Post by redsycorax on Oct 7, 2018 0:00:27 GMT
On several worlds within the multiverse, the American Revolution of the 1770s/1780s fell flat, for numerous reasons. One nexus point involves a British victory at the Battle of Saratoga, while another dealt with the unexpected assassination of George Washington in March 1776. On many Earths where the American Revolution succeeded, fledgeling US security forces detected the conspiracy in time and apprehended the would-be killer, Private Thomas Hickey, executing him eventually in June 1776. But on Earth-24, Hickey's conspiracy was not detected and thus, he was able to shoot Washington at close range, killing him. As a consequence, the American Rebellion collapsed and the British Empire was able to subdue its rebellious colony. However, prudent counsel prevailed in London and colonial administration reforms gradually reconciled British North America to the 'mother country' as the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries ensued. Several mistakes made in US history did not recur in that of British North America. Earth-24 has other differences- Selina Kyle was a wealthy Gotham heiress whose parents were mown down in Crime Alley by hoodlum Bruce Wayne, which led her to become Catwoman. Lois Lane was born Lyla Jor-El on Krypton and was sent to Earth-24 when her native world exploded, eventually becoming Krypton Woman. It is now 2019 and British North America has been at internal peace for decades.
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'Get down, Your Majesty!"
King Henry IX may have been King-Emperor of the British Empire and all of its dominions, including the vastness of British North America, but he had known and trusted Krypton Woman for a great length of time. The redhaired monarch and his wife, Queen Meaghan, a native BNA inhabitant before the recent royal wedding, leant behind the podium as Krypton Woman scanned the landscape around her with her telescopic and x-ray vision. Abruptly, she spotted whom she was looking for:
[Selina, it's Americommando. And he seems to have kryptonite bullets in reserve.]
[He's also wearing a variable density harness so we can't teleport him out of there, Lois. Steve?]
Ganymede/Stephen Trevor leapt from a concealed building to an adjacent roof next to the American Revolutionary Army terrorist metahuman:
[Damn it, how did he get into a proscribed area so easily?! If I were still at the Department of Defence...]
[Check. I'll disarm him and Steve moves into position to kayo him...]
Americommando should have been acquainted with the combat strategies of his heroic adversaries, but then he tended to have problems with modern information technology, having been cryogenically frozen since 1976 and his last attempt to attack British North America and the Empire. Offstage, his Liberty and Vengeance League colleages Arachnida and Columbia gritted their teeth, afraid of what might ensue if Americommando was apprehended.
In in the event, it was all over rapidly. Americommando hardly felt thegossamer thin also as it fell over him, but he did as it abruptly jerked back. Flash accelerated forward and grabbed the kryptonite bullets, carrying them far away from the JCNA as Krypton Woman closed in:
”Three to beam up, Selina.”
”Krypton Woman? Please pass on our congratulations to Catwoman over the birth of her child.”
"Certainly, Your Royal Highness. And I see you and the King have your own congratulations in store."
Simon Rogers, otherwise known as Americommando, twisted in his bonds, surrounded by the four members of the Justice Confederation of North America. He hissed:
"You can torture me all you want. The American Revolutionary Army stands inviolate and resolute against all and any that would endanger us."
Krypton Woman sighed and shook her head: "No, that is incorrect. There is the League of Nations Zurich Convention on the Humane Treatment of Prisoners of War to consider, and we are signatories to that international agreement as a law enforcement organisation. We provide interdiction and secure facilities for terrorist metahumans like you."
"'Terrorists?' What is 'terrorist' about wanting a sovereign white Christian America?!"
"Well, apart from the fact that the Empire abolished slavery in British North America and throughout its other dominions in 1830..." Ganymede said with an expression of distaste on his face.
"That was an illegal act and made thousands of white Southern Christian Americans destitute."
"You shouldn't have to listen to this, Flash." Catwoman said, trying hard not to succumb to her convulsing stomach.
"No, she shouldn't. In fact, she shouldn't be in a room with decent white people, the fi-"
Krypton Woman stepped forward, grabbing Americommando by his uniform shirt and lifting him out of the chair:
"If you carry on in that manner, you will be held in one of our cells. We do not tolerate insults on the basis of gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, socio-economic background, disability or any other attribute here, is that firmly understood?"
"Yeah. Sorry. But it doesn't change the fact that you are interfering with our country's self-determination."
Catwoman raised her eyebrows:
"'Your' country? British North America is a self-governing parliamentary democracy with a legislature elected by proportional representation, an autonomous supreme court and an elected Governor General. African-Americans like the Flash here, women, ethnic and religious minorities, lesbian, gay and transgender BNA citizens all have the vote, the right to subsidised income maintenance through social security, equal rights to accomodation, employment and service provision under BNA antidiscrimination laws, reproductive and consensual adult sexual freedom, freedom of speech, assembly, religion and political belief." Krypton Woman exclaimed.
"Yet its real head of state resides permanently in Great Britain. Not here in the Confederate Revolutionary States of America. It has been corrupted with secular humanism, multiculturalism, the erosion of Christian ethics and morality-"
"And that justifies a scattershot terrorist attack on a group of unarmed civilians, does it, Mr Rogers? Mind you, the ARA was blowing up African-American churches with children inside in the 1930s, so what can you expect?"
"Your tyranny can kill me, but I will not submit. I will gladly become a martyr to our holy cause!" Spittle flew from Americommando's mouth as Krypton Woman suppressed a holding panel and their prisoner was cast into cryosuspension once more.
