Year Ten: Unification
Author's Note: See bottom.
Kahndaq Civil War Enters Seventh Year
Published August 28, 2022 / Ronald Troupe
SHIRUTA, KAHNDAQ – Large protests marking the seventh-year anniversary of the Kahndaq uprising were held across the country Saturday as the opposition vowed to continue its fight to topple President Asim Muhunnad.
As the fighting entered a seventh year, there were scant signs of a political solution that some world leaders have been pushing. More than 70,000 people have been killed, many of them women and children, according to the United Nations.
Concern over the possibility of biological and chemical weapons being used have kept the United Nations from requesting Justice League intervention. The League's charter officially forbids it from intervening in civil conflicts such as the one going on in Kahndaq, despite building international pressure for them to do so.
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/-\
The sound of battle drew him closer.
Downtown Metropolis was a mess, with overturned cars, smoking wrecks that had once been police vehicles, and a thick haze of smoke from out of control fires. There were still police officers present and, as Billy streaked over the street, more than a few pointed in the direction they needed him to take. Laboring alongside the cops were EMTs and firemen. At another time, he would have paused and given them a hand, but there was no time. There was never any time.
He curled around a still burning military helicopter – at a glance, it appeared the crew had not died with it – and paused ever so briefly to take in the scene. Robots, cyborgs, and hideous-looking monsters that were likely failed Kryptonian clones were everywhere, standing guard around a shattered building or engaging the heroes who had answered the call. Billy saw members of the League, the entire group of Titans out of Seattle, even a couple who were unaffiliated with any team, and all of them showed signs of fierce combat: Nightwing, the current leader of the Titans, had his left arm in a jury-rigged cast but was somehow still in the fight; Black Canary was bleeding profusely from a scalp wound but was ignoring it as she treated a barely conscious Zatanna; there was even a strange-looking green guy wearing a trench coat with red suspenders and armed with a pair of pistols who seemed to be capable of phasing through the attacks directed against him. Dozens of non-powered soldiers, all wearing advanced body armor, were scattered around the heroes, engaging the robots and clones from positions of cover even as the current Lantern – the jerk, Gardner, who really needed to be punched in the face – stood in the open, his legs set as he generated a semi-translucent energy barrier protecting them from incoming fire. Energy beams, high-bore cannons, even chunks of masonry torn free and thrown smashed into the Lantern's wall, but Gardner held fast.
"We've got an entire squadron of Blackhawks en route," one of the military men was telling Wonder Woman. He wore general rank – just one star – and the style of his uniform identified him as Air Force. "I'm not sure how good they'll be, though," the general continued. "As long as he has that force field protecting him, we might as well be using sticks."
"Defeating the barrier is our first objective," Princess Diana said. For a moment, the Wisdom of Solomon abandoned him and Billy stared. Covered in dirt and sweat, her face creased in a fierce frown, the princess was … glorious. There was a presence about her, an aura of effortless command that made Billy almost want to go to one knee in front of her and swear eternal obedience. He blinked suddenly at the strange sense of familiarity radiating from her before suddenly understanding.
Her entire being was suffused with magic. It was a subtle effect, one that enhanced her natural beauty and made her even more appealing. Though he could not be sure, Billy couldn't help but to wonder if different people saw different things when they looked at her, as if the elements that a person found most desirable in a mate were enhanced. It did not seem to be an artifice of any sort, but rather something innate, something that called to him on an elemental level. Now that he thought about it, though, that made sense; her gods were the Olympians and weren't his powers linked to them as well? No wonder she seemed so familiar to him even though he'd barely exchanged a dozen words with her over the years.
He shook the moment off as he made a quick half-floating, half jump to where she stood. She continued addressing the general, but her eyes drifted briefly toward Billy and she gave him a nod.
"Advise your troops, Steve," she said. "We will move in five minutes." The general – his nametag read TREVOR and Billy vaguely remembered him now; he was the pilot who'd been linked to the princess when she first came to America, right? – offered her a quick salute and darted off. "You are just in time, Captain," Wonder Woman said as her former beau left. "We have need of your strength."
"I'm here to help, ma'am," Billy said with a grin. Automatically, his eyes turned to the broken building that dominated the combat zone. Once, it had been the city's tallest skyscraper. All but the lower ten or fifteen floors were gone now, having exploded outward hours ago when the onslaught began. Hundreds were dead, thousands injured, and millions of dollars of damage was already done. Through great holes in the wall, a flickering field of energy could be seen and within that sphere was a man, dressed in what looked to be a green battlesuit, though the distortions of the force field made it hard to confirm that. Whatever he man was doing, it couldn't be good.
Nothing Lex Luthor did these days was good.
"Still not able to breach that field," a man declared, seeming to almost pop out of nowhere. Dressed entirely in red, he somehow managed to look completely bored. "Pretty sure Luthor has it set up with some oscillating molecular frequencies – I can get about halfway through, then it adapts and spits me out." He glanced at Billy and bit his lip. "I've got an idea, though," he said. "I think I can hyper-accelerate a flier's velocity for short bursts."
"I'm game to give it a try," Billy said brightly. The princess nodded but kept staring at the robots with such intensity that Billy and the Flash followed the line of her gaze in an attempt to figure out what was bothering her. It came to him a moment later – those looked like the ones that guy who called himself the Toymaker used. How could Luthor get his hands on that kind of tech? And the clones? There were just too many of them for this to be a spur of the moment thing. "This is a trap," he murmured with a frown. The princess glanced at him – he saw agreement in her eyes, along with the same confusion he felt. Who was it for? What was the endgame?
A sonic boom announced the arrival of two other figures, both feminine though one was much larger than the other, and both garbed in red and white. Billy grinned again – he'd wondered when Kara and Karen would show up. These days, where you found one, you found the other. It made hanging with Kara hard to do at times – Karen teased him mercilessly and seemed to derive an unhealthy amount of glee from his difficulty in meeting her eyes at times; it wasn't really his fault … her breasts were always right there and that ridiculous costume she wore only enhanced them. Sure, he might have the Wisdom of Solomon at his disposal, but that guy had a thousand wives or something, and Billy just turned seventeen last month. Super-powers meant super-hormones. At least Kara usually dressed like a normal person usually and that made it easier to concentrate on ignoring the fact she was pretty hot herself, providing he managed to forget that Karen was Kara, just a couple years older. And one of these days, Billy promised himself for the hundredth time today, he fully intended to work up the courage to ask her out on a real date, not a stupid team-up against Black Adam or Dominus or some other super-powered clown.
