Post by redsycorax on Mar 12, 2021 4:14:27 GMT
Countless alternate Earths perish prematurely from cosmic tragedies. In some cases, astrophysics diverge from the datum, so main sequence stars can metastasise and go nova, much as is the case with red giants and higher mass stars in our universe. Others fall victim to itinerant rogue planets that intersect Earth's orbit and collide with Earth, destroying humanity or other sapient species altogether, while in other scenarios, the rogue planet's mass is sufficient to expell that Earth from the solar system and turn it into a sunless, immense snowball. In others, asteroids of sufficient mass impact on Earths that lack sufficient technological development or Kryptonian or Daxamite-class metahumans of sufficient ability and strength enough, or magical artefacts sufficiently potent enough, to repell them. Some are that fortunate. However, Earth-63, the alternate Earth at the core of this account, was not that lucky.
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NOVEMBER 30TH, 1941, JODRELL BANK, EAST CHESHIRE:
British Astronomer Royal, Sir Jonathon Clark, blinked in pleasure and surprise. It seemed as if his night time observation of the light-clear skies during the blackout of the surrounding towns of Northwich, Middlewich, Altrincham, Congleton and Macclesfield due to the unwelcome attention of Luftwaffe bombers, had yielded a prize. It seemed to be an asteroid. In itself, that wasn't unusual- thousands of the little perishers, mostly between Mars and Jupiter, were discovered each year. When he returned to the area, a few minutes later, he was startled to see the rapidity of the apparent motion of the newly discovered space rock. Ah well. Plotting the momentum with the assistance of his IAU concordance, he satisfied himself that the asteroid in question was indeed a newly discovered celestial body. In which case, IAU convention dictated he could claim discoverer's privilege and name it. He grinned as he realised that he could have a good jape with an old friend over this. Indeed, it would be an excellent way to acknowledge his dear friend and the godfather of his children, Doctor Fred Wertheim. Old Fred was a selfless humanitarian, devoting countless hours to the welfare of impoverished young Negroes in Harlem, New York. He was a committed fighter against racial discrimination. His expert testimony had also led to the conviction and later execution of the infamous mass murderer Stanley Fish in 1935. Indeed, Clark and his wife Millicent, a social worker, had been in New York at an IAU conference. They had a day before the steamer left for London, so Milly's professional curiosity dictated that they attend the trial in the public gallery. Impressed by Frederick's eloquence and expertise, they introduced themselves after the end of the trial and soon became fast friends, despite their divergent scientific interests. Clutching his trusty briar pipe, Sir Jonathan calculated its mass and momentum, finding its increased albedo, however minute, a source of professional interest. When he got home, he and good old Fred would have a good laugh at the newly discovered asteroid, henceforth to be known as 1567 Wertheim. At the time, he thought it odd that its trajectory was so close to Earth.
Two days later, he stood, shivering, at the implications of what he had found. But there could be no doubt.
1567 Wertheim was on a collision course with Earth. Eight months from now, it would impact in Colorado's Yellowstone Park. At the speed that it was travelling, it would destroy all human life on the plan
TOKYO: SHOWA 16/DECEMBER 2, 1941:
All day long, Japanese Emperor Hirohito had been closeted with his royal astronomer, as he verified the news that had come from distant England. FInally, three hours later, the astronomer left and War Prime Minister Hideki Tojo was summoned to the Chrysanthemum Palace. There, he was told curtly and abruptly to abandon any further plans to attack Hawaii's Pearl Harbour, French Indochina, Singapore or the Dutch East Indies, and withdraw from Manchukuo, Japan's Northern Chinese puppet state. Tojo replied that his military honour prevented him from carrying out any such command, whereupon the Emperor looked him in the eye and stated unequivocally that if he were unable to carry out his commands for the preservation of the Japanese people and their evacuation from the Home Islands to a possible Himalayan sanctuary, he should consider himself sacked immediately and would be expected to yield his position to those who could be so entrusted. Stiffly, Tojo arose and strode away from the Palace, toward the National Diet Buiding. There, he bolted the Cabinet Room doors behind him as he convened his War Cabinet and told them of the Emperor's decision. Then, ingrained with a lifetime of deference and obedience to the Anointed, Hideki Tojo impaled himself on the end of a sharpened samurai sword, a family heirloom, followed swiftly by his Cabinet colleagues, and, several hundred miles to the east, heading toward Hawaii and Pearl Harbour, several admirals within the Imperial Japanese Navy.
As the civilian National Unity Cabinet, composed of party leaders, convened in the room below him, Emperor Hirohito closed his eyes. It had been a long day. He had had to do what he did, duty demanded it, but he was sorrowful that Tojo-san's inflexibility had prevented him from turning from the path of war toward the path of preservation. He would miss him in the days ahead. Fortunately, President Roosevelt had been cordial and relieved that he would not have to fight a war on two global fronts. Which was more than could be said for the hysterical abuse that flowed from Berlin as its former Axis Ally abandoned it to its fate.
BERLIN, DECEMBER 3, 1941:
"Leute des Dritten Reiches! Ihr Führer ruft Sie an! Ignorieren Sie, was die internationale jüdische bolschewistische Freimaurer-Verschwörung Ihnen über angebliche Ereignisse im Himmel oben sagt! Es ist Zauberei, die unsere Entschlossenheit schwächen und Deutschland daran hindern soll, sein heiliges Schicksal als Meister von zu erfüllen Europa. Es wird keine Auswirkungen dieses imaginären kosmischen Felsens geben, der urig Wertheim genannt wird. Wir sind dazu bestimmt, den Widerstand in Europa zu schreien, der vor uns liegt, die bösartigen Krallen der jüdischen Tyrannei zu vernichten und das Gespenst des internationalen Bolschewismus ein für alle Mal zu vernichten! Wir werden es tun nicht diesem Trick zum Opfer fallen! Ein Reich! Ein Volk! Ein Führer! "
"People of the Third Reich! Your Fuhrer calls you! Disregard what the International Jewish Bolshevik Freemason Conspiracy tells you about alleged events in the heavens above! It is sorcery, directed to weaken our resolve and prevent Germany from fulfilling its sacred destiny as Master of Europe. There will be no impact of this imaginary cosmic rock quaintly named Wertheim. We are foreordained to crush all resistance in Europe that remains before us, annihilate the malignant talons of Judaic tyranny and crush the spectre of International Bolshevism once and for all! We will not fall victim to this ruse! One Reich! One People! One Fuhrer!" With spittle flying in every direction, wide-eyed and raving, Adolf Hitler refused to listen to his own scientific advisors when they told him about the onrushing harbinger of doomsday above them all. Hitler could not accept that he could not bend the implacable heavens to his will, and therefore, in his egotism and madness, he refused to accept the testimony of science and technology.
But elsewhere in the conflicted behemoth that was Nazi Germany's hierarchy and its rival arms of goverment, doubts began to circulate. Bormann agreed with the scientists prognosis, as did Goering, Heydrich and Rommel. Goebbels was a propagandist and scientific illiterate, and blindly obedient to his Fuhrer. Himmler awaited the denouement, unwilling to commit himself either way, ever the consummate pragmatist. Little by little, Nazism began to develop hairline fractures and cracks in its edifice, which would only widen over time. But for now, the deranged syphilitic tyrant refused to abandon the Second World War.
Neither, bound by his own bucolic peasant ignorance and paranoia, did Josef Stalin in distant Russia. He ordered any scientists or astronomers who spread such lies to be taken away and executed. Wise leadership was at a premium in both nations and because of it, precious time was wasted and its sands inexorably trickled down to oblivion.
NEW YORK: DECEMBER 10, 1941:
DOOMSDAY ASTEROID COMPOSITION IDENTIFIED
By John. W. Reiter, Scientific Correspondent.
Astro-Physicists have advanced some tentative theories about the so-called 'doomsday asteroid', 1567 Wertheim. Although spectographic analysis is not infallible as a scientific method, they generally theorise that there are roughly three different families of asteroid composition. If the asteroid was a C-class ("chondrite") asteroid, the human race would not be in this current dilemma, as these consist of predominantly of clay and silicate rocks and would disintegrate as it hit the Earth's atmosphere, apart from a meteorite rain of fragments. Unfortunately, the two other categories are nowhere near as benign- the "S-Type" asteroids consist of silicate materials and nickel-iron, while "M-type" asteroids are usually nickel-iron. The trouble is, 1567 Wertheim seems to consist of nickel-iron, and it is this composition, combined with its speed of eight miles per second (almost 27.000 miles per hour), which may possibly doom all human life on Earth.
NAZI GERMANY DECLARES WAR ON UNITED STATES
By Geoffrey Dans, War Correspondent.
The Third Reich has declared war on the United States of America, following what it called 'a series of flagrant provocations' that included firing on German naval vessels and submarines, as well as merchant marine vessels. Foreign Minister Joachim Von Ribbentrop in Berlin confirmed to American Charge d'Affaires Leland Harris that the Third Reich now regarded the United States as being at war with Nazi Germany. President Roosevelt expressed his regret at the development, chiding the Nazi regime for its absence of scientific probity when it came to the universal threat to humanity now posed by the "Doomsday Asteroid," 1567 Wertheim.
METROPOLIS: DECEMBER 11, 1941.
"Can you believe it, Clark? It's as if that infernal asteroid doesn't exist for the Ratzis! They're ignoring it and have called it allied propagand- Clark, what is it?"
Lois Lane was mystified as Clark Kent pulled the shutter on their shared office window and locked the door as he turned and stood in front of her:
"Lois, you're a damned fine investigative reporter. You'd probably have started to suspect anyway, so I'm pre-empting what I might not have had the courage to otherwise tell you."
"Clark?" Lois frowned as Clark removed his jacket and began to unbutton his shirt, as well as removing his tie and glasses. A spit curl appeared, and in the next minute, she gasped, as the telltale blue costume with his emblematic red and yellow shield logo appeared in front of her:
"You're Superman?!"
"Since I started to work here, yes."
Lois threw herself into his arms: "Oh, darling! I swear, I will never tell a soul! Your secret is absolutely safe with me, I know how much the world needs you."
"That's...not all, I'm afraid. I think it was you that came up with the chart of my attributes, Lois. You know... faster than a speeding bullet or locomotive, able to leap tall buildings at a single bound and nothing less than a bursting shell itself can penetrate my body. The problem is, my power has limits. I may be able to leap several miles into the sky, but I can't fly. Earth doesn't have the scientific development necessary to produce spacecraft yet, so I'm restricted to Earth. The asteroid is moving too fast for me to intercept it outside the Earth's orbit, even if I could leave its surface. When the end comes, I'll perish with the rest of you."
