A solitary figure floats alone in the red space between universes. A red rose pinned to her breast.
New Earth, 3008, Metropolis
It has been a long day, and husband and wife set aside their worries for the next day. They sleep. They dream. And so does their friend.
The Dreaming
The circus has come to town. Listen to what the performers have in store for you in the center ring.
The chanting is low, but as the shadows abate, it gets louder.
"...Don't dream that you're all grown up, big dreams are best just for kids! Don't dream that you're all grown up, big dreams are best just for kids! Don't dream that you're all grown up, big dreams are best just for kids!"
Their faces are grotesque, nightmarish, bizarre. Technicolor skin, garish make-up, ugly clothing. The voices of dreams, eaten and dead. They are the Dead Moon Circus.
"I've figured it out! I've figured it out, I've figured it out, I've figured it out!"
"Yep! Captain Johnny has finally figured it out for himself!" the masked man exclaims.
"He's realized now that a boy can be a prince when he's still a boy." The fat lady says.
"And then..."
"He'll also realize..." The two-faced woman starts.
"That as a prince the boy can turn any girl he rescues into a princess." The strong man finishes as the bird on his head caws.
"But the same can't be said for his sister." PallaPalla, the ball rider says.
"So his sister will become a witch!" The twins say.
"And all that will be left for the broken prince is to grow up and become End of the World." CereCere, the flower magician reveals.
"Why does the boy stop being a prince?" The juggler asks.
"Why can't he simply..."
"Stay as a prince?" The midgets inquire.
"Because as an adult he can no longer fulfill his dream once the illusion of hope and innocence is shattered." VesVes, the animal trainer informs.
"So he'll scheme to reclaim his lost power until it all comes crashing down like a castle in the sky." JunJun, the acrobat states.
"Don't dream that you're all grown up big dreams are best just for kids! Don't dream that you're all grown up, big dreams are best just for kids! Don't dream that you're all grown up, big dreams are best just for kids! Don't dream that you're all grown up, big dreams are best just for kids! Don't dream that you're all grown up, big dreams are best just for kids! Don't dream that you're all grown up, big dreams are best just for kids! Don't dream that you're all grown up, big dreams are best just for kids!"
"Quiet! Leave this place at once! You're ad-libs are not needed." The freaks and monsters disappear back into the darkness. The man dressed in white comes into the scene.
"Ah, welcome, wary listeners. You must be tired after your journey. Come, sit and listen."
"There is a struggle coming soon, that you will face. But, until then, there is something else. Two Legions before Three. There is something dark and malignant which has broken in, beyond the reaches of the farthest shore of the 52 and the worlds beyond."
"I will tell you only part of what is coming because it pertains to this world. To be truthful, this was not foreseen, and I tell you now this story because you will find the necessary pieces in your return. I tell you not for pity, not for admiration, but so you may understand. This is no Crisis. It is a Revolution."
"Once upon a time, in world twenty-one times displaced from your own, there was chaos. The Prince of Hate made his mark in ninety-three that day. The Last Son abandoned the world, when the Golden Calf slaughtered the Prince of Hate. And the Calf was praised by the sheep for it. Ten years. The chaos has gone on. The worshippers of the Calf made themselves known, while the followers of the Last Son struggled in his absence."
"And there was a circus."
-------------------- I want to be hated by lies - Bring Back Lian Harper
posted
"The circus had left town. The performers gone home, the stands closed up. All that remained was the tatters of the big top. Under the big top, the Clown waited in the center ring. It's make-up was smudged and peeling from crusty tears. It's smile is yellow and cavity enriched. It's body, racked with pain in a ripped costume. It had no jokes to tell that hadn't been told a million times. Even still, they weren't funny. It could not understand hope. It spat at compassion. It had no love. But there is one joke it had been waiting to tell, the Clown under the big top. The girl."
"With hair as black as a raven's wing and deep green eyes. And a mother who loved her with all her heart. Before the crash. The girl was snatched from her cradle. The Clown would have turned her into it's greatest punchline, but that punchline backfired before she knew it."
"The girl, a young woman, ran after a dozen years. Nowhere to go, she found her way to a garden, in the black chaos. Where she was safe. Where she only needed one true friend to trust. The orchid. That which had not wilted. The orchid with it's violet petals and warm heart."
