by Marv Wolfman
"They threatened to arrest me, but I pursued my research anyway and the hell with the consequences.
"I had already discovered the multiverse as well as the antimatter universe. My genius let me link the origin of one with the other. Now I was ready to investigate how they all began."
Captain Marvel interrupted. "You saw the hand, too? The one from the black hole?"
"Eventually. But before then I built an antimatter protection chamber. I was much smarter than Krona. I understood the possible dangers and knew I needed to protect myself.
"I built it in the antimatter universe, certain from inside it I could safely observe the origin of all creation."
Pariah turned to Captain Marvel and gave a tired, defeated smile. "Yes, I was smarter than Krona. And because I was, my crimes are far worse." His voice trailed as he turned back to the Earths. He stared at them as he continued. "So there I was, safe inside my chamber and I watched the chaos of pre-existence churn and froth as the birthing process began.
"I saw the hand, and yes, it was the very same one Krona saw. It rose from the swirling darkness, its open palm burned with an energy I thought no living eyes but mine had ever seen."
Pariah turned to the others then lowered his head. His voice grew faint Crisis on Infinite Earths
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and I could barely hear him. "The greatest scientist on my world, they called me, but I was an idiot. In my chamber I protected myself but took no precautions to save anyone else.
"The first of my three sins. When I opened the portal between the universes, when matter and antimatter touched, even for that single moment, I unleashed a ferocious explosion that rippled out in all directions.
"In that terrible instant, I destroyed my universe." Sixty-one
Pariah fell silent. Suddenly, his eyes rolled into their sockets and he slumped unconscious into Lyla's arms. I saw Superman-1 rush to help, but she waved him away. "I can take care of him." She held onto him and tenderly stroked his face. She felt some of her power still inside her and she passed it to him. "Rest," she said. When his eyes finally opened I saw they were red with tears. "I killed them all," he whispered hoarsely. "I killed everyone."
"You couldn't have known," Lyla soothed.
His voice dropped to a trembling whisper. "But I should have, Lyla," he answered.
He sat down and stared solemnly at the ground. With his index finger he stirred up some dust and watched it blow away into space.
"As if destroying my own universe was not enough, God had only just begun to toy with me." Pariah looked to Lyla. She kneeled beside him and took his hand, and held onto him while he continued.
"When my positive matter universe was destroyed the antimatter universe expanded to fill the void. And when it did, it freed the Anti-Monitor from his nine billion year sleep. Giving him life again was my second sin.
"But my third sin was the most terrible of all. You see, because of me he realized that as each positive matter universe died, his antimatter universe would absorb its energies and he would grow even stronger.
"Because of me, the destruction of the multiverse began. An infinity of universes have suffered for my sins."
He looked at Lady Quark, standing silent and horrified. "So, do I want you to kill me and put me out of my horrible misery? Yes. Of course the answer is yes. But I was changed in that explosion, Lady Quark. And as Crisis on Infinite Earths
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much as I wish otherwise, I can no longer die.
"You'd think all that was enough. But no. God still had plans for me. The price of arrogance had not been paid. Not only can't I die, but before the Anti-Monitor destroys each new universe, I am brought there to witness its destruction. I'm forced to watch the deaths of innocent people.
"Those are my sins, Lady Quark. And these are my punishments." I know I was feeling the same horror as the others. There was no way for any of us to say "I understand," because none of us could. Pariah was sadly alone and worse, he knew it.
Superman-2 sat down next to him. He looked at the Earths and not Pariah.
"You're right, you know. Your sins were terrible. And maybe because of them the Anti-Monitor destroyed all those other universes. And it might not make any difference to you, but what happened in the past is over with. We've now got other concerns."
Pariah snorted. "Like what?"
Superman pointed to the Earths. "You said the planets were merging faster than before. That means there's still billions of people on those Earths."
"What Superman's saying," Uncle Sam interrupted, "is maybe you are suffering and maybe that's your lot. But self-pity's not helping us save what's left."
