Post by David on Aug 25, 2009 18:21:55 GMT -5
“That’s the Fortress of Solitude?”
Wildcat’s exasperated question echoed in the icy wastes, his breath misting in the frigid Arctic air. Before him, Commander Steel, Jay Garrick, and Barry Allen, the Flash of Earth-Two long-thought dead, rose a sheer cliff of glacial rock, fronted with intricate gold beveled arches and an enormous gold plated keyhole. Wildcat looked back across the plain towards the equally enormous key, which also acted as a pointer towards the wall of the stronghold--- as if anyone could have missed the only landmark in miles, or the giant keyhole.
“Actually, he calls it the Secret Citadel,” Barry replied, squinting towards the last bastion of Kryptonian civilization in the universe.
“How’re we gonna get in? That thing must weigh a coupla tons?”
Commander Steel eyeballed the gleaming, giant key and shrugged beneath the fur-lined coat he’d borrowed from Commissioner Wayne. “I think I can lift it.”
“You won’t have to,” said Barry Allen over his shoulder, trudging towards the Citadel with a wave to his new comrades. “Just as Jay and I carried the two of you here from Gotham, we can vibrate between the molecules of the rock to get inside, taking you with us.”
“Yeah, and I’m sure Superman doesn’t have any intruder alarms we won’t set off the minute we’re inside, waiting to vaporize us instantly.” Wildcat grumbled, following the Flashes towards the gargantuan structure, hewn and hollowed-out by Kryptonian hands from the side of a mountain range.
“I still have my JLA communicator,” Barry told them. “That should be enough to keep us safe.” He flashed a blue-eyed smile back at Wildcat. “And instant vaporization isn’t exactly Kal’s style.”
“You’ll have to forgive Wildcat,” Jay said to Barry. “He’s a boxer; he’s always looking for a fight.”
“Not true,” Wildcat pointed out, raising his finger with a devilish grin of his own. “Sometimes I’m looking for a beer. Or a dame. And not necessarily in that order.”
At the cliff face, the Flashes took their comrades by the arm and began vibrating at superspeed. In a moment, they were in Superman’s sanctuary, dropping their borrowed coats and gazing around in awe. So vast was the chamber, the ceiling was lost to view, and it reminded them a little of the Batcave, except where that place was dark and cold and haunted with shadows, this place was brightly lit, warm and sweepingly magnificent. Towering over them, and the first thing they noticed, were two 30 foot statues, opposing arms raised to support between them the globe of an alien world. There was nothing threatening about the statues: a man and a woman in traditional Kryptonian dress, and engraved on the base of their pedestals were their names: Jor-El and Lara.
A low whistle came from Commander Steel.
“Superman’s birthparents,” Barry Allen explained. “There are other memorials inside, but we don’t have time to sightsee. We have to find the Bottle City of Kandor and warn Kal before its too late. The threat of Parallax cannot be overestimated.”
All three JSAers exchanged looks of concern and confusion, but it was Jay who spoke for them as they took off after the Flash of Earth-Two.
“And you say that this Parallax character is Hal Jordan…?”
“Yes.” The word came out as if pushed through gritted teeth.
“I know this is going to sound funny coming from me, but this is all going a bit too fast,” Jay admitted as they followed Barry through a hall flanked by a giant book of metal plates inscribed with an alien language (a sign above it read: “Chronicles of Krypton”) and a life-sized chessboard populated with robotic chessmen. “One minute we’re in Gotham fighting killer cyborgs sent after us by some unknown enemy, and the next you return from the dead and we’re speeding off to the Arctic and everyone is acting like the sky is falling. On our world, Hal Jordan is a hero. A Green Lantern.”
Barry paused at a branching hallway; one way led to the “Interplanetary Zoo” another to the “Atomic Disintegrator Pit”--- he continued straight ahead, towards the “Friendship Exhibit.”
“He was a hero here, too.” Barry glanced sidelong at Jay, and the older man could see the pain etched on the younger’s face. “One of the best of us. Saved the planet--- the universe, even--- a few times. He was my best friend.”
“I don’t understand. Why did the League go after him?”
“He lost it. Went crazy, thought he could play god. He wiped out the entire Green Lantern Corps and stole their Central Power Battery. It took the combined strength of the entire League to take him down. They destroyed the Central Power Battery, and when the smoke cleared, it looked like he’d been destroyed, too.”
Wildcat shook his head and tssked. “You always look for a body. No body, no death. Jeez… Hey, kid, catch up!” This last was to Commander Steel, who had paused by a display of wax figures depicting, according to the placard, “The Superman Family”: there was, of course, Superman, almost identical to the one Steel recognized from his world, only a bit broader shouldered, squintier of eye and squarer of chin; next to him was a mini-skirted blonde identified as Supergirl, there was a dog in a cape, a cat, a horse, a monkey and another Superman, younger, in a more modern costume… But Steel’s attention was focused on the young woman, her features frozen forever in an innocent smile. She was the only one assigned a death date: Kara Zor-El had, apparently, perished in the Super Crisis at 28.
“Heywood, you comin’?” Wildcat’s gruff voice came back to him. Steel shook his head, and hastened to catch up.
“That was the last mission of the original JLA,” Barry was explaining as they turned a corner, striding through a laboratory of fantastic devices and wondrous sights, none of which the speedster had eyes for. “They didn’t exactly disband, but they never reunited after that. Katar and Shayera ran the League for a little while, with Ralph, Reddy, Ollie, Dinah, Ray and Zee, but turning against Hal pretty much ended the dream… At least until this latest incarnation.”
“What happened?” asked Jay. “What caused Hal to lose it?”
“I died,” Barry sighed heavily, craning his head at another intersection. “At least everyone thought I did--- including me. There was a Super Crisis, one that threatened the infinite universes, and we all fought in it, even you, Jay!--- no, don’t ask me, it’s a long story, and it’ll just confuse things right now--- against a monstrous entropic entity called Omegaddon the Anti-Monitor. A lot of us died, actually, including Kal’s cousin. I fell in the final battle against Omegaddon, but as it turns out something about being in the Speed Force saved me, something about an infinitely distant vanishing-point--- I haven’t quite worked it all out yet, but I think I may be ‘dying’ in some ways forever. But I existed on some level all these years, observing events but unable to influence them. I saw it all: the fall of my friend and our teammates doing what had to be done to save the world. And then, a few hours ago, something happened… the Speed Force released me. Ejected me, is more like it. Perhaps it has something to do with you own arrival in my world, Jay… But before I returned, I saw that Parallax was back, too, that he had not been killed, had been gathering his strength, rebuilding his power…”
“And you feel responsible.” Jay sensed the unspoken thought. He knew his Barry all too well, and this decent, earnest man was him in every way.
Barry glanced at him, tight-lipped, and did not respond.
