The Last Daughter of Krypton - IC

[camerindrake]

Damian

Black Hood looks at Alfred for a moment and forces himself not to smile and give the old man a hug. Black Hood does not make himself sociable. He had fond memories of the old white knight. After his passing he got a cat to keep him company. He named it Alfred. He loved the cat. As Damian, he hated leaving the cat behind when he came to this reality. However he would be sure that the cat Alfred would not have liked the trip.

Black Hood finally says after the pause for recollection, "Thank you, Mr Pennyworth." He couldn't help but be kind to the cultured valet. After all, Alfred Thaddeus Crane Pennyworth was more than just a mere butler. Which he follows by saying "The hat and coat remain until i find the other company as trustworthy as the honorable man before me."

Black hood then nods to the wise man before him and enters the abode. It wasn't much different than the Gotham estate from his reality. If it were exact his old room would be on the second floor at the end of the East wing on the right across from what would be Tims. He let out a silent sigh. He needs to remember Tim may never become Robin in this parallel universe, and suffer that fate at the hands of The Pyro-Batman, the third of the fake Batmen set up to destroy the Bat-family as it were.

Black Hood closes his eyes and prays a silent prayer that this Batman doesn't suffer the same fate as his father did in his universe. He then walks into the room with the others and scans the room stopping at Wraith. He finds himself stopping suddenly. This can't be the same man who killed Grace from his outsiders team. It just couldn't. He finds his hand edging to his pouch. He stops himself. There has to be an explanation he tells himself. He then looks back to see if Bruce and Ceri have followed.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Ceri, Jamie, Bruce, Alfred, Pete, Gabe and Chloe

Alfred arched an eyebrow, and moved aside to let The Black Hood pass.

He blinked to himself, and muttered. "Well. Polite, at least. More than I can say for some people."

Ceri and Bruce walked up, and Alfred smiled gently at Ceri. "Give us a tick, would you, m'lady?"

"Absolutely," Ceri nodded, and fired both men a quick smile, one to Bruce and one to Alfred, before moving along down the hall.

As they talked, they walked.

"Seems you're rather the trendsetter," Alfred mused, that dubiousness still very much in force.

"Always just ahead of the curve," Bruce replied sardonically in that coolhard voice, "it's the investor in me."

Alfred grunted, shook his head. "Don't you bloody dare talking to me with that spooky affectation of a voice. Sound like oul' Wesley Dodds, you do, and he had the excuse of talking through a gas mask. I'm talking with Masta' Bruce Wayne, not this half-assembled construction of yours."

Bruce blinked, and cleared his throat. "Sorry, Alfred. Didn't mean to offend."

Alfred smiled faintly. "Sorry for talking out of turn, sa'. An old man's nerves tend to fray easily."

Bruce nodded easily. "I'm sorry, and you're sorry."

"What a sorry pair we are, eh?" Alfred chuckled.

Pete was standing beside the counter, feeling awkward as Hell, as Merick had just hugged him and complimented him and then stared off all blushing and Pete... Pete with eyes wide and completely taken aback and off-guard, Pete had no idea what to say to Merick. He felt like The Doc must've felt when Merick's mom hugged him like that.

He had no idea what to say.

He opened his mouth to say something.

And then The Black Hood walked in.

...and out of the blue... ninjas attack.

Thank God.

"Hey, huh," Pete gestured to The Hood, "who The Hell is this guy?"

A number of folk glanced up quickly.

Gabe gave The Hood a strained smile.

Jamie arched an eyebrow.

Chloe was still off in telepathy-land.

Ceri walked up behind The Black Hood, saw him glancing, saw him reaching for his belt, and her eye quirked.

She glanced at Bruce and Alfred just behind her just for the tiniest moment, not wanting to take her eyes off the newcomer, and she walked up close to him and she whispered, tightly, tersely: "Problem, isn't it?"

 

[AmenRa]

The Martian Manhunter

J'onn listened to the conversation between Kara and Rose for a moment, quietly watching them as they spoke. Rose seemed to have a grasp of what was at hand, and Kara, as he had expected, was yet to grasp it all.

"This human child," J'onn spoke up after a silence, "speaks the truth. To her you must listen, Kara Zor-El of Krypton. The one she spoke of, Var-Sen, had endeavored to locate the pieces of the Crystal of Knowledge. His plan was to bring them together, to unite them once again, and keep this treasure safe until it was time to give it to you.

"That time has come. An escaped prisoner from the Phantom Zone, a place of confinement discovered by your birth father, Zor-El, has come to Earth. His name is Zod, and as Rose said, is evil incarnate. He is aided by an artificial intelligence the likes of which has never been encountered before on this world. Zod will attempt to take over this planet and enslave its inhabitants. Once Earth falls, other worlds will follow.

