Vertigo, Part 9

Please Read and Review. I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I am doing wrong (to correct it.

Notes, the parenthesis indicates languages other than Japanese, in this case, English.

Day Six

Tokyo-3, Japan
GeoFront
NERV HQ, Commander Ikari's Office

"The Committee has approved the reactivación of Unit-02, instruct your teams to release it from the Bakelite block." Commander Ikari said from behind his interlaced fingers. "What's the current status of Units 00 and 01?"

"Unit-00's arm has been replaced. The regeneration of the tissues progresses within expected parameters; unless a problem appears, it will be fully functional tomorrow, at 1600 hours, approximately. Unit-01 is regenerating too, though it is slower than expected, I calculate it will be ready in two days, three at most; the damage and shock were too much for its regeneration." Dr. Akagi answered, not bothering to check her notes, not unless Commander Ikari asked for specific details.

"I see. Keep me informed. While those Evangelions regenerate; set the secondary tech team to prepare any spare armor pieces needed. The primary techs are to focus on Unit-02, strip its armor and replace it in full, Unit-03's spare parts are compatible, except for the helmet. Take detailed readings of its core, send all results to the Committee. In full. Also, increase the restraining bolts (1) in the cages containing Units 00 and 02, I don't want them acting in their own."

"Understood." Dr. Akagi nodded. "Shall I schedule you for a check-up?"

"Not at this moment. I have felt no secondary effects from the implantation. Assimilation proceeds according to the scenario."

Tokyo-3, Japan
GeoFront
NERV HQ, Commander Ikari's Office
(Spiritual plane)

"Wait, what? Assimilation? Assimilation of what? Did you eat some Grakz (2) or what? C'mon! You did something shifty when I was not around, didn't you?" Deadman exclaimed, grabbing the headrest of Commander Ikari's chair and leaning forward over the man's shoulder. "How can we thwart your evil plan without the required intelligence?!"

Deadman paced around the desk. "Now that's what I call a serious breach of villainous etiquette! Argh! You guys are impossible! Any other bombshell you'd like to drop before I go tell the Stranger?"

He sighed exasperatedly, "What about the Hikari girl? Will you be messing her up too?"

128 miles (almost 206 km) West of the ruins of New York
12 miles (19.3 km) from the Nearest Zoomway Hub
A Possible XXVIth Century

The group gathered at the exit point Brother Eye provided, a non-descript forest west of the ruins of New York, easily accesible by Unit-04, after a short climb (for an Evangelion) up a cliff, and near an entrance to the Zoomway. Blue Beetle busied himself studying the Mole Owner's Manual, and was delighted to find a complete set of tools inside a compartment. "(I'm definitively going to paint this thing blue first chance I have. I think I'll call it, … dramatic pause… Digbug!)"

Booster Gold was just as delighted to find a charging cable compatible with Skeet's batteries, and the footbal-sized Artificial Intelligence was calmly recharging his internal battery. But while Skeets charged up, Booster decided to nap for a little bit.

Outside the newly named Digbug, Dr. Canus busied himself setting up camp, leaving Mari and Kamandi to enjoy some quality time together. Of course, Mari had parked the Evangelion next to a stream, downwind from the camp, and washed herself several times to avoid triggering Canus' violent reaction to LCL smell.

"(You look exactly the same, Blondie.)" Mari said, examining her boyfriend critically, walking around him. Her fingers tapping thoughtfully on her chin.

"(I feel very normal, except for some pain in the joints.)" He shrugged, rolling his shoulders. "(But it is going away by the minute.)"

Mari leaned forward, breathing deeply. "(You smell different. I like it. Dry and warm.)"

Blue Beetle peeked out from the Digbug door. "(Must be the nanites. Brother Eye is monitoring them. They are rearranging Kamandi's body, so I guess some changes are unavoidable.)"

Skeets beeped. "(Ah, Mr. Kord. Brother Eye is opening a channel.)"

