In Elseworlds, heroes are taken from their usual settings and put into strange times and places...some that have existed or might have existed, and others that can't, couldn't or shouldn't exist. These are their tales.
“Without You”
The year is 2016 “Mr. Danvers, do you understand the charges as they have been read to you?” “I do, Your Honor.” “And how do you plead?” “I plead guilty.” “As I was informed of your intentions prior to this hearing, I have your sentence ready. Please stand.” In the courtroom, a man got to his feet, his hands manacled before him. Beside him, his lawyer, appointed by the state, stood also, out of habit. His client looked straight at the judge, his eyes not wavering to take in the multi-colored crowd around them. It was as if he thought he was alone, or perhaps, he knew he was. The courtroom was silent except for the sobbing of Sylvia Danvers. Other sniffles could be heard, but the room was filled with more hard stares than anything. “Buzz Danvers, you have been charged with murder in the first degree, to which you have pleaded guilty. You are hereby sentenced to life in prison, with the possibility of being reviewed for parole after thirty years, if you so desire. Do you understand your sentence?” “I do.” “Very well then, this case is closed,” Judge William Watson said, banging his gavel. “All rise!” Everyone in the courtroom stood as the bailiffs came for Buzz. With his head low, he allowed them to walk him toward the exit. As they lead him toward the door, however, a young voice turned his head. A little boy in a blue suit was standing at the swinging door that separated the court area from the spectator seating. In his hands was a Supergirl doll…a doll of his mother. “I hope they kill you in there,” the boy said, his voice breaking, his tears running hotly down his 5-year-old face. “I hope you go to hell!” All through the trail Buzz had kept his emotions bottled up, not allowing anyone to see his pain. Everyone in the courtroom saw how utterly devastated he was when his son said that to him. Tears broke through the stone on his face, but his voice was as dead as ever when he said, “Aye, son, I wish I were there again as well.” Sylvia came forward and, her sadness now firmly switched to anger, speared Buzz with a condemning look so strong the bailiffs actually backed off. She didn’t say anything, as everyone in the room knew her feelings on the subject, but she picked her grandson up as gently as an angel, his heart-wrenching wails buried in her chest as she stormed out the back of the room. On her way out, she passed a grouping of heroes and others. Standing to the right of the doorway were two men in red, yellow and blue costumes. Superman stared at Buzz, never taking his eyes off of him; he hadn’t often since that day six months ago. Next to Superman stood a crying Superboy, who had grown into almost a spitting image of the man to his side. But Superboy wasn’t looking at Buzz. Instead, Superboy was looking at the floor, where lay the Supergirl doll that Wally Danvers had just dropped as his grandmother had taken him outside. Bending, Connor Kent picked up the doll, fresh tears coming to his eyes. With a gentleness not many in the room would have given it, he tossed it to Buzz, where it bounced off his chest and into his cupped hands. Superboy then left, walking out the door past the Secret Service agents standing by the ex-President. Lex Luthor normally would not have been this close to his archenemy, but today was different. Something of his had been taken from him, and today he let the law handle it their way. In the years to come, Lex Luthor would make sure that Buzz paid a higher price for his actions. Seated opposite of Luthor, in a guise none in the room recognized, Roland the Ageless Stranger sat, his blue eyes as unwavering as Superman’s. He watched as Buzz held up the doll to his face, staring at it with a mixture of love and horror. Roland sighed, feeling very old all of a sudden. Now that the excitement had died down, the bailiffs returned, taking Buzz’s elbows and leading him toward the door. The others in the room got up to leave. Kyle Rayner stood, his notebook closed on the pictures he had drawn; he left without comment to his teammate. Cutter and Mattie Sharp also stood, Cutter supporting his wife gently, himself crying openly. Their daughter, Linda Sharp, held her mother’s hand, her own pain forgotten in favor of her mother’s. So much like her godmother, Cutter thought, fresh tears coming to his eyes. Blithe and Comet stood in a corner, holding hands. Lois Lane, covering the trail of the man who killed Supergirl, looked back at her husband as he stood by the door. He hadn’t aged a day in the last 10 years, until that fateful night when Linda had been injured and the others had died. He’d aged 20 years since then. Beside Lois, Martha and Jonathon Kent stood, drawing strength from their years together and their prayers. Many, many others were in the crowd, some super-powered, some not. Buzz was aware of all of this as he was lead out the door, but his attention was focused squarely on the jury booth, which everyone in the room but him thought was empty. Seated within its empty seats were Wally/God and Beelzebub. Their images were the last thing he saw as he was lead away. That night, Buzz sat in his cell, drumming his hands on his left calf muscle. He’d expected one of them to show up by now. “I guess I get the night off,” he said to himself, just before he saw the baseball appear out of the thin air. It hung in the darkness, shining white, about eight feet off of the ground, spinning slowly. Then it dropped, only instead of hitting the ground it landed in a child’s outstretched hand. “Hello, Buzz,” Wally/God said, his orange sweater banishing the darkness as he appeared, holding his baseball bat on his shoulder. His glasses seemed to reflect Buzz’s haggard expression back on himself, and Wally’s red bowtie stood out like it was covered in fresh blood. “We need to have a discussion.” “Yer ‘God’ damned right we do,” Buzz said, standing. “Like for starters, why the hell did you let that happen to her?” “I don’t think we need to discuss my part in what happened, Buzz,” Wally said. “I have my reasons, which I understand, but I don’t think I understand yours. You presume to have known best, but who’s to say you did?” “Who’s to say I bloody well didn’t?” Buzz said, jutting a finger out. “You sure as hell weren’t going to help her, not after you left her in that condition. I thought she was special