The Hitchhikers Guide to the Millma Verse
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Note: Last chapter we left off with the Monitor recruiting Cisco and Kayla to grab Paranormal/Extranormal's Accord, now you'll find out where that story leads…
An Extranormal Loss
Kayla and Cisco appeared on the familiar street of Central-National City. It seemed perfectly normal, which confused Kayla as she looked to the sky. She had expected it to already be red, but it seemed they had some time before the redirected anti-matter wave hit this world.
"Didn't the Monitor say there was anti-matter blocking him from getting Accord himself?" Kayla asked, looking up to the cloudy, but not-at-all-red sky.
"Maybe there's a delay…?" Cisco frowned, looking around. "Although he was able to dump us here."
"I suspect foul play," Kayla groaned. Did the Monitor send them here because he could not get Accord or because he was playing with them, she had to wonder?
"Speaking of foul play, I suspect a foul mood coming from you," Cisco turned to his friend, an eyebrow raised.
"Well, the last time I was on this world… it was not a good experience," Kayla sighed, remembering the time after she left her own world and ended up here.
"Ah, but that was a whole other world," Cisco pointed out.
"No, it wasn't," Kayla paused. "This is Paranormal, right?"
"Yes, it is," Cisco nodded, knowing this world enough from spying on it – it was either that or Hero Earth that the Monitor had sent them to as they the only two worlds he knew where Amelia's hero name was Accord. The Monitor had said Paranormal/Extranormal, after all. Although there was an Accord on Amazonian Earth, but that one was male. "But it's not the same world you remember."
"So, it's not some militaristic, ego-tastic, hero-oppressing nightmare?" Kayla pointed out.
"Erm, was it ever?" Cisco paused at this. He hadn't really spied on it before the events that changed everything.
"The vote came in a long time ago," Kayla rolled her eyes. "This isn't a nice world. I mean, escaping my home world was bad enough, but landing here… being recruited by Amanda Waller because I had nothing else… the older Kara here not wanting to know me…" Kayla pouted at this.
"And Kryptonian birds?" Cisco pointed out, remembering that she wasn't too fond of them back when they first found her two years ago.
"I quite like them now," Kayla smirked a little. "I mean, I never had birds on my Krypton, but hanging out on Hero Earth… they're cute. Even New Justice Kara has said she might want to go to Hero to see them. I kind of now want an Augurey."
"Aren't those creatures from Harry Potter?" Cisco paused at this; they had been walking down the street without looking where they were headed.
"Harry Potter?" Kayla raised an eyebrow.
"I so need to show you those films," Cisco smirked now, realizing this was another film series she needed to watch – on top of Back to the Future. "Although you might enjoy the books more."
"I got to stop letting you know I don't know movies," Kayla couldn't help but chuckle at this though. Mutant Earth Cisco would never change and while he could be annoying, part of Kayla didn't want him to. "But the Augurey, I mean is sort of like a cross between an Owl and a Phoenix. It's really cool. Kara on Hero Earth has just started breeding them."
"Might be something worth sharing with Karry Universe…" Cisco muttered, thoughtfully. He knew Karry's Sanctuary had taken in some of Hero Earths birds. "But that's not the point. I was explaining why this world is different to the one you remember. Well, the Rae of this world ran back in time and changed events – it came out better for it," Cisco explained.
"Too little too late," Kayla shrugged at this, before pausing, "wait, is that why this world has two names?"
"Yeah, it was my Prime double's idea. I don't think it ever properly caught on, considering it seems to be called Paranormal and Extranormal in one," Cisco mused.
"Regardless, it will always be hell to me… " Kayla began, but was forced to stop as a familiar blue portal appeared in front of them – although it was weak.
"What…?" Cisco frowned at the portal.
"Another you?" Kayla asked, cocking her head at the portal, too.
"Well come through – I can't hold it open for long," the familiar voice of Amelia Allen stated, Kayla and Cisco looking to one another with a smirk as they nodded.
They'd found who they were looking for. Or been found by her at least.
-Hitchhikers-
Landing unceremoniously in what appeared to be an abandoned chapel, Kayla and Cisco got off from the floor, shaking themselves off.
"Well, that's a first – a portal we fall out of," Kayla mumbled.
"It was a weak one," Cisco explained, looking up to see the familiar dark hair and pale form of Amelia before them. She looked hardened, distracted and a little angry.
