The Last Daughter of Krypton: World's Finest

[TearsoftheWorld]

OOC: http://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=650733​

"My daughter... by now you will have reached your 18th year as it is measured on Earth. The knowledge that I have, matters physical and historic, I've given you freely on your voyage to your new home. These are important matters to be sure, but still matters of mere fact. There are questions to be asked, and it is time for you to do so. Here in this Fortress of Solitude, we shall try to find the answers together."

Kara stepped forward, slowly at first, but with more and more confidence as she drew closer to the holographic image of her long-deceased father. Once she reached the appointed platform, Kara became bathed in a bright flash of light, and she suddenly found herself staring at Kryptonian symbols and other objects of various shapes and sizes as they swirled about her.

Her training had begun.

"Come with me now, my daughter, as we break through the bonds of your earthly confinement. Traveling through time and space... and the other dimensions," Zor-El said, his voice echoing through Kara's head. "Your powers will far exceed those of mortal men and women. It is forbidden for you to interfere with human history. Rather let your leadership stir others to...

In this next year we shall examine the human heart. It is more fragile than your own...

For the past two years...

As we pass through the flaming turmoil which is the edge of your own galaxy, we will enter the realm of the red Krypton sun... cause of our eventual destruction. The planet Krypton, my daughter. Your home... as it was.

This year we shall examine the various concepts of immortality and their basis in actual fact...

The total accumulation of all knowledge spanning the twenty-eight known galaxies is embedded in the crystals which I have sent along with you. Study them well, my daughter, and learn from them.

It is now time for you to rejoin your new world and to serve its collective humanity. Live as one of them, Kara Zor-El, and discover where your strength and your power will lead you. To always hold in your heart the pride of your special heritage. They can be a great people, Kara, they wish to be. They only the lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all, their capacity for good, I have sent them you. My only daughter..."

Kara Zor-El suddenly found herself standing in the Fortress of Solitude once again, though she had aged quite a few years since she first began her training. She was taller, stronger and wiser too. Her mind had soaked up all the knowledge that her father had imparted onto her, and she found herself able to recall every minute detail.

At one point in her life she had been afraid of her destiny...

Now she was ready to embrace it.

"Woh... are these really mine?" Kara asked as her hands cupped the large breasts that had formed on her chest. "Guess so," she added before giving them a gentle squeeze.

Kara chuckled and then dropped her arms to her sides before she looked around her. The Fortress seemed cold and empty, but she knew her father was still there. He would always be there for her…

It was time...

Kara lifted herself up into the air, and she flew out of the Fortress faster than she had ever flown before. In a matter of seconds she had crossed over from one end of the world to the other, and she finally descended to a place that she had called home for most of her childhood.

Smallville.

Kara Zor-El touched her feet firmly upon the ground, and with a smile on her face she walked up the front steps leading to her house before stopping to knock on the door. Her ears picked up the sound of footsteps moving inside, and when the door opened her bright smile became even more pronounced, and Kara suddenly found herself wrapped up in her mothers arms. Jonathan Kent came up from behind his wife, and Kara buried herself in his arms after Martha had finally relinquished her hold on her.

“I missed you guys so much,” Kara said as tears of joy began streaming down her face. While Jonathan certainly became choked up at the sight of his daughter, he somehow managed to hold himself to together. Martha, however, was not so lucky, but no one judged her for letting loose her emotions.

After years apart… the Kent family was finally back together again.

---

A few days later

---

Before the yellow sun began its long, slow ascent up into the sky, Kara Zor-El slowly stirred awake, though she was somewhat reluctant to get up. She didn’t even have to look at her clock to realize what time it was. Dawn had not yet given way to sunrise… and the sky outside was only just starting to brighten up.

Once Kara had put on some clothes she made her way downstairs and into the living room where she promptly sat down on the couch. At first all she could do was stare at her reflection in the blank TV, but after a while she finally turned the television on, and the first show to pop up was the early morning news. Most of the announcements were recaps of older stories, but what Kara heard certainly didn’t make her feel any better. The world was still a messed up place, and violence seemed to be widespread.

They can be a great people, Kara…

“Yeah… sure dad,” Kara mumbled to herself before she turned the television off in frustration. She ran a hand through her blond hair and then slumped back into the couch.

---

Metropolis -
Later that afternoon

---

The Daily Planet. If there was ever a symbol that best represented the great city of Metropolis, it was the Daily Planet. It sat at the heart of city on the corner of Fifth Street and Concord Lane, and there was never a dull moment within its doors, courtesy of the chaotic world without. It was in the Daily Planet that some of the best reporters in the world worked, and publications rivaled that of The New York Times.

That infamous globe, perched high on the top of the building, was what had attracted Kara’s attention in the first place. The young Kryptonian was certainly dressed to impress, and she had on her best clothes, a professional ensemble that one would think at first glance that she represented a top law firm or corporation. One arm lay at her side, moving in rhythmic fashion while the other held a small brown briefcase.

"Can I help you?" a young woman asked as she sat behind the main desk in the entrance of the building. Kara had finally summoned up enough courage to walk inside, and she quickly became lost among all the coming and going of reporters busily making their way around the place.

"Yes... I have a meeting with Mr. White," Kara responded before she casually adjusted the glasses she was wearing against the bridge of her nose. The secretary quickly shuffled through her planners, tapping her pen against the desk.

"Name?"

"Kara Kent."

"Kent... you're kind of early today," the secretary commented informally.

"I thought that being early would be better than being late," Kara shrugged, drawing an appreciative grin from the secretary. From what she had been able to gather so far, a little bit of sass was one of the requirements to working in such a busy place. You were either quick on your feet or you were yesterdays news.

"You can take the elevator up to the top floor. I'll let Mr. White know you're coming," the secretary said as she picked up the telephone. Kara smiled and then walked over towards one of the elevators. She felt a little antsy as the doors finally opened, and she had to practically fight her way for a spot within its chambers.

The Daily Planet felt like a beehive... and it certainly behaved like one.

After quite a few stops, Kara finally made it to the top floor. When the doors opened up again she quickly walked out, moving down past a row of desks as she looked for Mr. White's office. Conveniently enough it was straight ahead, at the other end of the wide room and with a great panoramic view of the city. Smoothing out her skirt, Kara continued down past a few more rows of desks before she reached his office door. Mr. White was sitting at his desk with a phone to his ear, barking a few orders to whomever was unfortunate enough to be on the other end.

"Mr. White?"

Perry paid her no attention, his mind apparently elsewhere. Kara took a moment to glance around the room, and she saw a desk tag that had the words 'Chief' emblazoned on it.

"Uh... Chief?"

"What?!" Perry demanded, turning his chair around to face the new girl. Kara was a bit surprised at how aggravated he sounded, but she quickly collected her bearings and introduced herself.

"Right… Kent," Perry said quickly and without taking the phone away from his ear. The aged but wizened editor of the Daily Planet nodded towards one of the few chairs actually in the room, and Kara took a seat in it before she set her briefcase down on the ground by her feet.

"We got a new job for the city desk. McKenzie just quit, so you're gonna fill in for him. Any questions?" Perry asked rhetorically. He was known for being a pretty tough boss, but it was his job to make sure that the Daily Planet sold copies, and if that meant barking up every tree in the city then he'd bark up every branch and limb.

"I read a bit of your stuff. It's good," Perry continued, pulling out a few pieces of paper from her resume that she had submitted, along with a quick outline of her portfolio. Kara’s experience in journalism was limited to the view articles she had written while working at the Torch, but her writing was top-notch, and before even graduating she had already received several job offers from various papers and tabloids all across the country.

At that particular point in her life, however, Kara had already made a promise to her father to return to the Fortress when she turned 18 and begin her training, and so, regretfully, Kara had to turn them all down.

Now that her training was over, however, Kara was looking to get back on track and find a job that would allow her easy access to breaking news reports.

In any case, Kara smiled after receiving that tidbit of praise from Perry, though she was more than positive Mr. White wasn't paying any real attention to her. His eyes were busy scanning the papers in front of him, and he still had a telephone pressed against his ear. Kara listened in on the conversation, but she quickly refocused her attention elsewhere when she discovered it wasn’t anything serious.

“Why are you still here?” Mr. White suddenly asked, and Kara noticed this eyes were staring straight at her.

“Huh? I don’t… I guess I…”

**Mayday. Mayday. This is Flight 675. We are going down! I repeat! We are going down!**

Kara Zor-El turned her head in the direction from where the distress call came from, even though everyone else in the building remained unaware of what was going on above them. Without wasting another second, Kara ran out of Perry’s office and made her way for the stairwell.

“Look! Sitting there doesn’t sell papers! Go out there and find me-- Kent?” Perry looked around the room, but his newest reporter was nowhere to be seen. Though confused at first by her sudden disappearance, Perry White soon resumed the heated conversation he was having with the person on the other end of the phone.

Racing down to the ground level, Kara followed the throng of busy people as they made their way in and out of the Daily Planet, and when she finally found a safe place to ditch her clothes, Kara pulled off her work clothes to reveal her costume underneath. While most of her outfit was blue, including her skirt, emblazoned on her chest was a yellow shield with a bold, red S centered in the middle: the Kryptonian symbol for the House of El. Draped around her shoulders was a lengthy red cape with gold trimming, added only because Kara thought it looked cool.

After taking her glasses off, Kara launched herself into the sky and headed off in the direction of the falling airplane. It took her just a few seconds to locate it, though the billowing clouds of black smoke and raging fires issuing from the engines probably helped her out a bit.

**Mayday! May-- What the hell? The plane is righting herself**

Kara had grabbed onto one of the planes wings in an attempt to alter its course, but the strain she was putting on the tiny metal wing was too much for it to handle, and it broke off from the main body. Kara was thrown off balance for a moment, but after discarding the broken wing she returned to the plane and tried grabbing the tail in an attempt to slow it down. Once again her strength was too much for the poor machine to handle, and the tail ripped off.

So far all Kara had managed to do was help the plane spiral more and more out of control.

“Nice one, Kara.”

It took a few seconds for Kara to catch back up to the plane, only this time she flew around to the front and applied pressure there. Toning her strength down a few pegs, Kara found it rather difficult to find the right sort of balance, and the plane continued to head for the heart of the city. Moving down towards the belly of the plane, Kara managed to provide enough lift to avoid crashing in the middle of the crowded street, and she guided the plane to a somewhat softer landing in the middle of Metropolis’ central park. The plane was pretty beat up and missing a few parts, but was otherwise alright.

