Countdown (44 page)

His extraordinary powers were gone. Ever since the Atom had extracted the soul-catcher from his brain, and liberated the trapped spirits of the New Gods, he hadn’t displayed a single unusual ability.
Just as well,
he thought.
They never brought me anything but trouble.

Forager sniffed a cardboard container of three-day-old chow mein, then lobbed it into the trash. She closed the refrigerator with unnecessary force before turning to face Jimmy. Her slender arms were crossed over her chest. Her inhuman features bore a serious expression.

“Seriously, James, we have to talk.”

Ouch,
Jimmy thought.
The phrase that every guy loves to hear.

COMTDOWN SSI

IVY TSWH.

Bay
Palmer’s living room was uncomfortably similar to the one he had left behind on Earth-51. No surprise there; Jean had helped pick out the furnishings in both universes. The only difference was that this house hadn’t been trashed by a berserk Monitor.

Yet.

Home again,
Ray thought morosely. He slumped on the couch in front of the silent TV. A stack of unopened mail was piled on the coffee table. The furnace churned noisily downstairs. The fireplace was cold and empty. A heartbreaking operatic aria played softly on the stereo. The soprano’s tragic lamentations fit his mood.

To their credit, the Justice League had done a good job of looking after Ray’s house during his long absence. A paid housekeeper had kept everything spick-and-span. Yet of all the bizarre places he had visited in die last two years, none felt more desolate than this lonely suburban home, which was way too big for one solitary super hero, even when, as now, he was his normal height. He couldn’t help wondering how that other Jean was coping fifty dimensions away, in a reality he would never see again.

He hoped she was happy.

“So now what?” he wondered aloud. The League had been supportive, giving him time to acclimate before reporting back to duty, but was that really what he wanted to do with the rest of his life? His career as the Atom had cost him the woman he loved—twice. Was that even a life he wanted to live again?

The doorbell rang, interrupting his moody ruminations.
Who on Earth?
Ray wondered. He wasn’t expecting anyone.

He was tempted to ignore the bell and pretend he wasn’t home, but curiosity prevailed. Dragging himself off the couch, he went to the door. He opened it tentatively, half expecting to find a Jehovah’s Witness or a youngster selling Girl Scout Cookies. Instead he discovered a tall brunette woman wearing casual attire.

“Donna?”

“I knew it,” she said cryptically. Without asking for an invitation, she stepped inside the house. Her piercing blue eyes probed his own. “You too, huh?”

Ray closed the door behind her and followed her into the living room, where she shucked off her leather jacket and made herself at home upon the couch. He sat down on the arm of the easy chair across from her. “Me too, what?”

“That antsy, unfulfilled look in your eyes,” she explained. “I know that look from my own mirror.”

Her confident assessment unnerved Ray, who tried to shrug it off. “It’s only natural we should feel at loose ends. We’ve been through a lot.”

> “And?” she prompted him.

No answer came. Ray squirmed awkwardly on the arm of the chair.
What else is there to say?

“Yeah, I know,” Donna said. He had to remind himself that, unlike the Martian Manhunter, she couldn't actually read his mind. “It bugs the hell out of me too.”

GOTHAM CITY.

The
Bat-Signal shone above the city like a second moon. Jason Todd stood upon the rooftop of an abandoned warehouse down by the waterfront. Honking horns and police sirens filtered up from the grimy streets below. It was another busy night in Gotham.

He sneered at the bat-winged emblem in the sky. Once, when he was young and naive, the Signal had promised adventure and excitement. Now it only reminded him of his lost innocence—and a life that had been abruptly taken from him.

“Still fighting the good fight, eh, Bruce?”

Part of him had never forgiven Batman for not avenging his “death” by killing the Joker, let alone for moving on with his life and training a new Robin.
To hell with it,
he thought.
That’s water under the bridge now. No more masks and capes for me.

He’d seen firsthand just how insane that life could get----

A muffled whimper reminded him that he still had business to take care of tonight. Turning his back on the Bat-Signal, he strode over to where a helpless figure, his arms and legs tightly bound with duct tape, struggled uselessly upon the floor of the roof. Gang tattoos marked the man’s shaved skull. Perspiration glistened upon the faded ink. Bloodshot eyes were wide with fear. More duct tape was stretched across the prisoner’s mouth. Blood dripped from a broken nose.

