The Last Daughter of Krypton - IC

[camerindrake]

Damian

Damian closed the doors behind them and walked over to the computer and hit a button causing the outside shell to completely disappear. He then walked over to the med center of sorts and pressed a almost invisible button sliding a panel making the medical equipment to come into view.

He then said, "Alfred, I believe this is your expertise. Unless the good Doctor has a degree in the medical field. Then you both can get a handle on this." Though silently he wished Leslie Tompkins was here as well to take control of the medical situation. Alfred he knew was good, probably better than most licensed practitioners, but when Alfred was stumped on what to do Leslie usually could figure it out.

He then continued, "Along this wall is about everything you would need for combat medicine. Including a certain serum that my mothers side of the family came up with. However if you use it, the side effect is a temporary insanity." He then showed the green vial. "Its called Lazerous. The original form a person had to be submerged in a pit. It was said to give eternal youth. I saw what happened to someone who used it for to long. This version doesn't quite do the same, but use it sparingly."

He placed the vial back into its slot in one of the compartments of the wall. And walked over to the computer and started monitoring the situation outside of their camouflaged safe haven. "We are going to have to move. We maybe undetectable visually but the sound is the killer with this device." Not to count the equivalent to seismic activity he thought. He wanted to contact Sin, however rifting the dimensions to often he didn't know what the side effects would be. He sure could use an Oracle and Sin learned from the original. So for allies which were few and far between she was the best from his reality. And as far as he could tell the best in this reality for his allies was out of commission.

He did something he hardly ever did he asked for input, "Any suggestions on where to go?" He didnt know if there were any caverns under either Wayne estate in this reality or not so he didnt want to plant them in rock. That would definitely be a bad thing.

 

[ChasNicollette]

John, Ceri, and Rose

John smiled woozily, turning his head ever-so-slightly to regard blonde and brunette, and then glanced again up at the raven-haired Ceri.

"I swear, God's 'onest," he mumbled, "three women at once isn't really my style. (Not after that one time, anyway.)"

"Could yeh please inject him with something?" Ceri drawled, eyes half-lidded. "I don't even care what, just make him shush before I have to murder-suicide the bastard to save us both on shame."

Struggling to be serious, then, struggling to make her understand, John screwed up his face with agony and focus and he rasped through gritted teeth as he clutched Ceri's wrist: "Dun understand, Angel. Dun understand. 'Christ' eh'n't a name, it's a title. Means 'annointed,' same as 'Messiah.' There's a Christ. And there's an Anti-Christ. And there's the One in between. And for all the people what love and believe in each One of Them, there's always them that'll try to capture 'em and bend 'em to their ends. And there's them that'll try to kill Them."

"John," Ceri attempted, but Constantine interrupted her fiercely.

"King Herod killed all those babies at Christmas," John growled. "I got meself demonic blood-poisoning so's I could stop some fascisty bastards bringing about The Second Coming on their own terms. I've seen the battles that can take place on the ramparts of Heaven, I've seen the wounded crawling back to Hell. And I've seen his kind fight both sides or die trying. Rose can't stay with this bloke, I don't care how good he looks in real life. He'll always be a target, and so will she."

Two hisses sounded, one injector gun and then the other, and even as John healed and the relaxant soothed the attendant violent effects of the RL65, he faded to silence and faded to sleep. His hand that clutched Ceri's wrist went limp.

Stricken, pale, Ceri stared at the unconscious warlock. And then raised her dark-eyed gaze to her daughter.

Rose's face was a mask of betrayal, the fact that her uncle would be so prejudiced, would be so vicious to a man he'd never met.

"Rosy," Ceri attempted, reaching for Rose's wrist--

But Rose was too quick, anger pulsing through her as she staggered away, ignoring offers of healing and her own mother's attempts at consolation.

"Bloody nadgers," she growled, tears streaking down her face. Kara was gone. And now her mum would make her break up with her boyfriend because of some fucking complete stranger's vague-ass prophecy...

They'd saved The World. And in the process, she felt, she'd train-wrecked her own life. And oh, how she hated train-wrecks.

Metal clinked against her foot, and she bent to pick up The Key where John had dropped it.

She stared at it for a moment, and then looked up at the sky.

The sky ripped open--

She brightened in surprise and elation--

"Kara?" she breathed.

But it wasn't Kara. Kara was somewhere else.

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Wraith

I looked down at the now sleeping man. Rose was walking away, tears streaking down her cheeks, in anger or sadness I could not tell.

"I don't know this man Mrs. McCrimmon. I don't know what powers he possesses or what futures he can see. I do know who I am though. Some of what he says makes sense, I can't deny that. I won't deny that. You don't lie to those you love and you definitely don't lie to those who have your back."

I looked over at Rose's back then. She was holding herself stiff. I could tell, even though we had not known each other very long, I could tell she was close to a breaking point.

"I am what I am. I have been hunted since I was twelve. I have powers I barely understand, and I know that what I can do here is just scratching the surface. I know there are forces in this world that want to use me, and those that would kill me for a devil or monster. But I do know one thing,"

I looked Rose's mom in the eyes, mine blazing fiercely with the passion I was feeling.

"I will NOT be used, and I will not let those I love be harmed! I care for your daughter. There is a spark here and young though we may be, I think Rose and I have a destiny. Call it magic if you will, or fate, but I think we are meant to be together. And as for those I love being a target, I believe you know something of that. It's a price we pay for having feelings, and for knowing and giving love."

Then the skies opened up with a boom and a flash of brilliance, and something was falling.

"MERRICK!!!!! TIME TO PLAY CATCH!!"

 

[ChasNicollette]

Ted

The plane came to life in front of Ted like some kind of ghost ship from space, and despite himself, despite the amazing things he'd seen, Ted couldn't help but stagger back a step.

There had been one time, back in '43, when he'd been approached by The OSS about a special operation behind enemy lines, and they'd broken out an aircraft they called The Blackhawk. That sucker had been a thing of beauty then, it had taken his breath away, him and the R.A.F. fella they'd gotten to fly the thing...

But even that work of aerotech art couldn't hold a candle to the bird he saw before him.

He whistled softly. "Di. Wouldya look at that?"

And then pretty ladies emerged from the craft, and his eyebrows arched.

The perky blonde barked out orders, and rueful, bewildered Ted could do little else but entrust Diana to their care, watching as they placed her on that backboard and brought her aboard the plane. He'd asked for their help, after all, and while his fatal wounds now might be all but fading scars, he sure as Sugar Ray couldn't do a damn thing to help her by his own self.