Glancing away from the incoming Kryptonians, the hairs on the back of neck stood up the moment he realized each and every one of the defending robots oriented their heads at the two. Comprehension came instantly.
Luthor was waiting for them!
A sudden explosion of emerald energy erupted from the LexCorp building – it streaked outward at impossible speeds, tearing up concrete and smashing aside anything in its way. Cyborgs and robots alike were sent tumbling into the shattered city streets. The instant it flashed by the clones, they began shrieking …
And disintegrating.
Kara must have recognized the threat before her timelost sister as she threw herself at Karen in what was clearly a desperate attempt to shield her, but the energy wave struck them both at the same and hurled them back into the side of another building. Billy tensed at the sound of their screams, calling upon the Speed of Mercury. Instantly, the world around him slowed to a crawl and time seemed to stand still. He could only do this in short spurts – in was beyond exhausting and burned so much energy he always ended up so hungry afterward that he could eat out an entire store – but man, it was useful at times!
"Whoa," Flash said, the normal sounding remark causing Billy to jerk in surprise. Alone in the world, Flash moved at regular speed and his eyes were wide with surprise underneath his mask at Billy's unexpected capability. He shook the moment off quickly. "Get Superboy clear!" he shouted before blurring in the building that Kara and Karen had just struck. Grimacing, Billy obeyed even though he desperately wanted to check on the two Kara Zor-Els.
He reached Connor – Kon-El as Kara had christened him – a subjective second later and seized the half-Kryptonian, half-Something Else in a body tackle. With barely fifty percent Kryptonian genes, Connor was reacting much faster than a normal human, but still, he was too slow, and Billy carried him high into the sky and as far away from Metropolis as he could manage. Tossing the only decent clone to come out Luthor's lab toward an empty field, he then arced back toward the city, climbing higher and higher so he could manage more acceleration upon descent. He fell like a burning star, arrowing down toward the force barrier. And, at the last moment before impact, he cried out.
"Shazam!"
Lightning boomed down and Billy rolled in mid-flight to avoid it so the mystical bolt would splash across Luthor's force field with incalculable power. He wasn't entirely sure what had encouraged him to do that – the Wisdom of Solomon, perhaps; even at the best of times, he barely understood the powers bequeathed to him by that crazy old wizard – but the effect was instantaneous. The whole of the energy barrier blazed up as it tried to absorb the lightning, but explosions all around the building signified its failure. Billy hit the ground floor with both feet and then blurred toward Luthor.
But something smashed him to his face.
He struggled to stand – the Strength of Heracles and the Stamina of Atlas swelled within his body – but the force holding him down was beyond anything he'd ever felt before. It hurt to breathe. The crack of crumbling masonry warned him that this was not natural. He thought he could hear a soft hum somewhere.
"You're experiencing fifty gravities," Luthor said from where he stood. His armor was green, but there was something wrong with it. The chest seemed to be missing and there, where his torso should have been, was a swirling mass of spinning energy. "I'd hoped you would be the Amazon," Luthor continued. Billy could sense the protective energy barrier spring back up. "But I suppose you shall do."
"Stop," Billy hissed, and Luthor replied with a boot to his jaw.
"Be silent before your betters, boy," the madman snarled. "Are you even capable of comprehending what I have accomplished here? I have harnessed four different alien technologies and I am using them to kill you would-be overlords with your unnatural abilities." The implacable pressure crushed down even harder. "One hundred gravities!" Luthor shouted. "They will build monuments to my name!" he exclaimed. "Statues will be erected!" He turned his maddened eyes to Billy. "Churches even," he hissed. "I will be worshipped as a god for what I do today!"
"Not today," Billy hissed. "Not any day."
And ignoring the impossible pressure crushing down upon him, ignoring the crippling agony, ignoring the ominous creak of masonry and steel crumbling underneath the pressure, he stood up.
"Impossible," Luthor hissed, backing away from him. He manipulated something on his arm and Billy felt an even greater weight slam into him, driving him to one knee. He groaned but forced himself to his feet once more. Heracles was said to have held the weight of the world upon his shoulders and, according to the wizard, Billy had his strength. He forced a grin on his face and took a single, ponderous step forward. His foot sank into the ground, powdering concrete and marble. "This is not possible!" Luthor roared.
"Sure it is," Billy said through clenched teeth. Once more summoning the Speed of Mercury, he covered the distance to Luthor in an eyeblink and seized the madman by the arms. Armor crumpled under his fingers, and the impossible weight fell away as sparks and tiny explosions wreathed his fingers. "Shut it down, Luthor," he ordered. Even as he spoke, he could see the strange energy vortex in Luthor's chest begin spinning faster and faster. An ominous noise began building in pitch in direct correlation to the speed of the vortex. Luthor began to laugh then, a madman's cackle that showed how far gone he was, and rage filled Billy's chest. This monster … he was no better than scum like Sivana!
Spinning Luthor around, he seized him in a full Nelson hold and then threw them both up into the air. At the last instant, immediately before they struck the barrier, Billy slowed their rapid ascent despite the overwhelming urge to see what would happen if they struck it at full speed. He was fairly certain he could take the impact, but Luthor? Probably not. Fury beat at his soul … but that wasn't really a surprise, was it? He had the Strength of Heracles and the Courage of Achilles, but neither of them was especially renowned for their calm demeanors. It only made sense that he possessed at least some of their anger as well. The Wisdom of Solomon urged him to show mercy, to consider his actions, but the fears of William Batson washed it away. He could still hear her screams.
"You shouldn't have hurt Kara," he growled. And then, he drew in air and shouted. "Shazam!"
And thunder answered him.
/-\
Sweat trickled down his face, but Bruce ignored it as he studied the lithe woman standing in front of him. This was exactly what he'd wanted to avoid when he followed Jason to Kahndaq.
She was dressed in a black form-fitting bodysuit and, from the way she glided over the rocky terrain, Bruce knew he was looking squarely at trouble. There was no hesitation in her step, no concern about the imperfect footing, and her balance was absolutely perfect. Her features marked her as foreign – there weren't many Chinese women here in this part of the world – but the distinctive scalloped gauntlets – identical to the ones he'd incorporated into his suit – she wore confirmed his worst fears.
