Post by redsycorax on Sept 5, 2018 0:39:38 GMT
It had been a difficult and arduous day for the Justice Federation. Just before an appearance by J'edd J'aarkus, the Martian Manhunter of that universe at a presidential medal of honour ceremony, the building was attacked by a Resistance Against Xenophilia contingent, torching it. Superman, his children Superlad and Superlass, Interceptor and Green Lantern made sure that the potential victims were evacuated from the building in time, leaving newcomers Interceptor and Green Lantern to compare notes:
"O-kay. Regardless of what one feels about J'edd and his consumption of human flesh in the context of capital punishment here, that was terrorism." Kara (Interceptor) Zor-El said to her lover.
"I don't agree with terrorism either, but on Earth-17, capital punishment was abolished in the sixties in the United States and everywhere else in the western world. I don't like the fact that it still exists here, Kara, regardless of what's tolerated elsewhere in the Multiverse."
"Yeah, but where does that begin or end on this alternate Earth, Kyle? Capital punishment is wrong, I agree. We had the Phantom Zone on Krypton precisely for that reason, but over on Krypton-27, that's the subject of political controversy and my alt analogue is dead because she argued for it. But on that same basis, what about infanticide here, too? Some people might object to Antiope's out and proud dome sexual identity and parading around Steve Trevor as her sub. Or Superman, Lois and Lana's polygamy."
'Changing the subject. Was it my imagination, or could you cut the ice between Owlwoman and Jack Ketch this morning?"
"Yeah, Martha Wayne and Richard Grayson. So what happened here? I take it there was another variation on the death in Crime Alley theme and on Earth-46, Martha survived while Thomas and Bruce died instead. And so she eventually adopted Dick Grayson when Boss Zucco murdered Dick's family. So, what happened?"
"Have you seen how darkly Rich reacted to the situation, though? I'm guessing there's a fairly major divide between the morality of combat, the legitimacy of killing and ethics of crimefighting here between them. Wonder why?"
"Richard!" Martha (Owlwoman) Wayne cried out to her foster son as he turned to face her.
"Sorry, Martha. I need to get back to London."
"Has it come to this, then? We can't even stand and talk to one another? Dear God, why are you so dark now? Jack Ketch? The Hangman? The Executioner?"
Richard Grayson pulled his mask back, revealing the livid scar across his face:
"I was going to marry R'yand'r, remember? And then those #^@%ing People Against Xenophilia launched their terrorist attack during our wedding and killed him. Despite the fact that he'd risked his life to save this world time and again. I know you'll say you miss him too, Martha, and I believe you. And I know you lost Thomas and Bruce that night in Crime Alley. I can't imagine how losing a son must feel, in addition to your husband."
"I don't use guns and I don't kill wrongdoers. That's the dividing line between us now, Richard."
"And I'm on the other side of it. So why aren't you having the same conversation with J'edd J'arkus?"
"Because he needs human flesh and tissue to survive and only draws it from those condemned to capital punishment. Because his fang venom kills them instantly so they don't experience being eaten by him. Because I voted against his admission to the Justice Federation. Because I have, Richard."
"And you also voted against mine, Martha. I tried it your way. But I'm not your little "Raven the Boy Wonder" any more. It didn't work and now R'yand'r, the only man I ever loved is dead because of it. If it works for you, great. Go on doing it. But I don't work that way anymore. Is it enough to drive a permanent wedge between us?"
Martha closed her eyes: "No. Despite that disagreement, I still raised you from boyhood. You are welcome at Wayne Manor any time, you know that . But it's been three years since you last set foot here, Richard. Is it Salvatore?"
For the first time, there was a hint of gentleness on his face:
"Hell, no. I'm glad you're in a relationship with the prizefighter. He's got some damned good moves as Tomcat. He also seems to have become your new crime fighting partner, someone to watch your back like I used to. Like I still intend to do, even given this sudden distance between us. Look, I'm sorry. I need to be getting back. It was good talking. We need to do it more outside JFA duties."
With that, the man that her former protege had become walked toward the JackKnife, his HTOL transport, and left the denizen of Wayne Manor's Owlsnest to her thoughts.
Later that night, Albert Pennyworth, her aged retainer cleared his throat: "Master Salvatore is here, Ms. Martha."
She sat up in bed as Salvatore Karlin, otherwise known as the prizefighter and former burglar Tomcat, stopped against the roaring fire and began to disrobe. Naked, he stepped out of his clothes and took his lover in his arms. And for that night, Martha Wayne found consolation and contentment.
METROPOLIS:
The klaxon rang throughout the streets of Metropolis and Lois and Lana Superman dropped their groceries. From the centre of the road, an ugly red tear appeared in the fabric of space and time. Amidst the chaos and confusion, several arrogant youths strode- the Legion of Super-Criminals of the 30th Century.
Element Lad smiled cruelly at the two women and formed razor sharp metal shards. They accelerated on their way as Brainiac 5 realised who they were: "No, you idiot! They're Superman's mates! That means-"
Courtesy of an invulnerability serum that their husband had administered several decades before, the shards bounced off their chests, as their offspring Superlad and Superlass emerged from the churning time vortex exit gateway before them. Before he could complete switching to vulnerability, Superlass hit Ultra Boy hard enough to knock him out, while Superlad's frost breath froze Invisible Kid and Brainiac 5 in place.
"Are you okay, Moms?" Superlass asked.
"We're fine, Martha dear. Is that all the fuss was about? Why are those idiots loose?" Lana asked
"Khund attack on Takron Galtos back uptime. Some of the LSC got free. Saturn Woman and Lightning Man are rounding up the ones that didn't get to their time cube."
Superlad sighed: "Looks like I'll be late for dinner, Mum. Although it looks like you'll have to buy more groceries."
