The Reservists

December 1983

Ralph Dibny, a.k.a. the Elongated Man, stood silently in the alleyway watching the Laundrette in Keystone City’s Chinatown. Dressed in a grey trenchcoat and trilby, he effectively hid the red and black costume he wore for his superheroic endeavours, preferring the traditional “sleuthing” garb of the detective he loved being.

During his formative years he had read all of Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories and novels; poured through Christie’s Miss Marple and Poirot tales, seeking to find the perpetrator before the fictional sleuths; even training for a time with the legend that was the Batman,

It has been a hobby for years, even before his experiment/accident – call it what you will – with the miraculous Gingold which transformed his every atom and molecule to allow him to stretch and contort in ways unimaginable – and painful – to normal humans as the Elongated Man.

He had solved cases ranging from simple theft to blackmail/extortion to first-degree murder, and he attributed his success not to his fantastical powers, but to his keen, logical and methodically deductive mind.

Take this particular case for example. Word on the street was that someone was trying to import rare birds – native to Hong Kong only – to the United States, via Keystone City; birds of the most beautiful and luxurious kind, sought after by collectors and – even worse – gourmands in equal quantity. Trouble was, the birds were close to extinction and, as such, these were illegal practices that Ralph Dibny sought to put to an end.

A tip off had led him to this Chinese Laundrette, which seemed like an excellent cover – a pet shop would have been far too obvious. All Ralph Dibny had to do was wait until the mysterious mastermind sent his bagman to check the merchandise, or attempt to move it on, and he would act.

Shortly after three hours of diligent watch, the man in the red camel coat arrived, driving up in his dark blue Mercedes, and Ralph Dibny knew it was time. The man looked around quite a number of times to check if he was being watched before finally entering the laundrette.

Ralph Dibny waited for a few more minutes, and after he was sure that no one else was with the bagman, or following him, he sped across the street and slid into the building.

To his surprise, the laundrette seemed deserted. No one stood at the counter, which he would have thought would have been a good idea to ensure clients or visitors would not be suspicious or too nosy and venture through to the back, which was exactly where Ralph himself was now headed.

Even more curious, he thought as he looked around the empty storage and cleaning area. There was almost total silence, except for the quiet hiss of one of the horizontal garment presses that stood at the far side of the room.

His nose stretched out, mimicking the boy/puppet Pinocchio as he sniffed about in the air.

“Something fishy is going on here,” he whispered to himself.

At that, he heard a rustling and then the unmistakably shrill chirp of a bird. Quickly, he scanned the room again, following the sound until he focused on an oversized white sheet draped over something large and cubical in shape.

“Aha!” he exclaimed, and stretched his torso until he was able to reach the covered object, without moving his feet from the floor. He reached out and pulled the sheet clean off, and with a flourish, tossed it behind him.

Underneath, he saw 10-15 of the most beautiful red and orange birds in a wicker cage. He quickly scanned the cage for any clues or any damage to the birds…and then he noticed something curious: all the birds were lined up perfectly straight in two rows. And they were staring directly at him. They hadn’t even flinched when he had pulled back the sheet.

“My God!” he exclaimed in horror at the sudden realisation that the birds’ eyes were human and not at all birdlike. “What sort of abomination is this?”

In an instant, the first row leapt forward, smashing open the cage door. Ralph Dibny had time only to jump back before the second row of birds were out of the cage and upon him, their beaks pecking at him incessantly and their talons ripping into his flesh.

His hands shot up instinctively to protect his face, but the first cage of birds were soon joined by twenty or thirty more, all tearing and slashing at him; pushing him backwards, deeper into the darkness.

In less than a minute, his coat and hat lay on the floor in tatters, and the birds began work on his black and red costume. Blood flowed from the dozens of wounds all across his body, and Ralph Dibny roared in pain, unable to stop or even slow down the ferocious attack.

“You should not have come here, Ralph Dibny,” a voice hissed from the darkness.

Ralph felt his back hit something hard, and from the searing heat he knew it wasn’t a wall or a door. He looked up to see the man in the red camel coat standing behind the now open steamer, which Ralph found himself lying across.

“Nothing can stop Rex Maximus!” the man roared triumphantly as he pushed down on the steamer’s top, trapping Ralph Dibny in its burning embrace.

