Disclaimer: I don't own the DC Universe
My newest comic book story is actually a reboot of an old one, a sequel to my story The Hunt in the Avengers section. It ended with one of the main characters going into the original DC Universe (prior New 52). Sieg Reilly's background will be explored in the story, so don't worry about reading previous stories from the Marvel Universe.
This is the main fic and the beginning of a new series under the label 'Brave New World', exploring what has happened to the main DC Universe. If you're lost, that's the point, you're on this journey with Sieg. Borrows from Doomsday clock, Rebirth and the New 52. Will also warn you, it sometimes takes shots at reboots and retcons, and the CW shows (or at least the state they have become) but this isn't a parody story meant to make fun of them.
That being said, hope everyone enjoys the first chapter.
Brave New World
Chapter 1: The change
July 16th 1940
Was it cruel, to kill a man like this? At one point he would have answered that question. Before the Watchman, before the Doomsday clock began to turn, he would have answered that question. But watching Alan Scott crawl out of the wreckage, skin burnt, many of his organs crushed and clinging to the edge of life, he realised there was nothing he would have done to stay alive. Yet his vision didn't change, the hero whom had the most hope, would lose his hope. And in a fit of rage that hero would strike him. His plan had not changed, yet still the vision persisted, he manipulated more events, putting the heroes into crisis, yet still the vision did not change. As he pondered his fate, Alan Scott died, his fingers inches from the very thing that would have saved his life. Again he had watched the man die, only this time, the vision did change.
Sieg yelled as he flew straight through the portal. The energy of the Tesseract ran through his armour, electrocuting him and causing him to yell out in pain. Time seemed to slow for Sieg as he looked through the portal, at his own Earth and the light that Cade had generated in his final moment. He narrowed his eyes, gripped his sword tightly and passed final judgment on the portal threatened both worlds.
"CLOSE!" he yelled, swinging the sword around.
And just like that it was gone. Where once there had been another Earth, only the stars remained. Sven looked up at the sky and let out a cry and at where the light from Washington had once been. The realisation hit him; he wouldn't see his best friend or his son again. Falling to his knees, the man let out a cry of anguish.
"SIEG!"
He put a hand to his head, feeling pain for the first time in years. Something had happened to the dimensional barriers, an entire Multiverse that should not be separate from his creation, was not joined with his. What was more, the Multiverse itself had expanded, worlds that should no longer exist now existed again. It all stemmed from that young man, the apprentice of a hero from a world of mutants and 'avengers'. The future had changed, his vision had changed. His fate was now something he had to avoid.
More was needed, to change the universe forever.
Present time-November 22nd
Sieg Reilly was lying on his hotel floor, mouth expanding as he snored. The sound had filled the room, so much that even the rats had been driven back into their holes. He had a speck of saliva sticking out of his mouth, when a knock came at the door. Yelping, he lunged forward, smacking his lips together and looking at his surroundings. With a sigh he got off of the floor, stretching and rotating his arms.
"I'm coming," the brown haired boy said.
He opened the door and rubbed his eyes. A young woman was standing there, she was in her late twenties and had a stern expression on her face.
"Sieg, I came down to see if you had your rent, Mira told me you wouldn't," the woman huffed.
"I'm sorry, who are you and why are you asking me about something Dana would?" Sieg asked, again rubbing his eyes.
"Jesus Sieg, are you serious? Did you get served at some place? I know you can be a bit senseless at times but this is something else, six years you've lived here, six frustrating years on my part," the woman explained.
"Who are you?" Sieg groaned.
"It's me Dana you moron!"
Sieg looked at the woman and was taken aback by the serious expression on her face. Then he realised she had said something else that didn't make sense.
"Six years? No way, I've only been here six months," he said.
"Did you hit your head? It has been six years, you lived here with your dead beat dad, and then started living here on your own, six months is the time you've been living on your own and you've been a frustrating resident ever since," 'Dana' explained.
"Miles found me endearing," Sieg chuckled.
"Who the hell is Miles?" Dana asked.
"Your husband," Sieg said.
"Is that some kind of joke?"
Again Sieg was taken aback by the utter fury in her eyes. It wasn't frustration, but full on anger in both her eyes and body language. She'd been completely offended, even disgusted by what Sieg had suggested.
"Come on Dana, leave him alone, you know Sieg has always pulled through," another woman said.
"Stop defending him Mira, can you believe he actually said I had a husband?" Dana asked, huffing as she turned away from Sieg and walked with the woman down the corridor.
"Don't freak out about it honey, ignorance isn't a crime," Mira said, draping her arm around Dana's shoulder.
