Post by redsycorax on Mar 13, 2023 1:53:09 GMT
Earth-500 bears many resemblances to the alternate universe of Earth-One, but also many differences. One of those differences is about to assume major significance on that Earth...
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THE VALLEY OF UR:
In an archaeological dig within ancient Babylon, Professor Bert Belker grinned as his pickaxe shattered the final wall between him and what he imagined would be reknown and fame within his chosen profession. In the centre of the hall, shining in brilliant faience blue, was an intricately crafted helmet. Behind him, a female figure climbed in through the hole in the memorial wall after him, her eyes fixed on the prize before her: "Imagine it, Susannah! The legendary helm of Set! An artefact sacred to generations of worshippers! And those idiots in Midway City thought it was a mere fabricated fragment and fable. Well, we know better now, don't we? Susannah? Susannah, where are the others?"
Susannah Sturgis took off her pith helmet and mosquito mask. Arrogantly, she shook loose her long black hair and a cruel smile played across her features. She gestured at Belker, his expertise unneeded and now only fit to be discarded: "Rosseforp Rekleb, evlossid otni ssengnihton." As the startled professor became insubstantial and then non-existent in a matter of seconds, Satanna stepped forward to examine and caress the Helmet of Chaos, before she placed it over her head:
"Who awakens the Incarnate Avatar of Great Set?"
"I, a magus, Satanna, heir of the Lefthand Path."
"You are aware what you have done in donning this helmet?"
"Indeed and I freely consent to it. Ah. It begins. I am becoming Doctor Chaos, a title befitting me. I am a Lord of Chaos, a master of the destructive forces that disrupt the natural order of life as you knew it. Soon, I shall rule the realm of mortals. And the pitiful minions of the self-styled Injustice League and Justice Alliance will not stand in my way!" As the entity that was no longer Satanna Zatara completed the intonation, an inverse-coloured gold and blue uniform akin to that of a certain emissary of the Lords of Order elsewhere in the multiverse began to appear over her discarded facade as an archaeologist. When it was complete, Doctor Chaos strode from the abandoned reliquary and soared into the air, intent on the feeling of power and prowess that now engulfed her every fibre.
NEW ORLEANS:
In a hallway in Louisiana, a young woman's pendant began to flash in warning. She bit her lip. She was afraid this day would come one day, ever since she'd read about the discoveries of ancient Sumerian artefacts in the Valley of Ur in Iraq. Her father had taught her magical lore well, but she did not relish what lay ahead. She had avoided this confrontation for as long as possible. Summoning her magicks around her, her resonant lilting voice proclaimed: "Dniwlrihw, ekat em ot eht Ecitsuj Ecnailla fo Acirema Esabeas!" And as a mighty wind hastened to do her bidding, Quonjurea Zatara hoped she would be equal to the task.
JAA SEABASE:
As the magical energy around her subsided, Quonjurea appeared in the midst of a fraught Justice Alliance meeting.
Captain Thunder raised his hand: "It's okay, folks. I was wondering when we'd meet, Ms. Zatara. Welcome to the Justice Alliance Seabase."
"Willie? This woman is related to Satanna?"
"To be more precise, I'm her half-sister. Satanna's mother, Sindella, was a darkmage and she and our father, Guiseppe Zatara, ended their marriage when it became obvious their moral compasses were too far apart. Then he met my mother, Arielle, and one of the results was me- Quonjurea Zatara."
"I see. So, Quonjurea, by the obvious reference to moral compasses, I take it you're here to assist us against your sister? You are aware of what she's just done?" Batman queried.
"Yes, Batman, I'm afraid so. Satanna managed to infiltrate an archaeological expedition to the Valley of Ur in Iraq so that she could get her hands on the Helm of Set."
"That's not good. Merokee told Willie and I that the Helm is an ancient Egyptian artefact captured by the Sumerians and vaulted up. It's a tool of the Lords of Chaos."
Superwoman grimaced: "Oh, I don't like the sound of that, Bella honey."