"Two years. The girl wandered from the garden, for just a little while, for a celebration. Her drink laced, she was used like a toy in some fool's drunken depravity in unforeseen events. She may have been careful, she may have been at fault, but things happen to all of us that are beyond our control. Some of you, and some of your friends, understand this. Now, a life grew in the girl's belly, a baby she would love for all eternity and beyond, as her own mother had, before the crash."
"Despite some misgivings, the girl was happy. With the orchid. And her baby. Before it found her again. The Clown. In one more attempt at a punchline, it destroyed the orchid, ripped it's petals piece by piece until it wilted. It ripped the baby from the girl, and shattered it before her eyes, looking for the missing link that it tried to find in the girl. To complete the joke. The girl, lost in her fury, tried to kill the Clown, until sense returned once more, and she left to grieve her lost ones. The Clown screamed for her to finish the punchline. To complete the joke. And the big top fell in on it."
"Two years. The girl has left the garden, bearing the brand the Clown has given her. Wrapped in shadows, she will speak of evil, she will hear of evil, she will see evil. And she will punish evil. A warrior, living in a fallen kingdom. But, the genocide created by the Golden Calf will weaken her, and she will be taken in by false promises. This is necessary. She is part of the equation."
"The warrior. The queen. The soldier. The musician. The angel. The vampire. They are a part of the revolution. To become princes. The prince. The princess. They must fall. So they may rise."
"And what of the Clown? It has been there, lost under the big top, it's white and black outfit chewed at by maggots as they chew into it's tainted flesh. Death will not take the Clown. It has been chained to it's shrunken, twisted form, in the space between worlds. Looking over a domain where it does not exist."
"And then, HE came. The fallen one. The puppet master. The devil in the red car. His servant, blinded by greed and bearing sacrifices to awaken it's rage. Rising from the big top, the white has been stained with crimson red. It's flesh rejuvenated. The pain, evaporated. It is powered by only one thing. Rage. It wants vengeance. It wants to fulfill the final punchline. It is not the Prince of Hate. It is the Harlequin."
"It works with six others. A seducer, a vain demon from the Black Planet, a war monger, a self-proclaimed god, and the leaders of an old and twisted family. It's rage is controlled. But it is powerful. It knows of pain and watches from the shadows in glass. It will do everything to make the warrior suffer, before she can become the hero of THIS story. It will come for them. And it will come for you, but it wants those LIKE you. Do any of you want to know what it's like? To be the clown at midnight? When there is only one joke and it is always on you?"
BONG BONG. BONG BONG.
"Rest assured, this is real. And it will come for you."
The man in white picks up a bundle on the floor. He opens it, to reveal the bleeding remains of an infant.
BONG BONG. BONG BONG.
"And it will make your children BLEED."
The man in white removed his glasses, to reveal eye sockets lined with jagged teeth, dripping with blood. And then all they hear is the sound of the girl screaming as her insides are ripped open in the shape of an X, followed by a girl being stabbed by millions of swords as the Earth is destroyed by a falling castle.
"Scared yet?" the jaws ask.
BONG BONG. BONG BONG.
The two awoke, in a cold sweat. They were breathing hard. It was midnight.
"Oh. Oh geez." he said, wiping off some sweat from his brow. "Imra? What is it?"
"Garth. I'm sorry, I just had a bad dream. That's all. I didn't mean to wake you" Imra said. One of them turned on the lights in their room.
"It's alright, I had one too. Though I don't know if I could call THAT a bad dream." Garth scratched the back of his head as Imra tried to start breathing normally again.
"What was yours about?" she asks.
"Well usually my nightmares involve Brainy doing Singin' in the Rainin a pink leotard, but... what was yours about?"
"The end of the world. A circus, a giant castle, a man with no eyes, a dead baby and-"
"-a clown." The word escapes their lips at the same time. They stare at one another, shocked, before Garth says, "Imra did you broadcast your-"
"Wait. It's Rokk." Rokk?
Imra, what is it?
Over in his room, Rokk is shaking off a bad dream. A dream of the end of the world. No biggie, they've faced the end of the world hundreds of time. But it was those teeth...
Rokk, did you have a bad dream? Imra speaks with him telepathically, a gift all Titanians share.
Yeah, I guess so.
