Chapter 3
Earth-38
(National City)
"Anything?"
"Nothing," Winn replied to Alex, who was concerned for Kara, Barry, J'onn, and even Astra. "Since I couldn't locate their heat signatures, I'm assuming wherever that bright golden light sent them is not anywhere on Earth."
Alex sighed. "We need to find them. Our agents are doing their best to get people to safety here in National City, but this thing is affecting the whole world and neither Supergirl, Flash, J'onn, nor Astra are around to save those who could die out there."
A thought suddenly occurred to Winn. "What if they were transported to another Earth?"
"That's a possibility," Alex realized. "But we don't know which Earth and there are literally an infinite number of them."
"Well, my fellow tech guy Cisco on Earth-1 could help us narrow it down with his 'vibing' powers," Winn suggested.
Alex's mood brightened on hearing that. "We can do that. I just have to get the extrapolator from Kara's apartment."
Suddenly, the interior of the D.E.O. headquarters was once more illuminated by a bright golden flash of light and a number of figures appeared in the command center.
J'onn, Kent, Astra, Wally, Ralph, Courtney, Laurel, Thea, Roy, Bart, Caitlin, Chloe, Tess, Bruce, Barbara, Dick, Diana, Kara Kent, John Jones, John Stewart, Victor, A.C., Dinah, Andrea, Kal, Wayne, Deathstroke, Barry-Blue, Vic, Arthur, Hal, Shazam, J'onzz, Superman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Shayera, Vixen, Green Arrow, and Black Canary.
Those from Earth-192 who hadn't come along had stayed behind in their world to deal with the global chaos caused by the red skies and earthquakes.
In regards to Deathstroke, Wayne had been reluctant to work with him at first, but agreed to do so after the mercenary reasoned that it would be pointless for the two to oppose each other while they were away from their own Earth and existence itself was on the verge of ending. It helped that Deathstroke was surrounded by a ton of super-powered heroes who could very easily take him down if he did step out of line.
"Stand down!" Alex ordered, waving to the agents who had instinctively pointed their firearms at the assembled heroes. As the agents complied, Alex and Winn approached the heroes and were relieved to see J'onn, Kent, and Astra among the group. "J'onn. Superman. Where are Kara and Barry?"
"They each went to another Earth to locate the rest of the Paragons," J'onn explained.
Alex frowned in confusion. "Paragons?"
"It's a long story," Kent told her.
"One we'll bring you up to speed on in the conference room," J'onn said to Alex and Winn, who both were wondering what was going on.
Earth-96
(Metropolis)
Karen 'Galatea' Kent (the legal name she'd been given since moving to this universe a year ago) was struck in the face by a powerful orange fist and sent crashing into a car parked on the street, totaling the vehicle on impact. The Argonian clone of Earth-192 Supergirl staggered back to her feet, groaning and clutching the side of her head in pain.
Her current uniform consisted of a long-sleeved white leotard, matching pants, blue gloves and boots, and a blue belt with a round golden buckle. Unlike that of her previous outfit, her top didn't contain a circular opening that exposed parts of her bare chest, since, as her 'uncle' Kal-El had put it, dressing in that matter wasn't practical for a superheroine.
"My ears never rang this badly before," Galatea complained. "Not only don't my punches seem to affect her very much, but her hot skin singes and bruises my knuckles with every hit. At least Uncle Kal is clearly putting up a better fight than I am."
She and Kal-El were battling an eight-foot-tall monstrous woman with orange skin and dark red hair shaped like a mohawk. The mutated woman was, in fact, Dr. Kitty Faulkner, a scientist who had been working on a pollution-free energy source when a malfunction resulted in a huge explosion that not only left the research facility in ruins, but transformed her into the rage-filled monster who had started running amok in the city until Superman and Power Girl (Galatea's current alias) confronted her. In the ensuing battle, Faulkner (her current form dubbed 'Rampage' by the media) proved more than capable of holding her own well against the two heroes, easily matching Kal-El's strength while Galatea's punches barely fazed her.
