c25

(Barbara Gordon aka Oracle)

April 2nd, 2010

Gotham city

Clocktower

Barbara's Apartment

10:21 PM

The lights of her computer screen reflected on Barbara's glasses, she was following the exploits of a new superhero, or should she say a contractor? She typed on her keyboard and switched tabs on Firefox and watched the video of the silver haired beauty in a blue sundress touching the man that was recently amputated while his leg was in a clearwater solution with some biomass available from vegetables at his side.

The leg began to regrow over an hour, it looked severely atrophied though. The man in question was rich, an engineer and entrepreneur named Elon Musk from South Africa who had been taken hostage by a group belonging to a Somalian warlord who wanted to ransom him.

Elon's wife, a Talulah Jane Riley-Milburn, hired Lady Miracle to help her husband; Lady Miracle captured the ransomers alive and helped Mister Musk regrow his lost leg. Musk didn't tell Lady Miracle that he was recording her using her magic at all and as a result the video ended up on Twitter.

Instead of suing Elon for his trespass, she thanked him and took it in stride and started advertising on the social media platform. Since then, Lady Miracle has used her account mostly like Zatanna did, for tricks with… portal magic. She was at least a billion richer, but all the money she got somehow always ended up going to children's hospitals and maternity wards in Europe and Australia which seemed to be her main hangout.

Barbara opened her pattern searching program, and on the holo-table next to her desk, a map of the world appeared. Sightings of Lady Miracle appeared, centered on Europe and Australia like she thought, but there were those that showed that she went to North America and in particular Canada. She left South America well alone somehow…

China and Japan were a bust, did she avoid them because of their culture and the language barrier? Or worse, she sounded to be German and Barbara suddenly had a bad feeling… was Lady Miracle a Nazi? However, the next video of her kissing some children of all ethnicities in a burn ward after they were restored to looking hale and healthy assuaged her fear.

The redhead sighed in relief, the woman wasn't a nazi like she had thought. More videos of the sorceress circulated, she helped more people, mainly kids; there was one of her helping bring five babies into the world in an Eastern European country. The parents thanked her, and Lady Miracle gave them money to support themselves and their children and brought them to another country through her magical portals.

Lady Miracle was a good person. A truly rare person in this day and age who was unaffected by greed and wanted to better her fellow man to fund her humanitarian projects. That is why it pained Barbara to do this… she started to compile a dossier on the woman. There was almost nothing beside her clearly fabricated name, Emilia Von Linden, 21 years old. She forwarded an address in Germany to a town called Goslar.

It was offgrid of course, no internet there, only a cellphone tower. There were photos of her speaking with people in town or eating at the restaurants there; but knowing that she could use portals to move around, Barbara doubted that this was where she lived.

Goslar is an untouched medieval town that dates back to 1009. Most of the town was built during the 12th Century, which is known as "Alstadt" or Old Town. Or maybe she wasn't lying and that she once lived there, immortal sorcerers were a thing in this world. Her official age, 21, maybe needed a bunch of zeros to show how old she actually was.

People like Lady Miracle didn't get power like hers easily, and-

Barbara felt a breeze and a breath next to her left ear, "I heard you're looking for me."

"Eep!" The redhead twirled in her seat, about to strike the intruder with a punch.

Barbara's punch landed into an open hand, which was connected to a beautiful platinum blonde woman wearing a large blue hat and sundress, with gloves and a handbag hanging from her left forearm. The woman let go of Barbara's hand and stepped back; with a smile she looked around and didn't seem impressed by the redhead's computer rig.

Was it Barbara's imagination, or did she hear the blonde whisper the word: primitive.

"Are you Lady Miracle?" Barbara's gaze focused on the woman who leaned against the wall next to the door of her work room.

Lady Miracle's eyes shone with amusement and she said in a flirty tone while tipping her hat, "In the flesh, schöne frau (beautiful lady)."

If a man had done something like that, it wouldn't have been sexy or attractive, but somehow this woman pulled it off. Then there was the fact that somehow Lady Miracle found her way into her home; how did she do it? What were the means to achieve this? Was it technology or magic? Whatever it was seemed to give the sorceress some kind of information defense which warned her that someone was looking into her.

This was… terrifying; now Barbara understood why no one kidnapped and enslaved Lady Miracle to turn her into a healing machine. Anyone who looked into her maybe was evaluated like this and judged? Or was Barbara seeing too much into it? Countless possibilities came into the ex-vigilante's mind and when she saw the platinum blonde smile at her as she had this thought she added the possibility that the woman might be either a telepath or precog.

"More like a telempath." Lady Miracle answered Barbara's thoughts.

Barbara's hands landed on her armrests and she fell back on the old mental training given to her by the Martian Manhunter and closed up her mind behind an imaginary steel wall.

The sorceress shrugged at Barbara's attempt to keep her thoughts private. "It doesn't matter if you have mental defenses, I can feel your thoughts through a different type of telepathy than you were trained to counter. Whoever trained you isn't used to spiritual based telepathy."