"Hey, guys!" Blue Beetle said as he shook his friend's shoulder to wake him up. "(Bring Canus! Boss is calling.)"

Once the whole group was present, Skeets relayed Brother Eye's voice. As always, the artificial intelligence went right to the point. "(The nanites injected to Kamandi's body have bonded with his cells. Eye've been enacting micro-tests and all the results have stabilized within expected parameters. Healing has been enhanced to 148% human baseline; muscular tone is at unaugmented human top level, bone density increased to 150% human baseline, digestive system's nutrient absorption at 157%, nervous system enhanced speed to 186% human baseline; pain threshold at 177% original level.)"

Smiling, Booster Gold punched Kamandi's arm, "(Congratulations, buddy! You are Batman!)"

"(Captain Bat?)" He asked, "(Met him a couple of times, in my time and in his.)"(3) The teenager looked at his hands, flexing the fingers several times, surprised at how strong they felt, he noticed the lack of scars on his skin. "(I feel really well. Like I slept in a safe place.)" He grabbed Mari in a hug, and spun with her without any visible effort. She kissed him as soon as they stopped.

Dr. Canus smiled happily. After a moment, he asked, "(Brother Eye? You mentioned a change. Kamandi looks almost the same. I thought the nanites effect would be more…)"

"(Dramatic?)" Blue Beetle asked, leaning back on the pilot's seat.

Brother Eye continued, "(The previous readings are for Kamandi's basic form. There is an alternate form; once he assumes said alternate form, Kamandi is to be known as OMAC (4). An easy to remember acronym, meaning One Man Army Corps. This alternate form is extremely strong, fast, resilient, and moderately impervious to damage. Changing form also provides limited regeneration from one form to the other. However, the OMAC form was designed to resemble a specific human; so Kamandi's features will change to that specific face and body type.)"

"(Really? So he won't be my Blondie anymore?)" Mari said, a bit disappointed.

"(Um… Will I change into somebody else?)" Kamandi said, hugging Mari.

"(External change only, mental processes will not be modified beyond enhancements already mentioned.)"

Mari exhaled and nodded, "(I guess we will have to see.)" She looked at Skeets, "(Erm… does Blondie have to do something to change? Yell a word, raise a sword, bang two bracelets together, join two rings?)" (5)

"(No, he can request the change verbally, or I could start it in case of emergency.)" Brother Eye answered.

Softly, Kamandi pushed Mari away and stepped back. "(Can we do the change now?)"

"(Certainly. However, Eye suggest you eat more than usual from now on, so you can sustain the change for longer. Eye can monitor your nutritional requirements and suggest specific foods.)"

"(Got it.)" He nodded, "(Let's see this OMAC.)"

"(Initiating change.)" Brother Eye said. For a moment, nothing seemed to happen, but in a split second, Kamandi's body stood in the center of a bright sphere of white light. Mari peeked from behind her hand, while Booster and Beetle watched, their eyewear protecting their eyes from the glare. Dr. Canus yelped, hiding his eyes in the crook of his right arm.

When the glare and the floating black dots of energy disappeared (6), a powerfully built adult man stood in Kamandi's place. It was a distinctive figure. Seven feet tall (2.13 m) plus another foot if you counted the black Mohawk that adorned the top of his head. The face was hard, with deep set eyes, sharp cheekbones, an almost lipless mouth and a sharp chin. The chest was almost the size of a barrel, covered with sharply defined muscles that looked like stone slabs. The arms and hands seemed to be able to rip hard-cover encyclopedias in half without much effort, and the legs were like tree trunks, Booster thought the man would be able to kick a football out of a stadium with no problems.

Instead of Kamandi's old ripped denim shorts and blue tinted leather boots, OMAC wore skin-tight garments that emphasized his muscles, a blue-black leotard and boots, with red leggings and gloves. An eye-shaped symbol right at the center of the chest completed the image. (7)

Mari walked around OMAC, examining him from top of the Mohawk to the soles of his boots. "(Don't be offended, but I prefer you as Blondie. This body makes you look like you're thirty years old…)"

OMAC looked at his reflection on one of the Digbug screens, ignoring the image it showed. "(Looks a bit familiar. I remember Gramps showed me some pictures he had in a book, I think it was a soldier or something.)"

