New Justice: Madness of the League
Disclaimer: As you know, this is based on the Arrowverse – but the ideas are mine and my Co-Writer's.
Copyright: Millma Verse
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Note 1: Yes, New Justice is back! This half of the season was quite difficult for me to write, but I got there in the end. Also, if you've been reading all our stories, Beautiful finally breached into 2023 but, unfortunately, we're slipping back into 2022 with this story, so some things might seem a little out of order.
Note 2: If you remember, in Beautiful, Rae of that Earth had a speedster turtle; this chapter officially introduces said turtle. Hehe.
Uncle Grumpy
In Home Base, a large speed trail was running after a smaller speed trail – Leona sat on a chair laughing and clapped her hands at the two speedsters, one being her mother and the other being a tiny turtle. Rae sprang forward, grabbing the turtle with both hands and ending up on her stomach with the turtle in her hands now over her head. She sighed as she rolled around to be on her back, holding the turtle up.
"Again!" Leona called a word Courtney had taught her for some reason.
"Thanks baby," Rae said, not sure about her baby laughing at her misfortunate with the turtle who was still trying to run out of her hands.
"What's with the turtle?" Rae was surprised by her own voice as she sat up and saw two younger versions of her. She was very good at telling her Splitsville alternate, who she called 'Little Me', and her Beautiful's alternate, who she called 'Mini Me', apart. It always helped Little Rae's Kryptonian dog, Daniel, and Meta cat, Sha're were close by her.
"Ask the nerds," Rae said as she lifted herself off the floor, keeping her hold on the turtle.
"It was an accident," this was Adam's voice from a back room. The three nerds had been hiding there since the turtle had gone running and they had been unable capture it – Winn's power was useless against a speedster and the turtle actually doing damage to both Adam's and Jess's suit and fancy weapons before they had called Rae for help. Rae didn't like getting this phone call.
"And how many times have I told you to stop messing around with the Forces of the Universes," Rae sighed back. It was true – since Crisis, the nerds had become increasingly curious about the Forces and especially since Rae went had gone into the Sphere of the Gods. The three had done many experiments that had been explosive, but this was the first time it resulted in a speedster animal.
"So, it's an actual speedster?" Mini Rae asked.
"Yep, and shouldn't you be on Karry Universe? Chris couldn't stop talking about that Disney Titan thing," Rae said.
"Disney Titania, and we got back a few days ago," Mini Rae said, making Rae pause. She'd wondered why Chris hadn't come home yet. "But I have to get home for that cooking show…" Rae remembered getting the call at the beginning of summer about that. "I was talking to Little Me here and she mentioned how in her culinary school she's been having problems with one dessert, and it sounded interesting to me."
"And we figured you might be able to help us make it," Little Rae completed.
"What dessert?" Rae asked, still keeping her hands on the turtle who was trying to run.
"Baked Alaska," Little Rae said.
"Oh, that's a difficult one, I only made it once, but we can give it a crack," Rae said. "Once I figure out what to do with this one. Any chance you want her?" Rae looked at her little alternate.
"Dad will kill me if I bring another pet home," Little Rae said, pointing at Daniel and Sha're. Daniel was licking Leona while Sha're was lazily on his back. Leona laughed at the dog.
"I don't have a pet," Mini Rae said. "And I don't really care for cats and dogs. She's cute."
"Take her," Rae said, putting the turtle in her Beautiful alternate's hands. "And now I don't need to kill my nerds. Good thing too, they come in useful."
"Hey!" Jess's voice yelled at that.
"Why are you heying that? That was good," Winn answered. "Wait… hold on, before you leave..." the three nerds appeared with Adam holding a glass Aquarium. It had water in it along with rocks.
"Her tank," Adam said. "It's all set up for her. And we have added a small power source running through it so she can't phase out of it."
"When did you do that?" Rae asked.
"While you were chasing her. Took you longer than we thought," Jess smirked but then backed away from the glare.
"But it's all set up and if you run into any problems, I am sure my alternate could figure this out," Adam said.
"Lovers of Tomorrow guy? Doubtful," Mini Rae said as she put her turtle into the aquarium and took it from Adam.
"You're an actor on her world," Rae filled Adam in, seeing his confused look.
"Well then mine can," Winn said.
"Actor," Rae said. "And you don't exist..." Jess nodded, used to that by now with the multiverse. Rae went and grabbed Leona, who gave a moan being taken away from the doggy. "Come on to my house. I have an amazing ice cream maker and my kitchen is state of the art."
