Chapter 4:
Of Gods and Demons
© Eldric, Nomad, Dylan Clearbrook
MVP-3 Earth; the Moon
Carol Danvers considered the lunacy of their mission: find the probability device that Mxyzptlk had used to trigger the catastrophic mess that created MVP-1, MVP-2, and MVP-3 from their common parent probability. The senior team had defined the Sorority assignment and paired the team with Dawnstar of the Legion, the tracker from the MVP-1 31stCentury Starhaven. So Alysa Wayne, the Batgirl of 25th Century Otherverse, led a team consisting of the Supergirl of 25th Century Otherverse, Chasity Hudson, the Coluan/Kryptonian twins of MVP-1, Carrie Dox-El (Supergirl) and Karen Dox-El (Power Girl), The Inheritors Wonder Girl, Cassie Sandsmark, the Alterverse Jade, Linda Kyle, Dawnstar, and herself.
The team had not been thrilled with the assignment. Jade, especially, disliked being in a probability that did not connect to the Great Portal, which substantially reduced her mystic Green Lantern powers. Still, Carol had been grateful for the distraction.
As one of the few survivors of the Wasteland probability, Carol fought hard against the depression of realizing that everything she had loved and everything she had known had disintegrated into nothingness, after the forces of Qward had drained the probability dry of all life. There were few other survivors; Richard Grayson, several Green Lanterns who were in another part of MVP-3, Lorraine Reilly, FireHawk, and Katie Power, the last of the Power Pack. There had been one other survivor whose story Kent Nelson was still trying to extract, and a few other odds and ends that Jade had reclaimed during her final reconnaissance mission before the probability faded.
Carol still wasn’t sure how Jade had wound up with Mjolnir, or what she planned to do with it. But the great hammer seemed to be quite content to rest at her side, waiting.
Carol gazed at the scene in front of her, the moon base used at one time by the Phantom Zone escapees that had terrorized MVP-3 Earth. Less than half a decade ago, the Phantom Zone prisoners had been permanently depowered and returned to the Zone by Brandy, Jimmy Olsen, and Buddy Raines and his rebel warriors. So, now, the base served no real function, or so it seemed.
The automated defenses remained active and the Sorority made every effort to stay just outside their range. Most of the team remained in the bubble Jade provided, except for the twins, Dawnstar, and Alysa Wayne. The twins and Alysa wore specialized prototype rings in development for Sorority members that were modeled after Legion of Super Heroes flight rings. Those rings provided environmental protections and specialized communications with the Motherboard Artificial Intelligence. The twins spoke with Dawnstar, who claimed that the probability device had at one time been on the moon.
“There is a gateway to elsewhere we must pass through,” Dawnstar explained to the others. “That elsewhere is not within the boundaries of MVP-3. I am not quite sure how the gate works. I only know that it must be opened for us to pursue the device.”
The twins used their telescopic and microscopic vision to analyze the energy patterns emanating from the gateway Dawnstar had indicated. Alysa Wayne joined them, using her 25th Century technology to analyze the patterns.
“It’s extra dimensional,” Alysa confirmed. “I’m not sure how we get it to open for us.”
“Knock?” Cassie offered, as she floated in the bubble with the others.
“Seriously, Cassie…” Alysa counseled.
“Don’t matter,” Linda interrupted, “we got incoming and it ain’t friendly.”
“What?” Cassie questioned.
“Confirming,” Carol agreed. “I am sensing an in-flow of Cosmic Energy.”
And then, they were gone. The cold, lifeless moon spun on alone as if the Sorority had never existed.
-The Sorority-
“Where the heck are we?” Cassie demanded as her eyes adjusted to the light. She quickly realized that she had no voluntary movement.
“Interesting, very interesting,” Cassie heard a voice. “They send children to track down the device? No matter.”
As Cassie gazed at what she could see, she realized that they had all been paralyzed by their unknown adversary, a building-tall blue-skinned man with a receding hairline. They seemingly floated in a large room, a laboratory. Was their unknown assailant a scientist?
“You,” the man’s voice targeted Linda Kyle. “You have caused us far too many problems already. Nekron sends his regards.” He fired a blast of energy at the young woman and, when the flash of light cleared, nothing remained but a hellish odor.
“Kryptonians,” the man muttered as Chasity, Carrie, and Karen increased their resistance, beginning to fight off his power.
“Damned right!” Karen broke free of his power. As he turned his attention to her, Chasity and Carrie broke free.
“The Probability Device!” Chasity called, “I see it!”
“Enough!” He targeted the three with his power, inducing a red glow in the room. Carrie and Karen fell to the floorfirst, the red-solar light quickly claiming their powers as Krona’s Cosmic powered blast disrupted their prototype rings. But Chasity remained in the air, already targeting Krona, before he could react.