As Rampage charged at her with a loud roar, Galatea fired heat vision at the other woman's chest. While the beam somewhat slowed her down, Rampage shrugged the brunt of it off as she kept coming at Galatea, who narrowly dodged a blow from her bigger opponent. Galatea delivered four strong blows to Rampage's face and three to the latter's chest, doing her best to ignore the burning pain the blows were inflicting on her hands, while Rampage was only slightly staggered back by her opponent's hits. Galatea prepared to throw another punch, only for Rampage was knock the villainess-turned-heroine many meters into the air with a powerful uppercut to the jaw.
Kal-El flew at Rampage from behind, attacking her with his freeze breath. As the ice almost immediately melted upon contact with her extremely hot radiated skin, Kal-El blew harder and harder, not ceasing the attack until Rampage was completely encased within a solid block of ice.
Galatea flew back down, hovering next to her 'uncle'. "I doubt that's gonna hold her for very long."
"It won't, but the ice will start cooling her down," Kal-El stated, before a cracking noise was heard.
Rampage broke free from the block of ice, shattering it into many pieces. Galatea delivered a kick to Rampage's face and followed up with two punches to her chest before Rampage knocked her away with a backhand to the face, sending Galatea crashing on the ground in the middle of a street as a crater formed on impact.
Kal-El caught Rampage's fist with both hands as she tried to punch him, grunting both under the effort of holding her back and the pain of her hot orange skin burning his palms. Rampage threw her other fist out, getting Kal-El in the chest as the punch sent him crashing into the entrance of a nearby building.
Galatea flew over, smashing a huge chunk of concrete on top of Rampage's head. The attack dazed Rampage, while the concrete shattered into pieces. Whirling around with a roar, Rampage grabbed Galatea by the legs and slammed her on the ground, dazing the reformed villainess. Rampage stamped Galatea's face with her bare foot twice and was about to do the same to her chest when Kal-El rammed into Rampage in a red and blue blur, knocking her ten feet back. As Rampage jumped back to her feet, Kal-El flew behind her and grabbed the mutated woman around her arms, grunting both under the effort of restraining her and the pain of her radiated skin burning the parts of his body that made contact with her.
"I'm sorry to resort to this, Doctor, but it's the only way to put an end to your rampage," Kal-El said. "I hope."
With Rampage firmly in his grasp, the Man of Steel shot straight up into the sky in a streak of red and blue light, entering outer space within seconds. Once he was hundreds of miles away from the Earth, Kal-El hovered in place and continued to hold Rampage, who roared madly as she struggled to break free from the Kryptonian's powerful grip. Kal-El hissed and gritted his teeth as the touch of Rampage's skin continued to burn him, but he powered through the intense pain, knowing that he couldn't let up even for a moment or Rampage could break out of his hold.
Slowly but surely, Rampage started losing air and her struggling waned more and more as time passed. After a few minutes, she passed out in Kal-El's arms and Rampage's muscle-bound form decreased in size to that of Dr. Kitty Faulkner's much smaller petite body, while her skin changed from orange to a normal Caucasian color and dark red mohawk transformed into a full head of light brown hair.
Kal-El sighed in relief. "Thank goodness that worked. Now it's time to get you to the hospital."
He shot back down towards Earth in a red and blue blur.
Later, after dropping Dr. Faulkner off at the hospital and making sure the scientist was okay, Kal-El was flying in the air when he spotted a portal open near the ground in front of the entrance of the Daily Planet, with three figures emerging from it. On closer inspection, he recognized Conner Kent and Oliver Queen from Earth-21, while the blonde woman in white with them was someone he didn't recall meeting before.
Kal-El descended to the ground in front of the three inter-dimensional visitors, while Sara Lance widened her eyes in shock upon getting a look at his face.
"He looks just like Ray," the White Canary noted.
Kal-El frowned in confusion. "Who?"
"Ray Palmer," Conner clarified. "A friend of ours from our world who looks almost exactly like you. Anyway, we came here because the Multiverse has been endangered by a being called the Anti-Monitor, who unleashed a deadly wave that is destroying countless universes. You're one of the people that we need if we're gonna have a decent chance at stopping this threat."
"Apparently, you're one of the twenty Paragons who are essential to stopping our big bad who is responsible for this mess," Ollie added.
"Will you help us?" Sara asked.
"Of course I'll help," Kal-El nodded without hesitation. "I just need to tell my son and niece that I'll be away from this Earth for a while."