I winced as I heard Blue Beetle cough as if he was about to say something stupid. But Sam continued.
"This is the time I reckon we band together. We get us that army the Monitor assembled and bring this fight to the Anti-Monitor. You folks agree?"
No one, not even Lady Quark, who was still glaring at Pariah, dissented.
Sixty-two
Supergirl and Wonder Woman were brought to the limboverse asteroid as were Captain Atom, Firestorm, Green Lantern-2, and several others.
Of course there was still one problem:
I could move between universes—it's how I got involved with this insanity in the first place—but how were they going to travel to the antimatter universe?
I was pretty sure Mapquest wasn't going to be much of a help. Starting address: The limboverse. Destination address: The corner of death and destruction. I don't know the zip code.
"So how do we get to the Anti-Monitor?" Captain Marvel asked. I'd say great minds think alike, but since Captain Marvel was actually a little kid, what did that say about me?
He pointed to Pariah. "You travel between universes, don't you?" Pariah nodded. "I can open the portal, but the antimatter would destroy you. But, Alexander...."
I turned to Alex who now looked to be in his early thirties. "I'd survive," he said. "But I'm not sure if I can protect you. If anything went wrong..." Uncle Sam rest his hand on Alex's shoulder. "Something goes wrong, we die. But if we do nothing, we're sure to die. Six of one, half dozen of another, Alex."
Blue Beetle raised his hand. I wasn't in the mood for jokes, but he surprised me. "Alex, we've got nothing to lose, and five universes to gain. I think I'm speaking for everyone when I say it's worth the risk." Pariah agreed. "To do this right, Alex and I have to work together. You ready?"
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Alex barely smiled but nodded, yes.
This was it. If all went well we were on our way to become Indiana Jones, the Magnificent Seven, and the Terminator all wrapped into one. Showtime!
Sixty-three
Alex removed his containment suit. Spirals of antimatter mixed with his positive matter body. "The Monitor said I can control my energies. For all our sakes, pray he was right." He closed his eyes and concentrated, drawing on his powers.
At the same time, Pariah started to open the portal between the universes. His normal power only let him open it enough to let himself slip through, but now he was being accompanied by nearly two dozen others. The doorway began to glow. "Alex, now," Pariah screamed. "I can't keep it open long."
Suddenly, Alex's body erupted with energy. It circled him then spread out to the others, wrapping around them as well.
He held his hands toward the glowing doorway and more energy surged from his fingers. The narrow portal ripped open as he created a tunnel into the antimatter universe.
The heroes entered quickly, disappearing into the roiling energies. I followed them inside.
Pariah looked back at the others and I saw him smile for the first time. He whispered something to himself. Busy body that I was, I made my way to his side.
"This is why you brought me to you, isn't it?" He was talking to the Monitor.
"I unleashed the demon, and now I'm leading your warriors into battle against him. If this is my atonement, I give you my thanks
and my life." From the outside this all could have looked like Moses had separated the Red Sea and the Israelites were struggling their way toward freedom. But I knew better.
We weren't marching to the promised land. We were rushing into hell. Sixty-four
We were inside a tunnel, and its walls were composed of shifting patterns of colors.
The name Roy. G. Biv sprung to mind. I'd read it years ago in one of the science pages from my old comics. It was a fun mnemonic device to help remember the colors of the rainbow: Red. Orange. Yellow. Green. Blue. Indigo and Violet.
Little throwaway facts like that, gleaned pouring through those old, yellowed pages, accumulated in my subconscious, and unwittingly guided me through school. Because of them I became fascinated with science, and that had directly led me to my career.
I was sure the people who wrote them had no idea the impact they had and I wished when I was a kid I had written a letter thanking them. Because of what they wrote and drew I became the person I am today. The tunnel walls changed colors as we moved deeper through it. Red faded seamlessly into orange, orange into yellow, and so on, shuffling their way through the color spectrum in endless variation. Other than the shifting colors, I felt no other sensations. I had expected extreme heat, or bitter cold, some sort of sensation at the very least, but the tunnels were as calm as the eye of a hurricane. Of course that didn't bode well for what was waiting immediately outside.