They dumped his body outside of town at a disused railway station. Since the Justice League of America were destroyed by forces unknown in May 1972, Ralph Dibny a.k.a. the Elongated Man, never became a member, and never received a signal device to contact help.

He died from internal bleeding and trauma that night.

October 2001

In the aftermath of the battle with the Parasite, Firestorm, Elongated Man, Power Girl and Jade stood aghast over the spot where, just moments ago, their foe and their two colleagues, Zatanna and Black Lightning, had vanished.

Elongated Man scratched his head in bewilderment. “What did he say?” he asked.

“Who knows,” Power Girl replied. “Though, from the sounds of it, he must have absorbed Zatanna’s magic and used some sort of incantation.”

“Anyone able to decipher it?” he asked.

Firestorm shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.

“Maybe my power ring recorded something,” Jade replied looking at the emerald ring. “I’ll see what I can get.”

“Great,” Elongated Man said. “Now all we can do is wait. Any suggestions, apart from calling in the JLA?”

“Look, I’m sure we don’t need them,” Firestorm growled. Part of him still wanted to be in the super team, but they never asked him when they reformed a few years ago; and although the likes of Orion and Plastic Man had joined their ranks – the homicidal son of Darkseid and an ex-criminal – he hadn’t been asked once. Sure, he had helped out on occasion, fighting the likes of Amazo a few months back, but everyone and their donkey helped out then. He wasn’t bitter though. Well, not much.

“We could try Oracle,” Power Girl said, almost reluctantly. “She could give us some information on the Parasite the could help to defeat him when we find him again.”

“Sounds good to me,” Firestorm said “It’s been a while since we tangled, and I’m sure there’s a lot of history since then.”

“Excellent idea, Power Girl,” Elongated Man cried, extending his right thumb high into the air. “Shouldn’t take you that long to get there either.”

“Hold on a minute,” Power Girl protested, striding over towards him. “Why me? Any one of us could go and ask her!”

“Ah, but you guys have history,” Elongated Man replied. “You’re old buddies.”

“I’ll old buddies you,” Power Girl growled.

“Hold it, Karen,” Firestorm said calmly. “Ralph didn’t mean anything by it. All he meant was you know how to get in touch with her, and anyway, with your super speed you could fly there and back long before any of us could.”

“Humph!” Power Girl grunted. “I suppose you’re right. I’ll go, but I want it on the record that I protest strongly.”

“On the record? What’s she on about?” But before Elongated Man could get an answer, she was in the air and seconds later all that was left was a trail of dust, which arced into the evening sky.

“You have got to watch yourself there, my friend,” Firestorm said to Elongated Man, as he wandered past and towards Jade.

“Since when were you all calm and knowledgeable, hothead?” came the reply.

The comment irked Firestorm slightly, but he brushed it off. He did know something was off. For the last few months he had felt his personality changing ever so slightly, but he had put it down to finally showing signs of maturity. Even if that were the case, he knew there was something more to it, especially incidents like the one against the Parasite, when he felt it wasn’t right to rush in. More and more he seemed to second-guess himself, and while at times it was the right thing to do – like the hesitation against the Parasite – sometimes it wasn’t. Especially when it was in his social life.

“Anything, Jade?” Firestorm asked.

“Yes, and not good,” Jade replied “His spell was to open a portal through time and take them to the Justice League satellite in May 1972. The sixteenth of May 1972 to be precise. Does that date mean anything to either of you?”

Firestorm shook his head and looked over at Elongated Man. “Not me,” he said. “Ralph?”

“Me neither,” Elongated Man replied. “But I tell you this, it’s not to celebrate someone’s birthday.”

Barbara Gordon a.k.a. Oracle, sat in her base of operations in the clock tower at the heart of Gotham City. It had been a warm and humid day with absolutely no wind, so when she felt the breeze on her neck and the gentle landing of feet on the floor behind her, she had a 50/50 shot at getting the name right, and she did.

“Evening, Karen,” she said softly.

“Oracle,” Power Girl replied.

“What can I do for you?” Oracle didn’t turn to face her former colleague. She simply smiled.

“So,” Power Girl said, finishing the story she had just told Oracle, “Can you help us find them?”

“I’ll do my best,” Oracle replied, continuing to work on one computer. “I’ve already pulled up all the information I have on the Parasite. It’s not a lot, but then again it’s a start, I guess.”

