Talyesin's Tales

( Chapter Three )

Aftermath on Finite Earths - Prelude

Aftermath on Finite Earths - Chapter One

Aftermath on Finite Earths - Chapter Two

I've been doing research for Aftermath on Finite Earths and let me tell you, trying to find out about pre-Crisis Earth One and especially Earth Two, and ESPECIALLY the Charlton (Earth 4), Quality (Earth X), and Fawcett (Earth S) universes, is next to impossible.

Damn this dedication to the pre-Crisis universes as they were, anyway! Damn it all to hell!

*muttergrumblegrr*

( Chapter Two )

Prelude

Chapter One

Aftermath on Finite Earths


Earth 1

Gotham City


Bruno looked around nervously, pulling up the collar of his coat to further hide his features, as though anyone was looking down that particular alley at nearly midnight. The big man ran his gloved hand over dry lips and said, "Would you hurry it up? Every second we're out here is another second the Bat could catch us."

His partner, a smaller man nicknamed Stitch, held a penlight in his mouth, thin shaft of light pointed at the door's lock, which he was trying to pick. The penlight turned his words into mush: "Kwi yrr whiin yuh ig ayee."

"You think it's funny, don't you?" Bruno snarled. "You out of towners. You're all the same. You think Gothamites are all chicken. You don't know. If the Bat finds us, we're dead."

Stitch succeeded finally in opening the door. With a wide smirk, he swung it open and waved his partner in.

"I wouldn't say, dead," a voice said behind them, from above, as they entered the store.

"More like, with a hurt on," said another voice, younger.

"Oh man," Bruno moaned.

"Wrong again," Batwoman said, swinging down, through the opened door, feet first into the would-be-robbers. The two scattered like bowling pins, into the darkness of the store. Batwoman did a mid-air backflip and landed with a quiet grace that spoke of years of hard training.

"Hey, leave one for me," her partner cried, rushing after her. Robin passed her mentor and ran into the room.

"Robin!" Batwoman said, cursing under her breath. Her goddaughter was as impulsive as she had been at her age. As they all had been, once.

Stitch felt himself roll up against a pillar. As he stood, he felt his shoulder brush a light switch. He got an idea. No way he was going to be brought in by a woman and a girl. He pulled out his pistol. Then he flipped the switch, hoping the sudden light would blind the heroes, at least long enough for him to get off a shot or two.

The light revealed the two heroes, caught for a split-second, burned into Stitch's mind: Batwoman, all in black, bright yellow bat symbol across on her full breasts, a perfect target, bright red hair spilling halfway down her back. Robin, just a kid, pre-puberty even, dressed in bright red tunic, yellow tights, green half-cape, boots, gloves and goggles, long black hair pulled back in a tight braid.

What kind of maniac brings a kid into this?, Stitch wondered briefly. It didn't stop him from aiming the pistol at the kid's head.

There was an explosion of pain in his hand and he dropped the pistol. Three bat-shaped blades stuck out of the back of his shooting hand. He turned to see his attacker.

"Not from around here?" asked the newcomer, standing at the front door. Dressed in shades of midnight and royal blue, he had to be Nightwing. The younger man in crimson and gold, arms crossed, leaning against the door frame, must be Flamebird.

"Don't mess with the Bat-Family, pal," Flamebird laughed.

"Don't hit me don't hit me don't hit me," Bruno begged as Robin marched up to him. With a quick roundhouse kick, she knocked the criminal unconscious.

"Robin, stand down!" Batwoman ordered. Robin shot her godmother an angry, incredulous stare, but wisely said nothing. Flamebird called it in to the GCPD and they waited for the police cruiser to arrive.

"You two good with this?" Nightwing asked the duo.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay and take credit?" Batwoman asked him.

"No, they're all yours," Flamebird quipped. "You two have fun now."

"See you back at the Cave," Nightwing said to Batwoman quietly. She smiled, softening slightly, and nodded. The other duo left the way they came, through the front door. Batwoman watched them leave.

Then she turned back to her young protege, the smile erased from her face. Robin's sullen resentment turned to genuine worry at the look her mentor gave her.

The Gotham police arrived moments later, and Batwoman gave them a statement. The duo left the store, climbing their bat-lines to the roofs, then across the rooftops of Gotham. When they reached the right deserted alley, they leapt off the roof and landed in their Batmobile.

"Young lady, you are in so much trouble," Batwoman told Robin.

"But Aunt Barbara!" Robin began to argue, pushing up her goggles when the roof windows of the Batmobile had closed.

"Don't 'but' me, Helena!" Batwoman replied angrily. "Your father will be furious when he finds out you rushed in there against orders-"

"Aunt Barbara, there was only two of them!" Helena argued. "We could have taken them out-"

"Two of them, one with a pistol," Barbara countered, pushing back her cowl as they got onto the freeway, leading out of the city. She hoped Helena would see the earnest concern on her face. "Helena, you could have been killed."