"Absolutely appropriate, Mom. The Lords of Chaos are the inverse of the Lords of Order, who are basically bundles of energy. They can possess an individual, such as Satanna in this context, if they willingly consent to their enslavement by the forces inhabiting them. You and Dad are bitter foes of one of them, namely Mordru the darkwizard, who goes back millennia. The others are Ga'an Danuth of ancient Lemuria, their former ruler Xanadoth, Klaria the Witch Woman and Childer the Warlock-"
Wonder Woman bowed her head: "There's no need to complete the list, Bella. I'll do it for you. It includes Mars, the God of War, with whom Themiscyra and I myself have repeatedly clashed."
"Are you okay, Diana? I know the backstory behind one of those battles." Superwoman said, clasping her friend's shoulder.
"Thank you, Kara, but although the memories are still indeed raw and painful, I must be candid. You weren't yet members of the Justice Alliance when I was last in combat against Mars and his emissaries. One of them, his daughter Bellona, tried to kill me with an enchanted spear that would prove impervious even to my amazonium bracelets. And that was when. When. When my husband, General Steve Trevor, Unitta's father, stepped in front of the deadly threat to my survival and sacrificed his own life to mine."
Quonjurea closed her eyes and let a tear escape: "Forgive me, Princess Diana, but your pain echoes my own. Satanna killed my mother Arielle when she last made an attempt on one of the artefacts of chaos."
Wonder Woman clasped Quonjurea's hand: "In that case, sister, you are our boon ally in this quest and we would most welcome your assistance in this matter."
"Definitely. Merokee told Bella and I that Quonjurea and her father are emissaries of the Lords of Order on the other side of the ledger."
"Notwithstanding that, she has intimate knowledge of her stepsister's tactics, strategies and abilities- and possible weaknesses."
Quonjurea nodded: "Exactly, Batman. My father and I owe Satanna for blackening our family's reputation and for what she did to my mother."
Superwoman cleared her throat: "We've wanted a magic user within the Alliance for quite some time, Quonjurea. Would you like to join us?"
"If you think I'm worthy, Superwoman, then I would be privileged to do so."
"My friend, we do not judge you by the malice and sourness of your stepsister. Your light shines around you." Wonder Woman warmly acknowledged.
"Quonjurea, what can you tell us about your stepsister and the Helm of Chaos?" In response to Batman's question, Quonjurea summoned benign eldritch currents between her hands and a series of images began to form between them...
"Satanna and I are stepsisters. Unfortunately, Satanna's mother Sindella died in childbirth. As a result, my father grieved for his first wife for many years, until there was an opportunity for him to meet another female mage and for them to be wed- which turned out to be my mother, Arielle, a scion of the Leveau mage dynasty in New Orleans. Satanna never accepted the second marriage, nor myself as her stepsister. We grew up in enmity until the day Satanna disappeared to begin her formal darkmagick apprenticeship to the Sect of Night, an outright satanist outfit and anathema to lightmages everywhere. She grew obsessed with obtaining and possessing the artefacts of the Lords of Chaos, even though she would lose her own identity were she ever to do so. Fortunately, the Lords of Order on our side of the moral compass had destroyed most of them, but the powerful demon Moloch laid a particularly strong enchantment on the Helm of Chaos, concealing it from their scrutiny. On one such mission, Satanna was lured back to Zatara's house so he could try to reason with her, with a replica of the Trident of Posiedon. When she found it was an almost identical forgery, in her fury she unleashed powerful darkmagick, trying to kill my father. But my mother... my mother stepped into its path. And so, my father's heart was broken for a second time."
"Quonjurea, what will Satanna try to do with the Helm now she's become Doctor Chaos?"
"My friends, I fear that she will try to destroy everything on the face of this Earth. I wish that were mere hyperbole, but I know the charcoal darkness that festers within my sister instead of a human heart. It is insatiable and it wants apocalypse and oblivion."