“Yes,” Power Girl admitted.

Suddenly, a shimmering green circle appeared near the ceiling. After a few moments the image had sharpened to reveal the features of Jade’s face.

“Jade!” Power Girl cried

“Glad you can see me,” Jade’s image said. “I wasn’t sure how Kyle did this, but thought it was the best way to get in touch.”

“What have you found, Jade?” Oracle asked.

“Well, the Parasite’s spell was to take him back in time to the Justice League satellite on May 16th, 1972,” the green face replied.
“Oracle,” Power Girl said. “Can you run that date and check any significance?”

“I certainly can,” Oracle replied. “But I don’t need to, and I’m surprised you need to ask.”

“What?” Power Girl asked incredulously.

“That was the date the Justice League’s active members at the time were all killed in action.”

Power Girl’s face froze in horror.

“Did you guys get that?” Jade asked.

“The Justice League dead?” Firestorm asked. “But how can that be?”

“All the active members at the time – Superman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, Atom, Hawkman, Black Canary, Green Arrow, Martian Manhunter – all died on the same date.”

Jade, Firestorm and Elongated Man saw Oracle’s lips move on the green screen Jade had created in front of them, and heard the words but they couldn’t believe them.

“They were either killed in twos or threes or alone – often times when at their place of work in their secret identities,” Oracle concluded.

“This is nuts!” Firestorm gasped.

“If they’re dead, then how come Bats busted in on one of my captures last week?” Elongated Man bellowed.

“I don’t know who you saw Ralph, but Batman’s been gone for a long, long time,” Oracle said. “And no-one took up the mantle when he was gone.”

“This can’t be,” Firestorm said. “Superman saved all those people in Guatemala the other day.”

“Wait!” Power Girl shouted, “It’s obvious. The Parasite went back in time and killed the Justice League. They don’t exist any more.”

“If that’s the case,” Jade said softly, “then why do we remember them?”

“You’ve got me there, Jade,” Power Girl said.

“Supergirl,” Oracle said calmly. “Supergirl saved all those people in Guatemala two days ago.”

“Do you all understand the significance of this?!” Elongated Man shouted. “The Parasite has changed history and some of the world’s mightiest heroes are gone.”

“We’ve…we’ve got to do something,” Firestorm stuttered.

“Ralph!” Jade cried out.

“What is it …?” he replied, and then he followed Jade’s horrified gaze down to his torso, or rather where his torso should have been. He could just make out a faint purple colour and a fading EM in the left side of this chest “Dear G…”

“Ralph!” Firestorm reached out towards him, but it was too late – the Elongated Man had vanished.

“What’s going on here?” Jade asked.

“Ralph?” was all Firestorm to could muster.

“Oracle,” Power Girl began. “Get all the information on the Elongated Man, starting with the most current and work backwards.”

“Okay … hmmm,” Oracle said, as she started a new query. “Elongated Man, a.k.a. Ralph Dibny. Latest entry is…his…his death. Sometime around December 1983.”

“I knew it! “ Power Girl exclaimed. “Because the Parasite has tampered with time, there are repercussions and Elongated Man’s death was one of them. We have to find a way to stop the Parasite and reverse what he’s done.”

“Just one question,” Firestorm started. “What has he done?”

For the first time since her arrival, Power Girl and Oracle exchanged worried glances, while Jade and Firestorm did the same.

“I…I don’t remember,” Power Girl replied in unison with the shaking heads of Jade and Oracle.

In 1985, Dick Grayson (a.k.a. Robin) completed his vendetta against Tony Zucco, the murderer of his parents many years previously. After 13 months in hiding, he turned himself in to Gotham police. His subsequent trial made few headlines, Commissioner Montoya working tirelessly to hide his secret identity. He was jailed for twenty years in 1992.

After the death of his mentor, Green Arrow, and the two people who were there for him from the very beginning when his heroin addiction took hold, Green Lantern and Black Canary, Roy Harper (a.k.a. Speedy) went to pieces. Although he had the friendship of his fellow Teen Titans, the majority of them were also hurting in their own way. The devastation of losing the ones they looked up to admired and loved, caused them to drift apart, not stay together. Vulnerable once more, he turned to drugs and vanished. In April 1974, he was found dead from an overdose in a one-room apartment in a rundown part of L.A. Because he had no identification, he was filed as a John Doe and subsequently cremated. Nobody mourned him.

