Book Two: The Anti-Monitor
By David Tillinger

PRELUDE : THE ANTI-MONITOR

The nature of the Anti-Monitor was opposition. Not evil, not wrongness, but opposition. In the last world it had taken form its host had been cast as the villain by those who engaged in the conflict, an evil doppelganger of a good and wise Monitor. But from the Anti-Monitor's own perspective, it was always the "right" side of the conflict. In its own mind, the Anti-Monitor represented the random, the wild card against the strict order of the Monitor. Like the phrase he had heard during so many of the conflicts, everyone, even the villain is the hero of his own story.

The Anti-Monitor could feel the translation taking place. Feel itself being drawn from its own natural state of chaos and being placed into its latest host. With this change, the Anti-Monitor, as each of its brother entities would, became aware of its new host, the conflict and its terms. And like its brother entity the Harbinger, when faced with the enormity of the coming crisis, the last independent thought of the Anti Monitor was:

"This is going to be difficult."

LIMBO:

Blue Beetle couldn't decide whether he was completely freaked out or completely amused at the concept that on some other earth, his best friend, Al Kent, was a major super villain. The man he knew had been adopted by a pair of farmers in Smallville, Kansas after they rescued him from a burning car after the car accident which had claimed the life of his parents. Beetle remembered that Al had told him once that his birth name had been Alexander Luthor, but that he used Kent to honor his "Ma" and "Pa" and that Alexander was just way too pretentious for a farm boy like him.

And apparently, there were versions of the same guy on a few of these so-called multiple earths. The guy in the 50's suit had known a Luthor with hair. The kid with the crab mask on his face even said that on his earth, this Luthor guy was president. Beetle wasn't sure that he believed Luthor, but one thing was sure. If he survived this whole deal, this guy in mega armor with Al's face was just the thing he had been looking for to use as a last level boss on their newest game.

Beetle put aside his random thoughts and tuned back into what Luthor was saying. "So what we have to do is secure this so-called anti-monitor and if we do that it will allow us to save all our earths."

"I'm not saying I trust you, Luthor, because I don't. But how do you, of all people, know all this?" Kal-L, the man that Beetle heard some of the others refer to as Superman, asks.

"If I could give you an answer, alien, I would. Believe me, this is not at all my choice and you are certainly not a person I would associate myself with unless forced to do so."

"He is being guided by a voice in his head." K'arl K'ohn tells them.

"Great, he's hearing voices." Arsenal quips, but his smile fades under the angry gaze of the menacing looking White Martian.

"He is not entirely in control of his actions. I can sense another entity there, pushing Luthor to do what the entity feels needs to be done." The Manslayer pauses with a grimace, as if refusing to acknowledge pain. "That was unnecessary."

Luthor smiles, removing his hand from a knob on his armor. "That will keep you out of my mind, Martian. But let us dispense with such childish issues as trust, here. I'm telling you that all of your worlds are threatened and what I am proposing is the only way to save them."

The assembled heroes, even the morally questionable K'arl Kohn, turn instinctively to Kal-L.

After a moment, Superman nods. "We'll do what you say, Luthor."

EARTH 3: New York City

The Crime Syndicate's current headquarters was located in a tower in New York City. It moved from time to time, due to either boredom on the part of the founders or various upheavals among the leadership of the group. This current headquarters was the very apex of technological advancement on their earth, which was due, in large part, to the three men who were in the main ready room of the headquarters at that very moment.

"It still bothers me to have trusted a Luthor, Thomas." Ultraman is saying to his teammate, Thomas Wayne Jr., the Owlman.

"It was a gut call, Ultraman. He felt like one of us, not a weakling like our Luthor. Besides, the Martian was getting a bit fractious and was becoming a possible threat to us. If he's lost in someone else's venture, its no big loss to us."

"Yo, T-Dub, that's just messed up, dog." The third man in the room, Michael Holt, Mr. Perfect, adds to the conversation. Holt walks over to them wearing his trademark leather jacket with the words "Just Win" emblazoned on the sleeves and back. Holt knew that it bothered Owlman that someone like Holt, who was even more intelligent than Owlman, constantly dressed and spoke like a street thug, so he exaggerated it when dealing with his fellow Syndicate member. Holt actually spoke 15 languages (usually preferring French in private), but the façade of the blinged out player Mr. Perfect was necessary in managing his gangland empire.

Owlman only shows his irritation for a moment. "Was your P-sphere able to trace where that other Luthor took the Martian?"

Holt's aggravation keeps him from lapsing back into his thuggish vernacular. "For about a second, maybe. I ran every test and program I could, but they're just gone. And I don't know about you two, but I'm not too happy about there being a guy so smart, he gets the best of us."

Owlman and Ultraman don't reply and after a moment of each stewing over Perfect's statement, they each turn and walk away from the others.

LIMBO

Jake Benetti didn't blame the kid, Arsenal, for trying. If Jake were the sort who dealt with nerves by flirting outrageously with any woman who happened to be around, he would have chosen the gal in the bullet helmet too. Bulleteer, she'd said her name was. Susan, when the cone head came off.

