Post by redsycorax on Jul 10, 2019 3:21:51 GMT
The so-called "Crisis on Infinite Earths" was supposed to have scourged the multiverse clean of alternate iterations of datum reality, supposedly leading to a sole "normative" universe. However, such was not the case, otherwise the murderous "Anti-Monitor" would therefore have been infinitely powerful and unstoppable. While the antimatter storms claimed the lives of millions of Earths, their contingent universes and almost all of their inhabitants, there were pockets of surviving universes, although they were unobservable from the so-called "Prime Earth". One such world was Earth-279. Here, there were no major political convulsions or spasms within that Earth's greater universe to suggest unthinkable turmoil and suffering were about to invade its borders. Lives went on. Sociologists on that Earth have labelled the sequence of events there the "Long Seventies." It was given that designation because unlike many other worlds, there was no sense of political upheaval here. In 1978, Pope Paul VII, another Italian Cardinal, won the Papacy after Paul VI's death and the gradual liberalisation of the church continued. In 1979, Shah Reza Pahlavi's fearsome SAVAK secret police crushed the abortive Shi'ite Rebellion and assassinated its religious leaders. In that same year, British Prime Minister James Callaghan won a narrow but still convincing electoral victory over his opponent, Conservative Opposition leader Margaret Thatcher. The Soviet Union refrained from invading Afghanistan on its southeastern frontier, but instead occupied Poland, crushing the independent Solidarity trade union movement and executing its leadership. In 1984, Walter Mondale replaced his predecessor as the next US President, while Michael Foot's Labour Government, re-elected with a larger majority, announced that the United Kingdom was withdrawing from NATO and ending its reliance on nuclear deterrence. There were two additional Arab-Israeli wars during the eighties and the only bright spot for human rights was the final collapse of South African apartheid in 1989.
Amongst its metahumans, the same phenomenon was observable, but some shift was evident. Aquaman resigned from the League of Justice in America, to combat increased marine pollution and Atlantis became identified as a rogue state for its maritime ecological intervention. The Atom was killed in a microverse encounter caused by spatiotemporal dissynchronity. Batman married Talia al-Ghul and they had a daughter, Elena. The Flash and Iris Allen had a child of their own and after some earnest consideration, Barry Allen decided to retire from his active crimefighting career and hand over to the former "Kid Flash", Wally West. Black Canary and Green Arrow also married, while Green Lantern left Earth to assume overall tactical command of the Green Lantern Corps. Hawkman and Hawkwoman returned to Thanagar, while J'onn J'onnz stayed on New Mars Colony, rebuilding his people's shattered civilisation. Superman and Lois Lane broke up and she married someone else, finally concluding that her long-time crush on the Man of Steel was fruitless. On the other hand, Clark Kent married Lana Lang instead. Wonder Woman became Queen of the Amazons when an army of Neo-Grecians under the command of Hippolyta's mortal enemy Heracles attacked Themiscyra, resulting in her mother's death. As with Green Lantern, the Flash and Batgirl, their greater responsibilities effectively ended their external careers. Commissioner Gordon, Ma and Pa Kent, Aunt Harriet Cooper, Perry White and Professor Phineas Potter all died due to morbidity and old age during the course of the eighties. Robin continued his crimefighting career, although he changed uniform. The LJA had more adventures amongst its multiversal neighbours, encountering a world where Bruce Wayne's parents had never been murdered in Crime Alley, resulting in the voluntary assumption of his Batman career in later life. Supergirl became Superwoman, and Linda Danvers became Governor of Florida. In 1989, the LJA consisted of Batman, Robin, Flash II (Wally West), Green Arrow, Black Canary, Superman and Superwoman.
"Damn it. We can land humans on Mars, but we can't manage to resolve the nuclear arms race." Batman exclaimed. It was 1990, and Israel had just detonated a thermonuclear device in the Sinai Peninsula, offering Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan an opportunity to shelter beneath its nuclear umbrella. In the LJA satellite, the Red Army marched beneath the eyes of Soviet Premier Gorbachev, who had at least tried to soften the USSR's chilly relationship with the West through withdrawing from Poland after nearly a decade of occupation. The Warsaw Pact nations had greater autonomy and had elected 'reform communist' governments, providing greater freedom of expression, freedom of movement and even political representation within their legislatures.
"Careful, Bruce, you're starting to sound like Ollie" Superman laughed, although he kept a cautious eye on the Red Army's Mayday parade.
"And at least there have been some helpful Strategic Arms Limitation Talks and reduction of the existing nuclear arsenals."
