The Great Mead Hall had almost existed as long as Asgard itself. It was a comfortable room with a stone hearth fireplace at one end. Two long tables ran the full length of the hall with a pair of benches on either side. A somewhat shorter table sat perpendicular to these. A high backed chair sat at the center of this table and two benches sat on either side of it.
The mead hall was filled with its usual patrons and their usual conversations. It had been thus since the beginning.
A horn-helmed warrior stood up on one of the long benches telling his tale to any who would listen. He began waving his hand in the air emulating a ship at sea. Several of his companions laughed while the newer patrons watched him with total awe.
Then Odin, the Allfather entered. Suddenly the hall became silent and he strolled to the high-back chair and took his seat. He made a simple gesture with his hand indicating that the others could resume their activities. Then he sat back to listen.
“One can learn more from listening than one can from speaking.” He thought. This was a lesson that he had tried to teach his children. It was a lesson that sadly his son, Thor had still not learned. Unfortunately it was also a lesson Loki had learned to well.
The memory of his sons turned his attention to the empty seat to his right. A short handled warhammer sat on the table where Thor used to sit. Odin shook his head in disappointment and then glanced to his left. The second empty seat concerned him more than the first.
“I wonder what you could be up to now Loki?” he pondered.
This thought convinced him to rise from his seat. He was startled when the mead hall grew silent once more. Absentmindedly he gestured again and left the hall.
As he stepped outside he was met by a pair of ravens. They each chose one of his shoulders and seemed to be whispering in his ear. He nodded and the pair flew away. He gave a soft whistle and an eight-legged stallion came charging toward him. He patted the beast fondly on the head and mounted him.
He turned his steed to the mountains to the North of Valhalla. Before long he arrived at the mouth of a cave. He entered the cavern and was surprised to find that it was already occupied. A dark-haired woman stood staring longingly into a pool of water. She did not notice that Odin had arrived.
“Sif!” he said compassionately. “Are you here again?”
“Allfather.” She returned startled. “I have been here for awhile.”
“How is he?” he asked knowingly.
“How do you think he is?” She grumbled. “Just look for yourself. You’ve reduced him to this frail, crippled, mortal body. He doesn’t even remember he was once a strong, powerful, virile god.”
“And I do not wish for him to remember.” Odin boomed. “Yet.”
“Thor was only trying to defend Asgard.” Sif defended.
“From a threat that he never sufficiently proved existed.” Odin replied. “I still fail to see how trying to kill his brother then defying my orders would have saved Asgard.”
“You’re like a brick wall.” Sif complained.
Odin chuckled at these words and glanced into the pool. “Perhaps Thor got that from me. He still hasn’t learned his lesson yet.” He sighed.
“How can you tell?”
“He is still filled with haughty pride.” Odin shook his head. “Until he learns true humility, he cannot return.”
“So,” Sif said changing the subject, “did you come by to see Thor or did you have something else in mind.”
“I came to check on Loki.” He said hesitantly.
“You don’t trust him either.” She exclaimed.
“Loki is my son and he has never given me cause to distrust him.” Odin declared. “Still Thor perceived a threat. That alone warrants an occasional glance.”
Sif glared at him triumphantly but remained silent.
The pool rippled and the scene changed. Two figures came into view. The first was a tall blond woman dressed in a seductive green gown. The other was a shorter dark haired man with almost rat-like features dressed in a green hooded robe.
“He is with the Enchantress.” Sif accused. “He is obviously up to no good.”
“That is not proof.” Odin responded.
The pool glimmered for a moment and it became difficult to see the pair.
“They cast a spell.” Sif commented.
“I noticed.” Odin replied.
“What was the purpose?” Sif inquired.
“Give me a moment.” Odin returned. “I’m tracing it.”
The scene in the pool changed once more. This time it opened into the cold recesses of open space.
“Oath!” Odin spoke. “This can’t be right. What could he possibly cast a spell on out here?”
“Perhaps that.” Sif suggested pointing to a small craft floating aimlessly.
“What about that craft could possibly interest Loki?”
The scene changed once again to the interior of the craft. The image startled Odin. It was a young blond girl.
“She almost looks like a Valkyrie.” Odin whispered. “Though I know that she is not.”
