Gotham

"It's good to see you again, Jim," Conner Kent said to the Guardian holding little Maya Kent close to him, "And I suppose this is like my niece or cousin?" "Yeah, and you can tell there's a bitta' alien in the way she looks," he indicated her eyes, "In a good way, though." Jamie Harper came in then with her cousin, Gwen, smiling to see Superboy there. "Oh, Uncle Jim," she said, looking at the young man, "You never said we'd have guests." "Oh, this is just Superboy," Jim laughed. "I guessed that," his niece told him pointedly, indicating she wanted more than a codename. "Uh," Jim stumbled, "Kon-El, yeah?" "Mmm hmm," Superboy nodded, "But most people who know me call me Conner these days. Nice to meet you, Jamie. Tim speaks very highly of you. Says you're a cop any of us supers can rely on." "Tim?" she asked curiously. "Uh, Red Robin," he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, "Sorry, I probably shouldn't give away his identity like that, but hell if I can't give it to the Guardian's niece and Mon-El's baby mama...oh boy, I really put my foot in it there." "Ya' think?" Jamie asked, subtly noting how awkward the young adult was and pinching his cheek as if to remind him she didn't really care, "So, how do you know my uncle?" Jim decided to field that one before Kon could.

"Conner was a product of Cadmus. I was there when he was created, and we worked together a few times. He's a fellow Cadmus poster boy I suppose is what I'm trying to say."

"Wow," Gwen said, going up to Conner, "You look like Superman." That unintentional compliment gave the little girl a lot of brownie points in Conner's book. He knew he was a clone of Superman, but he always liked people he didn't know reminding him of the resemblance as he got older. Especially since he himself knew his hairline was nothing like Kal's. They say hairline comes from the maternal grandfather, but Conner had two dads. And he had remembered desperately searching for photos of Lionel Luthor once to reassure himself he wouldn't go bald. And he'd insisted on going to the Fortress of Solitude just to get a refresher on Jor-El's hair once. Wow, he had been a ball of nerves about it back then. "Well, he's a clone of his, sweetie," Jim told Gwen, "Bit like how I'm a clone of Jim Harper and you're…" "Your daughter," Conner said, looking Jim directly in the eye, "She's every bit your daughter, Jim." Jim smiled a little at hearing that, glad to know Conner had come to terms with his identity a little.

After another hour or so, Gwen went to bed. Conner took some coffee from Jamie, who herself departed for slumber while he and Jim continued their reminiscences. With his niece and child gone, the Guardian's demeanour changed almost altogether. "You know, Conner," he reminded the depowered Kryptonian, "You can't be Superboy forever." "What?" Conner laughed, but Jim jumped in before he could continue with, "And you're not comfortable calling yourself Superman." That caused Conner to hesitate a little. Somehow, Jim knew he wasn't prepared to take Clark's mantle one day. Did he even want to? When he was younger, he had, and never more so than when he found out he was half Luthor. But now…now he felt that he couldn't and shouldn't be Superman. At least, not yet. He'd developed an identity almost separate to Clark. Hell, in a way, he wasn't even that close to Clark. They did have a bond, but he'd built far stronger ones with his friends and with Jonathan and Martha as parents instead of him over the years. He'd always see Kal as more of an older brother than a father. Except Brother Kal, during their sojourn in the future. He was the father Conner never had...except for Pa. He already didn't know whether he should take the mantle before he lost his powers. Especially with Clark going to have children with Lois. Not to mention, why should there be more than one Superman? But what really made him not want to be Superman, was who held the role now. Superboy-Prime. The man who'd killed him. The fact his identity and Clark's had been stolen and people had just gone with it, as opposed to the skepticism he had received in his early days for the same claim, made his blood boil. For that, he felt Clark was the only real Superman. No one, especially not a son of Lex Luthor, would be worthy to succeed him.

"No, I'm not."

"I've given up the heroics, Kon. I'm a father now. Not to mention Jamie…needs my protection now she's on the run with a hybrid kid. As do Gwen and little Maya. So I can't be the Guardian anymore."

"Are you…"

"I'm not saying be exactly the same. Maybe, use some of the colour scheme. Keep the 'S' but the whole black shirt and jeans thing…perhaps go back to your jacket. Besides, I think you'd make a cooler Guardian than Superboy. You're not a boy anymore, and you're not Superman, because you don't want to be. For the first time in your life, you don't."

"I don't. But Jim, you…"

"No buts."

