Sometimes life doesn’t quite work out the way you’d want it
to. Sometimes things just get away from
you, and slip through your fingers, even if your grip is as firm as steel. If you are wondering who I am, I’m the
narrator. I’ll be walking with you for
the rest of this story. If you are
wondering how on earth I am aware of what Superman and the others are going
through, well, all will become clear in the end.
Diana’s invisible jet was swift as it cut through the
skies. Clark looked out the window and
could see she was flying directly into what appeared to be a massive storm, but
he couldn’t quite pinpoint where on earth they were. Slicing neatly through the clouds, the jet
was buffeted by hurricane force winds and lashed at with terrible
lightning. Then it parted as they entered
the storm’s eye and approached a pristine island. Diana spoke in Greek, ancient Greek as Clark
understood the dialect, advising them of their approach and that they were
carrying wounded.
The jet’s vertical takeoff and landing mechanism allowed
them to set down on the stone tarmac like a feather. The back opened and women entered. They were dressed in armor that was reminiscent
of ancient Sparta but with modern twists here and there. They were tall and had the build of
competitive athletes, but none were as tall or as defined as Diana. “I will speak with my mother.” She said as
she exited. Two of the women carried
Kara out of the jet and a third nodded clearly intent on giving the
message. As they exited they were met by
a contingent of more warrior women. “Follow
my lead, Jason.” Clark said as he followed Diana out of the jet. Diana
led the men through an open air path past buildings modeled after the Greek
style of architecture. Jason took
everything in, while Clark seemed more intent on the road ahead. Finally they reached what Clark assumed was
an infirmary. There a beautiful woman in
flowing white robes with a white cloak and golden crown stood over Kara as she
lay comatose on a bed. “You have brought
men to our home, Diana.” The queen’s voice cut with a knife’s edge. “I have brought the kin of Kara Zor-El,
mother. This is the one they call the
Superman.”
Clark stepped forward and bowed his head. “Please pardon our intrusion into your
home. Clearly you have taken great steps
to not be found and we will not violate that level of privacy. We are concerned for Kara. She is the only family we have left.” The queen nodded.
“We have heard of you, Kal-El of Krypton, as of you Jason Lane. We understand what it means to have few in
numbers.”
“Its devastating to realize that one hundred and four is,
population wise, very close to three.” Jason muttered.
“What did you say?” the queen asked. “I, apologize, your majesty. I just…super vision and all, I couldn’t help
it. There’s only one hundred and four of
you.”
“One hundred and five.” The queen corrected. Jason looked at Diana. “Of course.”
“Since you seem to versed in our people…young man…” The queen
crossed her arms, annoyed.
“Please, your majesty, I again do apologize. Themiscyra is relegated to myth in our
world. The home and hold of the Amazons,
the fiercest warriors of the ancient world, capable of turning back even the
famous Spartans.”
“You are a scholar?” The queen seemed intrigued.
“A reporter, of sorts, like my father. Its…something you do when you are alone. You look for others like you, even by way of
legends. Greek gods, ancient Egypt, the
mysterious Wonder Woman who aided allied forces in World War 2…”
All eyes went to Diana.
The queen led them out of the hospital “I told you your rebellious youth
would come back to you.”
“As interesting as all of this is…” Clark interjected “What
about Kara? Will she be alright?”
“The attack that injured Kara, while similar to the one that
has drained some of your powers, is much more pervasive. I must commune with our oracle to divine a
means to heal her. Maybe both of
you. The Nuclear Man cannot be allowed
to live, he will cost this world too much before he is done. As much as you are this world’s savior,
Superman, Nuclear Man is its doomsday.”
The queen led them to the top of a hill, Jason quietly mused
that this seemed ridiculous. Clark whispered back “You are the hybrid of an
alien and a human, I am an alien launched to this world from a distant planet who’s
exposure to yellow sun allows me to lift a battleship one handed. We are on an island hidden from the world by
a perpetual hurricane, and we are battling a super powered entity that is a
partial clone of myself and Lex Luthor. We
can go with this.”
Atop the hill was a small altar. The queen motioned for the men to stand back
and she and Diana knelt before the altar and chanted in Latin. Suddenly a bolt of white lightning shot from
the sky and everything went white.
A pale light and mist filled the sky and Clark felt himself
floating. Through the light images appeared,
a man dressed as a bat, Diana and a blond man battling unholy hordes of
monsters, Lois crying out for help, and Clark, as Superman, cradling Kara’s
limp body as Jason looked on. Then, an
explosion of lighting erupted, casting the world into black.
Clark
struggled to his feet, his vision slowly returning, his skin stinging. The smell of old smoke and stale air filled
his nostrils. He blinked a few times
before his vision finally returned and looked on with horror. The altar of Zeus was destroyed. Scanning the horizon, the grass was gone,
left as barren dirt and dust. The mighty
structures were reduced to rubble, and no one was around. The sky was still and red with thick black
clouds looming overhead.
“What happened?” Clark asked to no one in particular. He began to walk. Heading back to the temple he found it
abandoned. The hospital too was long
deserted. The tarmac was dotted with
destroyed planes and alien aircraft.
Diana’s own plane was slumped to the side, with some surface
damage. “Where is everyone?” He tested his strength, finding himself able
to lift the aircraft with ease. “How…” He propped the aircraft up using a fallen
tree and entered. Thick dust covered the
control panel but he found the computer still able to power up. The calendar readout made his heart
stop. “Its 2525?”
“That’s only the half of it…” I said from behind him. He was, understandably a little shocked to
see me.
Superman
shot to his feet tearing the chair free of its bolts. “What’s going on?!” he demanded.
I raised my hands “A lot, and I’m sorry to startle you, but
you need to hear what I have to say.”
“Who are you?” he said closing the distance on me. I reflexively backed up and in the time it
would take someone to blink we were outside the jet. “My name…” I explained “Is Barry Allen. Folks call me the Flash. In reverse order of your questions, my powers
come from a thing called the Speed Force.
I channel it and it allows me some…I’ll admit some pretty damn amazing
abilities. Anyway, I’d been tracking
Nuclear Man across the globe, using the Speed Force to limit the range of the
nuclear fallout he causes.”
“You’re the red blur that shows up when he’s around.”
“Yes. I’ve actually
been working with Jason for months now.
He found me in Central City. He’s
been reaching out to a lot of super humans.”
“So what happened?
Why are we apparently in the year 2525?”
“That’s a little more complicated. My powers allow me to, under certain
circumstances, travel through time and dimensions in space…relatively. I was tracking Nuclear Man and he was
tracking you. He attacked Amazon island
with the force of a nuclear blast, at the same time I tried to move you out of
the way. The resulting energy output
launched us apparently over five hundred years into Earth’s future.”
“How do we get back?
Nuclear Man is still a threat.”
I couldn’t agree with Superman more about that. The evidence was all around us, this post-apocalyptic
wasteland stretched as far as I could see, across the island and probably much
further. However we weren’t going to get
there conventionally. We needed a little
help. “Well, shy of detonating another
nuclear bomb, which I’m pretty sure was a one-time thing, we need a quantum
burst stabilizer.”
“You know where to find one of those?”
“STAR Labs was working on one, well two actually but one
blew up in California.”
“I recall.”
“So their main lab may still have the original prototype,
depending on a lot of factors.”
“Five hundred years of factors.”
Still, this was our best shot at getting back home. Superman crouched down and launched himself
into the air. “You need a lift?”
I smiled and took off across the water straight for the
American coast.
