Post by redsycorax on Jun 4, 2024 3:32:34 GMT
Earth-769 has some particular quirks. Ronald Reagan never became Californian Governor, or US President. Instead, his movie career continued, as did his marriage to Jane Wyman. In any case, any political career would have been academic, as the Republican Party did not survive the trial and imprisonment of Richard Noxin. President James Carter's career was more distinguished than on our Earth, with the prevention of the Iranian Revolution and the ensuing turmoil in the Middle East- which made his subsequent assassination on the verge of the 1980 election all the more tragic. The Natural Law Party abruptly won the next election, and tried to govern the United States on the basis of a generic mishmash of bowdlerised pseudo-Buddhist and Hindu 'purity of natural essence.' Meat and alcohol were banned, social security payments and state institutions were abruptly terminated, and by 1984, the United States had all but collapsed. The Nihilist Army had planted nuclear devices in several US cities, which would have triggered a cataclysmic nuclear war and the extinction of humanity. Except for one thing- that timeline had resulted from deliberate interference from the Antrillax, an avaricious interstellar empire who were the mortal adversaries of the Echelon of Excellence. The Echelon were a group of metasapients who were tasked with protecting truth, equality and the utopian way: Lieutenant Orpheus, who could traverse life and death; Andromeda, the superwoman from Daxam; Doctor Mystery, this world's sorceror supreme; and Gale Allen, the first human born on a terraformed Venus, temporally displaced to the early twenty first century to guide humanity to a utopian golden age.
However, and fortuitously, EcEx were in temporal transit when the doomsday timeline was imposed on humanity. Landing downtime of the transition point, they kept quiet until the Carter assassination occurred. At which point, they provided compensatory funding to the Immortalist Party, which overtook PEP and embarked on a process of immortality research and near space colonisation. The Antrillax were infuriated at this unexpected turn of events, but Gale Allen and her starship had been busy stirring up dissension within their interstellar empire, resulting in several fortuitous rebellions and prevented their hidden revenue streams from funding the PEP, which fell apart shortly after the 1980 election, thus averting the chaos and tragedy from the surrogate timeline.
And thus, the Echelon of Excellence were victorious...
WASHINGTYN FD:
An unexpectedly familiar group of ultra-terrestrial adventurers alighted on the terrain, mystified by their surroundings, if only for a moment. Superman and Power Girl recovered first:
"Clark? It's happened again, hasn't it? The infernal transmatter nexus has malfunctioned, dumping us who knows where."
The Huntress produced her HuntComp: "Hmmm. We've been on worse worlds. This one has an operational DARPANet. Clark and Karen, train your eyes upward."
"Great Krypton. There are space colonies at the L5 trojan points and on the Moon."
"That's not all. From what I can assess here, there are no operational nuclear weapon silos anywhere on this world."
"So this Earth diverges from ours around '45."
"No, Karen, I mean abandoned. Abandoned altogether."
John Stewart raised an eyebrow: "Whoa. A black female president! Cool!"
"Perfect contraception, immortality drugs, this place is a utopia." Barry Allen said as he returned from a reconnaissance run.
"So why were we sent here? This world clearly doesn't need metahumans, except for rescue, disaster relief and crime fighting." Superman asked.
"I'm afraid you're wrong there, my friends, much as we wish it were otherwise."
The stentorian voice came from a tall blonde haired woman. Power Girl turned to Earth-One's Superman:
"Clark, that woman's a Daxamite."
The woman raised an eyebrow: "So Krypton had survivors in your universe or universes? The Khunds sacked our Daxam and my cousin Lar and I were sent here to protect this sector of the galaxy from their aggression. Unfortunately, we landed a millennium apart. Andromeda."
A green and blue figure clad othersise identically to Doctor Fate stepped forward:
"I am Doctor Mystery, this world's sorceror supreme. I see your worlds are magick capable."
"Lieutenant Orpheus. I can traverse life and death."