Walking toward her, Lady Miracle loomed over Barbara but didn't do anything more. The woman kept her hand linked as she… waited for something. Maybe she wanted Barbara to answer her question? "To answer your question Lady Miracle, I will say yes; I was looking for you. My name is-"

"I've done my research on you Barbara Gordon also known as Oracle, your father is Police commissioner Jim Gordon, Mother Barbara Eileen Gordon and Brother James Gordon Jr. Your parents are quite unimaginative with the name given to their children…" The woman crossed her arms under her impressive chest as she asked, "What are you seeking me for? People often seek me out for healing, protection or other special tasks. You, Miss Gordon, are a tech billionaire, you've got everything going for you; beauty, smart, money… What do you want?"

Barbara was surprised that the woman knew enough about her already; the fact that she knew what her Hacker moniker was scared her a bit and almost made Barbara push the panic button underneath her armrest which would get Canari or someone of the resistance to her. But the redhead's hand tightened into fist; if Lady Miracle came here it wasn't to threaten her but to show her that she knew who she was.

The redhead understood that she wasn't in control of the conversation right now despite being in her own stronghold; Lady Miracle acted as if she was a queen and Barbara her supplicant, and it was the truth she wanted something badly from the woman. But Barbara still had her pride, she wouldn't beg but appeal to the woman's good heart. Looking into the blue eyes of the woman, Barbara said, "Please, help me Lady Miracle, you're my only hope of regaining a normal life."

Tilting her head, Lady Miracle smiled ruefully. "A Star Wars reference? Really? Okay, I'm intrigued by your case… let's discuss this over tea."

The woman waved her hand and in a shower of blue and light a beautiful wooden tea table and a chair on which Lady Miracle sat on gracefully. With a twirl of her finger, she made a porcelain tea set appear, then asked, "Black tea? Darjeeling? Oolong or… Green tea?"

Different containers full of tea packets appeared as well as enough madeleine and cookies to feed a small army. "Don't you have Peruvian coffee instead?"

"Ah, you're one of those. Very well, Fraulein." Lady Miracle didn't twirl her finger this time but clapped her hands and in a shower of brown glitter, a decanter full of the brown nectar appeared. The smell was heavenly, then the blonde woman made some sweetener and sugar manifest with her magic.

The two women took their fill of the food and beverage over some small talk. Barbara needed to open herself to the Healer and speak of what she wanted done. She didn't go too deep about how she got paralyzed from the waist down, just that she was shot at by a Villain (Joker) from Gotham in the back.

The blonde nodded at Barbara and with palm open over the table asked, "Give me your hand, please."

Barbara looked warily at the white waiting hand. "What for may I ask?"

"To run a diagnostic, and to see if I can cure and treat you." Lady Miracle said as she found the question quite silly.

"Okay." Barbara reached out and put her hand in The blonde's.

The sensation she felt next was as if she was being jolted by a weak electric current, and Lady Miracle's eyes glowed with white light. Lady Miracle peered into her body and then the strange energy current circulating inside her body stopped. The blonde smiled and said, "I definitely can help you, but… can you pay the price?"

Barbara snatched back her hand and said with a glare, "If it's reasonable, yes. But be aware that I will not do anything that compromises my morals…"

The sunny smile appearing on the woman's face became especially dazzling right at this instant.

"I don't want money from you, money doesn't matter to me." Lady Miracle said, proving that she didn't want Barbara to do anything untoward. "What I want is a date with you."

This was said with a smoldering gaze that made the redhead blush to her ears. Barbara gulped because she thought the sorceress was really attractive, then she thought, *Why the hell not? It's just a date.*

Barbara nodded and said after her internal deliberation, "Oh, I… I guess that we can come to an arrangement…"

~/.\~

(Barry Allen)

Australia

90 miles Straight

April 6th, 2010

A green and gold blur passed him, he had been waiting for the person moving at super speed for a long while. Barry noticed that she had gotten faster, as fast as him and it heartened him to see such a young woman coming into her abilities and doing good. Barry chased Velocity all over Australia and was surprised when she suddenly chose to stop right in the middle of the Great Victoria desert under the scorching sun.

Barry was happy for the climate controlled suit Lexcorp had developed for him; despite the Great Australian desert receiving relatively high rates of rainfall, the high evapotranspiration going through the land made it an arid and desolate place. Australia is the driest inhabited continent with the least fertile soils. Everywhere he watched while running, Barry saw red sand dunes, sandstone mesas, rocky plains and sparse vegetation.

Velocity ran around him and stopped to say face to face, "Meep meep!"

The scarlet speedster smiled. "Hey V."

Barry stared at Velocity, her costume and gear had changed again since the last time he saw her. Her costume looked more well put together somehow and hightech. The belt at her waist was of shiny golden color and had multiple green glowing screens and LEDs on it with the pouches attached to it. It looks like Velocity found money somewhere or someone to fund for her tech; hell she could be a trust fund baby and decided to splurge for her tech like Bruce did.

