Post by redsycorax on Jul 7, 2020 3:15:23 GMT
Earth-980. In rural California, a US Army covert bacteriological warfare experiment, "Project Blue" broke containment. In one of those incidents that characterise the prelude to great tragedy, Private Charlie Campion panicked and evacuated his family from the base abruptly in his car, just before the gate's emergency locking mechanism sealed it off from the outside world, but to no avail. Over the next four days, Private Campion, his wife Sally and infant daughter LaVon became increasingly more ravaged by the disease, but in that time, the afflicted family had travelled across four states within the southwestern United States and infected many who came into contact with them. Finally, the Campion's car spun out of control in Arnette, a small rural East Texas community that lay just north of Houston and crashed into inactive petrol pumps at a gas station. However, by then the damage had been done. The sickness' incubation period meant there was no way to halt the genetically engineered influenza virus ("Captain Trips") once it became established and it spread inexorably across the face of the planet. Hospitals and prisons became open morgues, civil order broke down and then the looters and brigands became sick in their turn and died in their cars or in the shops they preyed upon. Some almost identical Earths didn't have metahumans available to them. But Earth-980 did. So what happens when truth and the American Way become mutually exclusive?
+++
They thought they could save the world
This time but now many of them are gone
The virus doesn't fear humanity
Nor do the elements of nature, amidst this apocalypse
Come on humanity bow down before Darkseid
Humanity bend your knees, bow down before Darkseid
Or be scythed down by Captain Trips
Humanity is done
La, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la
It is the end of romance
in Star City today
Oliver Queen and Dinah Lance
Are together forever more , Oliver and Dinah
400,000 dying everyday, like Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon
4,000,000 claimed by Captain Trips Felled by the virus
Another 4,000,000 fall everyday, join them in oblivion
Come on humanity, bow down before Darkseid
Humanity bend your knee, bow down before Darkseid
Only the strong survive, bow down before Darkseid
Humanity, it's the end
La, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la
Carol and Hal perished side by side
Here, and they've gone in the dark
Came the crescendo of the virus
Iris Allen couldn't live without Barry
He couldn't outrun Captain Trips
The candles blew and then a gunshot echoed
The curtains flew and then she fell to the ground
Darkseid came and said "be very afraid"
But John Stewart had no fear And neither did the Green Lanterns
For with plague came a war. Stewart never said goodbye
to his lover Tawny Young
Spindrift glowered in rage, with the power in her hands
She wanted to destroy him as he'd destroyed her world
She would never bow before Darkseid
"Bow Down Before Darkseid" (Captain Trips edition).
+++
"Bruce?"
"I'm sorry, Clark."
"That isn't the issue here, and you know it. I'm a professional journalist. Or I was. Why did Wayne Enterprises do it, Bruce? Why did you assist funding into the Captain Trips project?"
"I honestly didn't know. Blame me if you must."
"No. No, I'm not. How's Selina?"
"Gone. Lois?"
Superman looked away, not speaking:
"I was supposed to protect this world from something like this happening."
"You can't be everywhere, all the time. And the League?"
"Arthur and the Atlanteans are homo aquaticus, not sapiens. Zatanna lived because she was homo magus for much the same reason. They survived as a consequence. But Ray, Barry and Iris, Hal and Carol, Oliver and Dinah, they're all gone. So, how did you survive?"
"I have no idea. I imagine I must have some form of genetic immunity. Virtually no-one else in Gotham did. Dick, Jason, Tim, the Titans, Barbara, Jim, Alfred...the city's become a charnel house."
"So, what? Do we convene the rest of the Justice League, or what's left of us?"
"Katar and Shayera are offworld. They sent word that they won't be returning. The Green Lantern Corps has offered assistance. J'onn, Red Tornado, Zatanna, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, you and I are the only ones that are left. There's nothing left to salvage- civilisation has collapsed, millions are dead. The worst has already happened."
"The world needs us, Clark."
"They were depending on us to save them, Bruce. We failed them."
"There are still human beings left alive. We need to protect them."
"Crime, anarchy, depravity and destruction. Good luck with that, Bruce."
"This isn't like you, Clark."
"I'm not sure I can take this any more, Bruce. This is the second world I've lost."
"Not quite, Clark. There are still twenty seven million people left alive."
"That still means over ninety nine percent of the global population- four and a half billion people- perished."
"Clark, what's gotten into you?"
"I'm burnt out. Kara and I might take Kandor and go somewhere else."
"What if I told you this might be deliberate?"
"I know about the bacteriological warfare experiment that broke boundaries."
"I'm not talking about that."
"If you're talking about supervillains... Brainiac would have no reason to do it. Luthor may have been many things, but he wasn't a psychotic mass murderer. And this is beyond the scope of the Joker, whom I assume is rotting in Arkham Asylum's graveyard right now."
Bruce nodded: "I checked. All of them are gone."
"So is Lex. I found him slumped over his core laboratory table at LexCorp HQ. He was trying to come up with an antidote for the virus. Ironic that it took that magnitude of a threat to redeem him, Bruce. In the end, he found a greater challenge than merely acting as my antithesis. So, if it wasn't him..."
"I sent some drones into the Californian facility to see what happened. It seems to be the case that one second...no, one microsecond... the protective barrier was intact. Then it shattered. In doing so, it unleashed a cascade effect. Yet, given the risk at the facility, there were multiple backups. There was no nihilistic computer hacking, either. I checked its online firewall. It held throughout the containment failure."
"Only an alien technology could have done something that precise."
"And, as you mentioned beforehand, Brainiac has no logical motivation to trigger an apocalyptic plague on Earth."
"Nor does Drax. Not that he's a threat anymore, given that he's currently under transtemporal imprisonment. Who, Bruce?"
"I've gone through all of our rogues galleries. Given the Legion of Super Heroes alternate future has been shunted sidewise by this event, it's unlikely to be any of their major league opponents. Much the same has happened to Barry's former rogues gallery time travellers like Professor Zoom and Abra Kadabra. Sinestro restricts most of his activities off-Earth and even he has moral boundaries, given what happened to Korugar- apocalyptic destruction isn't his modus operandi. Of the others, I don't have a sufficiently empowered rogues gallery, nor do you, Barry, Hal or Diana otherwise."
Clark looked up: "What if it's not from our alternate universe? What if it's the Crime Syndicate of Amerika, Bruce? Owlman is certainly your intellectual match and Johnny Quick has the superspeed to intervene."
Bruce shook his head: "Diabolus in machina, Clark. I checked. The interdimensional barrier that separates us from Earth-III (NB: Earth-982) is intact. I know, I thought of them as well."
"Then who or what does that leave?"
Bruce's answer left a chill down Clark's ramrod steel spine: "Darkseid."
OA:
"It's my homeworld, damn it." John Stewart said, above the meelee of the Green Lantern Corps.
Guardian Ganthet held his hand up for calm:
"It is, and it has sustained a grievous genocide at the hands of Darkseid, John Stewart. This violates all galactic charters of sentients rights. Which is why we have taken it upon ourselves to open dialogue with Thal Sinestro."
John swallowed at the image of his predecessor's oldest nemesis, but something had changed in his demeanour. Sinestro seemed... forelorn, sorrowing, almost compassionate:
"I cannot say how much I grieve for your homeworld, John Stewart, as I do my own. There is a boundary that cannot be crossed and that arrogant Dark God poseur has done so. In view of the almost unparalleled tragedy that has befallen Earth, I will be suspending all hostilities against the Green Lantern Corps and Guardians, effective immediately and for the duration of this crisis. If you'll have me at your side, Stewart, we will bring the war back to this genocidal butcher."
Tears wet on his face, John Stewart nodded: "Thank you, Sinestro. It takes courage and fortitude to overcome the habits of a lifetime. I applaud you for it. All right, then. Together."
NEW GENESIS:
"Kal-El is not the only one who failed them." Orion commented, glaring at Highfather.
"Not now, Orion."
"Forgive me, my Lord Highfather, but when otherwise? On Earth, four and a half billion human beings were obliterated by Darkseid's murderous malice." Lightray added his own urgent inquiry to his companions.
"You and Orion have spent time on that world, you are hardly disinterested parties. I have to deal with the scale of cosmic politics. For aeons, Apokolips and New Genesis have kept an uneasy peace at parity with one another. To overturn that now, no matter how grave the tragedy involved, would be a matter of unprecedented seriousness."
Spindrift angrily rose amidst the quorum of New Gods:
"Damn you, Highfather! Unlike the rest of you, I was born on Earth. This is an act of planetary genocide. If we quail before Darkseid now, what will be next? His own recklessness and fanaticism has triggered this pending confrontation."
"And if we trigger a cosmic war because of this causa belli, it may obliterate everything in this universe. Are you prepared to take that responsibility, Spindrift?"
"Surely you aren't thinking of negotiating with that treacherous bastard, Highfather? After this? And don't hide behind the sophistry that the sacrifice of billions may be necessary to safeguard the lives of trillions of other sentients. If we appease Darkseid now, he may become sufficiently emboldened enough to reach further anyway." Orion persisted.
"I...have foreseen that contingency too." Highfather confessed, his head bowed.
"Then it is war. It must be war!" Spindrift exclaimed.
EUTHANATA:
Death of the Endless raised her head, groggy, from her fireside chair. She looked up at her brother:
"Destiny? What is it?"
"You do not know my sister?"
"I...had this dream. A young soldier and his family sped away from a covert US bacteriological containment facility. And it was playing...Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper" on the soundtrack. Oh no. It wasn't a dream, was it? Because if it was, Dream would have been here to discuss it with me."
"Yes. Four and a half billion human beings were sent into oblivion by a mutated bacterial epidemic called "Captain Trips". This was not meant to happen."
"What? It's not in your Book of Destiny? But it's multiversal. That's impossible."
"Something has defied the Endless deliberately and it has affected the balance of power within our family, my sister. Desire and Dream are grievously weakened from the decimation that has occurred here. Delirium and Despair have grown significantly stronger."
"Why can't I remember any of this? I'm the tutelary aspect and personification of mortality. Was it one of the other thanatos avatars?"
"Nekron is still sealed. I am unable to locate the Dark Racer. I suspect that may answer our question."
ARKHAM CEMETERY:
All at once, he came to. He couldn't breathe, sealed into the narrow ashwood box, but with manic strength, he pushed his hands upward. He thrust upward and broke the fragile wood and gasped gratefully for breath. He looked upward as a shadow crossed his path. He smiled:
"Well, hello there. We haven't been formally introduced. I'm Jack. People usually called me the Joker. Phe-ewww. What's that hideous smell?"
The shadow helped him to his feet. Around him. he could see only selected others- the Scarecrow, the Psycho Pirate and...:
"Nastalthia Luthor?"
"Yeah, what's it to you?"
"I take it Uncle Lex didn't make it?"
"Nah. And back off, corpseface. I heard what you did to Harley Quinn. You may be psychotic, but I'm nihilistic."
"Aren't you delightful?" The Joker said as Nastalthia glared at him.
"So who brought us back?"
"I'd like to answer that question if I may..."
JLA MOUNTAIN BASE:
Bruce stared impassively at the viewscreen before them. Across the world, it showed much the same haunting spectacle- flyblown, decaying human bodies and the remains of animals, buildings ablaze, deserted fairgrounds, beaches and street shopfronts. He pushed thoughts of Talia and Selina out of his mind and how he had last seen both of them. And Dick. And Barbara. And Alfred. There was a long line into the darkness and if he stared into that existential abyss for long enough, it might well consume him. Around him, Earth's surviving metasapients were assembling. Diana cleared her throat:
"Don't do it to yourself, Bruce. This event was beyond our control."
"We were supposed to protect them, Diana."
"We are protecting those that survived, however. Clark and Kara are out scanning the debris and buildings for isolated groups of survivors. However, there's a forcescreen around Boulder, Colorado and Las Vegas in Nevada which we can't penetrate. What is it?"
"I've been reviewing the database that recorded the experimental trajectory of Captain Trips. There's an unexplained data entry that isn't sourced to Department of Defence sources. One which seems to contain the hypervirulence genetic sequence within its genome. I think it was deliberately introduced."
