Chapter Twenty-Seven
Unknown location
Unknown Time
Kara was struggling to breathe. She felt liquid all around her, covering her, and there was some kind of mask over her face, feeding her oxygen. She tried to open her eyes, but she couldn't. She wasn't able to move her limbs either. It was as though she were paralysed. But by what?
She remembered saying goodnight to Jonathan and Martha and then heading off to bed. Now she was elsewhere, surrounded by liquid.
Then the liquid began to ripple and she felt bubbles begin to roll up across her skin. It wasn't until air hit her scalp, then moved down her face did she realise that the liquid was being drained and that if felt like she was practically, if not completely naked.
Once the tank was clear of liquid did she then feel the tubes recede out of her throat and she drew in a deep breath. Slowly her eyes began to open. Her vision started off blurry, but she could see that there were people staring at her.
Kara began to feel self-conscious and tried to cover herself, but her arms didn't move. Instead, she looked down at her own body, her hands flexing. But it wasn't her who was in control, it was someone else.
She then looked back up, seeing Dr Hamilton staring at her with a warm smile.
"Hello," he said. He then paused, looking her right in the eyes, before speaking once more, "Do you understand me?"
Kara's head slowly nodded involuntarily.
"Do you know who I am?" Dr Hamilton questioned.
"You are my creator," a voice said. It took a moment for Kara to realise that the words had come out of her own mouth.
Hamilton smiled. "Do you know who you are?"
"I am Galatea," her own voice responded.
Kara began to panic. She didn't know what was happening, but she wanted it to end.
"Looks like the programming worked," a dark-skinned woman in a lab coat said to him. She then looked at her. "What is your function?"
"To follow directives given to me. If that means to kill, then I shall kill."
The smile vanished from Hamilton's face. "It's worked a little too well," he mumbled.
The woman rested her hand on his shoulder. "Hey, we can fix it," she said quietly. "Give her morals."
"I hope so Delina."
"Is there something wrong?" Kara, no Galatea asked.
Hamilton looked right at her. "You are meant to be our hero, Galatea. You are meant to protect us against the league, against him, against Superman."
"If that is what I am commanded by our superiors, then that is what I shall do."
Hamilton looked distraught. Delina squeezed his shoulder. "It'll be alright," she reassured him.
"I'm not sure it will."
Kent Farm
Smallville
United States
01:50 – Central Standard Time
March 16, 2007
Kara's eyes snapped open to her dark bedroom on the farm. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, wondering what it was she had just seen and hoping it wasn't what she thought it was.
The birth of her own clone.
She got up and headed downstairs to get some water, hoping that it had just been a dream and nothing else.
Kara stepped into the kitchen and grabbed a glass from the cupboard. She took it to the sink and filled it from the sink faucet.
She made her way to the table and sipped at the water, the images of what she had just seen, or rather dreamed about, still flashed in her mind.
Had she just accidental visited Galatea's memories, or was it just a dream? It could be that the recent interaction with her duplicate had stirred up a fear within her and her brain was simply bringing those concerns up in her sleeping state in the form of the dream.
Or she could stop trying to Sigmund Freud herself because she had absolutely no clue as to what it was she had just experienced.
Kara finished off the water and put the glass on the side, before heading back upstairs to bed. Sleep didn't come for her, though. She was afraid of what she might see next and even more worried about what Galatea might see. If it was what a memory she had seen, did that mean it worked both ways?
She lay there awake worrying until she couldn't take it anymore. She got up and decided to go out for a walk to clear her head.
Avalon Heights
Blüdhaven
United States
06:24 – Eastern Standard Time
March 16, 2007
The doorbell rang, stirring Dick Grayson from his sleep. He glanced at the clock and sighed, knowing who it probably was at the door.
He got up and threw on some pants and a t-shirt, making his way to the apartment's front door. He pulled it open, seeing Wonder Woman stood outside just as he had expected.
Dick urged her inside, checking that no one had been around to see her before he pushed the door shut. This was a big risk and he knew if she was seen, then people would talk.
As it turned out, she was in a hurry. "I see you're not ready," she observed.
"I just got up," he told her. "I've had only three hours sleep."
"Too bad, we have work to do," she responded with disregard.
