Crisis Point

by Legend Maker

There can be no better way of knowing, in a world beyond controlling...are you going to deny the savior right in front of your eyes? Are you, heroes? Titans? Alien? THEN YOU WILL ALL FALL.

6. War: The Brave And The Bold

War

Writer's Note: I have received a few comments on how some aspects of my story are confusing, which is understandable. Despite my lengthy explanation (see Chapter 2), we are still only examining one aspect of a picture in depth, while I refer to others aspects of it in both direct and oblique ways. So I will begin with another brief explanation, which fills in a few gaps in the background revealed since the original writing and picks up from the conclusion of the first one. Hopefully this will clarify the picture for some.

Then I: Heaven

In the closing moments of the Crisis on Infinite Earths, only three soldiers remained in the final battle with the Anti-Monitor, whose last thrust in the storyline entailed pulling the planet Earth into his anti-matter universe to destroy it once and for all. Though the battle had badly wounded the Anti-Monitor, the nature of it had forced all the other heroes to flee back to the positive matter universe, aided by Alexander Luthor Jr, a crucial part of the Crisis (see original Crisis on Infinite Earths summery), whose managed to use his positive and anti-matter powers to transform his body into a portal large enough to push the Earth back to where it belonged, the heroes following. In the end, only three remained: Alex Luthor Jr himself, who could only close the portal by sealing himself in the anti-matter universe, and two others.

Kal-L, the Superman of Earth-2, the Golden Age Superman (hereby called Kal-L: his modern counterpart is named Kal-EL), whose world, past, and all that he loved, including his wife, Lois Lane-Kent, had been erased in the combining of the five core Earths into one, his own existence preserved only because he was at the dawn of time during the battle between the Anti-Monitor and the Spectre which triggered this (see Crisis Summery for details).

And Clark Kent, Superboy-Prime, the sole hero of Earth-Prime, whose powers triggered even as the Crisis began, the young teen unable to do more then the bare minimum with them before his Earth was destroyed, leaving him the sole survivor as he joined the side of the heroes late in the game.

Despite both being literal Supermen, and the Anti-Monitor's greatly weakened state, it seemed that they could yet lose the day…and then the final factor entered the fray. Darkseid, dread lord of Apokolips, used his supremely advanced technology to 'tap into' the eyes of Alexander Luthor, and then used the connection to direct a blast of his devastating energy attack, the Omega Effect, out through Alex Luthor's eyes, striking the Anti-Monitor a devastating blow. Though the Monitor made one last ditch effort afterward, one final titanic blow from Kal-L finally ended the battle, as the Anti-Monitor's remains tumbled into a star.

Unfortunately, this had the nasty side effect of making the star go nova, the Anti-Monitor's unique makeup causing the eruption to send out shockwaves of antimatter force that even the two Supermen could not run from. And in truth, neither wanted to: all they had loved was gone, they had nothing to return to.

Or so it seemed. Alexander Luthor revealed that with the last of his dimensional portal powers, he had, before the combining of the Earths, allowed Lois Lane-Kent to hide within his own body, protecting her from being erased. And even as he revealed this fact, he spoke that with no place left for them in the Post-Crisis world, these four could instead use Alexander's body to enter a paradise. And in the end, that was what the four did, escaping the antimatter shockwave, even as Alex Luthor promised that, where they were going, there would be no fear, just "peace…everlasting peace."

Unfortunately, even Alexander Luthor Jr, a true genius if there ever was, had no idea how wrong he would be.

Then II: Reality

While Alexander Luthor did bring the four, including himself, to a truly exceptional plane of existence, the dire nature of the events surrounding his discovery of it, all of which demanded most of his attention, most likely ensured that he did not have time to examine it. And that would mark the beginning of the turn.

The dimension the four entered, the 'paradise', did not have the 'facilities' of what some would dub 'traditional' paradises. The plane of existence the four had entered, though, did possess two very important to note-factors.

1) The dimension reacted to their emotions and thoughts, forming whatever they thought or felt. But as Alex Luthor later mused, the surface of blankness always remained the same, only papered over. And something else…

2) A 'magic crystal wall', which consisted of a massive length of 'mirrors' so to speak, on which could be viewed any aspect of the past, present, and future, like a kind of omnipresent video player, allowing the people within the paradise to watch whatever they chose. However…

The flaw immediately became apparent: the main factor of the paradise required input. And in the end, only Kal-L and Lois Lane-Kent, having lived long lives together, could properly exist in the place: they had each other. Superboy-Prime, on the other hand, only had his brief memories, of his childhood and adolescence and the brief moment he had powers on his planet before it was destroyed in the Crisis. Alex Luthor, having existed almost entirely as a weapon to stop the Crisis (see Crisis Summery), did not even have that: as he said it "I went from conception to deception in the blink of an eye". The rift quickly became apparent: in terms of what paradise this dimension could provide, Alex Luthor and Superboy-Prime were left out in the cold.

And being only human, in time, that grew to affect them as it would humans, as Superboy-Prime watched his happy memories and times over and over on the crystal wall, and Alex Luthor, left alone with his minimal thoughts and the memories of others, began to grow immensely frustrated with this form of existence, and in that began his fall…

Perhaps worst of all, time did not flow in this dimension, it gathered instead (hence the crystal wall showing memories and events from all points of it). Alex Luthor and Superboy-Prime would be forced to exist in such a state for eternity.

And as Superboy-Prime himself began to grow frustrated with the existence he had as well, even as Alexander Luthor noticed his anti-matter powers, having vanished in the defeat of the Anti-Monitor, were beginning to return, the young man, his mind starting to crack apart, finally began to hit on a supposed 'answer' to his and Prime's existence in the dimension, ie just WHY they had come to this 'paradise' if it did not serve them as it did Kal-L and Lois Lane-Kent. When Luthor transported the four (himself included), what he had never revealed was that beforehand, while hunting for a way out of the anti-matter universe before the shockwaves destroyed them, he had in fact discovered TWO portals: one lead to their heaven and one lead to what appeared to be hell. The choice seemed obvious at the time, but as time passed in the dimension and Alex Luthor had nothing but his thoughts, he began to reexamine his decision, and via the crystal walls of time, discovered Darkseid's hand in the final moments…and how Darkseid's 'linkup' to Alexander Luthor may have caused him to see Apocalyps and misinterpret it as hell. And from his time in the dimension, Alexander Luthor had noted that while Apocolyps, while indeed like hell, could also lead back to Earth, the new Earth formed in the wake of the Crisis, something that could not be done in this paradise dimension that Alex and Superboy-Prime now found themselves 'trapped' in.

The final straw came from Alexander Luthor and Superboy-Prime's observations of the merged Earth, and how after the Crisis had subsided it had seemed to enter a period of great darkness, where the heroes grew darker and the villains became even more malevolent (The reasons for which, as explained in the previous explanation, was ultimately due to the 90's XTREEM movement in comics and the way it affected all aspects of the business, see summery in previous explanation). Angry at the way the Earth was acting after he had sacrificed so much for it, resentful of his lack of any kind of love or memory, Alexander Luthor finally hit upon a plan to change it all, though exactly where it convalesced in his mind is debatable.

But something beforehand must be noted in the possibility: despite no time passing, it was clear that Lois Lane-Kent was started to fade, something she accepted: she was human, and old. It was not something, however, that Kal-L could accept, and with Alex Luthor's resentment perhaps tingeing his studies of the elderly woman, Kal-L began to think that his wife's weakening was due to the paradise, some flaw within it, rather then just the inevitable: even in the world of comics, everything died eventually.

In the end, Alex Luthor wanted to be free, and after inadvertently angering Superboy-Prime, he was given a way to do so, and more, as Superboy-Prime angrily punched the crystal wall of time, striking out in blind rage…and whether due to the nature of the wall itself, or Superboy-Prime's immense strength, or a combination of the two, he shattered the wall…and caused aspects seen on the wall to CHANGE. The effect was dubbed 'continuity waves', as Superboy-Prime's punch literally caused time and space to alter itself before Alexander Luthor's eyes.

It also caused a backlash within the dimension itself, a backlash that affected one person in particular- Lois Lane-Kent, causing her condition to worsen.

But Alex Luthor didn't care. He'd seen a way out. And from there on, there was no turning back.

(Supposedly, Superboy-Prime could cause these 'continuity waves' because when the Multiverse was combined back into one universe, it was not fully stable, possesses glitches and paradoxes, and hence open to such 'corrective forces', which is what Superboy-Prime's punches were: the universe using it to 'sort through' the conflictions and fix them. In reality, Superboy-Prime's magical crystal wall punches were the writers' attempts to clean up conflicting ideas, retcons, and the general messes of comics that had accumulated from the problems in the first Crisis, during the XTREEM era and in general, as the punches were said to have caused everything from resurrections (Jason Todd) to 'resets' (multiple origins, people somehow forgetting established teams, and so on)).