The two wives of Superman looked at each other. Fortunately, their husband now charged for his duties insofar as large corporate rescue efforts went these days. Money wasn't a problem.
In Central City, Evan McCulloch (better known as the Mirror Master, second to bear that name) shone his mirrorware at the oncoming speedster Zephyr. He regretted not having met the former, more benign metahuman ex-speedster Flash, before Barry Allen became a Blue Lantern and was then promoted to an Alpha Blue Lantern, required to leave Earth with his wife Iris and their children to travel to the Blue Lantern coreworld, Elpis.
If someone had told the rough as guts Glaswegian that he'd become known as a superhero on the other side of the Atlantic and would face off against this world's fastest human alive, he would have raised an eyebrow or made a withering and graphic remark in their direction. However, McCulloch had inherited the ceramic and reflective technological aptitude of the late Dr. Sam Scudder, the first Earth-46 superhero to bear the name "Mirror Master." Just as the biochemical transmutation that had affected Barry Allen had also affected Herve Suarez, but with one difference- Suarez was involved with the United States affiliate of a Mexican drugs cartel and didn't react kindly to McCulloch's use of his mirrors on behalf of criminal justice. There were some other limitations, thankfully. While Zephyr had replicated the same biochemical incident that had given Barry Allen his access to the Speed Force, the renegade speedster hadn't managed to replicate the same amplitude and intensity of that incident, so he was an inferior reproduction:
"Hamissed!" Suarez gloated as he sped past a pair of reflecting mirrors. McCulloch rolled his eyes as the speedster caught sight of his adversary and changed course, only to discover too late that the first pair of mirrors that McCulloch had deployed were only a taster for a more replete main course- a hardlight tripwire that then activated as Suarez sped toward it. He saw it too late and was knocked sprawling into one of McCulloch's entrapment mirrors. Remote-tuning its surface to opaque, the speedster was now his captive, and the Scotsman grinned: "Wanker!"
After depositing the chagrined rogue at the Central City Police Department, McCulloch got a signal from the Justice Federation satellite. He activated the stealth-shrouded transporter chamber in his home city and beamed upward. Facing him was Angelique, the other new JFA member. Shayeriel looked deeply concerned:
"Evan, have your mirrors detected anything amiss?"
"Nae, they're workin' well as ever. Just nicked Zeph and deposited him with the Central City polis. What's happenin' then, Shay?"
She crossed to the JFA incident board. The pointer showed a black vortex churning away and pulled back to reveal the immensity of the Bleed around it. McCulloch swore:
"#^@%inell. Is that bastard sentient then?"
She shrugged: "Your guess is as good as mine, companion. It is malevolent, however. I have witnessed it before, in the vicinity of Earth-15. Indeed, Steelman of Earth-25 and Crazyjane of Earth-49 have reported to me that it consumed other would-be escapers from the destruction of their world."
'But wouldnae the Hall a'Heroes downspace hae warned us about any new threat to the Multiverse?"
"It shifted location to the vicinity of our universe several hours ago. It absorbs data. Given the extradimensional capabilities of your mirror technology, can you specifically help us out?"
McCulloch was already setting up his deepscan mirror: "Yer wish is my command."
But amidst the roiling turmoil of the cloud, something malignant and infinitely old awaited them...
J'edd J'arkus' particular alien form coalesced in the teleport tube as Antiope waved at him:
"Tough day?"
"Television interview. I was asked why I did not consume vat-grown flesh culture for nourishment. It was not the best of responses. I replied that the process of cloning was not yet sufficiently advanced on this world- at which point, there was a protest against the use of capital punishment and a melee broke out in the midst of it between conservative and liberal audience members."
Antiope nodded: "I get exactly the reverse response. Conservatives label me a pervert for my relationship with submissive Steven and liberals support it on the basis of human diversity. With you, J'edd, the conservatives applaud your existence as a relatively humane mode of capital punishment, while the liberals detest you for being the agent of a criminal justice policy they despise."
"Has there been any update about that black cloud tailing our world's Bleed imprint?"
Antiope shook her head: "The Guardians of Oa, my own Amazon scientists on Domination Island, Kal-El's Kryptonian astronomers in the bottle city of Argo, all have been unable to penetrate that object. We have no way of knowing if it is a harmless phenomenon within the Bleed, or is concealing something. Given developments to do with the Gentry, Darkseid and the Anti-Monitor elsewhere in the multiverse, it's better to be on the safe side."
"Has Shayeriel scanned it for magick?"
"That she has. Our friend Angelique found no signs of malignant paranormal activity. Nor did friend Evan's mirrors prove able, nor Kyle's power ring, nor the x-ray vision of Superman, Superlad, Superlass or Interceptor."
{It begins} whispered the entity.
Unnoticed by any of the others, a blue cylinder had accompanied J'edd to the satellite. It locked on to and identified Antiope and softly followed the black leather clad Amazon to her private quarters. She stepped into her quarters, and smiled to see her submissive of the last half-century, Steven Trevor, positioned well on the bed. He was naked, and his legs were spread well apart. He smiled at her and wiggled his butt suggestively at her. She crossed to their drawer and picked up a most intricate harness and a cylinder of lubricant. Steven's smile grew wider.