Sieg slammed the door shut and whispered 'no way'. Not because same sex relationships bothered him and not because his land lord was a young woman. No, he was bothered by the fact that he had arrived in this universe eight months ago, alone and had just been told that he lived here for six years with a father. Then there was the fact that he didn't recognise Dana, which was understandable, considering the last time he saw Dana she was Sixty-one years old and married to a man called Miles. Sieg turned to the rest of his apartment to analyse it, a cheap room, not big enough for a roommate, not a lot of mess considering he didn't own a lot. He looked at his tables and cabinets, the top of which would typically have photos on if he had family here. Except he didn't, and despite Dana's insistence that he did he saw no family photos, not even a school photo. His memories hadn't changed either. He looked through his bed side drawer, and took out his diary. At the front were his current contacts, which only consisted of Jimmy Olsen, Perry White and Lois Lane-Kent and Clark Kent. The contacts hadn't changed, there were no additional numbers. Taking out his burner phone he typed in a number and pushed it to his ear.
"Sorry, the number you have dialled is not recognised," the voice over the phone said. 'That's Mr Kent, what about his wife?' he typed Lois's number and found the same result.
He squeezed his phone and put his hands to his head.
'Oh man, I've got a bad feeling about this,' he thought.
He took out his day clothes, beige cargo trousers, black boots, and a red shirt. After he brushed his teeth, he picked up his bag and work badge. According to that, he still worked in the records section of the Daily Planet. Locking his door behind him, Sieg made his way down the stairs. He recalled one of his neighbours, Leo, always had his classical music going. The man was seventy-two, had lived in the block and lost his wife to the Doomsday attack, he always listened to the opera in the morning. Only now, when Sieg went past his door he heard the bass and lyrics of a rap soundtrack. There was a newsstand outside of the building, the papers hadn't changed since it was still the same year.
'Just what the hell is going on?' Sieg wondered.
Sieg ran to work, or at least where he hoped work would be. Metropolis was still very much the same, though the Lex Corp tower was missing. In its place was a building labelled 'Oz industries'.
"Well that's not suspiciously foreboding," Sieg muttered.
Making a mental note to check that building later, Sieg continued on his road to the Daily Planet. When he got there, he noticed that the number of floors had been reduced, and the globe at the top of the building was gone.
"You've got to be kidding me," he said.
'Cat Co!' the sign read.
He looked at his pass, it still read the Daily Planet. Embarrassed, he began making his way through the inside of the building, hoping no one would see him. When he got inside, he saw that the inside was newer. There were also very unsubtle boards with Cat Grant on them, though the Cat Grant Sieg knew had had cosmetic surgery, and though a good journalist, certainly wasn't some media giantess. Something about the way this older looking Cat crossed her arms and looked at you just spoke 'I'm superior'. Sieg had known a woman like that before, she had an official name, though behind her back people often called her the White Witch, or 'White Bitch'.
'Hopefully this Cat Grant has integrity, like you did Miss Frost,' Sieg smiled at the memory before he went down to the basement.
His shoulders sagged when he got to the records room. An electronic lock had been attached to the door, the lock itself controlled by a card scanner. He took his card out of his pocket, mustered his nerves and slid it across the scanner. A red light blinked on the machine and Sieg lowered his head. Whatever was happening, he had hoped that access to Cat Co's old articles could shed some light on this 'world's' history. With a shake of his head he went back upstairs and used one of the elevators to get to the office floors. If he remembered correctly, Lombard, the sports editor would either be asleep or off on assignment. He didn't keep a password on his computer (silly, but he was a sports writer, decent work but nothing Pulitzer worthy). The structure of the office was very different, and when Sieg got to where he remembered Lombard's desk being, he didn't find any trace of Lombard. No fast food wrappers, no papers and pens scattered across the desk, and no dirt marks from when Lombard would put his feet up. Instead Sieg found a very well presented desk, everything was organised into neat piles, the computer wasn't greasy and no one had been tilting the chair back.
'Please let their computer security be just as bad as Steve's,' Sieg prayed, checking for watchers before sitting on the chair and accessing the computer.
Going past the CatCo screen saver, Sieg came to a desktop with some sort of poster of a Sci-Fi show on it. What first caught Sieg's eye was the appearance of one of the cast members, green furred.
"Beast Boy," Sieg identified him.
Though he appeared much younger than he should have, his face holding none of the experience Sieg knew that the veteran Titan had. He seemed more like he belonged in a newly recruited line up, a far cry from the New Teen Titan's founder that Sieg had watched from a distance. Taking hold of the mouse, Sieg accessed the Chrome explorer and came up to a search engine. Deciding to get one bit of info out of the way, he looked up the name 'Beast Boy'. Immediately he came up with the name 'Garfield Logan' and such terms as 'openly metahuman celebrity' 'media personality'. Apparently this Beast Boy was just an actor and charity sponsor. Next, Sieg typed out Titans, and just got the mythological Greek Titans. Even after putting Teen, New Teen and Young Justice, he got nothing connected to what he was trying to find.
'Doom patrol, nothing, Infinity Inc, nope, All-Star Squadron, zero items found, Seven soldiers of victory, damn,' nothing, each time he searched he came up with nothing.
