Disclaimer: I own none of the characters in Number of the Beast, they all belong to Jim Lee, Wildstorm Publications and DC comics. If I did own them, they'd probably be appearing in better stories. This story has characters engaging in lesbian activities, if that is not your thing, I'd suggest skipping it.

Number of the Beast

The days after the Apocalypse.

The tidal waves that spread out over the planet had begun to receede after a few days, but the devastation around the planet was astounding. Cities were rubble, millions were dead and the world, quite literally, would never be the same.

And it was all the fault of short sighted people who set in motion a scheme to control and use superhumans. Over fifty years ago six hundred and sixty six superheroes and villains were transported involuntarily into a alien virtual reality system, where they had been held until recently. The addition of the High, one of the most powerful beings on the planet, into the virtual reality destabilized it, allowing some of them to realize they were in a illusion.

The second part of the government's madness was then revealed. During the time High had been captive the fools had cloned him. A army of somewhat deranged, nearly uncontrollable clones were launched to stop the rogue superhumans, but went rogue themselves. The modern heroes stopped a few but most of the clones wreaked incredible harm then self-destructed, spreading bursts of hazardous radiation too. The only good thing to come of all this was that the madmen who started all this had died in the chaos after the blasts.

Midnight Rider stood in the sunlight dressed in her fighting leathers, her red hair tied up in a simple ponytail. A black domino mask was on her face, her leather jacket open enough to distract a enemy with the curves of her breasts while her legs were sheathed in tight leather pants. She was beautiful like a sharp knife or a sword, dangerous to play with casually.

The pier she was standing on was still wet from the flood, and Midnight Rider carefully watched her footing as she moved forward to look out over the water. Around her the old wood was battered but still solid, bits of seaweed and harbor filth clinging to nails and boards.

There was a splash out in the water and Midnight Rider brightened a bit as she saw the shape gracefully cut through the blue. As the sunlight glittered off the waves she rose from the sea, light red hair flowing over golden skin, her pupil and iris-less blue eyes shining with joy as she bounced up onto the pier.

"Enjoy your swim, Neri?" Midnight Rider smiled up at her lover Seafarer.

"I did, Tessa," Neri agreed as she stepped forward into the safety of Tessa's arms.

They held each other for a moment, only separating reluctantly as they remembered their duties. "Do you think the others are all right?" Tessa had to ask her, the two walking to where a salvaged motorcycle waited for them.

In the final battle against the High clones they had been captives aboard the Authority's Carrier. To save them the hero called the Doctor had used the Carrier's shift-doors to send them all away, but apparently in a semi-random way. It had only been dumb luck that Tessa and Neri had found each other, and they had no idea where the others were.

Neri smiled a bit sadly as they reached the bike. "They're all tough people," she reminded her, "survivors. If anyone can make it, they can."

"That's true," Tessa agreed as she swung up onto the bike's seat. It was rather comforting that with all the years that had passed, she could still figure out how to hot wire a motorbike. The engine revved up as Neri climbed up on the back, wrapping her arms around Tessa's waist. "Is the water still rising?" she called.

"About another foot!" Neri answered as they drove down deserted city streets on the way out of the city. "At least," she added, frowning worriedly.

Tessa cursed softly. The planet had been literally knocked off it's axis, only heroic efforts preventing things from getting even worse. The ice-caps were rapidly melting, according to one of the few broadcasting radio stations, and sea levels were swelling upwards. Theoretically a new icecap would form where ever the new north pole was, but until then the climate would be messed up.

The little camp up in the hills held the pitiful survivors from the town, many of them hauled on top of buildings during the initial floods by Neri and Tessa. Once the main flood receded they went to the ground, making their way out of the city and reaching higher ground. The men and women looked at the two heroes with wary tiredness, a understandable reaction since supers were being blamed for the whole disaster.

Once she parked the bike Tessa smiled grimly, "Waters are still rising, folks. I think we're going to need to attempt a major salvage operation, soon."

"We can probably find a few trucks that run," Jack admitted, his messy brown hair falling into his eyes. A older man he had emerged as something of a leader of the survivors, serving as a bridge between them and the heroes.

"There should be some supermarkets we can hit," Neri said seriously, "we need to get as much canned food and bottled water as we can. Not to mention any gear we could use in fall and winter."

"I'm not looking forward to winter," Tessa grimaced, shaking her head. A earlier supply run had found a camping store and enough tents for them all, but summer camping and winter survival would be very different things.

"Got a plan?" Jack asked curiously.

Tessa looked out at the city, taking in the bridge and the hills. "I'm tempted to just stay here," she admitted, "find a few buildings we can fortify, maybe."

"Your worried about gangs?" Neri made a face.

Not long after the survivors had made their way out of the city a band of ragged survivors had came down the road and attacked them. The heroines and a few of the men had managed to drive them off, but if there had been more of them it could have gone the other way.

"Yeah, but there's another problem," Tessa said with a sigh. She looked at Jack, "You've lived here a long time, right?"

"Yeah?" Jack answered warily, "since Tim and I moved here back in the eighties."

"I've been talking to a few people," Tessa said with a sigh. "They all seem to agree it's colder than it should be, this time of year."

Jack's eyes widened. "You think the environment is changing," he murmured, "colder weather?"

Neri's own eyes widened, "Probably. I could feel the ocean currents out there, the water is colder than it should be,"

"And I didn't see many houses with winter setups or chimneys," Tessa sighed. "If it gets really cold, we could be in trouble."

"So you want to head inland to find somewhere better to hole up if we need to," Jack nodded. He met their eyes, "The others won't like it, but I'll sell them on the idea."

"Thank you," Neri smiled at him warmly.

Jack took a few steps then stopped. "Oh," he looked back at them with a wry sort of amusement, "you really don't need to sneak into each other's tent at night. This is San Francisco. No one will care!"

Both Neri and Tessa blinked, looking at him in surprise as he strode away. "You know," Tessa admitted after a moment, "I think I could get to like this era."

Neri held onto Tessa's arm, "Me too." She looked rather impish as she gazed up at Tessa, "Maybe I won't have to try to keep my voice down as usual too."

"Neri!" Tessa blushed furiously as her lover laughed.

The End...?

Notes: A short character set up for the comic series Number of the Beast. Unusually, this couple is CANON in the comic book. Sadly, DC comics hasn't done much with them since, which is rather annoying. Still, we can hope!