The cylinder started to count down. It did so silently, as an alert sounded from the control room. J'edd cursed his luck and ran to the teleporter, headed for the New Holland coast and the sudden ion storm that had pulsed into activity over Australia's capital city, Melbourne. Elsewhere, Superman's Family tackled a sudden invasion of Metropolis by immunised Daxamites, Kyle Rayner received a sudden Guardian alert from Rann's colony on Hebos, Alpha Centauri B's second planet. Mirror Master was not pleased to learn that Zephyra, Central City's other speedster villain, had absconded from STAR Labs with an alien artefact. Interceptor realised that something was wrong and that the Justice Federation's current fragmentation masked some greater evil. She arrived on the JFA satellite and her superhearing detected the almost imperceptible whir of the explosive device near Antiope and Steven's quarters. She catapulted herself toward it, yelling: "It's a bomb! There's a bomb onboard! Get -"
But it was triggered by her Kryptonian morphology and the resultant blast pulverised the satellite. Stunned, Kara swallowed and looked around the debris. Then her eyes fell on two bloody heaps of bone and debris. But in space, no-one can hear you scream. One of Earth's greatest heroes, no matter how controversial she was, had died in a sudden, bloodstained murderous way. The myth of Justice Federation impregnability was gone forever.
As he headed for the New York teleport tube, J'edd J'arkus, the Martian Manhunter of Earth-46's universe, felt a sense of sadness and unease. Of all his fellow Justice Federation of America team mates, he'd known Antiope longest. Like him, Superman and Owlwoman, she had been one of the foundation members of the JFA. How terrible, then, that it had been through his teleport use that a sensor bomb had destroyed their satellite. Its destruction had led to the use of Owlwoman's subterranean Owlsnest as a secondary headquarters. It had been a fortnight since the funerals of Princess Diana of Neoscythia and her submissive and lover Steven Trevor.
Elsewhere on that world, a blood-red clad speedster laid a red rose on her own lover's coffin and thought darkly of revenge. The Mirror Master had captured her partner Zephyr much as usual that day, but at the Central City Police Department, the strain of redimensioning had been too much for sixty three year old Zephyr's heart. Despite intensive action to prevent it, he died on the cardiovascular surgery's operating table. Zephyra felt cold, she felt numb and she wanted revenge on the man whose negligence had killed her partner. He had done so much for her, shown her so much. Loved her so much.
In the Owlsnest, there were some obvious fissures starting to show within the Justice Federation. Kara and Kyle felt awkward about Antiope's death- they felt ambivalent about her BDSM sexual preferences and yet, she and her partner had been murdered. Still, at least Kyle had tried to rescue the Amazon when he became aware of the danger. Nor were they the only ones. Superman's Family was a coherent unit as usual, but the same could not be said for Owlwoman and Jack Ketch,former crimefighting partners though they were. As for Evan, he'd had to face a coronial manslaughter hearing over Zephyr's accidental death. He had been acquitted, but something else was troubling him. Of them all, Superman felt the most sense of loss, given his long-term friendship with Diana. At one time, before he'd married Lois and Lana and their children had been born, it might even have become something more. But that possibility was gone now. And then Shayeriel- Angelique- felt something uncannily familiar. It centred on the teleport tube as it began to glow and pulse with J'edd's form. Until, in a matter of seconds, it all went horrifically wrong.
One moment saw J'edd's familiar reptilian face and four arms start to materialise in the JFA's interim headquarter access teleport tube. But the next instant would stay etched in their minds like acid for the rest of their careers and lives. Abruptly, there was a red flare from the teleporter and J'edd's shrill, unearthly cry of agonised pain. Superman, Superlad, Superlass and Interceptor ran for the tube as J'edd's profusely bleeding, burnt and traumatised body collapsed from the smoking wreckage of the teleport rube. Jack Ketch was next, having trained as a doctor, but as he activated his medsensor, he was intuitively aware that this would all be in vain. His voice cracked as he said: "He's dead. What the hell was that?!"
"Whatever it was, it killed J'edd as if he were an insect-someone with Kal's power levels. What sort of sadist would do this? Even if they objected to his role in administering capital punishment to murderers and serial killers, he was the last survivor of ancient Mars. They obliterated his whole species."
And then, throughout the vastness of the cavern Owlsnest, they heard the insane, mocking laughter of their adversary.
And then came the most heartbreaking day of all. Superman's Family were out on a summer's day picnic on a remote Pacific Island atoll. No-one thought anyone would harm the iconic superhero, his wives Lois and Lana and their children Superlad and Superlass. For one thing, Lois and Lana had been given an invulnerability serum before they both married Kal-El, and for another, the two children lacked their father's vulnerability to kryptonite. But there were some things worse than kryptonite in that universe.
Interceptor felt torn between her family ties to Kal, and her disapproval of his polygamous lifestyle. Still, the children were members of the same House of El that should have unified them all. However, like many other iterations of Kara Zor-El, she was searching for ways to define herself as her own woman. And like other iterations of the multiverse, there were variations on other themes as well.
While on satellite duty, she felt a momentary feeling of unease, but chalked it down to residual unfamiliarity with aspects of Earth-46 and its society, culture and laws. On her own Earth-28, she'd have been on watch for kryptonite, but Krypton-46's variety was isomorphic to this universe and only affected Kryptonians from it. Thus, orange meteorites accelerated past the JFA satellite, wth fateful reprecussions. They entered Earth's atmosphere and slowly but subtly shifted course.
[Orange Kryptonite: Encyclopedia Galactica: One of the rarer isotopes of the radioactive element Kryptonite, formed by the explosion of the superearth class world Krypton. Orange "K" causes permanent insanity if any Kryptonian encounters it. If Orange K exposure occurs on a yellow-sun world where Kryptonians have acquired metahuman abilities, the effects can be potentially devastating. Unlike other forms of Kryptonite, Orange "K" can also affect the descendants of Kryptonians.]
As the meteorite descended on the group, Superlad accelerated upward to dispose of it, but heedless of the consequences, he was caught in the vicinity when it detonated. He plummeted to the ground and Lana ran to take care of her stepson, until Superlad got up and subjected his co-mother to a devastating array of heat vision. Despite her invulnerability, Lana realised what the matter was:
"Clark! Lyla! Lois! Jon's been exposed to Orange K. Stay away from him-"
She got no further. With a roar, Superlad threw himself at his fostermother. Abruptly, they both disappeared as Superlad accelerated into the time vortex with her as his captive...
