#11: To See Tomorrow, Pt. 3 (Walsh / Flinchum)

Athens, Greece

The sleek wing-shaped craft came to a halt over the squat, square building below. It hovered in place and a hatch slid open to reveal the Persuader, Atomic Axe in his grip, ready to pounce like the warrior he was born to be. The flight down had been even easier than he expected. The sensors registered not a single hit from orbiting satellite nor ground radar. The world was blind, and his perusal of the various human communications showed they were well aware of their infirmity. They reacted like the primitive apes they were: in panic, without direction and discipline. He chuckled as he leaped down to the roof with a heavy thud.

He swung the ornate halberd down, glittering keen edge of the blade biting through the thick concrete like softened cheese, that yielded before his demanding entrance. Again he dropped down to the floor below, and took a moment to get his bearings. His goal was around, and close. The intelligence provided by the wingmen already on Earth had been confirmed, at least twice. They might be only Thanagarians, but they were well-trained, and so the Persuader began his steady pace through the darkened War Museum of Athens, unblinking eyes scouring the scene.

He finally came to a stop before a far wall. He stared up at the disc of metal, shimmering faintly in the golden glow of a nearby safety light. Etched in the disc were the symbols of the gods, silver and beautiful. Persuader allowed himself a tight smile as he looked up on Aegis and prepared to reach for it.

“Notsofast!”

Barry Allen appeared from nowhere, standing where the Okaaran had been standing, desperately trying to keep from staggering back, and his hand rubbing the bruised shoulder. He stared at the toppled alien, the two-handed ax skittering over the tiled floor. The Persuader stared back in anger at the gangly man in scarlet, who’d dared to attack him. There was no sign of skill, of training, in the way this interloper stood, but he’d come out of nowhere and that made Persuader cautious of him.

“Museum hours are clearly posted on the front door,” Elongated Man added as he stretched into view, arms lashing out, with one wrapped around the Okaaran’s broad chest, the second trying to twist up and tie the right arm in place. “Though taking a gander at you, maybe we can forgive you, since I don’t think you speak the language.”

Persuader said nothing, and instead jerked his left arm up and out, the hand commandingly pointing at the Atomic Axe. It immediately responded, and thick fingers wrapped around the haft. “Rubber man. Resistance to physical damage, I would guess.” The Persuader spoke in an accented English, struggling to pronounce the words as he stared hard into Ralph’s eyes. “Release me now.” The butt of the haft suddenly plunged into Ralph’s eye, and the elastic detective recoiled from instinct, eyes clamped tight as the weapon bounced against the rubbery nature of his body, but the warrior had achieved his desire.

“You speak English? Are you alien?” Flash asked as he charged toward the Persuader again. Despite being prepared, Persuader was unable to counter for Barry’s unbelievable speed and staggered back a step from the attack.

“How can you learn to defeat your enemy, until you can think like your enemy,” the warrior instructed, no malice or taunts. It was as if he were teaching the Flash, who raced past and then pivoted to hurtle back. “Speedster,” he barely got out before Flash was circling him, landing blow after blow before he could blink an eye. His powerful body absorbed the blows at first, but the cumulative effect was showing. “Cut off the energy source.” With a skillful arc of the halberd, Persuader brought the weapon down through the blur but the full force of the attack was blunted when Wonder Woman arrived on the scene. She had come up from the side, and a powerful kick staggered the Okaaran.

Barry cried out as he skipped across the floor, clutching his legs, though there was no injury to be seen. Ralph stretched immediately over to check on his partner as Diana engaged Persuader in an exchange of blows.

“Feel so slow,” Barry said, shaking and pale, his eyes wide with shock. “What did he do?”

“Wonder Woman! Flash is down, but I see nothing!” Ralph shouted back as he tried to entangle the warrior’s legs with an elongated arm. Persuader was ready this time, and easily leaped over the clumsy attack while bringing the halberd overhead toward Diana. Diana sidestepped and brought her arm toward him in a powerful chop, only to find it blocked by the haft.

“I cut him off from his speed,” Persuader said. “The Atomic Axe can slice through anything. Do not make me prove the truth of this.” He held back the fact that thanks to Wonder Woman’s initial assault, the ax had merely ‘wounded’ this connection, and instead focused on trying to get through the Amazon’s defenses.

Wonder Woman took the threat in stride, her eyes locked onto the Persuader’s own gaze, her moves blocking each attempted swing and thrust, while her own attempts to lunge with a kick or a punch were ably diverted by the warlord. “I will not allow you to take Aegis,” she declared as she and the Persuader paced around each other.

“How did you know to come here?” he asked as he feinted and she blocked the follow-up from the butt of the halberd again.