"Why do things feel as if they froze in the seventies? Fashion aside, thankfully." Black Canary said as she reloaded the LJA's food dispenser.
"Hey, now. Katar and Shayera aren't here anymore, neither is Hal and neither is Diana or Arthur."
"What am I. chopped liver?" Dick Grayson said, as he ran an audit of the LJA satellite's orbital defences.
"Good point, though, Ollie. Kara, Wally and Dick were our last new intake and that was over seven years ago, now."
"It's a shame that attempt to revive the Teen Titans went nowhere."
"Roy, Garth, Tula and Donna all retired to parent. None of us are teenagers anymore. And our children are all still too young to start protege careers quite yet."
"Oh, Elena wants to. What about Lara, Clark?"
"She's been pestering me to let her join me on patrol. Not that there are any major threats left any more."
"Yeah, well, Lex Luthor may have retired to that namesake planet of his, but I've still got an active rogues gallery back home in Gotham. Even if the Joker choked on an overdose of his own venom."
"Do you still have a rogues gallery, Wally?"
"Professor Zoom is timelocked out of the twentieth and twenty first centuries, Captain Cold and the Pied Piper reformed, Captain Boomerang is imprisoned in Australia, and the Top, Trickster and Golden Glider are strictly second-rate. So no, Central City is definitely quiet."
But was the long peace about to end? In a distant starship, Superman's old enemy Brainiac sat pondering whether or not to engage with the Man of Steel again. Around him, he had stored a range of planets that had been diminished in scale and deposited within bell jars, with artificial microsuns also housed therein to provide them with an approximate interstellar environment. He pondered whether or not to voyage to Earth, and then decided against it. He had gone five years without confronting Superman thus far, and his current range meant that the only way for Superman and Superwoman to locate and obstruct him was through use of unreliable wormholes that varied in their egress points due to quantum uncertainty. And then a thought came to him. What if he could permanently evade the interfering Kryptonians? All he would need to do would be to locate a quantum eigenstate divergent universe where neither Krypton nor any analogue substitute existed and which permitted his scale and mass contraction technologies to operate without impedement. His twelfth level intellect identified such a universe and a black hole that would be able to provide him with access through superspace to such a vulnerable quarry. So thinking, Brainiac accelerated away from any further encounter with his long-time nemesis.
At the Jokers graveside, a particular form gazed down at the final resting place of Batman's greatest foe. Bleakly, he reflected that the world was ageing and its heroes were prevailing, despite what its metahuman villains did to oppose them. Moreover, their opponents constantly seemed to constantly triumph and even their most determined assailants had retired from confronting them or had gone elsewhere. The Joker was a psychopath but an ingenious one, just as Lex Luthor had been a warped scientific prodigy. Without them, any organised "Injustice League" would inevitably falter and fail. The heroes had run out of challenges too. Batman's surveillance technology had mitigated serious assaults and homicides within Gotham, while Superman had found a cure for kryptonite and had finally enlarged Kandor, relocating it on Rokyn, which orbited a red dwarf sun. With Kandor went access to the Phantom Zone,whose alter-dimensional prison was now contracted considerably and in synchronicity with the other vestige of vanished Krypton. With the Prankster and Toyman now stricken with Alzheimers and in nursing homes, all Superman did was engage in crimefighting these days as well as natural disaster relief and collaborative work with the rest of the LJA. Much the same could be said about the Flash's 'rogues gallery,' given that Mirror Master had gone into commercially licensing his reflective technology advances, and the Weather Wizard was winning acclaim for his weather control capabilities, providing much-needed rain to drought areas and maintaining glacier and polar icecap integrity. The Riddler now operated a successful gaming transnational corporation, Poison Ivy worked for ecological preservation, and the Penguin was now head of an international wildlife fund. With Batman married to Talia al Ghul, Catwoman had hung up her cape and leotard and now operated a feline protection charity. There wasn't any critical mass for any "Injustice League" in any case. There had to be a way out of this checkmate enigma. The Wraith closed the gate to Gotham Cemetary and continued to internally debate the situation. Then, one night, he thought he had the solution. Why not match fire with fire? He was the equal of Batman, and he'd read somewhere about an entity called "Super-Menace."
In the Wrathlair, several months later, radiation played within a cyclotron, causing a faint, then increasingly defined, human form to coalesce amidst its interactive lattices. A coherent solidified human body coalesced into existence, identical in appearance to Superman. Super-Menace blinked, then scowled:
"Hey! I ended my existence and returned to pure force, after being manipulated for decades by my criminal foster-parents into guying Superman. Why did you call me back?"
"Because you deserved better, Jake Derek. But Wolfgang and Bonnie are gone, and there's no-one to resort to that puppetry now."
