In a world without heroesThere's nothing to beIt's no place for me -Music From the ElderKISS
Chapter 10
Neither Carrie nor Karen, for such the unseen girl had named herself, had ceased their efforts to free themselves. Though she would not say so, the presence of the other girl had caused Carrie to redouble her efforts. No Supergirl was going to come crashing through the stone walls to free them so, she felt, it was all up to her. She had to do what she could to help the other girl. Of course, that meant that she had to free herself first.
With a snarl of frustration, she kicked with her right leg, and was astonished when after so long, she met only the slightest resistance before what ever held her broke.
“Karen!” She hissed. “My Leg. I’ve got it free!”
“How?” Came the excited reply in that eerily familiar voice.
“I just gave it everything.” Carrie answered. “Hold on let me see if I can get an arm free!”
From the sounds coming from her left, Carrie could tell that Karen was struggling once again. There was no way she was going to accomplish anything, not when it had taken all she had just to break her leg free, but…
“I’ve got my arm free!” Karen squealed. “Now if I….” Her words were cut off by the sound of a horrendous crash.
“What happened?” Carrie demanded, astonished. How could the girl have gotten an arm free?
“I…. I’m free. I got an arm free and slammed it down, shattering the slab I was on.” Karen’s voice was shaky, as if she were both relieved and awed by what she had done.
Carrie tried to move her leg again but was unable to break it free any more than she already had.
“I can’t do it.” She hissed, starting to get angry. She forced her self to calm down, remembering what her mother had always told her.
“You have the intelligence, your father saw to that, but getting angry will not help you. You have to keep calm and think things through.” She would say. Of course, no matter how Carrie would plead or whine, her mother would never say more about her father than that.
“Hold on a second. I’ll see if I can’t….” Karen’s voice trailed off.
“What?” Carrie demanded. “What’s wrong?”
For a long moment, there was no answer. Then Karen moved into Carrie’s line of sight.
“Gawd!” She breathed, looking up at the other girl. She was looking…. at herself!
She had no idea how long she had been following Dawnstar as they swept across the desolate landscape. In this place, time seemed to have no meaning…nor did distances. She could not have told how far she had traveled from where the others were, hopefully, keep Mordru busy. There were no landmarks that could she could use to gauge distance. One section of this waste looked like every other.
The only indication that she had that they were nearing their destination was the sudden dissapearance of Dawnstar. No explainations, no godd-byes, no wishes of good luck. One insant the winged woman was speeding along, cruising low over the featureless ground, the next she was gone.
Linda pulled up, fighting down an instant of panic as she looked around. At first, she could see nothing that would indicate that she was any closer to where ever it was Dawnstar had been leading her than she had before the Legionnaire had appeared.
Ah! Linda looked along the route they had been taking and there, just at the horizon, she could make out a darkish blob that had to be a building of some sort.
For an instant, Linda wished she had Kara’s telescopic vision. Then she could merely have taken a good look at the place and then shunted there instantly, with out having to take the time to travel there. Since she didn’t, she put an effort to it and poured on the speed. While she realized that she could never attain the speeds that Kara, Rogue, or Mon were capable of, she had learned that she could keep up with them when they flew in the atmosphere. There, they could only travel so fast without causing tremendous ground damage with their passage.
That speed she attained now as she raced towards the horizon.
With something to look at, something that stood out from the rest of the landscape, Linda was now able to see and sense the distance involved. Distance that was rapidly decreasing as she flew faster and closer.
It was not long before the blob began to take shape; growing out of the rock and dead ground like some unholy caricature of the medieval castles of the past.
Tall spires stabbed upwards, narrow windows darkened and sported the tattered remnants of what might have, at one time, been gloriously beautiful flags of days gone by.
The dark walls, topped with blood red spikes, ringed the entire castle, seeming more like the walls of a prison than the protective walls of olden days.
As it was, Linda spared the walls little thought, electing to sail over them and touch down in the court yard. Risky, to be sure. But if time was critical, then she could not spare the time to seek for an entrance from the outside.
Since she was half expecting to hear some alarm, or see some indication that her arrival had been noted, Linda was suspiciously surprised to see and hear no such thing.
Quickly “dousing” her wings, Linda let her features flow once again. Where Supergirl had once stood, an older Linda Danvers now looked around, glaringly out of place in this…this castle of Darkness.
She moved quickly and quietly. She had, upon her arrival, instantly noted the entrance to what had to be the inner keep. She made for that area now. She paused when she reached the great double doors.
She had wondered how she would get through the doors. How she could open them, slip inside, and then close them again undetected.
That, it seemed was not to be a problem. The doors were ajar! Though not wide open, the gap was more than wide enough to allow her to slip in. That, in itself, caused Linda to pause. Things were going much to easy.