Wonder Woman raised an eyebrow:
"Great Hera. You are he, a modern incarnation of the Great Bard, Instructor in the Orphic Mysteries. What of Eurydice and the Maenads?"
"Forever lost, good Amazon. You carry yourself in princessly mien. No doubt a daughter or descendant of Hippolyta herself."
"Hades and Persephone allow you this?"
"The lord and lady of Tartarus are at civil war with one another now and their once-absolute control over the domain of shadows is dashed and fragmented."
Superman nodded: "Diana, am I to take it that this is the legendary Orpheus?"
"Yes, Clark. And this fourth figure is...?"
"I am Gale Allen, space adventurer. While I am originally from a far flung future, I have been assigned here to help protect this crucial point in our world's history."
"Together, we are known as the Echelon of Excellence."
"Why are you still operative as a team? Your world is almost a utopia." Power Girl asked.
"Ah, therein lies the conditional aspect to our lives. Aye, that it is. And yet, there are many on this world and outside it who would make it not so."
Andromeda shivered:
"For a while, we were trapped in a perverted timeline which would have culminated in a nuclear war. Four billion people would have perished, if that nuclear war had not obliterated humanity outright. Does your universe or universes contain an alien species called the Antrillax?"
Superman shook his head: "John and I here are the spacefarers of this group. No, the name isn't familiar to me."
Power Girl added her knowledge: "Kal-L never mentioned them to me, so they're not native to Universe-Two, where I come from, either."
"Wait a minute..." Green Lantern consulted his power ring:
"Yeah, it's there. But the Antrillax in Universe-One became extinct millions of years ago. So, could you tell us which planetary system they're from?"
"Sirius A3, a superearth mass world."
"Okay, Universe One's Sirius A has an asteroid belt with debris and ruins of that civilisation on it. So clearly, that didn't happen here."
"No, not at all. Antrillax is the outermost planet of its system but at a sufficient distance that it can retain life despite orbiting a white giant star."
Superman nodded: "I see your Sirius B is much farther away from Sirius A in this universe."
"While our human history may be seen by some as utopian, the Antrillax constitute a clear and present danger to this whole sector. They are our paramount enemy."
"No supervillains here? Wow, this place really is a utopia!" The Flash whistled.
"Why don't we form detachments? Then we can show you what the particular problems are with our world..." Andromeda said, motioning to Superman and Power Girl.
"Great. I'll go with you, Barry- oops!" Gale Allen looked away in embarrassment.
"Sorry, Gale, I get the feeling we should know one another, but..."
"I might as well tell you the rough details, given you're not temporally fixed. I'm actually the descendant of Earth-769's Barry and Iris Allen. Yes, they do exist here, but the lightning bolt, chemical mixture and your unique molecular biology never coincided here the way they did on your Earth. My ancestor's a plain police forensic scientist. What about you, John?"
Green Lantern shook his head:
"Nah, Doc Mystery and I would make a better team. Nothing personal, Ms Allen."
"No offence taken, Green Lantern."
"Which leaves you and I, Princess Diana."
"I look forward to it, Orpheus."
UNDERWORLD:
"I must admit, this is the first time I have confronted a variant Olympian pantheon. Normally, it seems to transcend the orthodoxies of mortal space and time. Queen Persephone and King Hades, at war with one another? I can hardly credit it, and yet... the evidence around us is obvious." Wonder Woman said, as Lieutenant Orpheus and she descended into the depths of humanity's post-corporeal existence. Around them, vast hordes of ferocious spirits clashed with one another, torn by faction, in a seemingly eternal war for mastery of the afterlife:
"Well, do not forget that originally, Hades abducted Persephone from her mother, Demeter. Apparently, Persephone called on the assistance of Demeter and the Olympian sister goddesses to begin this rebellion and overthrow the established order here. Hades was outraged at what he saw as betrayal and treason and thus, battle was joined."
