Post by redsycorax on Nov 23, 2018 22:00:54 GMT
"Willie! Breakfast!" Willie Fawcett opened his eyes and sniffed. A broad smile broke out on his face as he spotted the pile of pancakes and maple syrup on the breakfast table and Calvin and Kara (Superman and Supergirl) waiting for him. He jumped out of bed, quickly changed into his school uniform, brushed his teeth and prepared to devour the repast before him:
"Thanks, Mom!" Kara smiled tenderly. It had been an excellent idea for Kalel and her to adopt Willie Fawcett in their civilian identities, provide him with a home and compensate for the fact that neither of them would be able to have children for another decade, due to the vagaries of the Kryptonian reproductive cycle, which was at its null phase for both of them. It also meant that they could talk to Captain Thunder about events at the Justice Alliance's undersea citadel, given that Willie was his alter ego.
Afterwards, Kalel and Kara changed to their secret identities, flew down the chute that opened several kilometres away and emerged into the fresh Illinois open air:
"Nothing much appears to be happening, according to Aquaman down in the JAA complex. No extraterrestrial or Terran supervillain sightings that can't be fixed by individual intervention by one or more of us. It's been a quiet week." Superman commented.
His wife nodded: "I know what you mean. Uh oh, we may have spoken too soon..."
Across the country in Central City, Tanaka Rei had quickly apprehended one of his rogues, Weather Wizard, and had deposited him in Central City jail. At times, he wished that he had a relatively benign environment like Gotham City to care for. The Joker was long dead, the Riddler had left town, and the Penguin had reformed, opening a restaurant and bar chain and keeping 'clean.' Nowadays, Bruce and Dick Wayne left the low-level intermittent supervillain apprehension to the Gotham City Police Department. The Flash had no idea why Central City's own rogues gallery was so comparatively active, although it did have its own code. For that matter, Green Lantern's duties more often took him offworld these days, apprehending and curtailing the activities of predatory alien species and individuals. Then his JAA signaller chimed. So much for dinner with his wife and children this evening.
There was a spherical object lying amidst the scorched remnants of a wheatfield as the three Justice Alliance members converged on the sudden new arrival. Green Lantern and the Martian Manhunter appeared an instant later:
"Jose, John? Are there are any hostile indications from within that vessel?"
"My psionic scan reveals none. Does your power ring, Hector?"
"Negative on nuclear, antimatter, xenobacteriological or chemical threat parameters. It's safe."
As Green Lantern completed his scrutiny, the vessel's hatch opened.
There was a woman inside. She was tall, black and wearing a red and black outfit. She stirred groggily: "I...I..must've made it. I'm...Laurel Gand. Help me, someone. Anti-lead injection. Daxamite."
Superman and Supergirl looked at one another: "During the last iteration of our world, those people from Earths One and Two told me a little about their worlds. Daxam was originally colonised by Kryptonians but they ended up with an inverse vulnerability from radioactive lead isotopes. Clearly, it must exist in this universe as well." Kalel said.
"Easy, Laurel..." Atom said, as he helped the newcomer recover from her antilead serum injection.
"I'm...better now. What was that about the multiverse? I thought it was only a theory?"
"What happened to Daxam, Laurel?"
"An alien race, the Khu'unds, invaded our planetary system and destroyed our colonies and then our home planet as well."
"The Khu'unds? First, we encounter an alternate Daxam, a member of the Gand family and now an alternate version of the Khund Empire? Why is this happening now?"
"Well, most of our non-terrestrial contacts have been isolated extra-dimensional individuals and expeditionary groups. This was bound to happen to us sooner or later." J'onn J'onnz observed.
"I thought our universe was immune to threats like that." Batman said, glancing at Robin, his adopted son.
"Things change, Bruce, they transform and people develop. Look at you. When we formed the Alliance, you and Selina weren't married. Now, you've adopted Dick. Rai has come out as gay. Tanaka has kids. Green Arrow is paramount chief of his tribe. Captain Thunder arrived in this universe and Kal and Kara know what parenthood's like thanks to that." Hector commented.