“Yes.” The voice was soft, almost inaudible. One of the doors swung inward a bit and a figure stepped partially out. His face was hidden, restricting Linda’s view to his lower body.
The man was, she noted, dressed in a fashion totally inappropriate for the setting. He wore shin high boots, bright yellow in color, and a light purple jump suit, his waist encircled by a yellow utility belt. She did not need to see the face to know this person.
“Querl?” She was aware of the shaky tone of her voice, yet there was nothing she could do to change it. Too much was happening that she could not explain.
“Yes.” The man answered, still standing within the shadow of the open door. “There is more here than meets the eyes.” He continued. “More and, at the same time, less.” He stepped forward and Linda gasped.
As with the Dawnstar that had led her to this place, this Querl Dox, called Brainiac 5 of the Legion of Super Heroes, was a much older version of the Querl that had traveled to the 20th century and fallen in love with her. As she recalled that visit, she once again felt the remorse she had felt then at having to use that love to accomplish her own ends, no matter the reason. Using people was not something Linda relished.
Her encounter with both Myra Nal and Dawnstar had prepared her for this, yet it was still a shock to see. This Querl, in his early to mid thirties, was no less handsome than his younger counter part. Indeed, the eyes that looked out at her now seemed to have a bit more wisdom, as if they had seen things that the younger Querl could only dream of. Linda knew instantly who this Querl was.
“You are Kara’s Querl.” She blurted unable to stop herself. The man smiled slightly.
“You could say that.” He answered, his tone still soft. He walked slower and reached out a hand, his green fingers brushing a strand of hair away from Linda’s face. “You look a lot like her. You would look like her even without the disguise.”
Linda could only gape at him.
“Unfortunately, we do not have the time to stand here and talk.” Querl sighed. He held out another hand, this one grasping two yellow belts, similar to the one he wore around his own waist.
“You will need these.” He told her. He hesitated after she had taken the belts and then, moving slowly, reached down and unfastened the one he wore and handed it to her as well. “You can not imagine the effort behind this.” He was saying. “Pay attention. The two smaller belts are variations of mine. They will allow a Kryptonian to withstand magic for a short period.” His smile did not reach his eyes and seemed to be more of a mocking nature. “I had help creating these since magic is not….WAS not…my forte.”
“But..” Linda was confused now. “I’m not Kryptonian.”
“I know. The last belt is for you to wear while you are here. It is my own personal shield belt. While it will not protect you from magic, it Will protect you from most projectiles and will allow you to survive for short periods of time in a total vacumn.” He turned away with out further explaination. “Let’s go. Time is of the essence.”
Linda followed as the older Querl led her through a maze of hallways. Though she did her best to keep up, his pace more than once made her consider flying Along the route, she could not help but notice the grotesque decorations that lined the halls, carved into pillars and walls. The pictures and statues showed scenes that, in other places and times, would have sent her racing for the exit, her face burning with embarrassment.
“This is sick!” She shook her head, disgust written over her face as they passed a particularly repulsive statue.
“It’s all for show.” Querl said, talking back over his shoulder. “Whatever Mordru might be, he is not this perverted. This is merely a psychological device he uses to discourage unwanted visitors.” He stopped and turned to face her.
“Yes, he could ring this place in spells of protection, but that requires a constant expediture of energy. Energy that he might need in battle. Better to use simpler methods in places where intruders can do no real harm anyway. Believe me, when you get to the more sensitive areas, you will find that he has magical guards enough.”
“So where are we going?” Linda demanded as he turned and continued on. He looked neither left nor right, moving along without hesitation. She caught her breath as they passed a row of lit torches set high on the walls. She was looking down and could easily see her own wavering shadow as they trekked through the seemingly abandoned halls. Yet Querl cast no shadow. None at all!
“You came to perform a rescue.” Querl answered, unaware of her sudden realization. “Those of us that can, have come to make sure you succeed.” He paused again, this time to look directly in her eyes. “Actually, the others have come at my request. You see, I have a direct personal interest in this.”
“I don’t understand.” Linda shook her head. Even now Querl didn’t cast a shadow. He noticed where she was looking and a smile once again touched his lips but, as before, did not reach his eyes.
“As I said, there is more here than meets the eyes. More and less. Come.”
She had long since given up trying to maintain her sense of direction as he led her through hall after winding hall. Yet when he stopped before a closed stone door, she felt that she was closer to the outer wall than she had been when she had entered the double doors. Close enough, perhaps, to be directly beneath them.
“Ironic, isn’t it.” Querl’s smile was sarcastic now. “Mordru has one fear. The fear of being buried alive. It is the only way to stop him, you know. Yet, despite that fear, he keeps that which he wishes to secret or hold far beneath the surface.” He shook his head. “No, he will not come here in person. While he may send an image or some other avatar, Mordru will not himself venture into these depths.” He shrugged his shoulders and indicated the door.