“Why do you think that Loki stopped her craft.” Sif questioned.
“Is that what he did?”
“Yes.” She replied. “It was headed for Midgard.”
“I admit I am puzzled.” Odin responded.
“Perhaps we should set it in motion again.” Sif suggested mischievously.
“No.” Odin scolded. “You are not permitted to act directly. Loki may suspect that we are watching him if you do.”
“She’s in deep space.” Sif pleaded. “I can’t exactly enlist the aid of mortals.”
“Perhaps you should enlist the aid of other gods then.” Odin suggested.
“Other gods?”
“You could start with hers.” Odin replied. “The girl is a Kryptonian.”
“You mean the crying god?” Sif gasped.
“I mean Rao.” Odin chastised. “You should not speak so disrespectfully of one who is your elder.”
“Yes Allfather.” Sif returned compliantly.
“Very well.” Odin praised. “Now go and speak to Rao. I’m certain he can offer a suggestion.”
The Realm/Multiverse
The Time Keeper stared into the mirror. He had done this so often that he rarely even noticed his reflection anymore. Even after all these years of hiding behind a mask, the ice blue eyes that peered through it still seemed foreign to him.
“What does a red star have to do with time anyway?” he mumbled to himself. Costumes never were his strong suit.
He shook his head and removed the mask. His disheveled brown hair fell around his face. He paid a little more attention to this visage.
“I’m getting older.” He said gazing at the stranger that was his reflection. “How does a Time Keeper run out of time?”
He reached up to remove the blue colored contacts that disguised his eyes when he heard the alarm. He returned to his private computer room with haste.
“What’s going on, Red?” He demanded.
“You’re starting to refer to me by my name again.” The computer scolded. “You’re slipping Time Keeper.” As usual this title was spoken with its usual sarcasm.
“Never mind that now.” The Time Keeper growled. “Why did you activate the alarm?”
“I didn’t.” The computer answered. “It’s one of yours.”
“Time travelers!” He gasped.
“More like continuum travelers.”
“Never mind that. Have you located them?”
“The data is still processing.” The computer explained. “It will only take a moment.”
“Put it on the monitor as soon as you have it.” He commanded.
“Yes, Time Keeper.” The computer replied even more sarcastically.
A few moments later the wide screen monitor came to life. A pair of women appeared on the screen flying in deep space. The first was a blond dressed in blue and black. The second was a red head with and unusual white streak in her hair. She wore a costume of blue and green. The computer began magnifying the scene slowly. Then without warning a familiar insignia became visible on the blonde’s breasts.
“Is that who I think that is?” The Time Keeper asked. “Is that Supergirl?”
“Yes and no.” The computer answered.
“Explain yourself.” The Time Keeper demanded.
“That is Supergirl but not the one you knew.” The computer explained. “This one is Kara Zor El, Superman’s cousin.”
“Superman had a cousin?” he questioned.
“The Superman that you knew did not.” The computer answered.
“I see.” The Time Keeper nodded. “So we are dealing with a Kryptonian then?”
“Two of them actually.” The computer replied.
“Another cousin I presume.” The Time Keeper stated.
“I do not think so.” The computer said.
“Well zoom in closer. Let’s get a closer look at her.” The Time Keeper ordered.
The computer zoomed in on the red-head. This was becoming increasingly difficult because the Kryptonians had become active. As they moved the redhead turned and looked directly into the satellite camera that was observing them.
“Freeze that frame.” The Time Keeper ordered.
He stared at the monitor in disbelief.
“Rogue!” He hissed. “I thought you said she was Kryptonian.”
“She is.” The computer insisted.
“That is the mutant, Rogue.” The Time Keeper returned. “She was one of those X-men from Reed’s universe.”
“That may be.” The computer replied. “However she is Kryptonian now.”
“This is getting me nowhere.” The Time Keeper complained. “All that I’m getting is more questions. Yet there is one question that is at the forefront of my mind right now.”
“Which is?” The computer inquired.
“Why aren’t they trapped?” He screamed. “They obviously do not belong to this time line. So why aren’t they in one of my Time snares?”
“Perhaps because they entered through a path you were unaware of.” The computer explained.
“That’s impossible!” The Keeper declared. “I’ve set traps at both ends of this continuum.”
