13
Superman awoke to find himself locked into a metal chair. The chair and its restraints resisted his strength. Numbly he remembered that he was on Earth-3. The Crime Syndicate had come from this world.
Faced with a world overrun by super villains with few heroes in sight, Alex Luthor had grown obsessed with liberating his world from their evil clutches and establishing an orderly utopia where humanity could thrive. In fact, he'd grown so obsessed with idea that he received Darkseid's envoys and enlisted the Dark Lord of Apokolips' aid in suppressing the meta-human population.
And the last time Clark had encountered a seat with this much durability had been when Desaad had brainwashed him. Before that it was when the Female Furies had captured him and brought him before Granny Goodness. The collar clasped around his neck was reminiscent of that experience. Granny had been behind Intergang's resurgence at that time and had built a device to draw a comet into Earth and destroy both.
Desaad entered the room at that point. Superman's guts froze in place and an icy chill ran up and down his spine. This was Darkseid's court interrogator and the monster that had made Clark lead Darkseid's armies into victory over two dozen worlds.
Superman had even led an attack against Earth Prime. Although Kara and Lois had made him remember who he truly was and fight off the invading forces, that event still necessitated the creation of Project CADMUS in the minds of officialdom. But Desaad's malevolent smile upon gazing at Clark made him want to scream in terror.
"I see from that delightful glint of fear in your eyes that you remember me," Desaad said with relish, "And you should. I've violated you in ways you never imagined you would endure. You thought yourself invulnerable and I taught you the lesson of your own mortality. How humbling that must have been."
"Do your worst," Superman insisted, "I'll never bend to your will again."
"It is not mine that you bend before but the Master's," Desaad said with false humility, "He wishes to embrace you as a son again."
"Darkseid is not my father," Clark protested.
"You used to think so," Desaad recalled, "And you eagerly embraced the idea. But that's behind us. You'll soon discover the truth behind Darkseid's involvement with Krypton. It will be revelatory."
"What truth?" Superman was skeptical.
"Not now," Desaad had pierced Clark's heart with his barb, "Some things are meant for later."
Desaad visited Lightray next, "I should thank you for delivering Kal-El to me once again."
Lightray was held in the air by power siphons attached to his body. Lightray had no idea that his energy discharges were actually powering the devices holding him. What he knew was they would drain his very life forces if he didn't project primal energies.
"You already have the beast, Supreme. What need have you of Superman?" Lightray asked.
"But you see, poor Dev Em is dying," Desaad said with false sadness, "He was already dying of lead poisoning when Lex Luthor of Earth Prime found him. His formula held off the symptoms of the poisoning but only slowed its actual progress. Even my tampering with the formula hasn't yielded much more success. So within a year, Supreme will be dead and poor Lashina will be heartbroken."
Lightray knew Desaad hoped his sister, Bernadeth, would advance to being leader of the Female Furies afterwards. Lightray shook his head, "You're a monster, Desaad."
Desaad was delighted, "I know."
Troia awoke to find her bracelets fused to the wall somehow. Donna nearly panicked. Amazonian rumor had it that a warrior whose bracelets were forged into bonds would invoke Hera's wrath. Hera would strip that Amazon of the enchantments that made them as strong as demigoddesses and immortal. She could tell her invisible sandals, given her by Hermes and granted her the power of flight, had already been taken from her.
Donna wasn't certain how or when but she did know she'd be leaving this cell. She might even die in the attempt. That would be perfectly acceptable as well.
In a nearby cell, Atom Smasher awoke to find himself swaddled and wrapped in chains. He couldn't break them and they covered him in a way to prevent his using his power to grow. Finding himself trapped, all he could do was worry about Anna Fortune's fate.
In an adjacent cell, Hawkman also awoke. He was manacled to a wall. Carter also found his wings were pinned to the wall by spears.
But Hawkman began testing his bonds. They gave ever so slightly when he exerted himself. So he knew he was leaving his cell one way or the other. He was wounded but he pitied anyone that got in his way.
Captain Atom regained coherent consciousness floating inside a lead lined tube. Nuclear damping rods were inserted into his energy matrix. He could make out that his containment suit hung from a rack across the facility through the lead lined glass.
Nathaniel Hale was confident he'd be leaving very soon. It was just a matter of bombarding the damping rods past their limits of radiation absorption. It would be easy...really. Or at least he hoped so.
Commander Steel found himself floating in a sealed room. He tried swimming to the door through the antigrav field. When he reached for the door, a repulsor projector bounced him off several more walls, each one repelling him. And psychedelic lights and shrieking noises erupted and filled the space until he came to rest again.
