Author's Note:
The following story is based on the DC Comics Elseworlds series of the same name by Mark Waid and Alex Ross. It is not a direct adaptation, but rather an inspired tale that also satisfies the circumstances of the animated universe. Additionally, the story takes place following the episode "Starcrossed" and must, unfortunately, ignore all episodes that follow. Though don't be surprised if references are made. As usual, the characters and stories are the sole property of DC Comics and AOL Time Warner. They are not in any way used for profit, but rather for the sake of fun and personal pleasure. So please don't sue.
Enjoy.
Twenty Years after the disbanding of the Justice League...
To the general public, the banter and often-elongated ramblings of an old man would be viewed upon as nothing more than typical grousing like any old codger unable to appreciate the new generation. If one were to stop and think about it, the old man may have had a point about the direction of society. Especially the words of the old man who looked upon the streets of the world at this moment in time.
He would bemoan the passing of things like the Olympic Games and Nobel Prizes. He would ambush complete strangers on the street and ask them how much they missed the concept of human achievement. One would begin to wonder what surprised them more. The oddity of the question... or the growing number of people who seemed to know what the old man was talking about.
Human initiative began to erode the day people asked a new breed to face the future for them. The old man would mock their worth, these newcomers. He would speak instead of legends gone. Of costumed champions who, in his day, inspired human achievement. Not belittled it. The old man would swear up and down that he'd never forget the world they came from. He wanted them to be remembered. He wanted them to live again.
Just not in the vain of some marketing plot like the often packed restaurant chain Planet Krypton. The atmosphere as color and vibrant as any other aimed to appeal to the kids. Producing whatever it took to ring in those who could be easily persuaded into believing that wasting their time and hard earned money on being served by waiters, badly dressed as the heroes of yesterday would be beneficial. Many of the waiters barely even knew the right name of the hero they were dressed as. To those who remembered, this was not a tribute. It was a disgrace.
If the old man were to die at this very moment, he would leave this God forsaken world without one grain of faith in the future. And the saddest part was... he would be far from alone. With each passing day, tomorrow had become more and more precious a commodity among everyday folk. The optimistic would continue to try and keep the faith. To continue to hew to the scriptures. According to the word of God, the meek would someday inherit the Earth.
Someday.
But God never accounted for the mighty.
The world was now filled not with the heroes of old, but with their children and grandchildren. They numbered in the nameless thousands. Progeny of the past, inspired by the legends who came before... if not the morals. They no longer fought for the right. They fought simply to fight, their only foes each other.
The superhumans had boasted that they'd all but eliminated the super-villains of yesteryear. Small comfort. They moved freely through the streets, through the world. They were challenged, but unopposed. They were, after all... the protectors of the world.
The optimistic would tell themselves that this, too, would pass. That humans still had a chance to reclaim a world rightfully theirs while it still existed. That in the face of superhuman might and superhuman odds... time had not yet run out for humanity.
They were wrong.
Justice League
Kingdom Come
By Lord Akiyama
Based upon the story by Mark Waid and Alex Ross
Chapter One: The Beginning of the End
If one were to stand on the outside looking in, they would claim that what they saw was a midwestern farmland. But that was not possible. Especially one as beautiful and cared for with such delicacy as this one. Nothing but endless farmland as far as the eye could see. In this day in age, one would look upon this as paradise. A vision of true and everlasting peace. A rarity indeed.
The farmer worked effortlessly as he removed the aged crossbeam from the roof of the shed. As he hopped down gently, that same onlooker would swear that he looked familiar. Never mind the white stripes of hair above the ear. Never mind the mixture of silver and gray strands that made up his beard. He was still a familiar face. As it should be.
He was not of this world. He came to earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. He was best known by a name he had not used in twenty years. He was Superman... though not since his self-imposed exile. With one hand, he effortlessly lifted the tractor high into the air as he slowly brought it into storage within the shed. The animals that were about didn't react in any sort of way. They viewed upon it as something normal. As he exited the shed, he sighed and bent down to gently rub his faithful dog behind the ears.
Looking at him as he was, one would see him as being so alone.
Which was not always the case.