"If General Zod recovers all the pieces of the Crystal, then he will use its creation to aid him in his lust for power. He will be unstoppable, even by you. Even by me.

"Zod is stronger than you, Kara, but he is not unbeatable. You have a powerful force standing at your side. You must recover the remaining pieces of the artifact left by your race. You must claim your birthright and fulfill your destiny as protector of this world. Your father sent you here to be Earth's savior." The Manhunter looked at her with compassion and continued, "I understand all of this is incredibly hard to accept, but you know in your heart the words spoken here are true. Your human mother and father have raised you well, and they shall continue, until the time comes when you are released from them and take your place among the heroes of the universe. The crystal you hold in your hand contains all the knowledge and hope of the House of El. Through it you will learn who you are and where you come from, and it shall be your guide when the time comes to activate the Crystal of Knowledge.

J'onn J'onzz moved closer to the young Kryptonian. He bent at the waist, lowering himself to look into her blue eyes. " Although you have been raised as a human, Kara, you are not one of them. But you know all of their strengths and weaknesses, and Zor-El knew these as well. He knew they were a good people, Kara, they wish to be. They only lack the light to show them the way. It was this reason above all else - their capacity for good - that he sent them you.

"I served your father as a Manhunter: a protector of laws and justice. As long you serve those ideals, then I shall serve at your side."

 

[AmenRa]

Lionel and Zod

Zod heard and saw Meyer coming towards him. He saw the up-raised hand clutching a hypo tube full of glowing green liquid.

Zod reacted to the threat the way a soldier would react. Violence against violence. Force against force.

Those who long for peace should prepare for war.

Zod's eyes glowed red with fire, and Meyer's outstretched hand turned crispy with ash before it disintegrated and sifted to the Persian rug beneath him. The hypo fell harmlessly away, and Zod blew a gust of wind from his lungs that flung the syringe into the further reaches of the room. Meyer had fell to his knees, clutching his charred stump of a hand.

"Let this be a lesson," he said, holding Lex up so he was forced to look at Meyer as the man screamed in pain, "for you who would oppose me will kneel before you die!" And the General's eyes glowed brightly, and Meyer became a kneeling statue of crispy ash.

Zod dropped Lex near the globe. He then moved quickly towards a stoicly standing Lionel Luthor, who stood with a look of resolve on his face. Zod grabbed him by the lapels of his Armani suit jacket and lifted him into the air.

Zod looked into his eyes. But he wasn't looking into Lionel Luthor's eyes, he was looking into the eyes of Zor-El.

"You will not have the Crystal of Knowledge," Lionel/Zor-El said to him. It was spoken, though, in Kryptonian.

"So," Zod replied in Engish, "the consciousness of Zor-El has found its vessel."

"You will not have the Crystal of Knowledge," Lionel/Zor-El repeated.

Zod dropped Lionel, who fell to the floor. Zod looked down at him.

"And it is only now that you kneel before me," he said to him. Lionel stared passively up at Zod, saying nothing at all. Zod was about to speak again when the BRAIN InterActive Construct, speaking in frequencies only a Kryptonian can hear, informed its master it was having some trouble in Honduras.

Zod turned a full circle, then pointed his finger at Lex. "I will have the Crystal. Provide to me the map you have acquired and you shall share in the glory of my rule."

He then turned to look at Lionel on the floor. "All that you know," he told the billionaire, "will be destroyed."

And Zod flew away from the Luthor mansion, the very air itself shimmering and expanding as he sped away.

 

[Lunaramblings]

Merick tensed at the arrival of The Black Hood. His hands instantly incased in coalescing vengence. Merick's tension was only sated by the nigh immediate presence of Ceri McCrimmon. smooth move bonehead. go shooting the friendies. Merick though as he lowered his guard. Only slightly.

Merick sized up the newcomer. He looked fearsome. He carried himself with a detached and meticulous demeanor. Merick didn't care for the way he was eyeing Wraith. Merick was not the biggest fan of Tall Dark and Spooky, he wouldn't admit it but maybe he was a little jealous even. But he did love Rose. She was the closest person in the world to him. Not that before today that was a large number of people. But the point remained. Rose was special. She was a real friend. Someone Merick would not stand to ever see hurt. Merick decided right then. Push comes to shove, Merick would stick up for Wraith. Because he made Rose happy.

"Damn, Pete, Chloe, you guys seein this? Why does every one have a better outfit than me? Seriously, Wraith, new-guy, I want the name of your tailor. I need some sweet gear too." Merick tried to pass off amusement. In fact he was calculating. Merick's arms were a mass of energy as he folded, bended and molded the energy into ever denser, ever stronger material. He smiled at the newcomer. "Hows it? I'm Merick, the big guy there is your friendly neighborhood Boogeyman, dude in the jacket is Pete, this here is the Doc, Chloe, her Dad, and well, did I miss anyone?" Mericks eyes were alight with emerald. Practically luminescent. He eyed the newcomer. "And you are? Oh let me guess, The Dread Pirate Roberts? No! Mask is too funky. Circus act passing through town and you are lead scary guy? Just bustin on ya man. So, you are?" Merick never stopped building and reinforcing. He vowed to be ready.

