DC2 Nemesis: Chapter Six

The ink... if that’s what you could call it… burns on my skin. They tattooed me with… God knows what… and now… and now… it’s dark. And sometimes I can’t think as well as I think I should think because I think I've been down here for too long. The ink burns my skin. But I know it’s not ink. It’s their blood. And I can feel their acts bleed into me as they are committed.

Opal City:

Dick Grayson ran like he never ran before. The cape was retracted into the cowl by the fifth rooftop. It was pulling him back. It made him a target. The city surged beneath him, alive with the evil exposed by the light of the Black Sun. The citizens of Opal City were corrupted, and they wanted Batman’s blood. He wouldn’t give it freely. They’d have to fight for it. Dick grunted as he realized what made things worse. Manhunter was on his tail. And that made the Batman scared: the hunter becoming the hunted.

The Hall of Justice:

Max Mercury, Jay Garrick, and Jessie and Johnny Quick had brought the bodies back to the catacombs beneath the Hall of Justice, where Aquaman was organizing the last stand of super-humanity on behalf of the Planet Earth. The bodies of the men and women who had gathered above the ruined city of Metropolis, demolished in the massive explosion that was triggered by Superman’s death. The Justice League had been destroyed by Nekron, far above the world, and who would stand in his way now?

“We are not defeated until the last Leaguer falls,” said Arthur, as he took a moment to stroke Diana’s hair. Wonder Woman was lying atop a medi-bed, her life signs weak, a mere spark of their former majesty. At Nekron’s touch, members of the Teen Titans, the Justice Society of America, the Outsiders, the Justice League, the Global Guardians and members of teams that the rest of the world had never heard of, had fallen. The Martian Manhunter was maintaining their care all at once, his body morphing and shifting to keep aware of the readouts on the monitors-- But his expressions were dark, their life forces had been sapped till a mere ebb remained, and as a result, the metahuman community was nearly completely depleted. “I… I refuse to be defeated.”

"I have lost my family. My friends." Scott Free was pacing the floor, thinking frantically, "I folded myself through the cracks forming in reality by his coming-- Nekron caused Exodus to simply cease to exist-- and now I'm here, the Boom Tube giving up the ghost as it did its job... my Mother Box sings a mournful song for the New Gods... but I have hope," he grabbed Aquaman, "I have hope that when we defeat Nekron-- when we escape from certain doom, Exodus shall shift back into existence. This being... this... Lord of the Unliving... can do horrifying things with the power at his finger tips... but he can be stopped! He was stopped before! And we are the defenders of this world, of this universe! Dammit, we cannot fall!"

Aquaman smiled, and patted Mister Miracle on the shoulder. "We'll save your people, as they saved us all those years ago. We're here because of you and yours, Scott. The Justice League formed because of the New Gods. Now let's knuckle down. Let's save the world."

The House of Mystery:

“Hhhrr,” the Phantom Stranger clutched his head and nearly fell, only to be caught by Zatanna Zatara. “Nuhhh…”

“What’s wrong, Stranger? What happened?”

“I have attuned myself to the world, in an effort to predict what will befall us next… and the ley lines… the magical veins of the mystical world… they all just shifted. Wrenched from their moorings and… and… and redirected. Nekron is making his move, my friends, we must act fast…!”

Firestorm and Raven were standing in the center of a circle of mystics, magicians and warlocks. Raven was standing against Firestorm's arm,, shaken and woozy. The Phantom Stranger had informed them that they were humanity’s last hope. “How are you feeling, Raven?”

“Not well, I am afraid Firestorm,” she said weakly in reply, “I can hear the suffering of the world, even when we are so far from it, inside this House.”

“Keep your eye on her, Ronnie! She needs support through this, we cannot fail!”

“I don’t intend to, Professor,” Ronnie Raymond said in reply.

Raven smiled, and nodded at Firestorm.

The magicians began their chanting. Firestorm’s hand found Raven’s, and she squeezed it softly. “This must be done,” Raven whispered.



