The old woman struggled in her hospital bed, coughing before shifting slightly and drifting back into a fitful sleep.
Regular as clockwork, the duty nurse stopped to check on her during her rounds. It would not be long, now. Days, not even weeks. The nurse watched the woman breathe, feeling sympathy for her patient. Friends would stop by occasionally, but no family. One of too many lonely souls in a world torn by war, dying alone.
Still, the old woman was fortunate to have been provided a hospital bed and drugs to reduce her pain. So many would not even have that.
Convinced she could do no more, the nurse moved on to her next patient.
Kent Nelson gazed out of the front door of his castle, the castle that sat on the Rock of Eternity. There were many Rocks of Eternity within the Continuum, linked to individual probabilities. This particular Rock, however, was different. It was linked to many of the other Rocks within individual probabilities, and could spot trouble in many, many more.
Kent Nelson had once been Dr. Fate of Alterverse, but he had outgrown that role long ago. Circumstance had placed Kent at the helm of the confluence of the Rocks of Eternity. Now, he served the entire Continuum as the Shazam Wizard of the central Rock.
A flicker of emerald energy caught his attention, approaching quickly. He felt a pang of conscience for what he would soon ask, but understood that was the nature of his work. The mission was almost everything…almost.
A pragmatic man, Kent believed in an efficiency of effort, never targeting more resources towards a problem than absolutely necessary. But he sensed that dear friends and close allies were in extreme danger. These were true heroes who would fight until the bitter end, people that Kent admired. And he worried for them. He would not risk their fate on a less capable agent.
He watched as she landed; a Flameling composed of pure mystic energy and matter, the end result of her entry into the The Inheritor’s Continuverse after the crisis that ended the previous version of that Continuverse.
In her past life, she had been Helena Wayne, the Huntress of an Earth-Two, a woman who had come up with an impossible scheme to defeat the Anti-Monitor of her Multiverse. Her desperate gamble had succeeded, but its consequence to her had been severe, destroying her body and pushing her mind to the breaking point—almost. But her gamble paid off—offering a chance at life for so many and leaving her with a body composed of the Starheart’s power in this life.
Faith Powers Scott—the Flameling—The Batman’s mind melded with the Starheart’s power. Not for the first time, Kent muttered a word of thanks to Ray Palmer who had raised the young woman, providing the grounding she needed as she came into her full power.
“And to what do I owe the pleasure of this invitation today?” Faith asked as he held the door open let her in. He had not always been honest with her, forced to conceal truths by his promises to others. She had been forced to deduce those truths to save him and a universe from those agreements. She had not entirely forgiven him.
But now Kent faced another threat, within Kara Zor-El’s Multiverse probabilities. And he needed her unique perspectives and abilities.
He guided her wordlessly towards the kitchen of his castle. She smelled the coffee, a rich blend with a hint of chocolate. Wordlessly, he poured two mugs, handing her one.
“We are not heroes, you and I,” he raised his mug, tapping hers gently before drinking, a gesture resembling a toast to them. “We do the dirty work and people suffer because of what we do and the decisions we make.”
“Tradeoffs,” the young woman agreed, “the only consolation being that others would suffer more if we do not act. But we both know this. Is this an apology?”
“We have to work together,” he pressed, “we may be at this for a very long time.”
“This is an apology!” Her eyes brightened. “I should record this for posterity!”
“I backed myself into a corner,” Kent admitted, “so that other fail-safes could be implemented. I ran out of options.”
“You made a bargain you had no business making,” Faith accused.
“I certainly did,” he agreed. “But I made it well before I met you and the others who could end the threat. There would have been consequences to breaking the bargain, but at some point, I would have had no choice.”
“Consequences?” Faith pressed.
“I would have become Hades’ permanent guest under less than pleasant circumstances,” Kent explained as her eyebrows rose, “and he would have been in no hurry to release me to eternity.”
“Here is my problem,” now in his library, Kent gestured towards a hologram that displayed three separate probabilities. They appeared similar, but then, most probabilities did.
“Kara Zor-El’s Multiverse?” Faith guessed randomly, “Probabilities one through three?” She shrugged.
“Exactly,” Kent replied before focusing on the farthest probability. “Something is screwing with the timelines of all three probabilities. Instead of seeing present day, I am seeing some years in the past. But it presents an opportunity.”
“Probability Three,” Faith recalled, “in which the Phantom Zone Prisoners killed off the House of El and anyone else with any warmth in their heart. Our friends in the Multiverse are avoiding that probability like the plague. As I recall, they started out as a single probability. But while probabilities one and two retained a similar history, probability three found itself with a much darker past.”