He had done some subtle research and found that every system she invented and let circulate in Africa such as the water filter were patented. The name on the patents was a Claire Richardson, who was an up and coming young genius with two doctorates in electrical engineering and Energy studies. Who was working on her third doctorate in computer science already.

She was a pretty redhead with blue eyes and a sunny smile. "Hey Flash, Mate, how are you?"

"Doing good!" He raised his hands.

Before he could continue speaking and try his recruitment speech, the young woman clapped her hand. "You have excellent timing, I wanted to… meet you."

The pause in Velocity's voice caught Barry's attention; when someone as happy, bubbly or peppy, like Velocity, became serious one needed to focus and listen. "Why?"

Velocity took a device, it was the size of a smartphone, it had a touchscreen and when it lit up, it showed a picture of a map… Barry asked himself, *Is it some kind of GPS?*

Then the device chimed and a relieved smile appeared on Velocity's face. "Lucky, there's no satellite overhead."

Okay now she could mess with satellite coverage or detect them? *How?*

Velocity took off her green tinted goggles and watched Barry in the eyes. "Okay, Listen Flash… I ended up findin' somethin'… I'm not sure I can handle it alone."

With a frown Barry asked, "And what's that you found? You sound very worried."

The girl gulped and made a nervous chuckle. She looked haunted and rather skittish. "Eh, bloody oath I am… First you must promise to listen to everythin' I say without interruptin' me."

Barry nodded, she wasn't asking for the moon. "Sure, I promise to listen attentively and not interrupt you."

Just in case, Barry activated his HUD and began recording the conversation.

"Ripper, well… this all started when I went to the states. I was curious why no one focused on the hardware used in the Bombing of Metropolis..."

Barry suddenly felt a sense of dread. He asked himself the same thing, why wasn't the League looking for who gave the hardware to the Joker? The submarine, the Cold War era nuke and the high-tech Deadman switch detonator used. Everything went to shit because someone gave this to the Joker and the world changed because of it.

It was only three years later after the event that someone, who wasn't League, asked themselves the question: Who did it? Barry looked shocked, how come they didn't look for the ones who'd done it?

"I won't lie, what I did was bloody illegal, I spied on some criminals from Gotham who I discovered were made into cutouts. I followed the chain and eventually found my way to information trails leading to most of the city's upper crust and Gotham's organized crime families." Velocity revealed.

Barry wasn't surprised that she did this, all she had to do to not be seen was to use the speed force to phase through walls and move at super speed to not be seen at all. The young woman had a mastery of her speed that was better than Barry's when he started out. He really wanted to tell her about it, but he had promised to stay silent.

Velocity was aware of this it seemed as she gave him a thankful smile; then she started using her speed to start vibrating, her voice started to distort as she began speaking fast. However Barry sped up as well and heard Velocity's next report. "Then… then this is where I found why Gotham never got better despite your manbat's years of vigilantism."

It seemed to Barry that Velocity didn't want anyone who wasn't Barry to hear her. He was surprised that she could use that ability at will already.

"Have you asked yourself, why?" Velocity asked.

Barry guessed that asking him questions was allowed for her little show. "Why, what?"

"Why Batman never could put down crime in Gotham?" Velocity stared into Barry's eyes intently, as if she was about to tell him the answer to an unknown mystery.

"I always believed that it was because most of the civilian higher ups there are crooked, that the crime families own them and the city."

She raised her hands and showed him seven fingers. "Correct, 70 points; but the rabbit hole goes deeper than that, Flash."

*The girl is a bit of a dork.* Barry wanted to laugh, but the gravity of Velocity's revelation blunted Barry's usual banterish behavior.

"Let me tell ya about the Court of Owls…"

From what Velocity was saying, The Court of Owls is an ancient conspiracy that has controlled Gotham City for centuries. They are a violent cabal of rich people wearing owl masks who wield political influence in the city. They are behind most unsolved crimes and why the city never gets better. Those people played the crime families against one another and the downtrodden inhabitants.

And it was them who stopped Batman's gallery of criminals from truly being prosecuted and placed in Arkham. They were the reason the Joker didn't get the death penalty and kept letting him escape because of the insurance scheme they set up to get even richer. What were a few deaths compared to them spreading more of their influence and making more money?

Then Velocity said, "I found out that it was them who sold the nuke to the Joker."

That chilled Barry's blood. That this so-called cult was so powerful and embedded in the fabric of this country that it could get a nuclear bomb.

"Do you have proof?" Barry found himself saying.

"Yah, I've got lots. Pictures, videos, data from their personal computers, I cloned their smartphones and photocopied any relevant dossiers and paper in their possessions." Velocity said as she took a dozen USB thumb drives from the pouches at her belt.

They looked like commercially available ones, not optimal; she put everything back in her belt's pouches at super speed. Barry knew exactly what to do right now, he entered into his veteran hero persona and asked, "Is this why you were waiting for me?"