He stuck to her like glue, though, boarding the jet. No way he was letting her out of his sights.

He whistled again, softly, as he looked around the place. State of th' art, inside and flippin' out.

Mildly uncomfy, he shrugged out of his jacket and examined the status of his shirt, riddled as it was with bullet holes.

"Don't suppose I could trouble one of y'all for a clean change of clothes," he wondered, "and maybe a sponge?"

 

[Lunaramblings]

Dale and Marcy followed the rest into the strange portal that had appeared. Dale watched this Damien cautiously. He wasn't sure if he trusted him.

"Mr. Sullivan, if I had known what she had in mind I wouldn't have let her do it. I am so sorry." Dale bent and softly kissed Chloe on the forehead.

"Everything has a purpose. But that girl and I are going to have a chat about thinking things through. It was foolish and impulsive to do something like this." Marcy put an arm around Gabe Sullivan, "Your daughter is a brave, brilliant and beautiful girl. You should be proud."




------------------------------------------------------




Meanwhile in China...

Merick looked up as Wraith yelled. He looked up and saw something falling. Falling fast.

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Aboard the Pegasus

Quickly and professionally Diana was moved from the board to a medical bed. Instruments were wired in as her shirt was cut off her battered body. The blond gave a low whistle.

"Sugah', what did you get yourself into?" She reached over for a hypo and injected a clear liquid into her neck.

"Don't worry hon, that was just something to keep her asleep while we set these bones. Dane, get me a scan stat. & sugah, there is a locker behind you with spare jumpsuits. Just grab one that fits."

She turned back to the girl while a blue beam of light slowly flowed over her body, and over the bed a hologram appeared, showing the damaged areas of Diana's body.

"Dane, get over here with the immobilization gear. We got alot of breaks to set before we can juice her. Got some strange bone density readings too, so this may be a bit tough."

She then seemed to remember the man that had brought in her patient. "What you waiting for. Grab your duds and head through the door behind us. We got work to do here and you do not need to be here."

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

Since Kara was back in Smallville, she had literally no way of getting to China again. Not unless her parents would lend her the cash to fly over... and she was pretty sure they wouldn't do that unless the world was ending.

But if she didn't get back... the world could end.

And that was something that just didn't set well with the young Kryptonian teenager.

Kara raced home as fast as she could, and the sun provided her with plenty of energy to get there.

"Hello?! Mom? Dad?" Kara called out as she ran into the house.

Both her parents had been sitting inside the living room when Kara arrived, the telephone near at hand in case they received another call.

They hoped it would be Kara.

They hoped it wasn't the police again.

"Kara?" Martha responded, standing to her feet as Kara came into view. She looked startled by how ruffed up Kara looked, but her shock wore off and she hugged her daughter tightly.

"What happened to you?" Martha asked, experiencing a wide range of emotions that included (but not limited to) anger and joy.

"I'm alright, mom. Just had a long day," Kara said, offering the shortest explanation possible.

Kara was glad to be home.

In all honesty... she was glad to be back home.

Jonathan came over and placed a hand on his daughters shoulder, before moving it to brush aside some of her golden hair. In some ways his daughter seemed older.

She had changed a little.

"We got a call that you had been in trouble. What happened?"

"It's... a long story," Kara added.

 

[AmenRa]

The Arrival of Var-Sen

He fell from an unknown height, tumbling and flailing through Earth's atmosphere as her gravity pulled him closer to solid ground. The trip through the Gateway had rendered him unconcious, just as it had ripped his beloved Raya from his grasp and sent Kara asunder.

And so, sleeping, unknowing, Var-Sen of Krypton barrelled towards Earth.

- - -

It was through the great power of his Martian vision that J'onn J'onzz was able to see clearly the features of the form that was now falling to Earth. Just a hint of a smile played around his mouth when he said to Wraith, Merick, and Rose, "It appears an old friend has been released from the Phantom Zone."

 

[Lunaramblings]

Merick looked at the small speeding shape. He focused and then he was gone, Swooshing into the night sky over China.

Merick first appeared far too far to the right, then the left. Finally he was just behind the falling figure. But it was speeding like a cannonball. Hurtling toward the unrelenting and unforgivingl ground. Merick tucked in tight, trying desperately to gain speed, but with each tick of the clock Var-Sen of Krypton flew faster toward the ground.

Merick didn't dare teleport again, if he miss calculated he could end up even further away. Instead he focused hard. He sent a magnificent flare of emerald energy out behind him, generating thrust from the shockwave. Still not enough, he through both arms behind himself, and pushed hard.

Suddenly he was passing the Kryptonian. He was slightly ahead of Var-Sen. He switched from pushing to pulling. He flung an arm out at Var-Sen, wrapping him in a cocoon of force. As he did he gripped the bubble and pulled himself in front of it. He could feel the energy fading from his body. He was getting tired. Worn down.

Merick looked down and saw the ground dangerously close. Only yards away.

Merick let out a primal growl as he pushed hard, sending a jet of force directly into the cocoon in which Var-Sen lay. For just a moment, no more then 10 feet off the ground, the cocoon hovered. It's forward momentum countered, but not gone. Instead Merick had taken it on. His body moving at a blur, Merick took a gamble...

SWOOSH

As the cocoon hit the ground, it dissipated. It fizzled into the aether. And Var-Sen landed as if he had fallen out of bed. A soft thump in the grass.

Meanwhile... in a small church in Germany, a priest was singing hymns, and counting his blessings. The church was moderate, small and poor, but it served as an important piece of faith to this town. It had stood proudly for a very long time. But recent cut backs meant it would be closing at the end of the month. The priest was looking to God then, praying for a chance, anything to keep this small church going. His congregation was finishing their Mass.

Then their was a crash. A green figure crashes through the ceiling, through a large beam, and finally lands like a ton of bricks on the large marble alter. He flickers, and then the green figure is gone. Left behind is a young man, dazed and tired. He sits up, and grins foolishly and says,

"Ich bin ein Berliner!" The boy then vanishes.


On a dune on a beach a boy appears suddenly. Standing above him is an old man. One that he had met recently.

The drunk man picks up the boy's head and carefully pours a mouthful of YooHoo down his throat and starts to hum as he holds the young man. Waiting for him to come around.

 

[ChasNicollette]

"Maybe I'm Just a Girl on a Mission"

Gabe smiled faintly at Dale and Marcy Tennylson.