"By Darkseid."
"What else? The hypervirulence sequence shows clear signs of nanotechnological tampering, Diana. That's well beyond twentieth century technological prowess. Ah, Raven. What have you found?"
"It is not promising, Diana. J'onn has told me that he is monitoring conflicting telepathic streams from two adepts in each of the shielded survivor communities. One is a kindly, aged black woman named Abigail. The other...is a dark entity named Randall Flagg. Zatanna and I suspect him to be paranormal in origin. I sense great malevolence in him." Raven replied.
"What about Starfire and the others?"
"Koriand'r is still out assisting Superman and Supergirl. I think she is still grieving Richard's untimely end. She is not alone there."
"Is there anything we can do to assist the situation in those two areas, Raven?"
"No, Bruce. I have attempted to teleport in, as has Zatanna. The areas are impervious to paranormal incursion, and much the same is true when it comes to Starfire's energy bolts. Evidently, the two areas are meant as sanctuaries."
Diana sighed: "Even with our expanded Justice League roster and the absorption of the surviving members of the Teen Titans, Outsiders, Doom Patrol and others, we're being run ragged. As the essential systems that once underpinned human civilisation go unmaintained, they are beginning to fail and in doing so, endanger what few humans survived this apocalypse. Nuclear reactors melt down, dams burst, industrial processes override human safeguards. Get some sleep, Bruce."
HEMINGTON HOME, NEBRASKA:
Bruce Wayne found himself barefooted in a Nebraska cornfield. Adjacent to it, in a cabin, an elderly woman was singing from a hymnal. She looked up as he left the field and stepped toward her:
"You are welcome here, Mr Wayne."
"Mother Abigail Freemantle, I assume? I thought it might be you when Raven told me. I heard of you years ago."
Mother Abigail smiled: "And you kept me safe from that Amanda Wallace woman, too. I am grateful for that, Mr Wayne."
Bruce knelt by the elderly figure in her rocking chair: "You're the one that deserves my respect. You know who I really am? Or was?"
"The Batman. You may frighten superstitious, cowardly criminals, but you are on the side of virtue and light. Your heart is pure and your determination staunch."
"Call me Bruce, Mrs Freemantle. Can you tell me what's happening in Boulder and Las Vegas?"
Mother Abigail sighed: "A struggle between the light and the dark. But you and your friends have their own battles ahead. Not all those gifted who survived this sieving of humanity are as beneficent or as compassionate as you are. Some are anomalies that should not have seen the light agin. Some are monsters in human form."
And at once, Bruce knew: "The Joker? Are you saying something has resurrected him?"
"Aye, and others. Just as you have assembled an expanded League of the Just, merciful and compassionate to serve humanity's survivors, so they have assembled a confederacy of the evil, brutal, oppressive and unjust."
"Mrs Freemantle, can you tell me who? Innocent lives may depend on it."
"Why certainly. It's in that sheet of paper in your hand."
"But given I'm dreaming-"
"The Lord will provide you with benison, given how you implicitly serve what is righteous."
All at once, the voice faded and Bruce found himself awake. He realised he was holding a scrap of paper within it and saw the names inscribed there:
"God bless you, Mrs Freemantle."
In the Land of the Dreaming, Mother Abigail turned to the two pale-skinned Endless:
"Sure was nice of you to help with that, Dream."
"It was a pleasure, Mrs Freemantle. My sister has spoken much of you easing those who are virtuous into her domain."
"And you, Death, why, nobody told me you were such a sweetheart!"
"Oh, it's so kind of you to say that, Abigail. I try to make the transition as easy and comfortable as possible for those who cross over."
"I don't see why anyone would ever fear you. You look like such a sweet, helpful child."
"I am, to those who deserve a peaceful death and transition. Now, it's time for you to go back to your well-deserved eternal reward, Abby. Take my hand and close your eyes." And in the Nebraska valley, there was a sound of wings and then silence.
LONDON:
John Constantine lit a cigarette and looked over the British capital. He fixed a handkerchief over his mouth and flies cleaved a path for him as he walked through the open gates of 10 Downing Street, its police guards sprawled across the entrance. He stepped over them and shook his head sadly. The flies parted away from him as he walked through the corridor to the Prime Minister's office. Margaret Thatcher lay sprawled across her prime ministerial desk, her hand reaching futilely toward an ominous red button. Constantine shook his head and took a knife, severing the wires that lay between a red phone and a certain encrypted telephone line. He magicked her into a crypt in Westminister Abbey, then turned as a familiar figure closed the distance:
"Wotcha, Zee."
"Did you stand there watching, John? How are the others?"
"I buried Chas Critcher a week ago. My niece Gemma has the old homo magus genes so she made it through. Her folks di'int. It took a while to clean things up in Liverpool before I could get down there. It's the same everywhere. Even the Windsors. The Queen and Jugears. Prince Charles and Princess Di and their kids, and Randy Andy, Fergie and theirs. I've done a location spell to get Britain's survivors together into a shared area."
"John, you're a chaos mage. Did you know...?"
"About what that Darkseid bastard planned? No, Zee. I felt sick to my stomach and I didn't want to get out of bed a couple of weeks ago. Weren't Captain Trips, mind. Then, when I did a surveillance spell to try to stop it, I was left badly concussed with a bleeding nose. Ask Kent. This was 'meant' to happen. The bloody Lords of Order planned for all but twenty five million people to die in #^@%en agony. Ask me how he can continue to serve them. And then tell me what he says."
"Easy..."
"Sorry. Didn't mean to take it out on you, love. I take you know about the two avatars- that nice elderly black nanna and that rat$#!* bastard Randall Flagg. I got both. When it was Flagg's turn, I set him alight and told 'im I'd read 'is cards. Which I had. Up in the throne position was Death. He's a goner. him and that coven of 'is over in Las Vegas. Mind you, they all turn blank when I try to read my own."
Zatanna nodded: "You and me both, John. And John?"
"Zee?"
"I'm just so damned glad you got through it." They embraced and stayed that way for a long while. Hard man though he was, even diamond has its breaking point.
JUSTICE LEAGUE SATELLITE:
"All right. I accept what you're saying, Bruce. It's time we went global. What is it, Constantine?"
"Trouble, everyone. Neither Zee or I can read the future. Every time we try to use Tarot cards, they go blank."
Clark nodded: "I believe you, John. Because I've tried to enter the future. There's an iron barrier of time there, similar to one that I once confronted with the Legion of Super Heroes."
"Which implies that there may be no future." Wonder Woman said bleakly.
"Clark. do you think the Time Trapper was responsible for this?"
"He wasn't. Ask Kent over there." Constantine motioned toward Dr Fate.
"The Lords of Order's motivations are not yours to question, chaos mage."
"Kent? You can't mean that. Billions are dead." Diana responded, in shock.
"Is that it, Nelson? Because if you foresaw what would happen, why would you do nothing to stop it?"
"Because of his concept of absolute order. Everything preordained must come to pass. Mustn't it, mate?" Constantine said coldly.
"This was the result of scientific inhumanity, not magic. If it were magic, I could and would have averted it." Doctor Fate replied.
"Bruce?"
"That's a point. We know it originated from a Californian experimental facility and the pertinent data was inserted by Darkseid."
"Leaving the question of his motivation. Why would Darkseid bother with a backwater world that hasn't even achieved interstellar flight?" Diana commented.
"Because it was a potential threat?" Clark replied
"Apparently. There's no way this world could evolve into the Legion of Super-Heroes thirtieth century."
"Are you saying this could have been intended to target them?"
INJUSTICE LEAGUE SATELLITE:
Nastalthia Luthor sat next to the Cheetah:
"I like the claws. Genetically engineered?"
"My condolences on your uncle. He was as sharp as a razor blade."
"So you want to end the Amazon, eh?"
"She's obstructed my ambitions and stood in the way of my self-realisation for too long."
"I can relate. Perhaps we could team up? My bete noire is Supergirl."
"Isn't this wonderful? Is there anyone here who isn't utterly psychotic? I feel right at home."
Chronos rolled his eyes: "Was it absolutely necessary to revive this bargain basement sideshow clown?"
"More to the point, what are you doing here, Walker? Ray Palmer died in the Captain Trips pandemic. Which leaves you without an opponent to fight against."
Chronos shrugged: "I'm versatile. They've got reinforcements, so we should have some edge over the more inexperienced ones."
Torque polished his rifle: "I get first tag on Nightwing."
Gudra the Valkyrie grinned: "If you like. I will cleave Wonder Woman asunder."
"So why am I the only Superman related protagonist here, while Princess Di has several heavy hitters enlisted? And Batman as well."
"Because it would be foolish to underestimate the Amazon. Or Kal-El. Or Batman."
The Joker gave a howl of laughter: "Isn't this a wonderful world? Billions dead and with those meta meddlers numbers reduced, we can ransack the planet."
From the darkness, their mentor shook his head:
"No, Napier. That isn't why I gathered this team and resurrected some of you. I have a more definite objective in mind."
Nastalthia glared at the Joker:
"So why did he get a free bus ticket out of Hades?"
"Careful, girly..."
"Don't 'girly' me, you pancake-make up nutjob-"
Gudra laid a placatory hand on Nastalthia's shoulder:
"I like your spirit, maiden. I would be proud to fight alongside you."
"Oooh. Do you have a matching sword to that one?"
"It will mean a side-trip to the Rhine. Do I have your permission, Dread One?"
From the shadows, the figure nodded its head:
"Keep a civil tongue, Napier. I will not let you endanger the cohesion and discipline of this mission. When the time is near, you will get your opportunity to eviscerate the Batman. Until then, your presence is tolerated alongside the others. As for the rest of you, I need you to fulfil your assignments."
"As long as you keep him away from me, I don't care."
RHINE RIVER VALLEY:
At its height, fifty four million people had once inhabited the Rhine River Valley. Nastalthia wore a gas mask and a hazmat suit as Gudra stepped gingerly through the debris and ash from the ruin of Central European civilisation: "Yeah. Oblivion, disease, destitution. I'm really getting into this."
"You are a true Nietzschean supermaiden, Nastalthia, with no care whatsoever for the weak and vulnerable. You are worthy to stand alongside me."
"We'll make an excellent team, Gudra. I just hope Superman or his brat cousin show up and try to take this away from us."
"Or the Amazon."
"Stand away from the charnel raven, young woman."
Nastalthia looked up: "Damn. I thought it was too quiet. I'll let you dispose of her, Gudra. Let me know if you need tech assist."
"Appreciated, mein freunde."
From the sky above, Supergirl joined the melee: "Nastalthia? Not that I'm not glad to see you, but I haven't got the time to play catchup. And you're definitely out of your league with the Valkyrie over there."
"Oh shut up, you arrogant blonde Kryptonian $!^@#. I'm not a minor nuisance anymore. Never underestimate me again. Oh, I forgot. Try this." Supergirl accelerated forward, intending to restraint and knock out someone whom she had considered a minor threat. Then she realised that something was wrong, as an antimatter projectile scorched the air millimetres from her face.
"Rao. What's gotten into you, Nasty?"
Nastalthia laughed: "Hey, Kara. It's been fun, but you don't get to make the rules anymore. Not in this new world we're in." From behind her, Nastalthia brought a hand held antimatter cannon and squeezed its trigger. Instants before it could impact, there was a violet flash and Supergirl cried:
"Kal!" When the dust cleared, the Man of Steel lay on the ground in front of her, his skin charred and blackened, his mouth open in the rictus of sudden shock. Wonder Woman shoved Gudra aside and advanced on Nastalthia, who waved goodbye as the Injustice League teleport took her away:
"How could they have done this, Diana? How?"
Gudra took advantage of the distraction to unsheath her own sword and run the Amazon through with it before Supergirl could react.
In the satellite above, there was wild applause and celebration as the two companions materialised:
"You are an excellent boon companion, Lady Nastalthia. You did not blink as the alien filth arrogantly sought to subdue you. You are a warrior of reknown."