“They say knowledge is power,” Jason said with a smirk. “As a made man in the underworld. I’m sure you know that.”

The gang member mumbled something unintelligible. Judging from the man’s panicked expression, Jason figured he was about ready to squeal. Rumor had it the Penguin was running guns in this neighborhood, and Jason really wanted to get a lead on the operation before Batman did.
If nothing else,
he thought,
I can use the ammo.

He drew a switchblade from his black leather jacket and flicked it open. “So lay some knowledge on me, smart guy”

Forget that Multiverse crap,
Jason thought.
This is where I belong. In the streets and alleys where I can make a difference—my way.

Too bad Donna couldn’t see that.

IVY TOWN.

“Ray,
you were there,” Donna reminded him. “You saw what almost happened.” She showed no sign of budging from his couch anytime soon. “Godlike beings playing games with the cosmos, with every living soul their pawn.” Her pensive eyes searched his face. “Doesn’t that trouble you?”

He looked away, avoiding her gaze. “I try not to think about it.”

“Really?” she asked. “And how’s that working out for you? Because I know it’s keeping me up nights ”

Ray felt a headache coming on. He squeezed the bridge of his nose. “What do you want, Donna?”

She got up from the couch. “An answer.”

“Okay,” he grumped. “And the question?”

She fixed him squarely in her sights. “Who monitors the Monitors?”

Huh?
It took him a second to realize what she was getting at. “Oh no! Absolutely not!” Throwing up his hands to ward off the very idea, he spun around and started to walk out of the room. He shook his head in denial. “Are you insane?”

Surely, she couldn’t be serious!

THE KAHNDAQI DESERT.

Moonlight
reflected off an arid wasteland that stretched for miles in every direction. Towering sand dunes shifted slowly beneath the relentless push of a cold desert breeze. The skeleton of a dead camel lay half buried in a gully, the remains stripped to the bone by windblown grit. A brawny figure, clad in a black silk uniform, contemplated the forbidding landscape surrounding him. A golden thunderbolt adorned his chest.

“Of all the kingdoms and empires that have come from the desert,” Black Adam mused aloud, “none have ever been able to match its stark majesty and cruel beauty.” He tipped his head to the sky. “Wouldn’t you agree, Mary?”

Guess those pointed ears of his heard me coming,
she thought as she descended from the sky behind him. Her boots touched down upon the lifeless sands. “Ancient history isn’t really my thing, but as far as ‘cruel beauty’ goes, I’m with you all the way.”

She wasn’t surprised to find him here; this was his ancestral homeland after all. Nor was she startled to find that he had apparently regained his own powers, even after surrendering a portion of them to her months ago. Kind of like Billy kept his powers after sharing them with Freddy. Frankly, she was glad that she wasn’t the only Black Marvel in the world. There was at least one other person on Earth who understood what it was like to wield this power.
Now that Darkseid’s gone for good, I’m a free agent. And I can team up with whomever I like.

He grudgingly turned to face her. His saturnine features were hardly welcoming. “Indeed?”

“Sure,” Mary said. “You should have seen me stomping gods and super heroes. You were right all along. The Justice League and the others, they’re no threat to beings like us. We can make our own rules.”

She didn’t expect Black Adam to greet her like a long-lost sister, but she figured he’d be impressed by how well she’d followed in his footsteps.
Who knows?
she thought.
Adam and I have both lost our families, so maybe we conform a new Black Marvel Family?

But instead his voice dripped with contempt. “Spoiled, willful child. I have always done what I must, while you simply do what you want.”

“Want?” Mary felt like she’d been slapped in the face. “I didn’t want this! I didn't ask for this!”

If the gods hadn’t stolen her powers in the first place, and cut her off from her original family, she wouldn’t have had anything to do with this. She would still be the same happy Mary Marvel she was supposed to be.
It’s not my fault!

Black Adam ignored her protests. Turning away from her, he started to fly away. “Do not come to me seeking a partner in your misery.”