The woman looked scared, Barry could see it in her eyes. She scratched behind her head as put her feelings into words. "I can't get any closer than this, I'm… I'm scared, Flash. The things I've seen, and heard… I never knew that humans could be this cruel and monstrous." Velocity stopped speaking, looked into the sky for a moment, then stared back at him. "How?"

Barry understood what she meant. The world was a nasty place and the Hero-life had taught him that he needed to roll with the hits he received. You see some pretty disturbing and bad shit out there, but you gotta move and run forward by learning from your mistakes and successes.

"How do I do it, right?" Barry said when he looked at the scared-looking redhead.

Barry turned and gave his back to the young woman and looked at the road, there was nothing on the horizon. "Because I have to do it, no one else wants to; I don't begrudge them, some people aren't cut out for this life, Velocity. But you took a clear step in that direction, you're a hero, V."

He turned to her, showing her how proud of her she was; Velocity is used to playing it safe, but this time she went out to find trouble on her own. She may have been able to give Clark and the survivors of the Metropolis' bombing closure.

The redhead shook her head, looked at the goggles in her hand. "I'm thinkin' of hanging up the costume after that though, there's no way-"

Barry panicked, Velocity couldn't stop just because she saw the darkside of humanity up close! The speedster looked for a reason, and he found one. He quickly said, "I'm sorry you feel that way, V. But you'll have to show the results of your research and investigation to the League."

As an answer, Velocity shook her head and started giving the USB thumb drives to Barry as she said, "Can I not?"

Barry suddenly had his hands full of the devices, he looked rather awkward right now. "I…"

But before she could run into the sunset and out of the hero's life, Barry saw Superman descend from the sky; he landed softly on the road, cutting Velocity's retreat.

The god-like alien in blue and red looked at the two speedsters for a moment, until his cerulean gaze focused on Velocity. "Good afternoon, Miss Richardson. I was passing by and couldn't stop myself from hearing an interesting story."

Barry didn't like the fact that Clark was breaking her secret identity from the get go like this. This was a breach of privacy that might have cost them goodwill from the woman; the redhead stepped back from Superman and glared at him. The speedster sighed, Superman was here, and despite the smile he wore, it didn't reach his eyes. The story about the Court of Owls was hard to swallow…

~/.\~

(MACHINA)

So far so good.

The Princess' plans had to be reworked to take into account the role of the Kryptonians onboard the Odyssey. The recent ratification of a formal alliance between Princess Komand'r and the Kryptonian refugees meant that she was going to help them find a new planet on which they could settle, not necessarily in the DC universe but in her original one.

MACHINA was happy to have met this species, they are what beings should strive to become; intelligent and logical. But due to the social engineering perpetrated by some of their members over the centuries they repressed their emotions. It was clearly something bad to do, too much logic and rationalization unbalance a being.

The synthetic being shifted her attention back to Komand'r healing Barbara Gordon in her apartment, they were in the redhead's spacious bathroom where she was naked and submerged in a bathtub full of water. The upper body of Barbara was muscular, but not her lower body, which looked quite emaciated, MACHINA made a plan for Komand'r on how to skip any reeducation treatment on the Princess' HUD.

After acquiescing, Komand'r demanded that MACHINA transport some regeneration solution. MACHINA proceeded to do just that by fabricating it and teleporting it from Odyssey to the small apartment. The Princess took a vial from her handbag, filled with green colored regeneration solution. Enough to fix the woman's atrophied muscles in her lower body so that when Komand'r does her magic, Barbara will be able to walk right away.

"Don't worry, you won't drown, I got you." Komand'r reassured the redhead who held onto MACHINA's creator like a Lifebuoy.

"Are you sure?" The redhead asked in panic.

MACHINA knew there wasn't much trust between them yet, but she felt rather offended for her mother. She wasn't about to kill her! Komand'r nodded and gave her a reassuring smile. "I promise."

Then with a low whisper in Barbara's ear, "I really want to date you."

The redhead looked into the princess' eyes. "Why? I mean why me?"

MACHINA was frustrated by the woman's questions, they were so cliché! Obviously because you're gorgeous Barbara!

"You're my type, I like redheads and smart women. Why wouldn't I want to be with you?" The line was delivered so smoothly that MACHINA asked herself why she didn't do the same with Kara on the space station? With lines like those, the petite blonde should have been eaten already.

Komand'r made one of her lady killing smiles, the redhead blushed and averted her eyes from her mom's. "It feels good to be desired." Even more so when she's been a cripple for years and now has less self-esteem.

To MACHINA, it was like watching a soap opera with her mother starring in it. Then Komand'r's free hand became all glowy and she said, "I'm going to submerge you for thirty seconds, take a breath. It's going to hurt a bit. Hold onto me, okay?"

"Okay." Barbara nodded, fear starting to show on her face.

"Ready?" MACHINA's mother asked.

Barbara said, "Rea-"

Splash. Komand'r submerged Barbara all of a sudden.

