#10: To See Tomorrow, Pt. 2 (Walsh / Flinchum)

Saudi Arabia

“Who the hell are these guys?” Elongated Man asked as he twisted his neck around a couple of times to take in the entire tableau.

“Whoever they are, they’ve got a serious mad on for Mon-El,” Flash replied as his body went tense and jittered with indecision, not sure which way to head.

Mon-el turned to look at the new arrivals also, as Wonder Woman stepped to the side so she could appraise the sudden appearance. The man with the axe, the one calling himself Wandjina, stepped apart from his allies, lightning dancing over the flat of the double-headed weapon, his face contorted with a fury that matched the ugly black storm clouds above.

“I have no idea what you think I’ve done, but I’m sure we can talk it out if you just calm down and put down the ax,” Mon-El said as he faced off with the self-proclaimed storm lord.

“There shall be no pleas for mercy, world-killer!” Wandjina declared and he hurled the ax at his enemy, the weapon spinning with tremendous speeds, arcs of electricity coruscating outward in its wake.

“Step back,” Mon-El said protectively to Wonder Woman and moved in front of her, making sure the weapon struck true. “I’m invulnerable, I’ve got this.”

Even more like Kal-El, she mused as she watched the powerful weapon blast into Mon-El with a thunderous roar. The air shook from the shock, and the red-clad man found himself hurled backward, smashing into a nearby car that brought him to a halt. Almost too much like Kal, she gave a rueful chuckle when she saw Mon-El pull himself from the twisted metal.

“By Rao, what was that? Nothing can hurt me,” Mon-El exclaimed, wincing from the sudden pain in his chest, a bruise forming where his skin could be seen through the torn tunic.

“Magic, I wager,” Diana said as she drew out her lasso. “You, Wandjina, stand down and explain yourself, or answer to the Justice League!”

“If your League defends this monster, then I spit on your ‘justice’, woman!” Wandjina declared as the spinning weapon returned to his hand, and he brought it down so the handle crashed into the ground, drawing several bolts of lighting from the darkened skies to shatter the streets. “Ultimates Unite!” he then roared as he watched the ground strike knock many of the League off their feet and hurled himself through the air toward Mon-El.

Flash was the first to pull himself to his feet and raced over the torn street toward the other three figures. “Ultimates? What kind of name is that?” he mused, mostly to himself as he knew by now none of the others would understand his high-pitched whine.

“Ultimate Squadron of America,” came the response, from the man in blue with white lightning adorning his costume. The scarlet speedster was surprised to get an answer, giving his blue-clad counterpart an edge. “Captain Speed’s the name, Fastest Man in the World. Pleased to meet another runner!” His fists connected several times with the Flash’s face as he took advantage of Barry’s surprise.

“Flash,” Barry introduced himself as he recovered from his surprise. “Let’s see about this ‘Fastest Man’ thing.” With a sudden rush of wind, the two men were racing. But it was no contest, and soon, Captain Speed found himself alone. Now it was his turn to be startled, as he was left far behind in Flash’s wake, and far from the combat with his teammates.

Suddenly, from behind, Flash was back, and tapped Captain Speed on the shoulder, tossing him a flower. “Tulip, fresh from Holland.” Speed’s hands instinctively reached up to catch the object as Flash returned the earlier favor, and landed a series of hyper-fast punches that sent Captain Speed down to the ground in a heap. “Fastest Man wherever you come from, maybe,” Barry added as he slung the man over his shoulder and sped back to the battle.

Wandjina had reached Mon-El and swung with his ax, catching the young man in the side of the head with the flat of his blade. Mon-El flew back from his attacker, tearing through a building before coming to a hard stop. He quickly tore through the debris and smashed back into Wandjina, driving his powerful body into the storm lord’s midsection and the two men ripped into a different building now, bringing it down on them in a crash of stone and dust. Soon, Mon-El was again flying, straight upwards, not by his own power, but from a mighty uppercut. Wandjina flew up to pursue him and continue his assault, but felt himself being jerked away by another force, one that brought him back into the street with a jarring crash.

