas mask and a fedora, this haunted dreamer delivers the sleep of the just to wrongdoers!
Doctor Fate (James Brendan Corrigan): Separated from the Spectre, the ghost of Jim Corrigan dons the magical artifacts of his missing friend Kent Nelson as an agent of the balance between Order and Chaos!
Power Girl (Karen Starr): All the powers of Superman--- and twice the attitude! Her past is a mystery, but her future seems to be with the JSA!
Commander Steel (Henry “Hank” Heywood III): Grandson of the Golden Age Indestructible Man, this super-soldier with a cybernetic titanium-alloy body is unstoppable on his crusade for justice!
Commissioner Bruce Wayne chewed on the end of his pipe and glared at the three garishly dressed figures behind the bars of the precinct cage.
“Do you want to run that by me one more time?” He asked, as if daring them. “Because that is about the most far-fetched story I think I’ve heard ever heard.”
The man in the silver helm, dressed like Wally, sighed but did not seem to lose his patience. The other two sat on the bench further back in the cell, the one in the cat suit looking bored, the one in the red, white and blue spandex looking indignant.
“We’re from a parallel world, much like this one, but different in many ways.” The man calling himself the Flash went on. “On my world, we have a Justice League, too, just like there is here--- only they haven’t been around as long as yours. In my world, my friends and I are members of the Justice Society, and we came here because we received a call for help from you.”
“Me?” Bruce snorted dubiously and crossed his arms over his chest. Behind him, a detective sniggered, and he barked an order for the officer to “take a hike.” These three weirdoes were skirting close to some highly sensitive information, and the commissioner didn’t want anyone overhearing.
“Well, yes, you--- in your other capacity,” the Flash hedged ruefully.
“My ‘other capacity’, huh?” Bruce nodded, patronizingly.
“And the rest of the JLA,” the Flash leaned in and whispered.
Bruce’s glare became harder. “Do you really expect me to believe---.”
“You’re right-handed, but you have a tendency to lead with your left, though you can fight either-handed.” The one in the cat-suit declared, standing up from his relaxed position and approaching the bars. “I wouldn’t exactly say you telegraph your moves, but you’ve trained your body to an almost predictable muscular misdirection--- at least to someone who knows you as well as I do; and I don’t know who taught you to fight here, but on our world, I taught you everything you know about the sweet science.” He stared squarely into the commissioner’s eyes, neither giving anything up to the other. “Do you want talk about that trick you taught me where you can dislocate your shoulder at will, because I still haven’t got the hang---.”
“O’Hara,” barked the commissioner, and a patrolman snapped to attention behind him. “Open this cage. I’m going to continue this interrogation in my office.”
*******
“The Satellite down…?” Wayne leaned back in his chair, tapping the bulb of his pipe against his leg. “Well, that’s easy enough to check on. But all this other stuff… I’ll grant you, you seem to know things you shouldn’t--- but something isn’t adding up.”
“We’re on the same page there,” Wildcat grumbled.
“Are you saying that the JLA didn’t call for us?” Flash frowned.
“As far as I know, the JLA is offworld at the moment, but if you’re referring to my generation of the team, then most assuredly: no. We all went our separate ways a long time ago, and have rarely spoken since. Not since Hal and Barry…” The commissioner left it hanging, grimacing at the painful memory. “So you must be from that same alternate Earth as that Flash we met a few months back.”
“Yes,” Jay nodded. “And if that message we received didn’t come from you, then we were lured here for some reason, and already our team is weakened: Doctor Fate was waylaid during the transdimensional crossing, Captain Marvel was blasted into space while we were still in orbit, and Green Lantern and Power Girl went down with the Satellite. We need your help, Bruce. Something bad is going on here.”
Wayne sat up straight at Jay’s words, suddenly hyper-attentive. “Green Lantern? Hal Jordan is here…?”
Jay shook his head, alarmed at the commissioner’s sharp reaction. “No, our Green Lantern is Alan Scott. Their rings are similar, but Alan wields the power of a mystic cosmic energy called the Starheart, not an Oan power ring.”
Wayne relaxed a little, studying Jay carefully. “I don’t like this,” he pronounced succinctly. “I did my time as Batman. Almost thirty years. And I’ve spent the last ten as police commissioner. I’ve worked for decades to clean up Gotham City, sweeping the drug dealers, gangs and prostitutes off the streets. I’ve locked up psychopaths like the Scarecrow and Killer Croc, and thrown away the keys. At long last, I’ve restored law and order to a town the whole world almost gave up on. And one thing I’ve learned is that vigilantism breeds escalation: you bring a knife, they’ll bring a gun. You give them Batman, they’ll produce a Joker. That’s why I hung up my cowl. And that’s why I am going to find this new guy in the cape, and shut him down. There’s no place in Gotham for masked Mystery Men anymore. I don’t even allow the JLA in my city.”
“You mean to tell me there’s a guy out there in a batsuit, carrying on your legacy, and you don’t know who he is?” Commander Steel spoke up for the first time, his tone incredulous.
“I didn’t say I didn’t know who he is,” Wayne bit the words off one by one. “I’m the world’s greatest detective; I know exactly who he is.”