"But nothing dark like this." Kara replied.
"We need to talk more to Laurel about this."
"Not before she's had a chance to rest and we've provided her with resources to recover from what happened." Kara said, helping the younger woman to her feet.
"It- it...just seemed so violent, nihilistic and purposeless. Daxam was neutral. We weren't a strategic target. We thought our isolationism would save us."
"I think we need to talk about this. First, Daxam. Planet of a red sun, colonised by Krypton, inhabitants vulnerable to lead. And?"
"We...had a civil war, motivated by xenophobia. The isolationists lost, but the resulting peace treaty gave them control over one of our planetary government houses in order to maintain peace. Their influence has been diminishing in recent years, but we kept a respectable planetary defence force. The Khu'unds... have a significant galactic empire. They've fought Thanagar in the past. They're tall, muscular and magenta-skinned. Their homeworld is a superearth." Laurel managed, as she slumped into a Kryptonian diagnostic bed.
"That poor girl..." Green Lantern said as he instructed his ring:
"Guardians? What is your response to the Khu'und invasion and destruction of Daxam? We have a refugee from the event here. Is Earth, or any other planet within my sector, at risk from the Khu'unds?"
"Jose Hernandez, Green Lantern of Earth and Sector 2814. The Guardians policy is to protect worlds in your own and adjacent sectors from such annihilation and depradation. Do you wish to provide Laurel Gand of Daxam with asylum from the Khu'und Empire?"
"Kal, Kara?"
"Yes, Guardian, we do. Will you be able to provide Green Lantern Corps reinforcements if there is any threat of aggression from Daxam's assailants?"
"We will expedite the process. Lantern Hernandez, you will be assigned with co-ordinating the new arrivals and stationing them at specific areas across your planet."
"At times like this, I wonder if our own isolationist attitudes toward other alternate universes are endangering this one, Cal." Batman commented as Laurel completed power level training and supervision in using her newfound abilities.
"I know what you mean, Bruce, but we all remember what happened to the original Earth-D. It wasn't quite paradise, but it was as close as we could get. Instead of which, in only days, we lost everything we valued and treasured. Shay, Kat, Diana, Dick and I were dead, and the world was visibly deteriorating despite everything the rest of you did to try to save it."
"The Justice League, Justice Society and Teen Titans did their best to try to save us."
"Yes. Yes, they did. But we couldn't fight an enemy like that on our own, could we? We didn't have the experience. Our world was more innocent than theirs had become. Now...now, it seems that all of that ersatz 'innocence' could have been illusory, merely a matter of our team's relative youth and inexperience."
"There's nothing wrong with that, Cal. There's nothing wrong with this world."
"No, not at all. However, there may be something wrong with us. We were returned to existence with full memories of what happened to the first iteration of the Justice Alliance on the original Earth-D. But some of the attitudes that we displayed back then may not be particularly appropriate as we develop further. I advocate we contact the Hall of Heroes and ask them for assistance."
"There's an alternate Khund Empire in Earth-500's universe?" Interceptor asked.
"It looks like the one in Earth-0's Legion of Super Heroes thirty-first century. They attacked Earth-0 in the early nineties and then again in 2966 CE. But there may be subtle differences. We need to contact the Legion and organise a reconnaissance and assistance party." Steelman of Earth-25 nodded.
"So the Legion managed to stop their Khunds without killing any of them?"
"That first time, yes. And on all of the subsequent occasions. Some metakhunds even joined the Legion in one of its subsidiary timelines. Which means that we may be able to do so without using lethal force against the Khu'unds here."
"Laurel has just lost her parents and family, Cal. We must not surrender her to them. She's a teenage girl."
"No argument there at all, Kara." Laurel cleared her throat:
"I didn't mean to endanger this planet-"
"No, Laurel, you aren't. You're a refugee here and you belong here. We will never surrender you to those genocidal butchers."
"One point, though. They may have reserve deposits of enhanced Kryptonite-based weaponry and have worked out ways to nullify Laurel's antilead serum. So that means that the other heavy hitters for the Alliance, and whatever members of the Green Lantern Corps that have been diverted here, need to face them off first."