"Admiration mutual, Gudra. Damn, that was one fine skewering. If they were all like you, why aren't there more Valkyries left?"
The Cheetah glowered at Gudra: "She was my enemy too. You couldn't leave her for me, could you...?"
"Hey, no probs. There's still Super$!^@#. Without Big Blue, she'll sure as hell be carryin' a hate on for me. And Barbs? There's still Themiscyra to go. I take it you don't want reinforcements from her homeland?"
"Come here, warrior courageous." Gudra smeared some of Superman's blood over her forehead while Nastalthia returned the favour with that of Wonder Woman.
And for once, the Joker was speechless, vanishing into the satellite's shadows, in fear of someone even his psychosis or rabid violence could not frighten or subdue.
JLA SATELLITE:
Supergirl sat, staring out into the darkness. Her eyes were closed and she wondered why she couldn't cry:
"Kara?"
"When is it going to stop, Bruce? Kal. Diana. I tried to work with the values that my cousin taught me. Suddenly, just like that, that hellchild Nastalthia and Gudra mowed them down like so much chaff. Rao help me. I feel like killing one or both of them."
"You're not the only one who feels that way, Kara. But we can't step over that line. That way lies darkness."
"Oh, Bruce, I'm sorry. How selfish of me. What you must be feeling about Selina and Talia right now. And Dick, Barbara, Jason, all those others."
"I know it's tempting. You wouldn't be human if you didn't have some desire for vengeance, Kara. But so many people have died. And there's the answer to where it must stop. Because if it's total war, humanity becomes extinct."
"Yeah. Yeah, and I pledged to protect them. Some job we did of that."
"What's that...?" From Boulder, a form hurtled upward, spiralling upward as Supergirl hurried through the exosphere downward to the mysterious figure. She intercepted it and was startled to see that despite the scarcity of air, the tattered clothed young man was virtually unharmed. She motioned to him that she would wrap him in her cape and handed him an airmask as she did so. To her surprise, he shook his head and joined her as she flew upward back to the satellite.
She turned as he joined her. Batman came forward:
"He appears to be meta, Kara."
Supergirl nodded: "That's a hearing aid. Okay. I know ASL. And you taught me"
Bruce nodded. He signed: It's okay. We tend to be a diverse lot up here.
The figure signed back: Supergirl and Batman. Awesome.Ah, where are my manners? Nick. Nick Andros.
How long have you been metahuman, Nick? Supergirl responded.
There was a terrorist attack on Boulder. We think it was from Las Vegas. I take it you know about-?
We know, but we're incapable of intervention. Something's preventing us from intervening in either facility. Otherwise we would have. Batman signed emphatically.
I know all of you would. So, you haven't escaped unscathed either? No, I can see you haven't. I'm sorry for your loss. As for my newfound abilities, I really don't know what happened. One moment I was in a Boulder city council meeting, the next I was flying upward and couldn't stop.
Supergirl had scanned his physiology: You're a Daxamite, Nick. Which means you're on a par with me in terms of superpowers. Except...damn it, I refuse to treat you as somehow 'inferior' just because you're deaf.
Nick shrugged: Thanks for that. So, there were Deaf people on Krypton?
Supergirl nodded: Particularly in Antarctic City, or so my father Zor-El told me. And Daxam, given we share a common descent. But you're invulnerable to lead.
Nick checked out his arm: There appear to be microparticles of Kryptonite in my bloodstream. Some sort of anti-lead vaccine? It's coming back to me now. My parents were of distant alien descent. And unfortunately, as you're probably aware, there's an isolationist xenophobe group on Daxam called White Triangle. When my parents fled to Earth, it was at its height.
Batman had turned to the console:
We face a particularly vehement enemy, Nick. He's called Darkseid, and he's a highly evolved apex entity. His servants have already killed Superman and Wonder Woman.
Oh no. Supergirl? I'm so sorry. I've been so selfish, I didn't realise...
Thank you, Nick. It's just good to encounter an ally at last...
VAHALLA PARK:
"Have you lost it completely, Len?"
Captain Cold pushed his way out of the former Flash' Rogues Gallery gathering place, ignoring the protests of the Mirror Master and Top.
"Just shut up, both of you. I want out of this. I should have realised it when Lisa was killed- this sort of life brings us nothing but pain. I just wanted to best the Flash. Now he's gone and so is everyone else associated with him. Look around you. Central City is a charnel house. True, we could loot it, we could live off the proceeds of this apocalyptic windfall around us- and then what? We have nothing to live or die for. And I don't know about you, but I'm not nihilistic enough to want to continue this to the bitter end."
"Guess you're right...Len..." And then, abruptly, the Top coughed blood, and a sword thrust through his stomach, disgorging pieces of stomach and intestinal meat as it did so.
"Hey Leonard, man. Wait up!" But then a flare of light illuminated the Mirror Master's head and fragments of skull and brain cascaded forward as he joined his comrade in death.
"Cowards. I despise them." Gudra said as she wiped her sword on the Top's uniform.
Nastalthia kicked the Mirror Master's body aside:
"Damn it. Where's Snart?"
"Some sort of Suicide Squad teleportation device. Can you track it?"
"We could have used his cryogenic abilities for superconductor tech. The boss won't be pleased." Nastalthia examined Captain Cold's signal device, then realised it had been gutted by a liquid nitrogen shot from the Captain's cryoblaster and she could not reconstruct it. Angrily, she threw it aside.
Around them, the carcasses of dead skyscrapers burned, with no firefighters alive to extinguish them, reflected in the burning remnants of trashed and junked cars in a world that no longer had any use for them. Nastalthia looked dispassionately out across the corpse of Central City.
"There's nothing here for us, comrade."
"I agree. Let's leave the dead to bury each other." And then they left the city to its ghosts.
THE JLA SATELLITE:
Gemma Constantine spun round as Captain Cold solidified into being and unleashed a spell bolt, slamming him against the console:
"Give over, Gemma love. He's not hostile this time."
"You can't blame me for being suspicious, Uncle John."
"I suppose it's too late to say I meant no harm? Not that I blame you."
John Constantine helped Snart to his feet: "Sorry, mate. I reckon this is no time for old enmities. Too much has bloody happened for us to maintain 'em"
Supergirl frowned: "You're injured, Snart. What happened to you?" She helped him to a bunk bed.
"It's...not good. One of the Amazon's old enemies-"
"Gudra. She did this?"
"And Luthor's niece-"
"Nastalthia. They've already killed my cousin Kal-El and Wonder Woman. So, they're even preying on other villains now?"
"Yeah, those of us who don't join their darkside army. Only I was never one for joining in, apart from the guys in the Flash' Rogues Gallery. But they're gone now."
"Thank you, Snart. Are you willing to join us? Are there any other former supervillains who might also want to change sides?"
"I was in touch with several before those two tracked us down. Poison Ivy. The Trickster. Sonar."
"That's all?"
"Problem is, Captain Trips killed off as many of the supervillain community as it did our ranks. John, Zatanna, can you...?"
Zatanna nodded: "Yvi Nosiop, Retskcrit, Ranos, noij su ni eht ALJ etilletas won!"
As the three forms firmed around the teleport, Constantine frowned:
"Wait a minute. Zed, Gemma? Did you get that backlash?"
"I did. What does it mean?"
"One of us has crossed over to the dark."
INJUSTICE LEAGUE SATELLITE:
As she trod the corridors, mace in hand, Hawkwoman stayed alert, wary should there be an ambush. She held up a hand as Torque entered and stared at her:
"We have a breach. Repeat, we have a sec=" Hawkwoman shot him in his chest. She stepped over his corpse and unsheathed Diana's amazonium sword. She brought up her shield as the others looked up:
"The Thanagarian! Foolhardy of you-"
Nastalthia shook her head: "No, Gudra, don't you see? Shayera here is an asset. As an alien capable of interstellar travel, she has the ability to upgrade our tech. Pleased to have you onboard."
"As long as I get first hit on Bats, I don't care." The Joker exclaimed blithely.
"Welcome onboard. But why did you change sides?"
"This world needs law and order. The League are too weak to take the necessary steps. This is beyond good and evil."
"So you aced Torque, did you? As we've received word that Nightwing died from Captain Trips, he was surplus to requirements in any case. Ah. What's that?"
"Purple K. A rare isotope of kryptonite. Like Red K, it passed through a cosmic cloud. Unlike red kryptonite, it has far more devastating effects."
"Damn shame it's not Gold K. That'd depower the $!^@# forever and we could put a bullet through her."
"No. In any case, there was only ever a limited number of Gold K meteorites, given that they originated from the Gold Volcano area of Krypton and have been systematically disposed of. Apparently, that wasn't as rare as the Jewel Mountains and Jewel K, which is next to useless unless in proximity to Phantom Zone prisoners. Purple K permanently petrifies Kryptonians. There's also a sepia kryptonite, which acts to liquify their bodies, but I haven't found any examples of that isotope."
Gudra scowled: "So it will immobilise her permanently as we destroy her surviving colleagues."
"And those infernal turncoats who changed sides on us, even if the only one worth recruiting was Snart."
"Speaking of which, where's the Joker?" Cheetah exclaimed.
"Oh no. That grimacing, reckless psychopath. He'll ruin everything! If Batman hasn't already beaten him to a pulp, may I...?"
"Of course, Nastalthia my dear. It was always a risk, but at least if he destroys Batman in battle, and then dies himself, we will be rid of their greatest strategic threat."
JUSTICE LEAGUE SATELLITE:
As Batman stepped out of the shower, he was shocked to see a particular intruder awaited him:
"Mmm. Not bad at all, Brucey."
"Do you actually think that you'll get to kill me? Sorry. I don't need a utility belt or my uniform to stop you, Clown."
"Spoilsport. All it'll take is a touch of my Joker Venom and you'll be mine."
"Shame you won't get that far..." Batman dropped his towel and laid into the Joker, only to find that he parried his opponent's moves and even landed a punch:
"Someone's been enhanced." Batman stepped aside as the Joker thrust forward with his envenomed blade and elbowed the other in the back. The Joker fell to his knees:
"Ouch. I'll fix you-"
"Rekoj, ezeerf dilos! Llet lla tuoba ruoy seugaelloc!"
But before Zatanna's spell could work, Nastalthia Luthor shot him through the heart:
"Oh, I've been wanting to do that for so, so long."
Batman hastily covered himself up:
"You appear overconfident, young woman."
Nastalthia laughed: "So where's the Kryptonian?"
"Right here, you murdering insane $!^@#. Zatanna?"
"She has an antimagic warding talisman, I can't affect her."
"Be warned, Kryptonian. She is not the only one of our league here." Gudra said, levelling her blade.
"Get out of my way, you Nazi relic." Kara said coldly, as Captain Cold stepped forward:
"Leave them alone, Valkyrie. Or I'll make sure you're out of commission permanently."
"You do not frighten me, crionoid." Abruptly, Cold's cryogun flared- but his target wasn't Gudra. In an instant, Nastalthia's purple kryptonite meteorite crystallised and then shattered>
"Damn you, traitor!" Nastalthia growled.
Gudra menaced the others with her broadsword:
"While my boon sister here is immune to the effects of the mage's sorcery, you are not, Kryptonian. As for you, Snart, reckoning awaits..."
With that, they dematerialised, leaving Batman staring down at the Joker's corpse:
"I never thought it'd end like this."
"Serves that psychopath right. Why would he resurrect that idiot in the first place?"
Batman realised something that had eluded him:
"Because he has backup or potential replacements. And I'm not talking about Nastalthia and the Valkyrie. There are other members of my rogues gallery on the ILW satellite, prechosen to battle us to a halt. Which means that they have one specific ally. Someone from the Justice League's past."
Zatanna nodded: "I could sense the enhancement ensorcellement, Bruce. You mean Libra, don't you?"
Batman nodded: "And with his desire for absolute balance, he's engineered equality with us. So Joker matched me in physical prowess and combat experience, Nastalthia has had her intelligence rebooted to match that of her late uncle, Gudra has the prowess of Wonder Woman but with none of Diana's compassion and mercy... which suggests that he has other assistance."