"And Hades? What about Great Zeus and Posiedon?"
"Posiedon has always been closer to his brother Zeus than Hades, and in any case, Hera is working with Demeter and Persephone."
"And thus Zeus will not intervene?"
"Aye, well, he did let Hades take over his namesake realm for a reason. No-one else wanted this realm of primordial gloom, shadow and despair."
"Queen Persephone! Your Majesty!"
"Orpheus. I bid you welcome. But who is this with you? I sense the involvement of Aphrodite and Athena in her creation, but not our provenance."
"I am Diana of Themiscyra, Great Queen of the Shades. I am from an alternate Earth where history turned out differently and where there is another Olympian pantheon, in variation to this."
"You are an Amazon, then. I have not met one of your sisterhood for millennia since."
"Great Queen, what has caused this war between you and your consort?"
"I never accepted my abduction, or subordination to my uncle's dominion. And when I had subborned sufficient thaumaturgic resources, I sought a new order here in postcorporeality."
"My own mother, Hippolyta, participated in the Greco-Trojan Wars of antiquity. She lost her sister Penthesilea to foul Achilles wrath, in revenge for her felling his beloved Patroclus. What she saw in the carnage and rage around ancient Troy and the sack of that city sickened her, aiding her decision to abandon Patriarch's World."
"Hippolyta was always a woman of great wisdom and insight."
From across the infinitude of the twilight wartorn realm, a roar hit their ears.
SUSV VIRAGO:
"So you're descended from this Earth's Barry and Iris?"
Gale nodded: "It's odd, though, Barry. I seem to have some residual superspeed abilities of my own, but not of the same magnitude as yours."
"Humour a thirtysomething police scientist- genetics? Spacebased mutation?"
"Some baseline genetic modification was conducted so we were ready to colonise Venus when terraforming was complete. It might have interacted with metagenetic potential to encompass superspeed. I just don't know."
"According to Superman, I do have descendants in one version of our thirtieth century. He met them when he was Superboy. However, it's an alternate timeline to the one my wife Iris originated from, where there was a world war between Earth-East and Earth-West in the 2940s.'
Gale shivered: "Oh, don't please. The EcEx were right in the middle of one where a dystopian bowdlerised cult loosely based on Buddhist and Hindu precepts took over the United States and plunged it into instability and destitution. It took it to the brink of nuclear war before we could correct things. Fortunately, we managed to restore things to the way they were. From what I can tell, the world has an easier time of it from this point forward."
"So, tell me about the Antrellax..."
FORTRESS ASTRAL:
As Andromeda unlocked the door to her orbital fortress of tranquility and deepspace surveillance, Power Girl motioned to Green Lantern:
"John, doesn't something strike you as slightly off about this situation?"
"Yeah, Karen, I'm afraid so. The EcEx keep talking about these hostile Antrellax aliens, supposedly from a habitable planet of Sirius A? I checked in with this universe's version of the Green Lantern Corps. There are no Antrellax. Sirius A b is too close to its primary to support carbon-based life and its silicon-based lifeforms have no interest in colonising worlds like ours."
"Good. So clearly, this world diverged from our own Earth earlier than they want us to think." Power Girl whispered
"Exactly. Look at those hyperscrapers in most American cities. They have Aztec hieroglyphics on them." Green Lantern noted
"But wouldn't there be major signs of more dramatic divergence if this was some sort of cult based on human sacrifice? And how do the EcEx fit into this?"
"They may think of themselves as heroes, but they're dedicated to upholding a monstrous status quo. Apart from Andromeda and Gale, they're probably the result of some cloning programme. As for the apparent absence of Aztecs, they're probably ensconced in the precincts of those hyperscrapers."
"But why would a Daxamite and a future-born space adventurer like Gale join them?"
"Use your x-ray vision, Karen."
"Green lead. It has effects on Daxamites akin to the ones that red kryptonite-one has on Clark and other refugees from Krypton-One. And there's an implant in her head."