The important thing was that no one was hurt.

“Phew,” Kara sighed with relief. In the distance the young Kryptonian could hear police sirens and fire engines blaring, and all around the makeshift landing site spectators had gathered to see firsthand what had happened. Kara stuck around long enough to make sure that the airplane passengers were alright, but she quickly took off once the rescue teams had arrived.

A few witnesses had managed to take a few pictures of the accident, and one even managed to take a snapshot of Kara as she was flying away.

The next day newspapers all across the country, most especially the Daily Planet, featured the startling image and had the incident splattered all across their front pages, though no one seemed to know anything about the mysterious “Supergirl” that had somehow saved the plane and its passengers from certain wreckage.

 

[AmenRa]

So, she has finished the training that has prepared her for this destiny, and she has taken her place among Human history. I am proud of her, as I knew I would be.

I can not help but believe that the experiences we shared when she was so young, so new to her powers, have played a role in preparing her for this day. The time she spent among the group of Outsiders battling evils and fighting for justice surely taught her many things.

The newspapers call her 'Supergirl'. It is a good name, a fitting name. For me, especially, since she will indeed always be a small, blonde-haired infant that I held in my arms so many times. She has grown, though, matured into a beautiful young woman, and no longer needs the protection and oversight that I once provided.

So long ago, so far away, I promised her father that I would keep watch over her until the time when she embraced her destiny, her birthright, and took her place as protector of Earth.

While her strength and powers rival any being I have ever encountered, possibly even my own, there will come a time when Kara Zor-El will need the counsel of experience, and the strength of friends. It is this that I will be, forever vigilant, always watching, and always here should she need me.

He put his pen down and closed the old, leather-bound journal in which he was writing. He then looked over at the copy of the Daily Planet, with its photograph of the Last Daughter of Krypton boldly framing the front page. He took a bite of an Oreo cookie, and with pride filling his heart, he smiled.

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Wraith

New York City: 12:17AM


I poked my head in and saw that she had shifted in her sleep. Her red hair was covering her face, and her pale shoulder and arm were thrown across my side of the bed, a swirl of fire and moonlight amid the chocolate silk sheets.

I gently closed the door. She had been having trouble falling asleep lately. Tonight I held her and sang a low lullaby until she finally dozed off. That was about two hours ago. She said I was silly when I started singing, but she was smiling, and it worked. She needed the rest. Sleep for her rarely came easy, and here lately she hadn't been sleeping well. I think she missed Kara. First I left, then shortly before I came back Kara dissapeared. Ocasionally I would catch her looking north, and knew she was thinking of our golden haired friend.



I gently closed the door to the bedroom and as quiet as I could made my way to the library. I picked up the book I was reading (James Clavell's Shogun), but just couldn't get into it. It was one AM.

I made my way to the media room next. Turning on various televisions and plopped down on the couch. Thirty minutes later I was up again. Nothing on to keep my mind occupied, not even Adult Swim and Family Guy reruns.

I knew what was on my mind. No other way to get this out of my system.

It's nights like this that I wished I still slept.

I made my way to the kitchen and rooted around in the pantry until I found the box of Cheerios. I pulled the bag out of the box, and pulled out the small black box I had hidden there. I paused a second, just looking at the box as the memories flowed through me.

"Your really going to do it? I know you two have been joined at the hip since high school, but this, this is a whole other thing your talking about here Kyle."

"I love her Bekka. You remember what dad said when you asked him when he knew he wanted to marry mom?"

"Love isn't finding someone to grow old with, it's finding someone who will keep you young while you grow old."

"Yea. Thats how I feel about Rose, and more. I could give up everything, the money, my powers, everything, but I can't stand the thought of loosing her."

Bekka paused a second, taking a sip of her wine, then reached back and unhooked her necklace, pulling it out of her blouse. I took a closer look and recognized immediately what she had been wearing around her neck.

"Bekka, I can't..."

"Yes you can! Mom left this to me, and I am giving it to you. One of us is getting married, and it's not going to be me anytime soon."

"But your supposed to take Mom's ring! I have Dad's at home. I can't Bekka."

"Yes you can. Like I said, I am not getting married anytime in the near future, probably not ever. Hell, I can't even have dinner with my brother without two minders being in the same room." She pointed to a table about fifteen feet away, where Min, in a striking blue dress, was sitting with Morgan, another member of Bekka's security detail.

"OK, you have a point but you will find the right guy someday. And how did you get Min in a dress? I don't think I have ever seen her in one." I reached down and took a sip of my water. Keeping up appearances was second nature by now.

"Oh that was easy, I promised to help take it off her once we got home."

I almost, almost spewed water across the table. What ended up happening was I ended up coughing until I got the water out of my lungs. Once that was done I glared at my older sister, who had a look of pure innocence on her face.

"Kyle, when I told you that I wouldn't be getting married, it was only partly because of work. I just haven't found the right man because I keep finding women. I'm not a lesbian, I do like men, but right now I have something I like a lot here. I mean, she can do this thing with.."

"Shush!!!! Brother!!! TMI!!!! OK OK, I give, Give me the ring!! Just no more about your very personnel life, that should STAY personal!!! Sheesh!"

Bekka just smiled and handed me the ring. I looked down at it. White gold band, diamond flanked by two sapphires. I knew inside the band the word 'beloved' was inscribed. Grandma Greystone gave it to dad before he proposed. I had no idea how long it had been in the family, but i could almost feel the weight of years in the small object.

"Thank you sis. For the ring, not the mental scarring.

"Your welcome spooky-boy."

I smiled down at the ring, then placed it back in the cereal box where I had it hid. Soon, but not now.

I called upon Shadow, and my armor wrapped itself around and through me. Like always, I felt more alive, more powerful. I reached out and stepped through the shadows of the darkened kitchen and emerged out on the roof of a brownstone across the city.

Might as well go see whats going on out here. Great dragon-like wings emerged from my back and with a clap I sprang skyward, patrolling the streets of this city I now called home.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Rose.

Rose had never wanted to be normal.

But sometimes she wondered what it was like.

Rose had never been normal. (Maybe, briefly, as a tiny little girl.)

But then came cyberpunk and robopsychologists and her imagination detonated in her brain, destroying all but facades and hints of normalcy.

She had a mad mad brain, this one. And the madness of her was made all the madder by the mixed up thing she'd called family.

Her mother. Oh, her mother.

Her father, still brilliant, still deranged.

Her Uncle Emil, one-armed and single-minded and still out there somewhere.

Her Aunt Claire... about whom Rose was still not quite sure how she felt.

The uncles that had never been uncles by blood, though they were uncles in spirit.

Merick Tennylson was the closest she'd ever had to a brother.

None of these were normal. (Though her mother had pretended for awhile.)

The love of her life was a man whose bloodline hailed from an alternate plane of existence. And she'd die by his side a thousand times over. And she'd marry him, if he asked. He didn't need to ask. She was here and she wasn't going anywhere if she could help it, but if he ever asked...

Her "Uncle" John once claimed he'd won November 1937 in a card game. Though Rose had never been sure he wasn't pulling her leg, or making some oblique reference to Ursula Bethell.

There was that thing her father had kept in the storm cellar back at their house in Smallville. That strange and beautiful sleeping thing that always made her cry to look at it, tears that couldn't decide if they were happy or sad. (It was still there, she knew. Waiting.)

Uncle Emil, obsessed to this day with a rainbow of stones from another world and pale pale creatures from a different world even than that. Uncle Emil and his... henchwoman.

Rose had never been normal.

She'd always been kind of a freak. Sometimes she felt like all the train accident had done was bring that freakishness to the surface.

Rose had never been normal.

Nor was she normal now.

It had been Kyle's best-kept secret, better kept even than the secret of his powers and the realm of his origin, that he actually had one of the sweetest singing voices ever. And this was one of the few things that could lull her to sleep every single time.

(He'd sung an old Barenaked Ladies song about insomnia, and this had been silly of him, but it had worked.)

And Rose dreamed. But not even Rose's dreams were normal.

Rose was tied in, through synergy and synchronicity and symbiosis, to the lives and loves and heartaches of the city she now called home. This was partly intentional and partly accidental but she never complained. The Guardian called her "The Spirit of New York," and they weren't wholly wrong.

And when she dreamed, this time, she dreamed in time with The City.

(Because cities sleep, did you not know this? Cities sleep and cities dream and cities Dream. And one day the cities may rise, God help us all.

And Rose was a part of New York. And New York was a part of Rose.)

She dreamed the dream of The City That Never Sleeps.

She wore her father's long dark brown coat and she wore a t-shirt with the British flag and tattered jeans. Her feet were bare.

The sky above was cool and blue and The Sun glistened through a haze of wisp-white clouds.

She walked through Central Park. The buildings in the distance reached up and up and up and up like Towers of Babel. Fifth Avenue was paved with silver.

The Central Park Zoo had impossible creatures in it. She spent some time feeding little bits of hot dog to the baby dragon and lamented that she did not have enough hands to scratch all three cerberus heads behind the ears at once.

She walked out to the silvered glass of Fifth Avenue and journeyed down it with the bare of her feet to the place where it met 42nd Street.

She stood for a moment. Patience and Fortitude.

This was the main branch of The New York Public Library, and she walked up the stone steps to the doors between the two stone lions.

One of them purred at her, and she winked back at it. 'Hello, Astor. Shouldn't be a moment.'

Just as all labyrinths lead to the realm of Destiny, just as all the backs of all the mirrors touch on the realm of Despair, all repositories of story touch on the realm of Dream. So much the more so do dreams of libraries touch on The Library of Dream.

Rose stepped through the doors and she smelled bookshelves and light featherlight must and she smiled the distant smile of a poet with wanderlust.

She put her hands in the pockets of her father's coat and she walked through the infinitely tall shelves of an endless endless array of books. But these were no ordinary books. These were books that had not ever been written.

Some had been passing fancies in the minds of men. 'Oh, I should write a book about...'

Some had been great tomes that had never been finished. The Complete Canterbury Tales adorned the shelves here. Tolkein's Finished Tales resided here, untouched by the well-meaning Christopher. Poodle Springs by Raymond Chandler had, too, its original ending, none had needed to be provided by Robert B. Parker three decades later.

...some were books that these great ones never got to write.

Rose's favourite among these was The Next Hundred Acres, by A.A. Milne. Or perhaps it was Still Further Tales of Watership Down, by Richard Adams?