"It doesn't seem like eighty years have improved him. I'm not sure that another prolonged sentence will do so either. And it'll be shorter this time, given that mercifully we stopped him from killing anyone." Krypton Woman said as Catwoman fed her baby daughter.
"What twisted nonsense was he spouting, anyway? Capital punishment has been illegal throughout the Empire since 1961. Does he really think we'd put him to death?" The Flash exclaimed.
"There's no telling what's going on in that mind of his. Frankly, I'm not sure I want to know. I just hope we're free from further reprisals. Thank goodness the royal family are on their way back to London" Ganymede said. Krypton Woman thought back to one of her greatest failures, when she had tried and failed to halt the tragic car accident in that Parisian underground road tunnel which had taken the life of King Henry's father, Prince Richard of Wales, and his lover Carmilla Parker Boules, a mere year before the death of George VII, the current king's grandfather, in 2001. Princess Dowager Diana of Wales had stressed that the family did not hold Krypton Woman responsible for the tragedy, especially as she had been battling against Clark Kent's attempted hijacking of a lunar weather control facility. She sighed to herself.
Ganymede put his hand on her shoulder: "Lois, we all have causes for regret some time within our careers. If you hadn't stopped Kent, he would have obliterated the eastern BNA coast unless his demands were met."
"I know, Steve, and thanks. However, apart from Selina for obvious reasons, the rest of us should go on night patrol to insure there are no further problems."
"You mean the rumours about the ARA's own metahuman detachment, the "Liberty and Vengeance League?"
"Exactly, iris. I'm afraid none of us can rest for just yet."
Elsewhere, in the uninhabited former city of Atlanta, Arachnida, Columbia and Missileman debated what to do next:
"The problem is, outside Americommando's seniority and tactical experience, few of us are able to equal the JCNA in terms of their field and operational discipline. Granted, Arachnida could probably fight Catwoman to a standstill and Missileman might be a match for the Flash below a certain hyperspeed threshold. But together, the JCNA is virtually impregnable. Moreover, Americommando's fanaticism and rashness got him into this situation." Columbia said flatly.
"What about some lateral thinking?" Missileman queried.
"So, what do you mean?"
"The Justice Confederation are the mightiest metahuman team on Earth. Our Earth, that is. What about alternate Earths?"
"Easier said than done. What did you have in mind?"
"We use a deterrent against any further JCNA interference in our affairs- Earth-28."
Earth-28:
A world where the United States turned into a fascist, militarist state during the turmoil of the Great Depression. Charles Lindbergh and Raymond Pelly became dictators and at that ill-chosen time, Kal-El landed on that world, to be perverted and twisted into the malignant metahuman called Exemplar. Under Lindbergh, Pelly, Joseph McCarthy and Richard Nixon, USForces rampaged across that world, subduing Europe, the United Kingdom and finally liberal democratic Germany and Japan, until Exemplar's cousin Kara Zor-El arrived two decades later and became Interceptor, Exemplar's mortal adversary. Unfortunately, quantum flux and reiteration had beset that world and thus, a variant had emerged in its stead. It had returned the militarist and draconian USForces, but Exemplar was gone, replaced by a Daxamite metahuman, Magnaman.
To buttress the tyranny that controlled USForces on that Earth, an equally doctrinaire Justice Department of USForces had been assembled. Apart from Arn Nant (Magnaman), the other metahumans were Timothy Wayne (Eaglewing), that world's greatest detective, combat and tactical specialist; Penthesilea, an Amazon warrior committed to supporting Themiscyra's ally; Liberty's Torch, possessor of the "Green Lantern" starheart shard; and Scintilla (Jessica Chambers), the worlds fastest woman. Opposing them were Interceptor and her own metahuman alliance opposed to US Forces- the Young Justice League. Telepath, Pulse, Phantasm and Multiplex would have been members of the Legion of Super-Heroes on another Earth, but they had formed a specialist unit dedicated to assisting their Kryptonian ally.
Above the wartorn skies of Hawaii, Interceptor and Magnaman clashed as they had for years almost beyond recollection. The Kryptonian and Daxamite had each discovered that they had corresponding weaknesses, but that they were too easily matched. Shortly after Magnaman had arrived on Earth in the 1950s, a catalytic reaction occurred in which all lead on Earth was transformed into tungsten, while kryptonite was rarer than it was in many other universes due to the greater potency of Krypton's explosion than it was in other alternate universes, which had vaporised much of its planetary debris instead of expelling FTL meteoroid remnants. And so it was that Magnaman broke contact and accelerated across the horizon. Interceptor tapped her telepathic plug:
"Imra?"
"Kara. I take it that Nant's latest foray into Canadian airspace was unsuccessful?"
"More or less. We seem to have limited USForces to its own territory, but we can conversely penetrate no further. Added to which, Nant and LT dismantle any enemy aerospace incursion into its airspace and above. We don't even have satellite surveillance."
"Why is it that I suspect the JDUSF is up to something?"
"Because you're a telepath, Imra, and our greatest asset."
"Second greatest, surely?"
"I'll get back to base and we'll discuss what to do next."
At JDUSF Core, within its secluded mountain headquarters, Magnaman scowled to himself as Penthesilea taped his jaw:
"It's no good, Arn. Kara Zor-El is equal in abilities to you and any strategic advantage is cancelled out."