In 1990, whilst chasing the criminal who had killed her father, James Gordon, Batgirl (a.k.a. Barbara Gordon) was trapped by Two-Face and the Riddler. After defeating both of them in hand-to-hand combat, she was surprised by the Joker and shot in the head.

In 2001, no one remembered Nightwing, Arsenal or Oracle. They never existed.

May 16th 1972

The Parasite sat silently in the monitor room of the Justice League satellite, the massive structure spinning silently 23,500 miles above the Earth.

In the corner of the room, Black Lightning lay unconscious in a glowing green cage. Only moments before, Zatanna had been there with him, but she had disappeared suddenly.

The Parasite wondered which of the Justice Leaguers he had killed had been the one who had saved her some time in the future. That was the only explanation he had for her disappearance and those of several other heroes and villains throughout time since he had sought out the active Justice League members of the time and destroyed them. He wondered if Black Lightning would disappear too at some point, or whether because he never really joined the team officially, they hadn’t had cause to save him. Either way, it would be over soon for them both. Black Lightning would either disappear from existence, or die alone on the satellite.

The crackle of static from the communications console made The Parasite jump in alarm. He spun around and focused on the noise, sighing when he realised what it was. The static continued for a few moments and then cut off. He smiled and sat back down in the chair, turning his attention back to the bank of green LCD displays that hung in the air across from him.

On them he watched past escapades, which heroes such as Superman, Firestorm and Supergirl had once thwarted. Now, he rejoiced in watching himself easily walk through the poor security features of banks and gold reserves, with little or no superhuman intervention to catch him on the way out. He reveled in observing his stalking of those who had made his life so difficult when he was plain old Rudy Jones all those years ago. The bullies at school; the supermarket managers who had ridiculed him when he worked there; the policemen who had run him in again and again because he was an easy target. Now he could watch as they all got their comeuppance; as he grabbed them and siphoned off their life force, leaving them as wasted people in withering bodies. That gave him the most satisfaction – watching as they twitched in broken, twisted corpses, their minds alert and totally helpless.

The Parasite allowed himself a smile, before gazing at the last display. In it, he watched as Rudy Jones left his rundown apartment building and headed off to work at S.T.A.R. labs in Philadelphia. He knew what was supposed to happen that day.

“What’re you watching, purple and ugly?”

“Ah, Black Lightning,” the Parasite hissed. “You’re awake, are you?”

“Awake and sore,” Black Lightning growled from the cage, rubbing the back of his head.

“Don’t forget to add very angry to that list, Lightning,” the Parasite said, still not taking his eyes from the last display. He knew that Black Lightning was powerless to do anything. He had seen to that by draining all of his powers when they had first arrived at the satellite.

“You bet I am, and once I get out of this cage I’ll…”

“It’ll be too late by then,” the Parasite sighed, finally annoyed at the hero’s interruption and rising to his feet. “The events have been set in motion. One way or the other, you lose today.”

“What do you mean?

“They’re dead. I killed them all.” Parasite said. “The Justice League from this time, are all dead. It was quite easy really.”

Black Lightning’s mouth dropped open. He couldn’t comprehend what the Parasite had just told him. The information buzzed through his head and swamped his brain.

“Stunned, huh?” the Parasite said. “How? Well, the satellite is the hub of their operation, the centre of their crime-fighting world, so to speak. All emergencies route through here, as do any communications between them including their signal devices. All I had to do was use the same system that relays their communications to hone in on their signal devices. It was a simple task to either eliminate them from here, or send secret messages a few days into the past to those who hate them most.

“So it was that the Joker finally got the better of Batman; Lex Luthor was able to identify Superman in civvies and wipe him off the face of the Earth; and the Thinker outwitted the Atom.”

Black Lightning fell back against the cage and received a slight shock. Startled, he tumbled forward.

“Sorry about that last one,” The Parasite grinned. “I don’t usually go in for puns.”

Black Lightning pushed himself up from the floor until he was sitting again. The Parasite crouched down in front of the cage. Although the bars from the cage were between them, their faces were only a foot apart.

“Why?” Black Lightning growled.

