Crisis on Infinite Earths Read online

  As long as Alex didn't interfere with the Crime Syndicate, which is what Ultraman and the other villains called themselves, he was left alone to do whatever he wanted.

  14

  Marv Wolfman

  Alex was the first to note the temperature changes that suddenly overtook Earth-3. The polar ice cap was melting at a rate greater than global warming would have suggested.

  Countries within a thousand miles of the north and south poles sweltered under unbearable heat and humidity while a sudden, blistering ice storm circled the globe at the equator. Tornadoes ravaged central Europe and hurricanes blew terrible winds and rain over the deserts. The red skies came next. They blanketed the globe, blotting out the sun and stars, casting the world in a deep, dark scarlet haze. Luthor investigated the aberration but found nothing wrong. Yes, the sky was red, but no, there were no apparent toxins in the air, no discernable reason for the change. What was going on? Luthor returned home to his wife, the former Lois Lane. In school he never thought of himself as a ladies man; as far as he was concerned he was a living cliche with his nose always buried in his books. For a long time he preferred it that way.

  Lois was a fledgling reporter assigned to do a Sunday supplement fluff piece on Alex Luthor, the world-famous inventor of the flying car. Sitting down on the couch across from her, he thought she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen, which, by his own twisted logic, meant she was better than him.

  As he stared at her, stammering his way through her questions, he kept repeating his mantra: O.O.M.L. Out. Of. My. League. Still, she was surprisingly easy to talk to.

  Within fifteen minutes Lois had already set her sights on him. She had three qualities that she demanded in a man. Thus far everyone she had ever dated failed them all. Luthor had not.

  A: The man was incredibly intelligent. He could talk about anything, and the way he told his stories, pulling in facts here and adding bits of arcane information there, made them both riveting and funny. That also covered her B requirement: he made her laugh. Most men made her gag. C: The last but most important quality: He was honest. On Earth-3 that was a commodity desperately hard to find. That his beautifully shaped bald head, framed by that perfectly trimmed red beard, made him drop dead gorgeous, was a nice bonus, but nothing more.

  The more he pulled away, the more she pushed her way through his stammering and shyness until they both were in love. She knew what she wanted even if he did not.

  Crisis on Infinite Earths

  15

  He liked her even before she put on her glasses and began their interview. She was smart; he had read her columns and knew that before they met, but she actually laughed at his stupid jokes. Not even his mother did that. But more important, he could talk to her about anything. Alex had always been shy, preferring test tubes to talk, but Lois drew him out the way nobody else ever had.

  It wasn't a surprise to any of their friends that they married less than four months after that first meeting.

  "You okay?" He asked her that same question almost every hour on the hour.

  "Relax. Nothing's happening today. I feel great."

  "You're sure you don't need anything?"

  Lois sighed. He was hopeless. She was pregnant with their first child, and was more beautiful than Alex could remember.

  Dinner was meatloaf, garlic mashed potatoes, and glazed carrots. She also prepared a chocolate souffle for dessert. Not their usual fare, but Lois was feeling especially edgy; she spent the day cooking and cleaning, not something she ever enjoyed doing. She was nesting, which she knew meant the baby was due any minute.

  "I don't get it. The weather patterns are insane." He picked his way through the potatoes. They were his favorite, but his mind was elsewhere.

  "They're not based on ocean currents. There's no reason for the sudden polar warming or the tornadoes or any of it. And those red skies. God, nothing makes any sense."

  Whenever his thoughts wouldn't coalesce, he would talk to Lois. She exerted an eerie calming effect that let his mind wander until the solution, as if from nowhere, suddenly came, full blown.

  She took his hand and led him to their bedroom. "C'mon. You need a snuggle."

  They lay coupled together, spooning, his hand caressing her swollen stomach with no way of knowing their child would be born before the night was out.

  "It's going to be a girl. I can tell"

  Lois laughed. "A boy. Feel his kick. Definitely a boy." But born to what? He wondered. Weather anomalies? Red skies? Were they a harbinger of something else? He turned to Lois but she was already asleep. Good. She needs it.

  Alex went to his study, softly closed the door, and poured himself some coffee. Skies don't color shift without reason. Something weird 16

  Marv Wolfman

  was happening, but he had no idea what. "Give me a clue," he said aloud.

  "Anything will do."

  Alex started when he heard a voice reply, "The red skies are just the beginning."

  He looked, but no one was there. He checked his security alarm. The warning light was glowing a steady, safe green. "Where are you?"

  "Alexander, a wall of antimatter will sweep over this planet and destroy everything," the voice continued.

  "You know me? Who are you?"

  "This planet is already dead, but there are other Earths that can still be saved."

  "Other Earths?"

  "Alex, you need to save your son."

  "My son?"

  "This is what you have to do."

  Alexander Luthor listened.

  Three

  Iknew I wasn't on Earth but I also wasn't in space. There was no ground under me, yet I was able to run. Actually, I couldn't stop running. Without any effort on my part, my speed kept increasing.

  I was surrounded by silence, which usually meant I was running faster than sound.