"Fortunately, that transmutation effect is permanent, so I don't have that eternal Daxamite vulnerability to radioactive lead isotopes to worry about here."
"Torch?"
"There appears to be an incoming interdimensional message."
It crackled into heat and light, and an image materialised onscreen at their central surveillance console:
"We assume this is Justice Department premises? We are representatives of the Liberty and Vengeance League. We are from the alternate universe designated Earth-24. British colonial tyranny survives on our world and the basic liberties of our country are ruthlessly and cruelly suppressed."
Magnaman was no fanatic:
"Not interested at all."
Liberty's Torch snapped: "You do not speak for me, Nant."
"Are you insane, Scott? We are stretched here as it is. We cannot afford this distraction."
"Why do you believe it would be a distraction, Arn?" Penthesilea asked.
"You cannot be serious- why should we travel to an alternate Earth when it is well outside our mission parameters?"
"Because it may hold valuable tactical and strategic lessons that would enable us to insure USForces hegemony, and then seize control of this world."
"Or it may expose us to unneccessary risk. Jesse?"
"Look, if you're worried about your vulnerability to that radioactive lead isotope, M-Man, it seems that its effects are isomorphic to this universe and it alone. You won't display similar susceptibility to alternate universe equivalents from that world." Scintilla said, drawing on her experiencea s a scientist.
"By the same token, Interceptor will therefore similarly be invulnerable to kryptonite from that alternate universe for the same reasons of isomorphism. If she follows us there, our stalemate will continue. Jesse, you've had some experience with alternate universes. Do you have any intel on what this "Earth-24" is like?"
"The Heisenberg Alternate Probability Index data is simplistic and quite basic. Apparently, on this world, General Burgoyne won the Battle of Saratoga, so the American Revolutionary War failed. Washington and the other core leaders of the "American rebellion" were executed. After the sobering lesson of the rebellion, the British Empire showed leniency and has been lenient in terms of civil liberties, human rights and parliamentary liberal democracy. British North America is a loyal British dominion. There seem to have been two global conflicts- 'great wars' -one against an aggressive heretical Sunni Muslim Caliphate, the other against a ruthless genocidal German social movement called the National Socialists. The "Liberty and Vengenace League" strike me as opportunists who want to reverse the suppression of the Rebellion. They are pitted against the Justice Confederation of North America, who appear to be a crimefighting and anti 'terrorist' organisation. One of them, Krypton Woman, is self-explanatory. Ganymede is from a Greek-derived advanced homosexual civilisation and volunteered his assistance to the world outside. He appears immortal. Catwoman is a highly disciplined and highly intelligent crimefighter. The Flash is my equivalent."
"In other words, they have no counterpart to me."
"No, Alan, they don't. That may prove a strategic weakness. They possess no counterpart either to your starheart meteor artefact or the interstellar police force known as the "Green Lantern Corps" in some alternate universes."
"If we are defeated and imprisoned, the USForces will risk total destruction. The rebels will face no barrier to their overthrow of USForces."
"Oh come on. Apart from Eaglewing, none of us are really committed to the ultimate survival of this regime. We just want the money or the political power. Rob is different because that air raid that killed his parents turned him into a regime loyalist. However, he will side with us."
"Of course I will. Could there ever be any question that I wouldn't?" Earth 28's Robert Wayne (Eaglewing) stood on the threshold. Scintilla looked away and cleared her throat. Had anyone been observing the Justice Department at that point, they would have detected factionalism, as Magnaman sighed, accepting the consensus, and Liberty's Torch embraced his fellow Gothamite:
"Well? This alternate Earth sounds like an abomination. It has suppressed and killed patriotic Americans who long for sovereignty and independence. They must be punished."
"With your technological prowess, Robert, that will only be a matter of time."
"Count on it, Alan." As the two men walked away, Scintilla and Magnaman exchanged worried glances:
"I'm not sure this will end well."
"Can you travel futurewards and check out whether it will or not?"
"There's turbulence in the timestream, Arn. Which does tend to add substance to our more cautious approach to the question of Earth-24. It suggests quantum flux instability and malleability."
"The problem is, if we can detect it, can Zor-El and her little praetorian guard?"
"They said yes!" Missileman exalted, until he saw the wary expressions on Arachnida. Columbia was less guarded:
"Now we need to work out how to break Americommando out of Belle Reve and unleash our new allies on the JCNA..."
Earth-24
Krypton Woman was unprepared for the yellow blur that accelerated toward her, but then another white-clad form flashed in front of her and thunder split the sky. She blinked:
"Didn't realise we monitored this, did you, Arn? Hello, Krypton Woman. I'm Kara Zor-El, Interceptor, Earth-28. That piece of $#!* currently floating stunned on the waves below is Magnaman, head of Earth-28's grossly misnamed "Justice Department." On their world, the United States not only survived, but became a malignant hyperpower called USForces with the connivance of its more corrupted metahumans."
"We've met before, Interceptor, but you must be a subsequent iteration if what I've read about the Multiverse is valid."
"The more fanatical nationalist JDUSF members became aware of your world and the fact that the American Revolution failed here is sufficient reason for them to launch an invasion of your world. We're here to assist the Justice Confederation to stop them."
"Thanks for your help, Kara. So tell me some more about these characters as we fly back to our satellite base."