“Listen to me, son,” Jay’s hand on Barry’s shoulder halted them. “Every man must take responsibility for his own actions. If Hal Jordan went wrong, it was because of decisions that he made, flaws in his character. Only he can answer for them, and no one else.”
Barry Allen nodded, and it seemed that his shoulders relaxed a little, his frame loosening up. There was a faint smile on his lips when he said “I can’t wait to see Iris again. And Carrie.”
Jay matched his smile and clapped the younger man on the shoulder. “Now let’s find this Bottle City.”
“Found it.” Wildcat called over to them from across the room. Next to a display case labeled “Phantom Zone Projector” Wildcat was pointing to a pedestal topped with a city in a bottle. “If you ladies are done, this must be what we’re looking for.”
Even as the words were leaving his mouth, something they had taken for a wax figure stepped forward, his appearance causing them all to step back in alarm. The figure was green skinned and bald, his pate topped with a net of blinking red nodes, and he advanced threateningly on them.
“I am Brainiac. You are intruders in this domain. Prepare to be neutralized.”
“You can call me Parallax, Alan Scott. I left the name of Green Lantern far behind me a long time ago.”
The words, spoken with a sneer, raised the little hairs on the back of Alan’s neck. The speaker, the Hal Jordan of Earth-Two, stood in the center of the hallowed Enconeaum of Paradise Island and seemed to be enjoying the rising tension. Alan did not miss the silent but meaningful look that passed between Arthur and Diana--- who as Aquaman and Wonder Woman had fought for justice, with Hal himself, in the JLA for decades. This should have been a reunion of old friends, but Alan saw the Sea King tense, as if preparing to strike, and the Queen of the Amazons stared back at Hal with a look of distrust and pity.
“It’s really you, isn’t it?” Arthur asked, his voice grim and resigned. “You’re alive.”
He knew my name… How did he know my name? Alan thought, not liking any of this one bit.
The man who called himself Parallax spread his arms wide and cocked his head with a wolfish grin. “Here I am, Artie. No thanks to you, or the others.”
“Please, Hal, you know we had no choice.” Diana interjected. She stepped forward to lay a hand on his arm, but Parallax flinched away, snapping back his green cape and stalking sideways around them.
“I neither want nor require your compassion, Diana,” he snarled.
“What do you want then?” Diana’s violet eyes tracked him as he kept his distance.
Parallax stared at Alan, as if taking his measure. Alan returned the frank stare unblinkingly, shielding with his body the medi-tank he had hauled to Paradise Island all the way from Atlantis; within it was a comatose Power Girl. But Parallax craned his neck for a look, raising his eyebrows at the sight of the horribly burned but still recognizable heroine. Genuine surprise appeared on his face.
“What do I want, princess?” He straightened and appeared to be considering Diana’s question, but at his tone, the tension in the room flared; Amazons reached for weapons and Aquaman’s fist clenched. Only Queen Diana stayed perfectly still, but somehow a rope of radiant links had appeared in her hands. Parallax’s eyes darted quickly from side to side, and he said, “There’s only one thing I desire, of course: revenge!”
The attack was furious, unrelenting--- and completely directed at Alan! Emerald fury lashed out in an arcing shockwave, slamming into a hastily conjured shield construct. So fierce was the assault that everyone and everything else around the green gladiators were blown back by the sheer hurricane of willpower. Alan Scott braced himself against the shield he held up to the battering, gritting his teeth in the face of it.
“What the hell are you doing?” he yelled, pushing back with all his might. A knot of green power swelled between Alan’s shield and Parallax’s ring, causing the younger man to stagger back a step.
Parallax rallied, unleashing a torrent of energy on Alan, but Alan held his ground, his cape whipping in the storm that had erupted within the Enconaeum, that was blowing out the walls and cracking the roof. Barely holding out, Alan could spare no thought to what had happened to Aquaman, Diana or the Amazons; his shield protected Power Girl’s medi-tank, too, and there was no way he was going to let more harm befall her.
“I’m killing you, is what I’m doing,” snarled Parallax over the gale of energy. “Then I’m going to finish what the Amazons started themselves, and wipe them out, along with their queen. The fishman I don’t care about--- what threat is he anyway?”
“Over my dead body!”
“That’s the idea, Green Lantern! I’ve waited so long for this…!”
There was a brief cessation in the assault, but Alan could see it was only because Parallax was gathering all of his might for one devastating blow, one Alan wasn’t sure he could withstand. In the nanosecond respite, he let fell his shield and fired back--- not at Parallax, who was ready for just such an eventuality, but at the crumbling roof of the Enconaeum! The stone and mortar rained down on them, and Alan reconstituted his shield, taking cover beneath it, but Parallax hadn’t expected the sideways assault and was caught in the deadly avalanche. He had time for a frustrated, gurgling yell before he was buried beneath huge slabs of marble.
Frantic voices were raised as those who had been thrown clear in the initial assault rushed back into the destroyed temple. Alan Scott stood, warily eyeing the pile of rubble across the floor. But it wasn’t over yet: the mound of stone shuddered and exploded, sending shards and powder in all directions as Parallax rose up, blazing with green might!
“I am not so easily dispatched, fools---.”
The triumphant smile was wiped from his face as the golden lasso fell around him, cinched tight to pin his arms and jerked him out of the air to swing in a wide semicircle and slam into a solid stone wall hard enough to crack it! Though his ring protected him from injury, the supervillain was dazed from the impact, and Wonder Woman gave him no time to recover, swinging him back in the other direction and into the opposite wall--- where Aquaman was waiting.
“Fishman, Hal? You should know better.”
The crushing haymaker caught Parallax across the face, rocking him back. A second and third blow from the Sea King kept Parallax off-balance, pinning him to the wall, actually embedding him in the stone. But the lasso was still attached to him, and he seized it suddenly, pulling Wonder Woman towards them, knocking her into Aquaman, and they both fell, a tangle of limbs.
Slipping out of the lasso, Parallax saw that Alan was rising into the air to meet him, ready for Round Two, his ring shining. With a quick, derisive look around, Parallax growled to Alan “This isn’t over, old man,” and rocketed upward, past Alan and into the stratosphere, a dwindling point of light that was gone in less than a second.
And just like that, the vicious brawl was over. Diana was pulling Arthur to his feet, both of them gazing out of the roofless temple after Hal, as Alan touched down next to them.
“Who was that?” he demanded, shaken by the sudden and brutal attack.
Aquaman wiped at a cut on his forehead, smearing blood on his hand and looking winded. “Hal Jordan, an old teammate gone bad---.”
“No. He came after me first,” Alan interrupted, jabbing his thumb into his chest, his blood up. “I’ve never met the Hal Jordan of this world, but this guy came after me first. I saw the hate in his eyes. The old grudge…”
Though her head was shorn of its long raven tresses, the violet-eyed Queen of the Amazons was no less lovely than the Diana of Alan’s own world. She gave him a quizzical look and asked, “What are you saying, Green Lantern?”