Carrying a struggling, yet invulnerable Lana, accelerated through the time vortex, Superlad arrived billions of years in the future. At that point in the Milky Way's galactic history, all of the 21st Century's giants, supergiants and hypergiants had long become dust and debris, whether white dwarves, neutron stars or black holes. Even contemporary main sequence stars had expanded into prodigal red giants, had incinerated any retinues of planets in orbit around them and then cooled into first white and then black dwarves. Consequently, the only stars that shone in that distant time were red dwarves. Few Kryptonians or Daxamites willingly went this far into the future, because the stellar environment deprived them of their abilities. Superlad was caught by this paradox and had died instantly as he rematerialised from the vortex in the lethal orbit of Tau Ceti, one of long-perished Sol's adjacent red dwarf neighbours.
He did so alone, having flung Lana even further into the future. Hearts hammering, Superman, Superlass and Interceptor left their dead scion to his own personal tragedy, following Lana's trajectory until she too emerged from the churn and pulsation of the vortex into an even further distant future. True, Lana and Lois Superman were invulnerable, but that didn't avail them in the furtherest of futures, where all suns had metamorphosed into cold, inert black dwarves or neutron stars, where black holes had dissipated and where absolute entropy prevailed. Not even a single atom remained viable in this dead cosmos. Without time or space to anchor her, that was Lana's fate- she ceased to exist.
Shortly after the tragedy, Superman, Lois and Superlass left Earth, numbed by the tragedy that had befallen their family. Interceptor stayed behind, given her lack of direct family linkages to this iteration of the El Family, although she mourned Lana's death too, and the madness that had possessed Superlad. Alone in the Fortress of Solace, Kara held Kyle close and stared at the dark, churning miasma entrenched in the Bleed. This time, it had come closer to her than she would have dreamt possible. It left the JFA short-staffed- with just Owlwoman and Jack Ketch, Mirror Master, Kyle and Kara themselves.
The final JFA member to fall was Angelique, the angel Shayeriel. She soared into the heavens, relishing the cleanness of the air near the tropopause, her fiery sword sheathed against her side. Whereas the other three JFA targets had been older hands within the organisation, she was a relative newcomer. She felt the wind through her hair and wings and felt contented, pure and safe. It was a cruel deception- as another figure swooped toward her, bourne on stealth wings. Essentially, as an angel, she was invulnerable- apart from objects related to power greater than her own. Such as a sliver of Christ's True Cross, fashioned into a lethal arrowshaft. Loosened, it pierced her skull in a matter of seconds. She died instantly, leaving her body to be found by the five surviving JFA members.
As Kyle and Kara beamed up to the Justice Federation satellite, they were startled at an unfamiliar figure. She stepped forward: "I am the New God Spindrift, once known as the Doom Patrol member Dorothy Spinner. There is a presence astride this alternate universe that I understand has taken the lives of three of your number- J'edd J'arkus, Antiope and now Angelique. It has also sent Superman and his surviving members far from this world. It looms malignantly in Bleedspace. No longer."
They watched as the ebon cloud lifted and dispelled from the three figures that had it had concealed. Spindrift's lips curled in distaste: "As I thought. Damn All, Darling Come Home and Flying Robert of the Gentry. Once my former self's 'imaginary friends.' I thought I'd vaporised all of you refugees from the dark side of the Oedipus Complex."
"Little Dorothy! Back with us!" Darling Come Home clasped her hands together.
"Young woman, what do you mean vaporised? Come here now this instant."
But Flying Robert had sensed the power behind this new incarnation of Dorothy Spinner and fled the encroaching source of light, power and discernable threat with greater alacrity than its parents. All to no avail, as his balloonskull burst and his headless body spiralled down into the impenetrable scarlet darkness of the Bleed's interspatial void.
"You killed Flying Robert, you little-" Damn All brandished an outsize needle as Spindrift impassively entered the Bleed and then swore as it suddenly pulsed red, then white, then blue hot and burst into varicoloured flame. Spindrift grasped Damn All by his lapels and smiled, with no humour or warmth discernible:
"Don't tell me, time to sew up my head so the dirty things don't get out. I've got news for you. I know what you are and I know what you're supposed to represent. You were never 'imaginary friends,' you were employees of the Dark Mover sent to nullify or subvert me. You don't frighten me. You're nothing but volitional mindstuff and I have long outgrown you. Farewell, Damn All." He screamed as he combusted into a fireside array of newspaper and plastic and she stepped through him as if he was so much tissue.
Darling Come Home was the last of them. She considered Spindrift through her screen: "Why are you here? You should be too weak to manifest yourself outside New Genesis. It hasn't been that long since the Infinite Crisis and the destruction and resurrection of your people. What?"
"My, aren't we talkative? Whatever happened to the touching maternal platitudes and cliches? Or were you running this operation, Darling Come Home? As you did on Krypton-27? Because, given your emotional and intimate valence, you're actually the most powerful of the Gentry trinity that you represent, aren't you? Or were."
"I won't beg,' snarled Darling Come Home,"because there are more of us. More than you could ever dr-"
The words died on the anthromorphic personification's tongue. Standing alongside Spindrift was Dream of the Endless. Spindrift moved aside and smiled: "Sorry, Darling. Were you about to say 'dream?' Darling Come Home let out a long keening wail as Dream's eyes shone crystal and she was absorbed into the nebulous twilight world over which he was absolute master.
EPILOGUE:
New relationships blossomed over time and reconciliations were made. Owlwoman adopted James Gordons orphaned son Thomas as her new stepson and soon he was performing as Owlboy (as opposed to Raven, her first youthful companion). Her relationship with Salvatore blossomed and soon the owl and the cat married. Richard Greistark met Evan in a gay bar one night and the two men made love. Superman, Lois and Superlad settled on distant Zynrllyx and never returned to Earth. Interceptor replaced him as Earth-46's greatest champion and together with Kyle, they rebuilt. But that is another story for another day.