Finally he typed in Justice League and again came up with nothing. He replaced 'League' with 'Society' and once again fell short of any results. His feet shook as he began to get nervous. Rapidly he typed out six names and with each empty result he despaired and cursed his situation. No Wonder Woman, no Martian Manhunter or Green Lantern, when he looked up Flash, his first result was Gordon and not the speedster. Batman and Aquaman both raised question marks. He placed his elbows on the table, linked his fingers together and leant his head against his hands. His options were getting low, truly if he didn't get a response from his next one, then the world had truly changed for the worst.
"Superman," Sieg whispered the name as he typed it.
'Did you mean Supergirl?' Sieg raised his eyebrow in confusion.
He raised his head, suddenly feeling someone standing behind him. The young man looked over his shoulder and saw a tall, bald, African American man standing with his arms crossed and a stern expression across his face.
"Can I help you? Is there any reason you're on Nia's work station?" the man asked.
"On, I'm sorry," Sieg chuckled good naturedly as he stood up. "I'm an intern here, I thought this was Jimmy Olsen's desk, he's been supervising me so..."
"No," the man said, taller than Sieg and looking down at him with annoyance in his eyes. "Firstly, it's James, James Olsen, I haven't gone by Jimmy since I was a photographer."
"Wait a minute..."
"Secondly, you are not one of our interns."
"Oh I am an intern here, I really need to get back to the group," Sieg sheepishly crept away from James, only for the man to grab his shoulder.
"They're already in Miss Grant's office, now get going," James said.
He pulled and pushed Sieg towards Cat Grant's office. Inside, Sieg could already see a line up of interns. They were listening to Cat speak, and when Sieg was pushed inside by James, he was treated to her ranting.
'Definitely not the Jameson type or Perry type, but damn I get it, she's a strong woman...her comments about men just seem a little petty, and she's a left winger...it's off putting how many times she takes shots at the right,' Sieg thought as he listened.
And listened, and listened until finally.
"We get it, Trump sucks, men are misogynists and you're a proud feminist, stop going on about it!"
Sieg then gulped as all the eyes in the room looked to him. The interns were shocked and sympathetic as Cat glared at Sieg. She got off of her chair, stood tall and walked around her desk.
"James, who is this boy?" Cat asked.
"I was hoping you could tell me Miss Grant, he claims he's an intern," James said.
"Unlikely, he doesn't look like he'd fit into the non threatening looking, socially diverse cast of a CW show," Cat said.
"You mean the shows that sacrifice good story telling for politics and social justice pandering?" Sieg asked.
"Yes the same, do you have a problem with social justice?" Cat asked.
"I think everyone should be fairly treated and equal, I'm not looking at the actors in my shows either, just the performances, the dialogue and the story, but I'm not here to discuss my favourite TV shows (CSI New York, Stargate SG1, NCIS). I'd like a job please Miss Grant," Sieg scratched the back of his head innocently.
Cat looked at the young man for a moment. He wasn't a giant, but he couldn't be described as skinny or fat either. The boy clearly worked out, and his innocent expression hid someone proud of his opinions. Only he was insular, he kept his thoughts inside. Clearly he wasn't a politically minded man, or even someone with an interest in social norms or trends.
"Why should I recruit you?" Cat asked.
"My grandparents were immigrants from Germany if that fits your diversity standards," Sieg said in German, before grinning and speaking in English again. "I get to the truth and that's it, right wing, left wing, I've got no real preference, both have their virtues and sins. When I interview people I'm interested only in what I'm interviewing them about, I've got no requirements for what a person has to be or have to be my friend, which is why I act the same around everyone."
"Fair enough Mr..."
"Reilly ma'am. Sieg Reilly," he said.
"Nice to meet you Mr Reilly, but you have to go through the application process just like everyone else, James, if you'd be so kind as to escort Mr Reilly off the premises and see that he gets an application form," Grant explained.
James huffed as he took Sieg by his shoulder and guided him towards the door.
"Oh one more thing, who would you say is the greatest super hero?" Sieg asked.
"Here at Cat-Co, the answer is always Supergirl," Cat said.
Sieg sheepishly nodded his head and let James move him out of the office.
"So why'd you lie?" James demanded.
"I would like a job, that's the truth," Sieg said.
"Why did you say I was your supervisor before?"
"Confusion, I'm talking about another Jimmy Olsen, white, ginger haired, makes a bow-tie look good," Sieg explained.
"Bow ties never look good," James said.
"Bow ties are cool," Sieg retorted, grinning as James rolled his eyes.
"You clearly have a contempt for social progress," James said as he pushed the button to hail the elevator. "So why are you a fan of Doctor Who?"