“I don’t know what’s going on here, but I’ve gotten to know the Hal Jordan of my world pretty well,” Alan pointed up at the fading green scar across the heavens, but never turned away from Diana and Arthur. “And whoever that was, that was not Hal Jordan!”
The creature that had identified itself as Brainiac advanced towards the JSAers and Barry, and they tensed for action. But a clear, young voice rang out: “Brainiac, stop! Override code: EL2.2.”
The threatening green-skinned man halted abruptly, and after a moment, retreated back against a wall, watching them. The speaker came forward, lightly touching down as she’d been flying. She was blonde and blue-eyed, perhaps fourteen, and on her face was a sparkling innocence and a look of curiosity--- but all they could see was the emblem she wore on her chest in the shape of an S.
“Sorry about that; Brainiac can be a bit dramatic, but he wouldn’t have hurt you. Are you friends of my brother?”
“Your brother, miss?” Jay spoke for all of them, taking a step forward.
“Jon-El. Superman.” She explained with a disarming smile. “I just thought because of the way you’re dressed…” she shrugged, looking from one to the others. “Pleased to meet you. I’m Zara Kal-El.” She sketched a formal little bow, hands flaring her skirt.
“They call me the Flash, where I come from, but that might get confusing here,” Jay glanced at Barry, then back to Zara. “This is Barry. And my other friends are Ted and Hank. Are you Supergirl?”
Zara Kal-El snorted. “No. That doesn’t ever seem likely, either, if my father has his way.”
“Actually, that’s why we’re here: to see your father. Can you take us to him, Zara?”
Zara gave them a narrow-eyed look, though her smile was never far from her lips. “You look like Uncle Wally a little, and you, I think I recognize from Daddy’s old holo-vids,” she pointed her chin at Barry. “I’ll take you into New Krypton, but you’ve gotta do me a favor, and don’t tell my Dad where I found you! If he finds out I’ve been practicing my flying outside the Citadel, I’ll be grounded forever!”
“Well, as we didn’t know that’s what you were doing, you’re secret is safe with us.” Jay told her with a wink.
“The teleportation ray is right here,” she gestured to a control panel on the Bottle City’s pedestal. “Just stand on the plate in front of the pedestal, and it’ll miniaturize us, too.”
“The Bottle City looks bigger than I remembered it,” Barry noted as they stepped onto the indicated platform, Wildcat grumbling under his breath about teleporting and shrinkage.
“The original bottle was destroyed in my father’s final battle with Brainiac--- this was before he was re-programmed!” she added hastily, seeing Commander Steel’s look of alarm. “This larger environment, which we call New Krypton, not only houses the city of Kandor, but Argo City, thousands of acres of arable land, and a freshwater lake with an island called New Vathlo! Come on, you’ll see.”
Zara set the controls and the five of them stood upon the platform. A moment later the beam hit them, and the world spun and twisted as if they were riding inside a kaleidoscope. The next moment, they were standing outdoors, in a fresh-smelling open field under a bright blue sky and a warm red sun. In the distance, could be seen the towers and minarets of a gleaming city, air cars flying above it like oversized bees. From nearby came the soft lowing of cows and the tinkling of their bells.
“Artificial red sun,” Zara pointed upwards with a lopsided smile and an exaggerated eye-roll. “Nobody has any powers in New Krypton. It’s why I have to sneak out to---.”
“Zara Kal-El!” a strident voice cut her off, causing the girl to wince and glance over towards a sleek alien structure that still managed to look like a Kansas farmhouse. The figure striding towards them was older, and the costume was somewhat altered--- but there was no mistaking the spit-curl, the familiar colors of his garb, or the symbol on his chest.
“Young lady, have you been Outside again practicing your…” His words trailed off when he got a look at his daughter’s companions.
“Dad, these are my friends, Jay, Barry, Ted and Hank.”
But Kal-El only had eyes for one of them. Barry Allen stepped forward and pulled off his mask, shaking out longer than usual blonde hair and revealing his plain, honest face.
“Great Krypton…!” Kal-El breathed. “Barry, is that really you?”
“It’s me, Kal.”
The two old friends embraced, pounding each other on the back enthusiastically.
“Who is she?” Diana asked Arthur and Alan. Power Girl lay before them, covered in a sheet, and above the infirmary bed was a device that was bathing her in a gentle lavender beam. The skin that was burned and cracked was reforming slowly but surely under the auspices of the Purple Healing Ray, leaving only pink, untrammeled flesh--- even her hair and eyebrows were growing back, and she started to look like herself once more.
“Her name is Karen Starr, but she goes by Power Girl,” Alan Scott answered the Queen of the Amazons, but he was transfixed by the efficacy of the Healing Ray, amazed and grateful that it was pulling her back from the brink of death.
“She does look familiar, doesn’t she?” Aquaman said to Wonder Woman, who nodded thoughtfully. “You can see why I took the chance of coming here.”
“We have to call Kal.”
“Agreed.”
Aquaman followed her out of the Asclepieion, the Temple of Healing in Themyscira, into bright sunshine. Alan Scott lingered, and asked the Amazon physician: “She’s going to be okay?”
The woman wiped Power Girl’s forehead with a cool cloth, not looking away from her patient. “Gods willing. She is not human… her physiology is subtly different, so I cannot say for sure what effect the Ray will have. Most assuredly she is responding well. But most patients sleep for a day and a night after the healing. She is in good hands. Go with the queen and the Atlantean, I will watch over her.”
Satisfied, Alan nodded and left the hallowed chamber, breathing a sigh of relief for the first time since he’d arrived on Earth-Two. So desperate was he to save Power Girl’s life, however, he had given barely a thought to his other friends. Who knows what had happened to Doctor Fate, Captain Marvel had been blown into space, and Jay, Ted and Hank had barely escaped the destruction of the JLA Satellite by teleporting somewhere… He was confident that the rest of the JSA could take care of themselves--- they were probably looking for him--- and he wondered if they had discovered yet why they had been summoned to this world, and by whom! Aquaman and Wonder Woman obviously had no idea…
Parallax had called him by name, and had come after him first…
His face darkened as he took to the sky, following Arthur and Diana up a winding stair to a small colonnaded temple at the highest point in the city.
“I think we’re being set-up,” he told them, setting down beside them outside the small temple. “My friends and I, that is. The JSA. We were lured to this world for some unknown reason, and now I’ve been attacked… I need to find them. I need to know they’re alright.”
Diana looked at him and nodded in understanding. “Of course. And if Parallax is mixed up in all this, that makes it our fault. But first, we need to find your friends. Come with me.”
