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CHAPTER 28 – RISE OF THE ALLIANCE PART 3 (NOV-2016)
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Finally, one by one, the members of the Justice Alliance – along with their allies – convene at the top in Alex Luthor's office after hearing of Psycho-Pirate's confession. Each comes to find the same thing: an empty office. Alex Luthor is simply not there. The Atom has been searching the area, confident that there is a hidden access way to the Sanctum and the spire above the top office suite. But his efforts are proving to be fruitless.
Superman once again proves his usefulness as he scans the office suite with his x-ray vision, and spots a false wall. With a "gentle" push, the door is breached and the entire crew breaks into the Sanctum. They search and find an accessway above to an open-air chamber under a large spire at the top of the tower. There, the team finds not only the device, but Alex Luthor as well.
The device appears to be a kind of large sphere encased in a cubic superstructure. Only the corners of the cube are physical as support structures, the faces just holes to see the sphere inside; and the sphere is suspended in the middle by eight struts, one for each corner of the cube. A few small devices can be seen running from the sphere to anchor points along the corners of the cubic struts, with various displays and controls on them. And, the whole structure is painted in a golden-yellow.
Standing next to the golden alien device is a golden-yellow Alex Luthor in a suit of power armor. He seems to be holding a kind of dead-man switch, and he's smiling a smug smile, as he always does.
"Finally, my friends, welcome to Lexcorp Tower," Alex Luthor beams. "I have been planning for nearly a year for this very moment, and finally it come to pass. Do any of you know – or can guess – what is this device behind me?"
"It's a Krypton bomb," Conner states. Being half Kryptonian, he can sense the vibrations of the Kryptonite within the structure, but he somehow has always known – as if he somehow inherited the knowledge genetically – but never realized until just this moment.
"Yes, my son," Alex Luthor replies with a smile and an uncomfortably long stare at Supergirl. "This is the kind of weapon that was used to destroy your mother's homeworld ages ago. Capable of exceeding 200 megatons of explosive fury, this little gold nugget can wipe out not only Manhatten but the Eastern shore of New Jersey as well as part of Long Island, and sending a cloud of radiation to cover the world. Not enough by itself to wipe out all life on Earth, but enough that most of the souls on the Eastern Seaboard of the United States are in imminent threat of annihilation or a slow painful death by radiation poisoning."
Alex Luthor can see the wheels of strategy in The Flash's eyes.
"And before you get any bright ideas about taking my trigger here, understand that it is linked to my biorhythms as well as a proximity requirement, as well as having a default timer running anyways." Alex Luthor points to the clock on one of the displays showing 10:16:57.00 and counting down. "So, taking away this switch does nothing but prevents me from immediately setting off the bomb, assuming it still stays close to me and I am not harmed in any way."
Batman tries to read the situation, and figures that Alex Luthor may be telling the truth. He then asks the obvious next question.
"So, what do you want from us so that we can diffuse the bomb?"
Alex smiles. "Yes, that is a good question. Let's start with the release of my associate, Psycho-Pirate."
The Atom lets him go, and he runs to Alex Luthor, almost groveling at his feet in gratitude. Alex betrays a sneer of discontent, then gets back to his demands.
"The only other thing I'd like to ask for is a head start at getting away. Let us go, and the bomb is yours to disarm. So long as you don't set off the booby traps on it, you should have..." Alex looks at the timer display. "...at least ten hours. Is it a deal?"
The team look at each other. Slowly, a consensus arises to agree to the terms. The Atom is already trying to analyze it with the survey equipment on his suit, but the Kryptonians can't seem to peer into the spherical shell to analyze the contents or the electronics.
Batman speaks for the team. "OK, you have a deal. Take Psycho-Pirate and go."
Alex Luthor's smile broadens, and everyone realizes that they've been tricked. Alex Luthor casts a spell and a portal opens into the hallway of another facility. As he and Psycho-Pirate pass through, he waves from the far side. "Oh, and one more thing. I've still got the switch, so you may not have the full ten hours after the portal closes. Oops."
The Flash and Superman are quick to respond, but are stopped at the gateway by an unseen magical barrier. It gives Alex Luthor just enough time to smile and wave goodbye before the portal closes. Suddenly, the bomb starts to give off a siren, and the timer resets – to 60 seconds!
Aquaman starts to cast a spell. "We don't have enough time to do anything to stop it – I'm going to see if I can halt the countdown." With a flurry of hand motions and sacred words, Aquaman creates an odd glow about the device, and the clock stops at 00:00:56.34 – but then the inside of the spire echoes with Aquaman's screams.
Everyone is shocked at the sudden predicament. Aquaman tries to explain through clenched teeth. "The bomb – it has a counterspell on it! I won't be able to hold it for very long… hurry and think of something!"
Everyone looks at each other. "Can we disarm the bomb?" The Atom proposes. He reaches for an access panel and is zapped and knocked to the floor. Batman, Catwoman, and Robin shake their heads with concern as they check The Atom to see if he is OK.
"Maybe our only hope is to simply destroy it," Hawkman says to Hawkgirl and Martian Manhunter. They take a step towards the bomb, but stop as they see The Atom still trying to recover from the bomb's defense mechanism. They suspect that any physical violence upon the bomb will set it off – and they are right.
