The Flood
The shortest story - "For Sale, Wedding Dress, Never Used."
The Second World
Exploding up like fireworks, lingering in his brilliance at the apex and then plunging down like the deadliest meteor, the very core of the moon shook under his power unleashed. He arrived a man out of time, but circumstances forced him to become something else. This world was ending. Nothing could stop it. If one looked far enough to the horizon you could see it. Everything that was would be swept away to make room for the new. That meant no more restrains, no more holding back. For the first time in his life, he was a man in full.
The Watchtower
Dinah stood alone in the observation lounge looking out at the stars. There was a meeting in a few minutes to access the situation, but she needed a few moments to herself. So many conflicting emotions were rushing through her brain. She needed to get a handle on them before she dealt with the others.
She heard the door open and silently groaned. Apparently she would have to wait to sort out her feelings. She turned to see Ollie standing just inside the door looking at her. She hadn't expected it to be him. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, as if he wasn't sure where to start.
"So how are you holding up?" He finally asked.
"I'll survive."
He took a step closer.
"That isn't what I meant."
"I don't know what you're talking about?' She defensively replied.
"I heard about Hippolyta, Dinah."
"She vanished, everyone heard about that." Dinah said, trying to play it off. She turned back to the windows. She could feel him moving up next to her, but she didn't look at him.
"I heard about her and Clark."
"Oh, that." She didn't want to have this conversation, especially with him. "If you're here to tell me you could have told me so, don't, Ollie. I'm not in the mood right now."
She started to walk away, but he stepped in front to cut her off.
"I wouldn't do that," he whispered. "Whatever happened between us, that doesn't mean I stopped caring for you, Dinah."
"Then what does it mean?" She asked. She was defensive, as it still hurt. She lashed out. "You ended it, remember? Having second thoughts and figured you catch me on the rebound?'
"No." He said with a shake of his head. "My reasons haven't changed. We're just at different points in our life, but this isn't about us. It's about you and Clark."
"What about us?"
"You know I'm not his biggest fan,' Ollie said. "But I can see you care for him. If he cares for you, which I think he probably does, don't let this end it."
"He slept with another woman, Ollie,' Dinah snapped.
"Yes, he did,' Ollie replied. "I don't know why he did it and neither do you. I'm just trying to say wait and talk to him before you do anything. Super might be at the beginning of his name, but he's just a man too, Dinah. Men make mistakes."
Dinah looked at Ollie in surprise.
"I never expected you to defend him,' she said.
"I'm not,' he said with a shake of his head.
"Then what are you doing?" She asked.
"Something I haven't always been the best at,' Ollie replied. "I'm trying to be your friend."
Fawcett City
Mary slowly carried the cup of hot chocolate over and set it down in front of Billy. Since his inadvertent change, he'd been nearly catatonic. He had his knees pulled up to his chest and just sat on the couch rocking back and forth.
"It's hot chocolate, Billy, you're favorite,' she offered. Nothing, no response came from him. Mary wasn't sure what to do. She hadn't meant to do whatever it was that she did to cause Billy to change into an adult, so she had no clue how to undo whatever it was that she did. She'd tried everything she could think of, but nothing seemed to reach Billy. From her own experience she understood how overwhelming this all was. She tried talking to Billy, to explain that it wasn't the end of the world to finally grow up, but he wasn't listening.
In his mind Billy just kept repeating this is a bad dream, only a bad dream. I'll wake up and things will be the same as they always were. With all his might he wished for this, but the creeping fear kept getting stronger that it wasn't a bad dream and thing would never be the same again.
Unlike Mary, the transformation to adulthood wasn't just overwhelming to Billy it was shattering. She didn't seem to understand he already had his heart's desire. He never wanted things to change. For him he was already living in the best of both worlds. He was Captain Marvel, a hero that everyone admired. People cheered him and adored him. Mayors gave him keys to their cities and days were named after him. Yet in his private life he was just Billy, still a kid. It was endless hours of fun, reading comic books, playing video games and watching cartoons with no responsibilities. He could pretend to be a grown up when he was Captain Marvel but then escape back into being just a kid when things got too complicated.
