New Justice: Darkness of the League
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Note: Before people go off on me saying it's Dr Mid-Nite not Dr Midnight, I've made the conscious decision to change the name to normal spelling because I would simply forget the DC spelling of this hero's name. Consider this change exclusive to New Justice themselves.
Into the Shadows
-January 3rd, 2023-
After dropping off Leona with Frankie and Gypsy, Rae ran as fast as she could to Metropolis, not even bothering to use a zap tunnel, knowing her feet could get her there quickly enough. She reacted without thinking as she ran in front of her wife who was sending heat visions at the being who had to be Eclipso.
She didn't feel anything as white light suddenly came from her and surrounded the area. She blinked, confused, as it lessened and then she looked at her hand, to the glow. In her head, she could hear the Forces, almost like echoes, tell her she was a Paragon; how Uncle Rock had described the multiverse radiating off her. She hadn't really understood what that meant until now. But this was it. This was the power of being a Paragon radiating off her – fixing what Eclipso tried to break, restoring the world to what it was… restoring her world.
"What are you…?" Rae's attention was drawn to the being who had radiated darkness, asking about her.
There was no noise from her League, from citizens who were in view or even the villain before them. Not until she spoke.
"You don't belong here," Rae said, ignoring the question and confident in what she was saying. "Go back to your domain and release Dr. Midnight," she spoke this surprisingly calmly, choosing to use his Midnight instead of McNider, to help keep his identity secret if he wanted. "I won't ask nicely again," she added.
"This will be my domain, once you are out of the way," Eclipso spoke, and black… something came out of him, heading right for Rae. Rae put her hands up and the light around her glowed bright again, blocking the power and pushing it back.
"You can't hurt me," Rae said, knowing that as fact. Whatever this guy was, her Paragon power was reacting against it, deflecting it in a way she hadn't seen since the Anti-Monitor and his Dementors, as they had jokingly called them, had attacked during Crisis. Maybe this Eclipso was of the same sort as them?
"Maybe not… physically," Eclipso said, and he suddenly disappeared into a black hole and reappearing right behind Kara. Before anyone could react, he waved his hand and Kara suddenly felt, her legs were in a black sort of puddle, and she was being dragged down. Eclispo said nothing as he smirked at Rae before vanishing in a sort of black smoke.
Rae reacted fast, running and grabbing her wife's hand. The glow from around Rae wrapped itself around Kara but didn't go into the black puddle that was dragging her in. She stopped, sinking but Rae couldn't pull her out. It was tug of war where the two sides were mostly even – Rae could feel whatever it was that Eclipso had done, trying to pull her in as Rae tried to pull out.
"Rae…" Kara whispered, just as others in the League stepped forward to help.
"No," Rae yelled at them, knowing they wanted to help but knew she was the only one immune from being dragged into whatever this was. Maybe Jessica could help, but they couldn't put money on only Force power protecting them the same as Paragon power. "Everyone back away! Super Animals, you, too." The League and animals obeyed, backing away.
"Flash, you can't pull me out," Kara said louder, reasonably, knowing Rae was struggling through their bond. "Flash…" Kara knew her grip on Rae's arm could hurt her wife, but Rae was being stubborn "Rae..." Kara whispered again, low enough no one else besides the League would hear. "I'll be fine."
"You can't promise that," Rae said.
"You will save me," Kara said, and used her freeze breath to blow Rae away, knowing she needed to let go.
It was a matter of seconds after Rae arm was off Kara before Kara was completely swallowed and gone entirely. The black puddle disappearing with her.
-New Justice-
Rae stormed into Justice Hospital and found the man she was looking for.
Caitlin had told her he was still here, and Rae knew her League was following her along with the good number of super animals they had with them to fight Eclipso, as Rae took hold of Shade.
"Where is she?!" Rae asked, knowing Shade would know. MIA, their A.I., had kept a live video running for him.
"In the shadows," Shade answered, seeming not scared of Rae as she held his outfit. "If she's lucky, she's still alive."
"She's alive," Rae said instantly, knowing that much. The bond was weakened but she could still feel it. "And you are going to go get her!"