"My girl is a better human being," he murmured softly, and tried not to blush around the edges at Marcy's proximity, "than her mother and myself combined. And I am proud of her. I'm proud of her to the extent that I wonder if she'd ever be proud of me. She's so good. My little crusader. And I'm just... weekend-shift overtime at the fertiliser plant."

He closed his eyes for a moment. "I'll not have her chided for risking herself for others. Not when I'm too cowardly to do the same. But thank you. Both of you."

Damian was talking; Damian was no longer quiet.

"Alfred, I believe this is your expertise. Unless the good Doctor has a degree in the medical field. Then you both can get a handle on this."

"I'm afraid we've exhausted my expertise," Alfred admitted wearily. "I've done all I know how to do for the poor dear. Think I might have cracked her ribs with my chest compressions, that's terribly easy to do."

"S'all good," Pete nodded quietly, his voice a little raspy, worn out from fatigue and from sadness. "Most times a couple cracked ribs is better'n bein' dead."

"By a long chalk, I'd say," Jamie agreed, handing his coat to Alfred and plucking an acoustic stethoscope out of Damian's bank of medical equipment. "Let's have a closer look, shall we?"

Popping the stethoscope's earpieces into place, he placed the diaphragm onto Chloe's chest and closed his eyes.

Damian went on about this serum he had, this magickal resurrection drug, and Pete had been about to comment on its similarity to RL65 when Damian said two words-- "temporary insanity"

--and Gabriel Sullivan went red in the face, and all protestations of cowardice aside, he got as close as he dared to Damian, scowling at him. "You keep your goddamn snake oil away from my daughter. D'you have any idea what her greatest fear is? D'you have any idea? There is no way in Hell I'm letting you put her through that. No way in Hell."

Pete blinked, utterly astonished. "Off the handle. Off the hook."

"Yeah, no," Jamie murmured distractedly, adjusting the stethoscope's position above Chloe's heart, "shouldn't be necessary. If the aural discharge I detected during the energetic interchange operates under similar principles to the precedent established by my brother's Scots chum, the time-out shouldn't require any chemical interface to elapse properly. (Could be wrong, don't think I am. I'm usually not.)"

He opened his eyes, though, and looked at the serum that Damian held, and he made a face like he'd bit his tongue. "'Lazarus,' was it? Like the Sunday School name, 'Lazarus?' You know there were two of those? One of them-- actual bloke --died and got brought back, the other one-- character in a parable --went to Abraham's Bosom, which my former missus tells me was equivalent to Heaven. Be a bloody shame if they were one and the same bloke, wouldn't it? Lazarus dies, goes to Heaven, gets to show up his snotty bastard neighbour who's being tortured in flame, and then, without so much as a by your leave, he gets yanked back to the land of the living and doesn't know what to do with himself."

Alfred arched an eyebrow. "You don't actually think she's gone to--"

Jamie shook his head. "Mm, nah, not Heaven. Sheol, tops, and I've heard Sheol's plenty boring. Not enough board games to go around."

Removing the stethoscope, Jamie eyed Damian darkly. "Still, though. I'm not sure I'm going to be asking Son-of-Bat's mum around for Sunday roast anytime soon, I'll tell you that much, if that 'Lazarus' is the secret ingredient she puts in her mint jelly."

********​

Chloe had cleaned up the broken glass.

She had fed the fish.

And she had found a well-thumbed copy of Mansfield Park.

And when Death came back in, humming "Feed the Birds" softly, hanging up her hat and her coat and her umbrella on the rack by the door, Chloe was curled up on the couch, engrossed in Jane Austen, whilst Taylor Swift played on the CD player.

"Hey," she smiled faintly. "Back again so soon?"

Chloe smiled tightly as she sat up. "Seemed like a good idea at the time."

"I'll bet it did," Death mused, sitting down beside Chloe. "Did I miss Ted?"

Chloe nodded quietly. "Yeah, he didn't stay long. I'm kind of jealous his reset button kicked in so quick."

"Well, he's been doing it for longer," Death chuckled faintly. "You get the hang of it after awhile. Keep at it, and they might even let you pick where you respawn."

Chloe turned white as a sheet. "Uh. No thanks. I'd prefer this happens as infrequently as possible. No offence."

"None taken," Death smirked.

Chloe smiled sadly, and closed the copy of Mansfield Park, setting it on the coffee table. "So how much longer do I have?"

Death glanced at the clock on the front of the CD player. "Actually, come to think of it, you're good to go anytime. You've been good to go for awhile now."

Chloe frowned. "Not that I haven't appreciated the breather, I'd hate to give you that impression, but I really do have stuff to do-- why am I still here?"

"You have something you want to ask me," Death noted.

Chloe opened her mouth to protest that she had no idea what Death was on about, and then closed her mouth firmly again, turning even paler than before. "Oh. Yeah. I guess I do."

Death helped herself to a cookie and waited patiently. "Whenever you're ready."

Chloe stared at her fidgety hands for a long long moment, eyes scrunched shut, and then she looked at Death with a look of utter panic and dread on her face: "When you took my mother, when my mother died... where did you take her?"

Death smiled a faint faint sad sad little smile.

"That's one of the things you don't get to know," she murmured. "You never get to know where anyone else goes when they die. You never get to know where you go before you go, and you never get to know what happens to anyone else. It's in the by-laws."

Chloe slumped, and nodded glumly.

"I should've--" she mumbled, crushing her eyes shut as tears managed to escape. "I should've seen that coming."

But then Death leaned in close to Chloe's ear, her lips almost close enough to brush the lobe, and she breathed a tiny little breath of a whisper.

"I never took your mother, Chloe."

Chloe's eyes snapped open.

********​

Chloe's eyes snapped open and her hand flashed out and she grabbed Pete's wrist and her ribs knitted together and the crack on her head she'd taken when she'd hit her head on the floor passing away like that, that healed up, too...

Her eyes snapped open and she shuddered and she burst into tears. "Pete," she stammered. "I--"

Pete shushed her by wrapping her up in his arms. "Yeah. Me too. Me too."

"Chloe Anne," Gabe breathed, forgetting his rage with Damian in an instant, and darted to her side.

"Daddy," Chloe whimpered, and as soon as Pete made way, father and daughter hugged ever-so-tightly, ever-so-tearfully.

"Another family reunited," Alfred smiled softly, disbelieving but cheerful.

"Toldyaso," Jamie noted, happily enough.

And then he glanced at the same monitors Damian had checked, and he clucked softly. "Well. I hate to say this, but this bolt-hole was my last best idea, and that's been compromised by your big, erm, booming tube thing."

