Universe 2
Two Years ago
Soldiers stormed the hallway intent on trying to stall Superman and Green Lantern from entering the President's Office. They were easily beaten back as though they were paper. Their weapons were harmless against Superman's strength and the Green Lantern's light.
"Batman? Wonder Woman? Are you there?" asked Superman as he pressed into his com-link.
"We're here Superman." Responded Diana as she beat back two guards carrying batons.
"How's Flash doing?" asked Superman as he and John flew down the hallway.
"He's taken care of the outside forces with J'onn. They'll meet us inside shortly after taking care of the police. Wait for us." Said Batman as he threw a couple of flash pellets, blinding the guards.
"No, we've waited too long as it is." growled John as he surged forward with green light and blew down the door to the Oval Office. He and Superman flew in to see Lex Luthor mumbling to himself and packing up paper.
"Those fools," they heard him say, "They couldn't see the beauty. No imagination. They'd rather fight."
"Even this wasn't enough for you, was it? You had to have it all. Now we're on the brink of a war that could destroy the whole planet." said Superman as he and Lantern both stood in front of the desk.
"It could have been so perfect," bemoaned Luthor, "Paradise."
"And I let it get this far, because of the law… and the will of the people." said Superman.
"Ha! The people? This is all their fault," said Luthor, a mad glint in his eye, "And now they're going to burn for it. Burn!"
"You're nothing but a mad dog now aren't you?" mocked Lantern. Luthor scoffed at his words and continued to work through his papers.
"We have stood by the sidelines letting you get away with many things because it was the law and because of our belief in the free will. Well no more." Said Superman as he stepped forward. Luthor saw him walk towards him and quickly flipped a panel that revealed a red button.
"One more step and I'll press this button for a global war." Threatened Luthor.
"I can count an infinite number of ways Lantern or I can stop you." Said Superman.
"But they all involve lethal force don't they? None of you have the willpower to ever cross that line," mocked Luthor, "You can stop me now, but I'll be back. I always come back and I always win. You and the rest of your team can think that I'm beatable, but I'll always be back! You all love playing hero so much that you never take the time to truly eliminate any threats all for your love of the public spotlight."
"You're right. We did love being heroes, but if this is what being a hero brings then I don't want to be a part of it any longer." Said John as his eyes glowed green.
"What changed your mind, Marine?" taunted Luthor, "Miss your friend? I'll tell you, I thought she would have folded over after the first week but she proved resilient through the interrogation."
"INTERROGATION? YOU TORTURED HER!" snarled Lantern as clenched his fist and powered up his ring. Luthor laughed however, confident that no harm would be done on him.
"Torture? There's no such thing when it comes to beings such as her! There are no laws that protect aliens so it's all fair game. She was going to betray the planet anyways. She deserved to die." snarled Luthor, ready to press down on the button only to be hit upside the head by a batarang, knocking him backwards and away from the button. Flash was suddenly in the room closing the panel and tying Luthor up with the curtains. Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and J'onn joined Superman and Lantern as they circled around the tied up fiend.
"She had already convinced her homeworld that Earth was heavily defended. They had moved on to a desert planet. You killed her for nothing, you monster!" snarled Lantern, holding back his rage. Luthor noticed however and decided to mock him.
"What's the matter? Too weak to actually do anything?" cackled Luthor.
Batman and the others sneered at the mad President and left the office, leaving Lantern and Superman with him.
"It's over Luthor." Said Lantern quietly. Luthor gave another cackle and said, "Haven't I already told you? I'll always come back!"
"Not this time." Said Superman. His eyes glowed red with heat vision and the Lantern's ring glowed an ominous green. The last Luthor will ever see on his time on Earth was the searing red and green coming at him. John and Superman both looked at the crisp body before looking out the window.
"So how do you feel?" asked Superman.
"A little better," Said John as he looked outside and saw the rest of the team addressing the public, "How do you feel?"
Superman was looking out towards the skies before turning to John smiling and said, "Never better."
Present Day
The Watchtower orbited Earth in its never-ending mission of protecting mankind. J'onn J'onnz stood at the main control panel of the monitor room along with hundreds of other workers monitoring the safety and peace of Earth.