Supergirl pulled the white uniform over her body, the material clinging tight against her skin. “Black Zero… was the dark god of Krypton. The first evil. My mother told me stories about the religious eras of our people. I never dreamed…”

<This is something else entirely, Mistress Kara. Beyond the records kept by the Science Council of Krypton and the so-called ‘Chambers of Forbidden Knowledge’. Even in reference to the Black Zero entity [[internal records open]] this creature does not match any description recorded.> Kelex buzzed about the Fortress of Solitude, searching for a network he could access to evaluate the situation outside the walls of the Fortress, but was so far unsuccessful. <Communication systems are universally down, Mistress Kara. The Internet is disabled, telecom satellites, land lines, all manner of communications… all down.>

“…The uniform is designed to function in a Red Sun environment. Life support systems are woven into the fabrics; the fabrics themselves are of my own devising, capable of withstanding the pressures and pull of a black hole…”

Supergirl looked over to the holographic theta-projection of her cousin, Kal-El. “He thought of everything. Of everyone. Everyone but himself.” She pulled the cowl over her face. “Wove a costume for me and a costume for him. He didn’t get to his in time…”

<Master Kal-El cared for you deeply. Your safety was paramount to him.>

“So it’s time I repaid the favor.” She flexed her hand, watching the costume move with her. “We need to get to Smallville. And then we need to stop the thing that's climbing out the Sun. It will not reach Earth.”

[/size]

Metropolis:

The city was a wasteland. Buildings were leaning precariously against each other, the once lush and beautiful grass that made up Centennial Park was charcoal black, and the Daily Planet building was a husk. Captain Marvel descended slowly. A thick fog of misery and despair, part and parcel of Nekron's psychic malevolence had found it's resting place here, and right now it was a place of great sorrow. This was where Superman had died. He landed softly, and then looked up. It was so close now. Nekron would soon reach Earth and begin the process that would destroy all of humanity. What could he do?

"Hhhhrr... Billy... hhhfff... Billy... Billy..." Marvel turned to the voice, ragged and worn, and then his eyes opened wide. "Did... you... forget... about me?!"

Black Adam launched himself at Captain Marvel, and sent them both colliding through the ruined buildings of Metropolis. "Teth! Stop this!"

"I can't deny... my nature!!" He drew back a fist, and slammed it into Marvel's jaw, causing him to cry out in pain. "I'm stronger than you. And I'm going to kill you. Right here."

The Black Marvel threw another punch, but the Red Marvel caught it. "Wrong." Cap swung his fist upwards into Adam's jaw, and the former champion of the Wizard flew up into the air, before moving off and flying under his own steam. "You need to focus on my voice, Teth! You need to listen! Nekron's influence has reached into your mind and--"

Black Adam collided with Captain Marvel, and they crashedinto the sewer system. "You always thought you were better than me. Always thought you were right. No. I'll show the world I was always better than you. I'll show the entire universe. What does your wisdom tell you now, Billy?"

Captain Marvel spat blood, mixing with the muck and grime that floated around them. "That you need to think about your wife."

Black Adam's eyes opened wide. "A-Adrianna?"

[/b]

Captain Marvel's blow sent Black Adam soaring so high into the sky that he vanished from sight within seconds. Billy took the moment to breathe, to collect himself before Black Adam renewed his onslaught... his Wisdom told him the Mighty Adam's weakness, and while he hated to use that against the man who was once his most loathed enemy, it was necessary. He picked his way up through the wreckage , and then surveyed Metropolis. It was a ruin. There was no denying that. He'd heard Aquaman's telepathic call for help, and he expected there to be more than this... Superman had fallen... he had heard the psychic call from Aquaman... but where was the Justice League?

"...Captain? Captain Marvel!"

