Issue # 264

Written by Barry Reese and Steve Blair

WHAT HAS COME BEFORE : The Justice League, still recuperating from the events known as the Crisis of Destiny, augmented their ranks with the additions of Supergirl, the Red Tornado, and Firehawk. Shortly after the team's lineup was set, however, the space vampire known as Starbreaker arrived on earth. After a fierce battle, the villain was defeated and the JLA was shown to be stronger than ever before. Now, the team faces a strange menace, the likes of which they have never seen before...

"Through the Mirror Cracked"

JLA ROLL CALL : Flash, Supergirl, Plastic Man, and Aquaman

A TIMELINE .42 SECONDS TO THE LEFT OF OUR OWN

Central City High School

The students of Central City High were used to the unusual -- living in the same town as the Flash made you almost blase about metahuman activity. But today was one of those days that made it all seem new -- a day so unusual that everyone just knew they'd remember it forever.

Three forty-foot tall robots were on a rampage. They were each red and black, with expressionless faces that displayed no emotion as they stomped through the town of Blue Valley. It was sheer hell as the robots moved past the high school, one of them driving a heavy metallic foot through the gymnasium. Kids ran in terror, all of them asking the same question in their minds -- "Where is the Ultra Flash? Where is our hero?"

The blue and silver form of the teenaged speedster came hurtling towards the three robots. Wally West frowned -- it was bad enough that he'd missed first period while helping out the Justice League of North America, but now he was returning to find that his hometown was getting trashed!

Ultra Flash zoomed around one of the robots. "I don't suppose you guys talk, huh?"

The robot glared down at him, pausing in his destruction. "We talk."

Wally zoomed to a stop. He hadn't expected this -- from the looks of things, he'd assumed them to be mindless engines of destruction. "What's the problem then? You're hurting people..."

"This reality has been designated for chronal destruction. Chaos energy is being absorbed by our interior computers and channeled back to our lord and master. When we have achieved optimum levels, this reality shall be cleansed."

"Uh-huh. Whatever that means -- all I know is that you and your buddies are going down." Wally sped around the three robots, in a large circle. He created a wind funnel that buffeted the mechanical men into the air. He could hear their mechanized voices warning him to stop, but he had no plans to do so. Continuing to run in a large circle, Wally actually managed to carry them outside the city. Once they were away from the city proper, he dropped them. They landed hard, one of them cracking open to reveal circuitry. The other two rose unsteadily.

"You have opposed the workings of the Great Engine of Reality. Our work must not be impeded. You shall pay a stiff fine for this." The three robots suddenly vanished without a sound.

Wally sighed. Nothing they said had made any sense, but he knew one thing -- this was a case for the Justice League.

OUR TIMELINE, THE WATCHTOWER HEADQUARTERS OF THE JLA

Linda Danvers swallowed hard. She felt outclassed as the Flash raced around her. She couldn't predict where he would strike next -- his fists seemed to pummel her from every direction at once. As Supergirl she was supposedly one of the most powerful beings on earth, but her powers seemed to pale next to the Scarlet Speedster's. With rising annoyance, she suddenly lashed out with a mind blast.

The effect was immediate. The Flash let out a terrible yell and came to a crashing stop. When he looked up he saw Supergirl hovering in the air, flame flickering from her eyes and giant flaming wings holding her aloft. "Remind me to never really tick you off..."

Supergirl's flame disappeared immediately. She landed and knelt next to the Flash, concern etched on her face. "Sorry...these new powers of mine are still kind of hard to get a grip on. I was just frustrated and lashed out."

Wally laughed. "No problem. I used to think you just had the same powers as Superman, though -- getting used to those flaming wings and telekinetic blasts is tough."

Supergirl smiled, brushing her long blond hair out of her face. Wally noticed, not for the first time, how gorgeous she was. He hoped that his Linda never got too jealous... "I'm not sure I'm cut out for this, Flash. I mean, I've discovered some things about me that make me wonder if I belong in the JLA -- I have a pretty shady past, I've discovered."

"Don't worry about it. Big Blue himself recommended you. That's good enough for anybody."

"Thanks, I --" Supergirl's words were lost as the loudspeaker came on.

"Attention, all available Leaguers -- report to the meeting room immediately." Aquaman's voice was serious -- as usual -- but it was laced with worry as well...Both Flash and Supergirl wondered what could rattle the usually unflappable King of the Seas.

A TIMELINE FORMERLY .42 SECONDS TO THE LEFT OF OUR OWN, NOW .23 SECONDS AND CLOSING

"This is it?! Where's the rest of the JLNA? I called a priority one alert!" Ultra Flash looked exasperated. He ran his hand through his red hair and shook his head.