 

[Wyldfire]

Diana had only been half listening to the conversations around her, her mind racing. If Aries was back she would need to be able to help Kara and her friends. She had a couple of half ideas but they all required some of the meteor rocks. Where could she find these rocks if the lake had been swept for them? Wait! They couldn't have swept them from the last shower yet!

Then it hit her again! She had a couple of pieces of it at the Trevor farm. At least until the two cows were disposed of. It would involve Diana having to remove them but she could do that. She would have weapons against Aries or Zod or whatever he chose to call himself. If the rocks made Kara ill then they ought to Aries as well.

"I will return very quickly," Diana said with a wink to Kara, "I am going to make an emergency march to the lake and then back to the Trevor farm. After that I will be back here."

She gave Kara a full eye contact exchange before turning to the others. "I will be back shortly. You will keep Kara safe until then, and you will wait for me as well."

She turned to Rose last "I think you might be very surprised at how prepared I can be little sister. Remember, wait for me please?"

With that said she lept out of the barn loft and ran at her full speed towards the lake.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Lex and Emil and Boyajian

Emil emerged from under the snooker table, the meteor rock fragment in his human hand and Lex's gun shoved into his belt, ready to...

He frowned.

Zod was gone.

"Ah," he muttered. "I see men from his planet depart as rudely as they arrive."

Lex gasped, dragging air into his lungs. Blackness had started to crawl in around the edges of his vision, indicating that he had not been long for the waking world and, after that, not much longer for the land of the living.

Now, though, air flushed into him, and it was the sweetest fragrance he had ever scented.

Even though some of it smelled like charred human flesh, it was still good to be alive.

He staggered to his feet, letting his sword clatter to the floor and leaning on the globe for support.

He glanced briefly at the globe, which had spun again, struck by bullets of Meyer's that had bounced off of Zod, and had now once more slowed to a stop, showing North America.

One bullet had drilled into California, The San Andreas Fault. Another had punched a hole in Hackensack, New Jersey.

Lex harrumphed, and shook his head, and turned to regard his father.

"Looks like we need to have a father-son chat," he opined, "in which you tell me how you've come to be the vessel for this consciousness and come to speak extraterrestrial dialects, and I confess to you that in my 'contemplation room' I have a page from an illuminated manuscript that may or may not illuminate the way to The Element of Air."

He smiled faintly, as he rubbed at his throat.

"Does that sound like a conversation that might interest you?" he probed.

Then the door burst open, and one of the guards stumbled in-- Lofting, was it? --holding his gun and looking panicked.

"Don't worry, Lofting," Lex consoled him, wryly, moving to pour a glass of mineral water from the deep blue carafe at the mini-bar. "No man alive could have stood against that threat; I'm not going to fire you for not keeping him away from me. I mean, if Meyer and Boyajian couldn't survive him--"

"That's just it, sir," Lofting wheezed. "Boyajian's not dead. He's alive. But not by much. His neck's broken, but we can't figure how long he's going to last."

Lex's eye twitched.

He hurried to where the syringe had been blown by the puff of Zod's breath, snagged it, and whirled to face Doctor Hamilton.

Hamilton had just returned the meteor crystal to his bionic arm, and was flexing his fingers as the arm reinitialised.

Lex strode over to him and pressed the syringe into his human hand.

"Inject him," Lex commanded. "It'll help him heal rapidly. Don't let me down."

'Again,' resounded the unspoken adverb. 'Don't let me down again.'

Emil nodded, though as he accepted the syringe and handed Lex back his gun, he had a glimmer of rebellion in his bespectacled eyes. They were equals. Equals.

Lex had no right to speak to him thusly.

"Certainly not," was all he said, and Lofting led Hamilton away.

Lex turned, and walked to the ashen statue that had once been Peter Meyer.

Like a Biblical pillar of salt, he had offended a deity and paid the ultimate price.

Lex smiled a faint, sad little smile that reached the edges of his eyes.

"'Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?'" he wondered, to no-one in particular.

"You were a good watchman, Peter," he explained, gently. "I'm sorry I didn't watch over you better."

And then, he turned, and regarded his father with the most inscrutable, most scrutinising of expressions.

"We both have some explaining to do," Lex intoned. "No time like the present. We don't know how long we have until that monster comes back."

Outside, Emil stood with Lofting and DesJardins as Boyajian twitched and gurgled and passed out once more.

With the fresh infusion of power, the man's heart had nearly exploded to mush in his chest, but his body had been so strengthened that he had regenerated much of his brokenness in instants.