“This is as far as I can go.” He told her. “The rest is up to you.”
“Wait a minute!” Linda decided it was time to get some answers. So far her polite demeanor had accomplished nothing. Perhaps it was time to take on some of Kara’s attitudes. “I want some answers. Who are you people and why are you helping me? You said you had a direct interest?”
“There is no time for this.” Querl frowned.
“Make time.” Lind folded her arms across her chest. Her very stance was one that stated without question that she was not going to move from that spot until she got what she wanted.
“Youth.” The look on Querl’s face was a curious mixture of amusement and annoyance with a touch of resignation when he saw that Linda was not budging an inch further without some explanation.
“Very well.” He said, risking a quick glance at the door. “I will tell you What I can, but not much. There really isn’t any time. You have to get out of here and then get your friends to safety.”
He took a moment to pull his thoughts together. Probably not, Linda thought to herself, not to figure out what to tell her, but rather how to tell her so that she could understand.
“We don’t know why, but somehow something is breaking down the walls of reality. All along the time stream.” He began. “I do not know what you may know of alternate probabilities, and we don’t have the time for me to educate you. Suffice it to say that the barriers that separate the various probabilities are weakening. Basically, all that has happened is coming unraveled. Space and Time are both tearing under the strain. We, those of us that you have seen and those that are even now going to the aid of your friends, know this is so because we know what has happened to us. We have been written out of history and replaced. Yet we are here. We should not be. We should not exist.” He paused. “have you noticed that none of us have ever gotten close enough to chance an accidental touch? That is because our two realities cannot co-exist. Your reality replaced ours. Were we to touch, we are convinced one or both of those touching would cease to exist.”
“You mean, if I touched you….” Linda was visibly shaken.
“Then either I or you or maybe both would no longer exist within this reality.” Querl confirmed. “Or so we believe. It is only a theory. Yet nothing within our experience has shown that this theory is incorrect.” He smiled wryly. “The only true way to prove a theory is to test it. And frankly I’m not willing to chance it. Are you?”
“No…no” In spite of herself, Linda backed away a step then stopped, her face a mass of confusion. “Wait a minute. That does not make sense. Kara is from the same reality as you and I can touch her….” She wound down at the look that crossed Querl’s face. He reached for her, stopping just beofe he could grasp her arms.
“What are you saying?” He demanded. “Kara is dead. I watched her eulogy myself. Hell, I was there!”
“Well she’s alive now.” Linda was getting a bit perturbed. “Actually, her spirit, from what I understand, was transferred into a clone body. It seems a clone of her, created sometime before her death, went into a coma. The spirit fled, leaving only an empty shell…” She trailed off again when she noticed that Querl was not rally listening.
“This changes everything!” He said, staring at the ground. He looked back up at her. “We had no idea Kara lived again.” Tentatively he reached out and touched her arm. Linda winced and waited for anything to happen. When nothing did, she relaxed.
“What does it change?” She demanded.
“You must promise me something.” Querl was no longer listening. “You have got to get the girls to safety. You have to get them to Kara.”
“I don’t understand.” Linda didn’t bother to say that she was getting tired of not understanding. She was sure her tone of voice had conveyed that. “What do you mean by girls.”
“I know you don’t. And for that I apologize. If I could I would explain it all to your satisfaction but there is no time.” At that instant an eerie wailing sound seemed to spring from the very walls. “The alarm. The castle knows we are here and is summoning Mordru’s guardians.” He grasped both of Linda’s arms with his hands. “I will keep them busy, you must get the girls and leave. They are the daughters Kara and I might have had. Did have, in a manner of speaking, in other realities. You must get them to Kara!”
“Your daughters?” Linda was aghast. She had more questions, but already Querl was running up the hall way the way they had come.
“You must hurry!” He called back over his shoulder just as he turned a corner and was lost to sight.
“Daughters!” Linda stared up the now empty hallway for a moment before turning her attention back to the door in front of her. “Whatever is going on, one thin I do know. There’s more than one girl in there and I’ve got to get them out.” She placed her hands on the stone door and pushed. Nothing. She looked around the edges of the door, looking for a crack or anything she could see through. If she could get a picture of the other side, she could just shunt in and grab the girls. Again nothing.
“This is getting ridiculous!’ She groused. Standing back, she unleashed her TK at the door, hoping and praying that there was no one on the other side. Whther she had miscalculated the strength it would take to move the door or the door was weakend to begin with she didn’t know. Instead of being blown backward into the room, the door crumbled, shattering into gravel and dust that flew and pinged of the stone walls of the hallway. “Well, at least it’s open.”
She stepped through the door…and grunted as two missles launched themselves from opposite corners of the room, one locking it’s arms around her legs while the other tackled her upper body, pinning her arms to her sides.
“Okay you prick, where are …..”
“Why did you kidnap us, you bi….”
