The Justice Society
The Justice League
Those were - are - names of majesty, names you can respect. It's all
there - Justice, Society, League. One broader based than its successor,
but both nonetheless valid. Both groups had not only stood guard over
the well-being of those in their charge - more important, they had
managed to stand the test of time which can be much more cruel.
Time was what made other groups fade from mind, its what made what they
accomplished, what they sacrificed were wiped from the slate of memory.

The Society, the League - they endured despite it all.

The OTHER Justice did not.

Very few remembered the Justice Experience anymore.

But Cameron Chase did.

Her father had been the Acrobat.

Had been. Past tense.

Post Dr. Traps tense.

The Experience had wandered into one of his nastier experiments, the
one where he started playing for keeps.  None of them walked back out.

Traps had gone to ground soon after. Some claim that he ran up against
the wrong foe, that he was dead. There was even documentation of his
burial. Chase had seen that documention, even done some checking into
it on her own. She didn't believe it. She never did.

The man who killed her father was still somewhere out there. She could
feel it.

More to the point, the finger for the death of the Doom Patrol girl was
pointing in that direction as well.

Dr. Traps was alive and well, and up to something with the Cult of the
Unbroken Circle, a group of wannabe cultists who latched onto whatever
symbols they happened across. This time, they appeared to have found
themselves an icon in the late Niles "Chief" Caulder, the founder and
mentor to the Doom Patrol.

If they had just gotten a hold of his head, which was still missing
according to reports she had read, that could be managed. Although it
still begged the question as to what they were attempting to do. If, on
the other hand, some of the "Chief's" inventions, his work with
nanotechnology sprang to mind, had fallen into their hands - the
Unbroken Circle might just be something to be wary of. If they managed
that - and if they really had Dr. Traps as their hatchet man... they
were without doubt the single most dangerous cult in North America if
not the world.

She could still feel the file in her hand, the one that the Director
had brought to her personally, the one that had spelled everything out
even if it was missing all the vowels. It felt like yesterday - it felt
like a year.
She patted her side. She could end it. All she needed was one clean
shot.

Her cell phone vibrated again. She ignored it. If someone wanted to
talk to her, they could wait.

A chance, once and for all, to deal with Dr. Traps wouldn't.

---

Cliff Steele stared at himself.` He wasn't a bad looking guy. Or
rather, the him that wasn't a bucket of bolts wasn't a bad looking guy.
Did that mean that, back before the accident, that he hadn't been bad
looking. There had been times that he had thought himself gods gift to
women... others when he couldn't stand to look at his face in the
mirror. The latter outweighed the former. There were too many times
that he used a smile and a twinkle in the eye to excuse himself from
actually caring.
He stared at the face across from him - wondering if that was true of
this man as well. This him.
Alternate realities hurt his head. One reality was really enough to
cause any sane person a breakdown or three, but being in the Doom
Patrol meant having the bizarre stop over for breakfast.

"I need to talk to you" someone whispered in his ear. He turned to find
Leah standing at his shoulder, "It's important."

The other Cliff looked at her like a piece of meat, "Is there anything
I might be able to help with?"

She shook her head, "Hell stuff," she said, dismissively.

He nodded, and went back over to talk to his own team. His own group of
freaks.

Cliff, Robotman - he still hated that name, but with another guy
roaming around perhaps it was time to go back to it, conceding his name
to someone more likely to live a life. He shook his head, perhaps, if
the other Cliff was going to stay around he might do that. But they had
agreed that he couldn't. Reality was fragile enough. The less of the
same exact person roaming around in one place the better on the system.