Alex Luthor put Superboy-Prime on the task of trying to escape their dimension by punching his way through the crystal wall, and in the process hid the course of action from Kal-L by blaming Lois' deterioration on the paradise dimension, even trying to get him in the fold by claiming it fed off their souls and that Lois might have a better chance in the actual universe. In the end, Kal-L denied the course (much as he denied that Lois was dying, and denied her acceptance of the fact), and Alex was forced to keep him in the dark, even as he tried to utilize Superboy-Prime to escape, promising him that they could create the perfect Earth when they did so, not an easy task as the Kryptonian teen's years of solitude, lacking proper guidance to help his development, were beginning to warp his mind. Alex Luthor was, however, a genius, and he was ultimately able to manipulate Superboy-Prime's pain, doubts, fears, and resentments to keep him hammering on the crystal wall, sending more ripples of change through the DC universe and timeline and further weakening Lois Lane-Kent. Alex Luthor did not care: he believed he was altering the reality for the good of the universe, of a universe that had spit in his face for falling so badly after all he'd done to save it.

Unfortunately, Superboy-Prime grew frustrated with his efforts: the paradise dimension had no yellow sunlight, which is what amplified his powers to their highest levels, and without that it seemed like he would never be able to punch all the way through. However, Alexander Luthor had another option: his returning anti-matter powers. Granting them to Superboy-Prime, the teen finally achieved the necessary strength to smash all the way through the crystal wall barrier (causing who knows HOW much damage to the DC universe) and finally escaping the paradise, giving Alexander Luthor access to the DC universe and the Post-Crisis Earth.

He left as a hero. He returned as a human being.

It would not be a good change.

Now: Hell

Alexander Luthor's great intelligence, along with the omniscient observing abilities the crystal wall of time allowed him to possess (as he could move back and forth between our world and his dimension at will), allowed him to play the very definition of a mastermind as he put his plan into action: find the perfect Earth. By any means necessary. And with Superboy-Prime serving as his strong right arm, and Kal-L far too distracted by his wife's continued weakening and completely in the dark with what Alex was doing, Alexander Luthor did quite a bit, including…

1) Superboy-Prime, using his IMMENSE superhuman strength, transferred the planet Rann into Thanagar's solar system. This sparked the Rann-Thanagar War and moved the center of the universe away from Oa.

2) Alex started the new Secret Society of Super-Villians as Lex Luthor. The close proximity of his theta-brainwaves made the real Luthor go crazy. It's theorized this is the reason he gave up the Presidency and LexCorp to run around in an Apokoliptan battle suit for his showdown with Superman in Superman/Batman.

3) Alex also recruited the Psycho-Pirate, who gave the black diamond of Eclipso to Jean Loring, who in turn seduced The Spectre into destroying all magic.

4) Superboy-Prime destroyed the JLA watchtower and took the Martian Manhunter.

5) Alex stole control of Brother Eye from Batman. This gave him control over the OMACs and Checkmate's files on all the meta-humans.

All of these events, and various fallouts from them and the Identity Crisis incident (explained at length in the previous Explanation) triggered the storyline known as Infinite Crisis. As it begins, Alex Luthor, back in the paradise and continuing his manipulation, has convinced Kal-L that his wife's weakness is due to the corruption of his paradise, which in turn is due to the darkness of the current DC Universe. In turn, he convinces Kal-L that if they escape and carry out a plan he had outlined, they can 'save them all, including her' (her being revealed to be Kara Zor-El, aka Power Girl of Earth-2, who somehow escaped being erased during the original Crisis, hence maintaining her original origin after 15 years of confusion and retcons from previous writers), and that it is the only way. Completely unaware of Alex Luthor and Superboy-Prime's previous escapes and the fact they're actually to blame for his wife's condition, Kal-L smashes free of the paradise himself (how Alex and SBP hid their previous hole is not explained) and the four make their 'grand reappearance', though for two of them this is a lie.

While Kal-L retrieves Power Girl, Superboy-Prime and Alex Luthor, putting on a front of being the good guys, arrive in the Arctic with Lois Lane-Kent, in the area where Kal-L kept his Fortress of Solitude on Earth-2, area where they have either transported or created similar observing crystals that made up the crystal wall of time in the paradise. When Power Girl arrives with Kal-L, they speak of their supposed plan: to bring back Earth-2 to replace the supposedly corrupt and too dark Earth that the current DCU has. If they do so, the dying Lois Lane-Kent will be healed. Of course, Kal-L has no idea he's just a pawn in Alex's true scheme.

Meanwhile, the hero Booster Gold is playing his part: His best friend Ted Kord, aka the Blue Beetle, having been one of the first victims of this Crisis, and that is motivation enough. However, Booster Gold is also from the future, and hence knows a few details of what is going to happen in the Crisis, but far from all. He, on his journey, finds himself in the search for something: the Blue Beetle scarab. The original Blue Beetle was a magical based hero, but Kord, the second one, lost the mystical scarab that provided those powers and instead had to rely on technology. The scarab eventually ended up on the wizard Shazam's Rock of Eternity, and when it was destroyed by the Spectre, the scarab found its way into the hands of Hispanic teenager Jaime Reyes, attaching itself to him when Booster Gold tracks him down. Using his future based information, Booster Gold brings Jaime to Batman, as he knows Batman is attempting to locate his rogue satellite Brother Eye and Jaime, with the powers of the Scarab, which has transformed him into the new Blue Beetle (technically the third one) is the only one who can locate it.

Still in the dark, Kal-L goes to meet with Batman in part of the supposed plan to bring back Earth-2 (this is before Booster Gold brings Jamie to Batman), while Power Girl, back in the Arctic and unsure of the supposed plan to bring back Earth-2, inadvertently stumbles on a massive golden tower constructed of the remains of the Anti-Monitor in which several superheroes are plugged into, moments before being disabled by Superboy-Prime. Recovering, Power Girl (and the readers) learn of Alex Luthor's true plans (the information listed above was learned by the readers later), even as Kal-L continues to be misdirected, even though Batman's refusal and words said during it have made him begin to question Alexander's supposed plan. But Kal-L is too concerned for his wife to pay it much attention, and with Alex Luthor's plan and tower hidden away from Kal-L's sight, Alex Luthor begins to put his true plan into motion. Meanwhile, Superboy-Prime asks to go see Conner Kent, assumingly just to 'talk'…

Donna Troy has returned from death to play a major role in the Crisis, and she had lead a group of heroes into space, including the Titans Starfire and Cyborg, at first to help stem the Rann/Thanagar war and then later to try and deal with the strange rift in space, which as revealed is now the center of the universe due to Superboy-Prime's action and a nexus of Alexander Luthor's plan. At the moment though, the heroes are unsure of what to do.

And then, through a freakish manipulation of reality, as Alexander Luthor activates his tower, he inserts his hands into a rift in space, and before the Donna Troy lead heroes, a pair of gigantic hands emerge from the rift…

And Forever: Together

Superboy-Prime's 'talk' with Conner Kent resulted in a gigantic battle in which the Titans Pantha, Wildebeest, Bushido, Evil John, and Crazed-Buzz lost their lives, and many other suffered injuries. In the battle though, the Teen Titan Savior, through an attempt to stop Superboy-Prime, inadvertently read his mind and learn a majority of the information revealed above, information he was able to add to with his outsider perspective in his examination of the memories. The crazed teenager, his mind finally snapping, and his psychology seemingly possessing even greater power then Superman when under a yellow sun, was only stopped by the interference of the Flashes and Elijah Versaw, who pushed Superboy-Prime into the Speed Force. Only Elijah returned from the trip, and the Speed Force seemed to cease to exist in the process.

The heroes don't get much of a chance to recover, as Alex Luthor, aided by Brother Eye, begins Stage One and recreates Earth-2, instantly warping every single hero who was once a part of it and some who in theory would have been had the Multiverse continued to exist to it instantly. Kal-L and Lois Lane-Kent are also instantly warped there, much to Kal-L's joy.

The entity Nabu, who in combination with a mortal wearing the helmet of Dr. Fate forms said hero, in this case Hector Hall, aided by mystics the world over, sacrifices himself to finally contain the rogue Spectre, who is bonded to a new host: Crispus Allen, a detective from Gotham City who recently died during the chaos caused by Infinite Crisis.

Conner's hybrid body, terribly injured in the fight, begins to break down, forcing Robin and several Titans to try and locate a cure, a cure provided by, of all people, Lex Luthor. Once administered, Robin joins the other Titans in Bludhaven, destroyed by the Society, where they and other heroes attempt rescue and evacuation efforts. Conner, still recovering, does not join them: he instead goes to Smallville with his girlfriend Cassandra Sandsmark, Wonder Girl, whose own powers are fading due to the Olympian Gods fleeing from the DC 'realm'. They share some tender moments, while other heroes do what they can for the world. Conner leaves the next morning, recharged by the sun, while Wonder Girl stays behind due to her lack of powers.

Savior makes his way to Gotham to pass off the information he had acquired from Batman, who is assembling various heroes to deal with Brother Eye. Batman takes the information and Savior leaves immediately before he can see how well it's used, heading back to Bludhaven via car. He meets Raven in Gotham, and decides to use her powers to teleport instead.