All in all, Hank Heywood III thought it was a very clever trap. But he was nothing if not stubborn. Sonia Sato was out there somewhere. And while Judomaster could take care of herself, he cared enough to want to help her do so.
Vibe woke up wearing a hose connected breather mask. Paco was also floating in some kind of gel-like substance. He saw a hatch and unleashed sonic vibrations at it. They were simply absorbed by the gel. So he swam to the door and found out the gel also served as a superconductor.
Vibe just floated in place while trying to determine what to do next.
Across the hallway, the current Flash of Earth Prime found himself in identical straits. Wally tried to determine what kind of gunk he was floating in. He'd already found out he couldn't run very well in it.
Next he tried vibrating himself through the door. But its electrical charge made him convulse away from it. Flash didn't know who all had been captured but he knew he had to get out and liberate them. And time obviously wasn't on his side.
Desaad returned to Superman's cell, "Did you know Darkseid supported certain elements on Krypton? He offered them technical support in exchange for their loyalty."
"Lair!" Superman accused.
"Why bother when the truth is more effective?" Desaad wondered, "Lo and behold."
Two images appeared. They were Kryptonian military officers Clark recognized, "Jax-Ur and Mala. They were criminals that attempted a coup de tat against the Council. Jax-Ur was sentenced to life in the Phantom Zone for his crimes and Mala was given a twenty-five year sentence."
"But Mala had served the duration of her sentence when you discovered the Phantom Zone projector secreted in the craft that brought you to Earth," Desaad strolled down memory lane. "And you liberated her and she in turn betrayed you and liberated him."
"And I returned them both to the Zone," Clark reminded Desaad.
"And you met them again in deeps space where a black hole had torn through the veil separating the Zone from the Prime Universe," Desaad recalled, "And you believed you saw them die as they were swallowed by the quantum singularity."
"I did watch them die," Superman grated.
"Really?" Desaad seemed surprised, "Are you certain?"
He opened the door by remote and Jax-Ur and Mala entered. Superman gaped as Desaad chuckled, "These are the Jax-Ur and Mala of the Prime Universe. Their counterparts here in this universe guard New Krypton."
"This is impossible!" Clark fought the rising stem of panic again.
"Hardly, Kal-El. What a singularity can rip open once it can tear open again," Jax-Ur said with quiet menace, "Mala and I simply returned to the Phantom Zone until Darkseid saw fit to retrieve us. We will have this world and all in it for a price."
"What price?" Superman inquired sharply.
"Darkseid wants at least one pure blood Kryptonian offspring to raise up and eventually take his place at the Master's side," Desaad gleefully explained, "General Jax-Ur would be more than proud to sire the whelps the Master desires yet his tours of duty have left him sterile. Kal-L, or Ultraman as he's known here, escaped our grip and traveled to the Prime Universe. An expedition to New Krypton seemed warranted but now we mercifully have you in our clutches."
"Or at least mine," Mala purred.
"I'll never cooperate!" Clark vowed.
"No, you probably won't," Mala agreed, "But the male physiology responds to stimulation, regardless of intent, and I'll coax my pleasure from you until I have enough of your seed to bear sextuplets or six individual children. Once our debt to Darkseid is paid, I'll begin breeding off you for our personal purposes."
"And when she's done with you, I'll have my way with you," Jax-Ur chuckled menacingly.
Superman involuntarily thought of all the permutations of that loaded statement.
Mary Batson navigated this strange Metropolis until she reached Emir's Cafe. She'd been drawn across town like a moth to the flickering flame. Only instead of flame she could visualize lightning.
Mary knew enough about Metropolis to know she was in Suicide Slum. There was enough vice on display and for sale to keep a small army busy trying to stem its tide. Mary was blushing at every turn. And she could've sworn if one more naked man flashed her from underneath a trenchcoat she was going to thwack someone's erect penis.
The cafe was like another world. It was bright and clean. Families were sharing meals and escaping from the reality outside the cafe's walls.
A waiter motioned for her to follow so she risked it and did as she was asked. He took her through a door made of hanging beads. A hallway stretched on afterwards.
The waiter took her to the second door on the right and knocked on it. A gruff, but strangely familiar voice, told her to enter. So she did.
Mary's jaw dropped even as Teth-Adam asked her to close the door. She did so without taking her eyes off of Teth-Adam, "Why was I drawn here?"
"It is amazing," Teth-Adam gasped, "The potential to become Mistress Mary yet there is such innocence and purity in your eyes. And darkness as well but under control instead of it controlling you."