“Well, you sound a lot like our Batman back home, if a little more tempered by experience.” Jay said cautiously, but was interrupted by Wildcat.
“Except the Bruce Wayne I knew would never use a gun.”
Wayne’s jaw clenched. He reached into his shoulder holster and took out his service revolver, ejecting the clip and throwing both pieces on the desk in front of him. The clip was empty.
“I don’t load it. I’ve never even fired the damn thing. And maybe you should send your Batman to my Gotham, and I can show him how things are done.”
Before Jay could stop him, Wildcat spat “I can’t. He’s dead. Fighting for what he believed in. Saving his city.”
This seemed to stun the commissioner. He was speechless for a moment, and leaned back in his chair, a look of deep contemplation on his face. Finally, he said “That’s… that’s how I’d choose to go, too.” A façade seemed to have cracked a little. There was a vulnerability there that was not a moment ago. “It was always a possibility… On any given day…”
The commissioner fell silent, his thoughts far away.
Jay leaped into the interval with his earnest plea. “Commissioner--- Bruce!--- something sinister is going on here. Will you help us?”
He stared at the JSAers a moment, as if seeing them for the first time. Absent-mindedly, he tapped his pipe against his leg. Like the gun, he never used the pipe, either. It had been a gift from his predecessor, from Jim. It was as much a part of his uniform as his badge. As his cowl had once been.
Slowly, deliberately, Bruce Wayne nodded.
*******
She floated in the soothing, clear gel of a sterile medi-tank, connected to neural-dampeners and tubes that pumped into her plasma, medicines, oxygen and nutrients. All the hair on her body had been singed off, and her skin was a mass of angry red burns, cracked and oozing; in places, her flesh had been entirely seared away, baring muscle and bone.
*I don’t understand it,* Green Lantern stared up at her, as the Atlantean sorcerer-physicians worked the controls of the healing chamber, trying desperately just to save Power Girl’s life. *This shouldn’t have happened to her. She’s invulnerable. She should have been able to shrug off anything short of a nuclear explosion--- and probably that, too.*
Beside him, Aquaman laid a hand on Alan’s shoulder and asked *Is she Kryptonian?*
Alan shrugged. *The source of Karen’s powers are a mystery, even to her. I think she always felt time travel was involved; perhaps she’s a descendant of our Superman, but she’s never exhibited certain of his powers, like heat- and x-ray vision. Some type of clone, perhaps…?*
One of the doctors, an older, bearded man with a clam-shell insignia on a band around his brow, approached them. *Well, one thing is for certain, my lord king, she’s not human. Her body seems to be rejecting the plasma transfusions, and our magicks are having very little effect on her. We’re able to keep her alive, at least for a short while longer, but there is little else we can do for her. If it’s any comfort, she isn’t in any pain right now.*
Green Lantern looked stricken and Aquaman nodded to the doctor gratefully.
*I can’t believe this,* Alan put a hand to his face. *She’d only just joined the team--- she had been so proud to become a member of the Justice Society… There is so much good she could have done…* He turned to Aquaman, his eyes brimming. *I can’t let this happen. Power Girl can’t die.*
The King of the Seven Seas regarded him gravely, rubbing his bearded chin as if considering a course of action.
*There is perhaps one way…*
*******
On the outskirts of Poseidonis, a small crowd had gathered to see off the king and his companion. Green Lantern floated in the water, a beam from his ring encasing the medi-tank that contained Power Girl, trailing behind him.
*My love, are you sure that this is safe? Visitors are no more welcomed there than here in Atlantis…*
Aquaman kissed Mera, and nodded to Vulko and Garth over her shoulder. No words needed to be spoken between the old friends, and Aquaman knew that all that he held dear could be in no better hands.
*I’ll be fine, my queen. It’s been a long time, but I think I, at least, would be welcomed. But just in case, I’ve sent for Sarin. If anything happens to me, our son will be---.*
Mera put a finger to his lips, unable to bear the end of that sentence. She kissed him goodbye, the salt of her tears mixing with the salt of the ocean. With a final wave and a cheer from his people, he swam off to join Green Lantern.
*Is it really that dangerous, where we’re going?* asked the Emerald Gladiator.
Aquaman cut though the water so fast, GL was hard-pressed to keep up, the medi-tank bobbing behind them.
*Maybe. The folk there have closed themselves off from the surface world, or Man’s World, as they call it. There was a war, a devastating horrible cataclysm many years ago, and no one’s been allowed on the Island since. But I know Queen Diana pretty well, and if we’re going to save your friend’s life, we’re going to need the Purple Healing Ray of the Amazons…*
*******
Captain Marvel landed on the Rock of Eternity, mystified by its appearance above Earth Two, and grieving for the friends and comrades killed when the JLA Satellite exploded. Hot tears burned his eyes, and not even the Wisdom of Solomon was a comfort to him now.
The cavernous hall of the Wizard was cold, and none of the fires that usually warmed the hanging braziers were lit; the enormous statues of the Seven Deadly Enemies of Man leered at him from the shadows, whispering their profanities in his head.