"Well, I'm sorry I can't perform perfect portals anymore," Amelia muttered, somewhat sarcastically and causing both hitchhikers to glance to one another in curiosity.
"Okay, I'll be the first to ask – what happened?" Cisco asked.
"Computers picked up an unusual interdimensional portal," Amelia stated, nodding to some computers at the side, "I hacked into local cameras to see who it was. Then I opened a portal for you. Are you stupid?" Amelia shot at Cisco, who seemed lost at the answer, not having expected an Amelia to be so hostile at the question or her misunderstanding the question completely.
"He meant your powers!" Kayla snapped, disliking this world more and more – although the Amelia she had known from here had always been bubbly and helpful. This was not the same girl.
"Oh," Amelia deflated a little at this. "Where to start?" she sighed.
"Maybe at the beginning, it's usually the best place to begin," Kayla muttered.
"What happened to you?" Amelia glanced at Kayla, surprised. "You used to be so nice."
"So, did you," Kayla shrugged.
"Okay, let's just take a moment…" Cisco realized a miscommunication was happening, and wanted to stop it before it got too far. "Kayla here remembers a very different world to the one this became due to your Rachel," Cisco told Amelia, putting a lot of emphasis on this explanation. "So, she's a little testy now because of those experiences."
"Another casualty of Flashpoint then," Amelia sighed, taking a seat, and indicating for them to take a seat too, which they did – Kayla somewhat begrudgingly, although she was curious.
"Another?" Cisco asked.
"Flashpoint?" Kayla countered. "Isn't that that thing that Rae did on New Justice to go to a different timeline?" Kayla looked to Cisco, who paused at this.
"She did what now?" Cisco asked, surprised. He had not heard of New Justice doing this.
"It was Savitar's fault. Kara there told me about it. Rae corrected it right away," Kayla waved it off. "Cisco here mentioned something about this world being different due to the Rae here… so she did that? She changed this world but didn't change it back?"
"Yep," Amelia nodded, Cisco looking confused now. "Although whether it was for the best remains to be seen. Pretty soon after she returned to this new timeline people started losing powers," this caught Cisco's attention. "Rach wanted to run back in time to find out more – where she went wrong – but she couldn't, so Uncle Jay went back instead."
"Rach couldn't?" Cisco mused. "I wonder if the Speed Force stopped her?"
"That was the working theory," Amelia stated. "But she wasn't in a rush to confront the Speed Force again, so she didn't go and find out."
"What happened to Jay?" Kayla couldn't help but ask. Jay had been one of the people she had liked when she was stuck on this world.
"We don't know. He never came back," Amelia sighed at this.
"He never came back?" Cisco paused at this.
"We assumed he fixed it and came back to a new timeline but…" Amelia glanced to Cisco at this, knowing what he was about to say.
"That's not how it works," Cisco pointed out, Amelia nodding to this.
"Care to explain a bit more?" Kayla asked, not knowing time travel as much as Cisco and this Amelia.
"Well, if Jay had fixed the world, this timeline would have disappeared," Cisco stated to Kayla. "Jay would have come back to the new timeline and we would have only been able to access the new timeline. Jay got lost or died trying to fix it… but he didn't fix anything." Kayla nodded understanding. Jay had failed in one way or the other in trying to find out what had gone wrong.
"Exactly, but I didn't have the heart to tell Rach that. It was the theory that kept Rach going until she died," Amelia stated, looking sad now.
"Your Rachel Garrick died?!" Cisco asked, almost standing at this. "But… I mean… she died?"
"It was to save Roland," Amelia sighed as Cisco sat down now, seeing Kayla amused at this reaction but not too concerned for the dead Rach. "He's not been the same since."
"That's messed up," Kayla stated, a little taken aback at what had happened to this world. She wondered what would have happened if Rach hadn't created a flashpoint timeline. The former timeline was messed up, but at least all the speedster weren't dying there, or people losing their powers.
"You would be happy though," Amelia stated, "Argo city survived. They set up a colony world in the next solar system – Kara, her family and the entire Sanctuary were relocated there."
"Kara left Earth?" Kayla asked, glancing to Cisco at this, surprised.
"Yep, some world they called Elysium – not sure why they didn't call it New Krypton or name the entire planet after the city of Argo, but there you have it," Amelia sighed as Cisco and Kayla looked at each other. On Kingdom Come they had been introduced to a meta human home world called Elysium. It seemed on this world Krypton had taken the name – could it be the same world? "And now you two are here… a little too late to help. Unless you can go back in time and fix everything, but you don't have a speedster with you."