Lois shook her head: "Clark-Superman, I refuse to accept that. What about those other mystery men and women in the Justice Society? Combined, couldn't they do something to stop this?"
CIVIC CITY, PHILADELPHIA: DECEMBER 13, 1941:
"The simple answer is, no. The Flash isn't fast enough to use his prodigious speed. The Green Lantern's power ring restricts him to Earth and is incapable of protecting him in space. The Spectre isn't on Earth anymore. Moreover, Jim Corrigan's grave is occupied once more, suggesting that there has been a divorce between the Spectre and its previous incarnation. Perhaps Corrigan was unable to convince the Powers That Be to intervene on our world's behalf. As for Doctor Fate, there seems to be no contact with him. He may be isolated within his extradimensional castle turret, prevented from intervening by the Helmet of Nabu. Like the rest of us, Wonder Woman is restricted to this world."
Wonder Woman nodded: "Yes, Batman, and there's something else. My Amazon sisters and I are unable to stop this either. It was revealed to us when my mother, Queen Hippolyta, made offerings to the Moirae, the Fates, to do something to avert this. The one who answered was Atropos, the aspect of the triune goddess responsible for ultimate destiny and endings, such as death. She answered that the events of six months from now are irrevocably established and cannot be averted.'
"Will you be joining the Amazon sisterhood on Paradise Island, Princess?"
Wonder Woman shook her head: "No. The war still continues and I have sworn to defend the United States from Nazi tyranny, even if I cannot avert the apocalypse that awaits us all. I will continue to fight alongside you until the final sword descends on us all."
Batman was still unconvinced:
"What about the V missiles that the Nazis are supposed to be planning to use against the United Kingdom?"
Superman sighed: "They're too fast for me to intercept, or Jay, for that matter. In any case, they have a maximum altitude- 55 miles on a long range trajectory, 128 miles if launched vertically. I can't travel that high, nor can Alan, or Carter. Or Bruce's Bat-Plane. And they're not supposed to be deployed there for roughly another two or three years- right, Diana?"
"I refuse to accept that we're powerless to prevent this. Starman's cosmic rod? What if it were enlarged and heaved into Earth orbit and then fired at Wertheim? Wouldn't that work?"
Starman shook his head: "Unfortunately though, Bruce, it'd pass over German airspace and the Nazis might be able to use an enhanced V-rocket to shoot it down."
"Damn it, there must be something we can do! We're supposed to protect the United States and its allies from-"
"From threats that lie within our scope, Bruce. Something of this magnitude is far beyond that."
OLYMPUS: DECEMBER 15, 1941:
"Apollo, my son. What does thine sacred oracle at Delphi say about the rock that will lay waste to the Earth?" Zeus said as the restless gods of antiquity murmured with one another and then quitened as their king spoke.
"My Father, the Oracle confirmed what the Moirae did tell us all. This fate is unavoidable. Earth's human inhabitants will not survive the doom that befalls the world from the sky."
"Nay, we are gods! We are not mere mortals, we must have the power to deflect this intruder from this world we have guarded and protected from times lost to antquity." Ares interrupted.
"Brother Ares- not even we Olympian gods can avert what is predestined. Humanity will perish. It is not our Moirae alone that have forecast this apocalypse, but also Asgard's Norns and Queen Freya, our own Hekate, Etruscan Antevorta and harbingers of prophecy and destiny within countless other kindred pantheons." Artemis sighed.
"But our own power is thaumaturgically linked to belief and worship from those mortals. If they perish, so do we." Ares exlaimed.
"Such will then also be our fate. Olympus will fall into the endless pit of Tartarus and all we shall be overthrown. Only Hades will have dominion then. Even great Posiedon's oceans will not harbour life amongst the funereal wreckage that will befall this world."
Hera concluded their solemn conclave: "Diana of Themiscyra is a worthy warrior for these values we hold dearest. She has vowed not to cease her obligation to fight alongside those of the Mortal World until oblivion dawns. I suggest we emulate Hippolyta's brave and valiant daughter in this."
"You speak truth, my Queen. Very well. Be it as you desire. We will comport ourselves befitting our sacred tasks and responsibilities until this fire falls from the skies and consumes us all."
KEYSTONE CITY: JANUARY 1, 1942:
Joan Williams looked out the window, pensive, as Jay put down his book and joined her:
"Thinking?"
"Is there nothing we can do, Jay? Nothing at all?"
Jay shook his head: "Even with all the speed at my disposal, I can't outrun this."
"The city's quiet. There's nothing happening out there. Not even anyone on the streets."
Jay kissed her on her forehead: "Hey, I don't mind. Let the villains and lawbreakers take a holiday. And, Joan..."
Joan looked down at the small box Jay had produced from his jacket pocket:
"Oh, darling. Yes. A thousand times, yes."
"Even if this world is coming to an end, even if we only have months together, I want to spend it with you." And thus, the fastest man alive and the woman he loved embraced.
WASHINGTON DC: JANUARY 5, 1942:
"What I'd like to know is how long Hitler can keep up this ridiculous facade for." Captain Steve Trevor said as he watched the sun set over the Potomac with the woman he called his 'angel' alongside him.
"I don't know, Steve. I wish he didn't have that wretched talisman of his, his so-called "Spear of Destiny" on hand, then the Justice Society could storm in there and pluck him out of his bunker and get him to face justice. But what would be the point? Sooner or later, his hubris will bring its own reward."
"Look at them down there, angel. It's odd. I thought there'd be anarchy, rioting, looting. But no."
Diana produced a couple of ampoules and a syringe from her waistbelt:
"Is that what I think it is?"
"Yes. The Amazons frown on suicide, Steve, except in cases where the gods give a clear signal that an individual's departure from this life is warranted."
"I don't have very strong religious beliefs one way or the other, Princess. If you weren't here when the end comes, I thought I might put a bullet through my head. But this...it's quicker, cleaner."
Wonder Woman clasped his shoulders:
"No, it's not going to end like that. I left Themiscyra for you, Steve, and I promise, I will be at your side when the heavens descend on us. And we will leave this life together."
"Princess, you don't have to..."
"I swore to protect you all, but if this is what Fate decrees, I will keep at my post until the last few days. And then..."
GOTHAM CITY: JANUARY 10, 1942:
"Bruce. Will we feel anything when it hits?"
"No, Dick, we won't. Unfortunately, though, it looks like the rogues gallery isn't going to give us a moments peace and quiet until then."
"I'll be at your side until the end, then."
"Dick...what would you say if I married at some point?"
"Gee, Bruce. I guess I'd have no problem with that. I want you to be happy."
"And I want you to be my son, instead of my ward."
In the distance, a piano gently played. And somewhere, in the city, Julie Madison packed her bags, intent on leaving Gotham before the axe fell. Bruce was great fun to be with, but she doubted the cossetted playboy would have the patience and fortitude to be with her at the very end. Looking across the skyline at distant Wayne Manor, she wiped away a tear as she strode across to the plane, having dropped an envelope en route to Gotham Airport.
Elsewhere, in Gotham Penitentiary, the Joker howled his insane laughter. The Penguin looked up at the sky, wondering if any of this were worth it anymore. And Catwoman lay on her sofa, stroking Isis, her favourite feline. She had already come to a decision. Her heart wasn't in this life, anyway and she didn't intend to waste it imprisoned for petty larceny or theft. Abruptly, she felt Isis' belly:
"Oh honey. You really don't know this is the wrong time for this, do you?"
Isis looked up at her and mewed: "It's not fair, sweetheart. Those kittens inside you will hardly have a chance to open their eyes and start playing with one another and learning from you..." Catwoman couldn't finish. Bewildered at her human's tears, Isis nuzzled Selina Kyle as she held the pregnant feline close. Perhaps there were some things more important than jewels and precious goods to her aftwe all. Selina came to a decision and shut away her Catwoman outfit, once and for all. She would never wear it again.
JANUARY 18TH, 1942: BERLIN
"Meine deutschen Brüder und Schwestern! Das glorreiche Dritte Reich begrüßt alle, die auf ihren Posten geblieben sind und sich geweigert haben, der defätistischen Propaganda und den Lügen der internationalen jüdischen bolschewistischen Verschwörung und des Phantom-Asteroiden zu glauben, der uns angeblich bedroht. Ein Reich. Ein Anführer. Eine Nation, Deutschland !!!"
"My German brothers and sisters! The glorious Third Reich salutes all those who have remained at their posts and who have refused to believe the defeatist propaganda and lies of the International Jewish Bolshevik conspiracy and the phantom 'asteroid' that allegedly threatens us. One Reich. One Leader. One Nation, Germany!!!"
Notably, as many Allied commentators noted at the time, the Fuhrer's speech was not recorded on movie newsreels. Had that been the case, they would have observed that the demeanour and physical appearance of the Nazi leader had undergone a shocking metamorphosis. His hair was graying, and his radio broadcast had been spliced together, because of the hesitancy and diversions from the main body of the speech. As usual, much of the propaganda consisted of hollow lies. There no longer was a German Army front at Stalingrad, as masses of soldiers deserted and mutinied from army senior command. Some were shot by their loyalist, fanatical associates or martinet superiors. Much the same was happening on the Red Army side, as the Second World War started to grind to an inconclusive halt. Even in Poland, some of the concentration camps began to falter and disintegrate as the genocidal machinery of the Holocaust began to mercifully falter due to desertions and supply bottlenecks and closures. In another month, the mouth of Moloch would close forever.
Bormann, Goering, Heydrich and Rommel watched their ailing leader with nervousness, concerned that in his deteriorating mental state, the absolute ruler of Nazi Germany might turn on them and resolved to take active steps before that could happen. Slowly and tentatively, they established links with the clandestine anti-Nazi German underground. Himmler still vacillated. Part of him saw the obvious changes in his Fuhrer's demeanour and the preparations for a putsch. He was also aware of the growing sclerosis of the Nazi apparatus as those who heeded science and the evidence of their eyes and telescopes above the vainglorious, grandiose rhetoric of their tyrant and onetime idol. However, at what point would that growing doubt and despair threaten the survival of the Third Reich itself?
LONDON: JANUARY 18TH, 1942:
Sir Winston Churchill sat tenderly alongside his wife Clementine as they gazed overhead at the diminishing battle in the skies above them:
"Damn that man for making us do this."