Aquaman smiled. He was by far the most jovial member of the team and liked by almost everyone. "Calm down, Wally. I'm sure the others are busy. I know that Batboy is involved in case dealing with the Royal Flush Group, Ultraa is battling Emil Hamilton in Metropolis, and 'Mazing Man is in Queens at a convenience store opening. Our other members -- Space Ranger, Captain Comet, Metamorpho, and Amethyst -- are all unreachable."

Supergirl -- the Daxamite Princess -- tossed her long black hair and frowned. "Can we please get on with this? I'm taking time out of my busy schedule for this -- there are people on Tamaran who are starving as a result of the Khunds' attack..."

Plastic Man sat immobile, his large red and black form an amorphous blob. Lacking facial features, the shapeshifter was almost an afterthought in the room. This pained him, for in his core he was still a man -- a man trapped by his own powers.

Ultra Flash shrugged. "Well, if it's just us, it's just us. Three giant robots just attacked Central City -- they were talking about something called the Great Engine of Reality. I got the impression they wanted to absorb chaos energy in order to wipe out the universe or something."

Aquaman looked genuinely concerned. "No one was killed, were they? I hope not! If there was property damage, I'm not sure if my fishy friends and I would be of any help but we could sure try..."

"Thanks, Aquaman, but I think the city is okay. Anyway, I think we should be on our guard here -- it might be a plot of the Time Lord's or Vandal Savage...or someone new."

Supergirl nodded. "Okay...we'll go on alert. Why bother calling us together just to tell us to go on alert?!" The Daxamite rose angrily. "People are dying while we talk about nonsense involving Aquaman's 'fishy friends.' I'm starting to think I have nothing in common with you humans..."

An alarm blared, silening their conversation. It was the proximity alert. Ultra Flash answered it first, zooming over to the main monitor. "Um, guys...You better take a look at this."

He turned on the viewscreen and what they saw made all of them take a step back in horror...

OUR TIMELINE

"So this is everyone who was available?" Flash was frowning. The meeting room held only himself, Plastic Man, Supergirl, and Aquaman.

Aquaman sat with his hook on the table. "Everyone else is busy, Wally. We're it. Listen close -- I've been in contact with Steel and he explained the results of the scans as well as he could...Scanners started picking up chronal disruptions about ten minutes ago. They were more like little sonic booms in the timestreams. Steel's computers seem to think that several timelines are imploding all around us -- it makes no sense to me, but apparently realities diverge and perish constantly. The problem is, some of these timelines are apparently NOT being destroyed when they should be -- they're being shunted across other timelines. Where timelines touch, there are only three possibilities : 1) Everyone bumps together but goes back to normal afterwards; 2)The timelines merge; or 3)One timeline completely overwrites the other. I know it doesn't make much sense, but Steel thinks that's why the timestream is in such disarray."

Plastic Man sat in his chair, having adopted the persona of Carl Sagan. He puffed away on a pipe, nodding sagely. "I see, I see -- so there are billyuns and billyuns of timelines constantly passing away...but now some of them aren't..."

Aquaman frowned. He detested Plastic Man's attitude and sometimes wondered about Batman's sanity for inviting the lunatic into the League. "Right...Anyway, Steel thinks we should be okay. He says it's very likely that this is all a natural occurrence and that our own timeline isn't likely to be hit --"

Electricity seemed to fill the room and a loud BAWWWWWOOOOOM sent each of them covering their ears. In the wake of the strange explosion, Flash ran the full length and breadth of the Watchtower, checking to make sure that there was no cracks or tears in the structure's integrity. When he returned, Supergirl was already at the scanners.

"I'm not too sure what that was...but the proximity scanners went off at the same time. And look at what set them off..."

The four Leaguers gaped. Onscreen...they saw another Watchtower, only a few hundred feet away from their own...

In the pockets that exist between timelines, a shadowy figure laughed. He was surrounded by his Chronobots and was very amused by what was occurring. He had been perturbed, at first, when the Ultra Flash had halted the cleansing of his timeline, but the resultant tremors had pushed that timeline into another...the Prime Timeline. The timelines had converged in other places before, but never with the sacred Prime Timeline... The resultant chaos would no doubt give him the energy he would need to continue his quest...and then Extant would be victorious over all!

NEXT ISSUE : The Justice League vs...the Justice League?! The heroes of two worlds collide! Plus : Extant's schemes draw the attention of Waverider, in part 2 of "Through a Mirror Cracked!"

Write Us!

The DC Universe of characters, which includes 90% of all the ones written about on this site, their images and logos are all legally copyrighted to DC Comics and it's parent company of Time/Warner. We make absolutely no claim that they belong to us. We're just a bunch of fans with over active imaginations and a love of writing.