Both voices trailed off and Linda found herself flat on the ground, looking up at a matching set of green eyes.
“Watch your language!” She snapped, automatically. She then stifled a giggle, realizing the ridiculousness of that statement. The girls, spitting images of Kara, though, after seeing the older Querl, Linda could see some of his features in their faces as well, were looking at her in total confusion.
“Who are you supposed to be?” One asked, cautiously. At that instant, Linda realized that Dr. Strange had made a mistake. He had assumed that the clone would have taken up an identity that matched Kara’s Linda Danver’s Secret ID. Yet why would she? She had nothing to hide. So of course she would be herself. At most people would have commented on the remarkable resemblance she had to Kara. Instead of an older Linda Danvers, a Kara look alike would have been more appropriate.
“It’s a long story, girls.” Linda replied. The girls were holding her down, though neither looked as if they knew what they should do now. “Basically, I’m here to get you out of here.” She let her features flow and the girls jumped back, startled. Fear and confusion was replaced by awe as Linda Danvers was replaced by Supergirl.
“You…You’re Matrix!” The girl that had first spoken stammered.
Linda felt a shock go through her. It had been many years since anyone had called her that. Long before her merger with Linda Danvers, in fact. She thought quickly. These girls had known when Supergirl was Kara. They would not now, in all likelihood, accept that SHE was now Supergirl. But…
“I haven’t been Matrix for a long time, girls.” She told them in a soft voice. “It’s not an easy thing to explain, but I promise I will try once we are out of here. But now I am Supergirl. The only Supergirl, in fact, this world has ever known.”
One of the girls opened her mouth, most probably to argue, but Linda held up a hand.
“Not right now.” She hurried forward and handed each of the girls one of the smaller yellow utility belts Querl had given her. Now she knew why he had given her two…not counting his own. “Put these on.” She looked around. “Wait right here. I’ve got to go check on something.”
She sped out the door, flying down the hall as fast as she was able. At the corner she stopped and stared, the blood draining from her face. There, amid the blood and gore of who knew how many nameless creatures, was the bleeding, broken body of Querl Dox.
She gasped as she saw the body move, the chest rising as he struggled to take in ragged breath after ragged breath.
“Querl!” She rushed to him, using her TK to fling the carcasses of the creatures away. She knelt beside him, pulling him up until he lay across her lap.
“I held them off.” He coughed. He smiled and then grimaced as pain raged through his body. “I guess I was more than just a brain after all.”
“Of course you were.” Linda cried, her tears falling. It was an effort, but Querl managed to raise a hand to her face, brushing at the stream of tears.
“Don’t cry.” He wheezed. “You shouldn’t cry, Kara.” His hand dropped. “Take care of the girls. They were good kids in their own realities. Now they’ll be lost. At least they’ll have you as a mother.” He closed his eyes and then opened them. “I love you, Kara.”
“And I love you, Querl.” Linda said, pitching her voice so that what Querl heard would be as close to Kara’s voice as she could get. She cried as Querl slumped in her arms, his now sightless eyes staring into nothingness. He had thought she was Kara, and she had not had the heart to tell him otherwise.
“Kara loves you too.” She whispered as she let him slide to the floor.
“Oh Yuch!” Linda stood and whirled to find both girls standing behind her.
“I thought I told you to wait for me.” She began, trying to block their view. It was no use. One of the girls moved to the left while the other ducked to the right, slipping behind her to look down at the body of Querl Dox and the surrounding creatures.
She looked back up at Lind, confusion written all over her face.
“I think I have seen him before.” She said, reaching down to brush her fingertips across the smooth, green cheek. “Was he a friend?”
With that, Linda realized that neither girl knew the truth. That Querl Dox was their father.
“He was a very close friend.” She whispered. “Your mother can tell you about it when we get you home.”
“Mother!” Both girls crowded around her. “Is she okay? Where…” they both trailed off, looking at each other with an even deeper confusion. Linda sighed, knowing what that meant.
“Let me guess.” She said. “You two don’t know each other, do you?” Both girls shook their heads. “Great. Okay. We’ll sort all this out in a bit. Right now, let’s get you out of here.”
She felt a fresh wave of sadness as it occurred to her that Querl need not have diesd. Had he stayed with her, she could have opened the door, grabbed the girls, and shunted them all to safety. Well, she would waste no time getting the girls out.
“Take my hands.” She told them, her tone suggesting that arguing would not be a good thing right then. Both girls stared wide eyed as Linda’s cape flared up, vanishing as it transformed into a pair of giant, fiery wings. “Let’s go.”
“Wait a minute!” One of the girls pulled back. “What about the other one?”
Linda looked at the girl in confusion.
“Other one?”
“The other prisoner.” The other girl piped up. Linda looked from one to the other. There! One of the girls was wearing a Kryptonian headband.
