Chapter Nine
Superman and the others split into every available direction. Bizarro caught him with a right cross that nearly sent him into the harbor.
"Me am so happy to you," Bizarro announced.
"I don't have time for this," Superman told him out of exasperation.
"Bad. Then you shall live," Bizarro came at him all fists and fury. Superman easily drew Bizarro out to Ellis Island simply because he was getting knocked in that direction anyway. Ellis had been closed to tourist for renovations for over a year. Regrettably, Superman knew it would need far more than that after the next few moments.
Bizarro Girl attacked Superwoman. If Galatea was a clone of Kara and Divine had been a clone of Galatea, who was Bizarro Girl a warped clone of? She wasn't as strong as either Clark or Karen but Bizarro Girl still exceeded Linda's maximum. So she began using her solar power to blast away at Bizarro Girl. Superwoman being one of the people that actually would have understood the truth behind Bizarro Girl's origins
She was a clone of Ultragirl, the Kara Zor-L of Earth-3 before the Crisis erased its history. Ultraman and Ultragirl still existed in the New Universe but their history had been heavily edited by Rebirth's processes. Ultraman had no memory of his brief infancy on Krypton and hadn't been given any clues to his origins. All he knew growing up in the orphanages he was raised in was that he was different.
He was superior to other man. So he became Ultraman, the terror of Earth-3. But that Superwoman had been the brains behind the Crime Syndicate. And Master Terrific had been the brain behind Superwoman. This Superwoman wouldn't be haunted by the Artemis of Themiscyra. However, the other Superwoman of the New Earth was another matter.
Lois Lane was many things to Linda. Former fellow Superwoman. Former fellow confidante. Former friend. And former lover.
With Lois' Kryptonian-based powers returned, Linda was surprised the other Superwoman hadn't arrived yet. Bizarro Girl seemed to have just discovered she had Heat Vision to counter Superwoman's blasts. Both of them would drain like batteries under heavy load. The question would be, who'd drain dry first?
Matrix's protoplasmic body infused Linda Danvers' very human body creating a new hybrid of humanity. But Supergirl was still very human. As she was painfully reminded of when the Majestic-class meta-human named Belinda Zee sucker punched her.
"That's why they call me Superior Girl, bitch," Belinda gloated. Supergirl focused her psychokinetic power to "push-shove" Superior Girl when her augmented, but limited in scope compared to Belinda's strength, punch connected. Superior Girl was knocked through several buildings and emerged from rubble to see Supergirl taking flight out across the harbor.
"You'd better run!" Superior Girl shouted out as she gave chase.
"Here we go again," the Flash said with exaggerated weariness.
"This time for the last time," Reverse Flash promised.
"How many time have you said that now, Thawne?" the Flash inquired.
"Every time it comes closer to being reality, West," Reverse Flash said with mocking laughter, "Unlike you, I learn from my mistakes."
Suddenly, three time echoes of the Reverse Flash joined him.
"Wuh-oh," the Flash grumbled.
"I can feel your fear. You're so unworthy to bear that ring," Hal Jordan, the Fear Lantern of Earth proclaimed.
"Apparently so are you," Jessica Cruz, one of the two Green Lantern Corpsmen assigned to Sector 3814, replied, "Debi told us you sold off your shares to Ferris Air to Derek Powers. Carol Ferris left you those as a gift."
"Carol left them as noose to teach me my place," Hal sneered.
"Maybe that too," Jess shrugged.
"How did a lowly Power Ring ever get to be a Green Lantern?" Hal wondered.
"How did the leader of the Green Lantern Corps get ousted and then rejected even by the Fear Corps?" Jessica pointedly asked in reply, "And don't think I didn't know you were a Power Ring until the yellow ring chose you."
"I'm the greatest Lantern to have ever lived! First I'll crush you. Then I'll kill Baz. And finally that pretender Alan Scott will die!" Hal said feverishly.
"And this is why I have to hand you your ass," Jessica decided.
Wonder Woman skidded down the street, her feet still planted and her shield held high. Artemis had heard tales from the Shazam Family about how Dr. Sivana had mixed magic with science to breed an empowered Sivana Family but until now she'd never faced one of them. Magnifucus Sivana seemed to be everything he thought he was. But ego bred mistakes. Vanity was a curse and a killer. Wonder Woman would learn Magnificus Sivana's weakness or die trying. But she preferred his dying in the process.