Of the three girls, only Chasity’s cells stored solar energy. The others lost their powers as soon as the yellow sun energy faded. Chasity knew she had to move quickly, before she burned through the last of her remaining energy.
She hit him hard, but not hard enough to disable the man. He reacted by swiftly draining the rest of her energy, leaving her to fall to the floor.
“Murderer!” Carrie seethed with rage as the man turned back to her.
“Die,” The man targeted Karen and then Carrie with an explosive charge of light. In each case, nothing remained but the hellish scent of brimstone. He turned his attention to the fallen Chasity, preparing to assassinate her, but something caught his attention. “Hmm…very interesting cosmic radiation pattern. I have seen this before, I think.” He stroked his chin. “I need to research this. Depowered, you do not present a risk.” He pushed her into a cage on one side of his lab table before turning back to the remaining heroes.
“A silly Bat-creature…” he targeted Alysa, missing at the last moment as a golden lasso pulled her free.
“Just for that, you are next,” he instead targeted Cassie, the light leaving behind nothing but the same odor. Alysa struggled to maximize her shields before she, too, vanished as his power struck her. And then Dawnstar was next, leaving the same hellish odor behind.
Then only Carol Danvers remained. She was nowhere near her favorite white dwarf, which limited her powers, but she was far from powerless. This creature had murdered her friends and would soon murder her…but not without a fight.
“Very interesting,” the man glanced at her. As he moved her to an examination table, she caught a glimpse of the Probability Device behind him. “I have not seen these types of energy readings before. What are you called?’
“I’ve been called Captain Marvel and I’ve been called Warbird. Who are you?” She prepared to focus her will into one final blast.
“Another one of those miserable Captain Marvel creatures, with their magic lightning,” the man complained as Carol felt her jaw seize. “Let’s see that lightning rescue you now!”
That bastard thinks I’m like Mary Marvel. What was that magic word? If I could say it, I would kill him. Shazam?
And then she heard it… the roar of a thousand thunders as the room filled with lightning, blinding both of them.
“Hey Krona!” Linda’s voice rang clear as the Great War Hammer Mjolnir smashed into the wayward Guardian. “We gots to work on your manners!” As Krona tipped off balance, Carol felt his power leave her. And then Carol realized…the hellish stench…brimstone…Krona hadn’t realized that Jade was a teleporter and she had likely snatched each and every one of his victims before he could obliterate them. He may have taken care to keep her separate from her Starheart, reducing her power levels, but he was not omnipotent…good to know.
Alysa Wayne came into view, gesturing towards Chasity’s cage, as Carrie and Karen flew towards the Probability Device. Carol realized that while the red solar energy still sapped the strength of the twins, Krona had lost the concentration he needed to keep their rings off-line. Carol knew her cosmic powers could provide Chasity with un-filtered yellow sunlight, so she moved towards the cage, targeting Chasity with cosmic energy, helping Chasity to free herself
“You dare to attack me!” Krona roared at Jade, who was anything but. Carol caught her very different appearance, which reflected her demonic heritage, but was very different from her earlier demonic form. This was more like a taller, more filled-out, red tinted Jade. No wonder Daimon Hellstrom found her so attractive. But more importantly, this form was more than strong enough to handle Mjolnir. And handle it she did.
“Impossible!” Krona roared. “Here, you have no Starheart to tap! You are powerless!”
“Yeah,” Linda’s eyes narrowed as she focused intensely on her internal energies, “about that…” God Force erupted from the hammer…based on Linda’s life-force, a mix of the energy of her demonic self and the power of the Phoenix that held her together. And that mystic power hurt the renegade Guardian, forcing him to retreat as he howled in agony. As he did, his projection of the red solar energy ceased and, between Carol’s energy projection and the yellow solar energy projected by the environment, Chasity’s power levels rose enough to free herself from the cage.
The three Kryptonians, Dawnstar, and Alysa moved towards the Probability Device. Their next moves would be to free the device and find a way out.
“I’ll teleport back,” Linda promised as she turned to follow Krona.
“Don’t leave without us,” Cassie admonished as she and Carol flew to join her.
“Cool!” Linda called as they followed. “Krona is made of Cosmic Energy.Might not take to well to Ms. Marvel.”
“You don’t say!” Carol felt a predatory mood overtake her as she caught up to Jade. This creature was an ally of Nekron of Qward, the same Nekron who had been one of the destroyers of Carol’s home Wasteland probability. She could hear her loved ones, her friends, and the rest of her home world’s population clamoring for vengeance. Renegade Guardian or no, Krona’s days were numbered.