CHEYENNE: NORAD HEADQUARTERS
On Earth-500, reasonable leadership within the former Soviet Union, the United States, People's Republic of China, Britain, France and other nuclear powers caused a more rapid cessation of the Cold War and abandonment of the suicidal global nuclear arms race as soon as the mid-seventies. Thereafter, the silos that had once housed the progeny of thermonuclear fire were permanently closed and abandoned and the missiles that occupied silos within the southwestern United States were dismantled and their radioactive payloads buried in concrete pits. Unfortunately, the process was a long and painstaking one and was still active almost fifty years later, as a sinister figure in a cerulean helmet soared over the remaining silos. Doctor Chaos smiled beneath her mask, although no-one would have seen anything beneath her sapphire barrier. She motioned with her hands and in bloodcurdlingly pre-human language, containing unnatural permutations of words, symbols and syllables, she summoned fire and fury in her wake.
JAA SEABASE:
"Oh, merciful Rao! Tell me that isn't what I think is!" Superman gasped.
"It is, sweetheart. NORAD Headquarters. Kal, Willie, Bella, Jose, Tanaka, Diana, Raimundo, with me. Bruce, Helena, Hermes, we'll need you here doing tactical. And if you contact the Young Defenders, tell them we'll need Ryand'r , Hippolytus and Toshiko to assist us. Quonjurea, please come with us. We'll need you to stop this."
"You don't need to ask, Kara." And with that, the Justice Alliance's strongest members soared through their transit tube into the skies above.
CHEYENNE: NORAD HEADQUARTERS:
"Justice Alliance! How dare you stand in my path! I will not be cowed or subdued this time!"
"Oh, we're not underestimating you at all, Satanna."
"Do not call me by that name! Satanna Zatara is no more. I am Doctor Chaos, possessor of the dread Helm of Chaos and my will will be done!"
Quonjurea stepped forward, already forming sigils and signs to combat her sister and nemesis:
"Not if I have anything to do with it, sister dearest. Wasn't killing my mother enough for you? No. You have to be stopped and no-one knows you better than your own sister."
"I am a pure elemental force of chaos and anarchy! I have no mother or father, no siblings!" And with that, the battle between the two sisters began in earnest. To her shock, Doctor Chaos found that her sister could match her in thaumaturgic mastery, chant for chant, spell for spell, invocation for invocation.
As they watched, while insuring the deadly ICBM payloads did not reach their targets, Lightning Girl whistled: "Wow. Quonjurea sure knows her stuff."
"Just as well, given Mom and Dad's weakness when it comes to magic. She's not zapping either of you with anything, is she?"
"Stop worrying about us, Bella dear. As a certain head of state once said recently in personal circumstances very similar to mine, 'I'm pregnant, not incapacitated." And we need to concentrate on stopping these missiles ever getting anywhere near their targets. Which requires all of our effort and focus. But you're right. Quonjurea will be a real asset to the Justice Alliance."
As his power beam transmuted the nuclear volatiles within a swathe of missiles into inert matter, Green Lantern asked:
"She's a match for her sister, that's for sure. Is that because Quonjurea is her sister and can anticipate her use of offensive magic?"
"From what Merokee told Willie and I when he told us about Satanna's plot, that seems to be what's happening, Jose. For all her facile boasting, Doctor Chaos and Satanna Zatara are effectively merged entities and the Doctor Chaos aspect of their fused personality relies on Satanna's knowledge of contemporary magic. Which Quonjurea is well acquainted with. Added to which, I suspect it takes time to fully master the Helm's capabilities."
One member of the Young Defenders was watching particularly closely, given that his interest in Quonjurea was more than professional. Hippolytus, son of Hippolyta and Theseus and Wonder Woman's brother, had fallen in love with the beautiful black magus as soon as she set foot in the Justice Alliance Seabase, where he had been visiting his own sister. Diana had noticed the way her brother was anxiously looking toward the mage: "Diana, as soon as we finish up with stopping this carnage, I'm heading over there."
"Although Quonjurea is a talented magus and highly skilled warrior of the light arts, I am sure that she will welcome your strength and prowess, brother. And your other interest. The heart has its own reasons and its own urgency and always will."
"Diana, I wish Steve were still around for you."