While the heroes warped Earth-2 wonder how and why they're there, and notice how the planet is off in subtle and not-so-subtle ways (being completely abandoned for one), Kal-L is happy he and his wife are back, and how she indeed seems to be getting better…for a moment. Then she collapses, Earth-2 making her better having just been a lie, and as Kal-L looks on helplessly, she dies, as she was meant to. Utterly overwhelmed with grief, Kal-L bellows her name so loudly he shatters all the windows in Earth-2's Metropolis…and so loud Superman somehow hears him on Earth-1, as he immediately flies to investigate. But Kal-L, his viewpoint disrupted by Alexander Luthor, immediately attacks Superman, blaming him for bringing the 'sickness' of the DC world and corrupting Earth-2 and causing his wife's death, triggering a fight between the two men that only ends when Wonder Woman intervenes.

Alexander Luthor, his only companion the Psycho-Pirate now, comments on how this was always supposed to happen, and begins Stage 2 of his plan. The heroes in space see the massive hands emerge from the rift again, as Brother Eye locks onto Kal-L and activates program 'Earth Spawn', as Kal-L is, for some reason, the key to the next phase.

And with a blast of power from his 'tuning fork', Alexander Luthor blasts Kal-l and in doing so brings back the Multiverse, the Earths multiplying from two to countless thousands. Heroes still on Earth-1 vanish abruptly as their worlds are reborn. The sudden shift in reality also tears through Raven in mid-teleport and forces her and Savior back to the T-Tower to prevent from disintegrating. Nightwing happens to be there, attempting to gather the troops for his own assault on the problems of the world. But the world is in such a mess that beside Nightwing and the returned by accident Savior, the only one who joins them is Conner, who has just returned. The good news is, he has a shard of crystal, picked up and given to him by Lex Luthor, that will lead them to Alexander Luthor's location.

And more good news is coming. The effects of Infinite Crisis are being felt in all places and times, and in one, a group had decided to do something, as Raven's body serves as a portal to a group of Titans from the future, including a few children of the current members and several adult Titans from alternate timelines that have ended up in the same place due to all the abuse reality had suffered. Unfortunately, the good is followed by the bad, as an altered friend of these Titans, turned foe due to the fluxes in reality, also makes the trip backwards in time, engaging the newly formed group of past and future Titans in a titanic battle. The Titans prevail, but there are deeper consequences: the arrival of the friend turned foe has alerted Alexander Luthor to the group and their plans, and he had prepared significant countermeasures. That does not deter them.

…And so it stands.

Superman and Wonder Woman, along with Kal-L, have finally realized the crux of the matter. Their role in it has yet to be determined…

Batman heads for space, his group of handpicked heroes ready to tackle Brother Eye, at the forefront Jamie Reyes, the Blue Beetle, who may lead them to success or their doom…

In space, Donna Troy's group has had enough of sitting around. Including the Titans Cyborg and Starfire, they are ready to strike…

Raven rests in the Tower. She may yet play a role…

On the Earth, heroes race to save the day, including Robin, and his fellow Titans Beast Boy, Terra, Gauntlet, and Scalpel, with all their friends and allies. They are the next generation, and they have been taught well…

And in the freezing Arctic wastes, a group stands on an ice cliff, looking at a gigantic golden tower off in the distance, Titans young and old, from past present and future. They are on the front lines of the final battle for the fate of the Earth…

A battle that may yet not reached its most tragic phase…

In Tokyo, Japan, from a golden light, a Flash emerged, his name unknown but his words clear: they had been unable to hold him.

Superboy-Prime is back, clad in armor reminiscent of the Anti-Monitor, and a furious blind hate born of immaturity, repression, power misunderstood, and the manipulative hands of a black-hearted genius.

The final phase has begun. Blood will be shed. Hearts will be broken. Scores will be settled. Tragedies will occur. And the winner is forever in doubt.

But there is no doubt what this is. It is no longer anything else.

This is war.

Cry havoc and let slip the dogs…

---

Part 1: The Brave and the Bold

Space.

As a famous saying went, the final frontier.

But this spaceship was not the starship Enterprise: rather then a silver disc and body with two outreaching engines, it looked like, of all things, a giant blue beetle.

And the tune being whistled wasn't the familiar stanza of a long running sci-fi series, but something else entirely.

"Are you whistling 'Take Me Out To The Ball Game'?" Green Arrow asked.

"What?" Hal Jordan, perhaps the greatest of all Green Lanterns, replied: he HAD been whistling that tune, but the sudden question surprised him.

"You're whistling 'Take Me Out To The Ball Game'. What do hundreds of Earths in the sky threatening to destroy ours have to do with baseball?"

"Nothing. Just looking forward to next season. Starts next week." Jordan replied, in the easy vernacular of two long time friends. "Guy's got Yankee tickets on the dugout. You wanna go?"

"Heh." Green Arrow chuckled to himself, making a minor adjustment to his hat, even as he thought of what Guy Gardner, another Green Lantern as well as a real character, would be like at a ball game with a few beers in him. "Crackerjack's on me."

Needless to say, the Green Lantern and Arrow were just two of the very distinguished company that Jamie Reyes found himself in: the young hero was surrounded by veterans assembled by Batman for their mission. Along with Hal, John Stewart, another Green Lantern, was along for the ride, as well with Black Lightning, Mr. Terrific, Metamorpho, Black Canary, and Batman himself, all heroes for years, even decades. Indeed, even the 'rookies' of the group, like Booster Gold, the man who had brought him into this mess after he'd found that damn scarab only for it to attach to his spine and transform him into the clone of a Mexican wrestler, and a strange metallic woman with a bizarre face (one eye was blank, and one seemed almost drawn on, enlarged to a point where it was a step below comical, as if someone had tried to design the Brother Eye symbol as an actual eye) who hadn't given a codename but had been addressed as 'Sasha' by Batman and apparently had some connection to the satellite Batman had assembled the heroes to stop, carried themselves with poise and polish.

And it was all up to him, Jamie Rayes, whose problems three days ago had been passing geology and getting his curfew put back another hour, to make sure they even found the blasted thing in the first place.

Yeah, no pressure.

"So…uh…" Jamie said, trying to keep his mind off those details, as he glanced to his side at Booster Gold. "This ship belonged to your friend, Ted Kord?"

"Whoa kid. Eyes front." Booster Gold replied. "We need you looking front and center. We'll kick back with some astronaut ice cream and do intros and stuff after we find this satellite and blow it outta the sky. Sound good, Blue?"

"Stop calling me that!" Jamie replied, irritated at Booster's casual tone and the fact that he kept calling him Blue, after Blue Beetle, which Jamie really had no desire to be. Dammit, he hated feeling like he was the only one who had butterflies in his stomach: everyone else was approaching the mission like they were standing in line for a movie. "How can you act like all of this is normal?"

"It's not normal Jamie. It's history." Booster replied. "And we're here to make it."

Jamie's face, despite his new mask, could still be read like a book: he still looked more like he wanted to vomit then ride. Perhaps noticing this, Batman spoke for the first time in a while.

"Booster." He said simply. "You have no idea how to talk to kids."

"Pot, kettle Bats." Booster replied. Batman didn't reply: he'd sunk back into thought as he piloted the ship. Everything was in place. Hal and John would be the main offensive force, helping them make their way through the OMAC army that Brother Eye most likely had to defend himself (him, he was thinking of the satellite as him now, figured). The rest of the group would be used as various supporting and disrupting forces: Metamorpho would help them infiltrate, while Black Lightning, Black Canary, and Mr. Terrific would each serve as separate disabling elements, as would Sasha Bordeaux, a one time partner of Batman's who had later joined Checkmate and in the chaos surrounding Maxwell Lord's assassination and Brother Eye's ascension to its current threat status been partially turned into an OMAC, giving her a connection to the malevolent AI without the AI being able to control her in turn like a normal OMAC, a one way connection that Batman would be all too glad to exploit. Booster Gold and Green Arrow would guard the ship to make sure the heroes had a trip home, and Batman himself would hopefully be able to combine all these elements to strike a death blow on the terrible mistake he had made.

Of course, they had to locate the satellite first, and the only one who could do that was Jamie. Who of course had no idea what he was doing despite all the guidance. Trouble to be sure, but as Booster Gold had told him, from the future data he remembered, the record of this time said that Batman's attempt to find the satellite had failed. With Jamie's help, Batman would prove that data to be in error.

"I don't even know how the hell I got here." Jamie was talking again, babbling in the way the immensely frazzled do so their thoughts have an outlet rather then ricocheting around in their brain until there was nothing left but tapioca pudding. "Some kind of scarab crawled onto me and put this suit on me and now…I'm in space. With BATMAN. And my brain…feels like it's on fire…"

"…I know it's difficult." Batman replied: he hated giving advice, but desperate times…"But if Booster's right, you're the only one who can help us."