The next incursion was against Ganymede, high above Burgoyne. He braked his invisible plane as he saw the figure in full Amazon battle armour ahead, who seemed intent on engaging him in battle. Abruptly, however, there was an eye-aching burst of energy as two energy streams collided with that armour. Penthesilea shouted at the figures below:
"I will have recompense against you, you feeble male weaklings! You cannot stop an Amazon Queen."
"Ganymede? Hello. I'm Pulse, from the Legion of Hope. That's Penthesilea, Queen of the Amazons of Themiscyra on our homeworld, Earth-28. She's part of an incursion force that wants to weaken your Justice Confederation before it invades here."
"Nice name."
"So what are we, Penny? Chopped spoo?" Phantasm said, as she materialised her hand inside Penthesilea's swordplace:
"No, nuisances and opportunists."
"What's it like being one of only two women in the JDUSF anyway?" Multiplex said as she replicated rapidly and opened beamer fire on the hapless, besieged Amazon.
"Strategy never was her strong point. Just overwhelming force." Phantasm added.
"I'm sorry I have to do this, but you leave me no option." Ganymede and Penthesilea were equally matched, but the members of the Legion of Hope were correct- strategy was not her strongest point. With a single blow, he incapacitated her.
Scintilla met the Flash next, but something else was wrong as she tried to break Americommando out of the Cryoimprisonment facility. She had succeeded by the time Iris got there, and Missileman also awaited the fastest woman alive, but Tom Strasser was experiencing wildly fluctuating readings from his internal guidance systems, leaving Iris to reach into his armour and rapidly dismantle it. Americommando grinned as he saw the two speedsters below him, intending to intervene on the side of the JDUSF speedster, but then he clutched his head in pain and fell from the sky.
Telepath swallowed: "I-I... d-didn't mean to kill him... what have I done?!"
"It wasn't your fault, honey. When Americommando got pieced together by his people, they were reckless about the chemicals and radiation treatment involved. Placing him in cryo was as much an act of mercy as an act of retribution for his terrorism. I'm sorry it ended that way, but it was only a matter of time."
Onboard the JCNA satellite, Catwoman had secreted her daughter Helena in an emergency compartment impervious to attack as she avoided Eaglewing's eaglerangs and blows:
"Damn you! This world is an abomination! The United States shall be free!"
"Really? From what Interceptor told us when she and Kyle Rayner visited us several months ago, freedom isn't a word that I'd use to describe your poisonous alternate Earth tyranny."
"You wouldn't understand. USForces protects us. They're our only shield against terrorists like the ones that murdered my parents."
"I'm sorry you had to go through that. I saw my parents murdered too. It galvanised me to fight crime. Unfortunately, you're the spitting image of that man, so I will prevail. I have no options otherwise."
"You will not. You gave birth three months ago-"
"Uh huh. Pregnancy doesn't mean incapitation." Then the stalemate ended and one of Catwoman's blows connected, delivering a knockout crack to her adversary's jaw.
The JCNA satellite showed an incoming blaze of light and energy as Liberty's Torch closed in on the strategic headquarters of his self-designated adversaries, only to be deflected as Krypton Woman and Interceptor closed in. He willed his ring to create Kryptonite, but Krypton Woman brushed it aside, causing his eyes to widen:
[He's using our universe's iteration of kryptonite, Lois, not yours. Be my guest.] Interceptor said, as she received confirmaion that the other Legion of Hope members had succeeded in their respective missions. And thus, the Woman of Tomorrow put paid to the last attempted incursion against Earth-24.
A half-hour later, the Justice Department had been assembled near a large transmatter bubble:
"We've instructed the Hall of Heroes to block access from your world in future. There will be no repetition of this." Krypton Woman said sternly.
Magnaman snarled: "Watch a rematch on our world?"
"Not really, no. We have our hands full fighting crime and terrorism here. However, we have provided our new Legion of Hope friends here with sufficient technological assistance to give your authoritarian nightmare of a metahuman security agency cause to regret ever coming here."
"This isn't over." Columbia scowled as she watched the Earth-28 contingent enter the portal to their own world.
"Americommando is dead, because of-"
Arachnida cut him short: "Because of the hells cauldron inside his head. That's it. I'm done here."
"Traitrous $!^@#!" Columbia hissed.
"Face facts, Col. You and Tommy here exploited Simon's mental illness and fanaticism. All he ever was to you two is cannon fodder. You make me sick."
"This isn't over, Perry. If and when we ever meet again..." Missileman said threateningly.
"Arachnida? Perry? Please, wait up."
Perry Patton turned, reluctantly: "I get it. If you want me in the slammer, I won't resist."
Krypton Woman shook her head: "You didn't engage in combat against us, which makes you technically innocent. Added to which, your revulsion at the others behaviour is welcome. Would you like a second chance?"
"Uh, I'm a shoplifter."
"Sorry, your criminal record has been erased. Well, what about it?" Flash said.
"I have a crippled uncle to attend to..." Arachnida said, hesitating
"We can help out there." Catwoman smiled.
"Okay, you're on." And with that, Perry Patton entered her new life as the JCNA closed ranks around her, welcoming her into their ranks.
Back on Earth-28, the hapless Justice Department bickered amongst themselves:
"No way. We are not returning to that world, even if we could. It's none of our concern. All we've done is power up Zor-El and her resistance colleagues and it looks like that pack of hopeless fools we intervened on behalf of are falling apart as we speak."
"We have a moral obligation to-" Liberty's Torch began.