"It won't be long now, my love. The Nazi war machine is falling apart. We have effectively won. Either that madman will perish in a coup d'etat or the German people will lose faith in them altogether and there will be a bloody upheaval. And then..."
Clementine Churchill looked across at her husband: "And then, we wait for the sword of Damocles to descend on all of us."
"Clem. I had hoped to grow old alongside you and watch our grandchildren grow to maturity and independence. But now, barring a miracle, that is never to be. I want you to know that the last few decades of our life together have been heaven on Earth. We will cherish the time we have left and gather our family around us near the end. And then, we will step quietly across the barrier."
FEBRUARY 2ND, 1942:
By now, 1467 Wertheim was inside the orbit of Mars and was growing steadily brighter as telescopes of lesser refinement gradually caught sight of the shard of Armageddon in the skies above them.
When the Justice Society held its monthly meeting, there were some absences. Al Pratt had abandoned superheroics to be with his elderly parents. Dr Mid Nite was beset by a crisis of conscience as Charles MacNider received requests from elderly patients and the disabled to be given access to the strychnine and barbiturate suicide pills that the government had produced for its citizens. Grimly. Starman fought crime in the daylight and spent his nights gazing up at the rock that would shortly end all their lives, wishing that there could be an end to this infernal conflict. But by now, the asteroid was getting too close for even an enlarged antigravity apparatus on a large scale to do anything to halt the inevitable. Whether or not Hawkman could have produced enough of his Nth Metal to do anything significant must be a moot point. Over Hamburg, Nazi anti-aircraft artillery found his USAF plane and strafed it to pieces, killing him and his crew more or less instantly. When Shiera Saunders received the news, she wept, but then resolved to spend what time remained protecting the homeland.
FEBRUARY 8TH, 1942: METROPOLIS:
Most of Superman's Metropolis rogues gallery had silently abandoned their criminal careers, motivated by despair that in the end, their attempted self-aggrandisement and posturing was without purpose or ultimate significance. Of course, that didn't deter those motivated by other objectives, such as Superman's psychotic scientific adversary, Alexei Luthor. As a philosophical nihilist, Luthor didn't care that the world would come to an end as May 1942 drew to a close. He laughed to himself that even that interfering alien freak would be unable to avert it, betraying his overblown reputation as an invulnerable and inescapable force of nature. He only wished that he could still be around to do something to hasten the end of his mystery man bete noir, but there was no point. Nothing he could say or do would deflect the Wertheim asteroid from destroying all of humanity. It had sufficient mass and velocity not to be moved from its implacable purpose. And he did not have the resources to construct a spacecraft to escape the destruction of the world as they knew it, nor were there any habitable planets within range of any such vessel's maximum fuel reserves. In any case, Superman would inevitably try to defy nature and launch himself at Wertheim at the end, in a futile gesture of meaningless, penultimate foolhardy heroism. Fortunately, this time, he would not have to read that Lane harridan's hyperbole and effusive sycophancy at the 'great man''s 'selfless sacrifice' and 'indomitability.' He shuddered inwardly as he poured himself a fine vintage, consoling himself that if all went as planned, he wouldn't be around to witness the gotterdammerung. He settled down to read his shabby, dilapidated copy of Nietzsche's Thus Spake Zarathustra.
FEBRUARY 13, 1942: GOTHAM:
Batman, Robin and Green Lantern were all startled when a diminutive figure tapped Harlequin on her soldier and decked her. Batman raised an eyebrow as he swooped down and joined Green Lantern in foiling the Penguin's last, futile gambit:
"Why, Cobblepot? You didn't have to do any of this."
"If we're all going to die, it might as well be in relative comfort."
Green Lantern alighted next to the mystery woman:
"Thanks for the help-"
"Selina. Selina Kyle. No offence, Green Lantern, but I'd like to talk to Batman."
As the elegant figure closed in on them, Robin realised who it was: "Catwoman?"
"Well, at least one of them has wisdom enough to get out of their old life." Batman walked toward her.
"Miss Kyle?"
"Batman, I need help. I know this sounds insane, but one of my cats is pregnant."
At which point, events darkened:
"Batman, look out!" Dick Grayson, Robin the Boy Wonder, ten years of age, Batman's comrade in arms for two years, swung toward the sudden intruder. He didn't make it, as bullets surged through the slender young body and it jerked on its rope and its hand spasmed. Robin's eyes rolled up and then, he hit the ground.
In maniacal laughter, the Joker stood silhouetted on the edge of the fire escape:
"Bye bye birdie!"
'You'll pay for that, you insane bastard!" Batman swung from Selina Kyle, who ran across to Robin and cradled him in her arms, trying to staunch the uncontrollable bleeding.
"Not if I kill you first, you flying rodent!" The Joker brought up his gun to fire, but never got the chance. A shot rang out from across the roof as Selina Kyle clutched a pistol in her hands, still smoking. The Joker looked down at the pumping would near his heart, as he teetered uncertainly on the edge of the building. An instant later, he lost his footing and began to plummet downward. Finally, he hit the ground with a sickening crack and a pool of blood began to trickle from his broken body.
Green Lantern looked down: "I saw it all, in case you need defence in court, miss."
"Why did you do nothing to save him?" Batman murmured as he looked around at Robin, numbed by the enormity of this evening.
"His wooden sledgehammer. Remember, my power ring doesn't affect it. It wouldn't have worked if I'd tried."
"Robin..."
Selina Kyle had tried her best to administer cardiopulmonary help to the dying Robin for the last three minutes as Batman finally reached him.
She was shaking: "It's all right, Batman. You can take me in. I killed him."
"Miss Kyle...Selina... you saved my life."
When she looked up, her eyes brimmed over with tears:
"He was only a boy. He didn't deserve to die like that. I wish I'd gotten here sooner."
"Don't do it to yourself."
"I'm so sorry. What you must be going through right now..."
"It's not the first time that I've lost someone to gunfire."
"Does that make it hurt any less?" Selina whispered.
In answer, Batman slowly removed his cowl. Selina's eyes widened.
"B-Bruce Wayne...? You? You're Batman?!"
"I...don't want to be alone tonight, Seiina. Come back home with me. Please."
Selina closed the distance in a matter of seconds: "Oh, darling! Yes!"
And deep inside him, Bruce Wayne finally felt something dark take wing and fly away. Green Lantern watched as they left, taking Robin's body with them. He smiled to himself, sorrowfully, as he gathered up Harlequin and the Penguin, taking him to Gotham City Police Headquarters.
FEBRUARY 25, 1942:
The next one to leave was Doctor Midnite: "I've come to a decision. I can't justify continuing night time heroics to myself while people need medical help in the time that remains."
"I'll miss you, Charles." Wonder Woman said as she embraced him.
"Has anyone heard from Bruce?" Superman asked.
"Yes, that awful business with the boy. I wish I'd been able to do something but...it's affected Harlequin as well. She didn't know the Joker was going to descend to those depths. I think she's on the verge of breaking with her old life." Green Lantern acknowledged, heart heavy.
"I wish I knew where Luthor was. I'd ask him to set aside his prejudices and work to save humanity alongside me." Superman sighed.
"Do you really think he'd do that, Clark?"
Superman shook his head: "No, Diana. Incidentally, have you told Steve about your identity yet?"
Wonder Woman looked up: "I've been thinking about abandoning 'Diana Prince' anyway, as time goes on. It's a recently adopted facade, I didn't adopt heroics in later life as you and Bruce did, or most of the others. And when the war finally ends, there won't be any point in maintaining that illusion anyway. Steve deserves that, at least."
"How little those secrets of ours really mean when faced with mortality itself. Hello, Johnny."
Johnny Thunder seemed pensive: "Uh. Superman? Just to let the rest of you know, I tried to get the Thunderbolt to zap that Wertheim space rock out of the sky. He said that his powers were bound by the Lords of Order and there couldn't be any last reprieve, no matter how much he wanted to do something. But I'm still JSA. I'll keep fighting alongside you no matter how long it takes."
"Ted?"
"Nothing. At the rate that thing's rotating, though, it probably sustained a near-collision with Jupiter which slung it into its doomsday trajectory. But count me in, guys."
"Wes?"
"Sandy and I will fight alongside the rest of you until the last."
"I wish we knew where Kent was. Probably still inside that tower of his, away from everything else."
"Why must Hitler continue his infernal fools war with the rest of us?" Superman said.
"He's still in denial, Clark. Like the rest of his dictatorship." Wonder Woman placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Oh. Lois told me to thank you for acting as the maid of honour next week."
"Don't mention it. What are friends for?"
MARCH 10, 1942:
And then, the Third Reich abruptly ended. The Gestapo had been quite aware of the activities of Beppo Romer for some time, but Heinrich Himmler had done nothing to stop the organisation of networks of opposition and potential assassination, so the chosen gunman was allowed to proceed unhindered as he published newsletters, gathered ordinance, subverted guards and protection details. Finally, on March 10, 1942, he was ready. With the assistance of four Russian Front Generals, he had waited until Hitler visited the Army Detachment Kempf on the Kursk salient. On a given signal, tanks surrounded Hitler and one of the generals placed him under arrest. In the resultant crossfire between Hitler loyalists and rebels, the Fuhrer was shot through the heart and died instantly. As the news spread, rebellion erupted throughout the Nazi empire and its coerced allies. In the event, though, Bormann and his fellow elite conspirators miscalculated. They should have convinced Hitler that the Wertheim asteroid was all too real and then reassured those worried about their imminent doom that they were working to accelerate their rocketry programme. Concerned that the Fuhrer might detect their ploy and execute even his elite comrades, they did nothing. In the end, that cost them their lives as Hitler's assassination provoked a counter-putsch in the capital and they fell themselves.
Finally, on March 15, the guns fell silent across Europe and Russia as the Nazi regime perished in the fires of rebellion. Whether Stalin would have been able to exploit the situation and expand the reach of communism must remain the subject of conjecture, as one Pyotr Ivanovich Tavrin and his wife, Lidia Shilova, landed near Smolensk and took a motorcycle to Moscow, managing to break into the Kremlin amidst the euphoria of the disintegration of their Nazi adversary. Once within the vast edifice, acting on orders, they located Josef Stalin and shot him through the head. They were rapidly overpowered and killed themselves, but the damage had been done. For the second time in two decades, Russia erupted into civil war.
MARCH 15, 1942:
Isis licked her kittens clean as they mewled and made for her teats, blindly burrowing into their mother's welcoming body. Bruce and Selina looked on:
"I wish I was like her, Bruce. I wish I'd stopped walking that path sooner and realised that it was all pointless and that I didn't want to die that way."