"So," Bruce said as he knelt to check Jason's pulse and confirm the boy was only unconscious. He kept his eyes on the woman before him. "The League of Shadows is in Kahndaq."
"Of course we are," the woman – Shiva Woosan, according to Jason's research though now that he was looking at her, Bruce suspect she was also the League of Shadows agent known as Jade Canary. "We are everywhere." Her smirk deepened as he rose and slid a half step away from Jason. "And I see the rumors about you are correct," she stated. "You have had League instruction." She grinned then, a dark and deadly expression. "This has the potential to be an excellent day after all."
Without another word, she sprang forward, her hands blurring as she went for a disabling strike. Bruce countered, backing away from her equally fast follow-up. Damn, she was fast. He caught her next strike on his gauntlet and whirled, flowing into what would have been a crippling knee strike, but she danced away, twisting and rolling away to assume a perfect ready stance. Her eyes lit up as they circled.
"You are not entirely incompetent," she remarked with a wicked smile. Her form changed – from Leopard to Dragon – and Bruce countered with Tiger. He half-stepped forward, then threw himself back at her sudden and unexpected snap-kick. His head spun – he hadn't even seen that kick coming! – and he blinked the dizziness away just in time to counter another strike. Shiva's follow-up kick caught him in the side: his armor held, but even so, the force of the blow staggered him just enough for her to attack again, this time with a blindingly fast elbow strike to his jaw.
They danced back and forth for long moments, neither speaking nor making much noise, and Bruce's estimation of the woman's skills rapidly climbed. He had strength and size, but she was unbelievably fast and dodged nearly all of his counter-strikes. His armor was his biggest edge – it held firm against her most lethal strikes and he could see her frustration mounting when even the weak points refused to buckle.
Once again, they circled.
"Your form is exceptional," Shiva said. "You trained with the Sensei, did you not?"
"I did." Bruce side-stepped, watching her eyes. He saw something then that she did not and leaped forward, abandoning defense in favor of an all out assault that clearly caught her by surprise. She backpedaled furiously, batting aside his kicks and strikes, and was thus completely unprepared for Jason's arrival. He struck low, his punch aimed at her left kidney, and it staggered her just enough for Bruce to seize the upper hand. He almost felt bad for the damage he handed out – though he couldn't be certain, he was fairly certain he'd broken several of her ribs and she wasn't able to fully evade the roundhouse kick he delivered to her jaw. Robin struck again, wisely staying low, and his rabbit punch fouled her footing enough to allow Bruce to deliver a punishing blow to her face.
Shiva crumpled.
Rather than trust she was beaten, Bruce seized her left arm and locked it in a disabling hold while wrapping his legs around her neck. She struggled – a distant part of him congratulated him on not falling for her trick – but by then, it was already too late. Her body slackened as she slipped into unconsciousness.
"Cuff her," he ordered Jason tersely. The boy hesitated – this might be his mother, after all – but pulled zip ties from his utility belt and obeyed. "Legs too," Bruce added as he let her go. "Double … no, triple strength." He wobbled as he stood. "Damn, she's good," he muttered before glancing back in the direction of the rebel camp. He briefly contemplated blowing the ammo dump, but just as quickly discarded the thought – they could not afford to be noticed and the explosion that would be necessary to take out the weapons would be seen for miles.
With Jason's assistance, he carried the unconscious Shiva to their jeep where he allowed the younger man to drive while he focused on his breathing. Not for the first time, Bruce was glad of the cowl – it allowed him to conceal how wobbly he was. He nodded toward an outcropping.
"Pull over here," he instructed.
Shiva snapped awake the instant he held the tiny smelling salt packet underneath her nose, but to her credit, she did not both trying to free herself. Instead, she glanced around in what was likely an attempt to identify their location or perhaps find something to turn to her advantage. When she returned her gaze to Bruce's, he could see the rage in her eyes.
"You are far from Gotham, Detective," she hissed through swelled lips.
"I have questions for you," Bruce replied. Jason wisely held back, out of sight of Shiva. Had the woman been able to see him, Bruce doubted she would have been able to miss his conflicted eagerness.
"And if I choose not to answer them?" Shiva asked. "I know your reputation, Detective," she added with a sneer. Bruce said nothing as he pulled a small device off his utility belt. From it, he extracted a patch, almost identical in appearance to the smoking cessation patches so prevalent in the United States. "Drugs?" Shiva asked with a laugh. "You know as well as I that the League trains you to resist this sort of thing."
"I could lie to you," Bruce hissed as he slapped the patch onto her exposed neck, "and tell you that this compound is sodium pentothal, but both of us know there is no such thing as truth serum." He leaned closer and lowered his voice. "On Earth, that is." Instantly, he saw her understanding. Everyone knew that the Batman was a member of the Justice League and there were several members of that august organization who were extraterrestrial. This particular compound was actually a derivative of the more traditional sodium pentothal, enhanced by chemicals Clark had developed during his research into Kryptonian medical databases. It was an amazing discovery.
And Bruce hoped to God his friend, wherever he was, never learned how this gift to mankind had been perverted.
The serum took effect quickly – Shiva fought it, but he could see how her eyes swam out of focus. Her muscles slackened. Bruce leaned forward, though he made sure that he was just out of reach should she be responsive enough to try anything.
"What is your name?" he asked softly.
"Sandra," she murmured. "Sandra Wu-San." Bruce tightened his lips and made a mental note. He paused briefly before continuing.
"Have you ever had children?"
"Yes," Shiva replied. Jason froze in place, his breath faltering slightly. "A daughter," she added with a sleepy, dream-like smile. "The League took my little Cassandra from me," she said, but Bruce was watching Jason. The boy was clearly torn between relief and despair – they'd come so far and once again found only disappointment. Catching Bruce's look, Robin nodded and turned away.
Bruce watched him walk away.
"Why are you in Kahndaq, Sandra?" he asked once Jason was back at the jeep. "What does the League want here?" Ra's having a hand in this war made no sense – Kahndaq had been a mess for decades even before this civil war broke out and there was no way they could considered economic powerhouses. Was this part of a new gambit, one that Bruce had not predicted?