Billy ignored his name, and instead launched into the sky after Black Adam, and screamed as he was about to impact with the returning Dark Marvel-- "SHAZAM!" Lightning erupted downwards, and Billy rolled under Teth before it connect, and he dodged the transformative power of the Wizard's name-- Teth was rendered human, and Captain Marvel flicked him in the back of the skull, rendering him unconscious.

"You'll hate me for this. For using that against you. Our word. But you left me with no choice-- you weren't yourself. I am sorry." Captain Marvel descended to Earth, and then turned to the voice that uttered his name mere moments before.



Above me... chaos. I can hear it, the clash of flesh on flesh, violence and violence and violence and... I don't know what to do. I'm barely alive. I'm barely alive, and my soul screams for salvation... I need to focus through the insanity that has been inflicted up on me... I need to fight through it... but I'm trapped... no. No, I refuse, I refuse to fall--

"Save me."

[/b]

Batman's muscles screamed. His flesh cried out as he pushed his body harder than he had ever done before. He could hear the chants down below, men and women chasing him through the streets while he ran the rooftops... Nekron, Nekron, Nekron... but he refused to falter. If he gave in, who would save the world? The Justice League would keep the physical threat of the creature, but he would have to find the psychological edge... and that edge had something to do with Ray Terrill.

THHKK! His arm suddenly went red, and he followed the pain to the source-- a silver dart?! Jutting out of his forearm, straight through, was a silver dart. Batman cringed, and then turned to where the bolt was fired from. "...When will this stop...?!"

"There is no escape." The Dart's-- one of Green Arrow's, remembered Dick-- voice joined the echo that was the crowd below, a wicked grin on his face. What was this creepshow doing in Opal City?

Answers on a postcard, thought Batman. He didn't ignore the pain-- he yanked the dart through and through to the either side, cringing as his flesh pulled with the effort, and then used the agony to focus-- he took a batarang and threw it as hard as he could, the perfectly balanced piece of metal singing as it shattered The Dart's weapon across the way. The villain hissed, but Dick pressed on, springing from one rooftop to another, the device in his belt ping-ing as he neared the last known location of The Ray.

[/b]

The Phantom Stranger paced the room as the magicks were being unleashed, Firestorm and Raven the focal point for the cyclone of mystical energy being called down. Zatanna nodded at him, while the other mystics went about their work, the two young heroes in the center of the circle staring up at the ceiling as the men and women around them throbbed with power.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" she asked, quietly.

"Imagine reality as a tree," he whispered, "Many people have before. They called it Yggdrasil, the Axis Mundi, The Tree of Life... imagine that the very top branch is, for lack of a better word, Heaven, and down in the dark, in the roots, is something that this tree grew from. Down, down, down in the deepest darkness of this tree, are layers, shells of creation that have ceased to exist. Qliphothic realms of nonsense and unreality. Each branch is a layer of creation, Zatanna. We are but one moment in time, one unique place in a vast sprawling world of conformity. This thing... this Black Sun... has risen up from the roots, destroying reality as it went. We are the last remaining layer of reality before the great dark beast can lay siege to Heaven, and exact vengeance on those that imprisoned it. Beneath reality, beneath creation, is where this thing has resided for a million millenia. Since before time itself. Am I sure this is going to work? I should pray so, because if we fail, and the creature called Nekron consumes the heart of the world... we die, and we never return."

"I... so we have to succeed," Zee said slowly. "Else we just... won't exist."

"We will succeed," nodded the Phantom Stranger, "because you are all so special."

"And what does that make you?"

"An observer," he replied, before turning back to where the mystics were chanting. "Can you feel it? It's happening-- it's working-- brace yourself, Zatanna Zatara, and hope that we surv--"

A massive mystical explosion exploded out from the library in the middle of the House of Mystery. Windows exploded, walls fell upon one another, and finally the foundations crumbled-- the House fell, drawn down into the now open scab of congealed magic that the mansion had been built upon. The mystics had opened up the scar, the last untapped source of magic in the world, and now... they were all gone.