"Who knows, Selina. In some alternative world somewhere, we could have married and had children of our own. But might bes and could have beens are pointless. It's enough that you did realise the truth in time and we're together."
"It's so close, now, though. Just two and a half months before..."
"There's the Batsignal again. Time to get moving..."
As he polished the silverware, Alfred grinned to himself. He'd always wanted this for Master Bruce and although the blow of Master Dick's death had been a bitter blow, he strongly approved of Miss Kyle and especially, the engagement ring on her finger. At least he wouldn't die alone at the end of this.
APRIL 3, 1942:
"Damn it," said President Franklin Roosevelt as he looked over the V missile blueprints and schematics,"this will require time and resources that we haven't got. Why didn't they pull the plug on that disgusting strutting little peacock of theirs months ago? There's no way we'll be able to construct a missile to reach that infernal doomsday rock in enough time before it kills us all."
"I wish I had better news, Mr President. None of us could halt this on our own, either. Not even me. But I'm willing to try."
The President looked up from his wheelchair: "I appreciate what you're intending to do, Superman, even if it will be in vain. It's been a privilege knowing you all these months."
"And you, sir. You've been an inspiration as this country's leader." As he watched the Man of Steel leap away, Franklin Delano Roosevelt ran a hand through his graying hair and his eyes fell on the suicide pill on his desk. No. No, he wouldn't take that until it was all over and he would do with Eleanor at his side, as always. He had to continue to serve his nation until the last moment fell.
APRIL 12, 1942:
As with the armistice with Japan several months ago, the end of hostilities in Germany meant little when faced with impending oblivion. And although Pope Pius XII inveighed against the use of suicide pills, and although evangelical Christians confidently expected the imminent Second Coming of Christ to avert the forthcoming apocalypse, the uptake of suicide pills was strong. While some sought sanctuary in bunkers deep beneath the Earth, they had deliberately ignored seismic and vulcanological evidence about the scope and magnitude of the impact. Some of the savants opposed to the mystery men reformed in those last few weeks remaining to humanity, but as with the assassinations of Hitler and Stalin, mercy had come too late. And although their efforts were appreciated and praised, the clock was ticking.
APRIL 19, 1942:
GOTHAM GAZETTE: RIDDLER REFORMS
Edward Nigma, the adversary of the Batman formerly known as "the Riddler" has become the most recent one to declare an end to his crimimal activity. As with several other of the Caped Crusaders former opponents, he is opening a hospice for the homeless and impoverished to spend their last weeks of life in relative comfort, with bedding, shelter and meals provided.
APRIL 26, 1942:
METROPOLIS:
"As you know, it's now less than a month until the Wertheim asteroid impacts. If any of you want to leave, the publishers will provide complete pay until the Planet ceases publication altogether, three days before the Wertheim asteroid descends on us on May 28."
Perry White looked out across his staff. No one moved:
"Olsen? You have a mother..."
"She knows, chief. With my dad lost in the war, I'm virtually the only one bringing in income with my paycheck."
"Clark? Lois?"
"You know us better than that, Perry. We're staying."
For a moment, a wistful look passed Clark's eyes as he thought about his deceased foster parents, in Smallville's graveyard. It was just as well they had died years past. In any case, last night he'd leapt off to Smallville with Lois and paid their last respects to the people he'd loved most in this world. He looked across at Lois, dreading the moment a month from now when he'd have to say goodbye to her for one last time before he did what had to be done.
MAY 1, 1942:
Jay and Joan were spending their honeymoon on the Santa Catalina islands:
"It's hard to believe this beauty will cease to exist in another four weeks time."
"The proprietor said that very few people were coming here from the mainland anymore. Everyone wants to end their lives at home. Even my old rogues gallery aren't engaged in hostilities anymore."
"Everything seems to be grinding down to an end, Jay. Newspapers ceasing publication, radio stations going off the air, utilities giving closure dates for disconnection. I'm just happy that we've got this time together."
"Funny. I thought the soldiers coming home would be more joyful, though, even if the war only lasted for a few months after the announcement."
MAY 8, 1942:
MYSTERY MAN "WILDCAT" KILLED IN ACTION:
Around the Gotham graveside, much of the Justice Society was assembled. Selina clung to Bruce, who seemed to have aged overnight. Ted Grant's death had been sudden- a break-in at Ted Knight's laboratory which had laid the astronomer low and comatose. Charles MacNider had told the rest of his former colleagues that the bullet had ended their colleague's life instantly and that the slugger had died a hero. Later, in the car back to Wayne Manor, Alfred told Selina that Ted had been one of Batman's former trainers, along with other mystery men like the Atom and Mr Terrific. Bruce seemed numb, his head cradled in Selina's lap as she stroked his hair. Right now, he seemed a far cry from the terrifying creature of the night, that image he presented to the world. But then, with impending death and destruction now only three weeks away, now was not a time for masks.
MAY 15, 1942:
Now, less than a fortnight remained. One might have thought that the world would lapse into despair, anarchy and lawlessness as it met its end, but such was not the case. The churches, synagogues, mosques and temples were packed across the world, some left existence before the world caved in upon them. Clark and Lois Kent, Jay and Joan Garrick, Bruce and Selina Wayne, all reflected on how different their lives could have been otherwise. The world's erstwhile supervillains were caught in a quandary. Very few of them were absolute nihilists and greed and avarice seemed pointless now that the glittering point of light that would fall upon them all was now visible even without telescopes. True, there were some mass aberrations like cult suicides, but no one cast opprobrium at those who had ended their lives well before the end came upon their colleagues.
MAY 22, 1942:
As the last week before oblivion dawned, the number of prophylactic suicides increased. The Justice Society met for one final time, resolving to try to stop the Wertheim asteroid before it came into range. However, their wives and husband objected to their solitary feat of daring. They loved them, lived with them and would die with them. As Superman held Lois in his arms, he smiled sadly:
"Hell of a choice, Mrs. Kent."
"It wasn't a choice at all, Smallville."
MAY 23, 1942:
The Daily Planet and Gotham Gazette closed. Its respective staff members separated, embraced each other for the last time and headed home toward their loved ones. On that day, Rose Canton showed up at Alan Scott's workplace, WGBC Radio. She simply said: "Alan, I know."
"I wasn't sure if you'd come back, Rose."
She shook her head: "I'm free from the Thorn now. Diana took me to her home on Themiscyra and they were able to remove her alternate personality from me."
"There's...something you should know. The rest of the JSA and their partners want to stage one last attempt to knock that thing out of the sky and away from the Earth."
Rose nodded: "Then I'll be there with the rest of them, Alan."
MAY 28, 1942:
YELLOWSTONE PARK, COLORADO:
1567 Wertheim was making its final run inward, as the dagger shaped asteroid closed in on the fragile doomed world beneath it. At almost seventy thousand miles per hour, it was still ten minutes away.
Lois sat with Superman: "What does it look like?"
"A knife. A knife aimed at the world's heart."
"I understand, sweetheart. You lost one world, you refuse to lose another."
Joan looked around them:
"So where are Bruce and Selina?"
"They said their goodbyes last night. Batman has a prodigious intellect and remarkable fighting skills, but this scenario isn't his. Right about now, they're saying their goodbyes."
WAYNE MANOR, GOTHAM:
From a distance, Alfred almost looked asleep. But he had bid farewell to the family he had long served that morning. To Selina's surprise, neither Isis or the kittens protested at all when they were subjected to the lethal injection. At last, though, Selina gave way to grief as Bruce held her:
"It's all right. They won't be here when the asteroid hits. And we'll soon be with them." Bruce took the syringes in his hand as Selina shakily poured two glasses of wine for each other. Then they lay on his bed as she injected him and he injected her: "What are your best memories?"
"Finally getting you to end your criminal phase. And being here with you."
"It's been beautiful, Bruce. A lovely spring time."
"It was perfect, Selina."
"It is perfect, Bruce."
"I've been so lucky" Bruce Wayne whispered, as his consciousness faltered and he took Selina in his arms for one last time, kissing each other as the poison began its work. The door stood open, as a bird flew out, past Bruce's childhood room, down the staircase, the drawing room and out Wayne Manor's open doors. Upstairs, Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle Wayne's hearts had stopped.
YELLOWSTONE PARK:
As the asteroid closed in, the world's greatest superheroes joined in unison to destroy the intruder. But one by one, they failed. The Flash reached his maximum speed, then burst into flame. Green Lantern's power ring and Alan Scott's indomitable will and determination didn't prevail as his emerald fire was deflected back at him, vaporising him instantly. Watching the end of their companions, Superman and Wonder Woman flew upward in their invisible plane, and in a single leap into the sky. But the bloody impact snapped Clark's neck and Diana's plane disintegrated. Down below their lovers sacrifice, Lois Kent and Steve Trevor looked at each other bleakly. Then they silently took their own suicide pills and were dead within a matter of seconds.
DOOMSDAY:
The asteroid impacted with the Yellowstone supervolcano and the apocalypse begun. Fire and debris erupted from the widening fiery crater and trees caught flame. Within seconds, it had reached neighbouring towns and cities, not that anyone remained alive to witness it. The circle of devastation and destruction widened, consuming the work of humanity and the planet's surface. In distant Washington DC, Franklin Delano and Eleanor Roosevelt lay in one another's arms as humanity's funeral pyre slammed in the former US capital. Across the planet, seismic faults and volcanic sites were instantly triggered, and even the sea wasn't safe from the debris and flaming rocks cast into the upper atmosphere from the impact. Marine life thrashed in turmoil as it was consumed as the global firestorm hit Europe on one side, then Eastern Asia on another. It would be a sign of hope were it to be reported that Japan's population were safe in their Himalayan fastness, but even their determination to survive the unimaginable proved in vain. They did not suffer, as Emperor Hirohito had quietly arranged for importation of US suicide pills to his people.
Sadly, not all humanity died in peace and dignity. Thousands of German and Russian soldiers looked up, aware that they had run out of time and would die, far away from their wives, sweethearts and children. Their hair caught alight, their bodies combusted like cooked and fried meat and then the shockwave took them into the air and rammed them into disintegrating mountains or the heaving, fragmenting ground. Dust, debris and flame convulsed the atmosphere as doomsday dawned around the stricken planet and humanity, along with much of the rest of Earth's biosphere, quietly passed into extinction on the roiling, orange, brown and red planetary corpse. The dead planet hung like a wound in space itself. It would be hundreds of thousands of years before the wounded planet healed itself and life evolved there once more. But there would be no trace left of the species that had once dominated it left by that time, gone into an oblivion even greater than the dinosaurs.
