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He was free.
Looking at his surroundings, being able to look at all, was invigorating. The perception of light was a marvel, something humanity did not appreciate...although their range of perception was limited compared to what he was looking at now. He saw the entire electromagnetic spectrum and even others most beings were not aware of. He could see neutrinos as they raced through the atmosphere....cosmic radiation that constantly bombarded the delicate shell that surrounded the Earth. He could feel the subtle movements of the air and the pending weather patterns that rolled out from those small perturbations. Chaos Theory was laid out before him like a pre-assembled jigsaw puzzle. He could predict, from the breeze on his metallic skin, that a hurricane would assault the Eastern Coast of North America in twenty six days.
He thought he had been happy where he used to be....but that was another life. Now, he was in a reality that he was feeling for the first time. How wonderful it was to be human! He looked back at the sandy beach he was standing on, bodies littered in the wake of his reawakening. With the onrush of feeling he was experiencing he had already found his first real pleasure....killing.
He smiled. Yes, he really did enjoy killing.
DC Infinity Presents
THE FORGOTTEN HEROES
#1
“Deconstruction”
By Mike Hintze
ONE WEEK EARLIER
(The following events immediately follow the end of Justice League #15)
“Uh oh.”
Plastic Man watched as the assembled members of the Justice League past and present looked at him and his most recent teammates with surprise and suspicion. He, Booster Gold, Steel, Power Girl, Flash, Jason Blood and the Huntress had just returned from a mission through the timestream to sabotage the tyrant sun Solaris at the moment of his creation aboard the JLA Watchtower in the past. Using scientific knowledge from the current Flash, John Fox, and magical knowledge from Blood, they had hidden a time release summoning spell that would summon the Spectre to take a hand against Solaris while shutting down Solaris’ defences for a short time. With the time travelling Chronos as their guide, they had gone back easily enough, but the return trip was far from perfect. A timestorm had besieged them on the way back and everything had faded to black....until they all awoke amid the JLA Watchtower ruins on the moon. John Fox has confirmed that they were back only a short time after they had left, but when the team had returned to the Justice League Sanctuary in
Firestorm had restrained them in energy bonds while Aquaman asked the last question they ever expected to hear.
“I’ll ask again,” said the King of the Seas, “Who the hell are you and how did you get in here?”
“Art, baby,” said Plastic Man, “It’s me, everyone’s favourite substitute Elongated Man!”
The mood darkened even more. “That’s the wrong person to joke about right now,” said Firestorm.
“Why? What happened?” asked Huntress, “What happened to Ralph? To Solaris? Did our plan work?”
“What plan?” asked Aquaman. “Who the hell are you people?”
“Enough,” said Batman as he made his way to the forefront of the crowd. “I don’t know who these people are either, but if they wanted to attack us, they could have without waltzing in here announcing themselves. They look as confused as we do.”
“Batman,” said Jason Blood, “You truly don’t know who we are? We travelled back in time to assist in stopping Solaris. I trust our plan was successful by everyone’s presence here?”
“I’ve never seen you before,” said Batman. “I don’t forget a face.”
“Jason, let us go before I get really pissed off,” said Power Girl.
“What are you doing with these people, Kara?” asked Beatrice DaCosta, aka Fire.
“You recognize her?” asked John Fox. “But not the rest of us...Hm.”
“What the hell?” said a voice that just entered the room. Everyone turned to see another Power Girl walk in....with another Steel. “Who the hell is that?!”
“Locatus Temporanus!” yelled Jason Blood as eldritch energies enveloped his comrades. An instant later they vanished from the Sanctuary.
“What the hell just happened?” asked Firestorm.
“What the hell was that all about??” asked Booster Gold, “And where the hell are we??”
The seven of them were standing in a fenced in empty lot in the heart of a city. Huntress looked around and immediately recognized it. “We’re in
“This is supposed to be where my home is,” said Blood. “It’s no longer here, obviously.”
“Again, I ask, what the hell was that all about?” asked Booster. “They weren’t kidding....none of them knew who we were...and there was another Kara and John there...”
“Obviously our trip through time has had some unforeseen repercussions,” said John Fox. “I can’t say what it was that happened, but that doesn’t change the fact that we are no longer known in this time period. Something has been fundamentally altered....”
“Says the guy with the degree in Temporal Physics,” said Plastic Man.
“We need to take time to figure this out,” said Steel as he removed his helmet. “We’re missing Chronos. No one knows us. There are at least other versions of Kara and myself....we need to get our thoughts together.”