to you. But you probably tell all your women that!” He never saw the bat connect with his stomach, but he felt it in his liver. As he fell to the floor, coughing, he saw Wally’s little ‘god’ feet moving before him. “My love is eternal and unstoppable, Buzz, but my wrath is equally eternal and devastating. Fire raining down, water flooding up, earthquakes, volcanoes, plagues and pestilences…but nothing will compare to what I have in store for you, Buzz. I’ll be seeing you.” “Thanks for stopping by,” Buzz said, dragging himself to his cot. He stuck his hand under his pillow, pulling out the pad of paper he had been scribbling on earlier. He read over the words on the pad, singing softly: No harm will ever come to you as long as I’m around, I am not afraid of what people say or do, The only thing I fear is being here…without you.” Closing his eyes, Buzz thought back to when he had heard that verse first: His honeymoon. The year is 2010 “You may kiss the bride.” “You keep saying that like it’s supposed to mean something, luv,” Buzz said as he played with the mass of blonde hair lying across his bare chest. In his arms lay Linda Danvers, the woman who had been his bride for less than four hours. They were in the honeymoon suite of the fanciest hotel in Niagra Falls, where they had spent the last few hours testing the limits of their endurance. Now they lay in exhaustion, too excited to sleep. “You’re not the liar I fell in love with, husband of mine. I didn’t even begin to believe you.” Linda giggled, rolling over and peering at Buzz from beneath her golden hair. Since remerging with the Earth Angel part of herself, Linda had permanently returned to her Supergirl form, including her excellent hair. “Are you saying you don’t want to kiss your bride?” Buzz answered her by tackling her thankfully relaxed form, rolling her to the floor for another go around. When he finally could no longer move, he lay on his back, barely able to turn his head to look at her. “Um, Linda, you’re floating again.” “I know, but I just can’t seem to contain myself. You lift me off my feet.” She floated over to the dresser, draping her cape over her body as she rummaged through their suitcases. “I wrote something for you…something I was going to use as my vows, but changed my mind.” “Why?” Buzz asked, crawling over to grab the champagne. “Change of heart?” “No, I just wanted this to be for us.” She found what she was looking for, a small framed piece of paper. She settled down beside him, her red cape shining brightly from the inner light that always seemed to radiate from her. Buzz found it more difficult by the day to tear his eyes off of her, but he did in this instance to look at her gift. In the fame was a piece of paper that Linda had written on in her soft, careful handwriting. As he read it, she whispered it to him: No harm will ever come to you as long as I’m around, I am not afraid of what people say or do, The only thing I fear is being here…without you.” Buzz felt the wetness on his cheeks before he saw the drops land on the glass. He looked over and saw Linda was also crying, looking at him with a mixture of love and hesitancy, as if she was unsure how he would take her declaration. “I…have no words,” Buzz said, unable to deal effectively with the raw, unveiled emotions roiling within his heart. He had been human again for only a few years, but he had loved her for as long as he’d known her. Perhaps that was all that really needed to be said. “I love you, Linda, and I will never let anything happen to you, either.So help me God.” 2016 In his cell, Buzz Danvers cried himself to sleep. It had been a week since his incarceration and every day was the same for Buzz. He got up when ordered to, ate when ordered to, exercised in the yard when told to, and routinely got roughed up by his jailmates. He had, however, discovered he had some protection: a half a dozen thugs Linda had taken down repeatedly over the years had decided to ensure his safety. They figured that anyone who offed Supergirl was ok in their book, so they had unofficially began to protect him from those Luthor sent after him. Buzz hated them with a passion and couldn’t wait for the day Luthor had them eliminated in order to get to Buzz. They were celebrating the death of his wife as if it were a holiday; he hoped they rotted in the deepest hell Beelzebub could imagine. He hadn’t thought his day could get any worse. That was until Sylvia and Fred Danvers arrived. Given his status as Chief of the Leesburg Police Department, Fred had enough pull to get him and his wife escorted to Buzz’s cell and left alone to speak to him. “You will never see your son again, murderer,” Sylvia said, thrusting a piece of paper at him. Buzz took it, knowing already it was a custody form, since he had signed his consent before the trial. He knew Sylvia knew this also; she just wanted to rub salt in the wound opened at the trial. “I know you’ll take care of him, Sylvia.” Her hand moved so quickly he didn’t see it coming, but the ringing in his ears told him it had been there. He felt the rectangle of tingling flesh from her slap, buffered slightly from his beard, and sighed. “Don’t you ever speak to me or any of my family again,” she said with a rage-filled voice mixed with the deepest pain. She turned and stormed out, leaving Fred and Buzz alone. Fred watched his wife leave, then came and sat down beside Buzz. “If it’s any consolation, she doesn’t let any of it show around Wally.” “Thanks, mate.” “We aren’t mates, Buzz,” Fred said, standing and pacing the cell. “I’ve been thinking a lot lately, Buzz. The department’s basically been running itself for the past few months, none of my men would bother me if their asses were on fire. So I’ve had a lot of time to think.” Fred went to the window of the cell, looking out the bars at the blue sky. The light reflected in his silver hair and in his tired eyes. “I have a 7-year-old girl at home who looks so much like her sister it’s amazing. I now have a 5-year-old boy who looks so much like you its amazing. When I look at them, Buzz, do you know what I do?” Buzz didn’t say anything; his face spoke for him. “That’s right,” Fred continued without looking at Buzz. “I die inside. And what kills me more than my own pain and loss, Buzz, is that that little girl will never know her older sister any better, and that little boy will never understand just what a wonderful, loving and beautiful mother he had. And all either one of them will ever know about you will be that you killed