Jump Chain 14 - Smallville
Part 6
Above Themyscira. Smallville Verse.
"The ring seems to be working," said Black Widow from the command centre back at Lux.
Recently I recreated another bit of cool technology called the Legion Flight Ring, they were used by the Legion of Superheroes in the 31st century to allow members of the group to fly as not everyone could do that under their own power. I'd been traded a version of this tech by someone back on Halloween Earth only that ring had never worked it must have been damaged in some fight with the monsters spawned by that spell.
I'd not been able to repair it until the Santa Jump because of a lack of free time, and then I'd lacked a power source small enough to fit in the ring, mostly because I'd not been motivated enough to make one until now, but with Power Girl flying around I felt the desire to keep up so I got back to fiddling about with the rings.
As it turned out the glowing space rock could provide the energy required, and while the power would not last the amount of space rock required was so little that I would be able to power my fight ring for years to come just using what I already had stashed in my vault.
The radiation was contained by a special metal called Valorium which could be compared to Thanagarian Nth Metal as it possesses similar anti-gravity capabilities without any interference with mystical forces some versions of Nth metal caused, and while it was denser than lead the anti-gravity properties made the ring seem almost weightless.
A Legion Flight Ring was controlled by mental command, as was a Green Power Ring, likely the technology for the Flight Rings came from Power Rings, and this version of the tech also projected an invisible field around a person to protect them from the g-forces the body would be exposed to during supersonic flight and the field kept your vision clear while up in the air so no worries about getting dust in your eyes or being blinded by smoke while you were in flight.
I also wore some new clothing. This outfit was made from a black t-shirt and black jeans, but they were made from very advanced materials that just looked as if they belong on a modern-day Earth. The main part of the outfit was a leather jacket, that sported the House of Om symbol on the back so I could leave it unzipped. Much like Clark's in later seasons, a differently coloured yet similar outfit that would have his House's symbol on the front.
"Nat I've found the island," I said over the comm "It could Themyscira. Have you found any mention of the island or anyone connected to it?".
Themyscira along with Metropolis, Star City, Edge City, Blüdhaven, Keystone City, Coast City, Central City and Gotham City, was one of those places that only existed in the many DC universes, and while neither my memory or my files mentioned the existence of Themyscira in the Smallville verse I was fairly sure that right now I was floating above it.
The island seemed to have some sort of barrier around it that must divert shipping, and project an image of the open ocean around and above the island. This wouldn't be the first time I'd seen magic employed that way and it must work from above to or the satellites would have spotted the island as well.
My group's satellites had found this place while looking for other weird stuff, but we'd gotten around the island cloaking barrier by scanning for life signs after picking up some odd energy readings. Anything less than our super-advanced tech wouldn't have found anything.
"I found records of a Wonder Woman during World War Two" Widow mentioned to me "Most of it is speculation unless you break into the classified files and there's been no mention of her since then. If there is more information on that hero, I can't find it online".
Perhaps Wonder Woman would return in the future once the Clark Kent of this world donned his cape as for the one active during the 1940s the paper records must have been kept off the net. They might only exist only at the back of a filing cabinet in the basement of the Pentagon.
"Any information at all on what she was up to at the time?" I asked.
There was a pause.
"There's a scanned newspaper article for the Daily Planet about Wonder Woman stopping a Nazis superman program" she let me know "The Nazis developed a super-soldier serum during WWII and it tested on one man before the whole project when up in flames, quite literally. They called him Captain Nazi... something about all that seems very familiar".
I couldn't imagine why. Sarcasm.
"Widow," I said to her over the comm "I'm going in for a closer look. We might lose contact, so I'll call you back as soon as I'm done here".
I'd decided to come here and check this place out since I'd wanted to test out the flight ring anyway and I would just open a portal if I got into any trouble, or just fly away.
When I softly landed on the ground I began to look around and soon realised why this place was sometimes called Paradise Island because it was really nice, lots of greenery, Greek-style buildings, and so many attractive women all bathing naked in a lake near a waterfall.
Normally I was no Peeping Tom, but I found myself transfixed by the sight before me. These Amazon women were busty beauties the likes of which you didn't normally find in human populations without some genetic engining having been involved or a lot of magic.
The sight before me was arousing somewhat, however, it was the sheer beauty of the women that really had my attention. If anything that might be too attractive, as other women simply couldn't compare to these nude Amazons. Lucky for me my companions were exceptional females already. Plus Galatea had them all beat hands down in terms of both looks and power.
"Want me to record this for you?" asked Cortana.