"Eir, goddess of healing, hail!" Komand'r started praying and the light glowing in her hand flashed and the bathroom filled with white light.

Barbara stayed under the water for thirty one seconds submerged in the regeneration solution and bore the pain that the magical healing was giving her as it fixed her spinal cord and lower vertebrae. MACHINA detected some trace amounts of copper shrapnel that were immediately purged by the magical energy. The light slowly faded and disappeared.

Komand'r helped Barbara re-emerge from the filled bathtub and then let go of her. Barbara sat up by herself in a panic and then her face changed as she turned her head to her legs which didn't look emaciated like before, but toned and muscular, matching her upper body.

"I can feel my legs! You're really miraculous." Barbara said as she turned her gaze to a smiling Komand'r.

MACHINA nodded, Komand'r's infiltration of the Resistance with the help of Barbara Gordon was well on its way. She decided to focus her process on something else.

*** Fork 1: Dedicated to assist Doctor Pamela Isley. ***

At the same time, MACHINA dedicated some of her time to help the doctor; she looked at the vitals of the men in the tank and realized that the treatment was complete. MACHINA woke them up by injecting the gas into the rebreather each of them wore. Pamela Isley entered the facility, she was in a light green and black soft-suit with a utility belt especially equipped for lab work with a suit of powerful scanners and specialized computers.

She arrived before the workstation controlling the series of regeneration tanks; placed her palm on the scanner in the middle of it and the workstation unlocked and lit up. After a brief moment, Doctor Isley consulted the results. "We finally finished the augmentation of the Rogues. Now what is left is the brief reeducation process to get them used to their body." Doctor Isley informed MACHINA as she looked at the men exiting the regeneration tanks.

MACHINA had an eyeful of fit and muscular naked men and chuckled. I have the best job ever.

*** Fork 2; Having fun with Stargirl in the Danger Room. ***

Courtney was in the danger room, testing the combat-skin fabricated for her. Floyd loaded a survival scenario about an army of Super soldiers attacking Courtney. It had been difficult for the young woman at first, but as she got into a rhythm, she started mowing down the troops. Gotham's dock area was the current battlefield; and it was in complete ruins, the addition of the cosmic staff, cosmic converter belt and a star spangled combat-skin that amplified one-thousand times every attribute of its wearer was overwhelming.

Stargirl could solo an entire battalion and more. It was while she was firing stellar energy blasts at entrenched super soldiers in an alley that they barricaded themselves with a truck and some containers. They were slowly advancing toward Stargirl while using the containers as a shield. She broke through it by turning the beam from her Cosmic staff into a continuous cutting stream.

When the current batch of super soldiers were dead, Courtney contacted MACHINA through the Tactical Communication Net of the combat-skin. "Hey, Mach. Do you have more good songs? I like to play my video games with music." Courtney Whitmore asked on her tablet.

MACHINA rolled her eyes. Courtney, who knew that this environment and people weren't real, was letting her destructive tendencies out. This wasn't one of her non-lethal tactical survival scenarios that Floyd ran usually, but a way to destress for her. Still complying with the girl's request, MACHINA sought music bands and artists not existing on this Earth that were indexed in her databases which would be suitable for Courtney.

Miracle of Sound

Alestorm

Avenged Sevenfold

Casey Edwards

Amalee

Bury the Light blasted on Courtney's system in her suit. Stargirl started moving her head in rhythm pleased with the edgy song. "Mach, where did you find all these?"

Oh you know… a different universe. MACHINA idly responded.

"What?!" Courtney shouted, just as a gunship arrived, guns blazing in the sky shooting at her.

*** Fork 3: Monitoring Project HAX, the nano-forge full of Nth metal nanite culture in the lab of the Tempest Scout Ship. Completion of Cosmic Combat-Skin at 95%. ***

Nth metal was a strange alloy which could interact with Quantum particles in this universe. Its effects were variable depending on the will of its user; The interactions in this scale are mostly unpredictable, as particles interact differently in contrast to macroscopic material due to the complexity of quantum mechanics and the universe's fundamental interactions occurring at this level.

By using quantum manipulation, theoretically, Komand'r when she bonded to the Combat-Skin would be able to manipulate matter and energy to their essential components: molecules, atoms, and subatomic particles. Commanding them leads to the fabrication and transmutation of matter into any material the user desires, manipulating nuclear reactions, commanding both nuclear fusion and fission, detonating nuclear explosions or the formations of stars. The user can manipulate chemicals and transform them into any chemical element the user can generate, if they possess the information for it.

Completion of Cosmic Combat-Skin at 98%

MACHINA didn't forget to take into account the metaphysical side of things when it concerned Nth metal. She was certain that the alloy allowed the ability to deal with all things undetectable by the physical senses. Metaphysics included science and went beyond it to encompass all aspects and dimensions of existence experienced as "reality".

Combining Nth Metal with Bridge Builder technology made the model and simulation of the power projection about the Cosmic Combat-Skin impossible to calculate or foresee. MACHINA could guess that this should make Komand'r… not invincible but close to it.