"And risk your lives in the process, Jose?"
As if by providence, a green pulsating ball of light appeared on the horizon. As it drew closer, it resolved into a humanoid black haired woman, dressed identically to Jose:
"Greetings. I'm Alanna Sardath, Green Lantern of Rann, Alpha Centauri Bb in your interstellar categorisation schema. The Guardians said that you were at risk from a possible Khund incursion? This is one of their stalker probes."
Kalel and Kara looked at each other: "They know Laurel's here..."
As time went on, other Green Lanterns arrived on Earth-500. Alanna and Jose struck up a conversation and it seemed that she was an exosociologist, and that her technologically advanced world had been intercepting radio and television communication from Earth for quite some time. Using cloaking devices, Rann had launched interstellar microprobes and used them to supplement their information about the neighbouring solar system's sole inhabited planet. But Rann had escaped adverse attention from the Khu'unds. This was attributable to a nuclear war ten thousand years ago and Rann's higher than datum radiation profile, which weakened them if they set foot on the planet. That, and the fact that Alpha Centauri was a binary star also led to further radiation sensitivity. Unfortunately, Earth had none of those advantages that shielded her homeworld, Alanna reflected.
Superman and Supergirl took deep space scrutiny of the incoming Khu'und fleet. They noted weaponised kryptonite was available, as well as red solar-based particle beams. Captain Thunder was in the Cave of Eternity, consulting the shaman who had provided him with his own abilities, who warned him that the Khu'und Empire was not a mage-null domain and that it had its own paranormally empowered defenders. Aquaman also noted that the Khu'unds had their own aquatic subspecies which could inflict substantial damage on Atlantis and other submarine civilisations. The Flash had sped to his old allies in Simian City, in the hope that they could utilise their advanced technology against the incoming alien intruders. Batman and Robin made sure that Selina Wayne and Dick's adopted sisters and brothers were safe in the bunkerlike Second Batcave before leaving for the Justice Alliance seaquarters. Hawkboy and Hawkgirl checked and rechecked the status of their Thanagarian battle armour.
The Khu'und Fleet drew to a halt outside the Moon's orbit and its Grand Admiral addressed the planet below:
"Attention, People of Earth. Your metahuman Justice Alliance is harbouring a fugitive from the Khu'und Empire, Laurel Gand of Daxam. Unless you surrender her-"
"Did that entitle your empire to destroy that planet? Ms. Gand is in asylum here and we refuse to relinquish her. Your actions are in violation of the Galactic Federation Charter of Sentients Rights- indeed, so was the genocide that you perpetrated on Daxam. We will take any steps necessary to defend this planet from hostile extraterrestrial activity. Be warned." Supergirl said, as Superman, Hawkboy, Hawkgirl, Jose and Captain Thunder, along with seventy Green Lantern Corps members, accelerated into the upper atmosphere and into space, intent on repelling the Khu'und Imperial assault. Supergirl, Flash and Laurel stood on the Earth, ready to act as reinforcements should the front line fall.
Supergirl couldn't fight an intense feeling of dark deja vu, recalling that the Crisis on Earth-D had begun that way too, and Kalel had been one of the first casualties. Moreover, this was their first large-scale alien invasion. What was happening here? Would they survive this? Would the Justice Alliance be forced to compromise one of its foundational principles and kill in defence of their planetary sovereignty and the rights of a vulnerable refugee? Then, behind her, a transmatter cube began to pulsate and open onto the threatened Earth:
"Supergirl? James Olsen, Steelman, Earth-25. This is Crazyjane, Earth-49 and Interceptor, Earth-28. We're here to help."
Supergirl raised her eyebrows at one of the newcomers, who looked like the other Kara Zor-El from the pre-Crisis Earth-One. Interceptor winked back at her, then turned to Laurel:
"Daxamite, right? And those are Khunds? In most alternate universes, they don't encounter the United Federation of Planets or Earth until the thirtieth or thirty first centuries. Someone is deliberately trying to pervert the future development of this Earth." Steelman said.