-The Sorority-
“Nasty little device,” Carrie swore as she and Karen evaluated Krona’s force field constraining the probability device. “It’s hard to believe that little device caused so much misery.”
“Can you remove the force field?” Dawnstar asked as the girls worked; their fingers flickered over the controls in a blur, working in tandem as if they were one person with four hands A small screen set in the controls flashed the word “FAIL” over and over.
The twins continued their efforts, their expressions indicating they perceived the work as a challenging, but fun, puzzle.
“Of course!”Carrie reassured her. “Krona may be a Guardian, but he took their arrogance to whole new levels. That causes him to make mistakes and to underestimate the abilities of us ‘lesser-beings’.”
“We’ve already figured out how the force field is constructed.” Karen took up the explanation as her fingers continued to fly, “So now it is just a matter of finding the exact order of commands to deactivate it.”
“I’m not sure what about those words frighten me more.” Chasity complained as they worked. She shook her head as if to clear cobwebs from her mind. No matter…she flew off to examine the rest of Krona’s machinery. She knew she did not have the hyper-intellect of the twins, but she could probably learn a lot from the layout of the laboratory.
-The Sorority-
“So,” Carol questioned Linda as they flew through Krona’s facility, wreaking havoc where they could, “when Krona blasted you, you teleported out?”
“Yep,” Linda admitted. “I’d seen Krona before. Figured it wouldn’t hurt to find out as much as we could before we had to act. Just took a little fancy teleporting footwork to snatch everyone before Krona could hurt them.” She chuckled. “Was kinda hoping he’d mistake you for one of the Marvels. Thought it fitting that Wasteland’s Mjolnir hit him first.”
“Krona is allied with Nekron,” Carol announced, “who destroyed the Wasteland Probability.” She felt her rage build. “They destroyed my home and everything I knew.”
“Yeah,” Jade agreed softly. “I wish I coulda done more…I really do.” She turned her head. “I hear his thoughts over there…”
-The Sorority-
“We’re getting there,” Carrie announced. “Krona put the command in three parts and we’ve already figured out the first two!” For a moment the furious flickering of fingers faltered as the Twins looked at each other, their eyes gleaming with what could only be called mischief.
“While we’re in Krona’s systems,” Karen commented, “we should make Kent happy and see what we can pull from Krona’s databanks. Forewarned is forearmed. And I don’t mind helping to ruin Krona’s day!”
“We can compress the data and store it on out rings.” Carrie nodded her agreement.
“Good work!” Alysa praised as they turned back to their efforts.
“Supergirl?” Dawnstar flew over to where Chasity floated in the air. “Are you all right?”
“I’ve felt better,” Chasity admitted as she floated down to the floor. “Maybe it’s just this place.”
“We’ll be leaving as soon as we can, Chasity,” Alysa comforted as she watched with concern. Chasity was the most invulnerable of them all. “I promise.”
“Thank you,” Chasity nodded appreciatively as she watched the twins work.
-The Sorority-
“Hi Chuckles!” Linda called as she, Carol, and Cassie caught up to the fleeing Oan. “Miss me?”
“Die, you insignificant gnat!” As he fired back, Mjolnir deflected his power. Carol could see the strain in Linda’s expression as Krona’s power discharge grew. Finally, Krona’s attack lessened and, as it did, Linda threw the hammer at him to give Carol time to position herself.
Krona struggled to shield himself against the hammer, whichmanaged to knock him off balance before returning to Linda.
“For future reference,” Linda baited Krona, “some Captain Marvels use magic lightning…but some are cosmic energy sieves. And guess what rotten luck you are having today?”
Carol ripped at the Guardian with full force, leeching his energy as he howled in agony.
“Love and kisses from the Wasteland!” Linda called as Carol increased her power draw, glowing with the Guardian’s energy.
“Die!” Carol howled as the Guardian screamed in pain. She began to glow with a blinding light. “Die, you murdering bastard!” He screamed in agony as the power drain only grew. “Die for everything you’ve done…for every single life you and yours took from me!”
“Linda!” She heard Cassie’s voice. “She’s lost control!”
“Carol!” Linda called, “Carol, that’s enough! Slow down your energy draw!”
“It will never be enough!” Carol swore as she increased the drain. “Never, never, never!” She felt Cassie’s lasso try to calm her, but shrugged it off easily. She would murder the Oanfor everything he had done to her, her world, and her universe. His agony brought her satisfaction as she thought of the many loved ones she would never see again. She would die here today, but she would take Krona with her!
“Carol,” Linda’s steady voice rang through, “I’m sorry…but I can’t let you destroy yourself.” Then Carol felt impact as Mjolnir hit her and she fell into blissful unconsciousness. “I just can’t.”