“What?” he growled as he brought himself to his feet, and found a golden rope had ensnared his left arm. He followed the rope back to Wonder Woman, who had pulled him from the skies and now used her own might to pull him toward her.

“I said stop!” Diana declared in a voice that would brook no dissension. With a powerful tug of her shoulders, the muscled Wandjina found himself hurtling toward her, where a powerful punch sent him spinning off in a different direction, tearing through the streets, stopped by a fire hydrant that began to spray water into the air.

Elongated Man had stretched up from where he’d been felled, and covered the Saudi soldiers as brick and mortar flew from the battle, and lightning continued to strike the ground from time to time. “C’mon, guys, let’s get you to safety,” he suggested to them as he formed a bubble over them, his stretched out, flattened face frightening them further. “Hmm...don’t speak the lingo.” He stretched out his arms and hands into a makeshift tunnel, pointed toward the palace entrance. “Go!” he shouted loudly, relying on instinct to take over. The soldiers took the hint and bolted as Ralph felt several objects hit his back and bounce off.

The winged man in dark blue with a white mask flew toward the League when Wandjina had given their battle cry, headed for the stretching man and the youngster with the red sash, when a smaller man leaped forward and tackled him, bearing them both to the ground.

“Sweet!” he said as he lashed out with a punch to the Atom’s jaw. “That’s not a Particle Alteration Interface is it?”

Atom felt the hard blow to his jaw as the strange winged man began to fly them into the air, no doubt his favored combat arena. Instead, the mighty mite brought his knee up into the stranger’s stomach, making him lose his grip and his breath. “Nope, Dwarf Matter Compacting Field.” He spun himself as he fell back to the ground, bouncing off an exposed length of beam to get some distance from the fight.

“That’s sweet! I couldn’t get the numbers to work for me,” the winged man replied as he recovered and swept down from the skies in a power dive. “How did you counter for the delimiting effect of quantum interaction?”

Atom dove to the side at the last moment, but found that his opponent was as fast in reflexes as he, for he pulled back into the air with incredible agility.

“Who are you?” Atom asked instead of answering.

“Blue Jay. Who are you?” The winged man came for a landing and put his hand out.

“Atom. Pleasure to meet you?” he answered, cautiously shaking hands with the bird-man.

“Always a pleasure to meet a fellow physicist.” Blue Jay cracked a big grin. “So? How?”

“Oh right. The delimiting equation. Well...I don’t mean to be rude, but shouldn’t we still be fighting?”

“Do you think we should be fighting?” He winced as the pair watched Wonder Woman hurtle past them, driven into a far wall by Wandjina’s ax. “Well, okay. Point proven. I don’t think we should be fighting, I think we should be telling you why that Mon-El guy has to go down, so you’ll work with us. But when Wandjina calls the battle-cry, it’s hard to resist.”

“Well try, okay? Come on, let’s see what we can do to stop this.” Atom looked around with dismay at the carnage.

Mon-El had never been struck by magic before, and this Wandjina was hurting him badly. He could feel blood from his cut lip, and for the first time in his short life, he was breathing heavy from exertion. Not that he was ready to give up the battle, not in the slightest. With a narrowing of his eyes, beams of pure heat lanced out at the storm lord.

Wandjina cried out in pain and spun around, the ax returning from its assault on Wonder Woman. With fluid grace belying his size, the warrior spun the ax before him and caught the fiery attack, the weapon glowing slightly as it struggled to contain it. “Feeling yourself weaken, murderer? Feeling the cold shiver of your judgment weighing heavily upon you, that you need to resort to such tricks?” He started a slow, deliberate march toward Mon-El, the ax between him and the potent beams of heat, glowing brighter and brighter.

The woman in silver had begun to gesture when Wandjina called the start of the battle, and flung out ruby red bolts of energy at Flash, Ralph Dibny and Kid Eternity. It was to no avail as the ruby balls of energy, designed to immobilize their targets, struck merely empty ground where Flash once stood; flew helplessly past the artfully-stretched Elongated Man; and just flew through the intangible Kid Eternity.