Now there was no escape. He could see his reflection in the blank screen of the television. The face looking back was of a young, perhaps twenty five year old man, not the teenage boy he always was. It was a waking nightmare. Mary had ruined everything. He didn't want to be a grown up, at least not all the time. Now there was no escape and Billy didn't know what to do. All those adult decisions and problems weren't going to go away just by saying the word 'Shazam' anymore.
All of us face this moment sooner or later. Outwardly we may seem like adults, but it is only when we finally lose our parent or parents that there is no going back. That last safety net has been pulled out from under us. Always before in the back of our minds we knew that no matter how bad we screwed up we had someplace to go, to retreat to. Once that last link is gone, we truly can't go home again. It's at that moment when you fully become an adult.
It doesn't matter how old or even successful you are. In your deepest fears you know that all of it can change in a moment. What would it really take? A serious illness or a down turn in the economy or the markets? It could be a break up or divorce or just the loss of a job. Just how narrow is the thread that holds your life together? Something as simple as slipping on the ice can change everything. Your world fractures and that smooth steady path you were on is altered. The chaotic, randomness of life suddenly becomes very real to you.
You begin to look back at your life and see it playing out in everything. Something as small as living on a different street growing up takes on huge implications. A different street means a different school. A different school means different educational opportunities and social interactions. Different educational opportunities mean that teacher has too many students so they can't give you that extra time you needed. Different social interactions mean different friends and different choices at the most critical stage of your development. The person you are now suddenly starts to unravel, all because you grew up on Elm instead of Maple.
Billy continued rocking. His lips were moving, but he wasn't saying anything above a whisper. Mary leaned in and could just make out what he was repeating over and over.
"Shazam."
She gently reached over and tilted his face up so he was looking at her. She could see the sheer terror in his eyes.
"It's not working, Mary,' he whispered, as fresh tears rolled down his face.
"I know,' she replied. "I don't think it's going to this time, Billy. I think we're on our own. I'm so sorry."
"What are we going to do if even that isn't working?" He asked.
"We have to fix it ourselves, Billy."
"How?"
"When I was on the station I heard them say that the energy split in two just before it hit me,' Mary explained. "I think that means that someone else had this happen to them too."
"So?"
"In my dreams whenever I see the Golden Lady, I see another,' Mary replied. "They are like two halves of something, I think. She's always vanquishing him, but he keeps returning."
"What does all that have to do with undoing this?" Billy asked, gesturing towards his now adult body.
"I don't know for sure,' Mary admitted. "But maybe if we can find the other person that got hit like me, he'll be able to fix it. Maybe he's the other part of all of this."
"What if he's not?" Billy asked as the tears came harder.
"Then we'll both have to just deal with this on our own, Billy,' Mary replied. "If we want to fix this, it's up to us."
"Where would we even start looking?"
"New York."
The Second World
Another time jump occurred and one look into the skies told Clark the end of this world was much closer. The leaps were speeding up, almost like he'd fallen into a net and now was rebounding back up the shaft, gaining momentum with each leap. He was on the central planet and the total warfare continued. As he rose to his feet he saw her just standing and looking at him. The Golden Goddess was dripping with blood, yet when he looked into her eyes he saw something besides rage. It was recognition and even curiosity. She spoke to him and for some reason he could understand her.
"You survive, still?"
"Yes,' he replied.
"You found something to fight for?"
"Yes."
"What?"
"The opposite of all this,' he said, gesturing all around them. "The hope of even the possibility of love."
He felt foolish saying it out loud, yet he just couldn't deny what he was feeling in front of her.
"Love is weakness,' she snarled.
"No. Love means hope and hope means a future. This,' he said, again gesturing to the carnage all around them. "This is weakness and futility. Hate destroys everything. The end is just on the horizon, yet you all refuse to see it."
The Golden Goddess glanced off into the distance, where the Third World was rapidly approaching. It was a wave obliterating everything in its path. Sadness came over her features as she turned back to Clark.