Giovanni Zatara, and a few others, stood in the wreckage, protected by the charms laid out before they had began their grand summoning. He looked around frantically, and then it began to dawn on him. Zatanna wasn't here. "Zatanna? Zatanna?! No! No, no, no! I won't lose you-- ANNATAZ!! RAEPPA!! ANNATAZ RAEPPA!!! No!" He fell to his knees. "No..."

[/b]

Barry, thought Barry Allen, as light and sound ceased to exist all around him, you kow what it means to run into the Speed Force completely. You know what risks you run when you allow yourself to take wholly from the source of all known speed-- but when a stranger-- a man claiming to hold a hundred speedsters' velocity inside his body-- a man revealing himself at the last instant as Wally West, your nephew--! says you must take it for yourself to pierce creation itself... what do you do then? You know, Barry. You know what you have to do to save the world. You have to run. Run as fast as you can, until you legs fall off or they stop working. You run for your life and the lives of every man, woman and child that exists, existed, and will come to exist in the future. The future relies on it. Your world relies on it. Iris, Bart... Carrie... poor, lost, Carrie... they depend on you, even if they don't know it-- they depend on you to run, and to win, and to push through the wall and--



That was not the sound barrier breaking. That was not the sound of someone running at the speed of light. That was the sound of someone being touched-- and accepting the gravest task they'd ever faced. The velocity hit Barry Allen like a jack-hammer, and yet he didn't stumble, he didn't fall. He kept running, pushing harder, around the world until the world stop making sense. The great relay race he'd just entered? It was beyond any understanding he had ever held. New avenues of science were introduced to him every second, new disciplines, new ideas, and his mind could barely focus on putting one foot in front of another, again and again, foot fall after foot fall. He ran so hard that he thought he'd explode-- but he kept running! Light seemed to grow brighter, sound ceased to exist-- even his footfalls, heavier than anything he'd ever witnessed, were silent-- "Run," he whispered, his voice the only clear thing in this realm of non-existence, "Run, Barry," he began to shout, "RUN!"

And then suddenly everything stopped. All around him was light, just as it had been less than a femtosecond since he'd started running, but this time it was different-- for this lingering moment, he was everywhere and nowhere at the same time, he could see a thousand things and his breath felt like a universe-wide solar wind, whistling through the bones of reality like nothing else he'd ever experienced in his life-- his eyes saw the entirety of the universe, green stars glittering in the heavens and he could see... he could see...

That this was the beginning.

And that at the beginning...

... there was a word.



"Captain Marvel?" Hawkgirl, the Dark Knight, and Zauriel, supporting a wounded Hawkman, hurried toward Captain Marvel, who smiled broadly in relief as they came into view. "What are you doing here?"

"The fight with Black Adam--" he motioned to the unconscious man in his arms, "took me across America. But it is over now. I heard Aquaman's telepathic call... am I late? Or early?" He shook his head. "What am I saying? I'm late. They've fallen, haven't they? My wisdom tells me that much."

"No," grunted Hawkman, as he broke off from Zauriel's grip, "the Justice League has not fallen. We are the Justice League. Until I die, or you die, we are the Justice League."

"How about them?" asked Hawkgirl, smiling, motioning over to the speedsters that suddenly flashed into existence, "are they Justice League?"

Max Mercury, Jay Garrick, and Jessie and Johnny Quick caught their breaths, and looked over to the assembled heroes. "You're alive, thank God..."

"God had noth--" The Dark Knight started to speak, but then looked to Zauriel. "Hrm. What now? Metropolis is a ruin. Where is the Justice League? The JSA? Anyone? I'd accept even the Teen Titans at this stage of the game."

"The survivors... what's left of us... are in the Hall of Justice. Aquaman is devising a plan of attack, but right now... we're a bit lost."

