In the same place, but somewhere else:
Where the hell am I? he thought.
He looked around and saw his friends gathered, talking with two beings in white. And on the tables... Bruce...and me...
Oh, great...Dead again...I should be seeing Kara anytime...now... A second later, he noticed a particular face in the crowd.
She's alive?! What the hell? How? She died in my arms!
He noticed a silver cord attaching his heel to the heel of his body.
Hmmm...I've read about this...the Kryptonians called it K'aavacha...'The Life-Cord'...as long as that's intact, I'm still alive...in some capacity.
We all are alive, my son... said a male voice into his head. ...But on different levels.
He felt a blast of love hit him.
Who?
Two smiling souls clad in white biosuits walked up to him, hand in hand.
Jor-El? Lara? He thought in shock...And then noticed another three coming up behind them...?
Great Krypton! That's...
Zor-El and Alura, Yes, Kal.
The third soul 'spoke'. It is good to finally meet the twenty-third generation of the house of El. I was Seyg-El, your grandfather. Kal could feel the compassion emanating from him. He also noticed the soul's quiet gray eyes, which seemed to quietly take his measure.
Please rest, Kal, you're safe, and are not going anywhere for the moment...Your body needs to be rebalanced and your physical mind restored, said Lara. She reached out with an unabashed smile and hugged him.
They have much to do...And we have much to discuss with the last head of the House of El. But by the glow of the moons, it is so wonderful to see you again..!
Back in 'reality':
"You almost ascertained what caused the problem, but didn't quite figure out everything." Rao said, walking over to the diases.
Kara stood with her head bowed, trembling, reciting Kryptonese sotto voce.
Lois placed her hand on Kara's shoulder and spoke quietly.
"Kara...You okay? Who is..."
"My name is Rao...Mrs. Lane-Kent. I am...or WAS...viewed as the chief god of the planet your husband and Kara came from. This beautiful soul is my wife, Nara."
Nara stepped forward in front of Kara, gently placing one hand on her cheek, the other under her chin. She gently lifted Kara's head up. "Look at me, child."
"T-To look at either of you directly is to risk damnation."
"That is what your MIND says, Kara...what does your HEART say?"
Kara paused, and took a shaking breath. "N-No danger."
"I say again, look at me." Nervously, the quiet gray eyes opened and focused on Nara. "If it gives you succor, my child...'As in old, my daughter, I say now, you are in my charge, and under my protection. Be not afraid to speak, you need not fear us.' None shall harm you here, nor shall we allow harm to befall you or your comrades here. We will hear your words."
Kara swallowed nervously and nodded. "Th-Thank you, Blessed One."
Nara smiled gently. "Are you familiar with the earth game of 'telephone', yet?"
"No, Mother Nara."
"I am." Lois responded.
"What is it?" asked Nara.
"One person in a chain of people speaks a sentance to the next person. By the time you get to the end of the chain, what you end up with, sentance-wise, is usually unrecognizable as what you started with."
Nara nodded. "Kara, what you read about us has been 'telephoned' through over a hundred thousand years of changing Kryptonian protocols. Some of your people made changes to your scripture DELIBERATELY to scare you and keep you under control. Rao and I will NOT damn you to the Kraayn, as you call it, for looking at us. All we want of you, all we ever DID, is for you to love and trust us as much as we do you both. THAT'S what was lost in most of the translations."
"Perhaps if your people had realized that, Krypton would still exist." Rao replied somberly. Nara nodded. "But then earth would be deprived of two of her finest heroes."
Kara blushed furiously. Rao sighed and responded from across the room.
"...And Kara, my child, I do not take offense at your earlier response. Anyone suffering a loved one's loss, and then meeting us, under circumstances such as these, would easily do the same." His eyes danced with amusement. "...However, if you were to approach my younger brother, Zeus, with that attitude, it would likely be a different story. Am I correct, Diana?" Diana paused and chuckled slightly. "That is likely an UNDERSTATEMENT, Rao. Zeus has never been noted for being that…forgiving…"
Rao smiled and gestured at the prone figures on the diases. "Now...as I was saying...THIS was partially caused by Mr. Mxyzptlk's premature charging of Kara's energies before her body had fully processed Zor-El's pre-charge..."