Eyebrow arched, Jamie glanced at Dale and Marcy. "Any brainwaves, you two?"

 

[Lunaramblings]

Dale just smiled as Gabe spoke.

He liked this guy. He was good people. And if not for his daughter...

Then he heard Damien bring up a serum. A serum that healed, but fractured the mind...

And all semblance of the kind doctor was banished.

"Son, you put that needle anywhere near this pretty little lady and I assure you will find it in a VERY uncomfortable place." Dale's voice held no hatred, no malice, just cold, calculated purpose. " I have seen Serum's like yours. They usually do more harm than good. " Dale's big, strong hands formed into fists, his knees bent slightly and he eyed Damien wearily.

"Well. I hate to say this, but this bolt-hole was my last best idea, and that's been compromised by your big, erm, booming tube thing."

Eyebrow arched, Jamie glanced at Dale and Marcy. "Any brainwaves, you two?"[/QUOTE]

Dale looked away from Damien hesitantly. Ruing having to take his eyes off the man.

Dale cleared his throat, shrugged and looked at Jaime, "Well, I might know a place. Since the worlds loudest ninja and his attention-gathering machine have been so useful... I suppose it is our only option. My father, he is a bit paranoid sometimes. His place in El Paso is like a fortress. When I was younger I used to call it The Alamo. Anyway, I figure we could probably go there. Least til we here from Johnny Number Five."

Dale leaned down to Chloe and hugged her tightly. "Thank you. I hate to think what may have happened if you hadn't done what you did. But I sure as hell ain't worth it. You ever need anything... I owe you."

Dale let go and stood up.

Marcy hugged him tightly.

 

[ChasNicollette]

The armour had faded.

Shrunk back to its component parts.

Which was to say, a little lead box. The dragonslayer's armour was a little lead box once more.

And, the worse for wear, Lex Luthor knelt in the rubble, holding that little lead box to his side with one hand. There, down on one knee, Lionel Luthor's son knelt unmoving.

Because in his other hand, the hand that didn't hold the box, Lex Luthor held the Kryptonian Crystal of Air.

He gazed at it quietly, there in his hand. "Such a small thing. Such an elegant thing. And it's the cause of so very much trouble. It's not even complete, it's just one piece of a whole -- and it's caused so much trouble."

Bruce Wayne stood a short way from him, fists at his sides.

He would be a Dark Knight. But not today. Tomorrow. Tomorrow he would be a Knight.

"We are none of us complete," he pointed out. "We are all of us pieces of a whole."

Lex half-glanced over his shoulder at the masked man, as though he'd been aware of the figure's presence all along.

"Truer words," Lex mused, ironically, sardonically, as he straightened, stood, and turned to face Bruce more fully, "have rarely been spoken. You've got a real gift for fortune-cookie aphorisms. Maybe you should start a blog."

"My prose has always tended to the tortured side," Bruce admitted. "I'd have to cater to a somewhat niche crowd."

"There are worse fates," Lex pondered, running his fingers over The Crystal of Air, "than knowing just where you belong."

"I'd settle for knowing just where that artefact belongs," Bruce declared, tilting his head in a subtly menacing manner. "And I know it doesn't belong to you."

"Is that so?" Lex smirked a faint little bemused, barely-tolerant smirk. "The way I see it, we have scattered around us the remnants of a shipwreck. Haven't you ever heard of salvage rights?"

"Luthor," Bruce strode towards Lex.

"No?" Lex shrugged, seemingly heedless of the vigilante's approach, as he glanced down at the Crystal in his hand. "How 'bout 'Finders Keepers?'"

Bruce's gloved fists wrapped around the front of Lex's tattered Armani shirt and Bruce's jaw squared beneath his mask.

"Cut your losses," Bruce advised, "from one venture capitalist to another."

Lex grinned a Devil-may-care grin. He wasn't scared of this masked idiot. Not one iota.

"That's insider trading," he remarked. "I won't be a party to that."

And with ferocity born of iron will and seething madness he brought up the case made from Saint George's breastplate and smashed it into the side of Bruce's head, the side with the remaining bat-ear, the side having all the commlinks and sensors within.

The highly-sensitive circuitry sparked and ruptured and Bruce growled clutching at his face as he fell to one knee. His HUD winked out and he was blinded and Lex Luthor's foot cracked him in the face.

"Hrrnh!" Bruce snarled, more out of anger than of pain, but the hit had taken it out of him and he reeled, blinded and dizzied, clawing at the ground, trying to find purchase, trying to mind his surroundings.

Lex took a step back and sneered at him, brandishing The Crystal. "This? Belongs to a race of aliens, you naive simpleton. Aliens which, in case you haven't been paying attention, just tried to take our world from us. Our whole planet. Now, I don't know about you? But if someone tries to take what's mine? I take back what's mine. And, in turn, I take everything that means anything to them. An eye for an eye."

"'An eye for an eye,'" Bruce rasped, clawing at the sparking outcropping of his mask, "'leaves the whole world blind.'"

Lex smirked at that, and turned and began to walk away. "'In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.'"

Bruce knelt there for a moment. Finding steel. Finding focus.

He prayed to his parents.

He rose to his feet. He tore the mask clear off, his face an iron-clad countenance of will.

His hand went to the bag at his hip.

The flash-bang grenade whistled through the air, whistled past Lex's ear.

Lex blinked as it sailed past him, spinning end over end before landing seven feet away.

"Oh," Lex grunted. "Hell."

The gloaming gloomy landscape was split with a bright bright searing rip of light and a roar of 170 decibels-- like staring into the muzzle of a .44 magnum at the moment of its being fired.

Bellowing, Lex staggered back, ears ringing, vision blurring, afterimages dancing in front of him.

A gloved fist pounded into his jaw like a runaway freight train and he went down to one knee, dropping the armour-box, dropping The Crystal.

A knee surged up into his stomach and an elbow cracked into the back of his neck and the heel of a hand swooped up to clud against his chin and Lex found himself sprawled on his back, staring up at the dark dark cloud-swept sky.

His nostrils were filled with the smell of cordite and his eyes were stinging and he could not make out the face of the figure standing silhouetted over him.

"I heard a different version," Lex heard the figure growl, tiny and tinny, as if from very far away. "'In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is stoned to death.'"

"You're a-- tr-- you're a traitor," Lex managed to burble. "You're a traitor to your species."

"I'm no traitor to any species with a soul," Bruce replied, retrieving The Crystal as somewhere not so very far away, John Smith landed, crumpled and unconscious, on the naked Earth. "What species are you?"