I saw a white light in the distance. Pariah must have seen it, too. "Our destination," he said. "I can feel its evil from here." Suddenly, the light rushed at us and we found ourselves propelled like bullets headlong into the antimatter universe.
I braced myself for imminent danger, but nothing came. There was no hurricane to assault us with its fury. I should have been relieved, instead I felt bizarrely disappointed.
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We were staring at a black star, at least a hundred million miles away. but we could feel its burning touch even from here. Closer to us was the antimatter universe's sole planet, green and glowing ominously.
"Qward," Pariah said. "Where the Anti-Monitor was born." From the emerald color I expected to find lush vegetation covering it. but the green was, Pariah explained, poisonous gases that circled Qward just beneath its mesosphere.
Wonder Woman put on a burst of speed and took the lead. She guided us to just above the gaseous layer, distant enough to be safe, but close enough to observe the world below.
"I don't like surprises," she said. "I want to know about Qward before we meet its master."
It was somewhat disappointing, but the surface was unremarkable. It was a near dead world—it could have been the moon or even Mars. I saw mostly weathered and twisting rocks and a few isolated patches of water. I heard Captain Marvel calling to the others. "Holy Moley, take a look at this," he exclaimed.
I saw what he was pointing at and I understood his excitement. Floating in that poisonous band of glowing green gas was a stone fortress at least fifty miles long and more than twenty tall. It had been, Pariah said, carved whole out of Qward's sole moon.
This was the castle I had seen from the speed force. Its surface was jagged and irregular. The stones were each more than a hundred square feet and carved with hieroglyphics of unimaginable detail, each recounting the destruction of a different universe. Five squares had blank facades.
Thousands of columns jutted from every surface. The walls were carved, too, but into giant stone faces with red glowing eyes that stared into deepest space. They were ready to defend the citadel from any attack. The faces weren't very pretty and I hoped we were coming in under its radar.
"We're here," Pariah said. "The Anti-Monitor's castle." Psycho Pirate Earth-1
The Psycho Pirate felt their fear the moment they arrived in the antimatter universe. But he was also aware of their resolve. The heroes had come, bringing their battle to his master. He didn't know if he should root for them or just kill them all now. Why were they resisting Anti-Monitor, he kept asking himself. He's all-powerful, don't they know that? He destroys universes. They certainly knew that. None of them have a fraction of his strength. "Why don't you just give up?" he shouted.
He turned to the view screens and saw them rushing to the castle. The two Supermans were in the lead.
Psycho Pirate slumped into a chair but kept staring at the screens. He questioned if there was actually a chance they could hurt the Monitor? Maybe kill him? If they did, would they free me? Or would they kill me, too?
No, of course they wouldn't kill him, he realized. "You're good guys," he said as they flew alongside the great stone walls. "You don't kill." But what if they did, just this one time? He stared again at the screens. Supergirl flew through one of the windows. "Hmmm. Maybe I can make you fall in love with me. That's it. That's what I'll do," he shouted at her. He jumped to his feet, more excited than he'd been in days. "You and Wonder Woman, maybe the green girl, too. Jade. You'll defend me against the others."
He paced the room, rubbing his hands together gleefully. A hundred ideas pounded their way into him. "Here's the plan. The heroes first kill the Master. Then you girls will work for me and kill the men heroes. It'll be just us then."
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Marv Wolfman
He stopped, suddenly, and his eyes widened. He had a new idea. "When it's just the four of us," he whispered conspiratorially, "we'll take over those last five universes. I'll become the master, then. That sounds perfect, doesn't it?"
"Come."
The deep voice reverberated through the room like angry thunder. The Psycho Pirate's laugh caught in his throat.
The Anti-Monitor looked at the castle wall and the stones shifted in response, widening into a circular opening. From his high perch he saw Supergirl lead the others into his citadel. "When did you sense their presence. Pirate?" He asked flatly.