"Section 28, clear."
"Section 29, alert terminated."
"Section 30, clear."
"Section 31, report delayed."
That brought the attention of the Martian who looked over and asked, "Why is there a delay?"
"A storm is circling around the section. Nothing major, everybody has been evacuated." Explained the worker. J'onn nodded his head in understanding and said, "Let's continue then. Section 32?"
On went on the roll call and while J'onn was busy with monitoring the Earth, Diana was walking down a hallway sporting a bob cut and new clothes. She watched the stars for a while before noticing that she wasn't alone. She saw John at the other end of the hallway staring off into space, often at times rubbing his power ring or his engagement ring. Diana felt a wave of sadness sweep through her as she realized that tomorrow would be the anniversary and she decided to talk with John.
John gave no indication that he knew Diana was there, so she took it as a sign to talk.
"How are you feeling?" she asked, watching as he flexed his fingers.
"I always thought I could get over it, but every time I think I do she's there in my thoughts anyways." Said John.
"Stubborn. Like always?" questioned Diana, smiling sadly at the memory of her lost sister. John gave a small chuckle and said, "I always keep expecting her to fly into the room and have me run drills."
"Or else she'll knock you into next Tuesday?" chuckled Diana when she remembered the colorful threats that was often thrown around during training. John chuckled as he remembered those days but stopped smiling just as quickly.
"I miss her too, John." Said Diana as she comfortingly patted his shoulder before walking away. John sighed as he was left alone again in the hallway and stared out the window to see the Sun peeking out from behind the Earth. He could recall the ungodly hours of the morning she would wake him up in his apartment to fly out all the way to the tallest building in Detroit and watch the sunrise. He felt the air blow past him as someone ran past him at high speed and turned to see Flash in his yellow suit.
"How you doing?" he asked. John gave a brisk nod and wishing people would stop asking him how he was feeling.
"I miss her too," said Flash, "She was like the older sister I always wanted but you know… shorter." John smiled at the kid's humor. It took a while for the Flash to recover back to his old self but he was more serious than light-hearted most days. Flash and John conversed about their days for a while until Superman entered the hallway.
"There's a protest forming in Smallville, I need you two to care of it." Ordered Superman, his new black and white uniform made him even more larger than life than his previous suit did.
"You're not coming with? It's your hometown after all." Asked Flash.
"No, I have a dinner date." Said Superman as he left the hallway. Flash and John gave each other raised eyebrows and left to the monitor room.
"While you're down there, try to get Batman out of his cave. Even I find it depressing." Said J'onn as he started up the teleporter.
"Will do." Said Flash as he and John were beamed at the outskirts of Smallville.
Smallville
"Flash to Batman. Come in." said the Flash in his communicator.
"What is it?" came the brisk voice of Batman.
"Civil Disobedience down at Smallville. Care to join?"
"Too much to do." said Batman.
"Come on. For old times sakes."
"I hate old times."
Flash shrugged at John and they made their way to the University. John flew while Flash ran towards the Smallville University where they could see a group of students protesting for their right to vote. A riot squad was already in place and made a solid wall in front of the school. John and Flash met up on top of a nearby building and watched as one student got too close and got pushed back into the group. The students began to throw rocks and whatever they could reach at the police. One particular student lit up a Molotov and threw it at the police. Before it could even reach the policeman however, the Molotov was gone.
The students were baffled until one of them yelled out, "Watch out! They're here!" Every student turned to see the Flash holding a doused Molotov and the Green Lantern, eyes glowing ominously. Students ran away in different directions away from the University, but the Molotov throwing student was suddenly in handcuffs and placed in the back of a police vehicle courtesy of the Flash. Flash and John remained on the rooftop to oversee the police handling the rest of the students.
"I used to remember a time when people weren't so afraid of us." Said Flash, watching as passersby ducked their heads and avoided looking directly at them.
"Do you? I remember a time growing up where I always laid awake at night fearing that it was going to be my last day on Earth. I was always worried sick for my loved ones and it wasn't until I lost it all that I realized that I can prevent that from happening to anyone else." Said John.
"I… D-… Can I ask you a personal question?" asked Flash.
"Go on."