"Yes but," a voice said coming from downstairs having been eavesdropping on them, Jamie's, "Uncle Jim, you should have run this by me. No offence, kid, but I'm your family. The Guardian mantle means something to the Harpers. You can't just…" "You are a mother just as much as I am a father," he reminded her, "Arsenal's a father," she rebutted. "Look how that turned out," he rudely said. Conner glared at Jim judgmentally and he seemed to blush. "If anyone's going to be the Guardian, it's you or me, Uncle Jim," Jamie told him, "Sorry again, Conner. Do you mind seeing yourself out while I tell my uncle what's what?" "Not a problem, Jamie," he said, actually agreeing with her, but not wanting to get involved in the family affair, "Thanks for the hospitality." Walking outside of their apartment, Conner decided to take a brisk walk back to Park Row, rather than flying. He wouldn't be the Guardian, but Jim had a point. His days as Superboy were over if he didn't get his powers back, and even if he did, they were certainly numbered. No more than Clark shed the mantle as he grew, Conner should as well. He'd always be there for Clark and the rest of the family, but with Smallville turned into a temple and Ma now going to be staying with Clark and Lois, he knew his own path needed to be tread, not just as a junior Superman or an immature Metropolis Kid. Inhaling, he saw a blonde girl and a black-haired boy kissing and thought of himself and Cassie when they were younger. It then dawned on him it was Courtney Whitmore and Billy Batson. "You two lovebirds having fun?" he asked cheekily, startling Billy. "Oh, Kon, hi," he squeaked in a nervous, high-pitched tone, "I was just…" "Checking if she was still breathing?" Kon knowingly laughed, "Ha! Good night, guys."

After he walked past them, he spied a helicopter flying above them. A helicopter aggressively heading for Wayne Tower. He took a close look up at it and somehow espied a glistening, bald head in there he had hoped never to see again. The head of Lex Luthor. Following him to Wayne Tower on foot, Conner was determined to give the man who longed to be called his father a piece of his mind. Unbeknownst to him, Lex's transmission had been deliberately allowed to be intercepted by Oracle so that Batman and others could prepare for his arrival. Of course, no one was to tell Kon of this, much to his girlfriend's chagrin. That was partly why Cassie had asked him to go visit the Harpers that evening. Awaiting him there were Batman, Wonder Woman, Hippolyta, Aquaman, Mera, Wonder Girl, Tempest and Nightwing with Deathstroke standing in as protection. Luthor departed from his helicopter with Lucy Lane at his side and immediately took a seat for himself in front of the superheroes. Before a word could be spoken, he motioned for Bruce Wayne to sit down. Bruce wasn't in costume, since Lex was well aware of his identity. He sat down in front of a chair with Diana and Dick flanking him on either side while Slade tensed himself a little. "How the mighty Batman hath fallen, by recruiting Slade Wilson to his cause," Lex sardonically chuckled, "That makes me a little less worried about this conversation, Mr Wayne. Your…beneficiary's transmission to the world earlier today suggests that you are willing to take down Eobard Thawne by means less than savoury. And that soon you will have the evidence to topple him. To that I say, kudos."

"You're slimy as ever, Lex. How come you're not working with Thawne?"

"Me? Work with him? He's a megalomaniac, a monster."

"Sounds like you and he'd be keeping good company," Dick grimaced. "As you are with a man who's killed more of your fellow Titans than most, Nightwing," Lex rejoined. "What do you want, Lex?" Diana moved the conversation forward before it got any more heated. "What I want, Princess," he pointedly replied, "Is a restoration of normality to the country I love. And the fact that Gotham is under siege like this, with all the heroes of the world stranded therein is a problem. That's hardly normal, now is it? What I suggest-" "No," Bruce interrupted. "No?" Lex was a bit baffled at the Batman being so dismissive. "Do you think we're idiots?" the Dark Knight seethed with impatience, "There's more to it than that. You turned Gotham into a No Man's Land before, you don't care a jot about my city or any that doesn't benefit your one day ruling the Earth, Lex."

"Ruling the Earth?" Lex chuckled, "Oh, Bruce, you know me better than that. I don't want to rule the Earth. Sure, I think most of humanity would benefit from my guidance, but I am about so much more than that. Why, with my genius, even with Superman around I could have conquered the Earth ten times over if I wanted. Don't try and deny it, you've all seen what I'm capable of. No, my one desire is to save this planet from itself. I wouldn't expect any of you to understand, regardless of intellect. You're too busy protecting the world without affecting progress. When was the last time all the wonderful technology Wayne Industries has developed been used for the betterment of humanity? I can't remember. But I can name umpteen accounts of it being used to further one lonely orphan's crusade against the working class of his city."

"You're one to talk about caring for the working classes, Lex. All that gentrification of Metropolis."

"And now Metropolis is and always will be a shining beacon of progress compared to every other city in the world. It is closer to what Fritz Lang presented on the silver screen than this backwater miring in noir. To be frank, I think you and I are both good men, Bruce. We just have different ideas of what good means. Your vision of good involves terrorising the mentally ill and people who can't make a buck. My idea of good is using my inventions to better the human condition."

