by Marv Wolfman
I heard the Spectre scream as our energy funneled into him. With a final, desperate push, he forced the Anti-Monitor's hand completely through the black hole.
The universe shuddered.
And creation began all over again.
PART FOUR
AFTERSHOCK
In the beginning there was a multiverse. But then the universes shuddered and died. In that very instant, at the dawn of all time, a new universe was born. And what had been many, was now just one.
—The Monitor Tapes Vol. 2 Pg. 957
Eighty-four
The universe was reborn. The hows, whys, and wherefores, all T's crossed and all I's dotted, weren't important now.
I opened my eyes to find myself in the speed force: colors swirled around me and I felt calm, happy, and ready to pitch my tent permanently here.
Couldn't have happened to a more deserving guy.
I didn't bother to slow down and think—the cornerstone of the sciences I had embraced all my life—and because of that I nearly destroyed everything.
My first thought was to find the former speedsters who brought me here. Unfortunately, all I saw were those 1970s Peter Max rainbow colors. I guessed everyone else was sitting on some cloud somewhere, comparing the size of their speed bumps.
Maybe I shouldn't be concerned that they were ignoring me. They may be the spirits of speedsters past, but they obviously weren't all that bright. After all, they picked the wrong guy to do their bidding.
"Speed freaks, listen up," I shouted into the ether, as much to get their attention as to relieve my overwhelming guilt. "Why didn't you recruit Supergirl? She was almost as fast as me and she wouldn't have screwed things up."
I was mad, not at the unseen spirits who lived here, but at myself. I didn't expect an answer, and when I got one I couldn't have been more surprised.
"You have not failed. You are not done."
"What do you mean I'm not finished?" I shouted as I ran toward the colors. "For God's sakes, don't send me back." Which, of course, is exactly what they did.
Eighty-five
Iwas in the telecommunications room on the Monitor's satellite, obviously sent back in time to before its destruction. I felt the hard steel floor under me and knew I was, in a manner of speaking, corporeal again. Dead but still not allowed to rest.
"Look at this, Barry." The Monitor was behind me and pointed to one of his view screens.
"I'm finished watching movies. Why are you keeping me alive?"
"Because I'm afraid you're not done," he said. That was no longer good enough. I was tired and I was angry at myself.
"Yeah. Guess what? It's over. I nearly killed everyone. I want out." The Monitor smiled as he turned back to the view screen. "I'm not God, Barry. No matter what you think, I don't make those decisions. Now look at this."
I saw a young girl adrift at sea, desperately grasping a small plank of rotting, floating wood. Despite her age I recognized her. "That's Lyla."
"In the next few minutes I'm going to save her. Then twenty years from now she will kill me."
This time I wanted answers. "If you know that, then why?"
"Because she will bring all of you to me. For all my power, I can't do that. So I needed Lyla. And I needed Pariah. And to save the heroes who must die, I needed young Alex. And he won't even be born for two more decades."
He paused then looked directly at me. "But most of all, Barry, I needed you."
I knew why I was here. My ability to move through the multiverse made me valuable to both him and the Anti-Monitor. But I didn't care about me Crisis on Infinite Earths
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now. "What do you mean Alex is needed to save the heroes who have to die?"
All he said was, "Come with me."
From inside his satellite, I was once again staring at the event horizon surrounding that same black hole at the dawn of time. Like three day old fish and unwanted relatives, this place was starting to get real old. "Barry, I believe you've been here before."
"Yeah. And like a Quarter Pounder, it keeps coming back." We watched as the black hole collapsed into itself. There was a moment of eerie stillness and then it suddenly exploded.
Once again I watched the birth of the universe.
Star matter disgorged in all directions and sent its burning magma throughout previously empty space.
The satellite followed more than two hundred billion such chunks of smoldering star stuff as the Big Bang propelled them far from their point of origin.
