Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sharon Carter stared at the calender on her wall, counting the stars she had drawn on once each day was over. In total it had been one thousand four hundred and sixty days since the world went to hell. When life became a horror movie. When the heroes and villains united to feast on the living. Four whole years without hope. In other words, it's her wedding anniversary.

It was supposed to have been the happiest day of her whole life. And at first it had been, when she was in the church in her wedding dress. When her father Sam had walked her down the aisle and she saw Clark there, looking so handsome in his suit. Despite what she had heard and expected she didn't feel any fear or worry, just happiness that this was happening. That she was going to be Sharon Carter-Kent. That this was the start of a whole new chapter in their lives and no matter what struggles they face, whether normal or superhero related, they had the promise that they could depend on each other for strength and support.

They didn't have a big wedding, just family and close friends. Well, in truth it was her very large family and his very small group of trusted friends from the Legion. She was sad she never got to meet Clark's parents, and wonders if she measures up to what Joseph and Sarah Kent wanted their son's wife to be like. She knows they probably expected a more traditional housewife, but she hoped that they would still have liked her. Or at least liked her better than her father liked Clark, which could barely be called tolerant.

Her happily future was destroyed once they had left the church, laughing and smiling with joy. The were supposed to get into the limo and be driven to the reception, except for some reason Captain Marvel was there, looking around like he was dazed and confused. Sharon had never been that close to the Hero, but she instantly became worried when she saw the blood on his chest.

"Sergeant Marvel? Are you ok?" Clark had questioned with a serious and focused tone, and Sharon didn't care how professional and calm he looked to everyone who didn't know what was happening. Something horrible had happened, and she understood Clark needed to find out what. For all she knew, Sergeant Marvel might have fought his way through an army of aliens from Thanoseid's Parademon Order, and Sharon didn't think the world couldn't survive something like that happening again. The Avenging Legion had been practically cut down to half its members before the Apokalyptian War so Earth wouldn't have enough protectors to survive. Even if they did, they would likely end up without any heroes left and the world would be much worse.

"Please." Sergeant Marvel practically whispered, looking like he was in pain. "Everyone please. Run away."

"What do you mean? What's wrong?" asked Dinah Barton, while her husband Clint Archer and son Connor stood behind them. The rest of Clark's friends looked at each other with worry as they observed Sergeant Marvel, with Jubilation Lee looking the most frightened. It was only then that Sharon noticed something odd, and something that frightened her. What looked like a bite of the sergeant's wrist, which looked rotten and disgusting. And wasn't bleeding at all.

Apparently they had all taken too long to make a decision, because one second Sergeant Marvel had been standing there and the next he had pushed Clark to the ground and was on top good him, chewing and biting at his coworker's neck. No one did anything for a few seconds, just stared in horror at what had just happened. Then one of Sharon's cousins screamed and Connor began crying which woke everyone up, things then went to hell.

Sharon honestly can't remember what happened next that clearly. All she could think about was Clark, dressed in such a nice suit, on the ground an evening murdered by a fellow costumed hero. What she did know was that Jubilee had been handed Connor and dragged Sharon away to safety with the intention of returning to help her fellow heroes to subdue their fellow hero. Then she had found out what was going on with the news, about the reports of some kind of infection and how everyone had been transformed into what was quickly accepted to be zombies, though nobody ever figured out what caused it. Heroes, villains and civilians alike were transformed into undead monsters that were starved for the flesh of the living.

Thankfully not everyone had been infected and four years later humanity was still surviving somehow. It turned out SHIELD had created many plans for this exact scenario and after the first five failed they went for the underground bunkers and while it was difficult they had found a way to escape being completely slaughtered. The heroes and villains who were lucky to not be infected put aside old rivalries and worked together to protect everyone they could, with the goal being to kill as many zombies as possible and try to wait them out to see if they will die of hunger.

"Sharon? Are you hungry?" Jubilee asked as she walked up to her, Sharon having noticed her come into their room, a plate with six slices of bread in one hand and a bowl of soup in the other. She sat on the bed opposite to her and placed everything on the table between them, smiling warmly at her friend. "How are you doing? I know what, you know, today means for you."

"I'll be fine Jubilee." Sharon answered as she returned the smile, taking a slice of bread an breaking it apart before dipping it in the soup. "Where's Connor?"

It didn't take long for Sharon and Jubilee to learn that Clint and Dinah had been infected, presumably by Sergeant Marvel, meaning that Connor was their responsibility from then on. And while it was difficult for the two of them to raise a orphaned child in this nightmare of a world, she was starting to think they were getting the hang of it. The ten year old was pretty much the only thing that kept Sharon going, as without him she wouldn't have anything to fight for. Connor still had nightmares, and for good reasons, and at times he seemed a little too withdrawn and quiet than what Sharon thinks a ten year old should be, but he was the sweetest and most caring boy she has ever met.

"I'm here." answered the kid himself as he practically ran up to them after closing the door behind him, and after Sharon gave him some room he squeezed past her and the table to sit on his bed which was at the wall near Sharon's and Jubilee's beds. "Sorry, I was helping Mr Castle and Mr Snart with some things."

"Connor! We've told you before, you have to stay away from those two." Jubilee practically hissed and Sharon couldn't really blame her. Like Sharon, Jubilee only found the strength to get up every morning so she can look after Connor. So the last thing either of them want is for Connor to spend time with a psychopath with a death wish and an insane mercenary who believes they're characters in a fanfiction written by a loser with no future and is afraid of being decapitated like someone called Headpool.

"They needed help moving some stuff. It wasn't like they were teaching me how to use a gun." Connor responded with a tone that could almost be considered disrespectful and rebellious, something Connor has never had. Sharon shared a look with Jubilee who almost looked scared, though she nodded to show she wasn't leaving. They both knew a day like this would come eventually, when he would want to become more independent. They just thought it would happen much later.

"Look I know you probably think we're being unfair Connor. But we just want to protect you. We've told you before that you're too young to-" Sharon began, but suddenly Connor interrupted her.

"I'm not too young. Billy is nine and his parents let him use a gun as long as he is with them. Sally's parents are teaching her about how to load a gun and are letting her carry around a knife." Connor argued, his voice getting a little more loud with each word.

"Connor, don't speak to us like that!" Jubilee responded, looking as outages as Sharon felt.

"No! I'm not a kid. There are monsters in the world and you won't let me help!" Connor shouted, and Sharon was so grateful for the fact that the three of them were given their own room, because if they had been unlucky they would be getting a lot of stares right now.

"Our job is to look after you. Your parents would want you to be safe." Jubilee replied angrily.

"You don't know what they would want! They're dead, and neither of you are them! You're just the people who got stuck with me!" Connor practically screamed, before standing up and before anyone could react, he had got past them and had left their room.

Sharon and Jubilee just sat there staring at the door, neither having to look at the other to know what they were feeling. What Connor had said had grit more than either had expected. They knew Connor missed Dinah and Clint it was only natural, and Jubilee and Sharon have never claimed to be his parents. So they had no right to be hurt when he just spoke the truth. But at the end of the day they have been raising him for four years and somewhere along the line he became the son neither of the two women had.

"He doesn't mean that." Jubilee finally said, an dthe two looked at each other. "I mean, he means it now but he will feel sorry. He cares about us and he only said that because he's a kid."

"I know." Sharon replied simply as she dunked a piece of bread in the soup.

It was a few hours later when it happened. She was in the main hall of the bunker, helping with cleaning out the guns, when along with everyone else she heard tells echo from the corridors. Everyone paused what they were doing, from those handing out lunch rations to the kids playing with toys. Then the alarm went off, an alarm that caused everyone to freeze in feast before dashing into action.

The alarm meant the dead had found them.

Sharon grabbed a pistol for herself before happening to hand all the soldiers necessarily rifles and machine guns. Meanwhile she saw their few superhuman dash through, from heroes like Skulk to villains like Terra-X and even supernatural monsters like Speed Demon. Jubilee was among the superhumans, but Sharon was confused when she ran up to her.

"Sharon! Have you seen Connor?" Jubilee asked and Sharon felt as if her heart stopped while all the air in her lungs vanished.

"What do you mean?" she responded in terror. "He should be with the rest of the kids."

"Nobody's seen him since this morning. Do you have any idea where he is?"

"He..God, shit I don't know!" Sharon said as she began to panicking, before an idea entered her mind. "The archery range. You know he goes down there to practice."

"That's it!" Jubilee yelled happily. "I'll go get him."

"No you're needed with the rest at the front. That's the most likely place they'll be coming from. I'll get Connor." Sharon said firmly and while she could see how much she wanted to Jubilee didn't disagree. Instead she nodded and looked at her with eyes that spoke the simple message of begging her to come back with Connor, before she joined everyone leaving down the corridor. After Sharon had told her coworker what was happening she set off towards the archery range and prayed to God that Connor was there. Eventually she reached the archery range and pushed the double doors open, letting them slam forwards with a bang.

"Connor! Are you here!?" Sharon asked as she held the pistol tightly in her hands. She looked around widely, her heart beating faster in fear when she saw his bow on the ground with a pile of arrows. For a second she heard nothing, then she saw a shadow moving out from behind some boxes. "Thank God, you're here. Connor we have to-"

Sharon stopped in horror when the figure emerged from behind the boxes, one hand clasped tightly around Connor's arm. He had changed from the suit into his costume. Many of the heroes and the villains were in their costumes. Before he died, killing himself before the infection took him completely, Niles Cable had theorized that the majority of them might purposely wear their costumes as a sort of coping mechanism in order to process what they had done. Personally, Sharon had always thought it was a way of mocking humanity. For putting so much faith in the idea that people in tights could protect them from the horrors of the world.

"Sharon? Is that you?" Clark asked, and despite show horrifying he looked Sharon could hear hints of hope and joy in his voice. Meanwhile Connor was lowered to the ground, but he clearly couldn't break free from Clark's grasp. "My God, it is you! When I dug into here to get a meal first, I don't think you would be here. I'm so happy to see you!"

"Clark. Please don't do anything." Sharon finally said as she aimed her gun at Clark, who somehow showed surprise on his decaying face.

"Sharon, you won't hurt me." he responded confidently, and once that might have been true. But not anymore.

"That boy you have. That's Clint's and Dinah's son." Sharon began, and she was heartbroken when he saw him smile and show his rotten teeth at Connor.

"Really? Wow, he has grown hasn't he? I wish Clint and Dinah were alive to see this. They never stopped talking about you Connor after they were turned. Wanted to make you like them so the three of you could be together forever."

"I will kill you if you don't let him go." Sharon continued as she ignore the years in Connor's eyes while Clark looked at her in confusion. "Because Connor is the closest I'm ever going to have to a son, and I would sooner kill everyone here before I would let anything hurt him."

"Sharon come on. You know bullets don't hurt me." Clark replied.

"When Strangefate was turned he lost the ability to do magic which was why we were able to kill him so quickly. We captured Shatterstarfire once and we found we could be cut her with a butter knife. So I know that a bullet in the head will kill you like anyone else."

"Please Sharon, just think about this. Let me turn you. We can be together and in love from now to the end of time. We can even have Connor join us." Clark told her as he gently let go of Connor's arm, though before the boy could run anywhere Clark had put a firm hand on his shoulder. "We can be a family."

Sharon has spent the last four years practising with firearms. Before she died Susan Storm has said that in a different life she would have made a great agent for SHIELD. So when she pulled the trigger she knew it was pinpoint accurate. Sadly she had been hoping on the idea that the transformations into one of the undead had affected his powers more.

"I can't believe you would actually do that." Clark practically growled in anger, as he crushed her gun with his hand while shoving her forward. She was sent flying into the wall and she yelled in pain as she slumped to the ground, before suddenly Clark was lifting her off the ground by her throat.

"Clark...please..." Sharon begged as she struggled for breath.

"Please Sharon don't struggle. Everything will be alright. I'll just take a quick bite and then everything will be alright. Well, one or two bites." Clark said with a small smile before opening his mouth wide. Sharon kept struggling, determined not to scream while also hoping that Connor was taking the chance to run.

She glared at Clark as he mouth came ever closer to her face, when suddenly Clark froze after she heard a swift noise similar to a knock on a wall. Sharon stared in confusion as Clark went limp, let go off her and fell forward for his head to crash face first into the wall beside her. Sharon watched as her husband's finally dead corpse slumped to the ground with an arrow at the back of her head. Tearing her eyes away from the painful sight, she turned to see Connor who was slowly lowering his arm which held his bow. When she saw the tears in his eyes and look of horror on his face, she instantly forgot about Clark and was on her knees and hugging Connor in a matter of seconds.

"It's ok, it's ok. You're ok." Sharon told him as she hugged him tightly.

"I-I thought..." Connor said as he struggled through his tears as he tried to remain calm. "I thought it would be easy to kill them. I thought I was ready. But I'm not."

"It's ok. I know it isn't." Sharon said as she pulled back and smiled at him reassuringly.

"I know who that was. I know he's your husband." Connor said sadly, looking down at his feet like he thought she was going to be angry with him.

"No it wasn't. That was just a monster. My husband has been dead for four years." Sharon told him. "You shouldn't feel guilty. You saved my life."

She told him this because it was true. While she had at first hoped some part of the good man she married still lived on inside the monster. But now she knows the truth after seeing this. He died that day when Sergeant Marvel attacked him.

"Really?" Connor asked hesitantly, becoming less worried when he saw how genuine she was.

"Really." she told him, before realising how long it's been. "Come on, we have to get you with everyone else. It's been awhile so since we haven't heard anymore alarms, things might not be as bad as we feared. Let's go find Jubilee."

Connor nodded and taking hold of his hand, though she let him carry his bow, Sharon led him back to the main hall. And for the first time, despite everything that had just happened, feeling that things might not be as bad as she thought. For the first time, she had hope in the future and that Connor will be alright after she is gone.

Chapter Text

Karl Schmidt smiled at the man in front of him, while the elderly individual only glared back. This only smiled more, to see the defiance in his eyes and the unbeatable spirit that earned him Karl's unwanted respect all those years ago. The two were sitting on chairs opposite each other thought the younger man was strapped to it, while to Karl's left there was a clear view of the city through the stainless windows. Karl was dressed in his full uniform, which was a skin tight black and red outfit. He had long ago abandoned his cape, though he was considering wearing it again as he has grown to miss it. The Man in front of him however was wearing a black jumpsuit befitting his status as a prisoner with a symbol on the chest which signifies his crime.

"I thought I would come down and wish you a happy birthday Clark." Karl said with a smile while Clark Kent, his oldest enemy and the only man he considered a friend, looked ready to strangle the demigod to death. "After all, it's not every day someone turns eighty-three."

Again Clark didn't respond, just continued to glare at Karl with anger. Karl again smiled in return, only turning away to look at the door opening on his right. His butler Heinrich came in pushing a trolley with a plate of food and a bed tray, and once close to Karl he place the bed tray on Karl's lap before placing the plate of food on the tray. It was Karl's favourite, tomatoes and lettuce with beef.

"Thank you Heinrich." Karl said with a smile after being handed his knife and fork. Heinrich bowed briefly, before leaving the two old men alone in their room. Karl looked to Clark as he began to cut up his beef. You don't mind do you? I figured you wouldn't be hungry. After all, you never seem to want to eat something. My men have to practically force the food down your throat to keep you alive."

