Post by redsycorax on Feb 7, 2022 23:21:16 GMT
In the last Justice Alliance adventure, Captain Thunder and his newfound long lost sister Lightning Girl flung their evil scientist nemesis Atticus Morbida into the sun. in order to stop him from unleashing a deadly pandemic on Earth-500 from his mutated body. But is Morbida dead after all? And what are the consequences for Captain Thunder and Lightning Girl? And who is the mysterious Mister Apocalypse and his "Injustice League?"
++
THUNDERCAVE:
Merokee the Moneghan Shaman stood and smiled sadly as Willie and Isabella Fawcett entered the sacred cave where the shaman's spirit had long rested, but where he waited to consult his beloved companions about the event that had just happened:
"Honoured elder, we have betrayed your trust. We broke your sacred code. We accept that there must be consequences for abusing your bounty."
"Ah, William, Isabella, my children. Do not despair. Your honesty and remorse over what you believed happened to Atticus Morbida does you credit. However, there will be no penalties imposed this time, given that you are chastened and conscious that you were forced to transgress the conditions on which I gave you your abilities. For he who sought to slaughter billions is still alive, so none applies in this instance. You have not wantonly abused my abiliities either, as...others under my supervision... once did."
"I'm sure you'll tell us when you think the time is right, Honoured Elder, but how is Morbida still alive? We saw him die."
"You saw a fleshly container of his die. Remember, the last time that you confronted him before your Alliance exiled him to his lifeless alternate Earth prison, he had not materially aged, despite the decades that had passed since you last saw him, William."
"Cloning."
"Indeed. For Atticus Morbida has assembled a body bank of younger iterations of his own body, but empty of intellect, awaiting his transferal into each if and when it becomes convenient."
"How long has he been doing this, Merokee?"
"Since he fled our native Earth-964 shortly before the outbreak of the nuclear war there. He abandoned his son and daughter Simeon and Atlanta there and they perished in the flames of doomsday that befell our world, but that was an irrelevant detail to one so blackened in soul as he. There is something else you both need to know. Morbida assembled an "Injustice League" of corrupted souls to challenge your Alliance and harry it. Its members have already confronted several of them, individually. Deena Nance, the Black Banshee. Satanna the Witch. Ralph Dibny, Flash's adversarial Elastiman. Their leader is a being called Mr Apocalypse."
"'Being', Honoured elder? Does that mean we aren't dealing with a human agency here?" Isabella asked.
"Will we have to face Morbida again?"
"Not for the time being, but there is interspatial turbulence that prevents me from locating the whereabouts of his headquarters. However, each conflict within each successive new body imposes a psychological burden on Morbida and he will require time to recover before his next onslaught against you. And for what it is worth, my beloved children, you are still worthy heirs and holders of the Thunder and Lightning talismans. Be of good heart until we meet again."
JAA SEABASE:
"I'm glad the old shaman wasn't hard on you. It's a shame that Morbida tricked you into thinking he was dead, but at least it'll be some time until we encounter him again." Superman said to his adopted children.
"Oh, by the way, I'll be going by the name Superwoman from now on, kids. And there were some other changes while you were waiting for the equinox to meet Merokee. Raimundo married his sweetheart Ivan Ardeen, Kronos... Helena Wayne replaced Dick Wayne as Batman's new Robin... and we discovered Jose's power ring is vulnerable to certain mycorrhizal fungi." Kara replied as Captain Thunder and Lightning Girl took their places at the JAA roundtable.
"We're just glad there was an alternate version of the Thundercave on this Earth and that Merokee is polyuniversal in his spirit form. Hi, Violet."
Ultra Violet had overheard the conversation:
"Well, you're in your late twenties now, Kara, it's about time you updated. And congratulations, Willie and Bella. Not that the likes of Morbida deserved your remorse and self-reproach over what had to happen, from what you've both told the rest of us, but it's a sign of your decency and compassion that you felt that. Wow, changes, eh?"
"There's something else. Merokee told both of us at the invocation that the Alliance was facing a new "Injustice League" and that it was headed by a being called Mr Apocalypse. Whatever or whoever that individual might be, they may not be human. Does the name ring any bells?"