“I hadn’t planned it, believe me,” the Parasite said. “When you all barged in on my little fight with the Ray, and indeed when he had first caught me, all I was doing was testing out my new armor. It allows me to absorb just about anything now – even iron bars add to my strength, and they’re hardly living energy are they?

“Anyway, I digress. The point is, although I was a bit overwhelmed at first when you all came in guns blazing, I thought it would be a good test to see how powerful I really was. Let me tell you, it was a bit difficult keeping all of your powers in check within me, but with the help of the armor, I was in control in a very short space of time indeed.”

“But, why kill…”

“The Justice League?” the Parasite continued. “I’ll get to that”

“Well, you were giving me a good going over and I thought I was a goner, but when the little magician appeared out of nowhere and you lost your grip, I went kind of supernova on you all and found I was the only one left standing. But only just. The pain was excruciating, as it always is.”

The Parasite paused and stood, before turning and walking over towards the displays.

“You see, it’s easy for me to absorb the power, but when I let it out, it gets more and more painful as, basically, I’m losing energy,” the madman continued. “The pain is almost unbearable, and when it all went a bit nuts, every part of my body was screaming.”

He reached the displays and switched them all off except for the one where he watched himself as Rudy Jones drive along the Fort Pitt Bridge in Pittsburgh.

“Something snapped, and I grabbed Zatanna, absorbing her magical talents. Then I said a little spell and we were sent back in time to here. You came along for the ride, but when we arrived, you were both unconscious. It was easy to truss you up.”

The Parasite sighed.

“I loved her, you know.” He whispered.

“Let me out of here, and I’ll…”

“It’ll be over soon,” the Parasite said as he watched Rudy Jones’ car veer off the bridge and head for the cold waters of the river below. “Ironic, isn’t it. Superman saved me from killing myself all those years ago, and then a few weeks later, I become a monster who ended up spending a large part of my life trying to kill him.”

“What are you talking about, man?”

“I came back in time to kill Superman and stop him from saving me,” the Parasite replied “That way, I don’t suffer any more and I never become this…this, grotesque monster who feeds on the lives of others.”

With that, the car flipped once slowly in the air before impact.

“Once I’m dead, I’ll fade out,” the Parasite said. “Not sure why it takes this long. I thought it would be instantaneous. I wonder if everything has to play out again after history is changed. That’s what happened with Zatanna, and probably hundreds of other super-do-gooders. Oh well, I’ll…”

The Parasite froze in time with the car, which had frozen in mid air, only a few feet from the water’s surface.

“What the…”

The car began to rise, slowly at first, and then more rapidly. The Parasite watched in horror as he recognized the green glow that now surrounded the car. The same green glow that emanated from Black Lightning’s cage and made up the displays in front of him.

“But, Green Lantern is dead. I shot down his test flight my…”

“Ha!” Black Lightning cried out, as he saw the car rise to meet the figure of Alan Scott, hovering high in the air. “Wrong Lantern!”

“No!” the Parasite hissed. “It can’t be. I killed Superman, so…”

“Didn’t mean that someone else couldn’t have saved you!” Black Lightning crowed. “Just because the big S was sailing past at the time, doesn’t mean that old GL couldn’t have been in the vicinity too.”

The Parasite spun around and glared at Black Lightning.

“You said it yourself. Hundreds of other super-do-gooders.” Black Lightning allowed himself a wry smile. “Looks like your quick fire plan didn’t work out, my friend.”

“It’s not over yet,” the Parasite hissed, as he walked over to the cage once more. “I’ll just have to do it the painful way, and blast myself in 1972 from here. It’s a small matt….”

“Flash to Justice League headquarters.”

The Parasite stopped in his tracks. He heard the same crackle and hiss of static that he had heard earlier, but this time there was a voice to go with it.

“Come in Justice League,” it said. “Someone, anyone?”

The Parasite spun around and made a dash for the console. He punched a few buttons and to his horror found that the voice did indeed belong to Barry Allen, the Flash. A loud burst of static made him jump backwards.

“Flash, is that you?”

“Batman?”

“No one is on the satellite. We’re all too busy down here. I’m in Gotham, at Wayne Industries. Just tying something up some loose ends with the Joker. Did you get him?”

The Parasite stood in silence, uncontrollably riveted to the discussion taking place.

“That’s affirmative,” The Flash replied “One Rudy Jones, all safe and sound in some secret location. Although I still don’t know why I had to go get him.”