-The Sorority-
“That’s got it!” Karen announced as she and Carrie stepped back from the controls. They all watched as the shimmering field that had surrounded the Probability Device dissipated.
“Great!” Alysa praised as she walked towards the device. “That little thing has caused so much trouble…”
“It sure has,” Chasity remarked from afar, finding her footing once more. “I’ll be happy to be far, far away from it.” She felt a cold chill up her spine; that device would destroy her; she would never be the same after this battle.
An image of her future appearance floated through her consciousness. Was she going to become something else? Something very, very different?
She shook her head again to clear her mind. Psychic was one thing she was not. And, at that moment, she was glad she was not.
-The Sorority-
“Is she going to be alright?” Cassie asked as she cradled Carol Danvers. The room was quiet now. After Linda had reengaged with the already drained Krona, the Oanhad fled the scene. Cassie suspected he had departed the facility.
“Eventually,” Linda shook her head sadly. “My fault…didn’t realize she was so close to the edge. Thanks for catching that as soon as you did.”
“I’m glad we weren’t too late,” Cassie remarked, nodding. “We might have helped push her over when Krona first attacked. She thought she was almost the last of us…it was happening to her again.”
“Yeah…” Linda agreed as she cocked her head. “Fortunately, it will be a while before Krona recovers. She hurt him bad, but she wasn’t strong enough takill him.”
“And you are?” Cassie asked.
“That was never my intention,” Linda explained. “I was just trying tabuy time and listen ta anything he was gonna tell us. That’s why I goaded him so much…Parallax says he’s got an overwhelming superiority complex.”
“You didn’t answer my question,” Cassie countered. She smelled a rat…just what had Linda taken out of the Wasteland Probability? Besides Mjolnir, which Linda used just a little too well…
“Let’s hope we never have tafind out,” Linda shook her head sadly as they lifted Carol into the air. She turned suddenly. “Something is wrong with Chasity…we need ta get back.”
And then, Linda teleported, filling the room with the stench of brimstone.
-The Sorority-
“Status report!” Alysa’s voice commanded with concern as Jade and Cassie reappeared with Carol. “What happened to her?”
“She tried to leech too much energy from Krona,” Cassie explained. “Linda had to take her out for her own good.”
“She still has too much of that energy,” Karen observed as she scanned Carol. “Unless she gets rid of it pretty soon,” she commented, shaking her head. “With my vision I can see the waves of energy….it is almost as if she is about to burst at the seams. I’m no expert, but I saw the same thing when Jennifer Walters almost died from an energyoverload. It’s eating her up.” She looked up and her eyes were full of concern. “Unless that energy is released, she won’t last too much longer!”
“I hope she can expel it as soon as she wakes up,” Alysa had walked towards Carol and used her suit’s sensors to examine the unconscious Ms. Marvel. “There doesn’t seem to be too much damage and she has recovered from worse than this.” She sighed with frustration. “Come on, Carol...I don’t want to lose you, too.”
“If she has the will power left to wake up,” Cassie remarked. “She’s lost an awful lot…she may not think she has much to live for.”
“I can’t imagine what she’s been through,” Alysa agreed. “To lose everything you know and become a cosmic orphan.”
“Yeah…” Linda recalled her own youth as an orphan, before the Kents had taken her in. “I can’t think of anything worse.”
“Chasity!”Dawnstar’s voice rang out across the room.
-The Sorority-
Chasity Hudson began to wheeze. She appeared to fade, becoming slightly translucent. At the same time, the probability device began to hum.
“It’s the device!” Dawnstar called. “Get her away from the device!”
“On it!”Karen flew to the young Supergirl, ready to fly her to the far regions of the facility.
“No!” Chasity quickly protested. “The device is attuned to me. If you separate me from it, I’ll die!”
“Chas...”Karen began. She paused and focused her Kryptonian vision again, scanning Chasity and the device. “Damn! She’s telling the truth…there is common energy between them.”
“Confirming the same energy patterns for both of them,” Carrie announced as she scanned. “I see the energy flow, too.”
Dawnstar flew towards the device, retrieving it and bringing it back towards Chasity.
“Does this help at all?” Dawnstar asked, her hands still on the device.
“A little,” Chasity responded. Then she glanced into the air behind Dawnstar. “Paradox? You want me to bring you the device?” Tentatively, the Otherverse Supergirl reached out and touched the device. A flash of silver colored light erupted that was so bright that the others involuntarily turned away for a moment. But the sound of screaming brought their attention back quickly.
