Crisis on Infinite Earths

by Marv Wolfman

  I thought about my life as the Flash. Man, I could run around the world in less than a second.

  Coolest power ever.

  Here's an amazing but true speed fact I just thought about: like a hurricane pushes a straw through a tree trunk without damaging it, I could speed up my atoms so fast I could move through nearly anything solid. I knew a lot of stuff like that.

  I thought about my world.

  I thought about my friends.

  And, of course, that led me right back to the beginning. It was all a joke, wasn't it? All this time I'd been wondering if Iris was alive and now that I knew the answer I could do nothing about it. So what did a cosmic rimshot sound like?

  176

  Marv Wolfman

  I laughed. It was really funny if you thought about it. Maybe I wasn't as smart as I thought, but even lost and alone with nowhere to go, I didn't plan on giving up.

  A long time ago the Mirror Master turned me into a pane of glass and I somehow got myself out of that. I had even been turned into a second rate Pinocchio once, a wooden-puppet Flash, but that hadn't slowed me down much, either.

  I wiggled myself through the white to where the satellite had been. I thought everything was gone, but I saw small dark spots here and there with even tinier sparks of blue finishing its late dinner. I reached for them but they disintegrated in my hand. So much for the touch of gentle Caspar.

  I moved on and saw an almost invisible red light string disappearing into a wispy pin prick hole, the last ember of wherever Harbinger had gone. I reached for the string then pulled back. I couldn't touch it and risk destroying it, too.

  "Well, Barry Allen was supposed to be a scientist, so think your way through this," I demanded.

  I stood or floated there for another who-knows-how-long until a smile forced its way to my lips. "Duh! You're the fastest man alive, aren't you. blondie?"

  That straw through a tree trunk bit.

  You can speed up your atoms.

  You can move through anything without touching it.

  I needed to concentrate. There was no surface for me to play against, but I didn't intend to run. I had to speed up my internal vibrations until my atoms moved so fast they wouldn't damage that fragile red light string. It's how I moved through buildings.

  I could do it.

  I could feel my insides churning.

  This was how I ran through solid matter.

  Nothing was going to stop me.

  Harbinger went from solid matter to energy, but to get through that hole I didn't need to go all the way.

  I was running without moving.

  I was winning the Daytona 500, no problem.

  I was Nascar squared. No, googoled.

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  Although seeing Iris would be a spectacular award, I wasn't doing this for her.

  This was for me.

  My legs weren't moving but I was running faster.

  I reached for the red string, its last section disappearing into the hole. We touched and our atoms merged. For just an instant we were one. I fell through the string and was carried along with it. This was Harbinger, or at least part of her energy trail.

  I fell, tumbling down the hole, Alice's White Rabbit with lightning bolts on his red mask. I didn't know where I would wind up but I was pretty certain it wouldn't be Wonderland.

  I continued down the string until I saw flashes of a bright red light coming from somewhere ahead of me.

  In the immortal words of Buckaroo Banzai, "Wherever you go, there you are."

  Psycho Pirate Earth—1

  re they dead?" The Psycho Pirate trembled as he asked his question although he immediately wished he hadn't. Idiot.

  "A Dope. Why call attention to yourself? But he continued blathering. "I mean, I saw the satellite explode or whatever, but I didn't see you blast them or anything."

  "I do not require external weapons."

  "Right. So I guess they all bought it? Good. One more for our side, huh?"

  "This delays my enemies, it does not stop them. But now you are needed."

  The Pirate's skin turned cold and wet. This is it. Keep calm. Don't let him know you 're scared. "Good. Great," he said, trying to maintain control.

  "I've been waiting."

  That was perfect. I really sounded in control.

  "It won't work, mister."

  The Pirate, startled out of his reverie, turned to see the Flash struggling against his energy chains. The harder he resisted, the tighter they held him.

  "What are you going to do about it, Flasher? Run away? C'mon, you know you're not going anywhere," the Pirate taunted.

  "I don't have to. This crazy scheme's over and big shot here knows it," the Flash, snarled.