"Mistress who?" Mary asked.
"I see," Teth-Adam finally did, "The Wizard spoke of the parallel dimensions. You must be from one of them."
"And it seems the Wizard chose you on this world like he did mine," Mary shared.
"What is your name in your Marvel form?" Teth-Adam asked.
Mary readily replied, "Mary Marvel. There's also my brother Captain Marvel, my friend Freddy Freeman who is Captain Marvel Jr., you as Black Adam and Isis."
"Yes, Mary and Billy Batson have Marvel forms here as well," Teth-Adam said darkly, "And so did my wife, Adrianna Tomaz. She is dead now. But you are the salvation the Wizard promised me."
"I think 'salvation' is too strong a word," Mary warned. She really wished she had access to the Wisdom of Minerva right now but that only came with her Marvel form.
"Quickly, child!" Teth-Adam grew more agitated, "I have much to tell and precious little time to tell it in. The Crime Syndicate was the first super human or super gifted agents to rise on our world."
"Now some of them are on mine," Mary revealed.
"Never underestimate them," Teth-Adam counseled, "Their escape must be what drove Alex Luthor over the edge of madness to invite Darkseid and his ilk to our Earth. But before they unleashed the Great Purge of all superhumans or exceptionally skilled, costumed humans other groups arose to plague mankind whilst clinging to the Crime Syndicate's coattails. They administered the Syndicate's will at street level while Superwoman focused the rest of the Crime Syndicate on international levels. You must gather those that have survived the Purge and lead them against Luthor."
"Our Luthor, who is the villain on our world, was disgusted because yours was a hero," Mary sought clarification.
"Alex Luthor started his crusade with nobility in his heart," Teth-Adam said sadly, "Isis and I were proud to aid him. But when his wife, Lois Lane, and his son, Alexander, died at the Crime Syndicate's hands, nobility also died within Luthor. Now any means are justified by their ultimate ends. And Luthor would see this world controlled by Darkseid in the mad quest to establish order above all else."
"So you are a hero," Mary latched onto that notion, "Like our Black Adam."
Teth-Adam ignored the compliment, "Across the street there is an establishment."
"It's a strip club," Mary said with distaste.
"It is owned by Maxwell Lord," Teth-Adam explained, "And is the headquarters where the Power Posse hides in plain sight. You must recruit them and they will lead you to others."
"Max, huh?" Mary wasn't even surprised, "Figures."
"Now rise with me," Teth-Adam stood up from the table, "And speak the Wizard's name with me."
"I don't even know if my Wizard will respond," Mary fretted.
"There is only one Wizard who sits upon the only Rock of Eternity," Teth-Adam said with a heavy heart, "And sometimes he chooses poorly."
Mary suddenly wondered if Teth-Adam was speaking of himself. He placed his hands on her shoulders, "Now say it with me! Shazam!"
Mary spoke in stereo with Teth-Adam and she suddenly felt a surge of power like she hadn't experienced since contacting a Nexus Point. And she looked down and her uniform was white with gold accents again. And she discovered Teth-Adam hadn't transformed.
"What happened?" Mary was alarmed.
Teth-Adam was already looking pale and ashen, "Nothing. Before she died, Isis bequeathed the gift of her namesake goddess to me. I have given you both my gifts from the Egyptian pantheon and from Isis herself to add to your Greco-Roman derived powers. You will bear our gifts and carry on our legacies."
"No, I can't!" Mary protested.
"I have served as the Wizard's champion for five thousand years," Teth-Adam's skin was flaking off, "It is time for my rest."
He suddenly crumbled into dust and ash. Mary stared at the pile inside of his clothing. She knew what she had to do.
Mary exited out the backdoor and traveled around the block. Pulling out her JLU signal device she pinged the locations of every other device. Most were clustered where she knew LexCorp should be headquartered. But three were loose and on the town.
"Looking for someone?" Anna Fortune asked from behind her, "Because you really should turn that wretched thing off before they think to track you down with one of the ones they've captured."
"What?" Mary was still startled to see Anna just appearing seemingly out of nowhere.
"Is there a problem?" Anna was amused, "Besides the fact there seems to be a gaggle of Marvels on this street?"
"Can you bring the other three free JLers here?" Mary wondered.
"Of course," Anna nodded, "I suppose it has something to do with this house of ill repute you seem fixated upon."
"Teth-Adam told me to go in there and find help," Mary insisted.
"Curioser and curioser," Anna replied, "And I take it Teth-Adam's absence denotes the reason why you're practically rippling with power."
"Problem?" Mary shot back.
