DC ELSEWORLDS:
ABANDONED EARTH
STARRING:
Bruce Wayne
Lois Lane
Earth General Kal-El
Lex Luthor
Clark Kent
Hal Jordan
Wally West
Emperor Jor-El
Second in Command Jim-Ol
Diana AKA Wonder Woman
Eel AKA Plastic Man
Arthur AKA Aquaman
It took me some time to piece all of this together, but I finally did.
Let me start out by telling you what you already know. This turns out okay for us. Humans, that is. We survive. We always seem to. It's ironic, really; we are usually the creators of our own destruction yet somehow find a way to weasel out of it. But we do and here we are.
No, this isn't the story about whether or not we survived. It's how we survived. Who we lost to survive. It's ultimately the reason for our survival. Everyone knows the outcome, but these are the events and the people. The heroes who saved us.
A League of people who stood up when others fled.
This is their story.
1.
I don't know the exact date the invasion was planned. I know it had been coming for centuries by and I know it had been known by most of the governments for decades. I know this because of the shuttles. The richest and most powerful people on the planet got free rides to safety. No counter-attack, no major defensives . . . they just abandoned out planet.
Metropolis 1 and 2 launched first. They were followed by many other floating cities, Seoul, Gotham, Sydney, London, Paris. All of them airborne, waving goodbye to the less fortunate. They had enough of everything on those space stations to last for generations before they'd need to find their own planets.
But the invasion came. Krypton came. They came with force and the only thing we had against them was surprise. They expected a sweep. An easy takeover of this faraway, backwater planet. But, like I said before, we survive.
The man who could be thanked was Lex Luthor. A self-made millionaire, he avoided the space stations. He stayed and he fought. He created the Resistance League. A group of soldiers and civillians and anyone willing to help out their fellow man. The major cities were razed, the landscapes all charred or destroyed. But they held the Kryptonian forces back.
The Kryptonians set up their base of operations in the North Pole. This Fortress was their home on this planet. They never let up. They moved their armies, led by Earth General Kal-El, and they conquered continents. But Luthor's League fought back through sabotaging and terrorizing and stealth missions.
This continued for years and as Kryptonian forces waged their war against many planets and many civilizations Earth held strong. Ten years passed with the League still holding on. This was seen as an insult to the Kryptonian Council, and especially the Kryptonian Emperor, Jor-El; Kal-El's father. So, to appease the Council the Emperor himself decided to come to Earth and squash the uprising for good.
And they took off for Earth. And we survived. But there was loss.
2.
Wally West looked up, wiping the sweat from his brow. He was under an old stone formation. Wally figured it was either the remains of a church or a whorehouse. He picked through the pieces but couldn't find anything. Wally was young, around twenty-nine(he had stopped celebrating birthdays - and pretty much everything else) and he wore a leather duster and jeans. His hair was choppy and brown, hanging over his dirty face.
"Hey, over here!" Wally looked towards the voice. The sky was dark and red, the air full of smoke and grit. The usual. Hal stood across the cracked, pock-marked street.
Wally climbed from the debris and cautiously moved across the street. There were always patrols. That was always something to look out for in Wally's world. Luckily they were experts in avoidance, Hal and he.
Hal Jordan was taller and older than Wally. His hair was brown and greying near the temples, his face worn and aged, well past his actual years. He also wore a black duster. He was hunched over something.
Wally stood beside him and looked down. Two bodies lay in the rubble, grasping at each other with longing arms. One was a Leaguer, the other a Kryp. The Leaguer was holding a knife in the Kryp's stomach. A large hole was in his own.
"Ah, jackpot," Wally exclaimed. He knelt beside them and started to rummage.
"They haven't been dead long," Hal said, standing straight. He wiped dust from his eyes and frowned, "They don't stink."
"Good, it's been a while since we've had fresh rations," Wally pulled packs from both of the bodies. He searched through the Kryp pack first, finding food packs and a blanket. He smiled, stashing both in his own bag. He then checked the Leaguer's pack and found more rations.
"Here's to you, buddy," he said, tossing the rations to Hal. Hal caught them and looked the package over in his hands. He refused to eat Kryp rations. If they only found Kryp food he wouldn't eat it, but if they only found human rations he would share.