The stone throne at the end of the hall was not empty. A shriveled up, bald old man, with a long straggly beard and a bald pate slumped in the seat, his eyes lit by the dying embers of the brazier next to the throne, the only source of light in the hall.
“Come closer, my Captain,” wheezed the old man, his voice thin as a reed. “Let me see you.”
Astonished by the wizard’s piteous condition, Cap strode forward. His great heart ached to see this kindly servant of justice in such dire straits; the wizard seemed near death.
Dashing tears from his squinted eyes, Cap’s voice was husky when he asked “Sir, what happened? Have you been attacked? Why have you followed me to Earth Two?”
“The Rock exists in all places and times. I need only command it to find you,” the wizard coughed with the exertion of speaking. “I need your help, my champion; I have come under attack by magical forces most powerful, ancient enemies from before time who have laid me waste. I fear I shall die…”
“No!” Cap declared fiercely. He had lost the JSA; he would not lose the wizard as well. “I’ll save you. I’ll fight them---!”
“You cannot save me by force of arms, my Captain,” wheezed the wizard. “There is only one hope for me now…”
“Tell me!”
“The power that I have granted onto you as my champion, I must have it back, if only for a little while!” Another coughing fit seized the feeble old man, and it seemed as if he was going to expire at that very moment. Cap took a step towards the old man, but was at a loss how to help him. “Hurry, my Captain!”
“But how?” cried Cap.
“Say… my… Name!”
“SHAZAM!”
The sound of thunder pealed throughout the cavern, rumbling like the echo of destiny.
Billy Batson stood, open-mouthed, amid a much-transformed scene. After he had spoken the magic word, a glamour fell away revealing a tableau that could have only sprung from the mind of Hieronymus Bosch. Fire pits gaped in the floor of the cavern, and red-skinned imps with forked tails cavorted over them. The statues of the Seven Deadly Enemies of Man blinked and stared at him, jeering and laughing. Behind the throne, suspended from rusted iron manacles was Dr. Fate, howling piteously as he was tormented by imps wielding cruel-looking instruments. And the wizard--- he stood bright-eyed and triumphant, his silvered hair shot with black, his form no longer frail and wasted but virile and hungry...
Stunned by the betrayal, Billy backed away from the wicked old man looming closer to him, hardly able to believe the evidence of his eyes.
“You did this?” he asked, shaking his head, his lip curling. “You lured us to Earth Two?
“Oh, that was someone else’s idea, someone who wanted the Justice Society,” the wizard told him as he advanced slowly forward, backing Billy towards a gaping chasm of magma and brimstone. “And of course, I dealt with this… amateur.” He swept a gnarled hand back towards Dr. Fate. “And I made you believe your comrades had been killed. Because all I wanted, Billy Batson, was you.”
Billy narrowed his eyes, his fists clenching. “You’re not the wizard.”
“Oh, I assure you I am indeed the wizard Shazam… Just not the one you think I am.” The old man chortled humorlessly. “You see, in my universe, I kept the divine powers, never bestowing them upon a champion. For millennia, I did good, keeping at bay the great evils that lurk just outside the ken of man, but thirsting for his blood. I fought my crusade for four thousand years, against ravening powers of supreme depravity!” Spittle flew from his mouth and his eyes took on a feverish glint. From the statues of the Seven Deadly Enemies came hollow stone laughter. Billy’s heels teetered on the edge of the pit, and he had to struggle a moment for balance. The wizard towered over him, in a fit of passion. “But it never ends! They only come back stronger, more devious… There is no victory over them! I am filled with all this might, yet it avails me nothing. It has made me mad.” He glowered down upon Billy, his hands raised into two trembling claws.
“Power corrupts,” Billy whispered, amazed and saddened. He shook his head. “You never should have kept it.”
“Whelp!” The wizard swiped at him, which Billy avoided by ducking and dancing away from the edge of the chasm. The wizard turned on him with a snarl. “Don’t you think I know that? Don’t you think I’ve learned something in all my years…?”
But Billy had heard all he needed to. “All you’ve learned is regret, not remorse. I’m taking my friend and we’re leaving. SHAZAM!”
The thunderbolt struck again, shaking the very foundations of the Rock of Eternity, and in place of young Billy Batson was Captain Marvel. The wizard laughed maniacally. The red in Cap’s uniform had darkened to the color of old, clotted blood, and the gold accents became dull, reflecting no light.
“What--- what’s happening to me…?” the World’s Mightiest Mortal examined his hands as if they were different, then covered his ears as if to block out voices in his head.
The wizard could barely contain his triumph. “The endowments of your gods cannot touch you here, fool. I control the thunderbolt in this universe, it is my puissance that fills you now, my power that compels you!”
Cap looked appalled, going to his knees, trying to fend off the overwhelming compulsion that was subtly infiltrating every part of him.
The dark wizard stood over him, sneering at his struggle. “You have become the instrument of my will. The thunder and lightning with which I shall scourge the Earth, so that it might be a fit throne for one who has spent an eternity defending it.” Captain Marvel lifted his head, the color draining from his eyes, leaving only blank white. “Rise my dark champion. Rise, my Captain! Rise and conquer!” hissed the wizard.
TO BE CONTINUED!