"Lord Rao, forgive me..." Kara interrupted with a shaking voice. "But wouldn't my body have processed that charge earlier? He DID start it when I was 4 and a half cycles old. And I received more in the capsule enroute to earth..."
"True, my child, but that was your father's best GUESS on what the earth's sun would give you. It was slightly off, and a tad toxic to your cells. Your body was still slowly processing it and removing the toxins when the imp charged you both times, on Themyscira...and in Smallville. These 'ingredients' started this reaction.
The roots of the rest of the mutation, however, lay in two other points in the past."
"As you no doubt recall, Kal kissed you goodnight on the forehead the night you arrived in Metropolis, and got a static shock. This was the remaining magical energies leaving with the toxins. When it got into him, it was drawn to a dark set of memories not his and merged with them.
Around this time, he had started to remember..."
"Remember what...Rao?" John Henry asked.
"Remembering Kara's life here pre-Crisis...This conspired together with the toxins to create the mental 'virus'. The virus only had enough energy to infect one more person, though, so it jumped to Batman, during the alien bridge rescue. In its' final form now, it went to work on both of them simultaneously."
Rao looked up as the Spectre appeared with three women, a redhead in a wheelchair, Harbinger, and an Asian lady in a white suit.
"Good. Everyone is here. My thanks, Spectre."
Diana nodded. "Dr. Light."
"Wonder Woman."
Dr. Light looked at Kara...and felt...guilt?
The redhead hesitated, and then rolled up to Kara, and extended her hand. "You've known me as Oracle, Kara. Nice to finally meet you, in person, as promised."
Kara felt a tickle in her mind, like a door slowly creaking open.
"You...I...I know you, don't I?" Kara looked baffled and confused. "Your name is...Babs..Barbara." she whispered. The door opened a bit more, memories... hers, but not hers, flooding into her head.
"Barbara...Gordon. You were...Batgirl."
Babs nodded sadly.
"My earth birthday...was April 24, yours was the twenty fifth...What…happened to you? You were walking fine when we left to stop..." Her voice trailed off.
The...Anti-Monitor? I never met this person? Thing? Kara thought, puzzled.
Barbara sighed. "I'll tell you about it later."
"You DID meet him, Kara. You met the Anti-Monitor." replied Rao. "And you paid the ULTIMATE price to save everything. But first things first..."
Nara sighed. "Let us get your friends up and healed. We have much to discuss about Crisis...and what happened with the Anti-Monitor."
Nara walked over to Batman, and placed her hands on his temples, closed her eyes and concentrated. An orange glow surrounded his body and he rose a foot into the air. He hung there for a seeming eternity, and then slowly lowered. The glow faded. After a minute, he stirred, and swung his legs over the side of the dias, alert.
"Where am I?! Who are you?!"
Diana relaxed a bit as she noted his familiar terse replies and body language.
"In order: Safe, and I HOPE you know..." Diana said with a gentle smile, as she helped him down off the dias. "The rest...we are still trying to figure out."
Rao closed his eyes and concentrated, hands on Kal's temples. Jagged, dark lightning played around Superman's body. Rao seemed to fight even harder, gritting his teeth in determination. Kal's body convulsed violently.
"Nara...I need you!" he cried.
Kara heard a rustle, and spun...
As a Batarang whipped by her head... And then disappeared out of the air, reappearing in Diana's hand.
She walked over to the Dark Knight and handed it back. "That is Rao. He's trying to help Kal, not attack him. Relax. We can't do anything yet. Let's be patient and see what happens."
The light show increased in violence and intensity. Lois could make out Rao gritting his teeth, determined to resolve the matter. The lights hit a fever pitch, and all had to cover their eyes.
As the light faded, the group saw Rao standing there, clearly drained, but grimly triumphant, holding a force sphere containing...a mobile...living blackness. Nara was healing Superman's mind and body with the orange energy as she did before with Batman.
"What is that, Lord Rao?" Kara stared fascinated and repulsed at the inky blackness.
"This is the core of the 'virus', the death memories. This is the root of Kal's and Batman's problem."
Batman frowned and studied it as Rao walked over.
