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Liandra, now called Lee, the Fallen Angel stood outside a degraded church in the center of Bete Noir. Before her, legions of shedim , shapeless demons, gather-drawn by the power generated within the church. As soon as she enters the churchyard they will be aware of her presence, she will cease to exist in our world. Crossing this threshold means leaving Bete Noir without protection. but not acting could mean the end of the world.

She takes a deep breath and hops the fence, crossing the threshold.

 

DC Infinity Proudly Presents

#9

'Secret Houses & Fallen Angels' - Part Two

By Joshua David Krenz

&

Mike Hintze

 

Somewhere, once in time

He wears black, nothing else. His raven-black hair rests gently on the air, flowing loosely in the wind. The insides of his eyes reflect eternity; he is Dream of the Endless. He stands the height of a normal man at present, but still gives off the presence of someone who is from the beyond. He does not abide by human law. instead he creates and decides his own parameters.

"TELL ME, HYPNOS-YOU CALL YOURSELF GOD OF SLEEP. WHAT DO YOU SERVE?"

The Greek god Hypnos lowers his head as he responds. "Only you, Morpheus-God of Dreams."

"I AM NO GOD, HYPNOS."

"Yes, father."

"WHAT IS IT THAT YOU ASK OF ME, CHILD?"

"I request an artifact, Lord Dream. A device to help in my service to you. A gem, like your own ruby, with the power to send mortals into your realm."

"THEY ALREADY FALL UNDER MY REALM, HYPNOS."

"Certainly, Lord Shaper. I merely ask for the power to better serve you."

A moment of reflection, then Dream reaches into a small pouch he carries by his side. He pulls out a handful of sand. Crushing them in his hand a small crystal is formed, roughly the size of a large pebble. For one brief moment the Sandman stares into his newest creation, checking it over for imperfections before handing it to Hypnos.

"AFFIX THIS CRYSTAL TO YOUR PERSON, HYPNOS. LOSING IT COULD PROVE TO BE DIRE INDEED."

With a simple bow, Hypnos responds. "Certainly Father Dream."

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

"This is bigger than all of us."

Ralph Dibny stared into space as he spoke. His face continued to give the appearance of melting wax as it lost its surface tension. It was now a conscious act to keep his appearance together after nearly dying at the hands of a new Monarch aboard the now destroyed Injustice Gang satellite in outer space. Ralph and Ray Palmer, aka the Atom, had spearheaded a new Justice League that would be every bit as powerful as the original, but expendable enough to handle any threat without fear of losing friends. Ray had disappeared after his ex-wife, Jean Loring, was revealed as the killer of Ralph's wife Sue. The grief had been too much, and Ray had disappeared. Ralph had been at his lowest ebb when Ray had finally returned, and the two men reconciled their differences and decided the best way to honor Sue's memory was to continue the fight they had devoted their lives to. The fight against injustice.

The two answered an intrusion alert aboard the destroyed ruins of the League Watchtower on the moon. There, they found a badly hurt man known only as Gabriel who claimed to come from the future. He said a great menace was coming to Earth, and that only the Justice League could stop it. Problem was, the League was no more, having disbanded after the Crisis. Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman..the world's greatest heroes had seemingly disappeared. Ray, however, had come up with a plan. They took supervillains and used a Thanagarian Absorbascon, a device that could be used to implant memories and knowledge, to succeed where the League had failed with Zatanna's efforts at rehabilitating criminals with her magic. This time, science would prevail.

Ray and Ralph made Harley Quinn, paramour to the Joker, a new Black Canary. Hunter Zolomon, aka Zoom, was made into the new Flash. The assassin Prometheus was reprogrammed to become a new Batman. An Amazo android was adapted to utilize its link to the Guardians' Central Power Battery to become an ersatz Green Lantern. A deactivated Superman android was reworked as a new Man of Steel. Joined by Jason Rusch and Dr. Bruce Gordon, the newest incarnation of Firestorm, and the new League was set to protect the world. Based on the Injustice Gang's abandoned satellite headquarters, the new JLA was ready.

They had fought several threats before everything fell apart. The Joker, Evil Star, Starro drones..and even a man dressed similar to and calling himself Monarch. In the end though, the new League defeated itself. Amazo subverted the new programming from Ray and attacked the League, attempting to fulfill its prime directive. Zoom/Flash found his super-fast thought processes beginning to break through the absorbascon programming, causing a psychotic break. Prometheus broke his own conditioning and left for Gotham City in a perverted take on the Dark Knight's mission. The Superman robot malfunctioned. Firestorm was badly injured, with Bruce Gordon disappearing and Jason Rusch nowhere to be found.

