Intraspace -- The "Suicide Notes" finale!

[jla-villains.livejournal.com]

Ray Palmer's been freed, but the Justice League and their allies are now faced with both a dying and homicidal Enchantress, and a Chronos from somewhere further in the future that seems Hell bent on trapping everyone where they are in order to prevent some future event -- training his first sneak attack on the Cosmic Treadmill that helped bring them to this dimension between time.

"The Witch Queen will be destroyed before she rises ... Ray Palmer will never live to lead the Justice Battalion."

In a swift succession he trains his ray on Firestorm and Joto.

"The future begins here."

Comments

[fleet-feet.livejournal.com]

The sneak attack is successful, and Wally is knocked clear off the Treadmill.

Which is unspeakably NOT GOOD, as he was their means of getting back to where they belong...

[jean-loring.livejournal.com]

And it gets worse ...

The Phantom Stranger and Faust Jr. distracted for a moment, The Enchantress turns her attention toward The Flash. Her eyes flash yellow as she sees him, and it's clear now that the magic coursing through her is destroying her ... consuming her whole.

She gestures, and a cube of force surrounds the speedster, keeping him at bay.

[reducing-ray.livejournal.com]

Joto attempts to retaliate against the Enchantresss, but is blindsided by Chronos' attack. The ray strikes him, leaving him frozen in a sort of Chronal Suspended Animation.

[fleet-feet.livejournal.com]

Cubes.

More importantly... Jean.

Dammit, he's not gonna be made useless here - he makes an attempt to phase himself through the cube, even if it IS magic...

[reducing-ray.livejournal.com]

The Enchantress, however, seems to have made a mistake ... The Flash isn't trapped in there alone.

"Flash," says Ryan's voice, from seemingly nowhere.

Ryan rockets from near microscopic to six-inches.

"They've forgotten the physics of this place," says Ryan, a little distracted as he examines the cube. "They're still thinking 3-D space."

He makes a deep gulp, and then glances at Wally.

"Can you vibrate to an exact sonic pitch if I give you a synthesized equivalent to 'tune' too?"

[reducing-ray.livejournal.com]

Knocked to the side by the fight, but recovered enough from his ordeal to act, Ray Palmer pulls the wounded Joto to his side.

"Come on Isaiah. You're gonna be OK. We just need ..." he looks up at the mystic explosion as Faust and The Stranger work to contain The Enchantress. "We just need to get word back to the Watchtower."

Ray grabs Joto's wristband, and tries to make contact.

"This is the Atom calling the Watchtower. Requesting back-up. Repeat, this is Ray Palmer. We need someone to pull us out of here."

[jla-villains.livejournal.com]

Chronos remains unconscious, floating in the otherdimensional void.

[fleet-feet.livejournal.com]

Wally has inadvertently caused Jean to be...

No, the Magic Men will save her, they WILL.

So he's making sure Chronos is bound and captured, bringing him back over to Ray and Joto, before he starts looking for wherever the hell the treadmill got to...

Everyone's coming home... no one's dying here...

[reducing-ray.livejournal.com]

Ray's leaves the signal open, and trains his gaze on Chronos' unconscious form.

"You did good, Wally," he says in a level voice. "Chronos trapped her ... us here, and pushed her into overdrive ... this meltdown was only a matter of time."

Ray coughs, and keeps tight hold of Joto, nursing his wound.

"This is a Chronos from far in the future. Further than I've ever seen before. Crazier ... more homicidal. ... Bring him closer ... Ryan and I need to examine his tech, in case the Watchtower can't get to us."

[jean-loring.livejournal.com]

The mystic energy -- constrained by Faust and the Stranger -- burns Jean Loring's body like a phoenix. She screams, and the screams seem to echo across the formless void.

The force of her power buffets the mages' wills ... it's like containing a hurricane.

[og-outsiders.livejournal.com]

Faust concentrates and turns on the pressure, lending his strength and will to the considerably more powerful Stranger.

But it's his will here that'll make the difference. It has to.

If Loring dies like this, we all die, and so does June. I can't let that happen.

But he doesn't say that. Instead he says, "C'mon Stranger ... one more push and she's caged."

It'll have to do ... for now.

[grey-walker.livejournal.com]

The Stranger's power intensifies to meet the task at hand, his magic interweaving with Faust's.

"I will not falter, Sabastian."

It is always difficult to determine where the Stranger's attention is focused, thanks to his pupilless eyes, but it almost seems as if he's watching Faust, rather than the Enchantress.

[og-outsiders.livejournal.com]

Faust falls silent, a sure sign that he's working overtime to strengthen the eldritch binds that are containing the Enchantress' energy. His mind races as he works -- his father selling his soul for power ... his own rebellion, joining the Outsiders ... Slicing the Enchantress' throat to reignite Hell ...