Almost immediately I knew what was happening: These burning balls of rock and lava were the very basis of the Milky Way galaxy. In cosmic terms, I was nearly home.
The Milky Way is a spiral, spinning out arms of stars and planets. Even before we arrived I knew we would settle into one of its minor arms, the Orion spur, more than 26,000 light years from its galactic center. I saw the sun form and nearly a dozen planets take shape around it, some so small and distant from the ball of fire I knew would one day be called Earth that they have not yet been detected by man.
The Monitor pointed to Earth. "To weaken the fabric of reality, my brother turned a single universe into a multiverse. But you and your friends have changed his history. That multiverse is no more. What was many has again become one."
I watched as the Earth cooled and crusted over. Through its light I saw oceans form. Soon, I knew, cells would merge and split, from the seas and rivers primitive life would crawl to take their first breath.
"There is only one positive matter universe now, Barry. And to balance it, a single antimatter universe. It is as was intended."
"One home instead of infinite earths," I said. We watched as the age of dinosaurs was superseded by the birth of man. "Because in this recreated reality there never was a multiverse," he explained, "Earth now has a single unified history. It is known and accepted by everyone."
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I watched Rome be built in a lot less than a day. An instant later great steam engines groaned their way across the American plains. As I turned back to the Monitor, a space ship made the first manned landing on the moon.
"Then we're done?" I asked.
He shook his head and once again I disappeared.
Eighty-six
Iwas on Earth-3, sent back in time to before the universe was reborn. Ultraman of the Crime Syndicate hovered in mid air next to Power Ring. Above them the skies turned red. I knew what was coming next, but I didn't understand why I was here. Didn't we just rebuild the whole damn universe?
I heard a gasp above me. Alexander Luthor, personal jets strapped to a skin-tight red and blue uniform, was flying just barely ahead of the antimatter wall.
I followed him home.
Luthor kissed his wife, Lois, first on the lips and then on her swollen belly. "You okay?" She was smiling but I could hear her sigh. "Relax. Nothing's happening today. I feel great."
As they had dinner I knew Lois could see him fidget nervously, barely listening to anything she said. "You're going to be working late. I can tell. But before you do, c'mon. I think you need a snuggle." I let them go off alone. Being a ghost was bad enough. Being a Peeping Tom ghost would have been pushing things.
I went to his study though I already knew I didn't have the physical presence to boot his copmuter let alone access any of his files. I sort of sat down and waited.
Luthor entered the lab about an hour later, poured himself some coffee and began his work.
"Skies don't color shift without reason. Something is happening." He put down his cup then looked up to God. "Give me a clue. Anything will do."
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I heard the Monitor's voice speak to me. "Tell him," he said. "You need to tell him what to do."
Like he'll hear me. But I looked at him and laughed and said, "The red skies are just the beginning."
He turned, confused, looking around him. "Who's there? Where are you?"
Hold the phone! He heard me?
I finally understood why I was sent here. I also realized I had very little time.
"Alexander, a wall of antimatter will sweep over this planet and destroy everything."
"Wait a second. You know me? Who are you?" I had no time to give him my resume.
"This planet is already dead, but there are other Earths that can still be saved."
"Other Earths?" He was trying to find the source of the voice. God bless, I hoped he could. It would make my job a helluva lot easier.
"Luthor, you need to save your son."
I knew that would get to him. "My son?"
"This is what you have to do."
As quickly as I could I gave him all the information he'd need to send his son to Earth-l's universe. I didn't know the Monitor's coordinates so I gave him the position of the JLA satellite. Alex could be rescued from there.
The Monitor said he was unable to bring the ones he needed to him. That was why Harbinger was sent to recruit his warriors and why I was sent to bring Alex to him.
The circle closed. The Monitor would now have everyone he needed in place.
Luthor cried out to me. "Wait. How do you know I'm going to have a son?"
I felt the Monitor pulling me away. As I disappeared, I heard Lois call him.