"Yeah? Well, you can reverse the process, buddy, or I'll do it for you."
"You didn't really kill anyone. All you did do was cause natural disasters and act as a minor covert nuisance in his Superboy days."
"I said 'no'. I've seen the behaviour of that psychotic creature Superman-Prime and I have no wish to emulate that. He destroyed an entire alternate Earth, slaughtered billions, just because it didn't conform to his own idealised alternate Earth of origin. Or that trio of Kryptonian mass murderers who destroyed that moribund secondary universe. Thinking of that makes me violently ill."
"And if I said it didn't involve killing anyone, and certainly not mass murder? All I want you to do is negate Superman's abilities by acting as a counterweight. You have the intellect and combat experience to do that."
Super-Menace frowned: "I finally recognised you. You're that Wrath, Edward Caldwell. Your folks were killed by the former Gotham City Police Commissioner when he was still in uniform and as a consequence, you turned yourself into an inverted Batman. I'm sorry you had to see that as a kid, Eddie, but the answer is still no. If your objective is revenge, you're too late anyway. Gordon died of cancer and his daughter's a Washington Senator. She's too heavily protected for you to get at."
"I know that and my desire for vengeance against Gordon died with him. Barbara Gordon was never part of this. No, what's motivating me is the concept of balance."
"There have been so-called "Injustice Gangs" in the past. They've failed. And the meta heavyweights who could have successfully organised them are either dead or retired. Why are we even having this conversation?"
"It's a question of neutrality. We assemble a strategically picked team to counter the LJA and we keep fighting them, preventing them from intervening against non-meta criminals. Create a level playing field here. The question is, who else do we assemble?"
"Perhaps I can partially answer that," said a tall, armoured woman who had just walked through the entranceway atop the Wrathlair,"I am Scim'Tar of the Bigh-Madall Amazons. If you intend to assemble a true antithesis to the LJA, it will be my role to cancel out the effects of Queen Diana of Themiscyra- my own nemesis...Wonder Woman. I took the liberty of contacting some other likely prospects. I think you will appreciate my choices."
Green Arrow was felled by a arrow shaft to his shoulder: "Merlyn," he grunted,"hey, be careful Di..."
"I can take care of myself, Ollie."
"Fatal miscalculation, Lance." Lady Shiva slashed down and nearly clipped Black Canary, who responded with a fast dropkick:
"The day I fall to you, Shiva, is the day I retire."
"I haven't lost a kill yet."
"You're good, I'll give you that. You have enough combat experience to raise a serious sweat on me."
"You do realise I don't need swords or pistols to kill you?"
"What brought you into this, Shiva? We haven't fought before."
"That would be telling and I never divulge client confidentiality. Uhhh!" Dinah landed a vicious kick to Shiva's collarbone, while Oliver fitted his exoskeletal third arm to substitute for his unworkable wounded right one. Right, Mal. This is it. Behind a convenient rock shelter, he loaded his bow and targeted Malcolm Merlyn's hiding place. Above all, he had to keep Dinah safe from him- although she was probably thinking the same about Lady Shiva, and with good reason. Was this a League of Assassins hit? It felt like it. But hadn't Bruce and Dick smashed the League into fragments with Talia's cooperation when she defected? None of this made any sense.
Over Metropolis, Superwoman was unexpectedly attacked by a green-flecked particle beam. She recognised the attendant sensation at once: "Emerald Empress?! What the hell are you doing back in the twenty-first century?"
"Ah, Kara Zor-El. You've grown into quite a woman. A shame, because I aimed my temporal incursion at your girlhood."
"I'm more than a match for you, Cira. You haven't got anywhere near the experience that Sarya had, and your Emerald Eye is a precursor of Green Lantern power rings, with far less operability and manoveurability."
"Enough for me to kill your cousin with it once."
"Is that your plan, then? To talk me to death?"
"Typical Kryptonian arrogance."
"What happened to your four associates?"
"I can handle you on my own."
"Oh, keep it up, do. This hardly registers, no matter how hard you dial it up. It doesn't include Kryptonite, magic or red or green solar radiation, so it can't harm me." Superwoman finally reached the Empress and knocked her out. Then, with a start, she realised that there were several other figures below the ensuing melee, each armed with an Emerald Eye of her own. They trained their weaponry on her and she was blanketed with blinding green light. She fell from the sky, to be rescued by: "Kal! Kal, it's the Emerald Empress, she's got an army of multiverse counterparts with her."
"What happened?"
"Smells like... antimatter? Since when were we vulnerable to that?!!"