"I wouldn't call myself a fan, I enjoyed a few episodes of Matt Smith's run, my doctor was David Tennant, when he left I just started to lose interest. Besides, why do I have to like a show if it has a political or social message? Can't I just like something for being fun and entertaining? Hell why do I even need to think politics or social issues, I just see everyone the same way," Sieg explained.
The elevator arrived and they both stepped in.
"Your opinion on guns?"
"You're digging aren't you? Fine if that's the game we're playing...pro-self defence!"
"That isn't an answer," a frustrated look crossed James's face as they hit the ground floor.
"Not the one you want, but you'll have to settle for it, anyway thanks other Jimmy, see you around," Sieg gave James a two fingered salute as he walked towards the door.
"Aren't you forgetting something?"
Sieg looked over his shoulder, blinking in confusion at the piece of paper James showed him.
"Oh, the application form," he said.
James faked a smile as the boy chuckled. Sieg took the form, shoving it into his pocket before walking out of the building. He lowered his head and put his hands in his pockets, walking down the street. When he reached the end of the block, Sieg looked back at the Cat-Co building. Even though it had only been six months, he had developed a fondness for the Daily Planet building. To him it was iconic, a beacon within the city. Always the planet stood as the place where the truth would be spread. And in his short time there Sieg had developed a fondness for the people who worked there. Lombard, the seemingly ignorant sports editor, without etiquette or manners or tact, the bully of the office and the pig too. But when lives were in danger, he would fight to protect others. Ron Troupe, a good journalist and a man of principles, though he didn't lord those principles over others. Perry White, editor of the paper and an old school journalist, back when things about the truth and not some network. He was a difficult taskmaster, but he cared about the people he worked with and about the ideals of truth.
Then came the three Sieg remembered the most, his idols in a way. Jimmy (not James) Olsen, photojournalist and an overall great guy. He was the voice guiding Perry into the future, the life in the Daily Planet building and everyone's friend. The kind of man who went into danger without fear, not some big guy who could hold his own in a fight, which was why his courage was so much more amazing. After him was Lois Lane-Kent, Pulitzer prize winning journalist, military brat and a pillar of strength for her husband. She was the realist to his idealist, and they matched one another well (Sieg felt this despite what some people said). Lois was great at her job, when she saw a story she got to the truth. But she wasn't all about the story, she saw the people in those stories too and she cared. Then there was Lois's husband, Clark Kent, a good journalist like her but not someone who told huge, award winning stories. He saw the importance in the smallest of stories, and like Lois cared about the people behind them.
'Are they all gone, could they all be erased, just what the heck is going on here?' Sieg wondered.
He went into an internet cafe, paid for some time on a computer and began searching. Though he had never visited the city, he heard that Gotham was a place with a high crime rate, and famous for the horrific villains it had generated, villains that though possessed no flashy powers were more terrifying than even some alien conquerors or demons. When he typed in the name Gotham, he found no trace of the event that served as one of Gotham's darkest hours. The murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne, in fact there was no reference to the Wayne family at all. He typed in the address for Wayne manor and saw that there was a manor there, only it was a private school.
'The Drieberg orphanage and private school, what about Arkham Asylum, wait a sec...' Sieg looked at the screen and huffed.
Arkham Asylum didn't exist, instead there was the Kovacs memorial hospital. Sieg took out his notebook and wrote down the names.
'Kovacs, Dreiberg, names that replace key facilities in this world, what about S.T.A.R. labs? Facilities in Detroit, Central City, Washington, but not S.T.A.R Labs? Jupiter labs! Something has definitely happened to this world,' Sieg thought, finishing his session and putting his notebook away.
Walking the streets, Sieg saw people enjoying their lives, content and happy. Billboards had the same advertisements on them, kids streamed the same videos on YouTube and spent as much blogging on social media as they did talking. The air seemed cleaner in a way, which was why it felt difficult for Sieg to breathe. A cleaner environment, but it didn't seem natural to Sieg, it felt to him as if someone had cheated.
'Or could the world truly be better?' Sieg wondered. 'Could the world really be better because it doesn't have the justice league in it?'
He stopped at a park bench, sitting and looking up at the clouds. Though he hadn't been on this Earth long, he had become inspired by the heroes who lived on it. Every paper he picked up, involved heroes making some political statement. That had never been what heroism was about to him.
'Then again, maybe that's just me, straight, white male, non political me,' he thought.
Being a hero to him, was about standing up to save a life, it was about standing against something that was wrong. Not to force a view on someone else, but to mitigate a more destructive view. A man who feared immigration, wasn't necessarily wrong in his eyes. But America was a country made by immigrants, by people seeking a new life. They had done wrong in making the new world, and there was reason to fear immigrants, but there were many more reasons to support those kinds of people too. Every person was a person to Sieg, and a type of person too. In his eyes, you couldn't avoid separating people into certain types, describing their nationality, their skin colour, their beliefs, it all fell into the type of person they were. These things weren't what defined people, but their lives were inevitably influenced by these things, that was an unavoidable fact to him. His biological grandparents were immigrants whom fled Nazi Germany. His adopted grandmother was a single mother, whom struggled to raise two children. Neither were born to any kind of special privilege and none really faced great discrimination either, but that wasn't to say their lives weren't hard. Perseverance and even recklessness were the traits Sieg's adopted grandmother passed onto her two children.