Supergirl replied: "Like adaptoids, you mean?"
"Exactly, Kara. Which, I suspect, were imported here using one of Darkseid's boom tubes."
"So what are you saying, Bruce? That this incarnation of the Injustice League is a match for us?"
"More than that, Zatanna. It may be a fight to the death."
Snart brought up his pistol: "Bring it on. I'm not afraid to die."
Kara added: "Nor am I."
"If we lose, we risk superhuman villainy being unleashed on a ravaged world that couldn't tolerate it. With our depleted numbers, I'm not sure we'll win this time." Batman concluded.
INJUSTICE LEAGUE SATELLITE:
"I see your mission was successful."
"Loose wheel destroyed However, I fear Napier's recklessness and impatience may have led to the realisation that you are Darkseid's proxy in this, Lord Libra."
"Bad news. Snart cryophased the purple kryptonite before I could use it on Supes."
"Never mind, Nastalthia. I have other tools at my disposal." Behind him, a hidden wall alcove slid forward, with a moulded replica of her uncle's battlesuit:
"Wow! Now I can finally beat the $#!* out of that self-righteous Kryptonian idiot!"
"You will lead the final mission, both of you. Scarecrow, Psycho-Pirate, you will spread despair at the recognition of what awaits them."
Nathaniel Crane cracked his knuckles: "With Napier down, I'll be the one to take down the Batman."
"I...I'm not sure about any of this, Libra. T-this isn't the Justice Society and I'm not used to Earth-I. What if I...?"
"All I ask, Hayden, is that you play your role. When this is over, your reward will be considerable."
"I-if you say so..."
Gudra was not impressed: "He may be an impediment. Crane strikes me as far more useful to our plan."
"Don't worry. I considered that."
JUSTICE LEAGUE SATELLITE:
Kara donned her Kryptonian battlesuit as Nick came into the room:
"Hi."
-So what's the matter? Nick signed
-I don't think we're going to make it out of this alive, Nick. You can still flee this world.
He kissed her, long and deep as a tear left her eye: Rao. I meet the ideal male metahuman and it's on the eve of an apocalypse.
-Hey. Even if we do, it's to keep this world safe. Don't forget that.
- I wanted a career, a husband, a family.
-Dunno about the career, but there's still the possibility of family...
At a distance, Batman turned away, then noticed J'onn J'onnz weaving erratically above him, as if he were unused to flight. Then he realised:
"Boston? Deadman? Is that you?"
As J'onn alighted, he could see a faint, almost imperceptible aura. But something was different:
"Batman?" As the Martian Manhunter morphed into a female form and with a female voice, he nodded:
"So you're still postmortal, but someone else. I take it Rama Kushna recruited another agent from the afterlife?"
J'onn nodded: "I'm Nadine Cross. Yeah, Rama Kushna gave me another chance after I ended my life to stop becoming the vessel of Randall Flagg's Antichrist down in Nevada. Batman? I think they have access to nuclear weapons down there. We have to stop them."
"We can't, Nadine...Deadwoman? It's impenetrable even to... Nick?"
Nick Andros stepped forward and signed: Nadine?
"Hello, Nick. Looks like we both made it here. Except I didn't. I got recruited by a quasidivine entity called Rama Kushna, and as a result I can possess people."
"Including the ILW. That could be interesting."
"I don't think I'm the only one. There's a newcomer onboard the Injustice League satellite."
Nick signed: -That'd make sense. I found this drifting Thanagarian starship out in the Kuiper Belt. The male Thanagarian was dead. He'd been attacked, possibly by his partner.
"Oh Katar, no. Not you too. John? What is it?" Kara said, as the chaos mage looked up from the mandala that he, Zatanna and Dr Fate had cast:
"Trouble, Kara luv. That's not Shayera over there. It's something that killed her and hijacked her body."
LAS VEGAS:
Larry Underwood breathed calmly despite his beating at the hands of Randall Flagg's goons, looking downward as a misshapen tatterdemalion figure stumbled toward the self-declared ruler of the Chaos Zone, dragging a familiar form behind him on a trailer. Flagg's eyes widened. He took one look at the intruder and abruptly abandoned his human form as a misty luminescent hand reached from the heavens and the device abruptly activated. Larry consoled himself with the thought that he wouldn't even feel it, given his proximity to the bomb when it went off, and at least Lucy and their unborn child were safe at home in Boulder. He closed his eyes as a light brighter than the sun ignited at ground zero and the forces of chaos, the buildings they had temporarily occupied and the land on which they stood were obliterated in a millisecond. But Larry Underwood didn't join his unwilling counterparts in the holocaust that destroyed Las Vegas. An instant before detonation, he teleported away from the impending end of the hapless community.
JUSTICE LEAGUE SATELLITE:
As Larry Underwood materialised on the JLA satellite, Nick and Nadine rushed over to him:
-Nick? What happened, man? I thought those darksider terrorist bastards had killed you.
"And who are you, lady..?"
"It's me, you big dummy. Nadine. Except they call me Deadwoman now. Because unlike you and Larry, I am dead but I've been given a second chance."
Kara cleared her throat:
"I assume you know what happened to Las Vegas?"
"A nuclear weapon went off down there. Wow. Are you- Supergirl?"
Starfire brought up a holographier display of the Injustice League satellite:
"With the destruction of Las Vegas, the Injustice League will be off balance. They were probably counting on them to provide a ground cover base if they should return earthside."
"With no operational teleport?" J'onn J'onnz asked.
"I saw a little of what was going on down there. Randall was building some sort of shuttleport, probably for that reason."
"Desperate snakes can be unpredictable." Batman pointed out.
"Everyone? I have no right to force all of you to participate in this. None of us may come back. But we know what will happen if we let ourselves be cowered into submission." Supergirl said."
"We're with you, Kara. All of us." Koriand'r said
"Yeah, against our better judgement in some cases." Constantine muttered, but Zatanna squeezed his hand and then kissed him anyway.
"Good. It's time."
INJUSTICE LEAGUE SATELLITE:
Sometimes, good does not triumph in a 'clean' victory. Sometimes, there are collateral tragedies. As the Justice League materialised on their satellite, Gudra leapt forward with a snarl, only to be met with Doctor Fate's spellcast. She rematerialised a light year away, instantly frozen, still in existence but unable to call out or alert others to her survival. Nastalthia Luthor rushed forward and stabbed Supergirl with a kryptonite dagger. As she fell into Nick's arms, his eyes blazed red as he melted the dagger into molten remnants and then knelt alongside the prone Kryptonian. Zatanna wheeled around to stop Scarecrow taking advantage of the situation, but his anti-empathic ability to strike fear into his adversaries had been considerably enhanced. Zatanna choked and fell to the floor, but any success that Scarecrow might have relished was short-lived, as a grim-faced John Constantine carved sigils in the air and the fearcaster combusted, screaming as he went. Captain Cold aimed his cryogun at Nastalthia and shot her at point blank range. She opened her mouth to scream, but she was now crystallised and the movement shattered her frozen body. Batman stepped over her and destroyed the barrier:
"Libra."
"We appear to be evenly matched, detective."
"How so? Most of your entourage of predators are down..." Starfire blasted Cheetah into unconsciousness as Gemma Constantine ripped the medusa mask from the Psycho-Pirate's face. The empathic shock syndrome from sudden obstruction from the eldritch mask killed him instantly.
Libra laughed: "Don't you see? Survival of the fittest. I've eliminated both Kryptonians, the Amazon and an alpha-class sorceress. As for that cannon fodder down there, their own egotism and pride led them to it. All those that are left here have blood on their hands. I've forced you to betray your core principles and it was all for nothing. Because there's a balancing at work here. Try to teleport out of here..." Abruptly, there was a sickening lurch. The outside metal and reinforced plastic of the Injustice League satellite began to imperceptibly redden.
Constantine shrugged: "So? Apart from Nick and Nadine here, we die when this crate burns up in atmospheric re-entry. We're supposed to do $#!* like this. It's what we signed up for."
-Uh, Constantine? Nick ripped away a panel of metallic flooring and disclosed what Libra had been gloating about.
"A cobalt-salted fifty thousand megaton bomb. Enough to wipe out all the survivors on Earth if it goes off." Batman said flatly.
"Kent? Raven? Can you teleport it away from here?" Batman asked.
"I cannot. The teleport barrier is also impregnable to thaumaturgic exit." Raven replied.
Constantine sighed: "All right then. Nelson? Bats? J'onn? Snart? Are we agreed on this, then?"
A moment passed as the four men gazed levelly at each other.
Gemma caught the glint of a tear in his eye: "Uncle John? No. Whatever it is you're planning, no. I won't let you do this."
"Eh, our Gemma. This world needs someone to look after it. And frankly, I don't want to live in a world without Zee."
"Nor I, without Inza."
Batman kept his opinion to himself, but the others could tell he was thinking about Selina, Talia and Damian, Barbara, Jason, Tim and Dick.
Starfire caught his arm: "Batman? Do not do this. We need your wisdom, your leadership, your gravity."
"Koriand'r, the others need to face the new circumstances that will unfold here. Clearly Libra is not infallible, otherwise he would not have let his minions fall in the battle recently concluded. You're younger, more flexible. It's time to say goodbye." With that, Batman, Captain Cold, John Constantine, J'onn J'onnz and Doctor Fate turned toward the startled Libra, who brandished his scales at them. He meant their deaths, but to no avail. Suddenly, he realised that he was weakened. In glass vials around him, the adaptoids wilted and died, and his ability to counteract teleportation ended with it. Larry Underwood caught a ring as Constantine threw it to him: "Do it, man. Get them out of here. You're this world's new alpha magus now."
Instinctively, he did so. Gemma, Starfire, Raven, Nick, Nadine and Larry vanished from the vessel's bridge. Libra laughed in sudden insanity, then felt something leave him.
APOKOLIPS:
Several billion light years away, a combined force of Green Lantern and Sinestro Corps forces, as well as the New Gods, had breached the defences of the hellworld Apokolips. Many of both sides had fallen, as Darkseid reached forward, only to have his hand thrust aside as Spindrift came into the focus of his funereal stare:
"You? The puniest New God?"
"The last of them, thanks to you. Butcher. No. I won't let you do this."
John Stewart stepped forward, power ring blazing: "Neither will I."
"You presume too much." Darkseid tried to break free from the iron grip of the young New God, but she wouldn't let him activate the Cosmeg Device hidden in the planet's core. John Stewart stepped forward and took careful aim. With him were the combined energies of two Lantern Corps. And even a god can fall, if what is marshalled against it combine courage, self-determination and purpose. And thus, Darkseid-980 cried out and flashed into heat and light. As his dying screams echoed into silence, Spindrift closed her eyes:
"It's over. At last. John Stewart? I know what I'm asking, but are you willing to permanently relinquish everything you held dear on your world?"
"There's nothing for me there, Dorothy."
"Because this universe needs to be protected against cosmic scale hostile entities. That tyrant is gone, but many such remain. The Green Lantern Corps will need to be rebuilt, even though the Guardians perished in the offensive on this charnel house world. Good. Take my hand, my friend. This world has been a canker on this universe for too long." As Spindrift and Stewart left Apokolips, Spindrift brought her abilities to bear on the red-holed ebon planet beneath them. It quaked, space shimmered and then it vanished. Apokolips rematerialised in a null-time continuum, without time or space, completely enclosing it, away from the inquiring of malevolent and inimical sapience.
EPILOGUE:
As a memorial tribute to the fallen Superman and Supergirl, Kandor was enlarged on Rokyn, the superearth planet within a red dwarf solar system, akin to Rao.