Chasity Hudson was frozen in place, her hand upon the device, but her features contorted with pain and agony. Almost instantly it seemed that her body began to disintegrate, eliciting further screams from her tortured lips.Then, before any of her friends could react, she, Dawnstar, and the device vanished.
“Chasity! No!!” Carrie yelled as she scanned the area for energy readings in a panic, hoping and praying she had not just witnessed Chastity’s demise
“Oh Rao,” Karen whispered. “What just happened? Tell me that didn’t just…”
“Alysa!” Cassie screamed, focusing attention on Batgirl, who had begun to vanish, too.
“What…What’s happening to me?” Alysa complained as she began to fade away. “You all are… I feel strange.” Then they watched in amazement as energy flowed out of the unconscious Carol Danvers, leeching into Batgirl, who began to stabilize once more. Using her hands to assure herself that she was still there, the former Princess of Europe paused and pulled up the holographic interface of her suit.
“What just happened?” she asked with concern. “These readings don’t make any sense!”
“You must leave,” a ghostly image of silver pulsating energy, speaking with Chasity’s voice, appeared, “Alysa, you must go before you are absorbed again. Do not worry for Dawnstar, she travels elsewhere.”
“Chasity!?” Alysa called, “Chas!” she yelled as she stepped closer, but the manifestation had ended. “What just happened?”
“I don’t know,” Carrie scanned the vicinity of the manifestation.
“At least, you’re stable now,” Karen glanced at Alysa with a combination of her super vision senses. “Do you feel alright?”
“Yes,” Alysa agreed, still slightly translucent. “What happened? I felt like I was fading out and then suddenly I was here, again.”
“An energy exchange of some kind?” Cassie pondered as Alysa’s appearance returned completely to normal.
“Yeah,” Carrie agreed, “it went somewhere.” Her eyes narrowed as she analyzed the energy readings. “Uh, oh…this place is unstable…we have to get out of here…now!”
And then, reality shuddered.
“Got it,” Linda realized as she sensed the growing discontinuity around her. “This place is too unstable and we gotta tend ta our wounded.And Paradox is way out of our league…” She grasped Mjolnir in her hand, ready to call on its dimensional shift abilities.
“I’ve got Carol,” Cassie assured as she lifted the awakening Ms. Marvel.
“I’ve got Alysa,” Carrie added.
“I can take care of…” Alysa protested before realizing she had been too compromised. And they absolutely had to go.
“Sorry for the rough ride!” Jade began to swing Mjolnir. The Great War Hammer broached the dimensions, returning them to what should have been the exact place where Krona had snatched them.
-The Sorority-
But they returned to nothing…no universe…nothing.
Instinctively, Linda surrounded them all in a bubble with her remaining emerald energy. She reinforced it with Mjolnir’s power.
“Where are we?” Cassie asked, puzzled by the lack of anything that made sense.
“Between universes,” Alysa surmised. “This is the Bleed, isn’t it?”
“Has to be,” Carrie confirmed. “The math just doesn’t make sense otherwise.”
Alysa glanced around her. Another mission had fallen apart… Dawnstar missing, and she didn’t even want to think about what may have happened to Chasity. Did she die right in front of all of them? Or maybe something else happened with the Probability Device. What had Paradox done with it?
Why did Alysa have such a feeling of dread? That everything that she had ever loved was gone with Chasity? And that blast of energy from Carol had somehow been substituted for Alysa? And that voice. She was sure it was Chasity’s but even then, was she hoping against hope? Whatever that was had done something to save her? But why?
And now, she and the remaining Sorority sisters were stranded in the middle of nowhere, and maybe no when?
She watched as Linda purposefully focused on Cassiebefore closing her eyes in concentration.
“There it is,” Linda proclaimed: a predatory gleam in her eye. “I don’t have a real good way to find the MVP universes…I need help to find their addresses. But I got a way out that will get us home.”
“What?” Alysa questioned. “Explain!”
“I found it,” Linda grinned. “When I was put back together, Faith used her primal energy. And a tiny bit of it remains within me. And that energy syncs with energy from Cassie’s probability.”
Mjolnir crackled with renewed intensity, as it magnified Linda’s emerald energy.
“I got enough power to get us back to the Huntress Wood in the Inheritors Universe. But no tech works in the Wood, so your suit and the twins’ rings will shut down. But from there, we can get back to the Rock of Eternity. And hopefully, from there, we can get everyone home.”
“I really don’t like shutting down my suit,” Alysa protested.
“You’ll be fine,” Cassie promised. “The mountain lion is friendly, I guarantee!”
“Fortunately,” Linda agreed as Mjolnir began to sing with power.