"Face facts. We have no major opposition on this world inside USForces territory. That's weakened us. We're no match for them. We need to stay on this world and deal with our own threats first. No offworld excursions. Penny?"
"I'm with Magnaman and Scintilla. It wasn't worth it. All we have are a few bruises. I'm sorry, Rob and Alan. I know you don't feel this way, but our first priority is to defend USForces from incursion and threat, surely?" The two remaining JDUSF members glowered at the others, but at length, Liberty's Torch slowly nodded, reluctantly. But Eaglewing ripped up his JDUSF membership card, turned, and stalked away from his erstwhile colleagues.
THE END
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'Get down, Your Majesty!"
King Henry IX may have been King-Emperor of the British Empire and all of its dominions, including the vastness of British North America, but he had known and trusted Krypton Woman for a great length of time. The redhaired monarch and his wife, Queen Meaghan, a native BNA inhabitant before the recent royal wedding, leant behind the podium as Krypton Woman scanned the landscape around her with her telescopic and x-ray vision. Abruptly, she spotted whom she was looking for:
[Selina, it's Americommando. And he seems to have kryptonite bullets in reserve.]
[He's also wearing a variable density harness so we can't teleport him out of there, Lois. Steve?]
Ganymede/Stephen Trevor leapt from a concealed building to an adjacent roof next to the American Revolutionary Army terrorist metahuman:
[Damn it, how did he get into a proscribed area so easily?! If I were still at the Department of Defence...]
[Check. I'll disarm him and Steve moves into position to kayo him...]
Americommando should have been acquainted with the combat strategies of his heroic adversaries, but then he tended to have problems with modern information technology, having been cryogenically frozen since 1976 and his last attempt to attack British North America and the Empire. Offstage, his Liberty and Vengeance League colleages Arachnida and Columbia gritted their teeth, afraid of what might ensue if Americommando was apprehended.
In in the event, it was all over rapidly. Americommando hardly felt thegossamer thin also as it fell over him, but he did as it abruptly jerked back. Flash accelerated forward and grabbed the kryptonite bullets, carrying them far away from the JCNA as Krypton Woman closed in:
”Three to beam up, Selina.”
”Krypton Woman? Please pass on our congratulations to Catwoman over the birth of her child.”
"Certainly, Your Royal Highness. And I see you and the King have your own congratulations in store."
Simon Rogers, otherwise known as Americommando, twisted in his bonds, surrounded by the four members of the Justice Confederation of North America. He hissed:
"You can torture me all you want. The American Revolutionary Army stands inviolate and resolute against all and any that would endanger us."
Krypton Woman sighed and shook her head: "No, that is incorrect. There is the League of Nations Zurich Convention on the Humane Treatment of Prisoners of War to consider, and we are signatories to that international agreement as a law enforcement organisation. We provide interdiction and secure facilities for terrorist metahumans like you."
"'Terrorists?' What is 'terrorist' about wanting a sovereign white Christian America?!"
"Well, apart from the fact that the Empire abolished slavery in British North America and throughout its other dominions in 1830..." Ganymede said with an expression of distaste on his face.
"That was an illegal act and made thousands of white Southern Christian Americans destitute."
"You shouldn't have to listen to this, Flash." Catwoman said, trying hard not to succumb to her convulsing stomach.
"No, she shouldn't. In fact, she shouldn't be in a room with decent white people, the fi-"
Krypton Woman stepped forward, grabbing Americommando by his uniform shirt and lifting him out of the chair:
"If you carry on in that manner, you will be held in one of our cells. We do not tolerate insults on the basis of gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, socio-economic background, disability or any other attribute here, is that firmly understood?"
"Yeah. Sorry. But it doesn't change the fact that you are interfering with our country's self-determination."
Catwoman raised her eyebrows:
"'Your' country? British North America is a self-governing parliamentary democracy with a legislature elected by proportional representation, an autonomous supreme court and an elected Governor General. African-Americans like the Flash here, women, ethnic and religious minorities, lesbian, gay and transgender BNA citizens all have the vote, the right to subsidised income maintenance through social security, equal rights to accomodation, employment and service provision under BNA antidiscrimination laws, reproductive and consensual adult sexual freedom, freedom of speech, assembly, religion and political belief." Krypton Woman exclaimed.
"Yet its real head of state resides permanently in Great Britain. Not here in the Confederate Revolutionary States of America. It has been corrupted with secular humanism, multiculturalism, the erosion of Christian ethics and morality-"
"And that justifies a scattershot terrorist attack on a group of unarmed civilians, does it, Mr Rogers? Mind you, the ARA was blowing up African-American churches with children inside in the 1930s, so what can you expect?"
"Your tyranny can kill me, but I will not submit. I will gladly become a martyr to our holy cause!" Spittle flew from Americommando's mouth as Krypton Woman suppressed a holding panel and their prisoner was cast into cryosuspension once more.
"It doesn't seem like eighty years have improved him. I'm not sure that another prolonged sentence will do so either. And it'll be shorter this time, given that mercifully we stopped him from killing anyone." Krypton Woman said as Catwoman fed her baby daughter.
"What twisted nonsense was he spouting, anyway? Capital punishment has been illegal throughout the Empire since 1961. Does he really think we'd put him to death?" The Flash exclaimed.
