Chapter 10
Chapter 10
Earth – 99; Gotham city
Luke led Kara to a room in the Mansion, while Kate followed Bruce, who was slowly moving with his exoskeleton, while watching her Kryptonian friend leave with Luke.
"Where is Luke taking Kara?"
"The library. Just thought we'd get to know each other again." Bruce replied, leading the young woman to a large living room which had not been cleaned for a while.
"You know, the Bruce I knew wore a different kind of suit." Kate said, looking at the metal paraphernalia on the old man's body.
"A lifetime of injuries." Bruce replied simply before looking at the young woman with a frown. "But you've aged well...for a dead girl."
"I died?" the young woman exclaimed, shocked.
"Years ago," replied the old man.
"Oh. But I've never been a ghost before." Kate replied amusedly.
"Hmm. Plenty of ghosts in this place…" said the man with the exoskeleton. "But you're not one of them. Clayface is a puddle of mud. And last time I checked, Jane Doe was locked up in Arkham. So who the hell are you?"
Kate realized then that Bruce did not see her as his cousin, but as a stranger wearing her face. Impassive, she turned to him, very calmly.
"Can you, uh, can you sit in that thing? Cause we're gonna need you for this."
Earth – 75; Metropolis
Lois and Clark walked through the streets of Metropolis in search of the Superman who could be the Paragon of Truth. As they walked along the street, they were accosted by Thor, who was restless.
"Kal, Lois!"
"What is it, Thor?" Clark asked, puzzled.
"Iris shouldn't join us?" Lois added.
"She will," replied the worried Asgardian. "But we have a problem. Lex Luthor is alive. The Monitor brought him back to life!"
"What?" Clark exclaimed, dumbfounded.
"Are you kidding?" added his horrified wife.
"He's back," Thor said. "But the worst part is that he has the Book of Destiny and is moving from Earth to Earth, killing off Supermen in the Multiverse."
"If one of them's the Kryptonian Paragon…" Clark said thoughtfully.
"It's game over," Lois finished. "We need to find this Earth's Superman before Lex jumps here and offs him."
"We have to," agreed the Thunder God.
The three of them started walking down the street, when they came across a giant screen showing television news showing Lois Lane crying over the body of an inert Superman. His red cape was hung on a pole like a flag. The headline read: Lex Luthor kills Man of Steel… disappears into thin air…
"I think it's a little late for that." Clark said, shocked at the sight of the screen.
"No," Thor exclaimed mortified. "We must stop Lex before he kills another Superman!"
"He killed him," Lois explained. "And breached out!"
"And he'll go after the Paragon who could help us in the Crisis," Thor roared through his teeth. "I hate Lex Luthor."
Earth – 1; Waverider
Sara had summoned John Constantine to help them locate an Earth that would contain an intact Lazarus pits. In the ship's library, once Mia told him what she wanted from him, the occult detective watched the young archer intently. Barry, Clint and Peter eyed the man apprehensively and pulled out two cigarettes.
"You sure you want to do this? A Lazarus pit's nasty business."
"We're sure," Mia replied with folded arms.
"Who are you again?" asked Clint dubiously.
"John Constantine," said the man in the trench coat. "Master of the dark arts. (He looked at the archer with a questioning gaze.) You're not Oliver Queen from another Earth? No, you don't wear green, therefore, you aren't Green Arrow. (He looked at Peter Parker.) And what is a kid like you doing on this ship? Shouldn't you be in high school?"
Peter just replied sharply:
"Can you help us, yes or no? We really need Oliver! If you are a wizard, you must have noticed that we're in Crisis right now."
But Constantine contented himself with laughing amusedly:
"Such anger, young Skywalker! (He chuckled.) Your anger will get nowhere, kid, from my experience!"
"We don't have a lot of time," Barry replied wearily. "So could you please take your smoke break later, maybe just do the spell?"
The man in the trench coat smiles speedster as he shows him his cigarettes.
"Simmer down, speedy. This is the spell."
He lit his lighter and passed the flame over his cigarettes. Then he separated his two lit cigarette ends and recited an incantation and made appear mystical discs representing several planets.
"It's all in the wrist," he replied with a happy look.
All looked at the images of the planets paraded by Constantine.
"What the hell is that?" Clint asked, surprised.
"Some kind of map of the Multiverse?" Peter added, also surprised.