"If I could, I would, but you saw him. My going into the shadows will only get him to follow. It will get me, her, and Charles killed," Shade explained, and Rae held onto him for a moment, looking into his eyes and then let go, sighing, knowing Shade was right. "Charles will find her. He will keep her safe. But I would like the answer to the question Eclipso asked. That glow. What are you…?"
Rae gave a laugh as her League seemed uncomfortable; the interaction not bypassing Shade.
"That wasn't Speed Force power, that wasn't from the Forces, and you know what it was. You all do," Shade added, looking around at them. "He was trying to terraform this world into the shadows, and you just stopped it. You reverted it. You are more than just a child of the Speed Force."
Rae turned back to face him.
"Flash, maybe you should get the others here," Laurel said. "All Seven."
"It won't work," Rae said turning back to them. "I didn't hurt him. He didn't hurt me. We deflected each other. Besides I can't get all Seven together now, even if I wanted to. SuperEarth is cut off from the multiverse – something to do with their own Eclipso. No Paragon of courage, no seven Paragons."
"Paragons?" Shade whispered, but clearly didn't know what that meant.
"That's what I am," Rae said turning back to the man. "Well, it's over. Go back to your cities. Keep an eye out. Dark Witch, look for anything that can help us get Supergirl back. Work with him," Rae pointed at Shade as she said 'him'. "White Canary, for the rest of the day you are leader on call."
"What are you doing?" Sara asked.
"Mother Speed Force told me I would need to get the help of her siblings so that's what I am doing," Rae said. "Time for me to have conversations with my aunts and uncles again..." her League gave nods as they began to leave.
"Chris," Rae said going over to Chris in his Superboy outfit. "Can you go to Frankie and get Leona and get all these animals back to the Sanctuary?"
"Of course," Chris said, giving Rae a nod and bringing her into a hug. "We will get her back," Chris whispered, and Rae hugged him back, thankful for the boy right now and the fact his hugs were starting to become identical to Clark. It was very comforting.
-New Justice-
Kara was confused. One minute she had been pulled into the strange black puddle, then suddenly she was facing her mother.
She backed away from the figure of her mother, telling her how disappointed in her she was.
"You failed Kal!" the figure said. "He's dead because of you!"
"I… I didn't…" Kara tried; she felt more scared than she knew she should. She knew this had to be fake, some sort of illusion.
"You murdered him!" The figure of her mother called as Kara turned and ran, finding herself another room. Her mother wasn't the first figure she saw, now she saw Rae and she looked almost as disappointed as her mother had been.
"It's not real. It's not real!" She called when a hand was put on her shoulder.
She span around, nearly punching whoever the hand belonged to before taking in the figure of the man who stood before her. He was not familiar.
"Supergirl… calm down," the man said. He was older and was wearing some type of green outfit with goggles on his face. "I am Charles McNider."
"Doctor Midnight," Kara said.
"I guess you could call me that," Charles smiled slightly. "Look..."
He took off his goggles and handed them to Kara who put them on; wearing them, everything around her, aside from Charles, seemed to be just darkness. "That's the real shadows. The images you see just play off your worst fears and they can kill you if you fight back," Charles explained.
"Have another one of these?" Kara asked, taking the goggles off and giving them back to the man. The disappointed Rae had gone now. They were alone in this construct of a room.
"These goggles? No and I need them to see," Charles said. "But… come with me," Charles held out a hand and Kara took it, letting the man lead her.
-New Justice-
Rae was on the streets of Central-National. She was used to picking up speeds to get into the Speed Force and beyond – she could do it almost from anywhere nowadays, but it was easiest on a straight path with few obsoletes in the way. She liked a street in her home cities the most for this as she started her run.
She picked up her speed quickly, feeling the speeds she needed to get to in order to enter the Speed Force. She wanted to talk to her Force mother first before heading to her aunts and uncles – but as she felt herself approaching the entrance into the Speed Force she was surprised as she hit into… something, stopping her.
It felt like hitting a brick wall and she was pushed back. Heading out onto a street. She knew something was instantly wrong.