Her son, Sieg's adopted father became a hero, first struggling as a drifter working menial jobs and solving people's problems. Sieg remembered fondly how his adopted father described himself as 'the Equalizer' (and then was subsequently surprised that Denzel had made an Americanised film of it). Then he became a private investigator, struggling to raise a child that wasn't his own and build the foundations of a life with his wife and the child they were expecting. His sister was a strong woman, whom fell in love with a man who was her brother's enemy, but he loved like a brother too. That man didn't believe he could be a father and left her to struggle, a single parent to twin sons. From all of these people Sieg inherited the perseverance and determination to get through his struggles, and even to create more struggle for himself through his goodwill.
But his biological family, Sieg remembered nothing but the small details of their German ancestry. He was told that his grandfather was a scientist, grandmother a nurse. Intelligence was something they passed onto their only son, Sieg's biological father Heinrich. Sieg had been told that Heinrich was a brilliant scientist, an expert in biology, xeno-biology, botany, genetics and mutation. He had been a theorist on the connection between evolution and mutation, a mutant himself as well. Sieg's adopted father spoke of him as a friend whom had passed, others spoke of him as a selfish man, interested only in satisfying his own curiosity. Yet they spoke of a man who was determined, Sieg liked to think he had at least inherited that from his father, as well as his looks.
Heinrich had another son, Sieg's brother Virgil. They were the similar age, given credence to some people's view that Heinrich was a terrible man. Neither brothers knew if they had been the planned results of manipulation, born of Heinrich's desire to see how their mutant powers would develop. Or if just one, or both were the meaningless results of affairs of satisfaction. They didn't get a chance to get to know one another personally, but Sieg heard from Virgil's friends at the school he attended that he was kind, if a little quick to anger and slow to open up.
Sieg was reminiscent about the past because he wondered, if his past had been altered, would it be better? What person wouldn't want to change some of the things from their past? Some of the heroes of all worlds had probably manipulated time and reality. As Sieg's 'doctor' said, 'people assume time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually, from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff'. Though it occurred to Sieg that there was another way of looking at time, being clay, moulded by someone.
'This world and the people in it have been treated like clay, or a script, or a comic book,' Sieg thought, again looking at the seemingly content people on the street.
But it was then that Sieg noticed small micro-aggressions. Frustration in some, fear in others, something was definitely wrong.
'And those aspects you inherited from your adopted family...no, your family Sieg, are what are going to compel you to find out just what the hell is going on here!' Sieg made a fist with his hand, smiling to himself, part of him liking the challenge.
He looked up and squinted, seeing something in the distant rooftops. It was a light, light reflecting off of something. Widening his eyes, he moved his head. A bullet grazed his cheek, clanging off of a metallic objecting. Sieg crouched, looking behind him and seeing a man in a blue suit. The man had gold armour covering his lower body, and gauntlets starting from his elbows. His shoulders and neck were covered by gold armour, only his strong jaw and dark skinned lower face was exposed by his gold helmet.
"Guardian," Sieg said.
The man's gold shield was much bigger than either of the Guardians Sieg had heard of. The first to use the name was a white guy, the second a black guy. Sieg's history was a little rusty, but he suspected the original took the mantle again and became head of Metropolis's science police. Unless the second guy had grown taller and bulked up, this man was not him.
"You're under arrest," Guardian said.
"Wait a minute...JAMES!" Sieg yelled.
He had dodged Guardian's first strike, but his surprise over the man's identity made him open to a backhand. Sieg stumbled back, falling off of the ledge the bench was on. He rolled back onto the pavement and looked up at Guardian.
"That's Guardian to you, you are wanted in connection with pre-crimes against the system," Guardian explained.
Sieg blinked in confusion as more costumed figures came down to Guardian's side. Sieg recognised some, though their costumes were different. The white costume was different, but the black jacket and gold helmet made Sieg recognised a Ray when he saw one. Vixen too Sieg recognised, in fact the majority of the membership was from what Sieg remembered being the Justice Foundation. Dominic Mndawe, Insight, Killer Frost, Aztek, Atom, Strange Visitor, Gregorio De La Vega, but there were different people that Sieg had no idea whom they were. One had a moth based costume on, consisting of white and black colours. Another was wearing a reaper garb and had a noose attached to the sickle he was carrying. There was a dark haired girl with a blue and grey costume, her face covered by a blue domino mask. And there was a chalk skinned man in some kind of green clown costume.
"Turn yourself into the judgement of the Justice Watchmen!" Guardian commanded.