Her sensitive fingertips trailed upon the spines of the books, until she rounded the end of a shelf and found there, perched on a pallid bust of Pallas, a Raven.

The Raven seemed quite surprised to see her. 'Hey, Rosy Mac.'

Rose smiled softly. 'Hey, Matty. Is The Old Man around? Thought he'd be sorting the Alexandrettan Fiction section...'

Matthew cleaned a wing with his beak for a moment, and then blinked beady eyes. 'Nawh. I ain't seen him in awhile. Think Loosh sent him to The Fifty-First Century after a poorly misplaced diary... told him to stay out of the shadows.'

'That's good advice,' Rose chuckled. 'Not all Shadows are friendly. How 'bout Lucien, then? He around?'

Matthew paused, and glanced about a bit. 'Yeah, hang on, I think he's in Atlases. Whaddayacall'em, the, uh, The Cryptogeographica. Southwestern Annex.'

A brief explosion of black wings and feathers, and Matthew took to the air, leading her through the winding pathways of The Library. This, in and of itself was labyrinthine, and Rose wondered briefly if this counted enough as a maze for Destiny to wander through here carrying a book of his own.

Then again, Destiny's was a realm of had-beens and would-bes, and Dream's was a place of would-may-bes and never-bes. Rose imagined that their crossovers were few, perhaps limited only to might-bes.

And there was Lucien, ever-so-tall and bespectacled, thin as a rail with pointy ears. He was shelving a book of maps cartographed by The First Merlin on a journey that sought out The Four Celestial Cities of Falias, Findias, Murias, and Gorias.

He arched an eyebrow, glancing up as Matthew perched on his shoulder and thus noticing Rose. 'Miss McCrimmon. Fancy meeting you here. I would usually have more expected to find you amongst the songbooks...'

Rose chuckled, and nodded. This would have been more like her, usually.

'In the mood for something different,' she confessed. 'I was wondering. If you had any books from Krypton?'

Lucien cupped his pointy chin with his spindly hand. 'Krypton. Hmm.'

He peered over the rims of his spectacles at her. 'Well. My deepest apologies, Miss McCrimmon, but I would hardly be worth my salt as a Librarian if I were not wholly aware of the books my patrons truly wanted.'

It was Rose's turn to blink her eyes, it was Rose's turn to arch her eyebrows.

'Wait, what?'

Without another word, Lucien turned and walked deeper into The Library.

'Best not argue with the man,' Matthew cawed back at her, 'he's got his game face on.'

And thus, Lucien led Rose out of the section of books that were dreamed and into the section of books that had yet to be written. This section was small compared to the rest of the place, and it grew smaller every day, bit by bit.

Hands folded behind himself, Lucien strolled his long long legs through his Library, turning left, and then right, and left... they walked for what seemed like days, until, until, Lucien stopped facing a great wide shelf with a sign atop it that read simply, "Biographies."

Rose squinted, but only was able to catch a few names. Lyle Norg, and Alix Harrower, and John Fox...

Lucien reached up and plucked a thick black hardcover from the shelf.

'You say you seek histories of Krypton,' he murmured, 'but Krypton is only the past, scientific tomes by Yar-El, tales of the Forerunner race that came before both Krypton and Daxam, crossover fanfic featuring the absurd coupling of Rao and Cythonna, all of it, past. And what you truly want, unless I am very much mistaken, is reassurance. Is hope for The Future. And normally, I have very strict rules about the dispensing of... spoilers. But this future is very near and dear to you, so I think I can bend that rule this once.'

He held the book close to his chest for a moment.

And then turned the cover to face her.

The title was strange. 'The Death and Life of Supergirl.' And she had no idea who Roger Stern was, she'd never heard of him.

But beneath the title, emblazoned in red and in gold on that black black background. Was a stylised "S."

Rose's heart leaped into her throat.

This was The Symbol of The House of El.

This was The Symbol of Hope.

...Rose's blue blue eyes darted up to meet Lucien's bespectacled gaze.

'Not written yet,' she breathed. 'When?'

Lucien slid the book back onto the shelf, a little bit lovingly, and he smiled a very rare smile.

'You have lived the prologue,' he murmured, 'this ended yesterday, with the saving of an aircraft, perhaps you should have watched the evening news. Chapter One begins... this morning.'

********​

Rose's eyes flickered open. She opened her eyes upon the waking world, the waking City of New York.

She rolled over onto her back and sat up like a shot, wafting the red of her hair out of her face...

"Kyle?" she breathed, softly.

But she could tell, somehow, that the place was empty save for her. His spot on the bed only retained the thinnest vestiges of heat. He'd been gone for some time.

She rolled out of bed. Padded naked, softly, through the place at the top of the world. She touched the side of the TV. This, too, was warm, but only faintly.

The dream hovered at the back of her mind. Like any other person, she struggled to remember the things she saw while she was sleeping, that otherworldly place. She knew she had friends there, but they were like ghosts, she only ever remembered them when she met them there, all over again each time.

But she knew there was something she needed to remember. Even though The Sun had not yet risen, Rose had a warmth in her chest in a space that had been empty before.

Jagged jigsaw puzzle pieces danced behind her eyes. She bit her lip.

"'The evening news,'" she murmured, and slipped into the desk chair in front of the computer.

Click, click...

She skipped over the obligatory LNN.com bookmark, and simultaneously opened two other websites...

...ManhattanGuardian.com.

...and DailyPlanet.co.uk.

Tears rolled down Rose's face when the front pages loaded.

The Guardian's headline read, boldfaced and delighted: 'The Spirit of Metropolis.'

And London's branch of The Planet, with a byline forming a very familiar name, proclaimed simple, outright, joy: 'SUPER. GIRL.'

Rose clapped her hands to her face and let out a whoop that sailed out through the open window and into the canyons of the city below.

Rose had been missing something.

A Symbol of Hope.

Rose cried tears that knew full well that they were only joy.

'"Chapter One," huh?'

'"...the rest is still unwritten."'

 

[ChasNicollette]

Chloe.

Chloe liked her surroundings to be peppered with literary references. And it was hard not to be surrounded with that sort of thing, living and working in London. But Golden Square was especially good, because was a locale equally at home in the works of the bizarre Neal Stephenson and the venerable Charles Dickens.

It had also occurred to Chloe, more than once, that the irony inherent in her, of all people, having a flat in Soho was just about skull-popping.

(Her fingers flew over the keys of her black GenTech laptop, The Daily Planet's logo rotating in the upper right corner of the screen.)

This was a colourful section of the city to say the least. And it certainly seemed to suit Merick's demeanour of late. Also, there were late-night coffee shops.

London had been good to them.

Merick had really come into his own. And Chloe had gotten her dream... she was working for The Planet. Sure, it wasn't in Metropolis, but it was the height of ethnocentrism for her to think that all the good news came from The States, anyway.

The sky was grey outside. The sky was always grey. (But in comparison, it was a fairly safe bet that nothing was going to come falling from the sky, here.)

She smiled a soft little smile. She put her left hand on her stomach, her matching rings glinting silvery in the grey light outside. Diamonds and white gold, matching the ankh tattoo on the inside of her left wrist.

Her hand was on her stomach, and she smiled softly.

London had been good to them.

There came a rapping, suddenly, at her chamber door, and she tugged her earbuds out of her ears, letting them blare Go West's "Faithful" to the empty air, as she rose, eyebrow arched, from behind her computer desk.

"Just coming," she called, though there was a prickling at the back of her neck.

Another fierce knock came at the black-painted wood of the flat's front door, and she frowned deeply as she walked warily towards it. Leaning in, she peered through the peep-hole, and saw only the bottom halves of the letters "ILE."

Huh.

Hesitant, she swung open the door. And there was a singularly massive crate almost filling the corridor. "FRAGILE."

Though the arrow for "This End Up" was, predictably, pointing directly at the floor.

Chloe frowned deeper still, looked right and looked left, saw no-one.

"They don't want me to sign for this?" she shook her head and whistled low. "Merick, if you ordered me another life-size statue of Jesse McCartney as a joke..."

The box creaked.

Reflexively, Chloe stepped back. "Okay. Merick. Did you kidnap Jesse McCartney and cram him into a box?"

The box creaked again, louder, longer, and there came a rumbling from within the container.

Chloe's hazel eyes went wide, too wide almost for her head, and she took another step back. She was intense, she was curious, she took no prisoners, her hand grasped for the mobile holstered at her hip, she wasn't stupid.

She tugged the phone from the holster.

And the crate groaned one last terrible time... and a massive bleach-white fist with craggy black fingernails powered its way through the wood of the crate, sending splinters and shards showering and causing a resounding currrack...

"'BORN ON A MONDAY.'"

"Oh." Chloe breathed. And slammed the door shut and locked the door and ran for the other end of the flat... "Shit!"

Instantly she recognised the legend, Chloe was good with legends. Slaughter Swamp outside of Gotham had its own answer to The Swamp Thing, an incomplete plant elemental zombie type creature, major powerhouse, going back fifty years or more... Cyrus Gold had died there once, died in the swamp, and come back as something else, and every time he had died since he had come back slightly different...

(Chloe could relate. But she didn't want to die. Not right now. Notrightnownotrightnow... if she were killed right now she might not want to be back for the aftermath she might just want to stay dead...)

Ten pale-white fingers curled their way right through the doorjamb and shattered the wood and twisted it and splintered it and through the doorway it came, too big, too big for the door, massive...

It was ugly. Its countenance was craggy and twisted and gnarled like an old dead tree poking out through a cliff face. Its teeth were jagged and off-colour, and its lantern jaw was pockmarked and oozing.

"RrrRRRrrrr. 'BORN ON A MONDAY.'"

Frantically she dialed, frantically she ran. Chloe was a brave woman but she knew her limits.

And she didn't want to die. Especially not right now. Not right after the ultrasound...

Her thumb tagged hard the speed dial for Merick's phone, it rang it rang it rang, her stockinged feet powered her across the floor of the flat, towards the little storage closet...

Doctor Jamie Hamilton's wedding present.

It was behind her, its strides were slow but they covered a massive distance each time, she could feel the floorboards shake...

Behind her, it swung its hands apart and clapped them together and the shockwave blasted into her from behind like she'd been hit by a double-decker bus...

"Aannh!" she bellowed, she stumbled, the force knocked her off-kilter and she couldn't right herself, her ears were ringing her equilibrium was shot...

Instinctively she curled around her stomach, tried to protect that area of herself with her body and she stumbled and she fell and she hit the cupboard door, hit it hard...