“Sorceress?” Kit asked as he flew toward the woman, who stood her ground as her skilled fingers danced in the air before her, trailing lines of silvery energy that quickly formed a pattern. Kid Eternity reached the disc-shaped pattern of energy and was shocked to find it stunning him and hurling him back. “Ooof! Well, that’s a yes, I’m guessing.”

“Silver Sorceress, ghost,” she stated as she immediately began to weave more patterns in the air. “And it is time to send you back to the Afterlife you belong in!”

“I’ve got seventy years of super-heroing first, lady,” Kid Eternity shot back as he lay where he landed. “Eternity!”

With a sudden flare of energy, a man in pristine white robes and long, pure white hair and beard, appeared between Kit and the Sorceress. He clutched a long white staff in his hand, topped in ornate decoration. He smiled wearily as he watched the woman cast her spell, and just as she completed the last gesture, reached out with his staff and knocked the energy away, dispelling it with ease.

“Go, Gandalf, go,” Kit grinned as he stood back up. “Just stop her from making the fight worse though, okay? Mister Keeper thinks there’s a lot more to this than meets the eye.”

“Of course, Master Kit,” the wizard answered as he lashed out to counter another spell from the Sorceress, who stared in shock at the situation.

“Call up whatever foul servants you want, ghost,” the Silver Sorceress declared as she took stock of her opponents. “It won’t do you any good!”

“Um, Sorceress?” Blue Jay said as he flew by his teammate. “I don’t think we’re fighting the right people. I think we’re all making a big, big mistake.”

“I agree with Blue Jay,” Atom said as he appeared near Kit.

“Mister Keeper agrees with you,” Kit answered with a nod. “I’m just keeping myself from the big hereafter until we can sort it all out.”

A loud explosion caused all heads to turn in the same direction. Wandjina was pulling himself out of the ground, his weapon glowing bright red as he staggered back into the fight. Mon-El was stepping forward now, face set in grim determination to finish the battle when Wonder Woman landed next to him and put an arm over his chest.

She knew that Wandjina was like all primal deities, uncontrolled when angered. She decided to gamble on Mon-El now, hoping that he continued to be like Superman. “No more! Not here, not now! Look at what you’re doing with this battle!”

Mon-El did pause, as she hoped and let his eyes scan the battle. His face turned pale, his eyes wide as Diana could tell by the way he looked that he was peering through solid matter. She shook her head in disbelief as Mon-El finished his review.

“Rao, this was not my intent.” He looked over at Wandjina, who picked his weapon back up and prepared to re-enter the battle, then to Diana. “I’m sorry. I’ll...this was not the intent.” With a blast of air, he hurtled up into the sky, vanishing from sight before anyone else could react.

Diana looked back at Wandjina and started to walk toward him now. He glared up at the sky, ignoring all else until she stood face-to-face with him.

“Wandjina, explain yourself!” Diana demanded, hands on her hips, eyes staring hard at the powerful man.

He looked back into her eyes, the unbridled fury that had started the fight having waned now. “I do not explain myself to anyone. I will brook your effrontery because I can sense the blood of gods in you, but I will not answer to you like an unruly child. I have my mission, and I will see it done. Ultimate Squadron, we depart, to make our plans and seek our foe without this interference!” He cracked his ax into the ground, bolts of lightning arcing out to strike Blue Jay, Captain Speed and Silver Sorceress, leaving behind only smoking concrete and masonry where the four had just been standing.

“Do we have anything to show for all that?” Ralph asked as he joined the rest of the League. The various members gathered in the center of the ruined square as Ralph rubbed the back of his head. “Anything?”

Over the Pacific Ocean

The sun had set nearly an hour ago over the vast blue waters of the Pacific, the crackling vortex of energy still hovering over the spot where it had first materialized. Crackling lines of orange-red power danced over swirling vortices of blue and indigo, casting weird and exotic shadows and reflections on the waves below. Shadows coalesced from the darkness of the night, and from them emerged the woman Nightfall, and her new recruit, standing on a disc of darkness. For the first time since they’d met, the elderly man showed fear, trembling in the face of this massive ball of furious energy.