What was it about? Imra asks.
Earth being destroyed, a man with teeth for eyes, and-
-there was a clown, a harlequin. Imra finished for him.
Imra, did you read my mind? he asks.
Rokk, meet me and Garth in the control room, and start typing in the description of the girl with the black hair.
Rokk sighed, but he still couldn't shake that dream.
Rokk Krinn. Cosmic Boy. Co-Founder of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Leader.
"Imra, what is it? Talk to me." Garth tries to get an answer out of her. She can see the concern in his eyes.
Garth and Imra Ranzz. Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl. Co-Founders of the Legion. Husband and wife. Parents.
"This is crazy." Garth said. Indeed it was. Here were the three Legion founders, in the middle of the night, in their pajamas, shaken by a crazy dream and looking for information on a girl who may not exist. If only the other Legionnaires could see them. It seems that the craziness was in no short supply for the Legion. Everything had been going so fast. Earth-Man and his racist rejects convincing Earth Superman was a human. Going underground. Seeing Kal again for the first time in years. Lu and Val, dead. Again. But, total craziness was just your average day with the Legion of Super-Heroes.
It wasn't the girl that scared them, it wasn't the clown, it was that man, with the teeth, and his omnious words. The dead baby. And the castle falling into Earth. Why did this shake them so bad? It almost felt like the trouble with Darkseid all over again. But no.
"Imra, you're absolutely sure you weren't broadcasting your thoughts?" Garth asked.
"You know I have better control over my thoughts, Garth."
"For one of us to have a prophetic dream would be odd." Rokk said. "But all three of us?"
"It had to do with the Legion. It was warning us that something bad is coming for us. And that girl, whoever she is, has an important part." Imra explained.
Rokk was typing in the dream girl's description into the mainframe, to get a composite image that would hopefully find a link in whatever files COMPUTO had.
"We don't even know her name or where she's from, guys. This could just be someone trying to mess with us." Garth tried to convince them.
"'Sides, what are the chances that we'll find a-"
File Found. Breep!
"-match." Garth finished.
"Oh ye of little faith." Rokk joked. The files popped up on the screen. The names were in bold.
Name: Ebony Rosalynne Dent. A.K.A. X. DECEASED.
On the screen, an image of a teenage girl with long, raven hair and olive green eyes, dressed in a black body suit, with black lace-up boots, gloves, and a bandanna mask covering her mouth and noise. Two more images popped up. One of the girl wearing black jeans and a t-shirt reading "Penny Farthing." A third, showed her about two years younger, bruised and bleeding, and a jagged, stitched up scar on her stomach in the shape of an X. A newspaper clipping read "Insane Bridge Duel Ends In Young Woman's Disappearance." and another reading "Secret Life of Metropolis Teen Revealed." "Teen Vigilante One Of Many Killed By Mad Scientist." Another picture, of a group of missing teen vigilantes and a crazy looking scientist.
She's so young, Rokk thought. But they were even younger when they started the Legion, on that fateful day when they saved the life of the richest man in the universe. Now it's the team leader kicking in, the sense of obligation. This girl has no ties to the Legion, but somehow, someone took an interest enough to make one. And if it affects the Legion, he would get involved. The Legion was everything now. Being leader was everything now. So his friends would not have to bear that. So they could have a life. Even if he couldn't.
Known Family: Allison Jeanette Dent, MOTHER. DECEASED.
A picture of an older woman, with wavy black hair and baby blue eyes, popped up. Followed by frozen adverts for clothing brands and various philanthropic organizations. "Rising Model Allison Dent Selected for Monde". The next picture showed her advertising the fragrance Verity for Monde. "Allison Dent Leads Aid Mission To Sahara." "Model Forgoes Career To Raise Child.", followed by another, dated about a year later, reading "Former Model Dies In Car Crash. Leaves Behind Infant Daughter To Child Services."
Thomas Corbet, A.K.A. Neon the Unknown, FATHER. DECEASED.
The girl's father, dressed in super-hero costume like pirate garb. The image was old, black and white, probably from the 1940s. The man called Neon was with a group at Pearl Harbor called the Freedom Fighters. There was a second for a group called the All-Star Squadron, showing Neon with some of his teammates from the Freedom Fighters.
Suzy Black, A.K.A. Black Orchid III, FRIEND. DECEASED.