He would still be laid up for a time.

But he wouldn't perish, not from this injury.

"'Prepare the armies of Man,'" Emil whispered, fascinated.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Rose

(Oh, yeah, Rose thought, smacking herself in the forehead at her stupidity, I forgot to mention The A.I. From Hell. That should have been in the first paragraph.)

Rose grinned and blushed a little when Diana called her "little sister," and somehow made it sound like a badge of honour rather than a derogatory term.

And then Diana trumped Rose's demonstration of flight and dropped easily to the ground outside, only to rocket off at nigh-unheard-of footspeed.

Rose ran to the opening and gazed out in wonder.

"I used to think I was pretty fast," she murmured to Kara. "I top out around seventy? I go faster when I'm flying, my dad clocked me. Maybe eighty, when I'm flying? But maybe I'm the slowest person on the track. Your friend... where I come from, you have to be wearing an anklet with talaria on it if you're gonna be running that fast. (Or at least be injected with mongoose blood.)"

She blinked, as something occurred to her.

Var-Sen had flown like the wind, impossible invisible superspeed, and he was the same race as Kara.

She gave Kara a puzzled look. "You must be... how fast are you?"

 

[AmenRa]

Zod arrived in Honduras, on the scene of a village, or what was a village and was now a sight of carnage.

BRAINIAC walked up to him.

"I have all indications the element we seek lies within an 8 kilometer radius of this location," it told its master. "However, I am unable to locate it."

"It is shielded?"

"Possibly," the AI replied.

"Concealed within its own element," Zod responded. He then looked briskly at the construct. "The map that tells the location of the Crystal of Air resides within a sealed and vaulted location of the Luthor mansion. The vault holds reserves of Kryptonite. I cannot penetrate this defense," he admitted, "but you can."

The BRAINIAC nodded his head.

"Beware the electronic sensors and human gaurds within the residence. They will be especially wary because of my recent visit," Zod warned.

The BRAINIAC responded in the affirmative and then uploaded itself into a bit stream bound for a satellite that would re-direct its transmission to Smallville. The travel time was almost instantaneous.

In the meantime, Zod turned a slow circle within the remains of the village. There was a certain glimmer in his eyes as he rose above the smoke and fire, above the jungle canopy, and began to scan the area around with x-ray eyes.

 

[AmenRa]

He only stared at his son.

He could say nothing. He had no explanation of what had happened. He wasn't sure exactly what had happened. He only knew that for a few seconds, he was not himself, or he was himself, but he was not in control of himself.

He felt as if a part of him had limitless knowledge, vast resources, and unspeakable power.

But he didn't know how to use it.

Or access it.

He didn't control it. It controlled him.

Zor-El.

He shook his head. "I wish I knew, Son. I wish I knew."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Lex

Lex smiled thinly, and returned to the bar to finish pouring himself that glass of water, the one Lofting had interrupted.

"I hope you're not just being enigmatic," he declared, "because as much fun as it is when you hold all the cards, it might be nice to see your hand once in a while."

He sipped the water, and closed his eyes for a moment, luxuriating in the cool of the stuff wending its way down his throat.

Having done so, he opened his eyes again, and he regarded his father with a contemplative expression.

"But then again," he pointed out, "even when The Apostles and the other disciples of Christ received the gift of speaking in foreign tongues on Pentecost, Whit Sunday, it was a fleeting ability. Maybe asking more than that of this 'gift' would be... asking too much? 'Not as I will, but as Thou wilt.'"

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

The Martian spoke to Kara about their troubled times, but he also told her that not all was lost.

There was still hope... there was always hope.

Kara clenched her fist again, and she felt her strength of will renewed.

"I'll do what I can," she said, glancing at Rose again.

"I'll help put this god on his ass," she added with a smirk.

And just as J'onn had reassured her, Kara was not alone in this. There was beautiful Rose, her flowing red hair like a mane of fire and ice. And there was also Diana of Thermyscira, brave and dedicated to the path of truth and righteousness.

Kara stared again at the crystal in her hand.

So this was their destiny...

"A star in the night and a bearer of hope..." Kara mumbled to herself. With her free hand she raised it up to her head and she pushed back a few strands of her golden hair, tucking them behind her ear.

"We'll wait for you," Kara said as Diana expressed her intention to part company for a short while.

Diana jumped down from the barn and a few moments later she had disappeared from view. She sped offtowards Crater Lake, and Kara silently wished her the best of luck. She was sad to see her new friend leave, but she knew in her heart that their parting wound not be for forever.

It was with that thought that Kara smiled. Rose looked amazed at her great feat of speed, which, given everything that happened, Kara wondered how anything could surprise them anymore.