  The Anti-Monitor turned to the Flash as the Pirate backed to a wall. Jerkjerkjerk. Why did you have to say anything? You don't want to make him mad.

  The Anti-Monitor hovered over the Flash, his cold eyes glowed a fiery yellow. The Flash spasmed as his arteries suddenly compressed, blocking the flow of blood to his brain.

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  "The Monitor is dead. His satellite has been destroyed. Only five universes out of the millions that originally existed, remain. And I will now destroy his final soldiers."

  The Pirate saw Flash's face turn white. His irises already disappeared behind his lids and blood poured from his nostrils and mouth. No. Don't die. Don't leave me alone with... him.

  He fell again to his knees. Speak carefully. Calm him down. Don't let him stay angry.

  "We need him, sire. Don't you remember you said he's the only one who can open the way to the final dimensions."

  Pirate looked at Flash hanging limp from the energy chains. You can't die, you stupid idiot. Not now. I'm trying to save you. The Anti-Monitor turned from The Flash. His eyes no longer burned with rage. The Pirate watched as color slowly made its way back into the Flash's face. Thank God. Thank God.

  "You won't regret this sire, you won't."

  "Pirate, I promised you power and possessions. I will now grant you that wish." The Anti-Monitor focused a bright blue light into the Pirate's eyes. The Pirate shuddered as cold energy burned through him. "My foe's champions have been sent to protect the final three Earths. You will make certain they fail."

  As the Anti-Monitor left the room, the Pirate fell to the stone floor, still shaking from the bitter cold.

  He's gone. I'm alone. Thank God. The Pirate lay still for several minutes, huddling fetal-like to warm himself up. He finally forced himself to his feet and turned to the Flash, his eyes slowly opening again.

  "I saved you, you know," he said.

  "You're still not going to succeed. They'll stop you." The Pirate laughed. "Maybe. But I doubt it. He's powerful. Stronger than Superman and Supergirl put together."

  The Flash stared at the Pirate. "You can resist him."

  "And die like you're going to once he's done with you? Oh, no, Flash. He's going to let me live."

  "Live where, Pirate? C'mon. You know the truth. There's not going to be any worlds left to live on."

  The Pirate's eyes widened. Oh, God. Idiot! Why can't I think straight? He began to shake. Calmdowncalmdowncalmdown. "No, Flash. No. You're trying to confuse me, but it won't work."

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  Marv Wolfman

  "Pirate, for God's sake, just for once, think for yourself."

  "I am. That's all I do anymore. Think. And you know something? Thinking stinks. It hurts. Doing what I'm supposed to do, controlling emotions, that's the only thing that doesn't hurt." He turned from the Flash— stop staring at me, dammit— and looked instead at the view screens mounted just above his head. There they were, his assignments: Earth-X, Earth-S, and Earth-4.

  "You see them? Three Earths, Flash. With lots of little heroes on them. He saved me because I can control their emotions. I can make them think anything I want.

  "I don't want to think, so I'll let them do i
t for me." The Pirate began laughing. "It's gonna be fun, Flash. A helluva lot of fun." The Pirate danced his way out of the room, laughing and chuckling. The Anti-Monitor will take care of him. He promised he would. The Flash watched him go, then struggled again with the energy bonds still holding him. They tightened around his arms and legs, pulling him forcefully into the stasis chamber.

  How long had he been a prisoner here? Does anyone else know he's still alive?

  Flash tried to speed up his atoms again, but as his vibrational rate increased, the beams tightened.

  He let himself relax and the bonds loosened enough for him to easily breathe. Carrot and stick. "I can do it," he told himself. "I'll escape. I just have to figure out how."

  Forty-eight

  Ifound myself in the middle of a battlefield. The sky was red, the white wall of antimatter was already pushing its way across the globe. But it wasn't here yet.

  This universe was being prepared for annihilation.

  The buildings surrounding me showed the effects of multiple bombings. Some were hollowed husks long abandoned, gun shots and mortar blasts pock-marked their surfaces, while others were still in flames, decimated in obviously recent attacks. The soldiers fired at an enemy hidden across the mall near the Lincoln Memorial.