her.” Buzz opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn’t. His throat was too choked up. “But do you know what the worst, I mean the absolute worst, thing is to me, Buzz?” Fred asked, taking out his badge and looking at it. He thought about his 25+ years as a policeman, at all the friends who died and those who lived when they should have died. He thought of the men he sent into situations where they died and he knew damned well they would before he sent them. But he did it knowing it was the right thing, even if it robbed some kid of its daddy. He did it because it was not only his job but theirs also, and they all knew it and accepted it. “The worst thing is that I understand exactly why you did it.” He said the words as he looked at Buzz with eyes so ready to burst into tears it was amazing they didn’t. He took a deep, shuddering breath and composed himself. “I understand what you did but I can’t condone it…because she was my daughter. She was my daughter and it pisses me off that she’s dead! And it pisses me off because I can’t stay mad at you for taking her life away! Because…” He paused for a long time, then turned and walked towards the door of the cell. Then he stopped. “I can’t stay mad at you because you aren’t to blame, son. You’re just the poor son of a bitch who has to pay for it.” He turned, looking back at Buzz, both of their cheeks wet. “I know you loved her, and I’m sorry.” Then he left. He had no more than gotten around the corner before Buzz collapsed to the floor, slamming his hands into it and wailing in misery. The year is 2028 Wally Danvers sat in the room, staring at the table before him. At 17 years of age, Wally was highly inexperienced, yet he was eager to explore the powers that had recently swelled with him. He found that he was growing stronger each day and had managed to press 15 tons in the Titans weight room just an hour ago. He could run in excess of 60 miles an hour, and had begun to be able to heat things up just by looking at them. Just the other day, he woke up floating over his bed and had gotten Comet to give him some introductory flight lessons the other day when his Grandmother had been out. Now he was being offered a costume…and a place on the Teen Titans. All he could say was, “Wow.” “You don’t like?” asked his girlfriend, Chloe Kent. “I went ballistic when my mom gave me her old costume.” “I did too,” Wally said, smiling at the memory of her form in the Wonder Girl costume. Chloe smiled, blushing a little. “But Superboy? It’s only been three years since…you know.” “But Connor…Dad…thinks your ready and he and the rest of the JLA wouldn’t have made this offer if they didn’t think we had a shot. What did you say to him when he made the offer last night?” Chloe asked, not calling him dad again. “We were at my grandparents in Kansas. It was a very somber occasion, but Grandma Martha thought both Grandpa John and Clark would have approved. You know, if they had been there. Aunt Lois didn’t say much, as usual. She also left early again.” “Still hard on her, huh?” Chloe asked. “Mom doesn’t talk about it much either.” “Yeah, I guess they never imagined they’d ever be on hand to bury the Justice League of America.” [Titans, please report to the Watchtower.] “We better go, don’t want to keep them waiting.” Chloe picked up her own costume, leading her boyfriend to the transport door. They stepped up to the normal-looking door, walking through without a pause, only to find the room beyond to be located on the moon. They saw four other figures in the room, and they all took a deep breath before stepping into the conference room. Seated around the edge of the room in at a circular table were the seven members of the JLA. To the far left sat Seren, better known as Aquaman, King of Atlantis, just recently re-risen to replace California, which had fallen into the ocean in 2020. There was a lot of turmoil in merging the two powerful, yet historically volatile, nations, but King Seren still managed to serve the world in the JLA. To the far right sat the oldest, yet less inclined to lead, member on the team. J’Onn J’Onzz, the Martian Manhunter, very rarely said anything to anyone. He operated during battle flawlessly, using his telepathic abilities to aid the team, but never voicing his own opinion and never leaving the Watchtower except during an emergency. It was tough to outlive your friends… Seated next to Seren, tapping his foot at precisely 29 mph, Bart Allen sighed, completely bored with meetings and the like. All the Flash wanted to do was go run fast, and occasionally punch someone. Life outside of that rarely interested him, as it had since Carol had married Mike after he forgot to attend their own wedding years before. “When’s this gonna be over?” he mumbled. Across from him, next to the uncommunicative Manhunter, sat the last Green Lantern on Earth. Anthony Drake ran his hand through his thinning hair, still trying to come to terms with the death of his lover, Kyle Rayner. It had only been 10 years since they had been forced to bond their mutual powers to fight off an attack by Sinestro and his forces. They had found something, something special. It was as hard for Tony to continue as the Green Lantern as it was for the Manhunter to continue at all. Next to the mumbling Flash, Batman sat with his face clouded in shadows. Timothy Drake had never imagined himself to ever wear the mantle of the Bat, but after what had happened to Bruce and Dick, there had been no one left. It was an honor, certainly, and he always had Dick in his ear as Oracle to keep him on his toes, but living up to what Bruce had been…it was daunting sometimes. But he had his friends around to help, and that made it better. Sitting next to the Green Lantern, a radiant smile on her face in direct opposition to those around her, Donna Troy, Wonder Woman, looked at the kids rolling into the room and felt herself overcome by emotional memories. She saw herself and the first Titans, so young and eager. She saw the different incarnations of teams she’d been with, most of them so happy to be doing it, much like the kids before her. Then her smile wavered, as she remembered a year ago when the current JLA had come together. It had been out of loyalty, desperation, and need…there had been little joy. That lack of energy was a direct result of the event of three years ago. They all knew it, but none ever said much about it. He was determined to see this work, and they believed in him. That was the only reason it had worked so far. And he