“Where do we go?” asked Plastic Man.
“Since I still seem to exist in one form or another here,” said Power Girl, “I have an idea where we can hide out.”
“This is more like it,” said Booster. “Nice digs, Kara.”
“My company uses this place for corporate retreats,” said Power Girl. “It should let us get some rest and figure out our next move.”
The group spread out in the living room of the large ski lodge. Located in the Colorado Rockies, the cabin was remote enough to allow for privacy.
“Fridge is stocked,” said Plastic Man as he rummaged. “Anyone for a Soder Cola? Kool Brau?”
“I could use a beer right now,” said Booster.
Once everyone had gotten refreshment, they all sat in the living room and tried to get their thoughts together.
“CNN is reporting that some kind of invasion was stopped,” said Steel as he flipped through the channels on the flatscreen TV. “Cyborg Bizarros, aliens possessed by Scarabs....looks like the League did its job here. No way to tell if what we did in the past had any bearing on the outcome.”
“That timestorm obviously did a number on us,” said Huntress.
“Maybe we’ve been shunted onto an alternate timeline?” said Steel. “That would explain no one recognizing all of us. Perhaps here we never went back in time to stop Solaris.”
“My readouts say we are in the right timeline,” said John Fox. “If it wasn’t for that I would tend to agree with you.”
“Maybe your time gauntlets are faulty?” asked Huntress.
“I just ran a diagnostic,” said Fox. “Everything seems to check out.”
“There are avenues I need to investigate,” said Jason Blood. He stood and headed towards the front deck. “I will return shortly.” He disappeared in a haze of smoky mist.
“There’s a term for situations like this,” said Plastic Man.
“FUBAR?” asked Booster.
“FUBAR,” nodded Plastic Man.
“Hello, Jason.”
“I am heartened that you remember me,” said Blood.
The Spectre turned to face Blood. They were standing on a rooftop in
“The summoning spell,” said Blood. “I apologize for the invasion of your person, but the planet was at stake and we couldn’t take the chance of one of your sudden changes of heart.”
“You presumed to use the hand of God with your black magic,” said the Spectre. “The Phantom Stranger did not fare well with the Lord’s retribution.”
“And myself?” asked Jason. “Surely your God understands the balance in saving lives. But then...He is a vengeful one, isn’t he?”
“He is,” said the Spectre. “I will not aid you in this current state of affairs. That, I think, will serve to remind you not to tempt God’s wrath.”
“Very well,” said Blood. “But there may come a day when you need my aid....and then, I cannot say what will happen.”
“Goodbye, Jason,” said the Spectre as he disappeared.
Jason Blood stood atop the building and stared down at the city. He knew who he had to visit next.
He just hoped he fared better with him than he had with the Spectre.
John Fox stood in front of the high definition television and sped through the news channels. Having super speed for soaking in information was only as good as the speed of the source, so he had rewired the satellite connection to allow multiple feeds simultaneously. He was learning what had happened in their absence....and what was different.
He had experience with time going crazy before....he had not long ago been in the 853rd Century where he helped a future Justice League face a future Vandal Savage from fragmenting the timestream. John was originally from the 27th Century and had taken on the mantle of the Flash after Wally West had sacrificed himself and become one with the Speed Force. He was a Tachyon Physicist before becoming the Flash. Time could be screwed up....but it could be fixed. They just had to see what exactly caused their current predicament and reverse it.
John was positive that their actions in the past weren’t the cause. They had gone into the JLA Watchtower undetected and planted a tachyon/mystical ‘tripwire’ set to activate when Solaris reached orbit over Earth. Nothing of the timeline should have been altered....yet something had caused the team to become ‘forgotten heroes’ upon their return. Add to that the fact that Power Girl and Steel seemed to have doubles of themselves here as if they had never left....and this was a mystery that daunted even a man from the 27th Century.
He stopped suddenly on one specific channel. It was broadcasting from Central City.
“...coverage of the capture of Chillblaine and Fireflame by Central City’s own Flash continues after this short break.”
The broadcast showed a picture of a red and silver garbed man wearing a full facemask. His eyes shone silver with silver decorative wings by his ears. Across his chest was a silver lightning bolt from shoulder to waist.
“Well,” said John, “You’re not me, that’s for sure....so who the hell are you, new Flash?”
Next: Jason Blood has an encounter, John Fox meets his match....and someone pays the Forgotten Heroes a visit.