Simon Baz met Simon Hawke. The differences couldn't have been more profound. Despite Simon's GL power ring occasionally spouting of Sinestro's warnings that the ring was truly his, Simon was developing along with fellow rookie GL Corpsman, Jessica Cruz, into one of the Corps' better sentinels.
Hawke had begun as a Power Ring before shifting to being a Red Lantern. If fear mongering had been Hawke's thing before, now absolute rage was. Only Dex-Starr was angrier and more sadistic. Simon and Simon had no way of knowing that the entire Red Lantern Corps had been wiped out before the Crisis ended and the Rebirth history of the New Universe set in. Glorith had shown them mercy by resetting that past.
Yet Atrocitus and his followers would never know nor acknowledge it. Most of the Lantern Corps had been decimated by their united actions against the Khunds and Dominators while defending Almerac and her empire. The handful of survivors assisting in repelling a Daxamite invasion of Almerac. Simon couldn't know that the only constant that remained from the pre-Crisis history was Remoni-Notra's betrayal of the Star Sapphire Corps. But as Red Lantern came at Simon with nightmarish, rage fueled constructs, he wouldn't have had time to consider the matter anyway.
The Star Sapphire in question, simply known as Deborah Camille Darnell on Earth, faced down Dr. Polaris. Dr. Polaris was an old foe of both Hal Jordan and John Stewart. Hal's mutual destruction of both GL power rings had led Hal down a winding road to becoming Dr, Polaris' ally. John, however, upon becoming a parent refused a GL power ring when it chose him
One of only a handful of chosen to ever do so. Most were never selected again. Jessica Cruz being one of those rare exceptions. Star Sapphire's power ring allowed her to see what was in Dr. Polaris' heart. And frankly, it made it hard for her to love him. Even though Love was her Emotional Spectrum.
"I expected to fight a Wonder Woman today," Cheetah complained. Barbara Minerva had been transformed by the Monkey's Paw into a felinoid. She'd been an ancient Greco-Roman historian and researcher with the Smithsonian before then. Now she'd gotten her wish to be unlike any woman on Earth
She was still human enough to pass for one if she wore a long coat to hide her tail and a hat to hide her ears. And if no one took a close enough looked to realize she was covered in soft, spotted fur. This Cheetah was a match for any Wonder Woman. Barbara even had quite a few advantages over Nubia.
"Come at me, creature. I'll prove my prowess today," Wonder Woman vowed.
"I'll enjoy peeling that armor off of you," Cheetah announced a second before she pounced.
Mutiplex and Toyman were fighting several heroes across the several blocks it had taken to draw them out to stand and fight. Multiplex was mass producing fissionable copies of himself. Toyman had a series of mechanized toys flown and shipped in by rail by the Pax Mundi. Disco Mummy had been planning these events for weeks now. Long enough to get his toys from Veronica Cale and Arven Hauser's manufacturing hubs outside of Denver.
Cale redesigning many of Jack Nimble's initial prototypes. He had to give it to Dr. Cale, she was genius at creating weapons of mass destruction. Hauser's deal for using Hauser Armaments' industrial capacity was the right to weaponize the designs further and militarize them. Cale especially wished to inflict revenge upon Derek Powers from buying out Cale Technologies out from underneath her.
Cale had gambled all of her R&D budget on nanotech . She'd even kidnapped Dr. Claire Connelly to complete her product designs. But Claire's husband, Booster Gold, had brought Blue Beetle and Goldstar with him to rescue her. Cale escaped to find Powers hostile takeover had been accomplished overnight. Cale forgave Claire but she couldn't let go of her vengeful wrath against Powers.
Hauser Arms had substituted shipments of of tanks and armored vehicles with Toyman's remotely operated versions. Driven by AI's of Cale's invention, they sought out selected targets and hunted them on their own while providing a live VR feed to Toyman. Multiplexes rode these vehicles to their targets and assisted where the beta testing AIs failed. The Pax Mundi had also received shipments of what appeared to be Black Razor type combat chassis.
Instead, these were remotely operated foot soldiers of them design intention and provenance as the fighting vehicles. Cale's AI skills had been proven through her invention of the Other Metal Men using design templates stolen from Prof. Will Magnus when they'd enjoyed a torrid affair while he was off of his meds. They'd included such dangerous radioactive variants as Uranium and Cobalt.