And then Rose asked how fast Kara was. The young Kryptonian couldn't help but smile as she thought back on those days when she was even younger than she was now... when she didn't have to worry about saving the world. She could picture herself rushing through the corn fields as if they were whiffs of clouds, vanishing into the wind.

"I used to run through our fields like they were only a few steps long. Some days all I did was run. One day I just couldn't stop running. I ran and ran till I couldn't even remember where I was going anymore," Kara said as she slumped her shoulders.

"I can run pretty fast," she added.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Honduras- What The General Saw

Initially, the reason for the formation of the village five and a half centuries previously was the proximity to a source of fresh water. Historically, many villages and cities have sprung up around such water sources.

However, this water, when consumed at quantity, was somewhat poisonous.

The mountain down which the waterfall tumbled had a chief component called galena, an ore which was 86.6% percent lead. Therefore, anyone who drank much of this water would contract plumbism, lead poisoning, and suffer ignominiously.

Before this was understood, it had been believed that the area was cursed, and therefore, many folk steered clear of it.

Especially criminals, superstitious and cowardly, who believed that they deserved the wrath of the gods most of all.

But there were other breeds of dark men, less cowardly, less superstitious, believing their causes to be righteous and therefore believing themselves to be invulnerable to harm. They used the notoriety of the mountain's shadow as a refuge, a hiding place off of the beaten track, a place from which to lash out at an unforgiving world.

The village had changed hands several times over the centuries, and more recent occupations had the advantage of lead filtration for the water, so they no longer needed to bring drinking water in from the outside.

(The most recent occupants had been The Ten Rings, or at least the local franchise.

But now they were all but erased.)

The mountain's poison would not effect Kryptonians, though it would kill a Daxamite very nearly instantly. It would, however, significantly inhibit a Kryptonian's X-Ray Vision, to which lead was impervious.

Granted, the lead was not pure, so it would only hamper such sight. But it would still hamper it quite a bit.

If a Kryptonian were to peer hard enough through the rock of the mountain, or, perhaps, gaze directly through the lead-infused water of the falls at the proper altitude, he would see Rodrigo Angelo's hiding place.

It was a small, unassuming thing, perhaps not unlike Smallville, but like Smallville, it too contained secret greatness.

It was small, like a goblin king's front porch, but roomy enough for several men to enter and move about freely.

Wall to wall, though, it contained dusty, musty neglected artefacts from Mayan and Aztec and related civilisations, hidden away from the persecutions of Christian "missionaries" during the colonisation of The Americas, perhaps for smuggling overseas and subsequent preservation.

There were many, many artefacts.

There were calendars, and tablets, and bricks left over from the building of ziggurats, even coins from the fabled Cities of Gold.

Among these, tucked in a corner in the shadow of a rotted wooden chest, was a statue of Chaac, the Mayan god of rain and thunder. Unlike many statues of this particular deity, however, it was not constructed out of earthenware, but out of pewter, suggesting a slightly more recent manufacture than by the hands of the Mayan people themselves, and a manufacture by a person of a more European mindset.

Pewter, too, especially the lower grades, contains lead.

In the hollows of this statue, shaped precisely for the purpose by Rodrigo Angelo himself, waited The Kryptonian Crystal of Water.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Nevada- What The Veterinarian Saw

If the cave behind the waterfall in Honduras had been the goblins' front porch, the bunker in Nevada was like The Mines of Moria, tunneled deep and far.

Perhaps too deep.

Perhaps too far.

Just as the government project that had produced this complex had tunneled deep underground, they had tunneled deep into the knowledges of science and the paranormal.

Perhaps they had seen too much, and had retreated, broken-spirited and mad.

Or perhaps they had tunneled in incorrect directions, found next to nothing, and had failed.

Either way, the place was very nearly as empty of human life as Moria had been empty of Dwarves at the arrival of The Fellowship.

Two or three technicians wandered the upper floors of the bunker, maintaining things in case of a surprise government inspection-- General Wade Eiling, for instance, or one of his lackeys --that might never come.

The lower floors were all but abandoned, though twice a week a security guard, heavily armed, would perform perfunctory rounds of these more remote chambers.

Tuesdays and Thursdays.

(Perhaps unfortunately, this was Thursday.)

The guard wandered through a storage chamber, massive concrete pillars supporting the ceiling high above, his flashlight flickering from place to place as he yawned.

Old computers lined one wall, still hooked up and functional in case Eiling (hypothetically) demanded a diagnostic on his way through.

(One blinked a light that suggested it had been used recently, but the guard did not notice this. If he did notice it, he did so only subconsciously.)

Another wall was lined with crates and crates and crates, all of which were adorned with the emblem of The United States of America. (Except for one, off in the corner, which looked as though it had been burned from the inside, the emblem obliterated by the heat, though whatever had caused this burning had seemingly made no further efforts to escape.)

But between the computers and the crates and the pillars, the floor was wide and clear.

Plenty of room for an emergency landing.

