Intermission 3; Death and Rebirth, Rebirth and Death

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.

Correction: I misremembered the bit about Maxima and Supergirl returning to Earth along with the heroes, I edited that bit out of the previous chapter. (Shame!)

Day Nine
Nanda Parbat

Shinji paled considerably at Hikari's words.

"Um…" he hesitated, "I… um… Hikari? … remember that T-T-Toji is my friend."

"Wait. What?" Hikari's brow knitted in confusion. A moment later she blushed deep crimson. "No! What would make you think I'd be two-timing him? No! I wanted to say I'm actually a White Martian! Born and raised on Earth!" After her blurted words, she slapped her hands over her mouth, blushing even brighter.

Shinji stumbled at Wildcat's slap on his back. "Congrats, kid! You broke ole Johnny Thunder's (1) record for Gravest Case of Foot-in-Mouth disease. A standing record over sixty years old. (2) He laughed deeply. "Hey, girl. Don't you hold this against him, okay?"

Hikari threw her hands up, "I can't believe it!" Her blush receded, and now instead, her face paled considerably, making her freckles even more evident than normal.

"Everybody calm down." The Stranger said.

"Wait a minute." Hikari turned around. "I mean… how come you're not freaking out?" She looked alternatively from Shinji to Wildcat and back. She pointed at herself, "I said I'm a White Martian!"

Wildcat shrugged, "Meh. Nanda Parbat has an effect on everybody. Evil can't enter here. If you were evil, you'd change in here. Many of the former residents were unrepentant murderers when they arrived, most of them came here to sack and pillage, you know the type. But as soon as they got inside Nanda Parbat, all desire to kill was gone. They become the nicest people in the world. For as long as they stay. And there's no way to hide the change of heart, girl. They fall on their knees and beg for forgiveness. It's overwhelming. It even works on full-blooded aliens, I'm told." (3)

Shinji nodded. "If you were any risk for us, the Stranger would already know. I don't know why he didn't tell me, but I trust he had a good reason to keep the secret."

"I asked him not to." Hikari admitted with a sigh. "He knew it as soon as he saw me." She hugged herself, eyes downcast, "I didn't know how you would react." She sighed, "I have known only for a little while. Because I was chosen to be a pilot, my Father and Grandfather told me, so I could decide if I was to accept or not." She looked up, defiantly. "I thought… I thought you, the pilots, needed my help, and I accepted. How could I have known about SEELE, or your counter conspiracy? I was just a normal teenage girl, wasn't I? Kodama and Nozomi don't know."

Shinji looked at her for a long moment, "You were born here, on Earth, right?"

She nodded brusquely. "My mother was a very normal human woman, you know? I'm actually half-Martian. And I don't even have any powers."

"How so? Aren't they innate? I guess they would be reduced, but completely absent?"

Hikari looked at the Stranger, who continued. "The invaders were placed under very heavy mental blocks. They behave like humans because they believe themselves human. Hikari's father and grandfather are aware of their true origin, but went, as it was called, "Native". They prefer their human identities, and won't use their powers, as they don't want to revert to their former ways." He paused for a moment, "They put mental blocks on the Earth-born girls. Only to block their Martian abilities. Their minds are their own. For all intents and purposes, Kodama, Hikari and Nozomi Horaki were raised as regular Earth girls. And therefore, they are."

Hikari looked expectantly at Shinji. Waiting for his reaction.

"Okay." He said.

"That's it?" She exclaimed, "After your dire warning about the White Martians… I… I thought you would… I don't know…"

"Hate you?" Shinji sighed in turn. "You are my friend, Hikari. You have done nothing to make me hate you. On the contrary. You helped me when I was the new kid at school. And when I outed myself as a pilot, everybody saw only that. You have been a…" he waved his hands around, trying to find the right word. "You… argh!" He put a fist against his forehead. "Why is this so hard to put into words?"

He looked at Wildcat, "Don't look at me, kid. I speak with these." The old fighter held his fists up. "I think I know, but can't put it to words either."

Finally, Shinji looked back at her, "You made me, us, I mean the pilots, feel normal. Accepted. You have no idea what that means, at least, I hope you don't." He shook his head sadly, "I really shouldn't talk for Rei and Asuka, just for myself. And you are the friend I always needed, along with Toji and Kensuke. Thank you." He bowed deeply.

Hikari blushed again, a cute pink color on her cheeks. "Um… glad to help?"

Wildcat clapped his big hands, interrupting the moment. "All that is nice and well, kids; but we are kinda on a tight schedule. Shinji knows the basic routines I taught him and Red, be sure to practice them, I'm sure your martianitical genes will help ya with dat, girl." He looked back to Shinji, "Kid, I'll be expecting you to keep up as soon as the sawbones clear you."

Hikari looked expectantly at Shinji, who whispered, "He means the doctors."