“Your choice,” Diana said with a smug, taut grin. “Divine inspiration. Women’s intuition. But I know the value of that artifact, and that it’s listed on the Copper Scrolls. So I took a chance.”

“You are a worthy opponent, but I have no time to continue our duel.” He lashed out at her, but she leaped backward nimbly, her feet touching down, muscles tensed and ready to propel her at the warrior, but he’d struck his actual target. The column behind her toppled forward and crashed into her back, sending her to the ground in a pile of broken masonry. “I must end this now,” he said, sounding almost disappointed as he heaved the two-handed ax high into the air.

Ralph however, stretched into place, his body flexible and concave, wrapping around the Persuader’s face and stopping his attack as he lashed out with fists to batter at the warlord’s torso and back. Wonder Woman pulled herself out from under the wreckage as the Persuader swept the Atomic Axe down and caught Ralph’s side, drawing blood and making the elastic detective snap back away from him.

“Now then,” Persuader repeated as he quickly swung the ax at Wonder Woman like a baseball bat, slicing the very atmosphere that would slow the weapon down. Diana was barely into position, and reacted out of raw instinct, crossing her wrists so that her bracelets would catch the blow. The weapon moved nearly faster than she could follow, and she was unable to realize her mistake in the fraction of a second the blade needed to slice through the metal.

But even wounded, Flash had plenty of time in that fraction of a second. With every remaining ounce of speed and energy, he launched himself at Diana, his aching legs straining against the odds, his eyes watching in slow motion as the exquisite blade started its cut.

“Arrgh!” Barry cried out as he crashed into Wonder Woman, wrenching the shoulder he’d hurt from earlier. Diana was smaller in height and weight, but she was still a tall woman, with a chiseled physique that was the envy of the world. Barry felt himself strike the brick wall that was Diana and her resolve to stand against her enemies, but he continued to push, and the weapon completed its arc without striking its target.

“Flash!” Wonder Woman cried out furiously as she shook him off and quickly reclaimed her bearing, a dozen feet from the Persuader. She lifted her arms up, and prepared to attack, glaring at Flash before she caught sight of her bracelets, and the single neat slice left in each one.

“Sorry, Diana,” Flash grunted as he collapsed and gasped for breath, his shoulder on fire.

“It’s okay,” she muttered softly as the realization sank in of what had nearly happened. She glanced at the alien who was slicing at the air around him.

“Keep your toy. My master will need to live without it,” Persuader said as he started to float back up to the ceiling, having carved himself free of gravity momentarily. He handily broke through the wall, as Diana raced over toward him, and leaped up to the rooftop. “Tend to your wounded. We will meet again, you can be sure of that.”

She watched, considering his words, and knowing the crises that were spread throughout the globe. She watched him float up to his ship and then it streaked off, as Ralph and Barry joined her on the roof.

“So...we win?” Ralph asked.

The Hall of Justice

“So what’s the plan, Ray?” Blue Jay asked as he looked over the equipment in the Hall’s central laboratory. “The Construct’s a very, very bad customer. And if he’s really loaded himself into your world’s Internet, flushing him out is going to be very, very difficult.”

“Not to worry,” Ray Palmer, the Atom, answered as he pulled out a small case and put it on the table between them. “I’ve been experimenting with this. Virtual Realizers, I call them. With them, I...well, we...we can go into cyberspace. We slap these on, shrink down to subatomic size, and the inputs will enable us to see all the digital information as actual constructs.”

“Wow. That’s brilliant. We’ll see the Internet like an actual world?” Jay sounded awed by the concept and hunched over to help. “Brilliant. But I don’t shrink that small.”

“Only because of your method of shrinking,” Ray said. “I’ll finish up these prototypes; you go over to that station and use the schematics you’ll find to use my reduction field to enhance your own power. Your body should take to it okay, since it’s already used to shrinking.”

“Sounds feasible,” Jay said as he headed over and started working. “This is going to be really something. It’s a shame we have to do this to fight some megalomaniac.” His voice dropped off, getting thick with emotion as he added, “Ellie would have loved the idea of traveling in cyberspace.”

“Ellie?” Ray spared his partner a glance before returning to the visualizers.

“Yeah. My wife. Elise MacAvoy Abrams.” He hunched closer to the materials and the bench to hide the look of pain on his face. “My Hummingbird. That was her hero name. Hummingbird. She had real wings, that I’d managed to graft to her body. Her physique could adapt so much better to all this. I couldn’t do it to myself. I just wear a flight suit.”

“She sounds like a real daredevil,” Ray said with a smile.

“She was. She was the real heroine. I just tagged along. She...she stayed on Earth when the four of us went out into space.” He stopped and started to shake. “She was on Earth when...when...”

Ray stopped and walked around to Blue Jay, putting a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. “I can’t imagine. I really can’t. That must be horrible. I don’t know if I could ever face something like that.”