"Yeah, okay. So how are we doing this?" Dick asked.
"Observation until we need to intervene," she told him. "First, before we go, we'll be heading up to the Watchtower." she held out her palm revealing two communicators. "For you and the Tamaranean."
He took them "Why are we going up there?"
"Koriand'r needs a different outfit. There was a case on that ship they arrived on."
"You still have their ship?" Richard questioned.
"No. It's now in the hands of the Canadian government. Not sure what they plan on doing with it. Lantern made sure the hyperdrive and other advanced tech were removed or destroyed. We managed to retrieve a few things including a case. Shayera managed to get it open this morning. That is when we discovered it contained clothing, belonging to the two Tamaraneans. We believe Lrek was supposed to give them to them once they escaped. Obviously, he never got the chance."
He regarded her. She didn't look tired, but by the sounds of it, she had been up all night. "How much sleep did you get last night?"
"None. I don't need as much as you."
He shrugged deciding not to question her any further on that subject. He put the two communicators on the side and headed into his room, where he slipped out of his clothes and slipped into one of his Nightwing outfits. He looked at himself in the mirror before putting his mask on.
Dick Grayson immediately became Nightwing. His posture and even frame of mind changed. He was no longer just a man. He was the last thing criminals saw before their day turned bad. He ran his hand through his hair and retrieved his only spare black utility belt, the other still being at Bruce's manor. He then stepped back out into the main room.
"Looks good," Wonder Woman complimented.
He moved across the room and gently tapped on Starfire's door. "Star, are you awake?"
"Star?" Wonder Woman questioned.
"Her name in English is Starfire."
"Interesting."
The door opened and the Tamaranean stepped out rubbing her eyes. "What is all this noise?" she mumbled.
"We'll be heading out soon," Nightwing said. "Though we can have breakfast first." He looked at Wonder Woman. "If we have time."
"We have time," she said. "Just make it quick."
Wayne Manor
Gotham City
United States
06:40 – Eastern Standard Time
March 16, 2007
Batman had been sat there for hours searching for blood matches, searching for everything he could on the Church of Blood, searching for anything that could help him.
Fate's behaviour was somewhat unusual. While he did spend a lot of time away from the Watchtower and the rest of the league, he was rarely away from his tower and that made his absence from there all the more troubling. After finding out everything he could on the Church of Blood he could understand his concern.
He had found that they were believed to be behind ritual suicides and killings, all in the name of their deity. Over the years it could easily tally up to over two-hundred people.
It was all rather disturbing, especially when one considered that their deity might actually exist, unlike most cults which were based solely on the lies and manipulations of the leaders. Usually, cults had no basis in reality, which was the only good thing about them.
A real death cult worshipping a real demon was bad news and it was a headache he could definitely do without.
"Breakfast time, Master Bruce," Alfred said as he descended the steps into the cave, a tray in his hand. "I have toast with your favourite condiment and a cup of coffee."
"Thanks, Alfred," he said as the aged butler put the tray on the table next to the oversized computer.
"Sir, you mustn't spend all hours working. Especially looking at a large screen. You'll hurt your eyes."
Batman smiled at him. "I'll take it into consideration."
"See that you-oh my."
Batman followed Alfred's shocked gaze to see a hooded figure stood in a dark secluded corner of the cave. Batman was instantly on his feet, regarding the figure with caution and suspicion. Not just anybody could get into his cave.
The figure spoke up, with a raspy, monotone yet distinctly feminine voice. "Your investigation will only turn up dead ends and ghosts."
"Who are you?" Batman demanded.
"I am a shadow. It is best for everyone and everything that I remain that way."
"Why?" he questioned.
"Your questions are in vain," she responded.
Knowing that she could try and make her escape at any moment, he decided to act. He drew a bola and threw it, aiming for her legs. It never reached its target, as she sank into the ground in what he could only describe as a dark mist. The balls and rope hit the wall and bounced off, falling harmlessly to the ground.
Batman quickly retrieved his bola from where it lay and placed it back into his utility belt, before squatting, rubbing his gloved hand over the rock the woman had disappeared into.
"I must say, sir, that was rather frightening," Alfred commented with a shudder.
"We're getting close to something Alfred," Batman said. "And it has someone scared."