"Recruiting," Shiva replied. The short-lived drug was beginning to wear off and Bruce could see coherence returning to her eyes. She was fighting the effects now and he respected her capabilities enough to doubt anything else she said. He pulled the patch free.
"You should be fully recovered in a few minutes," Bruce told her simply. "With your abilities, I expect you'll be free in no time."
"Our paths will cross again, Detective," Shiva snarled. Bruce didn't bother responding as he walked the short distance to the jeep. Jason was already waiting, once more in the driver's seat.
"Let's get out of here," he muttered as Bruce slid into the vehicle.
"Would she have been the type of mother you'd want to have?" he asked once they were on the road again. Bruce pulled off his armored cowl and winced at the hot air that blasted him in the face. Damn, she'd been good. He couldn't remember the last time he'd faced someone that fast, that skilled, that dangerous.
"Of course not," Jason muttered. "She's insane." He glanced toward Bruce. "League of Shadows," he said slowly. "She reminds me of Talia."
"Hardly." Bruce leaned back in his seat. "You can actually trust some of what Shiva says." He tried not to sound too bitter, but it was hard. His head ached, both from the fierce fight and what felt like inadequate water. It was too damned hot here and he didn't want to even think about Ra's al Ghul's daughter or the overly complicated relationship he had with her, not right now.
God, he missed Selina.
"This leaves just Sheila Haywood," he said. Instantly, Jason brightened. In that moment, he looked more like Richard than he ever had, and it sent a pang through Bruce. Why hadn't he introduced them? Yes, he'd overreacted when Richard was shot, but since then, he'd made no effort to bury the hatchet or take back any of the words fear had caused him to say. Richard was thriving in Seattle with that group of his, but Bruce had intentionally avoided doing more than keeping track of his adopted son's activities.
"Yeah," Jason said with a grin. "Ethiopia, here we come!"
/-\
Her back straight, Diana of Themyscira stared silently at the wall and prayed.
To her great dismay, she realized she had not done so for many weeks. Events had flowed so quickly into one another that she had staggered from one crisis to another, sleeping when she could, eating when she had to, but always struggling on. Before, when she was still on Themyscira, rarely did a day pass without her paying homage to the gods upon Olympus. Perhaps her mother was not entirely inaccurate. Perhaps she had lost something of herself to Patriarch's World.
She was not sure exactly how long she knelt there, staring at the icons in what she already knew to be a vain attempt for guidance. The two Kryptonians were not Amazons, nor were they even of this world, so the Olympians had no reason to respond to her request for intervention. Once, an eternity ago, before Ares descended upon Themyscira in his madness, she could have petitioned the queen for use of the Purple Ray, but like so much, it was lost to them, shattered by Phobos himself. Now, all they had at their disposal was Kryptonian science and brilliant men and women like Doctors Holt and Spence.
Her prayers complete, Diana knelt quietly, her thoughts drifting like so much flotsam in the sea. Inevitably, they turned to Kal – where was he? The Lanterns had uncovered nothing during the course of their investigation, though she knew Hal suspected the Guardians were keeping key truths from him.
"The lack of evidence is too perfect," he'd complained to her the last time he was on Earth so many months ago. "I've been doing this for a while now and I have never seen something wiped this clean." His expression had darkened. "Those little pricks know something but they're not telling the rest of us what it is."
He'd vanished after that, departing Sector 2814 to conduct his own, unofficial investigation. Shortly thereafter, Shayera Hol had returned to the stars herself to do the same; her husband, Katar, had not been pleased at being separated from his mate for such an extended amount of time – Diana did not know the particulars, but evidently, once wed, Thanagarian couples were genetically incapable of extended separation – but seeing as how Kal had saved both of their lives numerous times, he'd not complained too loudly. According to Katar, Shayera had contacts Hal did not and she meant to burn every bridge, call in every favor, shake down every informant until she found something.
Were her own duties not so overwhelming, Diana would have accompanied Shayera, but the League needed her, Themyscira required her, and the United Nations expected her to play nursemaid. Today aside, Metropolis had calmed down considerably, though that might be due to her more aggressive policing policy. There were quite a few of would-be conquerors or villains who required extensive recovery times thanks to her temper. It was exactly as Bruce had promised so many months ago …
Bruce. Diana frowned at thoughts about him. He'd taken Kal's disappearance almost as hard as she, once more withdrawing into his angry shell and reducing his presence in the League to a bare minimum. She knew he'd coordinated a few times with Hal regarding the Lantern's investigation, but as was his wont, he did not bother informing anyone else about it. She shook her head.
A subtle chime echoed through the sealed off room and Diana rose to her feet, pausing briefly acknowledge the other icons scattered around the makeshift chapel. There were several different crosses, a crescent not intended to represent anything in Muslim theology but rather to point the way to Mecca, a Magen David, a small statue of Buddha, and several other symbols she was not entirely familiar with. While she was not an adherent to any of these other religions, she saw no reason to be offensive toward them – the world was more wondrous and terrible than she could have ever imagined; who was she to determine what was Absolute Truth?
She wasn't entirely sure who had decided to convert this room to a chapel – for the most part, the members of the League were surprisingly non-religious – but in her position as chairman of the always growing team, she'd insisted on equal representation. Anyone was free to visit the chamber, but disrespect for any of the other denominations would be grounds for immediate expulsion. Thus far, there had been no issues apart from a number of heated debates between various League members. As an avowed (and quite vocal) atheist, Green Arrow somehow managed to be at the center of nearly every one of the conflicts and managed to earn the universal dislike of Christian, Jewish and Muslim alike, creating a form of unity between the three religions that thousands of years had failed to accomplish.
He was quite proud of this feat.
Doctor Holt was waiting outside the chapel and, from his expression, Diana knew the news was not good. She steeled herself and gave him a nod.
"I'm afraid I don't have good news," he said. "We attempted an application of solar radiation per the Watchtower's A.I., but it has only accelerated the deterioration." He offered Diana a data-slate, but she refused it – her knowledge of medicine was limited to the more traditional applications taught by Epione who had already looked over the two Kryptonians and simply shook her head. "To be frank, I've never seen anything like this before." Holt frowned. "Hell, I didn't even think this was possible," he added. "Based on the debris we recovered at the scene, I'm guessing Luthor reverse-engineered a Kryptonian birthing matrix obtained during Zod's invasion and then used it to develop this … effect."