"It's rare in our universe, but we'd feel it if we ventured into the Antimatter Universe of Qward. Which, I suspect, is where our new Emerald Empress Corps got the ability to zap us."
"I thought Hal and the rest of the GLC closed the portals to that place."
"Kara, someone else is behind this. I was on the way to Themiscyra. Diana's family was attacked. By a Bigh-Mihdall Amazon warrior, Scim'Tar. She...said Steve was killed."
"This is co-ordinated, then. Who's responsible for this. A new Injustice Gang?"
"Whoever, or whatever it is, they've got us tied down on all fronts. That crimson clad Batman analogue must be Edward Caldwell, the Wrath. Wally's being hammered by someone who looks like a mirror image of Barry Allen. Ollie and Dinah are being attacked by Malcolm Merlyn and Lady Shiva. Which leaves the question, why wasn't I...?" Superwoman had recovered sufficiently to enable her cousin to avoid the piledriver that was directed at him from below. Super-Menace hung in the air, grinning:
"Rematch, Kent."
"Jake? I thought you'd destroyed yourself when you became pure energy..."
"A friend put me back together. It's not about the bitterness, the lost years this time. No, it's more than existential angst. You and your LJA associates are too much for this world. Sooner or later, one of your descendants will become corrupted and they may be unstoppable, particularly if they lack your vulnerabilities."
"Wait a minute. Would that friend be Edward Cald-" Super-Menace pummelled him in the chest:
"Too slow, Kent."
"Jake, you...uhhh...don't have to do this. Choose some other world. You can be a hero there, start a new life."
"I won't kill you, Kent. That much, at least, we have in common. But make no mistake, I will beat you within an inch of your life. I'm stronger than you are. You know that."
"Only given that you're an energy clone of me, you lack my vulnerability to Kryptonite. It doesn't work out that way, Jake."
"Ahhhhh!!!" In the skies above, one of the Emerald Empresses had found their mark. Abruptly, however, a spherical object firmed into solidity and two familiar figures flew out:
"Lightning Woman and Violet! Am I glad to see you two!"
"We know about the Empress' new corps. It's in your future, our past. Cira? Give up, now, or face the consequences."
"I'm not scared of you, Ranzz-Digby."
"Then you're more of a fool than I thought."
"Ayla, Salu, she's got antimatter access."
"We know, Kara. And we've got antimatter fission dampers."
"Damn you both! You weren't supposed to be here!" Then Cira realised- Violet had disappeared. She only pondered that for a moment as the Imskian rapidly enlarged and delivered a knockout punch. Ayla radiated a stream of lightning pulses as the panicking Emerald Empresses, undisciplined and inexperienced in combat against a determined assailant, used their vortex manipulators to escape. Beneath them, Superman and Supermenace found themselves too evenly matched. They eventually slumped against each other, exhausted, as, in distant Gotham, Wrath found himself similarly bested as Green Arrow and Black Canary joined Batman and Robin. Wrath snarled: "This isn't over!" Promptly, he disappeared into a portal, which closed almost instantaneously. On Themiscyra, Wonder Woman found herself assisted by Laurel Gand, who swept down to aid the Amazon's battle against Scim'Tar. In a matter of minutes, the ploy was over. However, there had been one casualty. Later that night, hovering over the funeral pyre, Diana said: "I'm sorry, but I need some time away from here. From this world, from the memories of Steve."
"We're sorry, Diana. It should have occurred to us that this criminal inversion of the LJA would target you as well."
"That's all right, Clark. Wrath was behind this. He's somewhere else in the Multiverse and I will make him pay for this."
"Good luck, old friend-Lois?!"
The Daily Planet editor was dressed in her own Amazon combat outfit:
"Oh, don't look so surprised, Clark. I've known for ages that you were really Superman, but I understand why it's necessary to keep your identity secret. Added to which, I've got my own life now. I'm going with Diana. They augmented me with Amazon technology a year ago. Look after him, Kara."
"Are you sure this is what you want, Lois?"
"Diana and Steve were an iconic pair and for whatever reason, the Wrath ended that idyll. She's as much my friend as yours. You and Clark are needed here, Kara. And Diana and I need to stop Wrath from reassembling his antithesis to the LJA and this time, allowing for the intervention of outside assistance. He can only do that if we let him get away into the Multiverse. That won't be allowed to happen. Goodbye, Clark. Give my love to Lana."