"Hello, Clark..." Before the familiar feminine voice could finish, he looked up and shot her a cold glare. "... Kal," she corrected herself as she stepped forward. A look of genuine concern painted her face. And with good reason.
"Diana," he replied. He turned back to the dog he was petting. "Haven't seen you in months. What brings you to the farm?"
"The vain hope that you're still not here," she sighed. She thought she heard him grunt at her reply.
"These are my roots," he said. He stopped petting the dog, believing the animal content at the amount of care and attention received.
"You can't live forever in solitude," she said, slowly walking over to one of his silver stallions and gently brushing its mane. She quickly returned her eyes upon the one-time hero.
"I'm Superman," he responded, slowly standing to his feet to face her properly. "I can do anything."
"Except, apparently, face your fears," she said. Her gentle strokes started to slow upon realizing what she had just said and how Kal will potentially react.
"I'm not afraid of him," he responded. He wasn't phased one bit.
"I didn't mean him," Diana said, he hands leaving the stallion as she moved closer to him. "I meant..." She paused to find the right words. Almost out of instinct, she gently raised her hand to brush a strained of hair hanging before his face. "Kal, you've lost so much since I first met you..."
"Earthlings die," he sighed. "You know that." He took a step and began to walk away from her.
"They were your parents, Cla... Kal," she pleaded, her hands placed upon the snout of the stallion. "And she was your wife. Don't call them 'Earthlings.'" She stopped, taking a deep breath and returning to the reason she came. "Hear me out. I..."
"I have work to do, Diana," he interrupted, clearly not interested in what she had to say. He didn't even turn his head to face her as he spoke. He kept walking slowly. "Here, things grow."
"Really?" she said. Concern disappeared from her face and was replaced with determination. She stepped away from the stallion and outstretched a hand to one side. Her hand connected against a surface, resulting in a beep to sound. Seconds later, the sky and leagues of endless land disappeared. They were holograms. "Think again."
He immediately came to a stop as the horses began to whine in shock and confusion. The dog began to bark heavily, but completely unsure as to where the barking should be directed. Increasing the speed of his walk, he turned to reengage the hologram. He slammed his hand pretty hard on the device.
"You're spooking the animals," he said, facing her. The hologram began to reform beginning with what would otherwise have appeared as the farthest end of the farmland.
"At least I provoked a reaction in something," she responded, though not with anger or just. Her determination disappeared, turning back into concern. "Listen to me, dammit! I've come with news... from the outside. Bad news. It's shaken the world." She was hoping each word would evoke something out of him. If he did, he wasn't expressing it. "Kal, he's out of control."
"I tried to tell them that twenty years ago," he sighed, his attention clearly on the hologram that was now fully operational. The animals began to calm down, as if it was just a sudden shock of nothing that took place.
"And they didn't listen," she said. "I know. Stop punishing them."
"I'm not interested," he responded, whipping his hands on a towel that hung from the back pocket of his jeans. He turned and headed for a door that appeared in the hologram device.
"I see," she said, following him from behind with every step. They entered through the door, revealing a completely different setting. The size is about the same, but all around them was endless metal and technological devices that highly differ from the paradise within the hologram setting. And even still this Fortress of Solitude was cleaner and more peaceful than anything seen within the outside world.
"Here are two words," she continued. "See if they sound familiar. Truth and justice. You can't have completely forgotten about them." She watched as he came to a stop. After what seemed like hours, he turned his head to face her upon hearing those words. No change in facial expression. But then, she wasn't looking at the face. She could see in his eyes that those words affected him. "Just see for yourself. See what he has let happen to the world. That's all I ask."
Kal stood in place for a moment. He sighed and then walked toward another door. Diana was familiar enough with the Fortress to know where he was headed and remained in place. He walked and let the door close behind him. He stood perfectly still in pitch-black emptiness and crossed his arms. "On," he said.
Like a flash of lightning, an infinite number of screen blinked on. Their number went as far down as the eye could see and as far up as the eye could see. They varied in languages and the personalities that appeared. Yet they were all talking about the same thing. The horror Diana tried to explain.
"... paralizado por la noticia de Magog..."
"Wir haben gelernt dab Magog uns gefahrdet hat..."
"... feroce brutalita di Magog..."
"... el mundo fue shockeado por horribles actos..."