Nick Andros took the name Powerman, and led the Justice and Survival Coalition, along with Deadwoman, Magus (Larry Underwood), Starfire, Gemma Constantine and Raven. They fought back repeated attempts from hostile aliens or paranormal entities that sought to exploit the weakness of Earth after the global Captain Trips pandemic. With his heat vision, he destroyed the formula that had given rise to the murderous pandemic. On some moonlit nights, he felt a pang of grief and sorrow as he thought of Kara Zor-El and what might have been and now could never be. Starfire tended Dick Grayson's grave amidst the sprawling ruins of Wayne Manor, while Gemma and Raven oversaw the sculpting of a statue to the valour of perished, now almost legendary figures. Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. They had led the Justice League's last stand and were no more, but their sacrifice was not in vain.
And so, a world was reborn and grew straight and true. Elsewhere, monstrous, ageless, immortal evil raged and gnashed its teeth, but this world and its universe were forever closed to it.
THE END.
+++
They thought they could save the world
This time but now many of them are gone
The virus doesn't fear humanity
Nor do the elements of nature, amidst this apocalypse
Come on humanity bow down before Darkseid
Humanity bend your knees, bow down before Darkseid
Or be scythed down by Captain Trips
Humanity is done
La, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la
It is the end of romance
in Star City today
Oliver Queen and Dinah Lance
Are together forever more , Oliver and Dinah
400,000 dying everyday, like Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon
4,000,000 claimed by Captain Trips Felled by the virus
Another 4,000,000 fall everyday, join them in oblivion
Come on humanity, bow down before Darkseid
Humanity bend your knee, bow down before Darkseid
Only the strong survive, bow down before Darkseid
Humanity, it's the end
La, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la
Carol and Hal perished side by side
Here, and they've gone in the dark
Came the crescendo of the virus
Iris Allen couldn't live without Barry
He couldn't outrun Captain Trips
The candles blew and then a gunshot echoed
The curtains flew and then she fell to the ground
Darkseid came and said "be very afraid"
But John Stewart had no fear And neither did the Green Lanterns
For with plague came a war. Stewart never said goodbye
to his lover Tawny Young
Spindrift glowered in rage, with the power in her hands
She wanted to destroy him as he'd destroyed her world
She would never bow before Darkseid
"Bow Down Before Darkseid" (Captain Trips edition).
+++
"Bruce?"
"I'm sorry, Clark."
"That isn't the issue here, and you know it. I'm a professional journalist. Or I was. Why did Wayne Enterprises do it, Bruce? Why did you assist funding into the Captain Trips project?"
"I honestly didn't know. Blame me if you must."
"No. No, I'm not. How's Selina?"
"Gone. Lois?"
Superman looked away, not speaking:
"I was supposed to protect this world from something like this happening."
"You can't be everywhere, all the time. And the League?"
"Arthur and the Atlanteans are homo aquaticus, not sapiens. Zatanna lived because she was homo magus for much the same reason. They survived as a consequence. But Ray, Barry and Iris, Hal and Carol, Oliver and Dinah, they're all gone. So, how did you survive?"
"I have no idea. I imagine I must have some form of genetic immunity. Virtually no-one else in Gotham did. Dick, Jason, Tim, the Titans, Barbara, Jim, Alfred...the city's become a charnel house."
"So, what? Do we convene the rest of the Justice League, or what's left of us?"
"Katar and Shayera are offworld. They sent word that they won't be returning. The Green Lantern Corps has offered assistance. J'onn, Red Tornado, Zatanna, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, you and I are the only ones that are left. There's nothing left to salvage- civilisation has collapsed, millions are dead. The worst has already happened."
"The world needs us, Clark."
"They were depending on us to save them, Bruce. We failed them."
"There are still human beings left alive. We need to protect them."
"Crime, anarchy, depravity and destruction. Good luck with that, Bruce."
"This isn't like you, Clark."
"I'm not sure I can take this any more, Bruce. This is the second world I've lost."
"Not quite, Clark. There are still twenty seven million people left alive."
"That still means over ninety nine percent of the global population- four and a half billion people- perished."
"Clark, what's gotten into you?"
"I'm burnt out. Kara and I might take Kandor and go somewhere else."
"What if I told you this might be deliberate?"
"I know about the bacteriological warfare experiment that broke boundaries."
"I'm not talking about that."
"If you're talking about supervillains... Brainiac would have no reason to do it. Luthor may have been many things, but he wasn't a psychotic mass murderer. And this is beyond the scope of the Joker, whom I assume is rotting in Arkham Asylum's graveyard right now."
Bruce nodded: "I checked. All of them are gone."
"So is Lex. I found him slumped over his core laboratory table at LexCorp HQ. He was trying to come up with an antidote for the virus. Ironic that it took that magnitude of a threat to redeem him, Bruce. In the end, he found a greater challenge than merely acting as my antithesis. So, if it wasn't him..."
"I sent some drones into the Californian facility to see what happened. It seems to be the case that one second...no, one microsecond... the protective barrier was intact. Then it shattered. In doing so, it unleashed a cascade effect. Yet, given the risk at the facility, there were multiple backups. There was no nihilistic computer hacking, either. I checked its online firewall. It held throughout the containment failure."
"Only an alien technology could have done something that precise."
"And, as you mentioned beforehand, Brainiac has no logical motivation to trigger an apocalyptic plague on Earth."
"Nor does Drax. Not that he's a threat anymore, given that he's currently under transtemporal imprisonment. Who, Bruce?"
"I've gone through all of our rogues galleries. Given the Legion of Super Heroes alternate future has been shunted sidewise by this event, it's unlikely to be any of their major league opponents. Much the same has happened to Barry's former rogues gallery time travellers like Professor Zoom and Abra Kadabra. Sinestro restricts most of his activities off-Earth and even he has moral boundaries, given what happened to Korugar- apocalyptic destruction isn't his modus operandi. Of the others, I don't have a sufficiently empowered rogues gallery, nor do you, Barry, Hal or Diana otherwise."
Clark looked up: "What if it's not from our alternate universe? What if it's the Crime Syndicate of Amerika, Bruce? Owlman is certainly your intellectual match and Johnny Quick has the superspeed to intervene."
Bruce shook his head: "Diabolus in machina, Clark. I checked. The interdimensional barrier that separates us from Earth-III (NB: Earth-982) is intact. I know, I thought of them as well."
"Then who or what does that leave?"
Bruce's answer left a chill down Clark's ramrod steel spine: "Darkseid."
OA:
"It's my homeworld, damn it." John Stewart said, above the meelee of the Green Lantern Corps.
Guardian Ganthet held his hand up for calm:
"It is, and it has sustained a grievous genocide at the hands of Darkseid, John Stewart. This violates all galactic charters of sentients rights. Which is why we have taken it upon ourselves to open dialogue with Thal Sinestro."
John swallowed at the image of his predecessor's oldest nemesis, but something had changed in his demeanour. Sinestro seemed... forelorn, sorrowing, almost compassionate:
"I cannot say how much I grieve for your homeworld, John Stewart, as I do my own. There is a boundary that cannot be crossed and that arrogant Dark God poseur has done so. In view of the almost unparalleled tragedy that has befallen Earth, I will be suspending all hostilities against the Green Lantern Corps and Guardians, effective immediately and for the duration of this crisis. If you'll have me at your side, Stewart, we will bring the war back to this genocidal butcher."
Tears wet on his face, John Stewart nodded: "Thank you, Sinestro. It takes courage and fortitude to overcome the habits of a lifetime. I applaud you for it. All right, then. Together."
NEW GENESIS:
"Kal-El is not the only one who failed them." Orion commented, glaring at Highfather.
"Not now, Orion."
"Forgive me, my Lord Highfather, but when otherwise? On Earth, four and a half billion human beings were obliterated by Darkseid's murderous malice." Lightray added his own urgent inquiry to his companions.
"You and Orion have spent time on that world, you are hardly disinterested parties. I have to deal with the scale of cosmic politics. For aeons, Apokolips and New Genesis have kept an uneasy peace at parity with one another. To overturn that now, no matter how grave the tragedy involved, would be a matter of unprecedented seriousness."
Spindrift angrily rose amidst the quorum of New Gods:
"Damn you, Highfather! Unlike the rest of you, I was born on Earth. This is an act of planetary genocide. If we quail before Darkseid now, what will be next? His own recklessness and fanaticism has triggered this pending confrontation."
"And if we trigger a cosmic war because of this causa belli, it may obliterate everything in this universe. Are you prepared to take that responsibility, Spindrift?"
"Surely you aren't thinking of negotiating with that treacherous bastard, Highfather? After this? And don't hide behind the sophistry that the sacrifice of billions may be necessary to safeguard the lives of trillions of other sentients. If we appease Darkseid now, he may become sufficiently emboldened enough to reach further anyway." Orion persisted.
"I...have foreseen that contingency too." Highfather confessed, his head bowed.
"Then it is war. It must be war!" Spindrift exclaimed.
EUTHANATA:
Death of the Endless raised her head, groggy, from her fireside chair. She looked up at her brother:
"Destiny? What is it?"
"You do not know my sister?"
"I...had this dream. A young soldier and his family sped away from a covert US bacteriological containment facility. And it was playing...Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper" on the soundtrack. Oh no. It wasn't a dream, was it? Because if it was, Dream would have been here to discuss it with me."
"Yes. Four and a half billion human beings were sent into oblivion by a mutated bacterial epidemic called "Captain Trips". This was not meant to happen."
"What? It's not in your Book of Destiny? But it's multiversal. That's impossible."
"Something has defied the Endless deliberately and it has affected the balance of power within our family, my sister. Desire and Dream are grievously weakened from the decimation that has occurred here. Delirium and Despair have grown significantly stronger."
"Why can't I remember any of this? I'm the tutelary aspect and personification of mortality. Was it one of the other thanatos avatars?"
"Nekron is still sealed. I am unable to locate the Dark Racer. I suspect that may answer our question."
ARKHAM CEMETERY:
All at once, he came to. He couldn't breathe, sealed into the narrow ashwood box, but with manic strength, he pushed his hands upward. He thrust upward and broke the fragile wood and gasped gratefully for breath. He looked upward as a shadow crossed his path. He smiled:
"Well, hello there. We haven't been formally introduced. I'm Jack. People usually called me the Joker. Phe-ewww. What's that hideous smell?"
The shadow helped him to his feet. Around him. he could see only selected others- the Scarecrow, the Psycho Pirate and...:
"Nastalthia Luthor?"
"Yeah, what's it to you?"
"I take it Uncle Lex didn't make it?"
"Nah. And back off, corpseface. I heard what you did to Harley Quinn. You may be psychotic, but I'm nihilistic."
"Aren't you delightful?" The Joker said as Nastalthia glared at him.
"So who brought us back?"
"I'd like to answer that question if I may..."
JLA MOUNTAIN BASE:
Bruce stared impassively at the viewscreen before them. Across the world, it showed much the same haunting spectacle- flyblown, decaying human bodies and the remains of animals, buildings ablaze, deserted fairgrounds, beaches and street shopfronts. He pushed thoughts of Talia and Selina out of his mind and how he had last seen both of them. And Dick. And Barbara. And Alfred. There was a long line into the darkness and if he stared into that existential abyss for long enough, it might well consume him. Around him, Earth's surviving metasapients were assembling. Diana cleared her throat:
"Don't do it to yourself, Bruce. This event was beyond our control."
"We were supposed to protect them, Diana."
"We are protecting those that survived, however. Clark and Kara are out scanning the debris and buildings for isolated groups of survivors. However, there's a forcescreen around Boulder, Colorado and Las Vegas in Nevada which we can't penetrate. What is it?"
"I've been reviewing the database that recorded the experimental trajectory of Captain Trips. There's an unexplained data entry that isn't sourced to Department of Defence sources. One which seems to contain the hypervirulence genetic sequence within its genome. I think it was deliberately introduced."
"By Darkseid."
"What else? The hypervirulence sequence shows clear signs of nanotechnological tampering, Diana. That's well beyond twentieth century technological prowess. Ah, Raven. What have you found?"
"It is not promising, Diana. J'onn has told me that he is monitoring conflicting telepathic streams from two adepts in each of the shielded survivor communities. One is a kindly, aged black woman named Abigail. The other...is a dark entity named Randall Flagg. Zatanna and I suspect him to be paranormal in origin. I sense great malevolence in him." Raven replied.