And with that, Wonder Woman and Lois Lane phased away from Earth-279. Life went on, much as usual on that world. Paul VII (Albino Lucini) passed away in 2008, to be replaced by Argentine Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, who took the name John XXIV. After the death of the Duke of Edinburgh from a cardiac arrest, Queen Elizabeth II abdicated, and her son became King Charles III. After Jimmy Carter served two terms, his Vice President Walter Mondale served another two, and Geraldine Ferraro became the first female US President after him. In 2000, George H. Bush served a single term, before losing the election to Hillary Rodham Clinton, the second female US President. Illinois Senator Barack Obama became the incumbent US President. In the United Kingdom, the Labour Party cycled through James Callaghan, Michael Foot, Neil Kinnock and John Smith as Labour Prime Ministers, until a brief interregnum under Michael Heseltine foundered on the question of European Union membership, which tore the Conservative Party asunder. Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Jeremy Corbyn succeeded the factionalised centre-right.
A decade passed. One night, Lana Kent noticed her husband staring up into the night sky, wondering at which might have been in some alternate universe. Would he ever know what had happened to Diana and Lois?
THE END
Amongst its metahumans, the same phenomenon was observable, but some shift was evident. Aquaman resigned from the League of Justice in America, to combat increased marine pollution and Atlantis became identified as a rogue state for its maritime ecological intervention. The Atom was killed in a microverse encounter caused by spatiotemporal dissynchronity. Batman married Talia al-Ghul and they had a daughter, Elena. The Flash and Iris Allen had a child of their own and after some earnest consideration, Barry Allen decided to retire from his active crimefighting career and hand over to the former "Kid Flash", Wally West. Black Canary and Green Arrow also married, while Green Lantern left Earth to assume overall tactical command of the Green Lantern Corps. Hawkman and Hawkwoman returned to Thanagar, while J'onn J'onnz stayed on New Mars Colony, rebuilding his people's shattered civilisation. Superman and Lois Lane broke up and she married someone else, finally concluding that her long-time crush on the Man of Steel was fruitless. On the other hand, Clark Kent married Lana Lang instead. Wonder Woman became Queen of the Amazons when an army of Neo-Grecians under the command of Hippolyta's mortal enemy Heracles attacked Themiscyra, resulting in her mother's death. As with Green Lantern, the Flash and Batgirl, their greater responsibilities effectively ended their external careers. Commissioner Gordon, Ma and Pa Kent, Aunt Harriet Cooper, Perry White and Professor Phineas Potter all died due to morbidity and old age during the course of the eighties. Robin continued his crimefighting career, although he changed uniform. The LJA had more adventures amongst its multiversal neighbours, encountering a world where Bruce Wayne's parents had never been murdered in Crime Alley, resulting in the voluntary assumption of his Batman career in later life. Supergirl became Superwoman, and Linda Danvers became Governor of Florida. In 1989, the LJA consisted of Batman, Robin, Flash II (Wally West), Green Arrow, Black Canary, Superman and Superwoman.
"Damn it. We can land humans on Mars, but we can't manage to resolve the nuclear arms race." Batman exclaimed. It was 1990, and Israel had just detonated a thermonuclear device in the Sinai Peninsula, offering Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan an opportunity to shelter beneath its nuclear umbrella. In the LJA satellite, the Red Army marched beneath the eyes of Soviet Premier Gorbachev, who had at least tried to soften the USSR's chilly relationship with the West through withdrawing from Poland after nearly a decade of occupation. The Warsaw Pact nations had greater autonomy and had elected 'reform communist' governments, providing greater freedom of expression, freedom of movement and even political representation within their legislatures.
"Careful, Bruce, you're starting to sound like Ollie" Superman laughed, although he kept a cautious eye on the Red Army's Mayday parade.
"And at least there have been some helpful Strategic Arms Limitation Talks and reduction of the existing nuclear arsenals."
"Why do things feel as if they froze in the seventies? Fashion aside, thankfully." Black Canary said as she reloaded the LJA's food dispenser.
"Hey, now. Katar and Shayera aren't here anymore, neither is Hal and neither is Diana or Arthur."
"What am I. chopped liver?" Dick Grayson said, as he ran an audit of the LJA satellite's orbital defences.
"Good point, though, Ollie. Kara, Wally and Dick were our last new intake and that was over seven years ago, now."
"It's a shame that attempt to revive the Teen Titans went nowhere."
"Roy, Garth, Tula and Donna all retired to parent. None of us are teenagers anymore. And our children are all still too young to start protege careers quite yet."
"Oh, Elena wants to. What about Lara, Clark?"
"She's been pestering me to let her join me on patrol. Not that there are any major threats left any more."
"Yeah, well, Lex Luthor may have retired to that namesake planet of his, but I've still got an active rogues gallery back home in Gotham. Even if the Joker choked on an overdose of his own venom."