"As ever, Luthor, you approach a point but you oversimplify. And you still haven't answered us? Why do you fight Thawne? And I don't want to hear any more justification that you've secretly been the 'real Superman' all along. We want the truth."

"Very well. There are many reasons for my opposition to Eobard Thawne, and I should think some of them are obvious. For one, he's not stable at all, and his plans have backfired mercilessly causing many needless deaths. Two, I've gained a lot of wisdom over my years of fighting you superhero types. There is no good and evil. Am I to be judged an evil man for aiding a patriot in destroying a planet full of people who could snap our spines with a flick of their finger? If so, then your lack of direct action, Mr Wayne, has allowed hundreds to die at the hands of the madmen you refuse to take the lives of. Are you therefore not complicit in their deaths? Are you not thereby an evil man?"

"This is tiresome," Arthur grumbled, "Bruce did not invite you here for a conference on philosophy but to talk terms of an alliance." "I am trying to explain myself, your majesty, if you'd listen," Lex rebutted, "It is your friend here who mires our discussion with talk of ethics. I'll endeavour to be more concise, for your sake if little else. There is good and evil in all things. It's safe to say we can't be dealing in absolutes in this situation, correct? Or are the Flash's children to be considered evil, despite my intel reports saying that in a thousand years' time they rank among the superheroes, they remain instrumental in untold numbers of children being kidnapped by their current employer? Their actions are immoral, but to characterise them as evil to the lives they saved in their own time would earn you a great deal of reprimand. I don't want to remove Thawne because he's evil, I want to overthrow Thawne for the sake of sanity. But the problem is…I need to catch him off guard. There'll be a battle soon. I'm not sure how or when. And he'll go all out. Use everything he has to destroy you. I need your army to fight him as best you can. All of it. While I handle two different things. I capture his complex on the ruins of Smallville and orchestrate a coup to remove the Vice-President and replace him temporarily with myself and my allies as the power behind the throne."

"Don't be absurd," Mera shouted. "You're hardly a suitable candidate," Cassie blanched. "Are you for real?" Dick quipped. "I'm the only hope you have without a Superman," Lex laughed, "Lor-Zod and Thara Ak-Var notwithstanding, they're hardly experience d enough to do little but help your army in battle. I can use what forces I have to take back the Smallville complex before he unleashes Armageddon upon us. You can't be everywhere at once or stand up to his power. You know that. All of you. You're not fools. Lucy…show them the disc Amanda Waller gave us. About the temple at Smallville." Lucy Lane took out a holodisk, and upon activating it a large image of the Grand Temple nearly covered the room. At the epicentre of the temple, was something red. Blaring red like a festering tumour on the heart had been lit aflame. "Not only does Thawne have metahumans in there programme to follow him for his army," she noted, "But he also has a failsafe in case they go rogue. Something which could cause an incalculable explosion." Pressing a button, the holodisk zoomed in. There was a male figure in the core of the temple, beneath the main altar. "I take it he needs no introduction," Lex sneered to those looking in awe.

"Captain Atom," Bruce solemnly declared. "And Thawne could activate him unless the facility is secured," Lex continued, "And the only way to do that is to strike at it with the power of the military quickly and securely. Otherwise millions, perhaps billions, could die. Do any of you want that on your conscience?" They all lowered their heads slightly. "Not to mention, my source within the DEO has managed to secure all his battle plans, except the trigger," he exposited, "What he's going to use to spark the attack on you. But I know how he'll deploy his forces and he'll do so from across the Delaware Bay into the city. He'll begin by having Talia al Ghul attack from the skies in her large new zeppelin, the Leviathan, which will fire missiles directly at your city while she coordinates her horde of Man-Bats. Sailing in, disguised as the US Navy, will be Vandal Savage's men to provide ground troops. And then…the Suicide Squad will be dropped on the city with whatever's left of Thawne's Justice League. And they'll have Superboy-Prime with them. I suggest you prepare whatever wizards you have on hand for him. I'm afraid to tell you, I have not got a clue what will be used to signal the attack except that it will be something…we're not going to expect. So, be ready for anything."

There was a long silence. Bruce looked to everyone silently. They all had their reservations about Lex Luthor, with good reason. But to all intents and purposes he was helping them, with no good cause other than to save them and maybe the world. "I don't like the sound of this coup," Bruce said. "Better the devil you know, Bruce," Lex shrugged, "Thawne has upended your entire world, and you've operated with me controlling the reins of government before and made it out the other end." The Batman moved to reply but hesitated. He looked to the others, they were all uncertain, but seemed willing to wait for what he had to say. "Very well," he sighed with acquiescence, "If it means saving the Earth from an explosion brought about by Captain Atom. So be it. Our lives in your hands, Lex." "No!" a young voice bellowed, coming in from the corridor outside. It was Conner. "You can't work with him," he shouted upon entry, "None of you! He's evil." "My boy, how good to see you," Lex smiled sarcastically, "Come give your old man a hug." Slade Wilson had by now grabbed Conner who was trying to punch Lex, so Cassie escorted him outside with the Terminator's help. Lex kept chuckling.

