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Wonder Woman and Superman

Author: NWHS


The End of Days


Prologue

Earth-36

2044

"And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.

And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.

And when she had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.

And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to her that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto her a great sword.

And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.

And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.

And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:

And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;

And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.

And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;

And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:

For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

Revelations 6:3"

"If I wanted a biblical lesson I would have gone to church instead of coming to this hole-in-the-ground fortuneteller shack."

Under the table, Madame Xanadu balled her fists as tight as she could make them, afraid if she didn't the gray-haired man across from her would receive a well-deserved slap to his pompous, weathered face. After having known him for years and working closely with him for the last twelve months, the arrogant bastard had accumulated quite a few slaps she had yet to deliver. Perhaps today he would finally reap his reward.

"I've heard it all before, and can spout the verses as well as you. But none of this has helped our cause."

"Your cause," was her soft contradiction.

"No," he grumbled, "our cause. You came to me, remember?"

That she had, because Madame Xanadu didn't know to who else to turn. She supposed she could have gone to the other two, but she doubted either would listen, no less do what needed doing. So she'd tracked down the only other in her vision capable of changing the course of events. But it had all been a waste of time, nothing they'd done over the last year had altered her vision enough to change the apocalypse to come.

"It's all been an exercise in futility. We can't win. They will come, and they will kill us all." With a trembling hand, she gestured to the tarot cards laid out before them. "It's all here. Nothing has changed. We've failed."

With rough, agitated movements, her guest pushed to his feet, the black of his suit identical to his mood.

"We haven't failed. Not yet."

"You've been to the other three worlds. You've tried, yet the visions remain the same. They come. We all die. End of story. End of days. For us all."

Slamming his hands on the table and sending cards flying, determined blue eyes glared at her. And there, in the body of the sixty-five year old was the stubborn crime fighter he used to be, staring down at her from a lofty perch that only the likes of Bruce Wayne could live upon.

She should have been intimidated, and at one time she would have been. But he no longer frightened her. Madame Xanadu would not be cowed by the god damn Batman.

"If we stop one, we stop them all."

She shook her head. "We don't know that for sure."

Still glaring, Bruce reclaimed his seat, but didn't argue the point. Even with his great mind, Bruce Wayne didn't know all, didn't fully comprehend the delicate and intricate nature of time, space, and parallel universes.

"Besides, time is running out, and I can't keep sending you back. Worse, every time you make the trip your body pays the price. I told you, the last time you went was truly your last time. If you go again, you'll die. Time and universe travel is not a perfect science, nor is it meant for old humans like the two of us."

"Speak for yourself, I'm not old," he responded, voice harsh, gruff, and utterly disagreeable.

Madame Xanadu did not like Bruce Wayne. She respected the man, but she most certainly did not like him.

Picking up the cards from the floor and the table, she placed them in a neat pile, tempted to deal them again, hoping, this once, the cards would reveal a different, better fate for them all. But she did nothing of the sort, knowing, in her heart, the results would be the same.

"You can't take the risk and go yourself. It's time you involved your friends."

"They aren't my friends. Not anymore, not since…"

Batman had given way to Bruce Wayne, the silence revealing more of his tattered heart than if he would've simply completed the sentence and confessed his sins. But, as he'd said, he hadn't gone to a church but a fortuneteller's "shack."

"Tell them what I've seen, what we've been doing this past year. Tell them. They will understand. After all, they know what they created, how dangerous he is."

Without a word, Bruce Wayne stood, looking very much the old man he claimed not to be—older.

Whatever had happened between Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman still weighed on the man walking out of her shop, umbrella up, rain pelting the citizens of Greenwich Village, shedding the tears that Bruce Wayne never would, no matter how much he needed to, wanted to.

Glancing down at the tarot cards, Madame Xanadu picked them up and began to shuffle. Minutes later, after she dealt the cards, all was as it had always been—Conquest, War, Famine, and Death.

These truly are the end of days. God save our souls, because the four will have no mercy on your bodies.


TO BE CONTINUED


Author's Note:

This story is for Anthonior who requested a WW/SM time travel story. I normally don't do requests, but Anthonior has been such a great supporter of my writing that I seriously considered his request. But requests mean little if I can't come up with a story worth telling. Fortunately, I think I've come up with a pretty decent story idea. I haven't plotted out all the finer details, but the big ideas are there. The rest will come as I progress through the story. I'm still working on "Home is Where the Heart Is," so bear with me. I was going to wait to start this fic until after I finished "Home," but decided to get some of my ideas out of my head and onto the computer. So, here we are. Let's see what happens.