Completion of Cosmic Combat-Skin at 100%

MACHINA sent a notification to Komand'r about the news of Project HAX. She could finally secure the nanites culture in a tank for her mother to pick up later.

*** Fork 4: Monitoring Kandor City. ***

Everything was going well in Kandor, the news about a portal to outside the bottled city being established spread like wildfire. The population organized a huge festival to celebrate their future liberation; the Artist guild immediately came up with holographic multicolored banners which started appearing between the buildings. Some adventurous youngsters started wearing purple and silver capes in honor of Princess Komand'r. Everyone had identified those as being her colors.

Food and beverage stalls, operated by Labor guild members, popped up in the center of the city. Food was no longer rationed as supplies were constantly delivered by MACHINA. The celebration continued for over a week, those people needed the good news after being bottled for thirty-eight years.

Meanwhile, the council had organized exams to choose the most competent and smartest individuals amongst Kandor's citizens to help MACHINA and Komand'r crew Odyssey. To start with, a pool of one hundred Kryptonians was chosen. Many entered the examination, but only 1% of the best and brightest were chosen.

MACHINA focused on who she would assign to which post and it was hard to choose…

~/.\~

(Caytlin Snow aka Killer Frost)

April 7th, 2010

Star City

The Glades

Abandoned warehouse

Night

Caytlin wasn't so sure about this plan anymore… sure she wanted out of the planet and out of reach of the Regime's clutches but she didn't know who reached out to her. Maybe this was a trap to get at every rogue or villain who has seen the ads on TV, the paper or their Internet Provider's email. It was strangely targeted, as if she'd been observed from afar.

From Louisiana to Washington, her journey had been difficult since she escaped Belle Reve; the super soldiers created by Superman were too dangerous to confront and she was forced to kill them. They were relentless and single minded in trying to capture her. If it wasn't for this random ad that popped on the acquired phone from a random rich girl in a red convertible car. She would have disappeared in the woods somewhere.

The trek had been a slog, but in a matter of a week and a bit of guile she stowed away on the Amtrak system and reached Star City. It wasn't hard to contact the person who made the ad, just an email and a message by phone. Caytlin felt that somehow they were able to know who she was.

As she walked into the empty and dusty warehouse, she noticed someone sitting there on a chair and playing with a smartphone. Somehow, the woman, because it was clear that it was a woman. looked rather absorbed in it. She wore a blue sundress and large hat, gloves and sandals; the woman looked familiar as well. *Isn't she that Sorceress girl who has been trending on Twitter and Facebook and Wayne Media?*

The woman looked from her phone's screen to the warehouse's entrance, her eyes settling on Caytlin. She locked her phone, and placed it in a bag which suddenly appeared in her hand in a small shower of light. With a smile, the woman was suddenly before Caytlin, who flinched and stepped back.

"Guten Abend (Good Evening), Miss Snow." Her accent was exotic and her greeting was warm.

"Hi, are you the… contact?" Caytlin asked.

The woman nodded. "It is indeed me."

"You're that magic girl from twitter…" Caytlin's gaze sharpened on the platinum blonde.

"Once again you're right, I'm glad that you came." The woman still had on her smirk.

Caytlin looked around her and saw how dark it was, but the concrete ground and a lone light was illuminating where they stood. The air smelled quite dusty, enough for the cryokinetic to become asthmatic. "Am I the only one here?"

The woman tilted her head. "Today? Yes, you are."

With a sigh Caytlin said, "Right, so what's this about a sanctuary away from the One Regime?"

"Before I tell you anything… you must pass the test." The woman made her handbag disappear.

Caytlin frowned. "What test?"

"This one." The woman disappeared.

Caytlin felt someone behind her thanks to her heat sensitivity and she threw herself forward, rolled in the dust and pointed her hand and threw a cold blast at the woman. With a 'Fwooosh' the blast hit… nothing. Lady Miracle wasn't here. Caytlin looked up, the woman appeared from the air and was intent on crashing on her, so the cryokinetic rolled on her right and heard a crashing sound. When Caytlin turned she saw Lady Miracle standing in a crater she created in the concrete.

Caytlin's eyes popped and was glad she evaded that attack, she would have gotten killed! "What the fuck?! Why are you-"

Lady Miracle interrupted her as she turned toward her. "Hmm, good situational awareness there, fraulein."

The woman levitated out of the crater and stood before Caytlin; the cryokinetic became somewhat jealous of how the woman looked in pristine condition while she was covered in dust and grim.

"Why? Why did you attack me?" Caytlin demanded as she stood there with a serious expression and was ready to defend herself.

Lady Miracle tilted her head again, and smiled. "Assessment of your powers. It's too bad that you don't seem to explore them sufficiently; the scientist will work on this with you, there's no way that you shouldn't be able to control your power on a grander scale."

