The Search for Kal-El

© The Elves of Alterverse

Epilogue: Generations - Born to Run

Hi there!  I’m Iris Grayson.  I’ve replaced your regular writer for a bit.

Who am I?  I’m one of the less than a billion people who live on this planet – a planet Alan Scott calls ‘Alterverse Earth.’

Alan’s really different.  And he lives in a really different place.  More on that, later.

I mean, I’m a city girl. I live with my brother and my Dad in what used to be Newark, New Jersey.  We call it Gotham.  Gotham just seems to fit better - it’s dark and dreary, especially at night.  We’ve spent most of our lives just kind of subsisting.  We hid from the Kayzik – just like everybody else.  They don’t seem to be too interested in Gotham, though.  Our biggest problems are just like everybody else’s.  We need to eat and we need to stay safe from the marauders.

My Dad’s name is Garth Grayson.  My Brother’s name is Dick Grayson.  My Mom, Alya, died a few years back.  Died after being sick for years.  Natural causes, Dad called it.  Screw ‘natural causes.’

My brother took up with this chick who calls herself Barbara Gordon.  Her Dad, Jim Gordon, is kind of like the sheriff of this area.  He keeps together the group of folks who try to keep the marauders out.  They don’t get them all, but they’ve stopped more than a few.  I think Dick first got involved with them just to hang around with Barbara. 

I never said Dick was stupid.

Anyway, Dick and Babs were out on patrol one day with a bunch of their buddies.  Someone got stupid – they found a bunch of incoming marauders, but they didn’t scope them out very well.  Dick smelled something wrong.  Babs did, too.  They wanted to do a little more reconnaissance before hitting this bunch of marauders.

Damn good idea.  This set wasn’t human.  They were something called J’Dinn – shape changers who work for the Kayzik.  Lovely.  Anyway, Dick and Babs refused to join the attack – they went to do some scouting first – said they’d be right back.

You ever hear of Darwin?  I didn’t – until later.  Basically says that idiots remove themselves from the cycle of reproduction – and that’s a good thing.  Well, the quality of the remaining human race improved that day – losing twenty grown men and women who just couldn’t wait to attack these marauders.  The J’Dinn didn’t come alone, either.  They had Kayzik necromancers right behind.  The patrol didn’t know what hit them.  The Kayzik just overwhelmed them with glamour.

Dick and Babs returned just in time to watch the Kayzik march off with their tasty treats.  The two of them were never the same after that.

They decided to team up as costumed law enforcement – called themselves Owl Man and Owl Woman.  They only came out at night.  Developed quite a reputation.  Then the weird stuff started happening.

First, I heard a weird rumor – someone said my grandmother, who I’ve never met, had jumped off the Statue of Liberty.  We discounted that – we hadn’t been able to find her since before I was born – not since my folks and Dick were almost killed in the Holland tunnel collapse.  That was a weird story in itself – they told me about a flying woman who hauled them out.  Attractive woman.  Strong build, but not heavyset.  We didn’t see her again for years and years.

Anyway, Dick and Babs were on patrol one night when this weird looking dude approached them.  He limped and he wasn’t very attractive.  They said he looked gentle.  He handed them two pairs of wings.

They looked at the wings – looked beautiful.  They asked the lame guy why he was giving them to them.  He said he knew our family.  They turned around and he was gone.

Just for giggles – they put the wings on.  They found the wings actually worked.  As long as they wore the wings, they were stronger than usual – something about the metal inside the wings reduced the pull of gravity.  And the wings came with electrified maces… Neat toys - and deadly effective in hand to hand combat.

Well, good part was that they changed their name to Hawkman and Hawkgirl.  I was always afraid I’d get stuck with Hooty.

Mighta happened, too.  ‘cept my Grandma really did jump off the Statue of Liberty. 

They’d teased her about her Marvel family stories.  Didn’t realize she really was Mary Marvel.  Didn’t realize the rest of our heritage.

Well, Grandma sure didn’t die of old age.  Instead, she decided to reclaim her power.  Then she decided that she would fix a problem in her mystic lightning and reclaim her old boyfriend.  Her cousin – remember Alan Scott – more about him in a minute – and his daughter helped Mary Marvel restore the lightning.  And that freed her old boyfriend – Jay Garrick.

