Legendary member of the Justice Society of America, Joan Dale-Trevor fought injustice during World War II. Still youthful thanks to the magic of the mysterious Trevor Island, she still fights for truth, justice, and the American Way as the Marvelous

Issue #5

The American Dream

Part Five

Written By Paul Daimler

Derek Trevor, retired Admiral, looked at the town sprawled out before him. Phantom pools of light spread throughout the town glowed dimly in the darkness. A shiver went through him.

In his head, he told himself that he should have stayed at the airfield. This was insane. But quickly he dismissed that. He’d dated Queen Hippolyta during World War II when she’d been Wonder Woman. He’d been married to a super-hero since the fifties. He’d been sleeping.

In his dream he’d been throwing a baseball with their son Derek Jr. He’d been thirteen. An age he’d never lived to in real life. But, often Derek dreamed about his children. All of whom were gone. Derek Jr. Angela. Even Lyta.

Lyta.

His daughter might have been adopted, but he hadn’t considered her anything other than his daughter. No matter if her crazy birth mother had always been lurking somewhere in the back of their minds.

In the dream he and Derek Jr. had been throwing the baseball. And Lyta had appeared, wearing a white gown, decorated with diamonds and rubies and other precious jewels. Her long platinum blonde hair had been decorated with matching gems. Her blue eyes had sparkled like sapphires.

“Dad.” Lyta had called to him, stepping into the field where Derek and his son played catch.

“Yes Princess?”

“Daddy… you are going to have to come here and help save Mom. Tisiphone has betrayed both Mom and Helena.” Lyta’s words were like mist as they floated up and away from her mouth, appearing in black letters in balloons above her head. “Tisiphone has decided to turn her back on her pantheon and sisters and align herself with the Prince of Dreams. You’re going to have to enter the Dreamscape and help save Mom. And Helena.”

“Princess… I’m just a mortal man. Your mothers are super-heroes. They’re powerful and strong. They don’t need a man to rescue them.”

“But, you aren’t saving helpless damsels in distress.” Lyta said. “You are saving someone you love. And, my crazy birth-mother.”

“Are you sure? It’s so pleasant here.” Derek said, catching the ball his son threw.

“This dream is a ruse by the Prince of Dreams. He is feeding it into your mind, to distract you. To keep you out of the way.” Lyta said, her eyes clouding with fear. “I can’t stay much longer. He’s going to realize I’m here soon…”

“Are you sure it’s not real?” Derek asked, sunshine making the light around Derek Jr. golden. Everything was so warm and happy, and really Derek thought it might be nice to stay here for the rest of his life. Just tossing the ball back and forth with Derek Jr.

“I’m sure. The fate of the world depends on you, Daddy. There is a town called Grover’s Corner. You can get there by car. In the town, on Sycamore Street, house number twenty-three, you will find a gateway on the second floor in the bedroom on the right.” Lyta said. Then she faded into the twilight that had begun to fall from the sky.

Derek blinked in the night, remembering the dream, looking at the town. He’d rented a car from a rental agency in the small airport. He’d been surprised to find them open. But, not as surprised as the man running the agency. The man had confessed that normally the agency would be closed. But, he’d suddenly woken in the middle of the night, feeling compelled to go down to his store and open the doors and wait for a customer. He told Derek he was just beginning to feel like a fool when Derek had wandered in.

Now, standing there, beside the car, looking at the ghostly town, Derek wondered what he would find.

New York, December 6th 1941

Something is wrong. Joan Dale thought as she walked down the crowded New York City street. It was evening and the twilight was falling. One of her favorite things about the city was twilight. The way the sky was pink and purple and there was almost a suggestion of stars in the sky—before the night was upon them and the city lights blotted them out.

I should be somewhere else… Joan thought, stopping. Her heels clicked on the sidewalk. People milled around her, rushing to wherever their destinies carried them.

This all felt wrong. But, how else should it feel? She chalked it up to her long day, and the weirdness of the past few weeks. Her job as a journalist had gone nowhere and now she was working in the field office of the New York branch of the F.B.I. as a secretary. Joan frowned was that right?

“Of course it’s right.”