"Oh, like that trick with the lights would have worked. Both of us have protective lenses in our masks, Aunt Barbara! And there was at least four ways to disarm him from where I was standing. If Uncle Dick hadn't butt in-"

"There were six ways to disarm him from where you were standing, and nine from my position. Our being able to take out those two-bits isn't the point."

"Six? But, wait-"

"You haven't been taught the last two," Barbara said sternly. "Because they're lethal."

Helena swallowed, then looked out the window, pouting, resting her chin on her fist.

"You defied orders, Helena," Barbara said, trying for a conciliatory tone. "You know what that means."

"I don't know why I have to be Robin in the first place," Helena complained. "Robin's a boy. Always has been. Why can't I be Batgirl?"

"You know why," Barbara answered, taking the exit that would lead them to the Batcave. "You have to prove yourself before you can wear the Bat."

"You didn't," Helena countered, knowing her godmother's history.

"That's where you're wrong, Helena," Barbara replied softly, remembering the many tests Bruce had put her through when she began her crimefighting career, half a lifetime ago.

The rest of the drive was spent in uncomfortable silence, Helena's apprehension growing as they neared the Batcave. She knew exactly what her father's reaction would be - that flat hard stare, followed by a month of intense training, without the benefit of being able to go on patrol with her godmother. Jason would tease her, Dick would sympathize, and Mother would be furious. And Aunt Barbara was... disappointed.

* * * * *



Earth 2

Metropolis


"Look! Up in the sky!"

Clark never got tired of hearing that. And with superhearing, he heard it an awful lot.

"It's a bird."

"No, it's a plane."

"No, it's Superman!"

Clark grinned.

"Which one?"

The grinned faltered. He supposed he'd be hearing this as long as his adopted father remained alive.

"You sure it's not Superwoman?"

Clark rolled his eyes. He understood why Karen had changed her name from Power Girl to Superwoman, to honour Earth One's Supergirl. It didn't make his life any easier, though.

He poured on the superspeed. The Justice Society was waiting.

* * * * *

Earth S

Fawcett City


"SHAZAM!" Billy cried. The magic lightning struck him, transforming him instantaneously into Captain Marvel. It was odd, he thought. The transformation seemed much more substantial when he was changed from a child to an adult. Now, instead of needing a moment to adjust to being taller, heavier, and you know, a man, it was a simple matter of being gifted with the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles, and the speed of Mercury.

Next to him, Freddy also cried, "SHAZAM!" and was similarly transformed. The Captains Marvel shared a grin and took off to the air. Sivana had escaped again.

Billy's sister Mary, pregnant with her and Freddy's firstborn, watched them soar off into the sky. It was far too dangerous to call down the lightning while pregnant, the old wizard had warned them. So she resigned herself to waiting in the wings while her brother and her husband fought the evils she herself longed to fight. Only another six weeks, she thought.

"Excellent," came a familiar, nasal voice. Mary whirled around, fear throwing caution aside.

"Sivana!" she cursed. "How did you-?"

"I was beginning to think the Big Red Cheese would never leave," their oldest, fiercest foe smirked, pulling out a wicked-looking ray gun. Next to him, his brutish man-ape minion, Ibac, stepped forward menacingly.

"Damn you, Sivana!" Mary swore.

"Language, dear Mary," the World's Wickedest Scientist admonished. "Ibac, take her."

Ibac advanced on her. Mary thought hard, desperate to call upon the lightning, but she could do nothing without harming her child. Her hands covered her swollen belly protectively.

"Damn you, Sivana," she swore again, as tears of fury ran down her cheeks. Ibac took her and began tying her hands and wrists, careful to gag her first.

* * * * *

Earth X

Washington, D.C.


"Whattaya say, Sam?"

Uncle Sam, living embodiment of the indefatigable American Spirit, looked at his teammate and friend. Ray gave him a smile, thinking to himself that Sam looked tired, and troubled.

"What do I say to what, Ray?" Sam asked.

"Sam, are you all right?" the Phantom Lady asked. "Haven't you been listening?"

"Sorry Sandra," Sam apologized. Truth to tell, he'd been lost in thought. Something was wrong, somewhere. And it bothered him that he didn't know what, didn't know where. But it dogged at his mind - America was, once again, in peril.

"Well, old-timer, we'll say it again," Ray joked. "Sandra and I are getting married, and we'd like you to preside over the ceremony."

Sam watched his two teammates move together, Sandra stepping into Ray's arms, and the cold fingers of dread slowly played up his spine.

"Well, you sure look happy, Happy," Sam forced himself to say. "And Sandra, well, you're glowing, darlin."