-The Sorority-
Alysa tried to make sense of everything she had seen since they left Krona’s lab. She had not expected the trip to the Huntress Wood to have taken as long as it did. But they had been forced to navigate the bleed and traverse through the sectors of space the bleed surrounded.
She wondered how safe the trip had really been. More, she worried for Chasity and Dawnstar. What had really happened to them?
Fortunately, Warbird had awakened fully during the journey and they had been able to explain their circumstances.
And they had arrived safely in the Huntress Wood in the Inheritors Universe. Linda had not been able to navigate the bleed well, but she had navigated it well enough.
And Linda had been correct about technology in the Wood. Alysa’s suit shut off as soon as they entered the Huntress Wood. She pulled off her cowl as the team came to rest in front of the last remains of old wrecked railroad cars.
Cassie reached out to steady Linda as the bubble faded. But emerald energy rushed into the young Sentinel as the Great Portal Starheart sensed her presence, replenishing the power in her cells.Linda transitioned back to her much smaller emerald form as Mjolnir reduced its size to hang at her side.
But Linda had clearly exceeded her limits. Cassie guided Linda to a bench in front of the tracks, and easedher onto the bench. Carrie guided Carol to another bench nearby.
Cassie stepped back towards the trainwreck, smiling.
“This is it…this Wood is the last little bit of the Starheart that gave its existence to create Continuum Genesis…its existence ended as it spawned this sector, the Multiverse, and so much more. Everything you see around you was the gift of that original Starheart.”
Karen frowned as she considered Cassie’s words. How many billions of years ago had that original Starheart exploded? She recalled the bits and pieces of the story she had heard second-hand from Kara and Rogue. From the accounts that she had heard, the original Starheart had been a massive entity and had freely ended its own existence to reproduce, giving birth to an entire Continuum.
Karen pondered. As the Multiverse Starheart was the most massive ‘child’ of that Mega Starheart, would it eventually reproduce the same way? Or was it already happening? Could that be adding to the instability of the Multiverse? Was the Multiverse Starheart possibly going through labor?
“Welcome to the Huntress Wood,” a new, angelic voice followed Cassie’s, dragging Karen’s mind away from her bleak thoughts. A brilliant, shining angel sat beside the much smaller Linda Kyle, enveloping her in a shining cloak. Linda seemed at peace in the angel’s presence; the resemblance between the two of them was striking. “This is a place of magic. This is where tragedy turns to triumph,” the angel continued, “and this is where love grows.” The angel smiled as she glanced at them all. “Lois Lane Kent said that.”
Alysa realized that the angel had to be Lannie Kyle West, Linda’s older sister, inter-probability seeker, and senior counselor to the Princess Veridian, Faith Scott.
“That is all very nice,” Alysa responded, “but we really should be getting back. We have to report back to Kara and Rogue.”
“Not yet,” the angel warned. “We can’t even see the Multiverse from the Rock of Eternity. Even with my power, I won’t try to navigate the muck that exists out there until it settles down a little more.”
“What?” Alysa retorted, irritated. “We made our way back easily enough. It should be possible to retrace our steps.”
“Everything is in motion throughout the Continuum,” Lannie explained. “The instability is far less in this region, but make no mistake, the Cosmos is realigning.”
“That’s why we got dumped in the Bleed,” Karen agreed, her face filled with concern as her previous thoughts once again surfaced. “How do we get home?”
“At least you’ve got a home to get back to,” Carol replied with anger in her voice. She glanced at Linda with a look of utter distaste. “Somewhere where your family will understand why you do what you have to.”
“Carol,” Karen spoke with a calm gentleness, forcing her own concerns aside. “You are not the only sole survivor of a universe here. Both Carrie and I share that distinction; we are analogues, not twins. Kara and Rogue are not our original parents, but they welcomed us with open arms and, together, we have become a family.”
“We all work hard at it,” Carrie agreed earnestly. “You’ll find your home here…it just takes time and hard work.”
“And besides,” Cassie assured her, “Everything that hurt Krona came from the Wasteland. You and Mjolnir both…”
“But he isn’t dead,” Carol retorted with disgust.
“That was never the point,” Alysa rebuked. “We got the device out of Krona’s hands. We secured it; that was the mission.”
“Maybe for you,” Carol responded.
-The Sorority-
Karen provided a copy of the data they had retrieved to Kent Nelson. She would keep the original for her own team’s use, knowing it would be downloaded by Motherboard once she returned to the Multiverse. This would not be the last time the Multiverse team would encounter the forces of Qward and Karen knew it.