My heavily upgraded Omni-tool could capture enough images of this for it be recreated on a holodeck if I so desired. Which I might do for purposes of relaxation for myself and my companions with optional naked Amazons.
"Please" I muttered.
My mouth was dry. I couldn't move, and this was silly, I was no hormone ridden teenager. I was Gothic, a Jumper with over a century of experience, vast powers, advanced technology and enough magic to make even Merlin seem like a sideshow performer. I should not be drooling over bathing ladies.
What snapped me out of it was when a spear or javelin landed at my feet. I'd been discovered by a warrior woman and while she did look as if they'd been training for the Olympics I didn't think that javelin had been sent my way by mistake.
"Okay I know that peeping is wrong, but don't you think that trying to kill me is a bit excessive for a punishment?" I questioned.
The native woman, who looked like the very definition of a scary redhead, didn't seem to think so. She took a sword out of a scabbard and charged at me. Amazons had more than enough strength to match me right now as I was still developing my Kryptonian powers, this body hadn't matured yet and I needed to absorb more yellow sun radiation, but they lacked my speed and I did have some fighting skills when it came to hand to hand combat. As such as I able to take the sword from the warrior and flip her to the ground.
When I inspected the weapon I figured that it must be made of Amazoniun, a virtually indestructible metal found on Themyscira. Parts of Wonder Woman's armour, as well as her bracelets, are made of Amazonium, and are empowered by the gods of Ancient Greece.
Another legend said that Amazonium was given to the Amazons many thousands of years ago by the Olympian gods when they proved to be formidable warriors. Since I'd once created some using the matter furnace I knew that it was a magical kind of iron which the Amazons made into steel using some process and then forged into weapons. Since I didn't know the process I'd never been able to create my own Amazonium weapons. I figured that I'd just keep this blade and add to my collection of weapons that could be found in the Asgardian Armoury addon in the Cosmic Warehouse.
If I was correct, and I always was when it came to swords then this weapon was a xiphos, a double-edged, one-handed Iron Age straight shortsword used by the ancient Greeks, only this was made of steel so they had advanced the technology somewhat.
"Give that back" ordered the native lady.
I was not foolish enough to re-arm someone who wished me harm, and the weapon was mine now since I'd defeated its last owner in a fight, and I felt that I was owed compensation since the scary redhead had tried to murder me for trespassing and peeping, and that was wrong.
"Please calm down" I requested.
The warrior got back up to her feet.
"No man may set foot on this island. The penalty is death!" the local woman cried out.
The local woman wrenched the spear from the ground and twirled it around until she had it in a proper grip.
"Can't we just talk this out" I requested
My new sword was met by another weapon of fine craftsmanship or craftswomanship in this case.
"I don't really want to have to fight you," I said.
This was a misunderstanding. I was no invader. I'd come here to explore not to harm and while the Amazons had reason to be wary of men, killing them on sight seemed too extreme.
"Coward" the warrior accused.
I'd been called many things during my long life, and many of those insults could be justified, but not that one.
"No. I just don't want to have to hurt you" I told the lady.
We traded more blows. Steel clanged.
"As if you could," she said with a sneer.
I didn't think it was okay to use violence towards women, but this was self-defence and she was getting on my nerves. With super-speed I disarmed her again, carefully as these Amazon weapons were forged with magic and my current form was vulnerable against magic, then I grabbed the woman and took her up into the air with me. Her race was tough so the fall from this height shouldn't kill her.
She did drop, but that was because something hit me in the arm, an arrow, it stuck in my flesh and caused me pain, which made me drop the local. I pulled the arrow out and I was amazed that it had been able to not only bypass my Kryptonian invulnerability but the materials of my clothing with such ease, and somehow ignore my kinetic barrier, the generator for which was contained in my belt. Clearly some clever spell work had been used while forging this arrow so I secured in my pouch of holding before dropping back to the ground.
Perhaps I should have just flown away, but I was upset now and I'd already healed the injury with my magical powers, that I could still access in this form and being vulnerable to magic meant that healing spells worked just fine on this body.
Thanks to my super speed I was able to use my new sword to batter any arrows that came my way out of the air. and while the natives could harm me none of them landed a blow. Clark Kent would have been in trouble at this point since he didn't have my experiences in battle, but I was doing just fine.
"I'm willing to end the fighting!" I yelled at the Amazons "I will leave as soon as I get an apology!".
Apparently murdering me was too much fun for them to pass on. They were going all out I discovered when I got to the beach, they had chariots, and even ballistas, that had been set up very quickly. They were taking me seriously as a threat.
"Men are forbidden on this island" a powerful voice called out.
Suddenly all the fighting stopped and I turned to see a regal looking woman who must be the ruler here.