Alan and Arthur followed her into the small temple. It was cool and dark inside, and in stark contrast to everything Alan had seen on Paradise Island: with the exception of the Purple Healing Ray, Themyscira was a throwback to a simpler, classical era, but this room appeared to be a state-of-the-art communications center, with a console of modern computers and strange devices. It was empty but for them, and Diana did not hesitate to sit at the single control chair, her fingers flying over one of the three keyboards. In front of her, a three-dimensional holographic VR screen materialized--- followed by two more on either side of the first, in a concave pattern for easy viewing.
“There’s no direct contact between the outside world and New Krypton, so in order to talk to Kal, we have to go through a roundabout route,”
“Mars,” Aquaman pronounced, leaning over Diana’s shoulder. Diana nodded.
The central VR screen flickered then displayed a scene of red sands and blue skies. Shoots of tall green plants twisted in strange patterns in an extraterrestrial garden where bloomed bright, almost florescent flowers. Among them was a figure in a pristine white S.T.A.R. Labs jumpsuit, hovering a few feet off the ground, cross-legged and meditating. His eyes opened, and he stared directly into the now-activated camera that must have been in front of him.
“Diana,” the deep, rich voice sounded pleased and surprised. “This is unexpected…”
“Hola, J’onn. Forgive me for interrupting your work on Mars Base. I have Arthur here with me, as well, and we need to contact Kal.”
“Arthur…? Greetings, old friend. This is indeed… most welcome.”
Though there was real joy in the voice of J’onn J’onzz, his features remained calm, placid. His appearance was much transformed from the Martian Manhunter of Alan Scott’s world, thinner, more elongated and graceful--- and entirely alien.
“It will be difficult to re-establish the rapport after so many years, and from such a distance,” J’onn mused aloud. “There must be great need.”
“It’s Parallax.” Diana explained. “He’s returned.”
This time, something did flicker across the stoic features of the Martian, something like pain or regret. Wordlessly, he closed his eyes again, and Alan saw Diana and Arthur do the same.
Moments passed, and Alan watched as all three of the former JLAers seem to share an unspoken communion, initiated by the telepathic prowess of J’onn J’onzz from his home on Mars. Diana’s eyelids flickered, and a broad grim split the bearded face of the Sea King. After a few minutes, Diana opened her eyes and with a simple nod, ended the transmission to Mars. There were tears in her eyes when she turned to Alan.
“Your friends Jay, Ted and Hank are safe, and with Kal-El in New Krypton,” the tears rolled down her cheeks, and she could not restrain the smile Arthur was not bothering to hold back either.
“Is everything alright, your majesty?” Alan was confused.
“Please, it’s Diana.” she wiped at the tears. “And we have just found out that a dear friend we thought long-dead still lives. We are going to meet them all, in our original headquarters, the Secret Sanctuary in Happy Harbor.”
“What are we waiting for?” Arthur asked, in a hurry to depart.
Diana stood, and for the first time Alan saw none of the inherent sadness in her, only excitement and determination. He was, he realized, no longer looking at Queen Diana, but Wonder Woman. She said. “I’ll get the Jet.”
It appeared in the skies over Manhattan, blotting out the sun and turning day into night. All activity in the city below came to a screeching halt, as eight million souls held their breath and gazed upward at the rough-hewn mountain of rock suspended above, poised to stab at the Earth.
The Rock of Eternity shimmered indistinctly, as if another version of itself had been superimposed over it, and it gave off a faint reverberation, which every onlooker felt thrumming in their very blood.
He came flying out from within the sky-borne colossus. People below strained to get a look at him, and there was a general sigh of relief when they recognized Captain Marvel. That is until he flew out over the harbor, and with one massive blow, knocked the head off the Statue of Liberty!
The bronze head of Lady Liberty sailed through the air and crashed down on Wall Street, scattering bystanders and smashing vehicles. Angry cries and panicked screams rose up, but above them, the World’s Mightiest Mortal only laughed. Hands on his hips, he called down to them in a voice amplified by the power of Zeus: “People of New York, I claim this city--- and the world!--- for my master, and you have been granted the singular honor of being the first to bow to the Rock of Eternity. Now, ON YOUR KNEES!”
His voice was as a thunderclap, shattering glass throughout the city, setting off car alarms and causing all who heard it to cower with their hands over their heads.
Hovering over them, his arms crossed over his chest, Captain Marvel glowered as the people of Manhattan slowly recovered, their ears ringing. To a person they raised their fists (and--- this being New York--- their fingers) to the sky and defied the stentorian demand.
The face of the World’s Mightiest Mortal darkened and he made a show of cracking his knuckles. “Ingrates! Submit to your betters!” He threw his arms wide and then brought them together again in a clap of seismic proportions. The shockwave expanded from him like the detonation of an atom bomb, causing the waters of the harbor to flood the streets, buildings to shake and topple and everything that was not bolted down in a five mile radius to be hurled backward. A huge expanse of the city was flattened at a blow.
But that was just the opening salvo. He hit the street like a torpedo cutting through water, tunneling below and emerging in a spray of rock and cement directly in the center of Times Square. Cars speeding to escape the chaos veered away from his abrupt appearance on the street, and crashed into each other or parked vehicles; a garbage truck could not avoid hitting him, but Cap only laughed as the metal crunched around his invulnerable body, the driver’s life saved only by a seatbelt and airbag. Reaching into the truck, Cap dragged out the dazed driver and tossed him aside without a thought--- then he lifted the truck two-handed and heaved it into the air, sending it hurtling into the Soder Cola jumbotron. The digital billboard exploded, showering the crowded plaza with sparks and debris.
Cap’s grin was broad and maniacal as all around him, people fled in terror. He leaped back into the air, heading straight for the United Nations Headquarters on the East River. By now, the National Guard had launched attack helicopters, and they swarmed after him like angry bees. He flew straight at the choppers, causing them to peel away from him to avoid collision. He toyed with the choppers, flying into the rotor-blades of one, causing them to shatter, the pilots ejecting as the aircraft smashed into the side of an office building. Gunfire erupted then from choppers on both sides of Black Shazam’s dark champion, which he shrugged off, the bullets ricocheting from his chest. Another mighty handclap sent them careening away, the pilots struggling just to keep the aircraft in the sky.
Cap turned back towards the U.N. flying down towards the long avenue of flags fluttering in the wind. He seized the flag of the U.N. and snapped off the pole, throwing it down in a symbolic gesture.
“This world now belongs to---.”
The hammerblow to his head sent him spinning and crashing to ground, hitting it with enough force to shake the island. The World’s Mightiest Mortal crawled from the impact crater his fall had created, still disoriented as his attacker touched down in front of him.
“I can see leaving you in charge of the JSA was a mistake,” growled a voice familiar to Cap. Hawkman pulled in his wings and hefted his mace in one hand; in the other was the discarded flagpole. “Consider yourself deposed. Now--- let me show you why I was in charge in the first place…!”
