HYPERTIMELINE: Earth-U

Germany, 1945

The Second World War has finally ended after six years of bitter conflict and great destruction. Near the end of the war, Adolf Hitler evoked the power of the Spear of Destiny in an attempt to destroy the world with Ragnarok. Many of the earth's heroes died in the final battle to prevent Hitler from accomplishing his dire plans. They didn't die alone. An explosion obliterated most of Germany – creating a radioactive wasteland. The world experienced the destruction and horrors of the first atomic explosion.

The heroes that remained, witnessed another insidious evil descend upon the world. Taking advantage of the lack of heroes to defend the world, this evil launched his army of super-villains that decimated any opposition. The Secret Society of Super-Villains quickly captured the world for their master, The Ultra Humanite! Any heroes that stood in their way were either killed, converted, or they just disappeared.

It was the end of the Heroic Age. The Ultra Humanite controlled the world. Or thus he thought, until small bands of resistance begin to emerge from under his iron control. He quickly recalled his Secret Society of Super-Villains and, in his own sense of perverse irony, he dubbed them the International Justice Society. Their mandate was to stop any resistance with any means necessary. They terrorized and killed any that got in their way, all in the name of their glorious leader, Ultra Humanite!

Gotham City, 1946

Four men, in simple clothes, sit silently in a tiny bare room. They are huddled around a small metallic table. In the centre of the table, a silver globe with flashing multicolour lights hums with a low pitch. A hooded man at the end of the table breaks the silence, "This jammer better work. Meeting like this is dangerous. The IJS could be on us in any minute!"

"Don't worry, Johnny. This is quality technology… it's WayneTech," comments a strong man with wide shoulders and dark hair. His eyes are down, looking at the bulky readout scanner that rests next to him on the table. "The jammer field covers only this room. We are safe from energy or psionic scans. We can talk freely for a hour before the jammer overheats."

"Heh. Hourman to the very end," jokes a short, but muscular man. Al Pratt quickly wishes he had kept his mouth shut. He knows how hard this has been on Rex… on all of them since the end of the Heroic Age.

"Ahem. Down to business," intercedes a soft-spoken man. He peers out from under cracked spectacles. "Medicine has resumed shipping to plague hit zones. Armed insurrections in Helsinki and Metropolis ended in total annihilation of the rebel forces." Dodds pauses, "We lost Libby. She was located and killed in Metropolis."

The room is quiet as the remaining members of the original Justice Society of America remember their friend... their many old departed friends. It is like a haunted role call that burns at the heart of each remaining JSAer. But they carry on with their war against the Ultra Humanite. Each JSAer is determined to fight until the very end. They know they can't give up so they must fight. Even if it is a losing war.

Rex Tyler's readout scanner begins to beep. After a quick scan, he fears the worse. "Damn! Here they come!" Tyler begins to pack his scanner into a backpack. He gives it and a gold key to Johnny. "Find Wayne. He'll know what to do. He always does. Good luck, Johnny."

Johnny Thunder begins to tremble. He doesn't want to leave his friends behind, but he knows that he must. He watches his oldest and closest friends discard their plain and drab clothes of the Ultra's world and don their brightly coloured costumes once more. Johnny could feel a tear start to run down his freckled cheek. "Good bye, friends. Say You!" With a bright blue flash, Johnny Thunder disappears.

"Until next time…" whispers the Sandman as he tips his fedora hat over the top of his gas mask. "Keep true to your dreams and all else will follow." Wesley Dodds raises a modified gas gun into the air towards a distant rumbling from the far wall.

The wall explodes as a brutal obsidian great ape charges into the small room with his strong arms flailing wildly about him. The bestial ape roars as its backhand sends a charging Atom flying across the room. His master, a man in a red and black costume with many theatrical masks, controls the ape. He is the Psycho-Pirate and this is his pet, Savage.

Hourman takes his last Miraclo Pill. He dives past Savage and tackles the Psycho-Pirate who is forced to let go of the leash while enduring a battery of punches from Hourman. Savage runs wild toward Sandman.