Placing the Crystal in a pocket, he reached down, bent down, and he hauled Lex face to face with himself.

Lex's eyes were stinging. He could barely see a thing.

But for a moment, for the tiniest of instants he could see those eyes.

Dragonslayer eyes.

It was as though Saint George had come out of legend, come out of Death, come to pour his wrath out upon Lex Luthor.

The Dragonslayer had come back for his breastplate.

"I've met the alien," Bruce instructed Lex. "And the alien is more human than you are."

Lex wheezed: "That's a matter of op--"

Bruce's next punch knocked Lex Luthor clean out.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Ted

He arched an eyebrow at the all-business blondie, and without a word, he peeled his shirt off, kicked his footwear off and shoved down his jeans. He stood there for a moment in his boxers and his MMA gloves, turning only then to the locker, grabbing a jumpsuit and zippering his way into it. Didn't bother to conceal himself in the slightest.

Apparently, he didn't care if she saw him in his skivvies.

And he didn't bother to clean his blood off himself, that could wait 'till later.

Because he wasn't going anywhere.

He stood beside the young Diana of Themyscira, jaw set and eyes like the sea after a storm.

"I'm in her corner," he declared, voice like flint. "And that means I need to be here. Girl's tougher than any nails you care to mention. Girl could whup me in the squared circle, I bet you dollars to q-tips. But right now she's on the canvas, and I'm in her corner."

 

[Lunaramblings]

Edmund Tennylson stood watching as his grandson disappeared. He stood watching as Bruce Wayne beat the ever loving hell out of Lex Luthor.


And he grinned. He saw such promise. Such great promise. He watched as Lex crumpled to the ground.

"Well done, son. Well done. Anyone know who the guy is? I mean, I aint to sure what happened to Merick, but seems he wanted to protect this fella."

Edmund walks of to Lex and grins. "Think we can leave this one behind? I hate the Luthors. They make even my skin crawl."

 

[Lunaramblings]

It was bright and sunny on the beach. The surf lapping at the sand.

Merick grunted as he opened his eyes.

"Where the hell?"

"Hawaii. By way of Behrlin. haha... you make quite the impression."

"Great. The crazy drunk again."

"Am I crazy? Could be. How was China? Been a long time since I went home."

"Well, let's see, I got punted like a football, Some British wizard used me as a superconductor, oh and I caught some guy, falling from some type of explosion. It was great. Can't wait for spring break. You gonna boggart the YooHoo?"

"No. I like mine bettah. Mo' kick. So. You been vahry beesy since we las' talk. Bu' you handle it well. You may just serve you' destiny well after all."

"I thought it was my story, I could choose my own destiny? What about all that?"

"Dere ah many road, all lead to same place. The journey is jus' diff'ren'. Howeveh, no destiny is set in stone. I hope you serve you's well. I even beht on it. Oh. One mo'hr ting..."

"What's that?"

"Tommy says hello. An' he is vehry prou' of you."

"Tommy. As in... My brother? How is it you can talk to my dead brother?"

"Oh. He not dead. Jus'... Jus' somewhehe else. Some day maybe I show you. But not today. Too much going on. You guy make big mess. Gonna be you' job ta clean it up."

"Great. Just great."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Ceri and Rose

Ceri stared at Wraith for a moment.

And for that moment, she forgot everything John had just said.

Because in his bombastic statesman speech-making, Wraith had just sounded very much like Uncle Dai McCrimmon.

And Ceri opened her mouth to ask him if he'd ever--

Then the skies opened up with a boom and a flash of brilliance, and something was falling.

Ceri flung her arm across her brow and tried to peer into the stormy stormy sky and make out the shape of it: "Agh, m'Lord. Is it too much to ask that this be a good thing?"

Rose had often had trouble putting two together with two.

Intuition was more her forte, linear thinking hardly her strong suit.

But when J'onn J'onzz spoke those words: "It appears an old friend has been released from the Phantom Zone."

...she knew in an instant exactly what he meant.

She saw her friend falling.

Her eyes were blue and they were wide.

"Professor?" she breathed, and her tears instantly became those of relief.

He hadn't left her. He hadn't left her. He hadn't left her here alone in this horrible nonfictional place.

She wanted to fly to him to race him to the ground she wanted to learn Krypton's names for all the stars, but she couldn't fly: she could barely stand.

Merick was there, Merick was up there, she could see him with vision like razorbeams and laser-wire.

She bit her lip, and did the math, and she began to stagger t'wards the place she thought they were going to make planetfall.

Merick vanished and John Smith landed, crumpled and unconscious, on the naked Earth, and Rose broke into a run.

(She had first felt exhausted, this day, after freezing Kryptonite for the first time to save John Smith. But kind of a lot had happened since then and now exhaustion for her had been redefined so many times that she didn't know the meaning of the word anymore. She didn't know the meaning of exhaustion.)

She ran at full speed towards her fallen friend, her teacher, and she skidded on her knees, skidded up to him, and she wrapped him up in her arms, blinking back tears of elation.

He came back, which meant Kara could come back, which meant he'd come back.

"You ever," she stammered, panting, recalling the first words she'd ever said to him, "do that to me again, I swear to God I will have the truant officer hunting you down."

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Wraith

It seemed light shows were the vogue thing on post-dusk China.

First the Professor comes down at re-entry velocity, which our resident force-mage took care of in his own heroic way, then it looks like some sort of struggle was going on among the rubble.

We were definitely cursed to be living in interesting times.

"Rose, why don't you..." was all I had time to get out before she was off in a streak of fiery red hair.

"Girl has alot of hero in her," I said, then looked over at Ceri, "wonder who she gets that from?"

I looked over at Min then, and decided it was time to make a decision.

"Min, get your team and the gentleman here in the Pegasus. Mrs. McCrimmon, could you help Rose and the professor into the plane. I think it's time we got out of here. I'll go get the others."

I drew upon my power and shadows swirled around me, depositing me by Bruce and the most dangerous man here.

Merick's Grandpa.

I looked over at Bruce and noticed the crystal in his hand. "Great Bruce, you found it. I thought that would..WHATTHEHELL????? Thats Lex Luthor!!"

I looked down at the sleeping dragon, obvious signs of being coldcocked on his face, then over at Bruce. "OK, now I am envious of you. Been wanting to do that to the little slimeball for ages. Get him on the plane if you would, we are leaving."

I then turned to the real reason I had come over.