"Hnngh!" she grunted, sliding to the floor, still all curled up.

She opened her eyes to see its massive feet. She looked up at it, and tried desperately to blink the tears out of her eyes.

"'BORN ON A MONDAY.'"

Chloe grunted, and gritted her teeth, and reached up to grab the cupboard doorknob without looking... "'I hate Mondays.'"

She glanced at her mobile, across the hallway floor, she couldn't see straight to see if it was connected, couldn't hear it to hear if Merick had picked up, but she pointed her face in the direction of the mouthpiece and screamed: "MERICK! DEFCON FOUR! DEFCON FOUR!"

The monster's heel came down on the mobile and it was dust, and, swearing, Chloe refused to hesitate. The boxes were stacked at the bottom of the cupboard and Chloe dove in amongst them, fumbling, tossing them about.

Should have labeled these things. Should always label everything.

There was a navy blue box with a white rose-shaped bow and Chloe hauled it out of there and yanked off the lid and pulled out the thing inside.

In one of his sleepless fugues, Jamie had managed to combine vestigial Kryptonian crystal-tech with Merick's personal dimensional resonance to create--

'Wait, what is it?' Chloe had asked.

'Well,' Jamie had mumbled, frowning at it, 'it's a sonic. Erm. Well, it's a sonicky, it... it's a... it's a prototype, something I've...'

Chloe had tried to stay patient. It wasn't like the eventual reception had been nearly the time-crunch as the ceremony itself.

'Just tell me what it does?' she'd suggested.

Chloe came out with the silver thing in her fingers, and her face was grim.

"'...stark and stormy Tuesday,'" she growled, and flicked the switch with her thumb.

...the tip of it lit up, this slender thing in her hand, lit up bright like a small pale blue Sun and it squealed and whistled and hummed...

...the monster screamed and clapped his hands 'round his head and shook like a branch in the wildest winter storm...

...it started to blur 'round the edges as the molecular resonance built up and up and up...

"'BuhBORN.'"

It shook its head from side to side.

"'BORNnnNnnnNnnn.'"

And it raised its foot and stomped it down and the sheer impact of its foot on the floorboards jostled Chloe's hand and the sonic device went skidding away, and Chloe let out a howl of frustration.

"'BORN ON A MONDAY.'"

It stomped towards her and the sonic device went the way of the cellphone, crunched under his inexorable weight.

Chloe wrapped herself around her stomach, not daring to mount any other defence, not daring. Not while knowing what she knew. "Merick."

"Come home."

"'BORN. ON A MONDAY.'"

"'Buried,'" Chloe whispered, tucking tighter, "'on a Sunday.'"

 

[Lunaramblings]

Merick was in Salem. He had just "landed" outside his brother's home. He had intended to invite him and Mary to dinner. Then his phone rang. Merick flinched and fumbled as he dug the phone out of the pocket of his long black jacket. He grinned that self same grin he had had all his life. The one he inherited from his father. And his father had inherited it from his father. Merick flicked the recieve button and started to say hello. But all he heard was Hell. His own worst nightmare. Chloe was screaming. Someone was at their home. Merick twisted and tore through time and space. He arrived in his flat. In THEIR flat. Time slowed and stalled. He could see the monster raising his massive foot, about to crush Chloe.

Merick was moving even as he was understanding his own plan. He sprinted, the soles of the buccaneer boot clapping hard on the floor. Merick launches at the thing. And suddenly, the world unfreezes. Merick drives both knees into the chest of the monster. The thing stumbles, off balance. Merick never stops. Twisting through space he delivers blow after blow. His blood boiling as he does. Furious he drives a two fisted smash into the things throat.

Solomon Grundy was many things. one of them is nigh-invulnerable. He staggers back under the assault until he catches Merick around the shoulders. His massive hands nearly wrapping around Merick's chest completely. Solomon Grundy pulls Merick forward and delivers a savage headbutt, crushing and crumbling the lower right side of Mericks mask. Merick is stunned. Dazed. And grundy takes advantage. "You make Grundy live in sewer! Hurt Grundy friend! Now Grundy hurt you!"

Merick warps the world again, wrenching himself from the monster's grasp.

"Oi, Big Boy. I don't know who in the bleedin' pits of Hell you are, or what the strewth you are on about. But let me make this clear... You are about to have a very bad day. As Merick speaks he pulls a cigarette out of his pocket. It is bent and nearly broken. Merick straightens it and lights it. Taking a puff as he tries to size up the situation. Then the thing charges.

Merick ducks under a colossal right hand, rolls away from a left, and then with out a second thought he catches a big left fist. Catches it in his hand. The impact enough to destroy a city bus. But Merick doesn't flinch. "Hrrgg... seriously mate, back the frig off." Grundy yanks his fist, sending Merick flying through the air. He wasn't ready, he smashes through a coffee table. Merick gets up and glares at the monster.

Grundy is seething, he glares at Merick. Grundy can't believe that this puny man is still standing. How? Grundy charges once more, both hands raised over his head, clasped, ready to be brought down and crush the man before him.

Merick snarls as he sees the bastard charge. "Huh, that was my last fag ya fuckin wank." Merick dodges around the monster. "You come in my home, You break my stuff," Merick narrowly ducks another huge blow as Grundy drives his hand through the floor. "You attack my fuckin wife! And to put the bleedin cherry on top, you ruin my last smoke. Fine. Lets do this." Grundy grabs for Merick. and Merick just smiles.

The world bends and as Merick pulls himself and the monster through time and space. Merick is still smiling as they arrive on the moon. Have fun in space ya tosser!" Merick twists back to the loft. Alone. Grundy, for what it is worth, howls in rage. furious. He screams a scream that will never be heard.

As Merick arrives he is yelling. "CHLOE!?! BABY!?! YOU OKAY!?!" Merick tears back to the last place he say her. Fear rising in his throat.

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Wraith

New York City: Before Sunrise​

Flying, while not new, was always enjoyable. Riding the winds of the city were enthralling. Unlike Rose, I had to catch them right, climb thermals, and expend lots of energy to keep aloft, but man was it worth it.

(Though her ability to turn on a dime would have been nice.)

After a few hours of flying I had pasted about a dozen gang-bangers to walls, stopped two muggings (more wall pasting), and helped get a injured person out of a pretty bad car wreck. (I'm quicker than the jaws of life, and most fire companies are friendly after that fire on Hudson me and Rose put out.)

Overall, it was a calm and uneventful night (for New York), and with the skies tinting with the light of dawn I stepped into shadows and out again into the library. Shadows bled off my form until I stood again as a man, clad in silk PJ bottoms and nothing else.

I started making my way to the kitchen to fix my Rose some tea when I heard a sniff, and saw her standing in the office, pale skin washed with the lights of the monitors, and when she turned to me I saw tears streaking down her cheeks.

"Sweetheart, is something wrong?" I whispered , stepping into the room to go to her.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Chloe.

Grundy's foot lifted.

Grundy's foot came back down... and it slooooowed...

...and then a smartass shelled in emerald light stepped out of nowhere and met Solomon's brute strength with will made force.

Merick.

Chloe grinned a nervous, worried grin, started to rise, went to reach for Merick's hand, expecting him to get them out of there...

...but if it was one thing Merick Tennylson had never been, it was predictable.

And he went toe to toe with the giant, went mano-a-mano with pale barnacled death, bitched about a crumpled coffin-nail, and then?

Bang. Zoom.

He was back only seconds later, he came running for her, and she couldn't help but smile at him. A lot of people had wondered, over these ten years, what she'd seen in Merick. Very few people understood how they functioned as a couple.

Well, they snarked at each other a lot, and they sniped at each other a lot, and they embarrassed each other a lot in public...

But Chloe Sullivan-Tennylson was a smart, smart woman, and she knew a good thing when she saw it. Merick was a good thing.

For one thing, he never got tired of running to her rescue. That was an important quality in a man, not to sound exploitative, but the life Chloe tended to live... she needed a man who would come to her rescue.

As Merick arrives he is yelling. "CHLOE!?! BABY!?! YOU OKAY!?!" Merick tears back to the last place he say her. Fear rising in his throat.

"M'fine," she murmured, waving his hysteria down a bit as she climbed up against the doorframe. "He never hit me directly, thank God. Grazed me with a shockwave. I wouldn't be standing if he had..."

She paused and she scowled, even as she pushed off of the doorframe and threw her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder, laughing ever so softly, ever so brokenly. Chloe drew back a moment later and smirked at him lackadaiscally.

"Thank you, no, I'm fine, I'm okay," she nodded. "Thanks to you, I'm okay. (Well, except for almost getting killed by a Gothamite urban legend, which considering what passed for a love life for me before you showed up, that's pretty ironic.)"

Chuckling, she kissed him on the lips and then peeled away, sinking into one of the few chairs in the living-room area not laid waste by her husband's combat. She gestured loosely at the wrecked coffee table.

"You know, we should buy those things in bulk?" she shook her head. "Coffee tables."

She paused, and she looked around at the shattered things and the fist-holes punched in the floor, and she covered her face with her hand.

"Okay," she mumbled, "maybe not so okay. The coffee table's broken again, I just almost got tromped all over by a beastie named after a nursery rhyme and my husband thinks he's living an episode of Black Books. I don't want to be the girl in the refrigerator, and I thought, with the powerset I got handed by those creepy green moonstones, that wasn't something I ever had to worry about. But now I'm worrying about it twice over."

She gazed at Merick, her eyes gone all quiet and a tiny little tear trickling down her face. There was a tiny little smile on her face, running furiously counter to the downtrodden broken-hearted diatribe on which she'd just embarked.

Her voice dropped to a murmur. "You got it wrong. Just now. You said 'Chloe, Baby,' but I should tell you, your quantification's all wrong. Should be plural."

She reached for him, and if he moved close enough she would cup his face with one hand. "I went to the doctor. Had an appointment, you were doing that thing, it's okay. But they went to show me our baby's heart beating, Mer'. They... and they found two."

Chloe held up two fingers and she smiled a giddy little smile and it didn't matter, all of a sudden, how many monsters showed up literally on her doorstep...

"Two heartbeats," she murmured. "Twins. We're having twins."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Rose.

"Sweetheart, is something wrong?" I whispered , stepping into the room to go to her.

Rose was grinning, and she was crying.

This was a day for that, it seemed.

For grinning while you were crying.

It was exactly that sort of day. Rose had been fumbling with an oversized t-shirt, a "Mind the Gap" shirt that Merick had sent her from London. It wouldn't do to just stand around in nothing, even if you were home alone.