"We know," the two younger Raes said with a smile as they left with their pets and Leona.
"So, we are using the system to look up everything our alternates have been in and watch them, right?" Winn said when all the Raes were gone.
"Hell yes," Adam said.
"Already on it," Jess said having gone over to the computer already.
-New Justice-
Rae and her two younger selves had been going around the kitchen back at Kent Farm in the Kryptonian Sanctuary, getting prepped and making the dessert together.
"Okay, we got the sponge cake in and making the ice cream," Rae said.
Courtney had by now come in from her shift at the Sanctuary and had sat down at the table to watch. Leona was in her playpen nearby, playing with Clarky; keeping an eye on his little brother Daniel, too, as Sha're jumped in and out of the shadows before going for a nap at the window with Streaky.
Misty gave a bark as the door opened.
"Hey Rae, I've got a surprise," it was Jessica coming in and Rae smirked at the two people who followed her.
"Jon and Jade," Rae called. "The Three Js back together again!" Rae briefly looked up from helping her younger selves with the dessert.
"And right in time too it seems," Jon said. "Three Raes cooking? Count me in."
"Yeah, Chris is going to be upset he missed this. He loves when all three cook together," Courtney added.
"You're Courtney, right? Jessica told us about you," Jade said, and Courtney gave a nod.
"So, what brings you back to Earth? I thought you two joined some other space defender group when the Green Lanterns went up in smoke," Rae said, and Mini Rae looked up for a moment at that.
"We did and it was work helping set it up, but we seem settled now," Jon said. "Decided to take a break and come here."
"And get this – not only did the Green Lantern power source explode, but Yellow, Blue, Pink… all of them are just gone," Jade said, making Jessica turn to look at this one.
"Hum, weird," Rae remarked, but barely seemed to care as she was checking the oven. She'd never had much to do with the Lanterns, regardless. "Little Me, how's the ice cream coming?"
"Nice, I love this ice cream maker you have. I need to get one," Little Rae said as she was taking the ice cream out of the maker. "Going to put this in the fridge to keep it cool for a bit."
"I'm making the meringue," Mini Rae called.
"Sponge cake still has a bit to go but we seem on track…" Rae stopped when a portal opened in the middle of the kitchen and she nearly groaned. Clarky gave a bark, jumping out of the playpen and running into the portal. Leona gave a moan and Daniel jumped in to play, to make her happy. "Urgh. Fine. Let me go see what the Speed Force wants this time. Continue cooking. Courtney, keep an eye on Leona."
Rae summoned her Flash outfit as she put on her helmet and walked into the portal.
"Does… does that happen a lot?" Little Rae asked; the three J's were a little confused too.
"Yeah, enough," Courtney said with a nod as Leona gave a cry out. Courtney went to pick up her little sister, knowing the girl was sad her mother was gone. Daniel gave her a lick to help cheer the girl up while Jonathan sat down to snack on some of what the three Rae's had already made.
-New Justice-
In Gotham, Sara was in her White Canary outfit and Sideways had opened a portal for her to the backseat of Sophie Moore's car. The woman hadn't noticed the portal, it seemed, and was shocked the superhero in her backseat.
"Sophie," Sara said.
"How did you…? You know what, never mind," Sophie said, getting over her shock. "What are you doing in my backseat?"
"I need info on what's going on inside the Crows," Sara said.
"Since Beth and Kate took over, you mean?" Sophie asked. "It's a nightmare. They fired almost everyone. I think they only kept me to deal with the paperwork and the clients. I have a small group of workers working for me, who weren't fired, and we still go to provide security for events. I don't know what them and their new hires do."
"The new people? What's your read on them?" Sara asked.
"They seem like thugs. Not the type of people Jacob would have hired," Sophie stated.
"Thugs, yeah?" Sara asked.
"Yes… Like the type of people who would be in the Wonderland Gang," Sophie concluded for Sara.
"That was my fear," Sara said.
"Wait, you…?" Sophie's sentence wasn't finished as a card was put in her cupholder.
"Keep an eye on them. Report anything suspicious to that number. Your Friend of the League code will be on the back," Sara said.
"The Justice League has a number?" Sophie asked.
"Remember that request system we had a while ago?" Sara asked.
"Yeah, I remember it was taken down because it was used to trap a member of the League or something," Sophie said.