"There's no telling what's going on in that mind of his. Frankly, I'm not sure I want to know. I just hope we're free from further reprisals. Thank goodness the royal family are on their way back to London" Ganymede said. Krypton Woman thought back to one of her greatest failures, when she had tried and failed to halt the tragic car accident in that Parisian underground road tunnel which had taken the life of King Henry's father, Prince Richard of Wales, and his lover Carmilla Parker Boules, a mere year before the death of George VII, the current king's grandfather, in 2001. Princess Dowager Diana of Wales had stressed that the family did not hold Krypton Woman responsible for the tragedy, especially as she had been battling against Clark Kent's attempted hijacking of a lunar weather control facility. She sighed to herself.
Ganymede put his hand on her shoulder: "Lois, we all have causes for regret some time within our careers. If you hadn't stopped Kent, he would have obliterated the eastern BNA coast unless his demands were met."
"I know, Steve, and thanks. However, apart from Selina for obvious reasons, the rest of us should go on night patrol to insure there are no further problems."
"You mean the rumours about the ARA's own metahuman detachment, the "Liberty and Vengeance League?"
"Exactly, iris. I'm afraid none of us can rest for just yet."
Elsewhere, in the uninhabited former city of Atlanta, Arachnida, Columbia and Missileman debated what to do next:
"The problem is, outside Americommando's seniority and tactical experience, few of us are able to equal the JCNA in terms of their field and operational discipline. Granted, Arachnida could probably fight Catwoman to a standstill and Missileman might be a match for the Flash below a certain hyperspeed threshold. But together, the JCNA is virtually impregnable. Moreover, Americommando's fanaticism and rashness got him into this situation." Columbia said flatly.
"What about some lateral thinking?" Missileman queried.
"So, what do you mean?"
"The Justice Confederation are the mightiest metahuman team on Earth. Our Earth, that is. What about alternate Earths?"
"Easier said than done. What did you have in mind?"
"We use a deterrent against any further JCNA interference in our affairs- Earth-28."
Earth-28:
A world where the United States turned into a fascist, militarist state during the turmoil of the Great Depression. Charles Lindbergh and Raymond Pelly became dictators and at that ill-chosen time, Kal-El landed on that world, to be perverted and twisted into the malignant metahuman called Exemplar. Under Lindbergh, Pelly, Joseph McCarthy and Richard Nixon, USForces rampaged across that world, subduing Europe, the United Kingdom and finally liberal democratic Germany and Japan, until Exemplar's cousin Kara Zor-El arrived two decades later and became Interceptor, Exemplar's mortal adversary. Unfortunately, quantum flux and reiteration had beset that world and thus, a variant had emerged in its stead. It had returned the militarist and draconian USForces, but Exemplar was gone, replaced by a Daxamite metahuman, Magnaman.
To buttress the tyranny that controlled USForces on that Earth, an equally doctrinaire Justice Department of USForces had been assembled. Apart from Arn Nant (Magnaman), the other metahumans were Timothy Wayne (Eaglewing), that world's greatest detective, combat and tactical specialist; Penthesilea, an Amazon warrior committed to supporting Themiscyra's ally; Liberty's Torch, possessor of the "Green Lantern" starheart shard; and Scintilla (Jessica Chambers), the worlds fastest woman. Opposing them were Interceptor and her own metahuman alliance opposed to US Forces- the Young Justice League. Telepath, Pulse, Phantasm and Multiplex would have been members of the Legion of Super-Heroes on another Earth, but they had formed a specialist unit dedicated to assisting their Kryptonian ally.
Above the wartorn skies of Hawaii, Interceptor and Magnaman clashed as they had for years almost beyond recollection. The Kryptonian and Daxamite had each discovered that they had corresponding weaknesses, but that they were too easily matched. Shortly after Magnaman had arrived on Earth in the 1950s, a catalytic reaction occurred in which all lead on Earth was transformed into tungsten, while kryptonite was rarer than it was in many other universes due to the greater potency of Krypton's explosion than it was in other alternate universes, which had vaporised much of its planetary debris instead of expelling FTL meteoroid remnants. And so it was that Magnaman broke contact and accelerated across the horizon. Interceptor tapped her telepathic plug:
"Imra?"
"Kara. I take it that Nant's latest foray into Canadian airspace was unsuccessful?"
"More or less. We seem to have limited USForces to its own territory, but we can conversely penetrate no further. Added to which, Nant and LT dismantle any enemy aerospace incursion into its airspace and above. We don't even have satellite surveillance."
"Why is it that I suspect the JDUSF is up to something?"
"Because you're a telepath, Imra, and our greatest asset."
"Second greatest, surely?"
"I'll get back to base and we'll discuss what to do next."
At JDUSF Core, within its secluded mountain headquarters, Magnaman scowled to himself as Penthesilea taped his jaw:
"It's no good, Arn. Kara Zor-El is equal in abilities to you and any strategic advantage is cancelled out."
"Fortunately, that transmutation effect is permanent, so I don't have that eternal Daxamite vulnerability to radioactive lead isotopes to worry about here."
"Torch?"
"There appears to be an incoming interdimensional message."
It crackled into heat and light, and an image materialised onscreen at their central surveillance console:
"We assume this is Justice Department premises? We are representatives of the Liberty and Vengeance League. We are from the alternate universe designated Earth-24. British colonial tyranny survives on our world and the basic liberties of our country are ruthlessly and cruelly suppressed."
Magnaman was no fanatic:
"Not interested at all."