Jamie resisted the urge to laugh, as he turned to gaze out through one of the windows that the Beetle Ship's eyes formed again. "I'm doing the best I…"

And then he saw it.

"Hold up." Jamie said, as he gazed on the blue sphere of crackling energy he saw, floating out in space among all the Earths. "I see something."

Batman rarely felt relief. He did now…relief which fled quickly as Jamie's suit suddenly erupted with a glowing blue energy of it's own. It looked like despite not knowing what he was doing, Jamie's new power source had some idea.

"…I don't know what it means, but the Scarab…it's saying…the satellite's hiding between this reality and an artificial one. It says I can negate its…vibrational frequency?"

"Do it." Batman replied.

And the space before the ship suddenly erupted in a massive field of crackling blue power, as something began to emerge from what had appeared to be empty space.

Something gigantic.

"…Huh." Was all Booster Gold could say. "…It's a lot bigger then I thought it'd be."

Booster was putting it mildly. If the Beetle ship could be said to be the size of the average bug, Brother Eye, all gray metal and massive glowing red optics, revealed before the heroes, was the size of the average basketball.

As the ship suddenly ground to a halt, immediately, causing everyone to stumble a bit.

"The thrusters just shut down." Mr. Terrific reported.

"So did communications." Black Canary added.

It was quickly revealed communications had not been shut down. Just co-opted.

HELLO CREATOR.

Brother Eye had spoken via the ship's computers, as Batman stared out at the machine he had created, in a moment of weakness, weakness taken and used by a genius mind twisted to malevolence like so many before it. And like that many before it, Batman would do what he could to stop it.

"Brother Eye." Batman replied.

YOU HAVE FOUND ME.

"What are you doing?" Batman asked.

EYE AM REMAPPING THE MULTIVERSE FOR THE ONE WHO GAVE ME TRUE LIFE. ALEXANDER LUTHOR.

Batman's eyes narrowed, and for just one moment, he wondered if even if he survived this, if anything could go on the way it had.

No. There had to be changes. Never again. Never.

EYE AM HELPING HIM CREATE EARTH AFTER EARTH. Brother Eye continued to 'say'. AND WHEN HE FINDS THE RIGHT ONE, THERE WILL BE NO NEED FOR YOURS.

And then they appeared.

Jefferson Pierce, Black Lightning, had thought he was ready…but when he saw them, his heart sank roughly to the level of his feet…for about a second.

Then electricity crackled around his eyes as he threw his brain into battle mode.

"We've got INCOMING!"

OMACS.

Despite the great number Alexander Luthor had siphoned off for his own use, they still filled the sky, endless legions of them, their blue/black armor offset by the glowing red eyes on their faces. The Omni Mind And Community, in all its power and glory.

NO NEED FOR PEOPLE LIKE THE ONES WHO BETRAYED YOU AND TOOK YOUR MIND.

And that, as Batman knew, was what they had done. It had been a terrible situation that had had no good answer…but Batman knew now he'd reacted in the wrong way.

And now he would do whatever it took to undo the repercussions of his actions.

"Green Lanterns. OUTSIDE." Batman ordered, as the legions closed in.

EYE AM ONLY DOING WHAT MY CREATOR HAS ASKED. Brother Eye spoke. EYE AM ONLY TRYING TO MAKE A BETTER WORLD.

---

The Arctic.

"Doesn't look so hard." Potent said, as he scanned across the icy wastes to the gigantic tower in the distance. "There's only about a hundred or so of-mmmfffff!" Potent mumbled as Mary cut off his words by clamping a clawed hand across his mouth.

"This battle is due to be difficult enough lover: I absolutely will not let you add irony to it's gifts." Mary said.

"She has a point." Nightwing said, looking back at the group. "What we see here is definitely not what there is. We may not even be hidden to Luthor. He knows we're coming. All we can do is hope he doesn't know when and is distracted enough not to notice us."

"Right." Savior replied, shivering a bit in the cold. Though in some regards he was well off: Metatron and Yin both had weaknesses to cold, to the point where if Ragnarok hadn't used his Catalysts to modify Metatron's outfit, the teen would have frozen to death within two minutes, and even then, Metatron had to stay behind on a special 'area' of heated rock that Ragnarok had created with the Earth and Fire Catalysts. Nightwing had been hesitant to bring the two along considering where they were going, but in the end the need for bodies won out over the concern for their health. They were heroes, they knew the risks.

"I know you guys hate to hear me talk, but please, allow me this." Noel went on: the trip to get them all to the Arctic, even aided by Mary's teleportation abilities, had been long enough to allow everyone to exchange information and fill in blanks, and hence everyone had a pretty good idea of why they were there and just what they were up against. "Alexander Luthor may possess an incredible intellect, but he's also reaching the end stages of his plans. He's most likely stretching himself thin in at least a few ways. That's the only advantage we'll have. Unless if course by some miracle those hundred OMAC's really ARE the only ones surrounding the tower."

"Among other things." Nightwing said, looking at the Tower through long-range binoculars. "I also see a few of our friends plugged INTO it. We free them, we'll get even more extra help."

"You already got some."

And then Cassandra Sandsmark, Wonder Girl, suddenly dropped from the sky. Noel noticed she didn't startle any of the Titans: good, they were alert.

"Sorry I'm late."

"Cassie? What are you doing here? This is dangerous." Superboy said.

"Yes Cassandra, while we appreciate your effort, I recall hearing your powers were a bit uncertain…" Savior began, before Kyra punched him. "Ow."

"Dad, not everything needs to be questioned."

"I just don't want her getting hurt because she insists she can carry her part when she really…"

"I'm fine. I'm settled. I can handle myself." Wonder Girl said.

"If you say so Cassie. I guess we should just be glad for the sudden turnaround." Conner said.

Unknown to him, the words cut Wonder Girl, through no fault of Superboy's. They just reminded her what she had had to do.

For months, it had gone on.

Cassandra Sandsmark had become Wonder Girl through a chance meeting with Wonder Woman: that provided the motivation, while a couple of stolen magic Greek artifacts provided the powers. Long enough for Cassie to meet Zeus himself, face to face, where she, young and willful, had managed to wrangle a boon from him: she chose actual superpowers. And so she had followed in the footsteps of Donna Troy.

But joining the world of the Amazons also meant she gained its drawbacks: her secret identity had been exposed when one of Wonder Woman's villains, the Silver Swan, had attacked her school, to bring up one incident. And then there was the world of the gods themselves, as Cassandra suddenly found herself being contacted and watched by Ares, the war god, who had given her her own golden lasso, of destruction rather then truth, and had constantly appeared to her since, giving cryptic comments which Wonder Girl now understood had pertained to this Crisis. But nothing had prepared her for the biggest revelation: that Zeus was actually her father. Though that helped clear up why he was amused with her, rather then annoyed. But it also made Ares her half-brother, adding an even more disturbing facet to their 'relationship'.

And then this Crisis, her fading powers, during when she needed them most, having gone down to the point where Conner had left her behind in Smallville. And there…

Night had been falling. Thunder and lightning had rocked the area. And Cassandra had been standing in a field, looking at a small lake. The Kents had called to her to come in, saying the storm was getting worse, but she couldn't go. Not yet.

She sensed him.

"Ares." She said, looking at the pond. "Ares. I know you're watching me. You always are."

Lightning flashed, followed almost immediately by a blast of thunder, forcing Cassie to raise her voice.

"I need to talk to you!"

And then he was there, his image reflected on the pond, completely covered in dark blue armor, a fearsome spiked and plumed helmet on his head with glowing red eyes peering through it.

"Hello sister." Ares said.

"What's wrong with my powers?" Wonder Girl asked, getting to the point.

Ares did not answer at first, as he rose from the water, turning from reflection to reality, towering over the young girl. But he meant her no harm. Far from it.

"The gods are retreating from this plane." Ares had said.

"Does that include you?"

"Yes." Ares said. "Your strength, speed, and endurance will soon fade completely as well. Zeus, the greedy deity our father is, is taking all of his power with him. Including that of his mortal children." Ares had then mumbled something Wonder Girl didn't quite make out, but she dismissed it as unimportant, as Ares kept talking. "But I knew this day would come. I foresaw all of this. I knew you and your friends would be at the center of a great war, and that our father would desert you in your time of greatest need. But I can help you Cassie."

"How?"

"I can give you some of MY power. You can be my champion. You'll be stronger. Faster. More powerful then you've ever been."

Cassandra may have been in a bad spot, but she was no idiot.

"What's the catch?"

"There's only one."

And then, of all things, Ares had removed his helmet.

Underneath that demonic visage had been the face of a handsome blonde man…one who looked so very much like her.

"Accept me as your brother. That's all I've ever wanted…a tether to this mortal world."

She'd done what she had to do. Desperate times called for desperate measures.

"It's still going to be dangerous." Yin helpfully pointed out at that time.

"Which means you need help, right?" Wonder Girl replied.

"All we can get." Nightwing replied. "Ok Titans, this is the last chance we get, so listen good…"

---

Earth-2.