Caytlin didn't like this, the woman was already making decisions for her as if it was a foregone conclusion. At this moment Caytlin could only compare the woman to Amanda Waller, who she had the dubious honor to meet. "Are you trying to turn me into a fighter or something? If it's that, I'm out of here."

The cryokinetic made to leave, but the platinum blonde woman teleported before her, blocking the exit. "Miss Snow, I thought you knew? You're being interviewed for a position among my team. We offer safety to our members and their families, we give them training, unmatched healthcare and enough money to make you able to live comfortably for several lifetimes."

Cooling down her fury, Caytlin understood that she had passed the test of the magic woman. "So it's not just a sanctuary thing, but a job offer."

Lady Miracle walked toward her and stopped two meters from her. "Let me reassure you, this isn't a suicide squad situation, in fact you should thank me, my associate and I got rid of Amanda Waller and CADMUS."

Caytlin stepped back, the reason she was free and could run from Belle Reve, as it was being reviewed because of Waller's ignoring the human rights of the prisoners, was this woman? "It was you?!"

"Gern geschehen (You're welcome)." Lady Miracle nodded.

Closing her eyes, Caytlin thought about her options, she could no longer run and she was tired, tired of just… surviving. When she opened her eyes it was to say, "Where… where can I sign?"

The woman clapped in joy and giggled. "Welcome, Miss Snow. Get in line with the others."

The lights in the warehouse lit up and in the not so empty warehouse, she saw at least six people there when she turned to look around. "What-"

One of them was familiar and shouted, "Hey Frosty! You made it!"

It was a tall and muscular blonde in a red and black costume with blonde pigtails, she looked completely different from before. Caytlin couldn't help but yell back, "Harley?! Is that you?!"

~/.\~

(Billy Batson aka Captain Marvel)

USA

Midwest

Philadelphia

Fawcett City

April 9th, 2010

Billy floated down from the sky and landed in the Alley in downtown Fawcett and looked around, there was no one here. Not even a homeless person. Just the smell of piss and rubbish littering the place. He sighed in relief, he was being careful after so many close-calls with his secret identity. He opened his mouth and said the word that would turn him back into a child.

"SHAZAM!"

Billy turned from the world's mightiest mortal, a superhero with magic origins to a lean kid who needed a bunch of sandwiches. Billy used his magic to take his backpack from his dimensional inventory, with the Wisdom of Solomon he couldn't not have his magic while in his normal form. It was stupid to rely completely on Shazam's transformation. What his long career as a superhero taught him was that he needed to be prepared for anything. Being able to store his things when he needed them was one of those smart choices.

With a hand combing his hair, he slicked back his hair and walked forward to the exit of the alley and went to wait for the bus. He waited at the bus stop for ten minutes and then one of the public transports stopped; he climbed inside and went to sit at the back. Billy saw a squad car of the Regime pass by; some people cursed as they saw them pass. Billy looked around and saw the people who wore a somber mood on their face. This wasn't an isolated thing, everywhere he went, things were darker, as if a dark filter was slowly placed on his vision.

Kids were less happy, their parents too. The TV kept showing action from the Justice League and how they hunted down crime even the more benign ones. Billy wasn't blind, he saw the beatings and killings the Super soldiers, created by the pill from Lex Luthor and Clark Kent, perpetrated. Being young, Billy reasoned that his participation in this Regime bullshit was more because he was persuaded and bullied into participating by Superman in his tyranny.

But now, as the regime's oppression grows, Billy is beginning to have second thoughts about the justifications of his actions. He remembered what he did to the Atlantean, to Black Adam…

Billy closed his eyes and resolved to try to forget the howl of pain from the man as they took the power of Shazam from his flesh, before he was sent to the Phantom zone, like everyone else lately. As the landscape changed from downtown to his neighborhood, Billy focused on not missing his stop. The bus stopped and Billy rose to his feet, ignoring the downcast passengers.

He stepped down from the bus and found himself on the sidewalk. Until he arrived before the white picket fenced house, Billy liked it here. Even if he was made to help maintain the house by painting or taking care of the garden and going to church each Sunday with all the other kids the Vasquezs were taking care of.

Rosa and Victor Vasquez were a couple who took in Billy after the death of his parents, after some time he was grateful, who knew where he would have ended up if he had been ushered from house to house. He liked the fact that the couple made each kid active and tried to find a hobby. They even helped with their homework, Mrs Vasquez was a retired teacher, and Mr Vasquez was a retired engineer. The reason they gave the kids why they accepted them into their home for the CPS program was because they can't have kids on their own and decided to spread their love and attention to children who needed it.

Billy lucked out, he realized this and he wasn't about to jeopardize this by being dishonest; he told them about his magic and his… other form. They didn't berate him, or tell him to stop, because Rosa was saved by Captain Marvel from a car crash; they realized that he needed to protect others. So, Rosa and Victor sat Billy down and told him how to be more prudent and taught him subterfuge and to know how to defend himself when he was still in his normal body.