Zauriel shook his head. "No, we still have this." He opened his hand, and the map of creation funneled from his tattoos and into his palm. "We can stop Nekron. We sacrifice ourselves, and six billion others, just to put Nekron's plans back another universal life cycle. The Black Sun would drag him back in, and he'd be locked away until he burns through this place and into the next..."

Jason Todd laughed. "Seriously? You'd patch over the mess and leave it for another group of losers to clean up, just like we are right now? Are you insane? No. Come on. We have to fight this thing. We have to make a stand, even if it's not the one we want to make. You're the last option, Zauriel, but I'll die before I leave our problems for another Justice League to handle."

Jay Garrick tipped his hat up, "Who are you, son?"

The Dark Knight pulled off his cowl, and breathed in deeply. "I'm just a man, Mr Garrick, sir. A man who made too many bad decisions and who refuses to make another one. We need to get over to the Hall of--" They were suddenly in the depths of the Hall of Justice, the four speedsters delivering them there without a moment's hesitation, "hhf. Ok, we need to come up with a plan of attack. Something to stop this thing. Something better than plastering over the cracks. We have no option, do we?"

Aquaman smiled, even under all the pain and stress they were all under. One of Bruce's, for sure.

[/b]

The device he was carrying made it clear. He was getting closer, closer enough to The Ray's last known location for the machine to get an actual lock on his unique biometric signature. Batman landed hard on another rooftop, and then realized that this was the place. He motioned to move forward, but the machine's unique sound faded somewhat, so he kicked down the door leading into the stairwell, and hurried inside.

"I hear you," he whispered, "I hear what you're saying... the basement...?"

He looked down the stairs, and heard the rumble of a hundred footsteps, Nekron's possessed hordes of human beings rushing in beneath him.

"Damn. Damn, damn, damn..." He looked around, realized he had no choice and then leapt down the center of the stairs, plummeting toward the ground level with every passing moment. "DAMN!" He activated a circuit in his cape, and the cape billowed out, breaking his fall and allowing him to control his landing. He hit hard, again, and looked around.

"Well. Well. Well." It was horrifying. These men and women were speaking in unison, the same tone, the same voice. "You've come this far, Batman, the Dark Shape of Two." Dick said nothing. He used Nekron's gloating time to look for the way into the basement, and saw the entrance into the bottom floor of this place. A cast iron door, and a panel beside it. "We can feel the taint of another in your being. Something preventing my touch reaching your mind. If you were to remove it now... I would be a kind and merciful god. And I would allow you to die without... much pain."

"I'm ignoring you now," said Batman slowly.

"You dare defy me? You will see the correct way of the world. My way. Say my name."

"See the correct way of the world?" Dick pressed a button on his cowl. "Right now, I can't see anything." And then he threw down a handful of flash bangs, all that was left in his utility belt, and made a mad dash to the door blind, praying the lessons in memory Bruce had once enforced had stuck. He found the door, and opened his cowl lenses. He could see again, and he could hear the angry, bemused tones of the possessed behind him. "Hacking... hacking... never my strong suit--"

Ping-Ping-Ping, whispered the alien computer on Batman's hip.

"Oh, very nice." Batman typed in the digits that he had heard, and the door wheezed open, stagnant air hitting him hard. He was about to move forward when he was tackled down the stairwell into the basement, and the hordes of Opal City piled on through after him... "Gggnnnnahh!"



"Where... where are we?!" Zatanna Zatara looked around at the grand plain that the magicians had found themselves in, glowing majestically and seemingly throbbing with magical energy. She looked down at her clothes to see them bleached white, and when she removed her top hat, she saw that was white too. Everyone but the Phantom Stranger was suddenly wearing white. "What's going on?"

"Oh, this is weird," said Kid Eternity, as he looked around. "I mean, I normally wear white, but I didn't realize it looked so cool before... especially when everyone else is doing it." He smiled as Zatanna. "My bad jokes are a defense mechanism. This is damn freaky."