"Alex, it's time, she said. "My water just broke." Anti-Monitor
T he positive matter universe recreated itself around him and he knew its indivisible strength vastly exceeded his own. What had gone wrong?
He destroyed and absorbed the energies of countless universes without meeting resistance. Why has this final universe refused to accept its inevitable fate?
The Anti-Monitor stood atop his sprawling fortress and gazed at the seemingly infinite breadth of his antimatter universe. As before, Qward was its only planet, but, he sensed, in its rebirth it was now devoid of both Thunderers and shadows.
He was alone, a master without slaves.
That, he knew, would have to change.
With his arms held high, he felt the forces of antimatter pour into him, strengthening him. To finally destroy the positive matter universe, he reluctantly understood that his antimatter universe would have to die as well.
"Brother, you have not yet beaten me," he shouted into the immutable blackness of space. "I will have my revenge." The Anti-Monitor was prepared to die as long as he took the rest of creation with him.
Clark Kent
Clark yawned as he woke, stretched and felt his neck muscles crack, snapping into place. "Man, what a horrible dream," he sighed. "It was the end of everything. Our Earth, Kal-El's, all the universes." He turned to Lois but she wasn't at his side. "Weird. She never gets up before me."
He looked around the bedroom, but didn't recognize it. The colors and decor were all different. "Where am I?" he wondered. Clark made his way to the kitchen. "Lois?" There still was no answer. He saw himself in the hallway mirror. A few more age lines creased his forehead that weren't there before, and the gray in his temples was still migrating its way to the rest of his formerly thick, black hair. That was expected, of course. He was nearly seventy-five. The bathroom door creaked open. Needs some WD-40, he reminded himself. "Lois?"
He rushed down the hallway as a tall figure stepped through the steam, a bath towel wrapped around his waist.
"Clark?" he said, surprised. "Is that you?" He was staring at the other Clark Kent, the one from Earth-1. "What are you doing here?"
The younger Clark stared at him. "This is my apartment. What are you doing here?"
Harbinger spoke slowly, not for their sakes but for her own. The Monitor explained what would happen only once. She needed to be careful now not to make any mistakes in the retelling. "The five Earths merged along with their universes," she said. "Only one universe now exists." Crisis on Infinite Earths
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During the previous hours she brought the heroes to the Justice League satellite. She knew they were confused by the new Earth they saw. Little of what survived jibed with their memories.
"This isn't Earth-1 or Earth-2 or any of the others," she explained. "It's a new Earth, combined from all of them."
Green Lantern listened quietly to the explanations, but finally interrupted.
"Nobody remembers the crisis except us. Everyone else thinks this is the same Earth it's always been."
"That's because it is." Superman-1 was beginning to understand what happened. "The Earth was reformed at the dawn of time. In the reborn universe there never were infinite Earths. This is the only Earth that's ever existed."
"So how come I remember the other one?" Blue Beetle asked. "And how come there's no Hub City on this Earth? I mean, that's where I was born. That's where I lived all my life. What happened to it?"
"What about the people?" Superman-2 asked. "Which ones are still alive?"
"I don't know that yet," Harbinger said. Why didn't the Monitor tell me what to say?
A suspicious fear gripped Superman-2. No. It'll be okay. It has to be okay.
He saw Blue Beetle and Captain Marvel sitting across from him. Half way down the conference table Uncle Sam pressed forward in his chair, waiting for an answer. "What about Earth 4, Earth-S, and Earth-X? Is anyone else from those Earths still alive?"
"I can't answer that," Harbinger replied. "Except for those of you who stood before the dawn of time, there can only exist one of each primal genetic coding."
He knew the answer even before he turned to Superman-1. "Then there's only one Lois Lane on the Earth. Are you telling me my wife's gone as if she never existed. Is that why I woke up in his apartment? Answer me, Lyla. Except for me, does any of my life still exist?
"Superman, I don't know."
"So why am I still here?"