Wildcat’s exasperated question echoed in the icy wastes, his breath misting in the frigid Arctic air. Before him, Commander Steel, Jay Garrick, and Barry Allen, the Flash of Earth-Two long-thought dead, rose a sheer cliff of glacial rock, fronted with intricate gold beveled arches and an enormous gold plated keyhole. Wildcat looked back across the plain towards the equally enormous key, which also acted as a pointer towards the wall of the stronghold--- as if anyone could have missed the only landmark in miles, or the giant keyhole.
“Actually, he calls it the Secret Citadel,” Barry replied, squinting towards the last bastion of Kryptonian civilization in the universe.
“How’re we gonna get in? That thing must weigh a coupla tons?”
Commander Steel eyeballed the gleaming, giant key and shrugged beneath the fur-lined coat he’d borrowed from Commissioner Wayne. “I think I can lift it.”
“You won’t have to,” said Barry Allen over his shoulder, trudging towards the Citadel with a wave to his new comrades. “Just as Jay and I carried the two of you here from Gotham, we can vibrate between the molecules of the rock to get inside, taking you with us.”
“Yeah, and I’m sure Superman doesn’t have any intruder alarms we won’t set off the minute we’re inside, waiting to vaporize us instantly.” Wildcat grumbled, following the Flashes towards the gargantuan structure, hewn and hollowed-out by Kryptonian hands from the side of a mountain range.
“I still have my JLA communicator,” Barry told them. “That should be enough to keep us safe.” He flashed a blue-eyed smile back at Wildcat. “And instant vaporization isn’t exactly Kal’s style.”
“You’ll have to forgive Wildcat,” Jay said to Barry. “He’s a boxer; he’s always looking for a fight.”
“Not true,” Wildcat pointed out, raising his finger with a devilish grin of his own. “Sometimes I’m looking for a beer. Or a dame. And not necessarily in that order.”
At the cliff face, the Flashes took their comrades by the arm and began vibrating at superspeed. In a moment, they were in Superman’s sanctuary, dropping their borrowed coats and gazing around in awe. So vast was the chamber, the ceiling was lost to view, and it reminded them a little of the Batcave, except where that place was dark and cold and haunted with shadows, this place was brightly lit, warm and sweepingly magnificent. Towering over them, and the first thing they noticed, were two 30 foot statues, opposing arms raised to support between them the globe of an alien world. There was nothing threatening about the statues: a man and a woman in traditional Kryptonian dress, and engraved on the base of their pedestals were their names: Jor-El and Lara.
A low whistle came from Commander Steel.
“Superman’s birthparents,” Barry Allen explained. “There are other memorials inside, but we don’t have time to sightsee. We have to find the Bottle City of Kandor and warn Kal before its too late. The threat of Parallax cannot be overestimated.”
All three JSAers exchanged looks of concern and confusion, but it was Jay who spoke for them as they took off after the Flash of Earth-Two.
“And you say that this Parallax character is Hal Jordan…?”
“Yes.” The word came out as if pushed through gritted teeth.
“I know this is going to sound funny coming from me, but this is all going a bit too fast,” Jay admitted as they followed Barry through a hall flanked by a giant book of metal plates inscribed with an alien language (a sign above it read: “Chronicles of Krypton”) and a life-sized chessboard populated with robotic chessmen. “One minute we’re in Gotham fighting killer cyborgs sent after us by some unknown enemy, and the next you return from the dead and we’re speeding off to the Arctic and everyone is acting like the sky is falling. On our world, Hal Jordan is a hero. A Green Lantern.”
Barry paused at a branching hallway; one way led to the “Interplanetary Zoo” another to the “Atomic Disintegrator Pit”--- he continued straight ahead, towards the “Friendship Exhibit.”
“He was a hero here, too.” Barry glanced sidelong at Jay, and the older man could see the pain etched on the younger’s face. “One of the best of us. Saved the planet--- the universe, even--- a few times. He was my best friend.”
“I don’t understand. Why did the League go after him?”
“He lost it. Went crazy, thought he could play god. He wiped out the entire Green Lantern Corps and stole their Central Power Battery. It took the combined strength of the entire League to take him down. They destroyed the Central Power Battery, and when the smoke cleared, it looked like he’d been destroyed, too.”
Wildcat shook his head and tssked. “You always look for a body. No body, no death. Jeez… Hey, kid, catch up!” This last was to Commander Steel, who had paused by a display of wax figures depicting, according to the placard, “The Superman Family”: there was, of course, Superman, almost identical to the one Steel recognized from his world, only a bit broader shouldered, squintier of eye and squarer of chin; next to him was a mini-skirted blonde identified as Supergirl, there was a dog in a cape, a cat, a horse, a monkey and another Superman, younger, in a more modern costume… But Steel’s attention was focused on the young woman, her features frozen forever in an innocent smile. She was the only one assigned a death date: Kara Zor-El had, apparently, perished in the Super Crisis at 28.
“Heywood, you comin’?” Wildcat’s gruff voice came back to him. Steel shook his head, and hastened to catch up.
“That was the last mission of the original JLA,” Barry was explaining as they turned a corner, striding through a laboratory of fantastic devices and wondrous sights, none of which the speedster had eyes for. “They didn’t exactly disband, but they never reunited after that. Katar and Shayera ran the League for a little while, with Ralph, Reddy, Ollie, Dinah, Ray and Zee, but turning against Hal pretty much ended the dream… At least until this latest incarnation.”
“What happened?” asked Jay. “What caused Hal to lose it?”
“I died,” Barry sighed heavily, craning his head at another intersection. “At least everyone thought I did--- including me. There was a Super Crisis, one that threatened the infinite universes, and we all fought in it, even you, Jay!--- no, don’t ask me, it’s a long story, and it’ll just confuse things right now--- against a monstrous entropic entity called Omegaddon the Anti-Monitor. A lot of us died, actually, including Kal’s cousin. I fell in the final battle against Omegaddon, but as it turns out something about being in the Speed Force saved me, something about an infinitely distant vanishing-point--- I haven’t quite worked it all out yet, but I think I may be ‘dying’ in some ways forever. But I existed on some level all these years, observing events but unable to influence them. I saw it all: the fall of my friend and our teammates doing what had to be done to save the world. And then, a few hours ago, something happened… the Speed Force released me. Ejected me, is more like it. Perhaps it has something to do with you own arrival in my world, Jay… But before I returned, I saw that Parallax was back, too, that he had not been killed, had been gathering his strength, rebuilding his power…”
“And you feel responsible.” Jay sensed the unspoken thought. He knew his Barry all too well, and this decent, earnest man was him in every way.
Barry glanced at him, tight-lipped, and did not respond.
“Listen to me, son,” Jay’s hand on Barry’s shoulder halted them. “Every man must take responsibility for his own actions. If Hal Jordan went wrong, it was because of decisions that he made, flaws in his character. Only he can answer for them, and no one else.”