Liberty's Torch snapped: "You do not speak for me, Nant."
"Are you insane, Scott? We are stretched here as it is. We cannot afford this distraction."
"Why do you believe it would be a distraction, Arn?" Penthesilea asked.
"You cannot be serious- why should we travel to an alternate Earth when it is well outside our mission parameters?"
"Because it may hold valuable tactical and strategic lessons that would enable us to insure USForces hegemony, and then seize control of this world."
"Or it may expose us to unneccessary risk. Jesse?"
"Look, if you're worried about your vulnerability to that radioactive lead isotope, M-Man, it seems that its effects are isomorphic to this universe and it alone. You won't display similar susceptibility to alternate universe equivalents from that world." Scintilla said, drawing on her experiencea s a scientist.
"By the same token, Interceptor will therefore similarly be invulnerable to kryptonite from that alternate universe for the same reasons of isomorphism. If she follows us there, our stalemate will continue. Jesse, you've had some experience with alternate universes. Do you have any intel on what this "Earth-24" is like?"
"The Heisenberg Alternate Probability Index data is simplistic and quite basic. Apparently, on this world, General Burgoyne won the Battle of Saratoga, so the American Revolutionary War failed. Washington and the other core leaders of the "American rebellion" were executed. After the sobering lesson of the rebellion, the British Empire showed leniency and has been lenient in terms of civil liberties, human rights and parliamentary liberal democracy. British North America is a loyal British dominion. There seem to have been two global conflicts- 'great wars' -one against an aggressive heretical Sunni Muslim Caliphate, the other against a ruthless genocidal German social movement called the National Socialists. The "Liberty and Vengenace League" strike me as opportunists who want to reverse the suppression of the Rebellion. They are pitted against the Justice Confederation of North America, who appear to be a crimefighting and anti 'terrorist' organisation. One of them, Krypton Woman, is self-explanatory. Ganymede is from a Greek-derived advanced homosexual civilisation and volunteered his assistance to the world outside. He appears immortal. Catwoman is a highly disciplined and highly intelligent crimefighter. The Flash is my equivalent."
"In other words, they have no counterpart to me."
"No, Alan, they don't. That may prove a strategic weakness. They possess no counterpart either to your starheart meteor artefact or the interstellar police force known as the "Green Lantern Corps" in some alternate universes."
"If we are defeated and imprisoned, the USForces will risk total destruction. The rebels will face no barrier to their overthrow of USForces."
"Oh come on. Apart from Eaglewing, none of us are really committed to the ultimate survival of this regime. We just want the money or the political power. Rob is different because that air raid that killed his parents turned him into a regime loyalist. However, he will side with us."
"Of course I will. Could there ever be any question that I wouldn't?" Earth 28's Robert Wayne (Eaglewing) stood on the threshold. Scintilla looked away and cleared her throat. Had anyone been observing the Justice Department at that point, they would have detected factionalism, as Magnaman sighed, accepting the consensus, and Liberty's Torch embraced his fellow Gothamite:
"Well? This alternate Earth sounds like an abomination. It has suppressed and killed patriotic Americans who long for sovereignty and independence. They must be punished."
"With your technological prowess, Robert, that will only be a matter of time."
"Count on it, Alan." As the two men walked away, Scintilla and Magnaman exchanged worried glances:
"I'm not sure this will end well."
"Can you travel futurewards and check out whether it will or not?"
"There's turbulence in the timestream, Arn. Which does tend to add substance to our more cautious approach to the question of Earth-24. It suggests quantum flux instability and malleability."
"The problem is, if we can detect it, can Zor-El and her little praetorian guard?"
"They said yes!" Missileman exalted, until he saw the wary expressions on Arachnida. Columbia was less guarded:
"Now we need to work out how to break Americommando out of Belle Reve and unleash our new allies on the JCNA..."
Earth-24
Krypton Woman was unprepared for the yellow blur that accelerated toward her, but then another white-clad form flashed in front of her and thunder split the sky. She blinked:
"Didn't realise we monitored this, did you, Arn? Hello, Krypton Woman. I'm Kara Zor-El, Interceptor, Earth-28. That piece of $#!* currently floating stunned on the waves below is Magnaman, head of Earth-28's grossly misnamed "Justice Department." On their world, the United States not only survived, but became a malignant hyperpower called USForces with the connivance of its more corrupted metahumans."
"We've met before, Interceptor, but you must be a subsequent iteration if what I've read about the Multiverse is valid."
"The more fanatical nationalist JDUSF members became aware of your world and the fact that the American Revolution failed here is sufficient reason for them to launch an invasion of your world. We're here to assist the Justice Confederation to stop them."
"Thanks for your help, Kara. So tell me some more about these characters as we fly back to our satellite base."
The next incursion was against Ganymede, high above Burgoyne. He braked his invisible plane as he saw the figure in full Amazon battle armour ahead, who seemed intent on engaging him in battle. Abruptly, however, there was an eye-aching burst of energy as two energy streams collided with that armour. Penthesilea shouted at the figures below:
"I will have recompense against you, you feeble male weaklings! You cannot stop an Amazon Queen."
"Ganymede? Hello. I'm Pulse, from the Legion of Hope. That's Penthesilea, Queen of the Amazons of Themiscyra on our homeworld, Earth-28. She's part of an incursion force that wants to weaken your Justice Confederation before it invades here."
"Nice name."
