Latest chapter in my Gold Corps saga. Hope you like it.

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…...

Young Justice: The Gold Corps

Chapter 29: I Wish I Could Live in Your World, part 3:

Ragnar and Rose flew northward. As usual, Rose found things to complain about. "But you said you thought you could signal Bertran from where we were. Why didn't you?"

"A couple of reasons. One, I'm not sure why we didn't materialize in our own dimension; it would help to know, to prevent it from happening again.

"And second, something drew us here. That's never happened before. What about this world is so special?

"Besides, I kinda wanna see it, at least a little bit. Aren't you curious?"

"Not that curious. Or have you forgotten we've a job to do?" The pair had been transported to what Bertran had referred to as "the subconscious dream dimension," or "dreamspace." The dreams of intelligent beings evidently took place there, and they had gone there to find the malevolent meme that Bertron, Betran's evil counterpart, had implanted in M'gann M'orzz, Miss Martian, and the love of Ragnar's life. Or at least, so far, Rose thought. Privately, she wondered just how long Ragnar would remain devoted to an absent lover. And, yes, vice versa. She had a suspicion as to why the Martian Mystics had discharged Megann…one she didn't dare share with her partner. Besides, it probably wasn't true, anyway. Somehow, she just didn't see it.

But the old saying, "absence makes the heart grow fonder" had often proven itself to be truer in the reverse than in the keeping, in her experience. "Don't you want to be reunited with her?" Keep the kid on track here.

"Of course. But there has to be a reason why we're here. We need to find out what it is. Otherwise, it'll just happen again. Don't you think that's wise?"

"Yeah, yeah, okay, I...guess I see your point."

"Plus, something about this world feels different. I've been to many planets, Rose, and they all feel...well, different, is the best I can do. But this one feels more so. And Bertan's fortress wasn't where it was supposed to be. Stands to reason the best place to start looking for answers would be in Happy Harbor, doesn't it?"

"Okay, okay, already!" They were flying courtesy of Ragnar's Gold Power Ring, and having to depend on him always grated on Rose's nerves. It seemed like anything he did bothered her on some obscure level. Privately, she thought he did it deliberately, just to annoy her.

Well, she didn't really believe that, but she just couldn't shake the feeling.

They paused on the outskirts of the town corresponding to their base of operations. "Hey," said Rose. "Look." And she pointed to the sign: Welcome to Happiness Harbor!

They both looked at each other. "Happiness Harbor?"

"Okay," she said, "I guess that's another difference. A minor one, but a difference, nonetheless."

They happened to be on an overlook, a road that led into the town. "Hm," he said, "Unless I'm badly mistaken-*"

"Which you have been more times than I can count."

"-see that large building? The one with all the cars around it?"

"Yeah."

"Isn't that a shopping mall? Like they used to have back on our world, before EBay and Amazon put 'em all under?"

"Hm." She was intrigued in spite of herself. "And it's frikkin' huge. So that means this is either a past version of our world, or the economics here are different."

"I can see people using what look like high-end cell phones. And those automobiles look up to date. I don't think this is a primitive world, Rose. Nor can my ring detect any obvious signs of superhero-type activity." He looked up, focusing his ring on the space above. "There's no Watchtower, for example. I can't tell if there's any independents running around, but I also don't detect any sign of supervillains around either. Hm." He held out his ring, aiming it towards the town. "Let me see if I can find out anything on the news feeds…." But after a moment, "nope. Nothing of any import. I-* Wait a minute. Rose, did you feel that?"

"Feel what?"

"I guess that means you didn't. I just picked up a massive surge of energy from this world's northernmost center, the North Pole, I suppose."

"We're thousands of miles away. How'n hell am I supposed to have registered that? You're the one with the magic bling."

"Rose...you remember, in the dream dimension, we picked up that huge spike in heat? Nothing causing it, just almost overloaded my sensors?"

"Yeah. It was that much?"

"That much or more. I wouldn't be surprised if it totaled this planet's ice cap.

"In which case, this world has problems. Problems on their way. When the shockwave hits… 'Happiness Harbor' is gonna become 'Underwater Harbor.'"

…..

After school: Rhonda had dropped by Susan's, only to find her friend looking, if anything, even more worried than she had been the day before. "Rhonda. Glad you're here. C'mon, I need corroboration." And she proceeded to practically drag her upstairs to her room.

"Oof! Hey, Suze! I'm not a carpet! I can walk, you know." But from Susan's actions, she wondered if the blond girl had even heard her.

Once inside, Susan once again closed and locked her door. Then she went to her closet, and pulled down the box where she kept her precious Gold Lantern comics. The box had a false bottom, and Rhonda wondered where she'd gotten it, then decided she was better off not knowing. "Corroboration, you said?"

"Yeah. Here." She fished through and pulled out several issues of Gold Lantern. Rhonda took a closer look, and noticed they were all issue #352. "Now, Suze-*" she began.