  A moment later everything went white; I was faster than light. It was impossible, but I kept picking up speed, running even faster. Images appeared in the shifting patterns of light and shade: Superman. He was crying. The man I knew was impossibly strong, physically and spiritually. What could possibly have happened to him? Kid Flash, Wally, my nephew, was also in tears, holding my ring in his hand. Next to him was the Psycho Pirate, one of our Justice League enemies.

  There were more images, each overlapping the other like a cartoon flip book. Green Lantern was fighting some sort of black, featureless shadow creature. What was it?

  Jay Garrick, the Flash of Earth-2, was surrounded by hundreds of the same shadow things.

  Batman was battling the Joker. Suddenly, both of them looked at me.

  "Flash?"

  "Batman, can you see me?" I called to him but in another second they were both gone.

  Supergirl was flying toward Gotham City.

  I saw Captain Marvel. I knew he was from Earth-S. He was also fighting a shadow creature. Alongside him was the Robin of Earth-2. How was that possible?

  18

  Marv Wolfman

  They were from different Earths in different parts of the multiverse. What could have brought them together?

  I saw heroes I knew who lived in the future and some who came from the past. They were all besieged by even more of those living shadows. What were they? Where did they come from?

  There were people I didn't know:

  A green cloaked figure with dark, frightened eyes.

  A woman, blond-haired, dressed in blue. She could fly. I saw an infant. Half his body was flesh, but the other half dark as space with stars burning through his skin. Who was he? What was he? I saw hands reach for the baby, place him inside a ship and then launch it into space.

  I saw that damned white wall of antimatter again and I heard screams. They were awful and frightening, and then, just as suddenly, there was total silence.

  I knew somehow that an entire universe had suddenly ceased to exist. Was that even possible?

  I ran faster as more images spun around me.

  I found
myself in a dark, stone room. I was a prisoner. Energy bonds restrained me. I struggled against them, trying to break free. Nothing worked. But then, suddenly, I was loose.

  I was in another place. Not a room but a cavernous pit. In front of me was a globe of burning energy, fifty feet in diameter, and it was spinning like a top.

  As if there were suddenly two of me, I saw myself, my other self, running around the blazing top. What was I doing? I could see myself struggling. Then, suddenly, there was a horrible burst of light and I disintegrated. I was dead.

  I knew then that I was being tossed through time.

  I was in my laboratory at Central City Police headquarters. It was night. There was a calendar on the wall. Today's date was circled with a notation: Date tonight with Iris. Don't be late. That was underlined. Twice. I knew this date. It was the night that changed my life. In three seconds, a lightning bolt would crash through the window and shatter the bottles of chemicals stacked on the shelves above me. In four seconds, the chemicals would shower over me, changing me forever. Crisis on Infinite Earths

  19

  I watched myself lying on my office floor, unconscious. When I awoke, I was unaware how my life had changed.

  I watched as I dried myself off. I was so innocent then. Ahh. Look at me. I just remembered I was late for my date. I was always late. Time had a way of running away on me.

  "God, Barry," Iris would always say. "You are the slowest man on Earth."

  Not any more. I began to run. Faster and faster. I had no idea what happened, but there I was, outrunning a car. The souls of my shoes were burning. Look at my face; I was afraid.

  And yet, I was also enjoying myself.

  By the time I was able to force myself to stop I had run all the way to Iowa.

  There. That look. That's the moment I knew what had happened. As improbable as it may have been, those chemicals were my heavy water. I'd become the Flash.

  I'd become the super-hero who was my hero.

  Four

  The images continued to rush past me.

  I was suddenly elsewhere; not on my Earth, but one I'd never seen before.

  There were heroes here, as there were on so many Earths in the multiverse.

  I saw this world's Superman, but he was black. Supergirl was his wife, not his cousin. Hawkman and Hawkgirl were brother and sister, not husband and wife.

  There was a Batman and Robin here, too, but they were father and son and this Batman had a wife as well as two other children. Wonder Woman and Aquaman were also different.

  I found this world's Flash. His name was Tanaka Rei and he was Japanese. His wife was Hoshi. They had two children, a boy and a girl. I watched them playing together, and...

  I thought of Iris.

  What if she and I had married earlier? Would our children be seven and eight, the same as these kids? Would our family be as loving? What if—? What if...

  This world was different from mine, but it was also too much the same.

  Then I watched this Earth, and its universe, disappear. In an instant it had been destroyed.

  Was this the fate of my Earth, too?

  I was in my lab again, only I was dressed as the Flash instead of in Barry Allen's starched white lab coat. I remembered this day, too. It was several Crisis on Infinite Earths

  21

  years after the Flash had been born. Standing next to me was Iris's nephew, Wally West. He asked how I became the Flash. I told him about the accident when— don't ask how—lightning struck again.

  I knew it was totally impossible. Such things couldn't happen twice. But the very same chemicals that turned me into the Flash also splashed over Wally.

  He became my partner, Kid Flash.

  I then found myself in the future and saw the Earth disappear. Just as quickly I was in the past as the white wall of energy swept across ancient Atlantis. In a fraction of a second the fabled island vanished from existence.