"...We've shifted planes. No longer are we seated in the physical world, we're in the metaphysical, the magical realm where Gaia infused the world with her spirit," the Phantom Stranger patted down his black trousers and then smiled, "obviously things are conveyed differently here."

"I don't like this," Sebastian Faust grimaced, "and where are Raven and Firestorm?"

"They'll play their role when the time is right, I assume," Rose Psychic rummaged through her pockets, and took out the Sigil of Seven, still black and red, a focal point for her magic, "that's how things move in our world."

"Their spirits allowed us access to this place. Firestorm, the ultimate world elemental, even if he is not aware of this fact himself, is intrinsically tied to the Earth. And Raven, her Soul Self allowed her a degree of universal attunement with the collective consciousness of the world. Their souls are the gateway... if we fail... then they will not return from this." The Phantom Stranger looked around. "We're in the heart of the Earth. Now we just have to find Gaia."

"What?!" Zatanna nearly stumbled backwards, "she died!"

"Please," the Phantom Stranger said, "she's the Spirit of the Earth. Bound to human flesh and then killed is enough to send her into catatonia, to remove her from her home, but kill her? It would take an immense being of immense power to do something so horrifying. Nekron is that capable. And with her hobbled... we have to find her before he does!"

[/b]

Martha Kent and Lana Lang had hurried back to Kent Farm. They were alone in the darkness, the radio singing nothing but static. Lana broke the silence that lingered between them. "Where's Clark?"

"I don't know, sweetheart," replied Martha Kent, "if he could be here, he would be... so we can only... only assume..." She clenched her fist. "I refuse to admit that. I refuse to believe he's gone. Not after Jonathan..."

Lana said nothing. She looked up to the entrance into the storm shelter and prayed for Superman to save them.

Then the door began to open. "C-Clark?"

The door swung open, and Supergirl descended inside. "I'm sorry, Ma, Lana, I am so sorry..."

"Say no more, Kara," Ma Kent embraced the Girl of Steel tightly, "say no more..." she wiped a tear from her eye. "Is... is that a new costume?"

[/b]

"REPENT! SUCCUMB! ACCEPT ME!"

Dick Grayson was being broken. Worn down by these people he could not rightly hurt-- they were victims, just like everyone else in this terrifying scheme-- he was being battered, beaten, and demolished by the possessed residents of Opal City. This was a gauntlet, he realized, and the thing-- the person-- at the end, meant something to the cosmic being behind the turmoil inflicting the Earth. Nekron. His costume was a torn wreck, his cape removed when he realized it would slow him down and be used against him by the eager enemies he faced. He was down to nerve strikes, precise and sudden, to defeat these people, holding back all the while, whilst they came at him with angry fists and anything around them that they could use as weapons. Ping-Ping-Ping cried the device on his belt, helping him survive the wringer he was being put through, but also telling him he was so close to where he wanted to be.

"GIVE UP! ACCEPT US! ACCEPT ME! YOU WILL NOT LEAVE THIS PLACE ALIVE!"

"Shut up!!" he growled, the echoing choir of his enemies repeating the same mantras repeatedly. "Come on..." he hissed, again and again downing men and women who shouldn't be here, "come on, I know you're here--!!"

PING! PING! He glanced down at the floor, the device Bruce had once acquired from an interdimensional race of space gods shouting at him that this was the place, and then he leaped up to the ceiling, and realize what this was. The entire floor was newly covered in concrete. He could see the edges of the old and new bleeding together.

"Oh, no." A vent was in the corner, under the feet of the riotous crowd of opposition that the Caped Crusader faced, allowing air to get down to whatever was below... "This can't be..." He knew he had to do something drastic. His utility belt was nearly empty, a few vials of Joker Venom anti-toxin and the odd batarang hidden about his body, but he had one last smoke bomb-- enough? He threw one of his few batarangs at the key console he had hacked to enter, the metal door swinging shut as the circuits fried.

"YOU ARE ALONE. TRAPPED. TIRED. GIVE. UP."