"You need to work on your security, Bruce. You've got too many aliens running around for my liking."

"Get out, Lex. Before any more of us change our minds."

Lex just smiled, giving the last word to Batman and headed with Lucy to the helicopter, taking the holodisk with them. As they got in the air, Lex radioed Mercy Graves, "Is he secured…Well then get to it. You've got two minutes." Down in Park Row, Billy Batson was still kissing Courtney Whitmore after Conner Kent had teased them. She pulled back and just sighed a little. "What's wrong?" Billy asked. "This is all really sudden, Billy," she laughed, "I mean, yeah, I think you're great. But you can't really care about me all that much if you just up and leave as soon as you lose your powers." "Courtney, I had to be the Wizard when I first left, and we weren't together anymore the last time," he laughed, "And my sister needed me. I'd neglected her as the Wizard and I wasn't going to let her go over the deep end again, especially while Freddy was so busy saving the world." "I know," she frowned, "Sorry. I'm just being a bit of a selfish teenager."

"It's fine, babe. Don't worry."

"Look at you, smooth talking Captain Marvel."

"Not anymore. Billy Marvel, now."

"Are you okay?"

"I'm great, actually. I'm actually kinda' happy Freddy's Captain Marvel and not me. I love being a hero, but it's a pretty important mantle, and now he's got all the responsibility I failed to use properly. I know he'll make a better Captain Marvel than me."

"Don't be too hard on yourself."

"No, I'm not. Just appreciating a friend who worked a lot harder than me."

"You're too good to be true sometimes, Billy."

As Courtney moved in for another kiss, her eyes suddenly rolled to the back of her head as she fell over. "Look Courtney," he bragged, "I know the prospect of kissing me again must be euphoric but…" When her head fell in front of him, Billy could distinctly see a tranquiliser dart poking up from her neck. "What the hell?" he managed as a similar dart struck him in the chest. He tried to say his magic word, only to realise that he would hurt Courtney if he did so…and…and…everything was really dizzy. Some woman was coming up to him with a rifle. Why was she leaving Courtney behind? A helicopter? Who's that bald man? He looks kind of…. Are we flying?

On another end of town, Kara Zor-El sat in a bar by herself, thinking about the young boy who'd died in front of her that day. Cheem. Just some farm boy she'd kissed a couple of times. She never really liked drinking before she had gotten friendly with Rose Wilson. She did it sometimes now, as she felt very lonely, even with the Legends she had spent significant time with for about a year before. Conner had Cassie, and all his concern seemed to be focused on Tim at the moment, so that ruled her one family member out, apart from maybe Mon. And the Mon who was with them was very different to the one she was used to. This Mon-El was every bit the snob some had presumed him to be. He was colder and more aloof and seemed to only be concerned with getting back to his own time and his wife rather than interacting with the ghosts of people who to him were dead for many centuries by now. It had been weird when he first arrived. He saw Kara and acted all friendly, as if they had been teammates for years. Surprisingly more friendly than he was to anyone else. Then he said something which had made him run away. He had asked her if Thawne had brought her back to entice Brainiac 5. She found that odd. Wondered why Thawne would do that? And she wasn't dead. Then he said that she was…killed by the Anti-Monitor. That made Kara feel sick. Physically sick. When Mon had run away, she had gone crying to someone…anyone about this. Not the Legionnaires, but to the older members of the team. Bruce had told her what he had found out from Thawne. That Kara was brought into being in this universe by the Entity, when the real Kara died saving the Earth from the Anti-Monitor. Bruce's memories of Kara's death had resurfaced thanks to Thawne's interference, and Booster Gold confirmed it to her later. She was dead. She shouldn't exist.

"Are you alright?" a familiar, slightly alien voice asked her. It was Querl Dox. Brainiac 5, or Brainy as he was known to his friends. "Not really, no," she replied. "Is there anything I can do?" he asked. "I always found it funny how when we fought Zod that time you insisted on going with me as part of the solo team," she smiled, playing with her drink, "But then you acted so damned detached. As if you personally wanted to be there. Querl…was I your lover?" There was a silence. Such a direct question deserved a direct answer, but nonetheless staggered the Coluan. "You were," he confessed. "The real me," she asked directly. "Yes," he sighed, "She was a bit older than you are now, in her twenties. She and I were engaged to be married. We both thought of it as a way of…making amends for what my ancestor did with Kandor. A union between the Houses of El and Dox."

"Bullshit. You loved me."

"Yes, I did. But even something as hormonal and indescribable as romance can have logic applied to it."

"Only if you want to take the fun out of it."