Superwoman shook her head: "Not with us, sorry. Bruce, Helena?"
Batman shrugged his shoulders: "With a name like that, it implies he's a heavy hitter. He may be more familiar to Diana, Jose or Tanaka." By this time, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and the Flash had entered the meeting room:
"The Overlords have told me of such a being," Jose said hesitantly, "and to be honest, they did not take pleasure in the telling. This is a potent entity we are about to discuss"
"My Green Lantern predecessor for this sector, Nagin Sur, had some information about Mister Apocalypse contained within his power ring for consultation. It emerged when I inquired about it and the ring replied. Fortunately, he is not the same as the Anti-Monitor trans-universal being that we confronted some years ago in an earlier causality. I'm not even sure that we should be referring to "Mister" Apocalypse as male, as that would humanise him and any question of gender is irrelevant. In any case, this creature is old- possibly as old as the Overlords of OA themselves. It arose when the first life did within our universe and it is the harbinger of doom for each civilisation and world it encounters."
"Including Krypton." Superwoman said as she and Superman exchanged worried glances.
"Or Mars." J'Onn J'Onnz added pensively.
"Which would mean you must have seen it, surely?" Tanaka asked.
"From what else I've been told, Mister Apocalypse likes to blend in with their surroundings in deceptive anonymity. It would have appeared as an ordinary Kryptonian or Martian citizen until the moment of destruction. Unfortunately, too, any record of their presence would have been destroyed either in Krypton's explosion or the nuclear detonations that would have erased Martian surveillance or citizenship data records. This is unacceptable, though."
"It certainly is. Kara and I lost Krypton and an earlier iteration of this world once already. We won't let it happen again."
"Jose, is there any other information about Mister Apocalypse that could be relevant here? Has he ever been halted in his purpose? Is he a sign of the destruction of worlds or is he the cause?"
"I wish there was sufficient information to establish that, Bruce, but alas, there is not. What information the Overlords do have about Mister Apocalypse is sketchy and fragmented, given that it is a being as old as they themselves." Jose replied.
"We could ask Merokee again. The autumn equinox doesn't end until tomorrow." Captain Thunder offered.
"I'll consult friends of mine in the future, too." Tanaka said, thinking of his cosmic treadmill back in Central City.
"And I'll ask my daughter Unitta back in Themiscyra, just in case this (ahem) "Mister" Apocalypse has manifested in a female gendered identity in the distant past."
Aquaman sighed: "I wish I could help, but as my abilities are the result of a recent evolutionary development, as is true of my fellow Atlantis City settlers, we don't have the historical background to assist the rest of you. Good luck, though.'
BLEEDSPACE:
Mister Apocalypse looked around the confines of his spacious inter-universal base. Earth-500 was centred on his vision screen as he leant back and observed it. This world had perished and should have remained in oblivion, but yet it had been resurrected and its inhabitants revived- along with a reinforced Justice Alliance of America, which would be a decided obstacle in his path. He watched his incompetent array of servitors in their respective prison cells. None of them were particularly adept at confronting the Alliance, which would mean that he would have to take a more direct hand when it came to proceedings. It was regrettable that Atticus Morbida had been unsuccessful himself in his endeavour, but then he would be classified as a psychopath in many another alternate universe, although that did not affect his intelligence- and that it would take some time for him to acclimatise to his new clonebody.
If Earth-500 was not halted in its development and returned to quiescence, it would eventually become a metaverse and be able to influence the overall development of the multiverse through its embeddedness at crucial dimensional junctures. That must not be allowed to happen, not with his plans for the Greater Multiverse. It was unfortunate that his identity had been exposed, but none of them could match his capabilities or his billions of years of expertise. That would avail him against the Alliance and against the universe within which they existed.
JAA SEABASE:
"What gives him the right to do that? Any of that? Wipe our world from existence, along with the billions of lives on it, and countless other species in the surrounding universe?" Superwoman said indignantly as she soared above the Massachusetts skyline:
"Easy, honey. I know it rips the scab off old wounds..."