"Is there nothing you can do?" Diana asked softly. Hera help her, she hated feeling this helpless.
"What I need is time," Holt replied. "If we can find some way to slow down the process so I can study it and the lab equipment from the scene, I might be able to counter this." Diana nodded.
"Who do you need?"
"The Flashes," came the quick reply. "Theoretically, they should be able to focus their special abilities and form a sort of stasis field by…"
"I will have them join you in the medical facility at once," Diana interrupted to prevent a lengthy, complicated and ultimately incomprehensible explanation. What was it about geniuses that required so many of them to use ten words to describe something within their field of expertise when three would do? Diana was, by no means, an unintelligent woman – she was actually quite brilliant, thanks to the blessings of her gods – but there were times, when she spoke to a true expert that she felt like a babbling fool and few things were more uncomfortable. At her remarks, Holt nodded and turned away, sparing only a single, disinterested glance at the chapel entrance.
Tracking down the two Flashes – Barry and his nephew, Wallace – was easy enough: she found them in the small dining facility, replenishing the energy of their bodies through the consumption of vast quantities of sugar. A young man she did not know sat with them, though there was a strangely familiar presence about him. It took Diana less than a heartbeat to recognize it as the same feeling she'd had each time she was speaking with Captain Marvel. For the first time, she felt less concerned about the amount of time Kara had been spending with him – if this was his natural form, he was not a greatly older man taking advantage of a young, inexperienced girl.
"I'm willing to give it a try," Barry said once she explained the rudiments of Doctor Holt's idea. He glanced at his nephew who nodded and both simply vanished, leaving her alone with the young man staring listlessly at his own bowl of food. Diana studied him for a moment and the feel of her eyes caused him to look up.
"Captain Marvel, I presume?" she asked. He half-nodded, half-shrugged in a thoroughly adolescent gesture.
"My name's Billy," he replied. "Billy Batson." Rage and fear warred in his eyes as he looked up. "Is she … are they going to die?"
"I do not know," Diana answered honestly. She took the seat previously occupied by Barry which was directly across from the young man. "You and Kara are close," she said. It was not a question, but he took it as one.
"Yeah, kinda," he said. "We hang out a lot and she helped me figure out what I wanted to do with my life." He gave that curious nod-shrug again. "You know, when I'm not fighting super-villains or battling monsters."
"Would that she had applied the same diligence for herself," Diana said with a wry smile.
"I know, right?" Billy gestured wildly. "She's like this super-genius who can do all this amazing crap and all she complains about is how badly her life sucks." He rolled his eyes. "Because being able to fly, or bench-press a tank, or shrug off bullets is so terrible." Despite herself, Diana smiled – she had heard much the same thing from Donna … and speaking of her own cousin, where had the little pest gone? Diana hoped the girl wasn't mooning over the Atlantean boy again.
"So, Mister Batson," Diana said slowly. "What great awakening did Kara lead you to?" The boy hesitated, but then slowly began to speak, growing more emphatic as he described the role he envisioned for himself. Diana listened carefully, silently making a note to consult with Lois later about possibly mentoring the boy. She had done wonders with her previous two apprentices and having him work with someone who knew he was more than human at times would go a long way in avoiding the usual sorts of secret identity hijinks so many of her fellow Leaguers complained about.
What she carefully did not address was Batson's direct hand in Lex Luthor's death. There would be investigations later and, if she were honest, Diana would not put it past that madman to have found a way to survive, particularly given his recent propensity for cloning. As a warrior, she recognized the occasional necessity to put down an enemy, but there were always metahuman detractors who would point at this incident and claim it was representative of the whole, no matter that the Metropolis mayor had already publicly thanked the League (and the Titans, it had to be admitted) for helping stop a terrorist madman.
"May I have a word?" Katar Hol asked some time later. He looked strangely smaller without his wings, but the fierceness in his eyes reminded her that he was not of Earth either. Diana nodded to the Thanagarian, noting instantly how Billy managed to seemingly vanish without actually moving. Was it a talent of his that came with his special abilities or something he had learned over the years? To Diana's eyes, he clearly had lived a difficult life but she was leery of pressing too hard. Men, it seemed, were prideful creatures who would insist they were fine even when their lifeblood was seeping out. She had seen it a dozen times before with men of the League. "General Trevor has requested you make contact with him," Katar said. "There have been some new developments, I think."
"Thank you." Diana rose. "We shall speak again, Mister Batson," she said with a friendly smile. To her surprise, Katar took her place and quickly engaged the boy in conversation. Before she was even out of the small dining facility, they were already arguing over some trivial sporting event. It was very hard not to roll her eyes.
She passed no one else in the corridors as she strode toward the communications room, though that was not an especially great surprise as many of the League were still in Metropolis, assisting with disaster relief or crowd control whenever necessary, while the rest currently on active duty were busy with other tsks. One of the first changes she'd implemented upon officially assuming chairman-status – and what a ridiculous, paternal name that was; she was rarely hung up on gender specific terms, but could they not have come up with something better? – was to establish a shift rotation for these sorts of events. Yes, the entire League could be on hand to assist emergency workers, but in most cases, some mad fool would choose the moment they were all occupied to launch a senseless assault upon civilization. Having at least half the team on stand-by was simply common sense.
The moment she saw Steve's face on the monitor, she knew it was not good news. Still, her mother had always taught her that the niceties must always be observed, even in the face of impending calamity.
"Hello, Steve," she said with a slight smile. "I did not have the chance earlier to offer my congratulations on your promotion," she added. He grinned.
"Yeah," he remarked with a shake of his head. "Not sure what they were thinking." His amusement faltered slightly. "I like the extra pay," he said, "but the only thing they let me fly these days is a desk." Diana smiled.
"I understand that you are also engaged to be wed," she added. Steve's face lit up, stripping him of a decade or more.
"Candy's been blabbing again, I see," he said. His eyes danced. "I knew she couldn't keep it under wraps like she promised." It was curious, Diana mused, that he still referred to his future wife by her last name – was this solely a military thing or was it something about Trevor himself? "Did she already invite you?" Diana nodded.
"She did."
"Dammit, I wanted to invite you." The smile he gave her was a self-deprecating one. "Well, we know whose going to be wearing the pants in this marriage already, don't we?" Diana returned his smile, even though she did not wholly comprehend his meaning.