61
He walked a bit in silence with Leah. She was an alternate version of
someone as well. His realities Leah, at least according to her friend
Tim Hunter, had become some sort of mermaid creature. Or maybe it was
that she was taken by them. He wasn't quite sure of the details.
He glanced that her features. She looked like a normal, attractive,
teenage girl. Until you looked into her eyes. Her eyes betrayed her
knowledge, her hertiage as a succubus.
She turned to the side of angels in Hell. But how long would that last?
Was it even really the truth? Cliff made a mental note to get back a
hold of Hunter as soon as possible. If her conversion was part of some
elaborate plot rather than a sincere use of magicial applications upon
her, then he would need to know as soon as possible. More to the point,
he would need to start planning for that eventually, if she...
He stopped himself in midthought. He hadn't allowed himself to think
too much about it. Too much had been going on at the time. But what did
it mean that Leah had come over? If two Cliffs were a bad thing in one
reality - didn't the same hold true for two Leahs? Or, did the fact
that they were in seperate dimensions, different planes, hold some
influence?
For that matter, even with the magicks Hunter had given to him to
return Leah to the side of good, was using magic to win her over really
any better than if she was dissembling? What would happen if the magics
reversed themselves? What would happen if the old self snapped back in
place? Didn't she have the right to be the person she was - in the
reality she was from? Was he even sure that she truly wished to be
good?
He shook his head again. More things to think about. As if there
weren't enough... He wished that he could just punch through a problem,
even just once. One time being able to just hit someone, have them go
down and that be the end of it would be nice. But that wasn't how
things tended to happen with the Doom Patrol. Even back in the old
days, when he got to hit someone, things were never really over.
Maybe that was some sort of symbolism for the way that life...

Leah coughed.
He looked up from his thoughts, realizing that they were now well
isolated from the others.
"What's going on? What about Hell?" he wished that he could feel
himself actually get tense. Actual muscles to get tight and then
finally realize would be a welcome change to the mental tension he went
through.

She didn't break her smile, "Nothing to do with Hell actually. I just
needed to talk to you alone."
He nodded, "And no one would question 'Hell business' huh?"
She returned his implied smile, "Exactly."
"But this IS important right?" he inquired, wondering what red herring
she had brought him out on. Perhaps a moment or two alone to...
"Oh yes," she sighed, "VERY important."
"Spill it"
"That Blue Snake fellow..."
"The energy guy right? The one that the other me made."
"He didn't make him."
"He told me that he used assorted techniques he learned from friends...
Kent Nelson, Alec Holland..."
"Maybe he did. But if any of them taught him how to raise this 'Blue
Snake', you don't want to be friends with them."
"Not really a problem," Cliff muttered to himself beforing turning back
to Leah, "I take it that this Blue Snake is more than just energy."
"Electricity"
"Same difference."
"Not in this case. He's... It's pure electricity."
"What's so bad about that? Maybe he can help us with the Christmas
lights."
"Its not just electricity Cliff. Its the PRIMAL GOD of it, the baser
instincts personified. This sort of creature shouldn't be roaming the
earth..."
"You mean unlike, oh say, a succubus..." he quipped.
She rolled her eyes and sighed, "Maybe I shouldn't have said anything.
But these things are just pure destruction waiting to happen. And they
don't just come when summoned either. You have to make some sort of
deal with them. Give them something of value. What I want to know is
what that other you has that a god of electricity might value... and
what he's going to do with it once he gets it."

---

"The girl's talking about us" The Geek said, once they were away, "I
don't like her. She talks too much."
The man who was Cliff Steele nodded, "I'm not too keen on her myself.
Too many things that can go wrong with a demon in our midst." He looked
over to where the being called Blue Snake was standing, "Can you deal
with her?"
"When the time is right we shall," It hissed in response.
"Can you?" Cliff asked, raising his eyebrow, "If she knows what you
are, she might cook up some way to beat you."
"When the time is right," Blue Snake repeated, "We shall."
"Good enough for me," Cliff nodded, turning back to the rest of his
"team". Zone stayed inert until needed. Kudzu was examining some sort
of plant life in the garden.
"We're going to have to leave this home and hearth thing soon. We take
out these cultists and establish ourselves and we're pretty much home
free..."

He was about to continue when a voice called out his name.

"Cliff Steele!"
He turned sharply to deal with the intruder, and met the mallot with
his face.
He went down, hard.

The Geek grabbed the mallot from the hands of the motley clad fool
wielding it.
A similarly clad woman jumped on her, taking her by surprise, and
knocking her off her feet as well. The mallot fell from her hands.

The man grabbed it again, holding it above Cliff's head, "Where is our
daughter!?" he demanded.

Cliff shrugged, and took his legs out from under him with a sweep,
leaping to his feet and catching the dropped mallot in one fluid
motion.

Now it was his turn to lord over his fallen foe with the weapon. "I'd
suggest that you start explaining yourselves before I let my friend
there treat your woman like dinner."