Barry Allen nodded, and it seemed that his shoulders relaxed a little, his frame loosening up. There was a faint smile on his lips when he said “I can’t wait to see Iris again. And Carrie.”
Jay matched his smile and clapped the younger man on the shoulder. “Now let’s find this Bottle City.”
“Found it.” Wildcat called over to them from across the room. Next to a display case labeled “Phantom Zone Projector” Wildcat was pointing to a pedestal topped with a city in a bottle. “If you ladies are done, this must be what we’re looking for.”
Even as the words were leaving his mouth, something they had taken for a wax figure stepped forward, his appearance causing them all to step back in alarm. The figure was green skinned and bald, his pate topped with a net of blinking red nodes, and he advanced threateningly on them.
“I am Brainiac. You are intruders in this domain. Prepare to be neutralized.”
Justice Society of America
Issue #10: “Crisis on Two Earths, Part Four!”
Written by David Charlton
Cover by Alex Vasquez
Interior Art by Brandon Herren
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!
“You can call me Parallax, Alan Scott. I left the name of Green Lantern far behind me a long time ago.”
The words, spoken with a sneer, raised the little hairs on the back of Alan’s neck. The speaker, the Hal Jordan of Earth-Two, stood in the center of the hallowed Enconeaum of Paradise Island and seemed to be enjoying the rising tension. Alan did not miss the silent but meaningful look that passed between Arthur and Diana--- who as Aquaman and Wonder Woman had fought for justice, with Hal himself, in the JLA for decades. This should have been a reunion of old friends, but Alan saw the Sea King tense, as if preparing to strike, and the Queen of the Amazons stared back at Hal with a look of distrust and pity.
“It’s really you, isn’t it?” Arthur asked, his voice grim and resigned. “You’re alive.”
He knew my name… How did he know my name? Alan thought, not liking any of this one bit.
The man who called himself Parallax spread his arms wide and cocked his head with a wolfish grin. “Here I am, Artie. No thanks to you, or the others.”
“Please, Hal, you know we had no choice.” Diana interjected. She stepped forward to lay a hand on his arm, but Parallax flinched away, snapping back his green cape and stalking sideways around them.
“I neither want nor require your compassion, Diana,” he snarled.
“What do you want then?” Diana’s violet eyes tracked him as he kept his distance.
Parallax stared at Alan, as if taking his measure. Alan returned the frank stare unblinkingly, shielding with his body the medi-tank he had hauled to Paradise Island all the way from Atlantis; within it was a comatose Power Girl. But Parallax craned his neck for a look, raising his eyebrows at the sight of the horribly burned but still recognizable heroine. Genuine surprise appeared on his face.
“What do I want, princess?” He straightened and appeared to be considering Diana’s question, but at his tone, the tension in the room flared; Amazons reached for weapons and Aquaman’s fist clenched. Only Queen Diana stayed perfectly still, but somehow a rope of radiant links had appeared in her hands. Parallax’s eyes darted quickly from side to side, and he said, “There’s only one thing I desire, of course: revenge!”
The attack was furious, unrelenting--- and completely directed at Alan! Emerald fury lashed out in an arcing shockwave, slamming into a hastily conjured shield construct. So fierce was the assault that everyone and everything else around the green gladiators were blown back by the sheer hurricane of willpower. Alan Scott braced himself against the shield he held up to the battering, gritting his teeth in the face of it.
“What the hell are you doing?” he yelled, pushing back with all his might. A knot of green power swelled between Alan’s shield and Parallax’s ring, causing the younger man to stagger back a step.
Parallax rallied, unleashing a torrent of energy on Alan, but Alan held his ground, his cape whipping in the storm that had erupted within the Enconaeum, that was blowing out the walls and cracking the roof. Barely holding out, Alan could spare no thought to what had happened to Aquaman, Diana or the Amazons; his shield protected Power Girl’s medi-tank, too, and there was no way he was going to let more harm befall her.
“I’m killing you, is what I’m doing,” snarled Parallax over the gale of energy. “Then I’m going to finish what the Amazons started themselves, and wipe them out, along with their queen. The fishman I don’t care about--- what threat is he anyway?”
“Over my dead body!”
“That’s the idea, Green Lantern! I’ve waited so long for this…!”
There was a brief cessation in the assault, but Alan could see it was only because Parallax was gathering all of his might for one devastating blow, one Alan wasn’t sure he could withstand. In the nanosecond respite, he let fell his shield and fired back--- not at Parallax, who was ready for just such an eventuality, but at the crumbling roof of the Enconaeum! The stone and mortar rained down on them, and Alan reconstituted his shield, taking cover beneath it, but Parallax hadn’t expected the sideways assault and was caught in the deadly avalanche. He had time for a frustrated, gurgling yell before he was buried beneath huge slabs of marble.
Frantic voices were raised as those who had been thrown clear in the initial assault rushed back into the destroyed temple. Alan Scott stood, warily eyeing the pile of rubble across the floor. But it wasn’t over yet: the mound of stone shuddered and exploded, sending shards and powder in all directions as Parallax rose up, blazing with green might!
“I am not so easily dispatched, fools---.”
The triumphant smile was wiped from his face as the golden lasso fell around him, cinched tight to pin his arms and jerked him out of the air to swing in a wide semicircle and slam into a solid stone wall hard enough to crack it! Though his ring protected him from injury, the supervillain was dazed from the impact, and Wonder Woman gave him no time to recover, swinging him back in the other direction and into the opposite wall--- where Aquaman was waiting.
“Fishman, Hal? You should know better.”
The crushing haymaker caught Parallax across the face, rocking him back. A second and third blow from the Sea King kept Parallax off-balance, pinning him to the wall, actually embedding him in the stone. But the lasso was still attached to him, and he seized it suddenly, pulling Wonder Woman towards them, knocking her into Aquaman, and they both fell, a tangle of limbs.
Slipping out of the lasso, Parallax saw that Alan was rising into the air to meet him, ready for Round Two, his ring shining. With a quick, derisive look around, Parallax growled to Alan “This isn’t over, old man,” and rocketed upward, past Alan and into the stratosphere, a dwindling point of light that was gone in less than a second.
And just like that, the vicious brawl was over. Diana was pulling Arthur to his feet, both of them gazing out of the roofless temple after Hal, as Alan touched down next to them.
“Who was that?” he demanded, shaken by the sudden and brutal attack.
Aquaman wiped at a cut on his forehead, smearing blood on his hand and looking winded. “Hal Jordan, an old teammate gone bad---.”
“No. He came after me first,” Alan interrupted, jabbing his thumb into his chest, his blood up. “I’ve never met the Hal Jordan of this world, but this guy came after me first. I saw the hate in his eyes. The old grudge…”
Though her head was shorn of its long raven tresses, the violet-eyed Queen of the Amazons was no less lovely than the Diana of Alan’s own world. She gave him a quizzical look and asked, “What are you saying, Green Lantern?”