"Nearly killed the Flash's brother," Sara added. "Flash agreed the general idea behind it was good though, but we needed it to be more secure. Only certain people can call us to ask for help. People we choose," Sara knew Rae had given a card to Joe West and some FBI agent named Seeley Booth, along with a fire department in Chicago. Sara and Tommy had requested James Gordon here in Gotham get one and recently they had also added Lucifer's girlfriend, Chloe Dekker. "Be careful with that. The first time you call there will be a voice recognition put in place so only you can use that number."
"Got it," Sophie nodded.
"Sideways," Sara said, and a portal opened, and Sara left. Sophie turned for a moment to see Sara leave.
"Nice, Friend of the League," Sophie smiled to herself as she pocketed the card and started her engine to drive off.
-New Justice-
Having entered the portal, Rae wasn't surprised to see an older version of Kara petting Clarky when she got into the Speed Force.
"Before you even start, what is up with that turtle?" Rae asked her Speed Force mother.
"That one surprised even me, but I'm not opposed to a non-human speedster and, besides, Beautiful Rae could use a pet," the Speed Force said. "If I experimented with other animal speedsters would the Sanctuary be open to them?" Rae tilted her head and raised an eyebrow.
"Maybe Karry Universe or Prime would be willing, but that's not why we're here," Rae voiced.
"True, true," the Speed Force mused.
"So, what now?" Rae asked, coming up and giving her dog a pet as well.
"I need you to go talk to another one of my siblings," Speed Force said.
"Which of the Seven Dwarfs is it this time?" Rae asked.
"I'm not sure I like this comparison," Speed Force said, although with the hint of a smirk on her face at the nickname. "But to answer the question, my brother the Emotional Spectrum."
"And what is he doing so bad?" Rae asked.
"He is the one who made and powers all the Lantern rings," the Speed Force said, causing Rae to pause. "He's been increasing the power to them. I think he's trying to make his Lanterns more powerful, but it is causing problems throughout the multiverse. The rings are bursting apart and causing harm to their bearers. I fear he will destroy all the power sources if he's not careful. The Lanterns might not be my personal favorite, but they have become important throughout the multiverse. Worlds might not adjust as well as yours with them gone."
"Peace in the galaxy, not just Earth," Rae said, getting it. "I'll head over to Sneezy."
"Before you go… Rae, he's a bit… much," Speed Force said.
"Got it," Rae said, giving a thumbs up, picking up Clarky running.
"Wonder if I should have told her me and him don't get along," Speed Force said to herself as Rae left.
-New Justice-
Once in the place Rae had dubbed 'the in-between place', Rae found the door to the Emotional Spectrum. She held it open for Clarky before entering herself, preparing herself to be cut off from the Speed Force.
Instantly, she felt the same pain as she was disconnected from the Speed Force and fell to the floor. The energy around her had become a metal floor and room took shape – a white man stood before her with light brown hair and brown eyes.
"I am letting just enough of my sister's energy in so you don't die but not enough to power you up fully," the Emotional Spectrum spoke dismissively, and Rae could feel she was surviving, but she was still in pain – out of breath and unable to get off the floor. Clarky gave a growl. "And only reason I don't kill you is because you're a Paragon."
"What?" Rae gave a breath out. "Why?"
"You don't know," Emotional Spectrum said. "Well, maybe my sister is naïve enough to think I would forgive, but no. I hate you, Rachel Garrick. I hate all my sister's creations but especially you and that pathetic Prime Barry Allen."
"What… what did we do to you?" Rae asked, confused and unable to think straight.
"My siblings were happy with the Totems, your mother with her children, but me? I made something so much more… The Lantern Rings. I concentrated them away from Earth, not caring about the potential of humanity DNA. My rings were heroes long before you were even born. But I decided to experiment with one Earth – mostly to cause my sister pain by taking away her prize children on that Earth: You and Barry."
"Lantern Earth…" Rae mumbled remembering the Earth from Crisis – the Barry and Rae of that world had been Lanterns, and she and Prime Barry had been unable to save it from the early waves of the Crisis destruction.
"Yes, my experiment. A world of Lanterns," the Emotional Spectrum said, "and then Crisis came, and my sister sent you to save them. But you didn't, did you?"
"Only Barry and Rae of that world could have saved them. They refused to take off the rings," Rae forced the sentenced out, taking deep breaths as she did.
"And then Crisis was over. The Paragons brought back worlds, but my world is nowhere to be found," Emotional Spectrum said.
"Too… weak," Rae said. "The world didn't survive… coming back."
"Which is why I am making my Lanterns across the universes stronger," the Emotional Spectrum said.