Well, as soon as that happened, some other things did, too.  My Dad found that he could fire lightning from his hands.  That was bizarre.  One second, some guy is trying to shake Dad down.  The next second, the creep has third degree burns.

What happened to me was even weirder.  I’ve always like to run.  Well, I took an early morning jog.  Decided to sprint.  Then I decided to push myself.  Headed south.  Fast.  Real fast.

I’d never had a fresh orange before.  Come to think of it, I’d never been to Florida, either.  Pretty place.

Got home about half an hour later.  Talked to Dick about it.  He rolled his eyes.  So I ran around him.  He found himself floating on a carpet of air.  We told Dad.  He said something about the Power of Shazam.  We didn’t begin to realize the truth.

Anyhoo, one day Dick and Babs are doing their bit, and Babs just disappears.  So Dick contacts the Resistance.  He figures they’ll tell him to get lost, but they don’t.  They sent him to this weird place called the Sentinel’s Lair.  And Dick met the Sentinel himself – who used to be the Green Lantern.

I mean – this was THE Green Lantern, returned from who knows where.  He’s the only creature in the Galaxy who ever caused the Kayzik real problems.  He blew up their ships.  Him and Mary Marvel slowed the Kayzik down, big time, until they were both taken out of action.

And here he was.  Right in front of Dick.  Dick told me he almost peed in his pants.  The Green Lantern.  Alan Scott.  The Emerald Warrior himself.  HIM.  THE MAN!  And he’s our Grandmother’s cousin!  And she grew up with him.

And this time, GL isn’t playing for one planet.  He’s taken on the entire Kayzik swarm.  He’s allied with the Shantar Empire – cute guys by the way: long white hair, pointed ears.  Kind of elf-like.

Anyway, he’s recruiting.  So far he’s got three Kryptonians, Mary Marvel – calls herself Captain Marvel now, Wonder Woman, Dr. Fate, and a bunch more.

And he’s got kids, too.  Boy, are they different.  Alanna – kind of named after him, has these weird Dark Force Powers.  They do weird things to people.  If you’re not dead before she hits you, you’ll wish you were.  She can fade through objects, too.  When she’s in shadow form, she can fly through space.  She can also make parts of space split off into the nether realms.  She calls it ‘leaving real space’.  Seems spacey to me.

Then there’s the other kid.  She makes Alanna look like Betty Crocker.  More on that, later.

Back to me!  Hey, it’s my story, right?

Anyway, Dick comes back to Gotham with these other two folks.  One is a female Kryptonian.  The other is Jay Garrick, the Flash.  They clobber some folks who are picking on my old man.  Well, Dad recognizes the woman from the Holland Tunnel collapse, but she doesn’t recognize him.  Weird.  The Kryptonian tells us that Dennis Grayson may have been the wonderful man who raised our father, but he wasn’t our biological Grandfather.  Jay Garrick is.  Then, we find ourselves flying through Hyperspace to meet our Grandmother – who is suffering from some kind of magical spell.

We get there.  She breaks loose from the spell.  Seems she’s always felt a lot of guilt about hiding us as Dennis Grayson’s kids.  He knew.  But no one else did.

Then Grandma reclaims the lightning.  Yeowch!  The side effects cause lightning storms across two Galaxies – and restore the Kryptonian’s memories.

Turns out that she’s the mother of two other Kryptonians.  And they were being held by the same creep who had Babs.  And she knew where. 

Man, that was a strange adventure!  Got to know my Grandfather.  He and I plowed through a bunch of undead creatures together.  Ugh! I burned my gloves after that one!  Yuck!

Anyway, the Sentinel – remember, that’s what GL calls himself now, arranged for a send off for the creep – Ares, the God of Treachery.  We might see him again some day, but it won’t be a while – quite a while.

Well, the Kryptonian reunites with her family and moves them to Kansas.  They take over this place called ‘the Kent farm’.  Doesn’t mean anything to me, but it does to the Sentinel – and to his younger daughter, Linda.  She grew up there.