“Must have picked that up from her mother or pictures of Kara.” She thought to herself. She certainly didn’t get it from traditional Kryptonian sources. In Kara’s Reality, only men wore the headbands. Though, from her understanding, a lot of the younger girls in Kandor were wearing them now, thanks to Kara.
“Before we go any further, what are your names?” Linda demanded.
“I’m Carrie.” The girl with the headband replied. “She’s Karen.” Linda marked Carrie as the more overt of the two. Not that there was much difference.
“Okay. Carrie, tell me about this other one.”
“We’re not sure…” Carrie began
“But we think it’s a boy.” Karen finished. She did not even blush when Linda gave her a hard look.
“Well, I guess this is just not the time or the place to expect them to be overawed.” Linda thought to herself. “They are frightened and angry. Not a good combination in a super powered Kryptonian.”
“Com’ on. We’ll show you!” Carrie, obviously tired of waiting for Linda to make up her mind, bunched her legs and sprang down the corridor, Karen right behind her.
“Teenagers.” Linda muttered in disgust as she leapt after them. She was, of course, ignoring the fact that she herself was barely out of her teens. At most, she could only be five to six years older than these girls.
“We’re getting our asses beat here!” Rogue muttered as she picked herself up off the ground yet again. She shook her head, wincing at the pain that lanced through and seemed to settle right behind her eyes.
To her left, Mon El was sprawled on the ground, his eyes closed. From this angel she could not tell if he was breathing or not. One thing was certain. He was out of it.
To her right and some what behind, Dr. Strange had fallen to his knees. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth and his left eye was swollen shut. Yet he still battle on. Even now a blast of light, springing from the Eye of Amogotto, leapt out to strike at the shield Mordru had conjured around himself.
Though obviously holding the upper hand at the moment, Mordru was not exactly unscathed. The rents and tears in his robes…the blood streaming from his lips and nose…and the livid bruises on his face all testified to the punishment he had taken at the hands of Mon, Rogue, and Strange. Yet still he smiled with the sure knowledge that the battle was already won and that he would be counted the victor.
“He’s playing with us!” Rogue realized. “He could have beat us at any time. He’s just playing!”
“Of course I am.” Mordru’s laughter rang out as the blast of light from the Eye of Amogotto splattered and shattered over his shield. He glanced at Strange with a look of grudging respect. “You have given me a battle like very few have ever given me.” He admitted. “However, it is time to end this. A pity you did not flee like your so-called angel.”
“Why?” Strange rasped, his voice strained. He did not bother explaining his question. Mordru would understand. And he did. Strange hoped that all he had learned about this villain was true. One of his biggest faults, he had learned, was his ego. Mordru would not be able to resist boasting. That would give Linda a bit more time.
“Revenge. In part.” The wizard stated. He stalked closer until he stood over the kneeling Dr. Strange. “You should not have involved yourself. This is not your reality. But know you will watch as I once again regain control of my domain.”
“What do you mean…your domain?” Rogue gasped.
“Why, this reality, my dear.” Mordru now stood over her. “You see, I had it in my grasp, I was a mere thought away from realizing my destiny…when the Anti-Monitor arrived and laid waste to my ambitions. Then again I was close to achieving my ultimate glory…then that blasted Parallax ruined everything.”
“Excuse for everything, huh?” Rouge muttered. “Frankly, I think you just screwed up again and again. This time won’t be any different.”
“Oh but it will be different, my dear.” Mordru reached down and twined his fingers in Rogue’s hair, jerking her head up and back. She did not even try to stop him. His magick had rendered her virtually powerless against him. “You see, I have discovered a way to reverse everything. All that is required is the blood of four kryptonians and one earth woman and the power of Alexander Luthor!”
Mordru laughed as if he had made an hilarious jest and released his hold on her hair.
“But then, that is something the three of you would not understand, is it?” Mordru continued. “It really is a pity that you decided to interfere in a matter that was not your concern. It is of little matter. You can go to your graves knowing that your deaths were meaningless, that you always were powerless against the might of Mordru!”
“Perhaps you should reconsider that last part, Mordru!”
Mordru turned his head at the unexpected voice and Rogue looked up.
Ranged in a semi-circle around them were several variously clothed individuals. Rogue gasped when she recognized one, dressed in red and blue.
She glanced down at the motionless Mon El and then back up at the stern faced new comers.
The one in the red and blue costume that was a match for the one Mon usually wore was obviously an older version of the Mon El she had come to know. From the descriptions Kara had given her, Rogue concluded that these people were known other than the Legion of Super-Heroes. Not the ones that currently exited in the 30th century of Linda’s reality, but rather the Legion that had existed in Kara’s reality. This was not a Legion of teens, but rather a Legion of adults that had long ago learned how to work effortlessly as a team.
“YOU!” Mordru hissed. “It’s not possible! You don’t exist!”