"Do you still have a rogues gallery, Wally?"
"Professor Zoom is timelocked out of the twentieth and twenty first centuries, Captain Cold and the Pied Piper reformed, Captain Boomerang is imprisoned in Australia, and the Top, Trickster and Golden Glider are strictly second-rate. So no, Central City is definitely quiet."
But was the long peace about to end? In a distant starship, Superman's old enemy Brainiac sat pondering whether or not to engage with the Man of Steel again. Around him, he had stored a range of planets that had been diminished in scale and deposited within bell jars, with artificial microsuns also housed therein to provide them with an approximate interstellar environment. He pondered whether or not to voyage to Earth, and then decided against it. He had gone five years without confronting Superman thus far, and his current range meant that the only way for Superman and Superwoman to locate and obstruct him was through use of unreliable wormholes that varied in their egress points due to quantum uncertainty. And then a thought came to him. What if he could permanently evade the interfering Kryptonians? All he would need to do would be to locate a quantum eigenstate divergent universe where neither Krypton nor any analogue substitute existed and which permitted his scale and mass contraction technologies to operate without impedement. His twelfth level intellect identified such a universe and a black hole that would be able to provide him with access through superspace to such a vulnerable quarry. So thinking, Brainiac accelerated away from any further encounter with his long-time nemesis.
At the Jokers graveside, a particular form gazed down at the final resting place of Batman's greatest foe. Bleakly, he reflected that the world was ageing and its heroes were prevailing, despite what its metahuman villains did to oppose them. Moreover, their opponents constantly seemed to constantly triumph and even their most determined assailants had retired from confronting them or had gone elsewhere. The Joker was a psychopath but an ingenious one, just as Lex Luthor had been a warped scientific prodigy. Without them, any organised "Injustice League" would inevitably falter and fail. The heroes had run out of challenges too. Batman's surveillance technology had mitigated serious assaults and homicides within Gotham, while Superman had found a cure for kryptonite and had finally enlarged Kandor, relocating it on Rokyn, which orbited a red dwarf sun. With Kandor went access to the Phantom Zone,whose alter-dimensional prison was now contracted considerably and in synchronicity with the other vestige of vanished Krypton. With the Prankster and Toyman now stricken with Alzheimers and in nursing homes, all Superman did was engage in crimefighting these days as well as natural disaster relief and collaborative work with the rest of the LJA. Much the same could be said about the Flash's 'rogues gallery,' given that Mirror Master had gone into commercially licensing his reflective technology advances, and the Weather Wizard was winning acclaim for his weather control capabilities, providing much-needed rain to drought areas and maintaining glacier and polar icecap integrity. The Riddler now operated a successful gaming transnational corporation, Poison Ivy worked for ecological preservation, and the Penguin was now head of an international wildlife fund. With Batman married to Talia al Ghul, Catwoman had hung up her cape and leotard and now operated a feline protection charity. There wasn't any critical mass for any "Injustice League" in any case. There had to be a way out of this checkmate enigma. The Wraith closed the gate to Gotham Cemetary and continued to internally debate the situation. Then, one night, he thought he had the solution. Why not match fire with fire? He was the equal of Batman, and he'd read somewhere about an entity called "Super-Menace."
In the Wrathlair, several months later, radiation played within a cyclotron, causing a faint, then increasingly defined, human form to coalesce amidst its interactive lattices. A coherent solidified human body coalesced into existence, identical in appearance to Superman. Super-Menace blinked, then scowled:
"Hey! I ended my existence and returned to pure force, after being manipulated for decades by my criminal foster-parents into guying Superman. Why did you call me back?"
"Because you deserved better, Jake Derek. But Wolfgang and Bonnie are gone, and there's no-one to resort to that puppetry now."
"Yeah? Well, you can reverse the process, buddy, or I'll do it for you."
"You didn't really kill anyone. All you did do was cause natural disasters and act as a minor covert nuisance in his Superboy days."
"I said 'no'. I've seen the behaviour of that psychotic creature Superman-Prime and I have no wish to emulate that. He destroyed an entire alternate Earth, slaughtered billions, just because it didn't conform to his own idealised alternate Earth of origin. Or that trio of Kryptonian mass murderers who destroyed that moribund secondary universe. Thinking of that makes me violently ill."
"And if I said it didn't involve killing anyone, and certainly not mass murder? All I want you to do is negate Superman's abilities by acting as a counterweight. You have the intellect and combat experience to do that."