The blackness seemed to lean on the globe in his direction. He felt a strange but familiar resonance in his being. "This has something to do with me, correct?"
Rao nodded sadly..."And it originated, in this case, with your nemesis, The Joker...and a certain imp from the Fifth Dimension."
Rao waved his left hand and one of the walls became an impromptu screen. "As Kal told you, Mxyztptlk, decided to have some fun with you both...so he went to see the Joker..."
Many minutes later, the group was silent, stunned as the absurd tale finished.
If it were possible, Batman frowned more. "Hrm...I TOLD him that those memories would resurface...AND affect him, somehow." Batman walked up to Rao and held out his hand. "I'll take those back. They're MINE, at any rate..."
His hand grazed the globe...and he froze. Kara heard a slight moan escape his lips as he collapsed to the floor, shaking his head to clear it.
Rao reached down with his free hand and effortlessly lifted a wide-eyed Bruce to his feet.
"This is why all of you are needed..." Rao replied sadly. "These memories are TOO intense for any one person, whether he be Kryptonian or human. They will invariably destroy any one psyche that they are transported to. My last son found that out the hard way...after taking on Batman's burden."
"You will have to spread these memories out among as many as you can. This force shield will allow, at most, five memories to a person, but NONE to Batman. You have to consciously and verbally accept the memories before the sphere releases them. There were at least 2,000 of Batman's Joker-created death memories in here. Kal's mental repatterning destroyed 1,000 of them. You will have to check with those you know to see who will consent to help take on the remainder."
Kara stepped up, followed by Diana, and rested their hands on the globe. They paused for a moment and each muttered something, nodding their heads. The globe glowed twice, and then went back to normal.
Twenty minutes later, the rest of the groups had volunteered to take on the problem...Bruce scowling, alone for the moment, looking like an inkspot in the white non-corner.
Elsewhere:
I have enjoyed this, my son, said Jor-El. It is a comfort to know that the best of us now lives on in you...
...And our beloved daughter, as well, finished Zor-El.
Alura reached out and cradled his cheek. Please, Kal, let her know we ARE with her...and our love will forever be with her.
Kal hesitated, looking at the scene going on below, and then spoke, looking at Jor-El. Ever since that day, when I was twenty-eight, and I encountered your...information hologram, father, I have never truly missed Krypton, never really felt a TRUE connection to that cold world. In fact, I thought of it, and all its' culture, later on the day of the encounter, as being 'ultimately meaningless'.
I'm not so sure about that perspective anymore.
He hesitated, and all saw his glow dim; saw the sadness gnawing at his soul.
Meeting you all here changes everything.
You would likely not have liked us had you met us when we were still in life, grandson, said Seyg-El, laying a hand on his left shoulder. The coldness and fear from the wars was still active in almost all of us...My sons, to a degree, were the exception. They were creative, curious, emotional, at turns...and mortifying to me. I had long since given up on trying to make them into what our world considered 'normal'. They, and their wives likely would have been the only people you would have been able to tolerate. I was always embarrassed by their emotionalism, and lack of propriety, but if Krypton had survived, they likely would have been the ones to help turn that around.
Jor looked at Seyg with humor dancing bright in his eyes. ...And you would have tolerated that?!
No, I would likely have disowned you...after 450 years, you tend to get rather ...set in your ways...Seyg responded with a slight smile and a shrug.
Kal felt a tug and saw the silver cord go taut. Rao had removed the damaged memories, and Nara was beginning to heal his mind and body.
NO! Not now! There's too much to talk about! I...
Jor rested his hand on Kal's right shoulder. My son, you still have much to do, many you have yet to help and guide, before you join us. We will meet again, and will be with you always.
Lara walked up and looked at him... She saw the loss and pain on his face and racing about his aura. She kissed him on the forehead and caressed his cheek, and then cradled his head between her palms.
Remember me, my child.
A-Always, Mother. He struggled to control himself, resisting the mounting pull to the other world.
She hugged him. Give my thanks to your earth parents. They raised you far better than we could have.
The rest quickly took turns hugging him, Jor-El last. He then held the fading soul by his shoulders. You and Kara are the best of both worlds...and what we COULD have been; had we learned...Thank you for that...We live on in you.
The pull was too strong.
No! I don't....