"Not all refuse to see it,' she said. Something else seemed to catch her attention. "You leap through time? How?"
"I don't really know,' Clark admitted. "I seem to just step out of it and then reemerge at another point."
The Golden Goddess glanced at the approaching wave once again.
"Stepping out of time,' she whispered. Her eyes seemed to open wider as if new possibilities had just opened up for her. She looked back at Clark and a rare smile cross her face.
"Perhaps you have found something, mortal, that all the Gods have not."
She leaned in and kissed him. Clark was completely unprepared for the electricity that rushed through his system. As quickly as it started it was over. She stepped away to return to the battle, but then stopped and glanced back at Clark.
"Love and possibilities,' she said and then plunged into the fray.
France, 1954
Hippolyta had moved through time again. The leaps were getting further into the future and closer to her present. During this lapse back into time she made the acquaintance of Simone de Beauvoir and was staying in her flat. Simone was a French existentialist philosopher, public intellectual, political activist, feminist theorist and social theorist. Her 1949 treatise The Second Sex was a detailed analysis of women's oppression and a foundational tract of contemporary feminism. The two women found much to talk about.
It should have been a brief, yet wonderful time for Hippolyta but her thoughts were on the last jump in time. She'd had a physical relationship with Zeus. At first she'd resisted, but whether it was his powers or magic, she couldn't seem to refuse him. She had long ago heard the stories of the Gods taking mortal form to seduce unsuspecting mortal women; she just had never thought she would be one of them. He'd been no different then the men the Amazons dealt with all those years ago. It seems the Gods were a reflection of the mortals that created them.
This brought about a crisis in faith for Hippolyta. If the Gods she and her sisters had worshiped for so long were no different than mortals and took what they wanted, why did they still worship them? If all this time mortal men were the enemy, then why was it that a mortal, Clark, had been far nobler than her own God? Yes she owed her second chance at life to the Gods, but how long was she supposed to pay for it? Did it mean that Zeus could just take her anytime he wanted, because the Gods had saved her? And what of the Amazons? It hadn't been the Gods that built their society; it was Hippolyta and her sisters. Their seclusion had protected them, but it had also shielded them from the fact that the world was changing all around them. If Zeus, the king of the Gods would do this, how could they hold mere mortal men to a higher standard?
These thoughts plagued Hippolyta as she walked along the Paris streets. Zeus claimed he had saved her but that sounded wrong to her ear, yet she couldn't say exactly why. She'd replayed it all over and over in her head as she leapt through time. The visions, dreams and omens appeared in a different light. If Zeus had wanted to, he could have stopped it long before that moment on the street, but he didn't. That meant those omens and dreams weren't from the Gods at all. That meant someone else had been manipulating Hippolyta, like a puppeteer pulling her strings. She hadn't worked it all out, but she definitely had a candidate in mind for who was behind it all.
A wave of dizziness came over her and Hippolyta had to sit down. She took a seat on a park bench and wiped the sweat from her brow. It seemed strange to her that while she could remember every detail of her time with Clark, with each passing day it grew harder to remember them with Zeus. Specifics seemed to slip away and she struggled to hold onto the facts of what had happened.
She thought about Clark and wonder what this all meant for them. They had made no commitments to each other, as she had believed she was going to die. She certainly still felt an attraction to him, but was that enough? If she made it back to her time, she would assume the throne again and release Diana from her responsibilities. Hopefully she would understand why Hippolyta had done what she'd done. Diana was her daughter, her moon and stars and the most precious thing in this world to her. No sacrifice would be too much to keep her safe. She also deserved to be Wonder Woman again. It was her destiny and while so much might change, that had not. The world needed her as a hero. Another wave of dizziness came over Hippolyta and it was so intense she thought she would be sick. More of the specifics of her time with Zeus seemed to disappear into the ether, yet the sickness continued.
"Here, this might help,' a voice said. She looked up to see a glass of water being held out to her. As she took it she saw it was Alan Scott offering it. Hippolyta took a long sip and some of the sickness dissipated.