Earth-78
(Metropolis)
Clark Kent was walking with his girlfriend, Lois Lane, and their good friend, Lana Lang at a park when a portal suddenly opened several feet before them. All three stopped dead in their tracks, Lois and Lana each letting out a startled scream, while Clark simply stared at the portal in anticipation.
Out of the portal emerged Clark Kent and Lois Lane of Earth-21, along with Barry Allen and Cisco Ramon of Earth-1.
Clark and Lois of Earth-78 immediately recognized their younger counterparts, while the former in particular remembered meeting Barry and Cisco when he had gone to Earth-1 to assist the heroes there in stopping The Thinker.
"Well, this is quite a surprise," Clark-78 said to the newcomers.
"It's good to see you again," Lois-78 said to her namesake as she held out her hand.
"Right back at ya, Ms. Lane," Lois replied with a grin as she shook her older woman's hand.
"We apologize for showing up out of the blue like this, which we wouldn't have done if it wasn't an urgent matter," Clark said to his counterpart, before suddenly widening his eyes at the sight of Lana. "Mom..." As the woman gave him an odd look, Clark felt embarrassed and corrected himself upon remembering who she really was. "I mean, um, Lana. Lana Lang."
"Yes, that would be me," Lana replied, eyeing the Superman suit that the younger Clark was wearing.
"Forgive him, Mrs... Ms. Lang," Lois said to her with a smile. "You look a lot like someone he knows... someone we both know actually, and your appearance caught him off-guard."
Lana turned to the Clark and Lois she knew. "Are these people friends of yours?"
"Um, you could say that," Clark-78 told her. "They're from another universe."
Lana dropped her jaw in disbelief. "Another universe?"
"That's right," Lois-78 said, before pointing to the her and Clark-78's Earth-21 selves. "Believe it or not, these two are me and Clark from another world."
"Really?" Lana asked, incredulously.
"It's true, ma'am," Barry spoke up. "There are infinite Earths in what is called the Multiverse and the four of us came here from one of them."
Lana took a few moments to process that information. "I guess that would explain the strange portal you four just came out of."
"The reason we're here is because a wave of anti-matter unleashed by a cosmic being called the Anti-Monitor is sweeping across the Multiverse destroying universe after universe," Clark explained to his counterpart. "Everything in existence will be gone if we don't stop it."
Without saying a word, Clark-78 sped off and returned a second later, having changed out of his civilian clothes and into his Superman suit. "Preventing the destruction of the Multiverse sounds like a job that requires my help, which you will have."
"We could use your cousin's help too," Barry said. "Do you mind contacting her?"
Superman shook his head. "Not at all. I'm sure she wouldn't want to miss out on helping to save the Multiverse."
Earth-76
(Washington, D.C.)
Prince, Wonder Woman, and Kara Danvers appeared in the middle of a road as they stepped out of the portal that closed behind them a moment later. The Wonder Women and Supergirl glanced around, taking in their new surroundings. Judging by the appearance of the cars, buildings, and clothing of the civilians, the fashion of this world (or, at the very least, this city) seemed to heavily resemble that of the 1970s and 1980s, but with modern-day elements mixed in.
"This is definitely Washington, D.C., even if this version of it looks very retro," Kara noted in recognition.
"The Paragon of Love could be anywhere in the city," Prince stated. "Our best chance of finding her is by searching the internet."
"Assuming the internet or whatever its equivalent on this world is exists," Wonder Woman pointed out.
"Let's hope it does," Kara said.
The three superheroines turned to see a car driving towards them and stepped out of the way to allow the it to go pass. They headed to the sidewalk, noticing the people in the vicinity eyeing them in amazement while some took out their phones to take pictures of the costumed women.
"So much for not drawing attention to ourselves," Kara remarked.
"The fact that we're our costumes are attracting attention from others might actually lead us to the Paragon faster," Wonder Woman said.
Prince stared across the street as she noticed one civilian in particular, an attractive woman with long dark hair tied in a bun and blue eyes, staring at the three of them with a very different expression than the others. The Earth-50 Wonder Woman frowned as she saw the woman turn and walk off in a hurried manner before turning around a corner.
"Wonder Woman! Wonder Woman!"
Prince, Wonder Woman, and Kara turned to see a blonde woman, who had called out to them, and a little girl with matching hair approaching them.