Jay turned around in his chair and looked at Ray. “Do you have someone?”

“I like to think so. Jean’s her name. We’ve been dating for about two years now.” Ray looked off wistfully as he thought of her. “But I’ve kept freezing at the idea of going further. Especially after I started the Atom stuff.”

“Don’t wait.”

“But...look at you,” Ray countered.

“I wouldn’t trade this pain if it meant I lost a minute of my time with Ellie,” Jay said as he stared into Ray’s face. “Don’t you trade one minute of your time with Jean for that mask, Ray. Believe me. If I do something right in this dumb costume, then let it be this.” He paused and coughed and shifted uncomfortably before returning to his work. “Come on. We’ve gotta get this stuff finished and kick Construct’s electronic behind off your world.”

“Right. For Ellie,” Ray said and headed back to his own work.

“For Jean,” Jay added.

Elsewhere

Batman stared up at the monitor screen as Kid Eternity reported in, a smaller screen holding the image of a pacing Captain Speed, having worn a track into the floor of the Hall of Justice meeting chamber. He nodded as he heard the facts being reported.

“I think your team’s on the right track,” Batman answered at last. “It does all seem to fit. To a point. Do you think you’ll need back-up when you go after the rogue Wingmen?”

“Maybe. It’s just two guys who fly right?” Kit asked. “That’s all we’ve had reported in the robberies?”

“That’s what the Hawks have said. But they’re trained Thanagarian soldiers, and likely with advanced weapons. In fact, we know that Atom’s fallen to one such device. You and this Silver Sorceress seem very capable, but Miss Makes Strong Move is just a civilian. I can send Captain Speed to help.”

“Yeah, if you like. Sounds good. He and the Sorceress seem to be connected somehow anyway, so it can’t hurt. I’ll let you know if anything new crops up. Kit out.”

Kid Eternity’s image faded from the screen and Batman turned to look at Captain Speed. “Silver Sorceress and Kid Eternity are going to want your help out at the Sanbourne Institute. Think you can--”

The speedster was gone in the blink of an eye, before Batman reached the world ‘think’. The Dark Knight leaned back in his seat and stroked his jaw, chuckling. “So that’s what it’s like.” He touched a couple of switches and the Atom’s lab appeared on his screen.

“How’s your assignment coming along, Atom?” he asked, steepling his fingers as he watched.

“Hey, Bats. Coming along. Visualizers are set, and we have Blue Jay’s shrinking amped up. We’re just about to go in. Sure you don’t want to come along?” Ray winked as he teased the detective, and then coughed and grew more serious when he saw the unmoving face staring back at him. “Right. Okay, let Wonder Woman know we’re going in. Wish us luck.”

“Good luck,” Batman replied in earnest as he watched the two men start to shrink from sight after donning dull gray goggles that covered their eyes and ears completely. He turned to the switches again and saw Wonder Woman’s face appear as their jet raced back across the Atlantic. He filled the Amazon in on the latest events and then listened to her tale.

“The ship was short range, had to be,” Ralph said. “Katar’s told me and Ray about them enough to know it was a short-range ship. Meaning that there must be a bigger ship in orbit. Which only makes sense considering...”

“The satellite is taken over. Yes. Makes sense.” Batman mused as he let his mind try to roll over all the events arrayed before the team.

“Batman, we’ve been having a terrible time with radio and computer connections that aren’t our own dedicated systems,” Wonder Woman said. “We haven’t got much longer before this Construct has all of the world’s electronics under control and we’re stuck in a very bad way.”

“Atom and Blue Jay have gone in, so we can only wait. We’ve lost all word on this Wandjina from the Ultimate Squadron, and from what I’ve been able to get in D.C., Superman and Mon-El have vanished into thin air. Literally it would seem.” Damned men of steel, Batman grumbled to himself.

“Okay. We’ll be at the Hall in about another hour. That’s long enough to wait, I say. When I land, we’ll see what’s happened with our teams,” Diana decided. “If things go well, we go after this Overmaster and his Cadre. You’ll meet us at the Hall?”

“I will.” He turned off the radio, stood up, and marched for his Bat-wing.

On cloud nine

“I had an older brother, Kal-El,” Mon-El explained after letting go of Superman and giving a quick wipe of his eyes. “He died of a plague caused by the radioactive element that was destroying Krypton.”

“You’re me,” Kal-El replied in a hushed voice. “Not precisely, but you’re meant to be Superman, for your Earth.”

“I guess. I arrived at my Earth after traveling for nearly two decades. When I arrived, the Overmaster had judged it and found it evil.” Mon-El looked around, using his x-ray vision to peer back down to the Earth below. “I wasn’t sure at first, but that’s what he does. He travels from Earth to Earth, judging them when the time has come, and if the residents of Earth are cruel, and evil, he expunges the offending life forms. Humanity usually. I guess.”