The Pirate fell to his knees. "Just now, I swear, Master. I was coming to tell you when you summoned me."
The Anti-Monitor turned to him. "Then use your powers on them. Turn them into my fearful slaves."
"I can't, Master. Not yet." The Pirate edged back, away from the AntiMonitor. "You had me control them when they were on their worlds. I haven't had time to recharge—"
The Anti-Monitor's eyes burned with anger and the Pirate found himself flying across the room.
"Then you have failed me."
He's going to kill me. He's going to make me suffer. The Anti-Monitor stood over the Pirate. "You are an annoyance that should be eliminated. But I may not be done with you yet." He stepped over the trembling Pirate and headed for the door. "If you fail to regain your power quickly I will not again be so forgiving." Then he was gone, but the Pirate was still shaking. Sixty-five
Ifollowed the others as we made our way through the Anti-Monitor's fortress. Most of them could fly, but to conserve strength—power usage always demanded a resulting price—we generally walked. For a nonflyer, that was fine with me. The first thing I noticed was the surprising lack of separate rooms. Stone walls, most between eight and twelve feet high, carved with the same panoramas of death and destruction we'd seen on the castle's exterior, separated immense open courtyards. Shadows clung to the walls in almost every corner, afraid to venture into the open.
The courtyards were empty of both furnishings or design. The AntiMonitor was obviously not into decorating. With nothing here to muffle our intrusion, every footstep and nervous cough echoed back from all directions.
We followed the walls as they snaked from one area to the next, leading us around endless acres of stone mazes. On occasion we'd find ourselves butted up against one of the few walls that attached itself to a high ceiling. We would then have to backtrack and start that section over. Massive stairwells spiraled their way to different levels and there must have been more than a thousand of them, each with hundreds of separated courtyards casting fearful shadows of their own.
The effect was both open yet oppressive.
Supe
rman-1 must have felt that, too. "He must know we're here by now. Be careful."
I followed them as they continued to the next level which featured, surprise, more of the same. More stones. More twisted death hieroglyphs. More walls. More shadows from which things might jump out to surprise us.
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Pariah took the lead. "I sense the Anti-Monitor's somewhere here," he said. "Split up. Whoever finds him, let the rest of us know." He turned, hovering before us. "Listen to me. I know how some of you think, but whatever you do, don't try taking him alone." He flew off and J'onn J'onzz, Mon-El, and Jade followed close behind. The others split into teams and went in separate directions. I tried to keep track of all of them.
Firestorm and the Ray flew through a low corridor that opened up into a mile-wide square. This area was unlike the first courtyard we had entered. Dozens of stone columns grew out of the ground to support a massive ceiling about a hundred feet over our heads.
Firestorm flew alongside the Ray. They joked as they made their way around the columns, inspecting each one of them as they flew past. Firestorm suddenly jerked his head to the side. "You see that?" The Ray laughed. "Boogeyman?"
"If only. I thought I saw a shadow."
"Probably did. Ours."
Firestorm laughed nervously. "Yeah. Must be it." He didn't sound convinced.
They flew on but for some reason I hesitated. I heard a grinding clatter behind me. Firestorm was right. The shadows were moving. Stone blocks yanked themselves from the walls, combined with others, then reshaped themselves into giant rock monsters. I heard their steps pound on the stone floor long before any of us saw them.
We hadn't found the Anti-Monitor but we were already under attack. Sixty-six
Iraced between the different groups. Unable to help them, it was all I could do.
Superman-1, fingers clasped together in front of him, forming a twohanded fist, flew at the nearest beast like a human bullet. "There's no heart beat," he shouted. "They're not alive." Wonder Woman hovered above a second creature. Her lasso looped around its neck. "This is war, Superman. I wouldn't care if they were." She flew up, arced over a wall, and then pulled down hard on her lasso. The stone beast's head cracked at the throat. The body fell to the ground, shattering.