"We still have some time before you need to return to Tokyo-3. And Supergirl's tale is not done."

Shinji raised a hand. "We read about the Earth side of the Warworld invasion. What happened in space?"

"I'll stay in the bench for this one, Stranger. I get sarcastic during school. See ya later, you two."

Nanda Parbat vanished around the trio, and the serene temple was replaced by the stark emptiness of space, over an artificial alien world.

Warworld
(The Past)

"The heroes arrived to Warworld in Brainiac's own ship. Dubbilex, the DNAlien created at Project Cadmus, still occupied Metron's chair. The Moebius Chair boosted his mental powers to rival even Brainiac's own. Even enhanced as they were by his own cybernetic implants and Warworld's system."

The sinister skull-like ship shook as Dubbilex and Brainiac wrestled to control it, until Dubbilex, with a supreme effort, used the ship's energy beams to breach Warworld's defenses.

"Always opportunistic, Brainiac allowed a breach over the gladiator arena, the same place where Mongol pit Superman against Draaga. And where the two fought again, for Draaga was desperate to recover his lost honor."

"At this point, Brainiac controlled the whole of Warworld's systems, and its population, thanks to an interface web connected to his own implants. And he controlled his allies with promises of honor regained." Draaga challenged Superman to a duel to the death. "Revenge", Maxima struck Superman, throwing him against a wall, that turned to rubble under the impact, "And mind control." Supergirl joined the fight against Superman, her face twisted into a mask of anger and hate.

"But Superman had not come alone to Warworld, and the fight soon turned into a brawl when Guy Gardner, Agent Liberty, Wonder Woman Captain Marvel, Fire, and Deathstroke jumped to the gladiatorial arena, to the cheers of the crowd gathered there."

"However, Superman ordered his companions to proceed with their true mission. The full contingent of heroes left the arena, running towards the center of Warworld. Superman managed to knock down Supergirl and restrain Draaga. Maxima retreated back to Brainiac's control room."

"Brainiac's need for control costed him Supergirl, who was now free of Brainiac's mind, and Draaga accepted a truce, conditioning his help to a later duel to death with Superman."

"The rest of the war against the Coluan tyrant would not be easy, as he managed to put controlling devices on several heroes, turning them against their allies. Brainiac tried to subvert the living devices captured along with Lightray and Orion; but being alive, Mother Boxes are notoriously stubborn, and before serving Brainiac, they teleported away, to a potential ally, Dubbilex."

Moments later, to Brainiac's consternation, Dubbilex and the Mother Boxes teleported Brainiac's own ship to the very heart of Warworld, to leech its energy; while Superman, Draaga and Supergirl returned to battle. Meanwhile, the Warworld soldiers on Earth were not the only threat, a web of energy disks appeared over Metropolis, and not even the genius of Luthor and multiple scientists could destroy the web. For long hours, the disks covered Metropolis, ready to unroot the city and miniaturize it for Brainiac's amusement. (4)

"Brainiac's brain was not enough to control the whole of Warworld, its inhabitants, and the subverted heroes all at the same time, so his attention and focus was divided, jumping from one point to another constantly, trying to put out multiple small fires at the same time cost him multiple small defeats. Had he focused on any problem for long enough, he could have prevailed. But his ego demanded an absolute, simultaneous victory in all fronts at the same time. Even so, his main focus remained in Superman. Just as Superman himself had planned."

The captured New Gods were released, and soon the tables began to turn against Brainiac. Heroes were released from his control, and a captured Supergirl managed to seed enough doubts in Maxima's mind to make her consider the idea of changing sides, for both a possibility of conquering Superman's heart and to protect her people.

Meanwhile, Draaga had witnessed the respect accorded to Superman by his fellow heroes, and felt trapped by his own vows. For he began to see Superman as an honorable fellow fighter. And he didn't wish to taint his growing friendship with Supergirl by killing her mentor.

But soon, Brainiac would accidentally solve Draaga's dilemma, by releasing an antimatter monster, willing to destroy part of Warworld if it meant vanquishing his enemies. Supergirl was ready to sacrifice herself to stop the creature, but it was Draaga who made the ultimate sacrifice instead, fulfilling his vow to protect Supergirl.

"Draaga's death only hardened the resolve of the heroes, especially Supergirl, as she took the former gladiator's form to honor his sacrifice. The heroes fought even harder now, forcing Brainiac's forces to retreat again and again. Once again, Brainiac activated a new weapon, a deadly force field that caused growing pain to anybody getting close to the control room; to the point of killing them if they were too close. Hundreds of thousands of Warworld troopers died in horrendous agony, along with any slaves or operators unfortunate enough to be in the killing zone. The Flash had been close to attack Brainiac in the Control Room when the weapon was activated, leaving him unconscious."