Joan Dale turned toward the woman standing beside her, the woman who had introduced herself as Miss Cosmos. Her thick dark hair cascaded around her ivory cheeks, making her bright blue eyes stand out even more from behind the black domino mask. Her skirt rippled with what looked like stars, planets, constellations and stars. The cosmos…

“I feel like you know me.” Joan Dale said, frowning. “Wait. I mean, I feel like I know you.”

“You’re right on both accounts.” Miss Cosmos said, her red cape rippling all around her.

“It’s 1941…” Joan said, shaking her head. “It feels like it is much later.”

“It is.” Miss Cosmos said quietly, “But, I’ve managed to step in and pull you into a side-pocket. A moment in time that not even the Prince of Dreams can touch. Daniel sent me.”

“Daniel?” Joan asked. The name sounded familiar.

“Your grandson.” Miss Cosmos replied. “He is unable to breach the Prince of Dream’s Dreamscape without much damage to Helena. So, he sent me and he gave me a sliver of time… a moment that once was, but never was again.”

“You’re talking in riddles.” Joan said.

“Behold…” Miss Cosmos pointed.

Joan followed the line Miss Cosmos pointed in, seeing herself walking down the city street.

“How can I be there and here?” Joan asked, feeling dizzy.

“Because this is a sliver of lost time. When reality reshaped, this was lost. But, it ended up in the Dreaming. And, there it sat, with other gems and fragments… in the Valley of the Forgotten. And, now it’s here… enabling me to pull you from the Prince of Dream’s grasp… at least for a little while.” Miss Cosmos said.

From behind a building Uncle Sam stepped, blocking the path of the Joan Over-There.

“That never happened.” Joan said, feeling queasy. When Uncle Sam had approached her to join his Freedom Fighters it had been after she’d fought off saboteurs. She’d been dressed as Miss America. Hadn’t she?

“It did before.” Miss Cosmos said quietly. “Uncle Sam is going to convince you to go with him to Pearl Harbor. And there you will die.”

“I didn’t die. People thought I died. But the Project X scientists saved me after finding me floating in the ocean.” Joan said, watching the conversation between herself and Uncle Sam unfold. The words weren’t quite right. They were close, but not the same.

“In the original reality you died.” Miss Cosmos said in a cool voice. Her dark hair billowed around her face. “But when the Crisis reshaped reality and holes were created, the Universe selected you to fill them—giving you a second lease on life.”

Joan felt a headache softly bloom in the back of her head. The scene unfolding tugged at her thoughts, and she felt as though there were dozens of memories in the very back of her mind just at the tip of her fingers—elusively sliding away before she could properly grasp them.

“You don’t make sense.” Joan said.

“You are lying.” Miss Cosmos said calmly, “I make perfect sense. You know it. You are just afraid to confront what it means—what it means for your reality.”

“My reality is that I’m married to Derek. We have a nice life. We can vacation at Trevor Island when we are so inclined. We don’t even age.” Joan said, her headache slowly blossoming and widening.

“Your reality is mutable. It has been for several years. The lines between this reality and what was is even thinner here.” Miss Cosmos said quietly. “You took the place of Lyta’s real mother.”

“Yes.” Joan nodded. “We adopted her when Helena left her with us for save keeping. We raised her. She was like our own.”

“Look deeper Joan.” Miss Cosmos said quietly, “You can see the full picture. The entire reality. What was. And what is now.”

Joan closed her eyes as memories and knowledge tugged at the seems of her brain. They tried to seep down, flooding her mind. She fought them off. Hazy images of a Wonder Woman who was not Hippolyta during World War II—of that Wonder Woman marrying someone who looked like Derek’s nephew Steve, but wasn’t. Of them giving birth to Lyta. Raising her. Then there were images of the Crisis, of fighting the Anti-Monitor and of one last battle at the Dawn of Time.

“Do you understand?” Miss Cosmos asked. “Does it all make sense to you.”

Joan felt a quite sense of dread as the images became clear in her mind. As elements of her own life lined up with the elements of this other Wonder Woman—who was Diana. Others didn’t match up. But certain bright points did.

“I died.” Joan whispered. “I died.”

“Yes. But then the Crisis changed everything. And there was a big missing spot in the center of it all.” Miss Cosmos said, “And you were selected by those who make such decisions to take Wonder Woman’s place.”

“Why?”

Miss Cosmos tugged at the striped skirt Joan wore.