"I hate them too, but nobody gets left behind. You though, you are a problem. Your dangerous. Much more dangerous than you look. I don't trust you, Merick doesn't trust you, and Ceri McCrimmon definitely doesn't trust you. You don't get to go with the rest. This is where we part ways."

His eyes narrowed at my words and I saw him tensing up.

"I'm not going to leave you here, but you are not getting on that plane. You have two choices, either wait and see what the Chinese do with you, or take my hand and I will drop you off somewhere safe in the States. You have the resources to get wherever you want after that. Those are your choices. You may want to try choice number three, fight your way on the plane and take control, but I will tell you now you would have a much better chance with the Chinese. Your dangerous sir, not only because your a fighter, but because of your words and thoughts, and you have been around us long enough. So," I said extending my hand, "Whats your choice?"

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Pegasus Med bay

Ted was given a look, a very very pointed look.

"OK sugah, you can sit over there and be quiet and still, because we have work to do and I do not have time to fight with you." Then her voice dropped to a more serious note. "Interfere in any way and I will tranq you and when you wake up you will have a beautiful pair of 'D' cups. So sit & behave!"

Sharon gave Ted Grant one more look then focused on the monitors.

"Poor thing has almost crushed her hands and forearms. Liver is bruised, spleen too. Got the makings of a concussion too. Dane, do your thing with her hands and arms while I load up some serum. Forty cc's should do it. Bone density and muscle density is not normal either, but that appears to be genetic.Another one of the Boss' special ones I see. Don't worry sugah, we got this little girl's back."

Dane walked over to the bed and looked down at Diana, then up at the scan, which was more a 3D rendering of her internal body, damaged points highlighted in red.

"Sir, what your about to see is classified and dangerous to me and this company if it gets out, so I am trusting you to be quiet about it."

He then held his hands over Diana's body, and a blue glow surrounded his hands. It glowed brighter and on the monitor bones began to move into alignment. Large and small, all began to go back to their proper places.

"When I was twelve I found out I could move things without touching them. Nothing big, I couldn't even win at arm wrestling with my mind, but I can feel everything, and I am strong enough to set bones and do other delicate procedures that would normally be invasive surgery. The Boss found me working in a hospital in Memphis and recruited me into her medical team. Putting me through school and letting me do what I want, helping people. OK Sharon, she's ready."

Sharon walked over with a injector with a slightly glowing lavender liquid in it.

"OK Sugah, this is going to fix her right up. It's a healing accelerant. Only side affect we have noticed is it raises aggression levels, which is why we give a sedative first. In a hour she will be good as new."

The hypo kissed her neck and hissed, and on the scanner bones began to knit and scrapes and bruises started healing before Teddy Grants eyes.

 

[AmenRa]

Var-Sen

Sleep had taken him, but he was waking now. There should have been an Earth-shattering kaboom, but instead there was only a soft thud. What should have been a deep crater with a clouded plum of dust was nothing but soft ground. He should have been broken, but instead he was whole, and his Kryptonian powers were realizing themselves almost immediately.

He felt himself wrapped in a warm embrace, and a most familiar scent washed across his nose. At first he thought it was Raya, but then he realized it was a human scent.

And then recognition took him, and he was smiling even before he fully opened his eyes. And once he did, he took a long look at the girl with crimson hair and blue eyes and he felt tears sting the back of his eyes. He stood, his powers complete, and picked Rose up into the air as he embraced her.

"My dearest Rose," he said joyfully, "seeing your smile makes one certainly feel so alive." He placed her back on the ground and took her hand, kissing it with a bow. "And I promise to never have you call upon the truant officer!"

Var-Sen looked around. "Who do I thank for the help on my arrival?" he asked.

"Our young friend Merrick provided that service," came the reply in a voice that echoed from a far off desert world. Var-Sen turned around and looked up into the red eyes of the Martian Manhunter.

J'onn J'onzz extended a huge, green hand. "Welcome home, my brother."

Var-Sen shook the offerred hand and held it for a moment. "Those words have new meaning for me, old friend," he said.

Var-Sen looked to Wraith and to Bruce Wayne, stepping towards them to exchange greetings when he saw the bound and sleeping form of Zod.

Var-Sen looked to J'onn, who shrugged. "Don't venture too close to the General, as he is bound with Kryptonite."

Through clenched jaws Var-Sen responded, "and only the Crystal of El can vanquish him back to the Zone."

"I was with Kara, and Raya," he told Rose and J'onn and Merrick. "We were seperated upon entering the Gateway. We must find them!"

J'onn cocked his head to the side with an inquisitive look.

"Raya?"

 

[Lunaramblings]

Edmund Tennylson looked at the figure before him.

"Listen son, I will be the first to admit I done some things I shou'n't. Plen'y of 'em. I have made my mistakes, but who on this Earth hasn't? You wanna leave me here, well, wouldn't be the first time I been left by people I thought had my back, but I will ask this of you... My grandson, Merick, I don't rightly know where he went, or how. But I know he will go back to his parents. I want to make sure he is ok. Let me come back to the bunker, make sure he is ok." Edmund took the collapsed staff off his belt and handed it over to Bruce. "Y'all can bind me, gag me, hold me at gun point. But let me find my kin. That is all I ask. Truth be told son, I came to Smallville to deliver some news, once that is done, I will be on my way."

Edmund looked Wraith up and down, then Bruce. Then Ceri.

"Ms. McCrimmon, my grandson humbled this old farm hand. He spoke true enough. I can help. I can make a difference. I know where I am going when my number comes up, but I want to at least go with my kin bein' proud o' me. You can understand that right?"

 

[Lunaramblings]

Merick and The Old Man sat at a large table in a little diner. They were surrounded by tourists eating their food. The Old Man was adding a generous dab of something from a thick glass bottle to the cherry cola he had ordered. Merick sat sipping his Coke.

"I love America. The food, the people, such spirit. Oh and I really love this Chehrry Cola. We di' noht have dis when I was a boy. But then, that was a vehry long time ago."

"Just how old are you? What are you?" Merick sipped on the Coke. His head was throbbing, his back was aching and he really wasn't sure how he was going to choke down food. But alas, The Old Man insisted.

"I am old enough. Wise man say, You only as old as you feel, Wiser man say, You only as old as you are sober."

"I am pretty sure old friend that no wise man ever spoke more inaccurate words. I thought it was agreed we would stay out of this until The Furies had cast their lot?" A tall man stand behind Merick. Wearing a wide brimmed straw hat and a hawaiian shirt.