THE END
"O-kay. Regardless of what one feels about J'edd and his consumption of human flesh in the context of capital punishment here, that was terrorism." Kara (Interceptor) Zor-El said to her lover.
"I don't agree with terrorism either, but on Earth-17, capital punishment was abolished in the sixties in the United States and everywhere else in the western world. I don't like the fact that it still exists here, Kara, regardless of what's tolerated elsewhere in the Multiverse."
"Yeah, but where does that begin or end on this alternate Earth, Kyle? Capital punishment is wrong, I agree. We had the Phantom Zone on Krypton precisely for that reason, but over on Krypton-27, that's the subject of political controversy and my alt analogue is dead because she argued for it. But on that same basis, what about infanticide here, too? Some people might object to Antiope's out and proud dome sexual identity and parading around Steve Trevor as her sub. Or Superman, Lois and Lana's polygamy."
'Changing the subject. Was it my imagination, or could you cut the ice between Owlwoman and Jack Ketch this morning?"
"Yeah, Martha Wayne and Richard Grayson. So what happened here? I take it there was another variation on the death in Crime Alley theme and on Earth-46, Martha survived while Thomas and Bruce died instead. And so she eventually adopted Dick Grayson when Boss Zucco murdered Dick's family. So, what happened?"
"Have you seen how darkly Rich reacted to the situation, though? I'm guessing there's a fairly major divide between the morality of combat, the legitimacy of killing and ethics of crimefighting here between them. Wonder why?"
"Richard!" Martha (Owlwoman) Wayne cried out to her foster son as he turned to face her.
"Sorry, Martha. I need to get back to London."
"Has it come to this, then? We can't even stand and talk to one another? Dear God, why are you so dark now? Jack Ketch? The Hangman? The Executioner?"
Richard Grayson pulled his mask back, revealing the livid scar across his face:
"I was going to marry R'yand'r, remember? And then those #^@%ing People Against Xenophilia launched their terrorist attack during our wedding and killed him. Despite the fact that he'd risked his life to save this world time and again. I know you'll say you miss him too, Martha, and I believe you. And I know you lost Thomas and Bruce that night in Crime Alley. I can't imagine how losing a son must feel, in addition to your husband."
"I don't use guns and I don't kill wrongdoers. That's the dividing line between us now, Richard."
"And I'm on the other side of it. So why aren't you having the same conversation with J'edd J'arkus?"
"Because he needs human flesh and tissue to survive and only draws it from those condemned to capital punishment. Because his fang venom kills them instantly so they don't experience being eaten by him. Because I voted against his admission to the Justice Federation. Because I have, Richard."
"And you also voted against mine, Martha. I tried it your way. But I'm not your little "Raven the Boy Wonder" any more. It didn't work and now R'yand'r, the only man I ever loved is dead because of it. If it works for you, great. Go on doing it. But I don't work that way anymore. Is it enough to drive a permanent wedge between us?"
Martha closed her eyes: "No. Despite that disagreement, I still raised you from boyhood. You are welcome at Wayne Manor any time, you know that . But it's been three years since you last set foot here, Richard. Is it Salvatore?"
For the first time, there was a hint of gentleness on his face:
"Hell, no. I'm glad you're in a relationship with the prizefighter. He's got some damned good moves as Tomcat. He also seems to have become your new crime fighting partner, someone to watch your back like I used to. Like I still intend to do, even given this sudden distance between us. Look, I'm sorry. I need to be getting back. It was good talking. We need to do it more outside JFA duties."
With that, the man that her former protege had become walked toward the JackKnife, his HTOL transport, and left the denizen of Wayne Manor's Owlsnest to her thoughts.
Later that night, Albert Pennyworth, her aged retainer cleared his throat: "Master Salvatore is here, Ms. Martha."
She sat up in bed as Salvatore Karlin, otherwise known as the prizefighter and former burglar Tomcat, stopped against the roaring fire and began to disrobe. Naked, he stepped out of his clothes and took his lover in his arms. And for that night, Martha Wayne found consolation and contentment.
METROPOLIS:
The klaxon rang throughout the streets of Metropolis and Lois and Lana Superman dropped their groceries. From the centre of the road, an ugly red tear appeared in the fabric of space and time. Amidst the chaos and confusion, several arrogant youths strode- the Legion of Super-Criminals of the 30th Century.
Element Lad smiled cruelly at the two women and formed razor sharp metal shards. They accelerated on their way as Brainiac 5 realised who they were: "No, you idiot! They're Superman's mates! That means-"
Courtesy of an invulnerability serum that their husband had administered several decades before, the shards bounced off their chests, as their offspring Superlad and Superlass emerged from the churning time vortex exit gateway before them. Before he could complete switching to vulnerability, Superlass hit Ultra Boy hard enough to knock him out, while Superlad's frost breath froze Invisible Kid and Brainiac 5 in place.
"Are you okay, Moms?" Superlass asked.
"We're fine, Martha dear. Is that all the fuss was about? Why are those idiots loose?" Lana asked
"Khund attack on Takron Galtos back uptime. Some of the LSC got free. Saturn Woman and Lightning Man are rounding up the ones that didn't get to their time cube."
Superlad sighed: "Looks like I'll be late for dinner, Mum. Although it looks like you'll have to buy more groceries."
The two wives of Superman looked at each other. Fortunately, their husband now charged for his duties insofar as large corporate rescue efforts went these days. Money wasn't a problem.