“Yes,” Kent agreed. “Probabilities One and Two remain under the sway of the Multiverse Cosmic Starheart, the entity that guides the Guardians of those universes. But Probability Three is guided by a much darker, more malevolent entity, a separate cosmic Starheart which has guided its probability down a much darker path.”
“In other words,” Faith gazed towards the hologram of Probability Three, “it’s more than a bit insane and has thoroughly mucked up the entire time-line across the probability.”
“That’s certainly one way to put it,” Kent agreed. “Since I can’t see into the present day probability, I can only assume that it has done something that has destabilized the probability.”
“But you think we can do something to at least influence that insanity,” Faith concluded. “You have spotted what you think is an opportunity.”
“Yes,” Kent refocused his hologram, gesturing towards that Earth. “Nothing of particular interest here except a female mass-murderer who has been poisoned with Gold Kryptonite and left to die.” He focused in on the woman. “Faora Hu-Ul, serial killer of more than 30 men. She killed them just because they’re men.”
“Civic improvement,” Faith shrugged with feigned indifference as she watched him closely. “As a sex, you’re pretty despicable.”
“You don’t mean that,” Kent warned.
“Not at all,” Faith relented, “but I haven’t completely forgiven you yet.”
“Ouch.”
“Now why do I care about Faora Hu-Ul?” Faith pressed. “No superpowers means that she can’t do much to cause problems.”
He pulled up the image of another probability.
“This is Otherverse, the first Earth that Kara Zor-El and her intrepid crew rescued. You’ve met a few of the heroes from that world.”
Faith nodded as she delved into her memories.
“That probability’s Superman went insane because of a shard of a Green Lantern Central Power Battery. He destroyed much of the world before he was finally stopped. In the meantime, that shard turned a lot of folks with a meta gene into insane super-powered creatures. That lasted until Jennifer Walters of Kara’s team cleansed the shard. It was nearly impossible work that almost killed her, back in the days before she and Arisia bonded to become Senturia.”
“Yes.” Kent agreed. “You may know that the Superboy Prime of Kara’s original Multiverse arrived in Otherverse, before flying into the future to become Chasity Hudson’s friend.”
“I don’t recall that,” Faith shrugged, “I never met him.”
“He wasn’t the only survivor,” Kent explained. “Kara and her crew left this woman at the Kent farm with Martha Kent.”
Faith watched as a face from her past life as Helena Wayne came into view.
“Aunt Lois—Lois Lane Kent?” Faith asked with surprise. “From Earth-Two of Kara’s original Multiverse? She looks like she could be my Aunt Lois.”
“This is an exact doppelganger of the Earth-Two Lois Lane Kent you knew,” Kent explained. “She is from the Earth-Two of Kara Zor-El’s original multiverse. In her version, the multiverse rebooted differently. After her husband Kal-L, the Earth-Two Superman, killed the Anti-Monitor, she, her husband, Alexander Luthor, and Superboy exited the Multiverse only to arrive at Mordru’s castle. Only Superboy and Lois were alive when Kara’s team found them while attempting to rescue the Twins: Karen and Carrie. Having no other options, Kara’s team retrieved them to Otherverse.”
“How horrible,” Faith expressed, her mind focusing on her memories of her prior existence.
“Martha Kent passed on and Lois found work in New Independence,” Kent explained, “working for their equivalent of a newspaper. But old age has caught up to her and she doesn’t have much time left.”
“Does she have any family?” Faith gazed at the images Kent presented. “Is anyone looking out for her?”
“Her friends are trying,” Kent explained, “but she is one of so many with so little. Otherverse Earth is still not a prosperous world. And no one believes her stories of the Justice Society except the little children. This world had no Justice League or Society, even though it is now developing similar teams. No one would believe that a woman of her age knew the heroes she claimed to know in her youth.”
“So we have a woman who is one of us, coming to the end of her days, all alone,” Faith considered. “You didn’t just happen to show this to me. You have a plan. Otherwise, you know I would simply retrieve her. And Karen Kent would be right beside me.”
He nodded his head.
“Karen Kent in your present universe, formerly Karen Starr and Kara Zor-L on your Earth-Two. In any case, she is still very much the Power Girl that Lois Kent remembers,” he agreed.
As she deduced his plan, she frowned.
“I assume you want to take Faora’s body at the point of death and put Lois into it? Rather cold blooded, even for you.”
“Yet you deduced it immediately,” Kent retorted.
“Sometimes I think we’re too much alike,” Faith admitted, gazing earnestly at him. “When do we start?”
“How soon can you prep Karen?”