General Glory found himself hunted by two armored fighting vehicles, four armored troops, and a dozen Multiplexes in support of Toyman's playthings. General Glory found his escape route blocked by two remotely controlled main battle tanks approaching from the other direction. Unfortunately he'd been boxed in in a residential neighborhood. And Toyman, in true Legion of Doom tradition, cared little for civilian casualties. So it was up to General Glory to take a stand.
Byte seemed harmless enough in person but Cyborg knew differently. She could remotely access computerized systems or even enter them herself as living digital virus. Shutting down nonessential systems would be a futile gesture because Byte would just attack his life support functions. But if he could put her on the defensive before she could attack, he stood a chance.
"Guess what I discovered?" Lady Lunar rhetorically asked Strange Visitor, "There was a multiverse before our universe. A version where I had a partner in crime. Imagine my dismay when I learned he'd died. Now imagine my joy to discover that he was still alive in this New Universe. It was easy enough to give him his powers."
Crushing gravitational weight drove Strange Visitor down onto her hands and knees, "Strange Visitor, meet Moonman."
Moonman came up beside Lady Lunar, "You can't imagine how exciting this is for me. All this power!"
"Now, you're just feeling his. Let's say I add mine to it," Lady Lunar wore a cruel smile. Strange Visitor began to feel as though a black hole were pressing her into itself.
Owlwoman sensed something was off about Jack O'Lantern, "Jack?"
Casey Krinski grabbed a hold of Owlwoman and copied her powers. Extending her own talons, she tried to gut Owlwoman but Wenonah dodged enough to just receive a raking swipe. Casey seemed to be absorbed by the rooftops themselves. Then Jack approached her again. Owlwoman took a swipe at him.
"Jee-zus!" Jack exclaimed, "What the futz has gotten inta ya?"
"You attacked me," Owlwoman showed him her wounds.
"If I attacked ya how come I needed ta copy yer powers?. Which I can't do anyway," Jack reasoned it out with her.
"You did seem…off," Owlwoman conceded. Then she saw Jack try to incinerate her with eldritch fire.
"Holy Christ!" Jack shouted as he fended Owlwoman off again, "What the hell is wrong wit' ya?"
"This time you did attack me!" she accused.
"Look, we're bein' played," Jack warned her, "How's about we separate an' don't get near one another `till we figure this out?"
"Sound plan," Owlwoman conceded.
"You go yer way an' I'll be over here. Got it?" Jus' don't come this way," Jack offered.
Owlwoman's tracking senses seemed to verify Jack's claims, "Agreed."
On the street below, Casey snickered, "They have no idea."
"It's about to get worse for them," the illusionist called Lady Spellbinder decided.
"Dawn Allen," Trajectory said dismally.
"How the…?" Dawn began to panic then calmed herself, "Of course. Your time in the Speed Force."
"You can't extend the Flashpoint Paradox. Time won't allow it," Trajectory warned her, "You have to be seeing the wraiths by now."
"What would you know about it?" Dawn sneered.
"I know what happens to you when they catch a time paradox," Trajectory offered, "You cease to have ever existed. Why do you think Thawne is always so edgy?"
"What do you mean?" Dawn asked despite herself.
"The Reverse Flash never existed in this timeline. He was created by the Flashpoint. If he manages to kill every speedster, then even that won't be created," Trajectory advised her.
"I hope you fight better than you persuade," Dawn began sparking Speed Force energy.
"Why does it always come down to this?" Trajectory sighed.
"I have heard of you. You are one of the famed sisters called the Skylark," Chief Man-of-Bats noted.
"Except that my sisters are dead now," Skylark lamented, "Killed fighting your battle."
"And now you want revenge," Chief Man-of-Bats sadly acknowledged.
"Why the hell not?" Skylark launched herself at him.
Chief Man-of-Bats decided he would not go down quietly in the waning afternoon.
"I used to be like you," Bag O'Bones told Capt. Atom, "I was the Cyclotronic Man and I ended up like this."
The glowing skeletons that were Bag O'Bones, Phosphorus, and Atomic Skull's head at least, all shared the same basic "flaming" skeleton, or skull, motiff. Atomic Skull and Bag O'Bones still wore clothing while Phosphorus went naked. But then again, they could project radioactive power where Phosphorus had to literally burn away his victims through his phosophoric touch. Atomic Skull even had super strength and durability as a gain from the accident that transformed him.
Atomic Skull had blown the whistle on LuthorCorp's privatized prison in Metropolis. Atomic Skull had been its primary power source while incarcerated. Needless to say, Atomic Skull wasn't feeling generous towards the penal system. His re-upping his membership in the Legion of Doom had gained him his freedom. He was determined not to go back. So that explained Atomic Skull's ongoing membership.