"First off," Cisco pointed out. "We're in this together – the multiverse, you could have asked for help at any time," Amelia opened her mouth at this, but Cisco hadn't stopped. "Secondly, no we can't go back in time for you – neither of our powers work that way; and thirdly, you mentioned everyone's powers going. Can we get back to that?"
"We can, but we never found out why," Amelia shrugged now. "It was just like everything started failing. My ability to grant powers to people went quickly, but my portal-making is still okay-ish… although I can't portal very far anymore – or even to another world. The last world I was able to visit was Karry Universe and that didn't go to well."
"Damn," Cisco frowned. "What about your Barry? Your side of the family?"
"Mom and dad divorced years ago," Amelia waved this off, surprising Cisco, but not so much Kayla. She had started to notice in a lot of worlds where Henry and Nora were both alive and somehow ended up divorced. "I barely see mom, but dad's good. Barry's… well," she smiled a little to herself, "he lost his teleporting abilities but is a full-time carer to Roe. You do for family."
"Roe is that bad?" Cisco asked, worried now – Roe was a naturally born speedster and if he weren't up for the challenge, this world would surely be finished.
"Rach's death changed him. Something about seeing her die and feeling her pass on – his connection to the Speed Force," Amelia looked sad at this. "I don't think it helped knowing the Speed Force told Rach she wouldn't be welcome in the Speed Force after death. We don't know where her soul went or if it even went anywhere…" Cisco was shocked to hear that. The Speed Force took her children, especially her natural born children, so it seemed the change timeline was too much for the Speed Force to forgive.
"So, he's practically powerless? Surely you have a Justice League or Alliance or Society or something?" Cisco asked. "Jesse or Wally? Are they speedsters?" The two might not be as powerful as Barry and not naturally born speedsters, but maybe together they could fix the world. Stop the anti-matter wave…. even if they had to die doing it.
"Wally and Jesse are not speedsters; they lost their powers already; and of course, we have heroes. The older generation, those who still have abilities like Wonder Woman and Green Lanterns. Us kids though… well, after Rach's death that all fell apart. I haven't seen or spoken to my Cisco or Gypsy in a long while, and as for Caitlin, she's in Metropolis living the big life of doctor, wife and mother."
"At least they're alive…" Cisco reasoned, a little darkly now.
"I hate to break this up," Kayla spoke up, causing the two to look at her, "but I think it's time we vamoosed?" She was pointing to the windows – the light streaming in was red.
The anti-matter wave had come.
-Hitchhikers-
Amelia had ran out of the church, Kayla and Cisco following her to see the skies indeed were a deep red; the two hitchhikers had only just faced this on Noray and, according to the Monitor, this was the same anti-matter wave that that world's Barry had pushed back.
"How do we stop it? What is it?" Amelia called out, pulling out her phone.
"It's anti-matter and according to your recent history, you can't," Kayla was the one to speak, but Amelia was already on the phone and not paying attention to the two. Kayla looked at Cisco, wondering if they should take Accord now and go.
"Lyla," she stated to the person on the phone. "How can I help? What? Oh damn…"
"This is the bit where she tells us they're going to try and nuke an anti-matter wave," Kayla stated, rolling her eyes at Cisco. She remembered what would have been done on the world she had lived on.
"Not that world anymore," Cisco reminded his friend.
"Elysium is gone," Amelia turned to look at Kayla now, who was unsurprisingly unmoved by the death of a Kryptonian colony she'd barely known existed.
"And this world will be next," Kayla pointed out, looking up at the sky.
"We don't have much in terms of heroes now," Amelia stated, "but we have some Lanterns – Lyla is getting them to look at this oncoming threat."
"And they will die. Prime Barry said the Green Lanterns on Lantern Earth tried to stop it and it didn't help at all," Cisco was the one to state this, taking the phone from Amelia and shutting it off. "I'm sorry but the only thing to stop that is a naturally born speedster and with Rach dead and Roe unfit, this world is doomed."
"Couldn't we ask another world?" Kayla asked this, frowning at Cisco now – she didn't know what it was, but no matter how much she hated this world, she didn't want it dead. Not yet anyway.