Crazyjane had opened her Mama Pentecost personality and was intently scrying the Khu'und code communications. She nodded as she tapped them out onto a pad:
"Yeah, they were put up to this, sick bastards. This isn't supposed to happen for another nine centuries. Which means that they're being puppeted by..."
"Darkseid." A sonorous female voice spoke behind them- the former Dorothy Spinner, now Spindrift of the New Gods.
"Your presence here is unwanted."
"I have no doubt it is. However, you are far from your core theatre of operations and therefore weakened. Your Khu'und allies have been returned to their own planetary domains. Unfortunately, neither of us have the capabilities to resurrect Daxam and its millions of inhabitants from the genocide you unleashed. Darkseid, you are taking a considerable risk. Do not provoke the New Gods further with ill-considered actions such as this. Your gambit is over."
"Dorothy...?"
"Hello, Jane. Been a while, isn't it? Good to see you again."
"Thank you, Spindrift. We'd heard about the New Gods on Krypton but I'm honoured to actually meet you."
"I'm sorry the rest of you had a wasted journey from the Hall of Heroes, but-"
"Wait a minute. Does...that mean that there are alternate Daxams too? Which still exist?"
"Is this what you really want, Laurel?"
"As long as I'm here, it seems as if I will attract unwelcome Khu'und attention. Better that I seek a new life outside this world and universe."
Later that evening, at the Fortress of Solitude, Kara sat looking at the sky after Laurel had joined the multiverse team from the Hall of Heroes and left their universe. Kalel sat alongside her:
"Thinking about Laurel?"
"It'd be nice to have a daughter. But I can't blame Laurel for making her choice the way she did. If she wants to merge with another alternate who knows nothing about the ordeal she went through, I can understand that."
"We will, one day."
"It just felt so good. Given what we have with Willie, is it so wrong to want more than that?"
"No. Come on, let's go inside and have dinner." Kalel kissed Kara on the forehead and Superman and Supergirl strode inside, reflecting on what could have been.
Back on Apokolips, a scowling Darkseid smote his fist into his hammer. The fledgeling New God had been right. He could not continue to tolerate such arrogant abrogations of his prerogatives and power from New Genesis for much longer. Some day, there would come a reckoning.
THE END
"Thanks, Mom!" Kara smiled tenderly. It had been an excellent idea for Kalel and her to adopt Willie Fawcett in their civilian identities, provide him with a home and compensate for the fact that neither of them would be able to have children for another decade, due to the vagaries of the Kryptonian reproductive cycle, which was at its null phase for both of them. It also meant that they could talk to Captain Thunder about events at the Justice Alliance's undersea citadel, given that Willie was his alter ego.
Afterwards, Kalel and Kara changed to their secret identities, flew down the chute that opened several kilometres away and emerged into the fresh Illinois open air:
"Nothing much appears to be happening, according to Aquaman down in the JAA complex. No extraterrestrial or Terran supervillain sightings that can't be fixed by individual intervention by one or more of us. It's been a quiet week." Superman commented.
His wife nodded: "I know what you mean. Uh oh, we may have spoken too soon..."
Across the country in Central City, Tanaka Rei had quickly apprehended one of his rogues, Weather Wizard, and had deposited him in Central City jail. At times, he wished that he had a relatively benign environment like Gotham City to care for. The Joker was long dead, the Riddler had left town, and the Penguin had reformed, opening a restaurant and bar chain and keeping 'clean.' Nowadays, Bruce and Dick Wayne left the low-level intermittent supervillain apprehension to the Gotham City Police Department. The Flash had no idea why Central City's own rogues gallery was so comparatively active, although it did have its own code. For that matter, Green Lantern's duties more often took him offworld these days, apprehending and curtailing the activities of predatory alien species and individuals. Then his JAA signaller chimed. So much for dinner with his wife and children this evening.
There was a spherical object lying amidst the scorched remnants of a wheatfield as the three Justice Alliance members converged on the sudden new arrival. Green Lantern and the Martian Manhunter appeared an instant later:
"Jose, John? Are there are any hostile indications from within that vessel?"
