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02

"Ecology"

By Ed Ainsworth

 

Now :

Buddy Baker flips through the air, narrowly avoiding the acid blast from Metamorpho's fist. The corrosive liquid splashes against the ground and sending plumes of noxious gas into the air.

The Red screamed at him through every sense he possessed. He was already completely addled; scent, sight, touch, hearing, all sending him mentally cart-wheeling through his consciousness. His sense of sight had somewhat returned, but it was still severely limited. The world of science wasn't a book of facts to him, it was more than just his belief system, and the systematics of his life's work. His sight was showing ethereal lines, connections, between everything in his field of vision.

The trees were connected to the ground, and to every insect, bird, and mammal in the area. Tiny, minuscule lines permeated the air, as he concentrated upon them; they became more pronounced and clearer, whilst everything in the background faded. He realized he was seeing the actual effects of photosynthesis. He could see the connections between oxygen molecules and the trees.

Something had taken Metamorpho's mind; something embedded in the Red was gripping his mind and tearing it asunder. He truly was an Elemental Man.

"For God sakes, Rex! It's Me, Buddy! We were on the JLE together! I sent you a Muffin Basket after we teamed up last time!"

"GRAAGH!" His voice subsided as his body shifted into gravel, tiny rockletts pelted Buddy's body as he coughed and shifted his weight trying desperately to reach into the Red for something. Anything.

But there was nothing. The Red was barren. Dead. Not even bacteria were there to receive anything from. Buddy was having a seriously difficult time navigating through the world with the Red in this state. He would need to sit down and think this through later, but right now. He had more pressing matters to attend to.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gloss moves silently through the ruins of the New Guardian's former dwellings. She moved a hand through her long flowing black mane, as the Dragon Lines beneath her spoke, whispering gentle nothings into her ear. She sensed something moving beneath her, she instantly knew who is was. A former New Guardian who'd returned to a life of villainy.

"It's been a while, Floro." She spoke softly as the great womb of grass and soil erupted revealing the partially insane rebel of the Green.

"Has, hasn't it?" He pulled himself from the ground, saplings wrapping around his down turned palms.

"How's a life of crime treating you?"

"It's not crime, Gloss. It's natural terrorism. Think of it as avenging the death of the Millions of trees dying every day, so that humans can take a crap without having the disgusting view of NATURE in front of them."

"Full of hope as always, Floro. Why are you here?"

"I was called; I received an urge to come here for some reason."

"As did I, fellow Guardians." A Spanish accent resonated through the air, as Extrano landed on the ground. His long trench coat splayed out on the ground. Both he and Gloss had incorporated new elements into their costumes. Extrano was more of a street level defender now. His trench coat masked the skull insignia hanging from his belt, but retaining the loose tunic and trousers he always wore. Gloss's costume had little change; the light green almost transparent dress clung to her hips and her chest, but flowed down to her feet in plumes of cloth.

"Extrano!" Gloss wrapped her arms around her former comrade in arms, and he returned her hug, with Floro looking onwards.

"The Green is disturbed. Something comes from the Pale Wall."

The floating iridescent head of Betty, the New Guardian now permanently affixed to the Dreamtime moved through the walls of reality and into the vision of the New Guardians.

"Betty!" Gloss exclaimed, as the Floating Sun-sigiled head moved into their vision.

"Gloss. Extrano. Floro. Thank you for coming. As you have probably sensed, the Crisis that took place has irrevocably changed the make up of the entire planet. Extrano, you may have felt a change in the magic. Gloss, you have felt a change in the Dragon lines across the planet. And you Floro have felt the changes in the Green. Nature is failing and someone is trying to bring about the resurrection of the Red and the Gaia theory."

"What's your point?" Floro asked, slowly loosing his patience.

"We could insert ourselves, Guardians. Usurp this vacuum of power on the Earth and finally bring about our proper place in the scheme of things."

"But we're missing the other members. R.A.M; Harbinger; and Jet. They're all dead. Lord know's where Tom is, Betty." Extrano spoke, concern permeating into his voice.

"Leave that to me, Guardians. Leave that to me."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Then :

Buddy Baker, with the help of his now fulltime assistant, Lady Quark, disembarked the Starship. As his feet touched the ground outside his house, he instantly fell backwards, as the Red reconnected him with the planet Earth. A connection it desperately needed. Within an instant, the white outlines and completely blank backgrounds were filled with connections. Invisible lines that were somehow visible to him. He shuddered and fell onto his knees.

"Buddy? BUDDY!" A red haired woman ran from the house and over to the fallen Superhero, pushing Lady Quark away from him.

"Buddy, Oh god. You came back to us, I knew you weren't dead. I knew it. We share a connection. I knew it I knew it." She repeated, gradually getting quieter and quieter, hugging her husband into her chest, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Ellen.I'm sorry I didn't write." He smiled weakly, seeing the connection between his wife and himself clearly for the first time in the many years they had been married.