  American soldiers, at least I assumed they were from the stylized eagle patches on their light brown uniforms, hunkered behind a fallen mail truck, it's license plate read Washington, D.C.

  The White House was behind me and looked much the same as the one I was used to visiting on my Earth. But as my eyes followed the long pole above the portico, I finally realized which Earth I was on. I was staring not at the American flag but a bright red banner waving in the breeze, in its center a white circle, and embroidered in that was a thick, black swastika.

  The JLA had files on this universe. I was on what was called Earth-X. After almost fifty years, World War II was still being fought here. This was America but the Nazis were in control.

  I ran across the mall to find a half dozen Americans, poorly armed, struggling to keep their positions. One of them was dead and a second was bandaging the leg of a third.

  The Sergeant, the name Rock was sewn on his front pocket flap, was on a radio, calling for help.

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  Marv Wolfman

  "They got us pinned. Ice Cream Soldier's down and Johnson's been hit. Tellin' you, man, it ain't easy down here. We need backup. Fast." I looked back across the mall and saw a steady series of flashes followed by the loud explosions of cannons. The Americans were outnumbered and outgunned.

  "Son, you Sergeant Rock?" The voice came from behind and startled me. I turned to see what could only be Uncle Sam standing in front of the Memorial, five other costumed figures, one woman, four men, positioned behind him.

  Uncle Sam, at least the one from my Earth, wasn't real, but an illustration popularized by Thomas Nast in the 19th century, and made famous in a World War I recruiting poster by James Montgomery Flagg.

  But according to our files, on this Earth he was very much real. Short cropped white goatee, dressed in his traditional red, white, and blue, the stars and striped top hat included.

  I had been able to read the adventures of Jay Garrick's Flash because a writer's dreams let him accidentally peek into Earth-2. I wondered if Nast or Flagg's dreams had penetrated into this universe. I tried to remember what I read long ago in the JLA files. One of the men was costumed in yellow and fired beams of light. I was pretty sure he was called the Ray.

  I certainly remembered Phantom Lady. She also wore a yellow costume, what little there was of it. If memory served, she was a hand-to-hand combat specialist.

  The Black Condor's costume, blue with a long cape that attached to his wristbands, allowed him to fly, while the Human Bomb wore a silver-gray head-to-toe containment suit that controlled his nuclear energy that could, on his command, create explosions.

  The final member of this group, a man also dressed in blue, stood approximately six inches tall and called himself Doll Man. This was too serious a moment to joke, but I really had to wonder if he thought all the good names had already been taken.

  Sergeant Rock recognized them and greeted them with a salute. "Freedom Fighters. Sight for sore eyes." Rock pointed to the Capitol Building. "Ratzis got into the White House. Our job's to clear 'em out." With a thoughtful smile, Uncle Sam looked across the mall to the White House. "Been fightin' this war now for fifty years, I reckon." He placed a comforting hand on Rock's shoulder. "Maybe it's time it came to an end." Crisis on Infinite Earths

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  To my shock, Sam suddenly slipped his arm around Rock's neck, yanking him back as his other arm snaked around his chest and prevented him from moving. "Bomb," he called.

  The Human Bomb removed one of his containment gloves. His hands glowed with fiery energy as he reached for Rock's face. "Yeah. Time the resistance died."

  Forty-nine

  Abeam of white light slammed into the Human Bomb, shaking him, but he stood his ground. The Bomb and I turned to see Dr. Light standing atop the rubble of what had been the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. "Stand down," she ordered. The Bomb wasn't listening. He turned back to grab Rock. "Now where was I?"

  A second beam struck the Bomb, this one was gold and crackled with the power of the sun. He thought it was Dr. Light again, but she was still powering up.

  "Up here, mister." I saw Starfire flying over him, swooping in low. She unleashed another starbolt. This one hit him in the face, nearly tearing off his head. "Get away from him," she yelled. As I said, sweet but deadly.

  I wondered how she got here, but then I remembered she was one of the Monitor's warriors. Thank God. I prayed that meant they were all still alive.