"(I wonder who they used as a template.)" Beetle mused. "(I doubt we will find out, that was six centuries ago.)"

Brother Eye chimed in. "(I have detailed files (8) The genetic material used as OMAC's template was donated by Project Cadmus; the original donor was James Jacob Harper; though the sample used was modified and cloned by Project Cadmus several times, the sample donated to S.T.A.R Labs belonged to the original. Harper's original genetic material was uniquely suited for refinements to enhance his physical characteristics.)"

"(Cadmus, uh?)" Beetle commented. "(The guys who modified a clone to mimic Superman's powers? Good kid, I worked with him once. A bit brash, but he had his heart in the right place.)" (9)

"(Correct. Harper was chosen for cloning because the men in charge of Project Cadmus felt indebted to him, having grown up in Metropolis' Southside area during the 1940s.)"

"(Wait, wait, wait.) Beetle waved his arms. "(In Suicide Slum (10)?)" He pinched the bridge of his nose under his mask, "(Can you give us a summary in say…)" he paused to think for a moment. "(…two hundred and fifty words or less?)"

"(Indeed. They were four orphans, who banded together for mutual protection. They called themselves the Newsboy Legion, as their main source of income was the sale of newspapers. However, they were not adverse to minor theft and vandalism. James Harper was a beat cop in the area, and took the role of their legal guardian to rehabilitate them. In an effort to protect the kids from mob retaliation, Harper adopted a masked identity as the Guardian (11). He and the Newsboys Legion involved themselves in the war effort, protecting Metropolis from Fifth Column infiltrators and Nazi agents. After the armistice, Harper sponsored their education. Evidently, his efforts paid off, and the four founded and managed Project Cadmus (12), pioneering multiple cloning projects. One of the Cadmus scientists obtained Harper's genetic material and cloned him, when Harper found out that his DNA wouldn't be used for research, he resumed his Guardian identity, and was eventually murdered. However, the clone was viable and eventually took both of Harper's identities. Further clones had an unfortunate tendency to serious defects and mental instability. Dr. Myra Forest obtained a sample of tissue from the original donor, and with my help, found a way around the instability, by grafting Harper's genetic material onto another human's. Before Third Impact, Dr. Forest's son, Andy, accidentally donated a sample of saliva. After Third Impact, Eye refined the grafting process into its current form. The nanites establish a temporary symbiotic merging of the two individuals into the OMAC form.)" (13)

Beetle whistled softly. "Wow." He said. "(Those were two hundred and forty nine words.)"

Everybody looked at Beetle, their jaws hanging. He shrugged modestly. "(Aw, c'mon! Brother Eye has a processing capability that's practically insane! Of course he can do a good summary!)"

Mari dope slapped Beetle. "(That's not it, Bug Boy!)"

Kamandi chuckled, then burst into a deep, booming laughter.

The Dreaming
Cemetery Between the House of Secrets and the House of Mystery

Instinctively, Billy Batson pushed Asuka aside, interposing himself between the red-headed Pilot and the new arrival.

"Shazam!" He shouted, tensing his body. He looked up, and shouted again. "What happened?" He mumbled.

The pale woman shook her head. "Sorry, Billy; your mentor has not much power in my brother's domain. Now, could we talk civilly?"

Asuka studied her. "Who are you, exactly?" She asked after a moment.

The woman smiled, almost closing her eyes. Her nose wrinkled cutely as she did so. "Ah, well… you know, I'm Death. I am visiting my little brother, Daniel, the Lord of Dreams, but I heard you talking about me, and couldn't resist the curiosity."

"Death? As in the Grim Reaper?" Asuka asked.