"Hi, my name is Susan and I've been a huge fan of you ever since I was a little girl," the woman said eagerly to Earth-192 Wonder Woman, who hid her reaction at being addressed by her codename as Prince did the same. "My daughter Emily loves you just as much." She turned to Prince and Kara. "I've never seen you two before. Are you superheroes too?"
"Yes, we are," Kara nodded with a smile. "But we're, uh…"
"This is our first time here in Washington, D.C," Prince said to Susan, before glancing at her Earth-192 counterpart. "Wonder Woman was just showing us around."
"Nice," Susan said with a grin.
"Can we get a picture with them, Mommy?" Emily asked, eagerly. "Please? Please?"
Susan turned to the three heroines. "Is it okay if we…"
"Sure, no problem at all," Wonder Woman answered, deciding to go along since it was obvious that the woman and her daughter were mistaking her for this world's Wonder Woman.
As Susan took a camera out of her purse, Kara said, "Why don't you and Emily stand with them," she gestured to the Wonder Women, "and I'll take the picture for you?"
"Okay," Susan nodded appreciatively as she handed the camera to Kara.
As Susan and Emily stood with Prince and Wonder Woman, Kara held up the camera and took the picture of the four women. Afterwards, Kara handed the camera back to Susan, who told her, "Thank you so much."
"You're absolutely welcome," Kara said with a smile.
"Bye, Wonder Woman," Emily said as she waved to the Earth-192 heroine.
"Goodbye, little sister," Wonder Woman replied, patting the young girl's head.
As Susan and Emily left, Wonder Woman turned to Prince and Kara. "They clearly assumed I was the Wonder Woman of this world and didn't seem to notice anything off about me."
"Well, this Earth's Wonder Woman probably looks exactly like you, face, costume, and everything," Kara pointed out.
"Speaking of whom, she's coming to us right now," Prince noted, realizing that the local heroine was the same woman who had been staring at them from across the street a minute ago.
The other two superheroines turned to see who was clearly this Earth's Wonder Woman running towards them. Her red, blue, and gold uniform was nearly identical to that of Earth-192 Wonder Woman. The main differences were that the golden emblem on her chest was the design of an eagle spreading its wing instead of a 'W' logo, her silver bracelets each contained a red star as opposed to Earth-192 Wonder Woman's plain ones, and her blue trunks had many more white stars on them.
Wonder Woman of Earth-76 stopped in front of the other three women and regarded them carefully, while they took in her appearance at the same time.
Kara's eyes widened at the sight of Earth-76 Wonder Woman's face, noticing that she heavily resembled the human form of former President Olivia Marsdin, but with a significantly younger appearance.
"Who are you three?" Wonder Woman (Earth-76) demanded. "I saw you come out of some kind of portal."
"That's right, we did, but rest assured, sister, that my companions and I mean you no harm," Wonder Woman (Earth-192) assured the local heroine.
"We came here to find you because your aid is needed in saving the Multiverse from complete destruction," Prince explained.
"The Multiverse?" Wonder Woman (Earth-76) questioned, incredulously. "I'm familiar with that concept, but..."
"It's real," Kara told her. "This universe and an infinite number of others are in the process of getting wiped out of existence by a substance called anti-matter and there are twenty people in all of space and time who are said to play a key role in stopping the being who is the cause of this threat."
Wonder Woman (Earth-76) frowned, taking a few moments to process what she was just told.
Earth-99
(Gotham City)
Batman, Oliver, and Slade arrived outside the Wayne manor. Batman had taken off his black cowl, while Oliver was unmasked with his dark green hood down, and Slade was no longer wearing his orange and black helmet. The garden in front of the mansion was in poor condition as it was filled with overgrown bushes, vines, and many fallen and dead leaves that littered most of the area.
"The Bruce Wayne of this Earth clearly isn't fond of yardwork," Slade commented.
"Don't mention that to him," Oliver said.
"I can't imagine any version of Alfred, or versions of myself who are anything like me for that matter, allowing the garden to get this bad," Batman stated.
As the three vigilantes made their way the front door of the mansion, Batman knocked on the door.
After a few seconds, the door was opened by a young black man, who took in the three visitors, especially Batman, with a look that could only be described as suspicion.
"Hello," Oliver greeted.
"Sorry, do I know you?" the young man asked, warily.