"This was Brainiac's most egregious mistake. With such a cowardly attack, he proved to Maxima he was not an honorable ally. She asked to join the Earth heroes side. For in defeating Brainiac, her own people would be safe." The Stranger said.

"Maxima's power could be crucial to shift the balance of the fight. But her past actions meant the heroes distrusted her, and Superman left her behind with Guy Gardner and the Metal Men watching over the Almeracian Queen."

"A consummate politician, Maxima lost no time in finding Guy Gardner's buttons, pushing them until the brash Green Lantern yielded to her proposal. Despite his constant aggression, and black and white view of the world, Guy Garner's will was second to none. He used his Power Ring to shield himself and advance closer to the control room; and opened a way for the Metal Men, shaped as a tank, to invade Brainiac's sanctum and deliver a deadly payload: Maxima herself!"

"The Queen is, in terms of raw mental power, a juggernaut; but backed by Warworld's might, Brainiac was more than her equal. However, Brainiac's distraction would prove costly, for it allowed the Flash to recover enough to throw a sharp piece of glass and sever the cables that connected Brainiac to Warworld. And in turn, leaving him vulnerable to Maxima's attack. And attack she did."

Desperate, Brainiac activated the web of disks over Metropolis, believing he could at least achieve vengeance if triumph was to be denied to him. A futile gesture, for with access to multiple Mother Boxes, a group of heroes could return to Earth via Boom Tubes. Once again, the balance of the battle changed.

"On Warworld, the battle of wills turned against Brsiniac, who seeing the battle lost, apparently lost his mind to Maxima's power. Still, he managed to eject a small capsule, ensuring he would return to plague the heroes."

After the battle, Orión and Lightray stayed in Warworld until a new leader could be chosen, Metron, once again in possession of his Moebius Chair, took the now brain dead Brsiniac away, and the heroes returned home in triumph.

Shinji's eyes sparkled, as they did every time he witnessed the long forgotten feats of the heroes of the past. Hikari was amazed by the power and determination of the heroes.

The Stranger waved a hand, and the trio stood on a white void. "Being an artificial being, Supergirl was, at this point of her existence, a very complex simulation of life, guided only by preprogrammed behavioral patterns based on a long dead woman from a different universe. But, every thing complex enough to house a soul, will either develop one, or attract one. The first inkling of Matrix going beyond her programming was her brief friendship with Draaga. This too short bond was the spark for Supergirl developing her own soul. An innocent, naive, and good hearted soul."

"So, inevitably, she would fall in the hands of the devil." Now they stood on a dusty helipad somewhere in a desert, Luthor descended from a helicopter, and, far from cameras and the public, showed his true visage.

"After burying Draaga, Supergirl returned to Earth in a barely functional ship, and crashed down somewhere in New Mexico. Her ship was found by Lexcorp, and Luthor took advantage of both her disorientation and his own likeness to her creator to win her trust. Supergirl became Luthor's bodyguard and lover. Despite Superman's misgivings, she stayed in this role for months, even after Superman sacrificed his life to stop the monstrous Doomsday's rampage."

Shinji gasped, his eyes wide, he gave a step back in shock. Hikari grabbed him by a shoulder. "Shinji? What happened?"

He looked at her. "He… Doomsday…" it took him a minute to recover.

"Sorry, it's just that…" He exhaled. "Doomsday was a monster, an Extinction Level monster." He shook his head. Even watching the Great Crisis had not been so scary. So… close. So personal. Doomsday was rage incarnate, a force of nature capable of destroying worlds, laughing as it killed.

The Stranger conjured an image of a hulking grey monster, with bone spurs in shoulders, elbows, knuckles and knees. The same external bones shielded his eyes, and protruded from his mouth in place of teeth. Every muscle of the powerful body oozed murderous intent. "The creature had no name, not even a mind. It was nothing but a furious determination to live. And to live, it would kill every other living creature in the universe."

"Doomsday was the end result of a cruel experiment in one of the deadliest worlds in the Galaxy. A place chosen by a misguided group of scientists as the perfect place to create the ultimate survivor. In a reinforced building designed to endure the worst environments and wars; a clon was created from select genes, grown in a day to the age of a just born baby. And sent to the wild to die."

"Cell samples were collected, modified, and cloned again and again; day after day a clone was sent to die. Eventually, the clones would live for a few seconds more, then minutes, days… until a perfect creature was able to survive indefinitely in the deadly environment. It was able to adapt to every environment, to kill any predator, to metabolize every poison. And if it died, it would eventually regenerate. It was truly indestructible. And then, it was known by the closest thing to a name it would have, the Ultimate."

Hikari trembled in impotent rage, while Shinji looked ready to punch somebody's head off. The last time he had felt such rage had been… "They want to be gods, don't they?" His voice was cold and hard.