Kent revealed that another senior team from the Inheritors and Alterverse probabilities had also transited into MVP-3 to assist with the ongoing situation. That team, which had included Princess Veridian, and so many others, had returned to the Rock of Eternity at the same time as Kent before the Multiverse probabilities became unstable. But no further contact had been possible with the Multiverse probabilities and it was anyone’s guess as to whether and where the Multiverse and Otherverse Probabilities would ultimately manifest.
“It’s a side effect of the Ripple and whatever is going on with the Multiverse Starheart,” Kent had tried to explain to all of them, unknowingly confirming some of Karen’s fears. “We think the probability device activated within the bounds of Otherverse and is triggering a Cosmic Ripple effect. Whether or not this is somehow affecting the Multiverse Starheart…I just don’t know. The Ripple effect is spreading outward and is, as I and others have surmised, having effects in the past, present and future simultaneously. We believe that the effects will not be as catastrophic in this region, but we are bound to see some effects.” He had glanced at the twins and Alysa. “As soon as we seen any signs of stability, we’ll open communications and try to get the Twins and Alysa home.”
-The Sorority-
Alysa worked out in the exercise facilities at the Rock of Eternity. The facilities were absolutely barbaric compared to what she had grown up with in 25th Century Europe in Otherverse. But she needed to burn off energy while she waited for news.
The Twins had not yet been able to return to the Multiverse and while Kent explored magical means of returning them, they refused to sit idly by. Instead they were putting their 11th level intellects to work to find scientific methodsto pierce the dimensional barrier that seemingly walled off entire sections of the Multiverse. They had even gone so far as to attempt to construct one of their portals. While they could reach out to the Inheritors’ Earth and even the Alterverse Earth…they could locate neither the first Ten Multiverse Probabilities nor Otherverse. Kent’s honest impression had not been promising…something had happened…timelines may have altered and probabilities may have been reset. And Alysa was the product of a timeline which extended almost five hundred years into the future.
In the meantime, Alysa considered the future of the Sorority team. The twins would likely be busy for the near future finding their way home and the eventual cleanup of that probability. Chasity might very well be dead. Kent had sent Carol off with Cassie, to help with rebuilding efforts in the Inheritors Universe, targeting the second Earth that circled the sun…the Earth that had been freed from a different group of Phantom Zone prisoners and brought to the Inheritors probability when its pocket universe began to disintegrate. Kara Gand and her team of Matrix Supergirlswould provide the guidance and comradery that Carol so desperately craved.
Linda Kyle was friendly enough, but she remained in constant motion. Alysa understood that Linda tended to focus on tracking and frustrating Qward. Krona would not be the last to specifically target her, and with good reason.
Still, Alysa knew well that Linda had cards she was not showing. She had managed to take on Krona and survive, even without access to the Great Portal Starheart’s power. And then she had managed that trip through the Bleed. Just how powerful was she, really? And could she really be trusted?
Then Alysa realized she was not alone in the gym. A raven-haired woman had made her way through and across the room without Alysa being aware of her presence…impossible.
She had seen the young woman before…something Rogers…a sorceress married to a Green Lantern…didn’t make much of an impression on Alysa.
But then, Alysa realized, she might have intended not to. But there was a self-confidence to the woman now that caught Alysa off guard. And her inner alarms were screaming.
The woman watched serenely as Alysa hit the floor in front of her.
“Can I help you?” Alysa asked as the woman handed her a towel. Funny, it hadn’t been there before. And, for the first time Alysa realized how solidly built the woman actually was; she did not have an ounce of unnecessary fat.
“Perhaps,” the woman answered with a knowing, but kind smile. “And perhaps I can help you. In any case, I’ve come to take you home until Otherverse opens back up to you.”
“Seriously?” Alysa responded. She felt her mind reel with sarcastic replies, but then realized that she was tired…tired of this place…tired of the war…tired of her grief…just tired. The woman seemed friendly enough and anything had to be better than staying on the miserable Rock of Eternity. But, why the offer?
“Thank you,” Alysa visibly relaxed. “I am sorry; I have not been minding my manners. That is a gracious offer and I appreciate it.” She shook her head. “I have to admit that I’ve been overly snarky lately…I was about to ask who died and made you god…and that’s not right.”
The woman laughed easily.
“My father, actually,” she responded. “He’s the Spectre. And he really is rather fond of me. But before that, he was the Batman.”
“Oh…” The pieces began to fall into place. This woman was a member of the House of the Bat.
“I am Helena Wayne Rogers of the Inheritors,” the newcomer explained. “I am the daughter of Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle. My twin brother is slowly assuming the role of our world’s Batman…we’re supporting him as he eases into the role. But I’m usually called the Raven. And I’m damned good at what I do. Care to spar?”