Despite the numbers of the 'heroes', Sieg snorted.
"Justice Watchmen? Wow, and I thought Extreme Justice was bad," he chuckled.
"You won't be laughing when we're through with you," a voice spoke from above Sieg.
He turned and widened his eyes, seeing what could only be described as Supergirl. Except it wasn't the Supergirl that Sieg had seen before. She was older, mid-twenties and was wearing a blue suit across her entire body. There was a red version of the S shield on her chest, a gold belt around her waist, with red cloths sticking out at the front and back, red shoulder pads and knee high boots.
"You, you're not Superman's cousin," Sieg said.
"Who the heck is Superman, there's never been a Superman," Supergirl said.
She suddenly fired her heat vision at him, making him dive out of the way.
'Straight to heat vision, what the hell is wrong with her?' Sieg wondered.
Something firm gripped his leg, drawing a grunt from Sieg. He was suspended by Supergirl, who held him by his foot.
"What is his Pre-crime Dreamer?" Supergirl asked.
"Defiance of the system, aiding and abetting fugitives, attempting to reverse the treatment of corrected patients, alteration of the timeline," the dark haired girl listed.
"The punishment for such a thing is what inevitably comes to you villains, death," Supergirl said.
Sieg gasped in shock, trying to break free from her grip. Red sparked around Sieg as he threw a kick into Supergirl's face. The attack made her flinch, but she quickly squeezed Sieg's leg. There was a sickening crack and Sieg let out a yell of agony. His screams however were silenced when Supergirl threw him through the wall.
Damn it, that hurt. My leg, I think she broke it.
Guardian looked at where Sieg once stood and lowered his head.
"There had to have been another way," he said.
"Supergirl acted as had been expected of the symbol of peace, she eliminated a threat to this world," the hooded man said.
"Thank you Hooded Execution," Supergirl said.
"My dreams told me everything we needed to know we had..." Dreamer paused, putting a hand to her head and closing her eyes.
This can't be it, this can't be it, I never even got to find out what the hell is going on here.
"What is it Dreamer?" Vixen asked.
"A fire has just started across the street, I believe the cause is an offender," she said.
"We'll need to take whoever it is in," the Mothman said.
"And save the people inside the building," Black Canary said.
Supergirl's eyes suddenly glowed white, a circle appearing on her forehead.
"Negative Canary, there are purged people in that building," she said.
"Purged?" Guardian and the other members of the Justice Foundation looked at Supergirl in confusion.
"Remember what he said, a living body and a dead body have the same amount of particles, there's no discernible difference, it doesn't matter if those people burn, not when they're destined to die anyway," Supergirl explained.
'No discernible difference' what is someone's damage to come up with a line like that?
"Fine, let's just track the offender and get this over with," Vixen said.
No, they can't be serious.
"This doesn't feel right," Ray said.
"If we defy the order, then we might get labelled offenders too," Aztek said.
Come on guys, you're heroes, figure out that you can't leave them.
"It isn't ideal, but it is the way things are now," De La Vega said.
No, no, please don't let those people die. Come on, come on, get up, get up now. Spirits, any that are listening, grant me power. Heroism, faith, determination, whichever one, any of you, grant me power to SAVE SOMEONE!
There was a red flash, and red lightning crackled through the building that Supergirl had knocked Sieg through. The 'Kryptonian' super hero looked through the building with her X-ray vision. But much to her shock, her sight was blinded by the flash of red energy surging through the entire building. Cracks of red energy ran across the surface of the building, then began gathering at the hole that Supergirl had made.
"What is that?" Frost asked.
Dreamer put two fingers against her head and closer her eyes. There was a sudden spark of red and she stumbled back, concern written across her face.
"We can't let whoever is in there out, even if it means bringing the whole building down, we have to stop them, everyone in the building is marked down for purging anyway," Dreamer explained.
"The whole building, no, that's wrong," Guardian said.
"We're the heroes," Supergirl whispered.
She fired her heat vision. But the building still stood, the energy from her eyes was drawn towards the glowing hole in the side of the building.
Heat vision huh? Should come in handy.
"Canary, Frost, take out that building now," Supergirl commanded.
"No, we can't," Dinah said.
"I don't kill people anymore," Frost said.
"Damn it, you aren't giving us any choice! You know what he'll do if you disobey."
Both Black Canary and Frost took deep breaths as they approached the building. Dinah opened her mouth, and Caitlyn raised her hands. They suddenly unleashed their powers on the building, ice to freeze it, and a sound wave to shatter it. But as the people in the building were frozen, red energy swept across their statuesque forms. When the sound shattered them, the statues reformed, the ice melted and the people went about their lives as if nothing happened. Then there was a pulse of red, and both Dinah and Caitlyn were knocked back.
Sonic scream and ice, wonder what could be done with this combination? Wait a minute, their memories, I can see them. Dinah Lance, Dinah Lance-Queen, come on pretty bird, remember who called you by that name, remember that you loved him enough to marry him.