Woulda, coulda, shoulda. The old woman sat up in the hospital bed. She knew her organs were failing her, knew that her time had run out.
Perhaps if she had been on her original Earth, there would have been drugs and procedures to help her. But, truthfully, she had lost so much in her life. Her husband, her friends, her very universe had died before her.
She was grateful that her newspaper had sponsored her stay in the hospital. Her funds had run too low to pay for it herself and this world had no health insurance. Medicare, Medicaid: they were simply words out of her past.
Death had hunted her for so long…so, so long. It was finally time for her to go. She wondered what would happen to her. Since this wasn’t her universe of origin, could Heaven and Hell even take her?
Still, she was Lois Lane. She would not let death take her easily. She would not just spend her final days in a bed waiting to die…not Lois Lane. She struggled to stand, sliding off the side of her bed, pushing her feet against the floor.
“No, no dearie,” the nurse pulled at her from behind, pushing her back into bed. “Don’t you want to be in bed when the Justice Society comes to get you?”
“There is no Justice Society,” Lois expressed with frustration, “not any more. They’re all gone. And, soon, I will be, too.”
She felt the nurse force her back into the bed, pulling straps to hold her there, taking away what mobility she had. She struggled, but exhaustion soon claimed her and she fell asleep.
“…looking for my mother, Lois Lane,” Lois heard a strong woman’s voice speak to the ward desk, a voice so strong it carried to her bed.
I’m hallucinating again, Lois considered, it must be the drugs.
“Then Lois Kent,” the voice thundered again. Kara? Lois felt a glimmer of hope. How could it be?
“Never mind,” the voice thundered again, “I see her in the next room.”
Next room? Through that wall? Lois refused to believe her ears. Kara? My little girl? Such a pleasant hallucination.
“You do know how to make an entrance,” Lois heard another familiar voice chuckle. Helena? Little Helena Wayne?
“Despicable back-woods hospital,” Kara’s voice carried, “she deserves better than this.”
Lois barely opened her eyes as the two women approached. Kara? Helena? My girls here? How is that possible? Is this my end? Then where the Hell is Clark?
“And she’ll have better,” Helena’s determined voice assured Kara, “starting now.” Lois heard steps in the background, but could not see more through eyes she purposely barely opened. “Umm, no, please put that away,” Helena ordered someone.
“It will help her sleep,” the nurse’s voice informed, “and reduce the pain.”
“We’ll call you back when she needs it,” Helena assured, mollifying the nurse.
“Best hallucination I’ve had all week,” Lois muttered as she tried to sit up. She felt the straps being removed from her extremities. “I’m a little cold,” she muttered as she felt her bed heating around her. “Heat vision? Nice touch.”
“Hold on, Lois,” Kara consoled, “you’ll feel better in just a minute.”
“I must be dead,” Lois sat up, opening her eyes, gazing at the women in front of her. They appeared to be a conservatively dressed Karen Starr and Helena Wayne. But the three of them were the only things moving—all activity had stopped around them—people frozen in mid stride. “Who are you and why are you so interested in an old woman so close to her final reward?”
Karen Starr’s eyes reflected only horror at Lois’s words, but Helena chuckled.
“Lois?” Karen pleaded, “I’m Kara Zor-L.”
“This gets better all the time,” Lois felt her strength returning. “I feel pretty good! And the two of you are so interesting to watch. You want me to believe that you are Kara, but your companion enjoys watching me tell you that I don’t believe in either of you.”
“I haven’t been Helena in a very long time,” Faith’s non-powered appearance replaced her guise as Helena, “not since our Multiverse ended. But Kara came back as…Kara.”
“Are you from my Multiverse?”
“No,” Karen bit her lip, “but we were on an identical Earth-Two until the end. Our crisis ended differently. At our end, I never got to tell our you…goodbye…”
Tears flowed freely from Karen’s eyes as she reached to Lois.
“It was all gone…never got to tell you…thank you for so much…”
Lois felt the younger woman’s grief as her own, holding the younger woman to her. In all her years as a newspaper woman, she had learned to hide, to analyze. But this was just absolute grief. And Lois felt no differently, adding her own tears to the mix, crying for the first time, with someone who really understood. She felt another hand touch her shoulder reassuringly. She did not swat it away.
“So now that you’ve found me, what will you do with me?” Lois asked. “You can’t hold time in abeyance forever.”
“Lois,” Faith admitted, “I can extend your life, but I can’t cure you.”
“I want to see your left hand,” Lois demanded. “I want to know if you are what I think you are.”
“All right,” Faith allowed the normally invisible birthmark on her left hand to shine with emerald fire as her coloring shifted to emerald green.