And then Kyle walked in, smelling that way he did when he'd been down there in the fire and the steel and the cordite and the villainy... he smelled of Shadow and of graveyards and of Old Truth and it made her smile.

She hauled her shirt on over her head and she pulled her hair out from beneath the collar of it with both hands, and then she grinned her low slow smirk at him. Rose shook her head.

"Nothing's wrong," she murmured.

She reached up and touched his shoulders, ran her fingers over the bare of his skin, sensitive fingers, and she was tempted to linger longer, just celebrate with him and only tell him afterwards what it was they'd just celebrated.

She was tempted. But then Rose turned him, turned him by both his shoulders to face the monitor.

"I don't often encourage you to gape at other girls' chests," she murmured, wicked wit slipping in amidst her elation, "but there was a girl in the sky over Kansas today. Sure, Hell, there must be dozens of flying people in the world by now, and there's no conclusive evidence, no-one got a good unblurry shot of her face. But look at her, Kyle. Look at that emblem."

She took a deep breath, and let it out in a shuddery sigh, and she beamed at him.

"It's all going to be okay," she murmured. "Of course it is. She's back."

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Wraith

I let my fiery angel guide my face until I saw what was emblazoned on the front page.

Blue clothes.
Long Blond hair.
And that symbol. The one Rose tended to doodle on the outside of crosswords. the one that meant so much to so many people.

Hope.

I let out a whoop, then picked up Rose , spinning her around and ending in a deep kiss as she melted into my arms.

"She's back love. I could have you at the Kent farm in moments if you want."

I stopped then, and grinned once more. "Though I think Johnathon and Martha have a dress code. Maybe we should get dressed first, or call. I'll go brew up some tea while you decide. Let me know. All appointments will be rescheduled, today your girl is back!"

I spun Rose around one more time, kissed her, and made my way into the kitchen to make the woman I loved her morning tea.

 

[Wyldfire]

"Are you sure you want to be seen in public in that?"

Diana shot her a look, "Yes Love, it will let them know I'm one of them. I'm afraid a full suit of armor would intimidate them. Men are very foolish that way. Besides, I thought you of all people would like to see me showing so much skin."

Artemis laughed lightly as she wrapped arms around Diana from behind. "I adore seeing this much of you darling," she placed a kiss between her shoulder blades, "But I don't like the idea of men seeing you in so little. They're all awful smelly things. And do not even get me started on all that hair!"

"Is that why you volunteered to be the one to go on the Mating hunt? To spare me from a man's touch?" she put her hands on Artemis' arms and cuddled into her embrace. "That is sweet of you beloved. Try to find one with my hair color, please."

"Your wish, Diana. But we both leave in the morning and I want something more than a hug."

"Then help me out of this and I'm all yours," Diana squeaked as Artemis began to roughly get her out of the costume, "But don't tear it, I do need it."

Bright and early the next morning Artemis was aboard the ship that would take her to Greece and Diana was airborne. She had planned on a quick trip to Smallville to see Mister Trevor, then it would be to the embassy in New York.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Rose.

Kyle made her head spin.

He didn't even need the whirlwind embrace, the centrifuging through the air, all he needed was kisses like that to make her head spin.

And then they were grinning, and they were giddy.

"She's back love. I could have you at the Kent farm in moments if you want."

I stopped then, and grinned once more. "Though I think Johnathon and Martha have a dress code. Maybe we should get dressed first, or call. I'll go brew up some tea while you decide. let me know. all appointments will be rescheduled, today your girl is back!"

"Well, heh," Rose murmured, "I know that my plaid flannel shirts and beat-up denim jeans are in storage, so so much for dress code. Also, time zones, Kansas is, what, two hours behind us? I know farm families get up at the crack of doom but that's just ridiculous."

She pushed up from the floor, levitated her 5'5" frame to touch her forehead to Kyle's 6'1" brow.

"Brew up the tea," she murmured, grinning all giddy, "I'm going to take a shower. And I want you to take this time and reflect on how not everyone has a sleep schedule as unusual as ours."

I spun Rose around one more time, kissed her, and made my way into the kitchen to make the woman I loved her morning tea.

Rose watched him go, and smiled softly, running her eyes down the bare of his back to the waistband of his peejay pants and then lower...

She grinned, and whirled, and made for the shower.

Not all the lullabies in the world could get her back to sleep now that she knew this. But it might still help to wash the last of the sleep out of her eyes.

Steamy water poured down around her, and she toyed with the droplets in the air, flicking them over her fingertips, twisting them and bending them into remarkable shapes before moving to soap, and to shampoo...

...she dried herself quickly, with a mix of waterbending and the tender application of heat...

...she gathered a terrycloth robe around herself, a robe the colour of Kyle's true eyes, and she followed the scent of berries and fruit through the apartment, out to the terrace...

She paused, and she grinned, and she shook her head. "Man alive, Hero, when you do early-morning tea, you don't leave any stops un-pulled-out."

Rose hugged herself, though she was hardly cold, and she grinned at him.

"The way to a man's heart may be through his stomach, but the way to a Rose's heart is through strong tea and fresh strawberries..."

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Kyle

By the time I got the kettle on the stove I could hear Rose in the shower. I was still smiling.

Kara was back.

I was happier than I had been in a long time.

I looked at the pantry, and smiled. It was the right time.

I pulled the ring out of the box and put it in my pocket. My heart was racing.

I was going to do it today.

I slipped into some jeans and a T shirt while Rose was in the shower, then made her tea. I also got some fresh melon and strawberries out, and some scones. I then went out on the terrace and sat out her breakfast under the dawns light, taking a seat across from where she usually sat, and waited.

Not too long after I sat down, the woman I wanted to marry come out in her favorite robe.

(I don't know if it was because of the color, or because I got it for her in Japan at that hotel where we spent a fantastic weekend in bed.)

She paused, and she grinned, and she shook her head. "Man alive, Hero, when you do early-morning tea, you don't leave any stops un-pulled-out."

Rose hugged herself, though she rarely felt cold, and she grinned at me.

"The way to a man's heart may be through his stomach, but the way to a Rose's heart is through strong tea and fresh strawberries..."

"I do know you pretty well love." I said.

Rose smiled and took a sip of tea, eyes closed in bliss.

I reached down and pulled the small box with the ring out of my pocket, palming it in my hand. Then I stood and walked next to her. She was looking up at me, a smile on her face and her smile faded and her eyes went wide as I went down on one knee before her.

"Ten years ago was the first time I found myself on my knees before you, and if you can believe it, I fell in love with you that day. Over these past years you have shown me what strength, love and family are. Your love kept me whole during my time in Shadow, kept me human. Your strength has helped me make the tough decisions, and gave me someone to lean on when I had to deal with making them. And your love, oh your love gave me so much I cannot put it into words. All I know is that I want to spend my life with you, and I can't bear the thought of not having you by my side."

I pulled the ring out and opened the box.

"Rose McCrimmon, will you marry me?"

 

[Lunaramblings]

"M'fine," she murmured, waving his hysteria down a bit as she climbed up against the doorframe. "He never hit me directly, thank God. Grazed me with a shockwave. I wouldn't be standing if he had..."

She paused and she scowled, even as she pushed off of the doorframe and threw her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder, laughing ever so softly, ever so brokenly. Chloe drew back a moment later and smirked at him lackadaiscally.

Merick scowled. "That farkin bastard. Once I get you cleaned up, I am going back to the moon and shoving my foot right up his arse."

"Thank you, no, I'm fine, I'm okay," she nodded. "Thanks to you, I'm okay. (Well, except for almost getting killed by a Gothamite urban legend, which considering what passed for a love life for me before you showed up, that's pretty ironic.)"

Chuckling, she kissed him on the lips and then peeled away, sinking into one of the few chairs in the living-room area not laid waste by her husband's combat. She gestured loosely at the wrecked coffee table.

"You know, we should buy those things in bulk?" she shook her head. "Coffee tables."

Merick chuckles a bit as he looks around the room. "You know, maybe that will be what we diversify into. And look, I broke one coffee table, after a night of drinking with an immortal, and a wizard. Besides, you already shut me down for a month for that one."

She paused, and she looked around at the shattered things and the fist-holes punched in the floor, and she covered her face with her hand.

"Okay," she mumbled, "maybe not so okay. The coffee table's broken again, I just almost got tromped all over by a beastie named after a nursery rhyme and my husband thinks he's living an episode of Black Books. I don't want to be the girl in the refrigerator, and I thought, with the powerset I got handed by those creepy green moonstones, that wasn't something I ever had to worry about. But now I'm worrying about it twice over."

She gazed at Merick, her eyes gone all quiet and a tiny little tear trickling down her face. There was a tiny little smile on her face, running furiously counter to the downtrodden broken-hearted diatribe on which she'd just embarked.

Her voice dropped to a murmur. "You got it wrong. Just now. You said 'Chloe, Baby,' but I should tell you, your quantification's all wrong. Should be plural."

She reached for him, and if he moved close enough she would cup his face with one hand. "I went to the doctor. Had an appointment, you were doing that thing, it's okay. But they went to show me our baby's heart beating, Mer'. They... and they found two."

Merick did indeed lean in. Allowing Chloe's hand to gently cup his face. "Two what?..." Merick suddenly gained a look of pure confusion. "You don't... wait..."

Chloe held up two fingers and she smiled a giddy little smile and it didn't matter, all of a sudden, how many monsters showed up literally on her doorstep...

"Two heartbeats," she murmured. "Twins. We're having twins."[/QUOTE]

Merick grins woozily before passing out and falling through the small end table beside the chair. In a moment he was back up.

"Right, ok... so once the sun comes up I will call Michael. Have him purchase us a furniture store or something... did you just say twins? Seriously? OH....MY....GOD!!!!" Merick jumps to his feet and squeezes Chloe close in a massive embrace. "Who do we tell first? I should go get yer dad. I gotta call Tommy.... can you believe it! Chloe, you realize that makes four consecutive sets of twins in the Tennylson line? Amazing... Oh! Hell, sweetheart, be right back!"

With a shimmer and swoosh Merick is gone. In less than thirty seconds he is back, literally carrying a somewhat older man, wearing a peculiar pair of pajamas, and holding a coffee pot in one hand.