"I lost you, Kal. And we lost Kator and Shayera, Dick and Diana, all in the space of a few hideous hours, because some Anti-Monitor creature out in the Multiverse judged us unworthy of life. I've never forgotten that. They even killed Jose, even though he was only hours into being Earth's Green Lantern. Well, I refuse to let it happen again."
"As Will and Bella have just shown us, Kara, we have ethical and moral limits to how far we can go."
"I wasn't intending any collateral damage, Kal. But this time, we were forewarned. And this time, we need to hit that Mister Apocalypse monster first beforehand." And with an extra burst of speed, she accelerated away, leaving her husband deep in thought. His wife was right, though. But how could they detect this Mister Apocalypse before he struck?
OA:
"You asked to see me, Overlords?"
"Yes, Jose Fernandez, Green Lantern of Earth. We have some additional information about the Justice Alliance's new assailant, the so-called Mister Apocalypse."
"I don't mind telling you, the rest of the Alliance are fairly jumpy about this. I've never seen Kara like this, for starters. So, what is it?"
"Mister Apocalypse is a cosmic vampire analogue, a being who consumes the energies of universes it feeds upon."
"In order to feed, he slaughter untold numbers of sentient life forms. Wait a minute. He can't have done this to this universe before, in that case, so how do you know this?"
"Because we have inter-universal connections to alternate versions of Oa across the multiverse. And indeed, some of our counterparts have managed to repell some of his kind beforehand."
"That's great! So how do we do that?"
PLUTO:
"I still can't believe the International Astronomical Union decided to maintain this desolate hunk of rock's planetary status."
"Well, consider the complications if it hadn't. They'd have had to declare an entire category of smaller worlds 'dwarf planets' if that motion had been successful." Superman said to the Flash as they travelled over the terrain of the ninth planet. Hey, is everything okay with you and Kara?"
"She's spooked, Tan. She's still reminded about what happened when the Anti-Monitor hit our Earth before that timeline was erased from existence and our Earth was restored. Ah. Good. Welcome back, Jose. Were the Overlords any help?"
"Definitely. They told me alternate versions of their own species had fought this "Mister Apocalypse" across the multiverse before and that some had managed to repell him."
"And?"
"It's some sort of universe-draining cosmic vampire analogue, like the Alliance's old enemy Starkiller, but on a much vaster scale. In which case, it has a decisive weakness."
"Which is?"
"If it can't get to the original cosmic egg emergence point of any particular given universe and feed on it, it is forced to relinquish any hold on its target universe and move on to another one."
"But that's monstrous! You mean, even if we managed to repel it, it would marshall its energies and descend on another universe?! We have a responsibility to those other universes not to let it happen!" Superwoman exclaimed.
"I'm with you, Mom." Captain Thunder said.
"Willie, did Merokee provide you with any hints about how this "Mister Apocalypse" could be defeated, preferably permanently? We're not dealing with an Anti-Monitor class omnivillain here, are we?" Tanaka Rei inquired. Already, a pinpoint of dazzling light had begun to grow ahead of them as they entered the time vortex and the tachyonic forerunner radiation of the remote Big Bang billions of years ago streamed around them.
UNIVERSE-500'S BIG BANG: 13.7 BILLION YEARS IN THE PAST:
Superman, Superwoman, the Flash, Captain Thunder, Lightning Girl and Green Lantern emerged into the most distant past possible within their universe. Around them, probabilities shimmered in and out of existence as their entire reality was emerging from primordial matter into existence itself: "Should we even be here?" Tanaka asked uneasily.
"It's okay. Given how early in the development of the universe this is, time and space are malleable. And there he is..." Superman said.
"Justice Alliance! You will not prevail!"
"Uh, sorry, Mister A. You see, we're quite attached to this universe."
"Particularly those of us who it's given sanctuary and new lives to." Captain Thunder added.
"You see, we know you and your species have failed countless other times."
"And succeeded in countless others!" Mister Apocalypse roared defiantly.
"You sicken me, Apocalypse. You will extinguish untold lives and render myriads of species and their histories extinct merely because of your addiction to cosmic energies? How blind, how instinctual, how primitive and how unholy can you get?!" Superwoman angrily snapped back.