"Who was she?"
The Dark Knight looked up at his butler and oldest friend. "The one whose blood Fate gave me belongs to, I'm sure of it."
"What do you think she meant by what she said?"
"I don't know. But I intend to find out."
Watchtower II
Earth Orbit
07:12 – Station Time (EST)
Nightwing stood in the corridor while Wonder Woman and Starfire were in the room he was stood by.
While he was wearing his hero costume, he had a plain white shirt and dark pants over it, though he still had his eye mask on. It had been decided that he should check out the museum beforehand as a civilian, mainly because he was the only one out of all of them that wouldn't be immediately recognisable, even as Richard Grayson
While he was known as the adopted son of the wealthy Bruce Wayne, he had been out of the limelight for a number of years which meant he had all but vanished from popular media.
It was how he liked it. Having magazines wanting to interview him and the paparazzi wanting to take pictures of the Ward of Bruce Wayne had been fun at first, but had quickly become tedious and ultimately unwanted. Dick pulled himself out of his thoughts and looked at the door to the room the two women were in.
They had been in there five minutes now and he was starting to wonder what was taking so long. Starfire was only supposed to be changing outfits. It wasn't something that should take particularly long in his mind.
The door slid open. Wonder Woman was the first out followed closely by Starfire.
Nightwing found himself staring. She was in a blue midriff bearing top with what looked like a green gem in the middle. The sleeves went all the way down to silver bracers that partially wrapped around her hand and extremely short shorts and thigh-high boots.
He opened his mouth to comment, before deciding it wasn't his place.
"We need to get going," the Amazon said.
They all headed down the corridor, bumping into Shayera. "Good luck," the Thanagarian offered. "And remember to be back by the nineteenth. Also, if anyone asks, I'll tell them you're on a mission from Themyscira."
"I am on a mission from Themyscira," Wonder Woman pointed out.
"I'm not lying about it then, am I," she joked.
Nightwing wanted to retort. The former Hawkgirl was infamous for her lie that had come to light during the invasion of her people. He decided that it would be a rather 'Batman' thing to do, so he kept his mouth shut.
"Good luck," Shayera offered as they moved off.
It didn't take them long to arrive at the teleporter and soon they were being sent down to just outside the limits of Gateway City. The dark world of early morning of the est coast formed around them and the three found themselves stood in a clearing in a forest, the lights of the city visible beyond.
Nightwing turned to the two of them. "I'll go check out the museum."
"We'll take up position nearby," Wonder Woman said.
"Understood."
She pointed to his face. "Mask."
He pulled it off, then spoke, "Chances are the museum won't open till nine or ten. That gives me more than enough time to book us a hotel room. We'll need it if we're going to be here a few days."
"Just the one room?" Wonder Woman questioned with a raised brow.
"If Richard Grayson books a hotel room, each for Wonder Woman and an alien, it will look suspicious."
"I see your point."
"Don't worry I won't be there much, I'll be scouting out the museum, including all exit and entry points and much of the town. I like to know the rooftops."
"If you see anything that you think is unusual, don't hesitate to contact me," Wonder Woman ordered.
He nodded in acknowledgement as he turned and headed towards the harbour town that lay ahead while both Wonder Woman and Starfire took to the sky.
Tower of Fate
Salem
United States
07:24 – Eastern Standard Time
March 16, 2007
Zatanna nodded along while Ryand'r explained everything that had happened. A spell created by Inza had made it so that they could understand the Tamaranean. He had explained how his people could learn language through touch but how the experiments the Psions had performed on him had stripped this ability from him.
The stage magician was finding his story somewhat heart-warming and tragic. He had been away from home for years and upon finding out what had happened to his sister he had sought to find her, ending up being captured himself.
The story was interrupted by the sudden appearance of Doctor Fate, who stepped out of a large bright ankh.
"Inza, Zatanna. You will come with me," he said loudly.
Inza hurried into the room. "Have you found something?"
"I do not know how much time we have left to us. The answer we seek lies in Gotham. You two must come with me."
"What about Ryand'r?" Zatanna questioned.
Fate looked to the Tamaranean as if he had only just noticed him for the first time. "We bring him along," he commanded.