"My psionic scan reveals none. Does your power ring, Hector?"
"Negative on nuclear, antimatter, xenobacteriological or chemical threat parameters. It's safe."
As Green Lantern completed his scrutiny, the vessel's hatch opened.
There was a woman inside. She was tall, black and wearing a red and black outfit. She stirred groggily: "I...I..must've made it. I'm...Laurel Gand. Help me, someone. Anti-lead injection. Daxamite."
Superman and Supergirl looked at one another: "During the last iteration of our world, those people from Earths One and Two told me a little about their worlds. Daxam was originally colonised by Kryptonians but they ended up with an inverse vulnerability from radioactive lead isotopes. Clearly, it must exist in this universe as well." Kalel said.
"Easy, Laurel..." Atom said, as he helped the newcomer recover from her antilead serum injection.
"I'm...better now. What was that about the multiverse? I thought it was only a theory?"
"What happened to Daxam, Laurel?"
"An alien race, the Khu'unds, invaded our planetary system and destroyed our colonies and then our home planet as well."
"The Khu'unds? First, we encounter an alternate Daxam, a member of the Gand family and now an alternate version of the Khund Empire? Why is this happening now?"
"Well, most of our non-terrestrial contacts have been isolated extra-dimensional individuals and expeditionary groups. This was bound to happen to us sooner or later." J'onn J'onnz observed.
"I thought our universe was immune to threats like that." Batman said, glancing at Robin, his adopted son.
"Things change, Bruce, they transform and people develop. Look at you. When we formed the Alliance, you and Selina weren't married. Now, you've adopted Dick. Rai has come out as gay. Tanaka has kids. Green Arrow is paramount chief of his tribe. Captain Thunder arrived in this universe and Kal and Kara know what parenthood's like thanks to that." Hector commented.
"But nothing dark like this." Kara replied.
"We need to talk more to Laurel about this."
"Not before she's had a chance to rest and we've provided her with resources to recover from what happened." Kara said, helping the younger woman to her feet.
"It- it...just seemed so violent, nihilistic and purposeless. Daxam was neutral. We weren't a strategic target. We thought our isolationism would save us."
"I think we need to talk about this. First, Daxam. Planet of a red sun, colonised by Krypton, inhabitants vulnerable to lead. And?"
"We...had a civil war, motivated by xenophobia. The isolationists lost, but the resulting peace treaty gave them control over one of our planetary government houses in order to maintain peace. Their influence has been diminishing in recent years, but we kept a respectable planetary defence force. The Khu'unds... have a significant galactic empire. They've fought Thanagar in the past. They're tall, muscular and magenta-skinned. Their homeworld is a superearth." Laurel managed, as she slumped into a Kryptonian diagnostic bed.
"That poor girl..." Green Lantern said as he instructed his ring:
"Guardians? What is your response to the Khu'und invasion and destruction of Daxam? We have a refugee from the event here. Is Earth, or any other planet within my sector, at risk from the Khu'unds?"
"Jose Hernandez, Green Lantern of Earth and Sector 2814. The Guardians policy is to protect worlds in your own and adjacent sectors from such annihilation and depradation. Do you wish to provide Laurel Gand of Daxam with asylum from the Khu'und Empire?"
"Kal, Kara?"
"Yes, Guardian, we do. Will you be able to provide Green Lantern Corps reinforcements if there is any threat of aggression from Daxam's assailants?"
"We will expedite the process. Lantern Hernandez, you will be assigned with co-ordinating the new arrivals and stationing them at specific areas across your planet."
"At times like this, I wonder if our own isolationist attitudes toward other alternate universes are endangering this one, Cal." Batman commented as Laurel completed power level training and supervision in using her newfound abilities.
"I know what you mean, Bruce, but we all remember what happened to the original Earth-D. It wasn't quite paradise, but it was as close as we could get. Instead of which, in only days, we lost everything we valued and treasured. Shay, Kat, Diana, Dick and I were dead, and the world was visibly deteriorating despite everything the rest of you did to try to save it."