Super-Menace frowned: "I finally recognised you. You're that Wrath, Edward Caldwell. Your folks were killed by the former Gotham City Police Commissioner when he was still in uniform and as a consequence, you turned yourself into an inverted Batman. I'm sorry you had to see that as a kid, Eddie, but the answer is still no. If your objective is revenge, you're too late anyway. Gordon died of cancer and his daughter's a Washington Senator. She's too heavily protected for you to get at."
"I know that and my desire for vengeance against Gordon died with him. Barbara Gordon was never part of this. No, what's motivating me is the concept of balance."
"There have been so-called "Injustice Gangs" in the past. They've failed. And the meta heavyweights who could have successfully organised them are either dead or retired. Why are we even having this conversation?"
"It's a question of neutrality. We assemble a strategically picked team to counter the LJA and we keep fighting them, preventing them from intervening against non-meta criminals. Create a level playing field here. The question is, who else do we assemble?"
"Perhaps I can partially answer that," said a tall, armoured woman who had just walked through the entranceway atop the Wrathlair,"I am Scim'Tar of the Bigh-Madall Amazons. If you intend to assemble a true antithesis to the LJA, it will be my role to cancel out the effects of Queen Diana of Themiscyra- my own nemesis...Wonder Woman. I took the liberty of contacting some other likely prospects. I think you will appreciate my choices."
Green Arrow was felled by a arrow shaft to his shoulder: "Merlyn," he grunted,"hey, be careful Di..."
"I can take care of myself, Ollie."
"Fatal miscalculation, Lance." Lady Shiva slashed down and nearly clipped Black Canary, who responded with a fast dropkick:
"The day I fall to you, Shiva, is the day I retire."
"I haven't lost a kill yet."
"You're good, I'll give you that. You have enough combat experience to raise a serious sweat on me."
"You do realise I don't need swords or pistols to kill you?"
"What brought you into this, Shiva? We haven't fought before."
"That would be telling and I never divulge client confidentiality. Uhhh!" Dinah landed a vicious kick to Shiva's collarbone, while Oliver fitted his exoskeletal third arm to substitute for his unworkable wounded right one. Right, Mal. This is it. Behind a convenient rock shelter, he loaded his bow and targeted Malcolm Merlyn's hiding place. Above all, he had to keep Dinah safe from him- although she was probably thinking the same about Lady Shiva, and with good reason. Was this a League of Assassins hit? It felt like it. But hadn't Bruce and Dick smashed the League into fragments with Talia's cooperation when she defected? None of this made any sense.
Over Metropolis, Superwoman was unexpectedly attacked by a green-flecked particle beam. She recognised the attendant sensation at once: "Emerald Empress?! What the hell are you doing back in the twenty-first century?"
"Ah, Kara Zor-El. You've grown into quite a woman. A shame, because I aimed my temporal incursion at your girlhood."
"I'm more than a match for you, Cira. You haven't got anywhere near the experience that Sarya had, and your Emerald Eye is a precursor of Green Lantern power rings, with far less operability and manoveurability."
"Enough for me to kill your cousin with it once."
"Is that your plan, then? To talk me to death?"
"Typical Kryptonian arrogance."
"What happened to your four associates?"
"I can handle you on my own."
"Oh, keep it up, do. This hardly registers, no matter how hard you dial it up. It doesn't include Kryptonite, magic or red or green solar radiation, so it can't harm me." Superwoman finally reached the Empress and knocked her out. Then, with a start, she realised that there were several other figures below the ensuing melee, each armed with an Emerald Eye of her own. They trained their weaponry on her and she was blanketed with blinding green light. She fell from the sky, to be rescued by: "Kal! Kal, it's the Emerald Empress, she's got an army of multiverse counterparts with her."
"What happened?"
"Smells like... antimatter? Since when were we vulnerable to that?!!"
"It's rare in our universe, but we'd feel it if we ventured into the Antimatter Universe of Qward. Which, I suspect, is where our new Emerald Empress Corps got the ability to zap us."
"I thought Hal and the rest of the GLC closed the portals to that place."
"Kara, someone else is behind this. I was on the way to Themiscyra. Diana's family was attacked. By a Bigh-Mihdall Amazon warrior, Scim'Tar. She...said Steve was killed."
"This is co-ordinated, then. Who's responsible for this. A new Injustice Gang?"
"Whoever, or whatever it is, they've got us tied down on all fronts. That crimson clad Batman analogue must be Edward Caldwell, the Wrath. Wally's being hammered by someone who looks like a mirror image of Barry Allen. Ollie and Dinah are being attacked by Malcolm Merlyn and Lady Shiva. Which leaves the question, why wasn't I...?" Superwoman had recovered sufficiently to enable her cousin to avoid the piledriver that was directed at him from below. Super-Menace hung in the air, grinning:
"Rematch, Kent."