"Your Majesty" I greeted.
The queen came up and stood in front of me, exposing herself to attack and yet ready to fight judging by her armour, sword and shield.
"You speak to the Queen of the Amazons," a blue-eyed woman with jet black hair beside the armoured blonde said.
I had to smile.
"Well, duh" I replied, "I just called her, Your Majesty".
The black-haired woman, who had to be Diana, unsheathed a sword and pointed it at me. It was much like the one I was carrying now.
"Do you know the penalty for trespassing on this island?" the Queen asked.
I did.
"Yes," I answered.
My honest and simple answer seemed to put the Queen off-guard for a moment.
"Did you think your power would allow you to defeat us?" she asked next "Did you think we were easy to defeat? Do you think yourself so great that you could overwhelm us and that you could take what you wanted?"
This made me laugh.
"No, I'm just an explorer I have no interest in conquering your little island," I told the queen "Your technology is thousands of years out of date, your culture looks backwards and the natives are hostile. I could make my own hidden island way better than this".
Maybe I would. With the proper use of Muggle repelling charms, some illusions and the right climate I could have my own paradise island.
"My queen, why do you stay your hand? The man is in violation of the law, the penalty is clear" one of the ladies in the background called out "Kill him!".
Something about that Amazon worried me.
"Aresia, I love you my daughter but you speak out of turn," said the queen.
Now I knew why she worried me. This was Aresia, in the DCAU she was rogue misandrist Amazon who became determined to purge every male from the planet. She was also is the adoptive sister of Diana. Lucky for her this wasn't the DCAU or I'd have killed her at this point just be sure she wouldn't wipe out half a species.
"Look I'm just going to go," I said to the natives "I just wanted to check out the island that didn't appear on any maps".
With a wave of my hand, I made a portal and I stepped through it. I was a little surprised that the gods that were supposed to protect this place allowed a portal to be made, but perhaps they simply stopped someone from portalling to the island and didn't mind me leaving.
The locals did seem to mind, but with a gesture and a word, I caused the air between myself and the Amazons to thicken so that it looked as if the warrior women were moving through the air that had turned from a gas into a liquid.
"Don't worry I won't be coming back" I shouted.
That didn't stop them from trying to chase after me, despite the spell slowing them down, but I closed the portal before any of them could follow.
(Line Break)
Metropolis. DCAU.
While waiting for Power Girl, who'd wanted me to return to this world so that she could grab a few things. These things included the original samples of Supergirl's DNA that she'd been cloned from, as she didn't want another Galatea, and I hoped that she didn't kill her creator to ensure that. Not that I would judge her for doing that as he'd put a bomb in her skull so that she could be killed if she ever did something that CADMUS didn't like.
I stood outside a TV store that was showing a recent news story, a live one in fact, that involved Grundy smashing up some city, and the League wasn't doing so well in stopping him. Superman wasn't taking quite the pounding by the looks of things.
"What is that?" Karen asked.
She'd appeared beside me so quickly that I barely sensed her presence until she spoke.
"That is Grundy" I answered "He's basically a super-powered zombie. Right now he's being fueled by chaos magics and can only be stopped by something that can disrupt that power, like Nth metal weapons".
Possibly my sword Caliburn could destroy Grundy as it could kill what was already dead, but Grundy might be too powerful for that, and if I interfered too much then Hawkgirl might not rejoin the League. Still, it might be a good idea to go lend a hand so that we could make contact with the League and maybe get part-time membership, or at least a tour of the Watchtower.
We could come to this dimension often, and I'd like to be able to visit the Watchtower, as well as get the chance to meet some cool heroes. Plus this could be a chance to acquire some valuable information and to get a look at their cool tech.
"Let's get changed and go help," I said.
A quick trip back to my Lux was in order for a costume change and then we could join the fight.
(Line Break)
The Watchtower. DCAU.
Batman worked at the console as the display brought up the two visitors to the Watchtower. They'd arranged their own portal up the station at a set time, and they were now getting a tour of the Justice League's HQ by one of its members.
Mr Terrific was one of the smartest human beings on the planet, a perfect candidate to coordinate and handle the League's resources during a worldwide crisis. He equipped himself with "T-Spheres", floating spherical probes that fly around at his command and they could be used as weapons or detection devices. He also understood more about the League's work than any other member so he made a good candidate for explaining the organisation to potential members or important visitors.
"I scanned the portal," the Dark Knight said to Superman "It's nothing like a boom tube if I had to guess it must be magical in nature. I'll have to ask Doctor Fate for more details, I don't like the idea of strangers being able to open up portals into the station".