"You'll understand when you're older."

"Will I? What's the guarantee I'll live the life the me that you loved did?"

"No guarantee. And as much as it pains me to say it…I would rather you lived your own life ignorant of my past with you. It wouldn't be fair on my Kara to force her reincarnation to couple with me, on some whim of predestination. It would go against everything she believed in. Kara and I fell in love simply because…it worked for us. We were compatible. I do not know if the same can be said for you. It is hard to know you…You look so much like her…You are her. But not really her, either. In some respects, I feel very euphoric looking at you and seeing her alive again, but also quite pained knowing that you are not my Kara."

"Tell me about your Kara. Tell me everything you did together."

"That is a long story. And I would rather not say. I don't want to force you down a path that may not necessarily be your own…but hers."

"Please, Brainy. Ever since Mon said it…I just feel like I've lost a chunk of myself. One I'll never know."

"Come with me."

He gave her his hand and led the girl who once would have flown him across the stars simply to be alone with him, to a little laboratory he'd set up in a nearby apartment with Booster Gold's help. "Being part AI, means my memory is perfect," he explained, "Kara and I mind-melded from time to time. I only need to install myself into a projector." He sat before a large television screen, closed his eyes and placed his hands upon the arms of the chair which seemed to have white spheres. His mind focused on Kara. His Kara, not the girl before him. An image appeared of her. Supergirl was stunned by the image. There were some differences. She was definitely in her twenties but had some resemblance to the late Karen Starr. Her hair was longer and curlier but tied up in a red band. Her costume was the same as Kara's with the red skirt and blue top with the family crest, as well as the traditional family cape. She saw images of Kara growing up with a family on Earth. The Danvers. Fred and Edna. Her own Ma and Pa. She had brothers too. Their sons. So many adventures.

Growing up, making it past her teens. Loving Dick Malverne till he died of cancer and she went to the future to cope with the grief. She would go back between the present and the future, but her engagement with Querl kept her in the 30th century. They did seem to love each other truly. But a love that Kara couldn't appreciate because it was someone else's. A woman she wasn't. A woman she could never be. This Supergirl had led a very different life to what she'd just seen. Almost totally. She did love Querl for showing her this…but she wasn't in love with him as her original self had been. Querl deactivated the projector then as she began crying upon seeing her death at the hands of the Anti-Monitor and Kal cradling her dead body. He seemed reluctant to hug her, but she was receptive.

"That will never happen to you, Kara."

"I'm…I'm crying for them. She died for nothing."

"She didn't. There would be no multiverse…no you if not for her. I felt privileged to have loved and been loved by her, Kara. Do not despair."

"Are the Danvers still alive?"

Brainy paused and went towards a computer nearby, typing rapidly. "Such a primitive method of research," he grumbled, "But it will do." He then produced the necessary records after a few minutes of impressive hacking. "Fred Danvers and his wife, Edna are both dead, I'm afraid," he sadly informed her, "About ten years now. But they did foster a daughter called Linda, though she died not long before them. Their son, Fred Jr., is married to a woman named Sylvia, with a daughter named Linda after his sister and a son named Wally. Though the younger Linda hasn't been seen in a few years, it seems. Not since…"T They looked at the year on the article reporting the brown-haired girl as missing. "Just before I came to Earth," she said in stunned realisation, "Clark said something about a Supergirl before me…said her name was Linda. She was different though…some kind of angel. He hasn't heard from her since." "Well, there is someone who might know…" Querl pulled up an image of Supergirl with the Spectre from Justice League files he'd accessed. "She had an association with the Spectre," he explained, "At a time when his host was…"

"Hal Jordan."

Back at Wayne Tower, Slade Wilson was holding a raging Conner Kent down with Cassie Sandsmark's help. "Cassie, what are they all doing?" Kon shouted, "Are you all out of your mind?" The Terminator grabbed a nearby bottle of whiskey and started forcing some down Conner's throat. The former Boy of Tomorrow started spitting it over the assassin. "What are you doing?" he asked. "Old army trick for calming guys down," Deathstroke bit back, "Guys who were going crazy." "I think he'll be alright, Slade," Cassie said, holding Conner who was still in shock. Her glare was so menacing that Slade despised how hollow the words were, in that they didn't mean a fig despite an affectation of civility. "Well, Cassandra you don't need to hit my genitals this time to get me to leave a room," he quipped. "And you don't need to blow someone's head up to announce your departure on this occasion," she returned. Slade smiled beneath his mask and left to join Bruce and the others inside.