Anyway, we have a rocking and rolling party out there several months later.  We moved it into the barn after it started raining.  Lyla – that’s mama Krypton - leaves the barn.  She comes back later with Linda and her son Kal.  Linda looks like death warmed over.  Lyla’s daughter, Kira came in, not long after, with the strangest look on her face.  I decided to ask her about it.  She just grinned and told me I should be happy to be here.  Because in this place, true love never dies!

Gotta admit.  I like the Sentinel’s Lair.  Jay and Mary live there (if you look as young as me, I ain’t gonna call you Grandpa – that’s all there is to it.  Get over it!)

There’s always lots of food.  And for a metabolism like mine, that’s sheer heaven!  I run routes with Jay to keep track of what the Kayzik are doing.  Really bizarre – but they’re not human.  ‘course neither is a lot of the Lair’s staff.  But I can usually figure out what they’re up to.

I got to tease Linda.  She’s just a little too sweet sometimes.  Diana called her ‘Shirley Temple’.  Linda didn’t like it, but she put up with it, just to make us happy.

Anyway, I was in the Command Center when Kira called from the Kent farm.  Said there was something Linda needed to see.  Linda took off.  She phased right through the ceiling.  She got there quick.  Not as fast as I could have… but hey, I was still impressed.

Turned out Kira wasn’t kidding.  The Kents had raised Linda.  And when she went on her crying binge, she had raised them – from the grave, or something like it.  Don’t ask.

Well, that kid had been through the unimaginable over the last couple of years.  And a human mind can only endure so much.  And she had endured more than anyone had a right to expect.  They showed me the files.  If this is Shirley Temple, then there’s a lot to be said for Shirley Temple.

So, she gets back to the farm.  The Kents are waiting for her.  And she loses it.  She shuts down.  They ask her when she’s coming back to the Lair and she tells them ‘never’.  She says she’s paid her dues.  She’s done her part.  She just wants to spend the rest of her life in peace.

Can’t argue that one – Hey, like I said, I’ve seen the files.  If anyone deserves it, she does.

Well, they leave her alone for a while.  The Kryptonians keep an eye on her.  She’s just a typical farm girl.  She doesn’t want anything else.

Alan decides to fly a team out there to talk to her.  Lyla meets them in mid air.  Tells them to go back.  Now!  Linda is her problem. 

Well, you don’t argue with Lyla.  It’s not healthy.  As Alan put it – that woman could tear down the doors of Hell and get away with it.  And she considers Linda part of her family. 

Well, Jay decided to follow Linda’s trail.  We went and asked around the Kent farm about Linda.  We heard a horrible story of an abused child.  The Danvers didn’t want her.  They beat her.  They screamed at her.  They tortured her.  Then, the Kents took her in – for years.  Linda loved them so!  Then the Danvers snatched her back and left town in the middle of the night.  They took her to Leesburg – capitol of dark magic – and sacrificed her to Satan.

‘cept Linda isn’t just Linda.  And Satan isn’t exactly Satan.  He took her before the sacrifice could be performed.  He put her in another form and hid her until it was time for her to return.

We talked to the Danvers.  They’d managed to get themselves poisoned by black magic somewhere along the way.  They claim none of this is their fault.  They want her to forgive them.  They claim that Mary’s lightning freed them from an evil spell.  Go figure.  Don’t bother throwing up – I’ve done it for you.

We tracked down the rest of it…. She sacrifices everything for the Guardians and they throw her out of the Corps.  Alan and Elise provide her with her first real home – God bless ‘em.  Turns out she’s theirs anyway.  That had to help.

But then there was everything else.  The Kayzik home universe, the Guardians, the Green Lantern Corps, the Senate, Ares.  Then there was Krystal.  For the first time in her life, Linda had someone in her life that she could talk to.  Someone that had the same kinds of problems she did.  Linda gave a lot to Krystal, but she got a lot, too.

But Krystal wasn’t Krystal.  She’s Commander Lyla Lerrol, Kryptonian PDF – the Starchild.  Lyla loves Linda, but their friendship won’t ever be what it once was.  Poor kid.

Then the call came from the Kent farm.  The two people who raised her are back.  Linda went home.  And she won’t leave.

I’ve run through the farm.  I stopped to listen to the Kents.  I didn’t stay very long – she knew I was there.