Superman-1 frowned as he gazed out of the JLA satellite toward Earth floating 22,300 miles below them. "I think we're going to find many differences between our memories and this new reality," he said wistfully. 288
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Pressing his fingers to his temple Firestorm shook his head in despair.
"Anyone got a really big aspirin? I'm definitely getting a migraine like nobody's business."
Superman was still looking at the Earth, wondering how life was going to change—how do I explain two Clarks? How do I explain two Superman?, —
when he felt a rolling shudder ripple through the satellite. The others assumed the shuddering was a solar flare. It happened often out here in space. But instead of dissipating, the shaking increased. Superman turned back to the Earth. A churning vortex was forming around it, drawing the planet into a giant maw.
"We've got to get out of here," he shouted. But the vortex suddenly expanded and swallowed them, too.
There was infinite darkness.
Superman-1 knew where they had been taken, and it frightened him. It felt like it was only moments ago that Kara had been murdered here before his eyes.
"Not again."
"Welcome to my universe," the Anti-Monitor said. "And welcome to your doom."
Eighty-seven
You said you'd help me." The voice was shrill and on the edge of losing control. "You said they'd come to save me. Why did you leave me here all alone? Why, Flash, why?" The Psycho Pirate was in tears as he tried to pull my old uniform out from the under the castle stones that had fallen atop it. It was as if freeing it would somehow free him.
"Come back, Flash," he kept crying. "You promised to help me. You promised."
My uniform and my ring were all that survived my death. It was torn and nearly unrecognizable, much like the rest of my so-called life. I was at the door of the Anti-Monitor's fortress as my friends slowly made their way here. They looked so tired. I didn't know what kept holding them together.
"My ring's not picking him up anywhere," Green Lantern said. "Where is he?"
"He's here. Don't worry," Superman grimly said. They made their way across the rubble. The fortress had been pretty much demolished in their last fight and the stone and debris obstacle cour
se complicated their progress through the heavily littered courtyards. Wally walked alongside them and I rushed to him. I wanted to hug him and let him know how much I loved him, but I knew I couldn't.
"Barry?"
He was looking at me.
"Wally?" I reached out to take his hand, but I was already disappearing.
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Wonder Woman searched the area. "There's nobody here. Who were you talking to?"
"I thought I saw Barry."
Captain Marvel looked around him. "Isn't he dead?" Wally shook his head. "He was calling to me. I know he was." He took off at super-speed. "He's here. I know he is." I stayed at his side until he finally stopped running. In front of him was the Psycho Pirate, still tugging at the last remnants of my old costume.
"C'mon, Flash, save me the way you said you would. You're one of the good guys, right?" He was still yelling at my uniform as if I were inside it.
"Good guys never lie."
Wally grabbed the Pirate and easily flung him aside. "Let go of that. You have no right to touch it." He hit the Pirate again, slamming him into the stone.
"He said you'd save me. He said you'd save me." I tried to pull Wally away from the Pirate but he kept hitting Hayden, screaming in rage as he did. Then, abruptly, he was pulled back.
"Kid Flash, that's enough," Superman-1 said. "Look at him. It's over." The Pirate was lying on the rocks. His eyes stared blankly into space. He muttered to himself, repeating the same words over and over again. "He said you'd save me. He said you'd save me."
His mind was gone.
It was unexpected, but despite everything he had done to me, I still felt sorry for him.
I saw Lady Quark hunkered over something resting on one of the rock ledges. "I found this," she said, holding it up to the others. "It's a ring with a lightning bolt insignia."
Wally grabbed it from her. "Barry's Flash ring." He turned to the others.
"Then he really is gone."
Superman tapped the stones aside and picked up my torn uniform. "He was a good friend," he said as he gave it to Wally. "And an even better man."
"I will miss him," agreed Wonder Woman. "We all will." Wally kept staring at the ring. "Everything good I am I owe to him. It's not fair he died here alone."