Monarch had stormed the satellite and begun taking the rest of them apart. He took Ralph into space and literally melted his head, leaving his lifeless corpse to die in the cold ether. Miraculously, in an effect of his pliant powers that he never knew was possible, Ralph had regrown his head and managed to land on the moon near the Watchtower ruins. He barely made it to the onsite teleporter that brought him back to Earth.

Ralph, despite his injuries, felt himself in a far sharper state of mind than he had enjoyed this past year. He was rapidly coming to some conclusions that didn't make sense..yet as Sherlock Holmes had said, once you eliminate the impossible, the remainder, however improbable, must be true.

There was far more to the creation and destruction of this League than met the eye. His mind had been clouded from the start. There were too many coincidences now to be accepted as happenstance. Ralph, one of the world's greatest detectives, was finally piecing things together.

Upon his return to Earth, Ralph had contacted the two people he knew he could trust implicitly. Arthur Curry, aka Aquaman and Hal Jordan, aka Green Lantern. They had themselves begun to investigate the happenings on the satellite, suspicious that no trace of Ralph or Ray could be found in the strata of the destroyed space station. When Ralph had contacted them on his JLA Communicator, they were surprised and relieved at once.

They sat in an opulent apartment that Arthur maintained under an assumed identity in New York. Ralph was busy thinking, piecing clues together that he had been unable to connect before.

"I wish we had been able to meet with this Gabriel fellow," said Hal, wearing jeans and his bomber jacket. "He was what spearheaded all of these events."

"This Monarch is what worries me," said Arthur. "A man fitting his description attacked the Teen Titans some time ago. Crippled Kid Devil and killed Zatara."

"Okay," said Hal, "We know Monarch was actually Hank Hall, formerly Hawk. He lost it and became Monarch, and later became Extant. The JSA says he was killed in a time travel incident. Alan seemed pretty sure it was final."

"Death is never final in our world," said Arthur. He glanced over at Ralph, whose face was beginning to lose cohesion once again. "Ralph, um. you're dripping on the rug."

"Hm," said Ralph as he used his hand to push his face back in place. He wasn't with them now. He was in his own world, solving a mystery.

"This threat," said Hal. "Maybe its Monarch himself? If I wanted to assume a name that would shield my true identity yet scare the hell out of everyone, Monarch would be it."

"Do we have a visual of Monarch?" asked Arthur.

"The TV crews that were present at the Titans attack only show garbled images, as if his suit was scrambling them," said Hal. "But.."

"What is it?" asked Arthur.

"I could use my ring to scan Ralph's mind and get an image from there..if he'll allow it."

Ralph looked up. His face was intact now, his full concentration back in the here and now. "Go ahead," said Ralph. "But I'll save you time. I know who Monarch is."

"Who?" asked Arthur and Hal together.

The remainder, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.

"One man could have made all of this happen. One man was present at every key event." Ralph's nose began to extend and twitch.

"Who?" asked Hal.

"Ray," said Ralph. "Ray Palmer is Monarch. It's the only thing that fits."

"Ralph," said Arthur, "Ray is most likely dead. He was onboard the satellite when it was destroyed, according to you."

"Of course he was onboard," said Ralph. "He destroyed it."

"All right," said Hal, "Let's assume that you're right. Why come to you and form a League, then destroy it? That makes no sense."

"Ray was always missing or elsewhere when Monarch was present. Ray started all of this. Wherever he went after Jean's arrest..he came back as Monarch." Ralph stood up and began to pace the apartment.

"But you said your mind was clouded..Ray did that?" asked Arthur.

"Ray's normal white dwarf star powers couldn't alone," said Ralph. "But his alien armor he wore could have."

"How do you know its alien?" asked Hal.

"Because," said Ralph, "It bears a striking resemblance to someone else we know. The Blue Beetle."

"The Swarm Invasion was beaten," said Hal. "Green Lanterns were heavily involved. We got them all."

"Not this one," said Ralph. "Ray has a scarab, one that stayed away from the main happenings of the Swarm."

"This is pretty circumstantial," said Hal.

"When you met the new League on the satellite, did your ring not spark and act up around Ray?"*

(*Justice League #2)

"And Monarch," said Hal. "Just like a scarab, but it was muted."

"There's a threat coming," said Ralph, "A threat that Monarch is a harbinger for. Something bigger. Gabriel said something about a Star coming to kill us all."*

(*52 #10)

"You guys fought Monarch with Evil Star..and Starro was also involved there," said Arthur.

"This is far worse than that," said Ralph. "Gabriel said he came from the future. He made predictions that came true. The Justice League was needed to defeat it. Ray created a new League, then made sure it fell apart."

"Ray knew the future as well, and tried to make it work for his own ends?" asked Hal.