“I don’t know what’s going on here, but I’ve gotten to know the Hal Jordan of my world pretty well,” Alan pointed up at the fading green scar across the heavens, but never turned away from Diana and Arthur. “And whoever that was, that was not Hal Jordan!”
*******
The creature that had identified itself as Brainiac advanced towards the JSAers and Barry, and they tensed for action. But a clear, young voice rang out: “Brainiac, stop! Override code: EL2.2.”
The threatening green-skinned man halted abruptly, and after a moment, retreated back against a wall, watching them. The speaker came forward, lightly touching down as she’d been flying. She was blonde and blue-eyed, perhaps fourteen, and on her face was a sparkling innocence and a look of curiosity--- but all they could see was the emblem she wore on her chest in the shape of an S.
“Sorry about that; Brainiac can be a bit dramatic, but he wouldn’t have hurt you. Are you friends of my brother?”
“Your brother, miss?” Jay spoke for all of them, taking a step forward.
“Jon-El. Superman.” She explained with a disarming smile. “I just thought because of the way you’re dressed…” she shrugged, looking from one to the others. “Pleased to meet you. I’m Zara Kal-El.” She sketched a formal little bow, hands flaring her skirt.
“They call me the Flash, where I come from, but that might get confusing here,” Jay glanced at Barry, then back to Zara. “This is Barry. And my other friends are Ted and Hank. Are you Supergirl?”
Zara Kal-El snorted. “No. That doesn’t ever seem likely, either, if my father has his way.”
“Actually, that’s why we’re here: to see your father. Can you take us to him, Zara?”
Zara gave them a narrow-eyed look, though her smile was never far from her lips. “You look like Uncle Wally a little, and you, I think I recognize from Daddy’s old holo-vids,” she pointed her chin at Barry. “I’ll take you into New Krypton, but you’ve gotta do me a favor, and don’t tell my Dad where I found you! If he finds out I’ve been practicing my flying outside the Citadel, I’ll be grounded forever!”
“Well, as we didn’t know that’s what you were doing, you’re secret is safe with us.” Jay told her with a wink.
“The teleportation ray is right here,” she gestured to a control panel on the Bottle City’s pedestal. “Just stand on the plate in front of the pedestal, and it’ll miniaturize us, too.”
“The Bottle City looks bigger than I remembered it,” Barry noted as they stepped onto the indicated platform, Wildcat grumbling under his breath about teleporting and shrinkage.
“The original bottle was destroyed in my father’s final battle with Brainiac--- this was before he was re-programmed!” she added hastily, seeing Commander Steel’s look of alarm. “This larger environment, which we call New Krypton, not only houses the city of Kandor, but Argo City, thousands of acres of arable land, and a freshwater lake with an island called New Vathlo! Come on, you’ll see.”
Zara set the controls and the five of them stood upon the platform. A moment later the beam hit them, and the world spun and twisted as if they were riding inside a kaleidoscope. The next moment, they were standing outdoors, in a fresh-smelling open field under a bright blue sky and a warm red sun. In the distance, could be seen the towers and minarets of a gleaming city, air cars flying above it like oversized bees. From nearby came the soft lowing of cows and the tinkling of their bells.
“Artificial red sun,” Zara pointed upwards with a lopsided smile and an exaggerated eye-roll. “Nobody has any powers in New Krypton. It’s why I have to sneak out to---.”
“Zara Kal-El!” a strident voice cut her off, causing the girl to wince and glance over towards a sleek alien structure that still managed to look like a Kansas farmhouse. The figure striding towards them was older, and the costume was somewhat altered--- but there was no mistaking the spit-curl, the familiar colors of his garb, or the symbol on his chest.
“Young lady, have you been Outside again practicing your…” His words trailed off when he got a look at his daughter’s companions.
“Dad, these are my friends, Jay, Barry, Ted and Hank.”
But Kal-El only had eyes for one of them. Barry Allen stepped forward and pulled off his mask, shaking out longer than usual blonde hair and revealing his plain, honest face.
“Great Krypton…!” Kal-El breathed. “Barry, is that really you?”
“It’s me, Kal.”
The two old friends embraced, pounding each other on the back enthusiastically.
*******
“Who is she?” Diana asked Arthur and Alan. Power Girl lay before them, covered in a sheet, and above the infirmary bed was a device that was bathing her in a gentle lavender beam. The skin that was burned and cracked was reforming slowly but surely under the auspices of the Purple Healing Ray, leaving only pink, untrammeled flesh--- even her hair and eyebrows were growing back, and she started to look like herself once more.
“Her name is Karen Starr, but she goes by Power Girl,” Alan Scott answered the Queen of the Amazons, but he was transfixed by the efficacy of the Healing Ray, amazed and grateful that it was pulling her back from the brink of death.
“She does look familiar, doesn’t she?” Aquaman said to Wonder Woman, who nodded thoughtfully. “You can see why I took the chance of coming here.”
“We have to call Kal.”
“Agreed.”
Aquaman followed her out of the Asclepieion, the Temple of Healing in Themyscira, into bright sunshine. Alan Scott lingered, and asked the Amazon physician: “She’s going to be okay?”
The woman wiped Power Girl’s forehead with a cool cloth, not looking away from her patient. “Gods willing. She is not human… her physiology is subtly different, so I cannot say for sure what effect the Ray will have. Most assuredly she is responding well. But most patients sleep for a day and a night after the healing. She is in good hands. Go with the queen and the Atlantean, I will watch over her.”
Satisfied, Alan nodded and left the hallowed chamber, breathing a sigh of relief for the first time since he’d arrived on Earth-Two. So desperate was he to save Power Girl’s life, however, he had given barely a thought to his other friends. Who knows what had happened to Doctor Fate, Captain Marvel had been blown into space, and Jay, Ted and Hank had barely escaped the destruction of the JLA Satellite by teleporting somewhere… He was confident that the rest of the JSA could take care of themselves--- they were probably looking for him--- and he wondered if they had discovered yet why they had been summoned to this world, and by whom! Aquaman and Wonder Woman obviously had no idea…
Parallax had called him by name, and had come after him first…
His face darkened as he took to the sky, following Arthur and Diana up a winding stair to a small colonnaded temple at the highest point in the city.
“I think we’re being set-up,” he told them, setting down beside them outside the small temple. “My friends and I, that is. The JSA. We were lured to this world for some unknown reason, and now I’ve been attacked… I need to find them. I need to know they’re alright.”
Diana looked at him and nodded in understanding. “Of course. And if Parallax is mixed up in all this, that makes it our fault. But first, we need to find your friends. Come with me.”