And he doesn't feel any of it. He just knows what he's supposed to do.

Words form on his lips ... inhuman words that have never been uttered on Earth, their syllables alien and disconcerting.

The Enchantress screams as lightning cages Jean Loring's body.

Squirming and screaming, the woman falls, the mystic energy contained ... but not yet gone.

"This isn't over, is it?" says Faust, to no one in particular.

[mrs-dibny.livejournal.com]

Okay this all has gone to some level of Chinese Hell. Maybe someone will be nice enough to tell her which level when this is dealt with and before the next world melting crisis.

"Watchtower to all available teams! Looking for people who can manipulate time, speed and/or magic for immediate assist!"

Damn thing about time travel stuff though? It might be too late the moment you arrived.

[reducing-ray.livejournal.com]

Hey. The communication network seems to be working again!

Ryan Choi's voice crackles across the network.

"Mrs. Dibny? Ryan Choi. We're looking at an Omega Event situation here."

He doesn't come right and ask for help. But there's a tinge of desperation in his voice.

[jla-villains.livejournal.com]

It starts with his thin, straggly hair and with his fingertips ... the organic compounds of his boddy slowly begin dissolving ... tranforming to energy ...

Chronos' skin convulses, his eyes roll back into the skull.

Steam begins to seep from his mouth and ears.

[reducing-ray.livejournal.com]

Ray's eyes fix on the disintegrating Chronos with cold fascination.

"Ronnie," he says cautiously, then glances at Joto, who's starting to come to ... "Isaiah. I need you boys to contain this explosion."

There's a tinge of fear on his voice as he says it. Just a tinge.

"You two can instinctively sense subatomic particles. Manipulate them. I need you to reach further than you ever have before and dissipate the chronoton's slowly."

[jay-garrick.livejournal.com]

There's a blur of red and blue.

Jay Garrick has arrived.

[martian-manhunt.livejournal.com]

He's not alone.

Flying behind him is the form of the Martian Manhunter...

[lanternslight.livejournal.com]

...and Hal Jordan.

"Cavalry has arrived!" Hal declares, looking around immediately for badguys to hit.

He doesn't even blink when he sees Ray. After all, he knew they'd be bringing him back. He was sure of it.

[reducing-ray.livejournal.com]

"Good to see you guys,' Says Ray, sighing with releif but not taking his eyes off Firestorm and Joto's work. "Hal, do me a favor and help the boys dissipate this chronal energy before it erases our timeline. J'onn, patching them into my and Ryan's knowledge of physics might help."

He looks tired ... and still not particularly happy. There's an horendous weight on him. But he also looks resolved ... like he's figured a few things out, and knows how the story ends.

[jla-extras.livejournal.com]

And the sky splits open now as a star burns in the heavens, coming closer and closer to Earth ... A red-caped angel enflamed as he falls, crashing into the Earth in a catastrophic explosion that devestates a city. Above the crater where he lands looms a shattered daily planet building.

And above him looms Dr. Fate, the blue in his costume replaced by black.

"The Superman has fallen, Ray Palmer" he says, his voice cold. "How much longer can the The Justice Battalion survive without him?"

The scene shifts to an elederly Ray Palmer, in manacales. Beside him is Mr. Terrific, and a tall, red-haired woman in a green costume.

"This isn't over, Fate," says Ray. "We might be done, but there's others left to stop your reign."

"Yes," says a woman with a voice as cold as the Arctic. She glides through the carnage of the ruined city, a specter in a flowing white dress and veil. "Yes, and that it why you still live. Tell me who the Forgotten Heroes are. Tell me, or your remaining teammates die screaming."

Ray Palmer, his face cragged with aged -- He must be in his sixties, at least, maybe older -- grits his teeth and stares defiantly up at the woman.

"Never."

The woman nods, and then with a wave of her hand, the elderly Michael Holt screams ... the skin peeling from him in layers.

"It doesn't matter," says the Witch Queen. "Let them come."

And then -- the chronotons dispersed -- the otherdimensional sky returns to its normal cascade of light.

[reducing-ray.livejournal.com]

"Ohhhh ..." says Joto, stumbling bakcward from exhaustion now that hsi job is done. Ryan catches him.

"What the Hell was that," says Ryan.

[og-outsiders.livejournal.com]

"That was the Witch Queen we've been hearing so much about," says Faust, his voice bitter and disgusted. He casts a sideways glance at the ensnared JEan Loring, and then at the Phantom Stranger. "And that means we've still got one more problem."

[grey-walker.livejournal.com]

"Glimpses of possibility. Every man is a nascent dictator. Tailoring the future requires a deft hand."