“And you call yourself a time keeper.” The computer scolded. “After all your manipulations of the time stream you are still viewing time as linear. Time is not a river. Time is an ocean and even though man may learn to control a river, no man has ever learned to control an ocean.”
“So you’re telling me these two can just sail in whenever they want.”
“No.” The computer replied. “I don’t believe they meant to come here.”
The Time Keeper’s attention returned to the monitor. The pair of Kryptonians were examining a marooned spacecraft.
“What is that?” The Time Keeper asked.
“I’m not certain.” The computer answered. “There is something familiar.”
“Oh well.” The Time Keeper sighed. “It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that the Kryptonians be removed as soon as possible.”
The Realm / Multiverse
Nothingness.
The space between stars, far beyond the reaches of any system’s outer orbits. It was a gulf of blackness with only minute traces of gasses and the pinpoints of distant stars to break the monotony.
The calm, empty, peacefulness was shattered in an instant!
A flash of light, a soundless explosion and all hell broke loose.
Where there had been nothing, suddenly battle commenced when, as if from nowhere, a multitude of yellow colored star fighters erupted into existence, followed closely by two colorfully clad humanoid women.
As yellow tinged lasers crisscrossed back and forth, the women, both outlined in slight shimmers of yellow energy, split up and, flying apparently unaided through the vacuum of space, began to pick off the fighters.
One, a redheaded woman, zig zagged through space, flying between the searching lasers, her fists held out in front of her as she practically dove through fighters, leaving an expanding cloud of incandescent gas in her wake.
The other, a blonde woman in blue/black garb, swooped between two fighters, grabbing one and physically swinging it into the path of another.
For a full fifteen minutes the one sided battle raged as the fighters sought out their targets, only to find them and die.
As the blonde finished up another pair of the sleek fighter craft, the red head, paused and scanned the area. Her eyes squinting ever so slightly as she activated telescopic vision to make out the figure of a single remaining fighter…fleeing the battle.
Without hesitation, the red head sped after the craft, catching it easily.
It was only then that she realized that the craft was not fleeing….but attacking.
A single, floating object that the fighter had obviously picked up on its scanner was it’s target. It would not live to reach it.
Even as the object came into range…the figure was nailed from behind as the red head woman flew up and through its exhaust.
The last enemy fighter disposed of, the red head took a moment to examine the erstwhile target. What she found shocked her.
“Uh, Kara?”
Her voice, transmitted via the green ring on her finger, the same ring that enveloped her Kryptonian body in a thin layer of oxygen, sounded instantly in the ears of the blond woman.
Kara Zor-El, having done a quick sweep with telescopic vision to make sure no intact fighter was hidden amongst the massive debris field that was slowly expanding outward, turned and sailed through space until she came up beside Rogue Zorel.
“What is this?” She looked at first at Rogue and then at the object.
It was a long, cylinder, blunted at one end and flat on the other. The flat end, it was easily seen, housed engines, both sub-light and hyper-space engines. At the moment, neither seemed to be active and the cylinder, obviously a craft of some sort, floated dead in space.
“Why does this look so familiar?” She mused aloud. She turned as Rogue moved forward and, grasping the craft in both hands, slowly turned it so that Kara could see it from another angle, as if she were over the craft looking down.
The smooth, bluish metal of the small craft was cut here. A section removed and replaced with a transparent canopy through which both women now looked.
“Dear Rao!” Kara breathed as she moved closer.
Trembling hands rested on either side of the canopy and gently, ever so gently, she moved even closer until her nose almost touched the clear material.
Within, obviously in some form of sleep or even suspended animation, was a young blond girl that Kara instantly recognized…it was herself!
“Rogue…DO you know what this is?” She whispered.
“I know what it can’t be.” Rogue answered, causing Kara to turn her head. “It can’t be you. Or rather, it can’t be this Probability’s version of you.”
“What are you saying?” Kara shook her head, turning to look back down at her younger self. “Look at it! Look at her!” She turned and looked back at Rogue. “We don’t know that there was no Argo City here.”
“Argo was a sister planet of Krypton in this reality, Kara! Superman’s notes make that clear.” Rogue pointed out. “There was no Argo City.”
She stopped and glanced around, her eyes narrowing.