was the only reason they might one day enjoy their lives again. Seated in the center of the arch of the table, in the direct center of the kids line of sight, sat Connor Kent, Superman. He wore the exact same costume his ‘father’ had worn, his hair a bit shaggier but his eyes no less intense. In the year since he had become the leader of the most powerful grouping of people in the world, Connor had become a lot less impetuous and found his true role in life. But it cost too much for him to take any joy in it. Chloe Kent also thought one reason he held so little joy in his life was because her mother, Cassie Sandmark, had left him when he closed himself off from her…from them…after the death of Superman. They hadn’t spoken much since and she had been very surprised when her mother had given her the costume and name of Wonder Girl and agreed to Superman’s proposal. Knowing what it meant to both of her parents gave Chloe an incredible sense of purpose. If this worked, if she was good, perhaps it would lead to the reconciliation she so dreamed about. She only hoped those standing next to her and Wally took this as seriously. Staring openly at the speed that the Flash was tapping his foot, Sarah Logan smiled, her perfectly white teeth marking a sharp contrast with her green skin. She turned her mischievous eyes toward Alicia Grayson, before shifting her form into a green Road Runner and trying to match speed with Bart. When she met her parents, Gar and Bette Logan, for dinner later she was sure they would find it amusing. Alicia Grayson smiled, adjusting the costume and equipment in her arms. Her father, who had once been Nightwing but now had taken up the reigns of Oracle after his injury years ago, had given it to her on the third anniversary of her mother’s death. She never heard him talk much about Cassandra Grayson, but the pride in his eyes as he handed over the costume of Batgirl had warmed her heart. Snorting at the antics of Morph, the Steel Spider shifted around in his armor, redesigning in his mind the interior for better comfort. He would have to talk about it with his parents, Vince Kennedy and Carol Gold, who had never married yet continued a common law lifestyle as the adventurers Blue Beetle and Booster Gold, about how to make his costume more comfortable and more functional. Jamie Kennedy didn’t know why he couldn’t make the Blue Beetle his costume. It wasn’t as if his father were adept at its use. Next to the Spider, trying to keep his distance, the youngest member of the new Titans scratched his chin as he ached to be back at home practicing. Oliver Hawke was only 12 but his capabilities as an archer were phenomenal, even more so than his Father’s or Grandfathers had been at their age. His eagle eyes peered out from beneath his blonde hair, his lip curled up in a sneer. Speedy indeed! Finally, situated by default at the front of his peers, Wally Danvers stood looking directly, unflinchingly, into the eyes of the man who was, technically, his Uncle…and the actual Father of his girlfriend. He held the Superboy costume in his hands, relishing the honor it was for him and he saw the corner of Connor’s mouth twitch, as if he wanted to smile like he used to so freely. But he didn’t. Instead, he began the meeting. “I lie here, talking to this recorder while my arm and ribs are attended to by the Titan’s medical droids, and I can’t stop my heart from beating like a jackhammer. It’s been over two hours since we defeated Total Injustice, yet I can’t quite force myself to adjust to the fact that we not only survived, but we won. I mean, they rolled us initially. We had no more than engaged them in Star City than the Steel Spider was down, his systems overloaded. Batgirl disappeared after the Spider dropped, and Speedy was cracked in the head by a flying brick, thrown from behind somewhere.” “That left me and Morph and Wonder Girl against the eight members of Total Injustice. I don’t remember a lot after that, only that Bedlam hit me with something that totally took the wind out of me. I didn’t even recognize the other members, it was all fuzzy. I just kept swinging at everything that wasn’t green or wearing gold and stars. That is, until I saw Bane appear.” “He’s some South American reject who idolizes the drugged-out murderer that nearly killed the first Batman. He uses a mixture of drugs he calls Venom X to pump his muscles up real big. Of course, he doesn’t seem to care that it makes him a complete freak’n moron, however dangerous. He must’ve given himself a huge dose, because when he attacked, he skipped right over my own prone, undefended body, which he could have beaten into a pulp easily at that moment.” “Instead, he went after Chloe and hit her from behind. He then straddled her and let her have it. My heart stopped and Dear Lord I was scared. I went from laid out on my back to mid-air missile in a second, plowing into Bane and just pounding on him until he couldn’t move any more. I then went after the rest, my fury over Chloe’s injuries a palatable force. Bedlam put up a good fight, one of the reasons I’m here now, but the rest of the Titan’s recovered and we put them away.” “Turns out Batgirl had detected where the equipment giving Spidey problems was on the approach and had left to deal with it. Once accomplished, the weapons of the Spider tied up Match and Shiv and the rest. It turns out it took less than 15 minutes to stop them, but Lord it was horrible for those few minutes that myself, Wonder Girl and Morph stood alone.” “Chloe got off with some heavy bruises, a concussion and a few cracked teeth, which the med-droid is mending now. She’ll be fine and was actually rather calm with the whole incident, figuring it as just a part of the job. I, on the other hand, can’t stop shaking. I mean, I almost watched the love of my life die at the hands of a muscle-bound monster who doesn’t posses the capability for remorse. In short, I almost watched her die like the current, haunted, members of the JLA watched the old JLA and a lot of their friends die.” “As soon as I’m healed I’m going to the moon to talk to Superman about Doomsday and Brainiac. I need to know about how it happened, from a first hand witness. I need to know what Connor felt after Superman died and how that led to what he did to Brainiac. I need to understand how Connor keeps doing it, knowing the costs. I need to know how to be a hero.” Wally Danvers put down the recorder, saving the message to send to his family. He had no secrets from them, knowing they wouldn’t