They had lived like this ever since the invasion. Ten years they spent on the run. They did things that they never thought they could. They hid and watched others die, watched others fight. They sat in waiting and scavenged through the pieces when it was over.
Hal stashed the food and looked around, "Don't be too excited about fresh rations. If a fight broke out here recently there could still be Kryp Patrols in the area."
"Well, food's food, Hal."
"And death is death, Wally. I'm not dragging your corpse around, it's bad enough I have to drag it around while it's still breathing."
"Hardy-har-har," Wally said, climbing from the rubble. They glanced around the ruins and made their way across the street.
"If we make out way out of the city maybe we'll run into less-" Wally began.
A beam of blinding light flashed on with an audible clunk. Wally and Hal dashed forward, diving into the rubble with ease. They had performed this ballet many times before.
The Kryp Patrol ship fell from the caved-in building overhead and swooped forward over the rubble. It was a giant metal bird with expansive wings and a pointed head. The light was built into its underside and two guns were mounted on the tips of either wing.
Hal slid into the dirt, crawling forward, ducking and rolling from the light. The beam glided over him and continued on. He popped his head up.
"God dammit, kid," he grumbled to himself. Wally was dashing through the broken surroundings. He easily avoided the obstacles in his path but the Krpy Patrol was circling and swooping down in front of him.
Hal grunted and got to his feet, running towards Wally, hopping over debris. He pulled his clenched fist from his coat pocket.
Wally looked up, skidding to a stop in the dirt, "Oh, shit."
The Patrol's wings curved forward in firing mode, the weapons visibly charging up. Hal cried out, diving forward and pulling Wally to the ground. He knelt forward, fist extended. The small, plain gold band on his middle finger had a slight greenish tinge.
It pulsed, sending up a wall of green energy.
The Kryp Patrol smashed into it with a squealing, mechanized clunk. It kept slamming into the wall, denting itself. Hal grasped his wrist with his other hand and grit his teeth. His temple pulsed as he strained himself. Sweat dripped from his forehead.
Wally got to his feet, staring up at the glowing green wall and the struggling robot on the other side of it.
"Hold it there!" a voice boomed from behind them. Hal concentrated on the Patrol as Wally turned around, pulling a gun from inside the duster, levelling it quickly.
Two Leaguers were rushing towards them. They wore grey fatigues, armor covering their legs and chest, helmets with dark visors on their heads. Both were carrying large pulse rifles.
They stopped behind Wally and planted their boots in the dirt. In eerie synchronization they levelled their weapons at the same time.
The voice from before boomed again, "Drop the shield!"
Hal did, gasping and falling to the side as the struggling Patrol burst forward, its surface scuffed and sparking.
The Leaguers unleashed on it, their pulse rifles firing round after round, blasting the Patrol into pieces. It flashed in the sky like a firework, then folded in on itself and plumetted to the ground.
"Hal! Hal, you okay?" Wally asked, grasping Hal's arm and pulling him off the ground.
Hal groaned, dirt sticking to his sweat-streaked face. He shook his head at Wally, "How the hell many times are you gonna try to outrun those god damned Patrols?"
Wally looked down at Patrol's sparking wreckage. The Leaguers shouldered their rifles and stepped forward.
"Where'd you get that ring?" the booming one asked.
Hal rubbed his finger, shoving it instinctively inside his coat. Many other scavengers had eyed it up . . . none had gotten it from him though. Wally turned, his shoulder blocking Hal from the Leaguers. Both of them were ready.
"It's a prototype. I took it off of a dead Kryp years ago. Why?"
"Cause it's a pretty colour," the other Leaguer said. It was a woman's voice. She removed her helmet and her raven black hair fell to her shoulders. She had a beautiful face, hardened by battle. The other Leaguer removed his helmet too. He had a country quality to him, dark brown hair, blue eyes. He was an all-American boy.
The woman stepped closer, her helmet cradled under her arm. She extended a gloved hand and motioned over her shoulder to the other, "This is Clark Kent and I'm Lois Lane. Second in Command of the Resistance League. Lex Luthor wants you."