An image of woman, no, plant, no, it was hard to describe. Black Orchid had violet skin, gossamer hair that flowed in the air, and a white streak that went over her eyes. There was a picture of Suzy together with a younger Ebony, but the age put the Orchid as only a few years older. There were two others. A woman in a violet super-hero costume, Susan Linden-Thorne, Black Orchid I, DECEASED, and someone who looked almost identical to Suzy. Flora Black Weems, A.K.A. Black Orchid II, DECEASED.
Susan Alice Dent, DAUGHTER, DECEASED.
There was no picture of the girl's daughter, except for an ultrasound of a fetus. Medical reports taken during the pregnancy. And an order from cremation.
Ripped her baby... Imra thought about what kind of torture that could be. She, and Garth, hadn't seen their son since the whole craziness with Earth-Man started. Left him with her parents on Titan. Graym. They think it at the same time. It's maternal instincts kicking in. But why was this first? A dream about a dead baby and she's looking for a stranger. But the child in the dream was not Graym. It was not. No, she knew her baby was alright. They knew their child was safe. With Titanian mothers, the bond between mother and child can be especially strong. If faraway on other worlds. Even if the exception was during that time with the Time Trapper. The mother can hear their child's thoughts, be able to have a bond deeper and more profound then most parents. Of course, not being able to hear your child's cry was worse. Far worse. Poor girl. Imra lamented what having a dead child could do to a person.
Garth looked at how old the girl was when she was pregnant, fifteen, and started to get mad. He got mad a lot lately, but there was a lot to be mad at. He didn't know what was so important about this girl, but he could not understand what kind of fucked-up lunatic would mutilate a girl and her baby, or what kind of monster would take advantage of someone. He couldn't understand it even in his time. While Imra wouldn't use those exact words, they both felt the same way. Of course, Imra thought there was good in everyone. Not in this psycho. But he did know what kind of person would use a child to strike at the parents. Garth knew well enough from personal experience. With children, it's a whole 'nother set of rules with the bad guys.
Marcie Cooper King, A.K.A. Harlequin III, STEPMOTHER, DECEASED.
This time, a picture popped up of a woman with curly blonde hair, in a black and white jester's outfit and blue goggles. A second image showed her, older and worn, in a wheelchair. "INJUSTICE UNLIMITED HARLEQUIN KILLS FORMER STAR-SPANGLED KID." "REFORMED VILLAIN MARRIES BANKING KING."
"So what exactly makes her so special? This, Ebony Dent?" Garth asked. Imra looked over at the near end of the screen, and saw what her homeworld was. Earth, Universe-Designate Twenty-Two.
"Earth-22? That's the Earth Thom got sent to by mistake." Imra asked.
Indeed, their teammate, Thom Kallor of Xanthu, now called Starman, was part of a team sent to the 21st Century on a special mission. But an accident sent Thom into the universe called Earth-22, an Earth, according to Brainiac 5, where the super-human society ran wild. It was an Earth where metahumans followed the example of an anti-hero named Magog, after he killed the Joker for his slaughter at the Daily Planet. He was acquitted, and the public named him the New Man of Tomorrow. The shame of losing his wife, his friends, and being cast aside, caused that Earth's Superman to retreat for ten years. Ten years of chaos. The dream was starting to make sense. Lucky for them the Time Institute was gracious to give them whatever information on the Multiverse they had. Helps when you're friends with the staff. And when you have a 12th-Level Intellect who knew more than the Institute did.
They clicked open the news footage from the "duel", when Miss Dent fainted. That hole she was sucked into, they knew what it was.
"The Bleed." Rokk said.
"Aw, sprock." Garth said.
"These clippings only say she was seen with the rest of those dead girls. That's hardly proof she's dead." Imra said.
"Someone went to a lot of trouble to make it look like this girl died." Rokk stated. "Someone didn't want anyone noticing."
"And for whatever reason, she has some connection to the Legion." Imra finished.
"A Legion", Garth corrected. "If she's been left in the Bleed, who knows where she landed?"
Then, something unexpected happened. Rokk pulled up another file on the girl, in the folder that kept Dream Girl's recorded visions of the future.
File Found. Breep!
-------------------- I want to be hated by lies - Bring Back Lian Harper
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