Time Becomes Purposeless.
EPILOGUE:
On the beach at night, stands a child with her father
Watching the east, the Autumn sky...
From the beach the child holding the hand of her father,
Those burial-clouds that lower victorious soon to devour all,
Watching, silently weeps.
Walt Whitman: "On the Beach Alone At Night" (1856)
THE END
++
NOVEMBER 30TH, 1941, JODRELL BANK, EAST CHESHIRE:
British Astronomer Royal, Sir Jonathon Clark, blinked in pleasure and surprise. It seemed as if his night time observation of the light-clear skies during the blackout of the surrounding towns of Northwich, Middlewich, Altrincham, Congleton and Macclesfield due to the unwelcome attention of Luftwaffe bombers, had yielded a prize. It seemed to be an asteroid. In itself, that wasn't unusual- thousands of the little perishers, mostly between Mars and Jupiter, were discovered each year. When he returned to the area, a few minutes later, he was startled to see the rapidity of the apparent motion of the newly discovered space rock. Ah well. Plotting the momentum with the assistance of his IAU concordance, he satisfied himself that the asteroid in question was indeed a newly discovered celestial body. In which case, IAU convention dictated he could claim discoverer's privilege and name it. He grinned as he realised that he could have a good jape with an old friend over this. Indeed, it would be an excellent way to acknowledge his dear friend and the godfather of his children, Doctor Fred Wertheim. Old Fred was a selfless humanitarian, devoting countless hours to the welfare of impoverished young Negroes in Harlem, New York. He was a committed fighter against racial discrimination. His expert testimony had also led to the conviction and later execution of the infamous mass murderer Stanley Fish in 1935. Indeed, Clark and his wife Millicent, a social worker, had been in New York at an IAU conference. They had a day before the steamer left for London, so Milly's professional curiosity dictated that they attend the trial in the public gallery. Impressed by Frederick's eloquence and expertise, they introduced themselves after the end of the trial and soon became fast friends, despite their divergent scientific interests. Clutching his trusty briar pipe, Sir Jonathan calculated its mass and momentum, finding its increased albedo, however minute, a source of professional interest. When he got home, he and good old Fred would have a good laugh at the newly discovered asteroid, henceforth to be known as 1567 Wertheim. At the time, he thought it odd that its trajectory was so close to Earth.
Two days later, he stood, shivering, at the implications of what he had found. But there could be no doubt.
1567 Wertheim was on a collision course with Earth. Eight months from now, it would impact in Colorado's Yellowstone Park. At the speed that it was travelling, it would destroy all human life on the plan
TOKYO: SHOWA 16/DECEMBER 2, 1941:
All day long, Japanese Emperor Hirohito had been closeted with his royal astronomer, as he verified the news that had come from distant England. FInally, three hours later, the astronomer left and War Prime Minister Hideki Tojo was summoned to the Chrysanthemum Palace. There, he was told curtly and abruptly to abandon any further plans to attack Hawaii's Pearl Harbour, French Indochina, Singapore or the Dutch East Indies, and withdraw from Manchukuo, Japan's Northern Chinese puppet state. Tojo replied that his military honour prevented him from carrying out any such command, whereupon the Emperor looked him in the eye and stated unequivocally that if he were unable to carry out his commands for the preservation of the Japanese people and their evacuation from the Home Islands to a possible Himalayan sanctuary, he should consider himself sacked immediately and would be expected to yield his position to those who could be so entrusted. Stiffly, Tojo arose and strode away from the Palace, toward the National Diet Buiding. There, he bolted the Cabinet Room doors behind him as he convened his War Cabinet and told them of the Emperor's decision. Then, ingrained with a lifetime of deference and obedience to the Anointed, Hideki Tojo impaled himself on the end of a sharpened samurai sword, a family heirloom, followed swiftly by his Cabinet colleagues, and, several hundred miles to the east, heading toward Hawaii and Pearl Harbour, several admirals within the Imperial Japanese Navy.
As the civilian National Unity Cabinet, composed of party leaders, convened in the room below him, Emperor Hirohito closed his eyes. It had been a long day. He had had to do what he did, duty demanded it, but he was sorrowful that Tojo-san's inflexibility had prevented him from turning from the path of war toward the path of preservation. He would miss him in the days ahead. Fortunately, President Roosevelt had been cordial and relieved that he would not have to fight a war on two global fronts. Which was more than could be said for the hysterical abuse that flowed from Berlin as its former Axis Ally abandoned it to its fate.
BERLIN, DECEMBER 3, 1941:
"Leute des Dritten Reiches! Ihr Führer ruft Sie an! Ignorieren Sie, was die internationale jüdische bolschewistische Freimaurer-Verschwörung Ihnen über angebliche Ereignisse im Himmel oben sagt! Es ist Zauberei, die unsere Entschlossenheit schwächen und Deutschland daran hindern soll, sein heiliges Schicksal als Meister von zu erfüllen Europa. Es wird keine Auswirkungen dieses imaginären kosmischen Felsens geben, der urig Wertheim genannt wird. Wir sind dazu bestimmt, den Widerstand in Europa zu schreien, der vor uns liegt, die bösartigen Krallen der jüdischen Tyrannei zu vernichten und das Gespenst des internationalen Bolschewismus ein für alle Mal zu vernichten! Wir werden es tun nicht diesem Trick zum Opfer fallen! Ein Reich! Ein Volk! Ein Führer! "
"People of the Third Reich! Your Fuhrer calls you! Disregard what the International Jewish Bolshevik Freemason Conspiracy tells you about alleged events in the heavens above! It is sorcery, directed to weaken our resolve and prevent Germany from fulfilling its sacred destiny as Master of Europe. There will be no impact of this imaginary cosmic rock quaintly named Wertheim. We are foreordained to crush all resistance in Europe that remains before us, annihilate the malignant talons of Judaic tyranny and crush the spectre of International Bolshevism once and for all! We will not fall victim to this ruse! One Reich! One People! One Fuhrer!" With spittle flying in every direction, wide-eyed and raving, Adolf Hitler refused to listen to his own scientific advisors when they told him about the onrushing harbinger of doomsday above them all. Hitler could not accept that he could not bend the implacable heavens to his will, and therefore, in his egotism and madness, he refused to accept the testimony of science and technology.
But elsewhere in the conflicted behemoth that was Nazi Germany's hierarchy and its rival arms of goverment, doubts began to circulate. Bormann agreed with the scientists prognosis, as did Goering, Heydrich and Rommel. Goebbels was a propagandist and scientific illiterate, and blindly obedient to his Fuhrer. Himmler awaited the denouement, unwilling to commit himself either way, ever the consummate pragmatist. Little by little, Nazism began to develop hairline fractures and cracks in its edifice, which would only widen over time. But for now, the deranged syphilitic tyrant refused to abandon the Second World War.
Neither, bound by his own bucolic peasant ignorance and paranoia, did Josef Stalin in distant Russia. He ordered any scientists or astronomers who spread such lies to be taken away and executed. Wise leadership was at a premium in both nations and because of it, precious time was wasted and its sands inexorably trickled down to oblivion.
NEW YORK: DECEMBER 10, 1941:
DOOMSDAY ASTEROID COMPOSITION IDENTIFIED
By John. W. Reiter, Scientific Correspondent.
Astro-Physicists have advanced some tentative theories about the so-called 'doomsday asteroid', 1567 Wertheim. Although spectographic analysis is not infallible as a scientific method, they generally theorise that there are roughly three different families of asteroid composition. If the asteroid was a C-class ("chondrite") asteroid, the human race would not be in this current dilemma, as these consist of predominantly of clay and silicate rocks and would disintegrate as it hit the Earth's atmosphere, apart from a meteorite rain of fragments. Unfortunately, the two other categories are nowhere near as benign- the "S-Type" asteroids consist of silicate materials and nickel-iron, while "M-type" asteroids are usually nickel-iron. The trouble is, 1567 Wertheim seems to consist of nickel-iron, and it is this composition, combined with its speed of eight miles per second (almost 27.000 miles per hour), which may possibly doom all human life on Earth.
NAZI GERMANY DECLARES WAR ON UNITED STATES
By Geoffrey Dans, War Correspondent.
The Third Reich has declared war on the United States of America, following what it called 'a series of flagrant provocations' that included firing on German naval vessels and submarines, as well as merchant marine vessels. Foreign Minister Joachim Von Ribbentrop in Berlin confirmed to American Charge d'Affaires Leland Harris that the Third Reich now regarded the United States as being at war with Nazi Germany. President Roosevelt expressed his regret at the development, chiding the Nazi regime for its absence of scientific probity when it came to the universal threat to humanity now posed by the "Doomsday Asteroid," 1567 Wertheim.
METROPOLIS: DECEMBER 11, 1941.
"Can you believe it, Clark? It's as if that infernal asteroid doesn't exist for the Ratzis! They're ignoring it and have called it allied propagand- Clark, what is it?"
Lois Lane was mystified as Clark Kent pulled the shutter on their shared office window and locked the door as he turned and stood in front of her:
"Lois, you're a damned fine investigative reporter. You'd probably have started to suspect anyway, so I'm pre-empting what I might not have had the courage to otherwise tell you."
"Clark?" Lois frowned as Clark removed his jacket and began to unbutton his shirt, as well as removing his tie and glasses. A spit curl appeared, and in the next minute, she gasped, as the telltale blue costume with his emblematic red and yellow shield logo appeared in front of her:
"You're Superman?!"
"Since I started to work here, yes."
Lois threw herself into his arms: "Oh, darling! I swear, I will never tell a soul! Your secret is absolutely safe with me, I know how much the world needs you."
"That's...not all, I'm afraid. I think it was you that came up with the chart of my attributes, Lois. You know... faster than a speeding bullet or locomotive, able to leap tall buildings at a single bound and nothing less than a bursting shell itself can penetrate my body. The problem is, my power has limits. I may be able to leap several miles into the sky, but I can't fly. Earth doesn't have the scientific development necessary to produce spacecraft yet, so I'm restricted to Earth. The asteroid is moving too fast for me to intercept it outside the Earth's orbit, even if I could leave its surface. When the end comes, I'll perish with the rest of you."
Lois shook her head: "Clark-Superman, I refuse to accept that. What about those other mystery men and women in the Justice Society? Combined, couldn't they do something to stop this?"