“Someone important in the future is what Superman told me,” Batman said. “Batman out.”

“How?” the Parasite whispered.

“Simple,” a voice said from behind him. “Time travel.”

The Parasite spun around to see Power Girl and Jade standing in front of him. In the distance behind him, a dark shape seemed to melt into the shadows.

“Our solution, however,” Jade continued as she walked to the left, the Parasite’s eyes following her as she went, “was to use a new friend, introduced to us by an old one.”

“Wh…what?” The Parasite was confused.

Jade grinned and stood beside one of the transporters.

“No!” the Parasite screamed. He shot an arm out, ready to throw a force bolt at Jade.

Before he could, he caught the sight of a yellow and white blur to his left. Power Girl’s right fist smashed into the side of his head at 100mph, knocking him with such force that the equipment that he hit was reduced to dust almost immediately. Jade followed up swiftly, using her ring to construct pincers that curled around the Parasite’s torso and squeezed.

“Give it up, Parasite!” Power Girl roared. “Your scheme is at an end”

“But, how?” the Parasite asked, still dazed from the punch and struggling weakly against the pincers.

“A… stranger stepped in,” Jade began. “He filled us in on what was happening. Took a while for us to remember what had gone on, as we forgot every hero that disappeared, or whose history was changed, but it all came clear and he introduced us to Hourman.”

“It was then simple for Hourman to send us back in time far enough to leave warnings for the Justice League members you killed,” Power Girl continued. “They were able to set up counters to the attacks you set and so were never killed.”

“I killed them!” the Parasite growled! “That shouldn’t have worked.”

“Hey, you screwed with time in the first place,” Power Girls said. “Anything can happen.”

“Indeed,” the Parasite hissed, his eyes ablaze. “And I can do it all again.”

With that, he shrugged and easily smashed the pincer construct. His body started to glow and he smiled. Power Girl readied herself for the attack, while Jade hung back.

The air crackled fiercely as the Parasite built up the energies he had stored, drawing as much new power as he could from both women and from the electrical systems in the Justice League satellite.

“Karen?” Jade whispered, nervously.

“Not yet,” Power Girl said, raising her hand. “Not yet.”

“Your…hesitation…will cost…you dearly,” the Parasite groaned, as the energy inside him built up to levels that he had never dealt with before. “Just…waiting for the…inevitable, are you?”

“You could say that,” Power Girl grinned.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!”

The Parasite’s cry of release echoed around the Justice League satellite as energy poured forth from his eyes, fingers, nose and mouth. Light and heat leapt from him and smashed into Power Girl and Jade, before continuing down the corridors and around the entire satellite, before they came back to meet him once again. The cycle continued, but to his amazement, both women were still standing, albeit taking quite a beating from the energy. He doubled his efforts, drawing on the power of the armour to drain as much power as possible to use to kill his opponents. But, as the energy soared from him and cut into the heroes, he was shocked to see that it still didn’t seem to be having the desired effect.

He didn’t see Black Lightning’s fist until it had almost connected with his skull and by then it was too late.

“No” was all he could muster, as he sank into unconsciousness.

“So, what just happened here?” Black Lightning asked, rubbing the knuckles of his right hand.

“Well,” Power Girl began, adjusting her costume, “we knew that we couldn’t defeat him in a direct confrontation, as he would draw our energy and we would be easy meat. So, after we had restored order with the Justice League members, we asked Hourman to transport us to where the Parasite’s armor was created.”

“Then we…eh, redesigned the armor,” Jade continued. “Only this time, it was supposed to draw more energy from its wearer than it would absorb.”

“That way,” Power Girl concluded, “once we forced his hand, he would still think he was drawing energy from us and the surrounding area, and not be too suspicious. By the time he realized that all his power was gone, it would be too late and we could strike.”

“You did that for us, Black Lightning,” Jade said. “Shame on you.”

“And you know what?” Black Lightning asked. “It felt so good.”

“Is everything back to normal now?” Jade asked.

“I guess we’ll find out soon enough,” Black Lightning replied. “But in the meantime, we have to put this guy on ice.”

“One other question,” Jade said. “How do we get back?”