But I heard them talk.  I heard John Kent try to work her out of her blue funk.

The Kents have been great for the Kryptonians…. Really helped them to see things differently – there’s a wisdom to them.

I really felt sorry for Alan Scott.  Poor man could barely contain his frustration.  Linda’s his child.  Alan is a brilliant man, but not overly patient where his daughter is concerned. That’s when you understand how human he really is.  He really, really cares. 

I watch Jay talk to him.  They’re close friends.  Even all of their experiences haven’t changed that.  There’s an instinctive understanding between them that lightens their load.  Probably kept Alan from confronting Lyla directly.

Alan knew better than to cross Lyla.  And he knew she was right.  Telling Linda to come back and save the universe wasn’t gonna hack it.

Well, anyway, they showed me Linda’s room.  Told me this was where K’ryssma found her after she came home from the Senate, only to find the Senate would not leave her alone.  Kryssma found her bundled with little Helena and Krypto.

I look at her dresser and I see what’s important to her.  The lock of Helena’s hair. A picture of Krystal, before she changed back to Lyla.  A few leaves pressed into a book.  Several drawings that Helena did for her.  A small diary - blank.

And I realize how stark the room really is.  No toys.  No stuffed animals.  Not even any of the many awards she’s won.  And finally I understand.

So, I grabbed my stuff and headed to the Kent farm.  At my speed, that didn’t take long.  Ditched my costume.  Went to the main room of the house.  Found Lyla there.  Asked if she had room for the fastest jerk alive.  She laughed.  I saw a sparkle in her eyes.  She showed me to the loft.

She wore typical farm wear.  Even so, she was still a striking woman.  She took me down to the kitchen.  An older couple worked inside – hey – it’s still early spring.  And most folks don’t have my aura.

Now, I’m not so sure the Kents really feel cold, but I’d rather not ask.  I spent a long time chatting with them.  I learned a lot. 

Kira wandered through while we chatted.  She winked and moved on.  Interesting woman, Kira.  Seems quite happy to be where she is – with her real family.  So bright compared to Linda.  A few months ago, I’d heard it was the other way around.

The Danvers – even worse than they’d let on.  The Danvers had snatched Linda from the Kents in the middle of the night.  They wouldn’t have been allowed on the farm any other way.  John Kent had invited them to leave at gunpoint, many times before.

Linda didn’t have much to do with me at the start.  Took a while.  But a farm has its rhythms, and it’s easy to fall into them.  Finally, she asked me.

“Why are you here?  This isn’t your life.  There really isn’t anything here for you.”

I smiled.

“Generations.  See, we Flashes look after Green Lanterns.  Someone has to.”

She giggled.  I mean she actually giggled.

“You’re gonna look after me?”

My next words got another smile.

“I’m gonna try.”  Then, I opened my big mouth.  “You’ll never feel safe here, Linda.  Never.  And I’m sorry.”

She struggled to answer.  She looked away.

“They had no right to take me.  None.”

“No, Linda, they didn’t.”  I told her.  “But they did.  And you have to learn to live with it.”

She had a strange look.  And I got the one thing I didn’t expect – an honest answer.

“Do I?  I guess I know you’re right.  Otherwise, I woulda killed them when I had a chance.  Maybe I’ll never feel safe.  But I wanna know.  And I got time.”

Two days later, we walked in to dinner together.

“Did they ever tell you what I did?”  She frowned.  “I destroyed most of a universe.  Me.  How am I supposed to live with that?”

How could I answer that?

“Linda, I haven’t got a clue.  But you only killed the Kayzik.  Nobody else died.  You saved all the other sentients in that universe.  Even at your most deadly, you were still, first of all, the Champion of Life.”

Then, I thought about what she was saying.  I shook at the implications.  Shit!  We’re talking universes here.  But I knew the truth – I knew the answer.

“Even death is a very necessary part of life.  It allows change and renewal.  But the Kayzik destroy without allowing that renewal.  So, you did the only thing you could do.  You cured a cancer before it could kill other healthy universes.”

And….

“Linda, you couldn’t fix the Kayzik.  You did the best you could.”

Oddly enough, after that conversation, Linda seemed to loosen up.  A couple of days later, we needed supplies.  She volunteered the two of us to take the wagon into town.