The local version of Clark Kent was more interested in who had come through the portal than how'd they gotten here.
"The woman, she resembles Kara" he stated, "I thought as much when I met her, but we didn't get any chance to talk about it".
Batman froze the image and zoomed in on the image of the female visitor. Both she and the male, who was called Gothic, had joined members of the League as they attempted to bring Grundy's ramage under control. In the end, Shayera Hol had been required to use her Nth metal mace to destroy what remained of the zombie as nothing else could have. After that battle, there hadn't been much time for discussion, but the two visitors had told members of the League they were travellers who ventured to other dimensions.
"The computer's facial recognition software agrees with you," said Gotham's grim guardian "She appears to be several years older than your cousin. Best guess she's an alternate version of Supergirl from a dimension somewhat similar to our own, but with some differences, such as this Supergirl's age, that would explain this Power Girl having a few years on your cousin as well the costume design".
Superman rubbed his chin as he lip-read the conversation the three people on the screen were now having.
"Even their Earth names are similar" he let Batman know "She's called Karen rather than Kara".
Batman zoomed the image out.
"I scanned them both when they entered the station," the Caped Crusader told the Man of Steel "This Gothic isn't human either, he doesn't match anything in our databases and even the Green Lantern Core has never heard anything about a race called Asgardians. Our own databanks have nothing about them outside of legend, and that supports the idea of the both of them coming from alternate dimensions".
The image changed again showing outlines of the two visitors.
"I picked up a number of energy signatures on the man and only one on the female" the Dark Knight was now saying "They both seem to have some sort of device on the left wrist. Most likely a computer of some sort. Gothic's ring is emitting trace amounts of anti-gravitons, this must be what allows him to fly, and he carries a number of devices inside his utility belt".
Superman smirked as he realised that Batman wasn't the only person around here who liked to be prepared for anything.
"No weapons as far as I can see" Bruce Wayne reported "But from what you saw during the battle with Grundy this Gothic can make weapons appear as if from thin air. Some sort of magic I'd guess, like an extra-dimensional storage space he can access at will. Again something to run by Doctor Fate".
Superman was now wondering something.
"With so many unknowns I'm surprised that you let them step one foot inside the Watchtower," the alien superhero said.
Batman kept working as he spoke.
"I can study their behaviour in a controlled environment here" explained the Dark Knight "besides I think the League could benefit from making allies who can so easily move between different dimensions. They could have access to technology and information we don't".
Yes, that was a consideration. Something Superman would have to think about before extending an offer to these visitors.
(Line Break)
Watchtower. DCAU.
Power Girl, now in her new outfit and with different hair as well as a change in eye colour so as to alter her appearance enough to fool CADMUS, dropped out a portal with me mere seconds after I'd switched to my Asgardian form. While my Kryptonian body was more powerful than my other forms it also looked like the body of a sixteen-year-old boy and someone that young-looking was unlikely to be invited into the Justice League, or be taken seriously as an ally.
Not that I cared much to be invited, mostly I just wanted a good look around the Watchtower and a chance to snag any cool tech they left lying around. If I couldn't do that here then there would be some alternate version of the Watchtower that could be looted.
After the Imperium invasion, the events that were seen at the start of the first season of Justice League, a man called General Wells commented that the Earth had been caught off-guard and did not have the means to detect any advance warnings of another alien invasion. Batman seized on this remark and contributed the Watchtower to the world's defence, which he called a "line item in the Wayne Industries R&D budget." In other words, it was a secret from Wayne's stockholders. My experience in business matters told me that this shouldn't be possible, and it certainly wasn't legal, but since the Watchtower was also ideal for keeping a watch on the Earth below, the Justice League adopted it as their headquarters.
The Watchtower was largely an automated facility and did not require any extensive crew to operate and maintain it, beyond the seven League members. Entry was restricted to these seven, who also carried special transmitters to allow them entry.
While the League was in the Justice Lords' dimension, the Justice Lords took it upon themselves to arm the Watchtower with numerous weapons and close up vulnerable openings. This was likely all undone after the Justice League returned and defeated the Justice Lords.
The first Watchtower was briefly occupied during the Thanagarian invasion and later destroyed when Batman deliberately took it out of orbit and piloted it to an impact with the Thanagarians' hyperspace bypass generator. Which was a very good thing since the bypass generator would have destroyed the Earth if he hadn't.
When the League expanded it was headquartered in the larger Watchtower II. After the Thanagarian invasion, the Justice League decided to not only rebuild but also considerably expand its roster. With the League's growing membership, a new base of operations was needed, thus the Watchtower II was built.