"I know you do, Pol. I saw your tears and heartfelt grief at his funeral."
As the last of the missiles were blunted, dismantled, negated and destroyed, the Alliance's strongest members assembled to work out what to do next:
"Quonjurea is damned good at that. She's prevented Doc Chaos from interfering with our missile prevention work and kept her occupied deflecting her sister's magical forays against her."
"And now, I'm sorry, Mom and Dad, but I've got to insist you stay back here. We'll take this up. Bella, Pol, with me!"
Evelyn Dent looked on from the Seabase: "Be careful, Willie. Merokee may be a Lord of Order himself, but despite her inexperience as a fused entity, Doctor Chaos has access to a vast reportoire of dark magick. Quonjurea is our main asset in the field out there."
But as they neared, Doctor Chaos got in a lucky shot and Quonjurea pitched backward. Hippolytus shot forward and intercepted:
"Holy Aesclepius! Are you all right?!"
"I am now, Hippolytus. Thank you."
"How touching..." Doctor Chaos sneered, but her sister was not the only one who was tiring. Otherwise, how could Lightning Girl have soared above her and then downward, knocking her into the ground:
"That's the last time you hurt any of us, sorceress! The Alliance is solid earth and we are there for each other."
"Uhhh...Daughter of Merokee, you will regret that."
"How? You may be empowered by the Lords of Chaos, but our mentor Merokee is one of the Lords of Order and we are its loyal agents."
"Silence!" As her sigil lightning flashed above her, Lightning Girl defied the villain's arrogant command.
"Captain Thunder and I embody the forces of the natural order itself. We are not yours to command. Or control!"
"Hey, leave some of that for me!" Having left Quonjurea safely behind him for the other Alliance members to tend to, Hippolytus joined Lightning Girl in combat:
"You are no match for the power of the Helm, stripling. Desist and I will spare your..."
"Uh uh, Chaos. Your Helm is featured in ancient Amazon and Greek myth too, and with reason. We have always heeded the voice of Aphrodite and particularly the abilities that love and desire impart to one. And one particular achilles heel of your darkmagick is on record- that element sacred to Aphrodite Urania Herself, copper!"
"No!" But as she wailed, Doctor Chaos was caught in a transmutation effect, as Green Lantern converted the air around her into the element that Doctor Chaos feared above all else- the one that she had no defence against. As it solidified, she was caught there:
"Nicely done, Pol."
"Thanks, Bella. The question is, what do we do with her now? Sooner or later, the copper will corrode and she'll have her full abilities back."
"I guess the Phantom Zone is out of the question?" Superman asked.
"She could escape from it with her manifold abilities, Kal. Certainly, she would find her way off Reformation Island, so that is also unsuitable. Jose? Have the Overlords made any suggestions about suitably impervious containment for our newly subdued opponent here?"
Captain Thunder stepped forward: "Diana? Bella and I have our own suggestion...it worked before and it will do so again."
EPILOGUE: EARTH-DUODECILLION:
"Are you well, my lady?" As she blinked awake, Doctor Chaos was helped from the ground by a muscular young man, dressed in an inverse fashion to the accursed Captain Thunder and Lightning Girl. But as they made contact, she sensed the darkness and malignancy within him. That was Klingsor's magickal imprimatur! Was this then...?
"They call me Storm Boy."
"You have the power of Merokee's craven followers, but not the blindness that also possesses them. Are you of similar provenance?"
"Aye, my lady. However, I am not aligned to their creed of pandering to the weak and inferior as they are."
"And where are we, my newfound friend?"
"I believe it is a lifeless world in a lifeless universe, an untold distance from the siblings, their hellspawn allies in the "Justice" Alliance they serve alongiside. We are the only life anywhere within it."
"A closed universe. I can sense it. What is your mortal name?"
"Hugh."
"Good Hugh, I am Doctor Chaos. I think you and I have much to talk about. They may believe us entrapped, but it was foolhardy to believe us cowered or contained here. Sooner or later, I promise you, they will regret it and we will escape."
And as Storm Boy maliciously smiled, Doctor Chaos resolved to herself that this would come to pass.