"The Justice League, Justice Society and Teen Titans did their best to try to save us."
"Yes. Yes, they did. But we couldn't fight an enemy like that on our own, could we? We didn't have the experience. Our world was more innocent than theirs had become. Now...now, it seems that all of that ersatz 'innocence' could have been illusory, merely a matter of our team's relative youth and inexperience."
"There's nothing wrong with that, Cal. There's nothing wrong with this world."
"No, not at all. However, there may be something wrong with us. We were returned to existence with full memories of what happened to the first iteration of the Justice Alliance on the original Earth-D. But some of the attitudes that we displayed back then may not be particularly appropriate as we develop further. I advocate we contact the Hall of Heroes and ask them for assistance."
"There's an alternate Khund Empire in Earth-500's universe?" Interceptor asked.
"It looks like the one in Earth-0's Legion of Super Heroes thirty-first century. They attacked Earth-0 in the early nineties and then again in 2966 CE. But there may be subtle differences. We need to contact the Legion and organise a reconnaissance and assistance party." Steelman of Earth-25 nodded.
"So the Legion managed to stop their Khunds without killing any of them?"
"That first time, yes. And on all of the subsequent occasions. Some metakhunds even joined the Legion in one of its subsidiary timelines. Which means that we may be able to do so without using lethal force against the Khu'unds here."
"Laurel has just lost her parents and family, Cal. We must not surrender her to them. She's a teenage girl."
"No argument there at all, Kara." Laurel cleared her throat:
"I didn't mean to endanger this planet-"
"No, Laurel, you aren't. You're a refugee here and you belong here. We will never surrender you to those genocidal butchers."
"One point, though. They may have reserve deposits of enhanced Kryptonite-based weaponry and have worked out ways to nullify Laurel's antilead serum. So that means that the other heavy hitters for the Alliance, and whatever members of the Green Lantern Corps that have been diverted here, need to face them off first."
"And risk your lives in the process, Jose?"
As if by providence, a green pulsating ball of light appeared on the horizon. As it drew closer, it resolved into a humanoid black haired woman, dressed identically to Jose:
"Greetings. I'm Alanna Sardath, Green Lantern of Rann, Alpha Centauri Bb in your interstellar categorisation schema. The Guardians said that you were at risk from a possible Khund incursion? This is one of their stalker probes."
Kalel and Kara looked at each other: "They know Laurel's here..."
As time went on, other Green Lanterns arrived on Earth-500. Alanna and Jose struck up a conversation and it seemed that she was an exosociologist, and that her technologically advanced world had been intercepting radio and television communication from Earth for quite some time. Using cloaking devices, Rann had launched interstellar microprobes and used them to supplement their information about the neighbouring solar system's sole inhabited planet. But Rann had escaped adverse attention from the Khu'unds. This was attributable to a nuclear war ten thousand years ago and Rann's higher than datum radiation profile, which weakened them if they set foot on the planet. That, and the fact that Alpha Centauri was a binary star also led to further radiation sensitivity. Unfortunately, Earth had none of those advantages that shielded her homeworld, Alanna reflected.
Superman and Supergirl took deep space scrutiny of the incoming Khu'und fleet. They noted weaponised kryptonite was available, as well as red solar-based particle beams. Captain Thunder was in the Cave of Eternity, consulting the shaman who had provided him with his own abilities, who warned him that the Khu'und Empire was not a mage-null domain and that it had its own paranormally empowered defenders. Aquaman also noted that the Khu'unds had their own aquatic subspecies which could inflict substantial damage on Atlantis and other submarine civilisations. The Flash had sped to his old allies in Simian City, in the hope that they could utilise their advanced technology against the incoming alien intruders. Batman and Robin made sure that Selina Wayne and Dick's adopted sisters and brothers were safe in the bunkerlike Second Batcave before leaving for the Justice Alliance seaquarters. Hawkboy and Hawkgirl checked and rechecked the status of their Thanagarian battle armour.