"Not exactly," Oliver answered. "We're here to see Bruce Wayne. It's extremely important."
"Your universe and countless others are in danger of getting erased from existence by a wave of anti-matter that has been unleashed upon the Multiverse," Batman explained to the young man, who stared intently at him for a reason that was obvious to the Dark Knight of Earth-192. "The cosmic being who sent us here told us that your world's Batman could help us defeat the one responsible for this threat."
"We need to see him now," Oliver added, firmly.
The young man shook his head, clearly skeptical of their story. "Yeah, no."
He tried to close the door, but Oliver and Batman simultaneously grabbed the edge of it, preventing him from doing so. As the young man pulled out a handgun, Oliver grabbed his wrist and clenched it, disarming the young man of the weapon as it fell on the floor. Oliver then grabbed the young man's arm, moved it behind the young man's back while slightly twisting it, and roughly pinned him against the wall with an elbow pressed to the back of the young man's head.
"We just told you that the Multiverse was in great danger," Oliver snarled, while the young man grunted from the pain in the arm that the emerald archer was twisting. "You have no reason to trust complete strangers, we get that, but there are far bigger things beyond any of us that are happening right now, which is the only reason that we came here in the first place!"
"They can come in, Luke," a strong, gruff voice that sounded almost identical to that of Earth-192 Batman, albeit older with an obvious note of bitterness, announced.
As Oliver released the young man, who was none other than Luke Fox, he, Batman, and Slade looked down the long hallway of the mansion as they heard the echoing of electronic whirring noises accompanied by footsteps.
"You'll have to forgive him," the voice said to the visitors. "We're not used to having guests."
Coming down a set of stairs was an older man in his sixties clad in a metallic exo-skeleton.
Batman, Oliver, and Slade were stunned by the physical state of the man, who was, without a doubt, Bruce Wayne of Earth-99. The man regarded them as well, focusing especially on Batman, who stepped forward to take a closer look at his Earth-99 counterpart. Although the two sounded alike, their faces were not quite the same.
"Who the hell are you?" the older Bruce Wayne demanded, gruffly.
"I'm surprised you haven't figured that out already," Batman stated. "That is, assuming you're familiar with the existence of other universes."
"You mean the Multiverse," Old Bruce said, narrowing his eyes intently as he regarded his younger counterpart while realization quickly dawned on him. "You're me. From another Earth."
"That's right," Batman confirmed. "And we need to talk. Now."
Earth-93
(Kent farm, Smallville)
Clark Kent was outside, doing some repairs on a red pickup truck when his hearing suddenly picked up a strange sound. He turned around and saw six figures step out of some kind of portal twenty feet away. To his surprise, three of the figures, two dark-haired men and a blonde woman, were clad in suits that looked very much like the one he wore as Superman, each even having the Kryptonian 'S' symbol on their chests. The other figures were a brunette woman, a young man in some kind of red suit, and a young Latino man with shoulder-length hair.
As the newcomers approached him, Clark-93 greeted, "Hello."
"Hi," Lois said with a smile. "Are you Clark Kent, by any chance?"
"Yes, that'd be me," Clark-93 confirmed. "How can I help you?"
Clark started at sight of his Earth-93 counterpart, whose face reminded him of Dr. Curtis Knox, his one-time immortal enemy, but hid his feelings for the time being.
"Are you familiar with the Multiverse?" Cisco asked the local Clark.
"The Multiverse, as in parallel realities?" Clark-93 asked. "I do have a bit of experience with that concept actually."
"Good, we don't have to explain it to you," Barry said in relief.
Clark gestured to Superman before turning back to Clark-93. "If our suits aren't already an indication, he and I are you from two different universes. I'm from what is called Earth-21, he's from Earth-78, and this world is Earth-93." Gesturing to Lois, Clark added, "This is…"
"Lois Lane, his wife," the brunette in question introduced herself to Clark-93.
Superman gestured to the blonde woman next to him. "This is my cousin Kara."
"Kara Zor-El, but you can call me Linda," the Maiden of Might introduced herself to Clark-93, who regarded her curiously.
The young man in red introduced himself next. "I'm Barry Allen, also known as The Flash." He gestured to the young Latino man. "And this is my friend Cisco Ramon."
"Barry and I are from Earth-1," Cisco added.