THE END [3.50 PM, MARCH 15, 2023]
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THE VALLEY OF UR:
In an archaeological dig within ancient Babylon, Professor Bert Belker grinned as his pickaxe shattered the final wall between him and what he imagined would be reknown and fame within his chosen profession. In the centre of the hall, shining in brilliant faience blue, was an intricately crafted helmet. Behind him, a female figure climbed in through the hole in the memorial wall after him, her eyes fixed on the prize before her: "Imagine it, Susannah! The legendary helm of Set! An artefact sacred to generations of worshippers! And those idiots in Midway City thought it was a mere fabricated fragment and fable. Well, we know better now, don't we? Susannah? Susannah, where are the others?"
Susannah Sturgis took off her pith helmet and mosquito mask. Arrogantly, she shook loose her long black hair and a cruel smile played across her features. She gestured at Belker, his expertise unneeded and now only fit to be discarded: "Rosseforp Rekleb, evlossid otni ssengnihton." As the startled professor became insubstantial and then non-existent in a matter of seconds, Satanna stepped forward to examine and caress the Helmet of Chaos, before she placed it over her head:
"Who awakens the Incarnate Avatar of Great Set?"
"I, a magus, Satanna, heir of the Lefthand Path."
"You are aware what you have done in donning this helmet?"
"Indeed and I freely consent to it. Ah. It begins. I am becoming Doctor Chaos, a title befitting me. I am a Lord of Chaos, a master of the destructive forces that disrupt the natural order of life as you knew it. Soon, I shall rule the realm of mortals. And the pitiful minions of the self-styled Injustice League and Justice Alliance will not stand in my way!" As the entity that was no longer Satanna Zatara completed the intonation, an inverse-coloured gold and blue uniform akin to that of a certain emissary of the Lords of Order elsewhere in the multiverse began to appear over her discarded facade as an archaeologist. When it was complete, Doctor Chaos strode from the abandoned reliquary and soared into the air, intent on the feeling of power and prowess that now engulfed her every fibre.
NEW ORLEANS:
In a hallway in Louisiana, a young woman's pendant began to flash in warning. She bit her lip. She was afraid this day would come one day, ever since she'd read about the discoveries of ancient Sumerian artefacts in the Valley of Ur in Iraq. Her father had taught her magical lore well, but she did not relish what lay ahead. She had avoided this confrontation for as long as possible. Summoning her magicks around her, her resonant lilting voice proclaimed: "Dniwlrihw, ekat em ot eht Ecitsuj Ecnailla fo Acirema Esabeas!" And as a mighty wind hastened to do her bidding, Quonjurea Zatara hoped she would be equal to the task.
JAA SEABASE:
As the magical energy around her subsided, Quonjurea appeared in the midst of a fraught Justice Alliance meeting.
Captain Thunder raised his hand: "It's okay, folks. I was wondering when we'd meet, Ms. Zatara. Welcome to the Justice Alliance Seabase."
"Willie? This woman is related to Satanna?"
"To be more precise, I'm her half-sister. Satanna's mother, Sindella, was a darkmage and she and our father, Guiseppe Zatara, ended their marriage when it became obvious their moral compasses were too far apart. Then he met my mother, Arielle, and one of the results was me- Quonjurea Zatara."
"I see. So, Quonjurea, by the obvious reference to moral compasses, I take it you're here to assist us against your sister? You are aware of what she's just done?" Batman queried.
"Yes, Batman, I'm afraid so. Satanna managed to infiltrate an archaeological expedition to the Valley of Ur in Iraq so that she could get her hands on the Helm of Set."
"That's not good. Merokee told Willie and I that the Helm is an ancient Egyptian artefact captured by the Sumerians and vaulted up. It's a tool of the Lords of Chaos."
Superwoman grimaced: "Oh, I don't like the sound of that, Bella honey."