"What was the name going to be?" asked Flash, worried that perhaps he should have asked a different question. John was silent for a long time until he said, "Hektar Wallace Stewart for a boy, Abigail Stewart for a girl."
"Wallace… was that for-?" said Flash as he pointed at himself. John smiled and said, "She told me that you always reminded her of her little brother."
They both gave each other sad smiles for things that will never be and turned around to head back to the Watchtower. They almost made it outside the city limit when they heard Batman speak to them through the com-link, "I need everybody to report to the Batcave immediately."
Flash and John gave each other quizzical looks but nonetheless made their way outside the city where they waited on J'onn to teleport them immediately to Gotham. Once everyone was there Batman led everyone to a large screen next to a strange looking machine. He turned the screen on and they were immediately met with mirror images of themselves fighting against a super-suit Luthor.
"What is this? Old footage of ourselves fighting?" asked Flash.
"No, this fight is happening right now as we speak. We are looking at another dimension right now, except in this dimension they call themselves the Justice League not the Justice Lords." Explained Batman, earning shocked looks from his fellow team members.
"They look like the mess we used to be." Remarked Diana.
"Their Luthor is still alive." Said Superman with a slight vexation in his voice.
"We never had fights with Luthor like this." Observed J'onn as he watched Luthor fight against their counterparts with his green iron suit, something that their Luthor never possessed during his time on Earth.
"We didn't." agreed Flash.
"I'm surprised they lasted this long. That suit of Luthor's seems to be a match for even Superman's strength." Said Diana as the fight with Luthor and their counterparts escalated, with their counterparts not taking any extreme action.
"It's probably because in this dimension, their Hawkgirl is still alive." Said Batman. As he was saying it, the winged hero flew past the camera with her mace charged up and knocked back Luthor as he was attempting to terminate the alternate Batman, who was helping the alternate Lantern remove the debris that was on top of an unconscious J'onn. John looked at the screen with a sense of yearning and a flared feeling of lost love. He stopped himself from reaching out and touching the screen while Diana said, "Too bad we can't help them."
"Who says we can't?" said Batman as he pressed a button on the keypad and the strange machine blared to life, opening up a gateway into the other dimension.
"Will they accept our help though? Like… our kind of help?" asked Flash. Everybody stared at each other, contemplating about whether or not their alternate selves with the alternate Hawkgirl will accept their help.
Universe 1
Shayera gave another war cry as she slammed her mace against Luthor, attempting to stop him from flying away. He was knocked back into a pillar where he unleashed another energy wave at her. Shayera dodged his blast and circled around him.
"You fool. You think you can stop me with your flimsy mace and wings? Compared to me you are nothing but a nuisance." Mocked Luthor as he sent another energy blast at her.
"Nuisance I may be, but I think I proved to be quite a distraction don't you think?" Shayera mocked back. Luthor blinked at her words until Superman and Wonder Woman began dismantling his suit. Before they could remove his arm piece, Luthor pressed a button that sent electric waves towards Superman and Wonder Woman, harming them until they released him. Flash caught Wonder Woman before she could hit the ground and Shayera caught Superman's arm, helping him land safely on the ground. When Flash laid Diana down next to Shayera, Superman quickly recovered and said, "Come on!"
Flash and Shayera followed Superman to the basement where Luthor was powering up a laser cannon. Flash quickly ran down the stairs and dismantled it before Luthor's eyes, who had no chance to stop him as a mace to the back rendered him unconscious. Superman flew down and quickly removed the last bit of Luthor's suit, leaving only the chest piece that helped regulate his Kryptonite poisoning. Flash quickly handcuffed Luthor and zipped next to Superman to say, "Police are already on their way."
It was about ten minutes later when the police arrived and took Luthor away. Superman gave his report to the Captain in charge while the others hung back, recovering from their injuries or waiting until it was time to leave.
"How do you feel?" asked Diana as J'onn rubbed his head slightly.