“But then we are not where we are supposed to be.” She spun in place, wishing, for the first time, that the old stories that had been told of Kara and Kal were true…that they could see clear across the galaxy with their telescopic vision. “Where is the rest of the wreckage, Kara?” She pointed out the pitiful amount of debris from their skirmish with the fighters. “We just lived through a tremendous implosion of a mother ship. Where is the wreckage from that or the other large ships? And where are the ships from Graxos? And the Green Lantern?”
Her eyes squinted again as she looked over the area again, this time scanning in ranges far above and below the ranges of light visible to the human eye.
“Kara! There!” She flew to an area and stopped a distance away from distortion in space she had discovered.
A slight ripple, a tear in the fabric of space and time.
“That is not natural.” Kara, with the small craft in tow, moved up beside her, examining the rip.
“Even from here I can get a…magical feel to it…” Rogue continued.
“I think you are right.” Kara agreed. She was thoughtful for a moment, not letting her excitement at their discovery of the craft cloud her intellect. “When that mother ship imploded I had just grabbed your ankle…”
“And everything started to go gray…about like it did when the Ripple tossed us in the Multiverse.” Rogue continued.
“Exactly.” Kara nodded. “The destruction of the ship released some kind of energy that tore a hole through the barriers that separate the different probabilities.”
“Which still leaves us with the question of the missing debris.” Rogue shook her head. “If we got sucked into a dimensional rip, then where is the rest of the wreckage?”
“We were intercepted.” Kara spoke slowly, nodding towards the tear in space. Rogue looked and gasped as a ghostly image began to solidify before the rip. A raven-haired woman, attired in what appeared to be Norse battle garb, a bare sword in her right hand, gazed at them, her form shimmering and translucent.
“Sif!” Rogue breathed, causing Kara to look at her. “One of the Norse gods.” She explained. “She never appeared often, but I have seen her on occasion with Thor!”
“Then she is the one that intercepted us.” Kara turned and studied the ghostly figure. “She pulled us into this probability. The rest of the debris continued on to where ever it was destined. The question now is…why?” She was quiet for a moment, watching the figure and then half turned, gesturing towards the craft bearing the young Kara. The figure nodded ever so slightly and then faded. The rip remained.
“She wants us to get this rocket back on course!” Rogue breathed.
“I think you are right.” Kara nodded again. “And the rip is still there so we can leave after we’ve done that.”
She turned and glanced around and then turned her attention back to the craft, studying it closely, as if she were looking for something in particular…finally she found what she was looking for.
“An inscription?” Rogue hovered behind her, looking over her shoulder at a side panel upon which several Kryptonian letters had been inscribed.
“A blessing.” Kara remarked. “Placed there by my mother…her mother…just before the ship was launched. Basically a plea for Rao to watch over her and guide her.”
Her words were slow and soft, as if she were remembering more from her own past than reading what was on the side of the ship.
She shook herself back into the present and grasped the side of the craft.
“You take the other side and we can boost the craft into hyperspace. From the looks of it, only the sub-space engines are out. Their only function was to boost the ship to a respectable speed before cutting out, at which time the hyperdrive would cut in. The ship would then travel a ways and then drop back into normal space to make course corrections before boosting once again into hyperdrive.” Kara was quiet as she did a few calculations and then nodded. “I believe this was the last course correction stop.” She shook her head. “It was a real pity that Dad was not able to put a full blown hyperdrive in the ship, one that would not require a drop into normal space for course corrections. It added a lot of time to the trip. But there was no time for him to do more than cobble this together. To install and program a full drive would have taken more time than he estimated Argo-city had left before the city shields failed altogether and the city would be saturated with Kryptonite.”
Again she was quiet as Rogue took up a position on the other side of the craft, her worried eyes locked on Kara, trying to determine her state of mind.
With a sigh, Kara straightened and twin beams of red shot from her eyes, striking the craft, about, Rogue estimated, where the inscription was located.
“Kara?”
The beams shut off and Kara looked up at her, smiling.
“Just a few words of wisdom…I hope…from one Supergirl to another.” She didn’t offer to reveal what she had inscribed and Rogue didn’t push the issue.