Jake knew why he hadn't been able to take his eyes off of her since she'd popped out nowhere like the rest of them. She resembled his dead wife more than a little and more than a little too much for Jake's comfort. The short time he'd been around her reinforced the resemblance in other ways. This Susan was a lot like his wife as a person as well. Like his wife had been, this woman was all contradictions. Looks of a pinup girl, but all business. Firecracker sparks without being a shrew. Shining light personality, but a core of sorrow.

It was the evident sorrow that made Jake pull up short on his musings. The woman had just lost her husband and was still in mourning. She might be putting up a positive face, playing the saucy dame role, but Jake knew mourning when he saw it. He'd been there.

She seems to see him looking at her and returns the look. "Yes, Mr. Benetti?"

He holds her gaze for a moment and then smiles. "Nothin'. Just watching the way you handled the kid."

She shrugs her shoulders and smiles. Jake has to smile back.

EARTH TWO - GOTHAM CITY

"He just disappeared right before my eyes." Ted Knight is saying to his fellow Justice Society members, Green Lantern and Power Girl.

"And he's not the only one." Dr. Midnite tells them as he joins them. "I just got a message from the Justice League through the Transmatter link. Apparently, one of their members disappeared in the same sort of light"

Knight thinks for a moment. "How is that possible?"

"Well, a lot of things repeat on the earths, Ted." Power Girl adds.

"Not the disappearance, Kara, the communication. The transmatter can only send messages at certain times of the year and this isn't one of them. Something very wrong is going on here."

"More than you know."

The Society members turn at the voice, a cultured English drawl that they recognize.

"Shade!" Green Lantern growls, raising his ring and pointing it at the villain.

"It's OK, Lantern. The Shade and I have something of an….." Knight pauses as if looking for a word. "Understanding. He's no longer a threat."

"But he did just pop up out of nowhere into our Headquarters." Power Girl replies to him.

"To warn you, nothing more. There is a very great threat looming, a threat to everything that exists. To this world and every other one."

"How do you know this, Shade?"

"Because the forces behind it, and before you ask, I do not know their identities, seek to use the darkness to aid them. I can feel them trying to draw the shadow dimension to their aid. I continue to resist them, but I fear they may be too strong even for one with my considerable resources. Eventually, the shadow dimension will fall to them."

"And when that happens?" Green Lantern says, only slightly showing his fear of the possibility.

"The barriers between the universes will be torn down and the powers of the darkness and the shadows will be unleashed"

LIMBO

Lex Luthor did not like being manipulated. And it certainly went against every fiber of his being to risk his life on a quest to "save the world" or some such. But nevertheless, he was forced to do this by the incessant voice in his head. A voice that even his prodigious discipline and intellect could not deny.

However, Luthor thought, something positive had come of this. Meeting these heroes from other Earths had shown Luthor several other paths his life could have taken. Captain of Industry voted to the Presidency for his good works. Second rate villain beaten repeatedly by a second rate Superman. Super Hero. Even a mild mannered Kansas farm boy turned video game programmer.

Luthor dismissed these possibilities as simply cracked mirror reflections of himself, the one true Luthor, following the only possible destiny for him, dominance. Still, the Presidency idea had some potential. Luthor's musing is interrupted as a giant door suddenly appears in front of them.

Luthor raises a hand to stop the group. "This is where we need to go. The entrance to the lair of the Monitor."

EARTH ONE: STAR CITY

As he stood on the roof of the apartment building in which he lived, Oliver Queen, the Green Arrow, knew he owed Flash and Atom an apology. He knew that they were doing their best and using the very limits of their knowledge and the League's technology to try to find Roy. Ollie knew he shouldn't have lost his temper that way. He was sure that they'd forgive him. That they'd dismiss it as just another Ollie outburst. But this was more than that.

Ollie knew that he sometimes spoke without thinking about things. He had always worn his emotions on his sleeve and spoken his mind without considering the consequences. But the explosion at Barry & Ray wasn't just a random outburst. It was his fear overriding everything else. His fear for the life of his ward (Ollie had too much guilt about his failures as a father to consider Roy a son, but that's what he was) was just eating him up inside. Ollie may have failed as a father for Roy Harper, but that didn't mean he didn't love him dearly. Roy was his family, his only family until recently. And though he'd never admit it, a family, with all that the word implied, was something Ollie desperately wanted.

"You OK, Ollie?" Ollie had been so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't even heard his wife of less than a year, Dinah Lance, the Black Canary, join him on the roof.

"No, I'm not."

She hands him a beer and then puts her arms around him. "They'll find him, Ollie. There's a reason these guys are in the League. It's because they're the best. And now Bruce is involved. And you know damn well that no mere magical light would have the temerity to dare defy Bruce for very long."

He looks over at her and the smile on her face as she says this. Before he can sneak a kiss, her face changes from humor to an odd combination of confusion and fear.

"Dinah? What's the matter?"

"The shadows. Over by the wall there. They just moved."

Ollie spins quickly and both stare intently at the shadowy corner, fearing an attack. After a moment, the two relax.

"I guess I'm just seeing….."

Before Dinah can finish her sentence, both she and Green Arrow are knocked to the ground as the shadow they had been staring into, like every shadow on every world at that moment suddenly explodes.

TO BE CONTINUED