  Where was I? Why was I being shown the end of all life?

  "Flash." There was a voice but I was alone. "We were as you. Once swift as lightning, now gone."

  "Where are you?" I ran in ever-widening circles searching for the source of the voice, but I was still alone.

  There was a second voice, softer than the first. A woman.

  "Untold millions of universes have already been removed from existence. Before the multiverse ends, our essences, your soul, and the speed force itself, will be destroyed."

  A third voice chimed in. "We are becoming weaker."

  "Speed force? Is that where I am? Talk to me." I saw a place of metal walls. It was large and cavernous and through its windows I saw I was not on Earth.

  Suddenly, the room was filled with hundreds of people. Most were costumed like me. I recognized some: Superman. Batman. Green Lantern. All of them had been brought to whatever this place was. I looked around me to figure out where I was, but everything had disappeared.

  And I was still alone.

  Five

  The one fact I cobbled together was that somewhere the heroes of many Earths would be, or already had been, brought together to fight whatever was destroying the multiverse.

  Despots always wanted something. Unlimited wealth, absolute control, or the number one answer: total power. But why would anyone want to destroy entire universes? What would be left for them to control? Who would there be to rule?

  I understood one other truth: Sometime during this crisis I had been captured and, in trying to escape, killed. Only that would explain Wally finding my costume and ring.

  Whatever happened, I'd been shown, much too graphically in fact, that I was not going to survive.

  I could accept that; I'd been running on borrowed time ever since I first put on my Flash suit. But what I wanted to know was if there was any way I could stop this... crisis... before I died? The voices told me I was already dead. But my essence, they said it was my soul, was still alive.

  I was already dead? Nonononono. Not possible. My death was in the future. But if it already happened, did that also mean it wasn't preventable?

  And if I was murdered, then why didn't I remember it now? It made no sense. How could I be dead? How could this body just be... My soul?

  I wasn't a very religious man but I certainly believed in God or at least in some kind of almighty spirit. I was killed but I was still here, still thinking. Crisis on Infinite Earths 23

  There had to be a reason I didn't vanish from existence. I needed to organize and analyze the facts as I would any puzzle. It was the only way I could think my way through this.

  Brain-boy Barry (they called me that in high school) was hard at work again.

  I knew I'd been a prisoner. I saw myself chained to a wall and I needed to find out where that took place. Once I had the where, I might discover the who.

  Question two: why did he hold me prisoner? Why didn't he just kill me right away?

  Question three: And if I was dead, why didn't I stay dead? There was only one logical answer to my second question: I was needed, or more likely, my super-speed power was needed.

  The voices said the speed force would be destroyed even before the multiverse, which I assumed meant the killer was absorbing my super-speed energy to power his weapons.

  Was that why I was his prisoner? Was that why the speed force was weakening? If this speed force dissipated before I saved the universe would I disappear along with it?

  Was there a ticking clock on my saving the multiverse? Slow down. Don't ask questions to which I can't possibly guess the answer. Don't think in terms of saving an infinite number of lives; the task would be too daunting. Concentrate instead on what was possible. Save Iris. Save just one life. Then the others will fall into place. I was still in the speed force watching the past, present, and future scroll by me. I saw the dawn of man. Before that, I saw an explosion of light, and before that a swirling nothingness. There was nothing before that. The present was constantly shifting, but the future I saw was finite. I saw tomorrow and t
he year and the millennium after that. But after that there was nothing.

  In the future, there was nothing.

  That future was also moving closer. A year was suddenly shaved off it. Then another. Time was being eaten away.

  Did that mean our unknown enemy succeeded? Did that mean we failed to stop him before we could even try?

  2 4

  Marv Wolfman

  I've never accepted failure as a possibility. Despite seeing it, the future was not yet written. I knew it could be changed.

  It had to be changed.

  But not from inside the speed force.

  If there was a chance to affect the outcome, I had to return to the real world.

  My only question was— how?

  Pariah—Universe Unknown

  He watched the world die as he had countless worlds before. That he was brought here, to Earth-19 by his count, meant there was no hope for its survival.

  As always, the weather changed drastically, blistering heat and intense cold. Ice caps melted. There were floods, earthquakes, and tornadoes. Hurricanes ravaged cities.

  Sadly for him, it was always the same.

  In the next minutes he would look for the red skies. These were, in of itself, harmless, but, as always, it foretold the planet's final doom. The shadow demons appeared at the same time as the wall of white antimatter. Both swept across the planet and destroyed everything they touched. But what always bothered him the most were the desperate cries from the people who prayed for a salvation that would never come. He knew it was only a matter of hours before this universe, and its uncountable population, was erased from existence. Men and women ran in panic, grabbing their children, hoping to find a safe haven. They couldn't know there was no safe place.

  And never once, not since this all began, had there been any hope. His green cloak billowed in the wind, and dust stung his large blackrimed eyes, forcing tears he thought had long ago ran dry.

  "Haven't I suffered enough?" he shouted, though there was no one to hear him. "Don't make me watch this any more." Many planets had super-heroes and in each on-going destruction Pariah knew they would come together, sometimes even with their enemies at their 26