"The very same, though the Grim Reaper aspect? I really don't." She sat on the tombstone of somebody called Hank Hall, and for some reason, Asuka felt inexplicably offended. Death continued. "I'm not really into that reaping souls thing, you know?"

Asuka raised an eyebrow, "Really?"

Death laughed, "Really! You see, I don't have to. Everything dies in time, why would any self-respecting anthropomorphic personification go around doing unnecessary work? Let me explain. No one is immortal, sooner or later, every living thing will die. Even the universe will die. I was there when the first living creature appeared, and I'll be there when the last entity's life ends with the very universe; then, to explain it with a bad metaphor, I'll put the chairs over the tables, turn off the lights, and lock the door behind me. In the meanwhile, when people dies, I'm there to guide them to the next part of their voyage. I believe you've met the Phantom Stranger, yes?

Both Asuka and Billy nodded cautiously. "A couple of times." Billy admitted, relaxing a bit.

Asuka crossed her arms, "Yeah. He is…" She hesitated.

"He is helping you to thwart the plans of SEELE and Gendo Ikari. I know and wholeheartedly approve of that. They are messing with the natural order of things, and with my job! The cheek! One of my helpers is working on it too. Boston Brand, who also goes for Deadman."

"The ghost in the red leotard works for you?"

"Yeah. It's a side gig for him, he has flexible hours, can make his own schedule. I call him for special jobs, but he can do pretty much whatever he wants in his own time."

"I would have thought you'd prefer the annihilation of all life…" Billy ventured.

Death gasped. "Oh, no! No, no, no. As I said, I'm not actively going after living things. And I'm very fond of human people. This form you see…" she spun around like a ballerina. "Is one of my favorites. Every intelligent race in the universe see me as their own version." She turned into a living fire figure, "Martians used to see me as H'Ronmeer, their god of death, fire, and arts." "Khunds see me as a roaring tornado made of burning blades (13). The Dominators as a cloud of entropy. Those guys are weird (14)." She resumed her shape of a pale young woman. "Back to the point, I'm almost late for tea with my brother, so I'll be quick. Billy, I'm sorry, but you've been in a coma for over a decade, you should be dead, but you ended up in the Dreaming. The only thing that sustains your body is Shazam's power. You have a few options."she began to count with her fingers, the handle of her umbrella resting on the crook of her arm, "You can accept death and transcend to whatever afterlife you've earned; you could ask my brother to stay here after your body eventually dies, or…" she paused dramatically, "or you could go to the Rock of Eternity and stay there until your body can heal, but it will take you a long time. And I mean, a really long time."

Billy took a step back. "Could I go back to my body and change? The change has always cured me of whatever harm I've had."

"Sorry, that is not feasible. You see, Shazam has been sustaining your body with the same power that changes you into Captain Marvel, if you try to change, you'll lose your connection to that same power for a moment."

"Stop right there." Asuka made the Time-out sign and addressed Billy, "Aren't you a metahuman?"

Billy scratched his head, "Um… no? I'm not metagene active. I am the Champion of an old wizard, I call his name, Lightning strikes me, and I turn into an adult with the power of six legendary gods and heroes." (16) He was about to list them, but Asuka cut him off.

"Okay, Shinji would have a field day with that, I'm sure." She turned towards Death, "So, let me see if I got it. If Billy tries to change now, he will lose connection to the Wizard…"

"Shazam." Billy added helpfully.

Asuka continued without acknowledging the interruption, "…to the Wizard Shazam, and the lightning would turn him into a crispy bag of bones."

"Yup." Death played with her lace parasol. "I'm sure no one here wants that to happen. Tell you what. I go visit my brother, and you take some time to think. I'll check on you before I go back to work and take you to wherever you decide, deal?" She extended her hand, Billy shook it more by habit than actual agreement.

Asuka thought for a moment, "Drat, I have to go see that creep Cain, I can't stay here. Can Billy come to the House of Mystery?"

Death shook her head, "Sorry, dear. That's not how it works. If Cain has a Story for you, it is only for you. Sometimes he narrates one for a group, but it is very rare, and they must arrive to the House as a group. Not the case with you and Billy here."