use his fears against him. They didn’t always support his decision to take Connor up on his offer of being Superboy, but they respected it. He had the support of his family behind him…so why did it feel hollow sometimes? He got up when he was finished, walking over to where his girlfriend lay, sleeping while the droids worked. He touched her face, before taking a seat next to her and holding her hand. Unbidden, a verse popped into his head, one he hadn’t thought of in years. It was something he’d heard his mother sing to him when he couldn’t sleep at night. It had taken the fear out of him about sleeping without a nightlight, and always made him smile. Looking at the injured beauty before him, Wally began to softly sing: No harm will ever come to you as long as I’m around, I am not afraid of what people say or do, The only thing I fear is being here…without you.” The next day, Wally stepped out into the Watchtower dressed in his Superboy costume. He walked through the empty hallways, the sound of his heels clicking on the floor ringing in the silence. He found Connor in the trophy room, standing at the memorial of the original JLA. He was wearing his costume, the proud ‘S’ emblazoned on his heavily muscled chest. He turned when he saw Wally’s reflection in the glass, smiling sadly. “You wanted to see me, Wally?” he asked. “You know what happened yesterday?” Wally asked, coming to stand beside his Uncle. “You did good work, incidentally. That was a rough situation, from what I’ve gathered. Are Chloe and the others all right?” “Yes, they are now, but I’m not sure I am,” Wally said, looking straight into Connor’s eyes. “I’m troubled, Connor. I don’t know if I can do this. I mean, I just lived through my first life or death battle against overwhelming odds…and I nearly wet myself. I almost watched my girlfriend, your daughter, and our other friends get beat to death, for God’s sake. What kind of superhero does that make me?” “An honest one,” Superman said, placing a firm hand on his nephew’s shoulder. “Look, sit down,” he said, steering them towards a bench. As they sat, Connor blew a deep breath from his nose, composing his thoughts. “Wally, how much do you know about me when I was Superboy?” “I’ve read all the files, seen some footage. You were good, since they day you got out of Camdus. It’s impressive.” “Heh,” Connor laughed, shaking his head. “The reports are misleading, considering it was myself and my friends writing them, and we had to look good for the JLA all the time. I was mostly a jackass running around thinking I was the bomb, at least until the day the Titans disbanded.” “Seren went to focus on his duty to Atlantis, this was shortly after 2020 and the California incident. Cassie had decided she’d had enough fighting and retired to take care of Chloe. CM3, Mary Marvel and Arrowette had been gone for a while, leaving only me, Impulse, Damage and Omni to carry on as the Titans in the months after Barry West became the Flash after his father, Max Mercury, Jesse Quick and Jay Garrick vanished into the Speed Force. Then Impulse went to try to woo his woman, Damage died and we still don’t know where Omni went.” “So, what about you?” Wally asked. “I became a member of the JLA. With Batman, Aquaman and Plastic Man all killed along with most of the Reservists, JSA, Titans West and the Outsiders during the Doomsday attack in 2015…” Connor stopped, realizing he was talking about the same attack that left his mother in her condition, leading to what his father had done to her. But Wally kept his composure, nodding for him to continue. “Anyway, it was me, Clark, Tim as Batman, Connor Hawke, J’Onn, Barry and Wonder Woman as the Justice League. Drake joined us, along with Seren, in 2022. We were a pretty powerful group, which only played to my ego. But we were a bit of a rough fit, even more so than the current JLA. I didn’t care, though; I was a Big Time Superhero finally and the world was my playground.” “I was a Big Time Superhero…and it only cost me everyone I ever loved.” Connor Kent paused and looked at the young man seated next to him wearing the exact same Superboy costume he himself had made popular over 20 years ago. Wally Danvers had come to him to ask him about everything terrible that had happened in the last two decades. He had asked to know how the JLA had died, but Superman could see that, in his eyes, the boy wanted to know about his mother too. Connor looked into the eyes of his not-quite nephew and probably future son-in-law and sighed, rubbing his tied eyes. “There’s only one place to start, Wally,” Connor said, adjusting the vibrant red cape he had inherited three years ago when the real Superman had been killed. “Doomsday first took us apart in 2015. That was the year we lost the Reservists, the JSA and a good chunk of the Titans West and the Outsiders.” “Do you remember the Gorilla Grodd attack in 2008?” Wally nodded, having been learning about the history of the villains of the JLA in the files. “Well, one of his last ditch efforts to kill the JLA was to release Doomsday from his captivity on the moon. Luckily, Superman, Green Lantern and the Manhunter managed to re-cage him, thanks to a little help from Batman inside the Watchtower. What we didn’t know then, however, was that when Batman sent the lockdown signal to Doomsday’s teleporter prison, someone pirated the signal.” “Brainiac,” Wally supplied. “Yes, Brainiac, but we wouldn’t know that until 2025.” Connor rubbed his face, looking for a good way to continue. “Anyway, in 2015, unknown to anyone at the Watchtower, Doomsday was transported out and onto the Reservists satellite. At the worst possible time, too, because Zatana, Billy Baston and John Henry Irons were leaving to attended a party, unprepared for attack.” “Security footage showed Doomsday appear and crush Billy’s head even before he could recognize he was dead. Captain Marvel…gone. Without his armor, Steel died next, followed by Zatana, who was too horrified to react in the second or so she had.” Connor spoke quickly, trying to give the facts without the emotion, but it was hard. “Black Lightning, Elongated Man and Animal Man tried but failed to stop Doomsday. Within 10 minutes, and without anyone knowing, the Reservists were dead.” “What about their communications system? Couldn’t they call for help?” “Well,” Connor said, “no. We now know that Brainiac had taken care of that too. Remember, after Superman defeated his attack in 2006, with the Daxamites, Brainiac took his time. He obviously spent from