"See, love, told you he would wear the jammies! Dad, they look good. You been working out? Nevermind! Baby, tell him!" Merick sets Gabe Sullivan upright and grins ear to ear.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Wayne Tower.
Gotham City, IL.​

"I'm astonished you're being so gracious," Lex chuckled softly as, clad in black, he strolled along the office corridor alongside the inimitable Bruce Wayne. "None of that old territorial pack animal nonsense? 'This town ain't big enough for the two of us?'"

A tiny smirk danced upon the corner of Bruce Wayne's lip. "That hardly sounds like the evolved mentality of a twenty-first century businessman, Lex, let alone the dealings of old old friends. I'm only too happy to help Luthorcorp secure a little bit of warehouse space. After all, you were only too willing to come to my rescue in that cornfield years ago..."

Lex chuckled, hands in his pockets, eyebrow arched. "Well, when you put it that way, how on Earth could I have doubted you?"

"There's none of us," Bruce grinned, facing Lex and spreading his arms wide and graciously, bowing ever-so-slightly, "that don't make mistakes."

Lex's eyebrow twitched ever-so-slightly. "Of course not."

Bruce chuckled, and continued down the corridor towards a viewing lounge whose panoramic windows gazed out upon Gotham's central Innsmouth Square.

"So, blah-di-blah," he gestured with fingers, dismissive of such capitalist mumbo-jumbo, "have your people call my people? Your Mister Happersen has my Mister Fox in his Rolodex, I'm quite sure."

"Certainly," Lex nodded, as they rounded the corner by the viewing lounge. "In fact--"

And then he saw who was sitting in one of the viewing lounge's chairs.

A 24-year-old black lad in a hooded sweatshirt steepled his fingers as he sat in the chair, biding his time.

Lex paused, blinked. "I know you."

"You might think that, Lex," Pete replied, his own lip quirking derisively.

But Lex appeared oblivious to that derision, instead beaming a smile and walking forward. "Chicago's infamous Doctor Ross. How have you been?"

Pete rose from his chair and clasped Lex's hand, dubious to no end. "Ain't no doctor yet. Still in med school."

"That's not what I hear from the press," Bruce smirked, leaning against the wall with his arms folded over his chest, "Peter Carlos Ross, saved all those people in that horrible blackout, riots and fire, with nothing but guts, medical training, a borrowed ambulance, and an old pair of nightvision goggles. The Sun-Times called you, what was it? 'Doctor Midnight?'"

Pete stared at Bruce like he'd sprouted a second head, and this head was that nitwit lunatic mayor from "Family Guy."

Lex nodded easily, obviously impressed. "You've done pretty well for yourself since high school. That sort of impossibly good PR should come in handy if you ever want to go into private practise."

Pete shook his head. "Inner-city free clinic. Like Leslie Thompkins has in The Narrows here in town."

"Hm," Lex mused, though it was clear he thought this was something of a waste of talent. "So what brings you up the lakeshore to Gotham? Bruce helping you work on your golf game? Nothing's more essential to a career in medicine..."

"Tennis, actually," Pete replied, without batting an eye.

"Oh?" Lex arched eyebrows, genuinely surprised.

Bruce's eyes went half-lidded, his lips twitching into an ever-so-distant smile. "That's right, Lex. I'm tutoring Pete on his forehand smash."

"Smallville High Crows," Pete smiled softly, amending an age-old phrase, "are like family."

Lex chuckled, and began to speak, but then he glanced out the window at the great wide HD Jumbotron that overlooked Innsmouth Square, and right then, right then, all the colour drained from his face.

Bruce was utterly inscrutable, appearing to peer over Lex's shoulder. "What's the matter, Lex? What's wrong? Did your stock only skyrocket half as much as yesterday?"

"Dude looks like he's seen a ghost," Pete chimed in.

Lex didn't say a word. He watched the scrolling headlines breeze by...

"Metropolis, Kansas: Airliner crash narrowly averted!"

...and on the screen, on the screen, a still shot of a female form, an angel wreathed in red and gold. An angel with an emblem of holy script upon her chest.

Lex's face was completely, completely devoid of expression.

A muscle flexed in the back of his neck.

"I leave my city for five minutes," he murmured, and then turned and walked away.

"E-mail me!" Bruce called after him. "Or maybe just Tweet?"

Lex didn't turn, he didn't reply, he just kept walking.

And the two former Crows, the two former Outsiders, turned and gazed out through that panoramic pane at the blue and the red and the gold.

"Well," Pete declared, one hand in the front pocket of his hoodie, whistling softly as he shook his head, popping a strip of gingold chewing gum into his cheek. "I'll be damned."

Bruce's face was as unmoving as stone. But his eyes spoke volumes.

Somewhere in the unfathomable depths of his eyes, Bruce Wayne was overjoyed.

"Took you long enough," he murmured, in a voice that was also not unlike stone, "Double-K."

 

[AmenRa]

The Martian Manhunter

He wondered.........

Others would have seen the headline.

Others would know.

They had been there with him, before, in the time before now, when Kara was learning.

When they were all fighting the forces of darkness.

Friends had gone on...left from this place, some to start anew on another world far, far away.

Others had gone on...some on the other side of the world, some not so far away at all.

He had not kept in touch with all of them, but he had watched them from afar.

J'onn picked up his desk phone and dialed a number.

"Wayne Enterprises," said a very soft feminine voice.

"Bruce Wayne, please," J'onn requested.

"I'm sorry," said the voice, "but Mr. Wayne is --"

"Tell him John Jones is calling."

"Of course, Mr. Jones. I will post a message for him if you would care to leave a callback number."

J'onn was quiet for a moment.

"Yes," he said at last, "tell Mr. Wayne that John Jones was wondering if he reads the newspaper. Tell him there are newspapers on Mars, as well."

"Excuse me, sir?"

J'onn disconnected the call.

 

[camerindrake]

The Black Hood

Suicide Slums, Metropolis KS.

A low level thug smashes through the boarded up windowed door of the abandoned movie theater. A few seconds later a hooded figure steps out of the door, the rubberized heels of his boots crushing the glass from the door being broken from the body of the thug. The wind flutters and the black chrome reflecting from the faceless cowl. The thug tries to get to his feet and run but with but a quick motion the hooded figure slings his hand out and the cape flowing behind him as his body twists. The thug falls to the ground as behind his knees, deep in his flesh, bat shaped throwing stars are embedded.

The figure puts his fingers to his ear as across the line a girls voice is spoken in his ear, “Hate to break it to you Hood but you are going to be late again.”

Black Hood speaks as he walks up and with a fierce kick breaks the thugs jaw in 4our places and snaps his head back nearly breaking his spine in the process, “I have ten minutes, Jade”

The voice on the other line responds, “Yeah and if your late again I'm not going to be responsible if Shiva kicks your ass three ways to Tuesday.”

The Black Hood lifts the thug up and as the blood flows from the thugs mouth he says, “Tell me who sent you to start the fires in the slums.” The thug opens his mouth but only blood flows from it.

Over the frequency Jade says, “I think you should have asked that question before you broke his jaw. You know Maggie won't be able to book him right.”

The Black Hood throws him back to the ground and then Zip Cuffs him anyways as scoffs under his breath. He then does the same with the thugs legs and fires his Line to the top of the theater and pulls the thug up and hangs him there.

Black Hood runs back to his bike and heads back to Cain Industries tower.

Jade sends him images over one of his eyes from the front page of the Daily Planet's website. When he gets a good look Jade says, “You told me to tell you if I found anything that would be odd. I think this certifies.”

In a moment of nostalgia The Black Hood responds, “You did well, Sin. You did real well.”

Dinah Lance's adopted daughter from his reality smiles, “And I thought we were only to use our call signs over the radio Damian, whats up?”

Damian Wayne or as his identity now David Cain answers, “An old friend has returned and she will be legend. She is the Icon, Jade. She is Supergirl.”

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

The Daily Planet
---

"Kent."

Kara Kent sat at her desk, piled high with folders and and stacks of papers while her fingers were frantically typing out a news report that she had been working on. On every floor in the Daily Planet Kara could hear them talking about the new Supergirl in town. Kara felt a little flustered, but she

"Kent!"

Kara lifted her head up with a start, and she saw Perry White standing over her desk.

He didn't look all that pleased with how long it took her to respond.

"What are you doing?"

"Working on a fe-"

"Forget about that. The story is Supergirl," Perry said quickly before he began walking around to every other station, making sure that all his staffers were busy concentrating on Metropolis' newest resident. The last thing Kara wanted to do was a work on a story about herself.

Or rather on Supergirl.

"Now listen to me - whichever one of you gets this story out... is going to wind up with the single most important interview since... God talked to Moses!" Perry suddenly shouted before he disappeared inside his office.

---

Kara flew high up into the sky, stopping only when she had a clear view of the planet. From such a distance… everything seemed peaceful. Closing her eyes and focusing on the voices coming from the planets surface revealed an entirely different situation. There were people crying, shouting and pleading. Cars were constantly crashing into one another… and guns were going off like fireworks on the Fourth of July.

As the young Kryptonian began sorting through the noises in her head, she finally zeroed in on one sound in particular: a bank alarm.

Opening her eyes again, Kara took off for the planet whilst her body becoming nothing more than a blurred collage of red, blue and gold. Within a few short moments she arrived at the source of the disturbance: a fairly upscale commercial bank in downtown Metropolis where, outside, several police cars had gathered around its entrance. Though the policemen outnumbered the robbers by at least two-to-one, Kara saw that the thieves were equipped with heavier weaponry, and were capable of holding the officers of the law at bay almost indefinitely.

But not against her…

Not against Supergirl.

As one of the robbers began firing his weapon at one of the police officers, Kara quickly moved between them, and the bullets ricocheted harmlessly off her body.

"Want some advice? Surrender now."

---

“Kent!”

“Yeah Chief?”

“What are you doing?”

My job

“Working on a… lead,”

Perry White gave her a suspicious look, but he quickly lost interest and retreated back into his office.

Kara slumped back in her chair and tossed her pencil onto her desk, and then she removed the eyeglasses from her face and set them down as well. She ran her hands through her golden hair before sitting back up, and she replaced her glasses back against the bridge of her nose.

---

Later that evening

---

Kara Zor-El once more took to the skies, only this time she decided to float a little closer to home. Metropolis was quiet for the moment, and the small disturbances she did hear would be handled soon enough by the humans themselves.

But if anything went wrong... she'd be there in a heartbeat.

Back in Smallville, Jonathan Kent had just finished up working out in the barn when Martha called him in for some supper. As he sat down in a chair on the porch to take off his dirty shoes, Kara dropped down from the sky and walked up the front steps to greet him.