"Flash?" A voice said, and Rae looked up to see Clark floating above her his superman outfit. She also realized she was in Metropolis now.
"What year is it?" Rae asked.
"2015," Clark answered. Rae paused. This was her world and her Clark. But she knew she couldn't stay.
"I was never here," Rae said to the man, picking up her helmet and putting it on as she ran back out and through time back to her own. Clark smirked as she ran off.
-New Justice-
Charles brought Kara to a house and directed her to sit down. Once inside, devices lit up and formed what seemed to be a protective barrier.
"I have known Richard a long time; I have studied his powers and the shadows," Charles answered the unasked question Kara had. "This equipment will protect us from the harm here. I assume, since you are here, Richard found you, Eclipso has attacked, and he sent you here?"
"Bingo," Kara said. "I think he did it to hurt my wife emotionally, since he can't hurt physically."
"He can't hurt her? I knew the power of the Seven Forces would do some damage to him, but I don't understand why he would not be able to hurt her…" Charles said, obviously in the know of who Rae was and what the Forces of the Universe were.
"It has nothing to do with her speedster powers," Kara responded, wondering how much she should trust this man with but knew they were stuck here together regardless. "She has another power… one I don't understand – one she doesn't really understand either. It's this power that protects her," Charles gave a nod. "How did you find me?"
"Like I said, I have known about the shadows for a long time," Charles explained, moved a new device over to Kara. "It's a scanner; connects to my goggles. It will detect real people and lead me to them."
"Well, then, I guess we are in this together. How do we get out?" Kara asked.
"Unfortunately, we don't. We survive until Richard can rescue us," Charles said.
"No, I won't accept that. There has to be another way out. Start telling me everything you know about these shadows," Kara said, and could tell from Charles's face alone he didn't believe there was a way out.
-New Justice-
Rae stumbled into Justice Hospital and laid down on the nearest bed and groaned.
"Urm… are you okay?" Caitlin asked; Rafe was with her – Martin Stein's son – being a regular around Justice League bases since the whole Daxamite and Kryptonian invasion. Being a former League members son, Caitlin's boyfriend, and running their Fort Rozz transfer site, the man was basically an honorary League member himself. He didn't have a power but was part of the Nerd group and was also updating all the zap tunnels and had made progress on making a system to market to the public. He had also made and released MIA to both the public and the League since.
Shade was also still present, probably being monitored by Caitlin herself.
"I can't get into the Speed Force," Rae explained to her friend. "Every time I try, it's like I hit a brick wall and then bounce out on our Earth in another time period – past or future. I did it five times before giving up and a little sore. Although it was nice to see an older Leona…" the last time she had come across her grown up daughter but hadn't stayed for too long.
"Didn't you say Eclispo had blocked off SuperEarth?" Caitlin responded. "Could be possible he's done the same to the Speed Force?"
Rae sat up at that and, instead of addressing Caitlin, turned her attention on their visitor. "Okay, what gives? He can't block off the Speed Force, can he?"
"No, it's impossible," Shade addressed Rae and Caitlin at this. "The Seven Forces aren't even blocked off from the shadows – harder to access, maybe, but not blocked," Shade said. "But he could have put a block on entering. You still obviously have your powers, so the forces aren't blocked. Just the entrance."
"Otherwise, you would die," Caitlin pointed out, the knowledge that Rae being connected to the Speed Force more than any other speedster being common these days, given the Speed Force had saved her from death prematurely as a baby and kept that bond with her.
"Maybe you should go to another world to try?" Rafe now suggested.
"No," Rae said right away. "What if I go to Karry Universe and still can't enter and then this Eclipso does the same thing SuperEarth's is doing and I can't come home? I am the only protection this Earth has. Without me, Eclipso wins – and we can't let him win. We are a Paragon world. One of the most important Earths in the multiverse. We cannot fall."
"Then what are we doing?" Caitlin asked.
"Nerds," Rae said, taking out her communicator, addressing her resident Nerds of the League. "I need you to study the Forces. Figure out a way for me to get past a block. See if you can find their power on this world we don't know about. We need them."
"On it," Adam was quick to say.
"Coming," Winn said.