“For some one that doesn’t exist, you are looking quite fine, my love.” A red haired main, wearing a red and blue suit with Lightning insignia quipped to the tall blonde beside him. She wore a skimpy red outfit that would have gotten her arrested for indecent exposure in many towns in the southern US of Rogue’s home Earth.
The Blonde started to smile and then jerked her head towards Rogue.
“Garth, take him out. Quickly.” She said. She herself hurried towards Rogue.
“You heard the woman.” The one called Garth called out. “Hit him!”
Rogue could only gape in astonishment at the massive fire power that erupted from the assembled group…all focused on Mordru.
“That’s not going to stop him!” Rogue whispered as the blond come up to her.
“They know it.” The woman answered. “But it will keep him occupied long enough for us to come up with something better.” She looked over at Dr. Strnage and then knelt down by Mon, feeling for a pulse. When she looked back towards Rogue, her face was bleak. “He’s alive, but just barely and probably not for long.” She shook her head. “What could possibly have possessed you to make you believe the three of you alone could take on Mordru and defeat him.?”
“Our objective was not to defeat him.” Strange spoke up. “Merely distract him.”
“Well in that, you possibly succeeded.” The woman nodded. “I am Imra Ranzz, though most call…called me Saturn Girl.” She glanced back at the others. The various energy blasts were starting to fall off and the more physical members of the group were preparing to launch their attacks.
“How…” Rogue cleared her throat. “Please tell my you aren’t a bunch of ghosts.”
“I wish I could, but unfortunately, I’m not sure it would be the truth.” Imra smiled sadly. “Brainy explained it all before he took off to help your friend…”
“Linda!” Rouge reached out and grasped the woman’s arm.
“She’s had help.” The woman assured her. “By now she is either at her destination, doing her part, or she has failed.” She shook her head. “Either way, we can’t take the time to worry about her right now. You must listen to me.” Though she spoke to Rogue, her eyes took in Dr. Strange as well.
“Mordru has some how altered the time stream.” She stated. “We are not sure but we think it some other energy force has weakened the fabric of time and space, giving Mordru access to alternate realities. Though we are certain that he has no idea that he is affecting those realities.” She paused, taking a deep breath. “We don’t know if it was something he has done or this other energy force, but it seems that we, the Legion of Super Heroes, have been given a second lease on life. We know we should not exist, that our reality has been replaced by another. Yet here we are.”
“The Shard!” Rogue looked over to see Dr. Strange nodding.
“It makes sense.” He said. “This place is a buffer area between Linda’s reality and the Otherverse.” He looked up at Imra. “I would suggest, if you wish to continue to exist, that you and your friends find your way to the Otherverse side of this buffer.”
“Do you think Mordru knows?” Rogue asked.
“Doubtful.” Strange shook his head as he wiped a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand. “Most likely, he believes he has created a dimensional bubble sitting just outside the 30th century in Linda’s reality.” His gaze grew thoughtful. “Yet he is aware of the existence of alternate realities and he is aware of events that have occurred in Linda’s Reality that he should not be aware of.” He looked at Imra. “He has abducted two girls from the reality that preceded Linda’s.” He explained.
“I’m not sure I follow you, but Querl….Brainiac 5, that is…said something similar.” She indicated Rogue. “Why the Supergirl, costume?” She asked. She didn’t wait for an answer. “Things have been screwed around. Some of us seem to have two sets of memories. In one set, Supergirl was a member of the Legion. A 20th century Kryptonian name Kara Zor-El. In the other set, she never existed and a Daxamite named Laurel Gand was a member in her place.” She indicated Rogue again. “That costume is the one worn by Kara.”
“A long story.” Strange jumped in before Rogue could answer. “It was a little ploy on my part. An attention grabber, if you will. Something to get and hold Mordru’s attention long enough for us to engage him and keep him busy.”
“And it worked.” Rogue groused, sliding over to Mon. She rolled him over on his back and lifted his head in her lap. “Too well.”
“Mordru has always had a hatred of Mon and Superboy.” Imra said, her voice soft. “and here he had one in the costume of the other. It is a wonder he still lives at all.”
“I hate to break this up.” Rogue looked up to see the older Mon approach. By now the battle between Mordru and the other Legionnaires had moved off some distance. This Mon, she noticed, was grimacing with pain.
“The poisoning?” Imra asked, quietly, putting a hand on his arm.
“The serum is failing again.” Was the response. He nodded towards his younger self. “How is he?”
“He’s dying.” Rouge whispered. She squeezed her eyes to hold back the tears that threatened to fall. How could she tell Jenny? Jenny had kept her distance from Mon, simply because of his age, yet even she could not deny the attraction she felt and that he obviously returned.
“Then that makes two of us.” The older Mon said. He smiled sadly when Rogue looked up him, puzzled. “The serum Brainiac developed to counteract my lead poisoning is not working anymore. It’s keeping me from keeling over dead on the spot, but it is not stopping the effects altogether. Sooner or later I will die.”