"Looks like I'm just in time to eat," Kara said with a smile as Jonathan rose to give her a hug.

It took the aged farmer a little while to get used to seeing his daughter so grown up, and while he might not have agreed with her decision to show off so much skin, he certainly welcomed the idea that Kara was out there saving the world.

"Yeah. Your mother just got the table ready. We'll get another plate out for you," Jonathan said before he opened up the front door. "You'll probably want to change before sitting down, though."

Kara smirked as she took off the flowing red cape from around her shoulders, and following him inside she set it down on a rocking chair in the living room.

 

[Wyldfire]

"Princess, can you hear me?" came the voice through the headset Diana was wearing. "An incident has occured not too horriblly far from your present location. A ship registered to Luthorcorp has been hijacked. The Queen thinks this would be an advantageous introduction. Be politic."

"Hera help me Helena, Be politic? Is that mothers way of telling me not to kill anyone?" Diana shook her head. She was glad she was wearing the outfit (costume just didn't want to slide over her tongue) at least. "Guide me in. Any idea on what I'm getting into?"

"Yes, that was exactly what she meant Diana. And you are only fifty miles away from the ship's location. All I can tell you is that the highjackers are armed. No numbers."

Diana followed the directions Helena fed her and she hit the deck of the ship running, letting her duffle bag hit the deck. The first of the armed men to turn her way was struck to the ground. He didn't even have time to scream.

The next five were almost as easy. They just weren't expecting any trouble, and a scantily clad woman didn't seem to scare them either. Their mistake, and it was one they would think over while they recovered in the hospital. The last two had been guarding the crew of the ship and they let her know she only had two left.

She entered the bridge and the two men there spun in surprise. These two however seemed to be the most highly trained of them, and, as they spun they each fired the guns in their hands.

Diana reacted as instinctively as they had and the bullets struck her bracelets, richochetting through the windows behind the men. "Next shots you fire are your last." Please let them take it seriously.

They didn't. They fired again and as promised the richochets hit them each in a shoulder. Down they went, guns hitting the ground. "I told you not to fire again," Diana said shaking her head, "But you had to be stupid didn't you? Now you get to hope the ship's crew will help you." She pushed the guns away from them with a foot.

Luckily for them the crew were in a forgiving mood. They were being bandaged up as Diana, followed by the Captain walked towards the stern of the ship. "Ma'am, I don't know how you did it or how to thank you.."

Diana smiled at him and said "No thanks are necessary sir, I was redirected here on my way to New York. It was an honor to be able to aid you." She hoped this had been what her mother had wanted.

Picking up her bag she waved and took to the sky. Back on her way to her new home.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Rose.

Originally, Rose had called herself The Valkyrie Missile, inspired by her and Kara's mutual love of a band called Angels and Airwaves. Eventually, after a conversation with her parents about copyrights, and the gradually self-evident need for a shorter pseudonym, Rose had officially truncated this to "Valkyrie M."

(...of course, at one point this had become "Valkyrie Red" and "Valkyrie Blue," but that was another story.)

That had been almost ten years ago now. And it wasn't often since then that Rose had found herself short on words.

But that gem glistened in the setting of that gleaming metal hoop, here in the dawning end to the Manhattan night, and although Kyle's heart was doing laps at the Daytona 500, Rose's heart stopped dead in her chest. Her heart stopped, and suddenly there were no words.

Rose's hand flew to her mouth. Tears gathered at her eyes.

Kyle was down on one knee and Rose fell to both knees there on the floor with him. Disbelievingly, she gazed into the heart of the crystal. Then, incredulously, she flickered her gaze up into his eyes.

(She wished her mother could be here to see this.)

She lowered her hand from her face and wrapped both hands around the hand that held the opened box with the ring within.

Her hair was like fire and her eyes were like ice and the fire melted the ice into rivulets of rain that ran down her face.

And her smile shone like a yellow sun.

And at long last, she found words.

"Kyle," she murmured. "Kyle Alec Greystone. The idea of forever frightens any rational mind. You frightened me, that first day we collided. You frightened me when you showed me your hidden face. And can I just tell you?"

Rose held up her hand to him, her heart now bounding and rebounding, percussion and repercussion, she held up her hand that he might slip the ring upon her finger.

"You have always always frightened me in the best best possible ways."

She nodded softly, firmly, done and done: "Yes. Yes, yes, yes. I will marry you, Scary Beast."

"Forever."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Gabe, and Chloe.

Gabe Sullivan had worked for Luthorcorp for more than eighteen years in one capacity or another when the sky over Smallville opened for the second time in a decade and changed his world forever, all over again. And shortly thereafter, he had been approached by another employer with an even better offer.

Instead of managing an entire fertiliser plant, Gabe would serve as team manager for a GenTech development team helmed by a certain Doctor James David Hamilton. At the very same rate of pay. With a small raise, even.

And this job, this job, Gabe had been working for nine and a half years.

The only drawback was Hamilton's very strange schedule. It seemed that the good doctor only closed his eyes to sleep under certain circumstances, and because of the nature of the man, these circumstances became few and far between. Thus, Hamilton had his team on something resembling a 72-hour day rather than 24 hours, and as Gabe grew older he was finding this more and more of a nuisance.

Ah, well, at least the gym was good.

He'd taken to sleeping at the GenTech facility, there were a number of rooms for just that purpose, and he was just awakening from the second of his eight-hour sleep shifts in one of those 72-hour workdays. He was awakening, and he was drowsy, and he was padding down the hall in socks and peejays and an untied dressing gown, heading towards the coffee station in hopes of regaining some modicum of normal consciousness.

Gabe's pyjamas were quite silly. An oversized t-shirt that read "Mind the Gap," and peejay trousers dotted with the selfsame London Underground emblem and that "Mind the Gap" message repeated o'er and o'er in tiny print.

But he wore them dutifully, because they had been a gift from his only daughter and her only husband and nothing was more important to Gabe than family.

He reached for the coffee pot. The handle was warm in his hand.

"Now where," he mumbled, "did we put the nondairy cream--"

Green light flashed around him.

And he was half an America and all of an Atlantic away.

"--er?"

He stood. Dazed. And glanced around himself. "Oh. Did I just doze off standing up?"

He was in a flat in Soho. The flat was a bit of a mess, two tables broken and holes in the floor and the front door in bitty shards. He hesitated. "Am I dead?"

"Oh, frack me," Chloe was laughing. "Dad, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I was just about to lambaste your son-in-law over the number of times we've lost tables over the years. (Two in five minutes, for one thing.) There was that canine injected with green K, chewed right through the coffee table in the basement sitting room. And the girl with the magic sword, we had to explain why the nice table from Lex's patio was suddenly in two neat halves, he made us pay for it..."

Gabe paused again, and looked around. "Okay, so, no, awake. Alive. Just confused. Again. (What happened here?)"

"Jury's still out," Chloe shook her head. "Got attacked by a big bruiser bad guy. Merick got rid of him. (Where'd you send him, love? You said The Moon? At first I thought you might've sent him to that nice asteroid, 433 Eros? The one, ah, that big bald guy with all the veins and the roaring and the tusks, Doctor Hamilton sent him packing with the gate in The Caves when we fought The Insiders that one time... thought you might have reused the same trope.)"

Gabe stared at her like she'd sprouted a second head, and this head was a blue android with pink hair and in love with one of The Metamorphae...

...he took a swig straight from the coffee pot.

"Something tells me," he mumbled, dusting splinters off of an easy chair before collapsing into it, "that I should be sitting down for this."

Chloe grinned a soft little grin. "You always did know just where to be."

She snapped her fingers a little at Merick, not imperiously or commandingly just, well, zealously and eagerly, indicated that he should sit his bejumpsuited butt down with her on the couch.

Once he did so, Chloe took a deep breath. "Well. We were going to send everyone a mass e-mail or something, but really, really, that ran the risk of you not being the first to know, so I'm not really mad at Mer' for bringing you here so spontaneously."

She bit her lip, and her hazel eyes gazed into her father's.

"We're pregnant, Dad," she murmured. "Me and Mer'. And we're pregnant with twins, which means... which means you're going to be a grandfather, twice. Apparently, this is something of a trend in his family, but lack of statistical likelihood hasn't ever been an obstacle for us..."

Gabe gaped.

And he tried to set down the coffee pot before he dropped it but the coffee table was in pieces so he had to hurry and quickly set it upon the floor.

She was showing, that was for sure, she wasn't kidding.

"Grandkids," he murmured, staring into nowhere.

And then he threw back his head and started laughing.

He was suddenly more awake than he'd been in weeks and he vaulted over the busted wreck of the coffee table and threw his arms around Merick, hauling him up out of the couch and inflicting his son-in-law with the fiercest noogie ever, he didn't care what the man was dressed like...

"You little bastard, you did this to my daughter," he was laughing, the coarsest language Chloe had ever heard him use...

He held Merick at arm's length and grinned at him. "Thank you."

He threw one hand out to Chloe, who clasped this while she remained sitting on the couch and grinning up at him, he gazed at her with laughing little tears in his eyes. "I love you."

Chloe grinned softly. "I love you too, Dad. Love you, too."

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Wraith

Tears were running down my face as I slipped the ring on her finger, then pulled her to me and kissed her soundly.

"Forever isn't that scary a thing, because I have always had and always will have you by my side."

I stood, pulling Rose up and into my arms. I just stood there, holding her close, smelling her hair and just.. being with her.

"I know your always getting onto me about spending money on you, so this time, this time I got you something that money couldn't buy. Thats Mom's ring love, and I know right now both she and Dad are smiling because it is on the hand of the right woman.

I looked down into her bright blue eyes and grinned that grin that just says 'Trouble Coming'.

"No promises on the wedding tho."

I kissed her forehead and hugged her tight.

"Lets go get dressed and go tell your Mom the good news, then go see your Dad, if your up to it. We can call the Kent's from there. And the rest of the gang for that matter."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Rose.

Rose sniffled, and she shook her head, and she gazed at that ring, twisting and turning it to catch the light that saturated the sky... even long before dawn, The Big Apple was never as dark as night would suggest.

"Tell them," she murmured, "your Mum and Dad? Tell them I'm so grateful. I'm so grateful for... for you. (You know. The next time you. Talk to them?) And also promise them I'll pop you one if you spend too much of their inheritance on silly lil' me."

She smiled a tiny tiny smile at him, and gave him a bit of a shove.

And then she slithered up to her feet and bent down and kissed the top of his head.