"In Watchtower," Jess's voice added.
"Rafe, go join them," Rae said, surprising the man but he went over to a zap tunnel to join them. "You know what's going on more than them," she added, given he had overheard it all just now, "and get Premo in on this," Rae added, referencing their Frankie/Cisco, before putting her communicator away. "Is he good?" Rae pointed at Shade, not wasting a second.
"He is healing nicely," Caitlin answered.
Rae gave a nod. "You can stay here," Rae told the man. "There's beds and food and you will help us get my wife and your… whatever he is to you… back."
"Boyfriend," Shade smirked, obviously not shying away from the phrase.
Rae actually smirked at Shade for this, a silent understanding passing between the two. They would work together to get their loves one back, and then part ways – if adventure allowed them.
-New Justice-
That afternoon, Laurel, JT, and Thea were out as their superhero counterparts; Laurel had left Owen with her parents who said they would pick Arthur up from school while the Canary City trio did their own patrol of the city, just in case.
The entire League were on high alert since the appearance of the one called Eclipso earlier.
"Have you ever faced Eclipso?" Laurel asked Thea over coms – they may have 'resurrected' Thea, but none of the League shied away from the fact that this Thea wasn't their original Thea, having been a Stranded until New Justice had claimed her as their own.
"No," Thea stated. "The worst we got was Darksied."
"Huh, like Karry," JT spoke up at that; he did like studying the multiverse at times.
"Only we lost a lot more than them," Thea mused. She and JT were riding together on one bike, while Laurel had their own, speeding around the city to check for crimes or abnormalities.
"What if this Eclispo takes more into the Darkness?" Laurel now mused.
"What would happen to Queen Consolidates if you go, Laurel?" Thea asked. "Or the Repair Shop for you, JT?"
"It doesn't bear to think about," Laurel shuddered, "especially leaving the kids. You know, Thea, I could bring you into Queen Consolidates as our number 2," Laurel added suddenly. "You are already listed as next in line to run the company in the event something happens to me."
"Still doesn't help with the shop," JT mused; their antique car repair business had been slow, and they needed to get more business for more money. JT had previously said he would search junk yards for a new find to repair and sell.
"Thanks, Laurel – if we get desperate, I will consider it," Thea mused at that, just as they got an alert from MIA. There was some type of disruption nearby.
The three followed the directions to find Eclipso standing before them.
"Oh no…" Laurel breathed.
Eclispo said nothing as he instantly attacked them; Laurel jumping off her bike as it was hit into with his dark energy and crushed into pieces, Thea and JT leaving their bike by the side of a building, yelling at civilians to move as Laurel attacked with her canary cry and JT started shooting powerful blasts at him – specialized ammo that the nerds had developed for him that exploded on contact with its target.
The attacks didn't have any effect on Eclipso, though, as Thea got out an arrow. Luckily the civilians in the alley they were in got the message and ran – one up a fire escape.
Like before, Eclipso vanished from one spot, only to reappear between Laurel and JT. Both of them suddenly sinking into black hole-like puddle, just like Kara did before – faster since Rae wasn't here to stop them.
"Run, Red Arrow!" Laurel yelled at her as the arrow Thea sent at Eclipso didn't nothing. Thea jumped back on her bike and revved its engine as she looked back to see her boyfriend disappear, too.
She felt a pain seeing both him and her sister-in-law vanish.
She had been upset when Kara was taken, but clearly not as much as Rae – now she completely understood Rae's pain but she couldn't wait longer as she raced out of there and started towards Quentin and Dinah's Lance house. She needed to get the boys and get to Rae.
She had a shiver down her spine as she left, feeling more like she wasn't so much escaping as being let go.
-New Justice-
Charles was in the middle of explaining this shadow realm to Kara, as best he could, at least, but stopped quite suddenly, scaring Kara for a moment.
"Oh no…" Charles said. "There are… two new people have entered the shadows."
"Who?" Kara asked.
"I won't know until I get them," Charles said.
"Um… doctor, maybe I should go get them? Chances are they are in my League. I know you are blind without the goggles, but if you just sit here, I can retrieve them and bring them back," Kara said.