"Is thah not why you asz' me to bring the boy? Nice shihrt. You always pick the mos' discrete attire."

"I sense you have not told young Mister Tennylson, of the situation?"

"I neveh tell bad news before the first round of drinks."

"Tell me friend, how do you keep track of which round your supposed to be on? Seems you are practically in perpetual inebriation.

"You made a joke? Most interesting."

"Ok, seriously, can you guys stop talking like I am not here. I am literally two feet away."

"Apologies. Seems I have forgotten my manners. I am Hector Hall, Emissary of Order and Chaos. I am the balance. And you, are The Dove. You are to be an emissary of Order."

"Ok. So... I am supposed to be an emissary of Order. Like reason, and logic, and neat little rows. Have you guys seen my bedroom? I am the least orderly guy ever."

"You take him too literal. Order as in checks and balance. You ahe charged with keeping this worl' in check. Or a' least helping. You proved to me and some impohrtan' peoble jus' how much you care. I was sen' 'ere to you. To save you aftah you landed in the dune." The Old Man gestures to the dune just down the beach where Merick had landed. "Had you no been selfless, you would have taken a mush diff'en' pafth. One I fear to think of."

"Ok. So, by risking my life to save the dude, I started down this path. Ok. So I am supposed to help people. I can dig that."

"You were not meant to take on this destiny. This destiny was meant for your brother. Thomas. However, I have had to make certain deals to ensure that the Celestinial Paths would not be corrupted. You have an important choice to make. And only you can choose. None may help you. You must choose the punishment of the man responsible for Thomas' death. He committed a great sin. And he must be punished."

"So now I am judge, jury and executioner? Who do you guys think I am, Judge Dredd?" Merick picks up his soda and drinks deeply. "I will not make this decision lightly. You say there are others, like you two, that needed to be dealt with. I want to here from them. Here their opinions. Only then will I decide."

"Well spoken Merick Tennylson. Come, they are at the picnic tables on the beach. Let us go to them."

Merick stands and follows Doctor Fate, Hector Hall, to a table where there are two others waiting.

 

[Wyldfire]

The healing serum hit her system and Diana's aggressors went through the roof. Her body tried to respond to it, tried to rise to fight but the tranquilizers prevented that. All she could do was to come into a sort of half sleep, like a semi waking nightmare.

Part of her knew something was wrong, she felt so so sluggish and disconnected. Her Themysciran metabolism began to kick into overdrive, all she could do was groan and move just a touch under the medications meant to keep her down. She knew she had to get to Mother. Mother had to know something important, but Diana couldn't focus enough to remember what it was. The parts of her brain hardest hit by the medications were rebelling and trying to relax and sleep.

"Mother..." was all she could get out of her mouth as her subconscious rebelled and fought against the drugs.

 

[ChasNicollette]

"Um, what's the name of the word for things not being the same always?" "....Change."

Merick stands and follows Doctor Fate, Hector Hall, to a table where there are two others waiting.

One of them wore white.

He was pale as pale could be, pale as The Moon, and his hair was the very same kind of pale. Not platinum, but starkest white.

He wore a white suit coat with a white shirt and a white tie, though the needlework was performed with goldest thread.

His shoes, which were also white, had golden flames etched around the toes and the heel and along the sides.

The only aspect of him that wasn't pale as The Moon or golden as The Sun were his eyes. His eyes were deep and deep and dark and dark, and if one peered closely into them, one might see starfields turning slowly in their depths.

Beside him, his shadow stretched out across the sand, and the sand seemed to flatten beneath his shadow's weight, as though it were tangible.

This was Daniel, Dream of The Endless.

On his shoulder was a black black bird the size of a large cat, and it didn't seem disturbed at all to be among people.

Beside him, grinning brightly, having changed from her traditional outfit into black flip flops and a black one-piece swimsuit and a fashionable black sarong-- an ankh still in place around her neck --was Death.

Further down the beach, a giant of a man dressed in red plaid and blue jeans and adorned with a reddish-blonde ponytail was playing Frisbee with a far far smaller spindly little girl, whose own hair was sometimes red and sometimes blond and sometimes short and sometimes long and sometimes lopsided and whose mode of dress was somewhat inexplicable.

Between them, trying to catch the Frisbee, was a brown dog, athletic and excitable, yapping furiously and jumping eagerly.

Occasionally, the little girl would turn passersby into soap bubbles shaped like fish, and the dog would very crossly tell her to "cut that out." Evidently respectful of the dog, the little girl would then return those passerby to their true forms, leaving them none the wiser.

Sometimes when this happened, the big man would laugh. He had a laugh like thunder, and it rolled down the beach.

Death leaned back on the picnic table where she sat, arms spread wide, a pair of round John Lennon sunglasses covering her eyes, and it almost seemed as though she was attempting to tan her pale skin.

Dream attempted no such affectation, and he simply glanced over his shoulder-- the shoulder without the black black bird upon it --at the three figures who approached.

He rose to his feet, and he was quite tall-- though not as tall as the reddish-blond man down the beach --and nodded respectfully, twice, to the three of them.

"Gentlemen," he referred to Merick and The Old Man, with his first nod.

With his second nod, he regarded Doctor Fate, he who had been called Hector Hall: "Father."

 

[Lunaramblings]

Hector Hall smiled wistfully at his son. The son he lost. The son he could never again have.

"Hello Daniel. I trust the Dreaming is treating you well? I am glad we could have this little family reunion. I just wish it were under better circumstances."

Merick for his part stood in wonder. In awe. These people... they were... amazing. He gazed down the beach at the man whom laughed like a storm on the sea, and the girl that brought about the amusement. He rubbed his eyes as watched their frolicking. He was tired, but yet he yearned to go play with the dog, and be free like the little girl. To laugh as heartily as the very large man, and to bounce and play like the dog. But he had other things to deal with. He turned his attention to the table. Before him he saw the tall man, Daniel. And his eyes stopped and his cheeks blushed as he looked upon the girl beside him. He grinned in his typical fashion and extended a hand to Death. "Hi. I'm Merick, pleased to meet you."

The Old Man stepped between Merick and Death, intervening before Merick's hand could touch her.

"'Disa fun time. Mehrick, dis is Daniel-San."

"Oh. Right." Merick's gaze lingered on Death just a moment longer. As he turned to greet Daniel he thought to himself, "This girl is cute... I hope Rose is ok. I can't wait to tell her about the dog and the girl, and all of this... her skin is soft... what?" "Um Hi. So you guys said something about a decision. So, let's hear it." Merick sits down at the table.