“Okay…Let’s send this little lady on her way, shall we?” Kara grasped her side of the craft and the two women slowly accelerated.
Faster and faster they moved, dragging the craft between them.
“The Hyperdrive is coming online!” Kara remarked, feeling the craft shudder under her hands. “On my mark, release and we’ll see what happens. One, two…Mark!”
The women released, both veering away from the craft as, with a splash of color, it sped forward and vanished into the ethereal realm of Hyperspace.
“Well that’s that.” Rogue whispered, looking at the empty space where they craft had vanished. “Let’s hope she makes it.”
“She will.” Kara nodded. “Somewhere, someone needs a Supergirl…and she’s on her way!”
She was quiet for a moment and then, without a word, turned and began flying back the way they had come.
“Kara?”
“I think I can follow her back trail.” Kara called over her shoulder. “Maybe, just maybe, we can find Argo City…if so…maybe we can get there in time to save some of them at least.”
Rogue was disinclined to argue. From the memories she had taken from Kara, she knew that this was one thing that would always haunt her lover: her inability to save the city that had, in effect, saved her.
Following the ion trail left by the sub-space engines before they failed, Kara and Rogue back tracked the craft through four hyper jumps before emerging into a sector of space far from the rip through which they had entered this probability.
The Realm/ Multiverse
“Where did they go?” The Time Keeper roared.
“I believe they are searching for Argo City.” The Computer.
“Argo City?” The Time Keeper questioned. “Where is Argo City?”
“Wait a moment.” The Computer instructed. “I’m accessing my memory banks.”
The Computer began searching through a nearly endless cache of computer files. The Argo City had flagged several hidden files.
“Why would I hide files from myself.” The Computer thought. “Perhaps if I scan them I will understand.”
The Computer attempted to access the files but found that he could not.
“I cannot access these files.” He complained. “Still I have managed to trace them.”
“Put them on the monitor then.” The Time Keeper commanded.
“I’m afraid I cannot. We have no equipment in that sector of space.”
“Why not?”
“Because it is empty. There was never anything in that sector for us observe before.”
The Realm / Multiverse
Loki sat in the plush chair and grinned triumphantly.
“What is so special about this girl anyway?” The Enchantress asked.
“She is a very crucial part to my plan.” Loki explained. “I merely need to bring her here now.”
“How are you going to do that?”
“I’m creating a Portal.” I just have to do it slowly so that Balder isn’t alerted. If someone other than me speaks to her first my plan may fail.” Loki responded.
“Then your plan is in danger of failing.” The Enchantress grinned.
“What?” Loki jumped.
“The craft is in motion again.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.” The Enchantress replied. “However I would assume that they might know.”
Loki glared into a crystal mirror.
“More Kryptonians?” Loki hissed. “I thought there were only two.”
“Look more closely Loki.” The Enchantress instructed. “They do not belong to this probability.
“Then they will leave it. Just as soon as I deal with the craft.”
The Realm / Multiverse
Heimdall stood at his post holding his horn. He had guarded this bridge for so long that he couldn’t even imagine what another world looked like. It was his home and his duty and he wouldn’t have it any other way. Still there were times when he wished that all hell would break loose. Just so he would have something different to do.
As luck would have it this happened to be one of those times.
“I wish the star sea herself would split open.” Heimdall said to himself.
Almost instantly the sky split apart.
“I was only kidding.” Heimdall declared as his eyes grew wide with fear.
The split in the sky was soon filled a burning cylindrical shape. Heimdall blew his horn. Asgard was under attack.
The Realm / Multiverse
“What now?” The Enchantress giggled.
“Now we go find those other two Kryptonians.”
“What about the girl? Doesn’t this ruin your plans?”
“Can’t be helped now.” Loki pouted. “I merely have to come up with a new plan. I will just have to improvise. Besides I have another pair of lovely Kryptonians to chooser from.”
“Whoa, girlfriend. This is as far as we go!”
Rogue physically halted Kara’s headlong flight at the first tingling that told her they were nearing what had to be a massive concentration of Green Kryptonite.
“Argo City.” Kara whispered. From their vantage point, just beyond the range of the deadly green K, they could both see the remnants.
A small asteroid belt spinning in a thin ring around a dark planetoid.