"Sleep," is the only thing Sandman says before he pulls the trigger on his gas gun. A thick cloud of green gas engulfs the great ape, Savage. The Sandman then scrambles to get out of the way of the near comatose simian as it continues to tumble towards him.

A black armoured winged man flies into the room as he fires a spear of flame from his right gauntlet. It sears through the room and impales itself in the Sandman's chest, quickly engulfing him in flames. Wesley screams as he collapses to the floor. His screams are soon replaced by the crackling sound of his burning remains.

The air suddenly smells like ozone and it begins to shimmer with a strange heliotropic energy sphere. This multi-hued aura flashes with bolts of red and silver. After an intense blinding flash, a pale man in a black and red body suit stands silent in place of the strange energy disturbance. Its electronic voice chimes, "Greetings native inhabitants of Earth – 72654. I am Deadman Unit L366."

The Atom ignores the strange visitor and tries to reach Wesley's burning corpse, but Hourman stops him. He whispers to his fellow remaining JSAer, "We have to go, Al, while the others are distracted. It's our only chance." The Atom sighs because he knows it is true. They both run for the nearest exit… the large hole in the wall courtesy of the IJS. They disappear into the night, leaving the IJS with their strange guest.

"Hypertime beacon has been recorded. Initiating jump sequence…" The electronic voice echoes as the Deadman Unit's pale dead flesh begins to pulse in a strange multi-coloured pattern.

"Stop that thing!" yells Psycho-Pirate. "Ultra will want it for his collection. It could be worth a lot to us!"

Savage reaches out with its powerful hands and literally grabs the Deadman. He crushes metal and flesh as he squeezes his powerful apish hands. The Deadman convulses and suddenly he is his deathly pale self once more. The great ape, aptly named Savage, grunts with satisfaction.

"Well done, Savage! But where your brute force fails, my Thanagarian technology won't!" Darkwing pulls out a long blade from his belt. He jabs it into the chest of the Deadman. With a twist of the wrist and a click of a button, the Deadman begins to shake and convulse as sparks of blue shoot themselves through its body. The Deadman falls to the ground. Smoke still leaked from it. Darkwing laughs as he looks at his long knife. "Nothing works better on a robot, than a Ion Knife."

"Stop showing off, alien. We must take this to Ultra at once. We shall be rewarded well." chuckles Psycho-Pirate.

"Only if Skyman doesn't kill us for losing the last of the JSA," comments Darkwing.

Psycho-Pirate says nothing. He makes a docile face in front of Savage and then takes him by his leash. "We must report back to the Ultra Dome."

On the old remains of the original JSA brownstone headquarters in Gotham, now rests the giant golden Ultra Dome. It is the command center of the Ultra Humanite's total domination of the planet.

Located in the apex of the Ultra Dome, is the lush private chamber of the Ultra Humanite. The room reflects the Ultra Humanite's own gigantic stature. It is large and circular with its dome roof. Art deco columns adorn the walls and various points throughout the chamber. Many types of the world's treasures adorn the chamber. He has collected everything from paintings to sculptures to fantastic scientific devices. All of these rare treasures are priceless, but one item in Ultra Humanite's treasure horde is worth the world.

Between one set of column lies a green transparent metallic tube. In this chamber, a body is suspended in a strange sparking green liquid. The body is lifeless and clothed in a dulled red and blue costume. His face is bare and wracked in pain. He lives, but is helpless. At the base of the holding chamber, there is a large plaque that reads, "Superman. The end of the Heroic Age. The beginning of a New Age."

Dr. Curtis is always amazed when he sees the Superman Monument. He continues to walk towards the Ultra Humanite, but his mind is on his own thoughts at the moment. The fact that the Ultra Humanite has Superman helplessly imprisoned in a special mixture of kryptonite means that no one stands a chance against the Ultra Humanite. If Superman can't win, what hope does his daughter have? He quickly dismisses his doubts and focuses his mind back onto the topic at hand.