"You dare judge me, you puny creature?"
"You dare act as executioner, judge and jury for endless universes?! We are the Justice Alliance. And we will stop you! Now, Jose!"
And with that, something polychromatic and vast flowed from the Green Lantern's power ring, something more elemental and basic than the Green Lantern's habitual verdant energies. And around the Justice Alliance, the universe shimmered...and...
Awoke.
Kara gazed around her as all of them became aware of what had just happened.
"Rao. The...whole universe. It's become...sentient."
"Mister Apocalypse. You sought to kill me and the lifeforms and civilisations that I love, cherish and nurture within me. As I can see that you have done countless times before, abusing and victimising vast numbers of others in its turn. I do not wantonly kill and exterminate threats to my existence, but it is in my power to prevent you from ever repeating your horrendous actions and rendering you accountable for them. You are banished. You will never trouble any other universe or the lifeforms it holds within it." From all around the Justice Alliance came pure light, knowledge and serenity. Mister Apocalypse opened his mouth to scream, but in an instant, he
Did.
Not.
Exist.
A NULL UNIVERSE:
In an infinite multiverse, there are also by definition countless "null" universes where big bangs have never happened and never will happen, because they are closed spaces inaccessible to white hole formation and the seeding of cosmic eggs through them. And in one of those countless null realms, Mister Apocalypse still opened his mouth to scream
But.
Could.
Not.
He could not, because his existence was embedded in space and time, and without it, he was trapped like an insect in amber, preserved but entrapped in a permanent condition of non-causality and paradox. And because of that, he would never be able to prey on Universe-500, or indeed, any other, for as long as there was existence elsewhere.
JAA SEABASE:
As Kara alighted, she seemed curious about something:
"Kalel? Did we just witness the birth of a goddess?"
"Whatever it was, sweetheart, it's over. We managed to end Mister Apocalypse's threat to creation itself and in the knowledge that in addition, it will never be able to do that to anything else, ever again."
Lightning Girl smiled over at her foster mother:
"Mom? Let's all go out have an ice cream sundae after we go civilian."
"All right, Bella, dear. This calls for a celebration." And around them, the universe seemed more vibrant and alive than it ever had before. Because, in a very real sense, it was.
THE END
++
THUNDERCAVE:
Merokee the Moneghan Shaman stood and smiled sadly as Willie and Isabella Fawcett entered the sacred cave where the shaman's spirit had long rested, but where he waited to consult his beloved companions about the event that had just happened:
"Honoured elder, we have betrayed your trust. We broke your sacred code. We accept that there must be consequences for abusing your bounty."
"Ah, William, Isabella, my children. Do not despair. Your honesty and remorse over what you believed happened to Atticus Morbida does you credit. However, there will be no penalties imposed this time, given that you are chastened and conscious that you were forced to transgress the conditions on which I gave you your abilities. For he who sought to slaughter billions is still alive, so none applies in this instance. You have not wantonly abused my abiliities either, as...others under my supervision... once did."
"I'm sure you'll tell us when you think the time is right, Honoured Elder, but how is Morbida still alive? We saw him die."
"You saw a fleshly container of his die. Remember, the last time that you confronted him before your Alliance exiled him to his lifeless alternate Earth prison, he had not materially aged, despite the decades that had passed since you last saw him, William."
"Cloning."
"Indeed. For Atticus Morbida has assembled a body bank of younger iterations of his own body, but empty of intellect, awaiting his transferal into each if and when it becomes convenient."
"How long has he been doing this, Merokee?"
"Since he fled our native Earth-964 shortly before the outbreak of the nuclear war there. He abandoned his son and daughter Simeon and Atlanta there and they perished in the flames of doomsday that befell our world, but that was an irrelevant detail to one so blackened in soul as he. There is something else you both need to know. Morbida assembled an "Injustice League" of corrupted souls to challenge your Alliance and harry it. Its members have already confronted several of them, individually. Deena Nance, the Black Banshee. Satanna the Witch. Ralph Dibny, Flash's adversarial Elastiman. Their leader is a being called Mr Apocalypse."