"Anyway, I thought you would like to hear that my men have taken down the last of that Fighters for Freedom terrorist group. Their leader the Hyena is currently being dissected along with the rest of the rogue metamutants. Interesting man, but not as funny as he thinks he is." Karl said in between chewing his food. "My wife Diana, you remember her she is called Overwoman by the public, she's hunting down the few stragglers that are left with my sister. You know her as well, Petra, she was created from my blood by the FFF to kill me. Except she saw the greatness of my goals and joined me, and now calls herself the Widow. She was the one who stopped you from escaping last time. She's having great fun with that new suit of hers by the way. Knew she was strong enough to tame the creature.

Clark continued to glare as Karl spoke about what has happened in the two months since they've last talked. About how cartoons are being shown to show children how evil and corrupt things were before the Axis fixed it. Karl's favourite was the one about him fighting Lex Luthor, Clark's best friend until Karl burned him to death with his heat vision. He mentioned how it would soon be the anniversary of the death of Clark's wife Lois, and reminded him in perfect detail how she died. He went on to discuss the destruction of the American way of life along with the disgusting culture of every country Karl had taken over for the glory of the Fatherland. He discussed every glorious act he had done because he knew how exhibit disgusted Clark, knew how despite his weak mind his will was without equal. It was why Karl kept Clark alive all these years, because it had become a hobby of his to try to break this man who despite his appearance was five years younger than him. Karl was forever thankful that the experiment with the alien cells appeared to have made him immortal as it meant he could protect his empire forever.

"And what else is new? Oh yes, you might find this interesting. According to a few scientists led by Dr Franklin Richards they have discovered evidence that parallel universes could exist." Karl said, not caring that Clark hasn't said a word since the former started talking. "That means that somewhere out there in the eve growing multiverse, there might be a universe where you chose the right side. Of course, I doubt you would be as interesting if you had. Anyway Richards says that with our current technology we should have means to travel across the multiverse within ten to fifteen years. Isn't that excited?"

Clark gave Karl the same answer he gave to Karl for every question he asked. Silence and a glare. Now usually Karl would just continue talking or take the opportunity to leave if he's grown bored of the conversation. But this time he instead just sighed and having finished his food, placed the tray on the small table in front of the two of them. He looked at Clark with a odd look in his eyes that unnerved Clark.

"You know you're my best friend correct? I know I'm not your best friend," Karl told him when he saw the anger and disgust in Clark's eyes, "but the fact remains that you are my oldest and strangely most reliable enemy, and that makes you my best friend. I mean you know everything about me and have used that to your advantage so many times. And I know everything there is to know about you."

"Where are you going with this?" Clark asks hesitantly, freaked out by Karl's genuine show of vulnerability.

"The doctors told me what happened three days ago. How you forgot one of them who has been keeping you alive for nearly a decade." Karl told him as he stood up and then looked down at Clark. "That's why I kept reminding you about Diana and Petra. I saw in your eyes that if I hadn't you wouldn't have remembered them."

"And? Why do you care?" Clark asked.

"Because I don't want to come in here on day to see you a shadow of your former self. I would rather you die here now that see you become that." Karl explained, smiling in a way that would have been reassuring if it had been from literally anybody else. "Which is why I'm here to kill you."

Clark didn't respond, which in a way made Karl so proud to see. If he wants strapped to that chair Kalr knew Clark would be trying to tear Karl's eyes out, because that's the kind of person he was. Someone who would never give in.

"But I wanted to give you the choice. Your doctor scan give you something that will let you drift off to sleep. Completely painless they tell me. For an old man like you, that would be preferable. But I will only allow them to do that if you beg me to allow you such a peaceful death." Karl told him with a grin. "If you don't beg, I will kill you personally. I will break every bone you have individually and use everything at my disposal to keep you alive through all of it. Your death will come after hours of pain and agony, more than you or anyone else has ever suffered before. Like I said, to prevent that from happening all you have to do is beg."

Clark was silent for a moment, deep in thought, and for a moment Kalr actually thought he was going to do it. The idea of the man he respected so much begging him for a peaceful death sickened him to his core, but that vanished when Clark looked up at him with defiance in his eyes.

"What are you waiting for? Better get started on killing me then you can get back to your empire of death." Clark firmly said, the strength in his eyes contrasting his frail old body as he sat up straight. Karl smiled and deep down feeling sad about living in a world where a man like him doesn't exist, before he started breaking all the bones Clark's left hand at super speed to test his resolve. Clark's face scrunched up in pain, but he impressively held back the scream which made Karl grin even more. He then continued with the torture and seven hours later he left the room with tears of pride in his eyes, while the remain of Clark Kent were left splattered across the entire room.

Chapter Text

Alexander Luthor sat there in his chair, watching the fire burn in his fireplace. He didn't turn when he heard the wall to his apartment being smashed through and the sound of the rain and thunder shook the outside world. He didn't turn as he heard the five of them approach him from behind. He only turned his chair to face them when they spoke.

"Luthor. We know what you did." said Supreme, who Alexander knew was really Kent Rogers a man he ha considered a friend back during the war. But then he learned that granting him those powers of his were a mistake once he discovered that Rogers was secretly a HYDRA agent from the beginning. It had been difficult but he had been able to kill him with Ultratallo and keep the public believing that Super-Soldier had been loyal to the Allies. Until the Avenging Gang, back then known as the League of Avengers, found him alive and frozen in ice, and not knowing the truth freed the monster from his prison. It hadn't taken him long to betray them and start taking control, and the billionaire philanthropist knew the only reason he handy been killed immediately was because Supreme handy known he had built Ultratallo. It looks like he had figure that out, along with that Led had been secretly funding the Avenging Gang and it's members. Alexander looked at the other members of the group that while publicly never taking an official name, had one given to them by the public through whispers. The Masters of Crime, and Alexander discovered every single one of their origins through his resources.

There was Kent's wife Ororo Lane, who was the adopted daughter of a mystical cult of women called Amazons who hid on an island training to one day take over the world when they were at their weakest. A metamutant with the power to manipulate the weather which was enhanced by the magical weapons and abilities she had acquired over the years, Ororo killed all of her sisters as she didn't want to share the world with any of them. Only some escaped her slaughter and none were what Alexander would consider good. She introduced herself to the world as Storm Queen and after briefly fighting Rogers, the two eventually became an item and announced that to the world by destroying a few buildings. Standing near to her was her lover, a fact that was somehow unknown to Rogers which in turn was very amusing to Alexander, Wayne Logan who was the costumed ruler of New Gotham City Silver Dagger. Logan's past was harder to pin down than most bees of the Masters of Crime, but what Alexander did know was that he submitted himself to experiments that bonded his skeleton with unbreakabke metal back in 1982.

Lighting up the dark room was the group's youngest and most sadistic member Hellstrike, in reality seventeen year old Danny West. Adopted by his uncle Allen Blaze after the madman sacrificed the six year old's aunt Iris Simpson for dark power, he taught the boy everything he knew and once West have everything he wanted he killed the man without any regret at the age of thirteen. A year later had had sold his soul for great power and began terrorising the innocent as a demonic spirit that ran faster than anyone could see. Standing next to him was the boy's best friend and role model Tony Stark. Crippled by an accident that many believed was orchestrated by his brother Hal, Stark dreamed of getting his revenge. This dream was finally made true when a ship crashed down with a dying alien. Stark used the technology and mysterious lantern in the ship to create an armoured suit that grated him amazing abilities. He was quickly known as Power Armour and gleefully uses it to make Stark Industries even more powerful.

"What is it you think I've done? I'm just an old man." Alexander responded without a care. He instantly regretted how he said that when in a blink of an eye Supreme had him by the throat and was slamming him against the wall. Alexander considered it a testament to his willpower that he didn't scream out in pain, and he instead glared at the tyrant.

"Don't test me Luther. Tell me where the Avenging Gang's hideout is. You will tell me what the Jackal's plan is." Supreme ordered, and when Alexander smirked he saw the former soldier become even more angry. He let go and allowed Alexander to drop to the ground, talking again. "Fine. Resist all you want. There are easier ways to make you talk. Ororo, do your thing."

"Since when did I let you order me around?" Storm Queen asked, looking at Supreme with fury in her eyes.

"Don't start this again woman. Just uses your magic to make him talk." Supreme responded through gritted teeth.

"Oh, so there is trouble in paradise." Hellstrike said with a smile while everyone heard Power Armour suppress a chuckle.

"Don't start with me Danny. Or I'll do to you what I did to that Geo-X girl." Supreme said with a sadistic grin that instantly shut Hellstrike up.

BANG!

Everyone looked to see Alexander's corpse slump to the ground u nd, the gun from the inside of his dressing gown pocket falling from his hands. The bullet had gone clean through his head, killing him instantly and in doing so preventing the villains from learning what they wanted.

"Two people faster than a bullet and neither of you are able to stop that?" Steel Claw asked, earning a glare from Hellstrike and Supreme.

"Go through his things. Find something." Supreme said slowly, desperately trying to control his anger after that embarrassing defeat. As he walked towards the hole in the wall, he grabbed Storm Queen by the waist to take her with him. "And you're coming with me."

"Oh fine. If I have to." she responded with a bored tone and as Supreme flew away with his wife in his arms, he left the rest of his so called team to get to work.

"He's a terrible leader. No wonder Luthor tried to kill him all those years ago." Power Armour said, though nobody answered as they started to look through the dead man's things. Slightly annoyed but deciding to forget about it, Stark began to help them look through everything.

Chapter Text

Wayne Stark sat in his cave, deep in thought and trying to ignore the pain of what today would bring. He has been trying to work up the courage for today for almost a week, but he still didn't think he could go through with it. He knows Edwin and Petra were worried about him even though they were hurting as well, and he hated himself for not being strong for them especially Petra. He knows what losing a parent he should be helping his adopted daughter. But instead he his inside the Fortress, the underground cave which he and his husband Clark used as a base to protect the world from.

When Wayne became Dark Lantern twenty years ago he had swore that he would bear the burden alone. When he found that alien ship and he was exposed to that mysterious energy, which enhanced his intelligence and granted him healing abilities far beyond anyone could imagine, he used the material from the ship to create an advanced suit that used the same self perpetuating energy that powered the ship. He used that suit to protect the innocent and stop his sister Quinn from benefiting from wars that she supports by selling both sides weapons, and later fighting him when he became the villain called Iron Hyena. And when other heroes began to appear five years after he became Dark Lantern he became one of the original founders of the X-League, yet he still chose to keep his life in the League separate from his duties in New Gothpolis.

And then he met Clark, frozen in ice but still alive. He helped bring the WWII legend back to life and despite their differences the two became fast friends. And then eventually something more, something much better than friends. Until now they had spent ten years together, slowly falling further and further in love, getting married and even adopting Clark's clone/daughter Petra Lee six years ago after her first parent died. At the time everything seemed perfect and that nothing could ruin it.

Lex Magnus, secretly known as the Metal Skull and the Aqua-Soldier's greatest enemy, ruined it when he created a unique sentinel he called Jobalt. Wayne had never felt more powerless when Magnus had him trapped and forced him to watch as Jobalt slowly but surely beat Clark to death. The rest of the X-League, along with a few solo heroes like Vengeance and Shattericefire, had been able to stop Jobalt and capture Luthor but by then it has been too late. And now, a day after the public funeral for Aqua-Soldier, it was time for the real funeral for Clark McKenzie.

"Sir." Edwin said hesitantly from behind him. "I'm afraid it's time sir."

"I know Edwin. I know." he responded with a sigh of sadness as he stood up from his chair, already dressed for the occasion. "Where's Petra?"

"In the car sir. She...she hasn't been talking that much." Edwin informed his friend with pain his eyes.

"Let's just try to get through today. I think that's the best we can do for now." Wayne told Edwin, who nodded sadly in agreement.

Wayne wanted to talk to Petra as Edwin drove them to the funeral, but like always he wasn't good with his words. Clark had always been better at that stuff than him, he has always been the strict parent unlike Clark who could talk to Petra easily. So instead of trying to get his daughter to open up, Wayne looked out of the window at the people on the streets. He could see their depressed faces, every single one of them still struggling to live in a world without Aqua-Soldier. Wayne would give anything to swap places with them, because he was certain it is harder to live in a world without Clark McKenzie.

When they got to the church, Wayne had to gather every ounce of willpower to get out of the car with Petra. Over the next hour he talked with the people he was paying to manage the funeral and watched as all of Clark's friends came inside, all giving Wayne sympathetic looks that painfully reminded Wayne of why they were all here. As Wayne looked around he saw all manner of familiar faces. From Clark's now elderly partner Lana Olsen from when he worked at the Daily Planet in the 1940s to their friends in the X-League like William Hall and Dinah Queen, and even a few friends from the general superhero community like Pietro Reynolds and Blaze West. Wayne noticed that some weren't present, like Dick Murdock and Logan Ryder, though he imagined they were observing this from a distance. Once everyone had arrived and Wayne was sitting next to Edwin and Petra, the minister began to speak about all that nonsense about not being sad about Clark's passing and there is a plan. The only reason Wayne had allowed all this religious talk was because Clark had believed and Wayne knew he would have wanted a funeral like this.

Eventually it came to the point it was time for him to make a speech about Clark, and as the minister turned to look at him and give him the podium, Wayne found himself terrified. He had thought he was ready to do this but in that second he couldn't do it. He didn't know what would happen to him if he got up there and tried to speak, and he knew he would hate himself forever if he failed Clark in a situation like this. Not for the first time Wayne wished he had died instead of Clark, because the simple fact is the world would be a far better place with Clark and without Wayne.

Suddenly he felt a hand gently hold his. He turned to find it belonged to Petra, who nodded encouragingly to Wayne. The man smiled briefly, for the first time since Clark's death, and having newfound confidence stood up and made his way to the podium. He nodded to the minister before turning to the crowd, finding that their sympathetic loopholes didn't hurt as much as they did earlier, taking a deep breath before talking about the man he had loved so much.

Chapter Text

June 23rd 1942

Steve Allen looked around at the people in the room with him. Except for two, a man and a woman respectively, they were all sitting in the chairs like him. Steve thought back to after the experiment with the serum and the lightning gave him his powers. As he had dashed across the laboratory faster than anyone could see while red, white and blue lightning danced across his body, he couldn't help but think that nothing could surprise him from then on. He had been so wrong. As it turns out the most surprising thing had been seeing a woman with giant bird wings on her back and a green man with orange eyes sitting on a chair in the corner.

It's not like he should have been surprised. After all they had told him three days ago that there had been other experiments to try and create a super-soldier. Eight in fact, though sadly the eighth one didn't make it according to the scientists he had overheard. Since then Steve had been anxious to meet the other seven who had survived and was actually excited how he could improve his own abilities by training alongside people like him. Of course now that he's here, he can clearly see that apparently they were all affected differently.

"You are correct." said the green man suddenly as he looked at Steve, and everyone turned to stare. "I'm sorry. Your thoughts are rather elite and I'm still learning to control my gift. Besides I figured someone should get us talking and it didn't appear anyone else was going to do it."

"Wait, can you read my mind?" Steve asked and he saw some of the others look at the man suspiciously.

"Not unless I really want to. But you were thinking about us a lot and loud thoughts are hard to block out. But please, let us start again." the man said with a polite smile before suddenly his left stretched across the room for Steve to shake. "My name is Hank Jones."

While still troubled by the fact that the man could read minds, the way his arm stretched just made Steve's face explode into a smile and laughter emerge from his throat. With the exception of the dark haired main standing at the corner, everyone at least smiled or chuckled. Once the twenty-one year old had his laughter under control, Steve took the man's hand and shook it respectfully.

"My name's Steve Allen. And to those who can't read minds, I can run faster than a bullet and I'm not even sure if that's my top speed." he said and once he let the hand go it snaked back to its owner while Steve looked to the black man observing them. "And you are?"