"No," whispered Batman, as he held the smoke bomb high, "You."

Manhunter rammed his body into Batman, sending the two of them flying down to the ground, the smoke bomb snatched away by the rogue master hunter. "I... told you... there... is... no... other... choice!" He slammed his fist into Dick's face, causing the vigilante to gag in pain. "You... lose."

"Never," said Dick, taking another blow to the mouth, blood dribbling from his face. "I'll... never... give... up..."

Manhunter hesitated, his hand wavering over Batman's prone form, ready to slam down a killing blow. "Never... give... up?"

"Never." Batman swung his grapnel up and fired it at Manhunter's hand, the explosive force of the hook causing Paul Kirk to squeeze his fingers into a fist and shattering the glass ball that he had stolen away from the Caped Crusader. The chemical agent reacted on contact with the air and billowed out, filling the air as it spread. Paul Kirk didn't care that his fingers were a mangled, broken mess, instead he simply collapsed, the other attacking citizens of Opal City falling to the floor as they fell under the influence of the drug that dissipated just as soon as it spread.

"Hhhgh." Batman smiled, and then spat the blood out from his mouth, pulling himself up as best he could. His body was a wreck, a mess of pain and broken bones, but he couldn't stop now. The Mother Box he had kept on his body this entire journey would heal him soon enough. He needed something else now, something that came hand in hand with the device Bruce Wayne had 'acquired' during his tenure as the Dark Knight. He pulled the fallen victims away from the center of the room, and then activated another function of the Mother Box-- and a Boom Tube erupted from nowhere, tunneling down from where Dick stood, into the cell beneath the floor.

"Wh... wh..." Batman looked down the tunnel to where the Ray was sat, hugging his knees. "B... Batman?"

Dick Grayson reached out his hand. "It's time to save the world, Ray. I'm sorry I didn't believe you first time round."

The Ray, trapped in darkness for weeks, surviving off the light charge his body inherently absorbed, was pale. He was naked, across his flesh red tattoos were scrawled-- was that blood? What had they done to him? Dick could tell Ray hadn't eaten, hadn't drank, hadn't seen a human face for so many days-- the Caped Crusader nearly bit his lip. Was this young hero broken? His psyche fractured by the torture he had underwent?

"I..." Ray struggled to form words, as he climbed to his feet. "I... I told you so..."

Batman smiled. They still had a chance. "Let's get out of here... and let's find you some pants."

[/b]

"Oh, by the Source..." Zauriel looked down at Wonder Woman, lying on the medi-bed in the catacombs of the Hall of Justice. Her life signs were low, but there. Nekron's touch had sapped her of her life energy, just as it had every other hero gathered by Aquaman's rallying call mere hours before. "... She should not be here like this, she should not have fallen." He looked at his flesh, the tattoos covering every inch of his body, and then looked at a small flake of ink. "Life. You deserve... life." He dug into his skin with his finger, and a tiny blot of ink lifted onto his finger tip. He placed the flake onto Wonder Woman's forehead, closed his eyes, and began to pray.

"I..." His eyes opened, and he saw that hers had too. "You... Zauriel..."

"Wonder Woman," he said with a smile, "I just sacrificed the land mass that would eventually become Greenland if I utilized the blue prints for a new creation."

"Excuse me?"

"Welcome back," he said with a sigh, "I wish it was under better circumstances."

"Then I assume the world is still ending?" Wonder Woman pulled herself out of the bunk, and looked around the room full of fallen superheroes, "oh, Hera have mercy on us..."

"Diana?" Aquaman hurried over to her, and embraced her tightly, "thank God."

"Literally, eh?" she said quietly, glancing over to Zauriel. "What have I missed?"

"We are moving ever closer to the complete extinction of humanity, and are still a forever away from coming up with a plan of attack against Nekron." Aquaman looked over to Zauriel. "We have an option. One that I refuse to take."

