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The timestream shifted around them, ages coming and going. To a human being, time was experienced linearly….but when one travelled into the timestream itself, linear reality was not the norm by any stretch of the imagination.

Chronos, Huntress, Booster Gold, Steel, Plastic Man, Jason Blood, the Flash and Power Girl all tumbled through the tachyon river that was time itself. They had departed the Justice League Watchtower from several years in their past, where they witnessed the creation of the tyrant sun Solaris. In their own time, Solaris was returning to destroy Superman and by extension everything he loved, including the planet Earth. In a last ditch effort to pre-empt Solaris' strike, several members of the Justice League travelled through time to the one time they knew Solaris would be: the Watchtower during his birth. Using magic and science, they hid a ‘trojan horse' within Solaris, one that would presumably activate in their present. Now, the heroes were travelling back to their own time, where they could see the fruits of their travels.

An energetic timesphere was containing them all, created by the future technology of Walker Gabriel, aka Chronos. Everyone was silent as they waited for the trip to end. No one wanted to voice the thought that if they were outside of time, how did they track the duration of their trip….it was something best left unsaid.

The timesphere bucked, tossing the passengers slightly around. Power Girl looked at Chronos once the sphere steadied itself. “Everything all right?” she asked.

“We're encountering….what I can best call temporal turbulence,” said Chronos. “Hard to say what exactly is causing it.” The sphere bucked again, this time the colors streaming by the sphere changed and spun around momentarily before resuming their streaming appearance. “Whatever it is, its getting worse the closer we get to your normal timeframe.”

Jason Blood stepped towards Chronos. “This turbulence, can you navigate around it?”

“Tricky,” said Steel. “Time isn't a landmass. Navigating around it isn't as easy as it seems.”

“Steel's right,” said Booster Gold. “If we try and avoid our destination and the turbulence, we could end up landing anywhere….or when.”

“If everyone is finished,” said Chronos, “Perhaps I can concentrate on our travels without the interruptions? I am the resident time travel expert here.”

“What about timediving into a parallel timeline and resurfacing in our own?” asked Flash. “Hypertime is fairly fluid if you know how to navigate it.”

Chronos was silent. Finally, after taking a deep breath, he spoke. “That's risky….you can do this?”

“You may be a self-professed time travel expert,” said John Fox, “But I actually hold a Temporal Mechanics Doctorate from my own time.”

“Fine,” said Chronos. “Give me a hand here and let's try it.”

Huntress and Plastic Man watched as the two men discussed their plans. “I was worried there was going to be a pissing match there for a second,” said Huntress.

“I don't care what they say,” said Plastic Man, “I just want to get home.”

“What, no jokes?” asked Huntress.

“Not right now,” said Plastic Man, “Not right now.”

 

DC Infinity Presents

#14

‘SOLARIS STRIKES – PART FOUR'

By Mike Hintze

 

He stood before the door to his Master's enemy. For such a powerful man, one that his master feared and hated at the same time, this was such an unassuming abode. An apartment, not a palace or a citadel commeasurate to his power. A simple home of small rooms for Superman, his mate….and his newborn daughter.

The Flesh Artist smiled, his host body's skin writhing as he did so. His body seemed to ripple like a puddle of water in anticipation of doing more hurt to the Master's enemy than any of his other thralls….even the Cyborg. The rictus on his face stretched to his ears.

The Flesh Artist knocked on the door lightly. No one answered. Impatient, he pushed it off of its hinges, sending it flying across the porch hallway of the apartment.

He stepped in, but heard nothing. No sounds of alarm. The kin of the Superman were sly, yes they were. He headed to the hallway leading off of the entry and made his way to the bedrooms. He looked in the first one, the master bedroom, and saw it was empty. He continued to the second one and opened the door, seeing the edge of a baby's crib and adornments on the walls. The door came all the way open….and he saw he was not alone.

“Get out of my home,” said Superman. Beside him stood the Martian Manhunter and Supergirl.

“Kal-El,” hissed the Flesh Artist, “You will not make me fail my Master!” He leaped at Superman.

Superman reached out and grabbed the Artist's neck, then tossed him out of the window and into the sky. Seconds later, J'onn J'onzz intercepted the alien and punched him into the upper atmosphere.

“Thank you, J'onn,” said Superman.

“Of course,” said J'onn. “Your family is safe in Smallville for now. We should see to the so-called ‘Flesh Artist'. He can lead us to Solaris and likely his other battle plans.”

“Kara?” asked Superman.

“We're on it,” said Supergirl. “Firestorm is meeting me in a second. This Rifter will not be a threat to anyone after we're done.”

“Remember,” said Superman, “No killing.”

“Yeah, yeah,” said Supergirl as she sped into the sky. Above, Superman and Martian Manhunter could see Firestorm's energy trail meet up with Supergirl and together they headed into the sky after the Flesh Artist.

Batman swung down onto a patio near the two superheroes. “You think they can handle him?”

“Absolutely,” said Superman. “Arthur is running coordination from the bunker in Happy Harbor. We'll contain that maniac and interrogate him there.”

“You going to check on Lois and Chloe?” asked Batman.

“They're protected,” said Superman. “I want to have a chat with this Artist.”

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

The massive technological monstrosity that was Solaris rippled the very nature of spacetime as it approached the planet Earth. It's former incarnation was much smaller than what it was now, when it was merely a small star. Now, it was effectively a Dyson Sphere, and one ready to crush the adopted world of its greatest nemesis….ironically, one it had never truly faced until now.