"'Being', Honoured elder? Does that mean we aren't dealing with a human agency here?" Isabella asked.
"Will we have to face Morbida again?"
"Not for the time being, but there is interspatial turbulence that prevents me from locating the whereabouts of his headquarters. However, each conflict within each successive new body imposes a psychological burden on Morbida and he will require time to recover before his next onslaught against you. And for what it is worth, my beloved children, you are still worthy heirs and holders of the Thunder and Lightning talismans. Be of good heart until we meet again."
JAA SEABASE:
"I'm glad the old shaman wasn't hard on you. It's a shame that Morbida tricked you into thinking he was dead, but at least it'll be some time until we encounter him again." Superman said to his adopted children.
"Oh, by the way, I'll be going by the name Superwoman from now on, kids. And there were some other changes while you were waiting for the equinox to meet Merokee. Raimundo married his sweetheart Ivan Ardeen, Kronos... Helena Wayne replaced Dick Wayne as Batman's new Robin... and we discovered Jose's power ring is vulnerable to certain mycorrhizal fungi." Kara replied as Captain Thunder and Lightning Girl took their places at the JAA roundtable.
"We're just glad there was an alternate version of the Thundercave on this Earth and that Merokee is polyuniversal in his spirit form. Hi, Violet."
Ultra Violet had overheard the conversation:
"Well, you're in your late twenties now, Kara, it's about time you updated. And congratulations, Willie and Bella. Not that the likes of Morbida deserved your remorse and self-reproach over what had to happen, from what you've both told the rest of us, but it's a sign of your decency and compassion that you felt that. Wow, changes, eh?"
"There's something else. Merokee told both of us at the invocation that the Alliance was facing a new "Injustice League" and that it was headed by a being called Mr Apocalypse. Whatever or whoever that individual might be, they may not be human. Does the name ring any bells?"
Superwoman shook her head: "Not with us, sorry. Bruce, Helena?"
Batman shrugged his shoulders: "With a name like that, it implies he's a heavy hitter. He may be more familiar to Diana, Jose or Tanaka." By this time, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and the Flash had entered the meeting room:
"The Overlords have told me of such a being," Jose said hesitantly, "and to be honest, they did not take pleasure in the telling. This is a potent entity we are about to discuss"
"My Green Lantern predecessor for this sector, Nagin Sur, had some information about Mister Apocalypse contained within his power ring for consultation. It emerged when I inquired about it and the ring replied. Fortunately, he is not the same as the Anti-Monitor trans-universal being that we confronted some years ago in an earlier causality. I'm not even sure that we should be referring to "Mister" Apocalypse as male, as that would humanise him and any question of gender is irrelevant. In any case, this creature is old- possibly as old as the Overlords of OA themselves. It arose when the first life did within our universe and it is the harbinger of doom for each civilisation and world it encounters."
"Including Krypton." Superwoman said as she and Superman exchanged worried glances.
"Or Mars." J'Onn J'Onnz added pensively.
"Which would mean you must have seen it, surely?" Tanaka asked.
"From what else I've been told, Mister Apocalypse likes to blend in with their surroundings in deceptive anonymity. It would have appeared as an ordinary Kryptonian or Martian citizen until the moment of destruction. Unfortunately, too, any record of their presence would have been destroyed either in Krypton's explosion or the nuclear detonations that would have erased Martian surveillance or citizenship data records. This is unacceptable, though."
"It certainly is. Kara and I lost Krypton and an earlier iteration of this world once already. We won't let it happen again."
"Jose, is there any other information about Mister Apocalypse that could be relevant here? Has he ever been halted in his purpose? Is he a sign of the destruction of worlds or is he the cause?"
"I wish there was sufficient information to establish that, Bruce, but alas, there is not. What information the Overlords do have about Mister Apocalypse is sketchy and fragmented, given that it is a being as old as they themselves." Jose replied.
"We could ask Merokee again. The autumn equinox doesn't end until tomorrow." Captain Thunder offered.
"I'll consult friends of mine in the future, too." Tanaka said, thinking of his cosmic treadmill back in Central City.