"But who could have implanted it there?"
"Probably the one who's been missing since the EcEx lured us away and divided us into teams. Doctor Mystery."
TOWER OF MYSTERY:
"Hold, villain!" At the sepulchural tone, Doctor Mystery looked up:
"Ah. Earth-Two's holder of the Helm of Nabu. I am honored to make your acquaintance, mage."
"I will not permit you to drain my friends and our allies merely to prolong the power of this Earth's corrupt overlords."
"You can do little else. Andromeda has the same abilities as those from Krypton-class superterrestroid planets. Gale Allen has mastery of future science. Lieutenant Orpheus is a psychopomp. Our Echelon of Excellence is as indomitable as you are."
"So why did you foment the Antrellax hallucination?"
"Because it was convenient. Because it assisted a mood of conservatism amongst the general population and enabled them to accept the authority of the Sun-Born Empire."
"How can you countenance serving an empire based on human sacrifice and cannibalism? This is a profound evil that cannot be allowed to endure."
"I weary of this inane conversation. You will not be permitted to disrupt a state of affairs that has endured for centuries." And with that, battle was joined.
SOSV VIRAGO:
But elsewhere, something was happening: "Barry, I know what I should be doing... but...I won't fight you. I refuse to do so."
"Gale?"
"Mystery may control the others, even Andromeda, but my molecular biology is divergent enough to insure that he could never fully master me. And now he's fighting your Doctor Fate, his ability to exert control is weakened to breaking point."
"I am glad to hear that, Gale Allen. Truly, I thought that I was the only one capable of resistance to that monstrous sorcerer." Lieutenant Orpheus and Wonder Woman had crossed back over the mortality barrier into the space adventurer's craft.
"Which only leaves Andromeda. Trouble is, she's probably the strongest one of us all."
FORTRESS ASTRAL:
As Power Girl finished healing the incision, Superman looked down at Andromeda:
"I didn't like having to do that."
"We had to, Clark. She wasn't in control of her own mind and that would have rendered her a powerful ally to Doctor Mystery and his Empire. So, what do we do now?"
"Attack Doc Mystery full on?" Green Lantern asked.
SOSV VIRAGO:
"Orpheus, is Doctor Mystery immortal?"
"Oddly enough, Barry Allen, no. However, he is protected from thaumaturgic attack by ensorcelment around his premises."
"Do his spells have any operational limits?"
"Aye, that he has, Princess Diana. He must see to cast them."
"Okay, so if he doesn't, could you get in and stop him?"
Lieutenant Orpheus nodded sombrely: "Now that I am freed of his tyranny, I see that he must be stopped. Friend Gale, this is our responsibility. These are our friends, but we must insure that Doctor Mystery is our coup."
"Orph, honey, you never said truer words."
TOWER OF MYSTERY:
And with Gale Allen utilising her full array of particle beam and laser artillery, as well as her residual superspeed ability, Doctor Mystery found himself beset on all sides. He tried to cast a spell that would rob his erstwhile colleague of her superscience advantages and capricious velocity, but he was unable to focus on her as she weaved round about him. And then, he realised that Doctor Fate had ceased to cast enchantments at him and turned away from his quarry, to face: "Orpheus?"
"Understand, Doctor, that I do not do this lightly. However, you subborned my will and that is not for mortals to meddle with. You made us all serve an abhorrent regime that tortures others, allows its decadent, cannibalistic aristocracy to consume their living flesh on sacrificial pallets and slaughters them to serve vast and inhuman deities. Come with me. Now." Doctor Mystery screamed once as he surrendered his soul to the psychopomp, who then stepped back momentarily across the mortality barrier with a glowing, wailing ankh... and then, once more into the light.