“LET THE ONSLAUGHT BEGIN IN EARNEST.”

Dozens of glowing streaks fired from the surface of Solaris, all heading at sublight speeds towards Earth. The Flesh Artist and the Cyborg had not reported in, but that was not insurmountable. His invasion would begin now.

“GO….DESTROY AND KILL FOR ME.”

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

Aquaman paced in front of the reactivated computer networks within the League`s former headquarters at Happy Harbor. The systems here were outdated by League standards and what they had enjoyed in the Watchtower on the moon, but they were still more advanced than most Earth-based systems. Arthur was monitoring media networks around the globe for any sign of Solaris striking again. He was determined not to let what befell Metropolis happen again.

“Anything yet?” asked the Ray as he walked inside. “I've got the generators going in the rest of this place. Why did the League let this bunker go?”

“You ask a lot of questions,” said Aquaman. “No, nothing outside of Metropolis has come up on the world media, good job on the generators and because it wasn't secure enough.”

“Too bad the Watchtower is toast,” said Ray. “That place was a fortress.”

“Not against an insane Superboy,” said Aquaman. “Solaris is a bit more deranged than that kid was.”

“How so?” asked Ray. “Superboy-Prime was as nuts and powerful as they come.”

“Solaris wants to destroy Earth and kill Superman because his future self has told him to,” said Aquaman. “That's it. Superman hasn't even had a chance to do anything to this guy yet. He's being damned for something he hasn't even done yet.”

“That is twisted,” said Ray.

A light blinked on the monitor display. “The others have arrived,” said Arthur. “Let's head to the detention cells.”

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

The attack was hard and sudden.

Across the globe, strategic targets were hit without warning. The probes launched by Solaris warped out of hyperspace just above Earth's atmosphere then plummeted to the planet below.

Moscow was the first to be struck. Humanoid beings landed in Red Square, creating a deep crater with their impact. They were massively, swollenly muscled, wearing harnesses that had wings with hawk symbols on the chests. Their faces were covered by starfish-like creatures, their red eyes moist as they blinked.

The Rocket Red Brigade was scrambled to face the invaders. They were launched within seconds of the impact. Within ten minutes, they were all either dead or mutated by more of the starfish creatures. Within twenty minutes the city was overrun by Starro drones, led by the mind-controlled and mutated Thanagarians.

In Brisbane, Australia, humanoids of s different sort made landfall. They were armoured aliens, some Okaaran, some Durlan and some Khund. Their armor was segmented like an insect, covering their entire bodies. The Scarab-covered aliens began laying waste to the city, spreading more and more of the Scarabs onto the populace.

In Vancouver, Canada, dozens of Cyborgs landed who began vaporizing the populace. They were all twins of the Cyborg Superman, except their flesh was crystallized and looked more like Bizarro than Superman.

And on and on…..

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

“Tell us Solaris' plans,” said Superman.

“I will tell you nothing, hu-man,” said the Flesh Artist. “You cannot touch me without being changed into my thrall. Your threats mean nothing to me.”

The Artist was restrained in an energy web created by Firestorm. He had fought against the bonds at first, but was now at a remarkable state of rest. He was surrounded by the Martian Manhunter, Batman, Firestorm, Supergirl, Elongated Man, Liandra, Fire and Steel. Aquaman and Ray walked into the room.

“We can make you talk in ways you never expected,” said Batman. “J'onn?”

The Martian Manhunter walked up to the Flesh Artist and concentrated. “Your secrets will be mine.”

The Flesh Artist suddenly tried to fight out of his imprisonment. “No….No, I'm sorry! I will do better! I—“ The Artist slumped over, unconscious at the mental probe of the Manhunter.

“He did not respond well to my probes,” said J'onn, “But I have the information we seek. Solaris is going to—“

Alarms blared around the former League headquarters. Aquaman hit a console in the wall that acted as a remote access to the monitor room. After several seconds, Arthur turned to the others.

“It's begun,” said Aquaman. “Strikes all over the world….Moscow, Brisbane, Vancouver….and Gotham.”

“Everyone, to the launch bay now!” yelled Batman. Everyone ran out of the room and headed away to get their instructions.

“J'onn,” said Aquaman, “Can I have a second?”

The Martian Manhunter stopped. “Arthur, we are needed. Can this wait?”

“It really can't,” said Arthur. “I want to know one thing.”

“What is that, my friend?” asked J'onn.

“Who are you really,” said Arthur, “Because you sure as hell aren't J'onn J'onzz.”

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

Solaris exited warp space with a perfect view of the planet Earth. The moon was in a elative position beside Solaris. It ignited its internal core, shining its brilliance on the Earth. Within minutes, the entire planet would be in full daylight, the final day of life in this solar system.

The rays being shone down on the planet were slightly different than those of the Earth's native sun. The rays were red.

“TIME TO DIE, KAL-EL.” Solaris in place. Its armies were dispatched to Earth….there was nothing that could be done to stop it.

The light the shifted…..from red to yellow again. A massive green light was being generated behind Solaris, shifting his red light to yellow on the color spectrum. Solaris' sensors scanned the space behind it….and every system it had went to red alert.

Solaris' viewers panned behind itself. And screamed in frustration as much as a computer can.

The light was identified as Oan….from a Green Lantern power ring.

Mogo had arrived.

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

Next Issue: For Superman's story, read Superman: The Man of Tomorrow #2! For the next chapter in the story of Solaris, read Green Lantern #13! Then, be back here for Justice League #15 and the slam-bang conclusion of Solaris Strikes!