The man jumped a little, surprised to have been spoken to and looking nervous. However he quickly composed himself and looked at Steve firmly as spoke. "I'm Isaiah Stewart"

"No need to be nervous Isaiah." Steve tried to reassure him, having a good idea why the man was feeling that way. "We're all friends here."

"What can you do?" Hank asked, and Steve was glad to see that Isaiah seemed a little more relaxed, though not by a lot.

"I can create things from my imagination. So far it's just basic shapes, but the people in white coats think I could create a plane with all the right parts with practice and some blueprints." Isaiah explained, and Steve started to think that Isaiah might have got the best power so far.

"I'm Diana Stevens." said the black haired woman when Steve looked at her, while she gestured to the winged woman standing next to her. "This is my sister in law Shiera."

"Hello." Shiera said with a polite wave to everyone.

"Nice to meet your ladies. What can you two do?" Steve asked them.

"Well, I think you can guess what the wings are for." Shiera said as she gestured to her back. "But besides that I'm stronger than I was before and I can make objects heavier when I touch them, though they stay the same for me."

"I'm stronger than her and fast enough to catch bullets." Diana said quickly and proudly, and Steve wondered how she learned she could catch bullets. "I can also leap great distances and my skin can't be cut. Also when I touch someone or something someone else is touching, I can make them tell me the truth.

"Impressive." Hank said while Steve and Isaiah nodded in agreement.

"My name's Roger Curry." said the next person Steve looked at, a blond haired man who appeared withdrawn and standoffish to Steve despite how little he had said so far.

"Nice to meet you Roger." Steve responded in an attempt to be nice. "What did the experiment do to you?"

"I can breath underwater and swim as fast as a swordfish." he eventually explained. "I can control marine life and when I'm hydrated stronger and more durable than before."

"Well then I'm not going anywhere near a beach with you." Hank said, and everyone looked at him in confusion before he explained. "One wrong word and you can kill me with one of your shark friends."

That appeared to break the ice and Roger smiled a little while everyone except the last person in the room laughed a little. Once Steve was done he looked at the dark haired man expectantly as did everyone else, but he said nothing and refused to even look at them. After about a minute Shiera had apparently had enough as she spoke with a tone of annoyance.

"It's your turn you know." Shiera told him an the man sighed before responding.

"My name is Bruce Rogers. The experiment didn't do much for me except remove every unhealthy cell with good ones. That means I'm as healthy and as strong as someone who trains and works out their whole life and is at humanity's peak physical perfection." he answered. "I also don't need to sleep and my sense are somewhat heightened."

"Physical perfection?" Shiera asked with a snort, which made everyone but Bruce chuckle.

"It's what the doctors said." Bruce replied defensively and everyone laughed a little again. However the laughter stopped when the door opened and a general Steve recognized walked in. Everyone sitting immediately stood up while those standing stopped leaning against the walls.

"My name is general Ross Lane. And I would like to welcome the seven of you into the United States military." he told them swiftly and simply, and at that moment Steve realised something. No matter what happens next and no matter what he does, there will always be something in the world to surprise him.

September 7th 1942

Wally Barnes knows he has done many stupid things in his life. Yelling at a teacher when he was nine had been the biggest one until now. Here he was, fifteen years old and he had thought it would have been a good idea to stow himself away on a boat to Normandy so he can help fight in the war. And now he's going to die. Like many he hasn't believed the stories about the Axis League, the team of supposedly superhuman individuals with the powers of God. He's been in France for three days now, and the Axis Legion were currently killing all the Allied forces. And what was he doing? Hiding under a desk like the scared kid he was.

The seventeen year old froze when he heard a loud smash and steps suddenly enter the room he was being in. He held his breath and tried to stay as quiet as possible, praying to God to let him survive this in return for becoming a priest like his mother had wanted, when he looked up and saw a deathly pale face stare down at him.

"Hello there. How do you do? I'm Yorick." The man said, his face looking so pale and malnourished that Wally could see the outline of his skull. Suddenly the man vanished and before Wally could react a green light surrounded the desk and it lifted on the ground. Wally dashed out of his hiding place just in time to avoid being thrown with the desk out of the window. Wally looked around widely to see all the members of the Axis League, some German and others from other countries having joined simply because they were given God like powers.

There was Yorick, a serial killer who has plagued New Metram close for almost twenty years according to the newspapers. Nobody knows for certain why the aptly named Mad Skull joined the Axis Powers, but most agreed that he seemed to enjoy the senseless deaths. And somehow despite being the only one without powers or fancy gadgets, he keeps up with his teammates and in fact is the most favoured by the führer himself out of all of them. He wore a suit of the highest quality, with the trousers and jacket blood red, his best black while his shirt being green. Standing next to him was Rodent, a feral woman who had the appearance of a rat and the viciousness to match. She wore a purple swimsuit like outfit that left her legs and arms exposed. With his ice gun in his hand, Baron Zero stood in front of them wearing a blue body out with white gloves and boots while a purple mask his his features.

Wally was about to get off the floor and run, but saw the four other members of the vile team blocking his exit. Vandal Zola, a genius who according to the stories can't be killed, was observing him along with Baron Ocean, though he appeared to watch Wally with a hungry look that terrified Wally. Zola was dressed in a black military uniform that seemed out of place here while Baron Ocean was wearing a green body suit with one large purple tripe going down his chest. Meanwhile Burning Man created a ball of fire in his hand, a message Wally understood completely, while Doctor Sin's yellow ring glowed as yellow rope tied Wally's hands together. Doctor Sin was wearing a white lab coat over a black and yellow bodysuit of a similar design to Burning Man, except his was red and orange.

"So what do we have here?" Rodent asked. "You're a little short to be in the army don't you think?"

"Please. Please don't kill me." Wally begged, hating how pathetic he sound but not sure what he can do.

"Oh don't worry. We're not going to kill you." Yorick said and Wally had a brief flash of hope before it was crushed. "I'm going to kill you. Very slowly. Because the human candle over there keeps killing people too quickly and I can't enjoy myself."

"Oh shut up." Burning Man almost shouted in anger.

"If you have to do this, do it quickly." Doctor Sin said as he stopped using his powers on Wally and gesture to Yorick to have his twisted fun.

Before Yorick could take a step towards Wally however there was a flash of red, white and blue light that span around the room sending everyone flying back. Before Wally could process what had happened, he felt something grab him and wind blow into his face. The next thing he knew he was outside and someone was gently helping him stand on the damp grass.

"Are you alright? Can you tell me what your name is?" asked the Flag, as he checked Wally over. Wally stared at what the newspapers called the Fastest Soldier Alive, shock that he existed. When the army announced their creation to seven super soldiers which they grouped into a team called the Avenging Society, Wally had been those who hadn't believed it. But here he was, being saved by what he had beloved was a propaganda tool. Like in the pictures he had seen he was wearing a blue body suit with red gloves and boots along with a matching mask. Red and white stripes went around his abdomen and in the centre of his chest was a star with a lightning bolt. If Wally had seen someone dressed like this walking down the street, he would have laughed. But seeing the Flag wearing it, he couldn't help but think how cool it was.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thank you." Wally responded with a shaky voice. "I'm Wally Barnes."

"Is that everyone Flag?" asked a feminine voice from behind him, and Wally looked around and found his heart beating faster than when he was afraid of dying. Walking towards him was Columbia, the most beautiful woman Wally has ever seen. Like the Flag she was wearing a similar uniform, with the bottom half being bright blue with red boots while the top half was red with tiny white stars around the arms and a red mask to hide her identity. As she stood there majestically Wally saw that she had silver bracelets on her wrists with a single red star on each and was so safely tied to her belt.

"It better be, because we don't have anymore time." said a voice from behind Wally, and when the teen looked around he hated himself for not doing so sooner.

There stood the rest of the Avenging Society, in all their glory. Floating slightly above the ground at the back was Emerald Soldier, masked from head to toe by a black and green bodysuit with white gloves. Next to him was Miss Eagle, wearing an inverted version of Columbia's costume while carrying a spiked mace, and Sea Captain. The aquatic hero was wearing a suit that was orange on the top half with dark green stripes going down both arms leading to green gloves. The bottom half was completely green and he wore a black belt. The green skinned Spy Hunter was observing Wally while Colonel Bat looked for any threats armed with only a shield. Spy Hunter was the only one not to have a mask, and his suit was all red with one blue stripe wrapping around his torso from his left shoulder while a white stripe did the same from his right. He had white gloves and boots which completed his look. Colonel Bat contrasted his teammates by his black and grey colour scheme along with the bat theme, which apparently no one understood since the rest for the most part had a more patriotic colour scheme. With the exception of the black mask, gloves, boots and belt he had an all grey costume, while his shield had the same colours as multiple circles.

"If you want our autographs it will have to be later. I'm going to take you to the boats heading to safety." the Flag suddenly said with an amused tone and Wally nodded. "Ok. Are you ready?"

Wally nodded again and as the Flag grabbed him with both hands, Wally blinked. Within that second he felt a burst of wind and when he opens his eyes he found he was at the beach looking at boats. Wally turned around to say thank you, but found that the Flag had already left. Looking around for a few seconds, he smiled with a feeling of hope as he then raced towards the boats, content with the idea that with heroes like them protecting everyone things were going to be alright.

October 13th 1944

Shiera screamed with rage as she increased the weight of the mace in her hands and hit Doctor Sin with it. The metahuman barely had the time to construct a yellow shield to block the attack, but he was still sent flying into the building and crashing through the walls. As she flapped her wings to stay in the air, she flew forward to join Isaiah in the air.

"So, has anyone got any idea why the Axis Legion is here?" she asked telepathically, thanks to Hank using his powers to create a mental link for the team.

"Not a clue. What about you Steve?" Isaiah asked his best friend as he fired a blast of green energy at the enraged Sin as he exploded out of the rooftop of the building. The doctor was left studden, allowing Shiera to fly down and strike him again with her mace.

"Maybe this is their last suicide attempt. They know we've won, so they're going all out to try and kill us." Steve answered and Shiera saw him dodging blasts from the cold gun belonging to Baron Zero on the ground.

"That's not a good thing. If they're desperate enough to attack us in New Metram, they must have something planned." Bruce told them, and Shiera hated how likely that sounded.

As she continued to hit Doctor Sin, Shiera couldn't help but think about how crazy her life had become since her husband Carter had died in Pearl Harbor, which in a few months will have been three years ago. She had been distraught when she heard the news and them mourning his death had been the only time her and Diana had spent together without fighting. Both of them had been lost and angry, but not sure how to apply their anger. Then they were both approached by some government agents who explained they possessed a rare metagene and due to the fact they could only find five male metagene carriers, and scared by how the Axis had their own metahumans, they asked Diana and Shiera to undergo experiments to activate them. The two almost laughed at their faces, but Shiera and Diana eventually agreed to it since neither had any idea to move on after Carter's death. And now Shiera was this, a superhuman woman with wings on her back. Even though she had no interest in having a romantic relationship with anyone ever again, she had to admit she was annoyed that the choice was taken from her. No man would ever want to have her as their wife, and it's not like she could ever have a normal life.

Suddenly Sin created a shield which blocked her mace and as a yellow fist grew around his arm, he swung it into Shiera's stomach. The breath was knocked do it of her lungs as she was sent flying upwards and she struggled to regain control of her wings, but to her surprise shelley herself hit something soft and comfortable. As gravity began to make her fall she flapped her wings quickly to remain in the air and she looked as a green blanket disappeared from the sky and Isaiah started to fight Sin with swords, the two trying to cut each other into piece. At that moment, a stray thought in Shiera's head reminded her that there was one person she was interested in, but she quickly forced it out. With or without wings and superpowers, Isaiah and her could never happen and them being friends in public is still an impossibility as much as she hates to acknowledge the fact.

"Shiera, we need you. Their monsters are proving more difficult than expected." Hank told her as she was about to go and help Isaiah, and it was only when the man glanced at her and nodded that she flew off in Hank's and Roger's direction.

Out of all the members of the Axis League, Shiera had to say that she hated Vandal Zola the most. Possessing an intelligent mind ahead of his time, he could have been the greatest genius in history. Instead he decided he wanted to become a mad scientist, create monsters and do such vile things that Shiera still struggled to be live that anyone could be that inhuman. Yorick was perhaps more evil, but while he was cunning he didn't have the same brilliance.

Shiera was reminded of again of why she hated Zola when she saw the monstrosities marching their way through the street. They were the roughly three time the size of an average person with grey skin and spikes protruding from all over their bodies. They were also incredibly powerful and dangerous, able to tear walls apart like they were nothing. With a yell to draw their attention, she flew down and started striking them with her mace. They were all sent flying out, some having their necks snapped and their heads bending down to their shoulders.

"Thanks for the assist Shiera." Roger said as he battled two of the monsters, wearing them out through an excellent balance of agility and strength.

"So what do we do now?" Shiera asked them when suddenly something shot down from the sky into the crowd of monsters. Seconds later the monsters were sent flying outwards as Diana came charging through.

"I don't know but we better think of something fast." Diana told them, and Shiera only then noticed that Bruce and Steve had found themselves here also trying to fight the monsters.

She heard noises above them and while defending herself looked up to see Isaiah was still fighting Sin. Suddenly Sin fired a beam of yellow light that broke through Isaiah's green shields and sent her friend flying downwards, at which point Sin opened up his hand facing down at them. Yellow light spread out from this point until he became an incredibly large dome that trapped Shiera and the rest of her team with these monsters. But they didn't need Hank to connect them to figure out a plan. They already have a plan for when they are in a situation like this. Keep fighting to keep each other alive.

She didn't know how long they all fought together after that point. Zola must have purposely planned to have his monsters and the surviving members of the Axis Legion force them all together. She had felt like she was fighting the monsters for hours, but for all she knew it could barely have been one. But eventually the monsters were all beaten to the ground and she stood victorious with her friends. That is until she felt ice form around her legs, and she looked around to see that the same had been down to her team. She started hitting the ice with her mace but the fight with the monsters had worn her out and she was barley doing any damage.

"You know we had hoped my Doomsday creatures would kill you." Zola said as he stood there observing the team whole Baron Zero stopped firing his gun. Shiera glared at him and his teammates while her friends did the same, with Zola continuing to talk much to her annoyance. "Never mind, we have another plan don't we?"

"Oh yes we do!" Yorick laughed with joy as he practically started skipping after Zola pressed a button on a machine on his wrist. There was a flash of blue light and standing there was a large machine about the size of a car.

"What the hell is that Zola?" Bruce asked through gritted teeth while they all kept trying to escape. While she wasn't so sure about her team she could feel the ice breaking little by little.

"Come on Zola, you promised me I would get to do it!" Yorick started shouting in anger, acting like a child who wasn't getting his way.

"Give it to him already." Zero said with a ground of annoyance. "That way we can finally be rid of him."

"Oh very well." Zola said as he pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to Yorick, who took is happily and started to stroke it like it was a pet. Shiera saw that it was some kind of black box, with a single button on it.

"Be careful you idiot. Activate it after we go." Vermin snapped at Yorick and he took a few steps back while the Axis Legion stood a little closer together.

"Goodbye Avenging Society. It has been an honour." Zola said with a nod as he move to press the button on his wrist. It was at that moment that the ice finally broke around Shiera's feet as did everyone else's, and they all charged forward.

Looking back Shiera knew she could have died there like Hank, Roger and Bruce did. If she had gone to stop Yorick instead of the rest of the Axis League, she wouldn't have teleported with them along with Isaiah, Diana and Steve. She wouldn't have felt Hank, Roger and Bruce did from the bomb Yorick activated though the psychic link Hank created between all of them. She would have died there, along with the rest of New Metram. She would have avoided seeing the world go to hell as a nuclear war began, a war that changed everything. She wouldn't have had to see more pain and suffering than she can safely deal with. Sometimes, when it got really bad, she would look back and wish she had died with her fallen friends so she could have avoided everything.