"Not at all," Anna assured her, "It looks good on you."
Anna gathered up Katana, Judomaster, and Dr. Mid-Nite. Mary laid out the plan and the reasoning behind it. Anna was the one to make a comment.
"This should prove enlightening," she quipped.
"So how do we get in?" Mary wondered.
"They say fortune favors the bold," Anna remarked, "But I'd feel more comfortable if Katana and Judomaster agreed to affect a separate entrance."
The two Japanese women nodded their acquiescence and they circled the club. This left Mary, Anna, and Dr. Mid-Nite approaching the entrance and the booth beside it. Inside, a gritty version of Oberon chomped on a horrendously smelly cigar and counted the evening proceeds.
"Ah hell, kiddo. Get inside before Max sees you out and dressed like that. You and Billy are going on stage in five," Oberon buzzed the door and the lock released, "And don't tell Max you're taking on private clients again."
Inside, Anna looked at Mary, "That was illuminating."
"On stage, it's Ice," Dr. Mid-Nite paled.
It was Ice's doppelganger but on this world she performed under the name "Tiffany Olafsdottir". Anna looked amused, "So her hair color is consistent throughout her body. It's quite...unusual."
"Tora shaves her pubic region so it's never been an issue," Dr. Mid-Nite commented.
Anna took a new look at Pieter Cross, "Good to know."
"Oh...my," a transfixed Mary stared as Tiffany formed a dildo and proceeded to work on it until it melted.
"Booster Gold is tending bar," Dr. Mid-Nite was as disturbed as Mary over the stage act, "I believe you and I have a two drink minimum."
"Let me acquire some cash," Anna snapped her fingers and a wallet flew across the room into them, "This should suffice."
"Is that ethical?" Mary squeaked.
"The original owner has passed out. He'll awaken to discover he was robbed blind while he was inebriated," Anna explained, "Why disillusion him with any other fancy?"
Dr. Mid-Nite and Anna ordered drinks and Mid-Nite quaffed his down in one gulp. He ordered a second one. Anna ordered a second drink and let them both lie.
"Careful, Doctor," Anna advised Dr. Mid-Nite, "This may yet go north on us."
"It's 'south'," Mid-Nite corrected her.
"I lived through the War of Northern Aggression, so for me it's 'north'," Anna explained a little roughly.
"It's Billy!" Mary gasped.
Billy was in his Marvel form but he wore a black muscle shirt and a black dog collar. Leather pants and boots went with the outfit as well as a golden lightning bolt emblazoned belt. And then her doppelganger followed him to the stage. She wore even more fetish gear inspired leather. Her lightning bolt was suspended from a choker.
"Give it up for Mistress Mary and her brother Billy!" Booster announced through a PA system.
Mary felt her world reeling as the twins began their act. As it devolved into actual incestual BDSM flavored sex acts, She nearly didn't make it to the restroom in time to vomit. Anna followed her to keep an eye on Mary. She felt fairly unnerved as well.
Anna thought it was good Mary didn't have any god derived attributes regulating her stomach and gag reflex. She needed the release. Anna had avoided thinking about her own doppelganger's fate. But the currency she'd used was issued by the Confederate States of America. Her family's fortunes had probably risen after the victory and she had died around 1900.
Mary rinsed her mouth out. Anna gave her a quizzical glance, "Ready?"
"How...how...how could they...?" Mary stammered.
"I know you're probably scarred now but it's best not to think about it anymore," Anna advised.
"Could you?" Mary snapped.
"I came of age during a war," Anna reminded her, "A war my side lost."
"I guess I've never thought about any of that," Mary admitted.
"If I'm not willing to, then why should you be asked to?" Anna inquired, "This is still your plan, shall we continue?"
"Yes," Mary said heavily, "I bought into it when Teth-Adam gave me all this power. So I'm married into it."
"Then let's do it," Anna headed for the door and opened it for Mary to go through.
Mary ran headlong into Max Lord and his girlfriend, Suzie Dibney. Behind them lurked Metamorpho. Suzie smirked.
"Look, Max. She's playing dress up," she giggled.
"Then who is that?" Max nodded towards where Mistress Mary was leading a very naked Billy by a leash.
"Who the hell are you?" Mistress Mary snarled at Mary.
"Tiffany! Shag your ass over here!" Max called out.
"Oh goodie!" Suzie gushed, "A fight! We ain't had one of those since Luthor killed Bea, Teddy, and my late Ralphie-Boy."
Dr. Mid-Nite came up on the gathered group as the crowd began to realize there was about to be free, gratuitous violence. Tiffany intercepted him. Ice daggers grew around and from her fingers.