"How could you?" Conner asked, all but crying into his girlfriend's lie. Cassie wanted to reply and say that she didn't think an alliance with Luthor was right. That it was all Bruce, taking a decision for the rest of them. But everyone in that room was a free thinker. They'd have spoken their mind if they had wanted to. And the Batman had. But any doubt the rest of them had had was broken down by either their own common sense or Lex's pragmatism. "I want to stop Thawne," she earnestly told him, "I didn't say anything. But…Luthor's not the worst of them." "How can you say that?" he spat, "After what he made me do to you guys!" "Because he's half of my fiancé," she reminded him. Conner laughed a little through his tears. "Yeah, just like your grandfather ate his own babies," he coldly spoke, "I define you by that, don't I?" "That's not fair, Conner," Wonder Girl shook her head exasperatedly, "I don't like it any more than you do, and neither did anyone else in that room…not even Slade." "Are we really so screwed we need his help?" he laughed, "I mean are things really that bad." She just nodded a little. "I'm sorry…Conner," there were tears in her eyes, "Think about what we went through. The world we saw…we can't let Thawne do what he wants."

"But there has to be another way."

"Well then, show it to me!"

"That's not fair, Cass."

"Isn't it? I mean…I'm the one who was party to a hard decision here while you're complaining about a strange bedfellow."

"It's not right!"

"Not right? So Superman wasn't right to work with Lex and Sivana fighting Darkseid last year, was he? Or when the Black Lanterns came, were Hal and Barry wrong to have the likes of Atrocitus and Sinestro at their side? There are greater evils, Conner."

"The lesser of two evils is still—"

"Don't give me that. Don't you dare. I hate Lex Luthor more than you do. And do you know why? Because of what he did to you. Like you said, when he made you hurt me…and Tim and Bart and Rachel, Gar and Vic. So many people we love, hurt by his vanity and ambition for power. I don't think you can even begin to know how much I hate him. And that's because sadly, you have a weird…love for him. Please…don't contradict me. You do…love him…in a twisted way. Don't you?"

"I…I…I don't…but…I get where you're coming from, Cass."

"Don't go all Woody Allen on me, now. I'm sorry…but it's just the way it is."

"But we're superheroes. We're meant to fight back against that stuff. Rise above this kind of crap where we have to be pragmatic and do deals with the devil."

"Conner…in case you haven't noticed, there's nothing super about our world anymore, let alone us. We're not on a level playing field anymore. I'm sorry but…"

"I know. Yet, what's the point in being superheroes…if we can't just be straight up heroes."

"Look Kon, we're not kids anymore. The fact is I'm no longer the girl who stole Diana's Sandals of Hermes and you're not the Metropolis Kid. As much as we are those people, we can't be to any further extent. Tim got it better than we did…he's not Robin these days. He's not beholden to some mantle he can never live up to."

"Do you really think Donna hasn't had to do worse things than you? As great as she is, Donna isn't perfect."

"I know…I just want what you want…perfection…I mean we're all so…perfect. It's just…we aren't. We're people."

"Yeah, but we've got to be better."

"There comes a point where not even we can be better, if it means saving the world. I'm sorry about Lex, Kon."

"Don't be, Cass. Please don't be. I'm sorry for embarrassing you tonight like I did."

"You didn't. You never could."

As the two lovers tried to come to terms with everything, Hal Jordan toyed with his new Starheart powers a bit while Jennie and Todd laughed at him, glad to see this man their father cared for having his abilities once again. "Green Lantern's back baby," he grinned inanely. Then there was a knock at the door. "Hello?" he asked as Supergirl barged in without a by your leave and Brainiac 5 at her side. "Brainy?" he noticed, contemplating the implications of their presence, "With Kara…Querl, are you for real?" "I am not trying to force her to be as she was, Hal Jordan," he reassured him, "Don't worry." "So," Kara announced, "Hal, I have a question for you?" "Uh, shoot," he said, seeming very confused by everything going on around him. "Where is Linda Danvers and what the hell happened to her?" she directly inquired. Hal swore at an almost non-verbal level, hoping beyond hope Kara wouldn't realise the truth of both her own death in a universe…hell, a multiverse…which no longer existed and her replacement for the time after that.

"Linda Danvers…is somewhere…I don't know where. Shortly after her younger brother's birth, she left her family and went travelling…without her powers anymore."

"Why did she leave?"

"Various reasons, but the main one was that she…killed you."

"Killed me."

"Yeah. The Kara Zor-El who was Querl's lover crash landed in our universe before she landed on her own planet. Linda took her in and was like a big sister to her. As was my duty as the Spectre, I confronted Kara telling her she needed to go back in time to her own multiverse so events could happen as they did. Linda had grown to love her…you, I mean…and so knocked her out and took Kara's place in the history of Earth-One, our predecessor universe. She lived there as Supergirl and eventually Clark sussed out she wasn't his cousin. They married and had a daughter. A gorgeous little thing named Arella Kent. I eventually found Linda and confronted her, saying she hadn't saved the future by saving you. She was never as powerful as a Kryptonian, was Linda. So, we erased the time she had spent there and placed you on Earth-One. On the condition that Arella be spared the purge of the timeline. I did that. But now I've lost both of them. I'm sorry, Kara. I never meant you to find out this way."