"That is a smart idea," Charles said taking his goggles off and giving them to Kara who put them on. "Besides, the specialized devices allow me to see this place as I should," he added, winking to Kara at this, mentioning the equipment he has turned on in this room earlier.
Kara rolled her eyes at this, but with the goggles on, she was easily able to leave the room Dr Midnight had made, to navigate the shadows until she found one of the real people, recognizing Laurel right away, who seemed to be on the floor and letting out a Canary Cry to no avail.
"Laurel!" Kara yelled putting a hand on her friend. "Stop the cry! You will make me deaf."
"Kara?" Laurel said, clearly upset and startled.
"It's okay," Kara said, taking off the goggles and letting Laurel look for a moment before taking it back. "Just hold my hand and we will get out. Who else is here?"
"JT," Laurel said.
"Take my hand," Kara said again, and Laurel took her hand; finding JT wasn't difficult: the man was fighting against whatever he was seeing –shooting his gun at whatever the darkness had made for him.
"Red Hood!" Kara called, only for JT to shoot at her. Kara was glad her powers were still working in this place, although she wasn't sure how long she would have them. There was no yellow sun here.
"JT!" Laurel yelled as Kara grabbed his gun with her other hand. "We're real! Kara show him the… thing," Kara took off the goggles and gave them to JT for a moment and JT took a deep breath.
"Where did you get these?" JT asked returning them to Kara. "Where are we?"
"Doctor Midnight," Kara said. "We're in the shadow realms. Come on, I can find my way back to him with these…" Kara realized these goggles were a bit like Rae's goggles, which she had played with enough times, so was easily able to locate where Charles McNider was.
Back in the makeshift room, Kara gave the back his goggles once they were all safe.
"Black Canary and Red Hood," Charles greeted them.
"Docter Midnight?" Laurel held out his hand for the man to shake. JT just nodded to the man.
"But… why is he sending you all here?" Charles frowned. "He could just kill you."
"It's a mind game," Kara realized. "With Rae! He knows we can survive here. Keeping us alive and away from her. It's to mess with Rae. Hope to make her weak so that he can defeat her and take our world."
"If that's the case, more of us will be sent here," Laurel said.
"And we'll find them," Kara said. "The more of us he sends here, the more chance we have at escaping, keeping us alive will only fuel Rae. We'll be fine. We stick together… we are the Justice League."
"Spoken like our true Second-in-Command," Laurel smirked at Kara.
"And without the Flash down here, you are our leader," JT added; Kara having not realized that until now, too
Kara gave a nod, regardless.
"Dr. Midnight, make sure your devices stay strong. Something tells me we will need them," Kara said and Charles gave a nod, "at the moment, we just wait and stay together."
-New Justice-
That night, Rae came down the stairs after getting Leona asleep in her crib.
"Did she fall asleep?" Courtney asked, who was putting dishes in the dishwasher.
"After I read to her a few times," Rae said. "She's not missing Kara yet..." Rae watched as Courtney violently put dishes in the dishwasher, the crashing alone enough to wake the girl she had spent so long trying to get some sleep. "Whoa, calm down! You are going to break the dishes…"
"I'm… just pissed," Courtney said. "If I had been there, maybe me and Cosmo…"
"Court," Rae said, moving over and putting an arm around her adopted daughter. "While power of the Forces seems to have some affect, the only thing that stopped him was my Paragon power. Whether you were there or not, Kara would still be where she is now. You will get your chance at Eclispo, but he's not in this dishwasher. You will just break my plates."
Courtney gave a nod as she put the rest of the plates in more gently before turning the dishwasher on. Then, there was a knock at the door. Rae opened it to see Thea in her vigilante outfit with Owen in her arms and Arthur next to her.
"Hey Arthur, you have grown so much," Rae said to the nearly pre-teen boy. "What's…?"
"He got Laurel and JT," Thea said, and Rae took a deep breath. "Eclipso."
"I got that," Rae said with a nod. "Court, can you put Owen in the spare crib in Leona bedroom and bring Arthur to Chris's room?"