“Most interesting.” Everyone looked over at Dr. Strange who was alternating between looking at the Mon lying on the ground and the older Mon. Finally his gaze settled on the elder. “You realize, of course that you cannot exist.”
“What?” Mon looked from Imra to Rogue and back to Strange. “What are you talking about?”
“Oh, the rest can exist. But you. You are different. You cannot exist because this young man here IS you. Had the time stream been uninterrupted, he would have spent a thousand years in the Phantom Zone until your Brainiac 5 could release him and treat him with a serum. That, of course, did not happen. Instead, he was released in my probability and cured completely of his lead poisoning.” He pointed a finger straight at Mon. “Therefore, you cannot exist. Yet here you are. Most interesting.”
Mon looked at stronge for a long moment then looked back down at his younger self. Then he shook his head.
“Whatever you say.” He muttered. He turned to Imra. “They can’t keep him occupied much longer.” He told her. Rogue, looking towards the battle, saw that he was right. Already several legionnaires lay sprawled, hurt or stunned from magical bolts cast by Mordru. The energy blasts, which were now far fewer, were beginning to wane even more. The fact that Mordru looked as weary as she herself felt did nothing to lift Rogue’s spirit.
They had to do something and they had to do it fast!
“Right under our noses all along!” Kara snarled. She, along with Jenny, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm stood amid the blasted, melted remains of the Cadamus Project.
It had only been a few days earlier that a low yield nuke had detonated over the surface of the project.. She had not been able to stop the detonation. Hell, she had not even detected the missile launch until it was too late. She and the others had rushed to the area to see what aid they could to the survivors.
It had been a small device. Luckily for the near by city, it had been a shaped charge. The blast had gone down into the earth, slagging a good portion of the project but leaving a majority of the nearer buildings and dwellings pretty much intact. Unfortunately, even a shaped charge is going to release radiation. And a shape charge, basically a ground burst, would throw much more radiated dirt and debris into the air. Though most people did not realize it, an air burst would not result in the classic dirty black mushroom cloud that was usually associated with a nuclear blast. That mushroom was caused by a ground burst sending tons of ash and dirt flying into the sky, to rain down miles distant, spreading death as the wind blows.
When Kara and Rogue and Jenny had arrived on the scene, the mushroom was well developed. Together, the three had contained the debris.
With Jenny using her lantern energy to form a funnel, Kara and Rogue had used their speed to create a vortex…sucking the deadly fallout away from the surface and into low earth orbit. Right at the edge of the atmosphere.
They had not stopped there. Kara and Rogue had spun, zipping round and round until they had formed the debris into a giant sphere which Jenny then fused with her energy. Then, as Rogue and Jenny headed back down to start looking for survivors, Kara had given the ball a massive heave, sending it on a trajectory that would, in time, bring it into contact with the sun.
By the time Kara had rejoined her friends at ground zero, rescue efforts were well under way.
“Kara!” She looked down to see Jenny waving an arm near an outcropping in the rubble. Checking her speed, she veered in and landed lightly next to the green giantess.
“What’ve you got?” She asked, looking around.
“A bit of a mystery. Take a look.”
Jenny led her to a bunker, it’s blast doors bulged and ruptured.
“Who ever or what ever was in here wanted out…real bad.” She commented. Kara looked at her, sharply. Then studied the doors.
“Yes.” She nodded. “These doors were crashed from the inside.” Bending down, she whistled softly. There, pressed into the now hardened ground were footprints leading away from the bunker. “And whoever it was walked across this ground while it was still hot!” She stood and looked around. Finally she shook her head.
“We don’t have the time to investigate this right now. We have to see what we can do to help the survivors and the people around that may be suffering from rad poisoning.” She looked back down at the prints. “Maybe later…” She trailed off. She and Jenny had then moved quickly to join Rogue in the rescue efforts.
Shaking her head, Kara brought herself back to the present. Here she was above the melted ruins of the Cadamus Project again. With all that had been going on, she had completely forgotten about the strange footprints. Now all that flooded back. And still there was no time to investigate. Dealing with the Shard had to come first.
She lifted the device Sue had hung over her neck and checked the reaout.
“According to this thing, we are standing directly over the Shard!” She had meant it to come out as a statement. Instead, it was almost a whisper.
“Great.” Johhny kicked at a piece of rubble, and then cursed, hopping around, one hand wrapped around the toe of his boot.
“It’s all fused together.” Jenny commented, looking around. She shook her head. “This has to be Dr. Doom’s work. He has the intelligence to create a nuke small enough to do this much damage and still leave a majority of a nearby city standing.”
“You think he was after Lex Luthor?” Kara asked. “I had the feeling there had been a falling out between those two.” Jenny shrugged.