"Exploding…" Rae said, unable to make full sentences now she was cut off from the Speed Force. Clarky stayed by her side though, both to keep a look out on his mistress and a little scared of the Emotional Spectrum now.
"There will be some causalities along the way as I perfect it," the Emotional Spectrum spoke. "But soon they will outshine you speedsters! Except for your world. I don't like your world. So, you don't get any of my power. The Lanterns are gone, and I asked my sister, the Sphere, to destroy your world's Fire Totem and she complied. Prime is lucky I don't destroy their Lanterns or Fire Totem, but they're on a thin line, I tell you now."
"I don't…?" Rae couldn't form the sentence, still unable to wrap her head around this pure hatred from of this Force of the Universe.
"Get out!" A portal opened, and the Emotional Spectrum used his powers to throw Rae into the portal. "And take your dog too!" Clarky, who was growling and trying to send heat vision at the Emotional Spectrum, was tossed through the portal as well.
-New Justice-
Back on New Justice, with the older Rae gone, the two younger Raes continued cooking and talking to those in the room – the conversation going to Beautiful Rae's new turtle.
"It says online turtles do eat meat," it was Jon who had said this, having gone to look it up when topic of food for the turtle came about. Jade and Jessica had moved off to catch up in the living room.
"Oh, that's good to know," Mini Rae said of the turtle food; she and Little Rae had made the Baked Alaska and were finishing it off.
"I think we did it," Little Rae said. "Now got to do this in class without help from one or two extra mes."
"So… do we all get a piece?" Jon asked of the complicated ice cream cake.
"I definitely get a piece!" Courtney spoke up.
That was when another portal opened and Rae was thrown out of it, hitting a wall as she landed on the floor. Clarky came speeding out a moment later, putting a hole in the wall. Misty gave a bark and ran after her pup along with Krypto.
"Mama!" Leona yelled, phasing out of her play pen and running up and jumping on top of Rae. Lightning appeared in her hand and transferred into Rae.
"You're a good girl," Rae said, feeling her power return and hugging her daughter as she sat up and leaned against the wall, taking deep breaths, and feeling better already. Misty and Krypto had rescued their adult pup from the wall now as the dog was shaking himself off – he had a yellow sun collar on, so luckily hadn't been hurt by the force of the Emotional Spectrum, given the Kryptonians didn't have powers under the red dome of the Sanctuary.
"What happened?" Jessica asked.
"Where were you?" Little Rae asked.
"Grumpy… he is definitely Uncle Grumpy," Rae said making everyone blink and look at each other in confusion.
-New Justice-
In Gotham, Tommy, Selina, and Sara were in the bat cave with Alfred and the kids. Dereck aka Sideways, had gone home since helping Sara get to Sophie.
"Sophie has called in to the Friend of the League request line already and has sent over all the information she has on the new hires," Alfred spoke up. "Unfortunately, running the names through background checks shows nothing."
"So, nothing suspicious?" Tommy asked.
"No, I mean nothing," Alfred said. "They don't exist."
"Well, that is suspicious in and of itself," Sara remarked. "What is this she said about the deliveries?"
"They have apparently got a lot of deliveries to the offices which they won't let anyone touch and have sectioned off part of the office," Alfred said.
"Maybe I can snoop," Selina spoke up. "See if I can see what one of these shipments are."
"I can go with," Tommy said, and both turned to Sara.
"Get Sideways back. See if he can help. Just don't be seen – we have no reason to inspect anything going into the Crows," Sara said and the two gave a nod before leaving.
-New Justice-
Rae had now taken her daughter back to her bed, the little speedster tired from using her powers to help her mom.
"Is Leona going to be okay?" Beautiful Rae asked.
"Oh, yeah she's fine," Rae said. "She's just so young the transfer of Speed Force energy exhausted her. She'll nap for a few hours. The real pain is she's going to be up and about tonight…" since being kicked out of the Emotional Spectrum, Rae had told the group exactly what had happened and then went to put Leona to bed as they took it in.
When she had returned to the kitchen, Little Rae had cut the Baked Alaska and set out a piece for everyone. "I think we need this," Little Rae said, and Rae nodded.
"So, the power source of the Lantern Rings hates Speedsters," Jade said as the group started to eat.
"Especially you," Jon added, and Rae nodded.
"Well, there's not really much more you can do," Courtney reasoned. "I mean, you did what the Speed Force asked. You went to her brother and her brother did not treat you well."
"I can't just give up though," Rae said. "These Lanterns across the multiverse depend on it. Besides, the last time I failed a Speed Force mission, the result was a world completely dying."