"That is not why you made contact, however," she said. Steve's good humor fell away.
"No, it isn't." He grimaced. "The State Department asked me to check with you," he began. "There's been an … incident in Kahndaq and we're fairly certain that Batman fellow is involved." Diana narrowed her eyes.
"What sort of incident?" she demanded quickly. Bruce's absence from the Metropolis skirmish had not escaped her notice, but she'd been so distracted by the aftermath that it had slipped her mind. "Tell me everything."
/-\
If it was Thursday, Hal reflected grimly, he must be in Sector One-Two-One-Five and Cadmendoh.
He hated this planet even when he wasn't hiding the fact that he was a Green Lantern – back on his first real mission, he'd visited this festering hellhole with Sinestro, shortly after obtaining the ring in the first place and back before he knew his butt from a hole in the ground, and every time he'd returned since, the planet seemed to get worse. Even more discouraging was how he could look back on his first visit here with something like fondness which said a lot about how his life had played out the last couple of years. That had been before he realized how corrupt Sinestro already was …
Sadly, it had also been before he knew just how less than perfect the Guardians were as well.
Muted rage swam in his stomach as he picked his way through the crowded slums. The Guardians were hiding something directly linked to Superman's disappearance and not a day passed that Hal didn't start to wonder if perhaps Sinestro didn't have a point. He understood the chain-of-command well enough but not telling your troops something they didn't need to know and intentionally hiding pertinent details were two wildly different things. The Guardians knew something…
And whatever it was, it terrified them.
From what he'd learned over the past nine years of ring-slingling – and dear Lord, had it really been that long? God, he was getting old – there weren't very many things that freaked the Guardians out. That Parallax entity he'd heard about was one, and that Atrocitus clown, and then, they'd all looked like they crapped themselves when Hal reported about the Darkseid incursion on Earth back in '15, so he whatever they were hiding had to be big.
And that led him here, to this disgusting blister of a planet.
No one apart from the absurdly large bouncer even gave him a second look when he entered the bar and Hal paused in the doorway. He was dressed in dirty rags over a ragged bodysuit that (correctly) looked like it had been pulled out of someone's trash. His ring was hidden underneath torn but still functional (and mismatched, just for effect) gloves, and his features were obscured behind a scarf thing. There were enough humanoid-shaped aliens throughout the universe to not attract too much attention, but still, he intentionally limped as he walked. The ring pulsed slightly, drawing his attention to a corner table where a trio of other figures were huddled. One he quickly recognized despite her disguise, but the other two that sat with her weren't familiar to him
"I'm surprised to see you here," Shayera remarked when he approached. She looked weird without the wings and the freaky bird-mask.
"That makes two of us," Hal replied. He took a seat and placed his hands on the table. Glancing briefly at Shayera's two companions, he frowned. Both appeared humanoid, with the woman significantly taller and broader than the male. There was a strangeness to them that he could not quite put his finger on. Shayera gestured toward them
"This is," she began, but the male spoke quickly.
"You may call me Shilo," he said with a slight smile that did not touch his wary eyes. His remark caused Shayera to give him a questioning glance and Hal felt his very finely honed sense of danger begin going crazy "This is my wife, Barda."
"Hal," he said simply. He sent a quick command to his ring but strangely, it could not classify either of the two beings sitting in front of him. In fact, this was the same kind of non-reading he'd noted at Rimbor with the weapons signatures – the ring acknowledged that they were physically present and had active biological functions, but beyond that, it informed him that there were no additional records on file. He narrowed his eyes slightly.
"If you try to assault us, Lantern," the woman – Barda – announced calmly in a voice pitched only for his ears, "I will break you in half." It was nothing more than a statement of fact and his ring informed him that her biological functions had not deviated in the slightest. The males' and Shayera's showed hints of stress, but this woman? She might as well be a statue.
"Does the name Metron mean anything to you?" Hal asked in place of a reply. The two non-entities froze in place even as Shayera gave him an uncomprehending look. "Yeah," Hal said with a nod, "I thought it might."
"You must not say that name," the man who was clearly not named Shilo said in a hushed whisper. "He might hear you!" Hal glowered and leaned forward.
"I'm really not in the mood for this crap," he hissed. "I don't know why any of you are even here," he said, including Shayera in this, "and I honestly don't care. If you can't help me find my friend, then you're useless." He made to stand but the giantess seized his arm. Hal looked at her. "If you want to keep your hand," he said softly, "you'll want to let go."
She laughed.
"Stop it," the man said. He met the woman's eyes and they stared at one another for a long moment. Finally, she nodded and released Hal.
"I'm here because I'm following a lead," Shayera said. "One of my contacts said I should come here and ask for Barda." She gestured to the large woman. "I asked some questions and found out that she doesn't know anything." This time, she gestured to Hal. "And then you walked in."
"Dammit." Hal glanced around the bar but nothing leaped out at him as being out of place. "I met with one of Abin Sur's old contacts who pointed me here and said I should ask for Metron." Again, the other man winced. He opened his mouth to speak.
But time froze around them.
Hal was glancing away from the table – one of the barflies was setting off all of his freak radar – and he saw the instant when everyone in the bar ceased moving. His ring instantly began pumping alerts directly into his brain – along with equally useless 'unable to quantify' errors – and he sprang out of his chair, allowing his distinctive Lantern armor to burn away the disguise. He heard Shayera slide into place next to him and, with a curious sound of rustling feathers, her wings reappeared as she freed that heavy mace from where it had hung off her belt.
Something boomed – it was an all too familiar sound that caused Hal's stomach to lurch – and a humanoid male suddenly appeared. Dressed in blue and white, he was seated upon an absolutely bizarre-looking chair, but the power in his gaze … it made the oldest of the Guardians seem like an infant by comparison. Hal heard two strangled gasps before Shilo and Barda dropped to their knees in front of the seated figure.
"You seek understanding and wisdom, Hal Jordan, Shayera Hol," the figure said, his voice hinting at even more power. "I am your guide in this if you have the courage to witness."
"Who the hell are you?" Hal demanded. His head spun from the ring's constant 'unable to quantify' alerts.
"I am Metron." The figure's eyes shifted to the kneeling aliens. "Too long have you toiled in obscurity in your efforts to evade Uxas' eyes," Metron said. "Izaya will require your strengths in the war to come." Back to Hal and Shayera his eyes turned. "I cannot direct you to the Kryptonian," he said, "but I am willing to take you to one who can if you have the courage." Hal glanced at Shayera.