then to 2015 planning this first attack. He had the computer systems of both the Watchtower and the Reservists Satellite taken care of. He then teleported Doomsday into the heart of the JSA meeting room, with a full crowd in attendance.” “We’ll never know for sure, but it looked like Brainiac knew what he was doing when he dropped Doomsday into the room. He left him six feet up and, when he landed, he broke his fall with the now-dead bodies of Sentinel and Dr. Fate; there was just no way they could have realized the danger. In short order, Wildcat had been killed his last four times, Power Girl had been ripped apart, as well as JJ Thunder, Star Spangled Kid and most of the others. Only Sand and the Huntress escaped.” “That was when the JLA found out, right? When the Huntress contacted Oracle?” Wally, who had heard all of this before, still found himself sick to his stomach to hear it again in detail. “Not right away. It took Barbara Gordon nearly 5 hours to break Brainiac’s blocking and to hear the Huntress’s plea and to send it on. However, doing so resulted in her death, as Brainiac’s retribution fried her through her computers, leaving her charred to the bone.” “Sand had fled to the closest source of help, the Titans West. What he found when he arrived, however, was that Doomsday was already there and hip deep in the dead. You see, the Outsiders had come to visit, still trying to settle animosity that had existed between the team for over 6 years. Nightwing, a rare occurrence at any team function, was even on hand. When Sand made it, only Changeling, Flamebird, Hippolytia and a crippled Nightwing were still alive.” “It was then that the roof caved in and the cavalry arrived. Led by your mother, the Teen Titans hit Doomsday hard. Between her, CM3 and myself, we put a seemingly dazed Doomsday through his paces, allowing Kid Flash, Impulse and Wonder Girl to retrieve the bodies, both alive and dead. Arrowette and Mary Marvel were helping as well, but Doomsday cleared his way through your mother and me and killed Mary. In a rage, CM3 went after Doomsday, actually causing a lot of damage before being brought down.” “CM3 was seconds from being destroyed when your mother stepped up. Her left arm had been broken and her face was a mass of bruises, so she attacked with the one power she had left…her telekinesis. She wasn’t trying to hurt Doomsday, but to hold him back while I got CM3 out of there. She stood her ground, her costume bright in the rubble, her face set in a grim line, knowing that if she failed, we all three died. My God Wally…she was glorious.” Connor wiped a tear from his cheek, pulling himself together. “She held the monster at bay for almost three minutes, but it was at a devastating price. Just as the JLA arrived on scene, with Superman, Wonder Woman and the Manhunter slamming into Doomsday with Earth-shattering power, your mother’s mind broke. The pressure and pain and sheer agony she had withstood to hold Doomsday in check was too much for her, rupturing parts of her brain. Blood poured from her nose and ears and…shit, I’m sorry Wally.” So caught up in his story, Connor hadn’t noticed when Wally began crying. These words from his uncle’s mouth, so similar to the words he had read in the papers and doctors reports and files over the years cut through him. He had never asked anyone to tell him about it, not anyone on hand anyway. It made it so real, so raw, so…enlightening. He needed time to think about this. “It’s ok, um, go ahead.” Wally wiped furiously at his eyes, focusing on the here and now. “Ah, well, while the Green Lantern used his ring to baffle Doomsday, Clark took a second to come to Linda. He scooped her up, his X-Ray vision telling him what I had already guessed and, as he cradled the second Supergirl to have fallen in battle from what he believed to have been his own fault, Clark screamed a scream of such power and fury and agony that windows blocks away disintegrated. It was what Brainiac had been waiting for. Without further ado, he teleported Doomsday away and dropped the bomb on us.” “The bomb?” Wally was more than a little confused here. “It was nothing special, just something to slow us down. It was dropped from somewhere in orbit and hit like a meteor, blowing us around like tenpins. Some were luckier than others. The big guys and myself were simply tossed about. Batman had been standing behind the Manhunter, but J’Onn instinctively went intangible and Bruce was torn apart in the blast, much like Aquaman, who was near the center of the blast and was killed, along with Arrowette, the already beaten CM3 and Plastic Man.” “When it was all over, the face of the superhero world was changed forever. We spent the next 10 years cleaning up the mess, reorganizing ourselves until it was basically just the expanded JLA, once the rest of the Titans moved on. That was when Brainiac returned.” “It seemed that he had been conditioning Doomsday for the last ten years, but also he had acquired himself a new body--that of Metallo. Sometime, probably during his attack in 2015, Brainiac had spirited away Metallo, killed the brain inside and replaced it with his own. When Metropolis came under attack in 2025, it was only an attack by two people.” “And they took us apart.” Superman got up, walking slowly across the room to the observation point. “Nearly everyone responded, but it was awful. Wonder Woman, Batgirl, Azrael, Spoiler, Ray, Connor, Blithe, Aztek…the list goes on. It was brutal, the power of Doomsday and Brainiac/Metallo was awesome. But it was when Wonder Woman died that the battle really changed.” “Superman went nuts, charging Doomsday, his face a mess of pain. He laid into Doomsday, leaving Brainiac to the better-prepared mentally Manhunter and both Green Lanterns. Doomsday staggered under the assault, but brought Superman down to the ground with a furious backhand. Lying on the street, his Kryptonian body weakened by the Kryptonite heart of Metallo, Clark knew it was the end, I think. He took up Diana’s unbreakable lasso, snagging it tightly around Doomsday’s neck and then he began to spin. Faster and faster and faster he spun until a wind was kicked up that blew bodies and buildings down, leaving only the intangible Manhunter to watch in his invisible state.” “I was blown nearly a mile before I was able to get my own battered body to respond. I flew over bodies of friends and loved ones, until I was nearly knocked down by the flying body of Doomsday. Only as I dodged and prepared to attack did I realize the body