CIVIC CITY, PHILADELPHIA: DECEMBER 13, 1941:
"The simple answer is, no. The Flash isn't fast enough to use his prodigious speed. The Green Lantern's power ring restricts him to Earth and is incapable of protecting him in space. The Spectre isn't on Earth anymore. Moreover, Jim Corrigan's grave is occupied once more, suggesting that there has been a divorce between the Spectre and its previous incarnation. Perhaps Corrigan was unable to convince the Powers That Be to intervene on our world's behalf. As for Doctor Fate, there seems to be no contact with him. He may be isolated within his extradimensional castle turret, prevented from intervening by the Helmet of Nabu. Like the rest of us, Wonder Woman is restricted to this world."
Wonder Woman nodded: "Yes, Batman, and there's something else. My Amazon sisters and I are unable to stop this either. It was revealed to us when my mother, Queen Hippolyta, made offerings to the Moirae, the Fates, to do something to avert this. The one who answered was Atropos, the aspect of the triune goddess responsible for ultimate destiny and endings, such as death. She answered that the events of six months from now are irrevocably established and cannot be averted.'
"Will you be joining the Amazon sisterhood on Paradise Island, Princess?"
Wonder Woman shook her head: "No. The war still continues and I have sworn to defend the United States from Nazi tyranny, even if I cannot avert the apocalypse that awaits us all. I will continue to fight alongside you until the final sword descends on us all."
Batman was still unconvinced:
"What about the V missiles that the Nazis are supposed to be planning to use against the United Kingdom?"
Superman sighed: "They're too fast for me to intercept, or Jay, for that matter. In any case, they have a maximum altitude- 55 miles on a long range trajectory, 128 miles if launched vertically. I can't travel that high, nor can Alan, or Carter. Or Bruce's Bat-Plane. And they're not supposed to be deployed there for roughly another two or three years- right, Diana?"
"I refuse to accept that we're powerless to prevent this. Starman's cosmic rod? What if it were enlarged and heaved into Earth orbit and then fired at Wertheim? Wouldn't that work?"
Starman shook his head: "Unfortunately though, Bruce, it'd pass over German airspace and the Nazis might be able to use an enhanced V-rocket to shoot it down."
"Damn it, there must be something we can do! We're supposed to protect the United States and its allies from-"
"From threats that lie within our scope, Bruce. Something of this magnitude is far beyond that."
OLYMPUS: DECEMBER 15, 1941:
"Apollo, my son. What does thine sacred oracle at Delphi say about the rock that will lay waste to the Earth?" Zeus said as the restless gods of antiquity murmured with one another and then quitened as their king spoke.
"My Father, the Oracle confirmed what the Moirae did tell us all. This fate is unavoidable. Earth's human inhabitants will not survive the doom that befalls the world from the sky."
"Nay, we are gods! We are not mere mortals, we must have the power to deflect this intruder from this world we have guarded and protected from times lost to antquity." Ares interrupted.
"Brother Ares- not even we Olympian gods can avert what is predestined. Humanity will perish. It is not our Moirae alone that have forecast this apocalypse, but also Asgard's Norns and Queen Freya, our own Hekate, Etruscan Antevorta and harbingers of prophecy and destiny within countless other kindred pantheons." Artemis sighed.
"But our own power is thaumaturgically linked to belief and worship from those mortals. If they perish, so do we." Ares exlaimed.
"Such will then also be our fate. Olympus will fall into the endless pit of Tartarus and all we shall be overthrown. Only Hades will have dominion then. Even great Posiedon's oceans will not harbour life amongst the funereal wreckage that will befall this world."
Hera concluded their solemn conclave: "Diana of Themiscyra is a worthy warrior for these values we hold dearest. She has vowed not to cease her obligation to fight alongside those of the Mortal World until oblivion dawns. I suggest we emulate Hippolyta's brave and valiant daughter in this."
"You speak truth, my Queen. Very well. Be it as you desire. We will comport ourselves befitting our sacred tasks and responsibilities until this fire falls from the skies and consumes us all."
KEYSTONE CITY: JANUARY 1, 1942:
Joan Williams looked out the window, pensive, as Jay put down his book and joined her:
"Thinking?"
"Is there nothing we can do, Jay? Nothing at all?"
Jay shook his head: "Even with all the speed at my disposal, I can't outrun this."
"The city's quiet. There's nothing happening out there. Not even anyone on the streets."
Jay kissed her on her forehead: "Hey, I don't mind. Let the villains and lawbreakers take a holiday. And, Joan..."
Joan looked down at the small box Jay had produced from his jacket pocket:
"Oh, darling. Yes. A thousand times, yes."
"Even if this world is coming to an end, even if we only have months together, I want to spend it with you." And thus, the fastest man alive and the woman he loved embraced.
WASHINGTON DC: JANUARY 5, 1942:
"What I'd like to know is how long Hitler can keep up this ridiculous facade for." Captain Steve Trevor said as he watched the sun set over the Potomac with the woman he called his 'angel' alongside him.
"I don't know, Steve. I wish he didn't have that wretched talisman of his, his so-called "Spear of Destiny" on hand, then the Justice Society could storm in there and pluck him out of his bunker and get him to face justice. But what would be the point? Sooner or later, his hubris will bring its own reward."
"Look at them down there, angel. It's odd. I thought there'd be anarchy, rioting, looting. But no."
Diana produced a couple of ampoules and a syringe from her waistbelt:
"Is that what I think it is?"
"Yes. The Amazons frown on suicide, Steve, except in cases where the gods give a clear signal that an individual's departure from this life is warranted."
"I don't have very strong religious beliefs one way or the other, Princess. If you weren't here when the end comes, I thought I might put a bullet through my head. But this...it's quicker, cleaner."
Wonder Woman clasped his shoulders:
"No, it's not going to end like that. I left Themiscyra for you, Steve, and I promise, I will be at your side when the heavens descend on us. And we will leave this life together."
"Princess, you don't have to..."
"I swore to protect you all, but if this is what Fate decrees, I will keep at my post until the last few days. And then..."
GOTHAM CITY: JANUARY 10, 1942:
"Bruce. Will we feel anything when it hits?"
"No, Dick, we won't. Unfortunately, though, it looks like the rogues gallery isn't going to give us a moments peace and quiet until then."
"I'll be at your side until the end, then."
"Dick...what would you say if I married at some point?"
"Gee, Bruce. I guess I'd have no problem with that. I want you to be happy."
"And I want you to be my son, instead of my ward."
In the distance, a piano gently played. And somewhere, in the city, Julie Madison packed her bags, intent on leaving Gotham before the axe fell. Bruce was great fun to be with, but she doubted the cossetted playboy would have the patience and fortitude to be with her at the very end. Looking across the skyline at distant Wayne Manor, she wiped away a tear as she strode across to the plane, having dropped an envelope en route to Gotham Airport.
Elsewhere, in Gotham Penitentiary, the Joker howled his insane laughter. The Penguin looked up at the sky, wondering if any of this were worth it anymore. And Catwoman lay on her sofa, stroking Isis, her favourite feline. She had already come to a decision. Her heart wasn't in this life, anyway and she didn't intend to waste it imprisoned for petty larceny or theft. Abruptly, she felt Isis' belly:
"Oh honey. You really don't know this is the wrong time for this, do you?"
Isis looked up at her and mewed: "It's not fair, sweetheart. Those kittens inside you will hardly have a chance to open their eyes and start playing with one another and learning from you..." Catwoman couldn't finish. Bewildered at her human's tears, Isis nuzzled Selina Kyle as she held the pregnant feline close. Perhaps there were some things more important than jewels and precious goods to her aftwe all. Selina came to a decision and shut away her Catwoman outfit, once and for all. She would never wear it again.
JANUARY 18TH, 1942: BERLIN
"Meine deutschen Brüder und Schwestern! Das glorreiche Dritte Reich begrüßt alle, die auf ihren Posten geblieben sind und sich geweigert haben, der defätistischen Propaganda und den Lügen der internationalen jüdischen bolschewistischen Verschwörung und des Phantom-Asteroiden zu glauben, der uns angeblich bedroht. Ein Reich. Ein Anführer. Eine Nation, Deutschland !!!"
"My German brothers and sisters! The glorious Third Reich salutes all those who have remained at their posts and who have refused to believe the defeatist propaganda and lies of the International Jewish Bolshevik conspiracy and the phantom 'asteroid' that allegedly threatens us. One Reich. One Leader. One Nation, Germany!!!"
Notably, as many Allied commentators noted at the time, the Fuhrer's speech was not recorded on movie newsreels. Had that been the case, they would have observed that the demeanour and physical appearance of the Nazi leader had undergone a shocking metamorphosis. His hair was graying, and his radio broadcast had been spliced together, because of the hesitancy and diversions from the main body of the speech. As usual, much of the propaganda consisted of hollow lies. There no longer was a German Army front at Stalingrad, as masses of soldiers deserted and mutinied from army senior command. Some were shot by their loyalist, fanatical associates or martinet superiors. Much the same was happening on the Red Army side, as the Second World War started to grind to an inconclusive halt. Even in Poland, some of the concentration camps began to falter and disintegrate as the genocidal machinery of the Holocaust began to mercifully falter due to desertions and supply bottlenecks and closures. In another month, the mouth of Moloch would close forever.
Bormann, Goering, Heydrich and Rommel watched their ailing leader with nervousness, concerned that in his deteriorating mental state, the absolute ruler of Nazi Germany might turn on them and resolved to take active steps before that could happen. Slowly and tentatively, they established links with the clandestine anti-Nazi German underground. Himmler still vacillated. Part of him saw the obvious changes in his Fuhrer's demeanour and the preparations for a putsch. He was also aware of the growing sclerosis of the Nazi apparatus as those who heeded science and the evidence of their eyes and telescopes above the vainglorious, grandiose rhetoric of their tyrant and onetime idol. However, at what point would that growing doubt and despair threaten the survival of the Third Reich itself?
LONDON: JANUARY 18TH, 1942:
Sir Winston Churchill sat tenderly alongside his wife Clementine as they gazed overhead at the diminishing battle in the skies above them:
"Damn that man for making us do this."
"It won't be long now, my love. The Nazi war machine is falling apart. We have effectively won. Either that madman will perish in a coup d'etat or the German people will lose faith in them altogether and there will be a bloody upheaval. And then..."
Clementine Churchill looked across at her husband: "And then, we wait for the sword of Damocles to descend on all of us."
"Clem. I had hoped to grow old alongside you and watch our grandchildren grow to maturity and independence. But now, barring a miracle, that is never to be. I want you to know that the last few decades of our life together have been heaven on Earth. We will cherish the time we have left and gather our family around us near the end. And then, we will step quietly across the barrier."