"And I'll ask my daughter Unitta back in Themiscyra, just in case this (ahem) "Mister" Apocalypse has manifested in a female gendered identity in the distant past."
Aquaman sighed: "I wish I could help, but as my abilities are the result of a recent evolutionary development, as is true of my fellow Atlantis City settlers, we don't have the historical background to assist the rest of you. Good luck, though.'
BLEEDSPACE:
Mister Apocalypse looked around the confines of his spacious inter-universal base. Earth-500 was centred on his vision screen as he leant back and observed it. This world had perished and should have remained in oblivion, but yet it had been resurrected and its inhabitants revived- along with a reinforced Justice Alliance of America, which would be a decided obstacle in his path. He watched his incompetent array of servitors in their respective prison cells. None of them were particularly adept at confronting the Alliance, which would mean that he would have to take a more direct hand when it came to proceedings. It was regrettable that Atticus Morbida had been unsuccessful himself in his endeavour, but then he would be classified as a psychopath in many another alternate universe, although that did not affect his intelligence- and that it would take some time for him to acclimatise to his new clonebody.
If Earth-500 was not halted in its development and returned to quiescence, it would eventually become a metaverse and be able to influence the overall development of the multiverse through its embeddedness at crucial dimensional junctures. That must not be allowed to happen, not with his plans for the Greater Multiverse. It was unfortunate that his identity had been exposed, but none of them could match his capabilities or his billions of years of expertise. That would avail him against the Alliance and against the universe within which they existed.
JAA SEABASE:
"What gives him the right to do that? Any of that? Wipe our world from existence, along with the billions of lives on it, and countless other species in the surrounding universe?" Superwoman said indignantly as she soared above the Massachusetts skyline:
"Easy, honey. I know it rips the scab off old wounds..."
"I lost you, Kal. And we lost Kator and Shayera, Dick and Diana, all in the space of a few hideous hours, because some Anti-Monitor creature out in the Multiverse judged us unworthy of life. I've never forgotten that. They even killed Jose, even though he was only hours into being Earth's Green Lantern. Well, I refuse to let it happen again."
"As Will and Bella have just shown us, Kara, we have ethical and moral limits to how far we can go."
"I wasn't intending any collateral damage, Kal. But this time, we were forewarned. And this time, we need to hit that Mister Apocalypse monster first beforehand." And with an extra burst of speed, she accelerated away, leaving her husband deep in thought. His wife was right, though. But how could they detect this Mister Apocalypse before he struck?
OA:
"You asked to see me, Overlords?"
"Yes, Jose Fernandez, Green Lantern of Earth. We have some additional information about the Justice Alliance's new assailant, the so-called Mister Apocalypse."
"I don't mind telling you, the rest of the Alliance are fairly jumpy about this. I've never seen Kara like this, for starters. So, what is it?"
"Mister Apocalypse is a cosmic vampire analogue, a being who consumes the energies of universes it feeds upon."
"In order to feed, he slaughter untold numbers of sentient life forms. Wait a minute. He can't have done this to this universe before, in that case, so how do you know this?"
"Because we have inter-universal connections to alternate versions of Oa across the multiverse. And indeed, some of our counterparts have managed to repell some of his kind beforehand."
"That's great! So how do we do that?"
PLUTO:
"I still can't believe the International Astronomical Union decided to maintain this desolate hunk of rock's planetary status."
"Well, consider the complications if it hadn't. They'd have had to declare an entire category of smaller worlds 'dwarf planets' if that motion had been successful." Superman said to the Flash as they travelled over the terrain of the ninth planet. Hey, is everything okay with you and Kara?"
"She's spooked, Tan. She's still reminded about what happened when the Anti-Monitor hit our Earth before that timeline was erased from existence and our Earth was restored. Ah. Good. Welcome back, Jose. Were the Overlords any help?"
"Definitely. They told me alternate versions of their own species had fought this "Mister Apocalypse" across the multiverse before and that some had managed to repell him."
"And?"
"It's some sort of universe-draining cosmic vampire analogue, like the Alliance's old enemy Starkiller, but on a much vaster scale. In which case, it has a decisive weakness."