"I highly doubt we have the time," Cisco stated, "besides, remember what the other world's Ray said: the speedster has to be vibrating at the same frequency of the world. We're out of options," Cisco explained, opening a portal. "Amelia, Accord – we came here for you."
"You what?" Amelia asked, blinking now.
"We need to go," Cisco looked between Amelia and Kayla at this, and Kayla knew he was right – Paranormal/Extranormal was to be another early victim of this Crisis and there was nothing they could do.
"But my family… Roe… Barry…" Amelia's voice trembled.
"I'm sorry," Cisco stated, genuinely looking sorry too.
Kayla though grabbed Amelia, and before the girl could protest, flew her through the portal, Cisco sighing to himself before moving through too. The portal closed behind him, sealing the world's fate.
-Hitchhikers-
For a moment, all three stood just outside the familiar farm on Mutant Earth when it vanished, and Kayla and Cisco had to groan as the familiar darkness and stars of the Monitor's unusual hideout appeared around them.
"What…?" Amelia asked, her pale face practically white in shock, confusion, and loss. She had just seen her world died and ended up on a new world only to be somewhere else in a matter of seconds. It was a lot to take in in such a short amount of time.
"I had hoped he'd give us a few minutes at least," Cisco muttered, sadly. "You could have at least let us explain?" he added, louder.
"Who are you talking to? What exactly did you do?" Amelia rounded on Cisco and then on Kayla. The former raised his hands in defence, while Kayla just crossed her arms.
"Me. And they did nothing," the Monitor stated, appearing as if out of nowhere, as usual, in his familiar purple-and-blue armor. "Nothing, except for saving your life that is."
"Who are…?" Amelia looked faint now. This was all too much for her.
"I am sorry," the Monitor stated, "but out of everyone in the multiverse, I deemed you the most valuable, the one who can spread the message of Crisis when it happens. You needed to be saved and these two were the ones I sent to save you."
"Crisis…?" Amelia asked, trembling a little now. Kayla moved over to put an arm around the girl – no longer seeing the Accord of Paranormal Earth, but a small girl in an excessively big multiverse, who had just lost everything.
"Isn't Crisis already happening though?" Cisco rounded on the Monitor now. "We've lost worlds already: Lantern, Dark, SnowAllen, and now Extranormal, to name but a few."
"Yes, it is happening, but this is barely a ripple in the water before the tsunami that is the total destruction of the multiverse comes," the Monitor stated, mournfully.
"Total destruction?" Cisco asked, "so it's unavoidable?"
"Nothing is unavoidable," the Monitor pointed out. "There are ways to fight. There are ways to stop it, and there is one trick to bring it all back. But that is not for today. Today is the day I choose my warrior."
"Warrior? What exactly is going on?" Amelia was the one to speak up.
"Honestly, I have no idea," Kayla sighed as the Monitor looked to them. "But I know you're testing worlds," she addressed the Monitor at this. "I mean, you gave Kara and Barry the Bond on Karry Injustice, you tested Prime with the meta bomb, and there's something going on on New Justice I know you're behind."
"Not to mention what you did on Karry Universe," Cisco pointed out.
"I'm strengthening worlds," the Monitor stated to Kayla and Cisco. "Karry Injustice would be dead now if it weren't for the Bond that I gave them; Prime would have a lot of catching up to do without the Dominator plot; and as for New Justice… well, we shall see how that turns out." Cisco and Kayla noticed he purposely left out Karry Universe, giving no explanation for what he did there at all.
"But what about Extranormal?" Cisco spoke up, catching the thread of the conversation. "Was that a test?"
"Yes and no," the Monitor stated.
"Can you ever give us a clear answer?" Kayla groaned.
"Yes and no," the Monitor repeated, a small smirk on his face. "But this wasn't a test for that world – it was doomed from the moment Rachel Garrick created her Flashpoint," Amelia opened her mouth at this, but again was interrupted from talking. "This was a test for you, Francisco Ramon and Kaylar Zor-El. You passed."
"It doesn't feel like it," Kayla muttered, her arm still around Amelia.
"Sometimes wins include loss – and those losses can be greater than expected," the Monitor stated. "But now, it's time for some one-on-one," he smiled now; not an unkind smile, but it was unnerving, nonetheless.
"One-on-one?" Cisco asked, but before he could find out more, there was a flash of white light and he found himself back on the ex-cargo ship headquarters on Prime Earth, Kayla beside him – with no sign of Amelia.