FEBRUARY 2ND, 1942:
By now, 1467 Wertheim was inside the orbit of Mars and was growing steadily brighter as telescopes of lesser refinement gradually caught sight of the shard of Armageddon in the skies above them.
When the Justice Society held its monthly meeting, there were some absences. Al Pratt had abandoned superheroics to be with his elderly parents. Dr Mid Nite was beset by a crisis of conscience as Charles MacNider received requests from elderly patients and the disabled to be given access to the strychnine and barbiturate suicide pills that the government had produced for its citizens. Grimly. Starman fought crime in the daylight and spent his nights gazing up at the rock that would shortly end all their lives, wishing that there could be an end to this infernal conflict. But by now, the asteroid was getting too close for even an enlarged antigravity apparatus on a large scale to do anything to halt the inevitable. Whether or not Hawkman could have produced enough of his Nth Metal to do anything significant must be a moot point. Over Hamburg, Nazi anti-aircraft artillery found his USAF plane and strafed it to pieces, killing him and his crew more or less instantly. When Shiera Saunders received the news, she wept, but then resolved to spend what time remained protecting the homeland.
FEBRUARY 8TH, 1942: METROPOLIS:
Most of Superman's Metropolis rogues gallery had silently abandoned their criminal careers, motivated by despair that in the end, their attempted self-aggrandisement and posturing was without purpose or ultimate significance. Of course, that didn't deter those motivated by other objectives, such as Superman's psychotic scientific adversary, Alexei Luthor. As a philosophical nihilist, Luthor didn't care that the world would come to an end as May 1942 drew to a close. He laughed to himself that even that interfering alien freak would be unable to avert it, betraying his overblown reputation as an invulnerable and inescapable force of nature. He only wished that he could still be around to do something to hasten the end of his mystery man bete noir, but there was no point. Nothing he could say or do would deflect the Wertheim asteroid from destroying all of humanity. It had sufficient mass and velocity not to be moved from its implacable purpose. And he did not have the resources to construct a spacecraft to escape the destruction of the world as they knew it, nor were there any habitable planets within range of any such vessel's maximum fuel reserves. In any case, Superman would inevitably try to defy nature and launch himself at Wertheim at the end, in a futile gesture of meaningless, penultimate foolhardy heroism. Fortunately, this time, he would not have to read that Lane harridan's hyperbole and effusive sycophancy at the 'great man''s 'selfless sacrifice' and 'indomitability.' He shuddered inwardly as he poured himself a fine vintage, consoling himself that if all went as planned, he wouldn't be around to witness the gotterdammerung. He settled down to read his shabby, dilapidated copy of Nietzsche's Thus Spake Zarathustra.
FEBRUARY 13, 1942: GOTHAM:
Batman, Robin and Green Lantern were all startled when a diminutive figure tapped Harlequin on her soldier and decked her. Batman raised an eyebrow as he swooped down and joined Green Lantern in foiling the Penguin's last, futile gambit:
"Why, Cobblepot? You didn't have to do any of this."
"If we're all going to die, it might as well be in relative comfort."
Green Lantern alighted next to the mystery woman:
"Thanks for the help-"
"Selina. Selina Kyle. No offence, Green Lantern, but I'd like to talk to Batman."
As the elegant figure closed in on them, Robin realised who it was: "Catwoman?"
"Well, at least one of them has wisdom enough to get out of their old life." Batman walked toward her.
"Miss Kyle?"
"Batman, I need help. I know this sounds insane, but one of my cats is pregnant."
At which point, events darkened:
"Batman, look out!" Dick Grayson, Robin the Boy Wonder, ten years of age, Batman's comrade in arms for two years, swung toward the sudden intruder. He didn't make it, as bullets surged through the slender young body and it jerked on its rope and its hand spasmed. Robin's eyes rolled up and then, he hit the ground.
In maniacal laughter, the Joker stood silhouetted on the edge of the fire escape:
"Bye bye birdie!"
'You'll pay for that, you insane bastard!" Batman swung from Selina Kyle, who ran across to Robin and cradled him in her arms, trying to staunch the uncontrollable bleeding.
"Not if I kill you first, you flying rodent!" The Joker brought up his gun to fire, but never got the chance. A shot rang out from across the roof as Selina Kyle clutched a pistol in her hands, still smoking. The Joker looked down at the pumping would near his heart, as he teetered uncertainly on the edge of the building. An instant later, he lost his footing and began to plummet downward. Finally, he hit the ground with a sickening crack and a pool of blood began to trickle from his broken body.
Green Lantern looked down: "I saw it all, in case you need defence in court, miss."
"Why did you do nothing to save him?" Batman murmured as he looked around at Robin, numbed by the enormity of this evening.
"His wooden sledgehammer. Remember, my power ring doesn't affect it. It wouldn't have worked if I'd tried."
"Robin..."
Selina Kyle had tried her best to administer cardiopulmonary help to the dying Robin for the last three minutes as Batman finally reached him.
She was shaking: "It's all right, Batman. You can take me in. I killed him."
"Miss Kyle...Selina... you saved my life."
When she looked up, her eyes brimmed over with tears:
"He was only a boy. He didn't deserve to die like that. I wish I'd gotten here sooner."
"Don't do it to yourself."
"I'm so sorry. What you must be going through right now..."
"It's not the first time that I've lost someone to gunfire."
"Does that make it hurt any less?" Selina whispered.
In answer, Batman slowly removed his cowl. Selina's eyes widened.
"B-Bruce Wayne...? You? You're Batman?!"
"I...don't want to be alone tonight, Seiina. Come back home with me. Please."
Selina closed the distance in a matter of seconds: "Oh, darling! Yes!"
And deep inside him, Bruce Wayne finally felt something dark take wing and fly away. Green Lantern watched as they left, taking Robin's body with them. He smiled to himself, sorrowfully, as he gathered up Harlequin and the Penguin, taking him to Gotham City Police Headquarters.
FEBRUARY 25, 1942:
The next one to leave was Doctor Midnite: "I've come to a decision. I can't justify continuing night time heroics to myself while people need medical help in the time that remains."
"I'll miss you, Charles." Wonder Woman said as she embraced him.
"Has anyone heard from Bruce?" Superman asked.
"Yes, that awful business with the boy. I wish I'd been able to do something but...it's affected Harlequin as well. She didn't know the Joker was going to descend to those depths. I think she's on the verge of breaking with her old life." Green Lantern acknowledged, heart heavy.
"I wish I knew where Luthor was. I'd ask him to set aside his prejudices and work to save humanity alongside me." Superman sighed.
"Do you really think he'd do that, Clark?"
Superman shook his head: "No, Diana. Incidentally, have you told Steve about your identity yet?"
Wonder Woman looked up: "I've been thinking about abandoning 'Diana Prince' anyway, as time goes on. It's a recently adopted facade, I didn't adopt heroics in later life as you and Bruce did, or most of the others. And when the war finally ends, there won't be any point in maintaining that illusion anyway. Steve deserves that, at least."
"How little those secrets of ours really mean when faced with mortality itself. Hello, Johnny."
Johnny Thunder seemed pensive: "Uh. Superman? Just to let the rest of you know, I tried to get the Thunderbolt to zap that Wertheim space rock out of the sky. He said that his powers were bound by the Lords of Order and there couldn't be any last reprieve, no matter how much he wanted to do something. But I'm still JSA. I'll keep fighting alongside you no matter how long it takes."
"Ted?"
"Nothing. At the rate that thing's rotating, though, it probably sustained a near-collision with Jupiter which slung it into its doomsday trajectory. But count me in, guys."
"Wes?"
"Sandy and I will fight alongside the rest of you until the last."
"I wish we knew where Kent was. Probably still inside that tower of his, away from everything else."
"Why must Hitler continue his infernal fools war with the rest of us?" Superman said.
"He's still in denial, Clark. Like the rest of his dictatorship." Wonder Woman placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Oh. Lois told me to thank you for acting as the maid of honour next week."
"Don't mention it. What are friends for?"
MARCH 10, 1942:
And then, the Third Reich abruptly ended. The Gestapo had been quite aware of the activities of Beppo Romer for some time, but Heinrich Himmler had done nothing to stop the organisation of networks of opposition and potential assassination, so the chosen gunman was allowed to proceed unhindered as he published newsletters, gathered ordinance, subverted guards and protection details. Finally, on March 10, 1942, he was ready. With the assistance of four Russian Front Generals, he had waited until Hitler visited the Army Detachment Kempf on the Kursk salient. On a given signal, tanks surrounded Hitler and one of the generals placed him under arrest. In the resultant crossfire between Hitler loyalists and rebels, the Fuhrer was shot through the heart and died instantly. As the news spread, rebellion erupted throughout the Nazi empire and its coerced allies. In the event, though, Bormann and his fellow elite conspirators miscalculated. They should have convinced Hitler that the Wertheim asteroid was all too real and then reassured those worried about their imminent doom that they were working to accelerate their rocketry programme. Concerned that the Fuhrer might detect their ploy and execute even his elite comrades, they did nothing. In the end, that cost them their lives as Hitler's assassination provoked a counter-putsch in the capital and they fell themselves.
Finally, on March 15, the guns fell silent across Europe and Russia as the Nazi regime perished in the fires of rebellion. Whether Stalin would have been able to exploit the situation and expand the reach of communism must remain the subject of conjecture, as one Pyotr Ivanovich Tavrin and his wife, Lidia Shilova, landed near Smolensk and took a motorcycle to Moscow, managing to break into the Kremlin amidst the euphoria of the disintegration of their Nazi adversary. Once within the vast edifice, acting on orders, they located Josef Stalin and shot him through the head. They were rapidly overpowered and killed themselves, but the damage had been done. For the second time in two decades, Russia erupted into civil war.
MARCH 15, 1942:
Isis licked her kittens clean as they mewled and made for her teats, blindly burrowing into their mother's welcoming body. Bruce and Selina looked on:
"I wish I was like her, Bruce. I wish I'd stopped walking that path sooner and realised that it was all pointless and that I didn't want to die that way."
"Who knows, Selina. In some alternative world somewhere, we could have married and had children of our own. But might bes and could have beens are pointless. It's enough that you did realise the truth in time and we're together."
"It's so close, now, though. Just two and a half months before..."
"There's the Batsignal again. Time to get moving..."