"What about Starfire and the others?"
"Koriand'r is still out assisting Superman and Supergirl. I think she is still grieving Richard's untimely end. She is not alone there."
"Is there anything we can do to assist the situation in those two areas, Raven?"
"No, Bruce. I have attempted to teleport in, as has Zatanna. The areas are impervious to paranormal incursion, and much the same is true when it comes to Starfire's energy bolts. Evidently, the two areas are meant as sanctuaries."
Diana sighed: "Even with our expanded Justice League roster and the absorption of the surviving members of the Teen Titans, Outsiders, Doom Patrol and others, we're being run ragged. As the essential systems that once underpinned human civilisation go unmaintained, they are beginning to fail and in doing so, endanger what few humans survived this apocalypse. Nuclear reactors melt down, dams burst, industrial processes override human safeguards. Get some sleep, Bruce."
HEMINGTON HOME, NEBRASKA:
Bruce Wayne found himself barefooted in a Nebraska cornfield. Adjacent to it, in a cabin, an elderly woman was singing from a hymnal. She looked up as he left the field and stepped toward her:
"You are welcome here, Mr Wayne."
"Mother Abigail Freemantle, I assume? I thought it might be you when Raven told me. I heard of you years ago."
Mother Abigail smiled: "And you kept me safe from that Amanda Wallace woman, too. I am grateful for that, Mr Wayne."
Bruce knelt by the elderly figure in her rocking chair: "You're the one that deserves my respect. You know who I really am? Or was?"
"The Batman. You may frighten superstitious, cowardly criminals, but you are on the side of virtue and light. Your heart is pure and your determination staunch."
"Call me Bruce, Mrs Freemantle. Can you tell me what's happening in Boulder and Las Vegas?"
Mother Abigail sighed: "A struggle between the light and the dark. But you and your friends have their own battles ahead. Not all those gifted who survived this sieving of humanity are as beneficent or as compassionate as you are. Some are anomalies that should not have seen the light agin. Some are monsters in human form."
And at once, Bruce knew: "The Joker? Are you saying something has resurrected him?"
"Aye, and others. Just as you have assembled an expanded League of the Just, merciful and compassionate to serve humanity's survivors, so they have assembled a confederacy of the evil, brutal, oppressive and unjust."
"Mrs Freemantle, can you tell me who? Innocent lives may depend on it."
"Why certainly. It's in that sheet of paper in your hand."
"But given I'm dreaming-"
"The Lord will provide you with benison, given how you implicitly serve what is righteous."
All at once, the voice faded and Bruce found himself awake. He realised he was holding a scrap of paper within it and saw the names inscribed there:
"God bless you, Mrs Freemantle."
In the Land of the Dreaming, Mother Abigail turned to the two pale-skinned Endless:
"Sure was nice of you to help with that, Dream."
"It was a pleasure, Mrs Freemantle. My sister has spoken much of you easing those who are virtuous into her domain."
"And you, Death, why, nobody told me you were such a sweetheart!"
"Oh, it's so kind of you to say that, Abigail. I try to make the transition as easy and comfortable as possible for those who cross over."
"I don't see why anyone would ever fear you. You look like such a sweet, helpful child."
"I am, to those who deserve a peaceful death and transition. Now, it's time for you to go back to your well-deserved eternal reward, Abby. Take my hand and close your eyes." And in the Nebraska valley, there was a sound of wings and then silence.
LONDON:
John Constantine lit a cigarette and looked over the British capital. He fixed a handkerchief over his mouth and flies cleaved a path for him as he walked through the open gates of 10 Downing Street, its police guards sprawled across the entrance. He stepped over them and shook his head sadly. The flies parted away from him as he walked through the corridor to the Prime Minister's office. Margaret Thatcher lay sprawled across her prime ministerial desk, her hand reaching futilely toward an ominous red button. Constantine shook his head and took a knife, severing the wires that lay between a red phone and a certain encrypted telephone line. He magicked her into a crypt in Westminister Abbey, then turned as a familiar figure closed the distance:
"Wotcha, Zee."
"Did you stand there watching, John? How are the others?"
"I buried Chas Critcher a week ago. My niece Gemma has the old homo magus genes so she made it through. Her folks di'int. It took a while to clean things up in Liverpool before I could get down there. It's the same everywhere. Even the Windsors. The Queen and Jugears. Prince Charles and Princess Di and their kids, and Randy Andy, Fergie and theirs. I've done a location spell to get Britain's survivors together into a shared area."
"John, you're a chaos mage. Did you know...?"
"About what that Darkseid bastard planned? No, Zee. I felt sick to my stomach and I didn't want to get out of bed a couple of weeks ago. Weren't Captain Trips, mind. Then, when I did a surveillance spell to try to stop it, I was left badly concussed with a bleeding nose. Ask Kent. This was 'meant' to happen. The bloody Lords of Order planned for all but twenty five million people to die in #^@%en agony. Ask me how he can continue to serve them. And then tell me what he says."
"Easy..."
"Sorry. Didn't mean to take it out on you, love. I take you know about the two avatars- that nice elderly black nanna and that rat$#!* bastard Randall Flagg. I got both. When it was Flagg's turn, I set him alight and told 'im I'd read 'is cards. Which I had. Up in the throne position was Death. He's a goner. him and that coven of 'is over in Las Vegas. Mind you, they all turn blank when I try to read my own."
Zatanna nodded: "You and me both, John. And John?"
"Zee?"
"I'm just so damned glad you got through it." They embraced and stayed that way for a long while. Hard man though he was, even diamond has its breaking point.
JUSTICE LEAGUE SATELLITE:
"All right. I accept what you're saying, Bruce. It's time we went global. What is it, Constantine?"
"Trouble, everyone. Neither Zee or I can read the future. Every time we try to use Tarot cards, they go blank."
Clark nodded: "I believe you, John. Because I've tried to enter the future. There's an iron barrier of time there, similar to one that I once confronted with the Legion of Super Heroes."
"Which implies that there may be no future." Wonder Woman said bleakly.
"Clark. do you think the Time Trapper was responsible for this?"
"He wasn't. Ask Kent over there." Constantine motioned toward Dr Fate.
"The Lords of Order's motivations are not yours to question, chaos mage."
"Kent? You can't mean that. Billions are dead." Diana responded, in shock.
"Is that it, Nelson? Because if you foresaw what would happen, why would you do nothing to stop it?"
"Because of his concept of absolute order. Everything preordained must come to pass. Mustn't it, mate?" Constantine said coldly.
"This was the result of scientific inhumanity, not magic. If it were magic, I could and would have averted it." Doctor Fate replied.
"Bruce?"
"That's a point. We know it originated from a Californian experimental facility and the pertinent data was inserted by Darkseid."
"Leaving the question of his motivation. Why would Darkseid bother with a backwater world that hasn't even achieved interstellar flight?" Diana commented.
"Because it was a potential threat?" Clark replied
"Apparently. There's no way this world could evolve into the Legion of Super-Heroes thirtieth century."
"Are you saying this could have been intended to target them?"
INJUSTICE LEAGUE SATELLITE:
Nastalthia Luthor sat next to the Cheetah:
"I like the claws. Genetically engineered?"
"My condolences on your uncle. He was as sharp as a razor blade."
"So you want to end the Amazon, eh?"
"She's obstructed my ambitions and stood in the way of my self-realisation for too long."
"I can relate. Perhaps we could team up? My bete noire is Supergirl."
"Isn't this wonderful? Is there anyone here who isn't utterly psychotic? I feel right at home."
Chronos rolled his eyes: "Was it absolutely necessary to revive this bargain basement sideshow clown?"
"More to the point, what are you doing here, Walker? Ray Palmer died in the Captain Trips pandemic. Which leaves you without an opponent to fight against."
Chronos shrugged: "I'm versatile. They've got reinforcements, so we should have some edge over the more inexperienced ones."
Torque polished his rifle: "I get first tag on Nightwing."
Gudra the Valkyrie grinned: "If you like. I will cleave Wonder Woman asunder."
"So why am I the only Superman related protagonist here, while Princess Di has several heavy hitters enlisted? And Batman as well."
"Because it would be foolish to underestimate the Amazon. Or Kal-El. Or Batman."
The Joker gave a howl of laughter: "Isn't this a wonderful world? Billions dead and with those meta meddlers numbers reduced, we can ransack the planet."
From the darkness, their mentor shook his head:
"No, Napier. That isn't why I gathered this team and resurrected some of you. I have a more definite objective in mind."
Nastalthia glared at the Joker:
"So why did he get a free bus ticket out of Hades?"
"Careful, girly..."
"Don't 'girly' me, you pancake-make up nutjob-"
Gudra laid a placatory hand on Nastalthia's shoulder:
"I like your spirit, maiden. I would be proud to fight alongside you."
"Oooh. Do you have a matching sword to that one?"
"It will mean a side-trip to the Rhine. Do I have your permission, Dread One?"
From the shadows, the figure nodded its head:
"Keep a civil tongue, Napier. I will not let you endanger the cohesion and discipline of this mission. When the time is near, you will get your opportunity to eviscerate the Batman. Until then, your presence is tolerated alongside the others. As for the rest of you, I need you to fulfil your assignments."
"As long as you keep him away from me, I don't care."
RHINE RIVER VALLEY:
At its height, fifty four million people had once inhabited the Rhine River Valley. Nastalthia wore a gas mask and a hazmat suit as Gudra stepped gingerly through the debris and ash from the ruin of Central European civilisation: "Yeah. Oblivion, disease, destitution. I'm really getting into this."
"You are a true Nietzschean supermaiden, Nastalthia, with no care whatsoever for the weak and vulnerable. You are worthy to stand alongside me."
"We'll make an excellent team, Gudra. I just hope Superman or his brat cousin show up and try to take this away from us."
"Or the Amazon."
"Stand away from the charnel raven, young woman."
Nastalthia looked up: "Damn. I thought it was too quiet. I'll let you dispose of her, Gudra. Let me know if you need tech assist."
"Appreciated, mein freunde."
From the sky above, Supergirl joined the melee: "Nastalthia? Not that I'm not glad to see you, but I haven't got the time to play catchup. And you're definitely out of your league with the Valkyrie over there."
"Oh shut up, you arrogant blonde Kryptonian $!^@#. I'm not a minor nuisance anymore. Never underestimate me again. Oh, I forgot. Try this." Supergirl accelerated forward, intending to restraint and knock out someone whom she had considered a minor threat. Then she realised that something was wrong, as an antimatter projectile scorched the air millimetres from her face.
"Rao. What's gotten into you, Nasty?"
Nastalthia laughed: "Hey, Kara. It's been fun, but you don't get to make the rules anymore. Not in this new world we're in." From behind her, Nastalthia brought a hand held antimatter cannon and squeezed its trigger. Instants before it could impact, there was a violet flash and Supergirl cried:
"Kal!" When the dust cleared, the Man of Steel lay on the ground in front of her, his skin charred and blackened, his mouth open in the rictus of sudden shock. Wonder Woman shoved Gudra aside and advanced on Nastalthia, who waved goodbye as the Injustice League teleport took her away:
"How could they have done this, Diana? How?"
Gudra took advantage of the distraction to unsheath her own sword and run the Amazon through with it before Supergirl could react.
In the satellite above, there was wild applause and celebration as the two companions materialised:
"You are an excellent boon companion, Lady Nastalthia. You did not blink as the alien filth arrogantly sought to subdue you. You are a warrior of reknown."
"Admiration mutual, Gudra. Damn, that was one fine skewering. If they were all like you, why aren't there more Valkyries left?"
The Cheetah glowered at Gudra: "She was my enemy too. You couldn't leave her for me, could you...?"
"Hey, no probs. There's still Super$!^@#. Without Big Blue, she'll sure as hell be carryin' a hate on for me. And Barbs? There's still Themiscyra to go. I take it you don't want reinforcements from her homeland?"
"Come here, warrior courageous." Gudra smeared some of Superman's blood over her forehead while Nastalthia returned the favour with that of Wonder Woman.