Yawning again, the guard left the room with his flashlight, leaving only the standby lights on the ceiling far above.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Rose

She turned and watched the dark dark world, watched the cloud of dust Diana had kicked up with her departure dissipate slowly as it filtered back to Earth.

Rose, it seemed, had an infinite repository of childlike wonder.

In this, too, she invested all her heart and soul when the time came; Kyle had not been wrong in his assessment of Rose.

Her mind was strong, and capable of logic-- sometimes, anyway --but her heart was her strongest feature. She felt with all that was within her.

And right now, she felt wonder. She let the wonder obliterate the trepidation she had felt every moment of every day since childhood.

She wondered at Kara's secrets, at her power, at her speed, and was grateful that while The Universe had bestowed great power-- more power, apparently --on the evil that was Zod, it had at least apportioned a quantity of similar power on someone who was unquestionably worthy.

She smiled softly at Kara.

"'The Sun went down,'" she recited gently.
"'beyond The Sea
dark was the hour
but day shall come again.'"

Rose reached out, and gave Kara's hand a squeeze as it held The Crystal.

"'A new star shall arise,'" she quoted, as if referencing prophecy,
"'And a new day shall come, again.'"

 

[Wyldfire]

Diana ran hard until she had gotten to the shore of the lake. She knew she didn't have a lot of time for this so she thought she'd make two or three attempts before heading back to the farm to get the stones she knew were there.

She kicked out of the boots she was wearing and pulled off the socks. Next came the shirt and jeans. She waded out into the water in just her panties and dove once she was waist deep. Swimming as far as she could she scoured the bottom of the lake, she surfaced from her first dive quite a ways from where she had gone under with empty hands. She dove again, this time holding her breath as long as she could. When the black spots started swimming in her vision she resurfaced. She began treading water to catch her breath.

One last dive was all she knew she had time for, and, with that thought she dove again. Diana continued to skim the bottom for what felt like forever to her and finally her lungs started to feel like they were burning, so she headed empty handed from the bottom. Had she managed to keep going she would have found what she was looking for. The meteor rock was a large one, but with the murky water and her running out of breath she didn't see it.

Diana was almost in a panic as she kept rising from the depths. She had gone too deep! She couldn't hold her breath any longer, and with a start she reflexively went to draw in a breath, pulling in water instead. In her panic she kicked hard and broke the surface coughing and wheezing as her airways cleared. Managing to tread water she finished clearing her airways. "Stupid, stupid girl!" she said to herself before beginning the hard swim back to where she had left her clothes.

As she waded out of the water she realized she wasn't as tired as she should be from what she had just done. In fact she had never felt better in her life. She dressed quickly and took off for the farm running as hard as she could. In less time then it took her to get to the lake she was passing the Kent farm on her way back to Mister Trevor's place.

She quietly entered the farm and went to her room. There she changed into dry underwear and instead of another set of new clothes she put on the old sleeveless plaid shirt and worn jeans she used for working around the farm.

She slipped out through her window and out to the barn. She knew she had been lucky. Mister Trevor had left her a note saying he had gone into town for a while. She went to the old leather tack for the horses and started working with it, and in no time had fashioned a crude sling. Now to where the animals and the rocks from the shower were. She found the five that had caused the damage to the barn and surrounding area and picked them up. She audiblly gasped when she touched them, it felt like she had been shocked! She dropped them into a bag and hid the bag away with the makeshift sling. No sense in bringing them too close to Kara if they made her ill.

Just as she was leaving she noticed a length of rope and stopped. In her upbringing she had been taught more than a few ways to fight, and a larriat was a useful weapon. As useful as the sling and rocks could be in some cases. Against a God it wouldn't be much help but it just might come in handy. So she grabbed up the length of rope and tied the knot to turn it into a lasso and tied it's coild to her beltloop.

Gods that shosk had been strange. She felt so full of energy after the swim in the lake and touching the meteor rocks! She wondered if this was how she would feel after her Mother passed the mantle on to her. But this wasn't the time for long thinking, she needed to get back to her new friends.

Once again Diana ran, this time heading back to the Kent farm, taking the minutely longer route to stay clear of the main house. She knew she had taken longer than she had meant to for the errand. What she hadn't realized was that her close proximity to the rock in the water and her contact with the rocks had done was a smaller, weaker version on bearing the mantle.

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Wraith

I eyed the newcomer a bit wairly as he walked in. He hid it well, but he tensed up a tiny bit when he saw me, then froze.
Usually people just screamed, shot or ran.

"Welcome to the party. I'm Wraith."

 

[ChasNicollette]

The Contemplation Room

Chloe Sullivan had herself a Wall of Weird.

But she was not the only intelligent creature in Smallville intrigued by strange turns of events, or by the history of strange events worldwide.

She was not the only one who wondered how it all came together.