Billy shrugged, "It's okay, Asuka. I'll just wait here until Miss Death comes back."

"It's entirely possible we won't be here when you come back from the House of Mystery, dear. Time here is not exactly lineal, you know?"

"Yeah, I suspected that was the case."

Author Notes.

(1) Somebody in the design team was too fond of Star Wars…

(2) If you haven't checked the webcomic "Grrl Power", you are missing on a very funny take on superheroes. It is not funny despite being somewhat realist; it is funny because the author takes things to their logical conclusion. The protagonist, Sidney Scoville Jr. is (among other things) a non-militant vegetarian, and is extremely fond of extremely spicy food. In an adventure in outer space, she did eat something called Grakz, to the awe and amazement of a lot of aliens around. Later on, she was told Grakz is not too hot when it is going in; but it's 10x hotter when it comes out. The page after that revelation had me laughing to myself for a few minutes. Minutes, I say!

(3) Batman jumped to Kamandi's time in The Brave and the Bold issues 120 (Jul, 1975) and Kamandi traveled back to the XXth Century in issue 157 (Dec, 1979), technically, these two stories were erased from continuity with the Crisis in Infinite Earths, but I'm very fond of both, so for this story, the events were slightly adjusted through Hypertime shenanigans.

(4) The original storyline of OMAC clashed with the timeline I worked out for SV, so Buddy Blank never was OMAC here, there was no evil corporations trying to rule the world, no Global Peace Agency, etc.

(5) Mari is referencing multiple cartoon characters, in order, Mightor, He-Man, Young Samson (or the other Captain Marvel), and at the same time, Shazzan and the Thing (in his solo cartoon).

(6) Once again, wild Kirby Dots appear!

(7) Not the original design from Jack Kirby, I'm very fond of the Jim Starlin redesign of OMAC when he took over the story after the OMAC title was cancelled during the infamous DC Implosion. As a personal note, the OMAC back ups in the Warlord book were my first contact with the characters. I'm not been able to find any OMAC comics published by Novaro, although they did publish the Starlin back-ups from both Kamandi and Warlord.

(8) Brother Eye has watched Terminator 2.

(9) Superboy himself.

(10)The Southside borough of Metropolis has been a hive of scum and villainy for decades, though several notable people has been raised there.

(11)The Newsboy Legion was one long running wartime series. The Guardian and the four orphans debuted in Star-Spangled Comics, issue 7 (Apr, 1942). They were created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby.

(12)When Kirby returned to DC in the 1970s, he decided to revisit the Newsboy Legion characters, and brought them back as adults in charge of Project Cadmus; this happened in Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen, issue 133 (Oct. 1970). The whole Cadmus Project was rebooted after the Crisis in Infinite Earths, and figured prominently in the Superman titles during the 1990s, starting with Superman Annual 2 (Aug, 1988).

(13)I stole this bit from one of the Kirby era issues of Fantastic Four, I'm not sure of the exact issue. The point is that the Thing sarcastically dares Mr. Fantastic, who is a notorious sesquipedalian speaker, to summarize the current situation in "fifty words or less". Reed Richards proceeds to do so, and turns out the Thing actually did count the words!

(14)I don't actually have any idea of the Khunds religious nature.

(15)Yep, they really are weird.

(16)The list of heroes and gods that lend power to Captain Marvel is incredibly diverse: most belong to the Greek and Roman mythologies. They are, in the acronym order: Solomon (wisdom), Hercules (strength), Atlas (stamina), Zeus (power), Achilles (courage), Mercury (Speed). Interestingly, for a very short while during the Darkseid War event, different gods and heroes channeled their power to Captain Marvel, changing his suit of powers in the following way: S'ivaa (Strength), H'ronmeer (Fires), Anapel (Compassion), Zonuz/Yuga Khan (Source Manipulation), Atë (Boldness), and the Wizard Mamaragan (Lightning)