"I fear nothing," she retorted.
"Lead on, MacDuff," Hal replied.
"We transit to New Genesis," Metron announced. Another ground-shaking boom echoed around them and one of those bizarre tube portals appeared. On the other side, Hal could see …
He saw Paradise.
"Come," Metron ordered. His chair floated through the portal. Shilo and Barda followed him without hesitation. Hal glanced at Shayera, then shrugged.
"What do we have to lose?" he asked before willing himself toward the wormhole his ring was still unable to quantify.
"Katar is going to kill me," Hal heard Shayera murmur as she followed.
A moment later, the portal collapsed and time restarted.
/-\
Helena was desperate.
She'd barely budged from her television as the talking heads breathlessly reported nothing new regarding Karen or Supergirl. The League had issued only a simple statement, declaring their conditions grave, but had said nothing more. And then, that Joker-related mess in Kahdaq briefly knocked the Kryptonians off the top headlines left Helena scrambling to get more information about her friend.
Tentatively, she'd reached out to Oracle, the mysterious super hacker who had somehow hacked her private system to deliver dad … Batman's warning about operating in his city before then offering Helena a job as a special operative. At the time, Helena had hesitated – she had no idea who this Oracle person was; there wasn't any equivalent on her world – but the hacker proved to be quite useful on several occasions and, before she knew it, Helena was working for the woman. Today, there was no answer, but that didn't actually mean anything as Helena rarely tried to make contact this early in the day. Heck, during the weekdays, she usually didn't even leave school until four, even later if any of her students had issues they needed her help with.
She briefly considered contacting Bruce Wayne, but discarded that idea almost immediately. According to local media, the 'Prince of Gotham' was abroad for a vacation or something – Helena wondered at the real reason; she hadn't seen any sign of him on the Metropolis reports. None of her normal contacts had any kind of link to the League, so they were right out.
Which left Selina Kyle.
Their paths had crossed several times over the last year, especially during missions for Oracle, and, against her better judgment, Helena had kept in touch with the sometime thief, sometime vigilante who looked so much like her mom. For her part, Selina was absolutely nothing like her mother, even though Helena saw flashes of similarity from time to time. This Selina was less polished, more independent, and a whole lot angrier (even if she hid it behind smiles and forced laughter.) Strangely, she was also a whole lot funnier – Mom might have joked and teased on occasion, but her humor was the sort you reserved for your children, whereas this Selina was like a naughty older sister.
"If you don't have a really good reason for getting me up at this God-awful hour," Selina said when Helena banged on her door sometime later, "I might very well have to kill you."
"I need to get to the Watchtower," Helena replied as she pushed past Selina. Glancing around, she was once again astounded at how tacky the décor was – her mother had, frankly, been something of an art snob who had an opinion on every piece she was quite willing to share, where Selina hung pictures and portraits almost at random, with no eye toward aesthetics or style. There was a big recreation of that stylized Kyle Rayner portrait of Superman crafted by a gajillion little photographs of the Man of Steel hanging next to a framed Rembrandt fake which was next to a generic oil painting of a bowl of fruit. Just looking at that mess …
Wait.
Helena frowned as she returned her attention to the Rembrandt. She studied it for a moment, before slowly looking toward Selina. The smirk on the older woman's face answered her unspoken question. Yes, it was a real Rembrandt.
"This is supposed to be in London," Helena murmured. She suddenly realized the point of the tackiness – pieces like this could be hidden in plain sight and no one would give it a second look! – and mentally re-evaluated this version of Selina. Had her own mother done this sort of thing too? As Selina Wayne, she'd been free to be as much of an art snob as she wanted…
"It still would be if the Gallery director hadn't been a complete jerk," Selina remarked. She pushed her front door closed and had taken two steps from it when a buzz sounded through the upper floor penthouse. At Helena's glance, she smirked. "It's my Bat buzzer," she said. "I've got a program running that flags me when he's mentioned." Her expression darkened when Helena bit back a smirk. "Don't start with me," Selina warned. "I stole the idea from him. He does the same thing to me."
"And that makes it all better," Helena muttered under her breath as she followed Selina into another poorly decorated room, though this one had an impressive-looking computer system at one side and an even bigger television on the far wall. It took her a long minute to identify the most likely real works of art – a Monet and a vase that sincerely looked like a Ming – but Selina ignored her as she dug through the mess on her computer desk for a remote control. The television snapped on.
"-reporting live in Ethiopia. Karen, what do we know?"
"Not much at the moment, Jim. We know that Bruce Wayne was visiting Ethiopia with his ward, Jason Todd, in an attempt to track down Mister Todd's mother but it appears Gotham followed them in the form of the notorious mass murderer known as Joker." The pretty blonde anchor continued with a sad look. "Wayne was uninjured, but experts report that Todd and his mother, an American physician who was a member of Doctors Without Borders, were both killed."
"Oh, Bruce," Selina said softly, her eyes watering. She stared quietly at the television, but Helena doubted she heard anything else so intent was her focus on the video of Bruce Wayne now airing. He looked torn between despair and rage, with the latter barely controlled. Stepping lightly, Helena backed away, fully intent on making a discreet exit, but Selina turned to face her. "Here," she said, offering a slim phone. "Speed Dial Number Six," she added. "Tell him I cleared you."
Helena ducked out of Selina's penthouse minutes later, unsure how to respond to the implication that Robin was dead. On her world, there had only been one Robin. She knew Jason Todd, though. He'd been one of the less successful punks in Gotham who kept ending up in various gangs or as a tough for one of the city's rogues. There was almost something ironic about Joker killing him since Helena recalled the clown prince was the most common rogue that Todd henched for.
"I'm really busy, Selina," a male voice announced when she dialed the number. "Can this wait?"
"I'm sorry," Helena said. "This isn't Selina. She lent me her phone and said I should call." The voice on the other line remained silent for a long moment so she continued. "My friend is on the Watchtower," she said hesitantly. "The media says she's in grave condition but…"
"Ah." The simple remark was so unbelievably familiar that Helena almost dropped the phone. This was Dick Grayson she was talking to! They'd grown up together … or rather, she'd grown up with his alternate. "I can't promise anything, Miss Bertinelli," he continued, "but I'll check with some people. Keep the phone handy." He hung up before she say anything else.