In Central City, Evan McCulloch (better known as the Mirror Master, second to bear that name) shone his mirrorware at the oncoming speedster Zephyr. He regretted not having met the former, more benign metahuman ex-speedster Flash, before Barry Allen became a Blue Lantern and was then promoted to an Alpha Blue Lantern, required to leave Earth with his wife Iris and their children to travel to the Blue Lantern coreworld, Elpis.
If someone had told the rough as guts Glaswegian that he'd become known as a superhero on the other side of the Atlantic and would face off against this world's fastest human alive, he would have raised an eyebrow or made a withering and graphic remark in their direction. However, McCulloch had inherited the ceramic and reflective technological aptitude of the late Dr. Sam Scudder, the first Earth-46 superhero to bear the name "Mirror Master." Just as the biochemical transmutation that had affected Barry Allen had also affected Herve Suarez, but with one difference- Suarez was involved with the United States affiliate of a Mexican drugs cartel and didn't react kindly to McCulloch's use of his mirrors on behalf of criminal justice. There were some other limitations, thankfully. While Zephyr had replicated the same biochemical incident that had given Barry Allen his access to the Speed Force, the renegade speedster hadn't managed to replicate the same amplitude and intensity of that incident, so he was an inferior reproduction:
"Hamissed!" Suarez gloated as he sped past a pair of reflecting mirrors. McCulloch rolled his eyes as the speedster caught sight of his adversary and changed course, only to discover too late that the first pair of mirrors that McCulloch had deployed were only a taster for a more replete main course- a hardlight tripwire that then activated as Suarez sped toward it. He saw it too late and was knocked sprawling into one of McCulloch's entrapment mirrors. Remote-tuning its surface to opaque, the speedster was now his captive, and the Scotsman grinned: "Wanker!"
After depositing the chagrined rogue at the Central City Police Department, McCulloch got a signal from the Justice Federation satellite. He activated the stealth-shrouded transporter chamber in his home city and beamed upward. Facing him was Angelique, the other new JFA member. Shayeriel looked deeply concerned:
"Evan, have your mirrors detected anything amiss?"
"Nae, they're workin' well as ever. Just nicked Zeph and deposited him with the Central City polis. What's happenin' then, Shay?"
She crossed to the JFA incident board. The pointer showed a black vortex churning away and pulled back to reveal the immensity of the Bleed around it. McCulloch swore:
"#^@%inell. Is that bastard sentient then?"
She shrugged: "Your guess is as good as mine, companion. It is malevolent, however. I have witnessed it before, in the vicinity of Earth-15. Indeed, Steelman of Earth-25 and Crazyjane of Earth-49 have reported to me that it consumed other would-be escapers from the destruction of their world."
'But wouldnae the Hall a'Heroes downspace hae warned us about any new threat to the Multiverse?"
"It shifted location to the vicinity of our universe several hours ago. It absorbs data. Given the extradimensional capabilities of your mirror technology, can you specifically help us out?"
McCulloch was already setting up his deepscan mirror: "Yer wish is my command."
But amidst the roiling turmoil of the cloud, something malignant and infinitely old awaited them...
J'edd J'arkus' particular alien form coalesced in the teleport tube as Antiope waved at him:
"Tough day?"
"Television interview. I was asked why I did not consume vat-grown flesh culture for nourishment. It was not the best of responses. I replied that the process of cloning was not yet sufficiently advanced on this world- at which point, there was a protest against the use of capital punishment and a melee broke out in the midst of it between conservative and liberal audience members."
Antiope nodded: "I get exactly the reverse response. Conservatives label me a pervert for my relationship with submissive Steven and liberals support it on the basis of human diversity. With you, J'edd, the conservatives applaud your existence as a relatively humane mode of capital punishment, while the liberals detest you for being the agent of a criminal justice policy they despise."
"Has there been any update about that black cloud tailing our world's Bleed imprint?"
Antiope shook her head: "The Guardians of Oa, my own Amazon scientists on Domination Island, Kal-El's Kryptonian astronomers in the bottle city of Argo, all have been unable to penetrate that object. We have no way of knowing if it is a harmless phenomenon within the Bleed, or is concealing something. Given developments to do with the Gentry, Darkseid and the Anti-Monitor elsewhere in the multiverse, it's better to be on the safe side."
"Has Shayeriel scanned it for magick?"
"That she has. Our friend Angelique found no signs of malignant paranormal activity. Nor did friend Evan's mirrors prove able, nor Kyle's power ring, nor the x-ray vision of Superman, Superlad, Superlass or Interceptor."
{It begins} whispered the entity.
Unnoticed by any of the others, a blue cylinder had accompanied J'edd to the satellite. It locked on to and identified Antiope and softly followed the black leather clad Amazon to her private quarters. She stepped into her quarters, and smiled to see her submissive of the last half-century, Steven Trevor, positioned well on the bed. He was naked, and his legs were spread well apart. He smiled at her and wiggled his butt suggestively at her. She crossed to their drawer and picked up a most intricate harness and a cylinder of lubricant. Steven's smile grew wider.
The cylinder started to count down. It did so silently, as an alert sounded from the control room. J'edd cursed his luck and ran to the teleporter, headed for the New Holland coast and the sudden ion storm that had pulsed into activity over Australia's capital city, Melbourne. Elsewhere, Superman's Family tackled a sudden invasion of Metropolis by immunised Daxamites, Kyle Rayner received a sudden Guardian alert from Rann's colony on Hebos, Alpha Centauri B's second planet. Mirror Master was not pleased to learn that Zephyra, Central City's other speedster villain, had absconded from STAR Labs with an alien artefact. Interceptor realised that something was wrong and that the Justice Federation's current fragmentation masked some greater evil. She arrived on the JFA satellite and her superhearing detected the almost imperceptible whir of the explosive device near Antiope and Steven's quarters. She catapulted herself toward it, yelling: "It's a bomb! There's a bomb onboard! Get -"
But it was triggered by her Kryptonian morphology and the resultant blast pulverised the satellite. Stunned, Kara swallowed and looked around the debris. Then her eyes fell on two bloody heaps of bone and debris. But in space, no-one can hear you scream. One of Earth's greatest heroes, no matter how controversial she was, had died in a sudden, bloodstained murderous way. The myth of Justice Federation impregnability was gone forever.