"Elementals! Oh how wonderful to see you again."

The group thought they had enough trouble with the skies filled with fragmenting Earths, but as it turned out, more was coming, as everyone turned their gaze upwards to the two figures in the sky. They'd finally found someone besides themselves. And they were going to wish they hadn't.

One was a man: his age was debatable, but at this moment in time he looked to be at about sixty, his thin silver wavy hair still managing to stay on his aging heade. He wore what looked like basic white battle armour of the police, with what looked like a lab coat underneath it (not exactly the best placed setup). A mechanical monocle seemed to be on one of his eye, but in reality it was just an exaggerated side of a pair of glasses. His smile was surrounded slightly by an unshaven face, a garden that had not been tended for a day. Said smile was not pleasant to look at.

The other was harder to see. It seemed to be a human figure, but its gender was difficult to tell, as the body of it was not made up of skin and bone, but white whiffs of gas that moved and shaped the creature, parts of it being see through. At this moment in time it seemed female, but soon enough it changed to seem male. It seemed to be keeping the more normal man in the air with it.

Scorcher's eyes widened as she saw the figure, the other Elementals equally apprehensive… actually scratch that, scared.

"Do we know you?" Wildcat said.

"Apparently not, our enemies dress better." Sand commented.

"You." Scorcher said.

"Oh my, I have to say my dear, from here I have the most wonderful view of your cleavage." The older man catcalled, taunting the southern belle/pyrokinetic. "But that is beside the point. I believe I only got the job half done last time I met you. Time to disassemble the other half."
This was the Scientist and his near godlike minion the Air Elemental. The main enemies of the Elementals. Much like they had, the two had somehow ended up on Earth-2.

They were the one who had killed Rocko's original body and H-Duo, Scorcher's fiancée, and now they had come to finish the job.

Like hell.

"UAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Scorcher bellowed, sending a gigantic blast of fire at the two.

"Oh my. Not." The Scientist said, as the Air Elemental waved his/her arms, and abruptly the fire poofed out, the oxygen abruptly removed. "I would have thought you would have learned…"

And then a tiny object was tossed up next to them.

"Eh?"

Dr. Mid-Nite's Blackout Bomb exploded in their faces, prompting a cry of outrage from the man.

"I don't much care for those who turn their learned gifts against mankind." Dr. Mid-Nite commented.

"ARGH! KILL THEM! KILL THEM ALL!" The Scientist screamed.

And so, like on Earth-1, the battle between good and evil resumed.

And not just there...

---

Earth-S.

"One second we're in New York and the next we're on the set of 'It's A Wonderful Life.'" Captain Marvel Jr said, thinking out loud as he tried to make sense of what had happened and what he was seeing: he'd been helping out and then suddenly he was here, with his best female friend and fellow Marvel hero.

"In the middle of an earthquake!" Mary Marvel 'helpfully' added, looking at the destruction before them.

"Where the heck are we Mary?"

"Wherever we are Freddy, we need to help…"

---

Earth-97.

"Green Lantern! Stop staring at the sky and give me a hand!" A female said. Another female wearing a white dress, a green cloak, and carrying a staff on which a literal green lantern dangled looked back at the speaker.

"If any of you wish to survive Flash, you will follow my light…"

---

Earth-247.

"Kid Quantum! Cosmic Boy!" A flying alien said as she flew down to two others, as the Legion of Super-Heroes battled their foes all around them.

"Shakiri?" Kid Quantum said.

"I've finally found you…"

---

Earth-898.

There were no words, as cowboys and Indians warred, perhaps because of, perhaps despite all the chaos around and above them…

---

Earth-1509.

"Come on Titans! Grodd may have made an utter mess of this planet, but that's better then being no planet at all!" A giant female gorilla dressed in odd cloaks yelled as she pointed, as various apes that looked strangely like the teen heroes we know leapt forward to rescue more gorillas from a sink hole that had inexplicably opened up and was trying to swallow their whole city.

"We're with you Mockingbird!" "Beast-Gorilla" said, as he transformed into a roc and swooped down to grab a few apes in his claws…

---

Earth-0.

"Yay! Planet am not breaking down! Misery!" Said a Bizzaro, as many Bizzaros smashed each other and celebrated as their world collapsed around them.

---

Earth-154.

A gray at the temples Superman, a lot like Kal-L. A Batman. And a younger pair of boys, both looking to be in their teens, both dressed like Superman and Batman. Like fathers, like sons on this world.

And none could stop what was coming, as a massive golden hand was reaching down from the sky.

"Batman?" Older Superman said.

"I see it." Older Batman replied.

"What is it dad?" Batboy replied, as he suddenly heard words that rang as loud as thunder.

"This one is a possibility…"

The gigantic hand seized the Earth, grabbing it like a ball. The less said of what happened on the planet due to this, the better.

---

Earth-462.

The only familiar face here is a woman who looks somewhat like Wonder Woman: the rest are unremarkable, as they battle each other in what appears to be a war, but which war is unknown: it could be the Civil War or World War II.

Some of them almost didn't notice the hand coming from the sky.

"And this one."

---

From a giant field of purple energy, the hands emerged, seizing the planets like they were toys. They pulled the planets back into the field…as the hands re-appeared elsewhere, from the same purple energy.

Directly above the golden rift where the center of the universe now was, due to the actions of Superboy-Prime.

Donna Troy's assembled heroes could only watch in shock. Donna had assembled a truly mighty group, but even they seemed helpless before what they witnessed, the forces and events surrounding the rift having already killed or wounded several of their number, the group unable to think of a plan, and now they had to watch as the hands, the unbelievably huge hands, brought the planets down into the golden rift, even as the group, despite the vacuum of space, somehow heard a voice.

"Come now. To the petri dish."

And as many faces filled with astonishment and horror all over again, the giant hands rammed the two planets together.

They did not shatter into pieces, as one might expect. No. In the strange energies of the golden rift, they instead clamped together…and merged.

As the hands moved away, a new singular Earth was left floating there.

It was a defiance of virtually every law of space, time, and reality that existed. Hell, it probably invented a few new laws just so they could be broken.

"Friend Cyborg…" Cyborg heard Starfire say, and he looked to the alien. "I know it is important to present the strong face, but I must tell the truth: I am very, very scared."

"You and me both Kory." Cyborg replied. "No need to be ashamed. You and me both."

---

The Arctic.

The Golden Tower.

Near the top, Alexander Luthor floated on his platform, looking out through his hole in reality (the purple enery field), one aspect showing the many Earths and the other showing the rift. The construction of the Tower, the raw magic used to power it, Superboy-Prime's machinations, and Alexander Luthor's own unique powers over positive and anti-matter and his unfathomable intelligence had allowed him to produce the affect just witnessed: he could stick his normal sized hands through the hole, and they would emerge in space large enough to seize planets, planets he would then combine in the rift in space, mixing and matching elements from the planets until he finally had the perfect one.

It seemed impossible, but Alexander Luthor was born as an impossible creature and had spent his short time of freedom doing one impossible thing after another. To him, impossible was almost passé.

Not that this was an easy task. Oh no, far from it.

And certain annoyances made it worse. Annoyances like Roger Halston, the Psycho-Pirate.

"Have you found it yet Alexander?" The Psycho-Pirate called up from where he was standing, next to the various heroes plugged into the Tower, their bodies necessary in the beginning to bring back Earth-2.

"Hn." Was all Alexander said, more to himself then to Halston, as he looked out through his portal onto another Earth, up close.

"Diana! The Superman Family approaches!" A Batman said: what really made him stand out was that he was dressed in what looked like a cross between his costume and the clothing of a person living in the Aztec empire, a mishmash that was also true for his companions (Robin and Wonder Woman) and those flying to face him (Superman, along with a Superwoman and Superboy).

"It will, Batman, with your death…!" The Super-Aztec was replying…

"No." Alexander Luthor said, both answering Halston and dismissing the planet, resuming his search for either the perfect Earth or elements for it.

Halston was talking again. Ugh. So useful and yet so GRATING…

"I can feel them. Phantom beings pulled from the fabric of Earth-1 and Earth-2. Pulled from their restful peace, reborn in pain and given essence…then destroyed." Halston said. While Earth-2 may have been abandoned except by those warped there, Alex Luthor's rebirth of the Multiverse had no such factor: every planet was fully populated. And with what Alexander was doing…

"Billions at a time." The Psycho-Pirate finished. Alexander was unmoved.

"I planted this garden, Psycho-Pirate." Alexander said, his current fused Earth floating near his right hand, near the rift. "I have every right to tend to it."

"But…" The Psycho-Pirate began, and then he made a slight noise of fear. "Alexander! They're here! Where are the defenses! You said…!"

"I know they're here Halston. I've known since they arrived." Alexander replied, not looking at the man. "The Tower only appears lightly defended. And you and I both know how deceiving appearances can be."