“You looked enough like her for it to smooth things over.” Miss Cosmos said quietly. “Your spirit was strong enough for it fit. And, you had enough love within you to raise her daughter.”

“So I am just a pale imitation of Wonder Woman?” Miss America asked, years of her own self-doubt and secret fears flooded her. How many times had she looked at Derek and wondered was he supposed to be with Hippolyta instead? And here Miss Cosmos was, telling her this very thing.

“No. You were and always have been your own person. You were just close enough that the Universe was able to right the wrong of your death and use you to repair holes.”

“Doesn’t sound very unique to me.” Miss America said, looking at Miss Cosmos.

“Well, think of it this way—when a hole appears in time, something has to fill it. While Hippolyta going back in time and becoming the Golden Age Wonder Woman was always planned, she could never be the birth-mother of Lyta. There were certain things that had to occur for Order to remain. Hippolyta’s sojourn in the past was only temporary. Without her in the 1950’s through the time her daughter Princess Diana first appeared, many key events would not occur—and the Universe would collapse. So, the Universe looked around and found Helena Kosmotos. Through events that had occurred during the original reality, the Universe was able to slightly manipulate the situation so that she wandered onto Ares’s Aeropagus and stamped her foot in anger, calling up on the Furies. She became their avatar—a heroine in her own right in gleaming golden armor with the power of the Greek Gods behind her. Genetically she was strong enough to be Lyta’s mother. But, her soul was damaged and her spirit not strong enough to be the woman Wonder Woman had been.” Miss Cosmos said. “The attempt at filling the holes was only half-successful and the madness that plagued Helena created more holes. Without the strong home life Lyta needed, she could never enter the Dreaming and become the mother of Daniel. Reality was threatened. So the Universe sought you out and rescued you from death and you were able to fill holes. Order was restored. And, the Universe sought to reward you.”

“Reward me? How? By giving me Wonder Woman’s life?”

“Some people would die to be Wonder Woman.” Miss Cosmos said softly. “No, the Universe led you and Derek to the island that would become known as Trevor Island. And island who’s mystic secrets gave you and Derek eternal youth so long as you remain upon it’s shores. You age outside of the island at an incredibly slow rate. Should you and Derek return to the island long-term eventually your ages would revert and you would begin to grow younger again—stopping at your age when you first set foot on the island.”

“Some reward… Who wants to live forever?” Bitterness swelled within Joan’s heart.

“The Universe has given you other gifts. Originally you were going to be a single mother to Lyta. But, the Universe created Derek Trevor specifically to be your mate. You often worry that he loves Hippolyta more or that he would have ended up with Hippolyta, but such fears are unfounded. There was only a Derek Trevor so that you could find happiness.” Miss Cosmos smiled. “The Universe also has two other gifts for you.”

Joan looked at Miss Cosmos—she looked so much like her under that domino mask. “Are you an alternate version of me from some different reality?”

Miss Cosmos laughed, “Nothing quite so fantastic.”

Miss Cosmos reached into a small pocket concealed in her skirt. She withdrew four faceted slivers of sparkling crystal. She handed one to Joan. “This one is for the Prince of Dreams. It will help you defeat him.”

Joan took it, looking down into the facet. Hazy images she could not make out reflected in it’s surface.

“This one is for Helena.” Miss Cosmos said quietly. “Give it to her and she will know how to use it. It is her reward for her part in all of this.”

Joan took it, looking at it only briefly. It shimmered gold and silver. She put this and the other sliver in the pocket in her skirt.

“These two are for you. They are your rewards. Once all of this is said and done, reap your rewards.” Miss Cosmos’ eyes glittered brightly.

The world around them began to tremble and the color began seeping out.

“What’s happening?” Joan muttered.

Miss Cosmos’s hands generated sparkling light and energy, creating a buffer around them. “The Prince of Dreams has located this sliver of lost time.” She gritted her teeth, pumping out as much of the energy as she could muster. “He’s pulling it apart. Soon he will find us here. Find me…. I can’t stay here.”

“Who are you under that mask?” Joan asked.

Miss Cosmos smiled brightly, “That is a mystery for another day.”

There was a bright flash of light and Miss Cosmos was gone. The buffer she created collapsed, and New York 1941 was gone. Beneath her feet again was the yellow brick road and dark desolate surroundings. Dead trees littered the road on either side, all leading toward a massive palace in the distance, glittering even in the bleak landscape. It was made of glass and diamonds, and Miss America wasn’t sure how she knew this.