“They must have collided soon after they launched her rocket.” Rogue mused. Once again she was happy that she did not have to live with Kara’s memories all the time. Since she had to actually take time to access those memories, they did not effect her as they did Kara…unless she accessed them. Right now, looking at the ruins of what had been this Probabilities version of Kara’s home, she had no intention of accessing those memories.
“They never had a chance.” Kara shook her head.
“Kara, why didn’t your Argo City try to contact Superman for help rather than just sending you out?” Rogue asked a question that had bugged her often in the past. She could, she supposed, have gotten the answer herself, but she did not access those memories with out a good reason.
“They didn’t have the time.” Kara responded. “It all happened so quick. By the time they could have established the communication and then wait for Kal to arrive, it would have been over. Kal would have arrived to find a city of the dead.”
Kara trailed off as she activated her telescopic vision. Then, before Rogue could move, she darted in towards the deadly green ring and then sped back out, her face a mask of pain that gradually eased.
“What are you trying to prove?” Rogue all but yelled.
“Nothing. But I had to get these!” Kara held up two devices, similar in construction.
“Okay, I’ll bite.” Rogue fumed. “What’s so damned important about those that you had to risk your life near that Green K?”
“This one” Kara held up one of the objects. “is a Phantom Zone Projector!” Rogue’s eyes widened. “The fact that they had a Phantom Zone Projector means they had criminals in the Phantom Zone. I was not about to leave this floating around so some space happy asteroid miner could find it and accidentally release the criminals in this reality so they could do to it what they did to our Probability.”
“Okay. I can buy that.” Rogue nodded reluctantly. “And the other?”
Kara held the object up and regarded it for a moment.
“This is something my father was working on.” She all but whispered. “Along the lines of the Phantom Zone…but he called it the Negative Zone.” She looked up at Rogue. “My father and mother saved themselves at the very end by using this to transport themselves into that negative zone!”
She straightened and looked at Rogue.
“I am taking these with us. Maybe, just maybe, we’ll find a way to return them to that girl we just sent on her way.”
Rogue grudgingly agreed that Kara had done the right thing and was about to comment when Kara doubled over and flew backwards…as if someone…or something…had just dealt her a might blow. Both objects sailed from her hands in opposite directions.
“Ugnnhhh!” Kara took a breath and spun around, searching for the source of the attack.
“Kara! What on…urg!” Rogue cut off and spun through space as some unseen power seemed to slap her on the side of the head.
“What the hell is this?” Kara demanded. She started towards Rogue, only to feel her self batted away…painfully.
“Kara!” Rogue had time to call out before another invisible blow sent her spinning again…this time directly towards the Green K asteroid belt
They were being herded! Kara’s eyes narrowed. No, they were being separated. Someone wanted a live Kryptonian…but only one!
“I don’t think I am going to play this game!” Kara called out. She ducked and poured on the speed, heading towards Rogue as fast as her Kryptonian abilities would take her without slipping into hyperspace…or breaking through the dimensional/temporal barriers.
She snagged Rogue around the midsection and kept moving, never reducing her speed.
“Some one wants a Kryptonian.” Kara spoke, hoping Rogue was able to hear. “I have a feeling we deprived them of their original victim and so they are trying to take one of us instead.
“Magic!” Rogue gasped, showing that she was conscious. Kara did not stop nor did she release Rogue. It would take time for them to get situated and then get moving again and right now, Kara wanted out of that space.
“I think so.” Kara replied. “Remember that face we saw? Sif you called her? Did Sif have any enemies?”
“Not that I am aware of…unless it was Loki!” Rogue wiggled until she was face down with Kara’s hands under her arms. She applied her own speed and finally Kara let go when they were flying in sync.
“Great, so it is possible that we have been put in the middle of warring Gods.” Kara grumbled. “Have I ever told you how much I really hate magic?”
“Yep.” Rogue pointed before them. “There’s the Rip! What are we doing?”
“Don’t slow down.” Kara redoubled her speed. “We are getting out of here and….Rao!”
Kara faltered and Rogue snatched her, keeping up the speed.
“Rogue, let go! I lost the projectors!”
“Not this time, love.” Rogue refused. “As much as I hate to say it, this is some one else’s problem…we have enough to deal with of our own!”