"Absolutely appropriate, Mom. The Lords of Chaos are the inverse of the Lords of Order, who are basically bundles of energy. They can possess an individual, such as Satanna in this context, if they willingly consent to their enslavement by the forces inhabiting them. You and Dad are bitter foes of one of them, namely Mordru the darkwizard, who goes back millennia. The others are Ga'an Danuth of ancient Lemuria, their former ruler Xanadoth, Klaria the Witch Woman and Childer the Warlock-"
Wonder Woman bowed her head: "There's no need to complete the list, Bella. I'll do it for you. It includes Mars, the God of War, with whom Themiscyra and I myself have repeatedly clashed."
"Are you okay, Diana? I know the backstory behind one of those battles." Superwoman said, clasping her friend's shoulder.
"Thank you, Kara, but although the memories are still indeed raw and painful, I must be candid. You weren't yet members of the Justice Alliance when I was last in combat against Mars and his emissaries. One of them, his daughter Bellona, tried to kill me with an enchanted spear that would prove impervious even to my amazonium bracelets. And that was when. When. When my husband, General Steve Trevor, Unitta's father, stepped in front of the deadly threat to my survival and sacrificed his own life to mine."
Quonjurea closed her eyes and let a tear escape: "Forgive me, Princess Diana, but your pain echoes my own. Satanna killed my mother Arielle when she last made an attempt on one of the artefacts of chaos."
Wonder Woman clasped Quonjurea's hand: "In that case, sister, you are our boon ally in this quest and we would most welcome your assistance in this matter."
"Definitely. Merokee told Bella and I that Quonjurea and her father are emissaries of the Lords of Order on the other side of the ledger."
"Notwithstanding that, she has intimate knowledge of her stepsister's tactics, strategies and abilities- and possible weaknesses."
Quonjurea nodded: "Exactly, Batman. My father and I owe Satanna for blackening our family's reputation and for what she did to my mother."
Superwoman cleared her throat: "We've wanted a magic user within the Alliance for quite some time, Quonjurea. Would you like to join us?"
"If you think I'm worthy, Superwoman, then I would be privileged to do so."
"My friend, we do not judge you by the malice and sourness of your stepsister. Your light shines around you." Wonder Woman warmly acknowledged.
"Quonjurea, what can you tell us about your stepsister and the Helm of Chaos?" In response to Batman's question, Quonjurea summoned benign eldritch currents between her hands and a series of images began to form between them...
"Satanna and I are stepsisters. Unfortunately, Satanna's mother Sindella died in childbirth. As a result, my father grieved for his first wife for many years, until there was an opportunity for him to meet another female mage and for them to be wed- which turned out to be my mother, Arielle, a scion of the Leveau mage dynasty in New Orleans. Satanna never accepted the second marriage, nor myself as her stepsister. We grew up in enmity until the day Satanna disappeared to begin her formal darkmagick apprenticeship to the Sect of Night, an outright satanist outfit and anathema to lightmages everywhere. She grew obsessed with obtaining and possessing the artefacts of the Lords of Chaos, even though she would lose her own identity were she ever to do so. Fortunately, the Lords of Order on our side of the moral compass had destroyed most of them, but the powerful demon Moloch laid a particularly strong enchantment on the Helm of Chaos, concealing it from their scrutiny. On one such mission, Satanna was lured back to Zatara's house so he could try to reason with her, with a replica of the Trident of Posiedon. When she found it was an almost identical forgery, in her fury she unleashed powerful darkmagick, trying to kill my father. But my mother... my mother stepped into its path. And so, my father's heart was broken for a second time."
"Quonjurea, what will Satanna try to do with the Helm now she's become Doctor Chaos?"
"My friends, I fear that she will try to destroy everything on the face of this Earth. I wish that were mere hyperbole, but I know the charcoal darkness that festers within my sister instead of a human heart. It is insatiable and it wants apocalypse and oblivion."