Lex had a tendency to become obsessed with things; through long introspection he had come to acknowledge this about himself, and had erected certain buffers to keep these obsessions from destroying his private life.

For one thing, he kept that which most fascinated him isolated in a single room in the mansion. When he was in that room, he could obsess to his heart's content. When outside that room, thoughts on such topics were ostensibly kept to a minimum.

Presently, Lex Luthor had come to be obsessed with The Elements of Power, the triune Kryptonian Crystal of Knowledge -- though he did not know it by this name.

Were one to walk into this room, one would find it spacious and dark.

And then motion-sensitive lights would kick in, illuminating display cases like those found in a museum. The contents of the display cases would change from time to time, depending on Lex's current interests.

At the moment, on the fringes of the room were certain small things.

A chestplate from the armour of Alexander The Great, a piece Lex sardonically referred to as "The Breastplate of Righteousness" thanks to his current tendency to engage in Biblical metaphor.

An LCD screen displaying simulated satellite footage of The First Smallville Meteor Shower.

A golden Cross, supposedly gifted by Hernán Cortés to Francisco Vázquez de Coronado in 1521, discovered much later in a cave system in Utah and valued for its supposed mystical healing power. (Reportedly, it had been blessed by The Holy Roman Emperor Charles the Fifth when he had dispatched Cortés to The Americas.)

A little lead box, which his father, in a rare moment of romanticism and heartfelt conversation, had once claimed was forged from the armour of Saint George The Dragonslayer.

A torn map, supposedly showing the way to an ancient golden fertility idol belonging to the Hovitos tribe, descended from still-older Chachapoyans. (This had been a false lead in an earlier search for The Elements, but Lex had quickly discovered its value: discussing ancient fertility rites with a sufficiently inebriated date was a surefire way into her boudoir.)

There was a bare spot on the west wall, but Lex fully intended to fill this space the very next day with the door Boyajian had torn off of his Porsche.

Here and there were meteor samples, all of them green.

But for the time being, right at the middle of the room, front and centre, was The Map.

And this was no false lead; Lex knew for a fact that this was the real deal, he could feel it in his bones.

The page was beautifully rendered, carefully done, absolute artwork, it would be priceless for that alone. Its Cyrillic lettering was exquisite, and the armoured knight that rode horseback, ready to carry out justice, was inspiring.

The arcane symbols that littered the border-work were riveting, mysterious.

But within the image... beneath...

Lex had taken the liberty of making X-Ray photographs of the page, and, by thusly looking deeper, he had discovered the secret of The Map.

There was another picture hidden beneath the surface.

But the jagged pathways it showed, the landmarks of temple and mountain, these were entirely out of context, without legend or compass rose or longitude or latitude. And thus The Map remained a mystery, inflicting as many mysteries as it solved.

Lex had only owned it for a short time, but still he had stood and had gazed at the page that hid The Map, had stood and had gazed at it for ages on end, just as legend reputed Rasputin to have done.

He would have the secrets of The Map.

He was Lex Luthor, after all.

He would not be denied.

 

[camerindrake]

Damian

Black Hood simply whispered , "Tomorrow." to Ceri. He then walked into the room keeping Wraith in the corner of his eye. He then placed the bag down on the floor.

Black Hood breathed in one solid breath and said, "Yes, Kyle Graystone." He then looked at the Wraith and pulled the sunstone out of a compartment and placed it on the table beside one of the chairs. He had nearly killed himself using one before against the Wraith of his reality. This Kyle Graystone probably knew little of the stones that consisted of compacted sunlight. It couldn't do much other than sap him of his shadow hopping, blind him and a few other things but it was enough to get Ms. Martian who by that time had taken J'onn J'onzz mantle, Lightning, Metamorpho, and the rest of his realities outsiders to take him down. Keystone City was in ruins by this time however.

Black Hood hoped that this Kyle was not playing a game with this set of fledgling heros. He would be there to stop him if he were. Always be prepared for any eventuality that his father and Mother had taught him well.

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Wraith

"Yes, Kyle Graystone."


I froze when he said my real name. Who was this man? How did he know my REAL name?

"Ok buddy, I don't know who you are but you just let out some very classified information. How did you know who I am? And what gives you the right to tell everyone that information!" The room was getting darker and the shadows were reacting to my shock and anger. They were crawling and moving like mad.


(OOC: I have only a vague idea what a sunsone is and don't know if it comes pre-lit or if you have to activate it. i'm going on you have to activate it, & if i'm wrong catch me on yahoo & i'll edit. )

 

[AmenRa]

Lionel Luthor looked at his son through gaurded eyes.

"Lex," he said, his eyebrows narrowing, "whatever you do, whatever you say, and by whatever motivations drive you, you cannot allow Zod to take possession of that map."