They had said that they were proud of him, they also entered into contact with the Justice League. This was something Billy felt he needed to do to avoid being sent to dangerous missions he wasn't ready for; at least for his mental health. Billy walked through the gate towards the house, closed the gate and continued to the front door. When he was in, he shouted, "I'm home!"

But it seemed that there was no one in. *Strange.*

When he walked into the living room, Billy saw a woman in a blue dress and hat sitting before the sleeping Vasquez couple. She looked up at Billy and she smiled. "Hello, Junge (Boy)."

"Who?!" Billy shouted and he moved toward them only for two swords to appear in purple light over his adopted parents, their pointy end almost touching the Vasquez couple.

Billy stopped his charge, skidded on the floor and said, "Who are you?"

The beautiful woman tilted her head and playfully replied, "I'm not telling you that, Billy boy. But if you want a reason for me being here? I've come to remove you from the board, my sweet boy."

This woman was a villain, she had found out about his identity and was now going to kill him! To kill his family! "No not again! SHAZ-!"

Before he could finish she teleported to him and her gloved hand reached for his face and she shut Billy up. "I don't think so, boy. Now, silence."

She let go of him and Billy tried to say the words again only for no sounds escaping his throat. With widened eyes, the boy looked in panic; the smiling woman put a hand back on his cheek, caressing it and raised his face to look him in the eyes. "Now, night-night Junge."

When he looked into her eyes, they shone with white light and… Billy felt his consciousness slip. He closed his eyes and there was only darkness.

~/.\~

(Komand'r)

"Ah that's better." I said when I took down the little kid.

I decided that taking out the big names first was a wise decision, Billy Batson was on the precipice of being killed by superman when he would question him about everything he did. I loved kids, I wanted some of those later with my wives; so when I thought about the kids in the adult body in the Justice League, I wanted him out of the game.

Now I just had to wait for the goddamn wizard to come to me, and explain to him why I took down his champion. I didn't have to wait for long, time slowed down around me and the house. I felt immense power encase the house in a cage of time that was normal compared to the outside. And in a golden pillar of light a tall almost bald man with white hair, a long beard a la Gandalf and blue and a huge white robe appeared.

He looked furious, and power rolled from him in waves; I stood my ground, not wanting to show weakness as Shazam the old Wizard shouted, "HOW DARE YOU ATTACK MY CHARGE?!"

I said coolly, "I presume you're the Wizard Shazam?"

With Billy in my arms, I looked at the old Wizard. I smiled at him and he must have understood that I wasn't playing around. "Who are you? Unhand the boy."

"My name is Lady Miracle." I simply said.

He scowled at me. "No, this isn't your true name."

"Good you caught that." I nodded.

Putting Billy next to the Vasquez couple on the sofa next to me, the Wizard looked at me as if seeing me in a new light. "You're not from this world line… not from this universe. You're an outsider."

I tipped my hat to the Wizard. "Indeed."

The old man huffed as he looked at my behavior. "Speak, are you looking to obtain the Rock of Eternity? Or my powers?"

I giggled at that, who wanted those pesky limited powers? Not me, I wanted to develop my own magic eventually. "Please, what would I do with your measly power and knowledge, Wizard?"

The old man looked affronted for a moment but I let out my magical might as I tethered myself to a magical dimension attuned to the light element. I was less powerful than him but I felt that I was at least there with Amora in level of power.

With his gaze softening, the old man was less antagonistic; suddenly, he reigned in his own aura and asked, "Then why have you come?"

Reigning in my own magic, I said, "Obviously, I've come to save the life of your charge."

Shazam blinked and his eyes squinted as he said only one word, but it was in a commanding tone. "Explain."

I shook my head. "It's better if I show you, give me your hand."

Holding my hand open for him to take it, I waited. When he finally took it in his own old but strong callused hand, I said, "Embrace Eternity."

I used my telempathy to show him everything I knew about Billy and his exploits and then switched about the timeline he was living in. Superman killing his champion and the reign of tyranny, oppression and terror which will spread on Earth and to the stars.

All my emotions and feelings about Billy being a good kid not deserving death were laid bare for Shazam to feel. Then my ability disengaged from the powerful and ancient mind. The old Wizard looked at me, there was a strange feeling coming from him.

He chuckled and lowered his guards as he understood that I didn't want to fight him. "I will take the boy, his parents and their other children to the Rock of Eternity."

I clapped. "Excellent, Lord Shazam. I know they will be safe with you."

The old man bowed his head. "You have my thanks, Princess Komand'r. Your noble heart and good deed shall be remembered. Let me reward you."

With blue lightning in his hand a huge leather bound book appeared in his hands, there was a sun shaped rune on its cover, "Take it."

"Sure. Thank you." I took the book from his hands and placed it inside my bag.

He nodded again. "No, thank you."

Billy and his parents disappeared with Shazam in a flash of blue lightning, and then I did the same. With a gold glow my portal opened like a whirlpool and when I passed through it, I felt proud to have done my job without bloodshed. I didn't want to admit it but I would have lost if I had fought the old man.

~/.\~