As he headed for the New York teleport tube, J'edd J'arkus, the Martian Manhunter of Earth-46's universe, felt a sense of sadness and unease. Of all his fellow Justice Federation of America team mates, he'd known Antiope longest. Like him, Superman and Owlwoman, she had been one of the foundation members of the JFA. How terrible, then, that it had been through his teleport use that a sensor bomb had destroyed their satellite. Its destruction had led to the use of Owlwoman's subterranean Owlsnest as a secondary headquarters. It had been a fortnight since the funerals of Princess Diana of Neoscythia and her submissive and lover Steven Trevor.
Elsewhere on that world, a blood-red clad speedster laid a red rose on her own lover's coffin and thought darkly of revenge. The Mirror Master had captured her partner Zephyr much as usual that day, but at the Central City Police Department, the strain of redimensioning had been too much for sixty three year old Zephyr's heart. Despite intensive action to prevent it, he died on the cardiovascular surgery's operating table. Zephyra felt cold, she felt numb and she wanted revenge on the man whose negligence had killed her partner. He had done so much for her, shown her so much. Loved her so much.
In the Owlsnest, there were some obvious fissures starting to show within the Justice Federation. Kara and Kyle felt awkward about Antiope's death- they felt ambivalent about her BDSM sexual preferences and yet, she and her partner had been murdered. Still, at least Kyle had tried to rescue the Amazon when he became aware of the danger. Nor were they the only ones. Superman's Family was a coherent unit as usual, but the same could not be said for Owlwoman and Jack Ketch,former crimefighting partners though they were. As for Evan, he'd had to face a coronial manslaughter hearing over Zephyr's accidental death. He had been acquitted, but something else was troubling him. Of them all, Superman felt the most sense of loss, given his long-term friendship with Diana. At one time, before he'd married Lois and Lana and their children had been born, it might even have become something more. But that possibility was gone now. And then Shayeriel- Angelique- felt something uncannily familiar. It centred on the teleport tube as it began to glow and pulse with J'edd's form. Until, in a matter of seconds, it all went horrifically wrong.
One moment saw J'edd's familiar reptilian face and four arms start to materialise in the JFA's interim headquarter access teleport tube. But the next instant would stay etched in their minds like acid for the rest of their careers and lives. Abruptly, there was a red flare from the teleporter and J'edd's shrill, unearthly cry of agonised pain. Superman, Superlad, Superlass and Interceptor ran for the tube as J'edd's profusely bleeding, burnt and traumatised body collapsed from the smoking wreckage of the teleport rube. Jack Ketch was next, having trained as a doctor, but as he activated his medsensor, he was intuitively aware that this would all be in vain. His voice cracked as he said: "He's dead. What the hell was that?!"
"Whatever it was, it killed J'edd as if he were an insect-someone with Kal's power levels. What sort of sadist would do this? Even if they objected to his role in administering capital punishment to murderers and serial killers, he was the last survivor of ancient Mars. They obliterated his whole species."
And then, throughout the vastness of the cavern Owlsnest, they heard the insane, mocking laughter of their adversary.
And then came the most heartbreaking day of all. Superman's Family were out on a summer's day picnic on a remote Pacific Island atoll. No-one thought anyone would harm the iconic superhero, his wives Lois and Lana and their children Superlad and Superlass. For one thing, Lois and Lana had been given an invulnerability serum before they both married Kal-El, and for another, the two children lacked their father's vulnerability to kryptonite. But there were some things worse than kryptonite in that universe.
Interceptor felt torn between her family ties to Kal, and her disapproval of his polygamous lifestyle. Still, the children were members of the same House of El that should have unified them all. However, like many other iterations of Kara Zor-El, she was searching for ways to define herself as her own woman. And like other iterations of the multiverse, there were variations on other themes as well.
While on satellite duty, she felt a momentary feeling of unease, but chalked it down to residual unfamiliarity with aspects of Earth-46 and its society, culture and laws. On her own Earth-28, she'd have been on watch for kryptonite, but Krypton-46's variety was isomorphic to this universe and only affected Kryptonians from it. Thus, orange meteorites accelerated past the JFA satellite, wth fateful reprecussions. They entered Earth's atmosphere and slowly but subtly shifted course.
[Orange Kryptonite: Encyclopedia Galactica: One of the rarer isotopes of the radioactive element Kryptonite, formed by the explosion of the superearth class world Krypton. Orange "K" causes permanent insanity if any Kryptonian encounters it. If Orange K exposure occurs on a yellow-sun world where Kryptonians have acquired metahuman abilities, the effects can be potentially devastating. Unlike other forms of Kryptonite, Orange "K" can also affect the descendants of Kryptonians.]
As the meteorite descended on the group, Superlad accelerated upward to dispose of it, but heedless of the consequences, he was caught in the vicinity when it detonated. He plummeted to the ground and Lana ran to take care of her stepson, until Superlad got up and subjected his co-mother to a devastating array of heat vision. Despite her invulnerability, Lana realised what the matter was:
"Clark! Lyla! Lois! Jon's been exposed to Orange K. Stay away from him-"
She got no further. With a roar, Superlad threw himself at his fostermother. Abruptly, they both disappeared as Superlad accelerated into the time vortex with her as his captive...