"But you're right," she firmly nodded. And her eyes went... distant. "I do need to tell Mum first. And then Dad. (And Dad is one of those people whose sleep schedule wouldn't really be interrupted by us showing at this sort of time in the morning, so.) And then, then the others..."

She turned and walked off, intending to throw some quick clothes on, but she stopped and pondered for a moment, just in the doorway.

"It's funny, you know?" she pondered. "It was my mother who first taught me that Forever wasn't a thing to be feared. But I guess that was a different kind of Forever."

And then she hurried to get dressed, to throw on jeans and that green shirt Kyle always liked with the gold Celtic designs...

She realised the tea was getting cold. And that the fruit maybe wouldn't keep.

But then again...

...she glanced down at that gem and that finger and it was a promise, the promise she'd had for ten years now, not quite unspoken but now spoken loud and clear and given physical form...

She stood there fully dressed, ready and raring to go, except she was transfixed.

"This," she decided with a murmur and a quavery smile, "is going to take a lot of getting-used-to."

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Kyle

I followed Rose into the bedroom and threw on one of my favorite T shirts (it read"Come to the Dark Side, we have cookies!"), some nice broken in jeans and my shoes and leather jacket. Next rose colored sunglasses were pearched on my face (which hid my eyes fairly well without having to resort to contacts).

I watched Rose pull the last bit of her clothes together, then stop and stare at her hand again.

"This," she said with a murmur and a quavery smile, "is going to take a lot of getting-used-to."

I walked up behind her and enfolded her in my arms. "Yeah, but look at it this way, instead of being the worlds most beautiful girlfriend, now your the worlds most beautiful fiancé."

I then kissed her on her hair, and let Shadow embrace me, letting it swirl over us both changing me from Kyle to Wraith.

"OK beloved, lets go." I said, and Shadow embraced us and we were off.

 

[Lunaramblings]

"Am I dead?"

"Oh, frack me," Chloe was laughing. "Dad, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I was just about to lambaste your son-in-law over the number of times we've lost tables over the years. (Two in five minutes, for one thing.) There was that canine injected with green K, chewed right through the coffee table in the basement sitting room. And the girl with the magic sword, we had to explain why the nice table from Lex's patio was suddenly in two neat halves, he made us pay for it..."

"Oi! Listen, I didn't have anything to do with the bloomin' dog! I mean, what, would you rather I let someone like the Luthors' get hold of him? Besides, you know you really liked him." Merick chuckled and smiled at his wife.

Gabe paused again, and looked around. "Okay, so, no, awake. Alive. Just confused. Again. (What happened here?)"

"Jury's still out," Chloe shook her head. "Got attacked by a big bruiser bad guy. Merick got rid of him. (Where'd you send him, love? You said The Moon? At first I thought you might've sent him to that nice asteroid, 433 Eros? The one, ah, that big bald guy with all the veins and the roaring and the tusks, Doctor Hamilton sent him packing with the gate in The Caves when we fought The Insiders that one time... thought you might have reused the same trope.)"

"Do I really strike you as that unoriginal? I mean, wow... Okay, so what if I am wearing pirate boots and gloves, I mean, you realize how hard it is to buy a decent superhero costume, not like I am about to go running around in spandex like some crazy pro wrestler."

Gabe stared at her like she'd sprouted a second head, and this head was a blue android with pink hair and in love with one of The Metamorphae...

...he took a swig straight from the coffee pot.

"Something tells me," he mumbled, dusting splinters off of an easy chair before collapsing into it, "that I should be sitting down for this."

Chloe grinned a soft little grin. "You always did know just where to be."

She snapped her fingers a little at Merick, not imperiously or commandingly just, well, zealously and eagerly, indicated that he should sit his bejumpsuited butt down with her on the couch.

Merick grins at Chloe and obediently, sits.

Once he did so, Chloe took a deep breath. "Well. We were going to send everyone a mass e-mail or something, but really, really, that ran the risk of you not being the first to know, so I'm not really mad at Mer' for bringing you here so spontaneously."

She bit her lip, and her hazel eyes gazed into her father's.

"We're pregnant, Dad," she murmured. "Me and Mer'. And we're pregnant with twins, which means... which means you're going to be a grandfather, twice. Apparently, this is something of a trend in his family, but lack of statistical likelihood hasn't ever been an obstacle for us..."

Gabe gaped.

And he tried to set down the coffee pot before he dropped it but the coffee table was in pieces so he had to hurry and quickly set it upon the floor.

She was showing, that was for sure, she wasn't kidding.

"Grandkids," he murmured, staring into nowhere.

And then he threw back his head and started laughing.

He was suddenly more awake than he'd been in weeks and he vaulted over the busted wreck of the coffee table and threw his arms around Merick, hauling him up out of the couch and inflicting his son-in-law with the fiercest noogie ever, he didn't care what the man was dressed like...

"You little bastard, you did this to my daughter," he was laughing, the coarsest language Chloe had ever heard him use...

"I... what... I... um... Oh." Merick goes from shock to terror to laughter as Gabe embraces him. "Really Dad, my pleasure, I assure you. I mean... oh hell..."

He held Merick at arm's length and grinned at him. "Thank you."

He threw one hand out to Chloe, who clasped this while she remained sitting on the couch and grinning up at him, he gazed at her with laughing little tears in his eyes. "I love you."

Chloe grinned softly. "I love you too, Dad. Love you, too."[/QUOTE]

"Ditto." Merick grins and squeezes Gabe tight. "Listen, I need to go have a word with Tommy. He will be so happy to here this. Then when I get back we can call Rose and Kyle?" Anyway. Be back in a few. You two talk."

With a swoosh and a pop, Merick is gone.

Merick appears in a room he is unfamiliar with. A large bed directly before him. He hears a door open and turns.

A beautiful young woman, with long light brown hair, and obviously in tremendous shape, evidenced clearly in her lack of clothing, walks into the room. After looking at Merick for a moment she squeals.

Merick gasps and there is another swoosh. Merick appears in his brothers study.

"Dude, I am sooo sorry." Merick pleads as he claps Tommy on the back.

"It's cool, your only like what a few minutes late? Seriously thought, a time traveler that can't make it to his appointments on time? Shouldn't you always be on time?"

"No... I mean-"

Just then there is a slam as the gorgeous woman storms in. "Tommy! This pervert of a brother of your just burst in on me naked!"

"Look I am sorry! I was trying to get in here, but this place is wonky and I can't seem to teleport right half the time here. I didn't mean to." Merick pleads, giving his best puppy dog eyes.

"Whatever. I will be in the bedroom getting dressed. Ready in twenty?"

"Okay hun. We will be right here. Let me know when you are ready."

Mary storms out of the room.

"Listen, I am so sorry. I mean I didn't mean to see her naked." Merick sits on a chair at the long table in front of him and his twin brother.

"It's cool Mer'." Tommy smiles as he looks at his brother.

"Don't go thinking this will mean you get to see Chloe or something." Merick chides.

"No worries. Kinda old news there." Tommy breaks eye contact but continues to grin.

"Wait... what?"

"Well, there was that whole summer I spent with you guys in Cancun, at that beach house. I mean, we are twins... Besides, the thing about Scrying is... you never know just what you will see." Tommy grins a puckish grin.

"What... did..."

"What's on your mind bro? You didn't come here just to see Mary naked did you? I mean that is a really good reason, but..."

"Oh. Right. No. Listen, Me and Chloe, Chloe and I, we... we are preggers! Twins! Can you believe it?"

"Oh! Thank god! I was wondering when you would find out..."

"Wait... what?"

"I told you... thing a bout scrying... hard to be surprised, when you already see the future."

"Just how often do you scry on us?"

"Well... Um... anyway. Congrats bro. So we still doing dinner?"

"Yeah. Whenever you and Mary are ready. Though I think we are going out. Some weird white dude totally crashed our pad. Which, we are going to have to figure out who the hell he was and what he was trying to do. Not to mention how he got there. Chloe said something about a Gothamite fairy tale I think?"

"Really? Hmmm... I thought Hector was just telling tales out of school. Didn't really believe in Solomon Grundy. But sure sounds like him. Ok. We will meet you. Just have a quick lesson to do with Mary."

"Grundy? I think I heard that name once before... so, yeah. Listen, whenever you guys can make it. I gotta get back to the flat. Left Chloe and her dad sitting in the middle of a junk pile."

"Okay bro. Mary and I will help you clean up when we get there. I will also summon all the information I can on this Solomon Grundy."

Merick grins as he and Tommy embrace. They had had a rough life. For the majority of their lives, they believed each other to be dead. But over the last ten years Tommy and Merick had worked hard to build there relationship. And it had worked.

Once Merick leaves, Tommy moves into the library. He puts a hand to his head as he sends a telepathic message to Mary to join him in the library. A moment later a small case of books topples as Mary botches her teleportation spell.

"I told you... it is all in the annunciation. Like that levitation spell we worked on. Good try though. Sorry but before dinner, I have a test for you." Tommy tosses a book at Mary. Mary catches it.

"Duh. The I'Ching. Chinese book used for telling the future. Also called the I Think book, because it is all left up to interpretation."

Tommy smiles and tosses another book.

"Necronomicon. Book of the dead. Supposedly ancient text. Also known as Ash's Book. A pop culture reference to the Evil Dead films."

Tommy hurls yet another.

"Oh please. Give me something hard will you? Litany of the Lost. Also known as the useless book, because it is written in a language no one alive can understand."

Tommy grins and floats to a shelf containing a single book. This book he takes out and carries over to her. Never releasing it.

"This is... oh snap. What the hell is this..." Mary's eyes grow wide as she tries to read the symbols on the book. It is unlike anything she has ever seen.

"A gift from an old friend. A parting gift. I will let you read it eventually. But for now you have done well. Let's go eat. They finally got the good news by the way."

Mary smiles and takes Tommy's hand as he helps her up. The book disappearing and a smaller one appearing in his hand.

"Seems someone sent Solomon Grundy after Merick and Chloe. I think when we get back we should see if we can gather the troops. Try to keep an eye on them. Merick is good, but he can't be there 24/7. I heard Gar just got back from shooting that reality show. Maybe he would be able to go help Chloe out for a while."

"You call him, I will see if I can get anyone else on the job. I really do love Merick and Chloe, I didn't mean to freak out."

"Its ok. Let's go." Tommy and Mary disappear in a blaze of gold and purplish light and reappear in front of Merick and Chloe's flat. And begin to head to the door.