"Thanks, Sam," she grinned. "Say you'll do it?"

Sam couldn't bring himself to say no. After all they had been through together, all the long years fighting the Nazis and their descendants, he couldn't bear to deny them this happiness.

"Of course I will, lil lady," he said instead. "Wild horses couldn't keep me away."

They both grinned again, even wider if possible.

"Thanks, Sam," Ray said.

"Don't thank me yet," Uncle Sam advised. "Told the team, have you?"

"Not yet," Phantom Lady admitted. "We were waiting until you agreed to tell the rest of the Freedom Fighters."

"Well, let's call the meeting, you can tell them then," Uncle Sam replied, and again, cold dread filled him.

His eyes narrowed in resolve. Whatever was coming, he and his team would deal with it.

* * * * *

Earth 4

Hub City


Vic Sage looked up from his computer screen, rubbing his tired eyes. He had to finish the expose on Hub City's corrupt electoral policies before dawn if his editor was going to let it on the air. Too many nights as the Question would go to waste if he succumbed to fatigue now.

He needn't have worried.

The outside wall to his office suddenly exploded inward, sending bricks and mortar flying through the room. Only Vic's many years of training saved him. He quickly pulled his mask out of his pocket, activating his belt buckle to seal the mask to his face and alter the colour of his clothing.

"Who the hell-" he began to ask, when the answer revealed itself to him. Floating in midair outside the office, a man with white hair and glowing eyes hovered menacingly. The silver arms and legs, navy torso with its familiar atomic symbol, all pronounced the identity of his attacker.

"Captain Atom?" the Question asked, bewildered. "Why-?"

Captain Atom raised his arms, blasts of energy his only reply.

Aftermath on Finite Earths

Earth 1

The sun rose crisp and clear in the sub zero weather at the North Pole. A huge gleaming metal arrow pointed the way for any planes flying overhead, but few planes ever passed this way.

Which was just as well. The location had been chosen for its remoteness, its lack of life of any form.

It had been chosen for its solitude.

Improbably, a mountain grew from the arctic plain. Or perhaps it was an iceberg, trapped in the year-round icecap. An observer with a keen eye might be able to see a cave set high in the cliff-face. An especially keen observer might even be able to make out the door set back, inside the cave.

Only the keenest observer with the best equipment available would have been able to determine that the metal arrow, the signpost for nearly non-existent passing air traffic, would fit the keyhole in the huge metal door set in the cave.

Beyond the metal door, clearly some sort of man-made residence of sorts, vast and cavernous, seemingly grown from the ice itself, but too neat and regular to be some incredible vagary of heat and thaw and refreeze. A mind had formed this chamber, for some purpose. A will had been behind the creation of the room.

Then, signs of civilization beyond the first initial door. Smaller rooms, branching off from the first. Trophies of incredible battles. Awards for civic duty and amazing acts of heroism. Mementoes of a lost, astonishing planet.

Even an unobservant person would be aware of a presence now. A room, set apart from the others. Darkened, the only light came from flickering flames in low-set braziers. Two were set at the far end of the room, set before two statues: A man, wise, strong; and a woman, beautiful, kind. Both statues were carved wearing exotic-looking clothing; both wore headbands. The man's right arm was raised, as was the woman's left. Between them, a hologram of a planet; the planet was not Earth.

To one side, set in a small alcove, another statue, another brazier. The statue was of a young woman, beautiful, strong, a defiant set to her jaw, a slight smile playing on her stone lips, her hair falling past her shoulders in curls of stone. She, too, wore a headband; her dress was even more outlandish than the other statues: tight-fitting long-sleeved shirt, short, pleated skirt, boots that reached her knees in a point, a cape draped from her shoulders. Set between her breasts, an emblem - a stylized S in a diamond outline.

The presence earlier felt would be apparent now. Before the statue of the young woman knelt a man. Even kneeling, the man was impressive. Broad shouldered, massively muscled, dark hair cropped short on the sides - where the first greys had begun to show - and back, slightly longer and wavier on top, a single spit-curl spilling loose onto his brow. Though his eyes were closed they remained nevertheless clear crystalline blue. His hands, fingers intertwined, were held before him. He was, clearly, praying, though only a select few in the entire universe would have been able to understand what he said.

"Great Rao, Almighty Sun of my forebears, guide her to her rest," he said, finishing the prayer in the lost language of his lost homeworld.

He stood. His clothes were tight-fitting. His cape draped from shoulder to mid-calf. Like the statue, he wore the stylized S in the diamond outline across his chest. Only the most isolated of people would not recognize him now.

"Rest, Kara," Superman said. "It's been ten years, but I miss you so much."

The Man of Steel took a deep breath and set his shoulders back, raised his jaw firm and resolute.

"I love you, cousin," he said, then turned and flew out of the Memorial Chamber.