“Overmaster,” Nightfall said in a delicate, almost loving voice, her face staring up into the mass of crashing forces. As she stood there, Kim Luk couldn’t help but notice that she cast no shadow of her own from this powerful source of light, that she seemed to drink up what it threw out at them. “I have returned with a recruit. He who would be your strong right hand.” She held a hand out toward Kim Luk ceremoniously, and stepped back.

“You would enter my service and see retribution on this world of yours?” The voice was immense, washing over the thin, shivering man as it thundered across the seas.

<“No world of mine!”> Kim Luk defiantly shouted back despite his fears. <“I turned my back on it as it turned its back on me!”>

“Then I take you into my service, and dub you my Shattering Fist. Know that by accepting the power, you have doomed this Earth!”

Kim Luk felt energy shower his body, filling him with youth, vitality, strength he’d never known. Burnished bronze mesh formed into a dobok, a Korean martial artist’s uniform, wrapping around Kim Luk with tremendous speed. Metal cuffs wrapped around his wrists and shins, as he cried out in shock and pain near the end of the process, finally leaving him staggered, on his hands and knees gasping for breath.

Nightfall reached down with a hand and helped the rejuvenated Korean rise to his feet. He flexed his fingers, and looked at the sleek new musculature, smiling in wicked glee as he stretched the body, adjusting to its new dimensions. “What now, Overmaster?”

“Now you stay and wait. The enemy is coming to us, and you will strike him down for me.”

At the Pacific...

...Wandjina streaked over the waters with a forceful purpose. His mind raced over the discovery he’d made after using the ax to dimensionally shift his fellow Squadron members away earlier. He had felt the strains on reality from the Overmaster’s arrival, a dimensional intrusion that he could sense, he could track, and so he did. His teammates wanted to meet with this ‘Justice League’ and talk, but Wandjina was on a divine mission, and the time for talk long past. His Earth was dead, and he was going to avenge it. The space demon Mon-El could wait until his lord was dispatched first, and he growled as he continued to speed on his way.

Ahead, he could see the crackling nexus of power that signaled his true foe, and he poured on the speed as a result. His eyes locked on his target, staring straight into that morass of color and energy, ignoring all other distractions.

Thus it was that he was caught off-guard by Overmaster’s two protectors. With a sudden curtain of darkness shrouding him, Wandjina found himself unwillingly changing when struck by a sudden blow.

“Who dares?” he demanded to know as he drew lightning down from the heavens to drive the curtain of darkness from his body, and stared down at the two figures below. “Who dares defy Wandjina Storm-Lord?”

“We dare, obsolete god from a dead world,” Nightfall answered back as she directed the shadow platforms beneath their feet, moving Shatterfist to the opposite side of Wandjina. “You will not interfere with the Overmaster. But you will be a big, big help.” She lashed out with tendrils of unadulterated darkness, striking him and wrapping his limbs, trying to hold him in place.

Shatterfist leaped into action, the Korean driving a potent kick into the storm lord’s midsection. He leaped from tendril to tendril, landing blow after telling blow on Wandjina, each kick and each punch followed by a terrifying crack.

“Enough!” Wandjina demanded as he tore free of the tendrils and spun on Shatterfist, bringing the ax down to cleave his enemy. He was enraged beyond reason now, and the blow would have ripped most opponents in half, but the bracers Shatterfist wore managed to deflect the worst of the blow to the side. The martial artist was sent tumbling into the oceans below however, as the warrior turned to face Nightfall.

“Oh no, no you’re not using that toy on me,” Nightfall insisted mischievously as a half-dozen columns of darkness leaped out from all around Wandjina, smashing into him again and again, as she sent more shrouds of night to hide his eyes.

“Your tricks are as useless against my fury as your partner’s blows,” Wandjina sneered angrily as he drew down more bolts of lightning to tear at the darkling assault.

