"Forgotten" -- The Conclusion! *Part Two"

[jla-villains.livejournal.com]

Degaton's command ship -- a warship appropriated from the Warlords of Okaara -- hovers, like the rest of Vanishing Point, in a temporal "pocket." To do so otherwise would risk sliding into the future ... into the last remaining moments of the universe.

Consequently, the battle outside of his window is happening entirely at one precise instant ... a moment literally frozen in time. Degaton throws back his head. Sometimes temporal mechanics leave even his head hurting.

The soldiers and engineers around him are impassive, but the man himself is pensive, concerned at the raging war.

"How did Hunter raise an army so quickly?" he muses, but no one dares answer, nor does he expect them to. "No matter. Our forces are inside Vanishing Point, and when it is mine, we can execute the last chronal alterations ... stabilize the altered timelines into one coherent series of events. Rewrite history in my image."

HAIL DEGATON! the soldiers shout on cue. And at that, Degaton smiles.

"Yes," he says. "Hail Degaton. ... And if Hunter and his allies win."

He shrugs.

"There's always the backup plan."

There is no cheering at that. Indeed, the soldiers seem chilled to the bone.

Comments

[jla-forgotten.livejournal.com]

Tyler returns, using his temporal powers to phase through the hull of the station.

"Rip - I've done what I can out there. Degaton's adapted his defenses to my abilities. Are we ready?"

[jla-forgotten.livejournal.com]

"Tyler. Excellent," he says. "We can begin."

He turns to address the young women then, a shadow of sorrow on his face.

"Some twenty years into what would be your future, a man named Ray Palmer pulled together the tattered remains of Earth's heroes to mount a last-ditch defense against the Witch Queen. He called that team The Justice Battalion, after the Justice Society's World War II incarnation. It was about this time I formed The Forgotten Heroes, to take the other side of the fight to Degaton."

He lowers his head. These are painful memories.

"While recruiting, I came across a sorceress named Gemma Marsters ... one of the few associates of the Justice Society to survive The Witch Queen's initial onslaught."

He looks at Gemma.

"At her insistence, I kept this meeting from everybody, even Arion. Indeed, she insisted I even implicate herself as to being The Witch Queen, to throw Degaton off our scent. I didn't know, at the time, that The Witch Queen was Mekanique carrying the psychic impressions of various sorceresses. But I think Gemma ... you ... did. Indeed, No one I knew of had seen you for years. She told me to hide one template for the real timeline in a young heroine in 2007, Cyclone, and to replace her with an alternate. Then she told me that she'd provide the other, and that I'd know when the time came. If even I didn't know the entire plan, it couldn't be compromised. There's a lot of that going around."

He looks the young women in the eyes, one to the other.

"so that's the plan. Between myself and the older Gemma Marsters, we hid the blueprints for the real universe, free from Degaton's influence. We hid them in you two."

[gemma-masters.livejournal.com]

Yes! That's why she had that sense of confidence because she held the reality within her and knew what should be.

"Sounds like I've spent too many years hangin' out with Uncle John for a plan like that." She grins a little but then it fades, there's nothing good in the thoughts of her Uncle in the future.

"We did good...you did good...thank you."

[jla-forgotten.livejournal.com]

Hunter nods. "We're not there yet."

Then, he turns to Cyclone.

"Time for you to go home, Maxine. You'll be needed there, and this world will need her."

Hunter pushes a control, and suddenly a vortex of light appears around the young heroine. Within the vortex lies the intangible image of an unconscious Maxine. The image overlays itself over the young heroine, and for a brief moment, the two seem to be the same person. Which, after a sense, they are.

"Thank you," he says simply. While the two exchange position in time-space, Hunter turns to Tyler.

"Hourman," he says. "You should be able to download the space-time templates from these two. Gemma, open your mind. The information we need should all be there."

[gemma-masters.livejournal.com]

She's already doing it, since he told her that part of the plan she knew exactly what to do.

She holds forth the template for Hourman to take from her mind.

[jla-forgotten.livejournal.com]

Tyler's eyes glow as he processes the information from Gemma and Maxine.

"We're ready, Rip."

[jay-garrick.livejournal.com]

Jay gives them all the breathing space they'll need, knocking few soldiers left back and away from his teammates.

[tornado-mouth.livejournal.com]

It's at this moment that Maxine chooses to wake up.

"What...am I dea....

OMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGOD...

[jla-forgotten.livejournal.com]

Hunter looks at her piteously, his face crestfallen. He's had to use too many people in this endeavour, and they're not out of the woods yet.

"Hang on, Maxine," he says. "You can handle it."

And then, to Tyler:

"On my command, Tyler ..." he takes a deep breath ... "Negate the chronal null field."

And in that instant, it's clear what he intends to do. Vanishing Point will be crashing into the end of the universe.

[jla-forgotten.livejournal.com]

Tyler nods, grimly.

"Ready, Rip - say the word."

His eyes glow more intensely as he calls upon the temporal powers at his disposal.