"Say no more," nodded Wonder Woman, as she walked the aisles between heroes, all hooked up to life support systems, "I trust your judgment completely."

"Scott Free is coming up with something that could potentially remove the threat of Nekron-- he called it a.... 'Boom Bomb', and he's in the basement, in weapons storage,
working on it now with Ray Palmer."

"A 'Boom Bomb'?" Wonder Woman shook her head. "And what of the world?"

"Men and women keep the peace as best they can. Communications are down, but J'onn picks up psychic static every now and then... we're still fighting."

"…And why would we ever stop?" Wonder Woman turned, and then her face lit up. "Sorry I'm late to the show, I got distracted."

Batman smiled, and was lifted up by Wonder Woman. "Where have you been?!"

"Opal City, and I think I found the one thing that Nekron is scared of." The Ray stepped forward from behind Batman, and waved awkwardly. "I found the Ray, he had been kidnapped by members of The Circle, because apparently he's a real threat to whatever Nekron's got planned."

"Yeah, I feel so damn lucky," shrugged Ray, "can I get something to eat? I've been living off my solar charge for two odd weeks now... and that does not taste as good as a steak and cheese. I don't want to die with an empty stomach," he laughed awkwardly. "And I've lost my sense of humor. This is terrible."

"Ray? Ray!" Jessie Quick ran over to Ray Terrill, and grabbed him, "You're ok! You're ok! We thought that youweredeadandweweresoscared--" she breathed in deeply, "we thought you were gone. What happened?"

"Was kidnapped," he said quietly, "Batman saved me."

[/b]

The Phantom Stranger led the band of mystics through the metaphysical world they found themselves in. Rose Psychic, Zatanna Zatara, Sebastian Faust, Kid Eternity and himself were clad in white, and journeying through the lower realms. "I can feel her... weak... but she's here..."

"What are we looking for exactly?" Zatanna said quietly, "what does the embodiment of the Earth look like?"

"What do you think?" said Sebastian, "a woman. Our minds will equate her with something we understand. What we expect."

"Faust isn't wrong," said the Phantom Stranger. "We're looking for a woman. The most beautiful, amazing, breath-taking woman you could imagine. Gaia."

"Hey, Stranger, quick cosmetic question, why are you wearing black and we're wearing white?"

"My understanding of this world is more concrete, it must not affect me the way it's affecting you."

Rose Psychic scratched her lip. "Or you're not the Phantom Stranger."

"What?" he laughed, "are you serious? What gives you that idea?"

"Because I'm the Phantom Stranger," replied a voice that caught the black-clad imposter by surprise, followed by a punch to the jaw that sent him flying ot the floor. The mystics looked up to see the Phantom Stranger, clad in white, "Sorry I'm late, friends. I don't know how, but I was separated from you-- and this fiend? I know you."

"Oh, yes you do old friend," whispered the doppelganger, "You're the one who sent me away, locked me up. He came to me in my imprisonment, he whispered in the darkness... 'join me, and you will have your revenge'," the man's face began to run, slick like oil, and then he threw up his hands and began to mold it into something new, "and so I said yes. And with his coming, all the prisons are becoming nothing but air."

"Zor," growled the Phantom Stranger, "returned to trouble me once more."

"How long has it been, old friend?!" howled the transformed magician, a wicked smile on his face.

"A millennium," replied the Phantom Stranger. He turned to the others. "Rose, use the Sigil, find Gaia, return her to her rightful place, save the world! I'll hold back this horrid beast!"

Rose Psychic nodded, and the others rushed away from the two mysterious men.

"Alone, you face me? Dan-ger-ous..."

"Don't just stand there then, Zor--!"

The plain that the magicians had traveled to exploded with light-- and Zatanna Zatara glimpsed backwards, only to turn away in horror, the sight she had witnessed horrifying even her, one of the most adept magicians in all the world. "Oh, God..."

"What is it, Zee?" asked Kid Eternity.

"... Zor... and the Stranger... I saw their true faces."