"So what are we, Penny? Chopped spoo?" Phantasm said, as she materialised her hand inside Penthesilea's swordplace:
"No, nuisances and opportunists."
"What's it like being one of only two women in the JDUSF anyway?" Multiplex said as she replicated rapidly and opened beamer fire on the hapless, besieged Amazon.
"Strategy never was her strong point. Just overwhelming force." Phantasm added.
"I'm sorry I have to do this, but you leave me no option." Ganymede and Penthesilea were equally matched, but the members of the Legion of Hope were correct- strategy was not her strongest point. With a single blow, he incapacitated her.
Scintilla met the Flash next, but something else was wrong as she tried to break Americommando out of the Cryoimprisonment facility. She had succeeded by the time Iris got there, and Missileman also awaited the fastest woman alive, but Tom Strasser was experiencing wildly fluctuating readings from his internal guidance systems, leaving Iris to reach into his armour and rapidly dismantle it. Americommando grinned as he saw the two speedsters below him, intending to intervene on the side of the JDUSF speedster, but then he clutched his head in pain and fell from the sky.
Telepath swallowed: "I-I... d-didn't mean to kill him... what have I done?!"
"It wasn't your fault, honey. When Americommando got pieced together by his people, they were reckless about the chemicals and radiation treatment involved. Placing him in cryo was as much an act of mercy as an act of retribution for his terrorism. I'm sorry it ended that way, but it was only a matter of time."
Onboard the JCNA satellite, Catwoman had secreted her daughter Helena in an emergency compartment impervious to attack as she avoided Eaglewing's eaglerangs and blows:
"Damn you! This world is an abomination! The United States shall be free!"
"Really? From what Interceptor told us when she and Kyle Rayner visited us several months ago, freedom isn't a word that I'd use to describe your poisonous alternate Earth tyranny."
"You wouldn't understand. USForces protects us. They're our only shield against terrorists like the ones that murdered my parents."
"I'm sorry you had to go through that. I saw my parents murdered too. It galvanised me to fight crime. Unfortunately, you're the spitting image of that man, so I will prevail. I have no options otherwise."
"You will not. You gave birth three months ago-"
"Uh huh. Pregnancy doesn't mean incapitation." Then the stalemate ended and one of Catwoman's blows connected, delivering a knockout crack to her adversary's jaw.
The JCNA satellite showed an incoming blaze of light and energy as Liberty's Torch closed in on the strategic headquarters of his self-designated adversaries, only to be deflected as Krypton Woman and Interceptor closed in. He willed his ring to create Kryptonite, but Krypton Woman brushed it aside, causing his eyes to widen:
[He's using our universe's iteration of kryptonite, Lois, not yours. Be my guest.] Interceptor said, as she received confirmaion that the other Legion of Hope members had succeeded in their respective missions. And thus, the Woman of Tomorrow put paid to the last attempted incursion against Earth-24.
A half-hour later, the Justice Department had been assembled near a large transmatter bubble:
"We've instructed the Hall of Heroes to block access from your world in future. There will be no repetition of this." Krypton Woman said sternly.
Magnaman snarled: "Watch a rematch on our world?"
"Not really, no. We have our hands full fighting crime and terrorism here. However, we have provided our new Legion of Hope friends here with sufficient technological assistance to give your authoritarian nightmare of a metahuman security agency cause to regret ever coming here."
"This isn't over." Columbia scowled as she watched the Earth-28 contingent enter the portal to their own world.
"Americommando is dead, because of-"
Arachnida cut him short: "Because of the hells cauldron inside his head. That's it. I'm done here."
"Traitrous $!^@#!" Columbia hissed.
"Face facts, Col. You and Tommy here exploited Simon's mental illness and fanaticism. All he ever was to you two is cannon fodder. You make me sick."
"This isn't over, Perry. If and when we ever meet again..." Missileman said threateningly.
"Arachnida? Perry? Please, wait up."
Perry Patton turned, reluctantly: "I get it. If you want me in the slammer, I won't resist."
Krypton Woman shook her head: "You didn't engage in combat against us, which makes you technically innocent. Added to which, your revulsion at the others behaviour is welcome. Would you like a second chance?"
"Uh, I'm a shoplifter."
"Sorry, your criminal record has been erased. Well, what about it?" Flash said.
"I have a crippled uncle to attend to..." Arachnida said, hesitating
"We can help out there." Catwoman smiled.
"Okay, you're on." And with that, Perry Patton entered her new life as the JCNA closed ranks around her, welcoming her into their ranks.
Back on Earth-28, the hapless Justice Department bickered amongst themselves:
"No way. We are not returning to that world, even if we could. It's none of our concern. All we've done is power up Zor-El and her resistance colleagues and it looks like that pack of hopeless fools we intervened on behalf of are falling apart as we speak."
"We have a moral obligation to-" Liberty's Torch began.
"Face facts. We have no major opposition on this world inside USForces territory. That's weakened us. We're no match for them. We need to stay on this world and deal with our own threats first. No offworld excursions. Penny?"
"I'm with Magnaman and Scintilla. It wasn't worth it. All we have are a few bruises. I'm sorry, Rob and Alan. I know you don't feel this way, but our first priority is to defend USForces from incursion and threat, surely?" The two remaining JDUSF members glowered at the others, but at length, Liberty's Torch slowly nodded, reluctantly. But Eaglewing ripped up his JDUSF membership card, turned, and stalked away from his erstwhile colleagues.
THE END