“That’s...abhorrent. You help in this?” Superman grew angry, closing his fists, but keeping his temper in check.

“I search out proof that the world deserves to live. That humanity is succeeding. It’s hard. It’s so very hard. This is really the first Earth I’ve had the chance to do this for. But Overmaster agreed to let me go ahead of him and find this proof. But I’m not doing very well.”

“Why don’t you stop him?” Kal said, letting his fists uncurl. He reached out to rest a hand on Mon’s shoulder.

“He’s so powerful. A god, and who am I to stand in the way of a god and his duties?” He looked back into Kal’s eyes, seeing the steely resolve the world had come to rely on.

“You’re the House of El. It’s not your fault. You’ve had no chance to know any better. But don’t worry.” Superman smiled now. “You’ve got a big brother again, and I’ll show you how you stop a mad murderous god.”

Mon-El smiled back and nodded. “What about the Justice League? Are you a part of that? They seemed...they seemed to be what I was looking for.”

“I think they are. I was sent a message by Batman before I came to confront you. They’re dealing with a lot. I’ll send them a message about confronting the Overmaster, and they can follow up. But if he’s as dangerous as you say he is, we’ve lost enough time. Can you lead us to him?”

“Just try to stop me!” Mon-El said as he took Superman’s hand into his own, shaking firmly. Then the pair hurtled across the globe, a great weight off Mon-El’s shoulders.

The Pacific Ring of Fire

Superman followed Mon-El, both Kryptonians tearing through the atmosphere with all the speed they could dare muster. Superman noticed that Mon-El seemed to gain a newfound sense of purpose as they flew, but they remained silent. Kal-El wasn’t sure how to deal with the idea of a brother, but he also realized very quickly that it wasn’t an upsetting notion at all.

They saw the Overmaster up ahead. The brilliant, coruscating globe of raw energy, arcs of electricity cascading from it, crashing into the seas and making the water roil and steam. Before the great power was Nightfall, standing on her disc of darkness, hands behind her back as the two men slashed a wake through the ocean surface with their speed.

They came to a halt before the Overmaster, Nightfall between them. It was then they noticed the object orbiting the massive sphere of power. It was Wandjina, suffused with power, his body crackling and pitted as he screamed in rage and pain, helpless to escape. Broad arcs of electricity arced out from Overmaster and into Wandjina, each time making the skies rumble and turn pitch black. And each time, dark blue lightning was drawn from the skies, through the bound Storm Lord and deep into the sea with a hissing and a cloud of steam.

“Greetings, Mon-El. Welcome back. You’ve found the proof our master needs?” Nightfall asked with a sweet, seductive smile, appraising the Man of Steel for a few moments.

“Yes. Yes I have. This world, this Earth...it’s got some problems, but it’s a good Earth. Good people live on it, people who would put their lives on the line to save humanity. There is good here!” Mon-El insisted, calling out to Overmaster and ignoring Nightfall. “Stop this! You don’t have to take this world! Leave it be!”

”This Earth you would save has already seen one of its kind turn to me to see it die. That speaks ill for your proof!” The words rocked the world around Overmaster, shaking even the Men of Steel.

“But that’s one man! The Justice League alone make up for that lack of faith in his fellows!” Mon-El insisted. “Can’t you see that?”

“I see only that you’ve let this...person here,” Nightfall pointed to Superman dismissively, “sway you against your family, who took you in and gave you a purpose. Don’t let that happen. Don’t make that mistake, Mon-El.” Her alabaster face framed the dark, hateful eyes that stared out at Mon-El.

“He’s my family. He’s my older brother, returned to me. We’re the House of El. And we will not let you destroy this Earth!” Mon-El moved closer to Nightfall, his chest puffing out, fists closed. He turned to look back at the Overmaster. “You don’t have to do this!”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk,” Nightfall clucked her tongue as she shook her head. “Mon-El, foolish boy. We do have to do this. And you can’t stop us. We know your weakness. We’ve always known it.”

“Weakness?” Mon-El furrowed his brow as he looked back to Nightfall.

“Kryptonite,” Superman growled as he moved up to step between the two people.

“Oh no. No, on his Krypton, the element that was destroying the world was...” she snapped her fingers and Mon-El could feel the hundreds of nanites in his system cease. No longer could his incredible hearing detect their motions and signals that offered him the languages of the multiverse. “...lead.”

Suddenly, Mon-El clutched his throat and coughed. He started to shake and float backward, hugging himself now as the poisonous air was allowed past the protective nanites.

“I don’t look kindly on betrayal, Mon-El.”