"Surely this wouldn't be as bad?" Little Rae said. "Cause, no offense Big Me, I don't see what else you could do."
"You've got to do something," Jessica said; she and Jade having come into the kitchen at Rae's dramatic return and listened in to what had happened.
"Jess is right, the explosion of the power sources on our world were bad," Jade stated. "But we Lanterns were able to contain the explosion with the energies left in our rings. But if the rings are also getting more powerful and exploding everywhere, then their bearers are not able to use them. Besides, our power sources were at average power so if there is overpowering, this could be world-ending on several worlds."
"Okay, so bad," Little Rae said. "But you can't go back in. Not without a plan."
"We can think of something," Courtney said. "Some way to make the Emotional Spectrum listen."
"Maybe he will listen to Cora and Li?" Mini Rae spoke up, and everyone paused in their eating and turned to look at her. It took her a moment to realize the looks she was being given. "Why are you looking at me like I grew a second head?"
"Who's Cora and Li?" Little Rae asked her beautiful counterpart.
"Oh, Cora Jor-El… well now Cora Li-Pri and Li-Pri. They are Green Lanterns. Cora is Jor's daughter," Mini Rae said.
"Obviously, from the name," Rae said, remembering something on their Paragon group about Coras being added everywhere in the multiverse after Crisis for some unknown reason. Something they couldn't figure out since no paragon world had a Cora before crisis. "But that's an idea. Let's get the Lanterns involved."
"Alan Scott has mentioned problems with his ring," Little Rae said. "I can go home and get him too."
"What about Karry Universe? Don't they have a Lantern or two?" Jon asked.
"I think so," Rae said.
"And Prime," Jessica added.
"Might want to leave them out. Our world is the Emotional Spectrum most hated world, but Prime is second most hated. Seems he's been considering taking the Lanterns away from there too," Rae said. "But there might be other worlds we can get in contact with to help as well. Okay Little Me, Mini Me return to your worlds and get your Lanterns. We'll handle calling other worlds and come up with a game plan at Home Base."
"Can we finish this?" Jon asked. They had been eating their piece of Baked Alaska as they talked.
"Of course, you two did really well," Rae said to her alternates who gave a smile. The group ate for a moment, finishing up their pieces.
"Let me guess, I have to stay here with Leona?" Courtney spoke up.
Before Rae could answer, Kara came into the house and took a seat.
"Urgh. Been crazy today. I needed to perform surgery on two animals, there was a problem at the Visitor Center, one of the Red Sun Lamps blew and just… urgh. And your emotions going in and out and being weird have not helped," Kara spoke up. "Oh, that looks good."
"Enjoy sweetie, make sure to put the leftovers in the fridge. Leona is sleeping upstairs. She'll be out for a while because she had to transfer some Speed Force energy to me. I'll fill you in completely later," Rae said and gave Kara a kiss. "Courtney, you can come."
"Yes!" Courtney grinned at this.
"Daniel, Sha're!" Little Rae called as Courtney ran up to grab her Staff. Little Rae's animals turning to run with her.
"Let me grab Speedy," Mini Rae said, getting the tank she had rested on a table.
"You're really naming a speedster turtle Speedy?" Jon asked.
"It's appropriate," Mini Rae said as the group left.
Kara stared for a moment at the scene and then shrugged, knowing her wife would tell her the full story as she went to eat.
"This is good," Kara said to herself with a nod. "No idea what it is… but good."
-New Justice-
Mini Rae had managed to come back quickly with Cora and Li; the two had left a way to contact them in case of emergency, and when Mini Rae had explained, the two had come fast. Little Rae was not far behind, with Alan Scott.
It had taken some time with the system before they had managed to get Karry Universe's Jon Stewart there – the man having designed the Penthouse for the multiverse's richest couple. They were at Home Base for this discussion, and Rae had quickly gone into details about her time in the Emotional Spectrum with the Green Lanterns present before she let the Lanterns discuss – that was, until it turned into the Lantern yelling at each other.
Green energy came out of the rings, and one nearly hit Mini Rae, but she managed to duck. Courtney jumped and stopped it with her staff.
"Good job, Stargirl," Rae mumbled. "Okay enough!" Rae gave the Lanterns a glare, so they backed down. "Your emotions started to run high, and your overpowered rings responded. You get too into this, and we could have a bunch of dead Lanterns here and then need to fix Home Base again. None of this has done anything to help, so plan for the Emotional Spectrum. Maybe you should all take off your rings off safety and we can…"
"That's it!" That was Beautiful Li who jumped up at the wording. "Take off the rings. We take off the rings! Without bearers, the rings are useless. That would get a message to the Emotional Spectrum."