"Better. Nothing that I can't recover from." Said J'onn as he sat down next to Shayera and accepted her wing for cover. Shayera had already placed her other wing around Diana who accepted the warmth of her wings from the cold air night. The police left with Luthor after Superman finished his reports and the Justice League were about to leave when a flash of light and the sound of thunder rattled the air. Everybody tensed up and got ready for battle as a square of light opened before their eyes. To their shock and surprise J'onn J'onnz emerged from the square of light wearing a different uniform to their J'onn J'onnz.
Their J'onn rose from his seating position and stood in front of the other J'onn.
"Who… Who are you?" asked J'onn.
"I'm you." said the Alternate J'onn.
It took a while for them to process the information, but after a lengthy explanation they were informed about the collapsing dimensions and the doom it would be for both worlds.
"It seems to be originating from my world, so my world's Batman sent me here to ask for assistance in looking for the source." Explained J'onn's counterpart. Batman looked at the duplicate with suspicion as he continued his explanation. He moved close to J'onn and asked, "Have you read his mind yet?"
"Martians don't do that to each other." Explained J'onn as his counterpart continued to give details about the incoming threat.
"Don't? Or won't?" questioned Batman.
"Both." Said J'onn simply.
"So it's agreed then? We'll all help out?" said Superman, he looked to J'onn and Batman who were a little behind form the others and asked, "Are you both in?"
J'onn and Batman nodded and joined the group as they all stepped into the light square.
Universe 2
When they emerged in the other dimension white walls greeted them in an empty room.
"Don't you guys believe in doors and windows?" joked Flash. The other J'onn looked at them before phasing out of the room while saying, "I'm sorry."
Flash ran towards where the other J'onn last stood and everybody was immediately electrocuted. Screams of pain echoed throughout the chamber. One by one they fell to the floor, struggling to remain conscious but ultimately blacking out except for Shayera, who's tolerance allowed her to remain standing, but paralyzed at the amount of power behind the electric current. Shayera unclipped her mace from her side and fought against the power levels that was pinning her from moving. She spread her wings out and hoped that she would be able to fight against the current with her mace. She raised her mace high above her head and screamed as the current strengthened when all of the power was conducted to her mace and away from the others. She heard them groan and felt relief that they were not dead. Shayera stood up and began to knock against the walls trying to break open an exit for herself and friends.
Justice Lord Superman and Green Lantern were watching the monitoring screens as the Justice League was incapacitated. Justice Lord Batman was manning the machine and making sure that the electricity will incapacitate the League and not kill them.
"They'll thank us later." Said Lord Superman as he walked away until he heard Lord Wonder Woman say, "Uh oh."
They all watched the screens as the alternate Hawkgirl began to redirect the electric current off of everyone else and to her.
"She always was stubborn." remarked Lord Batman just as they watched her beat against the walls. They saw dents forming on the outer part of the room and Lord Lantern made his way over to the wall. When he first caught a glimpse of her, his heart stopped beating for a minute. Even with the mask on, she was still as beautiful as the day he lost her. He hesitated when he lifted his ring, intending to knock her back but her eyes looked at him in surprise and he stopped. His hesitation however gave Hawkgirl the ability to fly up and away.
"GET HER!" ordered Lord Superman.
Shayera flapped her wings faster than she has ever done before. Not even fighting against Luthor and the Legion of Doom gave her such fear than what she was feeling now. She would gladly take any other villain except her teammates' counterparts. Sure enough, she was suddenly slammed against the wall with enough force to break through. Shayera coughed as dust settled into her lungs but she quickly tried to fly away, only to have a green cage form around her. Shayera looked around and spotted the alternate Lantern with his glowing ring. Shayera began to whack against the constructed cage, only for it to begin shrinking down on her.
"NO!" she cried out, beating against the cage harder than ever. She managed to break through, but Wonder Woman's lasso suddenly enclosed around her neck. She dropped her mace and tried to remove the lasso from her windpipe, using both hands to try and break free. Not even her sharp nails were able to cut through the rope. She felt the alternate Wonder Woman tighten her hold and Shayera began to see spots. She tried to fly away only to have her wings bound against her by alternate Batman's bolas. It was the final blow to her stomach by the alternate Flash that Shayera finally fell to her knees. She felt the lasso lessen and was able to breath, but not enough to keep her conscious. The last she heard was hearing the alternate Lantern say, "She always never did give up until she gave it all."