The motley clad man looked over to where his companion had been
fighting. The Geek now held her from behind, holding the back of
Jewelee's neck with her teeth.

Punch shuddered and opened his mouth to speak...


"His name is Punch, hers is Jewelee," Cliff Steele, Robotman, explained
as he approached, accessing the situation. "Two bit bank robbers slash
just out for  a good time. They've played both sides of the fence
before, usually against the middle. As for what they want here... since
they called out my...our," he corrected with a nod to his counterpart,
"I can only assume that they think that one of us, or both, did
something to them. Something that could only be answered with a show of
mallot bashing force."


Punch gasped as he realized that he was dealing with two of the same
person, just in different forms. He glanced over to Jewelee, but she
wasn't in a position to do anything but feel pain at the moment.
"Which of you has our daughter?" he asked, demanding tones slipping
away.

"I don't think that you're in any position to be asking questions," The
human Cliff responded, "Nor accusations. In fact, if I were you,
I'd..."
"No," The metal Cliff interrupted, "I'd like to find out more." He
turned his attention back to the man on the ground, "Why do you think
one of us has your daughter?"

Punch explained the calling call name engraved in the plastic of the
highchair, and the abduction, adding "but considering you all ready
know that, I'm not sure what sort of game we're playing here."

"How about smash in the head of the crook?" The human Cliff sneered in
disbelief. He raised the mallot.

"Belay that," His counterpart snapped, "Let the man up." He turned his
attention back to the ground, "We don't have anything to do with your
daughter's abduction. But did you ever consider that the name in
plastic MAY have been who to go to for help?"

"No"

The metal Cliff nodded, "I doubt I would either in your shoes." He
tried to shoot daggers with his eyes toward his counterpart. It didn't
do much considering how very little his face changed from moment to
moment. His other self didn't pick up the signals. He put his hand on
the other Cliff's shoulder, "Something tells me we might be needing
them as much as they need us."

"These two?" The other sneered, but Cliff noticed that he took a step
backward, and lowered the bat. He turned to the Geek, "Shows over," he
muttered.

She let go of her prey with a deep sigh of dissatisfaction.

Jewelee answered with a sigh of relief, and twisted joy, of her own.

---

She missed the Cold, missed the way it touched her. She missed the way
it took her within itself, the way it spoke to the core of her being.
The way it substained her.
Not that it could be helped. She had gotten what she needed, and then
it was time to move on.
The Cold had told her what she needed to know. It had told her where to
find Niles Caulder, the only man who could help her.
The Cold had sent her on her way, never revealing anything beyond the
surface of the ice of the place that was once the Justice Cave.
The Men in Mauve watched her leave, satisfied with the answers she had
recieved enough that they allowed the Cold to return to their own
bodies from which it had sprung like Athena.

---

Danny the World reached out, feeling his way through to someone he
knew. Maybe Cliff would... he reached out, and felt the resistance.
Someone, something, was keeping him from getting to Cliff. They didn't
want anyone talking to him... no one from the outside at least.
Danny wasn't quite sure who would want to do that - or why. But he knew
that it made him uncomfortable.
The cracks were widening, increasing, of their own volition. It was
much worse than he thought, the closer he got to the situation, the
more he knew that.

He was going to have to do something drastic.

But without Cliff to guide him... or someone to say that it was "Ok",
how could he just...

"It's all right," someone said.

Danny the World hadn't noticed his approach on the higher planes. He
should have. He should have expected it. But Dr. Fate had a habit of
doing the unexpected.

"Is it?" Danny asked, wondering if the defender of Order knew what was
on his mind.

"Yes, I do." Fate answered, "I'm here to help, if I can. I've prepared
the preliminary spells, to save time. We do not have much of that
left."

Danny the World felt his entire being nod, "We don't have much of a
choice do we?"

Dr. Fate did not respond, he merely pointed to the growing cracks in
the earth's structure. Cracks that, if left unchecked, would surely
destroy the planet.

"You're going to help be bond with it then?" Danny asked expectantly.

The being that was Dr. Fate nodded, "If we are going to save humanity -
you must become Danny the Earth."

---

NEXT: With the world on the verge of destruction, Danny the World makes
the ultimate sacrifice. But will the solution be worse than the
problem? DP confronts the Cult of Niles Caulder at last, and Cameron
Chase gets a nasty surprise! Be there!