"No, look." She came over and sat by Rhonda on the bed. "This-*"she picked up a copy, "*-is the copy I got. The, the uhm, you know. Here. You take it and, uh, find the uhm part you know I'm talking about." Rhonda noticed she hitched away from the comic, so she couldn't really see it very well. Evidently, her friend still had issues with seeing someone who looked so much like her (and Rhonda had to admit, there was a strong similarity) "doin' it" so...er...graphically. Well, she guessed she might too, if it'd been her. But she turned to the centerfolds (there were more than one, each depicting the action from beginning to end), and laid the magazine on the bed between them. "Alright. Now." She handed Rhonda the other two magazines. "This one is the one we pilfered from my brother's room the other night. And this one is another copy I bought from that barbarian comic book dealer. He didn't wanna sell to me, but I flashed some Benjamin Franklin's in his ugly face and he caved. Now. Find the page-or even close to it-where all the, uhm, the, uhm, action takes place."

What was this all about?-wondered Rhonda. But okay. Her friend was pretty obviously upset about something. She took note of the page number in Susan's copy, and turned to the first one, the one they'd stolen from Jonathon's room.

The panels showed Rose and Ragnar coming up on the blackened planetoid, and their comments about what could have caused it. Then it showed them taking off again, still searching for the dream-self of Miss Martian. She turned a few more pages, expecting to come upon Susan's little private party with the Gold Lantern.

But instead, it showed the pair landing on the obsidian world, with its mighty cathedral-like structure, and Ragnar's assertion that it wouldn't be a good idea for Rose to cut her space suit on the razor-sharp shards sticking up from the surface. For once, she agreed with him.

Then, it showed them hanging in mid-space, waiting for the pick-up beam. Then...the comic ended.

Rhonda checked to make sure it was the same issue. It was. Checked Susan's copy to make sure it wasn't some special edition. It wasn't. There was no indication that one copy should be different from Susan's-except that they clearly were.

"I don't get it. Where's the racy stuff?"

"Watch." Susan went over to her terminal and pulled up Wikipedia. Hesitantly, almost as though afraid to, she typed in sex scenes in Gold Lantern #352.

Almost immediately, the screen popped up: did you mean six scenes in Gold Lantern #352? "And I know what you're gonna say. But I learned to get around dad's surfnet filter ages ago."

"Su-ZUN!"

"Now, don't tell me YOU didn't learn how to get around YOUR dad's filter." Rhonda gulped. Of course she had.

Susan turned back to the computer and typed in sexual scenes in Gold Lantern comic book. "There. That should find anything."

The screen: Did you mean sax jewel scenes in Gold Lantern comic book?

It, too, led them nowhere

Susan sat back, her arms crossed. "Okay, Rhonda. Let's hear a logical explanation for that."

Rhonda shook her head, looking over Susan's shoulder. "Okay, Suze," she said, straightening up. "I, I confess. I got nuthin'. That girl in the comic...I mean...in all the ways I can see, that I can tell, she sure looks like you. And...and if there was another comic out there with scenes like that in it…" she bit a knuckle,"...I don't see some mention of it not showing up on the 'net. I mean, it's the freakin' internet. So...that can only mean...I mean…"

"...That I somehow got the only copy in existence of me-you may as well admit it's me-doin'…" she gestured over her shoulder, "...that.

"That's not a knockoff, not something somebody threw together in their garage or somethin,' you'd need a whole comics publishing industry to make it look exactly like the mainstream one. And yet..." Again the worried look came to her face, "The one I got showed something...way more." She turned a worried look to her friend. "Rhonda, you know what this means?"

"Uh...no?" Please don't try to tell me it really happened to you, Suze.

I don't want that to have happened to you.

I also don't like to think about what it could mean.

"It means," Susan continued relentlessly, "that not only did it really happen, but it somehow got put into a comic book, and…"

No, Suze! Don't go there!

"Someone saw to it that I, and I alone, the girl in the comic, got the only copy."

….

"Rose, I'm gonna put you down there, by that library. No matter what your abilities, you can't fight something like this. Besides, you might need to spread the alarm or something. Tell people to get to shelter." For once, Rose agreed with him. This sort of thing was out of her league.

"Ray, whatever you do, don't do anything...stupid. For once, I mean. Okay?"

"Don't worry. I know a few tricks. I'll get you back safely home."

"That's not...oh, never mind. Just...just watch yourself, okay?" At his peculiar look, she continued. "Go on. Put me down…" already unlimbering her holographic disguise projector, "over there, and go see what you can do. Maybe you can at least run interference for this part of the world, anyway." She turned her attention skyward as he did so, just in time to catch a glimpse of him disappearing towards the north….

...and something nagged at the back corners of her mind. Something...something about Ragnar…

...burning?