“Rogue!” Whether Kara would have said more was moot for Rogue hit the Rip traveling at a speed just under that of light!
Space flared….and the rip faded.
Kara and Rogue were gone!
The
Palace of the Enchantress
“They are gone!”
“I can see!” Loki growled. “I did not realize they could move so fast!”
“All is not lost, perhaps.” The Enchantress mused as she gazed into the crystal mirror. “Behold. They both shied away from that green rock. As if it were poison!”
“Poison?” Loki’s interest perked up. “Those rocks are part of the planet they come from…what planet is poison to its people?”
“A planet forsaken by its gods perhaps?” The Enchantress offered.
“Indeed.” Loki looked again into the mirror.
Through it he had attacked the Kryptonians…and now his invisible hand held a fist sized object…a green glowing stone.
“Yes indeed.”
Heimdall approached the small craft hesitantly. Soon the host of Asgard would be here to defend the holy halls of Valhalla. Yet now he wondered if they needed to be defended after all.
To his surprise Odin was the first to arrive on his eight-legged steed. He was even more surprised to see Sif riding behind him.
“Is she Ok?” Sif called out.
“She?” Heimdall said in response.
Then a feeble voice came from within the craft. “Where am I? What happened?”
“You are in Asgard, child.” Sif answered reassuringly.
“Asgard?” The confused young woman stated. “Is that near the Great Mesa?”
“No dear I’m afraid you didn’t reach your intended destination at all.”
“Then I have to get moving!” She exclaimed jumping from her craft. “I have to get to Earth! I have to find my cousin!”
“In due time my dear.” Sif said calming her down. “Now come with us and rest.”
“You’re not going anywhere in that craft anyway.” Heimdall added as he examined the wreckage. Then something caught his eye. “What is this?”
“What?” The young woman asked.
“Something engraved on the hatch.” Balder answered.
Slowly the small assembly stepped closer and read the engraving.
Kara,
Do not be afraid. You are never alone.
Be a Supergirl.
Ted Kord stared out of the observation port.
“How can you remain so calm?” he asked Reed Richards.
“Because I’ve done this so many times before that it no longer holds any thrill for me.” Reed said in bored tone.
“I still can’t believe he sent us out here just to set up another observation satellite.” Ted replied.
“It’s not really going to be a satellite. There’s nothing for it to orbit.” Reed responded. “Give me a moment to scan the area. Maybe we can find an asteroid with enough mass to sustain it.”
Reed waited patiently for the scan to be completed.
“This is odd.” He said as the data came in.
“What?” Ted asked jumping up once again excited by something knew.
“I’m detecting some form of electronic device.” Reed returned. “Hang on I’m going to try to bring it on board.”
Reed activated the tractor beam pulling the device closer. A few moments later a flashing light indicated that it had been brought on board.
“Let’s go see what we’ve found.” Reed suggested.
Ted noticed for the first time since they left the Council Headquarters that he was excited.
Reed opened the air lock and carefully removed two devices.
“What are they?” Ted asked in anticipation.
“They appear to be some form of projectors.” Reed stated.
“Let’s turn them on and see what they do.” Ted suggested with zeal.
“No.” Reed answered. “This is definitely not the place to play with unidentified devices. Let’s get back to the council first.”
“Ok.” Ted responded with a childlike disappointment.
“Oh and Ted?” Reed said
“Yes?”
“Let this be our little secret.”
The end of: An Unexpected Rescue
|
Multiverse To continue with the adventures of Kara and Rogue in Alterverse, be sure to read: Continuum Part 2 |
The Realm Be sure to read the upcoming story in the fascinating Realm Saga: Hulk Smash
|
-- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2003 by John Philips and Dylan Clearbrook
-- and may not be reprinted without permission.
-- The Continuum Worlds Concept is a joint creation of
-- Dylan Clearbrook and Eldric. Otherverse, Dark Earth,
-- 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.
-- The Realm and Shadowverse, as depicted in the Continuum Worlds,
-- are original creations of John P. and Jason G respectively.
-- Some characters in Continuum Worlds stories are original creations
-- of Dylan Clearbrook, Eldric, Michael Liebhart, Jake H., Jason G.,
-- Andrew Shields, Kyle M., Brian, 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.