---

"Ok guys, remember: you may feel confidence after beating that Omega OMAC, but normal OMACS are different. They have people inside them. You need to disable the nanomachines that serve as the OMAC covering without harming the hosts: they didn't want to become OMACS and had no choice when they did." Nightwing said. "I have no real idea on vulnerable points, so just go for whatever would disable a human. Now, the fact that there are people inside is another aspect, which is why Ragnarok has formed his heated rock platform. It's more then to protect the ones vulnerable to cold. Speaking of which, how you doing back there?"

"Don't feel like dancing, but this setup Collin made for me makes me a lot more effective then I would usually be." Metatron replied, knocking on his redesigned black suit, a Dark Catalyst re-imagining which allowed him to retain his body heat much better.

"This place will make me brittle, but I'll need to hang out on the ice for a bit for that to happen." Yin said.

"All right. Due to your weaknesses however, Metatron, you, Yin, and Ragnarok will be the rear guard. You're to pick up the people left from the disabled OMACS and bring them back to Ragnarok's heated rock platform…you can expand that as necessary right Collin?"

"Shouldn't be too hard."

"Ok then. To keep the rear guard protected, Hex and Brick Wall will serve as bodyguards. The rest of you are with me. We need to get to the Tower without leaving the rear guard too vulnerable, so remember: it's not just a charge straight ahead mission. And don't underestimate anything…including yourself. Now, since we really don't have any time, I won't allow questions."

"I have just one." Wonder Girl said. "Seeing how you think the Tower is more defended then it appears, is there any way for us to find out just how so?"

"…Collin, can you see if you can sense any cloaking fields with one of your Catalysts or…" Kyra began asking, and then stopped as she saw how Ragnarok had paled. "Collin?"

"…You wanted some kind of scan?"

"Well it could be helpful…"

"I just though I needed to keep these guys warm! Glomp! Why didn't you say so I could have…"

"INCOMING!" Mary yelled.

The beam still seemed to come from nowhere, arcing down from the sky. The team had no time to react.

As it pierced through Metatron's neck, blowing a hole the size of the average doorknob through it.

The demon collapsed, not even able to scream, as everyone stared in horror.

And then the beam was followed by others, many many others, a thousand red lines of death.

That struck a massive green shield, a shield that was reinforced by an aura of black power, but even that couldn't stop the beams as they sawed through and shattered the cliff of thick ice like it was made of Jello, the entire plateau falling apart…even as a group, aided by dark and Catalyst powers, rode it down as well, eventually settling back onto the ground.

A titanic wave of wind from a god's weapon and more dark power blew the massive ice chunks around the heroes away from the group, even as the green shield vanished, Kyra taking a deep breath.

Nightwing looked up, as the OMACS, who had remained cloaked until they had snuck up on the group and attacked, catching them completely off guard, came, more still uncloaking, a few thousand of them at least, following them down, Nightwing hearing a massive amount of spoken commands revolving around targets and tactics and processes and modifications and analysis and they were ready executeexecuteexecuteexecuteexecuteEXECUTEEXECUTEEXECUTEEXECUTEEXECUTE…

And Nightwing looked back at the heated rock that Ragnarok had managed to keep together, even as he, along with Yin and Hex, tried to tend to the terribly wounded Metatron, who thrashed and bled…

"…something…"

"Stop the blood flow…"

"Blew his whole windpipe up…"

"Oh god help…"

And the rage came to Dick Grayson, as he looked back at the OMACS and the Golden Tower in the distance. No more. No more death. No more pain. No more sacrifice.

"They'll PAY for this." Nightwing growled, as he snapped out his Escrima sticks, even as the Titans assembled. "GO!"

And the group charged, the OMAC's flying to meet them.

---

As young heroes went to war, to fight and perhaps even die on some godforsaken rock, an old hero looked down on the body of a woman he'd loved for seemingly his entire life and then took his head in his hands, wondering how he could have been so blind, so fooled, so wrong. He was meant to save people, and in the end he'd forgotten the foremost rule of that vow: you can't save them all. And as Kal-L agonized over what he had become, due to his own faults and Alexander's, he realized that even applied to his wife.

And so he knelt there, among the ruins of a city, barely aware of the pain that Alexander's process had caused using him as the key to the return of the Multiverse, transfixed by a far deeper pain: the pain of regret, and loss.

And then he became aware of a presence. And as he looked, an offered hand.

"If we're at all alike beyond the uniform…" Superman said. "I know how much you loved her. And I'm sorry."

And Kal-L looked at his younger alternate, looked at him for perhaps the first time in a long time, saw the sympathy and empathy. The humanity.

Poisoned? Corrupt? Flawed?

No more so then him.

Kal-L took the hand, getting to his feet.

"I made a horrible mistake." He said.

"We've all made mistakes, Superman." Wonder Woman said. "But it's not too late to learn from them."

Wonder Woman was tired: she seemed less affected, if at all, by the fact the Gods were leaving the plane, but she'd been through a lot in these past few months, and even someone like her had her limits. But for now, there were more important things, and with sword and lasso at her side, she'd be ready. But for now, words were needed.

"You realize if you replace our Earth, you'll be throwing away the good with the bad."

"Maybe…but…how can you still have faith in your Earth?" Kal-L asked.

"Because they still have faith in us." Superman replied.

Kal-L closed his eyes. For a moment, he thought it all over again.

And the last of his doubts faded, as he opened them again.

"We have a job to do." He said, as he knelt back next to the body of his deceased wife again. Saying goodbye, one last time. "Your Earth has been splintered back into a multiverse made up of thousands of worlds. But the multiverse is unstable. The Earths will become weaker and weaker as they're divided. And if they aren't brought back together soon, the entire universe will explode in a new big bang. EVERYTHING will be destroyed." Kal-L said gravely. "We need to get back to Earth-1 to stop it."

And Wonder Woman gazed to the sky…at the hundreds of Earths, some still self-destructing and colliding in horrendous carnage, a needle in a field of needles.

"…Which Earth is Earth-1?"

---

What had once been Viridian had been a good OMAC, immediately establishing a connection with Brother Eye and feeding every bit of data she had and had acquired before her untimely end. Brother Eye had added the data to the metahuman files all OMACS carried, and even as the army of cyborgs came from the air, they were all analyzing the targets before them.

Subject Alpha: Superboy. Conner Kent. Omega Strength, Alpha Speed, Alpha Endurance, Flight, Energy Blasts, Mental Powers (Tactile Telekinesis).

Subject Beta: Nightwing. Dick Grayson. Gamma Strength, Beta Speed, Alpha Agility, Alpha Martial Arts, Alpha Weapons.

Subject Alpha: Myth. Kyra Collins. Omega Weapons, Beta Telekinesis, Gamma Telepathy.

Subject Alpha: Donar. Donar Magnison. Alpha Strength, Omega Endurance, Flight, Omega Weapons (Ancient hammer, wind controlling properties, other abilities unknown).

Subject Beta: Scorched Earth. Jack Andrew Drake. Omega Energy Blasts, Beta Strength, Beta Speed, Flight.

Subject Alpha: Ragnarok. Collin Last Name Unknown. Variant manipulation abilities in several vectors ranging from Beta to Omega. More data required…

Subject Alpha: Potent. Elijah Versaw Jr. Alpha Strength. Omega Endurance. Omega Speed (Disabled). Delta Manipulation (not verified).

Subject Beta: Brick Wall. Brick Doe. Omega Strength. Omega Endurance.

Subject Beta: Yin. Name unknown. Beta Shapeshifting. Epsilon Martial Arts.

Subject Alpha: Nightmare. Mary Hastings. Ability classification incomplete: demonstration of Strength, Speed, Endurance, Flight, Energy Blasts, Energy Manipulation, Shapeshifter, and Mental abilities ranging from Gamma to Omega levels. Data to be gathered to further formulate proper countermeasures.

Subject Beta: Hex. Llarenes Morath (variant). Alpha Energy Blast/Manipulation, Beta Agility, Beta Martial Arts. Able to manipulate fields of probability: approach with caution.

Subject Alpha: Wonder Girl. Cassandra Sandsmark. Alpha Strength. Alpha Speed. Alpha Endurance. Flight. Alpha Weaponry.

Subject Beta: Metatron. Name Unknown. Beta Strength. Beta Speed. Gamma Energy Blasts. Gamma Weapons. Neutralized.

Subject Beta: Savior. Noel Collins. Alpha Energy Manipulation, Beta Strength, Beta Agility, Alpha Weapons…

And the OMAC doing the analysis got an up close look at the Alpha Weapon factor of the Shimmer, as a line lanced out and pieced through the center eye of the robot shell, smaller lines radiating out from the point of impact and tearing through the circuitry in the face and head area, causing the robot to spasm and short out, dropping to the ice as Noel yanked the Shimmer free and leapt to his next target.

And was forced to dodge in mid-air as a beam of deadly red energy nearly cut him in half. While the Viridian OMAC had a large variety of weapons, and all OMAC's had the ability to simulate a wide variety of powers, the favored move seemed to be a variety of deadly blasts from the OMAC's cyclops eye, another of which was waiting Savior as he landed, the teen barely dodging away as he hit the ground and rolled, coming up…face to face with five more OMAC's.