“True. But with all your fury and power on us, and out here all alone, who’s watching your exposed back?” Nightfall chuckled contemptuously as an arc of energy lashed out from the nexus. It struck Wandjina in the center of the back, staggering him as Nightfall and Shatterfist resumed their own assaults, and her darkness was the last thing he saw.

Back at the Hall of Justice

After Kid Eternity had departed with the Silver Sorceress to pursue the missing relics, the rest of the team took stock of the remaining situation, and their forces.

“Wonder Woman,” Batman’s voice filtered in through his station at the conference table, his face appearing on the video-screen as it did. He looked concerned, even for the normally-serious masked man, and he had his fingers laced in front of his face, a position that spoke loudly to the members of the League: something had the Bat worried. “I’ve gotten as far as I can on the money trail with Mrs. Dibny, but I’m effectively frozen at this point. We are positive that whatever is going on, is completely separate from your current situation. But the internet situation has become too difficult to overcome...or ignore. This is a deliberate takeover. I’m positive.”

“Damn,” Blue Jay murmured from where he sat on Captain Speed’s shoulder. The two heroes looked at each other with great concern, nodding in silent agreement.

“Understood, Batman. I think we might have a lead in that direction,” Diana replied as the League looked at the two Squadron members. “Mon-El works for a being known as the Overmaster, a vastly powerful being that judges Earths and destroys them if they’re found...lacking.” She paused to allow Batman an angry grunt, before continuing. “According to Blue Jay and his Ultimate Squadron, they were off-world on their Earth when he struck, and when they returned, they found it lifeless. They’ve been pursuing him across realities ever since.”

“I see,” Batman muttered and gave the slightest of nods. “What’s the League’s next step?”

“Your computer crisis definitely has the hallmarks of one of our foes, Batman,” Blue Jay interjected, flying over to hover next to Atom at his station. “The Construct.” Jay looked upset, very upset and ran a hand through his hair as he pulled his mask away. “My attempt at making a controlled artificial intelligence, to try and help facilitate computer development, network efficiency. It...it was too good. Broke free of its programming restraints and decided that the most efficient way to develop computers and...what you call the internet here...is for the computers to take over, with him in control. He must...he must have somehow made contact with the Overmaster and joined forces with him to find an Earth where he could do just that.”

“It’s okay, Jay,” Atom said as he placed a reassuring hand on the bird-man’s shoulder. “These things happen. You own up to it, you fight it. You have nothing to prove.”

Batman grunted again after Atom spoke. “Sounds like a job for Atom and this Blue Jay, Wonder Woman.”

“Hawkgirl, I’m sending out a request for reserves to go up to the satellite and investigate what’s happened,” Diana said as she tapped several buttons. “I want you to meet them at these coordinates, and lead them up to the satellite. If it’s been captured, take it back.”

“Me?” Kendra looked back at Diana in surprise, then gave a grim smile and nodded. “Right. I’m on it.” She turned and headed out on her assignment.

“I agree with Batman, you two have to go and investigate, see if this Construct is active in our networks,” Diana continued as she looked at Atom and Blue Jay. “Call for back-up if necessary, soon as you can.”

“We’re on it! C’mon, Jay, this will give us a chance to test out my new prototype,” Atom said as he shrunk a bit more, to fit on the foot-tall bird-man’s shoulder. “Head for the labs!” Blue Jay lifted into the air and sped down the hall.

“Ralph, you and Flash are coming with me,” Wonder Woman said as she folded her arms over her chest. “I have a suspicion about what’s next to be stolen by these Thanagarians.”

“What suspicion?” Batman asked, leaning forward with a cocked brow.

“Purely instinct, Batman. But it’s a good instinct. You might call it divine inspiration even. Meanwhile, Captain Speed, you remain here please. And Batman, you remain in communications as well. Act as back-up for any of the teams, and continue to figure out all you can about Overmaster’s nature, and those of his agents. We have no idea how much time we have to stop him.”

She led her two companions from the conference room, leaving Captain Speed to pace alone in the large chamber, haunted by the visage of the Bat. “Tell me everything you can again about your Earth, Speed.”