As he polished the silverware, Alfred grinned to himself. He'd always wanted this for Master Bruce and although the blow of Master Dick's death had been a bitter blow, he strongly approved of Miss Kyle and especially, the engagement ring on her finger. At least he wouldn't die alone at the end of this.
APRIL 3, 1942:
"Damn it," said President Franklin Roosevelt as he looked over the V missile blueprints and schematics,"this will require time and resources that we haven't got. Why didn't they pull the plug on that disgusting strutting little peacock of theirs months ago? There's no way we'll be able to construct a missile to reach that infernal doomsday rock in enough time before it kills us all."
"I wish I had better news, Mr President. None of us could halt this on our own, either. Not even me. But I'm willing to try."
The President looked up from his wheelchair: "I appreciate what you're intending to do, Superman, even if it will be in vain. It's been a privilege knowing you all these months."
"And you, sir. You've been an inspiration as this country's leader." As he watched the Man of Steel leap away, Franklin Delano Roosevelt ran a hand through his graying hair and his eyes fell on the suicide pill on his desk. No. No, he wouldn't take that until it was all over and he would do with Eleanor at his side, as always. He had to continue to serve his nation until the last moment fell.
APRIL 12, 1942:
As with the armistice with Japan several months ago, the end of hostilities in Germany meant little when faced with impending oblivion. And although Pope Pius XII inveighed against the use of suicide pills, and although evangelical Christians confidently expected the imminent Second Coming of Christ to avert the forthcoming apocalypse, the uptake of suicide pills was strong. While some sought sanctuary in bunkers deep beneath the Earth, they had deliberately ignored seismic and vulcanological evidence about the scope and magnitude of the impact. Some of the savants opposed to the mystery men reformed in those last few weeks remaining to humanity, but as with the assassinations of Hitler and Stalin, mercy had come too late. And although their efforts were appreciated and praised, the clock was ticking.
APRIL 19, 1942:
GOTHAM GAZETTE: RIDDLER REFORMS
Edward Nigma, the adversary of the Batman formerly known as "the Riddler" has become the most recent one to declare an end to his crimimal activity. As with several other of the Caped Crusaders former opponents, he is opening a hospice for the homeless and impoverished to spend their last weeks of life in relative comfort, with bedding, shelter and meals provided.
APRIL 26, 1942:
METROPOLIS:
"As you know, it's now less than a month until the Wertheim asteroid impacts. If any of you want to leave, the publishers will provide complete pay until the Planet ceases publication altogether, three days before the Wertheim asteroid descends on us on May 28."
Perry White looked out across his staff. No one moved:
"Olsen? You have a mother..."
"She knows, chief. With my dad lost in the war, I'm virtually the only one bringing in income with my paycheck."
"Clark? Lois?"
"You know us better than that, Perry. We're staying."
For a moment, a wistful look passed Clark's eyes as he thought about his deceased foster parents, in Smallville's graveyard. It was just as well they had died years past. In any case, last night he'd leapt off to Smallville with Lois and paid their last respects to the people he'd loved most in this world. He looked across at Lois, dreading the moment a month from now when he'd have to say goodbye to her for one last time before he did what had to be done.
MAY 1, 1942:
Jay and Joan were spending their honeymoon on the Santa Catalina islands:
"It's hard to believe this beauty will cease to exist in another four weeks time."
"The proprietor said that very few people were coming here from the mainland anymore. Everyone wants to end their lives at home. Even my old rogues gallery aren't engaged in hostilities anymore."
"Everything seems to be grinding down to an end, Jay. Newspapers ceasing publication, radio stations going off the air, utilities giving closure dates for disconnection. I'm just happy that we've got this time together."
"Funny. I thought the soldiers coming home would be more joyful, though, even if the war only lasted for a few months after the announcement."
MAY 8, 1942:
MYSTERY MAN "WILDCAT" KILLED IN ACTION:
Around the Gotham graveside, much of the Justice Society was assembled. Selina clung to Bruce, who seemed to have aged overnight. Ted Grant's death had been sudden- a break-in at Ted Knight's laboratory which had laid the astronomer low and comatose. Charles MacNider had told the rest of his former colleagues that the bullet had ended their colleague's life instantly and that the slugger had died a hero. Later, in the car back to Wayne Manor, Alfred told Selina that Ted had been one of Batman's former trainers, along with other mystery men like the Atom and Mr Terrific. Bruce seemed numb, his head cradled in Selina's lap as she stroked his hair. Right now, he seemed a far cry from the terrifying creature of the night, that image he presented to the world. But then, with impending death and destruction now only three weeks away, now was not a time for masks.
MAY 15, 1942:
Now, less than a fortnight remained. One might have thought that the world would lapse into despair, anarchy and lawlessness as it met its end, but such was not the case. The churches, synagogues, mosques and temples were packed across the world, some left existence before the world caved in upon them. Clark and Lois Kent, Jay and Joan Garrick, Bruce and Selina Wayne, all reflected on how different their lives could have been otherwise. The world's erstwhile supervillains were caught in a quandary. Very few of them were absolute nihilists and greed and avarice seemed pointless now that the glittering point of light that would fall upon them all was now visible even without telescopes. True, there were some mass aberrations like cult suicides, but no one cast opprobrium at those who had ended their lives well before the end came upon their colleagues.
MAY 22, 1942:
As the last week before oblivion dawned, the number of prophylactic suicides increased. The Justice Society met for one final time, resolving to try to stop the Wertheim asteroid before it came into range. However, their wives and husband objected to their solitary feat of daring. They loved them, lived with them and would die with them. As Superman held Lois in his arms, he smiled sadly:
"Hell of a choice, Mrs. Kent."
"It wasn't a choice at all, Smallville."
MAY 23, 1942:
The Daily Planet and Gotham Gazette closed. Its respective staff members separated, embraced each other for the last time and headed home toward their loved ones. On that day, Rose Canton showed up at Alan Scott's workplace, WGBC Radio. She simply said: "Alan, I know."
"I wasn't sure if you'd come back, Rose."
She shook her head: "I'm free from the Thorn now. Diana took me to her home on Themiscyra and they were able to remove her alternate personality from me."
"There's...something you should know. The rest of the JSA and their partners want to stage one last attempt to knock that thing out of the sky and away from the Earth."
Rose nodded: "Then I'll be there with the rest of them, Alan."
MAY 28, 1942:
YELLOWSTONE PARK, COLORADO:
1567 Wertheim was making its final run inward, as the dagger shaped asteroid closed in on the fragile doomed world beneath it. At almost seventy thousand miles per hour, it was still ten minutes away.
Lois sat with Superman: "What does it look like?"
"A knife. A knife aimed at the world's heart."
"I understand, sweetheart. You lost one world, you refuse to lose another."
Joan looked around them:
"So where are Bruce and Selina?"
"They said their goodbyes last night. Batman has a prodigious intellect and remarkable fighting skills, but this scenario isn't his. Right about now, they're saying their goodbyes."
WAYNE MANOR, GOTHAM:
From a distance, Alfred almost looked asleep. But he had bid farewell to the family he had long served that morning. To Selina's surprise, neither Isis or the kittens protested at all when they were subjected to the lethal injection. At last, though, Selina gave way to grief as Bruce held her:
"It's all right. They won't be here when the asteroid hits. And we'll soon be with them." Bruce took the syringes in his hand as Selina shakily poured two glasses of wine for each other. Then they lay on his bed as she injected him and he injected her: "What are your best memories?"
"Finally getting you to end your criminal phase. And being here with you."
"It's been beautiful, Bruce. A lovely spring time."
"It was perfect, Selina."
"It is perfect, Bruce."
"I've been so lucky" Bruce Wayne whispered, as his consciousness faltered and he took Selina in his arms for one last time, kissing each other as the poison began its work. The door stood open, as a bird flew out, past Bruce's childhood room, down the staircase, the drawing room and out Wayne Manor's open doors. Upstairs, Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle Wayne's hearts had stopped.
YELLOWSTONE PARK:
As the asteroid closed in, the world's greatest superheroes joined in unison to destroy the intruder. But one by one, they failed. The Flash reached his maximum speed, then burst into flame. Green Lantern's power ring and Alan Scott's indomitable will and determination didn't prevail as his emerald fire was deflected back at him, vaporising him instantly. Watching the end of their companions, Superman and Wonder Woman flew upward in their invisible plane, and in a single leap into the sky. But the bloody impact snapped Clark's neck and Diana's plane disintegrated. Down below their lovers sacrifice, Lois Kent and Steve Trevor looked at each other bleakly. Then they silently took their own suicide pills and were dead within a matter of seconds.
DOOMSDAY:
The asteroid impacted with the Yellowstone supervolcano and the apocalypse begun. Fire and debris erupted from the widening fiery crater and trees caught flame. Within seconds, it had reached neighbouring towns and cities, not that anyone remained alive to witness it. The circle of devastation and destruction widened, consuming the work of humanity and the planet's surface. In distant Washington DC, Franklin Delano and Eleanor Roosevelt lay in one another's arms as humanity's funeral pyre slammed in the former US capital. Across the planet, seismic faults and volcanic sites were instantly triggered, and even the sea wasn't safe from the debris and flaming rocks cast into the upper atmosphere from the impact. Marine life thrashed in turmoil as it was consumed as the global firestorm hit Europe on one side, then Eastern Asia on another. It would be a sign of hope were it to be reported that Japan's population were safe in their Himalayan fastness, but even their determination to survive the unimaginable proved in vain. They did not suffer, as Emperor Hirohito had quietly arranged for importation of US suicide pills to his people.
Sadly, not all humanity died in peace and dignity. Thousands of German and Russian soldiers looked up, aware that they had run out of time and would die, far away from their wives, sweethearts and children. Their hair caught alight, their bodies combusted like cooked and fried meat and then the shockwave took them into the air and rammed them into disintegrating mountains or the heaving, fragmenting ground. Dust, debris and flame convulsed the atmosphere as doomsday dawned around the stricken planet and humanity, along with much of the rest of Earth's biosphere, quietly passed into extinction on the roiling, orange, brown and red planetary corpse. The dead planet hung like a wound in space itself. It would be hundreds of thousands of years before the wounded planet healed itself and life evolved there once more. But there would be no trace left of the species that had once dominated it left by that time, gone into an oblivion even greater than the dinosaurs.
Time Becomes Purposeless.
EPILOGUE:
On the beach at night, stands a child with her father
Watching the east, the Autumn sky...
From the beach the child holding the hand of her father,
Those burial-clouds that lower victorious soon to devour all,
Watching, silently weeps.
Walt Whitman: "On the Beach Alone At Night" (1856)
THE END