"Where are we going?" Zatanna asked.
Fate didn't answer. He simply stepped back into the ankh.
The stage magician turned to Ryand'r as Inza stepped through. "I guess we follow."
Ryand'r went first, walking cautiously up to it.
"Go on through," Zatanna said. "It's like a doorway to somewhere else. You went through one when we first came here. It'll be the same only we're going further."
He put one foot into the portal then slowly stepped through. Zatanna took one look around the room before she too entered the portal and then found herself in the Batcave.
She saw Fate addressing Batman. "We may not have much time," the Agent of Order said to the Dark Knight. "I have been sensing an increase in chaos and of great evil. There is an imbalance and it comes from this very city.
Zatanna leant over to Ryand'r. "I could have told him that. Gotham city has been doom and gloom from its inception."
Batman turned to his computer. He pressed a few keys and an image of the cave appeared. Except there was a dark figure stood in the corner.
"Is this who you're looking for?" he asked Fate.
Fate stepped forward. "There is no way to know unless I am near her in person. This recording will not do."
They watched as the figure slipped away into the ground in what almost looked like a dark mist.
"That's creepy," Zatanna commented.
"She may be of demonic heritage," Fate commented. "Over the last few days, I have been seeking to locate the origin of what I am sensing. Unfortunately, I have been unable to narrow it down beyond the fact that it originates from this city. I must either find the source or the whole city must be expunged."
Batman glared. "What do you mean by that?"
"Order must be maintained. There is a great evil here. One that might threaten existence itself. If we fail to act, not only will the city be lost, but everyone everywhere. There is a battle on the horizon, one that may require the entire Justice League. Perhaps more. Within the next thirty days, there is a good chance that we will see the end of everything unless order can be restored."
"If it's that bad, then we must go up to the Watchtower and inform the others," Batman said.
"Yes, but you will do so alone."
"I will?" Batman questioned confused. "What will you be doing?"
"Me, Inza and Zatanna will be searching for the source. And do not worry about finding us, we will be here." He turned to Inza. "You know how to begin.
She nodded and began to draw a large circle on the rocky floor with a magical totem, mumbling an incantation as she did so.
Batman turned and headed for the stone stairs. "I'm going to tell Alfred not to disturb you. I'll be back soon."
Zatanna watched him as he ascended up out of the cave. He held so many secrets and so many lies. She had loved him once long ago, back when she had known him simply as John Smith when he had been training under her late father.
But that was a different lifetime, she had been different, he had been different.
She turned her attention to Inza who had drawn a large glowing circle on the floor with a five-metre radius. Inza then began to write glyphs around the perimeter.
Zatanna looked up to Fate who was hovering slightly off the ground, his cape flapping despite the fact that there was no breeze down here, or at least, it was near non-existent.
"We will soon be ready to begin," Fate declared. "The three of us will be in the circle. The Tamaranean shall keep watch, but not interfere."
Zatanna glanced at Ryand'r. He seemed confused by the whole thing. "Don't worry," she said in an attempt to reassure him. "It'll seem strange and maybe frightening, but we'll be safe. All we're doing is searching for someone. Just keep watch, okay?"
"I will keep watch," he agreed.
She smiled at him.
"We will enter the circle now," Fate said.
Zatanna moved towards it and the Agent of Order pointed to where she should stand.
"Now sit," he said.
Inza and Zatanna sat down on the cold rock floor, Fate joining them a few moments later.
"Close your eyes and concentrate," Fate commanded. "Seek out the evil, feel it. Only then can we know where the source of it lays."
Zatanna closed her eyes and emptied her mind, trying to focus on seeking out evil. Whatever that meant.
Then she began to feel it. An absence of anything good, the absolute sensation of darkness. It wasn't a pleasant sensation, in fact, it was horrible.
"Good," Fate said. "The search has truly begun."
Zatanna was already wishing it was over.
Watchtower II
Earth Orbit
07:39 – Station Time (EST)
March 16, 2007
Batman stepped off the teleporter pad and made his way to the nest where he hoped Terrific would be.
He entered to find Shayera.
"Where's Terrific?" he asked.
"Asleep," she told him. "He does need it y'know, he's not a machine like you."