The answer came a few moments later, as Zatanna appeared in the corner of the room where she and Black Lightning had been caged. Safe in the knowledge that now she was in existence again because the plan had worked, Zatanna tentatively used her magical powers to transport them all forward in time to a couple of hours after the Parasite had spirited her and Black Lightning away. There they met a confused and disoriented Firestorm and Elongated Man, who themselves had popped back into existence only a short while before.

The Parasite was dropped off at Belle Reve Maximum Security prison. Power Girl and Firestorm created a device to keep him floating in stasis in his cell, surrounded by inert gases. The idea was to stop him from being able to absorb any energy, until a cure could be found to rid him of his powers. Although he had tried to kill them all, they knew that he didn’t want to be the Parasite, and so they promised that they would try and find a solution for him.

Black Lightning worked to break up the armor, and then Jade took all the pieces and hid them in six locations on Earth, in space and in the ocean.

Zatanna checked with Oracle that everything was back to normal, and it was. She then looked in on the Ray, who was flitting in and out of consciousness but stable. She sat with him for a while, and thought over the events of the last day. She still didn’t like dabbling with time travel, but had to in order to get everyone back safely. However, something about it intrigued her and she wanted to experiment again. She was realizing more and more that her magical powers were still relatively untapped, and could be explored further.

“Well, here we are again,” Power Girl sighed. “Back in the construction site.”

She turned to the others and looked perplexed. “Can anyone tell me why the hell he was in a construction site? I don’t get that one at all.”

“Said to me he was testing his armor,” Black Lightning answered. “Probably didn’t want to cause any damage anywhere.”

“A villain with a conscience,” Power Girl joked. “I wonder if it’s just a fad.”

“I can’t believe he would go back in time and kill just so he would die himself,” Jade said. “Why didn’t he just kill himself?”

“He’s twisted,” Zatanna said. “He wanted to go out with a bang.”

“But, hold on,” Elongated Man began “If he had died back then, then how could he have defeated us in the first place and then killed the Justice League? Would that have ever happened?”

“Time is not as simple as that, Ralph Dibny,” a voice from the shadows whispered.

They all spun around to see the Phantom Stranger standing beside one section of the fence.

“Do you have to always do that?” Elongated Man asked.

“Time is not as linear as you would think,” the Phantom Stranger continued. “There are many avenues and pathways that can be taken, as with any journey. Be sure that if you had not defeated the Parasite, neither your former Justice League colleagues nor your current teammates would be alive today.”

“Look, there you go again with the teammates thing,” Elongated Man began, before noticing that the Phantom Stranger had vanished.

“We did do well today, Ralph,” Firestorm said quietly, his back still to the group, his eyes gazing up at the stars.

“What?” Power Girl asked. “What do you mean, did well? We got our asses handed to us by one guy. One guy!”

“But we did put him down,” Firestorm said, turning and facing the others. “You and Jade not only went back and stopped him, but you also managed to save all of our lives and those of countless thousands or millions who we would have saved.”

“But we didn’t do it as a team,” Power Girl countered. “We came together as an accident, and rushed in. He laughed as he kicked the sh…”

“Hold on, hold on!” Elongated Man shouted. “We’re all tired, and some of us have had to deal with the fact that they…well, that they didn’t exist any more. Anyway, all I’m saying is that perhaps we should take some time out and discuss this when we’re a bit more…awake.”

“What’s to discuss?” Power Girl asked.

“Indulge us,” Firestorm replied. “Will you all at least agree to talk about this in a couple of days?”

There was silence for a few moments, as the six heroes thought to themselves. Occasionally they looked at each other, but most of them still couldn’t contemplate what had happened that night.

Jade was the first to reply.

“Sure,” she said, “It can’t do any harm”

“If we’re only going to talk,” Black Lightning added. “But I ain’t signing up for anything.”

“Zee?” Firestorm asked, looking at Zatanna.

“I’m up for it,” She replied. “I’ll even arrange the venue.”

“Karen? That just leaves you,” Elongated Man said.

Power Girl looked at him and studied him for a few moments. He seemed serious about this, as did Firestorm, but as hard as she tried she couldn’t see it working at all. They weren’t a team, not in the sense of the JLA, or the JSA, or even Young Justice, but she saw something in Firestorm that she admired. He seemed convinced that it would work, and she was sure he was going to do all he could to make it work.

“Sure,” Power Girl replied softly. “I’ll be there.”

“Excellent!” Firestorm said, smiling. “Excellent.”

The End...

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