"This is all fascinating I must say," Clark-93 commented. "As I said, I've experienced other universes before, but not anything like this."
"Well, we're here because..." Clark started, before a woman's voice suddenly got everyone's attention.
"Clark? What's going on out here?"
Clark-93 and the inter-dimensional visitors turned to see an attractive middle-aged woman with dark brown hair walking over to them.
"Mom," Lois instinctively called out at the sight of the woman's face.
"Clark, who are these people with you and why are some of them dressed... like you?" the woman wondered.
"Because, Lois, they're from others universes," Clark-93 told his wife, who was stunned by that answer.
"So you're this Earth's me," Lois said to her local counterpart. "You look exactly like my mom."
Lois Lane of Earth-93 frowned. "I do?"
"Yeah, you're the spitting image of her... same face, same height, same eye color, everything," Lois said, sadness evident in her voice. "She died when I was a little girl and seeing you right now..." She paused to let out a sigh. "Reminds me of how much I miss her."
Lois-93 gave the younger brunette a look of sympathy. "I'm very sorry to hear about your mother."
"I'm you, by the way," Lois introduced herself to the older woman. "I'm Lois Lane, from Earth-21 to be exact." She turned to her husband. "And this is my Clark."
Lois-93 was stunned, processing what she'd just heard. The concept of alternate realities wasn't foreign to her, but this was her first time meeting any version of herself or Clark who looked like entirely different people. However, it wasn't anything she couldn't get used to. After all, she was Lois 'Mad Dog' Lane.
Earth-76
(Washington, D.C.)
"I have to admit, this is a lot to process even for me," Wonder Woman (Earth-76) said to Prince, Wonder Woman (Earth-192), and Kara Danvers after the three women had explained everything to her. They were now standing in an alleyway, having moved there to avoid attracting unnecessary attention from more civilians. "Meeting two versions of myself from other worlds, the destruction of infinite universes brought on by this Anti-Monitor, and that I'm apparently one of these twenty Paragons you mentioned."
"The Paragon of Love, to be exact," Kara clarified.
"Are you certain that it's actually me?" Wonder Woman (Earth-76) asked.
"We were told that the Paragon of Love is an Amazon, which you undeniably are, resided here in Washington, D.C. and that you are the only protector of this world," Prince pointed out. "Is that not true?"
Wonder Woman (Earth-76) nodded. "Yes, that is true, but I…"
"The fate of the entire Multiverse is at stake, Diana, and that includes your world," Wonder Woman (Earth-192) stated. "Our best chance of stopping the Anti-Monitor is for all the Paragons to be united in the coming fight."
"Even if you don't think you're the Paragon of Love, will you help us anyway?" Kara asked. "Given the huge scale of this threat, we can honestly use every superhero we could get."
Wonder Woman (Earth-76) didn't hesitate to give her response. "If all of existence is indeed in the process of ending, it is my duty to help save the Multiverse and stop the one responsible for the Crisis as you called it."
"So you'll come with us?" Prince asked.
Wonder Woman (Earth-76) smiled kindly. "If I truly am the person that you three were searching for, then, with love, we can save the world, or worlds in this case, together."
"Yes, love is a key component in combatting the forces of darkness," Prince agreed with a smile of her own.
Kara pulled out her extrapolator. "With that taken care of, it's time for us to go back now."
The Girl of Steel opened a breach before she and the trio of Wonder Women walked through it.
Earth-93
(Smallville)
Clark Kent of Earth-93 was now dressed in his Superman suit, a look of determination on his face. "I'm ready to help save the Multiverse," he said to the visitors.
"I'm coming along too," Lois-93 decided, before turning to her husband. "If you're going to another Earth, honey, so am I."
Clark-93 nodded with a loving smile. "I'd feel a lot better if you're with me. That way, I'll know for sure that you're safe since we'll still be in the same universe."
"Well, that's that, time to go to Earth-38 and kick some ass," Cisco said, as he opened a breach with his powers.
He, Barry, Clark, Lois, Superman, Linda, Clark-93, and Lois-93 entered the breach before it closed a moment afterwards.
The TV series Wonder Woman starring Lynda Carter and Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman starring Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher have officially entered the series. Next chapter will cover Batman's, Oliver's, and Slade's confrontation with Old Bruce and the battle on Earth-38.