CHEYENNE: NORAD HEADQUARTERS
On Earth-500, reasonable leadership within the former Soviet Union, the United States, People's Republic of China, Britain, France and other nuclear powers caused a more rapid cessation of the Cold War and abandonment of the suicidal global nuclear arms race as soon as the mid-seventies. Thereafter, the silos that had once housed the progeny of thermonuclear fire were permanently closed and abandoned and the missiles that occupied silos within the southwestern United States were dismantled and their radioactive payloads buried in concrete pits. Unfortunately, the process was a long and painstaking one and was still active almost fifty years later, as a sinister figure in a cerulean helmet soared over the remaining silos. Doctor Chaos smiled beneath her mask, although no-one would have seen anything beneath her sapphire barrier. She motioned with her hands and in bloodcurdlingly pre-human language, containing unnatural permutations of words, symbols and syllables, she summoned fire and fury in her wake.
JAA SEABASE:
"Oh, merciful Rao! Tell me that isn't what I think is!" Superman gasped.
"It is, sweetheart. NORAD Headquarters. Kal, Willie, Bella, Jose, Tanaka, Diana, Raimundo, with me. Bruce, Helena, Hermes, we'll need you here doing tactical. And if you contact the Young Defenders, tell them we'll need Ryand'r , Hippolytus and Toshiko to assist us. Quonjurea, please come with us. We'll need you to stop this."
"You don't need to ask, Kara." And with that, the Justice Alliance's strongest members soared through their transit tube into the skies above.
CHEYENNE: NORAD HEADQUARTERS:
"Justice Alliance! How dare you stand in my path! I will not be cowed or subdued this time!"
"Oh, we're not underestimating you at all, Satanna."
"Do not call me by that name! Satanna Zatara is no more. I am Doctor Chaos, possessor of the dread Helm of Chaos and my will will be done!"
Quonjurea stepped forward, already forming sigils and signs to combat her sister and nemesis:
"Not if I have anything to do with it, sister dearest. Wasn't killing my mother enough for you? No. You have to be stopped and no-one knows you better than your own sister."
"I am a pure elemental force of chaos and anarchy! I have no mother or father, no siblings!" And with that, the battle between the two sisters began in earnest. To her shock, Doctor Chaos found that her sister could match her in thaumaturgic mastery, chant for chant, spell for spell, invocation for invocation.
As they watched, while insuring the deadly ICBM payloads did not reach their targets, Lightning Girl whistled: "Wow. Quonjurea sure knows her stuff."
"Just as well, given Mom and Dad's weakness when it comes to magic. She's not zapping either of you with anything, is she?"
"Stop worrying about us, Bella dear. As a certain head of state once said recently in personal circumstances very similar to mine, 'I'm pregnant, not incapacitated." And we need to concentrate on stopping these missiles ever getting anywhere near their targets. Which requires all of our effort and focus. But you're right. Quonjurea will be a real asset to the Justice Alliance."
As his power beam transmuted the nuclear volatiles within a swathe of missiles into inert matter, Green Lantern asked:
"She's a match for her sister, that's for sure. Is that because Quonjurea is her sister and can anticipate her use of offensive magic?"
"From what Merokee told Willie and I when he told us about Satanna's plot, that seems to be what's happening, Jose. For all her facile boasting, Doctor Chaos and Satanna Zatara are effectively merged entities and the Doctor Chaos aspect of their fused personality relies on Satanna's knowledge of contemporary magic. Which Quonjurea is well acquainted with. Added to which, I suspect it takes time to fully master the Helm's capabilities."
One member of the Young Defenders was watching particularly closely, given that his interest in Quonjurea was more than professional. Hippolytus, son of Hippolyta and Theseus and Wonder Woman's brother, had fallen in love with the beautiful black magus as soon as she set foot in the Justice Alliance Seabase, where he had been visiting his own sister. Diana had noticed the way her brother was anxiously looking toward the mage: "Diana, as soon as we finish up with stopping this carnage, I'm heading over there."
"Although Quonjurea is a talented magus and highly skilled warrior of the light arts, I am sure that she will welcome your strength and prowess, brother. And your other interest. The heart has its own reasons and its own urgency and always will."
"Diana, I wish Steve were still around for you."
"I know you do, Pol. I saw your tears and heartfelt grief at his funeral."