Pocketing the slivers of crystal Miss Cosmos had given her, she began making her way toward the palace.

Derek had abandoned his car shortly after entering the town. Not that he’d had any choice in the matter. The car had just stopped working, dying in the middle of the street. He hadn’t bothered messing with it, trying to get it started. He’d seen enough in the time he’d been with Joan and before with Hippolyta to know when something mystical and magical was going on.

As Derek moved through the dark streets he tried to keep his mind on finding Joan and Lyta. But, his mind kept turning to Helena and Hippolyta.

When Hippolyta had first shown up in her star-spangled outfit crested with that golden eagle, he had thought she was the only woman for him. But, during the course of the war and for the years after that Hippolyta remained, he’d realized that he did not belong with her. She was an exciting woman, but the life he would have lived with her was unreal. Besides, could he have really ever lived with her on Paradise Island? The time paradoxes that would have been created if he’d accompanied her back to her own time hurt his head even all these years later.

Once she’d left he found himself spending more and more time with Joan Dale, who at that point had mostly given up her costumed identity and was spending her time as an F.B.I. operative. He wasn’t really sure when he’d figured out that he was in love with her, but it had occurred to him one day over lunch when she’d laughed at something he’d said and he realized that he wanted to hear that sound for the rest of his life. He’d asked her to marry him shortly after. And, then Dr. Psycho had taken Derek Jr. and Armageddon had taken Angela from them. Sometimes he wasn’t sure how their marriage had survived the loss of the children. For a time he had blamed Joan, even though Dr. Psycho had been mostly interested in taking vengeance on Derek since he’d helped Hippolyta repeatedly defeat him during World War II.

Derek had actually been planning on leaving the night that Helena had shown up with a crying blonde haired baby named Lyta. When Helena had placed her daughter in Joan’s arms, Derek saw the light in his wife’s eyes and realized that he’d not realized Joan had been hurting as much as he was all this time. He’d been so wrapped up in his own grief and anger that he hadn’t stopped once to acknowledge his wife’s pain. He had decided then and there to stick it out and not allow his selfishness to ruin his marriage. He’d stayed and never once regretted it. Even when Lyta had left, he hadn’t thought of leaving, by that point he couldn’t imagine life without Joan.

Finally, Derek Trevor came to the street Lyta had indicated in his dream. Making his way toward the house, he noticed malevolent red eyes glowing in the shadows clogging either side of the street.

“Great.” Derek grumbled. He wasn’t sure what they were, but he knew that it wasn’t good. He was only a mortal man.

“Derek Trevor…” The voice grumbled. “You should have stayed behind.”

“Tisiphone.” Derek said softly as the tall dark demon-goddess stepped from the shadows. Her skin gleamed red and black as he eyes glowed brightly. Razor claws opened and closed at her sides.

“Your wife figured out this was a trap.” Tisiphone’s voice crackled. “After we were in the Dreamscape. The Prince of Dreams needs Helena and Joan for his marriage to Lyta to be complete. And, I need my freedom from the madwoman. A deal with struck. But, the Prince of Dreams doesn’t need the father.” She gnashed her razory teeth.

“So, I guess that means I should be shaking in my boots?” Derek asked. “Funny, I’m not afraid.”

Tisiphone laughed, “Good. I like the blood of the brave on my claws.”

She rushed him, her claws extended. Derek steeled himself, standing his ground and bracing himself.

At the last instant, when the claws should have torn him apart he breathed a sigh of relief as Tisiphone’s fellow Furies, Alecto and Megaera landed on the ground between him and Tisiphone blocking her way.

“So you conspired against our avatar and us to gain more power.” Alecto said.

“Prepare to face our fury.” Megaera hissed.

Miss America found herself standing at the gates of the palace of glass and diamonds. Before she could use the knocker, the gates swung open.

“Welcome to the Prince of Dream’s palace.”

Miss America found Mr. Chessire, the Mad Muses, and Dark Angel as her welcoming committee.

TO BE CONTINUED…

NEXT ISSUE: Miss America, Derek, and the Furies attempt to defeat the Prince of Dreams and rescue Lyta from becoming his bride. And not everyone makes it out alive ...