"You ain't goin' anywhere, Goggles," she told him.
"Booster, clear the house!" Max yelled.
Booster flew into motion and created a force field wall and that shoved the clients out of the bar, "Done."
"Now haul Oberon's ass in here and then bolt the door," Max instructed.
"Do you really want a conflict?" Anna inquired, "It will only hurt your profit margin as you rebuild."
"If I so much as get a twitch your here from Luthor, I'll have every one of you mothers put down for good," Max threatened.
"Take a look at me," Mary insisted, "Do you really think I'm her? Where do you think I come from?"
"You're from one of those other Earths Superwoman found out about," Max realized.
"And now she lives on ours," Dr. Mid-Nite told everyone, "So do Ultraman and Power Ring."
"Okay, why are you becoming my problem then?" Max wondered.
"You already have a problem," Mary insisted, "His name is Luthor. Listen to me and we can work together to stop him."
"I don't want 'stopped' sweet meat, I want 'dead'," Max told her, "And what if I don't want to listen?"
"I advise you do so," Katana slipped the SoulTaker around Max's throat.
Judomaster appeared and took Booster out with a single kick to the head. Metamorpho tried to grab Judomaster but he couldn't touch her. Max looked disgusted.
"Down, `Morpho. Somebody scrape Booster off of the floor," Max grated, "Now, you won't kill me."
Katana bit into Max's neck with her sword's edge. Blood trickled down his Oxford shirt and tie, "Damn, it's always worked before."
Katana started to slide the blade across his throat, Max panicked, "Okay! I'll listen!"
"Too bad," Katana whispered in his ear.
With a nod from Mary, Katana lowered her sword but she kept it out and ready to use. Mary did a little fact finding mission. The dead members of the Power Posse had been Bea da Costa, Teddy Kord, and as everyone had guessed, Ralphie-Boy Dibney. Mary shared the JLU's history so far on Earth-3.
"Sounds like you got your asses handed to you, honey," Max sneered, "I'm not inclined to tag along for a repeat performance."
"You've always lacked cohesion," Anna asserted, "That is why Luthor and Darkseid's Elite pick you apart one at a time."
"And you say I should do different because you've had a damn epiphany?" Max mocked her.
"Mary, let Katana and I negotiate this," Anna suggested.
"Well, it was left to me to..." Mary argued.
"Mary, trust me as you've never trusted me before," Anna implored her.
"Okay," Mary relented.
"Katana, keep your sword handy," Anna motioned for Max to go back to his office, "You may bring anyone you choose to."
"`Morpho, you're sticking with bodyguard detail," Max insisted, "Suzie, you're with me all the way, babe. Oberon, keep everyone quiet. No rough stuff. That goes double for you, Mistress Mary."
"Could you please put some clothes on," Mary begged Billy.
Mistress Mary had a nasty laugh, "I knew there had to be some of me in you. Just makes you want to spank his ass and suck his dick dry, doesn't it?"
"No!" Mary was horrified.
"I would," Mistress Mary leered, "Hell, I might even take a crack at you. I always wondered what it be like to have sex with myself with no tools helping out."
"Leave her alone," Judomaster intervened.
Mistress Mary snapped off a punch. The first missed altogether. The second was caught and redirected by Judomaster so that Mistress Mary ended up on her back.
"Pweeth, thithter, I'll just get dressed," Billy it seemed had a pronounced lisp.
"You'll dress when I tell you to and only if I tell you to," Mistress Mary commanded as she got back onto her feet, "Right now I want to see you in your glorious prime. It's giving me thoughts for rehearsing for tomorrow's show."
Mary gave him a pitying look and Mistress Mary went ballistic, "Don't you dare give him big ol' soft cow eyes. He doesn't deserve them. He's my filthy slave and he'll never be anything else."
"I said I wanted quiet," Max said as he led everyone back to the main floor, "It seems we have a deal."
"What kind of deal?" Oberon asked.
"We have some recruiting to do," Max warned them, "So turn all of your contacts upside down and inside out. Ring every snitch dry. We need to know who survived the Purge and where they're at."
"But what do we get out of it?" Tiffany wanted to know.
"Once we help the JLU off Luthor and get rid of Darkseid's cronies, we get left alone for all eternity. No goody goodies coming from their world to 'rectify' our wrongs. In other words, the Power Posse will be the next Crime Syndicate," Max explained.
"So we can take ten percent off of the top of everything?" a recovering Booster asked.
"Hell, we can take fifteen and still appear generous," Max gloated.
Mary just glared at Anna.