I should’ve known better.  Two small young women riding alone to the Smallville settlement.  We followed another wagon in to town.  Marauders hit both wagons at once.  They ordered us off the buckboard.  They rounded us all up.  The folks from the other wagon looked frightened.  Linda looked bored. 

We Flashes know our Green Lanterns.  I let her play it out her way.

The marauders huddled us all together, so they could make sure they’d be able to kill us all. 

Linda yawned.

“Ever hear of Shirley Temple?”  She asked the leader.  “She doesn’t like people who act like you.”  Linda faked astonishment.  “Why, she’d be horrified!”

Jay had warned me.  He had.  The Scott family sense of humor.  But he also warned me that I’d never expect it.  I didn’t.

“Absolutely horrified!”  She deadpanned.  Then we heard it. And we saw it.

“On the good ship, Lollipop!”  Seventy feet tall.  What looked like a five year girl with a short skirt and her hair in ringlets.  She seemed to be dancing up a storm.  The marauders scattered.  Boy, did they scatter.  Did I mention the little girl sang off key?  “And if you don’t get far, Happy Landings on a chocolate bar!”  The giant girl chased them across the fields.

Linda shrugged. 

“No one appreciates good talent any more.”

She climbed back on the wagon.  We headed towards the settlement.  After a while, she asked me why I was still laughing.

“That was funny!  It really was!”  But then I had to make a confession.  “You know, Linda, it’s really odd.  This is the first time in my life that I’ve ever felt absolutely safe.”

She seemed puzzled.

A few hours later, my curiosity got the better of me.

“So, how’d you get the name ‘Jade’?”

She smiled.

“Fits, works, and Dad gave it to me.  I liked it better than ‘Kid Sentinel’.”

I had to laugh.

“Hadn’t thought about that.  Hadn’t thought about Kid Flash, either.”

She looked thoughtful.

“On you? I like it.”

I smiled.

I spent my time that evening chatting with the Kents and Lyla.  I’d learned a lot from them.  Lyla’s stories of Krypton made me realize how little I really knew about the universe.  Then Lyla smiled in a way I’d never seen.

“Iris, it’s time.  She’s found her answer.”  She yelled to her children.  “Kira? Kal?”

We walked outside.  Linda stood facing the house.  She smiled serenely. 

Linda held her hands in front of her and quietly stared into her palms.  There was a quiet joy in her eyes.  Her hands started to glow.   She closed her eyes and breathed slowly, deeply.  She seemed to float into the air, about twenty feet or so.  Then, she leaned her head back.  Her whole body started to glow.  The air crackled with electricity.  There was a purity I’d never sensed before.  And then I knew.

She had reclaimed the part of herself that was her soul.  Now she would embrace the part of herself that was her power.

Linda continued to rise into the air.  She burned brilliantly.  She seemed to fade in and out of reality.  Her fire burned in multicolored hues.  The fire grew brighter and brighter.  I couldn’t look anymore.  Then, she rose upwards and, with an explosive acceleration, was gone.

I felt Lyla’s hand on my shoulder.  She looked far into the heavens.  I could tell that she knew everything was right.  Her eyes sparkled when she spoke again.

“Thank you.  Thank you for what you’ve done.”  I could feel the kindness in her voice.  “Thank you for not really being the fastest jerk alive.”  She winked at me.

“Seventy feet tall.”  I made sure Diana knew.  And I made sure everyone else knew.  “And she sang off key.”

I saw a few queasy looks around the Lair.  Too bad.  Linda may be a little perky, a little kooky, and a little sweeter than most, but she’s mine to look after.  And I’m looking forward to it.  Because she’s my Green Lantern and I’m her Flash. 

And we’re the fastest friends alive.

End Alterverse Book 1: Terra’s Revenge.  We hope you’ve enjoyed our Elseworlds Tale! Stay tuned for the next installment: Alterverse Book 2--The Sentinel War

-- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2002 by Eldric

-- and may not be reprinted without permission. 

-- Otherverse and Dark Earth, as depicted in the Continuum Worlds,

-- are original creations of Dylan Clearbrook

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-- are original creations of Eldric, John P. and Jason G respectively.

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