Black Canary gasped, falling on her back, the offender in the building had tried to do something to her mind. Those images she saw, of herself, but older, kissing that man in the green hood felt right for some reason. But that was impossible, only his history was the correct one. Caitlyn saw a history that was impossible, she had killed people to survive, that couldn't have been right. She was a hero, her history was supposed to be flawless. The building stopped glowing and the heroes of the Justice Watchmen saw a figure emerge from the 'reborn' building.
"Justice, who would have thought I'd end up with this one, ironic in a way," Sieg said.
He had been encased with red armour that covered most of his body, save for the black gloves on his hands. His head had been covered by a helmet with horns sticking out of the back and sides of it. A knight's visor covered a pair of glowing red eyes. Red electricity surged around him as he jumped away from the building, into the alleyways. He attempted to dart from one wall to another, but as soon as his leg made contact with the wall, he contorted in pain and rolled across the floor. Managing his pain, he crawled, then jumped onto a limping position.
'Leg still broken, okay, did not see that coming,' Sieg thought.
Limping through the alleyway, he closed his eyes, focusing on the souls he intended to save. They were dying in a building set ablaze by the manifestation of someone's power. Twenty souls that had been deemed unworthy of saving, and one soul that was beginning to remember who she was. He limped faster and faster, spreading his energy through his body. Focusing the energy on his unbroken foot, he jumped, then focused the energy into his hand. As soon as his hand hit the wall he aimed at, he launched himself like a pinball across the street. He flipped and dived through the building. Flames scorched his armour, but did nothing to damage what was underneath it. Limping through the flames, he walked past two people hiding in their room, then walked into the opposite one.
"Sorry kid, you can't hide from flames," he said to the boy hiding in his wardrobe. "Everything's going to be okay," with a reassuring tone to his voice, he offered the boy his hand.
Despite what he looked like, Sieg's voice had been enough to save the child. The child chose life, taking the hand of the one who offered him help. Sieg picked up the other two family members, jumping out of the building and into the streets below. Despite the society they lived in, people were thankful that those condemned to death were saved. They saw this red armoured figure crashing through the building, emerging with survivors. With each person Sieg saved, he threw himself into an even more dangerous part of the building, emerging with survivors with damp towels wrapped around them, or bare, people whom Sieg had just grabbed and crashed through the walls to save. His body was a shield, and despite his broken leg he fought through his pain to save them. When the Justice Watchmen flew onto the adjacent building's rooftop, they were frozen by the shock of what Sieg was doing. Those whom were their true selves, remnants of the world that had come before, looked up this young man, risking his life to save people that were not supposed to be saved. Many of them began to think, 'why had these people been deemed unworthy of saving'. They gradually began to remember a time that seemed impossible at first glance, a time they were part of something different from the Watchmen, one could say better, or at least more good.
"You're all worth SAVING!" Sieg yelled, releasing a blast with the sonic scream of the Black Canary, mixed with the ice of Killer Frost.
The elemental wave created a corridor of extinguished flames that survivors could run through. Sieg gripped his head, feeling his armour crack. He grabbed a piece of rope from the maintenance room, tied it onto a pipe and began assisting survivors in rappelling out of a window. He slid the rope between his hands, singeing the armour on his hands.
"Thank you," a father said, holding his son close as Sieg helped them out of the window.
He was beginning to grow tired, his armour was even beginning to crack. But still he fought with what he had, limping with survivors to the ambulances of real heroes, unaffected by whatever cosmic force had influenced the others.
"No one defies the order of things," Supergirl said.
She prepared to fire her heat vision, only for Sieg to look towards her, firing a blue blast from his eyes similar to her heat vision. He knocked her into the sky, out of the city's range. Sieg looked at the Justice Watchmen, led by Guardian now. Many of them wanted to rush in and help, someone thing called them to action. But whatever was influencing them, was too strong. Sieg went back into the fire, down towards the basement. He saw where the flames had began, where they were coming from and ultimately where they could be stopped. Within an orange and red mass of flames was a girl. She had brown hair and was wearing a red blouse.
"You're going to be okay, you can get control of this power inside you, can you tell me your name?" Sieg asked the girl.
"I, I, I don't remember," she trembled, afraid for dear life, hugging her arms and flinching every time a flame came out of her body.
"I think you were a hero, you just need to remember your name, let me help you..."
It all happened so fast, the ceiling came down, a blur of red and blue slammed into Sieg, throwing him into the streets above them. Supergirl threw Sieg against the ground, his armour cracking, when that happened he saw something, several people going about their lives, seeminingly mundane but so much more important that could be assumed. Thomas a teacher, trying to reach his student Dan. Lee, a journalist struggling with a story no one seemed to want to hear. Greg, a singer and his friend Justin, both of whom couldn't shake the feeling that something was very wrong with the world. And Vic, a homeless guy dismissed as a conspiracy nut. Patrick, someone struggling with his old criminal record whilst looking after his son Luke. They were all important, he knew that. They were all connected, he knew that despite their being no proof but his feelings.
