Diana woke up next to her fiance Dan to see that she was running late for work. She snuck out without waking him, one of the many qualities that has made their relationship last so long. Dan could be irritable if woken up suddenly. She had a special assignment today: escorting the Amazon ambassador to a conference of some sort. The limo pulled up to her apartment complex in downtown Metropolis and she sat next to the ambassador in back.

"Hi, I'll be your professional bullet-proof vest for the day. I'm Diana."

"Aresia."

"So, where do you Amazons come from? I never really figured that one out."

"Please, I need to concentrate. If I'm thrown off a little before this conference, my whole nation could lose a very important alliance."

Diana thought, wow, these Amazons really are full of themselves. She spotted the fancy metal bracers on her a wrists and a golden lasso tied to her hip. Kinky culture. Aresia spotted this and glared at her. Diana turned away instantaneously. They drove on in silence.

Clark Kent waited outside the emergency ward to see how Bruce Wayne was doing. He was a little dinged up. No injuries but still a little frazzled by what happened. Even after seeing Superman up close, he really can't get over how pale he looks. With most of his powers being generated from the sun, you would think he would've gotten a tan by now. A doctor stepped out from the room Bruce was being kept in. Clark wheeled up to him.

"Is he going to be okay?"

"Just a hangover. Lucky bastard. He could've killed a lot of people but...is this going to go in the Planet?"

"Well, I could keep this off-the-record."

"I'll just stop there then. No opinion of mine can really change how he acts."

"Mind if I go see him?"

"Seeing that he almost killed you, I don't see what the problem would be."

Clark went into Bruce's room. It was dark sat solemnly on the bed.

"Mr. Wayne?"

"No press, please. I got enough of a headache as it is."

"No questions. I'm just normal, everyday Clark Kent. You know, from earlier?"

"Oh. Kent. Right."

"I just want to say...I honestly don't care what sort of troubles you have. Now, I'm not going to lecture you on being a more responsible person. I know you have a lot of demons. If I saw my parents gunned down in the street, I'd probably be as lost as you. But that was years ago. Now look at me. Look at the people around you now. You probably don't notice them from your ivory tower in Gotham but this is who we are. I'm here because I want to show you the damage you could've caused. I have a wife. I could've had a damn family. I don't blame you for why I'm crippled but, damnit if you were going to make my friends and family suffer more than they already have.... There's a lot of people who count on me still. I support them. I hold up their world. You killing me would've crumbled all that I've worked for my entire life. They would've lost someone right here and right now. Not in the distant past but in the goddamn present. That's...that's all I have to say."

Bruce sat there in silence.

"This isn't what it was supposed to be."

"Excuse me?"

Bruce walked over to Clark and kneeled down.

"I said...this...all of this...it doesn't feel right. Something's wrong here. We aren't supposed to be like this. I just know it. And everyday it nags me. So I crawl into a bottle to find some answers...and it only makes me wake up the next morning with nothing but a migraine. It doesn't make the questions go away. Nothing feels right. You must know it too. All of this is...is wrong. Don't you believe me?"

Clark pushed Bruce away and wheeled out, not looking back at the pathetic man kneeling on the floor behind him.

Wally West woke up somewhere he would never suspect: Chicago. Waking up from the pavement, he saw the Sear's Tower looming overhead as people passed him by. He felt his clothes to see burn marks all over them. The people passing him might've thought he was just an ordinary bum. He spotted a Starbucks around the corner and slowly walked towards it. Trying to open the door, he felt a gigantic spark of static electricity. He blew on his hand and shook it for awhile.

"What the hell happened to me last night?"

He went and reached for a newspaper. On the front page, he saw a headline "Gas Main Burst Destroys Entire Block in Central City Suburb." Sonuvabitch. That was his house in the photo. Charred and burning away. What the hell happened last night?

Clark woke up the next morning to see a note on his nightstand. Strange. Lois was still out on assignment. Well, she could've stopped by to see how he was doing. She tended to do that every now again. He moved over slightly and opened it. Inside there was a note with one word: Fly.

And that when he heard the front door of his apartment burst open. Two footsteps following. He struggled to get to his wheelchair. Underneath the door, he saw two shadows come closer to the door. The handle jiggled a little. He stumbled out of bed, crawling on the floor. The door swung open slowly. The men snuck in carrying daggers with blades glowing an eerie green light. Clark felt a shiver down his spine, something he hadn't felt in a long while. He saw the window up ahead of him. The men were examining the bed. Clark latched onto the windowsill, slowly dragging his body up. The men saw a hand reach for the window. They picked up their pace. Raising their daggers, Clark, in a huff, threw open the window and leaped out in the nick of time. However, there was still gravity.

Wally sat down in the park pondering the headline he just read. Next to him, a large man sat down wearing a large fedora hat, which obscured his face.

"Shame really what happened to those people."

"Yeah."

"Any relatives in Central City?"

"Well...yeah. Kinda. I think I have a half-uncle there."

"Hmph. You think or you know?"

"Look, I've really gone through a lot today, I really don't..."

"Wally, please, for you this is just the morning run."

Wally sat aghast.

"Do I...do I know you?"

The man took off his hat to show it really wasn't a man at all. It was an ape with a gigantic brain.

"Name's Ultra-Humanite. You may have forgotten me but I haven't forgotten you...unlike most of the world. Just think of me as your guardian angel. Or albino ape as it were."

Clark continued to fall. The pavement came up faster and faster. He knew he was going to die but, what surprised him, was that he didn't blank out yet from the fall. He remembered the note on his nightstand. Fly. Before hitting the pavement, he stopped. Just like out of a cartoon. He stood staring at the pavement but he was easily a couple of inches from it. Soon he came further and further away from that as if he were filled with helium. He didn't know how to stop now.

Diana looked at the photos she had of her and Dan in her wallet. All little highlights of their relationship. A trip to Disney World. A cande-light dinner. A hiking trip on the Appalachian Trail. Good times. The limo stopped and everyone walked out. The conference looked like it was going to take place at the Luxor hotel, one of the ritziest in downtown Metropolis. It wasn't going to take place in one of the conference rooms they already had laid out. It was at a penthouse suite towards the top. Diana watched Aresia and soon everything around her. She had no idea where they were going but, as long as Aresia was with Diana, she would be safe.

They entered the spacious suite to find, to her surprise, a familiar face.

"Dan?"

Dan stared at her with a wicked grin.

"Aresia."

Aresia knocked her out, took out the lasso and tied her up.

"I really did do a good job wiping the world's mind. That's something I can check off the old bucket list."

His face melted away to nothing but a skull and a hood over his head. The grin was still on its face.

"I'm going to make sure that no one will end my wonderful dream all so soon."