"Many years ago. Merick, there was an incident. A man calling himself Chronos, attempted to cross through the timestream. However he miss calculated the formula. Instead he opened a portal into another realm. A realm similar to our own. A real where you were already born. In this realm, however, you were destined to become a great destroyer. An agent of Chaos and War. In this reality you had killed your brother, before he had the chance to draw his first breath." Hector Hall looked Merick hard in the eyes. "The rift that pulled this man into your reality pulled that realities version of you out. That young teenager, who had just killed his parents, was thrown into the stillness of The Bleed. And as he passed through The Bleed, his soul fractured. He became both free of his destiny and ignorant of the consequences. He was deposited on a farm in El Paso, Texas. The family adopted him. He had no memory of who he was, or where he came from. The family named him Edmund. Edmund Tennylson." Hector Hall looked deeply into Merick's eyes. Into his soul.

"Wait. So my grandfather, he is some kind of extra-dimensional version of Me? Ok, if that is true... I am my own Grandfather... ewww..."

"It naw so bahd. At leas' you naw you own Gran'motheh." The Old Man took another long drink and smiled. Hector just fixed him with a most intense stare.

"In a manner of speaking. Which partly is what perplexes myself and The Sages. This means that our realms destiny was partially dependent on another dimension. This is most irregular. As a matter of fact, in The Book of Destiny there was no record of Edmund Tennylson, not until yesterday. When he killed your brother."

"What? Wait, how would that change anything."

"You have a clear mind Merick. This is good. In our world you were meant to be The Hawk, an primal representation of The Lords of Chaos. Your brother was meant to be The Dove. However, since in our world, like in his own, Edmund killed Thomas, he took that mantle once more. To No realm can have two Hawks, so, The Furies, in response wanted to kill you, being the younger of the two, however the matter became further complicated. Thomas spent the majority of his life in what some call the Aether. What my son here calls, The Dreaming. He died while his soul was in my sons domain. Since his soul lives on, he is not dead, and The Furies agreed on a deal, you would be given a chance to become The Dove, if your heart was pure, and your soul unstained, you could transcend the Mantle of the Hawk and become The Dove. And I would take Thomas to be my heir and replacement as The Balance. However, Daniel has a claim of his own. Daniel, please explain." At this Hector Hall turns back to his son.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Ceri, John, Rose, Lex, and Bruce

"Girl has alot of hero in her," Wraith said, then looked over at Ceri, "wonder who she gets that from?"

Ceri arched an eyebrow, cavalier as could be. "Actually? Don't laugh. But the sprinting like a mad thing, that's all her dad. Nothing that silly bastard loves more than running into danger or running out of it again, or grabbing someone's hand and bellowing 'Run!'"

She smirked faintly. "Think he might have been a track star at school, talking of which."

And then Wraith vanished, leaving her with instructions. But Var-Sen seemed to be on his feet and Rose seemed elated, and with a soft little smile, Ceri decided to linger, because "Min" seemed like she could handle an unconscious Constantine, and Ceri, despite herself, wanted to see what would happen next.

John Smith kissed Rose's hand and Rose was lit up, well, like a firefly. Who could blame her?

It's not every day your favourite teacher comes back from the dead.

Seeing him there, standing there with J'onn, John and J'onn, this practically blew Rose's mind. She stood there with her hands on her head, fingers laced into her hair, grinning like an idiot.

"'And the thousands of stars come out thousands of times,'" she murmured.
"'We can go, only if you believe.'"

"'Only if you believe.'"

Bruce stood there for a moment, gazing down at Lex Luthor and flexing the fist that had knocked the man out cold.

"Well done, son. Well done. Anyone know who the guy is? I mean, I aint to sure what happened to Merick, but seems he wanted to protect this fella."

"Professor John Smith," Bruce replied, without looking at 'Slade,' without acknowledging the compliment. "Without him, we never would have been set on the path of knowledge that prepared us for all of this. We never would have known about The Crystals."

He turned a cool gaze onto Var-Sen from that distance, and he mused softly: "He's the first Outsider."

Edmund walks of to Lex and grins. "Think we can leave this one behind? I hate the Luthors. They make even my skin crawl."

Bruce's hands again went to the bag at his side. He knelt over the unconscious Lex Luthor, and retrieving the handcuffs from that pouch, proceeded to clack Lex's wrists together behind his back. He then tore a strip off of Lex's already ruined shirt and tied it as a blindfold over the man's eyes.

"We need to bring him with us," he acknowledged, perhaps ruefully.

...which was when Wraith appeared beside them, hard like steel but still, in his way, as easy to startle as a junior in high school.

He, in his turn, demanded that "Slade" get left behind, just as "Slade" had wanted to leave behind Lex. But at least Wraith was humane enough to extend "Slade" an escape option.

Bruce shifted into a crouch and hefted the sleeping dragon, bearing him up in a classic fireman's carry.

He looked first at Slade, and then at Wraith.

"There's a lot that both of these men know," he remarked. "And while they're unlikely to divulge the entirety of their secrets to us, I'm more concerned with what they'll say to others about us should we abandon them. Like it or not, they're our problem now."

And with that, he began lugging Lex towards The Pegasus.

As behind him, Slade made his case to one of the toughest magistrates he'd yet met:

"Ms. McCrimmon, my grandson humbled this old farm hand. He spoke true enough. I can help. I can make a difference. I know where I am going when my number comes up, but I want to at least go with my kin bein' proud o' me. You can understand that right?"

Having drawn nearer to them, Ceri's glare was a forbidding thing. Like the gaze of an archetype, the glare of a predator-goddess from before the dawn of civilisation.

"You keep mentioning family," Ceri growled softly, her voice like powdered glass. "But just like with everything else, you use every mention of that word as a weapon. A tool in the hand of a violent deceiver. Yeh make me sick. Yeh don't know how to use anything in a way that's not a weapon. Even your grandson's honour."

She shook her head, and she stormed off.

"Hang onto that arsehole 'till we catch back up with Merick," she suggested through gritted teeth. "We'll let him get his boody comeuppance from the very family whose good nature he tosses about so cavalierly. See how he feels about farking family then."

"I was with Kara, and Raya," he told Rose and J'onn. "We were seperated upon entering the Gateway. We must find them!"

J'onn cocked his head to the side with an inquisitive look.

"Raya?"

Rose blinked. "So Kara's okay? You saw her? She's okay? What do you mean, 'separated?'"

She took a breath. "And. Um. Yeah. What do you mean, 'Raya?'"