February 29th 2007

Diana wandered through the ruins of a city she didn't recognise, though she had suspicions about it being Philadelphia, wearing comfortable and loose fitting clothes for ease of movement. She carried a back back, which was filled with the medicine and supplies she had acquired from the settlers who lived past the city. Due to her experience and power Diana often got the job of reaching out to the other communities and creating trades. There were others who did it, but she liked to think she was the best.

She sometimes wondered why she was cursed with this ability. The curse of immortality. While she was pretty sure she could still be killed, she hasn't aged a day since she got her powers all those decades ago. And because of her powers and youth she has been able to survive while Steve, Shiera and Isaiah did not. She had been heartbroken when Isaiah died, felt like she had lost the greatest friend she will ever have when Shiera died, and contemplated suicide when her husband Steve passed on. Even now she sometimes wondered why she doesn't kill herself so she can avoid living any longer.

"Diana!" a voice called out from above and Diana smiled as she remembered why she kept living while her niece Sarah landed in front of her. Her bright green armour and wings were a sight to behold, and the fifty-three year old woman made her helmet vanish.

"Hey Sarah. What are you doing out here?" Diana asked her as she gave Sarah a hug, which the younger woman returned before responding.

"I was just on my way back from talking to Jessica. Her and the rest of her team has finally cleared up all the radiation at the lake." she explained, and She looked around before speaking again. "Hey, would you like a lift to Genosha?"

"Yeah that would be good thanks." Diana answered as she watched as Sarah reached out with her hand to create a green circle from her to step on. Once she had done, sitting down to grip the edge, Sarah's helmet reappeared and she flapped her wings before flying into the air.

As Diana watched the ground below, she couldn't help but think about everything that had happened in the last six decades. After Yorick blew up New Metram the world slowly and surely fell apart due to Zola's discovery of atomic weapons, not to mention as governments invested everything in building the same sort of weapons as well as creating new metahumans through any means possible, and this all resulted in a temporary stalemate. Things reached their logical conclusion when the bombs started dropping in 1958. Luckily Diana and Steve had been a secure bunker with their son James along with Shiera, Isaiah and Sarah.

Getting married hadn't exactly been a planned decision, but instead a spur of a moment thing that became a shared wedding for the four of them. The world was falling apart, they were living in bunkers awaiting their deaths, they thought tomorrow wouldn't come. Why wouldn't they be honest about their feelings and enjoy the little time they had left? But tomorrow did come and none of them regretted their choices. And despite how hard the world had become Diana knew that none of them regretted bringing children into the world.

It eventually turned out that investing in metahumans had been a good thing because roughly two years later a few showed up in their bunker, one of their members being able to manipulate radiation to keep them safe. Diana missed Nathan, he was sometimes strict and had a tendency to transform into a giant monster, but he was a good guy. He was able to clear up the radiation in an area so people could rebuild and eventually create their new home.

She wasn't sure who decided to name it Genosha, but despite being referred to as a city it would be better to call it a fortress. There was gigantic gates that provided protecting from the few raiders that existed, which could only be opened from the inside, and a force field which stopped people with powers from flying over the gate. As she watched it come into view, she acknowledged how quickly they had recovered from the nuclear fallout. The radiation might have killed billions but for some it activated their metagenes and many were able to apply those powers the way Nathan did. By removing the damage done by the war and healing everything to the point you could survive in it or using their powers to make life a little easier. Until about twenty years ago, only a few metahumans could survive outside the safe zones Nathan had created. Now most of America is radiation free while other metahumans had done the same for their countries. While contact with countries overseas has been difficult and they aren't formerly working together, communication has slowly been improving. Diana leaped off the disk when they reached the gates of Genosha, and Sarah landed next to her.

"Zero, two, three, zero, five, four, six, one, one, two, one, zero, nine, nine, one, eight." Sarah yelled out to the guards watching them from the lookout. A second later the doors opened and the two women quickly walked through the opening, and looked as people dashed past to help contribute to their community.

“Mum! You're back." James shouted once he saw her, his wife Meloni with him. Diana smiled as he ran past people to hug beep, his father's speed meaning he was still in shape despite being fifty-six.

"It's good to see you James." she said as she gave her son, who looked old enough to be her father, a hug as Meloni caught up with them.

"You were gone longer than normal Diana. Did you get into any trouble?" Meloni asked her as they also had a quick hug.

At times like this Diana found coincidences to be very amusing, considering how Steve saved Meloni's father Wally all those years ago in 1942. And who was one of the first survivors they found with Nathan, having become a single father and a leader of survivors in a bunker? Wally himself, who quickly became a close friend of Steve's. And Diana would never have expected James and Meloni to fall for each other and get married. To be honest she had sometimes thought James would have favoured the company of men, not that she would have cared of course. In fact after the bombs most people stopped caring about skin colour, gender and the company you keep. As long as you did your part and worked without complaint, nobody really cares anymore.

“Just a few issues with some raiders. I took care of it." Diana explained with a smile. She didn't really feel like telling them how she ran into Leonard Zemo at the settlement. Turns out he survived as well and had been made immortal after being exposed to one of his chemicals back in 1950. Been using his genius and ice gun to provide quick and clean water for his community, which was honestly the only reason she hadn't killed him on sight.

"Well don't tell Rebecca. You know what she's like, she's this close to forming a team to patrol everything. Even said they could have team names and everything. So let's not give her an excuse." James said with a small laughter, and Diana nodded in agreement. At twenty-two years old and despite every warning Rebecca had that annoying quality of believing she was indestructible. A consequence of youth, something many of her friends like Jason Castle and Sharon West had.

"Well I better get this stuff to the supplies and tell the council what happened." Diana told them, referring to the elected group of officials who make decisions. "But I'll come round later and you can tell me what I missed these last few weeks.”

Diana smiled as James agreed and after saying thank you to Sarah, Diana watched as the three of them left to do their jobs. Once they had vanished into the crowd Diana began to head to the supply rooms, hoping that Rebecca had remembered to look after her plants while she was gone. Yes it might be upsetting and difficult to keep on living, but despite everything Diana had to say she felt it was easier with her family.

Chapter Text

Selina pocketed the diamond into her backpack which she then put into her shoulders, before racing towards the centre of the room. She passed the security guard she had knocked out, chuckling slightly at how easy it had been to handle him, before aiming her grapple gun to the skylights. She fired and the book latched onto the open window of the skylight, and she smiled as she flew high up into the air. Pulling the gun quickly to unhook the line from the skylight she then rolled herself into a ball before unfolding once she had passed through the large window. She landed gently on top of the roof, and as she pocketed her grapple gun she heard a voice from behind her that she thought she would never hear again.

"I didn't think you would ever come back Selina." he said softly, and it took all of Selina's willpower to not run to hug him. Or beat him for leaving in the first place. Or break down crying that he was here.

"Business wasn't going that well in Metropolis. That Fantastics group were making it impossible for me to make a not so honest living." she responded, hoping the joke would claim her nerves. It didn't.

"So that's the only reason you came back to New Gotham?" he asked her and she wanted to turn around so bad, but at the same time she couldn't. Her goggles wouldn't hide anything and right now she was struggling to control the emotions he would be able to read if he saw her face.

"Why did you come back to New Gotham?" she asked, not wanting to answer that question.

"I said I would return in my letter. I said I would come back to New Gotham when I could better protect those I love." he explained simply and at that moment Selina found she couldn't hold back her anger.

"Parker, if you want to protect someone you don't leave them." she told him angrily as memories filled her head.

Of herself at just twelve years old seeing Parker's parents be murdered, of slowly but surely becoming friends with the strange boy obsessed with spiders, and the many things that happened to them in this city. She almost touched her stomach in memory of when when Harry Valeska shot her, as she continued to remember everything. She remembered how over the years more and more people stepped forwards with names and outfits, slowly transforming the city into a madhouse. From King Penguin and Mystery Man to Crow and that madman's father Norman Valeska, the city just got worse and worse. But at the same time people like Parker with his butler Benjamin Pennyworth, detective George Gordon and doctor May Thompkins ended up helping people and protecting the city. And where was Selina in all of this? Constantly jumping from one side to the next, with only Parker really having hope that one day they will be on the same side forever. And they almost could have been if he hadn't done what he did.

"Selina, you have to return the diamond." Parker finally told her, and at that point Selina couldn't stop herself. She understood what he was now, understood that they were officially on opposite sides, so she was expecting him to try and arrest her. But telling her what to do after what he did? That she won't allow.

"Do you know what happened to my dad because of you?" she asked bitterly and when Parker didn't respond she continued to talk. "He died in prison, alone and with no one even caring to check his cell for a whole day. They didn't even try to contact any of his family."

"I know you hate me for what I did Selina. But I couldn't forgive him for what he had done." Parker responded and despite his detached tone Selina could hear the faint traces of anger in his voice.

"He was forced to do all those things!" she shouted and turned around to face her ex-boyfriend, who stood there in his red and black suit that had a large blue spider symbol on the chest. She recalled when she was fifteen and thanks to Parker she was reunited with her father Joseph Hardy, who had been a mess since her mother had told him Selina was dead just to mess with him. For awhile Selina had never been happier and had believed her life will now be better and she could be a normal teenage girl for once. Then she learned what Joseph had done and then he did all those things that ruined everything.

"I found the strength to forgive your father for killing my parents. Joseph had been starving and homeless and he was afraid to die. I saw the conditions he had been living in and while I would never forget what he had done I accepted he wasn't the monster I had imagined." Parker explained as calmly as he could. "But in case you forgot Selina, even after everything we did to help him, he happily took the money even though he knew you would die. He happily killed Benjamin and I will never apologise for letting him be sent to Raftgate. And I know I hurt you by leaving afterwards, but I didn't have a choice."

Selina just glared at him, her conflicting feelings making it difficult to decide what she wants. One parts of her wants to forgive Parker, understanding why he did what he did. The other part hated him for robbing her of the chance to live a normal life instead of becoming the person she is now. Furious she turned to look away from him and saw in the sky something that will help her avoid talking to him anymore.

"Looks like your precious city needs you." She told him as she gestured to the spider symbol in the sky, created by the searchlight on top of the NGPD police station. "Go on, I'm pretty sure they have something more important than me. Probably a new Green Clown maniac or something."

Parker didn't say anything, and she could feel him watching her. Eventually however she heard the sound of he shooting out a webline, making her smile a little when she recalled him showing it to her when he first invented it all those years ago, and a second later she saw him swinging through the streets below. Taking a deep breath and pushing down her feelings, refusing to let them over come her, she started running across the rooftop towards her ride before any alarms are activated.

Chapter Text

"You're early. Is everything alright?" Logan Wayne said as he heard Terri Kinney open the door to the Burrow and start walking down the stairs. The ninety-five year old man looked great for his age, a benefit of his metamutant healing abilities, the once unbeatable warrior still found it a struggle as he turned to look at his successor. He found it difficult to breath and his joins aches from such small movements, a constant reminder of how he is pass his time.

"No, everything is fine. Me and Dana had to cancel our dinner plans." Terri answered as she reached the bottom of the steps. "Dana had something big come up at work and considering how many times I've had to cancel in the past I think it's fair."

"Well, it's a good thing you're here. Iron Hawk tried to contact you, says he's needs your help." Logan explained a she began pressing button on the computer. "Apparently a Counter-Earth criminal attacked his mother Bonera. I called Ross and passed along the description, and apparently it's the Counter-Earth Two-Faced Goblin, a former engineer known as Hector Dent who used the alias the Three-Faced Goblin. Was once a hero but apparently decided to take his brand of justice a little too far."

"Any idea what he wants?" Terri asked as she observed the recent picture of the criminal. Humans on Counter-Earth didn't age skier than the ones on Earth, so Jones must have used some genetic enhancements seeing as Jones looks about twenty years too young.

"None. But according to Ross he grew increasingly jealous and resentful by how much change him and eventually the JLA brought to Counter-Earth in such little time while he dedicated years of his lifelong for nothing to change. He might be trying to kill us for succeeding where he failed." Logan explained, while pressing more buttons. "I'm sending you all the relevant data. Some of it is a little out of date, but SHIELD was very thorough when researching noticeable figures on Counter-Earth."

"Alright. I'll get moving." Terri said with a nod as the thirty-three year old began to head to the changing room to change into her Dark Claw costume. "Tell Iron Hawk to meet me at Wayne-Stark Tower and we can try to find this guy."

"Terri." Logan suddenly said, himself surprised while Terri stopped to look at him. "Try to be careful."

Logan didn't need to look around to know Terri was probably frowning in confusion, wondering why Logan had said that. She has been Dark Claw for almost seventeen years now after all, she's pretty much outgrown her flaws from when she was a teenager. There was silence for a few seconds, but eventually Terri decided that whatever was going on had to wait. While she had more friends than him than when he was Dark Claw, he had still taught her to prioritize saving lives over their many years of working together.

"I will Logan." she said before she left the main room to quickly get changed. It wouldn't take long as her costume was now made from nanotechnology and could cover her body instantly. It was similar to the one Logan had worn in his prime, except it lacked a cape and the yellow was replaced with red.

Logan himself wasn't exactly sure why he had said that himself, but he had some ideas. The most likely was that he was reaching that age where everyone he knew was dead or he had a complicated relationship with which meant he rarely spoke to them. He still missed his brother Bruce, who he was never able to patch things up with before his death. He hasn't spoken to Jubilee in almost thirty years, his relationship with his former teammates is tense at best like with Super-Soldier, and the only person left in the world who could be called a friend was Terri, and she was technically a clone of him so they naturally had more similarities than differences. Even his dog Fang passed away a few years ago, something that hurt him more than he liked to admit. But the fact was, despite knowing all she had accomplished, Logan knew he didn't have much longer in this world as age has slowed down his healing abilities. He was simply afraid that he will die and it will turn out he hasn't prepared her enough.

He heard Terri activate the Clawmobile, a small part of Logan hating how he referred to it by that name after so many years criticising Jubilee for calling it that, and fly away he continued to send the information to her computer. Regardless of how he felt, Logan knew he had to make every second count before he died so that when it finally did happened, Terri would be safe and can continue to keep Gotham safe.

Chapter Text

The truth is, Alex is the only one to truly remember Krypton due to being eight years old at the time of its destruction. Growing up his younger siblings, through they weren't related by blood but through a shared tragedy, often asked him about their original home planet. They would ask him how much he could remember of their parents, they originally language, their real names. Alex had answered happily, hoping that in doing so it will keep Krypton alive in his memory. Hoping that he won't become trapped as Alex Kent, human son of small town farmers James and Margaret Kent, and he would remain Al-Ex, kryptonian son of scientists Jor-Ex and Lara-Ex.

Of course, his siblings only asked because they were curious and felt out of place with the rest of the world. Not because they wanted to have a strong connection to they heritage, because unlike him they found it far easier. Katie and Jack he understood as they would have been too young to remember anything, though Jack did have nightmares for a few years about it, and while Julie was a little older she had only vague memories, so Alex felt disappointed she didn't have much interest.

It took him a long time to become honestly grateful for everything James and Margaret had done for them. Looking at it from their perspective, the entire situation was insane. They were just a couple living peaceful lives when an alien pod crashed into their barn, containing four alien children one of whom was completely untrusting of Earth's dominant species. And then because of the yellow Sun, those alien kids developed superpowers. Yet somehow they found the courage and the compassion to bring them into their home and love them like they were their own.