had no head.” He turned to look at Wally. “Stretched by the twin strength of Superman and Doomsday, the lasso expanded until it achieved monofilament properties. A monofilament is a super-strong fiber that, with enough force, can cut through anything.” “Clark had killed Doomsday. He died for doing it, because as soon as he stopped spinning, he slumped to the ground. And before myself or the still shocked Manhunter could get there, Brainiac lifted himself from the rubble he’d been under and caved in Clark’s head. The Kryptonite in his chest, so powerful up close, took the last of Clark’s energy. He died without seeing the blow.” “That’s when I killed Brainiac.” Connor’s face took on a dark look and his eyes held no remorse. “I hit him like a supersonic missile, pounding on him as I cried, the Kryptonite also playing havoc with my own body. I felt myself weaken and saw Brainiac smile and I thought it was the end. With nothing to lose, I put my hands on Brainiac’s metallic head and exerted all my tactile telekinesis in an effort to crush it. In rather short order, it worked. Collapsing like a pop can, Metallo’s already weakened cranium gave in, destroying the brain of Brainiac for good.” “We had won. It only cost us survivors any good dreams we may have ever have had again.” Wally was very quiet, his eyes blank as he thought furiously. “You said Clark killed Doomsday, and you yourself killed Brainiac. Why?” Connor was taken aback, having never had anyone question his motivations. “Well, like I said, it was the only option left. We had already lost so many…we were about do die ourselves. We had the planet to think about and our friends to revenge.” “So, it was revenge then?” “No. Yes. Partly. Look,” Connor said, walking quickly to his nephew. “It was an instantaneous decision that seemed right at the time. If we had played by the rules we hold ourselves to normally, the world would have been destroyed. The sacrifices of the Reservists, the JSA, the Outsiders, the Titans West, the Titans and the JLA would have been for naught. Your mother’s death would have been for nothing. Sometimes life isn’t fair, especially ours.” Tears streamed down Wally’s face. He looked at Connor and pulled himself together. “You had all those reasons, but was one of them because the only way you had left to thank Clark for all he had done for you, and the world, was to kill Brainiac? To finish what Clark had started? To honor what he had stood for, not how he’d died? T-To give him some peace? Some mercy? Some dignity?” It was then that Connor began to see where Wally was going with this and it hit him in the gut like a fist. His mouth went dry and his face drained of color. Wally could see Connor found something true in his words and he thrust his way to his feet, wiping his face. “Let me ask you one more question: did you ever think he might have been right?” His voice seemed to indicate that he’d like to feel some anger, but Connor could see the boy just didn’t have it in him, but then why did Connor suddenly feel so guilty…so stupid? Because he knew that the boy had him…and just who it was Wally was talking about. “No,” Connor answered, turning to look at the Earth floating through the window. When he turned back, Wally was gone. In his bedroom, Wally Danvers fell to his knees and pulled the box from under his bed. He opened the lid and slowly began pulling the contents out and reading the headlines. “Doomsday Attacks! Dozens dead!” “Supergirl Injured in Attack!” “Doomsday Vanishes!” “A Hero Crippled: The Struggle of Supergirl!” He stopped at this story, reading its familiar words. His mother had suffered massive brain hemorrhaging stopping Doomsday and as a result had been admitted to the psychiatric ward of the Leesburg Hospital. Of course, by then, everyone had learned her secret identity as Linda Danvers, so she had a full compliment of police officers watching her, prepared for any of her enemies, should they attack. He mind was gone, basically. She would spend hours, days, staring at nothing, her mind struggling within its own shattered pathways. She would talk to herself in mumbles while her husband, his father Buzz, watched helplessly. She would then flip out, going into manic bursts of anger and fury, crushing equipment and hurting orderlies who tried to restrain her. She even knocked her mother out once without meaning to. The only two people she never injured in her outbursts were her husband and her son. Wally felt hot tears roll down his face as he put himself into his father’s place. He pictured himself standing beside Chloe, watching her injured form lashing out at her friends and family. He remembered his fear and fury this yesterday at Bane when he’d attacked to protect her. What would it have felt like to have to stand by and watch her suffer this fate…this fate worse than death? For nearly a year his father had done that, spending nearly every hour of every day with her, whenever he wasn’t with Wally. He fed her, bathed her, read to her and tried to talk to her. He put everything he had into trying to get through to her, but nothing worked. Finally, even with Wayne Industries footing the bill, the time came when the hospital simply could do no more for her. She was scheduled to be moved to a mental health hospital, where she would be treated for the rest of her life. Given her super strength, telekinesis and invulnerability, however, she would have to be nearly completely restrained for the rest of her life as well, to ensure the safety of the staff. No one was ever sure just what finally made Buzz take the steps he did. In the last paper in the box, Wally read the headline, “Supergirl Slain by Husband!” He read witness accounts of Buzz going into her room early in the morning and sitting with her. He had no fear because she had never harmed him, even as she pounded on those around him. He always felt that some part of Linda was alive in there, protecting him from harm, as she had sworn to do on their honeymoon. At some point he had closed the door to the room, taken out a needle of air and injected it into the IV that had been specially placed through her invulnerable skin. As simply as that, he had killed his wife. When the alarms sounded, police guards kicked in the door and beat Buzz to the floor. He had been drug away and convicted, leading to the courtroom scene when Wally was five. For the last 12 years his father had sat in prison and never once had Wally made any effort to go see him. But today…today he had to change that. He walked