"Jake? I thought you'd destroyed yourself when you became pure energy..."
"A friend put me back together. It's not about the bitterness, the lost years this time. No, it's more than existential angst. You and your LJA associates are too much for this world. Sooner or later, one of your descendants will become corrupted and they may be unstoppable, particularly if they lack your vulnerabilities."
"Wait a minute. Would that friend be Edward Cald-" Super-Menace pummelled him in the chest:
"Too slow, Kent."
"Jake, you...uhhh...don't have to do this. Choose some other world. You can be a hero there, start a new life."
"I won't kill you, Kent. That much, at least, we have in common. But make no mistake, I will beat you within an inch of your life. I'm stronger than you are. You know that."
"Only given that you're an energy clone of me, you lack my vulnerability to Kryptonite. It doesn't work out that way, Jake."
"Ahhhhh!!!" In the skies above, one of the Emerald Empresses had found their mark. Abruptly, however, a spherical object firmed into solidity and two familiar figures flew out:
"Lightning Woman and Violet! Am I glad to see you two!"
"We know about the Empress' new corps. It's in your future, our past. Cira? Give up, now, or face the consequences."
"I'm not scared of you, Ranzz-Digby."
"Then you're more of a fool than I thought."
"Ayla, Salu, she's got antimatter access."
"We know, Kara. And we've got antimatter fission dampers."
"Damn you both! You weren't supposed to be here!" Then Cira realised- Violet had disappeared. She only pondered that for a moment as the Imskian rapidly enlarged and delivered a knockout punch. Ayla radiated a stream of lightning pulses as the panicking Emerald Empresses, undisciplined and inexperienced in combat against a determined assailant, used their vortex manipulators to escape. Beneath them, Superman and Supermenace found themselves too evenly matched. They eventually slumped against each other, exhausted, as, in distant Gotham, Wrath found himself similarly bested as Green Arrow and Black Canary joined Batman and Robin. Wrath snarled: "This isn't over!" Promptly, he disappeared into a portal, which closed almost instantaneously. On Themiscyra, Wonder Woman found herself assisted by Laurel Gand, who swept down to aid the Amazon's battle against Scim'Tar. In a matter of minutes, the ploy was over. However, there had been one casualty. Later that night, hovering over the funeral pyre, Diana said: "I'm sorry, but I need some time away from here. From this world, from the memories of Steve."
"We're sorry, Diana. It should have occurred to us that this criminal inversion of the LJA would target you as well."
"That's all right, Clark. Wrath was behind this. He's somewhere else in the Multiverse and I will make him pay for this."
"Good luck, old friend-Lois?!"
The Daily Planet editor was dressed in her own Amazon combat outfit:
"Oh, don't look so surprised, Clark. I've known for ages that you were really Superman, but I understand why it's necessary to keep your identity secret. Added to which, I've got my own life now. I'm going with Diana. They augmented me with Amazon technology a year ago. Look after him, Kara."
"Are you sure this is what you want, Lois?"
"Diana and Steve were an iconic pair and for whatever reason, the Wrath ended that idyll. She's as much my friend as yours. You and Clark are needed here, Kara. And Diana and I need to stop Wrath from reassembling his antithesis to the LJA and this time, allowing for the intervention of outside assistance. He can only do that if we let him get away into the Multiverse. That won't be allowed to happen. Goodbye, Clark. Give my love to Lana."
And with that, Wonder Woman and Lois Lane phased away from Earth-279. Life went on, much as usual on that world. Paul VII (Albino Lucini) passed away in 2008, to be replaced by Argentine Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, who took the name John XXIV. After the death of the Duke of Edinburgh from a cardiac arrest, Queen Elizabeth II abdicated, and her son became King Charles III. After Jimmy Carter served two terms, his Vice President Walter Mondale served another two, and Geraldine Ferraro became the first female US President after him. In 2000, George H. Bush served a single term, before losing the election to Hillary Rodham Clinton, the second female US President. Illinois Senator Barack Obama became the incumbent US President. In the United Kingdom, the Labour Party cycled through James Callaghan, Michael Foot, Neil Kinnock and John Smith as Labour Prime Ministers, until a brief interregnum under Michael Heseltine foundered on the question of European Union membership, which tore the Conservative Party asunder. Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Jeremy Corbyn succeeded the factionalised centre-right.
A decade passed. One night, Lana Kent noticed her husband staring up into the night sky, wondering at which might have been in some alternate universe. Would he ever know what had happened to Diana and Lois?
THE END