"Alex, are you listening?" Julie asked him, bringing Alex back to reality. He remembered where he was and what he was doing before his thoughts drifted towards the past.

"Sorry I just got distracted for a moment. You were saying?" Alex asked as he looked at his three siblings.

The four of them were currently standing on a rooftop, dressed in their uniforms. They all had the same design, but with the exception of the cape and their symbol the only difference was their respective colours. Alex's suit is white, Julie's is red, Katie's is yellow and finally Jack's is blue which worked well with their black cape and symbol. Their symbol was a diamond shaped shield with an S inside the shield, which on Krypton represented the word hope.

"Well, since we don't know what Snark or Luthor have planned down there, so we need a plan." Julie told him.

"Uhh, we have a plan. Go in there, kick some buts and be home in time for dinner." Katie said with an arrogant grin, her hands glowing with yellow energy.

When they had first started to show superhuman abilities, Margaret had fainted. Now thirty-five years old Alex could see that as a reasonable response to seeing a six year old Julie fly around the living room, a rainbow following behind her. After the farmers learned about the other abilities their new adopted children had. They all slowly became stronger with age and their skin harder to break until now very little can hurt them. However they also developed abilities unique to each of them: Alex found he could manipulate the gravity of objects and himself, Julie could fly and run at impossible speeds, Jack could manipulate his density to either become a cloud to fly or become even stronger than his siblings, and Katie could disintegrate matter into energy which she then stored for later use for combat.

Alex had been twelve years old when general Dru-Snark had arrived on Earth, planning to rule the planet with his army of Zn'rx soldiers. Alex could remember how his parents had spoken about the man, describing him as cruel and selfish. It was because of him that Krypton was destroyed as he was the one who tried to use the planet's core to power a new military weapon despite scientists warning him of the danger. Alex had tried to convince the man to stop, hoping that he had somehow changed, but he quickly found that to be untrue. And when Snark had dared to hurt James and Margaret, Alex and his siblings had refused to hold back.

It turned out that Snark was completely unprepared for their abilities, having not been exposed to the sun long enough. After he had left Earth, though it wouldn't be the last time Alex saw him, the Kent siblings found themselves in the unexpected role of superheroes. The world loved them for their heroics and for some like Jack and Katie it expanded their egos a little too much. Jack enjoyed the attention and interacting with people, while Katie loved to show off. Thankfully their adopted parents were there to reign them in and keep them in school.

It was a good thing that they did, as it turned out Smallville over the next few years was in desperate need for heroes. And after that the siblings found themselves drifting to Newtropolis, which needed them more. Thus they became the Super Squad, champions of truth, justice and freedom. Their attempts to make the world better made them clash against a number of foes, including Douglas Luthor who hated them for their alien status and how much the world loved them. He despised them so much he willingly exposed himself to alien DNA that mutated him into a hideous monster, apparently ignorant of how that clearly made him a hypocrite, all so he could try to kill them in a physical fight.

A few hours ago a Zn'rx had tried to attack the heroes, and with help from Jack's best friend and Katie's fiance Franklin Wayne, better known as Bat Oracle, they had tracked Luthor and Snark to the warehouse across the street. Now however the four have reached the part of their day that always made things difficult, the part where they argued about what to do next.

"Katie when has that plan ever worked?" Julie asked her sister, looking at Alex for help.

"Hey don't look at me. I've given up on this argument." Alex told her with his hands raised in defeat.

"Julie, that plan always works. We've always solved our problems by hitting them." Katie argue.

"While I agree a plan would be good, Katie isn't exactly wrong." Jack added, looking reluctant to agree with Katie's plan. "Nine out of ten times the world has been in danger, we've fixed it by punching the problem until it leaves."

"Regardless it's always good to have a plan of some kind. They're bound to know we're coming and probably have a trap waiting for us." Julie responded, and Alex nodded in agreement, though Katie still looked like she was going to disagree.

"You know I'm reminded of a saying from Krypton my mother liked. Translated into English, it goes along these lines." Alex began, taking a deep breath before speaking again. "An idea is like a flower and-"

"Oh dear God, fine we'll make a plan." Katie practically shouted. "Just stop talking Alex."

"Yes please. Those sayings and stories you go on about never make any sense and are incredibly boring." Jack told his older brother, who shrugged in response while Julie nodded in thanks when Jack and Katie weren't looking.

Down below in the warehouse, Snark watched as the pale and monstrous looking Luthor shuffled about, fiddling with his computer which controlled his army of robots. They were pretty basic in design, but Luthor had assured Snark he had upgraded the machines to better deal with the Super Squad. Of course, after twenty-three years of fighting those annoying children Snark has admittedly become cynical as it has resulted in him losing his army and working with this pathetic creature, which only he had little hope.

"How certain are you of this plan Luthor?" Snark asked, noticing how Luthor flinched at Snark's tone. Like the kryptonian Luthor hated bein spoken to without respect, but why would Snark ever demean himself by speaking to Luthor with respect?

"These robots are able to withstand scenarios that can test even your durability Snark. And as you have seen, there were more than enough for what remained of your Zn'rx army." Douglas told Snark, glaring at him with violent rage.

"But thankfully, they are incredibly easy to break." a female voice called out, and they turned to their army of the robots being thrown about and blown up by Alex, Julie and Katie Kent. They heard an explosion from behind them and friend to see Jack Kent destroying the computer with his bare hands.

"What! How did you get in!?" Luthor screamed in fury and confusion. "My security-"

"Was exactly the same as last time genius." Julie told him with some smugness. "Did you really think we would fall with the same trick twice? And while you're robots are pretty tough, we can be creative with our powers."

"I knew I shouldn't have trusted you idiot!" Snark practically hissed before leaping up into the air to try and escape. However he found himself suspended in mid air, trapped by Alex's use of his gravity manipulating powers. Luthor also tries to escape, but all it took was a swift punch into the face by Jack who had hardened himself. Author was sent tumbling to the ground, and while Julie and Katie took care of destroying the last of the robots, Alex created a gravity bubble around the mutated human before he could transform into a liquid and escape.

Half an hour later, the siblings were watching as the authorities took Luthor and Snark away. Luthor was inside a special cage which froze his molecules in solid form while Snark was wearing cuffs which prevented his cells from absorbing solar radiation. Only once they were safely in the vehicles and were being driven off, did the Super Squad depart.

"Do you guys eve feel disappointed by how easy our lives are?" Jack asked his siblings as he flew in his cloud form, Julie racing through the air beside him while Alex carried himself and Katie with his powers.

"No." the three responded immediately.

"Neither do I." Jack agreed with a smile.

Chapter Text

Ororo Munroe sat in the observation deck of the Watchtower, watching the Earth slowly rotate below. The immortal metamutant has seen much since leaving Themyscira back in 1917, mostly a lot of cruelty and hatred only to see it balanced out by love and compassion. But she honestly thinks she will never get tired of this view, and this an opinion from someone who has seen completely different solar systems and planets.

"Hey Ororo, are you alright?" a voice called out to her and she turned to see her best friend Dinah Grey approach her. She was dressed dinner Jean Black costume, just like how Ororo was wearing her Amazon costume.

"I'm fine Dinah. What about you?" Ororo asked as Dinah sat down next to her. Ororo has always been good at reading body language and right now she could see that Dinah was brimming with excitement.

"Oh, I'm fine Ororo. No, I'm lying. I'm better than fine." Dinah said as she took off her her glove and showed Ororo her right hand. And on her finger was a beautiful wedding ring with a small but she grabbing diamond.

"Oh my God. Scott proposed?" Ororo asked as she grabbed Dinah's hand to take a look, an explosion of excitement taking place inside her. She knew her fellow amazons wouldn't be impressed by how she was acting, but she couldn't help herself. Dinah and Scott had been dating for years now and having taken a large role in getting those two together, Ororo feels somewhat invested in their relationship.

Looking back at herself seven years ago, she would never have imagined she would be where she is now. She had been living a peaceful life and only acting as Amazon when the need called for it, when aliens invaded lead by Darkneto and his Brotherhood of Evil Gods from the planet Gepokolips. This event forced Ororo to work with other masked heroes to save the world, complete strangers who ended up becoming the people she trusted most in the world.

There was Kent Bishop, a mutant like her who originated from a doomed alternate future where Earth had been destroyed by a war between mutants and humans, having been sent as a baby to show the world a better path as Mutant-Man. Samuel West was also a mutant who defended Central City as both a CSI and the superhero names Flashcannon. Robert Curry was a mutant with ice powers who, when fleeing his xenophobic parents, was adopted by a family in Atlantis. Meanwhile Bryce Lee and Warren Drake have been protecting Gotham with their powers after being adopted and trained by the mysterious Bat-X, who vanished shortly before the aliens invaded. The final member of the team was the only one who wasn't a mutant, and was in fact a scientist named Hank Jordan who used an alien device called a power ring to fight evil.

Together the seven of them were able to defeat the invasion and force the invaders to leave, and the world celebrated them as heroes. Ororo could see that they could do more good together than separated, so they all agreed to form the X-League to better protect the world. Since then they have fought many threats both large and small, and the bond of their friendship has been tested and strengthened. Over time they included more heroes into their team like: Bart Drake, the time traveling grandson of both Warren and Robert through Warren's future son and Robert's future daughter; the World War II legend Freddy Rogers, who becomes a teenager whenever he says the magic words; Thor-El, the thunder god of an alien planet sent to Earth to learn humility and adopted the human identity of Clark Blake to do so; Scott Rayner, a mutant who uniquely generates the same energy that powers Hank's ring; Janet Sandsmark, a mutant and Hank's girlfriend who chose to join him in being a hero; J'ann G'ry, a martian with unparalleled psychic abilities that put her above many; and of course Dinah, who combines her telepathic abilities with incredible martial arts to fight crime.

"Have you told anyone else?" Ororo asked as she let go of Dinah's hand, who was grinning like a crazy person from happiness.

"Nope. Came straight to see you because I wanted to tell you the most. And also to ask a very important question." Dinah said, taking a deep breath to calm herself down before speaking again. "Will you be my maid of honour?"

"Yes, of course I would!" Ororo replied happily. "By the gods, I'm so happy for you Dinah."

"Thanks Ororo. I mean, I never really thought about getting married until now. It never seemed that important but at the same time I always knew me and Scott would be together. Until he asked, I didn't realize that I would like to get married." Dinah explained to her friend, before her eyes lit up as a thought occurred to her. "What about you? Is there anyone in your life?"

No, nobody for me. I don't age remember. It's sort of difficult to have a relationship when that's hanging over your head." Ororo replied with a small chuckle. "The only people available are J'ann, who as you know struggles to understand privacy, and Thor-El who's, well, Thor-El."

"Fair enough." Dinah agreed with a nod, thinking about how arrogant the god of thunder could be.

"Ororo, Dinah, there you are." a voice said and they turned to see Robert walking up to them in his human form. "Been looking for you. Bryce has some news about Darkneto's Brotherhood and what they could be up to this time. Everyone's heading that the meeting now."

"Alright Robert, we'll meet you there." Dinah said as she rested her chin in her hand and watched Robert leave down the corridor, enforcement returning to Ororo. "Men are so blind. I wasn't eveb trying to hide the thing and as a ring it's pretty noticeable. I actually worry how much money Scott has spent on it."

Ororo laughed and Dinah soon joined her as the two stood up and began to make their way to the meeting, Dinah slipping on her glove as she does. As they made their way Ororo began to discuss if Dinah and Scott had dealt with any members of the Brotherhood recently, both heroes putting the upcoming wedding to the side to focus on their duties.

Chapter Text

"Director Wayne, we've located the target." the voice from the radio told Bruce. "He's heading west, and he's on the rooftops."

"Great work soldier." Bruce said to the walkie talkie before looking at the pilot. "Alright men, let's get this son of a bitch."

As the helicopter turned to head in the direction of their target, the forty-six year old agent tried to focus himself. Memories swirled in his mind, trying to drag him back to wallow in his regrets and failures. But he couldn't let that happen, not when he was so close to ending this war once and for all. A long war that consumed every waking moment of his life for the last twelve years, a war that he has sacrificed everything to win. He has sacrificed everything he loved, every little moral he had left and any chance of a future away from violence and SHIELD. All to protect the world from the threat he saw coming their way, a threat that people were aware about but few were willing to deal with.

"Sir, I see him." the pilot said and Bruce followed his line of sight to see a cloaked figure leaping across rooftops.

"Alright. Johnson, take him down. But wound him." Bruce ordered as he looked at his expert sniper. "I have some things keep want to say to him."

Johnson obeyed his orders and it only took him a few seconds to get his aim right before pulling the trigger, the gunshot cutting through the sound of the helicopter blades. Bruce watched in satisfaction as the target collapsed, clutching his leg but pushing himself back up to the ground. Another shot took out the other leg and Bruce smugly took his time walking towards the figure after sliding down a rope from the helicopter, wanting to drive in how powerless the man was. Was it childish, maybe. Was it cruel, not a chance. Because this man didn't deserve any kind of mercy or respect, even more than the others Bruce has hunted down. This man was special because he was the worst of them all, the one Bruce hated even more than the Hyena because it was people like him who allowed the Hyena to keep living.

"Hello Logan. It's been a long time." Bruce told the former vigilante and so called protector of New Gotham. Logan looked at him with wild and bloodthirsty eyes, wearing a black cloak that was practically falling apart over a black body suit. He had let his hair and beard grow out and now that Bruce could see him, he couldn't help but smirk with amusement at how he resembled an ebony haired Jesus.

"That it has Bruce. That it has." Logan responded, wincing in pain from the bullet sin his legs.

"Impressed? You better be. It took us many years and many failures to perfect those. Thankfully the Hyena was willing to help us with our tests." Bruce told Logan, pulling his gun from his holster. "Those same bullets are in this gun Logan. And as you might have guessed, I don't plan to bring you in alive."

"Bruce, pleased just stop. You have to stop." Logan finally said, and Bruce smiled more as the fearsome Dark Claw continued to beg. "You can't kill every metamutant. There's a new one born every day. And even if you can, what then? Will you kill every genetically enhanced human, every cyborg, every alien, anyone who isn't one hundred percent genetically human?"

"Well I was able to kill Amazon and make it clear that Hippolyta should keep her people in Themyscira. Don't get me wrong I will deal with them eventually, but I have bigger issues." Bruce told him as he looked down the metamutant, clutching the gun tightly in his hand. "And no I won't kill every enhanced human, since most are created by accident so as long as they obey the rules they can live long and happy lives."

"What, and mutants had control over what happened to them? They had a choice to be born the way they were?" Logan challenged. "Like your son? In case I'm mistaken, Barbara apparently didn't agree with you."

Bruce struggled to keep the memories contained, to focus on the present and this moment which he has been dreaming about for years. But he college's but think about how he felt when he learned that his infant son had the metamutant gene. All he could think about was the danger those freaks posed to the world, the evils they were capable of committing, of what the Hyena had done to Jason. He knew many thought he did it without hesitation but in truth it took him weeks to finally come to his decision, to do something that made him hate himself more than anything even though he knew it was right. He had hoped it would have been as easy as when he started this mission, when he refused to obey the orders to leave the Hyena alone because of the information he had on people like Luthor and the Big Question. It hadn't however and he still had nightmares about it to this day. His wife Barbara couldn't handle what he had done, with a part of him understanding her reaction, and she chose to detect to Logan's terrorist group to save metamutants, handing over so much vital information. He had cried when it had been reported she had been killed when his agents stormed one of their bases a year later, but it helped harden his heart to continue in his mission.