Courtney opened her mouth but one look from Rae told her not to argue and she took Owen from Thea and nodded at Arthur to follow her; Rae took Thea hand and brought her to the living room.
"We just got an alert. It seemed minor and he was there... Laurel and JT tried to attack. I was going to too, but he got them, and Laurel told me to run," Thea said.
"You did absolutely right," Rae said.
"The thing is, it's almost felt like he let me get away," Thea said.
"He needed to let you get away," Rae reasoned, her mind working fast at this new information, "because he needed me to know." Thea gave a nod. "When Barry was killing my old League," Rae said after a moment of the two of them sitting together, "it was… heart breaking – seeing them dead, one by one. You know who was the hardest?"
"Clark?" Thea guessed and Clarky barked from his spot.
"No, and stop that," Rae directed the part at Clarky, almost laughing at the dog's reaction to the name. "Ronnie. Because he didn't die right away. He died as a result of Martin dying, breaking apart Firestorm. It was slow and painful to watch. This feels like that all over again – this Eclipso is not killing our people, he's taking them from us… which is harder. Harder to watch, but there is a difference. We can – and will – get them back. All of them."
"Until then, here feels safer… with you," Thea said, and Rae nodded at that. "For the kids and me. And until then, I will have to step up to Laurel's spot in Queen Consolidates."
"Oh," Rae said, not having thought of that.
"And you will have to step up to Kara spot here," Thea said.
"What?" Rae asked, shocked at that.
"Kara owns half the Sanctuary, which means as her wife you own half. I need you to step up while she is gone," Thea said. "So, tell Cat Grant she is losing her personal chef for a while."
"I don't work for Cat Grant anymore," Rae said to that.
"Really?" Thea asked, not knowing that.
"With Carter gone and the kids growing up, we decided it was better," Rae said. "They hired a new chef in my absence, although I do cook for them occasionally."
"Well, that's even better," Thea said patting Rae's leg. "You oversee the Sanctuary for a while. I'm going to go get a suitcase for me and the boys," Thea got up and left out the door as Rae stared at her retreating back.
"What just happened there…?" Rae asked her dogs. Krypto, Misty, Dragon, and Clarky all just gave a bark in response, all being in the room too and missing Kara more than Leona.
Rae sat for a while before getting up and heading to Leona's bedroom, glad to see adding Owen into the crib next door didn't wake her daughter, and Owen seemed to be sleeping soundly too. Rae looked down at him for a bit.
"Are you baby-sitting?" A familiar voice said, and Rae jumped so high she was shocked she hadn't hit the ceiling – out of nowhere in front of her, Oliver had appeared in his Spectre outfit.
"Don't do that," Rae told her former League member taking a breath. "What are you doing here instead of Purgatory?" Rae knew Oliver could leave Purgatory for a short while at will but was never 'fully' here when he was. He was like a ghost but fully manifested – kind of like Grams or Patty in Charmed whenever they came back for an episode.
"I came to see my son," Oliver said, pointing down at Owen. "He wasn't in his own crib tonight. Took me a while to find him here. Are you and Kara babysitting?"
"Sort of," Rae said, deciding it was better to be honest with Oliver. "Have you ever heard of Eclipso?"
"The darkness," Oliver said, nodding. "A beast inside a world. Crisis destroyed almost all of them. Why?"
"Ours is still here and he's out," Rae said.
"He cannot hurt you as a Paragon. The power of the multiverse is the opposite of what he controls," Oliver said.
"It's not me he's hurting," Rae said. "He's sent Kara, Laurel, and JT to the shadows." Oliver stared at Rae at that. "Can… can you get them?" Rae wasn't completely sure of Oliver's powers, but she knew he was beyond what they were.
"No, I cannot enter the shadows," Oliver said, looking down at his son. "He will not get away with this… take good care of my son Rae. No one else I would trust with him right now"
Before Rae could ask what he meant by that, he was gone, leaving her alone in the room with two sleeping babies.
Post Chapter Note: I hope you enjoyed this second half of the season opener. The next few chapters should be longer and show you what exactly Oliver has planned, and how many League members Eclipso will take into the shadows. I think you all will enjoy this…
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Karry Master OUT!