"No, we need to throw it into space," Supergirl says to Superman, Wonder Woman and The Green Lantern. The two Kryptonians approach the bomb, but stop and back up. They can sense the radiation from the Kryptonite inside the bomb is building up, and their super powers are being nullified. Even Conner can't touch it.
"I can still touch it," Wonder Woman says. She approaches the bomb and gets a firm grip on it, grimacing as she is fighting back the pain from the electrical discharge along its surface. She starts to lift the bomb with her superhuman strength, and puts it down.
"OK, it seems possible, but I'll need-" she says, just as she finds The Green Lantern tying her hands with her own lasso. According to legend, once an Amazonian is bound by her own rope at the hands of a male, she is stripped of her godly gifts. So is Wonder Woman now – reduced to a mere mortal at the hands of The Green Lantern!
"What are you doing!?" Wonder Woman yells. Everyone else is shocked at the turn of events. Aquaman cries out again, and the clock slips to 00:00:52.67 and holds again. Has The Green Lantern betrayed them all?
"Green Arrow," The Green Lantern calls out. "Pelt that bomb with all of the paint arrows you've got. I've got a plan." He then turns to face Wonder Woman, anger and grief on his face. "Damn you, Diana! You NEVER get it, do you? You think that you can just throw your life away, just like that!? Do you ever think that there are people here – on Earth – who care about you? Who LOVE you!? No – no one will ever be in your heart but your love of Justice and your loyalty to your people." The Green Lantern sighs. "So be it."
Superman and Supergirl can see what's coming. In fact, they've suspected it for quite some time. Only Diana is shocked to hear Jose's confession to her.
"I'm not letting you die, Diana – you are far too beautiful, too brave, too kind, and too precious to me. And Cassandra needs you here on Earth, alive, as does the rest of the Justice Alliance. No, it shall be me – as it was meant to be. Me, the only one of us who would leave no emptiness in the hearts of those he loves too much to outlive." Jose take a moment to look at his shocked friends. "Besides, we all know you cannot survive the vacuum of space." Jose stares into Diana's dark wide eyes as he steals a kiss on her lips, and whispers a farewell in their common native tongue of Portugese into her ear. The kind of farewell that lovers say before they leave each other forever. Diana is suddenly overcome with emotion, and her eyes betray a few tears of sadness.
The Green Lantern sees a series of black splotches on the bomb, thanks to Green Arrow's efforts, and then focuses his energies to create a cage around the bomb, connecting at the sticky black spots and is barely able to keep it bound in the green shell to move it. "Call NASA," The Green Lantern says to a still incredulous set of super-friends. "And tell them to power down their satellites – I will try to get this bomb as far as I can to minimize the impact."
Aquaman cries out again, this time spitting out blood. The timer resumes again for a few heart-stopping moments, then stops at 00:00:47.19 and holds. "Whatever you're going to do, do it fast! I can't hold it anymore!"
The Green Lantern uses a supersized green hammer to smash a hole in the spire's superstructure and flies out with the bomb in tow. He soars into the air, higher and higher, and picks up speed as he reaches the upper atmosphere.
As the world shrinks below him, he picks up speed until he is traveling at supersonic speed. The sky fades from blue to black, and he is now totally reliant on his Green Lantern power to sustain his own life.
He recalls his last conversation with Doctor Fate, just as he was about to confess to Wonder Woman before the mission. Doctor Fate had a grave discussion to make with him.
"I'm afraid I must tell you, Jose, that you will not survive this mission. The Justice Alliance was originally a band of eleven superheroes, and it is only those eleven that Fazz's magic was meant to protect. You were a last minute add-on, only an aid to the original Justice Alliance on its last day as it fought against the unstoppable annihilating power of the Anti-Monitor. I am sorry, but your life was never meant to be long. Even now, events are already in motion, and you must face a choice – either die alone in the vacuum of space, and save everyone; or allow Ms. Diana Prince to sacrifice herself while still saving most of the Earth, and sadly she will not be completely successful. I can't give you details, but I assure you I know you will never choose to let Wonder Woman die to save the world when the time comes to make such a choice."
Jose Hernandez, a.k.a. The Green Lantern, nodded in agreement. He grumbles to himself that he has already lost his last chance to talk to Diana before the mission. He vowed to himself that he would confess before the end, though.
"But, I can offer you one special gift – I can give you the power to save your ring. When the end comes, utter this word and your ring will find its way to its next wearer. This is all I can give you."
The Green Lantern refocuses – he finds himself zooming past a low flying satellite. He has to get past the Clark Orbit if he is to get the bomb far enough to keep its powerful radiation from killing the lifeforms it touches. Or at least, this was his understanding from The Atom after a quick pep talk just before he lost radio contact with him.
Back on Earth, Aquaman finally vomits blood and collapses, his concentration gone. The timer on the bomb starts to resume, and this time doesn't stop. The Green Lantern gives the construct one last, super-hard push and it starts to tumble into space, soon loosing its green harness as it exceeds the maximum range from its generator, the Green Lantern. Green Lantern takes a long last look at his ring – the one thing that made him more than just a man – and spoke the magical command word: "Future".
The ring fades and disappears, and Jose can now feel a tugging on his skin and chest, and a sudden flash of heat all along his body. He closes his eyes and surrenders himself to the vacuum mere moments before the Krypton bomb ignites, vaporizing him in a painless instant.
TO BE CONCLUDED!
(COMING IN DECEMBER 2016 – CHAPTER 29: RISE OF THE FUTURE)