A child-like look of wonder shone in Lois’ eyes as she gazed at the flickering flame.
“At the end of my days, I expected the nothingness of death to try to carry me away,” Lois remarked, “instead, the last daughter of Krypton and the power of Life’s Champion stand guard at my bed. I am not fool enough to believe you’ve come simply to guide me to my final reward.”
“No,” Faith answered firmly, but sincerely, “Lois, people like you, Kara, and I make choices that have consequences. And because we dare to make those choices, the gods will never leave us to our fates. They always want something more.”
“And we’re too dumb to quit,” Lois remarked, “but if we’re lucky we at least get to pick our poison. So, I’ll bite.” She gazed up at Faith. “What are my options?”
“We won’t leave you to die alone,” Faith stated forcefully. “The Justice Society takes care of its own.”
“We could take you back with us,” Karen chimed in, “we’ll take good care of you. We can access the best in our universe…several universes.”
“Both options, frankly, suck,” Lois emphasized. “What’s behind door number three?”
“We have an Earth that is badly in need of an experienced hero,” Faith revealed. “How would you like to be a Superwoman in a world that badly needs one?” She tempted.
“I want her to come back with us…” Karen protested.
“A Kryptonian Superwoman?” Lois pressed, “who?”
“Faora Hu-Ul, one of thirty-odd Kryptonian prisoners who have been released from the Phantom Zone of her probability. They’ve killed off the Superman family of that probability. There’s not much left.”
“Honey,” the older woman smiled, “I’m Lois Lane. Not much left is still more than I need. Will I remember who I am?”
“Yes,” Faith offered, “but you probably wouldn’t want to tell anyone else without good reason. But when we meet in the future, we’ll know each other. You’ll also have Faora’s memories, but none of the force of her emotions within those memories.”
“Fair enough,” Lois agreed. “I’d just like to spend a little more time with Kara before we do the deed.”
Lois watched as time began around them once more. Faith had resumed her ‘Helena’ guise. But both she and Kara had changed into their Justice Society gear.
“Who…what are you?” A frightened nurse questioned them as Power Girl picked Lois up from the bed, carrying her easily.
“We’re from the Justice Society,” the Huntress smiled sweetly, “and we’ve come for one of our own.”
“Justice Society?” The nurse squawked as the Huntress waved towards the wall, willing it to non-existence.
“Best hallucination I’ve had all year!” Lois’ voice revealed new strength.
“UP, UP, and AWAY!” Power Girl yelled before lifting off, one leg tucked underneath her, holding Lois securely in her arms.
“Thank you for the kindness you’ve shown Aunt Lois during her stay,” the Huntress smiled warmly as she, too, flew through the opening. The wall reappeared as she exited, no damage done.
“Did…did anyone else see that?” The nurse squawked.
“Justice Society?” An orderly offered, “two attractive women in Spandex? Nope, not me!”
As the nurse gaped at him, he continued.
“We don’t need any more attention from any of those supers.”
Her powers stripped from her, starvation and exposure ended the life of Faora Hu-Ul. She breathed her last as her murderous rage finally left her, once and for all.
But as her spirit departed, a white light shone on her physical form. Gold Kryptonite had altered her DNA, but now that alteration reversed, with a subtle difference. The healing rays of the sun beat down on her now-repowered form, healing all evidence of starvation and dehydration.
‘Faora’ opened her eyes, gazing around her. Finally, she stood up, walking towards the Gold Kryptonite on the other side of the hole she had been dumped in. She felt the Gold Kryptonite grab at her, stealing her power again. Then she felt the draining end as her power returned.
Ten seconds…right on schedule.
With a flash of heat vision, ‘Faora’ disintegrated the Gold K.
All the chips are down? No hope of success? Lois, old girl, this is going to be fun!
She stood with her feet firmly planted, then jumped into the air, with one leg tucked underneath her.
Up, Up, and Away!
“You do realize that Kara Zor-El is going to kill us when she finds out what we’ve done,” Faith sat across from Kent Nelson in his library. Steam arose from their coffee, wafting towards the ceiling.
“She won’t be the first to try,” Kent assured. “Besides, once she figures out why we did what we did, she’ll understand. She might even forgive us, someday.”
“True.”
“How is Karen?”
“Much more at peace,” Faith explained. “She’s been able to let go of Earth-Two. And she knows that Lois will have what she wanted most of all—a chance to make a difference.”
“We did good, Kid,” Kent complimented, “we really did.”
“I hope so…we may be at this a very long time.”
End—Interlude: Requiem for a Reporter