Author's note – This Omake was inspired by and is intended to show my appreciation of the Chicago Sentinels series by Marion G. Harmon (who retains all rights etc).

It (sort of) takes place in at the climax of the first book in Chapter 39, from which several paragraphs are quoted in italics. The viewpoint is Astra's.

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Wearing The Cape – Divergence

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Blasted and burning vehicles littered the shattered compound. A smoky light illuminated dead and moving bodies and shattered buildings. It looked like a scene from hell.

Ajax and Blackstone had beaten us. Blackstone, already hit, sat propped against the glowing dome that covered Touches Clouds and her protector, firing away with calm precision. His mouth moved as if he were talking to somebody.

Ajax had engaged the giant. I recognized him from media-coverage of the Caliphate War: Seif-al-Din, the great Islamo-fascist martyr. Martyrs were supposed to stay dead.

The Sword of The Faith stood ten foot tall, the shadows of enormous angel wings rising from his back. His skin glowed in undulating spots of bright and dim light, looking like the surface of the sun. Towering over Ajax, he swung a sword bigger than I was. Each impact shook the air.

Somehow Ajax stood up to him, though the ground shook with the shock of each hit he took on his ringing maul. Seif-al-Din so far outreached him he didn't even try to strike back. Around them lay broken defenders and attackers while others fought on, ignored by the two locked titans.

Then Ajax went down, maul shattered, the great flaming sword blocked from its killing blow by an energy shield projected by someone I had never seen before.

"Hey, big guy." The newcomer grinned. "Looks like you need some help."

"We need to save the President." Atlas announced as he landed beside Ajax, reaching down to help him to his feet even as the newcomer blocked another earth-shaking strike, then Seif-al-Din vanished in a thunderclap, carried away by a blue-and-red blur.

I blinked, then the blond boy laughed as a red-headed man wearing an odd glowing visor joined us.

"Hey, Cyclops."

"Havoc." The visored man said, looking round. "I've tagged all the hostiles."

"Then let's do this!" Havoc laughed, unleashing an energy blast from his right hand.

"We stand together against all odds." Cyclops started with a grin.

"We'll face down men, demons and gods." Havoc joined in with a grin that just as wide.

"We stand for what's right and they will find, that they will fall as it's SUMMERS TIME!"

I stared in amazement as a veritable driving blizzard of red energy bolts erupted from Cyclops' visor, scything through the battlefield as he slowly turned yet somehow not hitting a single one of the military and allied forces. As the barrage ended, Seif-al-Din was slammed into the ground so hard that the impact formed a crater and I stared in shock at the man who had taken down the monstrous being.

"You… you're Superman!" I exclaimed in shock, then I blushed at how I must have sounded even as the new trio exchanged looks.

"Am I… fictional?" Superman asked and I nodded in confusion. "Ah, must be bleed-over from reality-resonance. Again."

I shook my head in bemusement. That sentence made absolutely no sense to me, yet the other two men obviously understood.

"Hey, boy scout." A rough-looking man with three blades attached to each hand shouted as he approached. "The bad guys are dead, captured or fleeing. Who do we talk to about placing the Gate? And where? I'm missing your mom's cookies."

I looked round at the now-quietening battlefield, seeing almost a dozen figures in uniforms similar to the ones worn by all the newcomers except Superman. And how could he be Superman?

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"A parallel reality." Blackstone repeated for the fifth time as we sat round the table in the Assembly Room. At the top of the table, President Touches Clouds sat beside Atlas, the two of them still comfortable together from when she had been on the team as one of the founding members. The only other non-Sentinel at the table was Clark Kent, or Superman.

"Multiple parallel realities." Clark replied (again). "I must say though that judging from some of the quantum echoes my scanners picked up, this reality seems to have changed recently."

"The Event." Ajax said, his left hand rubbing the cast on his right arm. "Just over three seconds of worldwide sensory deprivation ten years ago. We still don't know what caused it, but Breakthroughs started happening almost instantly."

Clark nodded. "Ten years ago… in my reality, that would be about when Thanos tried to use the Infinity Gauntlet to become a God. I wonder… All of that power he had gathered had to go somewhere…"

Blackstone shook his head. "Wait… what?"

"It's only a theory." Clark shrugged. "Anyway, on to more pressing matters. I assume that you're the primary superhero team of America?"

"Yes we are." Atlas said with a wry smile. "We were the first and remain the best."

"Excellent." Clark smiled. "May I offer you a moon-dome in my reality as a kind-of embassy for yours? We'll be happy to swap notes on technology, powers, cross-training and medicine."

"I'm listening." Touches Clouds said, leaning forwards.

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Authors Afternote:- This Omake is a future what-if and is not part of the continuity of the Institute Saga.

The Chicago Sentinels books written by Marion G. Harmon are (in story order):-

Wearing The Cape
Villains Inc
Bite Me: Big Easy Nights
Omega Night (Short Story)
Young Sentinels
Small Town Heroes
Ronin Games

I cannot recommend these stories highly enough and they are available to download for Kindle at Amazon.

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Edit 15/12/15 - Having read the newest book "Ronin Games" for the umpteenth time, I finally noticed what may be a reference to my IS stories!
In the intro to chapter 27, Astra notes that she had visited four extra-reality locations, the Littleton Pocket, [Redacted] (fish-god's world linked to Japan), the cinematic superheroic Universe Alpha and Oz.
Guess what the reality-line in my IS stories was designated. Yep, Alpha.
And in this Omake, Astra confirms that Superman is fictional in her reality...

If this isn't a co-incidence, I have only this to say. Thanks, Marion! You made my day! Wahoo!