Mary’s shock at his brusque dismissal flared into anger. How dare he abandon her—just like everyone else! “Don’t!” Lightning blasted from her fingertips, striking Black Adam in the back. “Do not turn your back on me! Not ever!”

The thunderbolt knocked him out of the air, causing him to crash down onto the moonlit sands. Smoke rose from his scorched uniform as he rose angrily to his feet, but still he refused to look back at her, as though she was unworthy of his notice. “I called you a child, and you reacted like one.” He took off into the sky once more. “As I normally find beating children distasteful, I shall simply take my leave.” She found herself staring up at the soles of his boots. “Farewell, Mary.”

She was tempted to fire another blast at him, but what was the point? He had made his feelings clear. “That’s .right!” she shouted after him as he disappeared into the distance. “You’d better run!” She shook her fists at the heavens. “I’m Man' Marvel! I don’t need you! I don’t need anyone!”

Lightning erupted all around her, tearing up the desert. Billowing clouds of sand raced outward across the dunes, leaving the aggrieved heroine standing alone in the center of a smoking crater. Her tantrum over, she took a deep breath and contemplated the messy aftermath of the explosion. The extent of the damage demonstrated, once and for all, that there was still one thing she could always count on.

“I’m Mary damn Marvel,” she whispered.

The rest of the world would just have to deal with that.

IVY TOWN.

“First
Donna. Now you two?” Ray sulked upon his easy chair. “One more super-being sets foot in this house and I’m going to start charging rent.”

“Sorry,” Jimmy Olsen apologized. The carrot-topped reporter perched on the arm of the chair next to Ray. “But Forager insisted.”

The insect-woman, who was wearing a restored version of her chitinous exoskeleton, was conferring in the comer with Donna, who had apparently invited them to this improvised reunion of the Challengers of the Unknown. The only consolation was that, according to Donna, Jason Todd would not be joining them.

I can live with that,
Ray thought.

“But to what end?” He gazed at the alien female standing over by the entertainment center. “The gods she served, the worlds of New Genesis and Apokolips, are all gone.” Superman had informed the League that the two planets had ultimately crashed together, forming a new world whose future was known only to the Source. “I .can’t help her find any of her own kind who might have survived.”

Jimmy shrugged. “Yeah, well you tell her that.”

His weary tone implied that his ardor for the exotic alien had cooled somewhat. Ray felt sorry for the younger man; it seemed that true love remained evasive no matter what planet you were on.
At least she didn% go crazy and murder your friends.

Donna and Forager finished their private conversation and joined the two men. “We’ve decided,” Donna announced, her hands upon her hips in a very take-charge manner. She sounded completely confident in her choice, whatever it might be.

“To leave?” Ray said hopefully. “Please?”

Donna shook her head. “We’re going to monitor the Monitors—with your help.”

“No way,” he protested. Just because he had figured out how to traverse the Multiverse didn’t mean he was planning to make a career of it. He lurched angrily from his seat. “And why would I want to do that?”

“Because you know they are right,” a solemn voice declared from a sparkling column of light. The teleporta-tion beam signaled the arrival of a Monitor, but not the one Ray first expected. Instead of the bearded Solomon, Ray recognized the clean-shaven Monitor of Earth-51, the one who had granted Ray sanctuary on his world until Solomon barged in and sent everything to hell. The one who had banished him from Earth-51 forever.

“Nix Uotan!” Donna blurted.

“Yes,” the Monitor confirmed. The coruscating energies dissipated, leaving behind the looming extraterrestrial in his intimidating high-tech armor. His black hair was bound up in a ponytail. “I have heard your words and agree. Sentinels are not infallible. Mistakes are made. Hubris, arrogance ... these are the pitfalls of those who become complacent with the responsibility they bear.”

Ray was grateful that the living room drapes were drawn. The last thing the neighbors needed to see was the steadily growing alien population in his living room. “Count me out!” he insisted. “I’ve got a life.”

“Really?” the Monitor asked. He eyed Ray dubiously. “Professor Palmer, you above all others should know the difference between living and merely existing.” He looked about the crowded living room, as though he knew exactly just how lonely and forlorn this place had been before Donna had invited herself in. “Have you ever felt more alive than when you were exploring the new worlds? First in the nanoverse, then in the Multiverse?”