-The Sorority-
Alysa could not recall when she had enjoyed a spar more. Helena had not mentioned that she was a meta with a mix of limited super speed, invulnerability, and enhanced senses. And triggering vines from the floor? Wow.
Helena had made the same offer of a home to Richard Grayson of the Wasteland Earth, but he had, as she expected, declined so that he could assist Kent with on-going monitoring. Richard knew that there was already a Nightwing on Helena’s Earth and he wanted to more directly support the war against Nekron and Qward.
Before she and Alysa left, Helena would proffer an offer to the twins from Sam and Donna Kent, the reigning Superman and Wonder Woman of Helena’s world.
But as they walked towards the twins’ laboratory, they heard voices in the corridor. One of them sounded like Kara Zor-El. And she was furious.
“Kent,” the voice exclaimed, “Carrie and Karen have been up here long enough. And in the absence of their mother, I am responsible for them!”
“Kara,” Kent rebuffed, “they are young women, entitled to make their own choices!”
Alysa realized that Kent’s companion was Kara Gand, the Superwoman of the Inheritors, with a full set of Pre-Crisis memories, Kryptonian powers, an Oan power ring, and oversight of the other Earth that circled the Inheritor’s sun, opposite the Earth that contained the Huntress’ Wood.
Kara had three children of her own, six Matrix Supergirls, Carol Danvers, and the reconstruction efforts of her world to oversee. Why was she demanding to take on more?
“Their devices will work a lot better away from this mystic setting and I have access to the tech of the Myrg Alliance,” Kara countered. “Those girls need some real yellow solar radiation, not what passes for it in this place!”
Helena chuckled to Alysa.
“Beset by both the House of the Bat and the House of El,” she laughed, “Kent is not having a good day!”
“I guess not!” Alysa could not help but chuckle. And for the first time in so long, she allowed herself to relax.
Kara Gand had been right. They all needed to get off this Rock and live once more. She hoped that she and the twins would find their ways home. But in the meantime, family had found them…even here.
Epilogue
Gotham City, the Inheritors Original Earth
Alysa mused that Helena hadn’t been kidding; there truly was nothing like the night sky of Gotham City. Alysa sucked in the cool Gotham night air as she flew into position not far from the Batman. He had tracked down a serial murderer and Alysa would provide his backupfor this particular mission.
Alysa had soon realized that there was quite an experience gap between the twins. While Helena had years of experience as the Raven, Thomas was still so very green at the job of Batman. Still he was learning and showed great promise. Too bad he had never had a chance to be a Robin. But then, she was still learning about life in the 21st Century.
Alysa still did not know if she would ever get to go home to Otherverse, but she thought a lot about Karen and Carrie’s words of wisdom to Carol. She had a new respect for the role that Kara and Rogue had played in the girls’ lives. She appreciated that Kara and Lar Gand had stepped up to continue that guidance, backstopping the twins and Carol.
And she was grateful that the House of the Bat seemed just as determined to look out after its own. Fortunately, Alysa knew she had a real contribution to make. And Helena’s extended family seemed determined to give Alysa every opportunity to earn their trust and carve out her own unique place in this world.
Alysa had not forgotten Sorority. Helena and her friends helped where they could, by discretely introducing Alysa to likely candidates from across the friendly worlds, with a mind towards refilling the Sorority’s ranks. When it was time, Alysa knew, the Sorority would rise again.
But for now, some minor-league thug though he was going to get the drop on the Batman.
And that wasn’t going to happen!
To be Continued……..
-- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2018 by Eldric, Jake, and Dylan Clearbrook
-- and may not be reprinted without permission.
-- The Continuum Worlds Concept is a joint creation of
-- Dylan Clearbrook and Eldric. Otherverse, Multiverse,
-- and Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes, as depicted in the
-- Continuum Worlds, are original creations of Dylan Clearbrook.
-- Alterverse and The Inheritors, as depicted in the Continuum Worlds,
-- are original creations of Eldric.
-- Wasteland, as depicted in the Continuum Worlds, is an original
-- creations of Nomad (Jake H.).
-- The Realm and The Web of Shadows, as depicted in the Continuum Worlds,
-- are original creations of John P. and Jason G./ Andrew Shields respectively.
-- DCM: The Merging, as depicted in the Continuum Worlds,
-- is an original creation of Chip Caroon and the stories therein remain
-- the property of the respective writers.
-- Some characters in Continuum Worlds stories are original creations
-- of Dylan Clearbrook, Eldric, MichaelLiebhart, Jake H., Jason G.,
-- Andrew Shields, Kyle M., Brian, John P., DTO, or Jason Froikin and may not
-- be used without express permission of the respective author.
-- All DC characters are property of D.C. Comics.
-- All Marvel characters are property of Marvel Comics.