The Khu'und Fleet drew to a halt outside the Moon's orbit and its Grand Admiral addressed the planet below:
"Attention, People of Earth. Your metahuman Justice Alliance is harbouring a fugitive from the Khu'und Empire, Laurel Gand of Daxam. Unless you surrender her-"
"Did that entitle your empire to destroy that planet? Ms. Gand is in asylum here and we refuse to relinquish her. Your actions are in violation of the Galactic Federation Charter of Sentients Rights- indeed, so was the genocide that you perpetrated on Daxam. We will take any steps necessary to defend this planet from hostile extraterrestrial activity. Be warned." Supergirl said, as Superman, Hawkboy, Hawkgirl, Jose and Captain Thunder, along with seventy Green Lantern Corps members, accelerated into the upper atmosphere and into space, intent on repelling the Khu'und Imperial assault. Supergirl, Flash and Laurel stood on the Earth, ready to act as reinforcements should the front line fall.
Supergirl couldn't fight an intense feeling of dark deja vu, recalling that the Crisis on Earth-D had begun that way too, and Kalel had been one of the first casualties. Moreover, this was their first large-scale alien invasion. What was happening here? Would they survive this? Would the Justice Alliance be forced to compromise one of its foundational principles and kill in defence of their planetary sovereignty and the rights of a vulnerable refugee? Then, behind her, a transmatter cube began to pulsate and open onto the threatened Earth:
"Supergirl? James Olsen, Steelman, Earth-25. This is Crazyjane, Earth-49 and Interceptor, Earth-28. We're here to help."
Supergirl raised her eyebrows at one of the newcomers, who looked like the other Kara Zor-El from the pre-Crisis Earth-One. Interceptor winked back at her, then turned to Laurel:
"Daxamite, right? And those are Khunds? In most alternate universes, they don't encounter the United Federation of Planets or Earth until the thirtieth or thirty first centuries. Someone is deliberately trying to pervert the future development of this Earth." Steelman said.
Crazyjane had opened her Mama Pentecost personality and was intently scrying the Khu'und code communications. She nodded as she tapped them out onto a pad:
"Yeah, they were put up to this, sick bastards. This isn't supposed to happen for another nine centuries. Which means that they're being puppeted by..."
"Darkseid." A sonorous female voice spoke behind them- the former Dorothy Spinner, now Spindrift of the New Gods.
"Your presence here is unwanted."
"I have no doubt it is. However, you are far from your core theatre of operations and therefore weakened. Your Khu'und allies have been returned to their own planetary domains. Unfortunately, neither of us have the capabilities to resurrect Daxam and its millions of inhabitants from the genocide you unleashed. Darkseid, you are taking a considerable risk. Do not provoke the New Gods further with ill-considered actions such as this. Your gambit is over."
"Dorothy...?"
"Hello, Jane. Been a while, isn't it? Good to see you again."
"Thank you, Spindrift. We'd heard about the New Gods on Krypton but I'm honoured to actually meet you."
"I'm sorry the rest of you had a wasted journey from the Hall of Heroes, but-"
"Wait a minute. Does...that mean that there are alternate Daxams too? Which still exist?"
"Is this what you really want, Laurel?"
"As long as I'm here, it seems as if I will attract unwelcome Khu'und attention. Better that I seek a new life outside this world and universe."
Later that evening, at the Fortress of Solitude, Kara sat looking at the sky after Laurel had joined the multiverse team from the Hall of Heroes and left their universe. Kalel sat alongside her:
"Thinking about Laurel?"
"It'd be nice to have a daughter. But I can't blame Laurel for making her choice the way she did. If she wants to merge with another alternate who knows nothing about the ordeal she went through, I can understand that."
"We will, one day."
"It just felt so good. Given what we have with Willie, is it so wrong to want more than that?"
"No. Come on, let's go inside and have dinner." Kalel kissed Kara on the forehead and Superman and Supergirl strode inside, reflecting on what could have been.
Back on Apokolips, a scowling Darkseid smote his fist into his hammer. The fledgeling New God had been right. He could not continue to tolerate such arrogant abrogations of his prerogatives and power from New Genesis for much longer. Some day, there would come a reckoning.
THE END