Lionel shoved his hands in his pockets, an uncharacteristic motion for him. "He would be unstoppable if he possesses its power."

Lionel thought for a moment, bringing his hand to cup his chin, another uncharacteristic mannerism. "You should go, Lex. Use whatever knowledge you have of this 'element's' whereabouts to find it. Find it before he does. I will help in any way I can, Son."

 

[camerindrake]

Damian

THe Black Hood stands up fully thinking, is this Kyle Graystone that different. The Black Hood looks towards the Wraith. THe Kyle Graystone didnt give a good god damn about who knew or who didn't. If you faced him you were dead. It was that plain and simple in that Wraith's eyes. He then walked towards the wraith that stood before him.

Black Hood says simply, "Where I am from, The Wraith I knew didn't give two cents who actually knew his secret identity. For one, it wasn't that much of a secret. As for the right to say onces identity around a group of people. You are in a League. A league of justice. There are very few secrets amongst them. Unlike a counterpart that you may end up facing. I am guessing I made my first mistake in dealing with the multiverse. However, I see the first darkling going after an innocent, this sunstone will be set to activate so far up your ass that as soon as it goes off your eyes will be glowing yellow instead of violet. Got it, Graystone." The last, The promise came out very slow and precise remembering the death of a fellow team member. One that made him not feel so much the outsider in the teams of heroes. The one he nearly married when he came of age. Grace Choi, a baha amazon, was going to be 28 this year if she hadn't died at The Wraith of his realities hand.

 

[AmenRa]

As instrisic and seperate as two minds are, they can become one.

Of course, when those two minds are woven together by the psychic power of a third.

J'onn J'onzz heard Chloe's voice in his head, and with the thought of a smile back to her, he reached out with the consciousness of the Planet of Red Sand.

He found the two Chloe had referred to, one first, then the other, and he linked them together with a psychic chain.

It was almost like a data cable running from one to the other, but powered not by a serial bus or USB port, but by the Martian Manhunter.

Once the link was established, J'onn J'onzz returned back to the conversation between Rose and Kara.

"Time is precious, Kara," he told her. "The others await our arrival."

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Wraith

I moved up into the strangers face. The room was definately darker, and I was furious!

My voice was a low hiss when I started talking.

"I don't know who you are Destro but you got two things wrong in this.. multiverse. One was letting people know information that can get them killed. The only people that know my identity are those that had to know or that can keep themselves safe. Someone killed my entire family, and I have over a million dollar bounty out on me in several cities from mob bosses. You just put everyone's life in danger here! Your second was threatening me. Make no mistake, I can back myself up, but if you want to throw down, my friends here have my back, and we will take you down hard!"
By this time the room was swimming in darkness, and my eyes were a whirling mass of lavender and fury.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Chloe, Gabe, Pete, Ceri, Jamie, Bruce, and Alfred

'Thank you, J'onn. Thank you very kindly.'

Chloe awoke from her trance to find the room bleached black, and Wraith squaring off against a black-cowled man whose false face she didn't immediately recognise.

Angels of Vengeance facing off in a very small room.

A room full of world-crucial tech and rather vulnerable people.

Chloe's eyes went wide. "Okay. So. Mindlink established? Getaway secure... we can probably start now. What did... what did I miss?"

Gabe's eyes were similarly wide, his knuckles white around the edge of the table. "Something... awkward."

"Somethin' scary," Pete agreed, though his eyes were narrowed and he was cracking his knuckles.

"Apparently this lad's from an alternity," Jamie whispered. "Parallel. That explains the headache I've been getting. Temporal anomaly. Just like the one in Cardiff."

Ceri tossed Jamie his coat, and Jamie snagged it from the air even as Ceri was clipping the pouch The Black Hood had given her to her belt...

...she was ready to break heads if things went wrong... ready to cut loose...

But then Bruce Wayne shoved past Ceri and into the room, leaving Alfred standing in the doorway looking... stern.

But Bruce? That Voice was back, darker even than before, dark to match the shadows that crawled the walls.

"Not. In. My. Father's. House."

He snarled, glancing from The Black Hood to Wraith and back again and somehow not taking his eyes off of either of them.

"Wraith is a trusted friend," he snarled at The Black Hood, "which is more than I can say for you."

"The Black Hood," he snarled at Wraith, "whatever else you might say about him, is a guest in my house, just as you are. Whether you like it or not, whether I like it or not, you are both guests in my house and thereby under the fragile shelter of my hospitality. And where my ancestors come from and where my heroes come from, they take hospitality very very seriously."

His hands bunched into fists, and his voice was The Wrath of God.

His voice was the voice of a Spectre.

His voice was the voice of The Bat, though he knew it not by that name.

"Check your egos at the door, people," he snarled, "along with your preconceptions and your misconceptions and your temper-tantrums. We are The Outsiders, and all we freaks have is each other."