Whether or not this new Watchtower was built by Batman in similar secrecy as its predecessor from Wayne Enterprise's stockholders, was unknown to me, but what I did know was that the second Watchtower was significantly larger and had a far greater logistical presence, including a large amount of support staff, made up of non-heroes.
A flickering light on my Omni-tool let me know that someone was scanning me so I whispered for Cortana to return the favour and to be subtle about it. Neither Power Girl or I were hidden from scans as I'd never introduced her the magical marks that kept a person or thing from getting scanned or remotely observed. I'd never protected my Asgardian body like that as I wanted the big and powerful from to be noticed. I even dressed this body differently. Going for a mismatched look of leather, metal, and other materials, along with stuff like small blessed silver symbols (you never knew when a demon would be about) and small trophies.
"So are we going to join?" Power Girl as me once the tour was over and we were left waiting in the cafeteria before our meeting with the founding members of the League "Can we even join? I mean how would they call us up for missions?".
I'd considered that and nothing I'd come across allowed for communication across dimensions unless a message was delivered in person. I had a number of ways of handling that and while I could build a pair of Quantum Mirrors that could link this reality with the Smallville one for ease of travel I wasn't sure if it was worth the effort.
While it could be fun to go on missions with members of the League I would be off doing my own thing across the multiverse. But if there was a quick way for the League to reach my base of operations, such as the Quantum Mirrors, then they'd be able to contact members of my group if they needed some help with something or some extra pairs of hands, or just had information worth sharing.
"They're ready for you now," said one of the minor heroes who'd been sent to fetch us.
I instructed Power Girl to wait here for me while I went and talked to the founding members of the Justice League. We had much to discuss.
(Line Break)
Lux. Smallville Verse.
I'd made a deal with the League, who would share with my group technology and information they deemed safe to share, in exchange for material support from my organisation, which was still called the Gothic Consortium, it had gotten that name from Padme during the Halloween Jump.
This deal involved me improving on some of their equipment, like their uniforms, gadgets, and support craft, using my very advanced tech. To do this, I needed knowledge and samples of the original and this would lead to me getting more samples to study. Convincing them to make this deal hadn't been too hard as I had plenty of experience in making bargains and alliances.
Sometime soon I would also give them one pair of a set of Quantum Mirror for ease of movement between this dimension and theirs. For security purposes, each mirror could be switched off so if there was no one here at Lux the mirror here wouldn't let anyone in from the DCAU verse. However when Lux did have someone in it who could help the League then they could send someone through the mirror, and this worked the other way around.
Now I'd returned home so as to start work. I was in the lab with bits and pieces all around me as I worked to improve on some of the equipment the League used. They'd not yet decided what information to send me and to help things along I'd decided to make some simple freebies, nothing major, just a few things that would give them an idea of what I could do for them.
I didn't intend to spend too much time doing this as there were dimensions to explore, loot to be found, and babes to bed, but I did find it relaxing sometimes o come down to the workshop in the basement so that I could tinker with things.
Right now I was working on a more advanced version of the utility belt that I'd made for the tiny Catwoman. This was a gift for Batman and was an improvement on his existing utility belt, the design for which I had on a file since I'd had access to this sort of technology for many years.
Batman's Utility Belt had compartments to hold several items, the contents of which change according to his needs and often included items such as flashlights, laser cutters, underwater rebreathers, binoculars, a fingerprinting kit, remote controls for his vehicles, Batarangs, hand grenades, and the remote control for access to the Watchtower.
While Batman himself never seemed to have any difficulty with the belt. Nor did he ever use any complicated procedure for opening the belt's compartments, it evidently involved some fairly sophisticated security measures, which for some reason didn't prevent it from being removed from his body when captured.
An example of this was when Batman was taken captive by the Injustice Gang, Lex Luthor spent a great deal of time and effort to open the belt. Initial brute-force attempts resulted not only in failure to get it opened but in explosions and electric shocks damaging the would-be attacker. Only after using a large and powerful machine of some sort was Lex able to open the belt and empty out its contents.
I could improve upon these security measures if I so wished, but my focus was more on giving Batman pouches that were bigger on the inside and so could allow him to carry more while not adding to the amount of weight he would need to carry around. Something I quickly achieved thanks to a mixture of magic and access to highly advanced materials.
While this was a gift I had no doubt that Batman would spend a great deal of time inspecting the belt for hidden tracking or recording devices, neither of which there would be since I had no need to track Batman. I already knew where he lived and where his base could be found so spying on him was pointless.
Not that I would mind checking out the Batcave. That was something to look into. After I'd made the belt.