As the last of the missiles were blunted, dismantled, negated and destroyed, the Alliance's strongest members assembled to work out what to do next:
"Quonjurea is damned good at that. She's prevented Doc Chaos from interfering with our missile prevention work and kept her occupied deflecting her sister's magical forays against her."
"And now, I'm sorry, Mom and Dad, but I've got to insist you stay back here. We'll take this up. Bella, Pol, with me!"
Evelyn Dent looked on from the Seabase: "Be careful, Willie. Merokee may be a Lord of Order himself, but despite her inexperience as a fused entity, Doctor Chaos has access to a vast reportoire of dark magick. Quonjurea is our main asset in the field out there."
But as they neared, Doctor Chaos got in a lucky shot and Quonjurea pitched backward. Hippolytus shot forward and intercepted:
"Holy Aesclepius! Are you all right?!"
"I am now, Hippolytus. Thank you."
"How touching..." Doctor Chaos sneered, but her sister was not the only one who was tiring. Otherwise, how could Lightning Girl have soared above her and then downward, knocking her into the ground:
"That's the last time you hurt any of us, sorceress! The Alliance is solid earth and we are there for each other."
"Uhhh...Daughter of Merokee, you will regret that."
"How? You may be empowered by the Lords of Chaos, but our mentor Merokee is one of the Lords of Order and we are its loyal agents."
"Silence!" As her sigil lightning flashed above her, Lightning Girl defied the villain's arrogant command.
"Captain Thunder and I embody the forces of the natural order itself. We are not yours to command. Or control!"
"Hey, leave some of that for me!" Having left Quonjurea safely behind him for the other Alliance members to tend to, Hippolytus joined Lightning Girl in combat:
"You are no match for the power of the Helm, stripling. Desist and I will spare your..."
"Uh uh, Chaos. Your Helm is featured in ancient Amazon and Greek myth too, and with reason. We have always heeded the voice of Aphrodite and particularly the abilities that love and desire impart to one. And one particular achilles heel of your darkmagick is on record- that element sacred to Aphrodite Urania Herself, copper!"
"No!" But as she wailed, Doctor Chaos was caught in a transmutation effect, as Green Lantern converted the air around her into the element that Doctor Chaos feared above all else- the one that she had no defence against. As it solidified, she was caught there:
"Nicely done, Pol."
"Thanks, Bella. The question is, what do we do with her now? Sooner or later, the copper will corrode and she'll have her full abilities back."
"I guess the Phantom Zone is out of the question?" Superman asked.
"She could escape from it with her manifold abilities, Kal. Certainly, she would find her way off Reformation Island, so that is also unsuitable. Jose? Have the Overlords made any suggestions about suitably impervious containment for our newly subdued opponent here?"
Captain Thunder stepped forward: "Diana? Bella and I have our own suggestion...it worked before and it will do so again."
EPILOGUE: EARTH-DUODECILLION:
"Are you well, my lady?" As she blinked awake, Doctor Chaos was helped from the ground by a muscular young man, dressed in an inverse fashion to the accursed Captain Thunder and Lightning Girl. But as they made contact, she sensed the darkness and malignancy within him. That was Klingsor's magickal imprimatur! Was this then...?
"They call me Storm Boy."
"You have the power of Merokee's craven followers, but not the blindness that also possesses them. Are you of similar provenance?"
"Aye, my lady. However, I am not aligned to their creed of pandering to the weak and inferior as they are."
"And where are we, my newfound friend?"
"I believe it is a lifeless world in a lifeless universe, an untold distance from the siblings, their hellspawn allies in the "Justice" Alliance they serve alongiside. We are the only life anywhere within it."
"A closed universe. I can sense it. What is your mortal name?"
"Hugh."
"Good Hugh, I am Doctor Chaos. I think you and I have much to talk about. They may believe us entrapped, but it was foolhardy to believe us cowered or contained here. Sooner or later, I promise you, they will regret it and we will escape."
And as Storm Boy maliciously smiled, Doctor Chaos resolved to herself that this would come to pass.
THE END [3.50 PM, MARCH 15, 2023]