  Startled, the Bomb stumbled back. He grabbed at his face, still smoking from the blast. "What the hell?" He dropped to his knees and tumbled to his side, shivering in pain. Seconds later he was mercifully unconscious. I didn't know what happened to him, but I knew the Bomb and the other Freedom Fighters were Earth-X heroes. If they were somehow being controlled we needed to stop them, not kill them.

  Of course! For someone so fast I was really slow on the uptake. The Psycho Pirate was controlling them.

  Hawkman-2 and someone else, a bird-like man named Northwind—

  had no idea which Earth he was from—streaked overhead gliding on his gold-brown wings. He aimed a weapon which he fired at the Ray. Crisis on Infinite Earths

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  I tried to stop him but of course I couldn't. The gun didn't fire bullets but a thin beam of light that focused on the Ray. He easily dodged it then circled back, firing his own rays at Northwind.

  The bird man tried to climb, but the first blast hit his wings, clipping them at their edge. He staggered back, struggling to regain balance. He was almost upright again when a second burst of light hit him. With a scream of sudden pain, he plummeted to the ground.

  Hawkman dived instantly, rocketing groundward in pursuit. His wings behind him, he flew under Northwind then arced up and caught him. He gently lowered the bird man to the ground.

  The Ray flew low and carefully targeted Hawkman. I could tell he was hearing voices because I suddenly heard them, too. "This one has heartlessly killed millions of innocent people. Feel the anger. Let it grow. Let it consume you."

  The Psycho Pirate was giving him orders. "Destroy the bloodthirsty murderer. Destroy your enemy."

  The Anti-Monitor had strengthened the Pirate's emotion-controlling powers and now he was using them on the Freedom Fighters. The Ray was powering up, ready to fire another lethal blast into Hawkman. I saw him stare at his hands, tingling with energy as they always did just before he unleashed his force.

  A starbolt burned into him. He glared at Starfire hovering just above him, looked again to his hands burning with power, then collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

  Dr. Light had powered up again. She fired two quick lightbolts. The first struck Phantom Lady, blasting her back
into the debris. She scrambled to her feet again, but Light's second bolt hit her in the chest and she fell to the ground, unconscious.

  Fifty

  We were all concentrating on the battle and didn't notice the massive figure suddenly loom over us. It was Harbinger, but she was no longer a being of flesh and blood, but composed of pure energy. She was at least a hundred feet tall.

  Her head was bowed low, her eyes squeezed shut in concentration. She wasn't solid, nor an invisible ghost like me. She could be seen if anyone had the wherewithal or even time to look up. Her lips were moving as if she were speaking.

  I saw Uncle Sam scramble for the weapon that Northwind had dropped. Preferring fists and muscle, he wasn't used to firearms, but I could hear the Pirate's 'inner voice' urging him on.

  "You see the girl, Starfire, don't you? The golden alien makes you feel sad, doesn't she? You know why? She wants to kill America's hopes and dreams the way she's killed America's boys."

  Uncle Sam nodded. "That makes her a killer."

  "How right you are, Sammy," the Pirate continued. "So now, instead of being sad, you have deep feelings of revenge."

  "Revenge," Sam repeated.

  Uncle Sam aimed the gun at Starfire. His fingers closed on the trigger.

  "What are you waiting for? We're here for some good ol' American flag, apple pie and ice cream revenge. And who is angry enough to kill her. Sammy?"

  Uncle Sam gritted his teeth. "I am. I am angry enough to kill her."

  "Halleluiah, Sammy. Kill on, brother."

  I screamed for Sam to drop his weapon, but he couldn't hear me. Crisis on Infinite Earths

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  I hated being this damned ghost. What good was it seeing these terrible moments but being unable to affect them?

  I shouted again, not from frustration but anger. "Sam!" I don't know why, but I shouted his name again. "Sam! You can't kill him." I saw his eyes blink and he looked around him as if he were suddenly snapping out of a spell. "Who's calling me?" He heard me.

  I heard the Psycho Pirate's voice call out to him again. "Sam, you're angry, remember? Don't waste time. Kill the alien who wants to destroy everything good there is about America."