"No," said Ralph. "The scarab's possession of Ray did that..for a Star. But what kind of Star..?"

"That's the question," said Arthur.

"First thing's first," said Ralph. "The League isn't here to stop this threat. Monarch made sure the League was gone at this time for a reason..that must mean the threat is close at hand."

"So we form our own League," said Hal. "Stop it cold."

"Gabriel said the League had to have Superman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern and Black Canary," said Ralph. "That's why we did what we did.."

"Well," said Hal, "Superman's back in action. I can get ahold of Bruce. Diana, though.."

"Yeah," said Arthur somberly.

"We build a League as best we can, staying within those parameters set by Gabriel," said Ralph. "But in the meantime we need the biggest gun we can find against this threat that's coming."

"That being?" asked Arthur.

"The Spectre," said Ralph.

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

Her presence was detected instantly by the shapeless demons. Where had the Stranger gone? A mass of limbs, barbs, and flesh charged forward, only to receive a swift kick from the Fallen Angel. Digging her nails deep into the putrid flesh she spun the being around, tossing it square into the fence. It's body burned with amber light as it crossed the threshold in an unprotected form. Viscous grease spat forth from the injured creature, which instantly ran from Lee.

The demons circled her, preparing a more organized attack. Using trees for height, they dropped down on Lee-who responded by flinging the creatures into headstones. Their bodies collided with the cold stone, sending large chunks of flesh off in opposite directions. The bodies of demons started puddling on the ground, which Liandra floated above.

"Foolish creatures, can't you see your efforts are in vain?" the Fallen Angel yelled as she thrust her fist through another changing form. Her hand still lodged inside the creature, she grabbed onto the floating entrails of the creature and pulled. As she removed the bead of organs from inside the creature's wound it fought to flee.

The puddle of shedim continued to grow, melting into one large body of demon sludge. A bubble formed from the center of the collection as the mass lifted itself up from the ground. The oozing pool of demon flooded towards Lee, trapping her in its center. She bounced around the inside of the shedim , unable to break out of the turbulent bowels of the demon. Her eyes started to glow white as energy blasts shot out of her being.

Brilliant light ruptured forth from the quivering mass, singeing the giant demon. Still, it held tight onto the Fallen Angel, bouncing her around inside its guts. Soon she would tire, and her invulnerability would wane, allowing the demons to finally devour her. With great effort she ripped at the fleshy prison, clawing her way towards the surface. With a great fling of her arm she broke through the surface of the creature, dragging her upper body out of the shedim .

"Stranger!" she yelled, struggling to keep above the surface of the shifting form, "you asked me here, and now you abandon me! Have mercy on your future patrons and leave them be!"

A massive barbed tentacle wrapped itself around Lee's throat, robbing her of breath. With both hands she tore into the tendril, but to no avail. Its hold tightened around her, wrapping around the rest of her body. Slowly the member dragged her back into the center of the demon-flesh.

The demon slowly leeched the life out of Liandra, crushing her with its very being. As she lost control over her invulnerability the shedim increased the pressure of its grip. Her eyes rolled back into her head and she stopped trying to claw at the tentacle.

From the darkness, small daggers of light launched out of the Phantom Stranger's cloak. The daggers, curved like the moon, cleaved into the demon-meat, searing the wounds. Cauterized chunks of demon goop spread across the graveyard outside the church as the being was instantly flayed by the Stranger.

Lee sat in the middle of the puddle, her crimson cloak drenched with pus. She choked and spat up the swallowed liquid, struggling to get air into her lungs. After a brief moment she finally stood up.

"Notice," the Stranger commented, "that you can touch the ground here. You are no longer on earth."

Lee heaved one last load of fluid out of her lungs. "Great. Let's finish this so that I can get back to Bete Noir."

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

The rest of the church was empty.

"They were waiting for something to arrive, to help them get to the grave."

"And you were waiting for them?" asked Lee.

"Nothing is hidden to me, I know what they wait for."

The two traveled into the church, it's doors boarded up long ago. The demons had yet to cross into the building itself, which sat thick with dust and decay. Old pews rotted in the corner, coated in spiderwebs and rat droppings. The old plaster walls had turned black with mold. Soon the mold would disintegrate the rest of the wall, and little of the church would remain.

At the front of the church, behind the dais, stood a large crucifixion. The decay had affected the symbol as well, cracking the fixture down the middle. Lee looked away from the fallen display.

A large compass-design marked the center of the room. Laid out with marble, the design was the only thing left untouched in the church. The Phantom Stranger walked into the center of the compass and placed his hands on the ground. Blue energy spilled out from his hands, spreading across the compass the blue light eventually covered the entire room.