"... Americain au nom de Magog..."
"Inconceivable tragedy struck..."
He took a deep breath, as if controlling whatever temper and anger built up within him. "Magog..." he muttered. It was a mixture of frustration and heartache. His attention focused on a pair of screens that began to relive what had happened.
"... fight began in the American City of St. Louis, where Magog and his Justice Battalion descended upon the weathered parasite..."
"... battle raged to the wheatfields of Kansas. Witnesses characterized the parasite as fearful."
"Leave me alone! LEAVE ME ALONE!"
"... claim his pleas for mercy were ignored..."
"... speculate that tragedy might have been averted had Magog relented."
"Onlookers staggered... and yet, not surprised... by the savagery of Magog's attack. Magog... one of the new breed of heroes, known to many as the one responsible for Superman's farewell to Metr..."
"Parasite obviously panicked by the beating..."
"What the...?"
"His surrender refused, the Parasite unleashed a desperate salvo towards the nuclear-powered Captain Atom. These final words belonged to WKEY's on-site cameraman..."
"Oh my God! The Parasite has split Captain Atom open! HE'S SPLIT HIM OPE..."
"E quella fu la fine."
"Early reports indicate immediate casualties numbering up to a million as the dying Atom's radioactive energy swept hundreds of kilometers... rendering the entire state of Kansas... as well as part of Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri... an irradiated wasteland. Though Magog's comrades have since prevented further spread of the nuclear blight, the total loss of America's breadbasket... the sterilization of its agrarian culture... has thrown world economy into near-collapse in the face of global famine. Magog... along with the metal man Alloy, the sole survivors of the incident... could not be reached for..."
"Off," he said. Seconds later, he was once more surrounded by darkness. His eyes closed as he replayed the events of what he had just scene in his mind. The various emotions rushed through him with each passing second. Right away, he knew what Diana was asking of him to do. After a moment's peace, he turned and headed straight to the opening door where she stood at one side.
"Kal, please," she said as he entered. "Our generation takes its lead from you. We always have. You must face this. If you don't, neither will the rest of us... and it just goes on." She watched as he continued to walk, not even stopping to look her in the eyes. He was headed back to his paradise. "Kal?"
"There's nothing I can do from here," he responded as he walked through the opened doors. "Go back to your island, Diana. You're safe there." He stopped for a moment and sighed. "If you see my daughter... tell her that I send my love." The doors closed and he was gone. Similar to his absence twenty years ago.
Pain came across her as she closed her eyes, turning away from the door that led the man who would've been the salvation she sought. The greatest global threat to attack in over twenty years and he could care less. The world was going to die. She held back the tears that were forming as she took a deep breath. She pushed off and flew away. Away from the Fortress of Solitude. Solitude for only one man.
She leaned on the doorway and watched the two bodies lying in bed for a few moments before doing anything about it. She gently knocked on the door she had opened earlier with a smirk on her face. One of the bodies began to moan a bit as they shifted about underneath the sheets. Apparently they could sleep through anything. Even playing U2 at a nearly deaf-inducing volume couldn't disturb their sleep. Time for the last resort.
"Daddy," she said very gently. The bodies shifted again, still not feeling disturbed by the noises about. She giggled a bit as she took a small step closer. "JUSTICE LEAGUE, ASSEMBLE!" That woke up at least one body. She watched with pure enjoyment as her father's upper body shot straight up with his eyes wide open.
"What! Where!" He finally stopped sputtering panic when he recognized the familiar sound of laughter coming from the door. And who else Keystone City would bother playing U2 at such a volume and not feel pained by the loss of such wonderful melodies. He sighed as he turned to face his teenage daughter, laughing about as she leaned on the door with a hand upon her forehead. He was putting in his best look of frustration, but even he knew there was a bit of smirk on his face. His daughter got him.
"Iris West," he said. "What in the blazes are you doing? Trying to cause the planet to shake with all this noise you're producing?" A bit of a chuckle escaped as he spoke the last sentence.
"Well, I'm obviously gonna have to do more if I'm gonna get two lazy bodies I call my parents to wake up in the morning," she replied, her laughter dying a little but still going strong. "You're just luckily I don't try to wake you up by having to physically shake you guys like I used to when I was a kid."