The large white ape physique of the Ultra Humanite towers over everyone present. "Tell me. What have you learned from your preliminary examination of this Deadman?" He points to the battered remains of a corpse examined and vivisected into many separate pieces… revealing the Deadman's inner organs and components.

A tall man with brown hair and a pencil thin moustache points at various sections as he starts his lecture. "This being seems to be a technologically animated cadaver. As you can see, pieces of his anatomy have been either replaced or enhanced with very sophisticated technological systems. The whole body is covered from the feet to the shoulders in a tough flexible black and red sheathing of some type. The sheathing seems to generate an incredible amount of energy." Clifford Devoe smiles at his extensive examination.

Dr. Curtis also adds his thoughts to the lecture. He points at the back of the skull. "It appears that this being has a powerful processing unit that runs throughout the body but is clustered mainly around the spine." With a pair of tongs, Dr. Curtis pops a small metallic sphere from the cranium. "This is what powered it. This is most amazing!" Dr. Curtis holds the small globe up and it begins to pulse. It casts a prismatic aura about the room, bathing all those present.

A man in a red and white uniform with stars and stripes steps forward. He speaks with a British accent. "What is it?"

"Watch and learn." Devoe attaches a small power cable to the sphere. The sphere begins to pulse even faster and suddenly a rift opens in the fabric of reality. The Ultra Humanite looks out into a nightmare world of glass and steel. Tall buildings blacken the sky. The world is strange and alien to all that view it. They watch a man slide something into a large machine and then type on some keys. The machine flashes and hums just before it explodes into flames. A man in a black and grey uniform fires energy from his curiously shaped hands. They watch as one of these blasts hit the target. Then everything fades out and the room appears normal once more.

"It is my theory that we've just witnessed an alternate reality to our own. Using this Deadman as a model… we should be able to travel to this new dimension."

The Ultra Humanite gives a hearty laugh. He is pleased. Soon there will be more worlds for him to conquer. He was beginning to tire with this one anyway. "Excellent, Thinker, Cyclotron. Take this corpse apart and master its secrets." He turns to the man in the star and stripes. "Skyman. Select me some volunteers from the IJS. We will need them for what I have planned."

HYPERTIMELINE: Earth-L

Turpin Sector, on the outskirts of Greater Metropolis, 2012 AD

Hawk Lord soars across the night sky. His black feathered wings blend in with the starry sky. As with his wings, his black and brown Thanagarian Wingman armour also offers excellent nocturnal camouflage. Katar Hol wouldn't have it any other way. He always preferred to hunt at night. He surveys the maze-like alleys that zig and zag their way through decaying residential neighbourhoods. His sport is a cunning one. He can't wait to find the prey before the rest of the LexCorp Justice League does. After all, it is always better if the Thanagarian Ambassador shows up Lex Luthor's metahuman troops.

'Luthor will hate it,' thinks Katar Hol to himself. 'I will soon show that human his place. I will…' Hawk Lord's mind snaps out of his mental rant and back onto the matter at hand. He just saw something move just under him. 'That's it meat, prepare to die.' Hawk Lord soars silently upwards into the night sky. With a shift of his weight and a slight turn of his wings, he dives towards his target.

A man with a long coat leans against a wall for fear of falling down. His right arm clutches his side. He can feel his blood seeping past his fingers. His hat and coat hide his burnt green flesh and his inhuman appearance. He tries to take a human form but the strain is too much. He knows that while they hunt him, Dr. Brand might just succeed. It is his only comforting thought.

John Jones hears the attack, but just a fraction of a second too late. Before he can defend himself, he feels two blaster slugs rip their way into his right leg. The pain is followed by the sounds of explosive roaring as the blasters fire. He recognizes those blasters. John Jones knows his attacker all too well. It is Hawk Lord, the scourge of Mars! He turns to face his hated enemy. "I will take you with me, butcher!"

As John Jones lunges at the winged butcher, Hawk Lord easily out maneouvres his prey to score a crippling wound in his prey's back. He soars into the air to get a better shot. How he loves this since Luthor's precious LJL hasn't even found them yet. "Prepare to die, Martian scum. Your race is weak and decadent."