"I need to call a meeting with all available founders at the earliest convenience," he told her
"As long as it finishes before Superman has to go to his day job," Shayera said. "I'll try and get everyone up here as soon as possible."
Batman nodded and quickly left, making his way to the founder's meeting room. He wanted to be ready to tell them what Fate had found, or at least what he suspected, which was the end of everything.
New Brighton
Central City
United States
06:44 – Central Standard Time
March 16, 2007
Wally was awakened by an annoying beeping sound. It took him a few moments to realise that it was his league communicator.
He got up from off the couch and grabbed it off the table, putting it in his ear.
"Flash," he said.
"Shayera here. We need you up here ASAP."
"Any reason?"
"We'll explain once you're here."
"Okay, I'll be up in a few minutes."
"We'll be waiting, Shayera out."
Wally made his way over to the bedroom and lightly tapped on the door. When there was no response, he knocked harder. When there still wasn't a response, he opened the door and looked in.
Giganta was sprawled across the bed still fast asleep. Her dress was riding very high, high enough for him to see her underwear. He pulled the door to and grabbed a pen and some paper. He wrote on it how he had to go and gave her the password to his laptop, which he put on the side with the camera. He also noted down the password to his lesser used email address and his apartment phone number so that if she decided to send the images off to any agencies that they would have a way to respond.
He then wrote an apology for him not being here. He felt bad just leaving her alone again. Each time he did it, he feared when he got back that she would be gone.
Wally put on his Flash costume and contacted the Watchtower that he was ready for teleportation.
Pacific View Hotel
Gateway City
04:45 – Pacific Standard Time
Nightwing had booked an entire suite with multiple bedrooms in a hotel that overlooked the beach. It was times like this that his trust fund really came in handy.
After calling them, Wonder Woman and Starfire came quickly. As soon as the two had landed on the balcony, he quickly let them in.
"This room is wonderful," Starfire said loudly as soon as she set foot inside.
"It was a pain to get on such short notice," Dick said. "Paid near twice as much as the suite's worth. We have it for a whole week, though."
Wonder Woman nodded in approval. "This will definitely do for our needs." She stepped back out onto the balcony. "We can even see the museum from here."
"Well, I suggest you two rest up while I scout out that museum."
"That is-" Wonder Woman began just Shayera's voice came over her ear.
"Shayera to Diana."
She reached for her ear. "Diana here."
"We need you up here ASAP."
"I'm on a mission remember?"
"This is really important. Or at least that's what Batman says."
"I'm on my way," the Amazon said with a sigh. "Wonder Woman out."
"Trouble upstairs?" Dick asked.
"I have to go. I'll be back as soon as I can. Until then, you two must keep an eye on that museum."
"I'm off to go change, then," Dick said. "Don't worry, we can handle this. I'll find them and be their shadow."
"Good." The Amazon nodded to them. "Diana to Watchtower, bring me up."
Watchtower II
Earth Orbit
07:50 – Station Time (EST)
March 16, 2007
Wonder Woman stepped into the founder's conference room just as Superman began speaking from where he sat around the circular table.
"I hope this doesn't take too long," the Man of Steel said. "I have a day job to get to."
All the founders sans J'onn were here. For what purpose she didn't know, yet.
She took her seat and Batman began, "Before we get to why I called you all here, I think everyone should give an update."
Shayera spoke first, "My wing's still healing and my quarters are gone. Blown up when the Gordo's attacked."
Lantern added to that. "We've cleared up most of the debris from the damage. Unfortunately, people have lost their rooms, Shayera's being among them."
"What about the part of the upper ring that broke off?" Superman asked. "It's mostly intact, right?"
"Yes, but we can't just reattach it," Lantern said. "A huge section was obliterated. We're going to have to rebuild the entire section."
"Did we lose anyone?" Batman asked.
"Luckily, no," Lantern said. "Once the alert was sounded, everyone immediately went to their designated areas, which none are in the habitat ring. We counted all civilian staff. No one was missing, but people were injured."
"That's a relief," Superman said.
"Do you have anything to report?" Batman asked the Man of Steel.
"Only that late last night I made some more calls and was told that the United Nations conference on the nineteenth will take place in the Metro Tower."