"There are sacrifices in every war Logan. With how long you've been alive you've been in a few of them, so you should know what I'm talking about." Bruce told Logan after a moment of silence, which made the fury of Logan's face grow even more.

"This isn't a war Bruce! You're hunting down children, killing innocent people for just being different, experimenting on them so you can kill them better!" Logan yelled angrily, trying to stand up but pausing when Bruce aimed his gun at Logan's face. The metamutant breathed heavily, his fist clenched though his claws remained sheathed. "You killed Sparrow. You killed someone who was basically my daughter. You killed your own friends, the man who mentored you, and nearly every hero and even villain who stood against you. You even turned SHIELD into a force of evil and terror that would impress Lex Luthor. You're creating a world ruled by fear, fear of what you would do to them for stepping out of line."

"I'm creating a world where monsters like the Hyena don't exist. I'm creating a world where gods don't walk amongst mortals freely." Bruce responded, letting anger seep into his tone before saying the final thing he will ever say to Logan. "I'm creating a word where a boy doesn't have to see his parents murdered in front of him."

Bruce pulled the trigger and watched as Logan fell to the ground, blood pouring from the bullet hole. Bruce waited and observed to see if he would get up, like what had happened with the Hyena so many times. But Logan just laid there, the spark of life extinguished, and eventually Bruce began to walk away. With Logan dead, Bruce can continue his duty with no resistance from any unified group. Now Bruce can wipe out the metamutants and anyone else who poses a threat to the innocent.

Chapter Text

Jim Scott was what is known as an android, a synthetic machine created in 1940 by Phineas Horton and powered by a mysterious green flame that even to this day Jim has only scratched the surface of. He ended up fighting for the Allies as part of the Judgment Society of Avengers with other heroes wanting to protect the innocent. This had been crazy years, filled with insane adventures which honestly never really stopped. They included aliens, mythological beings, time travel and even alternate dimensions. Jim has seen so many different realities, met so many amazing people who were both familiar and different at the same time, and is one of the few in the multiverse who retains some memory of the Crisis Wars.

It had never been easy being the artificial being amongst a species that was needlessly cruel to people because of the colour of their skin or their religious beliefs. It hadn't been uncommon for government agents to want to confiscate him as dangerous machinery, to been taken apart to figure out how he worked. He knew the only reason that never happened was because his friends defended him, kept him safe from ever being taken.

Things had got more dangerous for Jim after Super-Soldier lead the JSA and the Allies to victory over the Axis in November 1943, arresting Hitler and his allies like Luthor and the Hyena. For awhile be was protected due to his status as a hero beloved by the public, but eventually it became a serious issue about what to do with Jim. Now that there wasn't a war to fight in, how could he benefit the government. Thankfully he saw where this was going and thankfully he had very good friends, who did what they could to protect him. Even Arthur let him hide in Atlantis for a few years, an act which surprised him due to the withdrawn and antisocial stance Arthur had taken when they worked together. However he also found several people he considered friends like Jenny Prohaska turning against him, though thankfully her Blackhawks saw what she was doing to be wrong. Things only really improved in 1953 when Steve became the youngest president ever in a landslide vote, where he began making serious changes that meant someone like Jim could lead a normal life.

Of course it hadn't been as simple as that, since Steve couldn't change all the opinions of the public. Jim at one point thought that even the respect everyone have Steve would lose to their disagreements with his policies. He did a lot of things people disagreed with though few spoke against out of respect, such as enforcing laws that affected the unequal pay given to women and minorities. Because of his policies things steadily improved as schools for non-white children got better funding and organizations were forced to provide fairer job opportunities. Honestly Jim thinks the only reason Steve lasted for two terms is because people were too afraid to vote against the man who was viewed as the living embodiment of America. It gave him a sort magnetic personality which meant people were more likely to listen to him as opposed to responding with anger.

It wasn't always perfect, as the JSA found that even Steve couldn't stop the evils that plagued humanity. The people feared and hated the Atlanteans, the growing awareness of metamutants evolved into hate crimes, their were riots and protests over the changes Steve was making especially when it came to his stances of homosexuality and other issues. For awhile Logan even started building shelters, expecting the country to break apart over what Steve was doing. But it didn't, because somehow people's better nature won out and when Steve left office in 1961 Bruce Wayne replaced him, and while he made compromises he was better at the politics than Steve. He was able to take his changes further than the super hero was and managed to make the improvements Steve couldn't.

By that point Jim had a secret identity named Alan Hammond, made possible by alterations to his android body to hide his flames and legal documents created by powerful friends, and was living a peaceful life as a normal citizen. The Society stuck around during the Red Scare to reassure people and calm down the insanity, but by 1960 the group had unofficially disbanded as by then it had been reduced to him, Logan, Steve and Clint. It wants because of anything bad, but simply because they all had other things in their lives, other ways they could help people which was necessary seeing as age was causing many to get slower. Some had even started families, like Steve and Lois or Madeline and Jay, welcoming a new generation into their lives.

Jim found his mind returning to the present when he reached his destination, and he looked down at the gravestone. He tried to ignore the pain he felt as his emotions went crazy as memories attacked his mind. Memories of it being 1968 and rescuing two children from their abusive mother Samantha Canton, who Jim learned was his old enemy Flower and had killed her two husbands for her own sick amusement. Jim had only expected to look after Jennifer and Keith for a few days, which instead turned into several years of fatherhood for which he was eternally grateful. However despite knowing that he should always try to focus on the good parts, he couldn't help but think of the bad as he looked at his daughter's grave.

Things hadn't been great back in 1986, mostly due to how that generation of superhumans were less careful with their powers. They didn't seem to care about the harm they caused and some like Infinite Kickers Inc even celebrated about the things they could achieve, which caused the general public to rediscover their fears of people who weren't average humans. There had of course been some good things, such as America's first black president and the amazing technological advances the world had made along with the peaceful relationship between most countries, but the state of the superhuman population was still worrying. Things only got worse due to the White Event that happened in July that year, where for roughly four seconds a bright light covered the Earth, creating new superhuman that were incredibly unique and powerful. Of course Jim wouldn't learn of these new superhuman until December next year, when his daughter Jennifer blew up Pittsburgh.

"Hey dad." a voice said behind him, and the android turned around to see his sixty-three year old son Keith standing behind him.

"Keith. It's good to see you." Jim told him with a smile, hoping to reassure the man he hadn't spoken to in twenty-five years.

"It's good to see you as well." Keith responded, though Jim could tell he was lying from his tone, as he slowly approached his adopted father, looking at Jennifer's gravestone before placing some flowers next to them.

It turned out that when the White Event happened, Jennifer had gained some a brand on her had that granted her amazing powers similar to Jim's though way more powerful. She tried to become the superhero Jadebrand, but according to investigations from his friends and the government while testing out her powers she somehow caused an explosion that killed her and wiped out Pittsburgh and turned the surrounding area into a toxic wasteland that mutated the survivors into monsters. This began one of the darkest chapters in Earth's history as the word went mad from the unexpected deaths, with America thinking it was some kind of terrorist attack and friendly countries became under suspicion and scrutiny. This affected many of Jim's friends such as Logan, who's son Jimmy was seemingly killed while trying to deal with a criminal as the superhero Hunter.

Like his sister Keith had been affected by the White Event, though gaining more subtle powers that were the opposite to Jennifer's. He could seemingly manipulate darkness and dreams, using it to help people as a therapist and occasionally as a hero called Darkmask. However when the drafts began to take place and investigations into everyone having an ability, he was found out and forced into the the war quickly growing.

Despite his grief Jim and the few who were thinking sense tried to prevent the inevitable battle, tried to prove that it had just been an accident, but the news that one superhuman was to blame proved to make things worse. Not only did fights break out between countries, anyone with any kind of power was imprisoned. And Jim couldn't do anything to help Keith, because as Arthur accurately pointed out it would likely make things worse.

It took until 1995 for the world to calm down and people to be allowed to walk the streets freely, but by then the world was scarred forever. Keith especially suffered as from what Jim could gather, nobody had good feelings towards him after learning what his sister was responsible for. Jim had tried to speak to his son, to reassure him and promise that he would help him through this. But when he tried to say the words, all Jim could think about was Jennifer and how he had failed to help Keith for seven years, and instead he ended up pushing his sonn away. To this day the thing that haunted Jim the most was the memory of Keith's face that way, filled with a mixture of hurt and disappointment.

After that Jim kept trying to find the strength to call Keith, to apologise for how he had acted and go make amends, but instead he chose to be a coward. As the years passed, with Jim observing his son get married and adopt from the distance, he kept being a coward. He didn't call his son when he became president in 2001 thanks to the strong support of friends he had built over the years, he didn't call his son when Thanoseid invaded in 2007 and almost destroyed the world, he didn't call when Steve sacrificed himself to save the world in 2016 and he didn't call when Keith's husband died last year. Much to Jim's shame, Keith was the one to call him asking if he wanted to visit Jennifer's grave together this year.

"I'm sorry Keith." Jim finally said, hating how hesitant he was and fully expecting Keith to yell at him in anger. "I'm sorry I haven't called, I just kept getting scared by how you would react. And the longer I out off calling you the harder it became until I didn't know how you would react. And I know I can never fix things between us and I don't expect you to forgive me, but I just..."

"Actually, I don't know what I want you to say or do." Jim said after trailing off for a moment, angry at himself for all the mistakes he has ever made. "Honestly, I'm not sure why you would want to see me at all."

Keith didn't respond and for a second Jim wondered if he had left, which would be the understandable thing to do. After all Jim had failed at being a father, failed to gather enough trust in his children for them to tell him they got powers, failed to be there for his son when he needed him, and pretty much abandoned him due to his own fears.

"I wanted to see you because my husband Ben died before he could fix things with his mum, who never accepted who he was. Considering how close the world has been to being destroyed, let's be fair and accept its a miracle we're alive at all today." Keith finally said, causing Jim to look at his son. "I don't know if I can ever forgive you dad. But I don't want to end up regretting that I never tried to see if our relationship could be fixed."

"So, what is you want to do now?" Jim asked hesitantly. He had never been designed to cry and it wasn't a feature he had he had added to his body, but he knew if he was human he would be crying.

"Well there's a pretty nice cafe nearby. I guess we could get something to eat?" Keith suggested and after a quick nod, Jim followed Keith away from the grave.

Chapter Text

"You're not nervous are you?" Zan asked his twin sister, who was standing next to her with a confident smile on his face.

"No of course not." Jayna responded quickly, trying to project confidence as she began to babble. "I mean, were only meeting the greatest heroes to ever live. Why would I be nervous about that?"

"You don't need to be. You're amazing, I'm amazing. They wouldn't want us to join if they didn't think the same." Zan told her, wanting to reassure her though failing as she could tell he was anxious as well.

"I'm afraid I agree with your sister." said one of the other heroes in the room they were waiting in. Like the other three, neither Jayna or Zan have ever met War Chief until now but they have heard of the hero on the news. The same as with El Sol, Electric Falcon and Tornado Samurai who have all gotten plenty of time on the news, arguably much more than Jayna and Zan.

"We shouldn't worry. They wouldn't have invited us to join if they didn't think we were up to the task of being heroes." Electric Falcon told everyone, smiling confidently in a way which made Jayna feel a little envious. She wished she had that much self confidence, but the truth was she couldn't stop herself from thinking that this was all a mistake.

"Electric Falcon is right. We should all just remain calm and trust the judgement of these great heroes." Tornado Samurai added, though Jayne could only think that it was easy for him to say that. He looked so much more impressive than any of them with his armour and sword, as he broke the trend of wearing spandex.

"You're Lightstreak right?" El Sol asked Jayna, who nodded in response as she was somewhat embarrassed by how his costume didn't hide a lot of his muscular body. She wondered if he did that on purpose, make people feel awkward so he can say what he wanted. From what she had seen on television that sounded true, but she continued to listen. "Think about it this way? Why would they call us all here if they didn't think we have what it takes?"

Before Jayna could answer the door suddenly opened and a overweight man wearing a domino mask entered, who had previously introduced himself Alfred Jarvis, smiling politely at them all. He then moved out of the way of the door, gesturing them to enter. Reluctantly and one by one the six heroes walked through the door and emerged in a dark room. The door shut behind them, cutting off all source of light, before the narrator spoke.

When the forces of evil threaten all that is good and pure, heroes are needed to stand up. And there have never been a group of heroes as amazing as the Super Hero Friends!

Super-Soldier, a living legend with powers of extraterrestrial origins. Flight, strength and speed, this soldier never fails to be super.

A light opened up on one side of the room to show the legend himself, the man Jayna has had a crush on since he was thawed out of the ice block and he appeared on the television. He stood there with his fists at his hips, chest puffed out and a smile on his face that made Jayna's heart melt.

Amazon, a powerful woman with control of the weather itself. Able to both throw lightning bolts at her enemies and create a magical lasso, villains better beware.

A second light came on, focusing on the ivory haired woman hovering in the air. Her idol, the woman she wanted to be like more than anything in the world. She inspired people, arguably more than Super-Soldier which was an impressive feat.

Dark Claw, the Clawed Crusader of justice. With the help of his trusted sidekick Sparrow, there is few that can stop him from dishing out justice on the guilty.

A third light appeared to reveal Zan's hero, joined by his sidekick like the narrator said, who had his arms in a x shape with his claws out. Meanwhile Sparrow stood behind him, doing her classic pose

Silver Racer, the spooky wanderer of the afterlife. There is no where to run when this powerful hero chases after you.

Truth be told, she's always been a little creeped out by the charming alien who posed with his equipment when a fourth light appeared above him. According to rumours he was secretly a harbinger of death, but she tried to focus on how charming and polite he had been in interviews.

Iron Lantern, the armoured hero with the power of aliens. No matter what planet you call home, this is a hero who will protect you.

If there was a man more ridiculously wealthy than Iron Lantern, Jayna has never heard of them. The only explanation would be that they were somehow more humble than the billionaire before her who was hovering majestically next to Amazon under his light, but even that seemed impossible. Not even Super-Soldier was as humble as Iron Lantern.

And Aqua-Mariner, the king of the sea and ruled of Atlantis. All creatures of the ocean obey him, and few can best him when he's armed with his trusty trident.

Ok, she was less impressed by this hero which the last light shone on. It's not that there is anything wrong with Aqua-Mariner, but she and Zan have always joked that he's only around when there's a water related problem. She also found it hard to respect him when he did a poor job of copying Super-Soldier's pose.

And now, introducing the new members of the Super Hero Friends.

Jayna suddenly found it hard to breath as she realised that the narrator was going to focus on them now. She knew if she messed this up, they will never be invited to join this team ever again. She tried to control her breathing and remember what was at stake, but all that did was make things worse.

Electric Falcon, a fast moving bolt of a lightning.

She didn't see his pose, too focused on how incredibly hot it was in here. She felt like she was boiling to death. She worried if Dark Claw and Super-Soldier could tell, since didn't they have super senses?

Tornado Samurai, master of the blade and the wind.

The gust of wind from whatever Tornado Samurai did helped cool Jayna down, but she was not even close to being calm. She tried to block out the idea of failure, but then found her mind providing her with even more embarrassing ways for her to mess this up.

El Sol, a man wielding the power of the sun.

Of course El Sol had to make her feel like she was being cooked alive again, of course whatever he did had to involve fire and heat. She wondered if the sweat was noticeable, and suddenly panicked about how she might smell.

War Chief, the size changing warrior with power instincts.