Hawk Lord prepares to fire his deathblow, but he narrowly swerves to miss an explosion that erupts in front of his flight path. The same blast sends Jones flying down the alleyway. He is blown to a wall and lies still. A trail of green blood pores from the prostrate form of John Jones. "Who!?" screams Hawk Lord.

"He is ours, alien. The LexCorp Justice League have arrived. Black Beetle! Red Star! Take care of our target!" shouts a man with short-cropped red hair in a black and grey uniform. The patch on the right arm of the LexCorp Logo and the LJL shield on his chest identifies him as the law. He is Guy Gardner, Warrior Prime. He is also the Brigade Leader of the LJL. He watches the others as they follow his orders.

A black sinister armoured man in a beetle-shaped carapace flies towards the prone John Jones with micro-thrust jets located on his feet and lower legs. In his right gauntlet, is a even more sinister looking gun. Black Beetle allows his cybernetic targeting system take control over his arm and auto-target. His sleek and evil energy pistol fires a silent pulse of deadly radiation. His accuracy is dead on. The Black Beetle watches as the target writhes in pain as his energy pulses sear the alien's back.

Just as Jones finally stops quivering from the pain of the radiation burns, he can hear very rapidly approaching footsteps. A man in a black and grey LexCorp uniform and red shades runs with incredible speed towards Jones. He tries to summon enough strength to render himself invisible. Somewhere he taps a hidden reservoir of will power and disappears from view.

Red Star stops in his tracks as he surveys the now empty alleyway. He curses in Russian and then throws his hands up into the air. "Where did he go?"

Warrior Prime shouts orders from his vantage point in the air. "He must have turned invisible. Didn't ya goons read the prey's profile? What am I working with? Amateurs?" Guy's hands shift and transform into two rather large blasters. He fires energy bolts into a far wall and watches as it crumbles. The screams of innocent bystanders in the buildings mingle with the horrendous noise of the destruction of the wall. "His escape is cut off! Black Raven! Take care of business!"

A striking woman with long blond hair in the familiar black and grey LexCorp uniform (except the uniform actually looks good on her) wears a small raven helmet that hides her eyes under a dark visor. She swoops down with the aid of her jet boots and she lands at the opening of the alleyway. "Okay everyone. It is recommended that you exit the flashzone." Black Raven takes in a deep breath and screams. Her sonic cry, her Raven's Roar echoes its way forcefully through the blocked off alley. Window after window explodes into many pieces and walls begin to crack.

A scream of intense pain shoots out from the radius of the sonic attack. A section of rubble quivers and flashes and then is suddenly replaced by the batter body of a thin, green Martian. He tries to move a large section of wall off his chest, but he can't. He is finished and he knows it. His finals thoughts are on his friend, Boston Brand. He hopes their plan works.

Warrior Prime walks over to Jones' prone and trapped body. His right arm sprouts many tubes that run to a hump on his back. His hand forms a long spout. Suddenly flames fire out of Guy's flame-thrower of a hand. "So long, alien." Warrior Prime smiles at a job well done. He allows himself the luxury of a favourite saying of the LJL… 'A dead unregistered alien is a good unregistered alien.'

Warrior Prime's comlink within his LJL badge flares to life. "Strike Team Extreme Justice. Return to HQ. Over. This is a Gold-K Priority Command. Over."

The LexCorp Justice League watches the burning remnants of John Jones, the Martian Manhunter, as Warrior Prime acknowledges his new orders. "Ya heard the command, ya slugs. Back to HQ."

The LJL leave the smouldering corpse and the lives devastated as they turn their backs and leave the world they just intruded on. The concerns of the labourers mean nothing to the LJL. They have more important things to think about, namely their next mission. And by the command clearance it got – top level clearance! – it must be important. They might even meet the legendary Lex Luthor himself if they are lucky, thinks Guy Gardner as he flies with the rest of the LJL.

The LexCorp Ziggurat that dominates most of Greater Metropolis.