EPILOGUE:
Several days later, as the Justice League and Justice Society members took their leave of the Echelon of Excellence, the latter's three survivors were too busy to bid them goodbye. They had said them earlier, before joining the revolution against the golden towers of the Aztec aristocracy. As they watched, Andromeda's prodigal strength tore deep inside one as she ripped it apart, throwing palace guards to one side as particle beam fire riccocheted off her invulnerable form. She was this world's mightiest woman and she would not be stopped from visiting justice on a cruel and decadent regime that had slaughtered its subordinates for centuries. Gale Allen's Virago brought others down as weaponry from her world's distant future played its part in the downfall of tormentors that had been permitted to exist for too long. Lieutenant Orpheus made many trips across the mortality barrier at that time, as he looked up, smiled and waved as their newfound allies took their leave and crossed from this world in its throes of revolution to their more habitual universes of origin, proud of a job well done.
THE END [11.48 AM, JUNE 12, 2024]
However, and fortuitously, EcEx were in temporal transit when the doomsday timeline was imposed on humanity. Landing downtime of the transition point, they kept quiet until the Carter assassination occurred. At which point, they provided compensatory funding to the Immortalist Party, which overtook PEP and embarked on a process of immortality research and near space colonisation. The Antrillax were infuriated at this unexpected turn of events, but Gale Allen and her starship had been busy stirring up dissension within their interstellar empire, resulting in several fortuitous rebellions and prevented their hidden revenue streams from funding the PEP, which fell apart shortly after the 1980 election, thus averting the chaos and tragedy from the surrogate timeline.
And thus, the Echelon of Excellence were victorious...
WASHINGTYN FD:
An unexpectedly familiar group of ultra-terrestrial adventurers alighted on the terrain, mystified by their surroundings, if only for a moment. Superman and Power Girl recovered first:
"Clark? It's happened again, hasn't it? The infernal transmatter nexus has malfunctioned, dumping us who knows where."
The Huntress produced her HuntComp: "Hmmm. We've been on worse worlds. This one has an operational DARPANet. Clark and Karen, train your eyes upward."
"Great Krypton. There are space colonies at the L5 trojan points and on the Moon."
"That's not all. From what I can assess here, there are no operational nuclear weapon silos anywhere on this world."
"So this Earth diverges from ours around '45."
"No, Karen, I mean abandoned. Abandoned altogether."
John Stewart raised an eyebrow: "Whoa. A black female president! Cool!"
"Perfect contraception, immortality drugs, this place is a utopia." Barry Allen said as he returned from a reconnaissance run.
"So why were we sent here? This world clearly doesn't need metahumans, except for rescue, disaster relief and crime fighting." Superman asked.
"I'm afraid you're wrong there, my friends, much as we wish it were otherwise."
The stentorian voice came from a tall blonde haired woman. Power Girl turned to Earth-One's Superman:
"Clark, that woman's a Daxamite."
The woman raised an eyebrow: "So Krypton had survivors in your universe or universes? The Khunds sacked our Daxam and my cousin Lar and I were sent here to protect this sector of the galaxy from their aggression. Unfortunately, we landed a millennium apart. Andromeda."
A green and blue figure clad othersise identically to Doctor Fate stepped forward:
"I am Doctor Mystery, this world's sorceror supreme. I see your worlds are magick capable."
"Lieutenant Orpheus. I can traverse life and death."
Wonder Woman raised an eyebrow:
"Great Hera. You are he, a modern incarnation of the Great Bard, Instructor in the Orphic Mysteries. What of Eurydice and the Maenads?"
"Forever lost, good Amazon. You carry yourself in princessly mien. No doubt a daughter or descendant of Hippolyta herself."
"Hades and Persephone allow you this?"
"The lord and lady of Tartarus are at civil war with one another now and their once-absolute control over the domain of shadows is dashed and fragmented."
Superman nodded: "Diana, am I to take it that this is the legendary Orpheus?"
"Yes, Clark. And this fourth figure is...?"
"I am Gale Allen, space adventurer. While I am originally from a far flung future, I have been assigned here to help protect this crucial point in our world's history."