Kara was floored. Not only had she discovered everything about her past self, but now her predecessor as Supergirl in this timeline had had a child with her cousin. There was so much about the legacy of Supergirl and who she was that had struck Kara in one evening, that it was too much to take. Jennie walked over and held her hand. "Linda was really nice by the way," Jade smiled, "You'd have liked her." The reassurance gained a smile from Kara. "I only want one thing to come from this, Hal," she began, "And that's that I'm going to find Linda Danvers and my little cousin, Arella…and I'm going to bring them back together." "Why go to all that effort?" Brainy asked, "You're not Linda…you never were. And the cousin you speak of was born to a parallel version of your cousin. Not your cousin. The cousin of my Kara was her father." "I am your Kara," Supergirl shouted at her alternate lover, "I am the only Kara. We are all Kara. And after Karen, I'm sick of us losing our identity. Linda is Supergirl too. And I'm not letting her down, or her child." There was a pause. "Now that's more like the Kara I asked to marry me," Brainy grinned.

Amanda Waller's Safehouse, Arlington, Virginia

"Billy…Listen to me, Billy…My name is Lex…Nod if you serve me…Good, good. That's what I like to hear. Now I'm going to need you to do something for me. I'm going to send you somewhere very soon. Somewhere where I want you to kill people…Now don't look at me like that, Billy…You know you have to serve. That's my lad. Good boy, Billy. Make Lex proud."

The Rock of Eternity

Barry Allen was dead. He could feel it. But what on Earth could Freddy Freeman do? He entreated Zeus everyday to give him leave to help defeat Thawne. And he probably could defeat him, since he had the protection of someone like the King of Olympus, even with the power of the Entity on the man's side. But as ever, his lord was unconcerned with events. The arrogant deity thought little of Freddy's home and the people he cared about. He was fortunate in that Zeus didn't care for what Billy or Mary did, but they were still untested in their abilities at the moment. Neither had had their power in over a year and now were expected to use them wisely and justly again. Maybe the Wizard had been right in stripping it from them. Freddy wished he hadn't sent the JSA to Gotham, but those people needed to build their forces and some of the mourners needed to let their families know they were safe.

Now he was the eternal custodian of this place. Black Adam had fulfilled his debts to Sivana and Freddy, so he was now focused on rebuilding his homeland of Kahndaq. Freddy would have visited them if he couldn't take his mind off of everything happening below him. In weaker moments, his thoughts focused on Mary. How he wished they now had a chance to be together like he had wanted when they set out on this quest. It was not to be sadly, as he was now both the custodian of the Rock and beholden to Zeus. She must be wondering about him. Anytime he went to observe Gotham he saw her alone, and wanted to have her join him, but knew he'd only deprive her of the life she didn't know she could have. He punched the wall in frustration one day thinking of all the people he couldn't help and his loneliness without them. He comprehended now why the Wizard truly lost reason. Even the sturdiest of minds would cave truly living up to the epithet of this rock. That of eternity. There was no one in the universe he could speak to any longer. Dividing Shazam's power and duty six ways cost him his mentor's extensive knowledge. Whenever he slept, the face of the Wizard would appear before Freddy. And so, for a while now he hadn't slept at all. Anytime he might have nodded off, he promised he would not remain asleep unless it was Mary's face he saw and not Shazam's.

"This weighs far too heavily on you, beloved brother," an ethereal and familiar voice said to Freddy as he saw a woman walk forward with a young man, both of them cloaked. Freddy didn't need to think too hard to realise who the male guest was. His brother, Kit. Christopher Freeman. Kid Eternity. "Kit," he was stunned, "I heard you were dead?" "Did you really think the Calculator could kill me?" Kid Eternity chuckled. "No," he laughed, "I'm sorry I thought that way, Kit." "It's okay, brother," Kit patted him on the shoulder, "I see for once it is you who has the heavy burden." The two brothers embraced and Captain Marvel saw through Freddy's hood. His brother was severely scarred, with no sight in one eye and his trademark sunglasses gone. Still, he seemed capable. "Who is your companion?" Freddy asked. "Do not tell me you don't recognise one of your master's grandchildren?" Kit laughed, "This is Pandora, firstborn daughter of Aphrodite and Hephaestus. Used as a tool of punishment upon humans by her grandfather, Zeus, by opening her box and unleashing the very beasts you contain upon this Rock."