"Sort of. Parallel Earths spread out by vibrational frequency." explained the man in the trench coat. (Then he seemed agitated.) "We are well and truly bolloxed. So many Earths already gone, and more vanishing as we speak."
He continued an incantation then he unveiled a new solar system represented mystically.
"I give you the needle in the celestial haystack, an Earth with a functioning Lazarus Pit."
"That's it, you found it?" Peter asked hopefully.
"Fast and efficient, Skywalker!" Constantine replied triumphantly.
"Well, now what?" questioned Mia, struggling to hide her impatience.
Constantine removed the mystical records and spoke to Green Arrow's daughter:
"Ah. Perhaps a thank you and a little well-earned awe for a magical job well done, eh?"
"How about I thank you when you bring my dad back?" Mia replied emphatically.
"So we just have to go to this Earth, find this pit… this… thing called Lazarus and put Oliver in it," explained Peter, having difficulty accepting the concept of immortality and resurrection.
But the young man was determined to help Mia revive her father. Spider-Man needed Green Arrow. He had lost Iron-Man, he didn't want to lose another mentor, another hero.
"You are as strange as Doctor Strange," Peter Parker replied to the man in the trench coat.
"Who the hell is that, Doctor Strange?" Constantine asked, frowning.
"We don't have time for this," Barry replied. "Peter, Mia, come on!"
The speedster left the library with Mia and Peter. Sara came over to Constantine, to clear some things up with him.
"We can't screw this up, okay? When we bring Oliver back, I need you to promise me you can bring back his soul."
"Yeah. One thing at a time, right, love?" Constantine contented himself with answering.
"You will be able to do that, wizard?" Clint retorted dubiously.
"I need to hear you say it," Sara added.
"I'll do it," Constantine replied. "To the best of my abilities."
Then he walked away, leaving Sara and Clint alone in the library.
"Will he really know how to do it?" The Avengers archer questioned the young Lance again.
"He knew how to do it for me, he'll do it for Oliver," she replied. "As long as we handle to make him come back. Reliving someone by the Lazarus Pit is no picnic, and I know what I mean."
Earth – 167; Smallville
Thor, Iris, Lois and Clark arrived on a new Earth. The Asgardian recognized the place as the Kent Farm in Smallville, very similar to the one on Earth – 38. Arriving at the farm, they saw a man in a red checkered shirt cutting through wood with an ax.
"Is that him?" Iris asked.
Thor watched the farmer chopping the wood thoughtfully.
"He looks like it," he said.
"It's either him or the buff guy on the paper towel rolls." Lois said, looking at the farmer, taken aback.
They moved closer to him. Clark observed, admiringly.
"I can do that with one bare hand."
Earth – 167's Clark noticed the four visitors and stopped working. He had turned to them.
"Hello."
"Hi," all visitors said.
"You are Kal-El, right?" Thor asked, raising his eyebrows.
The new Clark looked surprised for a moment, and looked at the God curiously, noting his Asgardian suit.
"I haven't been called that for a while," he exclaimed. "Can I help you?"
"Uh, yeah, hopefully," replied Iris embarrassed. "Um, so, uh, this universe and an infinite number of others is in the process of blinking out of existence, and there are eight people in all of space and time who can supposedly…"
Wanting to cut Iris short, who seemed to be confused in her explanations, Lois intervened in an abrupt voice:
"Lex Luthor is gonna try to kill you!"
"Lois," replied Iris, exasperated.
"He is," Superman's wife insisted.
"Yeah, sorry to tell you like that, Kal-El," Thor added. "But you're in danger. Lex Luthor crosses all the Earths of the Multiverse to murder all the Supermen, including you. And at the same time, we're looking for a Superman who can help us. But in the meantime, we've to protect you from Lex Luthor."
"Lex?" said Earth – 167's Clark, not at all worried. "I didn't know the President Luthor was in town."
"President Luthor?"Iris exclaimed, stunned.*
"Look. I've faced a lot of these type of things…" Clark said before pausing to notice that the four visitors had just disappeared without a trace.
"Hello, old friend," said a voice behind him.
The Earth – 167's Clark turned to see a bald man there, holding a large open Book, giving him a Machiavellian smile.
"Who are you?"
"Don't you know me, Clark?" the bald man exclaimed with a smirk. "I'm Lex Luthor!"