"Buddy, be quiet. Now is not the time for jokes. I thought you were dead, you idiot!" Ellen dropped Buddy, and he fell to the floor, looking up dazed at his wife.

"I would have got in contact but I was stuck a galaxy away in a dimensional space I couldn't escape!"

"It's always something with you isn't it? Ugh. You know I love you, I've always loved you (Even when I thought I might be a.you know) but you have to admit I put up with a lot of flakey excuses from you! I was so worried "

"Honey, come on. You've been with me every step of the way, just like Maxine was when I got trapped in that chimera of animal life form and I declared War on humanity?"

"I know. And I've stood by you, but Buddy, you were gone for a year! All that time to make up for, all those things I hoped I'd get to say to you everyday. I wrote them all down for you."

"52 weeks of words you wanted to say to me? Ellen, I love you." Buddy wrapped his arms around his exasperated wife and they shared a loving embrace.

"My Dad's a crazed idiot." A voice spoke to Lady Quark. She turned around to see Cliff Baker stood behind her; he was staring intently at her buttocks.

"You didn't need to turn around there, lady. I was enjoying the view.OW!" Cliff winced and turned around, his little sister, in dirty dungarees, had hit him over the head with some organically home grown carrots, behind her was a Triceratops on a leash.

"Hay. I'm Maxine, but you can call me Little Wing. And this is Pebbles."

Lady Quark opened her mouth, but closed it again. Her eyes budged and she let out a long sigh, her shoulders falling.

"Dear Lord. You're all insane."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two Days after Now :

Platinum had spent a lot of time on the receiving end of abuse from human beings. The Metal Men where hardly the most well loved super heroes floating around, and would probably never reach the publicity of more powerful super heroes such as Peacekeeper and Odd Man. However, her time with the Metal Men had conditioned her for such an event, so she was caught unawares by humanities acceptance, and even most male's desires to "get close to her".

She dressed more like a human, wearing her hair down, subconsciously programming herself to move it through metallurgy, to mimic real hair. She removed her waist long leather jacket and set it down next to her at the Café booth. A woman with short hair sat down next to her, holding the hand of someone she'd only seen from a distance normally. The Metal Men kept to themselves mostly at super-heroic conventions.

"Platinum," the man said quietly. He pushed a sealed envelope towards her; her gloved hand slid across to take it from him. His fingers were nimble and strong, and they gripped her wrist tightly.

"Please, before you read it. Know that I am doing all of this for the Earth, Platinum. You're a detective now, but the world has a lot of those. Superhero and Normal ."

"I know. Batman. Nightwing. Slam Bradley. Doctor Occult. Dr. Thirteen. I know of them all, my data banks have been updated since we last spoke. I contacted and downloaded the contents of the JLA computers, Bernard Baker."

"Good. This is for the Earth, Platinum. This is for everything that exists on this planet. That's why I need someone with your abilities, your expertise away from my group. Away from my influence so you can take the facts yourself, and get what I need from elsewhere."

"I'm sure it will all become clear when I read the note, Baker."

"Call me Buddy, Platinum. Please. By the way, what's your address? It's become something of a tradition for me to send a Muffin basket after a team up."

Lady Quark looked lopsidedly at him, narrowing her eyes.

"I never got a Muffin basket."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Buddy sits at his kitchen table, a steaming cup of tea in front of him, his wife Ellen sat next to him, her hand on his shoulder.

In front of him sat Lady Quark and Rex Mason, who had been called an hour or two before.

"Let me lay it on the line for you, Rex. Something's happened to the Red. The life force for the planet is completely barren, there's nothing there for me to touch, or feel or mimic. Maxine might have felt it as well."

"I did, Daddy. Cliff and I talked about it." Maxine said brightly.

"Good girl, little wing." He smiled, leaning his head back onto his wife's shoulder.

"Why do I get the feeling you're about to launch into something weird and complicated, Buddy?" Ellen asked softly, her eyes fluttering closed as husband and wife were reunited in codependence for a moment.

"Rex, Quark. I want to rebuild the Red. It's done so much for me over the years; it's built this planet up and made it into what it is. Frankly, I'm surprised the ecosystems and the world aren't destabilizing."

"They do appear to be, Buddy." Quark spoke softly, hugging the cup of tea in front of her.

"My powers are more lucid now, more than radiation. Wavelengths of the planet are completely out of sequence. I also did some light reading on the way back. Every 22 thousand years the magnetic poles of the Earth reverse their polarity. This would knock out the Ozone layer around the earth."

"Annnd your point is?" Cliff sneered, looking at the short haired woman with frustration.

"The Earth is close to complete ecological crash. Animals are not behaving the way they should, organisms are dying and being reborn, life and death are out of sync, and the entire world is basically having an epileptic fit in terms of the electromagnetic wavelength. Even simple things such as pressure changes and heat dissipation are not acting the way they should."

"How do you propose we solve this problem then?" Rex said his pale white face was twisted slightly. A grimace passed his lips, and he shifted uncomfortably, letting a slight grumble come from his body.