"Thank you, Alan,' she finally said. "It's good to see you, even under these circumstances."
"You too, Hippolyta,' he replied with a smile. "I hope you don't mind, but I used my ring to scan you. I saw you were feeling ill and I was concerned."
"No, that's quite all right,' she said.
"I believe I know why you're ill."
"What? Why?" She asked.
"Because you're pregnant,' he replied.
"WHAT?!"
Japan
The small Hanamachi or Geisha town sat on the outskirts of the city. It was like walking back in time to another era in history. A world of silk, bamboo and lanterns, that took on an almost mystical quality as the fog rolled in. It seemed a world away from what was happening, but Bruce wasn't fooled by appearances. The final confrontation was coming. Masami and Kijuro would finally meet and if he knew her as well as he thought he did, it would happen here.
It would be here because this is where it all started. Most would think it was the spot on the street where Masami's parents had been gunned down, but that was just the reaction to the original action. Just as the alley was where it all began for him, this was where it all began for Masami. Events had happened here that sent her on the course she was now on, just like the events of that horrible night had sent him on his journey. She had been shepherding Kijuro towards this place the whole time. She had left him nowhere else to run, except back here to the beginning.
Bruce couldn't help admiring the way she'd done it. He hated her methods, but saw how successful the results were. As if on cue, Kijuro and the last of his men arrived and moved quickly inside.
Selina was next to Bruce.
"So she'll be here? Are you sure?" She whispered.
"Yes."
"How can you be so sure? What if this is just another diversion like the others?" She asked.
"It's not,' he said.
"How can you be so sure, Bruce?"
"Because this is where it started,' he replied. "This is where it must end. This is where she wants it to end."
"You sound like you know what she's thinking,' Selina observed.
"I do, because this is how I would want it to end."
The Second World
Clark collided with time once again. The process was speeding up and already he could feel the pull dragging him back outside of time. He glanced up and saw this was the end. The shattered remnants of worlds littered the sky. The last planet torn in half and armored gods holding swords and dying on a fiery battleground. All around him the field of battle was littered with the dead.
The Second World was done.
It was so close now, the new age, the Third World was emerging and there was nothing they could do to stop it. By their own hand, their downfall gave rise to it. New Gods already moved to fill the void, sweeping away everything of the past. He saw her standing among the dead, the Golden Goddess. The full realization of what this moment meant was plain on her face. It was the end of everything she knew. Clark started to stand, but already the pull was too great. He felt himself slipping back outside of time just as the wave of the Third World started to wash over this last world. For the briefest moment he thought she was looking at him, but then she rose off the plain and fled, as he was sucked back into the other.
San Francisco
It was 1968, the summer of love and Hippolyta was showing. The latest time jump had brought her here and it was lasting much longer than the previous ones. Alan Scott and Dr. Midnight had found her and with the original Phantom Lady were doing their best to help her with the pregnancy. Most of the details of her time with Zeus were almost all gone now, but she clung to the thought that he was the father of her child. She found it so ironic that it was mortals and men at that who were helping her.
There was something in the air and she felt part of a change coming. Along with stopping the war and civil rights, the call for equal rights was starting to build. The first groups were talking about the ERA, the equal right amendment to the Constitution, guaranteeing equality for women. America was such a young country and everything seemed to move at such a frantic pace. It was so easy to get swept up in it. It was the country's greatest strength and greatest weakness. The ability to change on a dime and not let old customs and rules stop you. She remembered Clark talking about what he loved about this country. How it didn't promise you happiness, just the chance to pursue it. It only offered hope and that was a powerful thing.
She was trying to do her part, against the objections of the others. Hippolyta had to forgo the Wonder Woman armor, as her pregnancy didn't quite work with the outfit. Instead she had donned a white pantsuit and took up the study of the martial arts. The name Wonder Woman she couldn't avoid, but as least dressed like this no one had any idea she was with child.