Pandora removed her hood and showed the face of a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. Freddy thought her the image of Cassie Sandsmark, who would be her aunt he supposed. Pandora smiled knowing what the champion of the gods was thinking. "You seem to think I resemble one of my grandfather's mortal offspring?" she noted, "I was always told by Mother and Father that I looked like his mother, the lady Rhea. Then my mother convinced her half-brother Ares to leave Otrera and I ended up an only child to rights, with her more beautiful children like Eros being paraded before me." "You are very beautiful," Freddy remarked and Kit smiled. "Yes, but imagine being the eldest daughter of Aphrodite," he told him, "Her vanity would constitute child abuse in the constant comparisons between mother and child. I think you understand my companions' pain a bit."

"Why come to me?" Freddy asked as he hastily changed the subject, "Why now?" "I come to all the righteous on the day they will die, Freddy Freeman," she spoke plainly, "At this moment, the final battle for humanity begins this morning in the United States of America." "I'm…going to die," he said sadly. "Maybe," she said, "For you, I'm not actually sure. There are too many variables. For all I know you could be the triumphant hero who stops the final battle. I've been appearing to heroes whose deaths impact the events to come." "Impact?" he inquired. "She's talking about her past activities, brother," Kit reassured him, "You have nothing to fear. She merely wishes to explain her own affairs in the prologue to our meeting her." "And what of you…Kid Eternity?" he asked, "Guarding the crossroads to Hell."

"Not anymore. Thawne gave me this," he pointed to his scar, "He struck me with the power of the Negative Speed Force…He's harnessed it since. I kept resisting him when Dream told me what happened to Death. He made an example of me." Pulling down his hood, Kit showed his brother the full extent of his scars. His entire nose was missing as were his upper lip and teeth leaving a gaping maw in his face no one could look at for too long without feeling repulsed. "Kit," Freddy let down a solitary tear, "I'm so sorry." "Don't be," his brother smiled, "I was dead anyway…and guarding the gateway when he came. Pandora here nursed me back to health when she brought me to her latest ally. Dream. The war in Hell didn't last long. All he needed was an open gate, and I wasn't going to let him. I did it in Death's honour and for the duty of my office. If Pandora hadn't saved me, Thawne would probably have even more power. Now Dream wants his sister restored. She's nearly gone. This is the do or die moment for her…and humanity." Freddy didn't really understand what his brother was telling him, but he knew he wasn't lying, and that something needed to be done soon.

"We need you, Freddy," Pandora explained, "To help us guide the Entity into finding himself and thereby reviving the Earth." "The Entity?" he was unsure of their words. "The White Light of Creation. It is a very complex tale," Kit began, "But suffice it to say that the Entity…or an aspect of it…lives and breathes in this time and space. Here on Earth. And we know who it is." "Do you now?" Freddy smiled, tried to pretend he understood all they spoke of. "Yes," Pandora nodded, "But they are not the Entity. They don't know they are anyway. Or they might one day be the Entity. It is all quite complex. But know that Captain Marvel can help their souls reconcile and restore the champions needed to liberate the Earth." Pandora then withdrew a book. A book Freddy had heard of in darkest rumour. "The Book of the Black," he whispered. "Not the one you know of," she answered, "It's been shrunken down over the years. This is the tome we extracted from the 30th century before the time explosion consumed it. It speaks of all these events, and how time is uncertain in how it will progress from this point onwards. But that today, you, Freddy Freeman, the Entity and their champions will make the decision as to how history progresses."

"History? I mean, come on, not even Shazam had this responsibility."

"Precisely why he and all the other magic users were duped into destroying Atlantis," Kit gravely advised his brother, "This planet…the centre of the multiverse…is on the brink, Freddy, in ways not even the Wizard could have comprehended. Come with us today. We will find and awaken the Entity. Guide him to who he is. Otherwise…all who have shed their blood in stopping Eobard Thawne will have died for nothing." His brother's face a mask of seriousness through his newfound wounds, Captain Marvel understood he needed to defy his master in helping them. But were the words of two ghosts really worth the risk? Freddy inhaled deeply, knowing that whatever decision he made here he would regret. "Why me?" he asked Pandora directly. "Dream told us you would find who we were looking for immediately," she said, "We don't know how…but you will. You will answer your next call for aid and then you will bring us to the Entity." "Sounds plausible," he sarcastically replied. "What harm would it do?" Kit implored his sibling, "To fight evil with your brother regardless?"

"I can't."

"Zeus need not know. It is a simple job of transportation."

Freddy hummed and hawed for another couple of minutes, before taking a deep breath and nodding his head. "You said my next call for aid would tell us all?" he asked. There was a moment of silence and Pandora replied with an affirmative nod. Freddy then went to his throne and sat in it, pondering, only to receive a call. An actual phone call. From Billy Batson of all people. He answered it. "Billy?" he was genuinely shocked, "What's up?" "We're mobilising now," he spoke coldly and without emotion, "You've got to get to Central City, Freddy." "Why's that?" he inquired, and Billy finally told him, "Because the world's going to end unless you bring back Barry Allen."