And before she realized what he had called her. With a sigh, she slipped the phone into her pocket. Of course this version of Dick knew who she was claiming to be. Her dad … this world's Batman had probably staked out her apartment and broken in a couple times while she was at school.
An hour later, the phone buzzed – an incoming text – and she read the address with a frown. Her building. Of course. Mister Grayson was showing off which was exactly the sort of thing Dick would do. On reflex, she'd donned her Huntress outfit. As she had no idea who she was going to meet, it seemed a safe precaution. Time slipped by – she kept track of various developments involving Metropolis and Kahdaq through the headset integrated into her cowl – but with nothing to actually do, Helena soon began fighting off boredom. This wasn't a stakeout which always gave her something to focus on so all she could do was worry about Karen. She was moments away from redialing the number when an unexpected voice called out.
"Hello." The young woman who dropped out of the sky looked so much like Wonder Woman that Helena almost thought it was the princess herself, but a moment later, she recognized Diana's cousin. There was a hardness to this girl's eyes that looked out of place on her face. "You are not who I expected," Donna Troy declared with a frown.
"That makes two of us," Helena replied. She offered a wan smile. "I'm sorry to inconvenience you," she started, but the tall girl – she couldn't be more than sixteen or seventeen – interrupted.
"It is no matter," she declared. "Richard asked that this be done and I owe him my allegiance." It was a weird statement that must have meant something else in Themysciran, but by the time Helena had deciphered it, the Amazon had stepped forward and offered her arm. "Come," she ordered. "We will need to be in close physical proximity for me to extend my shield around you."
"Oh, man," Helena muttered. "This is going to suck, isn't it?" Donna flashed an almost malicious smile.
"Very likely," she said.
It did suck and lots. The Amazon took them higher and higher into the sky, an invisible barrier enveloping them both, and Helena made the mistake – once – of looking down. For the rest of the trip, she kept her eyes tightly closed and her hold on Donna firm. God, why couldn't Dick have sent someone like that magician girl or the new guy with the gold helmet who could teleport?
"You may relax now," Donna announced an eternity later. Helena opened her eyes and realized they were inside some sort of structure. She unclenched her muscles, releasing her death grip on the smirking Amazon, and inhaled slowly, unsteadily. "My cousin is this way," Donna stated, gesturing.
Wonder Woman stood outside the infirmary, speaking with a man Helena recognized at once. Michael Holt looked exhausted and not entirely happy, but he said something and turned away. As soon as he did, the Amazon princess frowned slightly but she cleared her expression at their approach and stepped forward to intercept them. The two Amazon women exchanged rapid words in a language Helena did not know and Donna bowed her head slightly before departing.
"Nightwing informs me you are close to Power Girl," Diana said calmly.
"She's my friend," Helena replied. "Is she okay? Can I see her?"
"In a moment." Wonder Woman pulled her lariat off her belt and held it out. "Even with Nightwing's assurances that you are not a threat," she said, "I must verify this fact myself." Helena sighed but held out her arm. The rope burned without actually damaging flesh as it slithered around her outstretched limb. "Are you a threat to the League or any members of it?" Wonder Woman asked in a stern voice.
"I am not," came Helena's instant, reflexive reply. "I just want to see Karen and make sure she's okay."
"She is not," Wonder Woman said softly. She gave the lariat a quick jerk and it released Helena. "The weapon that Luthor used appeared tailored intentionally toward Kryptonians." There was a hint of accusation in her voice as she glanced down at Helena. "Further," she said, "genetic analysis indicates your friend Karen is actually Kara Zor-El." Helena's shoulders slumped.
"It's … it's a long story." She glanced toward the infirmary door. "Can I see my friend please?"
With a slight pursing of her lips, Wonder Woman gestured toward the door. Helena strode forward, her cape flaring out slightly. At the window, she paused and frowned.
Karen was stretched out on a large hospital bed – it actually looked like two, welded together for some reason - seemingly asleep but twitching and jerking at random intervals. An isolation tent was also erected around her, but looked to have been mostly rolled up. Relief started to set in – Karen looked fine – but then, Helena suddenly remembered the princess' statement that she wasn't okay. She glanced at the Amazon, a question in her eyes.
"Look at her left hand," Diana instructed. Helena did so and nearly recoiled.
Karen had seven fingers!
Two of them were seemingly merging together, becoming a single finger, and with each twitch, the process seemed to leap forward. With a sheet covering most of Karen's body, Helena could not see if there were similar instances happening with other parts of her anatomy but … wait. Where was Kara?
"Where is Supergirl?" she asked, dread in her voice. "Is she in another infirmary?"
"We only have the one," Diana stated. "Luthor's weapon evidently caused massive cellular decay in Kryptonians but something about your friend caused … this." She sighed heavily. "You asked about Supergirl," she said. "You are looking at her. They are merging into a single entity."
A/N #2: That damned Luthor.
Regarding Clark's disappearance, I envisioned the whole ongoing multiple wars thing that is stretching the Lantern Corps thing to be a sort of Multi-Book Event (you know, like Blackest Night or Forever Evil) that I only very briefly touched on in each chapter that is just a tiny slice of a year (as with so many other things, like the only skimmed over Clark/Lois relationship, or the Diana/Steve one.) So it isn't that there isn't anyone looking for him, just that everything keeps exploding and they have to shelve the search for a short period of time. And then, yet another crisis pops up. Rinse, repeat.
Plus, as you just read, there were some other things going on with the Lantern investigation causing problems.
The Bat scene is an intentional homage to chapter 3 of the 'A Death in the Family' Batman arc. Originally, Bruce fought Shiva in Lebanon, but I relocated it to Kahndaq. I also envisioned Bruce wearing a suit more like what we see in the awesome Arkham Aslyum/City games that is, thanks to the Kryptonian specs, stronger and tougher than the armor he originally wore (see "The Dark Knight" movie). Or more likely, a combination of the two. I saw an awesome screen manip of that.
The Lantern scene directly references the excellent "Green Lantern: First Flight" animated movie which is what I'm considering Hal's 'origin story' in place of the mediocre movie with Van Wilder. To be honest, I'd forgotten about GL: FF until I rewatched it recently - they should have just filmed that in live action instead.