And for once, the Joker was speechless, vanishing into the satellite's shadows, in fear of someone even his psychosis or rabid violence could not frighten or subdue.
JLA SATELLITE:
Supergirl sat, staring out into the darkness. Her eyes were closed and she wondered why she couldn't cry:
"Kara?"
"When is it going to stop, Bruce? Kal. Diana. I tried to work with the values that my cousin taught me. Suddenly, just like that, that hellchild Nastalthia and Gudra mowed them down like so much chaff. Rao help me. I feel like killing one or both of them."
"You're not the only one who feels that way, Kara. But we can't step over that line. That way lies darkness."
"Oh, Bruce, I'm sorry. How selfish of me. What you must be feeling about Selina and Talia right now. And Dick, Barbara, Jason, all those others."
"I know it's tempting. You wouldn't be human if you didn't have some desire for vengeance, Kara. But so many people have died. And there's the answer to where it must stop. Because if it's total war, humanity becomes extinct."
"Yeah. Yeah, and I pledged to protect them. Some job we did of that."
"What's that...?" From Boulder, a form hurtled upward, spiralling upward as Supergirl hurried through the exosphere downward to the mysterious figure. She intercepted it and was startled to see that despite the scarcity of air, the tattered clothed young man was virtually unharmed. She motioned to him that she would wrap him in her cape and handed him an airmask as she did so. To her surprise, he shook his head and joined her as she flew upward back to the satellite.
She turned as he joined her. Batman came forward:
"He appears to be meta, Kara."
Supergirl nodded: "That's a hearing aid. Okay. I know ASL. And you taught me"
Bruce nodded. He signed: It's okay. We tend to be a diverse lot up here.
The figure signed back: Supergirl and Batman. Awesome.Ah, where are my manners? Nick. Nick Andros.
How long have you been metahuman, Nick? Supergirl responded.
There was a terrorist attack on Boulder. We think it was from Las Vegas. I take it you know about-?
We know, but we're incapable of intervention. Something's preventing us from intervening in either facility. Otherwise we would have. Batman signed emphatically.
I know all of you would. So, you haven't escaped unscathed either? No, I can see you haven't. I'm sorry for your loss. As for my newfound abilities, I really don't know what happened. One moment I was in a Boulder city council meeting, the next I was flying upward and couldn't stop.
Supergirl had scanned his physiology: You're a Daxamite, Nick. Which means you're on a par with me in terms of superpowers. Except...damn it, I refuse to treat you as somehow 'inferior' just because you're deaf.
Nick shrugged: Thanks for that. So, there were Deaf people on Krypton?
Supergirl nodded: Particularly in Antarctic City, or so my father Zor-El told me. And Daxam, given we share a common descent. But you're invulnerable to lead.
Nick checked out his arm: There appear to be microparticles of Kryptonite in my bloodstream. Some sort of anti-lead vaccine? It's coming back to me now. My parents were of distant alien descent. And unfortunately, as you're probably aware, there's an isolationist xenophobe group on Daxam called White Triangle. When my parents fled to Earth, it was at its height.
Batman had turned to the console:
We face a particularly vehement enemy, Nick. He's called Darkseid, and he's a highly evolved apex entity. His servants have already killed Superman and Wonder Woman.
Oh no. Supergirl? I'm so sorry. I've been so selfish, I didn't realise...
Thank you, Nick. It's just good to encounter an ally at last...
VAHALLA PARK:
"Have you lost it completely, Len?"
Captain Cold pushed his way out of the former Flash' Rogues Gallery gathering place, ignoring the protests of the Mirror Master and Top.
"Just shut up, both of you. I want out of this. I should have realised it when Lisa was killed- this sort of life brings us nothing but pain. I just wanted to best the Flash. Now he's gone and so is everyone else associated with him. Look around you. Central City is a charnel house. True, we could loot it, we could live off the proceeds of this apocalyptic windfall around us- and then what? We have nothing to live or die for. And I don't know about you, but I'm not nihilistic enough to want to continue this to the bitter end."
"Guess you're right...Len..." And then, abruptly, the Top coughed blood, and a sword thrust through his stomach, disgorging pieces of stomach and intestinal meat as it did so.
"Hey Leonard, man. Wait up!" But then a flare of light illuminated the Mirror Master's head and fragments of skull and brain cascaded forward as he joined his comrade in death.
"Cowards. I despise them." Gudra said as she wiped her sword on the Top's uniform.
Nastalthia kicked the Mirror Master's body aside:
"Damn it. Where's Snart?"
"Some sort of Suicide Squad teleportation device. Can you track it?"
"We could have used his cryogenic abilities for superconductor tech. The boss won't be pleased." Nastalthia examined Captain Cold's signal device, then realised it had been gutted by a liquid nitrogen shot from the Captain's cryoblaster and she could not reconstruct it. Angrily, she threw it aside.
Around them, the carcasses of dead skyscrapers burned, with no firefighters alive to extinguish them, reflected in the burning remnants of trashed and junked cars in a world that no longer had any use for them. Nastalthia looked dispassionately out across the corpse of Central City.
"There's nothing here for us, comrade."
"I agree. Let's leave the dead to bury each other." And then they left the city to its ghosts.
THE JLA SATELLITE:
Gemma Constantine spun round as Captain Cold solidified into being and unleashed a spell bolt, slamming him against the console:
"Give over, Gemma love. He's not hostile this time."
"You can't blame me for being suspicious, Uncle John."
"I suppose it's too late to say I meant no harm? Not that I blame you."
John Constantine helped Snart to his feet: "Sorry, mate. I reckon this is no time for old enmities. Too much has bloody happened for us to maintain 'em"
Supergirl frowned: "You're injured, Snart. What happened to you?" She helped him to a bunk bed.
"It's...not good. One of the Amazon's old enemies-"
"Gudra. She did this?"
"And Luthor's niece-"
"Nastalthia. They've already killed my cousin Kal-El and Wonder Woman. So, they're even preying on other villains now?"
"Yeah, those of us who don't join their darkside army. Only I was never one for joining in, apart from the guys in the Flash' Rogues Gallery. But they're gone now."
"Thank you, Snart. Are you willing to join us? Are there any other former supervillains who might also want to change sides?"
"I was in touch with several before those two tracked us down. Poison Ivy. The Trickster. Sonar."
"That's all?"
"Problem is, Captain Trips killed off as many of the supervillain community as it did our ranks. John, Zatanna, can you...?"
Zatanna nodded: "Yvi Nosiop, Retskcrit, Ranos, noij su ni eht ALJ etilletas won!"
As the three forms firmed around the teleport, Constantine frowned:
"Wait a minute. Zed, Gemma? Did you get that backlash?"
"I did. What does it mean?"
"One of us has crossed over to the dark."
INJUSTICE LEAGUE SATELLITE:
As she trod the corridors, mace in hand, Hawkwoman stayed alert, wary should there be an ambush. She held up a hand as Torque entered and stared at her:
"We have a breach. Repeat, we have a sec=" Hawkwoman shot him in his chest. She stepped over his corpse and unsheathed Diana's amazonium sword. She brought up her shield as the others looked up:
"The Thanagarian! Foolhardy of you-"
Nastalthia shook her head: "No, Gudra, don't you see? Shayera here is an asset. As an alien capable of interstellar travel, she has the ability to upgrade our tech. Pleased to have you onboard."
"As long as I get first hit on Bats, I don't care." The Joker exclaimed blithely.
"Welcome onboard. But why did you change sides?"
"This world needs law and order. The League are too weak to take the necessary steps. This is beyond good and evil."
"So you aced Torque, did you? As we've received word that Nightwing died from Captain Trips, he was surplus to requirements in any case. Ah. What's that?"
"Purple K. A rare isotope of kryptonite. Like Red K, it passed through a cosmic cloud. Unlike red kryptonite, it has far more devastating effects."
"Damn shame it's not Gold K. That'd depower the $!^@# forever and we could put a bullet through her."
"No. In any case, there was only ever a limited number of Gold K meteorites, given that they originated from the Gold Volcano area of Krypton and have been systematically disposed of. Apparently, that wasn't as rare as the Jewel Mountains and Jewel K, which is next to useless unless in proximity to Phantom Zone prisoners. Purple K permanently petrifies Kryptonians. There's also a sepia kryptonite, which acts to liquify their bodies, but I haven't found any examples of that isotope."
Gudra scowled: "So it will immobilise her permanently as we destroy her surviving colleagues."
"And those infernal turncoats who changed sides on us, even if the only one worth recruiting was Snart."
"Speaking of which, where's the Joker?" Cheetah exclaimed.
"Oh no. That grimacing, reckless psychopath. He'll ruin everything! If Batman hasn't already beaten him to a pulp, may I...?"
"Of course, Nastalthia my dear. It was always a risk, but at least if he destroys Batman in battle, and then dies himself, we will be rid of their greatest strategic threat."
JUSTICE LEAGUE SATELLITE:
As Batman stepped out of the shower, he was shocked to see a particular intruder awaited him:
"Mmm. Not bad at all, Brucey."
"Do you actually think that you'll get to kill me? Sorry. I don't need a utility belt or my uniform to stop you, Clown."
"Spoilsport. All it'll take is a touch of my Joker Venom and you'll be mine."
"Shame you won't get that far..." Batman dropped his towel and laid into the Joker, only to find that he parried his opponent's moves and even landed a punch:
"Someone's been enhanced." Batman stepped aside as the Joker thrust forward with his envenomed blade and elbowed the other in the back. The Joker fell to his knees:
"Ouch. I'll fix you-"
"Rekoj, ezeerf dilos! Llet lla tuoba ruoy seugaelloc!"
But before Zatanna's spell could work, Nastalthia Luthor shot him through the heart:
"Oh, I've been wanting to do that for so, so long."
Batman hastily covered himself up:
"You appear overconfident, young woman."
Nastalthia laughed: "So where's the Kryptonian?"
"Right here, you murdering insane $!^@#. Zatanna?"
"She has an antimagic warding talisman, I can't affect her."
"Be warned, Kryptonian. She is not the only one of our league here." Gudra said, levelling her blade.
"Get out of my way, you Nazi relic." Kara said coldly, as Captain Cold stepped forward:
"Leave them alone, Valkyrie. Or I'll make sure you're out of commission permanently."
"You do not frighten me, crionoid." Abruptly, Cold's cryogun flared- but his target wasn't Gudra. In an instant, Nastalthia's purple kryptonite meteorite crystallised and then shattered>
"Damn you, traitor!" Nastalthia growled.
Gudra menaced the others with her broadsword:
"While my boon sister here is immune to the effects of the mage's sorcery, you are not, Kryptonian. As for you, Snart, reckoning awaits..."
With that, they dematerialised, leaving Batman staring down at the Joker's corpse:
"I never thought it'd end like this."
"Serves that psychopath right. Why would he resurrect that idiot in the first place?"
Batman realised something that had eluded him:
"Because he has backup or potential replacements. And I'm not talking about Nastalthia and the Valkyrie. There are other members of my rogues gallery on the ILW satellite, prechosen to battle us to a halt. Which means that they have one specific ally. Someone from the Justice League's past."
Zatanna nodded: "I could sense the enhancement ensorcellement, Bruce. You mean Libra, don't you?"
Batman nodded: "And with his desire for absolute balance, he's engineered equality with us. So Joker matched me in physical prowess and combat experience, Nastalthia has had her intelligence rebooted to match that of her late uncle, Gudra has the prowess of Wonder Woman but with none of Diana's compassion and mercy... which suggests that he has other assistance."
Supergirl replied: "Like adaptoids, you mean?"
"Exactly, Kara. Which, I suspect, were imported here using one of Darkseid's boom tubes."
"So what are you saying, Bruce? That this incarnation of the Injustice League is a match for us?"
"More than that, Zatanna. It may be a fight to the death."
Snart brought up his pistol: "Bring it on. I'm not afraid to die."
Kara added: "Nor am I."
"If we lose, we risk superhuman villainy being unleashed on a ravaged world that couldn't tolerate it. With our depleted numbers, I'm not sure we'll win this time." Batman concluded.