She could feel the life inside her and knew it was Diana. In some ways this was the happiest time of her life, yet she knew another jump would be coming. What she would do when the baby arrived she wasn't sure. The one thought that stuck in her mind was to get to Themyscira. Diana deserved to be born there. Even as she tried to remember back to that night on the beach when the Gods had imbued the clay doll with life, it seemed hazy to her. It was like a memory that wasn't all there anymore. In some ways it felt as if it were a story that had been told so many times it took on a life of its own.
Apokolips
Darkseid stood at the top step gazing down into the world below Armagetto. He lit a torch and began his descent. Down, down, down he went in the Stygian blackness of the underworld. He finally reached the necropolis, an underground labyrinth that Apokolips had been built on. The Dreggs were down here, the last surviving Old Gods. Survivors of the sundering of Urgrund, but they were rendered mindless. Below the Necropolis was the Black Ways, a labyrinth that was the prison of Sirius, one of the last few surviving Old Gods, stuck in the form of a large wolf. Powerful artifacts created by the Old Gods have been found in the Necropolis.
Above his armada was ready. The time for battle was drawing near, yet he found himself drawn back to these dark, forgotten ruins. It was an echo through time, just as she was. What sights had these mindless creatures seen in their day, he wondered? Did they foolishly believe their time would never end or did they remember what had happened to her world? Darkseid had no such illusions. Each world gives way to the next, just as son replaces father. That truth was always with him and drove him more than any other. The Anti-Life equation meant more than just total control it meant supremacy now and forever. Once he had it, Darkseid need not fear the end of the Fourth World and the beginning of the Fifth. With the equation he would be the ruler till the end of all the worlds.
Those thoughts were for another day. Now he must defend his time, the Fourth World. He believed it was inevitable this World would be his and the Goddess was just another potential threat. That she could step outside of time concerned the dark lord more than he would ever admit. The sooner he ended her threat the better.
Taking one last look around at the echoes of the past, Darkseid turned and headed back up the stairs. It was time to launch his fleet and meet up with his temporary allies. The Goddess would soon find out that this world was already taken.
Outside of Time
Clark hurdled back up the shaft gaining momentum as he rose. He did his best to resist entering time again, as this was the Third World and he had no interested in being part of it. Images flashed before his eyes as the events of this age played out, but they moved too quickly for even his eyes to grasp them all. Faster and faster he climbed, until everything was a blur. The microscopic ridges brushed against him, trying to pull him back into the flow of time, but desperately he fought to continue up. He had only one goal that was to get back to his own time. He saw the Third World flame out just as the Second and knew he was back in the Fourth. He was closer now, but the drag finally got to him and he was ripped from outside of time back into it.
He landed hard, the impact knocking the wind out of him. Over and over he rolled, feeling every bump and bruise. It was such a strange and unfamiliar feeling. When he finally came to a stop, he saw the reason for this. Directly above him in the sky was a red sun. Slowly Clark got to his feet and looked around him. He was in a huge field that seemed to stretch forever in every direction. His sight and hearing were normal and he couldn't make anything out. He glance down and saw the ruins of his uniform. His cape was long since gone and his shirt was torn to pieces. He couldn't even make out his family crest.
The sound of someone approaching drew him from his inspection. As he watched riders came into view. At first he thought he was seeing things, as the beasts the riders were on he'd only seen in a museum. It was his museum in the Fortress of Solitude. Before he could think of why, the riders pulled up in front of him.
"You're a stranger in these parts,' the leader said. "Who are you?"
"Clark, um, Clark Kent,' he replied.
The riders gave him a strange look and he realized they didn't understand what he was saying. Almost reflexively he offered a shorter name.
"Kal."
This they seemed to understand. They spoke amongst themselves for a moment and Clark had trouble following it all. They seemed to think he was from the South and that explained his accent. He was confused and just about to ask where he was when the leader addressed him.
"You're a stranger from the South then?"
Clark nodded, thinking that was the best thing to do. The leader smiled and seemed to relax.
"Very well then,' he replied. "We don't get many visitors from the South, but we are one people and Krypton is all of our home."
Clark nearly collapsed under the weight of this statement. Krypton, he was on his own world.