"The few of us here taking off our rings will do nothing," Alan pointed out.
"So, we don't just do us few. We get everyone to take off their rings," Cora said.
"The Green Lanterns are very organized across the multiverse," it was Jade who pointed it out. "They might even be able to get the Blues to join in."
"Enough worlds do it, and it will get his attention," Jon said.
"Enough that he will listen," Jessica added.
"I like it," Rae said. "Okay Lanterns, you're returning to your worlds and getting your own Corps in. Little and Mini Me, start jumping the multiverse yourselves and see about getting more worlds involved; Courtney go with them. Start with Alien Earth – our dad there will help you. The Three Js join in on the system to help get the word out faster. NERDS!" Rae yelled that part; Adam, Jess, and Winn had been in Home Base when they got there, watching TV, but they had backed away when the meeting started. "I need a Speed Force power source I can bring in the Spectrum with me."
"Why?" Winn asked.
"Inside another Force there is no Speed Force energy. The Forces have to let energy in so I don't die. The Spectrum was a little… well he didn't let enough in. I can't exactly convince if I am barely able to talk," Rae said.
"Are we sure it's a good idea you go in?" Cora asked. "If he hates Speedsters…."
"I've got no choice. Only a child of the Forces can enter a force," Rae said. "And the only reason the Spectrum didn't exactly kill me was because I am a Paragon. We could send in one of the other Paragon speedsters, but Spectrum hates Prime Barry too and probably wouldn't take too kindly to Karry Barry either. No, I am the easiest."
"Can you take someone with you?" Cora asked.
"Barry took Lena into the Speed Force, so yeah," Rae said. "Want to come?"
"Yes," Cora said with a nod.
"Okay, game plan. Everyone to their parts," Rae called out. "Now!" Cora gave Li a kiss as the Lanterns started portalling back to their worlds. Mini and Little Rae also left as the nerds went to start making a Speed Force energy device for Rae – if they had turned a turtle into a speedster, they could make something for Rae.
"I kind of missed her ordering us around," Jon said with a laugh, the Three Js going to the computers.
-New Justice-
It was a couple of hours later when the nerds were giving Rae what she asked for – it was like the device used inside Savitar's suit, but instead of needing a whole suit to stay connected to the Speed Force, it was a little box on her suit. Rae, herself, had powered it with a few lightning bolts that the nerds had been able to collect the energy from.
"…once you go into the Emotional Spectrum it will activate. You should have several hours of energy," Adam was saying.
"Thanks, Adam. Report Three Js," Rae said, turning to her former Green Lanterns.
"Well, several worlds have come back and the Corps are agreeing to the plan. They have started taking off their rings. Your two younger selves are really helping spread the word as well," Jade said.
"Along with Courtney," Jesscia added.
"Well Cora you…" Rae started but was stopped by Jon.
"We have a call coming in," Jon said, and Rae stepped forward. On the screen came a very familiar face of her own, albeit blurrier than she was used to from the system.
"Which me are you?" Rae asked.
"You call us New Daxam," the other Rae said.
"I didn't think New Daxam were on the system," Rae said back, remembering her recent trip there to save the young boy who was a child of the Dimensional Superstructure.
"We were never given one but knowing it existed our Winn managed to make a very rudimentary one and hacked into your system," New Daxam Rae's said back – and then there was a crash behind her. "Barry, will you be more careful moving the Daxamel!" Rae heard Barry in the background mumbling an apology.
"Is that Smallville?" Rae asked, recognizing the house her alternate was in as her own home. It was more run down than the one she was used to, though.
"Yeah, after the whole thing with Daxamite making half-me and half-Daxamite children we decided the Arrow bunker was no longer safe. Luckily Smallville and Kent Farm are the perfect resistance headquarters – but not why I called. Winn told me about the message about Lanterns. Well, here the Corp didn't do much when the Daxamite came but Hal, John, Alan, and Guy did sacrifice their lives trying to stop them. There is one Lantern who gave us a communication device to call her. Astra In-Ze," New Daxam Rae said.
"Kara's Aunt Astra," Rae said.
"She was very upset Queen Rhea killed her niece. I can contact her and tell her what's going on and get our Corp involved," New Daxam Rae said.
"Why are you helping us? We didn't do much to help you," Rae queried aloud.