“If he was, and Lex was here, then that’s one problem we don’t have to deal with anymore.” She said.
“Don’t count on it.” Kara replied, somewhat absently. “I knew Lex, and if this one was anything like the one I knew, then he was no where near here. Lex tries to keep one step ahead of those that might be after him…and usually succeeds.”
“So how do we get at this Shard thingy?” Ben Grimm brought them all back to the task at hand. “We sure ain’t going to find an elevator!”
“That’s no problem.” Johnny quipped. “Kara’ll just dig a tunnel.”
“Actually,” Kara gave Johnny a look. “I was thinking of a much easier way.” She stepped aside and motioned to Jenny. “If you would, please.”
“Sure thing!” Jenny smiled. “Step aside and let mean, green, and beautiful handle this.”
Jenny raised her hands and let the energy flow. She didn’t bother with any elaborate image or form. Instead, she formed two columns of light. One punching inward at the ground, the other sucking up and depositing the resulting loose dirt elsewhere.
Johnny and Ben watched with undisguised awe at the mound of dirt that rapidly grew as the columns of energy sank further into the ground.
“Reed Richards, what are you up to now?”
Sue stood in the open hatchway to the lab Reed had furnished aboard the space station. The station, floating in the L4 position above the Otherverse Earth had originally been their intended base of operations. Events from the very beginning had nullified those plans. Yet this is where Sue now found Reed, flipping through screen after screen of data on the computer system he had installed. Occasionally he would stop and turn to another terminal to type in some notes or a few calculations.
In another part of the Lab, Sue could see that Reed had put Sherrie to work. She was just as busy at her own terminal, categorizing data for later use.
“I had a bad feeling about the Shard.” Reed answered, almost as an after thought. “I wanted to come here and check it out.” He raised his hand and jerked a thumb towards Sherrie. “And I wanted to get Sherrie busy at something.” He lowered he voice. “This is getting hard on her. She is more than half convinced that if we destroy the shard, we will destroy her world.”
“And will we?” Sue asked, concern in her own eyes. Reed sighed and leaned back in his chair.
“At first we were convinced that it would not. Now I am not so sure.”
“Reed, we can’t let that happen.”
“It’s worse than that, I’m afraid.” He turned the monitor towards her and tapped a few keys. “This is an illustraion of what could happen. Watch!”
The screen blanked and then lightned to show a few of the Earth from orbit. Slowly at first, a green glow seemed to imminate from a point on the North American Conitnent until it had spread out over the entire globe. It didn’t stop there, however. The next view was a computer model showing the fragil walls of reality that separated the various Probabilities. As the green glow spread over the globe in one reality, the walls took on a greenish tinge ans very quickly began to disentigrate. With the walls gone, the Different Probabilities seemed to rush in, all trying to occupy the same space and time at the same instant. The result was predictable. The screened darkened after Sue saw what must have been a vision of what had occurred billions of years in the past during what scientist called the Big Bang!
“That’s it.” Reed sighed. “We destroy the Shard, and everything, not just the Otherverse, ceases to exist. Reality…all realities, will converge and finally explode outwards. Everything will be destroyed and from that, a new reality will be born.” He tossed a pin down beside his key board and rubbed his eyes. “And life may start again…in a few billion years after new stars and new planets are formed.”
“My god Reed.” Sue clutched his arm. “Kara and the others are on their way to destroy it. They don’t know! They may have even found it by now!”
“They have.” Reed replied. “Those devices I made also have homing signals built in. They have been stationairy for some time now. An indication that they have found the Shard.”
“Then why are you just setting here?”
Both Sue and Reed turned to see Sherrie glowering at them.
“What’s the use?” Reed spoke after a moment. “It’s die quick or die slow. Personally, I would rather go quickly.”
“REED!” Sue was looking at her husband, aghast. Her eyes then narrowed and her hands flew to her temples. Using her unique abilities, she quickly erected a force field around the entire station. Almost instantly, Reed was shaking his head, as if clearing it of cobwebs. He looked at Sue, understanding dawning.
“The Shard.” It was not a question. He turned to Sherrie. “You are quite right. We need to get ahold of the team and let them know what’s going on.” Putting words into actioin, Reed raced for the door. In the hallway outside, his legs stretched out, allowing him to cover yards with each stride. Behind him, Sherrie and Sue followed at a run. Neither Sue nor Reed seemed to notice the strange helmet Sherrie carried under one arm.
“Ben! Are you there Ben?” Upon reaching the door way to the communications room, Reed’s arms and neck had stretched out, tapping in the needed commands to establish a link with Ben Grimm on the planet surface before the rest of his body caught up.
“”Here, Stretcho.” The curt reply sprang out of the room’s speaker. “Make it quick…we’re kinda busy down here.”
End of A World Without Heroes - Chapter Ten.
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