"Together, we are known as the Echelon of Excellence."
"Why are you still operative as a team? Your world is almost a utopia." Power Girl asked.
"Ah, therein lies the conditional aspect to our lives. Aye, that it is. And yet, there are many on this world and outside it who would make it not so."
Andromeda shivered:
"For a while, we were trapped in a perverted timeline which would have culminated in a nuclear war. Four billion people would have perished, if that nuclear war had not obliterated humanity outright. Does your universe or universes contain an alien species called the Antrillax?"
Superman shook his head: "John and I here are the spacefarers of this group. No, the name isn't familiar to me."
Power Girl added her knowledge: "Kal-L never mentioned them to me, so they're not native to Universe-Two, where I come from, either."
"Wait a minute..." Green Lantern consulted his power ring:
"Yeah, it's there. But the Antrillax in Universe-One became extinct millions of years ago. So, could you tell us which planetary system they're from?"
"Sirius A3, a superearth mass world."
"Okay, Universe One's Sirius A has an asteroid belt with debris and ruins of that civilisation on it. So clearly, that didn't happen here."
"No, not at all. Antrillax is the outermost planet of its system but at a sufficient distance that it can retain life despite orbiting a white giant star."
Superman nodded: "I see your Sirius B is much farther away from Sirius A in this universe."
"While our human history may be seen by some as utopian, the Antrillax constitute a clear and present danger to this whole sector. They are our paramount enemy."
"No supervillains here? Wow, this place really is a utopia!" The Flash whistled.
"Why don't we form detachments? Then we can show you what the particular problems are with our world..." Andromeda said, motioning to Superman and Power Girl.
"Great. I'll go with you, Barry- oops!" Gale Allen looked away in embarrassment.
"Sorry, Gale, I get the feeling we should know one another, but..."
"I might as well tell you the rough details, given you're not temporally fixed. I'm actually the descendant of Earth-769's Barry and Iris Allen. Yes, they do exist here, but the lightning bolt, chemical mixture and your unique molecular biology never coincided here the way they did on your Earth. My ancestor's a plain police forensic scientist. What about you, John?"
Green Lantern shook his head:
"Nah, Doc Mystery and I would make a better team. Nothing personal, Ms Allen."
"No offence taken, Green Lantern."
"Which leaves you and I, Princess Diana."
"I look forward to it, Orpheus."
UNDERWORLD:
"I must admit, this is the first time I have confronted a variant Olympian pantheon. Normally, it seems to transcend the orthodoxies of mortal space and time. Queen Persephone and King Hades, at war with one another? I can hardly credit it, and yet... the evidence around us is obvious." Wonder Woman said, as Lieutenant Orpheus and she descended into the depths of humanity's post-corporeal existence. Around them, vast hordes of ferocious spirits clashed with one another, torn by faction, in a seemingly eternal war for mastery of the afterlife:
"Well, do not forget that originally, Hades abducted Persephone from her mother, Demeter. Apparently, Persephone called on the assistance of Demeter and the Olympian sister goddesses to begin this rebellion and overthrow the established order here. Hades was outraged at what he saw as betrayal and treason and thus, battle was joined."
"And Hades? What about Great Zeus and Posiedon?"
"Posiedon has always been closer to his brother Zeus than Hades, and in any case, Hera is working with Demeter and Persephone."
"And thus Zeus will not intervene?"
"Aye, well, he did let Hades take over his namesake realm for a reason. No-one else wanted this realm of primordial gloom, shadow and despair."
"Queen Persephone! Your Majesty!"
"Orpheus. I bid you welcome. But who is this with you? I sense the involvement of Aphrodite and Athena in her creation, but not our provenance."
"I am Diana of Themiscyra, Great Queen of the Shades. I am from an alternate Earth where history turned out differently and where there is another Olympian pantheon, in variation to this."
"You are an Amazon, then. I have not met one of your sisterhood for millennia since."