Ragnar flew northward, using his ring like an earthly GPS system, homing in on the disturbance he'd sensed. In truth, he wasn't too sure what he'd do once he got to the epicenter of the energy surge he'd sensed, but he knew he had to do something. Maybe...he knew energy, like water, sought a lower level...maybe he could provide some sort of, of conduit for the energy, send it off into space…

….

Meanwhile, back at the library, Rose was doing a little recon. What she found was puzzling.

This world did seem very similar to their own, with only a few cosmetic differences. So why had they been drawn here, rather than back to their world? Although she knew and agreed with his reasoning, she still wished he'd stayed. How could any ring wielder fight something like that massive power surge? But she knew ring-slingers were notoriously resourceful...and Ragnar was just as resourceful as any. She looked around for something, anything, some way of connecting to the 'net...all the while hoping this world had a recognizable internet. Or, at least, one she could use.

Ah. There. Some terminals. Perfect.

Apparently, the people here spoke English, or a surprisingly similar variant of it. A big plus, even though she herself spoke seven major languages, and, with his ring, Ragnar spoke, or could at least translate, many more. That was a huge coincidence, of course, but, as they'd all learned, when it came to alternate realities, that really wasn't all that surprising. Evidently, this was an alternate Earth that varied only in some tiny way from their own. That, too, was a big plus, as it meant that (at least, for the most part), the culture here probably resembled theirs historically, as well. Still, it would be wise to watch it. Make sure it wasn't Patrick Buchanan's face on the $13.00 bills, for example, or some such thing. The last thing either of them needed to do was attract the wrong kind of attention. She made her way to the mall they'd spotted earlier. Maybe there was some information there.

…...

Flying over the North Pole, Ray scanned for the enormous surge of energy.

He didn't find it. In fact, there was no indication of it. Strange. He knew he'd sensed it. But it wasn't there. "Rose? I'm not detecting any surge."

"Yeah? Well, get your gold butt back here. I've found a major difference. Oh, and come to that mall we saw. Pronto."

He flew back to the mall, disguising himself in the process. He phased through the roof, and zeroed in on her. She wasn't hard to find; she was the only one yelling at him. As usual. "You idiot!" she said, "Haven't you ever heard of invisibility? Now the world and his wife just saw you!"

"No, they didn't. I have heard of 'invisibility'. Only you saw me, Rose. Now. What's so important?"

"Look." And she led him over to a table by the food court, and splayed out several magazines.

"Comic books, Rose? How is that so important?"

"Look who they're about, stupid!"

He looked, and gasped.

…...

Earlier: "Rhonda, you know what this means, don't you?"

"Tell me."

"It's stalking behavior, Rhonda. I'm the only person who got this, this comic. And it showed...well, you know what it showed."

"So who could be stalking you? I mean, who'd know about this...uh, incident?"

"Nobody, that's who.

"That is, nobody in this world."

….

"A comic book? About me?"

"And me. I'm in there, too. So this is a major difference, wouldn't you say? There weren't any back in our world."

"Sooooo….what does this mean?"

She shrugged. "Dunno. I thought your ring could tell us something.

"Okay. Say, how'd you get these books, anyway?"

Again a shrug. "Comic store over there. Manager was very rude. Now he's very unconscious. Never mind him. Do the ring thing. This is probably a huge hint as to why we're here. If not the reason, itself."

"Alright. Keep a lookout." And he focused his ring on the comics.

….

Earlier: Rhonda had to practically drag Susan to the mall. Her friend seemed so...despondent. Maybe some "comfort food." But Susan only picked at her food. "C'mon, Suze. I know you love that Szechuan chicken!"

"I just don't have any appetite, Rhonda. I mean, somebody's stalking me."

"Couldn't it be one of those gang-bangers? You could report them to the cops."

"And how would they know what went on in dreamspace? Face it, Rhonda: something is stalking me. Something that knows about and can access dreamspace. And if it happened once…"

"Susan," Rhonda said sternly, "did you ever think this might be a form of therapy?"

"Therapy? How?"

"Because it brought it to your attention. Otherwise, it would've been running around in your subconscious...for the rest of your life. That couldn't have had a good impact on you. So this comic book...let you deal with it. In the real world. Don't you see? Desensitization, sort of."

"I don't know, Rhonda.

"I just know it's crippling me. I mean, that someone knows. About that." She shuddered, slightly. "And, and...I know he's real, Rhonda. He helped me, when I needed it most…"

"Susan. Even if he is real, he's not real here. Okay, yeah, he was there when you needed him. But he's not in this dimension. So he's not real here. So. Eat. Your. Food. It'll help you."

But Susan wasn't listening. Instead, she was looking around, behind her. "Rhonda? See that couple over at that table?"

"Yeah. What about 'em?"

But Susan stood up and walked over to the indicated table. She stood there a minute, arms crossed, then said, "Ragnar Rok!"

Ragnar immediately turned around at the sound of his name. "Yes? Can I help you?" Then, "YOU!"

Rose face-palmed. "I think I know which world we're on."

To be continued