"Familiar ground," Shayera said.
"It won't necessarily work in our favour, though," Lantern pointed out.
"What about you?" Batman said, addressing Wonder Woman. "What have you been up to?"
"I have been given a mission from Queen Hippolyta in Gateway City," she told them. It was actually only partly true. She had been told about it by Magala and her mother had only suggested that it would be prudent to investigate. But they didn't need to know that.
"Where's Gateway City?" Superman asked.
"California. Right now I have Nightwing scouting the area."
"What is this mission?" Batman inquired.
"I am not sure. The details are not well-defined. All I know is that it has something to do with the curator of a museum."
"Is it important?" Batman asked.
"It could be, I don't know."
"I asked because now's not the time to be running off on personal quests."
"This is not personal," she objected angrily. "I was given a warning and I am investigating it."
"As long as it doesn't interfere," Batman said.
"What I do is none of your concern," she told the Dark Knight firmly. "I will still respond to emergencies and I will be ready on the nineteenth."
"Just don't draw attention to yourself," Batman warned. "We don't know how the law enforcement or military will respond to our presence on American soil. Until we have talked it out, you need to be invisible."
"I'm not stupid, Bruce," she said.
"I never said you were."
"No, but you're acting like you're the leader when you're not."
"I'm taking the initiative." He turned to Flash. "Do you have something to report?"
"Nope," he said.
"Then I will begin."
"Please do," Wonder Woman said coldly.
Batman ignored her. "Dr Fate appeared on the Watchtower while I was researching the events of the battle. He handed me some blood which I discovered was fifty percent human, fifty percent something else."
Flash spoke up, "Half and half? Seriously?"
"Seriously."
"I need to take a look at it myself because that's not possible," Flash said. The others stared at him. "What?" he asked. "I used to work in forensics. This stuff is an interest of mine."
"Flash is right," Batman said. "This is not a natural phenomenon."
"Right," the speedster agreed. "Are you sure the sample hasn't been contaminated?"
"I checked. According to all my tests, the blood is all from the same entity. The DNA itself has anomalies that aren't normal. The actual DNA has sequences that are completely foreign, some of the strands have unknown chromosomes."
"From the way you're describing it, I gotta see this blood sample," Flash said. "Sounds crazy."
"So, why is this blood important?" Shayera asked.
"For one thing, Fate has taken an interest in it and secondly it could be demonic."
"Demonic?" Flash asked nervously. "Now that doesn't sound good."
Batman leaned forwards, looking from face to face of everyone sat at the table. "According to Fate this could threaten the existence of not just Earth, but beyond."
There was silence.
"Fate said that?" Superman asked finally.
"More or less."
"This is some bad timing," Shayera observed.
"It is made worse by the fact that Fate said we might need the entire league to fight what's coming and that it might be coming very soon. Within the next thirty days."
"In three days we talk to the UN," Superman said. "If it's as important as Fate says, then he needs to be there and he needs to make his case. We can't do anything before then, not without making things worse."
"Fate's busy searching for what he called the 'source'."
"The source of what?" Wonder Woman questioned.
"I don't entirely know. I believe it is a young woman. She warned me off trying to find her."
"Who did?" Superman asked.
"A hooded cloaked woman of unknown age. She showed up to my cave to warn me off. She then left."
"Did you follow her, or put a tracer on her?" Superman asked.
"No, because when I say she left, I meant she disappeared through the floor of the cave, through solid rock. No marks, no residue, nothing that indicated she was ever there."
"Weird," Flash commented.
"Anything else?" Lantern asked.
"No, I have told you everything I know up until this point," Batman told them.
"This is all pretty vague," Lantern said. "We'll have to wait until Fate finds this 'source' or woman or whatever. We can't do anything until we know exactly what's going on, or what we're dealing with."
"Agreed," Wonder Woman said.
Batman stood up. "In that case, I will return to Fate and report if anything changes." He looked to Flash. "I will send up the results from the samples."
Flash nodded. "I'll take a look at them."
Batman turned and promptly left the room.
The rest all looked at each other. Then Lantern spoke, "There's nothing else to discuss is there?"
Superman shook his head. "I guess we're all dismissed."
They all stood up and filed out of the room.
Updated December 2017