At that point she was about to run away and die of embarrassment, when she felt a hand clutch here. She didn't see what War Chief did, all she focused on was the reassurance her brother was giving her an the vulnerability he was showing, as she felt him trembling with anxiety. At that moment, she felt a wave of calmness overtake here, just in time for the light to shine on the twins and Zan letting go.

And the Power Twins, Matter Master and Lightsreak, heroes of incredible bravery and loyalty.

A year after this, Jayna will laugh at how scared she had been. How terrified she had been at ruining Zan's chances to become a better hero, thinking she wasn't good enough to be teammates with such amazing people. She will remember how easy it had been to do that silly pose and impressed the older heroes, before going on her first actual mission with them. But most of she will remember that because of Zan, who was brave enough to share his fear with her, she was able to find the courage to conquer her fear of what might happen and focus on making her dreams come true.

Chapter Text

Carol Ervin would never admit it, but she has always suspected she would die in battle. Though she had naturally hoped that wouldn't happen, logically she knew it would because she would never stand by when people needed her. Since she was sixteen she's been a hero, and whenever she saw trouble in the last twenty-seven years she never ran from it. She faced it head on, with or without people to back her up. So when this monster arrived in his spaceship, with an entire army to back him up, she wasn't just going to sit back and let the new kids have the fun.

"You've fought with courage young one. I would stop struggling if I were you." the alien monster known as Thanoseid told Carol, who was kneeling on the ground and gasping for breath. "The battle is over. I am victorious."

Carol knew that this was an incredibly serious moment, as her whole world was in danger and for the first time in a long time it looked like Earth's heroes won't be able to save it. Despite this she couldn't help but think about how annoying it was that all villains loved the sound of their own voices, and she would give anything for a bad guy who never said a word. That thought was among many, such as why didn't she agree to Virgil's idea of forming a team. They had twenty-seven years to actually do it, but the problem was that there was never a situation when they needed to. They became friends with other heroes naturally, like Luke Lightning in Metropolis and the Punisher in New York, but there was never an occasion when every hero in the world had to unite. Until now that is.

Speaking of those two costumes adventurers, she could actually see them near a building. The fifty-eight year old Luke was unconscious, or at least Carol hoped he was unconscious, while Castle was tending to his wounds despite his own injuries. Despite knowing he had good intentions despite his issues, Carol couldn't help but think at how horrible it would be if Castel ended up as all that was left of humanity if Thanoseid wins. Because he would be the last to die, he was just that stubborn.

When her friend Anthony Metcalf, known to the public as Gear, had arrived telling her an alien was coming to invade she admittedly been skeptical. Which was hypocritical as her mentor Walter Freeman had been an alien named Ico-Onn, and as Captain Icon's sidekick Ms Rocket she had seen many incredible things, and she saw even more when she took on the name following Walter's death back in 2006. She knew there was life among the stars, but the thing is why would aliens want to come here. As Walter had explained to her many times, and as many species across several galaxies told her, there was nothing on Earth that they would want or need. Then Jefferson called her saying how his daughter Anissa, better known as one of Earth's most powerful heroes Thunder Goddess, had been killed by creatures in a spaceship.

So she had called everyone she could, every friend she had ever made and every former villain who understood that in this situation the police won't care if they used their powers. Even Virgil, despite being the president, put the mask back on since retiring in 2014 after claiming he travelled across dimensions to fight in a war with other spider themed heroes, a claim Carol didn't doubt due to her own experiences in dimension traveling. She can actually see Virgil in the distance, struggling to move as he lay against some rubble while clutching at the metal sticking out from his stomach. She was glad to see that he was alive at least, unlike the definitely dead hero behind her. She had been there when Jennifer decided to become the superhero Captain Lightning while her sister became Thunder Goddess, both following in the footsteps of their father. And now following those footsteps has gotten both of them killed and left Anissa's newborn daughter without a mother, a fate that will await her son Gerry soon. Hopefully her wife Karen will be able to look after him, that is if Carol can find a way to stop Thanoseid from killing everyone.

"You're world should feel honoured that I deem it worth conquering. It is such an insignificant little world, but it has created warriors like you. So it must have some promise." Thanoseid told her as he looked around at the destruction he had brought upon Dakota. "Truthfully I must investigate how you humans can survive such terrible experiences and emerge with new abilities. See if there is a way to transfer those powers to me."

As much as she hated to admit it, he had a point. Humans did have a tendency to survive seemingly fatal experience and emerge with superpowers. Look at herself, she originally just used some technology from Walter's ship before an accident merged some of his DNA with her, granting her some of his powers. A few adventures later, her powers were increased even more to the point she was arguably stronger than Walter had ever been. Which meant right now, she was the only one capable of stopping this. All her allies were either dead or unable to fight, while the others around the world were surely losing against Thanosied's army. She didn't know if stopping Thanosied would necessarily stop his army, but it was the only plan she had. And since it was the only plan she had, that meant she was willing to do anything to make sure it worked.

"So you still have some fight in you?" Thanoseid asked as he rubbed his jaw after she punched him. He watched as Carol began to glow with energy, and he frowned in confusion. "So what exactly is your plan? As you know, you can't beat me in a straight up fight."

"I know." she responded with a sense of finality in her tone, before dashing forward and delivering swift punches to Thanoseid stomach. It felt like hitting a brick wall back when she had been normal but she saw she had used enough power to surprise Thanoseid and have him gasp for breath.

She didn't know if this would work, but she wrapped her arms around the surprised Thanoseid anyway. As she shot up into the sky at speeds few have experienced, she acknowledged she didn't know of this would save the Earth. For all she knew someone would take over his armies, maybe even that Kanto guy who was helping him. But she had to hope that doing this will be enough so that the others can free their planet from this monster's army. Thanosied began hitting at her once they were out of the atmosphere, but she did her best to ignore it and focus on what she was doing. Now that she thought about it, she didn't know if the sun could kill Thanoseid seeing as he was surviving the vacuum of space. But from what she had seen he was as tough as she was when she was at her best, and she knew she couldn't survive a the sun. So as the big ball of light got closer and closer, she closed her eyes and tried to think of her loved ones. As the memories swirled in her mind, she began to block out the pain of Thanoseid's fists and the sudden heat that enveloped her.

Chapter Text

Pete Roast swung through the air using his web-shooter, laughing happily while waving at the crowd below. Like most days he was dressed as The Totally Radical Spider-Boar, world famous superhero and celebrity who was beloved by millions across the globe. And like always his day had started perfectly, without any problems.

He woke up to the smell of pancakes, a special treat from his uncle Gen as it was his birthday. His uncle had smiled as the the sixteen year old teenager at his food, no doubt remembering how Pete born a spider injected with Super-Somali's blood was later bitten by a mutating pig called Peter Porker which in turn transformed Pete into what he was now. It was a funny story but one that made both their lives better, especially since Pete was able to save his adopted uncle from being assassinated. After eating his breakfast he had put on his costume and began to make his way towards Cadmus, as his friend Otto Octopus apparently had some new gadgets to show him. He was running across the wall, enjoying the freedom his powers and web shooter have him, when he heard the explosion down below.

He skidded to a halt on the wall and looked down to see what the commotion was. He quickly spotted it in the form of the heroes Dark Tooth and Super-Somali fighting the villains Two-Faced Gobbled, Bat Question and Madame Lynx. As they were his teammates in the Judgment League Animals and his friends, even if Logan refused to admit it, Pete was quick to leap into the action to help.

"Hey Osborn, say hello to my little friend!" Pete shouted as he fired a bullet of webbing at his shared foe with Dark Tooth. Before the turkey could react, his face was covered by telling webs and he began to screech in outrage, trying to tear the webbing off.

"Oh no. Not him." he heard Logan moan, before he continued to fight with the adopted daughter of the Green Snake, while Super-Somali unleashed his heat vision on the crime boss Edward Flock.

"Its good to see you here Spider-Boar. You arrived in the nick of time." Clark told the teenager, who nodded and smiled before leaping up and delivering a swift punch into Gobbler's face.

"I'm happy to help." Pete answered as Gobbler fell off his glider and crashed into the ground while the glider span around in the sky, going higher and highs before it vanished into the clouds.

While he fired more webbing at the Gobbler, wrapping him up in a cocoon that he couldn't get out of no matter how much he struggled, Pete watched as the legendary heroes dealt with the remaining two villains. Despite Bat Question's impressive strength and speed he couldn't hope to keep up the Clark, who knocked the crime boss out cold with a swift hit with in the face with his shield. Meanwhile Madame Lynx tried to strike at her opponent with her whip, but the thief had no hope against New Gotham's dark protector. Dark Tooth cut the whip easily with his adamantium tusks, and before Lora could do anything she was crushed into unconscious when Dark Tooth leaped forward and landed on her.

"I will get you for this Spider-Boar! I will have my revenge!" Gobbler shouts through the webbing, and with a small chuckle Pete reached into his hammerspace to pull out his favourite mallet. Without hesitation he ripped the webbing of Gobbler's face before smashing his mallet into the villain's face. As he put the mallet back in his hammerspace, he watched as stars swirled around Gobbled's head before he slumped into unconsciousness.

"Well, it's been fun guys. But I've got places to be." Pete told the heroes and while waving goodbye he aimed his web-shooter to a building a pulled the trigger. Soon he was swinging away from them happily, leaving Dark Tooth and Super-Somali alone with the villains.

"I really don't like him." Dark Tooth finally said as he shook his head with annoyance while moving the defeated villains closer together.

"Really? I think he's a lot of fun." Super-Somali responded in surprise, before helping his friend so he can carry the villains to the police all at once.

Chapter Text

Jack Edwards knew that it would eventually come down to this, he just wished it didn't have to. When he became American Virtue, he had only wanted to serve and protect his country, protect the people he cared about. Now however it looked like he will have the hurt the people he cares about to try and protect his country from them.

"Jack, are you alright?" Roberta asked him, surprising the hero as he hadn't heard the sorceress walk up behind him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking about what's going to happen." Jack admitted sadly as he turned to face his friend. "How's everyone doing?"

It was a stupid question because he already knew the answer, so why he asked he didn't know. Their situation isn't good at all, what with their former friends hunting them down and having been forced to hide at Joseph's secret cave. He was surprised that Joseph kept such a place hidden from them, including his adopted son, as it seemed something only Kyle would do. Thankfully Joseph doesn't have any kind of Utopia program stashed away, unlike Kyle and Laura.

When Jack had met the people who would form the Retaliating Squadron with him, he had been somewhat suspicious as his last allies had turned out to not be that honest. But as the year passed he came to see all of them as friends, with Laura Shelton proving too be more special to him in both of his lives. It wasn't long before American Virtue and Silver Princess became the world's most famous celebrity couple, but that never mattered to Jack. All that had mattered to him was that he was in love and she loved him back. Sadly that handy changed, despite of their new reality.

"We're not in good shape Jack. Wyatt is annoying Derek and Joseph enough that it distracts them a little, but deep down we all know we can't win this." Roberta answered sadly, before hastily talking again when she saw at he look on his face. "Not that we regret coming with you or anything. We all knew what we were signing up for and it's not like we would have stood by anyway. The Utopia program is an insane idea and we can't let them do it."

"I know Roberta, you don't need to explain." Jack reassured her, before sighing with worry. He hated what he was going to ask her, knowing that it was unfair to put her in such a position, but he had to ask someone. "What if they're right Roberta?"

"What? What if who's right?" she asked, though Jack knew she knew who he was talking about.

"Kyle, Harold, Jay, Ernest...Laura." Jack said the last name as if he was in pain, struggling to contain his conflicted feelings. "What if they're running that and the Utopia program is the right thing to do?"

"You can't honestly believe that Jack. They want to create a dictatorship, like literally every mad villain we've ever fought. They might use pretty words and might have good intentions, but they would be no better than Thanoseid."

"But look at how the world has turned out so far Roberta. Look at how much of the public supported them when they started. Go and ask Derek, he will tell you everything horrible that has happened since the sixties. You saw what happened when Thanoseid invaded, the cities destroyed and the countries ripped apart. We lost friends and family, and the whole world was going mad because of it. If there was a unified government of some kind, maybe things can actually get better. There wouldn't be anymore hunger or poverty, crime will go down because there would be less motivation to commit crime. Life would be better for everyone."

Jack's powers made him one of the most powerful heroes on Earth, and he has achieved much because of that. Roberta was also one of the most powerful, possible more than him, which is why he didn't see the slap until it hit him.

"First of all, that is an idealist but also unrealistic point of view. Maybe in the short term things would get better, but there's no way the others could ever stop being in charge out of fear people would just go back to how they used to be. In the long term they will prevent any progression in humanity out of fear it would spiral out of their control. Life might no be perfect but it changes overtime, while dictatorships are about keeping everything under control and preventing change." Roberta told him with a glare while Jack rubbed his cheek. "Secondly, I want to just give up and agree with them as well. Hell I almost did, until Harold did what he did to Willow. That was a wake up call, for all of us, to show us that this is the wrong path."

Jack's thought filled with memories of the dimension traveling amnesiac, who had been lost and confused about her place in the world. The Squadron has taken her in, helped create a name and identity for her, and she helped protect the world using her powers. And then when Laura and Kyle proposed the Utopia idea and Jack had been to scared to speak up, she spoke for all of them. She spoke against the idea, said how wrong they were and that she would stop them if she had to, and in return Harold killed her under orders from Laura. That was what convinced Jack, Roberta, Derek, Joseph and Wyatt how far they had fallen from their noble intentions and left. That was a year ago, and in that year they have fought to keep the world free from the control of the Retaliating Squadron as the Champions of Redemption, which is what the public started to call them if they were against the Squadron while those who supported the Squadron however called them terrorists. But despite the fact that Jack, Roberta and Derek were one of the most powerful heroes while the Squadron only really had Laura, they have lost the fight. Somehow, despite all their efforts, the Squadron has captured all of their allies and reduced them to hiding like rats. And soon they will find this place and the final battle will begin. A battle they will inevitably lose, allowing the Squadron to continue their take over if the world in their goal to save it from itself.

"I know what happened to Willow was wrong. I don't want to dishonor her memory like that. But what's the point of fighting if we're going to lose anyway? Why shouldn't we just give up and accept that maybe we were wrong?" Jack asked her and Roberta' stance softened with sympathy.

"You know I've struggled with my own doubts, my own darkness." she eventually answer, looking like she might cry as she recalled what she had done as Darkglow. "It's always been difficult for me to know what the right thing is, what the moral thing is. And I agree, it would be easier to accept that the history books will likely remember us as nothing more than villains no matter what we do. With that in mind, why should we fight? For the same reason I have always tried to do the right thing, even though I know the world will always remember me as Darkglow instead of Sunglow. Because it matters to me that I do the right thing. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Yeah." Jack replied with a small nod, feeling a little better. "I understand. Thanks."

"Anytime." Roberta said with a smile.

"Guys. We've got trouble." Joseph suddenly shouted, and without hesitation Jack and Roberta raced out of the room.

They found Joseph with Derek, who had a photo of his family in his hand, and Wyatt, who seemed to have been fiddling with his bow and arrows before they arrived, staring at a screen. The screen showed Laura, Kyle, Harold, Jay and Ernest outside the cave dressed as Silver Princess, Night Lion, Captain Whizzer, Blue Eagle and Major Woody. They were clearly ready for this fight, and with reluctant acceptance Jack turned to his remaining allies.

"Alright, this is it. If anyone wants to leave and escape while they're distracted, now is the time." Jack told them, not really looking at Roberta as she made her feeling on the matter clear. But Joseph has lost a son because of this, Derek has a family to still look after and Wyatt was never really a member of the Squadron or the Champions to begin with like the rest of them. But to his surprise and relief none turned away, and after a respectful nod of thanks they made sure they were ready. Once they were all ready, they made their way out of the cave to fight their friends for the future of Earth.