Alan and Arthur followed her into the small temple. It was cool and dark inside, and in stark contrast to everything Alan had seen on Paradise Island: with the exception of the Purple Healing Ray, Themyscira was a throwback to a simpler, classical era, but this room appeared to be a state-of-the-art communications center, with a console of modern computers and strange devices. It was empty but for them, and Diana did not hesitate to sit at the single control chair, her fingers flying over one of the three keyboards. In front of her, a three-dimensional holographic VR screen materialized--- followed by two more on either side of the first, in a concave pattern for easy viewing.
“There’s no direct contact between the outside world and New Krypton, so in order to talk to Kal, we have to go through a roundabout route,”
“Mars,” Aquaman pronounced, leaning over Diana’s shoulder. Diana nodded.
The central VR screen flickered then displayed a scene of red sands and blue skies. Shoots of tall green plants twisted in strange patterns in an extraterrestrial garden where bloomed bright, almost florescent flowers. Among them was a figure in a pristine white S.T.A.R. Labs jumpsuit, hovering a few feet off the ground, cross-legged and meditating. His eyes opened, and he stared directly into the now-activated camera that must have been in front of him.
“Diana,” the deep, rich voice sounded pleased and surprised. “This is unexpected…”
“Hola, J’onn. Forgive me for interrupting your work on Mars Base. I have Arthur here with me, as well, and we need to contact Kal.”
“Arthur…? Greetings, old friend. This is indeed… most welcome.”
Though there was real joy in the voice of J’onn J’onzz, his features remained calm, placid. His appearance was much transformed from the Martian Manhunter of Alan Scott’s world, thinner, more elongated and graceful--- and entirely alien.
“It will be difficult to re-establish the rapport after so many years, and from such a distance,” J’onn mused aloud. “There must be great need.”
“It’s Parallax.” Diana explained. “He’s returned.”
This time, something did flicker across the stoic features of the Martian, something like pain or regret. Wordlessly, he closed his eyes again, and Alan saw Diana and Arthur do the same.
Moments passed, and Alan watched as all three of the former JLAers seem to share an unspoken communion, initiated by the telepathic prowess of J’onn J’onzz from his home on Mars. Diana’s eyelids flickered, and a broad grim split the bearded face of the Sea King. After a few minutes, Diana opened her eyes and with a simple nod, ended the transmission to Mars. There were tears in her eyes when she turned to Alan.
“Your friends Jay, Ted and Hank are safe, and with Kal-El in New Krypton,” the tears rolled down her cheeks, and she could not restrain the smile Arthur was not bothering to hold back either.
“Is everything alright, your majesty?” Alan was confused.
“Please, it’s Diana.” she wiped at the tears. “And we have just found out that a dear friend we thought long-dead still lives. We are going to meet them all, in our original headquarters, the Secret Sanctuary in Happy Harbor.”
“What are we waiting for?” Arthur asked, in a hurry to depart.
Diana stood, and for the first time Alan saw none of the inherent sadness in her, only excitement and determination. He was, he realized, no longer looking at Queen Diana, but Wonder Woman. She said. “I’ll get the Jet.”
*******
It appeared in the skies over Manhattan, blotting out the sun and turning day into night. All activity in the city below came to a screeching halt, as eight million souls held their breath and gazed upward at the rough-hewn mountain of rock suspended above, poised to stab at the Earth.
The Rock of Eternity shimmered indistinctly, as if another version of itself had been superimposed over it, and it gave off a faint reverberation, which every onlooker felt thrumming in their very blood.
He came flying out from within the sky-borne colossus. People below strained to get a look at him, and there was a general sigh of relief when they recognized Captain Marvel. That is until he flew out over the harbor, and with one massive blow, knocked the head off the Statue of Liberty!
The bronze head of Lady Liberty sailed through the air and crashed down on Wall Street, scattering bystanders and smashing vehicles. Angry cries and panicked screams rose up, but above them, the World’s Mightiest Mortal only laughed. Hands on his hips, he called down to them in a voice amplified by the power of Zeus: “People of New York, I claim this city--- and the world!--- for my master, and you have been granted the singular honor of being the first to bow to the Rock of Eternity. Now, ON YOUR KNEES!”
His voice was as a thunderclap, shattering glass throughout the city, setting off car alarms and causing all who heard it to cower with their hands over their heads.
Hovering over them, his arms crossed over his chest, Captain Marvel glowered as the people of Manhattan slowly recovered, their ears ringing. To a person they raised their fists (and--- this being New York--- their fingers) to the sky and defied the stentorian demand.
The face of the World’s Mightiest Mortal darkened and he made a show of cracking his knuckles. “Ingrates! Submit to your betters!” He threw his arms wide and then brought them together again in a clap of seismic proportions. The shockwave expanded from him like the detonation of an atom bomb, causing the waters of the harbor to flood the streets, buildings to shake and topple and everything that was not bolted down in a five mile radius to be hurled backward. A huge expanse of the city was flattened at a blow.
But that was just the opening salvo. He hit the street like a torpedo cutting through water, tunneling below and emerging in a spray of rock and cement directly in the center of Times Square. Cars speeding to escape the chaos veered away from his abrupt appearance on the street, and crashed into each other or parked vehicles; a garbage truck could not avoid hitting him, but Cap only laughed as the metal crunched around his invulnerable body, the driver’s life saved only by a seatbelt and airbag. Reaching into the truck, Cap dragged out the dazed driver and tossed him aside without a thought--- then he lifted the truck two-handed and heaved it into the air, sending it hurtling into the Soder Cola jumbotron. The digital billboard exploded, showering the crowded plaza with sparks and debris.
Cap’s grin was broad and maniacal as all around him, people fled in terror. He leaped back into the air, heading straight for the United Nations Headquarters on the East River. By now, the National Guard had launched attack helicopters, and they swarmed after him like angry bees. He flew straight at the choppers, causing them to peel away from him to avoid collision. He toyed with the choppers, flying into the rotor-blades of one, causing them to shatter, the pilots ejecting as the aircraft smashed into the side of an office building. Gunfire erupted then from choppers on both sides of Black Shazam’s dark champion, which he shrugged off, the bullets ricocheting from his chest. Another mighty handclap sent them careening away, the pilots struggling just to keep the aircraft in the sky.
Cap turned back towards the U.N. flying down towards the long avenue of flags fluttering in the wind. He seized the flag of the U.N. and snapped off the pole, throwing it down in a symbolic gesture.
“This world now belongs to---.”
The hammerblow to his head sent him spinning and crashing to ground, hitting it with enough force to shake the island. The World’s Mightiest Mortal crawled from the impact crater his fall had created, still disoriented as his attacker touched down in front of him.
“I can see leaving you in charge of the JSA was a mistake,” growled a voice familiar to Cap. Hawkman pulled in his wings and hefted his mace in one hand; in the other was the discarded flagpole. “Consider yourself deposed. Now--- let me show you why I was in charge in the first place…!”