"Great Queen, what has caused this war between you and your consort?"
"I never accepted my abduction, or subordination to my uncle's dominion. And when I had subborned sufficient thaumaturgic resources, I sought a new order here in postcorporeality."
"My own mother, Hippolyta, participated in the Greco-Trojan Wars of antiquity. She lost her sister Penthesilea to foul Achilles wrath, in revenge for her felling his beloved Patroclus. What she saw in the carnage and rage around ancient Troy and the sack of that city sickened her, aiding her decision to abandon Patriarch's World."
"Hippolyta was always a woman of great wisdom and insight."
From across the infinitude of the twilight wartorn realm, a roar hit their ears.
SUSV VIRAGO:
"So you're descended from this Earth's Barry and Iris?"
Gale nodded: "It's odd, though, Barry. I seem to have some residual superspeed abilities of my own, but not of the same magnitude as yours."
"Humour a thirtysomething police scientist- genetics? Spacebased mutation?"
"Some baseline genetic modification was conducted so we were ready to colonise Venus when terraforming was complete. It might have interacted with metagenetic potential to encompass superspeed. I just don't know."
"According to Superman, I do have descendants in one version of our thirtieth century. He met them when he was Superboy. However, it's an alternate timeline to the one my wife Iris originated from, where there was a world war between Earth-East and Earth-West in the 2940s.'
Gale shivered: "Oh, don't please. The EcEx were right in the middle of one where a dystopian bowdlerised cult loosely based on Buddhist and Hindu precepts took over the United States and plunged it into instability and destitution. It took it to the brink of nuclear war before we could correct things. Fortunately, we managed to restore things to the way they were. From what I can tell, the world has an easier time of it from this point forward."
"So, tell me about the Antrellax..."
FORTRESS ASTRAL:
As Andromeda unlocked the door to her orbital fortress of tranquility and deepspace surveillance, Power Girl motioned to Green Lantern:
"John, doesn't something strike you as slightly off about this situation?"
"Yeah, Karen, I'm afraid so. The EcEx keep talking about these hostile Antrellax aliens, supposedly from a habitable planet of Sirius A? I checked in with this universe's version of the Green Lantern Corps. There are no Antrellax. Sirius A b is too close to its primary to support carbon-based life and its silicon-based lifeforms have no interest in colonising worlds like ours."
"Good. So clearly, this world diverged from our own Earth earlier than they want us to think." Power Girl whispered
"Exactly. Look at those hyperscrapers in most American cities. They have Aztec hieroglyphics on them." Green Lantern noted
"But wouldn't there be major signs of more dramatic divergence if this was some sort of cult based on human sacrifice? And how do the EcEx fit into this?"
"They may think of themselves as heroes, but they're dedicated to upholding a monstrous status quo. Apart from Andromeda and Gale, they're probably the result of some cloning programme. As for the apparent absence of Aztecs, they're probably ensconced in the precincts of those hyperscrapers."
"But why would a Daxamite and a future-born space adventurer like Gale join them?"
"Use your x-ray vision, Karen."
"Green lead. It has effects on Daxamites akin to the ones that red kryptonite-one has on Clark and other refugees from Krypton-One. And there's an implant in her head."
"But who could have implanted it there?"
"Probably the one who's been missing since the EcEx lured us away and divided us into teams. Doctor Mystery."
TOWER OF MYSTERY:
"Hold, villain!" At the sepulchural tone, Doctor Mystery looked up:
"Ah. Earth-Two's holder of the Helm of Nabu. I am honored to make your acquaintance, mage."
"I will not permit you to drain my friends and our allies merely to prolong the power of this Earth's corrupt overlords."
"You can do little else. Andromeda has the same abilities as those from Krypton-class superterrestroid planets. Gale Allen has mastery of future science. Lieutenant Orpheus is a psychopomp. Our Echelon of Excellence is as indomitable as you are."
"So why did you foment the Antrellax hallucination?"