"Execute." They intoned, and all fired at the same time. Savior furiously threw up a shield, but he could immediately feel the concentrated beams beginning to bore through it, and more were coming up to his side…

"Dad!"

A giant green hand swatted the flanking OMAC's away, and then Myth dropped down as a green plunger appeared before her, Kyra yanking it down, as green power exploded from beneath the firing OMAC's, blowing them into the air. They fell, shattered and disabled, as Savior called the Shimmer back to him, looking at his future daughter.

"Remember what they have trouble with?" Kyra asked.

"Yeah." Savior said, as they slapped their hands into each other. "Together!"

Green power swirled around the two, forming a small platform that fired jet rocket engines as Kyra smashed her construct through another group of OMAC's, Savior throwing out Shimmer lines to tear at heads, chest, and spines, going anywhere he could think of that would have important circuitry as Kyra formed what looked like the ZF-1 from the movie the Fifth Element and opened fire on another group of OMAC's, disabling a few of them before the robots shielded themselves and returned fire. Kyra slapped her father on the shoulder and then flew one way, while he, picking up her cue, leapt the other, bounced/ricocheted back the other way, as Kyra also did her own abrupt 180 degree turnaround and flyback, and he and Kyra swept past each other in a dual swipe of Shimmer lines and green blades. The OMAC's between them collapsed, disabled, as the two stopped and bounded back to each other, Savior swinging a line around to smack a few more OMAC's and keep them off guard.

"Go for it!"

"I'm on fire!" Kyra yelled back, as she reached up and fired a blast of power into the air that exploded into a downward arching rain of fireballs, blasting more OMAC's into submission.

"Hmmm, this combination tactic really is effective. How could Brother Eye have such a hole in his programming?" Noel pondered. Kyra groaned.

"I swear Dad, you wouldn't just look a gift horse in the mouth, you'd recommend dental work." The young woman said. "Who cares? All I know is it's working! So let's keep it up and keep it fresh!"

"Exactly. See you on the other side." Noel called as he leapt away from Kyra, as the two went looking for new partners.

Noel managed to disable, with difficulty but without injury, two more OMAC's before he ran into Donar, whose whirling hammer was trying to fend off several OMAC's that were shooting laser fire and actual burning fire at the godling. Savior provided a distraction, and Donar returned fire with an immense blast of twisting wind, smashing the OMAC's into each other.

"Donar!"

"Mr. Collins!" Donar replied, as Savior leapt away from another blast.

"Noel! Or Savior! Mr. Collins is my blasted father!" Savior retorted.

"Sorry. Force of…!" Donar yelled as an OMAC, a sharp bladed pincer coming from its arm, tried to snap Donar's head off. All it got were a few strands of hair, as Donar whirled away and swung Mjolnir, the mighty weapon forged by the Black Elves, straight into the chest of the OMAC, utterly obliterating most of the shell that covered the human host. That was the advantage of such a high-powered mystical weapon: it could be fine-tuned to pulverize with precision.

"Habit." Donar finished, as Savior tore the circuitry off the head of another OMAC and flipped back to the side of the godling.

"You know the drill?" Savior asked.

"Can you keep up?"

"Count on it!"

Donar loosened the grip on his hammer and began to twirl it above him, calling up a windstorm that eclipsed anything he had done before, a massive tornado that sucked in OMAC's and screwed up their targeting, their laser blasts missing the target as Donar and Savior vanished in the raging wind, even as lines of white power began whipping around inside it.

When the wind faded several seconds later, a few dozen shattered OMAC's came down with it, almost gently, as Donar made sure they weren't hurt.

"Now I know what Helen Hunt felt like." Savior commented, running a hand through his windblown hair.

More OMAC's came to the attack. Donar flew, swinging his hammer in a rotating arc, as Savior leapt above him and lanced forward with deadly spears.

---

"Grahhhh! Gug, blaragh! Guraaggghhhagah!" Metatron gasped, vomiting ugly sounds from his mouth even as chunks of dried blood flew from it as well. Ragnarok backed up a bit, looking satisfied: he would have had severe doubts that even he, with the White Catalyst, could fix such a wound, but as Dick had said, he shouldn't underestimate himself. And he hadn't, as he'd managed to pull Metatron back from the brink, fixing his horrifically damaged throat. There wasn't even a scar, though Metatron, through the black chunks he was hacking up, was still feeling the affects.

"You're all right now. Here." Ragnarok said, picking up a chunk of ice and, with a surge of dark power, turned it into an ice glass filled with clean water. Metatron gulped it down, and then shivered violently: helpful, but cold.

But he was alive. He'd escaped death again.

"…Seriously, can I keep you?" Metatron asked. "Hell, just give me a hair, I'll have you cloned."

And then with a faint cry of 'Ugh!', Hex fell down near where the two were, as she looked up from a battered face, rage blazing in her eyes.

"Oh, are we finally done? Good! Then perhaps YOU COULD HELP!" Hex yelled, as she rolled on her back and fired off a wave of pink energy, the power enveloping an OMAC coming after her to finish the job and causing it to suffer critical system failures: unlike Viridian, these OMAC's didn't have the best shielding or adapting tech for dealing with her. The downside was, like zombies, there were just so damn many of them.

"On it. Where's Davis?"

"He's helping retrieve bodies! Idiot! He shouldn't…!" Hex snapped as she went into a series of backflips to avoid a fired spray of deadly needles, as Hex counter-attacked and cursed as the three OMAC's in the air actually dodged her attack: damn things may not have had the best adapting abilities but that didn't mean they couldn't…

Yin was currently weaving his way through the battle, trying to ignore the chill ice as he hunted for fallen OMAC's that weren't moving: he'd had a bad experience with one who'd stabbed him when he thought he was down for the count, his elastic body barely holding off the blade. He found two more and scooped them up, and began making his way back across the ice…

Where he was greeted by two OMAC's. His eyes widened.

"Termina-"

A pair of gigantic hands seized the OMAC's, hoisting them up, and for a moment Yin thought Brick Wall was going to crushed the robots in his grip or smash them together. In the end he did neither, instead throwing them away.

"Get…behind me!" Brick ordered: Yin did so as the OMAC's returned with aid, firing their lasers. They struck Brick, but he held his ground, despite his clear pain.

"Can't…do anything! Would hurt people! So Yin…move it!" Brick Wall ordered. Yin did just that, stretching back to the heated rock platform to drop off the bodies.

He found it under siege by OMAC's, barely held off by the three heroes on it. Yin wasn't quite sure what he could do, but he'd think of something, as he dropped the humans off, coiled up his legs, and then sprang into the air.

He seized one OMAC with his hands, wrapped his legs around him in turn, and then let go and stretched as fast as he could in a circle, coiling around several other OMAC's, even as the first one tried to blast him, he had to move fast, as he came back to his original grabbed OMAC and slammed all the OMAC's he had wrapped around together and hoped like hell someone would…

Pink energy washed over him, short-circuiting the robots, and Yin sighed with relief, uncoiling and readjusting his position to catch the people as they fell.

Another OMAC collapsed on the ground, as Metatron continued tearing away at its chest and face with his claws, partially to make sure it was down for good and partially because he was rather angry at the robots.

"Met? It's done. Met. MET!" Ragnarok was yelling. Metatron tore one last chunk off the robot.

"Now it's done." Metatron said, leaping to his feet, and letting a nearby OMAC have it with a modulated heat blast, cooking the circuits in such a way the hard-shell armor took the majority of the attack. "Well done." He added.

"UGGHHHHHHHHHH!" Brick Wall yelled as he crashed down near the rock, his body a mass of burns and scrapes: the OMAC weapons were beginning to wear him down, while he just couldn't do anything in return: if he punched or kicked the robots, he'd harm the people inside. His strength was gigantic, but he didn't have enough fine control to keep them safe…

"Yo Brick, you alright?" Ragnarok asked as he surged over on a plume of rock.

"I have had…better days." Brick replied. "I wish I could do more…but it seems beyond me…"

"How about us?" Ragnarok said, as he raised a hand. "I don't have enough brain power to just snap my fingers and say "You all fall down", but I can certainly use the Dark Catalyst to do a simpler manipulation that should result in better results then what you're getting."

He put his hands on Brick's shoulder.

"I suggest something that would hit multiple targets." Ragnarok said, as a swarm of OMAC's approached.

Brick Wall had just the thing.

The sound of him slamming his hands together nearly deafened the Titans on the rock, but the shockwave of altered sound that emerged from it was worth it, as it left said swarm of approaching OMAC's lying in the dirt (well ice, it was the Arctic, there was no dirt).

"Ow. Nice. A little flat though. Try a B-Minor next time." Ragnarok said, rubbing a finger in one ear. Brick gave him a look, as Yin swept out and retrieved the bodies, Met helping (while complaining that the ice made his feet cold). Hex gave the gathered rescuees another blast of bad luck to make sure any rebuilding programs that might lurk in the OMAC armor that still clung to them stayed where they should: offline.

