“The Wall still stands,” Solomon stated, recording his observations for posterity. His personal force field protected him from the vacuum of space. “Despite his every machination, Darkseid won only scattered skirmishes, not the war. The Fifth Age will dawn. The Multiverse endures.”
And. I too endure, he thought, even while shunned by my fellow Monitors. He scowled at the galling injustice of it all. His bold vision and decisive action should have raised him high among their immortal fellowship, but instead he found himself an outcast. “So be it,” he spat venomously. “While they dither and debate, my plans unfold. Infinitely patient, I play for the highest stakes imaginable.”
Diverting the course of the asteroid, he cruised nearer to the Wall until it was close enough to touch. Its vast immensity filled his vision as he spied a solitary ledge jutting slightly outward from its ornate surface. “Let me be the first to add to the Wall in this new age.”
He reached out to lay a small object upon the ledge. Only seven inches tall, the exquisitely sculpted chessman was nearly lost amidst the colossal dimensions of the Wall.
“Darkseid would have been Creation’s new architect, yet his monument is the smallest of all,” Solomon gloated as he contemplated a miniature figurine fashioned in the likeness of Apokolips’s once-invincible ruler. “A token reminder for anyone foolish enough to underestimate me in the future.”
He vanished in a shower of sparks.
METROPOLIS.
“Man, oh man,” Harley whispered. She perched on the fire escape of her and Holly’s new apartment as she stared up at the starry night sky overhead. An oversized Gotham University T-shirt served as a nightdress. Her bare feet dangled over the nocturnal alley below. A warm breeze, holding the promise of spring, rustled her pigtails.
“You say something, Harley?” Holly climbed out onto the fire escape beside her roommate. The fresh air felt good after painting the kitchen all day. Her ratty tank top and shorts were splattered with aquamarine splotches.
Harley kept on gazing at the stars. “I was just thinking.” “Really?” ' '
“Yeah,” Harley replied. “There’s so much going on here, and out there, and places we don’t even know about.” From where they were sitting, you could see the enormous crater where the middle of Suicide Slum used to be. The two women had managed to get a good deal on the apartment by pretending that they had lost everything when the New Gods exploded; they figured it wasn’t really all that far from the truth. “Everything’s so scary and uncertain. We never know when fate—or some wacky alien god—will shake it all up.”
Tell me about it, Holly thought. She cast a wistful glance at Harley’s T-shirt. Someday she hoped to return to Gotham, but that wasn’t an option right now; she was still wanted for murder there. Things could be worse, though. Metropolis didn’t quite feel like home yet, but at least she had a roof over her head and a friend to share it with. “That’s deep,” she told Harley.
Lowering her gaze, the blonde watched the construction crews working overtime to rebuild Metropolis. Darkseid and giant-turtle Jimmy had left a hell of a mess behind. “You gotta wonder how we’ll ever make it through what comes next.”
Holly shrugged. “I guess we can fall back on what’s gotten us this far.”
“A positive attitude and lots of denial?”
Holly laughed. “Don’t ever change, Harley.”
THE BEGINNING.
Countdown Page 35