CRUNCH!
"AAAARGH!" Sieg screamed in agony as Supergirl slammed her fist into his stomach.
'No, please, not yet, not yet, don't let it end yet!' Sieg thought.
His trembling hand stopped as his heavy breathing slowed.
"You whom cling to the old ways, you are not a hero," Supergirl said.
She let Sieg go and fired her heat vision, consuming him in a blue blast of flames.
Mars
He was standing where he usually stood, contemplating the past and the future. Tachyons were again interfering with his vision. Which shouldn't be possible, considering he had taken control of every nuclear power station in the world, since he had altered the past and reality itself to create the ideal version of the world. Jon Osterman looked up at Earth from his clockwork fortress and knew he had succeeded in altering the strings that directed this world.
'Though perhaps a new set of strings have appeared,' Dr Manhattan mused.
The glowing blue man turned and narrowed his white eyes. As impossible as it should have been, someone else was on the moon too. Whoever he was, was wearing a white coat with blue markings glowing across it. Judging from his chin, he was a young man, though he had covered some of his face with a hood. He raised a blue gloved hand out of his pocket and clicked his fingers, a blue spark suddenly materialised an hourglass, filled with silver sand.
"I know clocks are your thing, but a Doomsday clock takes too long," the young man said, tilting the hourglass and beginning the fall of the sands.
Manhattan focused on the sands and then at the young man. He turned, pulling off his hood and revealing a white haired man in his mid twenties. His eyes were glowing a deep blue colour, but his pupil briefly flashed white.
"It has begun, the return...to what this world was!" he said.
Next Chapter 2: Old heroes
Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. Those whom read my original Brave New World story, there will be spinofs based on what the Justice League is up to in this new universe.
Brave New World: The Knight and the Light-Justice League and The Flash crossover
During the battle with Savitaar and Prometheus, heroes from old universes arrive. Bruce Wayne and Hal Jordan navigate a very strange world, with different versions of their best friends protecting it. Guided by their own experience, these two veterans will pave the way for a new future in the Arrowverse.
Brave New World: Legend's meet the Knight-Batman and Legends of Tomorrow crossover
Bruce Wayne of the original DC universe faces the Legends of Tomorrow and pushes them down a new path in preparation of a coming crisis.
Brave New World: The Flash-The Flash TV show crossover and The Flash comics crossover
The Speed force wants to imprison Barry Allen, but wait, 'that's not how the force works'. Who said this? Well Barry Allen of course. Team Flash meet a blonde haired man claiming to be Barry Allen. With the Thinker and a group of other world Flash villains invading their Earth, Team Flash needs all the help it can get. That is if they can stop 'Barry Allen' from killing himself with lightning. Meanwhile, Wally is beginning to hear voices and see people. One a red haired guy claiming to be Wally West.
Brave New World: The Legend of Yesterday-Legends of Tomorrow and the Flash comics crossover
The original Barry Allen Flash meets the Legends in the aftermath of them meeting Batman and their change of direction. As the Legends adjust to their new lives, a new legion of doom gathers.
Brave New World: Flashpoint-Justice League fic
A world is on the brink of collapse. As the world heads towards the final battle between Atlantis and the Amazons, heroes arrive from another world. Aquaman meets himself, but with no love for the surface world. Wonder Woman meets herself too, but with contempt for peace and cold blooded disregard for humanity. Whilst Batman meets his parents, in a world where he was the one who died.
Brave New World: Injustice
In their search for Superman, Lois Lane and her son Jon Kent arrive in a world where Superman has taken over the world.
Brave New World: Martian Manhunter and Supergirl
Visitors from another world are plotting, using the DEO and the children of liberty in a build up to a crisis. All this as a very different Martian Manhunter from the one Kara Danvers knows navigates this world.
Brave New World: Heroes and Monsters-Justice League and Justice League:Gods and monsters crossover
Two trinities meet, in an adventure that will remind Bruce, Clark and Diana just how much they mean to each other and the world.
Brave New World: Into the year 3000
Hal, J'onn and Arthur are sent to a world where the heroes have failed and a new Justice League struggles to protect it. But this Justice league are clones, with almost parody like imitations of their friend's personality traits. J'onn struggles with remembering his own past, and even his own personality. Arthur strives to lead a team that remembers him as a joke and a powerless Hal seeks out the Lantern power batteries.
Brave New World: Beyond
Bruce Wayne, aged and tested from years of being thrown across the Multiverse, arrives in a world where an aged version of himself trains a new Batman. The rest of the original Justice League, scattered across the DCAU's past and future, race to find Batman.
There will also be other spinoffs, not featuring the original Justice League members.