over to the phone and contacted Titan’s headquarters. Chloe appeared on the screen, looking none the worse for wear after the medical attention. “Wally! Where have you been?” “With Conn…with your Dad,” he said, looking her directly in the eyes. “Say, Chloe, would you care to come with me somewhere right now?” Buzz Danvers was a shadow of the man he once had been. After 12 years of incarceration, fending off attack after attack from other inmates, battling a wide variety of different sicknesses and diseases, and just spending night after night staring at the wall, the memory of that night 12 years ago so fresh in his mind. The night he watched his precious Linda take her last breath. He had gone to see her, thinking nothing of ending her life. He had not been sleeping or eating, and he was as gaunt then as he was now. He had sat beside Linda, crying in frustration over her illness and his inability to keep her out of the asylum. He had been apologizing to her for what had felt like the millionth time when he’d felt her hand tighten in his and she had looked at him. And it was her! It was Linda looking at him through those pain-filled eyes. She looked at him and said, “I’m tired, Buzz. And scared. Help me…it hurts…Buzz, I love you.” Then she was gone, as if she had never been there at all. But Buzz had known she had, he knew it wasn’t his imagination. He felt tears pour down his face as he made his decision. He had gotten the needle, locked the door and killed his wife. He had killed her because he just couldn’t stand to watch her suffer any longer. He knew Linda better than anyone alive, and he knew the hell she was in and what she must have been feeling when her ruined mind made her hurt the hospital staffers who were just trying to help her. He had done the only thing he would have ever been able to do for her for the rest of her life. He had given her peace, but God how much he missed her. He missed her smile, her humor and the sly way she agitated him all the time. He missed her touch, her kiss, her body next to his. He missed all that and more…because he missed his little boy just as much. He had never gotten to see Wally grow, had barely even recognized him in the courtroom. He had been so focused on Linda at the hospital that he missed the last two years he had with his son. And now all he had left was Wally/God physically abusing him, Luthor sending hit men to attack him, and lowlife criminals acting like protectors, championing Buzz for killing Linda. That last part, he was certain, was Beelzebub’s doing, a way to ensure he didn’t get off easy in life. So now, as he sat in the interview room of the prison, his uniform hanging from his skeletal frame, his gray hair and beard standing out in sharp contrast to his pallid complexion, Buzz wondered what new indignity awaited him. He had been roused from the same nightmare, the one where he put the needle into the IV line, the one where Linda cursed his name as she died. He still felt foggy when the doors opened and in walked the last person Buzz had ever expected to see in his life. Wally Danvers strode into the room, waving the guard away with a casual flick. Dressed in his Superboy costume, the guard made no comment at the casual way the police chief’s grandson treated him. Besides, on his way out the guard got an eyeful of the girl in the Wonder Girl costume who had followed Wally into the room. When the door shut, Wally moved to the table and stared at his father. Buzz felt as if he’d been kicked in the gut. His mouth opened and closed soundlessly, his eyes never straying off of his son. He had heard nothing about Wally’s development over the years, having been denied any pleasure at all. The young man before him was tall, well muscled and had the unruly hair of his father. But he had his mother’s eyes and the familiarity in them sped along the tears already streaming down Buzz’s cheeks. Slowly, with a body filled with pain, Buzz stood, still looking up into the eyes of his second child. “Wally?” he asked, his voice breaking. It was then that Wally felt something in his chest let go. All of the impudent rage and anger and confusion he had carried around within his chest let go and a relief and sense of loss that he had never allowed free exploded outward, engulfing him. As he stared at his father, recalling the file he’d read in the Warden’s office about what his father had been put through in the last 12 years, Wally felt a huge wave of pride swell within him. His father was not broken, not bowed by what he had been put through for his actions. He had suffered greatly for loving his mother and Wally knew that while still missed his mother dearly, he had missed his father just as much. He moved forward then, pushing the table aside, pulling his father into a huge so tight Buzz felt as if his back broke. But he didn’t notice the pain as he wrapped his arms around his son, both their bodies wracked with sobs as they apologized to each other repeatedly. Finally, Wally pushed his father back and in a low, quiet voice, sang to him the words that filled his heart. No harm will ever come to you as long as I’m around, You have taught me not to fear what people say or do, The only thing that hurts is being here…without you.” Behind her boyfriend, Chloe Kent wiped furiously at the tears in her own eyes, her heart swelled with love for Wally and his bravery. He had gone over in painstaking detail what he had come to believe, and she found that she believed it as well. She smiled, knowing that she and Wally would get Buzz out of this place somehow, and bring him home where he was loved. In the observation room off of the room the trio was in, Connor Kent stood with Sylvia and Fred Danvers, Martha and Lois Kent, and, unknowningly, Wally/God and Beelzebub. All of them watched the event with different reactions. Beelzebub looked at Wally/God and sneered, fading from view, knowing he had lost here. Wally/God looked at Buzz with a mixture of regret and sadness. He, too, was done here. Superman stared at his nephew and daughter felt his own guilt and shame begin to give way to his own acceptance. He’d understood Wally’s point earlier and, though difficult, he also had to admit there was a point of truth in Buzz’s actions. He had explained it to the others in the room as best he could and they were not all as convinced as he was. But the first steps had been taken, and somewhere Connor hoped his ‘sister’ Linda was looking down on them and smiling in approval. The End... Previous Issue | Next Issue |