"What?!" Kayla span on the spot, shocked at the sudden transportation. "Amelia?"
"She's gone… or we've gone," Cisco realized, getting his baring as he moved over to the computer.
"We need to get her back," Kayla pointed out. "She's just lost everything – she needs help. She doesn't need him. Whatever his plan is for her, it can't be good."
"I don't think we have that option," Cisco sighed. "When we left Paranormal/Extranormal, I tried to focus on the Monitor, to get to him, but I got nothing. My next best shot was a world that was safe – my home world – and we got there fine. The Monitor seems to be the only one to allow people in and out of his little hideout."
"But… Amelia…" Kayla frowned, a little lost now.
"She's safe, that's all you need to remind yourself on," Cisco pointed out, somewhat distracted.
"If you count that guy 'safe'," Kayla groaned, moving over to the computer to see what Cisco was looking at. "Paranormal?" She asked, seeing the 'lost signal' on the computer.
"Mavis," Cisco stood up, "update the multiverse map in accordance with Crisis and show the cluster containing New Justice and Kingdom Come," with that the familiar holographic spheres representing Earths appeared, but none were blue now; 4 were red, and 3 were green. Cisco groaned.
"It's gone," Kayla stated, knowing the other red worlds were Nazi, SnowAllen and Lantern. The new red dot, right next to New Justice, was the recently deceased Paranormal/Extranormal world.
"It's gone," Cisco repeated, mournfully. "Crisis is going to kill us all."
"That's a happy thought," Kayla sighed, although she was very unnerved.
-Hitchhikers-
Kayla had remained on Prime Earth. After everything that had happened on both Noyay and Paranormal/Extranormal, she needed friendly faces around her and so was currently bunking in their Beach House. In fact, she was babysitting Skye while Kara and Barry there overlooked their various businesses – although Colin was around, doing his homework upstairs.
What a mess, Kayla wrote in her journal. After the success of Noray – a world where Ray Palmer and Nora Darkh are a couple – we were taken by the Monitor and told to rescue Amelia of Paranormal… or Extranormal… whichever. It doesn't matter now though as that world is gone. It may not have been a nice place to live after leaving my home world, but it didn't deserve that death.
Noray was cool though. Not the name I would give it, but that's not my call, she thought of the teenage kids there and had to smile over at Skye, who was napping now, its sixteen years ahead of most worlds, with an almost grown up Skye, although she prefers 'Lark', which is funny. Not quite the same Skye, I think, but never mind. The Barry there was able to stop the anti-matter wave, to push it back or whatever it is that speedsters can do. It was a victory, but also a loss. What Barry had done to save his world, cost that of another. Not that I'll ever tell anyone from that world this information.
You see, Rachel Garrick on Paranormal died, Jay was missing in time, and Roland had gone mad or something. Everyone was losing their powers and Amelia Allen there was the only thing the Monitor cared for about that world – he even admitted it was doomed from a long time ago, Kayla sighed at this, not happy with the Monitor. I don't know who he thinks he is, but I don't trust him, I don't like him. Just when Paranormal's Amelia was at her weakest and most lost, he took her. I felt sorry for the girl, I wanted to help her, but no, I didn't get that chance.
But, as Cisco said, there's not much I can do. I just hope that whatever plans he had for Amelia are for the best… Kayla paused. She didn't know what else to write at this; her mind was still in a mess over the day's events. She also wanted to sleep.
That was why she was glad when the door opened, and Kara came in. She grinned at her multiverse sister – she had told this Kara everything that had happened. They were especially close since Kayla had covered for Kara during her pregnancy with Skye.
"Why don't you put that journal away?" Kara WellsAllen asked kindly, knowing the stress her sister had been under. "Go and rest. I've got my kid," at that moment, Powie appeared behind her mistress, moving over to lick Kayla. "And, so has Powie it seems," Kara chuckled.
"Thanks sis," Kayla sighed, giving Powie a quick pat on the head and closing the journal. She was going to sleep for a long time now.
Post-chapter note: And there you have it! All Crisis build up chapters for Hitchhikers are done. Also, if you couldn't tell, Sigma had great fun poking fun at Paranormal/Extranormal – the world that just didn't work for you, the readers… and now it's gone. Maybe for good… hehe.
Oh, and despite the sadness of this chapter, MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!
Please REVIEW.
Karry Beta and Master OUT.