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

[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."

[og-outsiders.livejournal.com]

"This is why you're here, aren't you?" says Faust, his eyes narrow and cold. "To make sure we saw this."

[lanternslight.livejournal.com]

"How best to make sure it never comes to pass?" Hal asks. "By seeing it, so we can avoid it."

[reducing-ray.livejournal.com]

"Yes," says Ray, straightening himself out. He still looks rickety ... he'll need serious medical attention when he gets home.

He takes the knife from Faust and contemplates its blade.

"She's dying, isn't she?"

[og-outsiders.livejournal.com]

"She is," says Ray. "And so's June, still."

He pauses, and considers his words before speaking.

"We don't know that she's the Witch Queen, Palmer. Seeing the future's usually a con waiting to happen."

[reducing-ray.livejournal.com]

Ray glances at the Phantom Stranger before speaking, and then kneels down beside Jean.

"I'm sorry about all this, Jean. Sorry about everything."

[jean-loring.livejournal.com]

"I love you, Ray. I love you. Don't let me be that. Please. Don't let me ..."

[reducing-ray.livejournal.com]

"I won't," he says, and leans down and kisses her. "I love you, too. I've always loved you. Good-bye."

And then, in a sudden movement, he plunges the dagger deep into her chest, and Jean Loring screams.

And then the scream seems to echo from everywhere, and spirit of The Enachantess seems to rise, spectral, from Jean's body, howling at the otherworldly stars.

Ray clutches Jean's hand and pulls her tight as her body disintegrates, until there's nothing left to hold. He then rises, and strips off his mask to face his colleagues.

"Hal ... Wally ..." he says, his voice croaking with pain. "I need you to place me under arrest for the murder of Jean Loring."

And with that, he falls silent. A hero fallen.

[lanternslight.livejournal.com]

Hal mutely places a hand on his friend's shoulder.

He'll do what Ray has asked.

[fleet-feet.livejournal.com]

Wally isn't so sure.

About anything anymore.

[reducing-ray.livejournal.com]

Ryan starts to say something, but the look on his mentor's face leaves him speechless.

[fleet-feet.livejournal.com]

Wally can't process this right now. He'll let Hal do it.

Instead, he wordlessly goes to gather up his treadmill.

Giving Jay a helpless look as he does so.

[grey-walker.livejournal.com]

The Stranger addresses the assembled heroes, briefly - in particular, he seems to single out Jay Garrick.

"It will fall to you to forestall the future you have seen."

[fleet-feet.livejournal.com]

Wally glances to Jay, then back to the Stranger.

"Uh... any chance you could pitch in, too?"

[grey-walker.livejournal.com]

"The Justice Society's role will be paramount, but I will help as I may. It has ever been thus, and thus ever shall it be."

[fleet-feet.livejournal.com]

"Right."

Sigh.

"I know it's against the mysterious shadowy figure in a fedora protocol, but could you maaaaaybe tell us exactly what the JSA will have to do and how to go about it? Just this once? Maybe we can get it all taken care of now, before, y'know, the fabric of time is unraveled again and we're racing around like frantic weasels trying to ravel it back up again...?"

A glance to Choi. "You know, you never hear about things being 'raveled.' It's only 'unraveled.' It's kinda like 'disheveled' - nothing's ever 'heveled.'"

[grey-walker.livejournal.com]

"Would that I could."

That seems to be his final word on the matter, as he turns his gaze elsewhere.

[mrs-dibny.livejournal.com]

"Ray..."

For a second before the flash of the dagger she remembers Hypertime. She remembers that it wasn't supposed to exist anymore, that the Earths all fell in on themselves and people either died or blended together in the here and now, and she can understand the Psycho Pirate's rantings.

It all ended with Jean's life - and effectively Ray's as well.

"The fault, dear Brutus," she murmurs. "Is not in our stars...But in ourselves that we are underlings."

"I'll make sure the attorney is a good one, Ray. Count on it."

But for right now, all she wants is the touch of her husband's hand. It's over, but it's only now she understands how it all began.