"Because it was convenient. Because it assisted a mood of conservatism amongst the general population and enabled them to accept the authority of the Sun-Born Empire."
"How can you countenance serving an empire based on human sacrifice and cannibalism? This is a profound evil that cannot be allowed to endure."
"I weary of this inane conversation. You will not be permitted to disrupt a state of affairs that has endured for centuries." And with that, battle was joined.
SOSV VIRAGO:
But elsewhere, something was happening: "Barry, I know what I should be doing... but...I won't fight you. I refuse to do so."
"Gale?"
"Mystery may control the others, even Andromeda, but my molecular biology is divergent enough to insure that he could never fully master me. And now he's fighting your Doctor Fate, his ability to exert control is weakened to breaking point."
"I am glad to hear that, Gale Allen. Truly, I thought that I was the only one capable of resistance to that monstrous sorcerer." Lieutenant Orpheus and Wonder Woman had crossed back over the mortality barrier into the space adventurer's craft.
"Which only leaves Andromeda. Trouble is, she's probably the strongest one of us all."
FORTRESS ASTRAL:
As Power Girl finished healing the incision, Superman looked down at Andromeda:
"I didn't like having to do that."
"We had to, Clark. She wasn't in control of her own mind and that would have rendered her a powerful ally to Doctor Mystery and his Empire. So, what do we do now?"
"Attack Doc Mystery full on?" Green Lantern asked.
SOSV VIRAGO:
"Orpheus, is Doctor Mystery immortal?"
"Oddly enough, Barry Allen, no. However, he is protected from thaumaturgic attack by ensorcelment around his premises."
"Do his spells have any operational limits?"
"Aye, that he has, Princess Diana. He must see to cast them."
"Okay, so if he doesn't, could you get in and stop him?"
Lieutenant Orpheus nodded sombrely: "Now that I am freed of his tyranny, I see that he must be stopped. Friend Gale, this is our responsibility. These are our friends, but we must insure that Doctor Mystery is our coup."
"Orph, honey, you never said truer words."
TOWER OF MYSTERY:
And with Gale Allen utilising her full array of particle beam and laser artillery, as well as her residual superspeed ability, Doctor Mystery found himself beset on all sides. He tried to cast a spell that would rob his erstwhile colleague of her superscience advantages and capricious velocity, but he was unable to focus on her as she weaved round about him. And then, he realised that Doctor Fate had ceased to cast enchantments at him and turned away from his quarry, to face: "Orpheus?"
"Understand, Doctor, that I do not do this lightly. However, you subborned my will and that is not for mortals to meddle with. You made us all serve an abhorrent regime that tortures others, allows its decadent, cannibalistic aristocracy to consume their living flesh on sacrificial pallets and slaughters them to serve vast and inhuman deities. Come with me. Now." Doctor Mystery screamed once as he surrendered his soul to the psychopomp, who then stepped back momentarily across the mortality barrier with a glowing, wailing ankh... and then, once more into the light.
EPILOGUE:
Several days later, as the Justice League and Justice Society members took their leave of the Echelon of Excellence, the latter's three survivors were too busy to bid them goodbye. They had said them earlier, before joining the revolution against the golden towers of the Aztec aristocracy. As they watched, Andromeda's prodigal strength tore deep inside one as she ripped it apart, throwing palace guards to one side as particle beam fire riccocheted off her invulnerable form. She was this world's mightiest woman and she would not be stopped from visiting justice on a cruel and decadent regime that had slaughtered its subordinates for centuries. Gale Allen's Virago brought others down as weaponry from her world's distant future played its part in the downfall of tormentors that had been permitted to exist for too long. Lieutenant Orpheus made many trips across the mortality barrier at that time, as he looked up, smiled and waved as their newfound allies took their leave and crossed from this world in its throes of revolution to their more habitual universes of origin, proud of a job well done.
THE END [11.48 AM, JUNE 12, 2024]