"I think we're actually making some headway." Ragnarok commented.

And then, right in front of the group, another squad of OMAC's decloaked. At least 500 of them.

"Glomp." Was all Ragnarok could say, as Metatron and Hex opened fire, as Ragnarok frantically tried to think of a defense to keep himself and his team alive as the OMAC's descended, the air filled with the electronic voices, all saying the same thing: TERMINATE.

---

Being surrounded by OMAC's would have worried a lot of heroes.

This pair wasn't one of them, as they looked around at the masses of blue robots floating around them. And the OMAC's weren't just floating around watching: all of them were blasting and attacking the pair. But nothing got through, twin shielding talents having been brought to the bear to hold off the shots, as Nightmare and Potent stood back to back.

"So…think you can handle all of these?" Mary asked her star-crossed boyfriend. EJ chuckled in a cocky away and held out his hand, as the crystal locked within the area of flesh between his fingers and wrist glowed and then extended outward, forming a thin sword. Fortunately it happened to be nearly indestructible.

"I don't know. I think if one more shows up, that might be too much." EJ replied.

Mary chuckled herself, as shadows surged around her hands. One formed a glaive burned in the image of her father. The other formed multiple lengths of deadly sharp blades, a combination sword/whip, the ends clattering onto the ground.

"I guess I'll have to handle that one then." Mary said.

And then the two suddenly expanded their shield, forcing the OMAC's back, and then it immediately dropped, Potent calling it back around his immediate body and Mary retrieving the dark powers she now commanded as the two leapt forward and ripped into their foes, their savagery only matched by the technique that allowed them to cut down the robots and leave the humans unharmed.

But for every OMAC they bested, four took its place, and even the immense power the two of them wielded seemed that it wouldn't be enough against the legions of metahuman-terminating robots.

---

Savior caught his next partner, Scorched Earth, as he was blasted back by several lasers.

"Watch it!" The white-haired teen warned.

"Cheating bastards!" Scorched Earth growled, as he fired off several Scorch Bolts. The OMAC's dodged and returned with more blasts from their eyes, forcing the two back.

"I'll set them up, you knock them down." Savior said, and then leapt forward.

"What?" Scorched Earth replied, as Savior slammed his hands into the ground.

Shimmer lines erupted out from the distant ground, reaching up and ensnaring the OMAC's that had been tormenting Scorched Earth…and holding them in place.

Much to Noel's relief, Scorched Earth picked it up before the OMAC's could blast several holes in him, as the hybrid teen flew up and, with a yell of effort, cut loose with a wide range Scorch blast/wave that enveloped the OMAC's and left then sparking on the ground.

"Hah! Combo attacks!" Scorched Earth said, while Savior leapt over to the fallen OMAC's to make sure the people were ok: they were, overall. "It's just like Kingdom Hearts!…minus absolutely everything else from Kingdom Hearts!"

"Keep it up!" Savior tossed back, and leapt high into the air to cross the battlefield, coiling into a tight ball and letting the Shimmer protect him on the way down to make sure if any OMAC's decided to blast him he was guarded. He made it down unmolested, and tackled another OMAC from behind, tearing up their cybernetics in the back and skull area before moving on.

He landed near Nightwing, who had been making his way forward the whole time, aided by Superboy and Wonder Girl, as he threw several Nightarangs at an OMAC and managed to catch one dead center in its eye: the Nightarang then cut loose with a blast of intense electricity and caused the robot to drop where it floated.

"You all right Dick?" Savior asked, as he landed nearby to help Nightwing with his next foes.

"All things considered, yes!"

"So what's the situation?"

"Not difficult enough!" Nightwing retorted, as he blinded a few OMAC's with a flash bomb and let Savior tear them up. Indeed, while the fact that all of the heroes were experienced in fighting OMAC's to some degree, including an amped-up future version, and the fact that the robots couldn't seem to adapt well to combination attacks and were so numerous they had to avoid hitting each other, probably accounted for some of the difficult but easier then expected process, Nightwing couldn't help but feel like the other shoe was just waiting to drop.

"You noticed?" Savior replied, as Superboy smashed an OMAC down near him. Savior finished it off by ripping up the head section.

"Plan hasn't changed. Keep it up! Keep…!"

And then it happened.

---

"Alex! The OMAC's aren't working! The heroes are breaking through!" The Psycho-Pirate yelled from where he could see the battle in the distance. He'd thought all the heroes would be dead by now: not only were they not, they seemed to be winning, and if they won, they'd be on the Tower and him in seconds. And Alexander was still up in front of his 'workstation', screwing around with time, space, and reality, hunting for his perfect Earth when he should be noting the problem. "Alex!"

"Earth-Q…Earth-3181…Earth-25G…no, no, NO." Alex murmured, as he dismissed a few more Earths, even as another one blew up nearby, trying to ignore the Psycho-Pirate and his stupidity.

"ALEX!"

Argh, enough. He couldn't concentrate with this, as he turned away from the rift.

"The group of heroes, they're going to…"

"No, they're not Halston. They are not breaking through. They are simply digging themselves a deeper hole without realizing it. But if you seem to be unable to do anything but question my plan, I'll give you a task. Brother Eye? Full force." Alexander said.

ACKNOWLEDGED.

Even as Brother Eye spoke, Alexander Luthor lifted his hands and began to concentrate. In the days of the Crisis of Infinite Earths, he needed his own body to do this, but with the Tower, he could it remotely, as he closed his eyes, letting his vision go beyond him to where he needed to be, locating and focusing.

"Come." He said, as power surged around him.

And began flashing on the battlefield, as his warping effect began, sending groups of the Society out into the field. How nice of then to all gather in one place. And he thought they'd ceased to be important.

"I have greatly reinforced the ranks Halston. Your task is now at hand: make sure they only fight the proper people, not each other. Imbue them with hate, fear, anger, disgust, jealousy, anything, just keep them focused on the so called heroes. Brother Eye, make sure the OMAC's only attack their original targets and none of the new ones."

ACKNOWLEDGED.

"Alex, I'm not sure…"

"Yes you can Halston. I have faith in you." Alex Luthor replied, the sarcasm so thick in his voice you could caulk a shower with it. "Now do it, unless you want the heroes to reach here, as you are so afraid they will!"

"…All right." The Psycho-Pirate said, as he turned towards the battlefield. He could do this. He'd once manipulated billions of lives and emotions, he could manipulate several dozen at a distance (right?), as he reached out with his powers, seizing onto minds, pouring his influence into them, searing their hearts and souls with negative feelings, all of which revolved around one simple edict: MAKE THE HEROES SUFFER.

Alexander turned back to his rift, losing himself in the task once more. He hoped that would be the last interruption.

---

Nightwing saw the wing uncloak in front of the rear guard a second after they did. He didn't get a chance to call attention to it though, as it was just the first.

As more OMAC's suddenly came from nowhere, having been held back until now, more and more appearing, the sky filling with them, as their number doubled, tripled, quadrupled, and so on.

Nightwing thought things couldn't get any worse.

He was, as usual, dead wrong.

The flashes of light were different, nothing like the effect of the uncloaking OMAC's, a rapid series of them, all around the fields of ice. And when they faded, beings remained.

Savior's head jerked around, his pupils dilating. He didn't recognize all of them, but he recognized enough.

The Society. Villains one and all. He'd almost forgotten his erstwhile prediction, back before Kyra and Co had showed up.

And once again, he was reminded that he hated being right.

The only break the heroes had was that the OMAC's paused in their attack, to analyze all the new arrivals to differentiate them from their original targets, so that they wouldn't attack them per Brother Eye's orders.

That didn't stop the villains, as Psycho-Pirate's powers flooded into them, filling most with intense wrath. True, some weren't affected, or only minimally affected, for a variety of reasons…but the group as a whole was affected enough.

Yin had been out retrieving innocents again when it had happened, and he had no sooner seen the new faces when two attacked him, twin villains called Hammer and Sickle who tried to crush and gut the adult with their respective namesake weapons. Some distance away, Scorched Earth found himself being swarmed by the insane replicating clones known as the Madmen, while Wonder Girl suddenly found herself being introduced to the cannon arm of the cyborg Nazi villain called the Red Panzer.

And they were just a couple. And not all of them were third-stringers.

Nightwing knew that.

He could see Bizzaro off in the distance. Bizzaro, whose powers had been said by some to be even greater then Superman's.

And then, just to totally and utterly complete the 'Screw You', the OMAC's came back on line.

"EXECUTE."

Nightwing leapt away from the attacks as utter chaos erupted on the battlefield once more, twice as much as there had already been. Nightwing could barely hear himself think, but he screamed orders anyway.

"THE TOWER!" He yelled. "GET TO THE TOWER! Punch through! MOVE! WE'RE NOT GOING TO LAST LONG OUT HERE!"

And then he was overwhelmed.

To Be Continued.