"Which is?"
"If it can't get to the original cosmic egg emergence point of any particular given universe and feed on it, it is forced to relinquish any hold on its target universe and move on to another one."
"But that's monstrous! You mean, even if we managed to repel it, it would marshall its energies and descend on another universe?! We have a responsibility to those other universes not to let it happen!" Superwoman exclaimed.
"I'm with you, Mom." Captain Thunder said.
"Willie, did Merokee provide you with any hints about how this "Mister Apocalypse" could be defeated, preferably permanently? We're not dealing with an Anti-Monitor class omnivillain here, are we?" Tanaka Rei inquired. Already, a pinpoint of dazzling light had begun to grow ahead of them as they entered the time vortex and the tachyonic forerunner radiation of the remote Big Bang billions of years ago streamed around them.
UNIVERSE-500'S BIG BANG: 13.7 BILLION YEARS IN THE PAST:
Superman, Superwoman, the Flash, Captain Thunder, Lightning Girl and Green Lantern emerged into the most distant past possible within their universe. Around them, probabilities shimmered in and out of existence as their entire reality was emerging from primordial matter into existence itself: "Should we even be here?" Tanaka asked uneasily.
"It's okay. Given how early in the development of the universe this is, time and space are malleable. And there he is..." Superman said.
"Justice Alliance! You will not prevail!"
"Uh, sorry, Mister A. You see, we're quite attached to this universe."
"Particularly those of us who it's given sanctuary and new lives to." Captain Thunder added.
"You see, we know you and your species have failed countless other times."
"And succeeded in countless others!" Mister Apocalypse roared defiantly.
"You sicken me, Apocalypse. You will extinguish untold lives and render myriads of species and their histories extinct merely because of your addiction to cosmic energies? How blind, how instinctual, how primitive and how unholy can you get?!" Superwoman angrily snapped back.
"You dare judge me, you puny creature?"
"You dare act as executioner, judge and jury for endless universes?! We are the Justice Alliance. And we will stop you! Now, Jose!"
And with that, something polychromatic and vast flowed from the Green Lantern's power ring, something more elemental and basic than the Green Lantern's habitual verdant energies. And around the Justice Alliance, the universe shimmered...and...
Awoke.
Kara gazed around her as all of them became aware of what had just happened.
"Rao. The...whole universe. It's become...sentient."
"Mister Apocalypse. You sought to kill me and the lifeforms and civilisations that I love, cherish and nurture within me. As I can see that you have done countless times before, abusing and victimising vast numbers of others in its turn. I do not wantonly kill and exterminate threats to my existence, but it is in my power to prevent you from ever repeating your horrendous actions and rendering you accountable for them. You are banished. You will never trouble any other universe or the lifeforms it holds within it." From all around the Justice Alliance came pure light, knowledge and serenity. Mister Apocalypse opened his mouth to scream, but in an instant, he
Did.
Not.
Exist.
A NULL UNIVERSE:
In an infinite multiverse, there are also by definition countless "null" universes where big bangs have never happened and never will happen, because they are closed spaces inaccessible to white hole formation and the seeding of cosmic eggs through them. And in one of those countless null realms, Mister Apocalypse still opened his mouth to scream
But.
Could.
Not.
He could not, because his existence was embedded in space and time, and without it, he was trapped like an insect in amber, preserved but entrapped in a permanent condition of non-causality and paradox. And because of that, he would never be able to prey on Universe-500, or indeed, any other, for as long as there was existence elsewhere.
JAA SEABASE:
As Kara alighted, she seemed curious about something:
"Kalel? Did we just witness the birth of a goddess?"
"Whatever it was, sweetheart, it's over. We managed to end Mister Apocalypse's threat to creation itself and in the knowledge that in addition, it will never be able to do that to anything else, ever again."
Lightning Girl smiled over at her foster mother:
"Mom? Let's all go out have an ice cream sundae after we go civilian."
"All right, Bella, dear. This calls for a celebration." And around them, the universe seemed more vibrant and alive than it ever had before. Because, in a very real sense, it was.
THE END