"Sorry, I think your tea gave me gas or something. I'm really not feeling well." Rex shuffled in his chair.

"Sorry, Mr. Mason. It's just normal tea, I wasn't sure if anything else would affect you." Ellen said.

"Ah, don't worry about it, I'm sure I'll ->Urp<- be fine. And call me Rex."

"I propose we each utilize our own powers and talents to recreate the Red. We're going to assemble people from across the world and the super heroic spectrum to aid us. I've already set the wheels into motion."

"Urggh." Rex Mason's face begins to bubble, his eyes bulging.

"Rex?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rip Hunter grips the front of his time sphere. Time jaunts were nothing to him, and when you could travel through time on the merest whim, schools of thought such as "What did the first form of life look like" and "Just how ugly was Henry the 8 th 's first wife" were just trips down to the shops in terms of effort. However, with the time dilation and manipulation caused by the Crisis Infinite, Rip was thrown about like sand in a sandstorm. The time squall, as he'd opted to call it, had thrown him into limbo. The vast whiteness of nothing, a timeless space outside of our dimensional vibration, there was no life in limbo. No people, no structure, no buildings. Were it not for his Time-scanner and various "spare-parts" Rip would have gone moment-blind and spent eternity forever in one state.

However, thanks to years of conditioning, Rip Hunter was able to slowly using his chronal expertise to build something to extract him from the formless hell.

Rip slowly put the finishing touches to the Chronal Extractor, the fans heating up and the circuits dilating. He held onto the handle as he thrust it downwards, completely the circuit. Slowly, the Hour-glass began to spin, energy glowing within it. The sands of time shifting against each other in Chronal Erosion, wearing down the barriers of time and space.

"Yes.YES!"

A spark; now two sparks left Rip gasping for breath. It was going wrong, how quickly it all went wrong, the energy was building to a crescendo and no amount of switch throwing would reverse it. The gash in space and time was already open, suction pulling, before Rip Hunter even had a chance to react, it was over. And beginning anew.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What the hell is going on with Rex? Why is he attacking my Husband!" Ellen yelled, watching the continuing battle through the hole in her nice little Suburban American house: The white picket fence in her front lawn currently ablaze, with the stench of Styrofoam and Rose petals on the breeze.

"I think something is wrong with the white faced man, Mommy." Maxine said, tugging on her Mother's hand.

"Yeah, there really is. That dudes a complete f*&%ing nutcase."

"CLIFF!"

"Well, he is. He just attacked Dad for no reason."

"I can't argue with you there, Cliff, but I think your mother is objecting to your use of language." Quark smirked, as the battle raged on. She would have to step in shortly.

"F&%* that!"

"CLIFF!"

Buddy hit the tree hard, his field of vision shaking desperately, as his newly formed ecological vision obscured his view of everything. A connection between everything was all he could see. If he tried to focus he could see the skin cells, and further and deeper and small, to the point where he could see Photons. His eyes were newly adjusting to being a conduit for the Red, and for a moment, just a single moment, he knew exactly what to do.

"Crap. Lost it." Buddy whispered, short of breath, as Rex Mason lifted an Iron Hammer fist over his head.

Buddy swung his legs around, knocking Rex off his feet. Well, that was the hope; instead he distended his arms, and brought the hammer down onto Buddy's chest. The ground shattered around Buddy, as the Red took the force of the impact.

"CRAP!"

Buddy saw the results of the Red taking a battering. The Connections between the ecosystems around him shattered. Niches became unhinges and natural selection took a nose dive. In the tree above him, a Sparrow died and spawned again in an undead collection of inverted nature. Intestines made its wings, and its heart beat quickly, as it began to squat and pass its own Feathers.

"Time to remember." His eyes became steely as he reached into the Red the way he used to, to take on the characteristics of an animal. This time instead, taking on the needs and wants of the Red. He knew what it wanted.

"Rex, please. I know why you're angry. You know what the world needs, what it wants; you're driven into a rage because you are that thing. You're scared and angry and you're hurting because the Red is trying to absorb you all in one go."

Buddy leapt out of the way of another blow and swung his fist into the now gaseous form of Metamorpho.

"Rex! Stop it." Buddy reaches out, the Red moving with him. An ecological armor that ate through the air, and latched onto Rex Mason with tendrils of science and need.

"Rex; The Red wants you because you can make and contain the entire biological Earth component. You can be everything from Carbon to Chlorine. Toxic and the life giver. Rex, you represent the Earth for the Red. It NEEDS your powers, and I need you."

"Buddy, I.It's hard to control myself." Rex stuttered, his face rippling as it changed to Stone to Acid to Gas.

"Relax yourself, Rex. The Red is pumping into you, you provide everything that a world requires to start itself. You're providing the building blocks of life, but you're just the start.God, we've so much to accomplish, Rex."

"How can we do it all when I.I.can't even control myself?"

"You can Rex; the Red just scared you in a primitive part of your brain. Lizard brain probably."