Carrying a struggling, yet invulnerable Lana, accelerated through the time vortex, Superlad arrived billions of years in the future. At that point in the Milky Way's galactic history, all of the 21st Century's giants, supergiants and hypergiants had long become dust and debris, whether white dwarves, neutron stars or black holes. Even contemporary main sequence stars had expanded into prodigal red giants, had incinerated any retinues of planets in orbit around them and then cooled into first white and then black dwarves. Consequently, the only stars that shone in that distant time were red dwarves. Few Kryptonians or Daxamites willingly went this far into the future, because the stellar environment deprived them of their abilities. Superlad was caught by this paradox and had died instantly as he rematerialised from the vortex in the lethal orbit of Tau Ceti, one of long-perished Sol's adjacent red dwarf neighbours.
He did so alone, having flung Lana even further into the future. Hearts hammering, Superman, Superlass and Interceptor left their dead scion to his own personal tragedy, following Lana's trajectory until she too emerged from the churn and pulsation of the vortex into an even further distant future. True, Lana and Lois Superman were invulnerable, but that didn't avail them in the furtherest of futures, where all suns had metamorphosed into cold, inert black dwarves or neutron stars, where black holes had dissipated and where absolute entropy prevailed. Not even a single atom remained viable in this dead cosmos. Without time or space to anchor her, that was Lana's fate- she ceased to exist.
Shortly after the tragedy, Superman, Lois and Superlass left Earth, numbed by the tragedy that had befallen their family. Interceptor stayed behind, given her lack of direct family linkages to this iteration of the El Family, although she mourned Lana's death too, and the madness that had possessed Superlad. Alone in the Fortress of Solace, Kara held Kyle close and stared at the dark, churning miasma entrenched in the Bleed. This time, it had come closer to her than she would have dreamt possible. It left the JFA short-staffed- with just Owlwoman and Jack Ketch, Mirror Master, Kyle and Kara themselves.
The final JFA member to fall was Angelique, the angel Shayeriel. She soared into the heavens, relishing the cleanness of the air near the tropopause, her fiery sword sheathed against her side. Whereas the other three JFA targets had been older hands within the organisation, she was a relative newcomer. She felt the wind through her hair and wings and felt contented, pure and safe. It was a cruel deception- as another figure swooped toward her, bourne on stealth wings. Essentially, as an angel, she was invulnerable- apart from objects related to power greater than her own. Such as a sliver of Christ's True Cross, fashioned into a lethal arrowshaft. Loosened, it pierced her skull in a matter of seconds. She died instantly, leaving her body to be found by the five surviving JFA members.
As Kyle and Kara beamed up to the Justice Federation satellite, they were startled at an unfamiliar figure. She stepped forward: "I am the New God Spindrift, once known as the Doom Patrol member Dorothy Spinner. There is a presence astride this alternate universe that I understand has taken the lives of three of your number- J'edd J'arkus, Antiope and now Angelique. It has also sent Superman and his surviving members far from this world. It looms malignantly in Bleedspace. No longer."
They watched as the ebon cloud lifted and dispelled from the three figures that had it had concealed. Spindrift's lips curled in distaste: "As I thought. Damn All, Darling Come Home and Flying Robert of the Gentry. Once my former self's 'imaginary friends.' I thought I'd vaporised all of you refugees from the dark side of the Oedipus Complex."
"Little Dorothy! Back with us!" Darling Come Home clasped her hands together.
"Young woman, what do you mean vaporised? Come here now this instant."
But Flying Robert had sensed the power behind this new incarnation of Dorothy Spinner and fled the encroaching source of light, power and discernable threat with greater alacrity than its parents. All to no avail, as his balloonskull burst and his headless body spiralled down into the impenetrable scarlet darkness of the Bleed's interspatial void.
"You killed Flying Robert, you little-" Damn All brandished an outsize needle as Spindrift impassively entered the Bleed and then swore as it suddenly pulsed red, then white, then blue hot and burst into varicoloured flame. Spindrift grasped Damn All by his lapels and smiled, with no humour or warmth discernible:
"Don't tell me, time to sew up my head so the dirty things don't get out. I've got news for you. I know what you are and I know what you're supposed to represent. You were never 'imaginary friends,' you were employees of the Dark Mover sent to nullify or subvert me. You don't frighten me. You're nothing but volitional mindstuff and I have long outgrown you. Farewell, Damn All." He screamed as he combusted into a fireside array of newspaper and plastic and she stepped through him as if he was so much tissue.
Darling Come Home was the last of them. She considered Spindrift through her screen: "Why are you here? You should be too weak to manifest yourself outside New Genesis. It hasn't been that long since the Infinite Crisis and the destruction and resurrection of your people. What?"
"My, aren't we talkative? Whatever happened to the touching maternal platitudes and cliches? Or were you running this operation, Darling Come Home? As you did on Krypton-27? Because, given your emotional and intimate valence, you're actually the most powerful of the Gentry trinity that you represent, aren't you? Or were."
"I won't beg,' snarled Darling Come Home,"because there are more of us. More than you could ever dr-"
The words died on the anthromorphic personification's tongue. Standing alongside Spindrift was Dream of the Endless. Spindrift moved aside and smiled: "Sorry, Darling. Were you about to say 'dream?' Darling Come Home let out a long keening wail as Dream's eyes shone crystal and she was absorbed into the nebulous twilight world over which he was absolute master.
EPILOGUE:
New relationships blossomed over time and reconciliations were made. Owlwoman adopted James Gordons orphaned son Thomas as her new stepson and soon he was performing as Owlboy (as opposed to Raven, her first youthful companion). Her relationship with Salvatore blossomed and soon the owl and the cat married. Richard Greistark met Evan in a gay bar one night and the two men made love. Superman, Lois and Superlad settled on distant Zynrllyx and never returned to Earth. Interceptor replaced him as Earth-46's greatest champion and together with Kyle, they rebuilt. But that is another story for another day.
THE END