INJUSTICE LEAGUE SATELLITE:
"I see your mission was successful."
"Loose wheel destroyed However, I fear Napier's recklessness and impatience may have led to the realisation that you are Darkseid's proxy in this, Lord Libra."
"Bad news. Snart cryophased the purple kryptonite before I could use it on Supes."
"Never mind, Nastalthia. I have other tools at my disposal." Behind him, a hidden wall alcove slid forward, with a moulded replica of her uncle's battlesuit:
"Wow! Now I can finally beat the $#!* out of that self-righteous Kryptonian idiot!"
"You will lead the final mission, both of you. Scarecrow, Psycho-Pirate, you will spread despair at the recognition of what awaits them."
Nathaniel Crane cracked his knuckles: "With Napier down, I'll be the one to take down the Batman."
"I...I'm not sure about any of this, Libra. T-this isn't the Justice Society and I'm not used to Earth-I. What if I...?"
"All I ask, Hayden, is that you play your role. When this is over, your reward will be considerable."
"I-if you say so..."
Gudra was not impressed: "He may be an impediment. Crane strikes me as far more useful to our plan."
"Don't worry. I considered that."
JUSTICE LEAGUE SATELLITE:
Kara donned her Kryptonian battlesuit as Nick came into the room:
"Hi."
-So what's the matter? Nick signed
-I don't think we're going to make it out of this alive, Nick. You can still flee this world.
He kissed her, long and deep as a tear left her eye: Rao. I meet the ideal male metahuman and it's on the eve of an apocalypse.
-Hey. Even if we do, it's to keep this world safe. Don't forget that.
- I wanted a career, a husband, a family.
-Dunno about the career, but there's still the possibility of family...
At a distance, Batman turned away, then noticed J'onn J'onnz weaving erratically above him, as if he were unused to flight. Then he realised:
"Boston? Deadman? Is that you?"
As J'onn alighted, he could see a faint, almost imperceptible aura. But something was different:
"Batman?" As the Martian Manhunter morphed into a female form and with a female voice, he nodded:
"So you're still postmortal, but someone else. I take it Rama Kushna recruited another agent from the afterlife?"
J'onn nodded: "I'm Nadine Cross. Yeah, Rama Kushna gave me another chance after I ended my life to stop becoming the vessel of Randall Flagg's Antichrist down in Nevada. Batman? I think they have access to nuclear weapons down there. We have to stop them."
"We can't, Nadine...Deadwoman? It's impenetrable even to... Nick?"
Nick Andros stepped forward and signed: Nadine?
"Hello, Nick. Looks like we both made it here. Except I didn't. I got recruited by a quasidivine entity called Rama Kushna, and as a result I can possess people."
"Including the ILW. That could be interesting."
"I don't think I'm the only one. There's a newcomer onboard the Injustice League satellite."
Nick signed: -That'd make sense. I found this drifting Thanagarian starship out in the Kuiper Belt. The male Thanagarian was dead. He'd been attacked, possibly by his partner.
"Oh Katar, no. Not you too. John? What is it?" Kara said, as the chaos mage looked up from the mandala that he, Zatanna and Dr Fate had cast:
"Trouble, Kara luv. That's not Shayera over there. It's something that killed her and hijacked her body."
LAS VEGAS:
Larry Underwood breathed calmly despite his beating at the hands of Randall Flagg's goons, looking downward as a misshapen tatterdemalion figure stumbled toward the self-declared ruler of the Chaos Zone, dragging a familiar form behind him on a trailer. Flagg's eyes widened. He took one look at the intruder and abruptly abandoned his human form as a misty luminescent hand reached from the heavens and the device abruptly activated. Larry consoled himself with the thought that he wouldn't even feel it, given his proximity to the bomb when it went off, and at least Lucy and their unborn child were safe at home in Boulder. He closed his eyes as a light brighter than the sun ignited at ground zero and the forces of chaos, the buildings they had temporarily occupied and the land on which they stood were obliterated in a millisecond. But Larry Underwood didn't join his unwilling counterparts in the holocaust that destroyed Las Vegas. An instant before detonation, he teleported away from the impending end of the hapless community.
JUSTICE LEAGUE SATELLITE:
As Larry Underwood materialised on the JLA satellite, Nick and Nadine rushed over to him:
-Nick? What happened, man? I thought those darksider terrorist bastards had killed you.
"And who are you, lady..?"
"It's me, you big dummy. Nadine. Except they call me Deadwoman now. Because unlike you and Larry, I am dead but I've been given a second chance."
Kara cleared her throat:
"I assume you know what happened to Las Vegas?"
"A nuclear weapon went off down there. Wow. Are you- Supergirl?"
Starfire brought up a holographier display of the Injustice League satellite:
"With the destruction of Las Vegas, the Injustice League will be off balance. They were probably counting on them to provide a ground cover base if they should return earthside."
"With no operational teleport?" J'onn J'onnz asked.
"I saw a little of what was going on down there. Randall was building some sort of shuttleport, probably for that reason."
"Desperate snakes can be unpredictable." Batman pointed out.
"Everyone? I have no right to force all of you to participate in this. None of us may come back. But we know what will happen if we let ourselves be cowered into submission." Supergirl said."
"We're with you, Kara. All of us." Koriand'r said
"Yeah, against our better judgement in some cases." Constantine muttered, but Zatanna squeezed his hand and then kissed him anyway.
"Good. It's time."
INJUSTICE LEAGUE SATELLITE:
Sometimes, good does not triumph in a 'clean' victory. Sometimes, there are collateral tragedies. As the Justice League materialised on their satellite, Gudra leapt forward with a snarl, only to be met with Doctor Fate's spellcast. She rematerialised a light year away, instantly frozen, still in existence but unable to call out or alert others to her survival. Nastalthia Luthor rushed forward and stabbed Supergirl with a kryptonite dagger. As she fell into Nick's arms, his eyes blazed red as he melted the dagger into molten remnants and then knelt alongside the prone Kryptonian. Zatanna wheeled around to stop Scarecrow taking advantage of the situation, but his anti-empathic ability to strike fear into his adversaries had been considerably enhanced. Zatanna choked and fell to the floor, but any success that Scarecrow might have relished was short-lived, as a grim-faced John Constantine carved sigils in the air and the fearcaster combusted, screaming as he went. Captain Cold aimed his cryogun at Nastalthia and shot her at point blank range. She opened her mouth to scream, but she was now crystallised and the movement shattered her frozen body. Batman stepped over her and destroyed the barrier:
"Libra."
"We appear to be evenly matched, detective."
"How so? Most of your entourage of predators are down..." Starfire blasted Cheetah into unconsciousness as Gemma Constantine ripped the medusa mask from the Psycho-Pirate's face. The empathic shock syndrome from sudden obstruction from the eldritch mask killed him instantly.
Libra laughed: "Don't you see? Survival of the fittest. I've eliminated both Kryptonians, the Amazon and an alpha-class sorceress. As for that cannon fodder down there, their own egotism and pride led them to it. All those that are left here have blood on their hands. I've forced you to betray your core principles and it was all for nothing. Because there's a balancing at work here. Try to teleport out of here..." Abruptly, there was a sickening lurch. The outside metal and reinforced plastic of the Injustice League satellite began to imperceptibly redden.
Constantine shrugged: "So? Apart from Nick and Nadine here, we die when this crate burns up in atmospheric re-entry. We're supposed to do $#!* like this. It's what we signed up for."
-Uh, Constantine? Nick ripped away a panel of metallic flooring and disclosed what Libra had been gloating about.
"A cobalt-salted fifty thousand megaton bomb. Enough to wipe out all the survivors on Earth if it goes off." Batman said flatly.
"Kent? Raven? Can you teleport it away from here?" Batman asked.
"I cannot. The teleport barrier is also impregnable to thaumaturgic exit." Raven replied.
Constantine sighed: "All right then. Nelson? Bats? J'onn? Snart? Are we agreed on this, then?"
A moment passed as the four men gazed levelly at each other.
Gemma caught the glint of a tear in his eye: "Uncle John? No. Whatever it is you're planning, no. I won't let you do this."
"Eh, our Gemma. This world needs someone to look after it. And frankly, I don't want to live in a world without Zee."
"Nor I, without Inza."
Batman kept his opinion to himself, but the others could tell he was thinking about Selina, Talia and Damian, Barbara, Jason, Tim and Dick.
Starfire caught his arm: "Batman? Do not do this. We need your wisdom, your leadership, your gravity."
"Koriand'r, the others need to face the new circumstances that will unfold here. Clearly Libra is not infallible, otherwise he would not have let his minions fall in the battle recently concluded. You're younger, more flexible. It's time to say goodbye." With that, Batman, Captain Cold, John Constantine, J'onn J'onnz and Doctor Fate turned toward the startled Libra, who brandished his scales at them. He meant their deaths, but to no avail. Suddenly, he realised that he was weakened. In glass vials around him, the adaptoids wilted and died, and his ability to counteract teleportation ended with it. Larry Underwood caught a ring as Constantine threw it to him: "Do it, man. Get them out of here. You're this world's new alpha magus now."
Instinctively, he did so. Gemma, Starfire, Raven, Nick, Nadine and Larry vanished from the vessel's bridge. Libra laughed in sudden insanity, then felt something leave him.
APOKOLIPS:
Several billion light years away, a combined force of Green Lantern and Sinestro Corps forces, as well as the New Gods, had breached the defences of the hellworld Apokolips. Many of both sides had fallen, as Darkseid reached forward, only to have his hand thrust aside as Spindrift came into the focus of his funereal stare:
"You? The puniest New God?"
"The last of them, thanks to you. Butcher. No. I won't let you do this."
John Stewart stepped forward, power ring blazing: "Neither will I."
"You presume too much." Darkseid tried to break free from the iron grip of the young New God, but she wouldn't let him activate the Cosmeg Device hidden in the planet's core. John Stewart stepped forward and took careful aim. With him were the combined energies of two Lantern Corps. And even a god can fall, if what is marshalled against it combine courage, self-determination and purpose. And thus, Darkseid-980 cried out and flashed into heat and light. As his dying screams echoed into silence, Spindrift closed her eyes:
"It's over. At last. John Stewart? I know what I'm asking, but are you willing to permanently relinquish everything you held dear on your world?"
"There's nothing for me there, Dorothy."
"Because this universe needs to be protected against cosmic scale hostile entities. That tyrant is gone, but many such remain. The Green Lantern Corps will need to be rebuilt, even though the Guardians perished in the offensive on this charnel house world. Good. Take my hand, my friend. This world has been a canker on this universe for too long." As Spindrift and Stewart left Apokolips, Spindrift brought her abilities to bear on the red-holed ebon planet beneath them. It quaked, space shimmered and then it vanished. Apokolips rematerialised in a null-time continuum, without time or space, completely enclosing it, away from the inquiring of malevolent and inimical sapience.
EPILOGUE:
As a memorial tribute to the fallen Superman and Supergirl, Kandor was enlarged on Rokyn, the superearth planet within a red dwarf solar system, akin to Rao.
Nick Andros took the name Powerman, and led the Justice and Survival Coalition, along with Deadwoman, Magus (Larry Underwood), Starfire, Gemma Constantine and Raven. They fought back repeated attempts from hostile aliens or paranormal entities that sought to exploit the weakness of Earth after the global Captain Trips pandemic. With his heat vision, he destroyed the formula that had given rise to the murderous pandemic. On some moonlit nights, he felt a pang of grief and sorrow as he thought of Kara Zor-El and what might have been and now could never be. Starfire tended Dick Grayson's grave amidst the sprawling ruins of Wayne Manor, while Gemma and Raven oversaw the sculpting of a statue to the valour of perished, now almost legendary figures. Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. They had led the Justice League's last stand and were no more, but their sacrifice was not in vain.
And so, a world was reborn and grew straight and true. Elsewhere, monstrous, ageless, immortal evil raged and gnashed its teeth, but this world and its universe were forever closed to it.
THE END.