Lex Luthor walks into the cramped scientific laboratory that is located deep within the LexCorp Ziggurat. Everyone keeps their eyes cast down on their instruments. They know they are forbidden to look upon Lex Luthor. Luthor ignores them anyway. They are nothing to him. Luthor is more interested in his Science Director, T. O. Morrow. "Tell me, Morrow… how did you allow a security breach?!"

T.O. Morrow doesn't like the sounds of this. He knows that Luthor has a tendency to get rid of people who displease him. Morrow's mind races to find a way out of his situation. "Ah… Great Director… the intruder was able to mask himself from all of our sensors. He was finally located and killed. There appears to be no serious damage."

Lex Luthor stares at the smouldering computer bank. "No serious damage!? What do you call this? If the Deadman Project is set back by this…" threatens Luthor.

Morrow ignores the strange energy flux that he had been studying, until Luthor entered his lab. It has caused erratic behaviour in some Deadman Units, but he errs on the better side of judgment and says nothing about it. "That computer bank controls only minor systems. They have been bypassed. It was child's play for our Brainiac-3 computer system, actually."

Luthor makes a mental note to have Morrow killed as soon as he proves to be useless to his corporate might.

"Ah…" T. O. Morrow decides it is time to show Luthor something to interest him. "Remember the disappearance of Deadman Unit L366 some six months ago? We are now receiving a signal on its hyper-transponder once more. It is a weak signal and it pulsates on several frequencies off the standard deviation allowance. But we can compensate and…" T. O. Morrow plays with a few dials and switches. The computer screen bursts to life.

An image of a great white ape appears. It smiles a toothy grin. "Excellent. I am the Ultra Humanite! Sovereign Supreme of Earth!"

Lex Luthor watches the giant simian as it talks. He can't believe what he is seeing. No other variant world has cracked the hypertime secrets and traced his Deadman Units. Their unique condition made them immune to most tracking devices. But this ape got his paws on one and now attempts to communicate with him. Luthor sees a potential business market opening up. "Welcome Ultra Humanite! I am Lex Luthor, Great Director of LexCorp Central."

Luthor turns from the screen and faces T. O. Morrow, "Trace this frequency! I must know where they originate from!" Luthor turns back to the screen with a diplomatic smile on his face. "It is a pity that we two great rulers couldn't meet and share our successes."

Morrow screams! "All energy waves have just spiked off the scanners! We are getting a hypertime flux in 3… 2… 1…"

A black energy void appears before the computer screen. The void's blackness is suddenly replaced with swirling colours of blue, purple and red. A small group of people step out of the portal. The Ultra Humanite stands tall in his red and black leather armour. Behind him are a small force of his IJS. Skyman, Psycho-Pirate, Savage, Brainwave, Solomon Grundy, and Darkwing stand ready for anything. They are an imposing force within this already cramped lab.

Lex Luthor walks up to Ultra Humanite and stares into his eyes. Luthor shows no weakness. "Welcome to my world. I hope your stay will be a short one."

The Ultra Humanite lets his mind slip into Luthor's. He tries to use his vast mental capacity to read Luthor's mind. Ultra Humanite is quickly surprised by this man's mental defenses. He also realizes that someone defends this world with will power as strong as his own. "Your world is safe from my forces. As is mine from yours. We would seem to be too evenly matched."

"Such a confrontation would prove to be unprofitable. I agree." Luthor likes this Ultra Humanite's frankness, but he doesn't trust him. "Mmmmm… maybe a joint venture would be appropriate. With my Deadman Units and your Hypertime Portals… we could control world after world."

The Ultra Humanite laughs. An alliance is in their best interests, for now. "And what world would you suggest as the target?"

T. O. Morrow notices that the strange energy flux he was tracking has stopped on a variant Earth. This is a chance for him to study this phenomena first hand. "I have a suggestion if I may. How about Earth-72707?" He types on a few computer keys and the readout for Earth-72707… otherwise known as Earth-DCL pops up. Surely the combined might of two worlds should crush this one world."