Chapter Text

Hal Grayson flew through the air of Gothopolis, observing the streets below. While not necessarily his turn to patrol, as the Justice Titans often take shifts so nobody feels overwhelmed. But with everything that had happened with Terranado, Hal felt like doing some work instead of sitting at home thinking about how betrayed he felt. That won't accomplish anything and he would feel worse if he learned something horrible happened that he could have stopped.

It looked like however that there was no point in him coming out, as the city was unnatural silent tonight. He hasn't heard anyone call out for help, no sirens from the GPD, not a single sign that anyone had broken out of Phantom Asylum. He was actually becoming disappointed as he couldn't distract himself and his mind kept returning to what happened with Terranado and how her betrayal affected the team. He knew Hawkbeast was suffering the most as he had been interested with Terranado, and he was angry that he let his feelings cloud his judgement. Aquaborg and Star Canary were now suspicious of every other hero, too frightened to trust anyone new in case they turned out to be a spy as well. Flash and Donna meanwhile were trying to hide their sadness, but Hal knew his two closest friends very well. They could never hide how they were feeling from him. Meanwhile Hal has lost faith in himself, because how can he lead a team when people can trick him so easily?

He knew he shouldn't blame himself, because it wasn't his or anyone else's fault. Nobody could have predicted her betrayal, and he's not going to stop trusting his teammates out of fear it could happen again. But at the same time a small part of him said it was his fault because he was too trusting, that if he kept people at arms length and actually paid attention to what they were doing, he would know if they were trustworthy or not. He might never be happy, but at least he could say he was more certain in how safe him and the team was. Shaking his head with sadness, Hal prayed more than ever for something to distract him from his troubles.

Apparently tonight was the night God actually answered prayers, as he suddenly heard a loud explosion and looked to his left to see some smoke rising in the distance. Without hesitation he shot towards it, no doubt looking like a green shooting star to the onlookers below. As he got closer he found the origin of the explosions and screams of terrified civilians, and he was actually surprised. Not that Jimmy Two-Face was there, who's gang often owned this area of the city, but by the person he was working with and the man trying to stop them.

He had heard of Goblin-by-Night before, but since he had never come to Gothopolis before it never really affected him. As the Goblin throws some kind of purple bombs at his opponent who expertly dodged them, he has decided that in retrospect he should have paid more attention. Besides he always seemed to be dealt with by York City's strangest hero Arachknight, who was currently dodging the bullets shot at him by Jimmy's gang. He was a bit surprised to see those two here, as they never seem to leave York City. They were like the Teenage Ghost Ninja Turtles who also lived in York City, not like the G.I Archies or Painkiller Shi who travelled all over the place. Hal only observed for a second, before flying down and pointing his clenched fist in the direction of the Goblin. A green cage formed around the villain, a lighter shade in comparison to his fur, surprising everyone present.

"Oh wonderful. Another wannabe knight in shining armour." the Goblin groaned in annoyance.

"Actually it's Night Lantern as in, well, this time of the day. Not-" Hal began, completely forgetting what was happening.

"Watch out!" Arachknight shouted as he dodged the shots from Jimmy, and Hal reacted on instinct as he realised the mistake he had made. The cage vanished and instead a green sphere appeared around the hero, just in time as Jimmy's hired muscle fired their machine guns at him. The bullets bounced off harmlessly, not being enough to break through the energy powered by his very will.

When they went to reload, he created a large baseball bat and swung with an adequate amount of strength. When he made the bat vanish, he nodded with satisfaction when he saw the things were unconscious. He turned his attention back to the villains, but was too slow to react to Goblin leaping towards me.

"Why don't you mind your own business!" he screeched as he began to cut his claws into Hal. Hal clenched his teeth in pain, the dagger like fingers cutting into his skin despite his suit, and quickly tried to push him off. Clenching his fist and pointing his ring at the Goblin, there was a flash of bright emerald light. The next thing anyone knew, the Goblin was unconscious against a wall thanks to Hal's green claw having smashed the villain against it repeatedly. Hal looked around and smiled in relief when he saw that Arachknight had taken care of Jimmy, having wrapped him and his gang with webs.

"Thanks for the assist." Arachknight told Hal with a polite nod, visibly relaxing a little as Hal floated down to greet him without losing focus on keeping the Goblin trapped.

"You're welcome. Do you mind filling me in about what was going on here?" Hal asked as he looked wound, happy when he heard the police sirens in the distance.

"Two-Face was trying to create some business back in York with Goblin. I learned about it and messed up his operation there, but Goblin made a run to Two-Face for help." Arachknight explained calmly. "I didn't know you or any of the Justice Titans, so I figured I would just deal with it myself."

"Right. Well I'll have the GPD put these guys away somewhere safe, so if you want-" Hal had only looked away for a moment but when he looked back he found that Arachknight had vanished without a trace. He looked around in confusion, before shrugging and focusing inn the criminals. Wouldn't want any of them to escape before the police arrived after all.

Chapter Text

Neuva Gotham was a beautiful sight, a precious gem that was admired by all in the world. It was a combination of all the best things you would want in a city, making it the perfect tourist destination and place to live. At least, that's what it was to folks rich enough and powerful enough to live without struggle or pain. To everyone else, it was a pit if violence and misery that nobody could escape from.

Some wondered how the world could get to this point, how the world could have so easily fallen into the dictatorship it is now where the rich get richer while the poor get poorer. Two hundred years ago they had the greatest heroes to ever live riding across America, protecting the innocent and encouraging humanity's better nature as they introduced them to life that existed beyond Earth, before gracefully fading into myth as the Legion of Galactic Rangers. When World War II was on the horizon, new heroes appeared to show the world a better path and they did so much to end the hostilities between so many countries. Then their children took up the responsibility, finishing what the first generation started by taking humanity into the stars and improving how people lived their lives. People thought it was a golden age, that humanity would never stop improving and that one day people could live full lives without any kind of strife.

Jono Hex never thought about it much, but if he could ever meet those people he would laugh straight to their faces. Because if there was one thing humanity didn't do, and he can assure everyone that they did many horrible things, they didn't improve. Instead they became worse, became arrogant is what they could do and became far too greedy. He should know, he was born shortly before the golden age fell apart, when the riots threatened to tear the world into pieces. He watched as the tv, once a refuge from the horrors of his home life, showed him bombs being dropped on countries that refused to listen to reason. He watched as the world turned against non-humans and enhanced humans faster than anyone expected, as the United Nations closed Earth off from the rest of the galaxy. He experienced the persecution and fear when his own status as a metamutant was revealed as a child, forcing him on the run.

The decades have not been kind Hex, who at the age of sixty-one has yet to find a place to call home. The world has somewhat calmed down and those who are not base humans have been given their freedom once again, but that did little to change the horrors he had witnessed and the life he has led. The life of violence that he could never escape even though he wants nothing more than to do that, which is why he has never bothered to try. Because he was a metamutant, he lacked wealth and status, and all he knew how to do was either hurt people or break their hearts. Right now, he was aiming to do the former.

He ignored the glares of suspicion and looks of opportunity from the bar's other customers, many glancing at the gun at his waist, making his way to the skrull bartender. He briefly wondered what it must have been like for him, his grandparents coming to Earth when it offered peace and unity yet now he was trapped here because the government refused to allow anyone to leave. The thought left his mind as quickly as it had entered and he instead focused on his current task. He ignored the raise eyebrow the bartender gave him, no doubt surprised by Jono's anachronistic wardrobe choice which Jono could defend by pointing out that people were often so surprised to see him he would acquire the perfect opportunity to kill them. He was also likely to be surprised by the metal has mask that covered the bottom half of his face, which did a decent job of hiding his metamutant status.

"Hello there. I'm looking for this man, name is Caleb Kane. Have you seen him?" he asked after tipping his hat slightly, before holding out his wrist and pressed a button on his arm band. Immediately a hologram appeared showing the face of his target, but before the bartender could answer their was the sound of glass smashing and people yelling to Jono's left. He turned around to see a man wearing a thick cloak trying to get last the angry waitress he had run into, having clearly been hiding in the corner and attempting to leave when he saw the picture of Jono's target. Everything was silent for a second as the cloaked figure realised Jono was watching him, before he raced to the door.

"Never mind." Jono said to the bartender with a nod as he put his arm down, before he bolted after his target. He heard the bartender yelled after them, something about the man's tab but Jono didn't care. He was out the door just as fast as Kane, and he soon couldn't hear the alien's yells due to the insane noise polluter known as Neuva Gotham.

He chased after Kane, almost laughing as civilians didn't even blink when they saw him chasing after the cloaked figure. They got annoyed when they bumped into them or something like that, but for the people at the ground levels this was not an uncommon sight. They've seen bounty hunters like Jono, gang wars and so much violence that they honestly don't care about anything that doesn't concern them. The only thing they haven't seen is a competent lawman who honestly cared about anything except putting some cash into his pocket.

Jono dodged past people as Kane led him into a crowd, all who shouted with some annoyance before carrying on with their day. He probably thought he could outrun Jono due to his age, but he would be wrong. Jono has lived a pretty interesting life, met a whole number of people from across time, space and reality and gotten into plenty of scraps. And because of that he had had plenty of enhancements, which is why Kane was slowing down before Jono is. When he was finally at arms length, Jono grabbed him and dragged him into an alleyway, throwing him to the ground as he did. He reached into his holster an spilled out his pistol, aiming it at his Kane.

"Now don't make this anymore difficult than it has to be Kane." Jono said simply as the hood fell, confirming that it was indeed his target.

"What are you, some kind of lawman?" Caleb asked as his eyes glanced at pretty much every direction, looking for a way out.

"Thankfully no. I'm a bounty hunter."

At that, Kane's face lit up with hope, and Jono could pretty much see the idea forming in his mind. Due to the police not being much help to anyone unable to afford a car by the time they are twelve,bounty hunters became the sole form of protection for poor folk, though like anyone they could be bribed. However there were some exceptions like with the police, which is what made bounty hunters preferable.

"I have a lot of money. You know that, it's why my bounty is so high." Kane began, visibly almost laughing from relief. "If you want I can give you a cut and-"

"I can't be brought kid." Jono interrupted him, and the last thing Kane felt was absolute terror.

Jono pulled the trigger, and nobody in the streets seemed to be bothered by the noise. Putting his gun away, the bounty hunter then used his armband to take a photo of Kane, proof so that he could get paid. Once that was done he pulled out a small vial from his pocket, took the lid off and dropped some on Kane's face. He watched as he put the lid back on and placed the goal back in his pocket, Jane's face dissolving until it was scarred to the point of being unrecognised. This way nobody can get any ideas and try to claim his bounty for themselves, forcing Jono to wast more bullets. Once he was done, he turned on his heel and walked away from the corpse calmly and without regret.

Chapter Text

Axel Asher pushed open the door to the comic book shop, holding his son's hand tightly. William only smiled happily, looking around madly at what was available to him and looking like he wanted to race off. But he knew the rules and is the ten year old reluctantly stayed next to Axel.

"Ok, so you know the rules." he said, grabbing his son's attention who was already nodding. However Axel felt the urge to say them again, seeing too much of himself in his son in his desire to wander off whenever he saw something he liked. "No leaving the store, always check with me about what you want, and don't talk to anyone."

"I know dad." William moaned, though how he did it was so unintentionally cute it brought a smile to Axel's face. Reluctantly he let go of his son's hand and within a second he was off, looking at everything in the store. Despite having a lot of similarities with Axel, anyone could see how similar William was to his mother when he looked like that, full of joy and happiness when Axel took him to different universes. Keeping a close eye on him, he began to wander around the store himself and glanced at the many comics.

Good old Universe-8121. The most normal universe in this multiverse, though granted there were others just like it. But for some reason he really liked this reality, he didn't know why and honestly he didn't much care for figuring it out. It was a nice place to relax due to its lack of masked heroes and world threatening plots, and he found some enjoyment in exploring a world where the biggest comic book company was Amalgam Comics, which published the adventures of the many inhabitants of this multiverse.

To be honest, he wants particularly shocked when he learned that in many universes something which is fictional is real in another reality. He has had a lot of fun in those worlds where the people he knew were fictional, as he enjoyed getting answers to all the questions fans asked about their favourite superheroes by asking the superheroes themselves, and just watching people argue about what he said couldn't be true. He didn't know why he enjoyed doing that, but he found that it passed the time. Though he was saddened to learn that after all his exploring across so many worlds, both Superman and Batman had a equal chance of beating each other in a fight.

Eventually he found that on many worlds Marvel and DC did a crossover in the 90s which included himself as a protagonist, showing his entire origin and a few of his later adventures. He was eventually intrigued to look into what happened in this multiverse in regards to the comics published by Marvel and DC under the Amalgam banner. It took some looking but he eventually found d his answer in this universe, which might actually be the reason for why he liked it so much. Turns out that in 1996 Amalgam Comics had big plans, building towards a massive crossover between all their titles with an event equal to their famous Secret Crisis of the Infinite Hour. Of course then the comic book crash of that decade finally affected the company, and everything fell apart. Amalgam almost had to announce bankruptcy and by the time everything was sorted again, so many employees had lost their jobs.

Once the company was secure in their place, they decided to relaunch their titles and forget about their previous plans, meaning that the brief character of Access and the many odd one off mentioned like Superboy and Wolverine have faded into obscurity. Now those plans are considered an interesting piece of trivia and many fans have asked what the overall plan was for this storyline, though the writers have never explained and some have said that they honestly couldn't remember.

Axel eyed the comics presented to him, which had a large range of characters and series. From characters like Bloodspawn and Savage Warrior who were owned by Valiant Imaging to comic adaptations of properties like Trek Wars by Explosion Comics, there were plenty to choose from despite the merged nature of this world. Axel wasn't really a fan of comic books or fiction in general especially since he has learned to accept that everything including fanfiction and dreams happened somewhere in the omniverse, divided and separated into individual universes by multiverses and megaverses. This makes it hard for him to enjoy anything but sitcoms and other comedic fiction, as otherwise he is watching real people suffer every day for the enjoyment of others. However he does take a small interest in fiction, especially superhero fiction since his life pretty much revolves around this genre, because it's a good idea to be prepared for anything bad happening that he should be concerned about. It's quite good way to predict when a big multiverse threat might appear or if anything important happened to the universes he most often visits, and wiki sites help him keep track of what known universes there are. So despite how much he disliked reading and looking up these sort of things, it helps him with doing his job especially since his job can take him to anywhere in the omniverse at any point in the timeline. If he doesn't have a decent amount of knowledge of as many fictional characters as possible he could end up dead or worse. He learned that lesson the hard way when he ran into the original literary Dracula and realised had no idea what was going to happen since his only exposure to Dracula was through parodies and Monster Squad. As a result he wasn't expecting him to walk straight up to him as Axel's whole plan depended on sunlight protecting him.

"I'm ready dad." William said as he walked up to Axel, about five comics in his arms. Axel didn't know about the first four but he could see that the top one was a Spider-Boy comic. He approved of that, as he had met Pete and while being annoying like his Marvel component he was a decent role model.

"Alright let's go buy these then." he replied with a smile and soon the two were leaving the store, Axel carrying a bag with the comics on one hand and holding onto his son in the other. He led William down an alleyway and once he was sure nobody was looking, waved a hand to make a glowing yellow doorway appear in front of them that would take them home. Looking down to see William smiling, apparently still finding the experience exciting despite having done it many times before, he pulled him forward and the two carefully jumped through the portal, with it snapping shut behind them.