"Hardy har," her father replied, his frustration disappearing and the smirk becoming more present. "I take it you wanna eat breakfast as a family AGAIN."
"Eggs, bacon and sausage alright with you?" she said with a grin.
"I'll make sure your mother's awake by the time you're done," he replied, lying back down on the bed with his smirk still in view. He exhaled a chuckle as his head hit the bed.
"Five minutes tops, dad," Iris said as she hopped out of the room. She began to sing along to the music as her voice faded away from the bedroom. "I'll show you a place... High on a desert plain... Where the streets have no name!"
He chuckled some more as he moved his body to embrace his smiling wife from behind. "I think you're right, Linda," he said with a grin. "She is becoming more like me with each passing day."
"And that is such a dangerous thought when you think about it, Wally," Linda sighed as she smiled and held the hands that embraced her. "Remember how much you enjoyed flirting with girls back in the day?"
"Don't even start," he chuckled, gently tightening his embrace. "I don't even want to think about her going out with boys any time soon."
"Typical train of thought for fathers, believe me," Linda giggled.
"MOM! DAD!" They both shot up in immediate surprise upon hearing their daughter's cry. Wally quickly jumped out of bed and dashed out to the kitchen. He saw his daughter stand perfectly still, staring at the television screen in the living room across from the kitchen. Along as it didn't result in breakfast getting burnt, he wouldn't mind if she watched while making their meals.
She raised a hand to point at what was on the television screen. Linda had just walked in when Wally turned to see what their daughter's cry was about. Linda turned to and they both dropped their jaws in sheer horror. Upon the screen was a crying newscaster, reporting in front of an animated imagery of Kansas changing colors. Scrolling quickly at the bottom of the screen read, "BREAKING NEWS! KANSAS WIPED OUT IN SUPER HERO DISASTER!"
"I want compensation to be presented to those who had family," he said, his attention focused on the vastness of space outside the clear glass window. "And arrange for special shuttles tomorrow for those who wish to go down there. The charge will be part of the compensation." He watched through the reflection off the glass as the secretary nodded and exited the room. His attention returned to the empty space outside. He didn't bother to turn when figure entered the room moments later.
"Hello, John," said a familiar voice. His eyes glanced at the reflection on the glass before return his attention to space. Familiar figure, skin color, hair. The dead give away was the all too recognizable insignia upon her chest.
"Hello, Katma," he responded not even moving an inch to face her. "Long time no see."
"Too long, if you ask me," she responded, walking closer to him until they were shoulder to shoulder looking out upon the galaxy. "Twenty years with no contact and it turns out you created an empire to run."
"It's no empire, Katma," he said, still not looking at her. "The people are here at their own leisure and leave whenever they wish. It's kinda like Disneyland, only a thriving civilization."
"So I see," she said, turning to look at him. Her eyes examined every inch of his body, drastically changed since the last time they met. He was bald, sporting a graying goatee. He no longer wore the symbolic uniform of the Green Lantern. It appeared more like an ancient battle armor. "I didn't believe it when rumors circled that you had merged yourself with your battery. That you are now a living entity without need to recharge."
"Word travels fast in the universe," he said, his attention still retained upon the empty space behind the glass window. "Happened fifteen years ago. It was the only way to keep this city sustained without having to cut the juice so that I could recharge. Not like I was needed for anything else on this planet."
"Why did you build this city, John?" Katma asked. She was still hoping to get him to at least glance at her without having to physically force him to.
"Look at the Earth, Katma," he said, still refusing to move his head. "What you see is the result of twenty years of endless chaos and irresponsibility of the so-called 'heroes' of this new generation. They looked at the old ways as a slow and useless method to cure the world of its ills. The Earthlings agreed, only to find that they were unable to protect themselves from the ravages of ruthless methods of heroism. All I offered was a home away from home and nothing more. Thus Emerald City was born."
"So instead of protecting the Earth, you created an escape from it," Katma said.
"Earthlings embrace change more openly than most other civilizations, Katma," he responded. "They can embrace a hero one minute and then reject him for a newer kind. Regardless of whether the intentions of the old was better than that of the new, the people don't give a damn. If the method of old wasn't working to their liking, they'll take the new approach and accept the consequences until it no longer works for them."