"Well, the food came in handy. Plus, the information we got about Lena Luthor seems it will pay off and not to mention Caitlin Snow," New Daxam Rae said with a smirk. "That was very useful information…" Rae decided not to question it. "Just letting you know we will help."
"Thanks," Rae said.
"And I have to go make sure my resistance doesn't blow up what's left of Smallville while we move in," New Daxam Rachel said and the call ended.
"Well, that was nice," Winn said.
"Maybe we should put them on the system officially," Rae mused; it seemed like her alternative knew the rule by now. She sighed to herself. "Right, come on Cora," Rae said, standing. "Time to run!"
-New Justice-
In Gotham, Selina, Derek, aka Sideways, and Tommy returned to the Batcave via portal from Derek himself. Sara was waiting for them, while Alfred was looking after the two girls in the main house.
"Not good news," Tommy told his wife, who was at the computer banks.
"Some sort of toxin…" Sideways spoke up.
"I saw," Sara mused. The trio had managed to get into the Crows without being seen and had discovered some of the supplies they had been receiving. "We need to get into contact with Sophie," Sara stated.
"How can she help? She and the others have been ostracized from the main Crows network?" Selina pointed out.
"True, but she's our eyes and ears over there. We need to know timescales and plans – if she can get anything off the others it'll be worth it," Sara decided.
"Should we get the League involved?" Sideways asked; he wasn't officially part of the Justice League, even though he worked with White Canary, Black Arrow and Batwoman.
"No, not yet. We don't even know if they're going to use the toxin or how they plan to use it," Sara stated.
"Maybe let Rae know?" Tommy voiced to his wife.
"She's busy at the moment but I'll inform her later," Sara nodded at Selina. Now she needed to contact Sophie to keep her team informed.
-New Justice-
Rae stopped running when she got into the in-between place.
"This door will lead to the Spectrum," Rae said, she and Cora surrounded by seven doors in the dark, mysterious, room.
"Hold on a second," Cora spoke up. "You're a Paragon, can I ask you a question?" Rae gave a nod. "Why does my Kayla insist I am a Crisis change?"
"Because, you are," Rae said. "We added a lot of versions of you for some strange reason."
"Yeah… right," Cora said with a laugh.
"I can see why you annoy the Paragon of Humanity," Rae said after a moment with a little smirk.
"And what are you the Paragon of?" Cora asked.
"Truth," Rae said opening the correct door but causing Cora to pause at this realization. "Go on, you can go first," Cora gave Rae a look, but then walked through the door. Rae followed.
Entering back into the Emotional Spectrum, Rae felt the device on her person turn on and then Speed Force energy flowed through her, making her feel normal and safe this time. She smiled as she saw the room they were in a little more. The Emotional Spectrum pacing.
"Something wrong, uncle?" Rae said, giving a smirk.
"You did this," Emotional Spectrum said, turning to Rae, his voice getting louder. "What did you do?!"
"I'm the Paragon of Truth, I told the Lantern Corps the truth and they are willingly taking off their rings," Rae said.
"Captain Kirk?" Cora asked, pausing at the face the Force wore.
"Why did you bring this Crisis change to me?" Emotional Spectrum snapped.
"Hum… maybe I owe Kayla an apology," Cora paused at this.
"Cora!" Rae hissed. Cora had been practicing what she would say since Rae had agreed to take her.
"Oh yeah," Cora said stepping forward and holding out her hand. Her ring was still on, but she slowly took it off. She then threw it at the Emotional Spectrum's feet. "We're not your toys, sir. We appreciate the power you gave us to help others, but we are not experiments for you to test on. Good people are getting hurt – getting killed – because of you, so we will take off the rings. We will leave your power behind if we must. Unless you stop messing with us and return the power to normal."
"You can't get to all the worlds," Emotional Spectrum glared at the pair of them. "Not every Lantern…"
"But we can continue trying," Rae cut him off. "We have a ton of worlds on our system and we have a whole bunch of former Lanterns now with nothing to do. We will continue to spread the word if we must."
"New Daxam," the Emotional Spectrum said after a moment, his eyes going wide. "You got to them… they took off their rings. They were my second favorite after Lantern Earth, which you destroyed," the Emotional Spectrum voice got louder and the area they were in darkened to reflect his anger.
"They made their choice," Cora said with a smirk and Rae felt they were lucky New Daxam had hacked into the system.
"What a hypocrite! You take my power from their worlds but keep it on yours," the Emotional Spectrum said to Rae now. The anger was clear with the room they had been in disappearing entirely and the atmosphere around them getting tough.