Lee watched as the memories of the building played before her. The church went from being abandoned to having a history. Weddings, services, funerals. Suddenly the room was alive with soul and feeling, the crucifix whole. Sermons were performed, tears were shed and laughter resonated in the fragile memory. The memory of the church's creation played before her, a happier Bete Noir filled with hope. As the memory played out, Lee and the Phantom Stranger were left standing in the center of the compass, surrounded by an empty field.

Then a striking memory. Men walked into the compass carrying a bound man. The man, an old black man with white eyes cackled and screamed as the men tried to stake the man to the compass. His head faced South, his arms spread out towards East and West. While some men held the older man down, others grabbed wooden sticks to drive through his wrists. After the first impaling the old man simply cackled and pulled his hand up the stake-freeing his arm from the binding. Finally two more additional stakes were driven into each arm, firmly holding the man to the ground.

He continued to hoot and holler with glee as they drove more stakes into his legs and torso. Blood stained the ground red ochre. Still, the man would not die, each blow only encouraging him to laugh louder. In the distance a man watched, arms crossed. After no more stakes could be driven through the man did the silent observer step into the light.

The impaled man's laughter ceased as he saw the man walk into view.

"Treacherous brother, I knew you were behind this trickery!" the old man said to his brother in a forgotten language.

"Brother Legba, this is no treachery! It is simply a request. Long ago I helped you to trap Hypnos. I gave away my children as sacrifice for that glass orb you used to trap him. Now I ask that you return the favor by giving me back the orb."

Legba cackled at his brother's response. " A fish can ask for legs, but that will not make it a man!"

" Hypnos has made you even more stubborn than before, brother. Give me the orb, or I will be forced to take it from you."

"If that is the case brother, you can do neither. I no longer have the orb-it has long been a part of me."

From his waist the brother draws a bone knife. " Very well, Legba. The orb shall end with you."

With a quick flick of the wrist the bone knife ripped across Legba's throat, only slowing as the blade dug into vertebrae. His head separated from his body, Legba's laughter finally ceased. A stake was driven into the ground and Legba's head was impaled upon it. Stones were stacked up over Legba's corpse, and left to rot.

The memory faded as the Phantom Stranger pulled the blue energy back into his body.

"What did you see?" the Stranger asked of Lee.

"Two brothers, one jealous of the other fighting over an orb."

"One is Legba, the other is Sakpata. Legba tricked his brother into sacrificing his only children in order to trap the forgotten son of Morpheus. With Sakpata's heirs dead, the family line died with Sakpata and Legba. The orb and its stories died with them as well, forgotten with time."

"And what are we to do of it?"

"Legba's bones still rest in the ground below. You must retrieve them, so that they do not fall into the hands of another."

"Another?"

"A man who seeks the forgotten son of Dream in order to control the world."

"So why don't you just go down there and grab them for yourself?"

"I'm not permitted. You, however, are."

The Fallen Angel looked around the decrepit church. The boarded up windows now told their own story, that of abandonment. How something of such glory can simply be pushed aside, abused, and forgotten was beyond her.

With a swift jolt she pulled herself into the air and floated to the top of the church. Looking straight towards the center of the compass, Lee dove with full force at the ground. Her impact shattered the compass, sending tiles flying across the room. Below the tile, however, was just a thick layer of dirt.

"What," asked the Stranger, "were you expecting catacombs?"

A shovel appeared in his right hand, which he jabbed into the soft ground. "This should help," he said as he walked away.

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

After a few hours of digging Lee finally uncovered Legba's bones. The stakes had since dissolved, but the damage they inflicted remained on Legba's beheaded body. Carefully she brushed the dirt away from the skeleton, revealing the ribcage. After moving more dirt away something inside the chest cavity caught her attention.

With care, the Fallen Angel removed a skull from inside the Legba's ribcage. The skull was the same size as a normal human, but was clearly not Legba's. The jawbone had been cleanly removed from the head, with some kind of ritual. Careful etchings had been carved into the bone. Located at the center of the forehead sat a single gem, slightly larger than a pebble but perfect in shape.

"I think I've found something!" Lee yelled out to the Phantom Stranger.

The Stranger looked over the edge of the grave. "Yes, it appears you've found Hypnos."

"I thought you said he was trapped in an orb."

"Legba realized that keeping Hypnos in an orb would be vulnerable, so he decided to bond himself with the god of sleep permanently."

"How did he do that?"

"He ate him. That's why no one could kill him, except for Sakpata."

"Why's that?" Lee asked.

"There is no time to discuss," the Stranger responded. "Come, we must get to the House of Abel-we are expected."

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

Next Issue: The Conclusion!