"A valid reason indeed," she said. "But I can't help but feel that there's something more personal about all this." There it was. Those last words got him to react in a way that would cause him to move his head. He slowly turned his head to look at her for a moment before dropping it with a heavy sigh.
"I miss her deeply, Katma," he said. "If I didn't do something to keep myself busy, I would've gone mad."
"I can only imagine," she said, sensing the sorrow in the tone of his voice. She took a deep breath before placing a hand upon his back. "As much as I felt you and I could've rekindled our relationship, I couldn't help but feel there was something about her that truly was alluring. I guess you can say that seeing you the way you are confirms it."
"Probably why my attempts at moving on always failed after three weeks," he said. Neither could tell if he meant the sentence to come off as a joke, but then he wasn't in a laughing mood. Complete silence descended upon them as they both stared out into the empty space for who knows how long. John finally took a breath and turned to her. "So why did you came here originally?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, I almost forgot," Katma said. "We picked up a signal coming from Earth a couple days ago. It was that of a Lantern's so I thought that you were in some kind of danger. Apparently that wasn't the case."
"Where exactly on Earth?" he asked.
"To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure," she replied. "Just as soon as we got the signal it disappeared. We debated over how many we should send and in what kind of danger you might've been. Or if it was a serious call or just you calling for help by accident when you were perfectly safe. So I came alone to see and quickly report. But if you're not on Earth, then who could've sent the signal?"
"A good question, indeed," John muttered, return his gaze to the vastness of space. "I'd check it out immediately, but as you can tell there's a crisis on Earth and I have to think about the residents of Emerald City to attend to."
"I understand," Katma nodded. "I'd check it out myself, but you're the Green Lantern of this sector and you are the one charged with investigating. We both know I cannot do anything unless the situation is completely out of your hands. You will check it out as soon as you can, right?"
"You got it," John replied. Katma nodded again as she turned toward the exit. He watched her reflection as she stopped at the door to take one last glance at him. "Thank you for coming, Katma. I guess I needed to get that off my chest."
"I know," she replied. "I hope things will get better for you from here on." After a moment's pause, she turned back and exited the room. He sighed, seeing her reflection disappear, and returned his gaze upon the galaxy.
Three days after the Kansas incident...
Many saw the destruction of Kansas as the beginning of the end. For those who called themselves heroes now shared a silent guilt. They're worse than before. They're no longer acting out of boredom. They're acting with abandon. These fears confirmed as onlookers watched helplessly from Metropolis' bridge as the superhumans fired upon one another, stationing themselves on two cable cars packed with frightened innocence.
Before Kansas, these so-called super heroes at least had a grasp of responsibility. Now they didn't even have that. They made no care about those within the cable cars getting hit by stray bullets and sometimes the more violent projectiles. Nothing mattered now. They were following Magog's reckless lead. And now they were out of control.
The onlookers screamed in horror as a bullet snapped one of the cable wires supporting a cable car. The innocence trapped within were about to fall to their undeserved deaths. And the superhumans didn't give a damn. The madness would go on... and on. Any moment, the remaining support cable would break and the cable car would crash into the river below. All the humans shared the same thought. If any of them were to survive... any of them... now more than ever... they needed hope.
And suddenly...
... there was a wind.
No. Not a wind. A blur of motion...
...bending the steels of the superhumans...
... and changing the very course of the mighty river below.
The cable car rested gently upon the bridge, the innocence within saved from almost certain doom. Even before the bystanders freed themselves from the cable car, they knew. They all did. They knew... and remembered.
"Look!"
"Up in the sky!"
He hovered proudly in the air, grasping the two superhumans in his hands. The beard was gone. His hair as short as it was remembered. His face no longer painted with as though he didn't care. It was painted with determination. The cape gently blew with the wind. The "S" on his chest appearing to shine upon the light. If there ever was a man who was a hero, it was him. He was Superman.
He had not turned his back on humanity. He stood in the sky, faith rewarded. He had returned.
But unbeknownst to everyone... including "The Man of Steel" himself... the threat of armageddon hadn't ended.
It had just begun...
to be continued...