"What? You got rid of the Lanterns on my world and had the Fire Totem destroyed," Rae pointed out.
"You're right… but… I can sense…" the Emotional Spectrum paused, frowning. "A girl on Earth – she's connected to me like… that stupid brother of yours would be connected to my elder, annoying, sister." At this realization the atmosphere around them calmed.
"See, you didn't need stupid or annoying. I know who you mean," Rae said. "And that's… Jessica. After her ring ran out, she had natural powers just like the Lanterns. She's your child. A child of the Emotional Spectrum."
"My… child?" The Emotional Spectrum was obviously confused by this.
"Yes. So, Uncle Grumpy, what do you think of your daughter?" Rae asked.
"She's interesting," the Emotional Spectrum said. "I must study her. Figure out how to do it again away from any Earth… Wait, what did you call me?" the Emotional Spectrum looked to Rae, giving her a glare.
"Uncle Emotional Spectrum," Rae said fast. "Anyway, with a child you don't need to enhance the Lanterns. You can focus on them – on her. But not so dangerously you could kill her."
"Yes… I must figure out how it was done. Find someone other than humans and away from your awful, awful, world," the Emotional Spectrum said.
"Okay, you really don't need to be insulting," Rae said, feeling the insults were pointless. "You're not going to de-power Jessica?"
"I need to study her," the Emotional Spectrum said. "No, she will keep her powers…" the ring Cora had discarded floated back up to its bearer. "Take it, Crisis Change. All Lanterns can safely put back on their rings. I have something else to do," Cora took the ring and a portal open.
"Well, that–" Cora began.
"Leave!" the Emotonal Spectrum snapped, stopping Cora from speaking. She rolled her eyes at Rae before she moved to exit through the portal. "Oh, and niece…" Rae paused, waiting for what he was going to say, "never come back here."
"Trust me, I hope not to," Rae said and left the Emotional Spectrum behind.
-New Justice-
Back in Home Base, Rae informed those who were there what had happened – with the help of Cora. Nora had joined her husband and the other three nerds since.
"I'm a child of one of the Forces…?" Jessica spoke up now, seeing shocked.
"Not one of the nicer ones, but welcome to the club," Rae smiled at her Force-cousin. "It has many speedsters in, the one little boy from the Dimensional Superstructure, and Aunt Sphere claimed to have a kid somewhere," Rae said.
"AJ," Nora spoke up. "I've met her. Nice girl."
"Oh nice. Well, I'm going to head home to fill Kara in. Jon, Jade, will I see you again before you leave?" Rae asked.
"Probably not," Jade answered. "We plan to head back out shortly."
"Ah, then it was nice seeing you again and know, you will always have a place here," Rae said giving them a hug each. "Tell Courtney to come home when she gets back," Rae turned to the nerds as she said this before she ran off.
"Well, it's pretty cool you're a kid of a Force – even if the force is kind of…. Nuts," Jon said to Jessica.
"Can someone send me home?" Cora asked.
"On it," Adam said, going to the computers to connect them back to Beautiful Earth.
-New Justice-
When Rae ran into the house Leona ran straight into her.
"Well, I see someone is up," Rae said, smiling at her daughter.
"Up, running, and eating," Kara said. "I got McDonalds. She loved it. She needed two happy meals though."
"Surprised she didn't eat three," Rae said smiling at her wife.
"So, do I get filled in?" Kara asked.
"Well, Uncle Emotional Spectrum is an ass. I needed to get multiple worlds of Lanterns involved to get him to stop overpowering his rings," Rae said, and Kara blinked. "I can go more into details, or I can try to run this one's energy off," at that moment though, her phone binged – a text message from Sara. "Oh, damn."
"What is it?" Kara asked.
"Seems the Wonderland Gang in Gotham have plans with toxins. Sara's got a contact in the Crows who's going to give us more information," Rae sighed, looking to Kara.
"Oh well, nothing we can do at the moment until we get more information," Kara shrugged at this. "Go on. Run," Kara smirked at her wife, knowing they needed to get rid of some of the extra energy Leona had right now from her long nap before actual bedtime. Rae smiled and started running with her daughter. She'd worry about Gotham later.
Post Chapter Note: Well, I hope you enjoyed this mid-season opener of New Justice! What did you think about Emotional Spectrum – and how he was not as nice as the other Forces. Hehe. There's always got be one… I hope this didn't insult any Lantern fans though, as the last time I used Lanterns to this heavy effect, I got some nasty messages.
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Karry Master OUT!