Luthor and the Ultra-Humanite in connection with Dr. Sivana and Mr. Mind had promised Bag O'Bones a cure to his condition. Or a mercy killing if there wasn't one. Bag O'Bones was good either way. So far, the Legion team had devised a way to stabilize his condition. So he wasn't in agonizing pain anymore. And his personal radioactivity had dropped off. So there was hope after all.
The great divide now was rebuilding his tissues. To make him appear human at least. Unknowingly charting the course Derek Powers himself would follow as Blight. Capt. Atom didn't know any of this.
Nor did he care, "You will stand down."
"Or what?" Bag O'Bones maniacally laughed asd he fired off twin streams of radioactive energy at Capt. Atom.
Fire ignited into her Green Flame form and Ice chilled the air around Volcana.
The pyrokinetic merely laughed at them, "You're gonna burn, heroes!"
But Volcana;s flames were doused by the freezing water vapor in the air.
"Oh shit!" Volcana exclaimed. Fire created a flame tunnel around Volcana. Being composed of elements of the Green Flame, Volcana couldn't control it. More importantly, it consumed the oxygen around Volcana until she passed out.
"Yay for us!" Fire enthused.
"Uh...Beatriz?" Ice pointed at the tanks, mechanized soldiers, armored fighting vehicles and Multiplexes approaching them.
"Like she said, oh shit," Fire grumbled.
"I got you now, sucka!" Provoke gleefully announced as he took control of Apache Chief's mind, "You're mine to control now. Let's go happy hunting, Apache Chief."
Shock Trauma had all of Black Vulcan;s electrical powers...and could fly.
"Look, don't make me hurt you, kid," Black Vulcan advised his teenage foe.
"You're the one gonna get hurt, old man," Shock Trauma mocked him. It was like with the Pierce family and Virgil Hawkins as well. Black Lighting made Black Vulcan still feel like a sidekick protege while his daughters, Lighting and Thunder, treated him like a fossil. Static, at least, was respectful. Black Vulcan promised himself this little snot would fearfully respect him before the day ended too.
Breathtaker's power was aerokinesis. She controlled the movement of air itself. But Samurai shared that elemental power as well as control over fire. So their powers cancelled each other out and created stagnation of the air. Samurai noted that Breathtaker's blue skin grew a deeper shade of blue as she exerted herself trying to deprive Samurai of air. He decided to test her martial abilities. If she had any.
The Justice League's reservists had joined with the main group along with additional members of their unit. Atom found himself confronted by Atomica.
"Hello, Baby Atom," Rhonda Pineta mocked him, "Care to go for a spin? Test drive the ol' white dwarf matter?"
"Game on," he replied.
"Good for you," Atomica laughed, "Ballsy. Fatally stupid. But ballsy."
Then they began to change size.
Katana sliced I, Spyder's arrow out of the air. But she could only see where it had come from from its direction. Then another was fired at her from a different vantage point. It hadn't even been the same building. But he was using people's apartments as cover. Which meant he was terrorizing the tenets. She vowed her steel would taste his blood even if the SoulTaker didn't drink his soul.
Catwoman had joined the JLers. At this point Holly Robinson wondered why.
Toyman's army was blazing its way towards her with Multiplexes whooping it from atop the armored vehicles.
"Shoulda stayed in bed with Reagan," Catwoman lectured herself. Reagan was a bartender Holly had it off at a new gay scene venue. Upon accidentally discovering Holly was also Catwoman, Regan disclosed that she was oftentimes forced to scout for her sister, Margot, who doubled as the jewel their, Magpie. Catwoman had "persuaded" Magpie to release Reagan from any and all obligations. Something for which Reagan had been very grateful for.
"I could use a little gratitude right now," Catwoman said glumly.
Lyn Hall had foreseen being needed by the Justice League in Gotham months ago. so she'd arranged her tour schedule to be in Gotham over this week. Zatanna was supposed to be the headliner but for reduced ticket price resulting in a partial refund, audience goers were still attending Claire Voyant's shows. Where she astounded audiences with her seeing into individuals' past, present, and predicting their futures. Being one of the least known as recognized JLer reservists, Claire Voyant avoided the Toyman and Multiplexes' attentions. Meanwhile, she knew exactly where they'd be so she went hunting in reply.