"Yes. They wanted to force evolution and copy the results into their own bodies, to become indestructible, eternal, and overwhelmingly powerful. It took decades to achieve the result they wanted."

"But the scientists rejoicing was brief. The creature did something the scientists were not able to predict. It remembered who was responsible for all his suffering, for each and every wound and death. It took great pleasure in repaying the scientists who created with the same coin invested in its creation."

Hikari turned her head away at the massacre. Partly in disgust, but partly to deny those monsters even a single iota of empathy over their violent deaths.

"Had it not been for the scientists need for regular supply runs and replacement staff, the creature would have stayed in that planet, wandering around in an unending murderous rage; but an automated ship was to become the way to the stars. Once it knew other worlds existed, the creature traveled from world to world, killing entire civilizations."

"Until it was finally defeated." A desperate world turned its super powered ruling class into an energy being capable of fighting the monster. After a week of constant battle, the embodiment of that planet's rulers killed the monster."

"Due to their cultural beliefs, they dressed the monster corpse in a special suit, chained it into what they thought would be an indestructible cell, so its soul would be bound in the afterlife. Unworthy of being buried in the planet, they threw the cell to space, to drift eternally in the cold void. But in time, the cell would be covered with space debris, and crash to Earth, somewhere in the USA, its occupant slowly healing. So great was the damage, it took the creature millennia to heal enough to stir. And its chains were to strong, it took it even longer to loosen them enough to release even a finger. But like an unattended dam, once there's a minute crack, the end is inevitable." (5)

They saw the powerful creature, completely covered by a dark green suit, bulging with the bone spurs. The head completely covered, the only hint of the occupant were two red lenses over the eyes. The torso wrapped by high-tech chains, some still binding an arm behind its back. The monster struck the wall of its prison again and again, always in the same place, until the glove began to rip around the bony spurs of its knuckles, and the metallic wall began to buckle under the constant attacks of the mindless creature it contained.

"Each strike was so powerful enough to make seismographs jump all over the continent. But before anybody could reach the site, the creature was free. To the horror of any living thing in its path."

Uncongrously, the hulking figure stood peacefully over the hill that had been its grave. Soon, the noises of nature, silenced by its booming strikes, returned. The creature extended its free arm in front of it, the hand open, palm up, as if asking for something.

A curious bird landed on the open hand, jumping around, exploring the strange thing. Doomsday stood perfectly immobile. Not a single muscle even twitched.

Faster than sight could follow, the hand closed on a fist, crushing the bird to a bloody pulp. Hikari and Shinji gasped in horror as Doomsday laughed.

"From here, the monster would carve a route of destruction and death across the country. Comparable only to a natural disaster, walking at its leisure, killing with no reason, destroying everything in its path."

Hikari grabbed at Shinji, who looked in horror as the monster tore apart the pillars of a bridge, sending cars and truck to the cliffs below, condemning their occupants to death.

Both knew that, even at the controls of the Evangelions, neither would last long against such a destructive, violent, and cruel enemy.

Shinji couldn't stop himself from comparing Doomsday to Zeruel. He honestly could not say which one was worse.

Third Impact at least would be quick…

Author Notes:

(1) Johnny Thunder is a curious case in the superheroic world. Being the seventh son, of a seventh son, born at the seventh hour of the sevent day of the seventh month (seems to be a pattern there…), he was prophesied to gain great magical power. However, due to a lot of contrived circumstances, he was raised without any knowledge of his magical potential; though he was incredibly lucky. Instead of being an outstanding example of power, the guy was basically… comedy relief. In his own stories. He had a magical genie at his beck and call, the Thunderbolt (manifesting as a pink man with a lightning bolt instead of legs), but couldn't remember the magic words! However, a verbal tick of his turned out to be close to the magic world, so eventually he could get the Thunderbolt's help. Johnny Thunder and the Thunderbolt debuted in Flash Comics issue 1 (Jan, 1940).

(2) Johnny Thunder was incredibly naive, and often spoke out of turn. Whatever Wildcat is talking about, I leave to your imagination. Though it most probably involved the original Black Canary, a frequent guest in Johnny Thunder's stories.

(3) In canon, after the destruction of Rama Kushna, patron spirit of both Nanda Parbat and Deadman, this effect vanished. But in SV, despite Rama Kushna's absence, the effect is still active, or better said, is active again.

(4) The original, Pre-Crisis version of Brainiac collected shrunk cities, keeping them in bottles. One of them was a Kryptonian city, Kandor. The pre-Crisus versions of Brainiac and Kandor debuted in Action Comics issue 242 (Jul, 1958).

(5) Doomsday background was originally a mystery. The story was later added in the three issue miniseries Superman, Hunter-Prey, (Apr to Jun, 1994). Doomsday debuted in Superman; The Man of Steel issue 17 (Nov, 1992)