Lex Luthor nods in agreement. He turns to Ultra Humanite. "If your entourage wishes to relax…" on cue, the doors open to reveal the LJL. Warrior Prime, Black Beetle, Back Raven, Red Star, Nuklon, Rapidstrike, and even Hawk Lord enter the lab. Luthor waves their weapons down. "These are my new friends. Rapidstrike. Accommodate our guests."

A man in a black costume, with a red lightning bolt shooting across his chest and on his arms and lower legs are a series of protruding blades, stands at attention. He stands proud to commands the LJL. "As you wish, Great Director." With unbelievable speed, he runs to stand next to the IJS. "If you will come this way." he asks as he motions towards the door that he is suddenly standing next to.

Luthor turns to the Ultra Humanite. "If you care to join me, we will find ourselves a better environment to have our discussion. My LJL will see to your followers. After all, we have a world to invade!"

HYPERTIMELINE: Earth-DCL

A sunny day on a warm summer weekend afternoon.

Dr. Henry Hotchkiss listens to the radio as he brushes a liberal dose of hot sauce onto his barbecue burgers. The strange cyclic radio static that seemed to take over the radio signal first peaked his curiosity. Then it was the obvious shifts in the normal daytime spectrum. The sky was alternating in shades of blue, red, purple, yellow, and green. Henry Hotchkiss' reactions are instinctive. He pops his radio open and begins to rewire the whole contraption. He soon changes the radio into a homing device that actually helps him zero in on the strange radio static.

'This sure beats sitting at the office,' thinks Hotchkiss. He is the newly appointed Director of the Metropolis branch of S.T.A.R. Labs. He flips open his cell phone but the unnatural static has disrupted his communications with the office. Using his recently converted radio as a tracking device, Dr. Hotchkiss follows his energy trail through bursts of static on the radio. He hops a fence and walks past his neighbour's pool.

Dr. Hotchkiss almost drops his radio as he almost stumbles on the apparent cause of the strange communications interference. A pale, thin man in a tattered black and red uniform stands still on the green grass. Dr. Hotchkiss takes a closer look at him. He looks at its horrible face. The side of its head protrudes various electronic circuits and wires. They run up past his ears to his dead eyes. His face is lifeless and void of emotion. Dr. Hotchkiss doesn't know what to make of this strange corpse or of his clothing - a strange coarse flexible plastic with various wiring and processing chips attached throughout it.

Then the corpse speaks with an electronic voice. "Greetings native inhabitant of Earth – 72707. I am Deadman Unit L1642." The Deadman suddenly shakes as his skin colour flares to a bright red hue. "Help me," it whispers with a voice that sounds almost human. "Must stop them all… Before it is too late." The Deadman shifts back to his natural deathly pale and doesn't speak at all. He then quietly falls over into the cool green grass.

Dr. Hotchkiss could smell the decreasing amount of ozone in the air. He scans the area and finds a few sparkles of energy disappearing as the smell does the same. 'Hmmm… some sort of temporal hole? A dimensional rift? This could prove to be trouble,' thinks Hotchkiss to himself.

He tries his cellular phone once more. The number rings through to the Metropolis Branch of S.T.A.R. Labs. "So much for the vacation," mumbles Hotchkiss before his call is connected. "Keach. It's Hotchkiss. I've just encountered a reality disturbance of level eight. Alert Naylor's team that I need immediate clean up here. Home in on my frequency signal. Copy that?"

"Yes sir," reports Dr. Keach on the other line. "Doctors Naylor and Grant have been mobilized. What do you make of the situation, sir?"

Dr. Hotchkiss takes a good look at the pale, thin corpse at his feet. Even though by all appearances this Deadman looked lifeless, Hotchkiss knew that there was more to this being. He also recognized the innate terror that seem to exude from this being. "I don't like this one bit. I think we might want to contact the JLA on this one."

This issue is just a teaser of what is to come in the Hypertime Invasion Mini-Series from DC Legends. Can DCL's heroes stop the combined might to two worlds intent on invading? Stay with us as we explore this question in the mini-series. One thing will be sure, Earth-DCL won't be the same after this mini.

Tim Hartin
EiC DCL